Arif Hodzic

My alarm blares and I smack it too hard, sending the old school clock that I stole from a hotel room skittering off my night table and onto the floor.

Mrs. Grunson's toy poodle starts barking from the apartment below me.

Scrambling out of bed, I find the clock, turn off the alarm, and slowly stretch.

Time to get to work.

It's an important day.

I finally got an interview with Inmate Zero approved.

It took some wrangling, but I pushed it through.

One of the reasons I'd started working at Monument Prison for the criminally vampiric was to get closer to the vamps they hold in the Warren, the old ones, and possibly, if the file is correct, a couple of true originals, the first of their kind.

Like Inmate Zero.

I shower fast, get dressed, and rush downstairs.

Mrs. Grunson is in the lobby, yelling at the building manager about how everyone is so loud and disturbing her precious dog, but I slip past her and to the door to the parking garage without her noticing.

I'm sure I'll get a message from the building manager later, but it won't mean much.

He knows as well as all of the residents do that if a mouse farts, the dog starts barking.

I'm in the car and zipping up out of the garage in minutes.

First, I make a pit stop at Cooper's and order a couple of chocolate chip muffins and a caramel latte with a sprinkle of nutmeg on top.

Then I make sure to fill up on gas at that discount tobacco store.

Why they have the best gas prices, I have no idea.

Even with those two stops, I am 40 minutes early when I reach the prison.

Is that Cooper's I smell?

The desk guard asks me as I stand in the top lobby area of the Warren.