Those Who Fight Monsters: Tales of Occult Detectives

by Gustainis, Justin

  Quincey Morris, who is descended from the man who gave his life in the fight to destroy Count Dracula, is an occult investigator living in Austin, Texas.

  See Me: A Smoke and Shadows Story

  by Tanya Huff

  “Mason, you want to move a bit to the right? We’re picking up that very un-Victorian parking sign.”

  Huddling down inside Raymond Dark’s turn-of-the-19th-century greatcoat, Mason Reed shuffled sideways and paused to sniff mournfully before asking, “Here?”

  Adam took another look into the monitor. “There’s fine. Tony, where’s Everett?”

  Tony took two wide shots with the digital camera for continuity and said, “He’s in the trailer finishing Lee’s bruise.”

  “Right. Okay … uh…” Adam was obviously looking for Pam, their PA, but Pam had already been sent to the 24-hour drugstore over on Granville to pick up medicine for Mason’s cold. He’d already sneezed his fangs out once, and no one wanted to go through that again. Tony grinned as Adam’s gaze skirted determinedly past him.

  Although he’d been the 1st Assistant Director since the pilot, this was Adam’s first time directing an episode of Darkest Night — the most popular vampire/detective show in syndication — and he clearly intended to do everything by the book, including respecting Tony’s 2AD status. Or possibly respecting the fact that Tony was one of the world’s three practicing wizards. Even if he didn’t get a lot of chance to practice given the insane hours his job required.

  CB Productions had never had the kind of staffing that allowed for respect.

  “I’m done here, Adam. I’ll get him.”

  “If you don’t mind…”

  Chris on Camera One made an obscene gesture. “Dude, he’s with Lee.”

  Tony flipped him off as he turned and headed for the trailer that housed makeup, hair, wardrobe, and, once, when the writers were being particularly challenging, three incontinent fruit bats.

  Halfway there, he met Everett and Lee heading back.

  Everett rolled his eyes and cut Tony off before he got started. “Let me guess, Mason’s nose needs powdering.”

  “It’s a little ruddy for one of the bloodsucking undead.”

  “My sister’s wedding is in four days,” Everett growled, hurrying toward the lights. “I’ve already rented a tux. If he gives me his cold, I’m putting itching powder in his coffin. And you can quote me on that.”

  Tony fell into step beside Lee, who, unlike Mason, was dressed in contemporary clothing.

  “I get that it’s artistic, the real world overlapping Mason’s angst-ridden flashback, but, after four seasons, I can safely say that our fans could care less about art and the only overlapping they want to see is James Taylor Grant,” he tapped his chest, “climbing into the coffin with Raymond Dark.”

  “Not going to happen.”

  “Jealous?”

  Tony leaned close, bumping shoulders with the actor. “It’s basic geometry. Mason’s bigger than me and you and I barely fit.” At the time, they’d been pretty sure they weren’t coming back for another season and had wanted to go out with a bang. Tony still had trouble believing the show had hung on for four years. He had almost as much trouble believing he and Lee had been together for over two years — not exactly out, although their relationship was an open secret in the Vancouver television community.

  Their own crew had survived a dark wizard invading from another reality, a night trapped inside a haunted house trying to kill them, and the imminent end of the world by way of an immortal Demongate hired to do some stunt work. Relatively speaking, the 2AD sleeping with the show’s second lead wasn’t worth noting.

  Tony handed Lee off to Adam and headed down the block to check out the alley they’d be using as a location later that night. Stepping off the sidewalk and turning into the space between an electronics store and a legal aid office, he switched over to the Gaffer’s frequency with one hand as he waved the other in front of his face.

  “I think we’re going to need more lights than Sorge thought, Jason. There’s bugger all spill from the…”

  He paused. Frowned. The victim of the week was an impressive screamer. Pretty much simultaneously, he remembered she wouldn’t be arriving for another two hours and realized that the scream had come from in front of him, not behind him.

  Had come from deeper within the alley.

  “Tony?” Adam, in his earbud.

  “I’m on it.” He was already running, muttering the night-sight spell under his breath. As it took effect, he saw someone standing, someone else lying down, and a broken light over a graffiti-covered door at the alley’s dead-end. Still running, he threw a wizard lamp up into it. People would assume electricity.

  The someone standing was a woman, mid-twenties maybe, pretty although overly made-up and under-dressed. The someone on the ground was an elderly man and, even at a distance, Tony doubted he’d be getting up again.

  “Tony?” Lee, leading the pack running into the alley behind him.

  “Call 911!” Tony snapped without turning. He’d have done it himself, but these days it was best to first make sure the screaming was about something the police could handle. Like called to like, as he’d learned the hard way. Having Henry Fitzroy, bastard of Henry VIII, romance writer, and vampire based in Vancouver was enough to bring in the fine and freaky. Since Tony had started developing his powers, the freaky vastly outnumbered the fine.

  Dropping to one knee beside the body, he checked for a pulse, found nothing, checked for visible wounds, found nothing. The victim wasn’t breathing, didn’t begin breathing when Tony blew in two lungfuls of air so Tony shifted position and started chest compressions.

  One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

  A smudge of scarlet lipstick bled into the creases around the old man’s mouth.

  Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.

  A glance over his shoulder showed Lee comforting the woman, her face pressed into his chest, his arms around her visibly trembling body.

  Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen.

  The old man was very old, skin pleated into an infinite number of wrinkles, broken capillaries on both cheeks. He had all his hair but it was yellow/white and his teeth made Tony think of skulls.

  Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty.

  His clothes belonged on a much younger man and, given what he’d been doing when he died — fly of his jeans gapping open, hooker young enough to be his granddaughter — he was clearly trying too hard.

  Twenty-one. Twenty-two. Twenty-three. Twenty-four. Twenty-five.

  Where the hell was the cavalry? There’d been a police cruiser at the location. How long did it take them to get out of the car and two blocks down the street?

  A flash of navy in the corner of one eye and a competent voice said, “It’s okay. I’ve got him.”

  Tony rolled up onto his feet as the constable took over, stepping back just in time to see Lee reluctantly allowing the other police officer to lead the woman away.

  She was pretty, he could see that objectively, even if, unlike Lee, he’d never been interested in women on a visceral level. Long reddish brown hair around a heart-shaped face, big brown eyes heavily shadowed both by makeup and life, and a wide mouth made slightly lopsided by smudged scarlet gloss. Tears had trailed lines of mascara down both cheeks. Below the neck, the blue mini dress barely covered enough to be legal and he wondered how she could even walk in the strappy black high heels. She wasn’t trying as hard as the old man had been but Tony could see a sad similarity between them.

  “She’s terrified she’s going to be charged with murder.” Lee murmured as Tony joined him.

  “Death by hand job?”

  “Not funny. You don’t know that she…” When Tony raised an eyebrow, Lee flushed. “Yeah, okay. But it’s still not funny. She really is terrified.”

  “Sorry.” Tony moved until they were touching, shoulder to wrist.

  The police seemed a lot less sympathetic than Lee ha
d been.

  “I’m going to see if she needs help,” he said suddenly, striding away before Tony could reply.

  “This is not a reason to stop working,” Adam called from the sidewalk at the end of the alley.

  “Does anyone care that I’m fucking dying over here?” Mason moaned beside him.

  Standing at the craft services table, drinking a green tea, and trying very hard to remember that the camera really did put on at least ten pounds, Lee attempted to ignore the jar of licorice rope. The memory of the woman in the blue dress had kept him on edge for two days and he kept reaching for comfort food.

  Movement on the sidewalk out beyond the video village caught his eye and, desperate for distraction, Lee gave it his full attention. He’d have liked to have been able to tell Tony later that he was surprised to see the woman in the blue dress again, but he honestly wasn’t. Grabbing a muffin and sliding a juice box into his jacket pocket, he picked his way through the cables toward her.

  “These are for you.” When she looked down at the muffin in her hand, a little confused, Lee added, “The other night, you felt … looked like you weren’t getting enough to eat.”

  She had on the same blue dress with a tight black cardigan over it. The extra layer did nothing to mask her body but, he supposed, given her job, that made sense.

  “So, the other night, did the police ever charge you?”

  “No.”

  Something in her tone suggested he not ask for details. “Were they able to identify the old man?”

  “No.” Her hair swept across her shoulders as she shook her head. “I don’t think so. They wouldn’t tell me anyway, would they?”

  “I guess not.” He heard a hundred unpleasant encounters with the police in that sentence and he found himself hating the way she seemed to accept it. “I never got your name.”

  “Valerie.”

  “I’m Lee.”

  “I know.” She smiled as she gestured behind him at the barely organized chaos of a night shoot.

  The smile changed her appearance from attractive to beautiful. Desirable. Lee opened and closed his mouth a few times before managing a slightly choked, “Right. Of course.” He glanced down, unable to meet her gaze any longer, noticed her legs were both bare and rising in goose bumps from the cold, looked up to find her watching him, and frowned. “Are you warm enough?”

  Expectation changed to confusion and she was merely attractive again. “I’m fine.”

  “You sure? Because I could—”

  “Lee!” Pam trotted up, breathing heavily, one hand clamped to her com-tech to keep it from bouncing free. “They’re ready for you.”

  Tony watched Lee take his leave of a familiar hooker and follow Pam onto the section of street standing in for Victorian Vancouver. Tony met him just before he reached his mark and leaned in, one hand resting lightly against the other man’s chest. “You okay?”

  “I’m fine. I was just talking to—”

  “I saw.”

  “Her name’s Valerie.”

  “I know. Police let it drop when they questioned me about finding the body. They didn’t charge her.”

  “Yeah, she said.”

  “Apparently you don’t scream if you’ve just killed someone and there was still five hundred and twenty-seven dollars in the guy’s wallet.” Tony frowned. “They said there was no ID, though.”

  Lee frowned as well, a slight dip of dark brows. Not quite enough to wrinkle his forehead. “They said a lot.”

  Tony shrugged. Past experience had taught him that a lot of cops weren’t too concerned about maintaining a hooker’s privacy, but he had no intention of getting into that with Lee. “She say why she came by? Are we on her stretch of turf?”

  “No.” Lee shook his head, careful not to knock James Taylor Grant’s hair out of place. “Well, maybe. But I don’t think that’s why she came by.”

  “Get a room, you two!” Adam’s shout moved them apart. “And Tony, unless you’ve been cast as Grant’s new girlfriend…”

  “And the Internet goes wild,” someone muttered.

  “…get your ass out of my shot.”

  Lee handed Tony his green tea, and visibly settled into his character as Tony moved back beside the camera. When he looked for Valerie, she was right where Lee’d left her, cradling the muffin in both hands. Suddenly becoming conscious of Tony’s regard, she turned her head slightly and their eyes met.

  Tony almost recognized her expression.

  “Upon reflection,” he said softly to himself, hands wrapped around the warmth of the paper cup, “I don’t think that’s why she came around either.”

  “You don’t have to come in now, you know.” Eyes half closed, Tony stared blearily across the elevator at Lee. Early mornings were not his best time. “Cast call isn’t for another hour.”

  Lee waved it off. “Five thirty, six thirty — they both suck. But my car’s back in the shop, it’s too early to haul one of the drivers out when you’re going in anyway, and once I’m there, I can always grab some shut-eye on the couch.”

  “I don’t know.” He sagged against the elevator wall, the stainless steel cold even through three layers of clothing. “We’ve been seen a lot together lately, and that roommates thing only goes so far.”

  “Tony, it’s five o’clock in the morning, even the paparazzi are still asleep. What’s up with you?”

  “I’ve just been thinking about it, that’s all. About the choice you’re making for…” He waggled his coffee between them. “…us. And I want you to know that I appreciate it.”

  “What the fuck brought that on?”

  Lee’s eyes started to narrow, as if he could read the world “Valerie” in the space between them so Tony hurriedly muttered, “I don’t know. Lack of sleep.”

  After a moment, Lee leaned in, gently bumped the sides of their heads together — a manly embrace for the security cameras — and stepped away as the elevator reached the parking garage. “You’re an idiot.”

  Unlike Lee’s expensive hybrid, Tony’s elderly car seldom broke down, and Tony gave thanks that his ancient brakes worked as well as they did when he pulled out of the underground garage and nearly ran down a brown-haired woman in a short blue dress.

  “Is that…?”

  “Yeah, I think it is.” Lee twisted in his seat as she disappeared behind a panel van in the small parking lot. “Pull over.”

  “What?”

  “I should talk to her.”

  “About what?”

  “I don’t…” Sighing, he faced front again. “Doesn’t matter. She’s gone. Maybe it’s the way we met, maybe it’s just that she’s so vulnerable in spite of … everything. I think she needs a friend.” When Tony glanced over, Lee was frowning slightly. “There’s just something about her, you know?”

  “Yeah.” Tony could feel her watching from wherever she’d tucked herself and worked very hard at unclenching his jaw. “I know.”

  Finished at four thirty — almost like a person with a real job — and back home by six, thanks to traffic, Lee sagged against the minivan’s seatbelt and muttered, “I should never have gotten rid of the bike.”

  Richard, CB Productions’ senior driver, shrugged as he pulled into the condo’s driveway. “Well, you got domestic.”

  “Jesus, Tony had nothing to do with it.” Lee wondered which of them Richard thought had lost their balls. “CB suggested the insurance wouldn’t cover me if I kept riding.”

  Richard shrugged again. “Yeah, that’s a good reason too. You going to need a ride in tomorrow?”

  “No, my car’ll be ready in the morning; I’ll drive. I’ve got a late call, it’s all Mason and the…”

  Girl. Woman. She was standing on the other side of the street. Watching him through the breaks in the rush hour traffic. Smiling. Looking good. Looking beautiful. Looking even better than he remembered, actually. The black sweater had fallen open and soft curves filled out the drape of the dress.

  “Lee?”


  Lee was already out of the car. “Thanks for the ride, Richard.”

  By the time the traffic cleared and he had a chance to get across the road, she’d disappeared. He crossed anyway, although he had no idea which way she’d gone or what he’d do if he caught up to her. He knew better. He was on a syndicated vampire show, for crying out loud, he’d had crazy stalking fans before. Not as many as Mason, but then, Lee wasn’t the one actually wearing the fangs.

  He wondered if she was homeless. The unchanging wardrobe suggested as much. There really wasn’t much he could do, except give her money, but he found he wanted to do something. Be the hero.

  He didn’t get much chance to do that these days.

  It had been another fifteen-hour day, and all Tony wanted was a chance to spend some time with Lee before falling into bed and starting the whole grind all over again in the morning. The flashing lights on the patrol cars and other emergency vehicles, not to mention the bored looking police officer approaching his car, suggested otherwise.

  “Sorry, only residents are allowed into the building right now.”

  “I live here.”

  Her gaze flicked down to his car. When it flicked back up, she didn’t even pretend to hide her disbelief. “Driver’s license, please.”

  Tony handed it over and stared past her as she checked his name against a list. Two EMTs were rolling an elderly man wearing sweatpants and a UNBC t-shirt out of the building on a stretcher.

  Tony knew dead.

  He knew freshly dead.

  He knew long dead and decaying.

  He knew undead.

  This guy, he was dead.

  “Who is he?” he asked, as a man in a rumpled trench coat zipped up the body bag.

  The officer glanced over her shoulder. “No idea, no identification. Custodian found him in the mechanical room.” She handed Tony back his license. “ME says natural causes. You’re good to go, Mr. Foster.”

  Lee was distracted that night but hey, dead guy in the mechanical room so Tony figured he had cause.