by Yirak, Laura
Judy’s story seemed so detailed, he thought to himself and her reputation was impeccable. The Father reasoned to himself that she must be telling the truth and opened up his book. Facing the woods and everything it held, he made the sign of the cross and read a prayer of Deliverance in Latin. The words rolled of his tongue and into nature.
This was a rather new procedure for him and during it he wondered if he should have consulted with another higher up before taking this all on alone. As he faltered in concentration, he saw movement. It looked like a black shadow, but then he wasn’t sure because he had only seen it out of the corner of his eye and whatever it was had been lightening fast.
He continued on reading the words faster and with more passion. Again, though, the doubt came back, then another shadow.
Father Mac Namara stopped. Everything became shockingly quiet. There was nothing but the sound of his quickening heart. It was then he felt a tug and the ice cold hands of something yanking him up into the woods.
Chapter 8
Vacations are over rated the Constable convinced himself as he parked his car in front of the McKenzie Manor House. To him all the quaint and country details that made everyone else melt somehow annoyed him. It had been ages anyways since his last holiday and couldn’t remember nor wanted to. There were more important things in Scotland that needed handled besides sitting on a beach and checking out the big arses, he smiled thinking about it, but slammed the police car door shut as he noticed the hot red Ferrari and almost spilled his piping hot coffee as well. The thing had not one single scratch which seemed impossible after that driveway. He looked back at his police car which had seen many a chase and admired all its imperfections. After clearing his throat and taking a sip, the Constable pushed the heavy wooden door open to the Manor. A little bell jingled above proclaiming his entrance. It was too bad; he always enjoyed the surprised look on people’s faces when an officer of the law entered unexpectedly.
Of course as predicted there was no one at the front desk, so he pressed the little bell on the counter with the unsurprising dull ding and took a look at his watch.
“Let’s time them,” he said sarcastically.
“Time who?” a voice said from behind.
“Hello there!” the Constable said with an amazed half smile.
Patrick took his place behind the counter, “Welcome, how may I help you?”
“I called earlier about blood samples. I’m Constable Queen.”
“Oh of course. The Constable. I saw you on the news. Yeah uh…” Patrick stuttered.
“Is Alesta here, she never came by today?”
“There’s a reason for that. I forgot to give her the message. I’m very sorry. Things got very busy around here today and I know that excuses are probably of no concern to you, but I take full responsibility.” Patrick just looked at the short man who then took another sip of coffee and let off absolutely no hint of emotion.
“I see; well, I’m here to take her down to the station. We need that sample now.”
All Patrick felt was his stomach do a one eighty, “Uh, Okay, uh, let me see what I can do. Excuse me while I call her. It’ll just be a minute if you would like to take a seat there or in the living room area.” Patrick pointed and hurried up to his bedroom.
Luckily it was dark and Patrick knew she’d be up by now. She was just taking her merry old time coming over to the main house. It was that Nicholas fellow, he reasoned with a slight feeling of green.
“Hello,” Alesta answered.
“Alesta!” Patrick said.
“What’s wrong, you sound…..”
“I screwed up. I didn’t call you earlier and I should have. He’s here to take you to the station.”
“What? Who’s here?”
“The Constable, he called earlier. He wants a blood sample from you. Anyways I got distracted and well, he’s here at the Manor, waiting for you, to take you in.”
“Oh, well there’s a dodgy situation.” Alesta looked at Nicholas who was listening in as he got dressed.
“Patrick I’ll take care of it, don’t worry, just distract him for me till I get over there.”
“Right I’ll do that. I’ll see you.” Patrick hung up.
Alesta watched Nicholas do up the last button of his black shirt covering up the last little bit of navel hair. Maybe that was her favorite part of him, but then she looked at his lips and changed her mind.
“I think it’s time for dinner,” Nicholas said with the most seductive smile.
“You mean the Constable?” Alesta started laughing and looked at her pale face in the mirror; even her lips looked a pale pink. “I need some lipstick.”
“You are stunning without it.” Nicholas stood behind her and leaned his cheek into hers.
“I don’t know what to do. They have a sample of my blood at the station from the crime scene. I cut myself on a shard of glass as I jumped from the window.”
“So they think it’s Ro’s?”
“They did. I snuck into the Constable Queen’s office while he received a fax saying that the sample must be contaminated, multiple sources of DNA.”
“Well our blood is made up of those we feed from. It wouldn’t make sense to the living. That’s why he wants your blood to see if you’re the contaminant?”
“Yes. That’s what I get for being careless.”
“It was the heat of the moment. Your intentions were good and still are. I have a plan. Do you have any needles and syringes?”
“Yes.” Alesta finished brushing her hair, “What for?”
“You’ll see, just call Patrick and tell him to send Queen over.”
“Ro!” Lachlan swung around in his chair. “I called you over here for a reason. We’re not finished and you’ve been sloppy with your work. I told you not to kill anyone.”
“I was hungry.” Ro paced about the lifeless office room.
Lachlan furrowed his dark black brow, “That’s it? You were hungry. Well eat before next time. It’s not like I don’t have plenty for you round here. Do it again and you’re finished. And I want you to go out again tonight.”
“So soon?” Ro stopped pacing, he looked quite miffed.
“That’s the thing. They won’t expect it. Catch them off guard.”
“Don’t you have enough of them?”
“Not yet; a couple more and that should be enough for now.”
“And Balara?”
“She’s with them now taking care of all the little things.”
“I don’t picture her as the motherly type.”
Lachlan turned his chair away, “That’s all then. I don’t want to see you till after. Bring it to the same place as usual and Balara will meet you.”
“I expect her to be friendlier this time. She didn’t deliver what we bargained for. That female’s got sharp nails.” Ro rubbed his face.
“As she explained, you deserved it. I spoke with her. You’ll have everything you asked for when you deliver.”
“Right then.”
Ro closed the door behind him and Lachlan put his feet up on his desk with a look of disgust.
The door opened and all the Constable noticed was smiling red lips.
“Come in. Come in.” Alesta gestured.
“No, no. We really should get down town. The lab tech is waiting for us. I ordered him to wait.” The Constable turned away; he was feeling a little uneasy.
“Sure. My purse is upstairs let me go grab it and I’ll come right back down.”
As planned Alesta left. Upon her return the door was still standing open with no sign of the Constable.
“Nicholas?” Alesta called out.
“I’m in here.”
She followed the whisper and there in her small dining room the Count hunched over a very still body on top of the shining brown table.
“Dinner?” Alesta asked.
“Yes. I’d offer some but we want him awake and alert after this.”
“Just a taste then.” Alesta took a
little sip from the small cut in the officer’s inner ankle, and then inserted the needle she had with her from the same spot and drew up a syringe full of blood. “This should do it. I don’t have long before this is useless, we best hurry then.”
“We’ll make it, don’t fret,” Nicholas said then continued for a bit, “You remember when you were new and I had to teach you the difference between arteries and veins?”
“Yes,” Alesta said.
“Arteries for a quicker meal and veins to savor.” Nicholas finished his last taste.
“Yeah, it was tricky at first but it’s all about the feel, arteries can only be felt by their pulse and veins can be seen. Takes practice,” Alesta added, then they both pulled down the Constable’s blue pant leg and pulled up his navy sock, “Listen to us, what are we like. You think he’ll suspect anything?” Alesta asked.
“He won’t feel a thing, maybe he’ll notice in his next bath and by then it will be well healed.”
Nicholas dragged the limp body back at the front door and stood him up, but it wasn’t easy. Nicholas held on to him as Alesta went back up to the top of the stairs and the Count snapped his fingers. He let go of the officer who took a few steps back with dizziness and rubbed his eyes. Nicholas vanished.
Alesta stood at the bottom of the staircase looking very innocent, “Constable Queen?”
“Yes, yes. I’m feeling tired. It’s been a long day. And I’m suddenly very thirsty. May I have a glass of water before we go?”
“Certainly. Let me get it for you.” She went off with a slight twinkle in her eye thinking about the fresh taste of Mr. Queen and how she wouldn’t have minded a little more; her Nicholas always enjoyed teasing her with that sort of thing.
Constable Queen held on to the doorway watching her black dressed figure while trying to gain his balance. He thought he heard movement behind him but when he looked there was just trees lightly rustling in the wind and his tan trench coat flipped to his side as a small gust blew in. He downed the water that she had promptly brought and then made his way back to his car with the blue eyed beauty following. Nicholas had agreed to stay behind but Alesta knew better when she sensed his presence nearby on the trip to the station.
The police car was a disaster inside; the Constable shuffled some papers off the passenger seat and apologized for the horrid mess. A couple coffee stains lay about on the floor and behind her was bulletproof glass with some bars. He was nervous she sensed and took that as a cue to just relax and let him do the worrying. Not a word was spoken between them and he drove like a terror. They pulled up in front with a screech in between the other police cars that hadn’t left for patrol yet. The Constable parallel parked perfectly, which Alesta had always wanted to do, but always ended up with her car half hanging out in the street or one tire up on the pavement. Just because she was a vamp didn’t mean she was great at everything.
The building was quiet; just the sound of their steps echoed up the corridors. Labs always smelled funky to Alesta, all the strange chemicals, rubbers and odd machines. She sat in a chair while the anxious nerdy tech drew a sample with the Constable watching. The needle was big, sharp, and very long. He slapped her arm twice and then pressed it into the bend. The blood was dark and the red-topped tube filled up slowly. Alesta felt hungry watching her mix of blood swirl away. The tech let go of the tourniquet, withdrew the needle and handed her a cotton ball to press over it. She held it there pretending that she was still bleeding and the tech placed tape over it. Alesta rolled down her black sleeve and gave him a doe eyed look.
“That’s it?” Alesta lifted up her eyes from the cotton ball and looked at Constable Queen.
“Yes. Thank you. I’ll show you out. I can have another officer drop you home. You’ll hear from me personally if anything is wrong….. Don’t leave town.” Constable Queen gave her a hand out of the chair; he noticed that her skin was like ice.
She let go quickly, “Why would I? I can take a taxi. I have the number in my cell.” Alesta pulled the bright blue metallic phone out from her black purse dismissing the notion that he assumed she had something to with the missing babies.
Alesta waited outside the station for the Constable to go back in. He asked her a few more questions, which she had already answered previously. It was too obvious that he was trying to get her to slip up somehow. He didn’t look as appetizing as he had earlier she thought. She was getting tired of his antics and assumptions and turned her head to roll her eyes. It was all too long before he finally left.
“Coffee drinking….” she left the rest unsaid and only thought it.
The invisible vamp followed in after him, imperceptible to the human eye and made her way back up to the top floor were the lab was. This time she took the stairs instead of the lift. The stairs reminded her of the hospital’s and so she thought about Ro on her way up. Where was he hiding, the filth?
The thin tech sat with the freshly drawn sample next to him and got his supplies ready to do the test on it. He left the room momentarily and went into the next to turn on a machine. Alesta quietly picked up another tube and after gently rolling her syringe to mix the separated blood, platelets and other constituents, pressed the needle into the red rubber tube top. The Constable’s blood had not coagulated yet and the tube filled quickly.
She peeled off the label on the original tube and placed it on the new one and sat it back down into the tube holder where the tech had left it. Just as she did she knocked over the can of soda the tech had been drinking. The brown cola spilled and fizzed everywhere. Alesta jumped back into the corner quiet as death.
“Bollocks!” he muttered and grabbed some paper towels from a dispenser on the wall, “What a bloody mess.”
A sign in big bold letters above his counter clearly stated, no food or drink in the lab. The tech mumbled away as he cleaned up the brown mess and washed his sticky thin hands in the sink. He looked so pale standing there and Alesta listened to his heart pump. It was a strong, healthy, young pump. After checking to make sure that the spill was entirely contained and cleaned he sat back down and prepared the Constable’s blood sample. She just waited and watched as he took some drops here and there and placed them into some other tubes. He then dropped them into the machine and pressed some buttons. A little while later a sheet of paper popped out. The tech scratched his head and picked up the phone.
“Hello? Constable? Uh yes. It’s done…. There’s no match. She’s not the contaminant.”
They exchanged a few more unnecessary sentences and the tech clicked the phone off. He rubbed his eyes and yawned while looking up at the clock.
“Almost midnight and time to go,” he said, stretched and cleaned up the remainder of his tools.
As he pulled on his blue Rangers team logo coat, he felt a tug, but it wasn’t caught on anything that he could see. He tried again and felt another tug, but this one was harder and he felt himself being pushed against the wall, by nothing. The last thing he saw was bright blue eyes and white fangs.
“What do you mean he’s not back yet?” Judy was frantic.
“He’s been gone for hours. I sent Monica home, told her I was tired.” Patrick just stared out the window of Judy’s bedroom and wiped away his breath to try and see. “I should go out there.”
Judy sat in bed looking as worried as ever, “I will go too.”
“No. You’ve had enough….”
She interrupted, “But it’s two against one. I saw him give you a card too.”
Patrick pulled St. Michael from his pocket, “It’s just a card. How could it compete with a full blown Priest, bible, cross and all?”
“You are right. Stay here. Maybe we’ll wait for Alesta to come home,” she said.
“No. She could be gone all night, fuck knows.”
“Patrick?” Judy frowned.
“Sorry, I can’t help it. We can’t have the blood of a Priest on our hands. Then I’m definitely in for it.”
“Rubbish.”
The two just
looked at each other with mutual understanding of what had to be done, which meant that Judy stayed behind and Patrick ventured out into the night with his friendly torch. It was absolutely freezing. He tried to warm up as he walked along the waters edge. The inlet came where he had found Judy earlier. Patrick stood on the exact spot and looked up into the forest.
“Father! You there?”
The only sound returned was that of swaying and creaky old trees. The wind had picked up a little bit.
“Father?” he called louder and looked up into the dark canopy, it was pitch black in there.
“I should’ve put on pants,” Patrick whispered but wasn’t about to go back and do so.
The brush was thick and wet. His legs were cold and shoes covered with mud as he tried to climb into the forest.
“The Scots are tough,” he said, then tripped on a branch, “Bloody hell…..Father?”
He shined his torch all around looking for something, anything, but there was no signs of a Father Mac Namara.
“Hello…..anyone?”
A broken branch snagged Patrick’s kilt and he bent over to try and unhook it. When he looked down he noticed something shiny. It was a set of rosary beads, clear red with a bright silver cross. He picked them up. They were cold and dirty.
“I know you’re here. Father?”
Patrick fumbled around in the dark woods for another hour, looking and poking about, calling the Priest’s name and cursing as he went. He came back out with only one scrape on his leg from something poking out in the dark, but that was all he came out with. He felt plainly exhausted and concerned. Maybe he had just gotten lucky finding Judy earlier in the day, he thought, maybe he should wait and look more? The loch looked rough as he shined the light out over it, but the light only got so far. There were no signs of anything floating that he could tell.
To be sure though Patrick hauled out one of the aluminum boats from the old horse shed and paddled out a ways into the water. The current was strong and pushed him farther and farther away from land. The mist was thick and the lights on the shore scattered like big bright fuzzy balls. He rowed hard against the loch, it was too strong to be able to hold a torch and paddle at the same time, therefore he made the choice to go back and wait till day light. Judy was in no state to be forced out in that sort of weather.