by Bell Stoires
“What?” he said uncomfortably. “You’re staring at me.”
Ari was about to look away but then her eyes widened, and she remembered the hurried whispers that he had spoken as he carried her to the hospital: I am not going to let her die. I won’t make the same mistake twice. Up until now the events following her attack were a blue, but now as she stared at Clyde she remembered, and there was something else. She licked her lips, and for a second tasted a coppery tang. Her hands raced to her mouth, her fingers gently tracing her lips and then she gasped.
“You…” she said, her voice trembling. “You fed me your blood. When I was dying… I remember.”
Clyde looked nervously around the room then rushed to her side. He knelt down next to her, his eyes searching hers.
“You remember that?” he asked.
Ari nodded. Suddenly she was fearful.
“But… does that mean? Am I becoming a vampire?”
Clyde reached out to touch her hand. She felt the frostiness of his touch instantly.
“No,” he said slowly. “I gave you my blood in case you were past being saved. But the doctors worked their miracles. A fledgling is only made if there is vampire blood in their system and they die. You never died.”
Ari was still nodding her head, but then she stopped and said, “Thankyou; for saving me.”
“What are friends for?” he asked.
“When you were… when you were driving me to the hospital, I heard you say something,” said Ari, and she watched as Clyde’s face dropped and his hand reached involuntarily for his neck, where Ari knew a small silver locket hung. “You said you weren’t going to make the same mistake twice.”
Clyde stood and looked around the room mournfully.
He seemed to be wrestling with something, and after a moment finally said, “I don’t know what you think you heard, but-”
At that exact moment the door to Ari’s hospital room flung open and Ragon appeared. His cheeks were abnormally flushed, they were the kind of rouge that always followed his feeding, and he stared in bemusement at Ari and Clyde. Both looked a little wide eyed, but they shrugged it off casually.
“Ready?” asked Ragon.
“Always,” Clyde replied, not looking at Ari.
The city morgue was not a large building. Despite it being isolated from the main hospital, only by a long narrow corridor, it took an unusually long time for the trio to reach it. Ari couldn’t move fast without feeling a stabbing pain in her stomach, and so had to walk leisurely, with Clyde and Ragon impatient by her side. When finally Ari looked up and saw a large green door with the label ‘Morgue,’ she sighed in relief. For a few moments Clyde rummaged through his pockets, finally retrieving a credit card and a bobby pin.
“Seriously?” asked Ragon, looking at the tools in Clyde’s hands.
“Do you have a better idea?” Clyde hissed, now flicking the card between the door and scrambling the lock.
Ragon didn’t answer, and Ari watched in amazement as the card slid between the lock and the door swung open.
They had only just crossed the threshold, when a loud whaling signified that they had tripped an alarm. Hurriedly they looked around the entrance, searching for the source of the noise. The room was a dull green colour, with white walls and olive laminate flooring. A small water cooler, two old brown couches and a long green counter was all that occupied the waiting room, along with a wilted brown and yellowed palm tree in a large pot. Finally, after searching the entire waiting area, Ragon spotted a small red flashing light. He blurred over to it and pulled the alarm out, crushing it in his hands.
Clyde looked disappointed at this.
“What?” Ragon asked, holding the remnants of the coroner’s security system in his hands, which was still omitting a dull robotic sound.
“If I had of known that there was an alarm, I wouldn’t have gone to all the effort of picking the lock,” he said, a small grin breaking his otherwise indifferent face.
“We don’t have long,” said Ragon, indicating a door on their left.
The trio quickly raced through it, entering a long, dark hallway.
There were no lights on, except for the green glow of a neon sign that read ‘exit’. Ari felt Ragon slip his hand into hers, and allowed him to direct her down the hallway. Finally they stopped in front of a white door. Ari squinted at sign in front of it- ‘Morgue - authorised personal only’.
Pushing the door open, Ari noticed that there was a notable drop in temperature and shivered. The room itself was sterile looking. Two large metallic workbenches stood centre stage, with an instrument tray on either side. Along one of the walls were many rows of handles and Clyde moved over to them purposefully.
“Eny, meny, miny, mo,” he said, moving to one of the handles, turning it, and pulling out a heavy draw on which a body lay.
Ari gasped, moved quickly to Ragon side and tried hard not to look at the cadaver that was lying on the slab in front of her.
“You said you wanted to be here,” said Clyde.
Ari gulped, moved over to one of the handles on the wall and pulled, holding her breath. Before she could look down at the body however, Ragon had moved over to her, his hand against the handle, stopping Ari from opening it all the way.
“You don’t have to do this,” he said.
Ari nodded slowly. She watched as Ragon slid the draw shut and moved over to a filing cabinet near a small office desk.
“Well she looks to be mid-twenties,” said Clyde, staring down at the body in front of him.
Ari looked over and saw that there was a large tarp that almost covered a girl’s body; Clyde had unzipped only the uppermost part, expose the girl’s face. The girl’s eyes were closed and her lips were a bluish purple colour, while her face was a dazzling white. Immediately Ari looked away. At the same time Ragon pulled out four or five files that he had found. Holding them in his hand, he moved over to Clyde.
“What was that?” asked Clyde, looking around the room dramatically.
Ragon responded immediately; quickly he closed the draw containing the girl’s body and still cradling the files, dashed over to the door. From outside Ari could see a flashlight searching the along corridor.
“Shit,” she whispered.
“Time to go,” said Clyde.
But before Clyde had made it halfway to the door, Ragon pull his collar tight, sending him flying backwards and into the centre of the room.
“We don’t have to kill them,” said Ragon, turning to look at Ari who was nodding in agreement.
“What are you doing?” Clyde hissed, as Ragon began opening draws at random. “If we don’t get out of here soon-”
But he was cut off speaking when Ragon found what he was looking for.
In an instant he moved over to Clyde and dragged him to the empty slab saying, “There’s no time… get in and keep quiet.”
Clyde looked horrified but the sighed and laid down on the empty slab.
“This is undignified,” Clyde’s muffled voice said from inside the morgue freezer after Ragon had closed it shit.
“What about me?” Ari asked, looking around desperately for somewhere to hide.
Ragon had moved over to where a few lab coats hung near the door; he grabbed one and handed it to Ari.
“If they come in her, you’re a technician, processing a body,” he said, helping her to pull on the white coat.
“Which body?” she asked.
“Mine,” said Ragon, removing his shirt and laying down on one of the display tables in the centre of the room.
“But-” said Ari.
“It’s ok, if they get suspicious, there is always plan B,” said Ragon, winking once before closing his eyes and lying perfectly still.
Ari had just enough time to button up the lab coat, before there was a sound outside.
“Did you see the lock though?” a man with a deep voice asked, and Ari looked around wildly.
“Yea, I saw it,” another responded. “But w
hy the hell would someone want to break into a morgue.”
“Beats me,” the first man responded.
When the two men appeared in the doorway, Ari fanned surprise. She had been leaning over Ragon, clasping the five folders that he had given her and pretending to write something down on one of them.
“Oh sorry err… miss,” said one of the men, his eyes widening when he saw Ari.
Ari looked up at him. The man who spoke was short and fat with a squat little head that just managed to hold a navy blue hat with the word ‘security’ embroidered in white. A second embroidered area on his shirt, told Ari that his name was Bert.
“One of the alarms in the front office went off and it looks as if the lock to the main door has been tampered with,” said a second and taller man.
Ari squinted at the second man’s shirt and saw that his name was Ernie.
“Oh, well…” said Ari, trying to gain her composure, “I just got called in to process this body.”
Ari pointed at Ragon, and both the security guards looked down at him.
“You haven’t heard anything funny then miss?” asked Bert.
Ari shook her head, trying not to startle when the tall skinny man called Ernie, walked over to Ragon and looked down at him curiously.
“Mind if we just check around?” asked Bert.
“Of course not Bert,” said Ari, her voice high pitched as she read his name tag. “Better to be safe than sorry; though I can’t imagine what sort of lunatic would want to break into a morgue.”
“Told you Bert,” said the tall skinny man.
Bert however wasn’t listening. After scanning the room quickly, he walked over to the large freezer and pulled one of the draws out at random.
“Yuck Ern; this wasn’t in the job description,” he said.
Ari looked across at the man and gasped when she realised that he had pulled out the slab that Clyde was lying on.
“Oh man, dead bodies give me the heeby jeebies,” said Ernie. “No offence, miss.”
“Oi, are they supposed to be dressed like this Ern?” asked Bert.
“Like what?” Ernie replied, moving over to stare at Clyde’s body.
Ari thought fast; there was a drip of sweat gliding down her forehead as she realised that their plan was crashing down around her.
“Oh, both these men just came in for processing,” said Ari, moving over Clyde’s slab. “They’re definitely dead,” she added, reaching for Bert’s hand and placing it against Clyde’s chest. “See, no heart beat.”
Bert startled when his hand brushed against Clyde’s cold skin, and he quickly raced back to the door.
“Wait,” said Ari, trying to keep her voice stead, “where are you going? Don’t you want to check the rest of them?”
Bert and Ernie exchanged horrified glances, and then Ernie said, “Probably just kids doing it for a dare. We’ll let you get back to your work miss.”
“Thanks guys,” said Ari, supressing a smile as she watched the two men scamper from the room.
Ragon and Clyde waited until the fast paced sound of shoes running from the building could no longer be heard, before speaking.
“You do realise how much you owe me for this,” said Clyde, jumping off the metallic slab. “It took every ounce of self-control not to scare the bejesus out of those two; can you imagine their reaction if I had of opened my eyes; I think they might have cried.”
Ragon couldn’t help but laugh and sat bolt upright on the table, his hands raised outwards as though he had just been bought back to life.
“I am alive,” Ragon said mechanically, winking at Ari before adding, “you are the best coroner ever!”
Ari let a small laugh escape her lips and watched as Ragon grabbed the folders she had been carrying and moved over to the door.
“Everything we need to know is in here,” said Ragon, now holding the door open.
It was a little before 5am before Ari was back in the confines of her hospital room. The policeman in front of her room seemed not to notice them as they raced inside, and Ragon nodded his approval. Removing the pillow from under her sheets, Ari lay back down and turned to face Ragon expectantly. Reluctantly, Ragon divided the folder’s he had taken from the morgue between himself, Clyde and Ari. She tried to ignore the stich in her side as she rummaged through the paperwork. Their little trip to the morgue hadn’t been particularly long but it had drained her considerably.
“These were the only girls aged twenty-four that I could find,” he said.
For a few moments the three scanned through the files. Ari shuddered when she saw the photograph pinned to the front page of the coroner’s report she was reading. It was an image of a girl, with the name ‘Alana Camp’ written below. Alana Camp had been found dead a fortnight ago, outside the entrance to a seven eleven in Roma Street. Asides from the age of the girl, Ari found nothing that caught her attention, until she read the next of kin section and her stomach turned over.
“Grace Valley Orphanage,” she said slowly.
“What?” Ragon said.
“She went to the same orphanage as me,” explained Ari.
Both Clyde and Ragon glanced down at the files they were reading. Ari knew instantly from the look of horror on their faces, that it wasn’t just Alana Camp who had been an orphan.
“So did these girls,” said Ragon, and Clyde nodded also. “They all went to Grace Valley Orphanage?”
“Maybe we should go to the orphanage, see who is-” Ragon began to say, but Ari cut him off.
“You can’t,” said Ari, remembering the news report she had seen months ago. “It burnt down a few months ago.”
Both Ragon and Clyde stared at Ari.
“But how could someone know how old I am and which orphanage I went to, and not know what I look like?” asked Ari.
Before Clyde and Ragon could respond however, the sound of a nurse whistling tunelessly to herself, met their ears and both men froze.
“You had better get out of here,” said Ari, looking wildly around.
“I am not letting you out of my sight,” said Ragon.
Ari was just about to argue when she heard the raised voice of the nurse outside say, “What do you mean I can’t enter?”
“Go,” hissed Ari, but Ragon shook his head defiantly.
A second voice, this one male, met their ears and Ari realised that it was officer Ryan’s who spoke, “Step aside constable,” he said.
“This should be interesting,” said Clyde, just as the door to Ari’s room swung open.
“What are you doing here?” Officer Ryans asked in an angry whisper, looking first at Ragon and over to Clyde.
“I could ask you the same thing,” Ragon said in the same low voice.
“I told you I would put a policeman on to watch her,” said Officer Ryans, no longer trying to keep his voice low. “But you’re not supposed to be here now. It’s outside of visiting hours. How did you get past the constable on the door?”
Ragon glared at him but it was Clyde who spoke, “Guess the security is not all it’s cracked up to be.”
Ragon had to supress a grin.
“And who are you?” asked Officer Ryans.
“Clyde, the knight in shining armour- I bought Ari here.”
At these words Officer Ryans moved over to Clyde, saying, “I need to ask you some questions about that.”
“That’s fine, although you’ll need to make an appointment with my secretary.”
Officer Ryans gave him a scathing look and said, “Ok how about here and now?”
Clyde shrugged, moved to sit on the chair next to Ari’s bed and said, “Fire away.”
“Retrace your movements on the day that you bought Ariana to the hospital.”
“Hmm, let’s see, well I stayed in bed most of the day; it was pretty hot out and I burn easily…” Clyde began, pausing to smile at Ragon’s inaudible growl, “then, around dinner time I decided to go and fetch a snack. I have been on a liquid diet, so I thought I wo
uld treat myself with something I would regret later.”
Ari laughed loudly and Clyde beamed at her.
“Anyway, long story short; on my way home I saw Ari on the side of the road near the driveway. When I got to her, I thought perhaps that she had been jogging or something and had fallen over, but then I saw that she was bleeding, so I raced her to the hospital.”
“What do you think happened to her?” said Officer Ryans, scribbling quickly on a notepad.
“How should I know? I’m not a doctor; maybe she got clipped by a car?”
Officer Ryan’s eyes narrowed even further at this and said, “You didn’t realise she had been stabbed?”
“No. I just saw the blood and took her here,” Clyde responded coolly.
“And there was no one else around; no binds on her hands or ankles… nothing?”
“Can’t you do this someplace else?” asked Ragon, his angry eyes glaring at the policeman before turning to look at Ari in concern.
“Sure… later,” said Officer Ryans, clearly not wanting to leave Ari alone. “Can you come buy the station tomorrow morning some time to make a statement?”
Clyde looked at Ragon and then turned to Officer Ryans and said, “I have a prior engagement in the morning. I couldn’t possibly break it- wouldn’t end well.”
Reluctantly Officer Ryans pulled one of his business cards out and handed it to Clyde. He did not write down his afterhours contact details on the back of it, as he had done for Ari, but shoved the card haphazardly into Clyde’s outstretched hand.
After that, and with much insistence from Officer Ryans, Ragon and Clyde left begrudgingly. Ragon had leaned in close to Ari, kissing her on the cheek as he promised that he wouldn’t be far away. When the door had closed behind them, Officer Ryans had rounded on Ari.
“How much do you really know about him?” he asked.
As he spoke, his wallet fell from his pocket and Ari reached across her bed to retrieve it, wincing slightly as she felt her surgery site stretch. Looking down, she saw that it had fallen open to a photograph. There was a picture of a dog, a cocker spaniel, and Ari smiled at the image.