The Vampire Council: Case File:1 (11 page)

‘What’s going on?’ Jacqueline asks.

‘Something to do with his daughter suddenly being ill and being taken to the hospital.’

‘Lying wasn’t he?’

‘Indeed.’ Vaelen sighs.

‘Let’s wrap this up. You get in there. You get the information. But let one of them finish it off.’

‘As you wish ma’am.’ Vaelen exits the room and shuts the door behind him.

Vaelen enters the interrogation room. Will and Katie turn to face him. The man also looks up.

‘Ah shit Vaelen.’ The man begins to squirm in his chair.

Vaelen walks over to the man then suddenly slams his hand around the man’s neck with a tight grip. ‘Right you’re going to answer my two questions aren’t you?’ He asks. The man struggles a nod. ‘Thank you for co-operating. Now question one. Where is your group’s hideout?’ Vaelen slightly releases his grip so the man could answer.

‘That worn down empty warehouse just outside of the city.’ He quietly answers with pain from the choking.

‘Thank you. Question two. Who’s your leader?’

‘I don’t know.’ The man tries to scream in pain but can’t as Vaelen’s grip around his throat tightens crushing his windpipe.

‘You know I don’t like liars.’ Vaelen states as he slightly drops his grip again.

‘I’m telling you the truth. I don’t know.’ Again Vaelen tightens his grip. He jams his thumb so hard into the man’s neck it bursts straight through the skin. ‘Shit!’ He manages to scream.

‘Who is your leader?’ Vaelen asks once more.

‘I don’t know his name. But all I know is he’s a council member.’ The man screams in pain.

Vaelen lets go of the man’s throat and walks back to Will and Katie. ‘Do you have your guns?’ They both nod. Vaelen pauses for a second. ‘Kill him.’

‘No! Wait a minute!’ The man shouts.

Katie backs off slightly towards the door whilst getting out her gun. Will also
get his gun out.

‘I’ve never killed before.’ Will says to Vaelen.

‘Everyone has to have their first time…’ Before Vaelen could finish his sentence, suddenly the man changes to vampire form and leaps at Will. Will quickly pulls the trigger. After the loud bang the man falls back to his chair. The bullet entered the man’s shoulder.

‘Aim for his head or his heart.’ Vaelen instructs Will.

Will’s aim is shaky after the shock of the man leaping towards him. Just as the man begins to leap again, another loud bang is heard as the man’s head suddenly explodes blood and brains from the back all over the wall behind him. Both Will and Vaelen quickly turn to see Katie with her gun raised and smoking. Vaelen turns back and heads towards the man’s dead body, Will stares at Katie in shock. Vaelen looks next to the chair and saw a razorblade. He picks it up. Before getting up he turns the man’s face towards him and notices the entry point of Katie’s shot was dead centre of the man’s forehead. Vaelen gets up and shows Will and Katie the razorblade.

‘I slipped this into his hand whilst he was passed out. That was the first part of the test failed. Always check for items on the body yourself when you enter the room. All of your interrogating skills need more work. But Katie, final test past. Perfect shot too. Will you could learn something from her.’ Vaelen walks to the door and opens it. ‘Anyway job done. You can go home. I’ll get someone to clean this. At some point.’ Vaelen exits.

Katie finally lowers her gun and drops it to the floor and begins to cry. Will walks over to her and opens his arms. She throws herself into him holding his hips as she cries hard into his shoulder. Will wraps his arms around her shoulders looking down to the top of her head.
What the fuck?
Will can’t help but feel confused and slightly scared.

CHAPTER 15:

DIGGING DEEPER

A
s Jeff heads towards the main entrance of the hotel, the thought of whether or not he got away with his lie keeps running through his head. Not only this but he begins to question his morals as he feels terrible for dragging his daughter into his new life full of lies.

             
‘Jeff!’ A female’s voice shouts from behind him. Jeff ignores it as he reaches for the handle of the door. ‘Jeff!’ The shouting continued louder this time which forced Jeff to turn to see who it is that’s calling his name. He turns his head and looks behind him and spots Rita walking at a hurried pace towards him. He lets go of the handle and turns to face her.

‘Sorry Rita I was miles away.’ He says again lying through his teeth.

‘It’s alright. Just wanted to know where you were heading off to, as I have you marked down on the system as performing an interrogation right now.’ Rita states in a formal manner.

‘Oh Vaelen let me go early. Family issue you see.’

‘I hope everything’s alright?’ Rita questions now in a softer tone.

‘Yeah it’s fine. It’s just my daughter comes down with something, and I want to be there for her.’ Jeff shows pain in his face after finishing his
sentence. Lying about his daughter begins to hurt him deeply. Rita spots this and reaches out to grab his hand. She holds his left hand with both of hers, the touch of his skin against hers causes her to begin to blush. She shakes her head to stop these thoughts about Jeff, reminding herself that he’s a happily married man with a child. But she still senses that something is wrong and it’s not what he’s just told her.

‘You don’t have to lie to me you know.’ Rita softly strokes his hand with her thumbs, but stops immediately as Jeff looks into her eyes. She lets go of his hand feeling embarrassed at the fact she thought she had crossed a line. Jeff continues to look into her eyes.

‘I know I don’t.’ He gives out a slight sigh of relief at the fact he has someone he can be honest with. ‘But you have to promise me you wont tell anyone.’

Rita smiles. ‘I promise.’

              Jeff grabs Rita’s hand and pulls her over to a quiet seating area just to the right of the entrance. He lets go as he sits down on a two seat sofa. Rita stands looking awkward. Jeff pats the empty spot next to him. Rita takes a seat turned towards Jeff.

‘I’m going to meet a vampire.’ Jeff says quietly as to not attract attention from anyone walking through the hotel.

‘Which vampire is it? I can look them up on the system to find out what they’re currently up to.’ Rita asks matching Jeff’s voice level.

‘You probably won’t have it on the system. It’s a rouge vampire. Tessa her name is.’

‘Tessa? That name sounds familiar.’ Rita begins to ponder where she had heard that name before. Within a few moments she figures it out. ‘Vaelen asked me to find the file on Tessa.’

Jeff jumps slightly back in shock. ‘Shit. Do you think he knows I’m working with her?’ Jeff quickly turns his head and rubs his temple as he realises the mistake he’s just made.

‘You’re a rogue?’ Rita asks with a lump in her throat.

‘Sort of.’ Jeff runs his hand down his face as he lets out a heavy breath.

‘What do you mean sort of? You either are or you’re not. Do you know the consequences if you are one. I’ll have to change the system and have you marked down as rogue. You’ll be hunted and killed.’ Rita begins to speak quicker and louder as she begins to panic.

‘Rita. Calm down. I’m still on the council’s side. I just need to work with Tessa to sort something out. You don’t need to tell anyone or change anything. No one will hunt me down then.’ Jeff rubs her arm gently as he reassures her.

Rita looks sternly into Jeff’s eyes as she wants answers. ‘Why are you working with Tessa? What’s so important that you associate yourself with rogues?’ Anger builds as she speaks.

Jeff grips her arm tightly to show dominance. ‘I’m taking Dirk down.’

Rita takes in what Jeff just told her and takes a deep breath to calm herself.

‘I need to meet up with Tessa because we’re going to sort him out. Speaking of which, have you heard or seen anything unusual lately?’ Jeff slowly lets go of her arm now he feels comfortable that she’s calmed down.

Rita looks away to think. ‘Apart from Vaelen asking about Tessa, everything’s pretty much been the same. Nothing out of the ordinary.’ She looks back at Jeff.

             
Jeff stands and looks down at Rita who’s still sat. ‘Thank you Rita. That’s all I needed to know. And don’t worry. Everything’s going to be fine. You can trust me on that.’ He gives off a smile before turning and heading towards the main entrance leaving Rita sat on her own. Rita watches Jeff leave the building before getting up off the sofa. Walking back to her front desk she smiles softly to herself thinking about how wonderful Jeff is.

† † † † † † † † † † † † † † † †

              Dark clouds fill the sky over the city. The wind blowing so hard Jeff barely manages to open a door leading out onto the roof of a tall office building. Jeff keeps hold of the door as he spots there’s no handle on the other side of the door and does not wish to be trapped up there. He looks around and notices a piece of broken off concrete on the floor. He reaches out for it and barely manages to grab it whist keeping the door held open. He lodges the piece of concrete in between the door and its frame. The door stays open as he lets go. He looks around and spots Tessa standing on the edge of the roof, he walks fighting against the wind toward her. ‘Why on earth would you say to meet here?’ Jeff shouts as he stops a few metres away from Tessa too scared to get any closer to the edge.

Tessa turns to face Jeff. She jumps from the edge onto the roof and walks up to him. ‘I needed to be somewhere private and out of the way.’

‘Hadn’t you noticed it’s quite windy, even more so up here.’ Jeff shouts.

‘What’s the matter? Scared of heights?’ Tessa smiles as she gives Jeff a kiss on the cheek whilst holding his arm. ‘Poor baby.’

Jeff pulls himself away in anger. ‘Look I’ve told you about this. I’m married…’

‘And have a daughter. Yes I remember. You need to lighten up a bit.’ Tessa laughs. ‘Speaking of which, how are the family?’

Jeff looks at Tessa in slight anger. ‘Like you have any interest into what’s happening in my life.’

‘On the contrary. We’re partners.’ She pauses. ‘I at least have to pretend I have interest.’ Again she laughs.

‘If you must know they’re fine. But I hate all this sneaking around and lying to them.’ Jeff states quickly to cut off Tessa’s laughing.

‘I’m afraid it’s all part of the job. And speaking of jobs. Have you done what I asked?’

‘I spoke to Rita and no. Nothing strange is apparently going on.’ Answered Jeff.

‘Well that’s the strange thing then.’

‘Why so?’

‘Stephanie. A higher up in the council has vanished without a trace. I would’ve thought that’s news worthy enough to be spoken about.’

‘Well Rita didn’t mention anything about a Stephanie.’ Jeff begins to question the integrity of the council as no one seems to know that a high member has suddenly disappeared. ‘You’re right. That is something the council should definitely be worried about.’

‘I doubt many of them have even noticed. No one liked her, including myself. So they probably don’t really care that she’s gone, she was a bitch, I’m quite happy she’s gone to tell you the truth.’ Tessa laughs once more.

‘Forget about your personal hatred towards this woman for a second and think about this. Why has she gone? Where has she gone? Where was she last seen?’ Jeff quickly changing the conversation back to its intended seriousness.

‘Well that last one can be answered. She was last seen entering an apartment building. An apartment building in which our best friend Dirk lives at.’ Tessa states now being more serious.

‘So Dirk has something to do with her disappearance.’

‘I assume so. It could be the first step of his Ana Programme. But I just can’t get close enough to him to find out.’ Tessa looks away from Jeff.
Being as strong as she is the thought of being powerless to one man fills her with shame.

‘I’ll do it.’ Jeff looks at Tessa as the pride builds up within him. Tessa looks back at him. Pauses. Before bursting into a fit of laughter. As quickly as his pride came, it was gone again. Tessa’s cackle stripped it all from him. ‘What’s so funny?’

Tessa calms herself by fanning her face before answering. ‘You really think that’s a good idea. Not only did he almost kill you without lifting a finger. But you don’t have the recon skills to pull off a job like that.’ Tessa looks sternly into Jeff’s eyes to make him realise she’s not joking around with him.

‘There’s got to be something I can do?’ Asks Jeff.

‘There’s nothing more I need from you right now.’ Tessa turns away from Jeff and begins to head back towards the edge of the roof.

‘I think Vaelen is on to us.’ Jeff shouts. This comment catches Tessa’s attention and she stops in her tracks, turns, and walks back towards Jeff.

‘And what makes you say that?’

‘Rita told me that Vaelen was asking about you.’

Tessa smiles. ‘That’s because he wants me. Well I mean who doesn’t.’ She touches Jeff’s face.

Jeff pulls his face away. ‘I’m being serious Tessa. If he finds you, you’ll be dead. And if he finds out I’m working with you, I’ll be killed too.’

‘You’re thinking too much into it Jeff. It’s probably nothing. Just keep your head down, and don’t let anyone know. And I mean it. I suggest you go home. Spend some time with your family. I know that’s what you want.’

Jeff lets out a smile as he thinks about his family. ‘I would like that. But if we’re getting closer to Dirk I want to help.’ Jeff stops suddenly, the pain he felt earlier came back. He could not believe he’d be willing to give up time with his wife and daughter to carry on with his secret life.

‘You’re letting this vampire thing take over your life. I mean it’s natural, we all get like that eventually. But I could always use your help. So if you want to stick around, it’s your choice.’ Tessa looks Jeff up and down and by his body language she has already determined his answer. There’s a pause in the conversation. The only noises that can be heard is the wind blowing violently between them.

‘What would you like me to do?’ Jeff’s face remains stern. The pain he feels inside slowly fades away.

Tessa nods her head. ‘Ok. Well the first thing is that you need some recon training. And combat training as well.’ Without notice Tessa changes into her vampire form. ‘Change. Now.’

Jeff freezes as he tries to guess why Tessa wants him to change to vampire form. But he quickly shrugs it off and closes his eyes. On re-opening his eyes are pure black.

Tessa grabs his arm and leads him to the edge of the building. They both stand on the edge looking down into the street below. Jeff turns his head toward Tessa. ‘What are we doing?’

Tessa pauses. ‘Training starts now.’ Without hesitation Tessa pushes Jeff off the edge. She laughs over the sound of Jeff shouting before jumping off after him.

CHAPTER 16:

ROMANTICISING DEATH

A
new day has broken with yet more dark clouds covering the city. The sky and the streets filled with a heavy down pour of rain. Out from the Ruby Hotel walks Vaelen playing with his car keys. Vaelen looks up at the sky and lets a small moan as the raindrops bounce off his face and bald head. Upon looking down he spots who looks to be Katie standing soaking wet at a bus stop just over the road and to the left of him. He looks to his car parked just to the right of him before looking back at Katie. He puts his keys into his pocket and proceeds to walk across the road to Katie.

‘Katie!’ He shouts over the heavy rain.

Katie turns after hearing her name be called. She spots Vaelen walking up to her. ‘Oh hi Vaelen.’ She says softly.

‘Where are you heading?’ Vaelen leans in closer to Katie so he doesn’t have to shout for her to hear him.

‘I’m going into town to meet Will. Well I would be if the buses were ever on time.’ She replies.

Vaelen pauses for a second looking at how drenched Katie is, and then decides to do the honourable thing. ‘I have my car with me. I can give you a lift.’

‘I wouldn’t want to impose.’ Katie quickly retorts.

‘I’m heading through town anyway. It’ll save you from waiting around any longer.’

Katie looks into Vaelen’s eyes, ‘Only if you don’t mind.’

Vaelen lets off a small smile, ‘It’ll be my pleasure.
Come; let’s get you out of this rain.’

Vaelen leads the way to his car across the street. Katie stops at the passenger side as Vaelen continues around the car getting his keys back from his pocket. He unlocks the car and they both get in. Katie pulls the seatbelt across herself and locks it in. Vaelen puts the key in the ignition and starts the engine. ‘In the glove department there’s a couple of small flannels. Could you pass one here?’ Vaelen asks politely. Katie opens the glove compartment and pulls out one of the flannels and hands it to him. He proceeds to wipe the rain from his face and head. ‘You can use the
other one.’ He says. Katie pulls out the second flannel. As she does she spots a gun resting underneath and jumps slightly. Vaelen quickly looks at her then leans across reaching into the compartment and pulls out the gun. He realises the stock and checks that it’s still fully loaded. Clicks it back in, then puts the safety on. ‘Always handy to keep spares lying around. Never know when you might need them.’ He lets off a smile then places the gun back into the glove compartment. Katie begins to use the flannel to dry her face.

Vaelen looks over at Katie and notices that the rain has made all her makeup run. ‘Pull down the visor, it has a mirror, you may want to look at yourself.’ He says with a slight grin.

Katie does so, and lets out a gasp of shock. ‘Bloody took me ages to do that this morning.’ She says now scrubbing hard with the now damp flannel trying to remove her ruined makeup.

‘You have some makeup on you?’ Vaelen asks as he checks his rear view mirror.

‘Yeah in my bag.’ She answers.

‘I’ll tell you what. I’ll drive carefully, and you reapply it on our way.’

‘Thanks’ Katie smiles at him before opening her bag resting on her lap and rummaging through it to find her makeup.

Vaelen pulls the car out from the curb and begins to head down the road toward the town centre. Vaelen concentrates on the road a little more than he usually would due to the weather conditions.
This mixed with Katie concentrating on her makeup causes the car to be filled with just the noise coming from the car engine. Vaelen then can’t help but feel uncomfortable in the silence. ‘So…’ Is all Vaelen lets out as he desperately tries to think of a topic of conversation. Reapplying her eyeliner Katie replies, ‘Yes.’

Vaelen resorts to talking about the one thing they have in common, the job. ‘How you finding this whole situation?’ Vaelen sighs softly to himself as he realises he’s so out of touch with the younger generation that he can’t even think of one topic of conversation besides work.

‘Yeah, took some getting used to, but I’m slowly coming around.’ Katie replies still focusing on her eyeliner.

Vaelen could tell by her tone of voice that she had more on her mind so decided to probe deeper. ‘Look I’m not just here to protect you. I’m here to guide and look after you. If there’s something on your mind feel free to tell me about it, and maybe I could help.’ Vaelen quickly looks over at Katie and spots her putting down her eyeliner and slumping back in the passenger seat, before looking back at the road.

‘Well I do have one concern.’ Katie says quietly looking down at her feet.

Vaelen could tell where this conversation was heading so he decides to say it first. ‘And this one concern being that you haven’t changed into vampire form yet?’

Katie looks up at Vaelen, ‘Yeah.’

‘I’m not going to lie to you. It is strange. Every new recruit changes the first time within a week. Me and Jacqueline have discussed it, and we’re both unsure as to why it hasn’t happened.’ Vaelen explains.

‘If I can’t change, surely I’m of no use to the organization.’

‘Believe me this has also been discussed. But it’s best we keep you around. First of all because you show promise. I mean look at the way you hit dead centre of that man’s head, whilst he was moving, that’s not only impressive, but phenomenal for someone who’s only just started basic training with a firearm. And secondly, for some unknown reason vampire hunters know you’re part of our little club, so it’s far too dangerous to let you
lose back into the real world.’

‘I understand.’ Katie nods before putting more makeup on.

The tension in the car had risen from that conversation. Vaelen wants to break the tension so decides to become nosey. ‘So you doing all this for him?’ Vaelen asks. Katie smiles to herself. Vaelen notices. ‘I’ll take that smile as a yes. Have you really thought about it though? I mean the kid never knows when to be quiet.’ Vaelen chuckles slightly.

‘I know, but it makes me happy. He makes me happy. I mean he risked his life for me the first day I met him. That’s amazing and incredible.’

Vaelen slows the car as he approaches a red light. He turns to face Katie. ‘Well I’m glad to see there are women out there that appreciate that.’ Vaelen realises he has spoken out of turn, and fears the silent tension shall return. ‘Well I hope it works out for you.’

Katie looks up at Vaelen slightly puzzled. ‘You’re not cold hearted at all are you?’

Vaelen smiles as he puts his foot on the accelerator as the lights change green. ‘Can I let you in on a little secret of mine?’

‘Sure.’ Katie replies.

Vaelen takes a deep breath before continuing to talk. ‘I’m a romantic at heart.’ He chuckles to himself. ‘There’s nothing like the feeling of love to make you feel alive. But I must warn you, it’s never like it is in those romantic comedies you see at the cinema or on television. It’s hard and most of the time it wasn’t meant to be. Something usually always gets in the way of love and breaks it apart. And in our line of work something getting in the way is a high possibility.’

Katie puts all her makeup back into her bag and slumps back into the seat. ‘I know you’re right. But you have to try, don’t you?’ She looks at him.

‘Yes. Definitely.’ He looks back at her and smiles. ‘So whereabouts you meeting him?’

‘Just up here.’ She points towards the end of the road in front of them.

Vaelen leans slightly forward and squints his eyes a little. ‘Yep, I see him.’

Vaelen pulls the car up to the curb. The rain had now stopped and the clouds had started to part letting some natural light flood the streets. Will spots Katie getting out of the car and walks over to it. Vaelen rolls down his window as Katie shuts the passenger door and walks around the front of the car. ‘Hey.’ She says as she gives Will a hug. Will hugs her back and kisses her cheek. As she lets go of the hug Will notices that Vaelen is in the driver seat.

‘Hey Vaelen. Well well well. Look at your ride. Who did you have to suck to get this thing? Get it. Suck.’ Will laughs. Katie smiles as she puts her arm around Will’s waist.

Vaelen sticks his head out of the window. ‘Keep staring at my car and I will personally rip your eyes out and shove them up your arse.’ He says.

Will laughs, ‘You can’t be serious?’

‘Try me.’ Vaelen states sternly.

‘Ok. Goodbye.’ Will quickly turns and walks towards the high street. Vaelen gives Katie a cheeky smile and a wink before speeding off back onto the road. Katie turns and jogs to catch up to Will to spend the day in town with him.

† † † † † † † † † † † † † † † †

              After a full day of shopping and basking in the sunlight Will and Katie decide to call it a day. They head towards the same park in which they were attacked in. They walk hand in hand. Katie is filled with joy after a day spent getting to know Will better and is elated that he seems happy with her too, happy enough to hold her hand. Will turns to Katie just before they arrive at the park. ‘Katie.’ He says softly.

She looks up into his eyes. ‘Yes?’

‘Today has been wonderful. It feels good to just…’ He stops speaking and looks away.

Katie feels as though she knows what he was going to say and finishes his sentence, ‘be normal for a change?’

Will smiles softly and looks into her eyes. ‘That’s exactly it. Ever since all this began, I’ve felt like I haven’t been able to be myself. But being with you, I want to be nothing but myself.’

Katie’s entire body fills with warmth as her heart pounds faster. Without thought she throws herself at Will and holds him. Will wraps his arms around her and holds her tight. With her head buried into his chest she begins to weep. ‘I’m constantly scared for my life.’ She cries.

Will loosens his hug and softly caresses her cheek as he lifts her head to look at him. ‘I promise I will protect you, and everything you hold dear.’ He wipes a tear from her face with his thumb.

‘Thank you Will. For everything.’ She sniffs back her tears and embraces him once again. He wraps his arms around her again, one around her body the other holding the back of her head gently playing with her hair. He kisses the top of
her head before letting go. Katie pulls away and stands beside him once again. They both look on ahead to the park. Will’s head fills with images from the night Leofric appeared and attacked them. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. Katie spots his hurt and grabs his hand tight. From the shock of her hand Will jumps causing him to open his eyes quickly. He looks down at Katie’s hand holding his and smiles. ‘Do you want to make sure you get me home this time?’ Katie jokingly asks to lighten his mood. Will nods and smiles as they begin to walk through the park. Will’s head fills with thoughts about what he had just said.
How could I make that promise to her? Who am I kidding? If it wasn’t for Vaelen that night, we both would be dead. Surely I should think about my own well-being first. But I can’t help but want to be there for this girl, she’s so innocent. What would the council want with someone like her? Furthermore what do they want from me? I’m a failure at everything I do. No I can’t think like that. I’ve been given this burden. A burden it may be. But it’s given me a new purpose, a new power, a new path in which my life can take. I can’t waste it. I shall become a new person. Not just for me, but for the people I care about. I will not allow anything bad to ever happen again.