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Chapter Three
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“The test is conclusive – no abnormalities were found, sir,” the scientist informs me.
“Damn,” I mutter.
Jackston left since some time ago. I have only been waiting for the results for a mere half an hour and yet he managed to have ‘more important things to do’. ‘Asylaum business’ he called it, but I doubt that writing love letters to the Lord’s errand girl is considered business of the Asylaum. I let him off anyway. As I stated before – this task is mine and not his. He is free to spend his time any way he sees fit.
With no good news from the test I am back where I started, though I find myself to be worse off since I now have to worry about the Council’s pet checking over my shoulder. Yet, knowing who she works for and reminding myself of their power makes me obide. I swing by her office to report the results. No one is there. I decide to leave a note, rather than chase her around the entire Asylaum.
The test is conclusive. He was a vampire, I write.
She will hate me for this, but at least she cannot report to the Council, saying that I am uncooperative. After all, the kid was a vampire, and since no abnormalities were found I am not even bending the truth with my note. She will have to settle with it. I swiftly leave her office to avoid having her come back – I want to avoid having to speak to her.
If human archives fail to give me an answer, perhaps our Archives can provide some information of use. It could be that this case is not the first in Asylaum history. I do not even know why I care. The Council said that I was not to return to them until I had an answer. Thus, if I do not come up with an answer I should be bound to their words and not be allowed to return to them – ever. I doubt that the Council will agree with my point of view. They are not known for great patience. I know that I should hurry my investigation along.
After having spent the rest of my night ploughing through the Archives, I have not come up with anything of use. There is nothing else I can do tonight. I shall head home. There is in fact nothing else I can do tomorrow either. I have gone through my every option. The kid’s history gave me nothing, the test was truly superfluous and the hours spent in the Archives were nothing but tiresome. The only thing left to do is embark on a wild goose-chase for a Succubus that not even the Council can sense the presence of. I walk home alone, pondering about where I would hide if I was a smashingly beautiful Succubus that had just sunk my teeth into an annoying kid. Truth to be told – I have no idea. Normally Succubuses are proud vampires and refuse to live among humans. London is a poor place to live if that is your preference. That is why we have no Succubuses around here. The fact that this one is not registred in the Asylaum worries me. It is a mystery I shall have to indulge myself in tomorrow. Now I want nothing but a good days sleep. It has been two rough nights.
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When I awake the following evening I have another message on my answering machine. Get a grip Jackston. This is my job, not yours.
“Hi,” the voice on the answering machine says.
Not Jackston – unless he suddenly turned female on me.
“I got your message, very informative. Come to my office tonight – I’ll be waiting.”
A click tells me that the message is over. I stand in my pyjamas staring at the machine as it rewinds the tape. Great – the ice queen has my number. I sigh. Another long night – might as well start it off with a nice cup of warm blood.
It is a cold night, which is only natural since it is late autumn. I made a wise choice choosing my leather coat over a thin velvet one. Due to the cold, the streets of London are not nearly as crowded as they usually are. In fact, some are practically empty. I still choose the smaller streets and alleys when I make way to the Asylaum. I would hate to bump into anyone I know, which is of course a small risk since I know very few people. Indeed, Jackston is the only person I even come close to knowing. Still, I prefer the smaller streets – they are quieter.
As I pass a dark alley I pick up strange vibrations in the air, vibrations I recognise. Had it not been so bloody cold, I would probably have checked it out. But it is too chilly, and I have an appointment with the one person I currently am in contact with that will make my life colder. So I leave the alley be. It shall have to wait for another night. As I cross the street I hear a heart shattering scream from the alley.
“No!” a female screams. “Please, God – No—,”
The woman goes silent. In my world that can only mean one thing. I rush to into the alley and a few seconds later, soon staring at the mangled corpse of a young woman dressed for a party. I am too late. The vibrations are still here, but not as strong as before. Someone, or something did this to her. Whatever it was it is not around anymore. Only echoes in the air and an empty carcass remains. I sigh and look at the young woman. What a waste.
Someone shall have to clean up this mess before the police get here. This was obviously not the work of a human and I would hate to draw more attention to the Asylaum. I dump the body in a container. It will not hide it forever, but at least it is not as easy to find. When I reach the Asylaum I shall have to report it to the ice queen so that she in turn can inform the Council to send a cleaning team here.
I take a mental picture of the place so that I remember where I left the body. Then I walk out of the alley and head to the Asylaum again. It is just then that I feel the vibrations grow stronger once more – stronger and stronger until I could swear that the source was right below me. It is not until now I realise where I felt these strange vibrations before – the kid. When he turned into a foggy eyed blood-weeper, the air was moving like waves on a stormy sea. This sensation is the same, but where is it emanating fro—
It hits me in the back with the strength of a car, slamming me hard into the ground. It hurts; I might have broken something. No time to think – I have to act. I get back on my feet swiftly after having dealt with shock of suddenly kissing concrete.
“Where did you go?” I demand.
“Death,” I hear it hiss from the shadows.
“Don’t you people know any other lines than that?”
Out of nowhere it plunges out of the shadows and rushes at me. It is fast – faster than the kid. It must have been an athlete as human, but it is still a newly reborn. I can tell by the way it moves – clumsy and not yet fully aware of its powers. I tell myself not to kill this one. It will come handy when searching for the source, unless it is the source of course. I doubt that it is.
I step out of its way just like I did with the kid, but instead of shoving a stake in its back I slam two fists in it, returning the favour by making it break the concrete on the ground. I hurt it; in fact I think I broke something. Hopefully it is not something crucial for it to continue living. It manages to stumble back on its feet. Good – not dead. After a second it appears fine again. It glares at me before launching itself at me and knocking me into a dumpster. That is it – enough of these games. I take the dumpster’s lid and embed it in the skull of my foe. Now I definitely broke something. Bad – it would have been more worth to us alive. But at least I did not dust it. And then, just to prove to me that I am truly hated by life; it twitches and vanishes in a cloud of ashes. I hate my life.
---
Ten minutes later I arrive at Ariane’s office. She looks at me as if I am something a cat dragged through her door.
“You stink,” she says.
“So do you,” I reply. “But at least I have the common sense of not saying it to your face.”
She stares at me dumbly. Score one for me.
“I was attacked.”
“By what?” she asks mildly interested as she returns to her paper work.
“By another blood-weeper.”
“Really?” she says with a poisonus tone. “And did you manage to conclude that it too was indeed a vampire?”
She got my note. I smile at this. She is clearly not happy, which makes me happy. Until the Council finds out, that is.
“No, but I would assume that it was,” I reply. “I do however think that I have found a way to track them.”
She drops her pen when she hears this, suddenly showing much more interested in what I have to say.
“Tell me more,” she demands.
“They appear to emit some kind of air wave every time they’re around. It’s impossible to miss.”
“That’s it?” she asks coldly.
“Yes. And oh, they’re butt ugly, so there’s no way to miss one if you’ll happen to bump into one. Which seems a lot more likely now that we know that the kid was not one of a kind,” I say, slightly amused.
She glowers at me with cold eyes. Perhaps I have pushed her buttons, perhaps not. Either way this appointment is a waste. I move for the door, assuming that our meeting is over.
“Did you kill it?” she wonders just as I am about to shut the door behind me.
“That’s a matter of definiton, really—” I attempt.
“Is it alive?” she clearifies her question.
“No,” I sigh, knowing that this is no time for jokes, “it’s not.”
“You got a second chance and you killed this one too?” she gloathes.
I do not dignify her question with an answer. I simply leave the office.
“I’ll inform the Council,” are the last words I hear before leaving her to her papers.
I actually think that is a good thing. Things just got more serious knowing that there is more than one. Since there is a good risk of there being more of them out there I should head out and search for them. Besides, there are better places than the Asylaum for me to be in order to find out more about these abnormalties.
---
At The Bloody Thirst my usual table is available. I sit down and order another cinnamon goat blod drink. It will do me good. I have only just recieved my drink when Jackston walks through the door. He sits down next to me.
“Rough night?” he asks, hinting about my drinking habits.
“Not so far,” I reply. “I got to kill another Reborn-gone-bad and now I’m sitting here with a drink in my hand next to my good friend. Not too bad, right?”
“You faced another one?” he ejaculates in shock. “W-where? When? How? Did you kill it?!”
“Calm down, Jackston,” I say. “It’s not that much of a big deal. It came, I saw, I conquered.”
After having been knocked down twice; some details are better off not shared.
“Not a big deal?” he continues. “It’s a huge deal! That means that there are more of them. That Succubus has to be stopped!”
I nod in agreement. Though I do not share Jackston’s burning enthusiasm I know that something has to be done. The only problem is what – I have no idea where to continue my search and currently my only chance appears to be to hit the street, hoping for another attack and pray that I do not kill another one. It does seem likely that more of them will show up. I doubt that the Succubus is pleased having had two of its Reborns punched, kicked and dusted. She will likely make more. But I still do not get how a Succubus would find those two pitiful excuses for vampires as worthy of Rebirth. Not even a low-life Reborn would make those two vampires.
I sigh in my misery and drink richly from my glass.
“You still don’t have any clues of her whereabouts?” Jackston wonders after having calmed down.
“Nope, not a clue,” I sigh.
“What about Ariane – does she know anything?” he asks and appears to drift of to paradise, just by saying her name.
“No. Sugar-bums is as clueless as I am,” I reply.
I choose my words carefully. I would rather have him annoyed at me than drooling over her.
“Don’t call her that!” he roars.
“Fine, fine,” I say, raising my arms in a defensive position. “I won’t.”
I grin to myself at his reaction. He is like a child protecting his mother. Even though I overall do not like him like this, it has been a long time since he had a crush. I gather I can find some amusement in the situation.
Jackston’s face is red. I cannot tell if it is out anger or if he is blushing while thinking of ‘Sugar-bums’.
“By they way,” I say to break the tense silence. “You don’t have any idea where a Succubus would hang out around here?”
He sits still for a moment, clearly in deep thoughts over the matter.
“No,” he replies after a while. “I don’t think so. London isn’t a very Succubus friendly place.”
“I didn’t think so either,” I agree.
We drift off into our minds, trying to come up with places to hide if being a master seductress with the total pride of ten noble ladies together.
“Did you two say ‘Succubus’?”
“We did,” I answer the bartender.
“I just happened to overhear your conversation,” he says and then leans closer to us to whisper. “I’ve heard rumours of some kind of gathering of women just outside London – powerful women.”
”Vampires, you mean?” Jackston asks curiously.
“Maybe. I hear that they refuse to live beneath the laws of the Asylaum,” he replies.
“Oh, I like them already,” I chuckle.
“Impossible,” Jackston snaps. “Outlaws wouldn’t be allowed so close to the Asylaum!”
“Well, technically they’re not Outlaws. They’ve actually been given permission to live there by the Council, I’ve heard,” the bartender continues.
“Nonsense! The Council would never permit that,” Jackston persists.
“Wait, wait,” the bartender begs now eager to convice Jackston that he’s wrong. “I heard they’re religious – like nuns! And that’s why the Council will leave them be. They are not a threat to humans or vampires. Anyway, I hear that one of the nuns is as attractive as a Succubus.”
Jackston conviction falters, but he still mutters to himself that he still thinks that the Council would not agree to such blasphemy to the Asylaum. I look at him amused. ‘Blasphemy’ seems like an inappropriate word when it comes to nuns.
“So where are these alledged sisters located, my friend?” I ask the bartender, now far more interested at the mentioning of a Succubus.
“In a monastery just west of London, they say,” he replies.
“Who are ‘they’?” Jackston demands, still convinced that the Council has not allowed their existence.
“I–I have my sources,” the bartender stutters.
“What source—”
“Never mind my friend here. Just give me the exact location and we’ll check it out,” I say.
After having recieved the information about the whereabouts of this ‘monastery’ of his, I decide to check it out tonight. And since Jackston seems keen not to admit its existence, I choose to leave him behind. I think that he is having some hormon problems since he met Sugar-bums and cannot really give priority properly. Naturally, anything that can lead us closer to some answers is far more important than whether the Council approve of their existence or not.
---
It is with a concerned mind I travel out of London, partly because I do not like leaving civilization and partly because I do not get along well with religion. Since this might be my only chance of finding the succubus I shall have to take it.
I follow the directions that bartender gave me after a considerable amount of expensive persuasion – money makes even vampires talk. The roads are dark and the fields around me are even darker. I hope that I will find the monastery anyway. Otherwise I might just end up dying here, frozen solid.
I should really get a heater for my car.
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Chapters
Prologue | 1
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Epilogue
