by Tim O'Rourke
“Who are you?” the man who had opened the door asked.
Carol looked down at the scrap of paper to remind herself of the stranger’s name. She glanced up at him and said, “Are you Jim… Jim Murphy?”
“So what if I am?” the man said, pulling a pipe from the pocket of the faded denim jeans he wore.
“A strange railway man named Noah sent me,” Carol explained. “Noah said you would—”
“I’m retired, so do me a favour and fuck off,” Murphy cut in before slamming the door shut in Carol’s face.
Chapter Thirty
The year 2067
Since Karl had left his own car outside the Temporal Office the night before, he had little choice but to walk from the Night Diner to Outpost 71. By the time he reached the office, he felt frozen cold. But despite how his nose and fingers felt due to the bitter wind and rain, he suspected that the reception he would receive from Sergeant Shaw would be even frostier. He didn’t have to try and imagine too hard what her reaction would be when she discovered that he had completely totalled the patrol vehicle the night before. Even though he knew that the accident hadn’t been his fault, he doubted very much that Sergeant Shaw would see the incident in the same light as he did. He’d had difficulty in trying to convince her, Lisa Scott, and Selina Riley that Lucy May hadn’t hacked her own head off with a syringe, so how was he ever going to convince them that he had been attacked by a vampire the night before?
But perhaps, Selina had seen something, too? Perhaps she had seen the vampire and made her escape? But could he really depend on Selina to back him up? Where had his backup been last night? She had been nowhere to be seen.
Standing in the rain outside the Temporal Office door, Karl readied himself for the bollocking he was about to receive. He knew it was coming. Knowing that he couldn’t put off the inevitable any longer, he pushed open the office door and stepped inside. Sergeant Shaw and Lisa were sitting at their desks and facing the terminals. On seeing him, Lisa offered a friendly smile as Sergeant Shaw jumped to her feet. Karl could see by her pissed-off expression that she already knew that he had wrecked one of their patrol vehicles. Wasting no time, she came around the desk toward him. Shaw looked as if she was fighting the urge to punch him in the face.
“Well?” Sergeant Shaw demanded.
“Well what?” Karl said right back.
Sargent Shaw began to seethe. “Don’t stand there looking all innocent. You know exactly what I’m talking about, Officer Potter. So don’t you dare stand there looking as if butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lisa staring at him. She shook her head slowly, as warning him not to push his luck. Karl was grateful for the warning, although he knew he didn’t need it. He knew exactly what was coming.
“So I’m guessing you know what happened to the patrol vehicle last night,” Karl said. Then placing his hands to his chest, he added, “Honestly, it really wasn’t my fault…”
“What are you talking about?” Shaw cut in. She looked somewhat confused. “What happened to the patrol car?”
Shit, Karl thought. The skipper had yet to find out about what had happened to the patrol car. But if so, what was she getting her knickers all in a twist for? “There’s no easy way of saying this, but the patrol car kinda blew up.”
Sargent Shaw glanced back at Lisa, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Lisa looked just as surprised as the skipper did as she stood up and came around the desk. Lisa stood next to Sergeant Shaw.
“What do you mean the patrol car blew up?” Lisa asked.
“It went kinda boom,” Karl said.
“Screw the car,” Shaw cut in. “The car can be replaced, Officer Selina Riley, can’t be.”
Now it was Karl’s turn to feel lost and confused. “What are you talking about?”
“Was Selina in the car when it blew up?” Lisa asked. “Is that what happened to her?”
Karl shook his head at both of them incredulously. “Selina wasn’t in the car when it crashed. It was just me.”
Sargent Shaw eyed him with suspicion. “If the car crashed and blew up, how come you survived?”
Karl didn’t know how to explain to Sergeant Shaw that he had been saved by a Sex Bot who had seemingly stolen his dead girlfriend’s identity. But what else could he say? “Well, there was this Sex Bot—”
“Are you taking the piss?” Shaw asked, a look of complete and utter dismay splashed across her face. She looked at Lisa. “Am I hearing this jerk, right?”
Karl could feel his own temper begin to rise. He knew that he wasn’t getting anywhere with Sergeant Shaw and he had no idea what had happened to Selina.
Shaw turned her attention to him again. “Tell me what happened to Selina! I’m not interested in hearing about sex pests or any other part of your perverted love life…”
“I don’t know what happened to Selina!” Potter spat back. He resented the suggestion that his love life was in any way perverted. “We responded to a call at that sad excuse for an apartment block. Selina was parking the vehicle when I attended the scene. It was there I came under attack by a vampire—”
“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” Shaw said, raising her hands as if to silence him. “Let me get this straight, Potter. First you tell me the police vehicle blew up, then you were rescued by some kind of sexual deviant, and now you’re telling me that a freaking vampire attacked you. Have you lost your fucking mind?”
Lisa cringed backwards as Sargent Shaw screamed at Potter. But he wasn’t prepared to take any more of her bullshit. Standing his ground, he shouted back. “The only person around here who has lost their fucking mind is you! It’s you who believes that Lucy May died of some drug overdose, even though she was found with her fucking head hacked off. It’s you who has denied the fact that there was no blood found at the crime scene, and it’s you—”
“Stop!” someone roared.
They all turned to face the office door. Chief Tracer was standing with his back to the door. He was dressed in his pristine black uniform, with circular silver crests on each shoulder. His closely cropped hair gave his face a pinched and pointed look. When Karl had first met him, he had thought Tracer to be in his mid-forties, but now, in the glare of the overhead fluorescent lighting, he appeared older than Karl remembered him to be.
With his back to the door, Tracer looked across the office at Karl. His stare was thunderous. “How dare you speak to Sergeant Shaw like that!” he bellowed.
Again, Karl saw Lisa flinch backwards. He looked across the office and met Chief Tracer’s stare. Perhaps he had spoken to Sergeant Shaw out of turn, but Karl still believed he had every reason to. She seemed unwilling to listen to him. Sergeant Shaw refused to believe what was staring her right in the face. If only she would give him the chance to explain everything that he had seen last night.
“I was just trying to—” Karl started. But before he had the chance to fully explain himself, Chief Tracer was shouting again.
“We’re just trying to find out what happened to Officer Selina Riley last night! As far as we know, she’s gone missing and the last person to see her alive was you, Officer Potter. Now what have you done with her?”
Karl wasn’t sure at first whether he had heard Chief Tracer correctly. “Would do you mean, what have I done with her? She disappeared last night. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you! There was a vampire…”
“The only vampire at that apartment block last night, was you, Officer Potter,” Chief Tracer said, stepping away from the door.
Now Karl really couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Okay, okay,” Karl said, raising his hands and smirking back at Tracer, Lisa, and Shaw. “This is some kind of a joke, right? Or have you three been taking some of the shit that Lucy May was squirting into her veins.”
Ignoring him, Chief Tracer took another step forward. “You never knew what your parents really were, did you?”
“What have my parents got to do with
any of this?” Karl frowned. “Don’t bring them into this.”
Sergeant Shaw suddenly spoke up. “They were both vampires.”
“What?” Karl said, a look of bewilderment on his face. Sensing that he wasn’t getting a straight answer from either Tracer or Shaw, he turned his attention to Lisa. If the kiss they had shared had meant anything to her, Karl hoped that he could get a straight answer from her. “What are they talking about?”
Lisa looked suddenly uncomfortable, embarrassed even. “What they’re telling you is true, Karl,” Lisa said, almost apologetically. “We hoped you wouldn’t have to find out like this, but now that Selina has gone missing, we’ve got to bring our plans forward.”
“What are you talking about?” Karl questioned with a shake of his head. He was growing evermore confused with each passing second. “What plans?”
“Their plans to start a war,” someone said.
Karl, Lisa, Shaw, and Tracer spun around to face the entrance to the passageway that led down to the cells. To their surprise, it was Selina Riley who had spoken.
“I thought you said she’d gone missing,” Karl snapped, glancing at Sergeant Shaw.
Shaw ignored Karl and looked across the office at Selina standing in the entrance to the passageway. She was not wearing her uniform, but a long black coat, jeans, and boots. She had pulled her hair into a ponytail that was draped over one shoulder.
“Keep your mouth shut, Selina,” Shaw warned her.
“Keep her mouth shut about what?” Karl asked.
“About what they’ve really been doing here in Outpost 71,” Selina started.
Before she could say anything more, Tracer was shouting orders again. “Don’t you dare say anything, Officer Riley!”
“Please, stop,” Lisa said. “Now isn’t the time or place…”
“For what?” Potter cut in, desperate to know what the fuck was going on.
“They’re not ready to reveal to you what they truly are,” Selina said, looking at Potter. “It’s Tracer, Shaw, and Scott who are the vampires. They are the three you’ve seen in your visions, Karl. It’s them who murdered Lucy May and the guy last night. But they are just two of many.”
“Please! Don’t say anything more!” Lisa shouted at Selina. She then glanced at Potter. There was a part of her that had hoped they might have grown close, become good friends. And perhaps even become lovers. Lisa hadn’t wanted things to work out like this. She hadn’t wanted Karl to find out that she was a Vampyrus in this way. But more importantly, she hadn’t wanted Karl to discover the truth about himself and his parents’ right here and now. The time wasn’t right.
Karl broke Lisa’s stare and looked back across the office at Selina once more. He thought of the visions that had flashed across his mind when he had been in the shipping crates. In them, he had seen a male and two females attacking Lucy May. They had also attacked the male who had come back to life last night.
“How do I know you’re telling me the truth?” Karl asked Selina. She was the last person he thought that he would ever trust. “And why would they have wanted to kill Lucy May and the others that you mentioned?”
“Because they are trying to make an army to attack the humans,” Selina said. “They are creating an army of bloodsucking vampires. The shipping crates are full of the living dead. Full of vampires waiting to be unleashed on the humans.”
As if sensing that the secret was finally out, Tracer and Shaw leapt across the office at Selina. And to Karl’s amazement, as they sprang through the air, he watched tatty black wings spring from their backs. He thought of the vampire that had attacked him last night. He glanced at Lisa. Although she hadn’t darted across the office, and was still standing close to him, he could see that she, too, now had a set of black leathery-looking wings protruding from her back.
“I’m sorry,” she said, staring teary-eyed at Karl. “It wasn’t meant…”
Before she could finish, there was a deafening bang. Karl glanced up to see Tracer flying back across the office, his brains spraying the walls as they exploded out the back of his head. He looked at Selina, who was now standing in the entrance to the passageway with two gleaming guns in her fists. About her waist, Karl could see a gun belt and holsters. Selina let off another shot. With pinpoint accuracy, she unloaded her guns, blowing out the backs of Shaw’s and Lisa’s heads.
Sergeant Shaw spun back through the air, crashing into the office wall. Lisa flew backwards over the nearest desk before hitting the floor, her brains pooling in a dark ring beneath her.
“What the fuck!?” Karl gasped in shock. He felt suddenly winded, as if he had been punched in the guts.
He stared wide-eyed in shock and confusion as Selina stepped clear of the passageway and into the office. As she came toward him, she holstered both guns in one fluid and lightning-quick movement.
“You shot them,” Karl said, still unable to make sense of what he had just witnessed. “You blew their fucking brains out. Why? I thought you were part of their team?”
Selina stopped right in front of him, that perpetual smile of hers playing across her lips. “I was never a part of their team. I work for a different team altogether.”
“Who? What team?” Karl asked, still struggling to catch his breath.
Selina looked back in the direction of the passageway. Karl followed her stare to discover a young man in his early-twenties now standing there. He had sandy-blond hair and wore a black shirt and trousers.
Selina looked back at Karl and said, “This is a member of the team that I’m a part of. Let me introduce you to my friend, Nik Seth.”
Karl glanced once more at the young man Selina had introduced to him, then back at her. “But I still don’t understand, Selina.”
“The first thing you need to understand is that my name isn’t really Selina Riley,” she said. “I’m not the person you think I am.”
“Who are you, then?” Karl asked.
With her smile growing wider still, she looked into Karl’s eyes and said, “My name is Cara Hudson. I’m your sister.”
…to be continued.
Kiera Hudson & the Witch in the Mirror
(Kiera Hudson Series Four) Book 3
Coming Soon!
Other books connected to this series:
Stranger (The Clockwork Immortals Trilogy)
The Mirror Realm (The Lacey Swift Series)
The Beautiful Immortals (The Mila Watson Series)
Hollow Pit (The Jack Seth & Cara Hudson Trilogy)
More books by Tim O’Rourke
Kiera Hudson Series One
Vampire Shift (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 1
Vampire Wake (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 2
Vampire Hunt (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 3
Vampire Breed (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 4
Wolf House (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 5
Vampire Hollows (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 6
Kiera Hudson Series Two
Dead Flesh (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 1
Dead Night (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 2
Dead Angels (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 3
Dead Statues (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 4
Dead Seth (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 5
Dead Wolf (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 6
Dead Water (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 7
Dead Push (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 8
Dead Lost (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 9
Dead End (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 10
Kiera Hudson Series Three
The Creeping Men (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 1
The Lethal Infected (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 2
The Adoring Artist (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 3
The Secret Identity (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 4
The White Wolf (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 5
The Origins of Cara (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 6
The Final Push (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 7
The Underground Switch (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 8
The Last Elder (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 9
Kiera Hudson Series Four
The Girl Who Travelled Backward (Book 1)
The Man Who Loved Snow (Book 2)
The Kiera Hudson Prequels
The Kiera Hudson Prequels (Book One)
The Kiera Hudson Prequels (Book Two)
Kiera Hudson & Sammy Carter
Vampire Twin (Pushed Trilogy) Book 1
Vampire Chronicle (Pushed Trilogy) Book 2
The Alternate World of Kiera Hudson
Wolf Shift
The Beautiful Immortals
The Beautiful Immortals (Book One)
The Beautiful Immortals (Book Two)
The Beautiful Immortals (Book Three)
The Beautiful Immortals (Book Four)
The Beautiful Immortals (Book Five)
The Beautiful Immortals (Book Six)
The Laura Pepper Trilogy
Vampires of Fogmin Moor (Book One)
Vampires of Fogmin Moor (Book Two)
Vampires of Fogmin Moor (Book Three)
The Mirror Realm (The Lacey Swift Series)
The Mirror Realm (Book One)
The Mirror Realm (Book Two)
The Mirror Realm (Book Three)
The Mirror Realm (Book Four)
Moon Trilogy
Moonlight (Moon Trilogy) Book 1
Moonbeam (Moon Trilogy) Book 2
Moonshine (Moon Trilogy) Book 3
The Clockwork Immortals
Stranger (Part One)
Stranger (Part Two)
Stranger (Part Three)
The Jack Seth Novellas
Hollow Pit (Book One)
Black Hill Farm (Books 1 & 2)
Black Hill Farm (Book 1)
Black Hill Farm: Andy’s Diary (Book 2)
Sidney Hart Novels
Witch (A Sidney Hart Novel) Book 1
Yellow (A Sidney Hart Novel) Book 2
The Tessa Dark Trilogy
Stilts (Book 1)
Zip (Book 2)