Vampire for Hire: The Nephalem Files (Book 2)

by Douglas Wayne

  "That won't be necessary." There was a knock on the door during his silence. "I had the files faxed down to the front desk. The bellman should've just knocked on your door to deliver them."

  "Should I be worried that you're watching my every move?" I asked, trying hard to hide my anger.

  He laughed. "No, son. You shouldn't. I expect you'll be dropping by the scene after dark."

  "I'll be there."

  "Good," he said. "And Mr. Gilmore."

  "Yeah?"

  "Please try to take this job seriously. Your very life relies on it."

  He hung up the phone before I could give him an ear-full. They had some huge balls sending me on this case and then threatening me because I'm not doing things their way. If they wanted someone they could manipulate, they should've sent someone else. I'm going to keep doing things the way I always have and if they didn't like it, they could come down here and do it themselves.

  I wanted to call Max. To tell him about the call and everything else, but I figured he already knew. As long as I've known him, he's always been the poster child for the council. I wasn't going to accuse him of being involved, but I part of me knew that there was something about this case they weren't telling me.

  There was another knock at the door. "Is anyone there?"

  I rushed to the door, opened the locks and put up the chain to keep any unwanted visitors out. It wouldn't do me a lot of good if there was a vampire or something else supernatural on the other side since this is a public establishment. Guest rights only applied to your house or some businesses. They skirt around the rule with hotels since they are open for anyone to stay at. Before I left, I was going to make sure to set some wards to keep my stuff safe, but there wasn't much I could do for the man at the door.

  I opened the door as he was readying himself to knock again. The man on the other side was middle aged, with a baby smooth face wearing a red jacket over a pair of black dress pants and shoes. On his head he wore a red captain style hat to match his coat that covered his short brown hair. He was the nerdy guy, the type you expected to see at Comic Con every year dressed as the freak of the year.

  "I'm sorry, Mr. Gilmore, but I have a package for you. I was told not to leave until you took it from me." He handed me a large yellow envelop with a metallic clasp holding the contents inside. The outside of it was covered with three layers of tape to keep the contents from spilling. On the front my name was written with a thick black sharpie with my room number written underneath.

  "Thanks."

  The man stood at the other side of the door waiting for me to hand him a tip. I was short on money and he didn't seem to be the type of guy who wanted my advice, so I shut the door and walked away. Of course, that meant that I would have to pack and haul my own luggage on the way down, but I was going to do that anyways.

  I plopped back down on the bed to open the envelope. Using the key to Stacy's car, I sliced open the tape before undoing the clasp and dumping its contents all over the bed.

  There were dozens of pictures inside and three sets of stapled papers. I rounded up the photos to look at them first.

  The first one I looked at was of a man lying face down in the middle of a busy intersection. From the angle I saw the police had the intersection blocked in at least two directions leading me to believe they blocked all four. As I held the picture closer to my face, I could easily tell it was the same Tom I thought it was. The next picture of his cowboy hat lying a short distance away quelled any doubts I had.

  Each of the pictures was more of the same. Tom's body lying in a pool of blood. Part of me wanted to believe there wasn't a vampire alive that would do this to a person, but I knew it wasn't the case. If there was one involved, however, he was killing like this to make a point. If it was a simple feeding there would've been a lot less blood at the scene.

  I put the pictures down on the bed and grabbed a file, it was a report filed this morning by the Cincinnati Police Department. Over the years, I've looked at more than my fair share of these to know what to look for. The main thing interesting me was the suspected cause of death. In Tom's case it was multiple lacerations to his face, neck, and torso. I also needed to know the location, so I could make a stop later tonight, not that it would do me a whole lot of good. Without seeing the actual scene, there couldn't have been much left behind for me to find. But, if the high wizard wanted me to check it out, then I didn't see I had a choice.

  I took a nice long shower and ordered up room service before heading out for the night. By the time my food arrived, a steak sandwich and an order of onion rings, the sun had started to set, so I wrapped my meal in an extra hand-towel in the bathroom and rushed down to my car.

  The drive through the heart of Cincinnati was painful as driving through any major city tends to be. Traffic stalled at nearly every intersection forcing me to hit most of the red lights as I drove through town. I finally arrived at the murder scene from the night before well after ten o'clock, a half hour later than my GPS told me I'd get here.

  As I suspected, the crime scene was already cleared, the only evidence something had happened here the night before a few stray strips of police tape sticking out of a nearby trash can. I pulled out the pictures to get some perspective before walking to the opposite corner. There were signs that the scene had been cleared recently, namely the concrete being shaded differently in spots, telling me it had been power washed.

  Looking around, I started to wonder how he could've been ambushed out here as the only place to hide was the bar across the street, unless the killer had access to the nearby shop. As I stood there a bus stopped nearby, allowing two passengers off while taking another one on. That told me there was the possibility that this was just a random case, if he was dressed half as well as he was in the club, someone may have mugged him for his wallet. It was a stretch, but it was the only lead I had.

  I pulled out my flashlight to examine the whole intersection, looking for anything that might help me out. Across the street, butted up against the curb, I saw something the police had missed. Tom's insanely large belt buckle. I realized it wasn't close to where the body was, but there was no way they should've missed it.

  I crossed the street, walking casually to avoid drawing attention from the patrons at the bar as the buckle sat within clear view of the only entrance I saw, a small door under a cloth canopy on the east side of the building. A couple exited the building, laughing at a joke I never heard them tell, while they walked across the street to their car in a nearby parking lot. I took a seat on the ground next to the buckle, waiting for them to drive off before picking it up.

  It was a large buckle, but hardly the biggest I've ever seen. It was shaped like an oval, slightly smaller than my hand with an intricate floral designed etched on the sides. The middle was smooth and recently polished with a golden letter J in the middle. Turning it around, I noticed the clasp was missing, telling me the attacker either pulled it off during the struggle or that Tom attempted to use it as a weapon. So as long as I was dealing with a human, there was a slight chance that I'm searching for someone who was poked or scratched with the damaged buckle.

  I got to my feet and placed the buckle in my jacket pocket. Before I could walk back across the street and to my car, I was greeted with the flashing lights and sirens of a police cruiser. Knowing I still needed to meet with Silas at some point tonight, this was the last thing I needed. My only hope was that they believed I was a drunk and send me on my way.

  The cruiser stops on the side of the street, far enough away from the corner not to impede traffic. Before the officer got out of the car, he turned his bright LED search light and aimed at me.

  "There a problem, officer?" I asked shielding my eyes.

  With the bright light of the spotlight still pointed in my face, I couldn't see what he was doing, instead I got my clues from the sounds he made. Specifically him pressing in the safety of his firearm as he pulled it out on me.

  - 14 -

  "
Get on the ground!" the officer yelled behind the safety of his car door.

  I raised my hands in the air. "Is it against the law to sit on the curb?"

  He waited until I was going down to my knees before turning off the spotlight, allowing me to see him for the first time. It was a male officer, very close to my age. He wore a black button-up short sleeve shirt with his badge and name tag clearly visible above his pockets. On each shoulder I made out the sides of the patches that identified him as a police officer and the bars that signified his rank. Around his waist he wore his police issue utility belt, the only missing accessory being the firearm he had pointed at my head.

  "You are under arrest under suspicion of murder."

  "Murder?" I laughed. "With what proof?"

  He didn't say another word, instead he waited for me to place my hands on the top of my head before moving closer. Walking behind me, he grabbed my left arm with his free hand and twisted it uncomfortably behind my back, only holstering his weapon before grabbing his handcuffs. There was no hesitation in his attempt to detain me as he grabbed my other hand to place it into the other side of the cuffs.

  "I've been watching you snoop around here for the last fifteen minutes. Either you are guilty, or you know who is."

  I shook my head. "Wrong place, wrong time."

  He snorted and lifted me up to my feet using the chain between the cuffs. The metal bars sliced into my skin as he held the cuffs at an awkward angle. "Somehow I doubt that." He led me to the back of the cruiser before slamming me head first into the trunk. "Carrying anything I need to be worried about?"

  In truth, I had a few things he wouldn't like. Specifically the belt buckle, Maglite, and my staff. The buckle and light I'd let him take without second thought as one wasn't mine and the other only cost about twenty bucks to replace. The staff, however, was another question. Something I couldn't risk losing now.

  I refused to answer while he jabbed his hand into my pockets, placing anything remotely suspicious on the hood of the car by my head. As I suspected, the buckle and flashlight were the first two things he set out followed shortly by my wallet. Before long, I felt him tugging the end of the staff that was pinned under my body. He lifted me up and spun me around before opening my coat to grab the weapon.

  "What's that on your belt?" he asks, pointing to my staff.

  "Walking stick. I like to spend a lot of time in the woods." It wasn't the whole truth, but it was truth enough about my time in the city. When he reached down to unstrap it from my belt I enhanced my strength, allowing me to pull my hands apart, shattering the chain between the cuffs. The officer, in a panic, backed up a few steps and reached for his weapon. Not wanting to be shot, I sent a gust of wind at his hand as he pulled it free, sending the gun flying into the middle of the street. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped open when he realized he lost his gun, but he recovered quickly and reached for a weapon on his other hip.

  I rushed forward, punching him in the gut right after he unclipped the tazer from his belt, the force of my blow knocking him back a few feet as my strength was still enhanced. He doubled over onto his knees, coughing and hacking to get his breath back. I had to make my move soon otherwise I might be dealing with his backup as well. Before I moved, I created a shield, allowing it to cover my whole body, no sooner than I finished he grabbed his tazer and leveled it at me. "Down on the ground!"

  I ignored the plea and ran down the street stopping only to grab my wallet off the trunk of the car. Traffic on the street got heavy as I ran, forcing me to dodge an approaching pizza delivery car before turning the corner and ducking off into a nearby alley. I was halfway down the alley when I noticed flashing lights on the building ahead, telling me backup had arrived. There weren't many good options at this point. If I turned around, the cop I disarmed would probably have his gun back by now and he would be aiming to kill. The officer coming down the road in front of me wouldn't know what he was facing, and might be as trigger happy. So I needed a way out, something fast.

  Salvation appeared in the form of a fire escape elevator on the backside of the alley. With my enhanced strength, I made the jump easily and pulled the ladder down. Without hesitating, I scrambled up the ladder stopping at the first platform only long enough to pull up the ladder.

  I held my breath as the officer from earlier entered the alleyway, the light reflecting on his weapon as he scanned around. There wasn't enough time to create a veil to hide myself, so I took a deep breath and climbed up ahead.

  He didn't shout a warning before he opened fire. The bullets ricocheted harmlessly as I reached the second platform, limiting his line of fire. I climbed up one more ladder to the third floor of the apartment building before stopping momentarily to catch my breath. My lungs screamed from my effort though my arms and legs were doing fine as I hadn't released my strength spell yet. Down below the other cop car stopped, blocking any hope of escaping to the north.

  I was surrounded. There were two cops below me, both with their weapons drawn and aimed this way. I knew it was only a matter of time before they sent another one into the apartments to pull me out. That left me with one last way out, the windows of the building across the street. I didn't know what they had inside, but it had to be better than spending the next few days in a jail cell.

  Calling upon the earth, I sent a spray of rock and gravel in the air to shatter the window. There were still shards of glass attached to the edges of the window, but it would have to do. I then shifted my shield into enhancing my body with earth, hardening my skin to prepare for my jump, I only hoped it didn't add so much weight it sent me crashing to the ground. With my strength still enhanced, I snapped the guard rail off, giving me a clear shot to the neighboring windows.

  Another cop car joined the first covering the other exit now. I was running out of time. The longer I sat here, huddled against the side of the building, the longer the police had to send more units in to surround me. As it stood, I would be lucky if they didn't already have an officer or two in the building waiting for my jump.

  I took a few deep breaths to steel myself before I took the leap. Time slowed to a crawl while I was in the air, the muzzles of the officers weapons lit up as they unloaded their weapons to bring me down. Protecting my head, I curled up in a ball to keep my forearms in front of me as I crashed through the remains of the glass. The sleeve of my coat caught on a shard of glass, spinning me awkwardly onto my side. As the glass tore through my coat, it felt like I was being tackled on a beach thanks to my spell. My body finally came to a stop as it slammed hard into a nearby wall.

  I stood up and dusted myself off, careful not to rub my hand the wrong way on the shards protruding through the coat. My coat was a mess, sliced in hundreds of spots from sliding in on the ground, my shirt wasn't much better. I was thankful that I was alive and not in custody, but that was about it.

  Carefully, I stepped over the glass and through a nearby door. Once I entered the hallway, I heard a commotion from down below telling me the police had come in. This time I had a little time to prepare, so I created a veil by bending the light carefully around me. I jogged to a nearby window where a potted plant was set up to wait things out.

  Within moments the police were up on the floor, doing a room by room search of the building to find me.

  "He has to be in here somewhere," one of the officer's said as he walked past to search the room I crashed into. Part of me wanted to laugh, but I choked it down knowing I was wasting valuable time. Being part of the veil, I couldn't check my watch to see the time, but I knew it was late, well past midnight if my suspicions were true.

  Thirty minutes and and they showed no signs of stopping the search, each officer involved passed me no less than five times each, some as many as ten. I was pleased that my veil was working so well, but I couldn't maintain it forever. If they didn't move out of here soon, I would have to make a move on my own.

  Suddenly, my prayers were answered as the officers filed away, to the stairway dow
n the hall. The last two officers stopped walking slowly as they made their way down. "If he's here, the K9 unit will find him."

  The other cop laughed. "I love watching them try to squirm away."

  Shoot, I thought. My time was even more limited than I thought. If they had a K9 unit at their disposal why would they wait so long to bring him in. The only thing that came to mind was that they had him stationed at a DUI checkpoint somewhere in the city. They probably had to beg the officer in charge to let him leave, which is what took so long.

  When the hallway was cleared I pondered my next move. Staying put would only get me caught and mauled by the dog. I did have the option of disabling the dog, but believe it or not I knew it wasn't its fault. He was trained for one purpose and that was to bring bad guys, like me, to justice. I also happened to have a soft spot for the animals.

  That left me with one way out, I had to jump.

  I looked out the window and saw the building completely surrounded. There were dozens of cop cars as far as I could see. Jumping out that way was as good as turning myself in. I didn't have to look to know the other side was more of the same. That left me one way out of this mess, back in the room I jumped into.

  I let the veil fade knowing I had limited time to act. I sprinted into the room with the broken glass, watching my step once I was inside. Behind me I heard the barking of the service dog getting closer as he made his search which forced my move. I stood close to the window and enhanced my strength one more time. The jump across would me more difficult this time as I now had to either land on the fire escape on the other side, or close enough to grab it to keep from falling. The cops were no longer patrolling the alley, but a quick look told me there was at least one officer on each side watching the exit. As long as I didn't fall, there was a good chance that I'd get out of here yet. I took a step back and renewed my veil before jumping since the last thing I wanted was for them to see me do it. It was going to be hard enough knowing they hear it. I took a deep breath to steel my nerves when I heard the growl of the animal entering the room. It took everything I had to keep from screaming in terror. Instead I put all my effort into pushing my legs forward and through the glass, using the steel frame to push off from.