by Laira Evans
I no longer cared to move.
Chapter 6: Final Proposal
O villain, villain, smiling, damnèd villain!
My tables—meet it is I set it down
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.
– Hamlet
A different pair of men came to take me this time, full of anger and impatience. We passed by a closed door that pulsed with raised voices. “Completely incompetent.” “Why wasn't Fred watching the damn feed?” The men rushed me past before I could hear any more, the hands pushing me onwards verging on roughness. With that prisoner dead it was only a matter of time before I became the scapegoat.
The interrogation room was empty but the process was much the same. After chaining me to the chair they proceeded to leave. Strangely, the blond, pinch-faced man hesitated for just a moment to leave a folded leaf of paper on the table beside me. The words were on my tongue to ask the reason why but he was gone before I could overcome the stubborn silence that enveloped me. 'Is it supposed to be for me? Why would they give me a letter?' Even chained to the chair it was easily in reach. It was a mystery, a temptation, a trap?
I slipped a hand underneath my shirt, shifting the knife to my front. I had to contort myself a bit to reach it thanks to the handcuffs but I didn't think I had been too awkward about it. Still hidden beneath my baggy shirt I slowly turned it over and over again. Even now that I was in a slightly saner frame of mind its weight was not ominous or dark as I had half suspected it would be, but oddly comforting. It was a good luck charm against the onslaught of the unknown. The nervous shaking of my hands stilled. I lifted the paper to read.
Hello, my little fanged one. If you're reading this message then my assistant has done as I asked.
“What is this, are they trying to trick me?”
You would do well to learn from him. Disobedience has a price, Miss Fisher. I must commend your talent at disguise, you hide your nature well. Until I saw you drink from that man I could have sworn you were human. Whatever it is you are, you must realize the truth of my deception, must understand that Chains, as they call him, was but a means to an end.
My breathing turned quick and shallow, blood rushing in my ears.
I can take care of you, if you let me; show you how to safely satisfy your Thirst, the endless desire to feed. I must ask that you destroy this letter, its discovery would make freeing you a far messier process. A lengthy investigation could negatively impact your family, after all.
The knife shattered in my hand. My claws grew in seconds, the sensation like the burn of a reawakening limb. 'Was that a threat?' No matter how politely it was worded the letter represented an ultimatum, and neither option was acceptable. “I've had enough of just sitting around.” The chain links gave an agonized shriek as I ripped them apart. I turned from side side to side, examining my outfit. “No pockets,” I sighed. I'd become rather dependent on pockets over the last few years. Well, it's not as if I had much to fill them with at the moment, only a knife and a single piece of paper that I'd be tempted to burn in effigy if it wasn't such an important piece of evidence. Well, sometimes you just made do with what you had.
Making a jail break was against everything I had sworn as a police officer, but on the other hand at least if he couldn't find me he couldn't blackmail me either. This was the best option to keep Holly safe, and if I was careful I could still watch over her from the shadows.
I slipped the folded note under my bra and tied the knife to my pants with a few pieces of torn fabric from my shirt. I walked up to the front of the door, considering my options. 'So, what now?' I wasn't sure how much I trusted my amplified hearing but as far as I could tell no one was standing behind the observer's window. Bulletproof though it was I imagined I could break through it with enough effort. If nothing else, it would be quieter than breaking down the steel door. 'Then again...' My fingers curled around the doorknob with deliberate slowness, listening with thinly veiled amusement as the latch slowly pulled back into its socket, allowing the door to swing free. 'Well, that's convenient.'
I shucked off the slippers they'd given me, tiptoeing silently down the hallway at a superhuman pace with the prison footwear held in one hand. 'I would make such an awesome super-spy.' I wasn't entirely sure where I was going but I let my ears guide me, easily avoiding the few officers that prowled the halls. I imagined I'd find what I was looking for eventually if I just kept going. At the very least I might find something to vent on. With luck I'd be out of here before they even finished their meeting.
Echoing past several corners I heard a door slam open followed by a multitude of footsteps. 'Never mind then.' I paused for a moment, reconsidering my plan, or lack thereof. 'I think this is the point where I'm supposed to take to the air vents.' I was fairly sure there were worse ideas, and with people approaching on all sides I didn't have much time to think of a better one. 'It's settled.'
Twelve seconds later I was quite pleased with myself, if a bit dusty. No one would ever say again that I, Julie Fisher, middle school basketball drop out, could not jump. And if the previously locked grate now found itself slightly crooked for having been persuaded to open, well, it's not as if anyone ever looks up. I'd seen enough horror films to note that particular failing in humanity. To be honest, my plan probably wouldn't have worked in a real police station, but this had originally been an old office building. When refugees had starting pouring into the city the police force had expanded drastically to curtail massive outbreaks of gang violence – not to mention all the crazies that came out of the woodwork after the apocalypse.
'Alright, time to shuffle.' I made fairly steady progress even though I only moved when the passageways below me were clear. It was surprisingly dry in here, my throat was growing more and more parched.
What voices penetrated from below were distorted in their travel and further obscured by the relentless hum of the fans. Still, from what I could tell they definitely knew something was going on and they were not at all happy about it. It was probably time to start hurrying. While I hardly had a clue where I was anymore, I did have some idea of what I needed to find. I needed information on the case, and on just what the hell vampires were if it turned out I wasn't one of them. Because at this point, a vampire was my best and really only guess as to the culprit. As to how the missing persons cases and Chains related, it was too early to say.
'I hope this is it.' My fist flew downwards, propelled with a force far greater than the size of my muscles could ever imply. Through a quirk of engineering my punch dislodged the metal panel I was kneeling on as well as my target. “Aiieh!”
“You!”
I had landed in a crouch inside a long, narrow room. A table surrounded with empty chairs filled most of the space, a few forgotten papers cluttering its surface. Beside me stood a projector, along with a familiar mustachioed man. “Oh, hi there Fred.” My hand snaked out to crush his radio the moment I saw him glance at it. “Come now, let's play nice.” I think my newfound freedom was making me feel a little frisky. Either that or I just wanted to bite him.
I could hear his heartbeat accelerate, lungs expanding as he prepared to shout. “None of that now.” I slipped around to his back, knocking him to his knees with a well-placed kick as I went. I may have misjudged my strength a touch if his grunt through the hand I had covering his mouth was any indication. “Now where is it, you must have one.” I pressed closer to him as I searched for a cellphone. “Found it!” He twisted to look at me, eyes peeled wide. “What's wro–” I pulled back the moment I realized my fangs were at his neck, teeth clicking together like marbles as I clamped my mouth shut. “Sorry, little peckish at the moment.”
Still standing on Fred's calves and covering his mouth to prevent any inopportune outbursts I dialed Alex's number. “Hey, it's me. I need you to sniff someone out.” Fred squirmed as I twisted my foot in annoyance on his calves. “What do you mean you're not my bloody hound? You tried to kill me, you owe me.” I had to apologize to my c
aptive for wrenching his head sideways at Alex's next response. “Now listen here you hairball, that was an accident. Besides, you tried to kill me twice. No more excuses. I'll be at your house in thirty minutes as soon as I escape the police station.” I crushed the phone in my hands as a way of hanging up the moment he started spluttering incoherently. I stepped off Fred, cautioning him with one clawed finger at his lips against any outbursts. He didn't alert the rest of the station so I figured it half worked.
“You’re a vampire!”
While I was slightly heartened that Fred was finally showing some human emotion for once I had hoped it would be a more positive one. “I'll explain everything, just don't freak out.” He started running and I knocked him out with a punch to the back of his head. My hand dragged over my face in disbelief. 'My fangs may have tickled him a little but that's no reason to be unreasonable.' Sedately stepping over his body I locked the only entrance to the meeting room, propping a chair underneath the knob for a little insurance.
The video setup was a bit foreign to me but I had the thing working after a minute or two. Thankfully one of the tapes was neatly labeled “Chains.” No matter how long I pressed fast forward the manic monologue of protestations continued. The dead man they had dragged past my cell was a high school music teacher and was quite vocal in confessing his crimes. I idly picked at my fangs as his monologue continued. His voice was halting, wavering like a weak reed, though occasionally his volume rose to a shout. And yet, he was unmistakeably the old man from the park that played so beautifully. It was hard to reconcile the two faces I had seen from him. There was one thing particularly telling about his confession: never once did he mention any of the missing persons. The monster that had taken Jake was still out there, still killing, and likely was the same person who sent me the letter. I flipped the projector off. I didn't need to see any more.
If the mastermind behind these abductions ever got his hands on my family... “I won't let that happen.” A hand rattled the door from the outside to no avail. I was out of time. I could feel vibrations through my feet as reinforcements came running. The door wouldn't last long.
I flipped over my comatose companion, evaluating him slowly. In truth I didn't really know anything meaningful about him but at this point I didn’t have a whole lot of options. I grabbed a pen from his chest pocket but hesitated as I went to write on the back of the letter I had been given. A key rattled in the lock, there was no more time. Take this to Captain Morris, no one else, I wrote. My script was practically chicken scratch in my haste. Be careful of Bruce, I added. I felt guilty about incriminating him. He could be completely innocent even if he wasn't human, but there was a limit to the number of risks I was willing to take. If what I was planning didn't work out then the letter would be my only backup. It was a shame that Morris seemed a step away from insanity at times. I was certain he knew at least a little about the supernatural world, perhaps even more than me for all that I was a part of it myself.
The door opened but rebounded powerfully off the chair, shutting once more. “Time to go.” I stuffed the letter in his pocket and jumped for the vent, claws sticking into the metal like a cat's on a tablecloth. Hand by hand I dragged myself up, ignoring the half-blunted edge as it dug into my stomach and legs. The chair exploded, splinters bouncing off my still-exposed ankles. “She's up in the vents!”
'Lovely.' I scurried like a rat in a hole, forgoing all attempts at stealth. The shaft shook as someone entered the air ducts behind me. Faster and faster I went, metal warping from my frantic kicks until finally – 'Here!' I crashed downwards, directly onto the front desk. An officer gaped at me from the doorway but I payed him no mind. I sprang into a sprint and went straight through the window, glass sparkling around me as we flew through the air. “Ah!”
Strong though I was, it appeared glass could still cut my skin with little effort. The sun wasn't helping things either. Though clouds stretched as far as the horizon the light still pained my eyes, even if it didn't burn immediately burn my skin. It was like staring into a furnace with a bit of cotton candy in between. 'Stop daydreaming and run.' Sirens started up from the garage as I cut across traffic.
A minivan threw on the brakes in front of me, a child's hand pointing through the window at my ghastly appearance. It made me feel a little better about denting their car by running over the top of it. Rude behavior had consequences, I was just teaching the kid a lesson. Though, I had to admit this was probably more of a 'do as I say not as I do' sort of lesson. After all, if I was a model citizen I probably wouldn't be running from the police in the first place.
I glanced back when I heard a bike spin to a stop behind me. “You there! Stop and put your hands in the air!” I sped up instead. I knew the fence in front of me well. It was the same one that had nearly gotten me killed a few days ago when Alex was chasing me but this time I was ready for it, and no bicycle cop was going to stop me. My muscles coiled, and then I was airborne. For a brief moment gravity disappeared. I slapped the wall at the apex of my jump, the added lift giving me the last few inches of height I needed to clear the fence without injury. 'Success!'
Then I looked back. The gun shook in his hands as he looked into my abyssal eyes, their violet light sharp enough to burn an impression into his retinas. The first bullet burned through my hair as I hit the ground rolling, the second bit into tar by my hand. I stopped counting after that, scurrying on all fours to take cover behind an overflowing dumpster. I noticed with ire that during the fall my handmade knife had spun out from the loose cloth tie I had tucked it in. I was weaponless once again. Though, in truth, as long as I had these claws I was never really weaponless, was I.
“Stop shooting at me!” My words were slurred as I panted for breath I wasn't even sure I needed. I was so thirsty it was hard to think, vision clouded at the edges. The cuts on my face from the broken glass weren't healing as quickly as the ones I’d gained when making the knife. I couldn't go see Alex like this, I wouldn't last three seconds before attacking him. As disgusting as it was I'd have to find a butcher's shop or something, and soon. Already the shooter's heartbeat was pressing incessantly on my mind. 'What did he just say?' I was sure I heard the word 'demon.' Honestly, how did he know it wasn't just a costume? Was it the ten foot leap or was I just putting out some sort of malevolent aura I wasn't aware of? “Don't you feel you're overreacting?”
“Come out where I can see you.”
“What, and have you shoot at me again?”
A pair of handcuffs landed beside me, oddly pristine against their background. “Put those on and approach the fence.”
It wasn't as if I couldn't just break free of them later, and a few close calls with those bullets had me doubting my invincibility. I could afford to humor him for a little while as long as he stayed too unsettled to call for backup. “Okay, I'm coming out. Don't do anything crazy.” I hesitantly extended my arm before peeking an eye around the edge of the reeking dumpster. If I had been in friendlier company I would have complained about the grime that covered me thanks to his freak out. As it was I warily watched the end of his gun while I slapped on the cuffs. “See? It's all good now. I'm just wearing a costume, no reason to be alarmed.” In an abstract way I was rather impressed with myself. Words kept pouring out but from where they came I couldn't say, one after another too quickly to hold them back if I misspoke.
“I don't believe you.” His left hand traced a cross across his heart. “Come over here, I want a better look at you.”
I sauntered towards the fence, too distracted to hide my eyes or claws though some lingering measure of restraint kept me from clearly revealing my fangs. “What are you so afraid of? There's no monsters hiding 'neath your bed.” Though I knew I shouldn’t I put my hands on the fence, fingers entwining with the wires as I slowly took pressure off my feet.
“Stop! What are you doing?” Even in the deep shadows, the sun blurred my vision of his life energies, but still they called to me so beautifully. Like a moth to
a flame, how could I resist. Why would I want to?
“You said to come to you, that's all I'm doing. It would be hard to arrest me from the opposite side of the fence.” Yes, I would go to him, it would be easier to knock him out that way. Then I could take all the time I needed. With a gymnast’s grace I twirled off the top of the fence past the slanted barbed wire defense and ten foot drop that would trouble a lesser creature. The gun was ripped from his hands and tossed aside before his hand could follow the impulse of his fear. I stepped towards him, breaking handcuffs for a second time that night as I did so. My mouth hinged open as he fell onto his back, my fangs lengthening fully in preparation for the feed. “Mom?”
The sight cut through the haze clogging my thinking in an instant. They were only there for a moment but I knew it was them. It was my father's car. My sister's silhouette hung in the back window and it was no doubt my dad in the driver's seat, hidden by the massive explosion that was my mother's hair. 'What are they doing here?' As long as I had known him he had never driven that car. He only ever turned it on twice a year, just to see if it still ran. Gas was just too precious for joy rides these days.
I was at the end of the alleyway in seconds, watching with rising horror as the car slowed to a stop outside the police station. 'They can't be here, this is exactly what he wanted.' Slowly, inexorably, they filed away from the van. 'What do I do? I can't let them see me like this. I'm not even sure it's safe for them to be around me as I am now.' Indeed, moments ago I had been stalking that man with hardly a second thought. As a bullet traced a burning line of red on the skin of my arm I realized he had neither forgiven nor forgotten what I had done. It was time to move.
Nothing was going as I had planned, but before anything else I knew I had to warn them. No matter what it cost me. Daytime or not, the structure wasn't high on windows, and it hadn't been a vampire that handed me the letter in the first place. Who knew how many he had loyal to him within the police force, no, I couldn't trust any of them now.