"I was hoping that you would say that," Kent said as he opened the backdoor.
"Colonel," the Captain said, "We have some dry clothes inside the vehicle for you."
"Thank you, Captain," he said as he saluted before they all disappeared into the car.
Before Chris had closed front passenger door, the car had begun to pull away. Sirens blared. Red and blue lights flashed as the patrol cars led the way through the storm. Water splashed under their tires as the patrol cars sped away. The maroon unmarked police car followed their escort. The three car parade left the heliport within minutes and they were rapidly progressing through the streets of Halifax. All traffic along their route was diverted to side streets. The soaked passengers didn't speak. They slowly changed in the cramped quarters of the car. Each person took turns helping the other change into their dry clothes. For the first time in his life, David was actually glad to be wearing military fatigues.
"Don't get any ideas," David warned Ty as he buttoned the military shirt.
Ty laughed. "You're not my type. I need someone with less attitude and far more muscle," he managed to reply through his laughter.
Larry, Kent and even Chris broke into hysterics. David blushed. Ty had managed to completely embarrass him by throwing his own joke back at him. Larry put his arm around his shoulder and David managed to smile. However, Chris' laughter at his expense bothered him more than he cared to admit. The redness of his face waned but the anger in his soul remained.
Before long, the patrol cars were allowed to pass the roadblocks set up along Spring Garden Road. All traffic, except for their escort, had been diverted to side streets. Spring Garden Road, one of the main streets through the original City of Halifax, was completely shutdown for miles. Larry noticed the ambulances and the patrol cars that were parked on the street. Detectives could be seen emerging from their cars and heading into the building. Several people, despite the weather, were outside smoking. The rain kept them all huddled together under a small overhang. Larry was already regretting getting out of the car and Kent hadn't even parked it yet.
The car pulled up to an empty spot near a curb. The yellow paint indicated that it was a tow away zone, but Kent ignored the warning. The street was closed to everyone except for the people that he had assigned to investigate the building. All five men climbed out of the car and dashed into the building. David held his breath as he passed by the smokers. He chuckled as he inhaled. With the power of the wind whipping through the streets, he realized that the smoke would have been dispersed before it ever reached his nostrils.
Inside the travelers were thankful for the dry, warm interior of the building. Kent nodded his head to their left and the others followed. Kent briefly discussed the scene with another detective before they continued towards the medical examination room. The room was marked off with yellow police tape and two uniformed officers guarded the door. Kent ducked under the tape and held it up for the others to follow.
"Police only," one of the uniformed officers stated to the rest of the group.
"They are with me," Kent said, "And you two can go on break."
"But…" the second officer said.
"Don't argue with the man," the first officer said. "Let's go get a coffee at the Tim's across the street."
The two uniformed officers left the area as the group entered the room. Kent whistled and the forensics team dropped what they were doing and they left the room. One by one, they disappeared down the hallway. They left the group to observe the scene on their own. Larry and David turned pale. Ty, the military veteran, covered his mouth. Kent, the homicide detective, shook his head in disbelief. Chris, immediately, began to closely observe the scene: He had expected much worse.
The room was covered in dried blood. Brown-red streaks marked everything. David stepped in a partially congealed puddle of blood. Larry side-stepped several fingers that had been tossed onto the once pristine white floors. The gory sight of Dr. Muranko made everyone, but Chris, pause. He continued forward to get a closer look at the horrors that had been inflicted on the medical examiner.
As Chris approached the body of Dr. Muranko, the vampire hunter was expressionless but his stomach churned. The corpse's tortured expression ate at his angst-ridden soul. The man had several layers of tape covering his mouth. His eyes stared blankly ahead. Part of his skull was exposed and his ears had apparently been snipped several times. They resembled a fish's tail. His organs were exposed by several large gashes in his torso and several fingers and toes were missing. The bite marks along the body told the story of long, drawn out moments of torture which indicated a horrific death. He shook his head.
Larry stepped forward and placed his hand on the troubled vampire hunter's shoulder. "Troubling," he said.
Chris knelt to further examine the medical instruments which had been tossed onto the floor. He picked up the vibrating saw and glanced at the exposed section of the man's skull.
"She tortured him for pleasure," he said.
Kent stepped forward. "Who?" the police detective inquired.
"The queen of the vampires," David said as he averted his eyes from the gruesome scene.
"And she is?" Kent asked. "I am just the eyes and ears for the council. I have never had any real encounters with a vampire."
"You have now," Chris said as he stepped away from the body to examine the rest of the room.
Ty joined Chris in examining the body of the assistant which rested where it had fallen after she had fed. Larry watched his friends before he turned to see David leaving the room. Ty stood and followed David. Larry faced the police detective.
"Her name is Mikhaeli Lanaova. She is the reigning queen of the vampires. She is the most powerful and most deadly creature walking on the face of the Earth," he said.
"How do you know that this was her?" Kent asked.
Chris, who had knelt to examine the throat of the fallen assistant, stood. He turned to the police detective. "This is her calling card. She is as brutal and sadistic as she is attractive. She lures people into a false sense of security with her beauty. When they let their guard down, she manipulates them and then strikes. In this case, I expect that she was believed to be dead and she surprised them during the examination."
"How can you be so certain?" Kent pressed.
Chris scoffed. "Look at the differences between the two bodies. She fed on the body in the corner before she had decided to play. This man was tortured. She went so far as to clip the man's ears. She bound his mouth and his limbs so he couldn't scream or move. For what I expect was at least an hour, she killed this man slowly."
"How do you know that he had lived for the entire hour?"
Chris reached over and turned his head to show the bite marks in his neck. "She fed on him several times but this gash is vicious. She ripped his throat out which would have been the final act before he died. The rest was for her enjoyment only."
Kent shook his head in disbelief. "Part of his brain is exposed. How could he have survived through the torture?"
Larry held up a hand. "I can answer that. She wouldn't have allowed him to die because it would have ruined her enjoyment."
"One person could do this?" Kent asked.
"Not a person. She is a monster," Chris corrected. "Sadistic torture and brutal murders have defined her reign."
Larry cocked an eyebrow. "You really haven't had any experience with vampires."
Kent blushed slightly. "I was recently reinstated from a desk job at my station at the request of the council. Their contact was recently killed in the line of duty and I was their choice."
"Why would they pick you if you are so inexperienced?" Larry asked.
"His father was a member of the council," Chris stated, "And they selected him because of his lineage."
Kent nodded. "My family didn't even know my father's connection to the Council of the Light until three men showed up at my door. My father was a businessman who secretly funded the council's activities in this region
."
"Interesting," Larry said.
"Troubling," Chris corrected him.
Both men turned to the vampire hunter. "Care to explain?" Kent asked.
"I don't have a problem with you personally," Chris said as he faced the police detective. "The fact remains that the council is selecting inexperienced warriors in this region. It tells me that the council's presence is weak. When the council is weak…"
"Vampires take control?" Kent asked.
Both men nodded. "Very astute," Larry said as he turned to face Ty who had returned from helping David.
"The boy is extremely ill," Ty said.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Larry demanded.
Ty cocked an eyebrow. "It thought I just did?"
Larry shook his head. "No, about the lack of a council presence in this area," he said.
Ty sighed heavily. "Why do you think that you are here?" he asked.
"We came on our own," Larry said.
"Yes, but I mean in this room right now. When I heard about the brutality of the crime from Kent, I knew that it was not the work of Le Doux. He is much more passive. He sits back and lets his vampires run wild in the area. Our numbers have dwindled due to the decreasing number of church parishioners. As always, we have been selective…"
Ty paused when he saw the glare that Chris was giving him.
"Did I say something wrong?" Ty asked.
"Let it go," Larry warned Chris.
Chris shot him an angry glance and Larry backed away. "Who did you say was in charge here?"
"Le Doux," Ty said.
"Damien Le Doux?" Chris asked.
"Yes, that is his name. He is…"
Chris stood and marched towards the door. "We are done here."
Larry shook his head. "Chris, we have to focus on…"
The vampire hunter didn't stop. He angrily strutted to the doorway. He ducked under the police tape and headed towards the nearest exit. The two Canadian members of the group stared at Larry who sighed heavily. David entered the room. He ducked under the tape as he wiped his mouth with a paper towel.
"What was that all about?" David asked. "He damn near ran me over leaving the room."
"Damien Le Doux," Larry said.
"Fuck," David said wearily.
Larry started towards the door and left the room. David shook his head and followed. The two other men shrugged and they followed. They returned to the storm. Darkness was falling. The rain continued. Lightning lit the darkened skies. Larry glanced left and right and then he shook his head.
Chris was gone.
* * *
Amy Smith brushed her dark hair out of her tired, brown eyes. The slim woman was on the verge of mental fatigue. Her co-workers in the Criminal Investigation Division had sent out a call to her in the late afternoon. They had been investigating the incident at the Halifax airport earlier in the day. The team had removed the luggage and they had brought it to the forensics lab for processing. Along with the hundreds of other pieces of evidence, the luggage was stored and processed according to its perceived importance. The knives, apparently used in the murders, along with the bodies were rushed to the lab for analysis. The luggage, not deemed as important, had waited in storage for most of the day. However, when a computer lock mysteriously activated, Amy Smith was called into duty.
Amy Smith was a member of the Special Enforcement Division. Specifically, she was member of the Computer Forensic Unit. She spent her working day slowly working on internet crime. Her tasks ranged from tracking computer hackers to finding child pornography sites and internet child predators. Her investigations were tedious. In a world where technology changed rapidly and the criminal element became more advanced, her job became increasingly stressful. The same stress had caused her already limited social life to become non existent. When Brian called her to hack into an advanced computer lock, she dropped everything, grabbed her laptop, and headed to his laboratory.
Brian McNabb, an average height man, with an average build rubbed his three day growth. He watched Amy push her hair out of her eyes and he patted her on the right shoulder. She was working incredibly hard. The lock, which had a wireless connection, had an impressive firewall. Brian, while not being a member of the Computer Forensic Unit, had still seen enough computer programs to know that they were dealing with someone of extravagant wealth. Computer systems, which were this advanced and complicated, were usually reserved for government military agencies or those very elite few who could purchase them on the black market. He knew that if Amy could hack into the system, then they had a great chance of also opening the four identical locks on the other four identical suitcases.
Amy sighed. "This is a tough one," she admitted.
Brian squeezed her shoulder. "I really appreciate it. When the team retrieved the luggage from the property room, the locks activated. We tried cutting into the fabric, but it appears to be some sort of Kevlar infused with lead so we couldn't even x-ray its contents. The hinges are hidden beneath the fabric so they could not even pry them open. Whatever is in there must be extremely important to whoever owns them."
"I am doing my best," Amy admitted though she was completely distracted by Brian's hand on her shoulder.
Brian, while not being a Hollywood leading man, was perfect in Amy's eyes. She admired his intelligence and she found him visually appealing. She had always wanted to ask Brian out on date or, more importantly, she wanted Brian to ask her to join him for dinner. The longer his hand stayed on her shoulder, the longer her focus wandered to more personal thoughts. He squeezed her shoulder again and she thought that she was going to melt. She sighed.
Brian rubbed her shoulder and gave it a pat. "I know that you are doing your best," he reassured her. "But if you solve this riddle soon, I'll buy you dinner."
"REALLY?" she asked excitedly as she turned around. "Ah…I mean really? I am starving."
Her heart began to thump rapidly as he smiled at her.
"It won't be anything fancy at this hour, but I am certain that it will keep us both alive."
She smiled and turned back around to her laptop. She rolled up her sleeves and she refocused. Even if Brian was only offering to buy her dinner because they were hungry, it was still a chance to spend one-on-one time with him outside of work. She watched the numbers scroll across her screen. A line of code caught her attention and she frantically typed faster. She smiled broadly.
"What is it?" Brian asked.
She chuckled. "I don't know why I didn't see it before, but I found the code that allows me to program the wireless receiver in the lock."
"So you can see what signals that it is receiving?" Brian asked.
Her smile widened. "Actually, now I can see the entire command string and see how it was armed," she said as she shook her head. "I must really be tired because either this was staring me right in the face the entire time or someone just magically made it appear."
"So what is it saying?" Brian pressed as he leaned over her shoulder.
"Interesting," she said. "It is calling out to a phone."
A cell phone rang. Brian snapped his head towards the tables of evidence. He glanced back at Amy whose eyes were wide with disbelief. He dashed across the room and listened. The phone rang again. They had turned down the lights because they were not examining that evidence which had left that area of the room dimly lit. He hoped that it would not go to voice-mail before he could pick it up. It rang again and he frantically looked over the tables. A small pre-paid cell phone, whose screen glowed in the dim light, rang again. He dashed to the table. He picked it up and he fumbled with the phone hoping to hit the send button. He sighed as the phone told him that he had missed the call.
"Fuck," he exclaimed.
"Try calling it back," she offered.
Brian shrugged. He hit the send button and the number appeared. He hit the send button again and he held the phone to his left ear. "Here goes nothing."
The phone clicked and an automated voice answered. "Ple
ase enter your number to continue," the robotic voice stated.
"Damn!"
"What?"
"It wants the number on this phone. How do I find it?"
She smiled. "Hold on. It is right here on my screen. The program is tracking it remember?"
"Just give it to me," he said impatiently as he waited with his thumbs over the buttons.
Amy's mind wandered to more lustful thoughts. "Oh yes…I'll give it to you."
"What?"
"I…mean it is nine, six, eight, four, six, two, six, six, six, one."
He frantically punched the numbers into the phone. He held the phone to his ear.
Blood Reign Page 35