The idea

There are a few things that police officers do that are beyond the obvious that everyday citizens see. Yeah, we write lots of tickets and we arrest people and sometimes we do have coffee and donuts. Okay more like coffee and bagels, we have moved up in the world.

If you work for a small time country department like I do, you have a lot of time on your hands some nights.  Time that allows your mind to wander as you drive the streets in search of things that are out-of-place.

Spending 12 hours in a car can be uncomfortable, so we often get out and stretch our legs, on this one beautiful fall night in October I was doing just that. Standing outside looking up at the stars and enjoying some fresh air while I got the blood running in my legs again.

As I was standing outside my car, I felt as if I was being watched. The ability to be able to feel this is important in my job. It's an instinctive feeling that comes over you. Over the years I have learned to listen to it quite well.

It was dark where I was standing and there was a long line of trees near me.  I searched the tree line, but at first saw nothing.  As I searched the area casually around me, I returned my eyes back to the trees and I saw a set of eyes looking back at me. They were not as high up off the ground as a person's normally would be, but they were much higher up than an animal would be.

I watched the eyes and the eyes watched me. As I stood there, my sense of creativity got the best of me and I began to wonder what it could be. One of the first thoughts that ran through my mind was "It's a vampire". Now of course, I knew it wasn't, but the idea was in my mind now.

Shortly after the eyes disappeared from view quickly and I searched the tree line for them to appear again. I listened carefully for any sounds of what it might have been, but I heard nothing. Whatever it had been walked silently through the night searching for its prey.

As I got back in my car and drove around the dark streets of my township, I couldn't chase away the thought of vampires from my mind. What if that had been one? Would it have used me as it's prey? Would it have used compulsion on me? Would it have killed me?

I spent the rest of that quiet night thinking about what it would be like if vampires did exist in my world and soon a story line came to mind. Over the next few nights as I drove my township roads, the story quickly built and I soon found myself sitting at my laptop and putting the story on paper.

I still drive my roads, searching the tree lines for eyes that might be looking back at me. Maybe one day I will learn what it was that looked out at me, but chances are I never will, and maybe that's okay too.