by steve higgs
I ignored him.
Vermont clicked the fingers of his left hand which caused Stefan to bend and check the pulse of the nearest unconscious vampire. As he did so, the vampire groaned a little and moved. Stefan stood up again and nodded at Vermont.
‘Very well, Mr. Michaels. It would seem that these fellows are indeed not yet full vampires. You may proceed.'
‘I am a vampire,' came the voice of the one that was still conscious, although he had made no move to get up yet.
‘I bent down to him just as Vermont’s stake hand twitched again. ‘If you are a vampire, you are about to get staked.’
‘Oh,’ he said in a rather disappointed voice. ‘In that case, I might not be after all.’
I asked his name while I was still kneeling next to him and asked Frank and Big Ben to check out the other two and make sure they were okay, administer first aid, that sort of thing. I checked to see if Vermont and his flunkies were going to help or hinder but they were happy to do nothing, it seemed.
‘Thanatos Angelus.' He answered. I searched my memory but could not link the vampire name to the real name in my head.
‘That's your vampire name, little man. I want your real name.' The tone I used was supposed to infer that compliance was a good idea.
He hesitated for a bit before giving it up, ‘Louis Richmond.'
‘Well, Louis, we have something of a problem to deal with. First, why don't you tell me the names of your two friends here?' I gestured to the two forms on the floor just across from us. I had a hand on his shoulder to ensure he stayed in place. Frank was helping one of them into a sitting position. Even in the dim light, I could see that he had a broken nose and two black eyes, although to be fair they were fairly black from makeup before he gained his new injury. He also appeared to have had an earring ripped out. His right ear lobe looked ragged and bloody.
Louis raised a shaky hand and pointed first to the vampire now sat up with Frank and then to the inert form that Big Ben was still checking over. ‘That is Simon Holland and that is Sarah Gaine, although I know them as Draven Parris and Karayan Krystol.'
‘Chaps are they badly injured?' I enquired. I sort of hoped they were, but not with life-threatening wounds as that would just complicate matters.
‘I think this one is a woman,' Big Ben replied. ‘But no, I don't think so. She just seems to have taken a blow to the head. There is a nasty lump by her temple.' Frank also gave me a thumbs-up.
‘Mr. Michaels,' Vermont Wensdale raised his voice. ‘You need to stand aside so that I can obtain from them the whereabouts of their master. The beast is still afoot!'
He actually used the word afoot. I looked up and locked eyes with him. He held my gaze unwaveringly. I dismissed him. I had bigger issues to deal with. I turned back the man on the floor in front of me. ‘Louis, the police are on their way and they will have questions about the kidnap of a young woman. Where is she? You need to tell me so that I can find her before Obsidian or Ambrogio hurt her.’ I was using a calm and soothing tone in a bid to get him to give up the information willingly. If he didn’t, I was likely to grab his nuts and make them touch his nose.
‘Mr. Michaels, I can get the information you want from him,' Vermont again. He was agitated and visibly impatient. His hands were twitching - a sure sign that he was going to do something very soon.
‘Louis,' I started again, this time with markedly less patience in my voice. ‘Mr. Wensdale here is quite happy to torture answers out of you. Tell me where Poison is being held.'
‘Who is Poison?’ he asked from the floor, sounding genuinely mystified.
‘How many young women have you kidnapped that you don’t know their names?’ I shot back. My hand on his shoulder became a hand around his throat. My keenly balanced sense of how to act was shot to pieces by stress, threats and constant fighting over the last few days. I was tired and pissed off and I wanted to hurt someone. This idiot was guilty by association at the very least and he was going to tell me what I wanted to know.
‘Ivy Wong ringing any bells?' I demanded. He shook his head again. ‘Listen, dickbag. You think I won't hurt you? I am not the police and they are not here. Do you think the persons here will back your story if I break both your arms? Obsidian snatched a young woman yesterday and plans to kill her tonight so that you pricks can become whole vampires.' I had his head pushed back against the stone wall and I was right in his face. He was turning away from me, trying to be somewhere else.
‘You mean the honour sacrifice?' he blurted with his eyes closed. 'Young, pretty, great tits, tiny waist?' Bang on description.
‘Yes,’ I hissed at him. ‘That’s Ivy. Where is she?’
‘Obsidian has her stashed somewhere. I don’t know where. Honest, he never told me. Only Obsidian, Ambrogio and Keith know.’
I slammed his head against the stone wall in frustration. I didn't believe him. I didn't want to believe him. I wanted someone to tell me where Poison was, so I could get her and have an end to this crazy vampire shit. I considered letting Vermont have a go at getting him to remember more detail, but that thought died on my frontal lobe as I heard voices approaching outside.
Reinforcements? The vampire dicks had been gone long enough to gather help, so I called a heads up to Big Ben and Frank and yes, I supposed to Vermont and his flunkies as well and I steeled myself for the next fight.
It was police that came through the door though, a tactical unit with all the weapons and gear. Their weapons were trained on me, several red dots showing up clearly on my vest as they spilled through the door shouting commands and issuing orders.
Outside the Mausoleum. Tuesday, September 28th 1915hrs
Hours later we had been handcuffed, questioned and released and were now just hanging around.
Once the police had turned up and taken over, the place got busy quickly. Within minutes of their arrival, more sirens had heralded the arrival of even more cops and then paramedics in ambulances. Then staff from the castle began to appear, undoubtedly drawn by the lights and noise. Most of the castle staff were kept at bay by crime scene tape that went up to make a perimeter, but there were a couple of persons in suits that I suspected were among the castle management team. Then the press arrived, and cameras were popping and flashing in the dying light.
Protesting our innocence made no difference at all. Big Ben, Frank and I were all cuffed within seconds and led from the mausoleum as were Vermont and his flunkies. Ironically it was the three idiots from the Brotherhood of the Dead that received the best treatment as their injuries were attended to. Our injuries could wait it had seemed.
Amanda had arrived, still in plain clothes and shortly after that, the cuffs were taken off. It was fortuitous that she was there as she was able to advise that we were the ones that had reported the kidnap and tracked the suspects. This meant that we could finally get some answers to the questions we had been asking since we had been arrested (again). There was no new news about Poison. Officially it was not a kidnap case and was not getting the attention Frank and I felt it deserved as there was no ransom note and the email I had from Ambrogio was insufficient proof to get anyone interested. It was a missing person case until they knew more.
Vermont had taken his henchmen and left the moment the cuffs came off, yelling various declarations of intended vengeance for his slights as he departed. I think several of his threats were aimed at me.
It had been castle staff that had called the police when they saw us coming in over the wall - so much for stealthy movement. Amanda said the report of two men, in what was reported as tactical gear, had triggered all kinds of alarms and it had been an anti-terrorist squad that had turned up to arrest us. Frank said nothing as this information was delivered. I made a mental note to listen to Frank more often.
Frank was fretting. It had been almost twenty-four hours since Poison had been taken and we had no idea where she was or if she was hurt. We may have interrupted the ceremony they had planned in the mausoleum for tonight, b
ut there was no reason to believe they would not go through with it somewhere else or just kill her and dump the body.
I had run out of leads and ideas. I could not come up with a next step. I was tired and hungry and beaten and berating myself for being weak enough to acknowledge these things while Poison was out there still and probably in far worse shape than me. Once the cuffs had been taken off, I had tried calling Obsidian again and then called Angela but neither of the numbers was being answered. I also emailed Ambrogio and offered to meet wherever he wanted in exchange for Poison, but it felt like I was clutching at desperate straws when I wrote it.
No response came.
I got the impression that it was only through Amanda's direct involvement that anything had happened at all. Chief Inspector Quinn was on the scene but thus far had blithely, and I'm sure quite deliberately, ignored me, as if I was so insignificant that I was not worth speaking to.
Amanda reported that the three vampires of The Brotherhood of the Dead had been placed in custody after being treated for minor injuries and had since been taken away for questioning. They were denying any involvement with the murder of Brian Grazly or any of the other victims. Additionally, they had never heard of anyone called Ambrogio and had definitely never drunk any human blood. They had been asked about Poison only because Frank, Big Ben and I were making so much noise about it. They had all denied any involvement and were now stating that they knew nothing about the alleged kidnap of a young woman. Thankfully, the castle manager was inclined to question why they were in the mausoleum or even on the property, so they were considered at least guilty of breaking and entering and someone in castle management intended to press charges. I was a little stunned that no one from the castle had known they were here until today, but the mausoleum was on the lee side of the castle, so I suppose it was out of sight from everyone unless they took a stroll out that way. Perhaps their movement via the door in the castle wall had kept their movement hidden and we had been spotted through pure bad luck.
The sun had set a while ago and it was getting cool. I checked my watch: 1958hrs. The dogs had been cooped up and asleep in the car for over three hours now. I was not overly worried about them, I expected to have to wake them up when I got back to the car as they were such lazy dogs, but they would be getting hungry now as it was after their usual dinner time.
I let Big Ben know I was going to shoot off to feed the dogs. He was busy chatting up a young woman in a police uniform, so barely even registered my presence.
Most of the police had already packed up and left. The tactical team was long gone, the castle staff had got bored or cold and had drifted away and the ambulance crews had departed which left only a scant handful of police cleaning up and taking down barrier tape. I was not convinced that Ambrogio would return, but equally, I had nowhere else on my list of places where I might find or intercept him with Poison.
Riverside Path. Tuesday, September 28th 2001hrs
As predicted, the dogs were both asleep when I got back to the car. Opening the door revealed the comforting smell of warm, furry creatures. I got into the car and petted them both as they poked their heads out from under the blanket on the passenger seat. Then I fetched their dinner from the boot and fed them on the grass beside the car. I knew they would not go anywhere or be distracted by anything while there was food on offer.
As they licked their bowls clean, I clicked their leads on, waited briefly for them to finish, then invited them to take an evening constitutional to walk off their dinner. They were happy to pull me towards the river path where I guess the more interesting smells could be found. Once there, it was clear to me that there was no one in the general area, so I unclipped them once more and let them snuffle freely. I didn't plan to take them far as I needed to put them back in the car before I returned to the mausoleum.
While the boys snuffled in the bushes behind me, I pulled out my phone in the vain hope that Obsidian might answer me this time.
I was facing the river, the cool air coming from it spooling around my feet to make my ankles cold. It was warm enough outside to not feel the chill too badly with my gear on, but the cold air always causes me to reminisce about my time in the army when I would be stuck outside trying to stay warm. It made me glad I now have the option to go inside for warmth when I choose to. Across the water, the sounds from the pub drifted out. It was muted by the doors and windows closed against the autumn temperature, what did escape dissipated on the surface of the river.
I felt the scream as much as I heard it. My adrenalin spiked immediately. I had heard people scream before and could tell the difference between a scream induced by pain, or by terror or just plain fake. This one was real, its creator gripped by absolute terror and it had been cut short. It was also female in origin and meant that someone was in trouble.
I was directly opposite the River Angel pub and therefore nowhere near anything else. No chance of back up, no idea what I would find ahead of me and my two tiny dogs were somewhere in the bushes snuffling for discarded food. The scream had come from further along the path, back towards the mausoleum. Maybe others had heard it and would react also, but I made my decision and started moving.
‘Bull! Dozer! Get here now!’ I bellowed as I took off toward the sound. Perhaps two seconds had elapsed, and I was accelerating into the dark. One of the dogs appeared by my feet, easily keeping pace with me. In the gloom, I could not tell which one it was, only that it was distinctly one of mine.
I got to the end of the paved area and hit the dirt path. The lights from moored riverboats on the far bank were behind me now, so I could see a bit better in the dark. However, with the next thought, I realised I was about to reach the denser trees and disappear under the canopy where even less light penetrated. There were lamp posts on the path, but they were not maintained, so either through vandalism or simple malfunction most of them were not working.
The darkness enveloped me completely, shards of light from the sky barely penetrated the foliage and I was forced to slow my pace lest I fall or trip or run into something. I was equally as concerned about kicking or tripping over one of the dogs as their ability to avoid people and feet had never been good.
I had covered fifty metres and my breath was starting to pull. Over a longer distance, my breathing would even out allowing me to maintain a good pace, but short sprints had never been my thing. I could already feel that I would tire soon and then the lack of fresh oxygen reaching my muscles would severely deplete my ability to deal with whatever I found ahead. Tempted to reduce my pace, I pushed it instead and saw movement on the path ahead of me, a brief shadow moving to obscure a faint light behind it.
Bull barked. It was a loud and sudden explosion of noise on the silent path. He was off to my left and a metre or so ahead of me. I heard his paws splash through a puddle although I could see neither it nor him. He barked again, and his brother joined in, a continuous statement of proposed violence. The dogs could see, or smell or perhaps sense whoever was ahead, their normal reaction to make noise quite welcome for once.
I still couldn't see much, it was just too dark, but now whatever it was I was running into was just a few yards ahead and the indistinct shadows were becoming shapes. What I could see was a human shape turning towards me. It was stood in the middle of the path and even in the poor light I could tell it was a man and I could tell he was big. Really big. Muscular. His shadowed outline was wide at the shoulder like a bodybuilder. I couldn't see anyone else. What was I running into? Was this just a guy out walking home from the pub? Or had he just clubbed a woman with nothing to stop him killing or raping her except me? There was no time for a decision, he was right in front of me. I was moving fast and if he had just attacked someone I needed to act now. If I stopped to make sure I was attacking the right person and not some innocent out walking his dog, then I would have handed the advantage over.
So, I slammed into the figure, using my weight and momentum to drive home a killer punch to his throat. Forge
t punching the skull: Jaws, cheekbones and anything else on the head are generally harder than your knuckles, so while you may land a stinging blow you stand a big chance of breaking your hand. The TV show knockout punch is rare to the point that I have never seen it. The best I have seen resulted in a dazed effect, but the throat, genitals and other soft bits have a devastating effect if struck correctly. I crashed into him and understood more fully just how big he was.
I could think of nothing now other than landing the next blow. I had committed to taking him down, all thought of whether he might be innocent dismissed. I grabbed his left wrist and pirouetted underneath it to force his elbow joint against itself then used my continuing motion to swing him around and onto the ground. His feet tangled, as I had intended them to, and he went down leaving me knelt on his back with his left arm in an armbar. It was a textbook move. I had never performed it that well in practice.
So, what now, dummy?
My breathing came in ragged lumps, my pulse through the roof from effort and adrenalin. If this guy had just attacked a girl then I needed to find her, I also needed to get help to deal with Mr. Enormous, because there was little chance of getting him up and back to where I would find people. I wanted to get my phone out, which meant dangerously juggling my hands and where the hell were the dogs?
All these thoughts fought for dominance as half a second ticked by. I looked up and around, wondering where the dogs were and hoping to spot the victim. My eyes were adjusting to the dark, but I could see nothing of value.
Mr enormous moved beneath me. He had only been down for perhaps three seconds; everything had happened so fast and he was trying to get up. ‘Stay down.’ I instructed. ‘I can snap your arm in three places with almost no effort from here. Where is the girl?’
He said nothing. However, his head snapped up as we both heard movement a few feet away. The path was bordered on one side by the canal and on the other by a steep slope. The slope was mostly dirt and trees, not much foliage on the slope where local kids scrambled around on it. At the base though there were bushes, nettles, weeds and the obligatory litter. I heard one of the dogs sniff something, an odd but instantly recognisable noise of air being drawn into a canine nose for analysis. The next noise we heard sounded larger than a small dog, like a human limb moving.