Three Tales of Vampires (The First Three Books in the Tale of Vampires Series)

by John Hennessy

  “Go on then. Escape.”

  “Why would I escape, when I can go of my own free will?” Marcus leaned in towards Kelly. “You haven’t charged me with anything, Occifer.”

  Kelly knew he hadn’t charged Marcus with anything. But he had no intention of letting him go. He stood up, and announced he was going to get a coffee, that tonight was going to be a long night.

  “You’re leaving me here on my own?”

  “No. O’Hara will deal with you.”

  “The white girl? Oh yes, do send her in, Occifer. English girls taste delicious.”

  More expletives emitted from Kelly, as Marcus continued to wind him up. The previously uncuffed child found his hands bound by steel, and Kelly clipped his legs to the chair for good measure.

  Looking pleased with his restrain of the little punk, Kelly went to leave the interview room, safe in the knowledge that O’Hara could not be hurt. As he closed the door, through the window on the door he gave Marcus the V sign, and yet it was Marcus who won that last round, smacking his lips together. Kelly turned the room into darkness by killing the light.

  As he turned around, his lips trembled; he was certain he could make out a set of glistening white fangs protruding from the boy’s mouth.

  Kelly, who was some thirty years older than O’Hara, placed a fatherly hand on her arm.

  She smiled at him. “It’s alright Kelly. What ever he has done, I’m not scared of him.”

  Kelly nodded, knowing that O’Hara could handle herself. After all, she had been the off-duty officer that had single handedly marched five armed gunmen out of a bank. Without a weapon.

  For that act of bravery, she had been decorated, and was one of the most decorated officers in the police service.

  Kelly realised he was sleepwalking towards retirement. But the killing of the Hills had disturbed him greatly, as it would disturb any sane, law-abiding citizen. Such people shouldn’t have lived through wars to die so horribly. He had no compassion for the little punk. Slaps on the hand were all the kids got these days. The laws were weak, the politicians that made them were weak, making his job so much harder.

  If kids like this one were not stopped, and were not stopped now, there would be no telling what they would do when they grew up.

  All the same, Kelly knew a little about vampire lore; and vampires were not the kind of beings that grew up in those stories. Then there was the unsettling way Marcus thrashed about in the cemetery. It shouldn’t have taken more than one officer, two at the most, to hold him down, cuff him, and read him his rights.

  It had taken six.

  Six.

  “O’Hara, why don’t you wait for me? I’m going to take a leak, then grab a coffee. Come with me. Leave Hannibal to stew a bit longer.”

  “Hannibal?”

  “He’s closer to the fictional Dr Lecter than the Count.”

  O’Hara wasn’t fooled. She saw how Kelly had looked on leaving the interview room. Still, she had faced down those gunmen in the bank. She’d even done a tour of duty in Afghanistan as part of special operations. This kid was an anomaly, that was all.

  Do send her in, Occifer. English girls taste delicious.

  Why was this little bastard unsettling him so much?

  “At least wait until I come back, O’Hara. Or take someone in with you.”

  O’Hara surmised it was just mind games that Kelly was playing, dismissed him with her hand, and opened the door.

  At first, she said nothing to Marcus. She admitted to herself that there was something rather unsettling about him, and her own words to Kelly, about how he thinks he’s a vampire. It’s real to him, and he will make it real to us.

  O’Hara let slip a little laugh. Marcus had read her like a book.

  “Nervous are we, Occifer?”

  “Why do you say it like that, when you know what you’re saying. You know.”

  “Unsettles you, doesn’t it?”

  “Not in the slightest.”

  Marcus shrugged in his seat. “Now if you want me to tell the truth, you’re going to have to start telling the truth. You can start with untelling that lie right now.”

  “Here’s the truth,” said O’Hara. “You’re a vampire; at least in your head you are. We know you have already killed some people, and they won’t be your last victims. Your siblings have already run out on you. When we catch them, and we will, they will squeal on you. Then, your killing days will be at an end. That’s the truth.”

  “Truths are just lies, told with a confident smile on the face. And that is not just a truth, it’s a fact.”

  “Is it indeed.” It was spoken more as a statement than as a question from O’Hara, who took a swig from her bottle of still water.

  “Blood is thicker than water,” said Marcus.

  “Are we reduced to digging up quotes now?”

  “I hadn’t finished,” said Marcus. “Blood is thicker than water, and tastes better than water.”

  “That’s not a saying.”

  “It is, around my way.”

  O’Hara was feeling exasperated, just as Kelly had been. Her older partner was taking his time, and this boy was unsettling her.

  “Got any more sayings, from around your way?”

  “Sure. You’re all going to die tonight.” Marcus paused slightly. “More of a statement of fact than an actual saying. Granted, it’s not very catchy. But it’s honest. You should get out whilst you can. If you let me go, I would run, and just keep running. But in the end, there is no escaping the vampire.”

  “You’re not going to be able to back up that fact whilst you are in those.” O’Hara pointed to the handcuffs.

  Expecting Marcus to retort about the restraints, O’Hara was surprised to see Marcus position himself for a different response.

  “He called you O’Hara. Please, tell me your first name is Scarlett.” Marcus started to giggle, almost uncontrollably. “How is Mr Hill, by the way? He tasted good.”

  “My name is of no consequence to you. Now don't jerk me around. This is the Midlands. There are no vampires here, and dressing up like one doesn't make it so. You can't even tell me how he's got no marks on his neck!"

  "Oh yes I can. It's the twenty-first century. These days we tend to clean up after ourselves.”

  “So why do you want to know my name? If you’re really a vampire?” O’Hara couldn’t help the sneering in her voice.

  “I just like to know who I’m feeding on,” Marcus continued. “A vampire never forgets the faces of those he has made anew.”

  “Interesting way to think of murder.”

  “You’re not seeing the world through my eyes. But you will. We don’t kill everyone. We make you anew. Why, you should embrace the life, as I do-”

  Marcus broke off, the line he remembered telling his brother deeply disconcerted him.

  “You weren’t finished.”

  “Yes, I was.”

  There had to be a way to reach this kid. He didn’t have the look of a killer, yet the evidence pointed to the facts. The Hills blood was on his hands, even if those same hands hadn’t provided fingerprints to be matched to a database.

  “What happened to your fingers, Marcus? Did you deliberately slice the skin off so that you wouldn’t be detected? We know it was you. We know. There is nothing supernatural about you. You thinking you’re a vampire doesn’t make it so.”

  For once, Marcus refused to answer. After what seemed like an age, he spoke.

  “We are what we think we are, not what others believe us to be. As for you, you are Nina. You look like a Nina. Definitely a vowel ending your name. You look like a Nina to me.”

  O’Hara tried not to look too stunned. She had seen these kind of illusions performed by mentalists. But he was right. Her first name was Nina. How the little punk knew her name, she did not know.

  Unsettling her further was the Nee-Naa, Nee-Naa sound he made, imitating the police sirens.

  Was that fangs showing in his mouth? Ignoring his statement
and instead intending to regain the initiative, she focussed on that instead.

  “Open your mouth. Wide.”

  “Why?

  “I think you know why.”

  “So come closer so you can have a look. Nina. I bet that’s your daughter’s name too.”

  O’Hara got up so fast she nearly brought on a head rush. Marcus rattled the handcuffs at her.

  “O’Hara!” barked a male voice curtly. “Leave him be.”

  Kelly had returned. He grabbed O’Hara by her wrist and pulled her out of the room.

  “He knows my name, now how does he know that, Kelly? He can’t know it, yet he does. I hope you’ve got something to pin the Hill murders to him, because….what?”

  Kelly took a moment to look over O’Hara’s shoulder.

  The interview room was empty.

  ***

  The police station was now a panic station, with everyone looking for the so-called little vampire. Marcus had disappeared, and more than that, had taken the handcuffs with him. The police rattled out the usual phrases, how he couldn’t have gotten far, be on the alert, shoot if absolutely (and bloody) necessary, that sort of thing.

  But for all Kelly’s experience and O’Hara’s decorations, the fact remained that an eleven-year-old boy, who may or may not be a vampire, had escaped.

  “How do you think he did it, Kelly?”

  “He’s either a real vampire, with the strength of ten men, able to break his restraints, or he had something on him that helped him escape. Something he probably carries with him all the time now. I’d guess he was traumatised by some earlier life event, and doesn’t want a repeat of it.”

  “So if it’s the latter, how did he do it?”

  “Probably a fan of Houdini. Maybe one of his fingers is fake, and carrying a pick, or something that would help him unlock something.”

  “We checked.”

  “Not thoroughly enough, apparently.”

  O’Hara knew Kelly was right, but couldn’t help but be enraged by the implication. All the same, she interviewed him alone. She didn’t wait for Kelly to return. Because of those decisions, now; if Marcus wanted to kill again, he was free to do so.

  Her thoughts were broken by the shrill tone of her phone beeping. It was a text message fromUNKNOWN that simply said:-

  ‘I’ve borrowed little Nina for a while. Just for a few days, or maybe, forever. Your little angel is about to be made into something else, if you don’t reach her in time. Wanna play?’

  As she did, every weekday, Nina O’Hara had left her daughter at school, which was just two blocks away from the police station. How could Marcus have gotten there so fast? Had he really got to her daughter? She wanted to call Little Nina, but if Marcus had already gotten to her, it would need a different approach. O’Hara knew this. But her training had not prepared her for this eventuality.

  Kelly knew O’Hara was beside herself with worry, so he tried to show his empathetic side. “We’ll find him, and your little girl, okay, O’Hara?”

  “What if he really is a vampire, Kelly? He’ll kill her. I could have swore I saw fangs on him.”

  Kelly agreed, but not out loud. He didn’t want O’Hara more spooked than she was already.

  “Vampires don’t kidnap, O’Hara.” Kelly wanted to add something, but was unable to.

  “They kill. That’s what they do, Kelly. Oh my God, he’s got my daughter, and he’s going to kill her! We have to go!”

  O’Hara went to run, but Kelly grabbed her arm. “Hey, I said we will find him. Your daughter will be found safe and -”

  The lights in the police station all shut off at once. At first, they thought it was a power cut, but it became clear they were under attack. As gasps, shrieks and shouts could be heard all over the station, the lights came back on.

  People stood around, wondering what had happened.

  Then five corpses dropped from the platform above them, their bodies hitting the floor with a sickening crunch. On closer inspection, bite marks could be seen on the necks of the victims, and their chests had been ripped open, leaving bloody gaping holes. Five kills, exactly the same, and done in a matter of seconds, it seemed.

  “Still think my daughter will be found safe, Kelly?”

  O’Hara ran for the exit to the car park. She was through with observing protocol. What ever force was needed to stop him, he had to be stopped. This vampire tale just got real.

  On the Run

  “Rocco, you need to keep up with me. Damn it, why are you so slow?” Juliana could no longer run at her brother’s pace, but he ran sluggishly, as if he didn’t care.

  “I’m not slow, just running at my own pace, which for me, is quite fast actually,” he offered in reply. For Rocco, it was rather assertive of him. If it had been Marcus he had been talking to, he would have been shouted down; but Juliana wasn’t like that.

  Finally, he came to a full stop.

  Juliana had been brushing by an array of people, some of which showed their annoyance to her by shouting ‘bloody kids’ as she passed them. To be fair to her brother, he had kept pace for a good while since leaving the cemetery, but as they had reached some countryside area, where few people seemed to be around, he took the chance to slow up.

  “Some vampire you’re supposed to be,” barked Juliana. “We have to keep running, Rocco. We have to get far and away from here.”

  Rocco, who hadn’t travelled much, only going as far as his brother would let him, had to smile. “Jooly, I don’t even know where here is supposed to be.”

  Juliana brushed out her hair with both hands, turned around and placed her hands on her hips. Looking squarely at Rocco, she said, “It’s just not far enough away. We have to keep running.”

  “Well, I’ve had enough of running,” breathed Rocco, “and we should not have left Marcus to his fate. We are vampires, dear sis, and vampires don’t run away. They kill what runs away.”

  Juliana sighed heavily. She had hoped that getting Rocco away from Marcus, that he would start to see sense; that Marcus was bad news, could not be placated. Juliana even recalled a previous conversation that the Hills had had with her, some weeks before Marcus killed them.

  “You’re his sister. He’d listen to you. He should go to the doctor and they would medicate him. He’d be alright if only he took his pills.”

  The only pill, the only drug that would help Marcus would be yet another kill. Juliana knew her brother looked angelic, and he had displayed many good personality traits, such as determination, mental toughness and honour. Yes, in Marcus’ way of thinking, killing the Hills was an honourable thing to do.

  However, the attack on the boy in full public view; was anything but honourable. Juliana didn’t like being forced to do something she didn’t want to do. And now they were on the run.

  Finally, a pang of remorse bit at her. She started to believe that Rocco was right. They shouldn’t have left Marcus to his fate. But he was killing not because he wouldn’t stop – his core belief was that he was a vampire, and all killings were justified.

  “It’s like a cat killing a mouse,” Marcus had once said. “That’s the order of things.”

  Juliana could accept that argument; it was just that she just didn’t like him forcing victims on her. If she ever was to embrace the life, it would be on her terms, and no-one else’s. She did not like blood, hated flesh, despised killing. There had to be some kind of justification. She saw none.

  “Okay,” breathed Juliana. “Let’s get a coffee and think this through.”

  They turned back on the country roads and headed back into the town. Looking as cute as a pair of buttons, Juliana and Rocco drew a lot of attention from onlookers, with gasps and aww, aren’t they cute exclamations from a group of people that passed by them.

  Juliana ordered two coffees and some rocky road cake, and sat them down by Rocco, who had been looking nervously outside of the coffee shop window.

  Juliana gulped down the coffee, which tasted too good not to hav
e an unsafe amount of sugar in it, whilst Rocco barely touched his cup.

  “What is it, Rocco? Come on, the coffee’s good here.”

  “I can’t taste anything. Not since the Hill situation.”

  Juliana sympathised, and any pangs of remorse about leaving Marcus soon evaporated. Marcus could do what he wanted. He didn’t have to rope Rocco into this game of his.

  Trying his best to show gratitude to his sister, Rocco nibbled at the cake, but his facial expression could not betray his true feelings. To him, it had all the consistency of cardboard.