Here’s a glimpse into a new story I’ve been working on when not writing The Dying of the Light: Interval. I’m excited to work in urban fantasy (without the fantasy).

Under a Cloud-covered Moon

So let’s get one thing straight, right from the beginning. I don’t want there to be any confusion about this: There is no such thing as magic. Got it? Never has been, never will be.

The Dark Ones, the furballs, all of them… they’re just people. They’re human, or at least mostly human. That’s what all the gene-jackers tell me, anyway. Point is, they ain’t magical. At all. Despite what splinter groups like “Bring Back the Magic” will tell you. There’s no more magic in a vampire than in my little finger. They’re just mutants.

Granted, mutants with some nasty viruses and things, and they’ve caused more than their fair share of problems over the years, but that’s as far as it goes.

Take vampires, for instance. Garlic and silver? Yeah, they’re highly allergic. Stuff knocks them for a loop. And they all but catch fire in sunlight. Not because they’ve been eternally, supernaturally damned or any such thing, but because they’ve all got that disease I can never remember the name of.

Yes, they drink blood, and yes, it’s human. But all the blood comes from volunteers, and they need it for legitimate reasons. Their own blood doesn’t produce whatever enzyme it is that allows most humans to absorb iron from their bloodstream. There are laws against drinking directly from humans, too.

They barely even have fangs. More like just slightly longer incisors than you or me. Nothing weird unless you know exactly what you’re looking for. Now the weres, they have some serious fangs. Just get a cat after you and you’ll see what I mean. They’re not really ‘weres’, anyway. Not in the traditional ‘werewolf’ sense. They don’t change form in the moonlight or anything crazy like that. They’re just really, really hairy and have a habit of going around on all fours every so often.

So that’s where we’re at: vampires, weres, and even ghouls — also known as zombies — actually exist, and walk among us on a daily basis. And I’m the poor bastard who gets to try and keep the peace between all these crazy metas and the normals who are just trying to live out the lives they thought they had coming to them.

My name is Lloyd Monroe, and I’ve been a detective with the Seattle PD’s Metahuman Crimes Unit for 15 years. Pleased to meet ya.