Bloodgifted

by Tima Maria Lacoba

  I turned my right hand over in his so the serpent was visible. ‘It… um, kind of… slithered off her hand onto mine, like it was alive. Alec Munro has one exactly the same. It’s only worn by the Bloodgifted and their vampire guardian and passed on every fifty years to the next in line. And that’s me.’

  I stopped and waited for the reaction.

  Matt hadn’t said a word. Except for a slight lift of both eyebrows when I explained how I got the ring and then at the mention of the word “vampire,” his expression remained neutral. I noticed his thumbs no longer stroked my wrists.

  ‘The red marks?’ he quietly insisted.

  I recounted my meeting with Alec till the moment he transformed so dramatically in front of me, grabbed my wrists and pinned me up against the wall. ‘That was my fault. I asked him to show me; he was reluctant but I needed to see the truth for myself… and I did.’

  Matt released my hands, sat back in his chair and in silence, regarded me. I had no idea if he really believed me, or whether he was thinking of having me committed. ‘Laura, there’s no way you could have made up a story like that without hiccupping all the way through it, so you obviously believe it. But vampires don’t exist, Babe. Someone’s playing you for the fool.’

  I tore my hands from his grip. ‘I’m no fool, Matthew Sommers! And this was definitely no trick. I know what I saw, and I’m not given to hysterics. This was not natural. His fangs slid out, like a snake, and no contacts I know of change your eyes like that. It was real. And why would my aunt lie to me about all this? What reason could she possibly have? Besides, Mum backed her up. She said it’s all true.’

  ‘Your mum as well?’ He frowned. Matt had met my mum and knew her to be a level-headed woman. ‘Look, Laura,’ he said gently. ‘This guy terrified you and hurt you and that makes me angry enough to bring him in.’ He shook his head. ‘I should never have let you come here alone tonight. You said he fled after hearing my voice?’

  ‘I’m a grown woman, Matt. I can go wherever and whenever I please!’

  ‘I know, Babe, normally I’d agree with you, but this incident kind of changes things. What if I’d been late?’ He didn’t need to add more as the implication hung there. ‘Tell me which way he fled.’

  I pointed to the ramp that led to George Street.

  ‘Laura, if this Munro thinks he’s some kind of vampire it explains those kids’ bodies we’re finding, drained of all their blood and covered with puncture marks. He could be our killer and using some kind of syringe to suck out their blood.’

  I felt myself go pale. Alec Munro was a doctor, so he’d have syringes galore. That still didn’t explain what I saw. ‘No Matt, I can’t believe it’s him. It just doesn’t make sense.’

  ‘Why’s that?’

  ‘He’s been living here for decades. According to my aunt, my grandfather knew him and she knows him and surely she would have noticed something after all this time. She’d never have sent me to meet a killer. And why now, after all this time, should he suddenly start to kill?’

  ‘For all we know this guy could be conning her. After all, she’s a rich woman. She’s got her own house in Milsons Point.’ Matt knew Aunt Judy and I shared the same genetic anomaly.

  ‘That’s insulting!’

  ‘Babe, after everything’s that’s happened here my instincts are screaming at me to examine all possibilities and check this out.’

  ‘Always the cop, huh?’

  ‘Do I have to apologise for that?’ He looked at me with tender eyes.

  I shook my head. ‘No.’

  He kissed the inside of my palm. ‘I’m going to make a suggestion. Either I can take you home and I’ll go to your aunt’s from there, or you can come with me. Think about it.’

  I took a deep breath and considered it from Matt’s perspective. He got a shock seeing me in a heap on the floor, and thought, perhaps I may have been raped. Could I blame him for playing the knight in shining armour and wanting to go after the dragon? There was no way I’d let him go to Aunt Judy’s without me. How could I face her afterwards?

  ‘I’ll come with you.’

  ‘Okay then.’ He got up and pulled me to my feet.

  ‘You’re really convinced he’s the killer, aren’t you?’

  He ran his hand through his hair. ‘I don’t know, that’s why I need to chase this up. Laura, for all I know you may have met a serial killer. What if you’d ended up his next victim and I had to identify your body on the autopsy slab?’ He shivered and drew me into his arms. Then he swore. ‘To think you were alone with him while I was watching the bloody cricket. If I’d lost you…’ He spoke into my hair, his voice thick with emotion. ‘Damn! If we’d only gone back to my place as we originally planned…’

  ‘Matt, I’m all right and I honestly don’t believe Alec Munro is the one you’re looking for. I can’t explain it, but I just know it’s not him. Logically, if he were the killer, wouldn’t he try to hide that fact? Why reveal it to me tonight?’ Even though I asked him. I moved my hands from his chest to circle his broad back and pressed myself closer to his chest.

  Matt looked anxiously down at me with a doubtful air.

  ‘I remembered what you said tonight about those kids and I asked him—’ I quickly placed a finger over his lips as I could see he was about to protest. ‘Wait. I didn’t mention anything about your investigation or the bodies. I simply asked him about… feeding, and if he needs to empty a person of all their blood.’

  I waited for his breathing to slow before removing my finger.

  ‘And?’

  ‘They don’t. It’s forbidden.’

  I hesitated, wondering how much more I should tell him. What was the point, when by the sceptical expression on his face he refused to believe in the possibility of the supernatural? Till this evening, so had I. The slithering Serpent Ring was partially responsible, and the fact that the two most important women in my life—Aunt Judy and my mum—were neither liars nor loopy.

  ‘He could be part of some sort of goth organisation. They believe in this vampire stuff, even put luminescent contacts into their eyes to simulate a vampire glow and have their teeth sharpened,’ he said.

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘You wouldn’t believe some of case files that come across my desk. There’s a place in Surry Hills, a nightclub they frequent. We’ve been making enquiries there, but so far nothing connects them to the murders.’

  ‘I don’t want to believe Alec Munro killed those kids, Matt.’ Could he be that good a liar that I was taken in? And has he been lying to my aunt all these years?

  ‘Well he’s not going to get another chance. The name sounds familiar.’

  I was sure Matt was going through the police Wanted File in his head. Then I remembered the card Alec handed me. I pulled out of his embrace, fished it out of my bag and passed it to him.

  Matt took a long hard look. ‘Munro Research Labs. So what are they using the blood for? Some sort of illegal experiments or something?’ He removed a notebook from his pocket and copied the card’s details before handing it back to me. He then looked earnestly into my eyes again. ‘Still okay to go to your aunt’s?’

  ‘No, not really, but there’s no way I’m letting you go there without me.’

  He leaned down and kissed me, then took my hand as we walked to his parked car in the Restricted for Cathedral Staff Only area. At this time of night his was the only vehicle there.

  We drove down George Street and turning down Kent joined the Bradfield Highway leading to the Harbour Bridge. My aunt lived at Milsons Point, in a quiet tree-lined street that sloped down to the harbour. Like the majority of properties in this area, hers was an old Federation house that, somehow, had escaped the modernisation trend of the seventies. Its beautiful interior features were still intact when she first saw it, fell in love and bought it. She’s been lovingly restoring it ever since.

  As we drove up, I noticed a champagne-coloured BMW parked in her driveway directly behind her own sm
all Hyundai. Visitors?

  ‘I don’t recognise that car,’ I said. ‘This could be awkward if she has visitors.’

  ‘Point. But we’ve come this far. Want to play it by ear?’ He turned to me.

  ‘You do the talking!’

  He smiled. ‘That I can do.’

  We walked hand-in-hand the short distance to her front door where Matt pressed the brass doorbell. I angled myself slightly behind him on hearing the light pad of her footsteps on the hallway rug. ‘You’re doing the talking, remember?’ I whispered.

  Matt squeezed my hand.

  ‘Laura, Matthew what brings you here this late?’ she asked as she slowly opened the door, her green silk wrap-around slightly fanning in the breeze.

  ‘We need to speak to you about Laura’s meeting tonight. Something happened which distressed her.’ Matt knew how to come straight to the point.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Aunt Judy. Matt knows everything.’

  Her face betrayed both shock and disappointment. ‘You had better come in then.’ She moved away from the door so we could enter and make our way into the living room. ‘Please, be seated.’ She pointed to a cream linen sofa. ‘How much do you know?’

  Before Matt had a chance to answer, I told her what had happened at our meeting, including the way he found me. Aunt Judy sat tensed on the edge of a recliner, near me.

  ‘I see.’ She paused for a moment and appeared to be thinking.

  ‘I thought you wanted me to do the talking,’ Matt whispered.

  ‘Couldn’t help it!’ I shrugged.

  ‘And he changed in front of you?’ Aunt Judy asked.

  ‘At my urging, so it’s not his fault. I didn’t realise it would affect me like that. It was probably silly of me to ask it of him, but I wanted proof.’

  ‘There’s no need to defend the guy, Babe.’ Matt pressed my knee, then turned to my aunt. ‘How long have you known this Alec Munro?’

  ‘Over fifty years.’

  ‘Quite a while. And in all that time, have you ever known him to be part of any organisation involving vampires? He ever talk about taking blood or killing, for instance?’

  I guess there was no way to be subtle about that, and for the first time I saw Matt, the policeman, in action.

  She turned narrowed eyes onto him. ‘He’s a doctor, Matthew. He often takes blood from patients! And he’s a member of many organisations, all medical and reputable!’

  I didn’t like the sudden chill in her voice but Matt seemed to ignore it and said, ‘Unfortunately, some of the most respectable people have been known to be killers.’ He briefly glanced at me. ‘We’ve had a string of murders lately. Bodies covered in puncture marks entirely drained of blood. So far we’ve managed to keep it from the media.’

  She paled and her eyes widened even further. ‘I heard about those horrible murders,’ she said. ‘But nothing about them being drained of blood. Is that why you’ve come here? To interrogate me?’

  ‘I’m sorry, Judith, but after finding Laura distressed and bearing the signs of being manhandled by someone who claims to be a vampire, you can understand why I’m here!’

  ‘That’s perfectly natural,’ a voice said.

  I turned to see a tall, blonde-haired man enter the room and my jaw dropped. Not only was he extremely attractive, he looked young enough to be her son. Early to mid thirties perhaps? Carrying two steaming cups in his hands he walked over to my aunt, handed her one, then seated himself on the soft arm of her recliner. It was a casual, yet very intimate gesture.

  So, this is the man Aunt Judy’s been hiding all these years! My parents knew she had someone in her life, but nobody had ever met him. He was one of those open secrets, the one everyone knows about but doesn’t mention. Why? Was she worried about their obvious age difference? In this day and age? If I could have a younger boyfriend, why shouldn’t she? Good for you, Aunt Judy, I felt like saying.

  He turned his head and smiled warmly at me; his lavender eyes sparkled. My chest constricted. Should I tell Matt or let him make this wonderful discovery all on his own? I glanced at my aunt to see her looking poignantly at me, as though begging me to say nothing.

  ‘Ah, I’m forgetting my manners,’ the man said and in one fluid motion, he rose, took two steps toward Matt and extended his hand. ‘My name is Lucien Lebrettan. My friends call me Luc. I’m a close friend of both Judith and Alec. We’ve known each other for many years,’ he said.

  I stared up at him, open-mouthed. This is the man who transformed Alec Munro, and he was my aunt’s boyfriend! How old must he be, I thought, if he was my grandfather’s guardian!

  I took a good, long look at him as Matt rose and leaned forward to return the shake. ‘Detective Inspector Matthew Sommers.’

  Odd, but there was something strangely familiar about Lucien Lebrettan, yet I knew I’d never met him before and I had a pretty good memory for faces.

  Next to me Matt tensed, the colour leached from his face and a bead of sweat appeared on his upper lip. His voice shook slightly as his eyes flicked between the three of us. Matt had just worked it out. ‘Your eyes! They’re the same colour. What is this?’

  ‘I tried to tell you, Matt.’

  He shook his head. ‘There’s no such thing!’

  ‘No such thing as what, Detective?’ Luc asked as he resumed his seat next to my aunt.

  ‘Vampires! It’s a delusion.’

  ‘Interesting,’ Luc replied. ‘You’d never contemplate the possibility of their existence?’

  Aunt Judy and I exchanged looks. She was probably wondering where Luc was headed with this as much as I was.

  ‘No! From my experience everything has a logical explanation and there are enough monsters in human form out there without having to blame it on the supernatural.’

  ‘Very true. On the other hand, it’s not good to have a closed mind.’

  Matt’s eyes turned icy-blue. ‘I don’t think I have a problem there.’

  ‘I think you do and it’s clouding your judgement, so much so, that you’re questioning Laura’s intelligence and accusing my wife of either being a liar or delusional!’

  Wife!

  Matt’s lips thinned. ‘I’m not questioning Laura’s intelligence nor her aunt’s belief in vampires. Clever charlatans can fool even those with the highest IQs and unless someone can show me to the contrary, that’s exactly what I’ll go on believing!’

  ‘Is that so?’ Luc’s eyes lightened and turned reptilian, while two pointy, white incisors slid down from his upper jaw. ‘Time you believed, Detective!’

  ‘What the hell?’ Matt jumped up and his hand went automatically to his hip—where his gun would be. He had to leave it at work when off duty.

  ‘You’re in no danger here, Detective,’ Luc said. ‘Unless you threaten my family. Please, sit back down.’

  Matt was breathing heavily and his wide eyes stared into Luc’s before he did as he was asked.

  In a blur of movement, Luc appeared at the long glass cabinet where my aunt kept her knick-knacks, assortment of souvenirs, drinking glasses and brandy. He poured a glassful, came back and held it out to Matt. ‘Here, drink this. It’ll help.’ The fangs and reptilian eyes were gone.

  Matt’s eyes widened even further. He hesitated then took it from his hand and downed it in one go. ‘What the hell are you?’

  ‘What you refuse to believe in.’ Luc resumed his seat on the arm of the recliner he shared with Aunt Judy. I clasped Matt’s shaking hand.

  ‘It’s not possible!’ Matt exclaimed.

  ‘There’s no such thing,’ Luc retorted.

  ‘It’s a trick! It’s got to be.’ Matt stared hard at Luc’s face.

  ‘Would you like me to show you again, hang upside down from the ceiling, perhaps?’

  ‘Luc! That won’t be necessary.’ Judy placed her hand on his arm.

  He could do that?

  ‘I know how difficult this is for you, Detective,’ Luc said. ‘But, “there are more things in heaven and earth
” as Shakespeare so wisely put it!’ He smiled.

  ‘Knew him personally did you?’ Matt sarcastically asked. His colour returned and although his hand shook slightly in mine, I could see him recovering his temper.

  ‘Actually—’

  Matt held up his hand, ‘I don’t want to know.’

  Luc shrugged. ‘Suit yourself. Now, regarding these murders. They have nothing to do with my kind. For one thing, there are enough people in this city who give their blood voluntarily, so we don’t need to kill. This city is our home and I would like to keep it that way. We don’t need publicity as I’m sure you understand.’

  ‘Right now, I’m having trouble understanding what the hell you are! And I’m still not sure it isn’t all just a clever trick; some sort of illusion,’ he said.

  ‘In your line of work, you rely on evidence as well as your gut feelings. What do they tell you?’

  Matt stared at Luc for several minutes before lowering his head. ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Yes, you do, but fear is holding you back.’

  Matt’s head shot up.

  ‘You’re having difficulty accepting what you don’t understand and can’t control,’ Luc said.

  Aunt Judy placed her hand on Luc’s arm, again. ‘I’m sorry you had to learn of this, Matthew, truly sorry.’ She gave me that disappointed look once more. If I could have crawled under a rock there and then, I would have. ‘This has been a secret among the Dantonvilles for generations, Laura. How could you have divulged it to someone who is not a member of the family? Wasn’t my warning enough?’

  Again I cringed. What could I say?

  ‘It’s not Laura’s fault,’ Matt stated. ‘I insisted she tell me everything and she was in shock.’ He looked accusingly at her.

  ‘Understandable,’ Luc said.

  ‘Matthew, you simply showed up at the wrong time at the cathedral and in another few minutes Alec would have explained everything, I’m sure,’ Aunt Judy said.

  ‘Yeah well, he didn’t!’ Matt retorted.

  My aunt had no reply.

  ‘You know the truth now, Detective,’ Luc said. ‘How are you going to use it?’

  Matt sat in thought for a while. I squeezed his hand and he turned his head toward me. ‘I wouldn’t hurt you for the world. Guess I’m caught between that proverbial rock and a hard place!’