Mike frowned. ‘You mean by eliminating the cops.’
‘It’s a methodology which has worked for centuries, but the problem seemed too big. It would have meant a lot of deaths and wiping out records in too many places. The noise would have been huge. The risk was taken and we made the Agreement. We generally police ourselves and the city let us continue that with an addendum which I’ll get back to. We don’t generally involve ourselves in politics, but we agreed to formalise it. No vampires in senior positions in the government. I’m the only one in the cops, and that was done to make SCU work. It was their idea, not ours. The Agreement gives enough influence with the NYPD to make it work anyway. They wanted us to stay out of medicine, but they backed down when we asked if they really wanted to lose some of the most skilled physicians in the world.’
‘So… there really is a conspiracy to hide vampires from the world?’
‘Oh yes. There has been since the fifth century BC, but this is the first time humans have been knowingly in on it.’
‘And no one knows? The FBI, CIA?’
‘The CIA knows we exist. The Army is… not entirely unaware. The FBI has a sort of wilful ignorance thing going. They just refuse to believe it. All that noise about inflexibility after nine-eleven and they still haven’t really learned. They usually put us down as cultists or terrorists.’
‘Right… And that addendum you mentioned?’
Diana smiled again. ‘They don’t like me running around on my own. The Agreement calls for the Concilium’s appointed Hunter, that’s me, Dione of Sparta, to have a human partner to represent the interests of the NYPD and humans in general when enforcing vampire law.’
‘Dione?’
‘Yes. The name in the ID is my current alias. Little joke by a friend. Diana was the roman name for Artemis, goddess of the hunt. My birth name was Dione. I was born in Sparta, so I’d imagine you’d think of me as Greek. It’s easier if you call me Di. It avoids using the wrong name in front of the wrong people.’
‘I kind of like Dione. It’s… different.’
‘Named after a sea nymph. And to get back on topic, I’m offering you a job, Mike. I need a new partner. You’re a good, solid cop, not too far down the road to be cynical. You have another attribute which will be useful, but we can get to that if you accept. There’s more pay in it, but you’ll earn it. The work can be dangerous, but you’ll be saving lives instead of filling out reports for insurance companies, and it’s interesting work. As you can imagine, we work nights a lot, but not as much as you’d think.’
‘Well, I’ve seen you in daylight. Look, I… don’t know what to say.’
‘Good. Think about it. Talk to Leanne and your mother, by all means, but I’d appreciate it if the word “vampire” was not mentioned in those conversations. I told you what the SCU does officially, and we were officially involved in the Harlem Vampire investigation so that’s how you came to my attention. If Leanne asks, I didn’t say anything on Friday because I didn’t have clearance from my boss until today. I need an answer before Thursday. I’ll be in the Black Candle on Wednesday evening.’ She reached into her coat and pulled out a business card. ‘Or you can call me.’ She got to her feet, holding out the card.
Mike stood up and took it. ‘I guess I’ll see you on Wednesday,’ he said.
‘Looking forward to it.’
~~~
‘Well, it sounds crazy, but I can’t think of a better person to do it.’
Mike gave Leanne a frown. ‘Why?’
‘Well, you’ve had me and your father preaching rationality at you. Mostly me, I guess. And you have your mother who knows the folklore. So you know about this stuff, but you’re going to be looking at it rationally.’
‘I… hadn’t thought of it like that.’
‘And,’ she went on, ‘I guess it’s not that crazy. It’s a speciality, like fraud or handling victims of sexual abuse. If you’re going to interview someone who… thinks they’ve been kidnapped by aliens or something.’
‘Those anal probes can be bad.’
‘Exactly. They’re traumatised and you have to know how to treat them, even if you don’t believe a word of it.’
Mike made a mental note to ask whether alien abductions fell under the SCU remit. ‘So, you think it’s a good idea?’
‘More money, more interesting work. I don’t see how it can be more dangerous than what you already do.’
‘Mad, satanic cultists with knives…’
‘FBI says there’s no such thing. And you have a gun. And you almost died because of a random arrest you happened to come across in a park. Take the job.’
18th November.
‘You’re looking much better,’ Georgina said, smiling at her son as he hung his coat in the porch. ‘You’ve colour back in your cheeks.’
‘Feeling pretty good too,’ Mike told her, ‘but this isn’t an entirely social call. I have something to discuss.’
‘That sounds serious. Come into the kitchen while I make coffee.’
Mike followed her through the lounge to the kitchen at the back of the little house in Gravesend. He had grown up in this house. Leanne had been five doors down and had spent almost as much time here as her own home after they had become friends. Georgina and Lidia, Leanne’s mother, had become very close after David Williams had become another name on the memorial wall. Mike had very fond memories of the small kitchen, even though it had been refitted since he was a kid.
‘I got a job offer,’ Mike said.
‘I thought you were a cop until they carried you out kicking and screaming.’
‘It’s still with the NYPD. One of the specialist units. The specialist unit, I guess. It’s called the Specialist Crimes Unit.’
‘I think David mentioned it once, when they formed it. He called it a waste of taxpayers’ money.’
‘Huh, well, apparently he was wrong because it’s still going and they need a new detective. They worked the Harlem Vampire case, because of the weird MO, and their primary investigator says I caught her eye. Maybe I bled on her or something.’
Georgina gave a sharp little laugh. ‘Why do you need to talk to me about it?’
‘Well, it’s more money, I wouldn’t be filling in forms eighty per cent of the time, and the work is interesting and varied. I mean, ghosts, vampires, fake mediums, con artists…’
‘But?’
‘But Di says it can be more dangerous. I need to know you’re…’ He paused. He wanted to say ‘happy with it,’ but he knew that was wrong. Before he could continue, his mother took over.
‘I don’t like it, Michael, but I came to terms with your decision to be a policeman a long time ago. I won’t stand in the way of what sounds like a promotion because I worry over you. I’d worry over you if you did crossing guard duty.’
‘Yeah. I know that. I just didn’t think I could take a decision like this without asking… warning you, I guess. It wouldn’t be… fair to just say “oh, I’ve taken a job hunting vampires, just FYI.”’
Georgina glanced at him. ‘You know, I do believe they exist.’
‘I know.’
‘But then, a specialist unit would seem a better place to be if you come across one. You’d be prepared. A normal detective would find themselves facing something they had no idea about.’
‘Good point.’ It was. He had not considered that himself. The one he had met had nailed him, as much as anything, because he had no clue how to stop one. He guessed that, if he took the job, Dione would tell him how to do that.
‘I take it you’ve discussed this with Leanne?’ Georgina busied herself with pouring the coffee, but there was a sly note in her voice which had Mike a little worried.
‘Yeah. She thought I was a good fit for it.’
‘And you said your boss was a woman? Di?’
‘Diana Hunter, yes.’
‘Ha! Her parents had an odd sense of humour. Is she attractive?’
‘Uh, yeah. Yeah, she is.’
‘A
nd did you mention that to Leanne?’
Mike paled. ‘Uh, no. I should probably do that.’
‘They’re bound to meet eventually. I suggest heading that disaster off ahead of time.’
‘You are, as always, wise, Mom. I’ll tell her when she gets off shift.’ He considered that as he took a coffee mug from her. ‘No, I’ll tell her after she’s had a night’s rest.’
‘You are also wise, my son.’
19th November.
Mike waited until the following morning, woke Leanne up with a smile, and made her breakfast before broaching the subject.
‘Oh, there’s something I forgot to mention about SCU,’ he said, keeping his tone as light as he could manage.
‘Oh?’
‘My boss. You’ve met her.’
‘Your boss is a woman?’ Leanne’s eyes narrowed. ‘Who?’
‘You remember Diana, from the Black Candle?’
‘She’s going to be your boss?’ Mike tried to stop the grimace from forming, and was fairly sure he failed. ‘Why didn’t she say anything then?’
‘Wasn’t allowed to. She needed authorisation to ask me about the job from her boss. Are you going to get all jealous about this?’
‘I’m…’ Leanne paused and frowned. ‘I’m going to try not to. She’s so hot, but I should trust you. A-and there’s, um…’
‘What?’
‘Well…’ Leanne was blushing, which seemed odd. ‘You said she seemed more interested in me, and the more I think about it… Maybe you were right.’ There was a pause and then, ‘She put her hand on my butt while I was getting drinks. I mean, it was sort of friendly, but… hum.’
‘There go my hopes for office romance,’ Mike said.
‘Hey!’ Leanne punched him in the shoulder.
‘Hey! Invalid here, and I was joking.’
‘Invalid my ass. No invalid wakes a girl up like that. You’re back on duty Monday anyway.’
‘True enough. I should get some exercise in. I’ve been letting it slip.’
Leanne shrugged. ‘Your stamina doesn’t seem to have suffered, but as your doctor, I might recommend easing back into it, yes.’
‘So, no problem with Diana being my boss?’
‘No. Probably. But I’ll get over it.’
‘Good as I’m going to get, I guess.’
~~~
Easing into exercise again involved a run. Mike did a short loop, out to Saint Nicholas Park, around it in a circuit which avoided where he had been hurt, and then back, stopping off at the grocery store half a block from his apartment to get milk.
Eddy Ross, the owner, was behind the counter when Mike walked up with the carton. A man of mid-age with a hint of grey in his dark hair and a ready smile, Eddy seemed to know all his customers. The store was a local shop, used by local people, and they all knew Eddy.
‘Mike,’ Eddy said as he rang up the milk, ‘haven’t seen you since you nailed that bastard in the park. I heard you were hurt.’
‘I was. I’m on medical leave until next week.’
‘Well, that’s a shame, but you did us all a service, and I’m glad to see you’re back on your feet.’ He frowned. ‘Though you’re looking a little off there just now.’
Mike smiled. ‘It’s nothing. Just a little dizziness. Probably the running. I overdid it. Haven’t been out for over a week.’
‘Well, go home and take it easy. Can’t have our heroes falling over.’
‘Yeah. Thanks.’ Mike took his milk and walked out, but the weird thing was that he felt fine after he had gone a dozen yards.
~~~
Midweek, the Black Candle was not quite as full as it had been on Friday night, but there was still a fair crowd on the dancefloor, the music throbbed just as hard, and there were the same, hungry looks from several of the patrons. Maybe more of the latter because Mike was alone this time. The head rush was there and Mike began to suspect it might be related to the clientele. The Candle, Mike thought, was a vampire club, though exactly how many of the dancers had fangs was another question.
As he approached the staircase at the back, a girl stepped in front of him. Maybe five-foot-nine, blonde, large breasts tucked into a push-up bra, hips wrapped in a latex skirt barely long enough to cover her dignity, and heels which made her a couple of inches taller than Mike. She smiled at him.
‘Hey, honey, all alone tonight? Want to play?’ Her voice was husky and her blue eyes sparked with something like hunger.
‘I’d love to,’ Mike replied and decided to drop the name, ‘but Dione’s waiting for me.’
The girl’s face went flat, almost fearful. ‘Oh. You’d better not keep her waiting then. I saw her go up earlier.’ And she stepped aside.
‘Thanks.’
Pat was behind the bar and Mike could see no sign of Dione, so he walked over and waited. It took a matter of seconds before Pat came to him, a smile on her face. She put two tumblers of whiskey in front of him. ‘She’s in the corner.’ She nodded in the right direction. ‘Take one of those to her, the other’s for you. On the house. If you’re here to take her offer, you don’t need to pay for drinks here, and if you’re here to decline face-to-face, you deserve that for coming.’
Mike picked up the drinks. ‘Thanks.’
Closer up, the shadows opened and Mike could see Dione lounging in the booth. She was in a latex tank dress this evening which hiked her bust up to amazing proportions, her lips were a deep red, and there was dark eyeshadow over her eyes. He put her whiskey down beside the remains of the one she was drinking and then sat opposite her.
‘You didn’t call the office,’ Dione said. ‘I’m taking that as a good sign.’
‘One question.’ Mike lifted his drink and sipped. It was good whiskey: aged, heavily flavoured, and it burned all the way down.
‘Shoot.’
‘What happened to your last partner?’
Dione nodded. ‘Fair question. Her name was Kate Marchant.’
Mike frowned. ‘I know that name. Didn’t she get shot a couple of months ago?’
‘That’s the official story. The guy we ended, the “Harlem Vampire,” ambushed her. Tore her throat open and let her bleed out. It was a couple of weeks before the murders started and we thought it was a random killing. He was trying to throw me off, weaken SCU. Might have worked longer if you hadn’t disturbed him.’ She delivered it all in a flat monotone, looking straight at him as though trying to give nothing away and judge his reaction at the same time.
‘Okay,’ Mike said, ‘I’m in.’
Dione raised an eyebrow. ‘I tell you that your predecessor was assassinated by a vampire, and you think that’s reason to join up?’
‘No, I wanted to know how you felt about it. I figured the last one didn’t retire gracefully, but… You’re two thousand years old, right?’
‘A bit more, but yes.’
‘You have to have seen a lot of people die.’
‘More than a few. I don’t claim to know all their names; my memory isn’t that good.’
‘So… We have to be like gnats to you. I wanted to know if you still cared.’
She smiled. ‘I care about the ones who matter. I hope that counts. I cared about Kate, probably too much. We were lovers as well as partners.’ She held up a hand. ‘I genuinely try to avoid such entanglements, but we worked together for eight years and these things happen.’
‘So you are a lesbian.’
‘No, I’m from Sparta.’ She grinned at his blank look. ‘Sorry, old joke. Lesbians are residents of the island of Lesbos. And I don’t differentiate by gender in that regard. I have been playing up my attraction to women around Leanne, however. I thought it might make things easier if I got the go ahead to recruit you.’
‘You seem to know a lot about me, about us.’
‘We do very thorough background checks. Frankly, we make the CIA look slipshod.’
Mike nodded slowly. ‘I guess that makes sense. Oh, do we get assigned alien abduction cases?’
‘Yes, rarely. We had one last year where a guy swore blind he had been taken aboard a flying saucer, forced to drink two pints of alcohol, and then ravished by three tall, slim, silver women. And that was why he was caught driving naked through Jersey City with a blood alcohol level that should have made him flammable. But he was very convinced about the naked silver women.’
‘Yeah… right. So, no such thing as aliens?’
Dione grinned almost maliciously. ‘Well, they say that about vampires… Okay, I’m going to send you home with some reading material, but we have drinks and Leanne won’t be back at your place until three a.m. so… Any questions?’
‘Thousands. When do I start?’
‘Monday. We’ve arranged everything with your captain. Your desk will be cleared out tomorrow and the contents brought to our office. That’s at Midtown South for various historic reasons. You can get there by subway, but I’ll pick you up on Monday morning, nine thirty sharp, and take you in.’
‘Okay. That’s quick, but okay.’
‘We don’t have time to hang around. The city wants the position filled, and I have reasons for wanting that too. I’d start you tomorrow, but you’re on medical leave and you’d just be sitting in an office reading anyway. You might as well do that at home. We work from home a lot.’
Mike nodded, took a deep breath, and asked the obvious question. ‘What the Hell is a vampire?’
‘Ah, the big one. You’ll be sick of the answer to that by the end of Monday. Tell me what all that research you’ve been doing told you.’
‘You’ve been monitoring my internet usage?’
‘Very deep background checks, remember?’
‘Yeah, okay. I’m glad I haven’t been searching for anything bad recently.’
‘You’ll be even more glad when you meet the person who does the monitoring. What did you learn?’
‘Learn? Probably nothing. The commonest myth seems to be that vampires are dead people who rise from the grave to feed on some form of life essence, maybe blood, which they take from the living. The word came out of Eastern Europe in about the eighteenth century. There’s a lot of vampire lore in the Balkans and places like that, but they appear in legends all over the world. Walking corpses who feed on the living.’
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