Agent Grace locked her jaw but stepped back. Tomes nodded. “It might be wise to consult the king. If he’s dealt with this in the past, he may be able to give us some insight. When can we meet with him?”
Levi shook his head. “You can’t. Only the King’s Guard can.” He left it at that and looked to Victor. “Meanwhile, let PIB do their job. I’ll come back with news by dawn.”
“We’ll check in with previous lovers to see if they know anything about the marks.” Tomes nodded. “Thank you for the help.’
Levi wasn’t sure they’d be so thankful if the King ended up taking the case.
“I’m going to accompany Levi to petition the King’s Guard,” Grayson said.
They both knew he was actually going because he was part of the council, but the others in the room would remain blissfully unaware of that.
There was a grumble of agreement around the room, and Levi and Grayson disappeared, meeting each other at the old mansion that acted as the meeting place for the council.
Levi looked to Grayson. “Call the others. This has Ira written all over it.”
“I didn’t think he’d be that rash. It’s literally right outside your territory.”
For years Ira swore he’d get revenge on Levi, and now it seemed like his brother was going full speed ahead with his plans. He texted Mario to get here ASAP. He walked down the hallway that led to the meeting room. What on earth was Ira getting at. All the experiments had failed. No new turn in technology would make hybrid creatures. Levi knew exactly what these blood-starved were. Failed experiments.
“He’s testing us. He’s waiting to see what he can get away with.” Levi took his seat at the large round table. One by one, council members walked in. Mario being the last.
Levi glanced at him. “Something going on?”
“No, I was just in the middle of something.” He coughed to cover up a smirk and then took his seat.
Levi chuckled and then folded his hands on the table. “Thank you for coming on such short notice. It’s possible that Ira has brought his experiments back to the States.”
Everyone exchanged glances. Grayson nodded. “Everything lines up right. We’re looking at expecting at least five other victims to even the numbers out. Signs of uncontrolled feedings. Everything that Ira’s experiments showed ten years ago. There’s a map made that’s been tracking blood-starved vampires across the state. The tracking leads to this new case.”
“Can we take the case? Do you think the PIB council will allow that?”
Levi shook his head. “No, there’s a rookie on the case. They don’t like it when we interfere when there’s someone new. They tend to question things and start digging.”
Everyone was silent for a moment. Levi broke it after letting them have a few minutes to think. “I propose that Grayson and I work on it with the PIB agents, and we bury what we can about who’s behind it. Take out the minion that’s feeding off the victims, and let it fade away from PIB’s mind.”
It was a risk, but Ira was the King’s case, and it had been for a decade. Back before Ira had discovered Levi was king.
Everyone agreed, and just as they came, one by one they disappeared without a word. But at least they were all on the same page now. Grayson and Mario stayed behind.
Mario looked at Grayson. “You have him covered until the end of the case?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he stays in check and keeps his emotions under control.”
Levi stood. “I am not a child. I have a clear head with this. So let’s get back and let PIB know we are just consulting on this case.”
“And if you face Ira?” Mario asked. “Can you hold yourself together long enough not to attack him?”
He hadn’t seen Ira in a decade. Last he’d seen him, Ira was still stronger than Levi. Underhanded, sneaky, and flat-out powerful would mean death if Levi attacked. Assuming Ira was still stronger.
“I’ve grown in power over the decade.” He clenched his fist. “But yes. Ira likes to play games, though he won’t show himself to me, yet. He’ll want to toy with me.”
“You can’t depend on that. His sanity is questionable.” Mario shook his head. “Trusting him to stay the same is a gamble we really can’t afford.”
“We have to because I’m not strong enough to face him yet, and if I do kill him now, our maker will come after him and us…” Levi visibly shuddered. “Him we cannot face right now for sure. If we face Ira, I’ll try to get him to a containment unit until we figure out what to do with him.”
The other two vampires remained quiet. They knew the consequences they’d face. His maker would not hesitate to burn the whole territory down if Levi killed Ira. And if his maker knew about Abigail…he didn’t want to think about it.
“Shall we go back then?” Grayson finally broke the silence. “We know how PIB hates to be kept waiting.”
Levi nodded. “Yes, let’s see if we can find this minion and at least stop that.”
Mario nodded. “I’ll return to the territory.”
Levi took himself back to the PIB location. They were sitting at the table with each image laid out and new notes scribbled on the papers that the Agents had shown him before.
“That was quick.” Tomes stood. “The king taking over?”
Levi shook his head. “No, he does request that you allow us to work with you on this case.”
“We can do that. Agent Grace called any known lovers that we had on file. None of them were into kinky sex.”
“At least none that required cuffs.” Grace shook her head. “So we’re back at square one.”
No, they weren’t. That confirmed what Levi was thinking. These people were experiments at one point or were hostages for feeding.
“Where were the bodies found?”
“Scattered over the city, park, graveyard, parking garage, and the middle of the street.” Grace found another piece of paper and flipped it around for him to see.
“Nothing in common in the locations. Have either of you tried a tracking spell to see if they were ever in the same place?” Abigail had managed interesting things with her magic.
Tomes nodded. “Yes, but it turned up nothing.”
Levi handed the paper over to Grayson. He looked over them. “What clearance do you two have for PIB?”
“Sector three.”
The same that Abigail was on. Which meant they couldn’t access anything about Ira or the King without redacted names and details.
“Okay, I’m sector five. I’ll run these through the system.” Grayson motioned to the closed laptop on the table. “May I?”
Grace nodded. “Go ahead. I’m logged out. You should be able to get into the PIB virtual network with your login.”
Grayson basically waved her off as he went to work on the computer.
“Why is his clearance higher than ours?” Tomes asked pacing the room while Grayson worked.
“I’ve worked cases for the vampire king before. It helps with the PIB clearance,” he said without looking up from the screen.
“Okay, so it turns out that our five victims do have something in common.” He looked at Levi over the top of the laptop.
Everyone in the room waited for him to continue.
“They all were in the PIB academy the same year. They all dropped out.”
Tomes let out a whistle. “Well isn’t that interesting. Academy reunion bring them together?”
“No, I don’t know what brought them together.” Grayson logged out of the computer. He pulled out his phone and started texting someone. “Now, we have a vampire to find.”
“We have no clues.”
Levi’s phone went off, and he grabbed it out of his pocket and looked down at the message from Grayson.
‘All five victims were called for a job interview with PIB, original files says that it was falsified.’
But why would that information be classified? Levi stuck his phone in his pocket and looked over the group. “We start by going back
to where you found the bodies. We’ll split up, Grayson with me, and you two.”
Tomes was about to protest, but Grayson held up his hand. “Remember, Agent Tomes, I am also PIB.”
The other agent nodded, but he gritted his teeth together probably to keep from protesting.
Agent Grace grabbed her bag. “Come on, it’s going to be a long night.” She headed out of the room, and Agent Tomes followed her without a word.
The three vampires left in the room remained silent for a few minutes. Levi looked at Victor. “The king sends his regards and thanks you for working with us.”
“Of course he does, it’s not like I have much choice. PIB crawling all over, a vampire that I can’t find to take out.” He growled. “We’re talking about one vampire here.”
“We’re talking about a blood-starved vampire who probably acts more like an animal than anything else right now.” Levi sighed. “And he may be getting help from someone.”
“What do you make of the strap marks?” Victor asked.
“My guess is they were being kept hostage. We need to know if there are large abandoned houses, any place someone could set up without being noticed.” Levi crossed his arms. “Something with a basement or anything like that?”
Victor thought for a moment. “There’s an old 1800’s hospital on the outskirts of town. I’ve made sure to check it for activity. There’s nothing there.”
“Let me ask you something, do you trust Agent Tomes and Agent Grace?” Levi met the other vampire’s gaze. “Or are they the type of PIB agents we need to watch our backs from?”
“Grace is a newbie. She’s been assigned to Tomes so she can learn the ropes. And Tomes has been on the force for a while. He’s a good man, helps keep the territory clean.”
That was reassuring. “Okay, thank you. Come on Grayson. Let’s go check out the first location.”
The two of them left the house. When they were far enough away, Grayson looked at Levi. “We’re not going to the house, are we?”
Levi shook his head. “No, we’re going to the hospital.”
“Do you think Victor is stupid enough to miss something?”
“I think that Ira is smart enough to hide and play his cards right. That’s all.” He took himself to the hospital.
Levi waited for Grayson to appear beside him. He looked over the crumbling gray walls of the old hospital. All the windows were broken out, leaving only rusting metals bars over the open rectangles, making it look more like an asylum than a regular hospital.
Grayson appeared next to him and took in the area. “Well, isn’t this just peachy?” he muttered. “Do you think anything is in there?”
“We know what we’re looking for. Victor does not. So let’s get this over with and see if this is someplace that Ira has set up at.” Levi walked up to the building, taking in the graffiti-covered gray bricks. He wondered if the territory leader had actually come here himself or sent someone to take a look.
“I wonder why they haven’t knocked this place down yet?”
Levi snorted. “Maybe because they are afraid of ghosts.”
“Ghosts?” Grayson raised a brow. “Do you believe in ghosts, Levi?”
He paused for a moment and thought about the feeling he got when he visited Elizabeth’s old home. “I do believe in ghosts.”
Grayson shook his head and stepped over the broken boards that had once blocked the entrance of the hospital. “I suppose ghosts could exist.”
“Some people have the sixth sense, and they are very convincing when it comes to ghosts.” Levi chuckled. “Maybe we should see if PIB has a person we could borrow for this. Maybe the spirits here could tell us if Ira has visited them.”
A moan broke through the silence of the abandoned hospital. Both Levi and Grayson froze and looked at each other. The groan didn’t sound human, but it didn’t quite sound like a blood-starved vampire either.
Levi jerked his head for them to continue down the entry hall. Using their ability to teleport further in would be handy, but there was no telling what kind of trouble they might appear in the middle of. Especially with the groaning coming from down the hall.
“I smell death,” Grayson muttered next to Levi. “As in rotting death.”
He smelt it too. It wasn’t the smell of vampire. It was the smell of decaying bodies. A lot of them. Another groan came, this time followed by another one. They turned the corner and found humans shambling down the halls. Arms outstretched. But these weren’t humans anymore.
Skin clung to bones barely hanging on. Eyes were gone, sunken into sockets of skulls that should no longer have hair or skin. Shreds of clothing clung to flesh on ribs. They slowly came towards Levi and Grayson at the end of the hall.
Levi’s eyes widened. “Zombies.”
“A necromancer.” Grayson nodded. “Not something I was expecting to find.”
Levi agreed, but if there were zombies here, then there was something to find. “They’re slow-moving.”
“Right, I’ll see you on the other side of them.” Grayson disappeared, and Levi followed.
The zombies slowly turned around.
“What do you know about necromancers?” Levi asked as they continued down the hall, not worried about the creatures behind them.
Grayson shrugged. “They put their power into corpses and control them. Kill them, and the zombies stop. Zombies have to have orders to really do anything.”
They looked back behind them as the zombies seemed to have started attacking each other. Grayson shook his head. “I don’t think they have clear orders.”
“Looks that way. Now, let’s go to the basement.” Levi pointed to a stairwell that was blocked by some old beds, almost as if someone was trying to stop people from going down.
Both he and Grayson shivered. The beds creaked and moved away from the stairs on their own. “Zombies and ghosts. Maybe we should call PIB.”
“And explain to them why we are double-checking their work? I am PIB, Levi.” Grayson took a couple quick steps to take the lead.
“You’re PIB and you don’t believe in ghosts?” Levi followed him toward the stairs.
Grayson shook his head. “In all my years being alive, until this moment, I have not seen anything that has told me ghosts might exist.”
They stepped up to the stairs, and the metal under their feet started to creak. They both transported themselves to the bottom and into the entry of a long, pitch-black hallway. Had Levi not been a vampire, he would have turned away and left.
Even he could feel that this darkness held something sinister.
Grayson stood next to him. “I remember a feeling like this.”
“It’s the feeling of a lot of death. I smell corpses, and I don’t think these are animated.” Levi followed the hallway. “I’m willing to bet Victor’s scout didn’t come down here. No one in their right mind would walk down this hall.”
“And yet, here we go.”
Levi nodded. “We need to know if Ira has been here. The only way to confirm that is to find a lab.”
“Well let’s find our corpses then.” Grayson opened a door and paused. “Oh my god, Levi.”
He looked over Grayson’s shoulder and saw bodies upon bodies spread over the unfinished room. They walked further in and found that the room took up the entire length of the basement. Levi bent down and examined one of the bodies. Decay had set in, but the basement was secure enough from elements that the body was also partially preserved.
“Call the council and let’s get our people in here. I want the cause of death on these bodies.” He stepped away from the corpse. “I’m betting this was Ira, and I’m willing to bet he’s moved his lab somewhere else with new victims.”
Grayson nodded and disappeared. Levi looked around one more time. At least fifty bodies were stacked up on each other. He shook his head and took himself away from the scene. They would have to go on like everything was normal because this would be part of the King’s case, not PIB’s. Just anot
her thing to look forward to when he got home. More work.
Agent Grace and Agent Tomes were waiting when Levi arrived back at the house. Both of them stood there with their arms crossed. Levi nodded to them.
“So, turns out that you were correct about the hospital.” The lie came easily to him. “With the exception of the zombies we found.”
Everyone straightened just a little at that. “That would mean there is a necromancer around.” Grace shook her head. “There shouldn’t be one in this area.”
“I haven’t approved one.” Victor rubbed his chin. “But raising zombies at the hospital makes sense.”
Tomes was oddly quiet during the conversation. “I’ll inform another PIB department.”
Grayson appeared. “No need to, I’ve already handled it.”
“This is our district, not yours.” Agent Grace put her hands on my hips. “You can’t just poke around and handle things without talking to us.”
“I felt that this was a priority, and didn’t want to waste time discussing jurisdiction. Your district, but I have superiority here because of my rank.” His voice left no room for them to challenge him. That’s why it was nice to have a PIB agent when they were consulting for the king.
“What did you two discover while we were gone?” Levi asked to break up the tension.
“Nothing new.” Tomes shrugged. “This is why we called for back up.”
Levi counted to ten in his head. “Okay, then we’ll start asking around the vampires and see if anyone has a clue as to who is doing this.”
“Think they’ll be more willing to talk to you?” Tomes asked. “We’ve talked, we’ve looked around, we’ve done everything we can to catch this guy.”
“I’m a vampire, they’ll trust me more than you.” Levi met his gaze. “You’ll be wise to remember that you’re working with a king’s guard.”
Tomes snorted. “I’m not scared of your king.”
Levi looked to Victor “A bit mouthy isn’t he?”
“He doesn’t like when people threaten him.” Victor shrugged.
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