by Peter Glenn
“Just let me see your injuries,” Charmaine pleaded.
She reached out, and her fingers grazed my injured side. I winced and recoiled instantly. “Sorry.” She tried to prod me again, but I flinched out of the way before she could. “Sorry.” After the second attempt, she let it drop.
I shrugged, and another wave of pain ran through me, but I grinned through the wince, hopeful that she wouldn’t notice. “It’s okay. But maybe it’s a little more than nothing.”
“Are you sure I can’t do anything for it? I brought some creams with me.” She rummaged around in her purse and produced a small jar. “It’s no healing bourbon, but it should help you heal a little faster.”
I almost said yes, then I remembered the pain from her even gently touching my wounded side and shook my head. “Maybe in a little while, when I have some painkillers in my system.”
Charmaine brightened and nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
We sat in silence for a few moments, watching the cars go past and people mill about around the entrance to the precinct. After the hectic rush of the past twenty-four hours, it was kind of nice.
I tried to put myself in Charmaine’s shoes. This whole thing must be really rough on her. She didn’t seem like the helpless type of girl as a rule, but at every step of this case, her efforts had been stymied. Even now, she could only barely help with the injuries I’d suffered from keeping her safe.
Must be hard.
“So why are we waiting here again?” Charmaine asked a moment later.
“We’re waiting for them to finish booking Knit Cap girl,” I told her.
Charmaine scrunched her nose. “Whatever for?”
“Excellent question.” I tried to grin at her, but it came out wrong. “The protesters had signs similar to what we found at the crime scene. I want to ask her about them. See if there’s a connection.”
“Ah,” Charmaine said, nodding again. “Makes sense. So how long will it be before–”
“Damian Xiang?” A voice called out from the entrance to the precinct.
I turned my head to meet the new voice. It belonged to a tall, Indian police officer. He looked to be around thirty.
“Yes?”
The police officer walked toward me, hand extended. “My name is Dharmik Negii. I understand you do not want to press charges against your assailant, Miss…” he looked down at a clipboard he was carrying. “Piper Williams?”
“Is that her name?”
“Well, it’s what’s on her driver’s license, at least.” He gave me a weak smile.
“That’s right,” I told him. “She may be misinformed, but no one should have to spend their life behind bars just for being an idiot.”
Dharmik chuckled. “You’re a nicer man than I am, Mr. Xiang.”
I doubted that. In reality, there were certain things involved in filing charges that were difficult for people like me. Things like giving out your IDs and showing up to court. Way too much hassle for a mere scuffle.
Besides, I was hoping to use my new kindness to my advantage.
“Thank you, officer, but I’m just hoping she’s learned her lesson,” I said.
“I hear you, Mr. Xiang. Is there anything else we can assist you with? It’s not too late to call an ambulance to look at those injuries.” Dharmik craned his head to look toward where two ambulances were waiting. One of them had a guy on it already. Ski Mask, I thought. Part of me wondered how long it would take before they connected the two assaults.
Hopefully a while.
“That won’t be necessary.” I waved my hand dismissively. “But is there any way I could talk to Piper for a minute? Not in any official capacity, of course. You can have a guard there with me, if you want. I just… I want to know why she hates my friend so much.”
Dharmik’s eyes darted around for a second. “That’s irregular at best, Mr. Xiang, but I suppose I don’t see the harm in it.”
My lips split into a wide grin. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
“This way,” Dharmik said, leading the way onward. “I’ll take you to her.”
I got up, ignoring the pangs in my side as I did so, and half-limped after the officer, motioning for Charmaine to follow me inside. We made our way into the precinct and right past the front desk clerk, which thankfully was someone different from the night previous. My little lawyer shtick could stay buried in the past, thank you very much.
Dharmik weaved his way through a sea of desks over toward the holding tank. He said something I didn’t catch to the guard in front of it, and a few moments later, we were headed to an interrogation room.
I took my seat quickly to keep from folding and motioned for Charmaine to sit next to me, thinking about how familiar this all felt.
A couple minutes later, a guard brought in Piper and sat her down in front of us. Since I wasn’t pressing charges, she didn’t have any shackles on her, though I was pleased to note that she had several scrapes and a big bruise forming on the side of her face.
“They said you’re not pressing charges,” Piper muttered, her face down and eyes looking away from me.
I huffed. “Yeah, well, being stupid isn’t a crime.”
“Well, don’t think that means I forgive you,” Piper spat, glaring at Charmaine.
“My, what a temper,” I replied. “I can always change my mind, if you like.” I told her, putting my hands behind my head. I moved them quickly, though, because the move hurt more than it should have. I settled instead for clasping them in my lap and eased against the chair for stability.
“Humph,” Piper growled. “Do what you want. I don’t care.”
I eyed her curiously. So much fire. So much anger in her gaze. And for what? We’d done nothing to her.
“Yeah, well, like I said, I don’t believe in putting people in jail for being stupid,” I repeated with a sigh.
“How can you live with yourself?” Piper asked suddenly in that same accusing tone. She was still staring at the floor, though I could see her nostrils flaring.
“Come again, now?” I asked.
“I said, how can you live with yourself, harboring that… thing?” She shot an evil glare at Charmaine as she said the last bit.
“She has a name, you know!” I spat at Piper. “It’s Charmaine, by the way.”
“You’re on a first name basis with that murderer?” She raised her head and her eyes were wild and filled with that same righteous anger from before. “How can you even call yourself a human?”
“Hey!” I fired back. “I’m the only reason you’re not facing a prison sentence right now! I’d show a little more respect if I were you!”
“Throw me in jail!” Piper shouted, throwing her arms wide. “At least I’ll be safe from creeps like her!”
I started to get out of my seat, but Charmaine restrained me. “It’s okay, Damian. We shouldn’t have expected any better from her type. Let’s just go.”
“No, it’s not okay,” I insisted. “You shouldn’t have to put up with that kind of blatant xenophobia.”
“It’s all right, Damian.” Charmaine sighed. “She’s right, you know. I’m not innocent. I have killed people before.”
Piper balked, looking satisfied. “She admits it! See? They can’t be trusted!”
“But,” Charmaine continued, “it’s been years since I’ve done anything of the kind, and I’ve atoned greatly for my crimes.”
“Pfft!” Piper sneered. “Like your kind can even feel!”
Charmaine regarded Piper from a moment, then shook her head. “It’s no use, Damian. She’s too far gone in her own beliefs to listen to any kind of reason.”
I gave Piper a good, hard look. In her current state, Charmaine was right. There was no way she’d demean herself to help a vampire. But I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. I had to pry further. For Daequan’s sake.
“Just a second,” I told Charmaine. I got up shakily to my feet so I was looming over Piper, and placed my hands down on the tabl
e to steady myself. “Why do you hate vampires so much? Who did you lose?”
“Humph.” Piper folded her arms across her chest and looked away from me. “What do you know?”
“I’d figured as much,” I said in as kind a voice as I could muster. “That kind of hatred only comes from loss. And trust me, I know all about that.” I sat back down and tried to look as relaxed as possible. “Who was it? Your mother? Your father? Who did the vampires kill?”
Piper snorted and kept her eyes trained to the wall beside her. For a moment, I thought my gambit had been unsuccessful, but slowly, I saw her start to shuffle and squirm as the truth fought to reveal itself.
“Brother.” The singular word crossed her lips, coming out as barely a whisper, even fainter than before. “I-it was my brother.” Her voice grew stronger with every word, and I could see the pain streak across her face as she relived the memory. “His name was Liam.”
My heart sank to the floor as I felt the pain along with her in that moment. I opened my mouth to speak, but it was Charmaine that spoke first.
“I’m sorry,” she said, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I’m truly, deeply sorry that you lost someone you obviously cared so much about.”
Piper looked up from the ground at her. Fresh tear trails ran down her cheeks, as well. “What would you know of pain and loss, anyway?”
“More than you can imagine,” Charmaine said. She choked on the next words. “I had a brother, too, once.”
“You… you did?” Piper’s fury started to die down as she stared at the object of her hatred in a new light.
Charmaine nodded. “I did. We were the best of friends. But when the plague came for our village, I was the one who got spared.” She bit back fresh tears that threatened to overwhelm her as she went into the tale. “I’d begged the Lord to save him. To save my little brother and spare him such a painful death. But alas, fate isn’t that nice. Or at least it wasn’t to me. I had to sit by and watch him die, little by little, as disease and starvation ate away at the last of his sanity.”
She wiped away another tear and paused for a moment before continuing. “In the end, he didn’t even know who I was anymore. It was only after that the vampires came, offering their version of a cure. I leapt at the chance to live on and made it my life’s goal to find a real cure for the plague. Day and night, I searched and searched for years, hoping to keep other families from suffering the same fate as mine. It was my way of honoring my brother’s memory.
“We found the cure, too, though it took many years longer than I would have thought possible. But now my brother’s soul can finally rest in peace, even if I had to damn mine in the process.” She let out a long sigh. “But it was worth it. If even one family was spared, it was worth it.”
Her tale was moving. I’d never heard why she’d become a vampire to begin with. I’d always assumed she was bitten or something, but to hear the tale spill out of her like that left me feeling sad and empty.
And I was no stranger to loss. I’d lost several people in my time on this rock. Some of them had hurt. But her tale was sadder than most.
It left me thinking about my own estranged brother. Unlike Charmaine and Piper, my brother Taio was still alive and kicking. The only reason I wasn’t talking to him was… what now? Suddenly, I couldn’t remember. It was all so stupid and basic anyway. When this case was over, I resolved to give him a call. Open that channel back up. It had been years. Too many long, lonely years. It was time to heal.
“How did it happen?” Charmaine asked Piper as my thoughts were snapped back to the present. “With your brother?”
Piper wiped her nose and sniffed. Her words came slowly at first, then snowballed. “I was eight, he was fourteen. We were at a carnival. I don’t remember why, but we’d gotten separated from our parents. It was dark, and I was cold. I kept begging Liam to take me into the freak show. Mostly because it was indoors, and I didn’t want to be cold anymore. I could be stubborn like that when I was little.
“Anyway, he took me to the freak show after I threatened to yell. Paid for it out of his own pocket, too. We took our seats, and the freaks came out, one by one. I started to get scared. He was right. I shouldn’t have asked to go to the show. I was too little. So Liam carried me out while I was bawling like a little baby.”
Her voice cracked, and she sniffed a few more times. “It happened right after that. We were behind the big tent, and a big, mean guy came up behind us and grabbed Liam. He didn’t even struggle. I don’t know why, but he just sat there smiling at me as the life drained from his eyes. I didn’t even know he was dead until the vampire was long gone.”
My heart went out to Piper as I heard her own tale of woe. To think of a small child having to deal with that kind of pain. No wonder her mind was warped. What would I have thought in the same situation?
Charmaine put a hand on Piper’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, child. On behalf of all my kind, I’m sorry.”
Piper nodded and looked up at Charmaine with red, puffy eyes. “They found the guy eventually. Found him and killed him.” Her lips curled into a bit of a snarl as she related that bit. “So at least there’s that.”
“I’m glad you were able to get justice, Piper,” Charmaine said. “There are so many that do not.”
She nodded again. “Yeah. Like you said, there are so many that don’t get justice. That’s why I fight so hard against vampire rights. Like you, I don’t want any other families to suffer.”
“I understand,” Charmaine said. She went back to her seat. “Even if I disagree with your methods. And I won’t argue with you on the matter. Your feelings are your own.”
Wow. She was being so calm about this whole thing. Here she was, sitting across from someone that hated her very being, and she was being calm about it. What strength.
“Then you understand why I won’t help you,” Piper uttered.
Charmaine lowered her gaze. “But you’re wrong on this one. It wasn’t a vampire that killed those men. I should know.”
Piper slumped back against her seat and folded her arms in front of her. “Empty words from an empty soul.”
“It’s true,” I chimed in. “I’ve been bitten by a vampire, too. Look!” I pulled on my shirt to reveal the two small puncture wounds in my neck. They were barely visible by this point, but you could still make them out.
Piper’s eyes narrowed as she looked at the bites. “Humph. What does that prove?”
“Everything!” I said. “Think about it. Vampires drink blood. They wouldn’t waste it. The one that killed Liam certainly didn’t waste any of the stuff, did he?”
Piper looked stunned at that remark. And a little wounded. She opened her mouth to argue, but said nothing.
“Here, let me show you the crime scene. You’ll see, there’s no way a vampire would have done this.” I started rummaging around in my pocket for my phone.
“I don’t need to see nothing!” Piper shot back. She turned away again.
“Just please,” I urged. “Here, just take a quick look at one of them. Please.” I held my phone out in front of her where she could reach it.
Piper craned her neck to look at the photo of blood on the ground at Donald’s crime scene. A shudder ran through her spine, and her lips trembled, then she looked away. “That proves nothing!”
“Oh, come on! You were there when your brother was killed. There wasn’t any blood on the ground then, was there?” It was a low blow, but I hoped it would get through to her.
“I… I don’t really remember,” Piper mumbled. “I… I was only a child.”
Charmaine went to her side and crouched next to her. “Of course you were. It’s okay. You don’t have to think about it anymore. We’ll go.” She placed a hand gently on Piper’s shoulder and stood. “We’re sorry to have bothered you in the first place.” Turning to face me, she added, “Come, Damian. Let’s get going. We’ve tortured this girl enough.”
I sighed. “Fine. You’re right. I’m sorry, Piper
, I shouldn’t have come at you like that. We’ll leave you and your friends alone. Just don’t go chasing any more vampires, okay?”
Charmaine took my hand and we turned and headed for the door. We made it almost all the way when Piper finally stopped us.
“Wait!” she said.
I turned back to face her. She was still staring at the floor, unwilling to look at us, but something about her overall demeanor had changed.
“Yes?” I asked.
“Sit,” Piper urged. “There is something you should know.”
I wasn’t sure what had brought about this sudden change in her, but I wasn’t going to pass it up, either. I motioned for Charmaine to stay put and went back and sat down across from Piper.
“Very well.” I laid my hands bare. “I’m sitting. Now, what else do you know.”
Piper kept staring at her feet, which were shuffling back and forth on the concrete floor. “Before I say anything, I want you to understand that Donald was my friend. I didn’t know him that well, but I respected him and his views a lot.”
I nodded. “Understood.”
“Tom is, too. You’ve got to understand. He’s a good person. There’s no reason for him to be involved in any of this, and I don’t know what would have started it, but…”
Her voice trailed off, so I nudged her. “But what, Piper? What happened? I promise I won’t tell a soul, not even the police.”
Piper looked up at me for a moment, then over at Charmaine. “I’ll tell you, but she has to leave first.”
“Charmaine was Donald’s friend, too, you know. Or her husband was. She can be trusted.”
“Humph. It’ll be a cold day in hell before I trust a vampire.”
“It’s okay, Damian. I don’t mind,” Charmaine said.
“Okay,” I said in a defeated tone. “But stay close.”
“Sure, Damian.”
Charmaine left the room, and Piper and I were alone. “Okay. Now tell me what you know. What happened?”
Piper’s lips were trembling again. “I’m… I’m not really sure, to be honest. I wasn’t there for any of it, I swear. I went to the meetings, yes, but that was it. I never met with any of the members outside of our meeting times.”