by Jamie Davis
“You don’t have to ask me twice,” Dean said. The others laughed and joined him as he sat down at the table. It was set for six, which reminded him of Brynne’s absence and Celeste’s departure on their arrival.
“I hope Brynne is alright, James.” Dean gestured to the empty place settings. “Will we see her at all?”
“I don’t think so. To be honest, we are all a little frustrated with the things going on right now, Brynne included. She wants to get back on the street as a paramedic and has been pushing her training beyond normal limits in an effort to do that. That causes some tension when she fails one of the tests Celeste planned for her.”
“You have Celeste doing the training?” Dean asked.
“Yes. It makes more sense to have her do it. Then it doesn’t seem so personal,” James explained. “Brynne had another setback today. Celeste went to see what she could do to manage it with her. I know she’s sorry she can’t be here to see you, but I’ll convey your thoughts on her behalf to her.”
There was an awkward pause following James’ explanation of Brynne and Celeste’s whereabouts. Rudy cleared his throat and changed the subject.
“I’m interested in what you might have discovered through your interactions with the police investigation into the zombie situation, Jaz.”
She gave him a startled look as she was dishing up a plate of food from the buffet line staffed by the waiters. “I would have thought you had your own resources inside the police station, Rudy. You are James’ head of security after all.”
“I do, but I want to compare notes with what I’m seeing and I’m also interested in seeing what your take on the whole situation is.”
Jaz settled herself in a chair with a plateful of food. “To be honest, I’m not that impressed with the local authorities response to the current threat. They are in reaction mode only and haven’t implemented more than the most basic investigation so far.”
Rudy nodded. “That’s been my impression. It’s like they want us to come up with a solution solely on our own and not in concert with them. I keep telling them this is a joint problem but they do not see it that way. My sources say that internally they’re calling this an ‘Unusual problem’ which bothers me on several levels.”
“I’ve heard that response from several top officials in the department,” Jaz said. “I’ve also tried to point out to them how this could spell out a bigger issue than just a few zombie bites. I don’t think they realize the threat to public safety and health if just one of these attacks breaks containment.”
Dean was intrigued. Containment was something with which he and his paramedic colleagues at Station U were involved. He saw the danger there, too. It brought up a question of his own.
“Have they gotten any closer to finding a source for the zombies? From everything I’ve been able to piece together from the patient care reports, none of them are related in any way so it’s not like this is some infectious disease outbreak or something.”
Jaz shook her head. “That is where they are dropping the ball in my estimation. Some things need doing, and it looks like I’m the only one doing them.”
“Like what?” James asked.
“Like taking video surveillance footage from around the scenes where all the incidents occurred and running some basic facial recognition software on them. It would help to identify any potential known threats or individuals associated with the outbreaks. A person is doing this somehow, maybe a patient zero, and we need to identify them. We can also cross-reference the faces after the software completes its cycle. That way we can see if the same face shows up multiple times, which would also be a key indicator if there was such a person involved.”
Rudy put his fork down and looked at Jaz. “That all sounds like pretty sophisticated stuff. Maybe the local police department doesn’t have the resources to do it.”
“They haven’t even tried,” she replied. “I finally got fed up and located all the videos myself. I downloaded all the videos to my laptop. I’m hoping to get a match from the databases our company has put together. That said, it's not as complete or sophisticated as the software the FBI uses. That requires the local law enforcement team’s involvement. They must send in a formal request for a resource allocation. Given the challenges associated with an outbreak like this, I think it would be approved immediately by the FBI.”
“I agree,” Rudy said. “I can’t see the feds wanting this to spread beyond Elk City if it can be helped.”
“I’m not sure they know about it,” Jaz said. “All three of them looked at her in shock. They knew that local news wasn’t covering anything, but that was normal when it came to incidents involving Unusuals. “I get the feeling that the mayor and the chief are both trying to keep a lid on this getting out beyond the city’s resources for some reason.”
“So we are literally on our own here,” James said. “The police won’t do a real investigation, and the leaders won’t call for help. That’s just peachy.”
Rudy asked Jaz a question.
“Where did all the video you’re testing come from?”
“It all came from the locations associated with the outbreaks. The first is from the funeral home’s internal security cameras. I have other footage from the city’s traffic cams, too. It’s all in there.”
“How long do you think it’ll take to run through the whole process?” Rudy asked. “Celeste might be able to help. I think she could speed it up with the resources here at Nightwing if you wanted to share the data.”
“I have my laptop running initial facial comparison first from all the videos. That’s to see if the same person pops up at more than one of the locations. It’s in my bag over there. I never leave it alone. It’s running even when closed up and will ping my phone when completed. Which reminds me, James, may I plug in and keep the battery charged up while we eat?”
“Certainly,” their host said. “Just use the power strip under my desk over there.” He pointed to a work area setup on the other side of the room.
Jaz took another bite the pasta dish she was eating and got up to plug in her laptop.
Dean looked at Rudy.
“What about you guys?” Dean asked. “Have you any ideas about what could be causing the outbreaks? We’ve been reading all the lore in our library at the station but can’t seem to come up with anything. They all start the same. A recently deceased corpse animates and goes all ‘Night of the Living Dead’ on people nearby, usually at a funeral or medical facility like a nursing home. Then once we contain things, they seem to come around and act like the sentient zombies we’re used to. They’re a little surprised at their change in circumstances but otherwise acting normal.”
Both James and Rudy shook their heads. James lifted his cup of fresh blood and sipped before he answered. “We’re as stumped as you are. For a zombie to act the way we’ve seen, there usually needs to be a sorcerous individual around controlling them to override their normal human natures. From everything we’ve been able to determine, there’s nothing connecting the various victims to any common source. They’re all different.”
A chime sounded from across the room where Jaz was looking at her laptop screen. Dean looked over in her direction.
“What was that, Jaz?”
“The program stopped running because it found a match. There’s a video match between the same guy at both the first funeral home video recording and on the library’s internal cameras from earlier today.”
“Really?” Dean and James said as one. They got up and went over to the desk. Rudy beat them there. He saw the face on the two images first, captured side by side.
“Well, shit.”
James walked around and looked over his second’s shoulder. “An apt exclamation, my friend,” the vampire lord said as he saw the images. “This explains a lot. It opens up a lot more questions as well.”
Dean saw the screen last of all and gave a curse under his breath, too. Jaz looked at all three of their faces and then back a
t the screen. She looked puzzled.
“Obviously you all recognize the guy,” she said. “Care to fill a gal in?”
James gave her a surprised look.
“I’m surprised you don’t recognize him. Don’t you all have your own database of most-wanted or something like that?”
“I haven’t run the second recognition software algorithm on the database; just the video comparison program has run so far.”
“There’s no need to run the other software,” Dean said. “That, Jaz, is Errington public enemy number one. That’s Artur Torrence.”
Chapter 7
Jaz stared at the laptop screen for what seemed like an eternity. She was oblivious to the others in the room, focusing her entire attention on the screen. She wanted to take as much time as she needed to memorize every feature and nuance of that face so she’d recognize it again. This wasn’t just the creature who had destroyed so many Errington clan lives over a thousand years before; he was the one who had ordered her entire family killed in the bombing of their headquarters less than a year before. He’d succeeded in killing everyone but herself. The Errington database probably had a picture or some sort of representation of him in the files somewhere. She’d never paid much attention to that aspect of her investigation, instead of trying to track him down in her free time via a paper trail of some sort. Now he had come back to Elk City to operate his schemes again, right under her very nose.
She let loose a feral growl low in her throat that got a reaction from both of the Unusuals in the penthouse, though it was too quiet for Dean’s human ears to pick up. She knew that both Rudy and James heard it because they both shot looks in her direction when she did it. This was the man responsible for so much hurt, not just in her life, but in countless other lives over the years. Erringtons had been tracking and hunting this individual for centuries, ever since the newly turned vampire had rampaged through their village, killing people for sport and not just to feed. It was then that their earliest hunters were commissioned and given their task of tracking the one true enemy of their clan.
She knew that Artur had been involved in so much here in Elk City over the years, especially in the last few. He had tried to overthrow James as the overlord of the Elk City region time and again. Most recently, he’d opened a portal to hell itself to take and destroy the Eldara angel Ashley Moore who had also long been a thorn in his side if Jaz’ ancestors’ journals were correct. Now he was back to do what?
“What the hell’s he doing back here?” She had said it before she realized she’d spoken aloud.
“He’s one who doesn’t take well to those he considers lesser beings defying him,” James suggested. “I suspect he’s back to take revenge against you and Dean for your efforts to oppose his plans.”
Jaz turned and looked at the vampire lord. “Dean says you let him stay here the last time he was in town even though he had actively worked to overthrow you in the past?”
James nodded. “You must understand. There are protocols to be followed in our world.”
Rudy jumped in to deflect Jaz from his boss. “Better to keep him close where he can’t do any overt harm, right? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
“If I had him that close, I’d stake him,” Jaz said. Dean saw her hand absently pat the pocket of her leather jacket. He had assumed she was carrying her usual firearm load. Did she also have a sharpened stake in that shoulder holster rig somewhere? He was sure Rudy and James noticed the unconscious gesture as well.
“Look, this isn’t all bad news,” Dean said trying to defuse the situation.
They all turned to look at him as if he were crazy.
“Bear with me here,” he said. “Think about it. If we know he’s behind all of this then we can start looking for him. We can also make some assumptions about his motives and methods. Let’s try and make this an advantage and not a negative. Knowledge is power, right?”
James smiled at him and nodded. “Dean’s right. Let us go back and sit and enjoy the rest of our meal while we ponder this development. The presence of Artur back in our city is concerning but, as Dean pointed out, now we know. Come sit.”
The four of them returned to the table and sat down. No one did much eating, though. James did finish his mug of blood, but he didn’t get up to fetch more. Dean figured he didn’t want what he had to get cold. After a few minutes of silence, Jaz pushed back from the table and rose.
“James, I thank you for your hospitality. I hope this continues to be a fruitful collaboration for us all. I need to go and work on some things. This news about Artur has implications I didn’t expect.”
Dean got up when Jaz did. He was her ride after all. He shrugged at the other two as James and Rudy rose as well.
“You’re welcome here anytime, Jaz. I have enjoyed your company and your input into our current problem. Let’s work to make sure this collaboration is not just a one-time thing.”
Jaz shook hands with James and then Rudy, as well, and started toward the door. Dean shrugged again and waved at the two Unusuals as he followed her out.
The ride back to Jaz’s apartment was quiet. Dean put the radio on to fill the void as he drove. Jaz stared out the side window and didn’t say anything for the entire ride.
Dean pulled up in front of her building and found a parking spot on the street. He knew what this new revelation must mean to her. Artur was responsible for the deaths of her parents and brothers. The return of the vampire lord opened up wounds for him, too. Artur had been responsible for turning his mentor against him, the deaths of countless people in the Barrens fire, and eventually even took his Ashley away from him. He had moved on from the latter, sort of, but the hurt was still there. This monster had a lot to answer for.
“Jaz, we’ll get him. He’s made a mistake, and he’ll make more. I know it’s possible to stop him. We’ll use his own overblown self-confidence to catch him, just as we’ve done in the past.”
“You don’t understand, Dean. He always gets away. We’ve been tracking him for centuries through countless encounters where we thought we were close and he’s always slipped through our fingers. We’ve stopped his infernal plans, but in the end, he always manages to get away. What’s going to make this time different?”
“Because he’s lined up too many enemies in one place this time. He’s a fool to come back here and confront us all like this.”
She turned to look at him, and he saw the tears welling in her eyes. He reached out for her and pulled her close. She buried her face in his shoulder and returned his embrace. The two of them stayed like that for a while, and Dean savored the closeness, noticing things like the floral scent of her hair and the soft sound of her breathing.
Jaz released the embrace, and Dean let go, too. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and twisted the rear-view mirror to look at her reflection in the glow of the streetlights.
“Damn, I don’t need to go in there with puffy, red eyes. The doorman will be all curious about my wellbeing, and that’s so awkward.”
“We can sit out here as long as you like. I’ve got nowhere else to be right now,” Dean offered.
She fished around in her purse and pulled out a pair of aviator’s mirrored sunglasses. Dean laughed, and she looked at him.
“What?”
“You’re not going to wear them, are you? It’s nine o’clock at night.”
“If I wear these when I go in, no one will notice I’ve been crying.”
Dean chuckled again. “You’re worried about what they’ll think about you if you look like you’ve been crying but you’ll go in there looking like some movie star diva, and that’s okay. You slay me, Miss Errington.”
“You don’t think I’ll do it?”
“No, I don’t,” Dean answered.
“Fine. Put this thing in park, and you can come up with me. You’ll see. No one will say a word to me as I walk by if I wear these.”
Dean turned off the truck and unlocked his door. He c
limbed out and walked around to her side. She climbed out as he arrived and slid the sunglasses on. Dean could see the reflection of the overhead streetlights in them as she walked past him towards her apartment building’s entrance. He fell in behind her and tried hard to look like her security escort. Might as well play it up for their audience, he thought.
The doorman pulled the door open for her as she walked up and nodded without a word as she passed him to enter the lobby. Dean followed with a nod of his own to the man holding the door for the two of them. Jaz had already pushed the elevator button, so there was only a few seconds’ wait before the doors opened.
Once they arrived upstairs, Jaz unlocked her apartment door and stepped inside before she flung off the sunglasses and laughed. He liked the way she could be so mercurial. One minute she was a ball of negative emotion about finding the man who’d killed her family, and the next, she was strutting past her doorman like some Hollywood starlet, loving every minute of it. Dean walked the rest of the way into her apartment and shut the door, smiling at her.
“That was fun,” Dean admitted.
“I needed that,” Jaz replied. She pulled off the baseball cap she wore and let down her ponytail, sliding the elastic hair band over one wrist. Her blonde locks fell past her shoulders.
Dean watched her take off her jacket and hang both it and her ever-present shoulder holster weapons rig up on a coat rack by the door. Dean was struck again by his attraction to her. They were opposites in so many ways, yet that opposition seemed to be part of the appeal. He felt like she filled the gaps in his strengths when they were together. He wondered if she felt the same way.
She started towards the kitchen and looked over her shoulder.
“Do you want something to drink or eat? I thought we could hang out and go over the rest of the video footage tonight and see if Artur pops up in any of the other scenes.”
Dean smiled. “That would be great. How about a beer?”
“I’ve got an excellent local microbrew pale ale, will that do?”