‘Really?’
‘Yeah, but I suspect the government over there is keeping it very quiet. There are some security implications.’
‘You seem to get involved in a lot of things with security implications,’ Mallow said, smiling slightly.
Ceri sighed. ‘Tell me about it.’
Soho, May 25th
It was, perhaps, not a great time of the month to be discussing vampires or related subjects at the Jade Dragon. This close to the new moon, the undead quota was higher, though it was tailing off. Luckily vamps were not noted for great hearing, no better than a human’s anyway and with the normal chatter of Friday night at a popular nightclub it was unlikely Ceri would be heard talking to Alec.
‘Alexandra said you might remember something,’ Ceri said. ‘Vampire related in Germany during or just after the war?’
Alec was silent for several seconds, his expression serious and thoughtful. ‘There were some odd rumours about an SS Oberführer. What was his name? Rudolf… Reinhardt… Raynor. Yeah, Raynor. No one knew much about him. Not even whether that was a first or last name. He was never seen in daylight, but no one in the intelligence community thought vampires were real back then. Or if they did they weren’t saying it aloud. He was involved with the Thules, and I think he visited several of the concentration camps. Whoever and whatever he was, he was not a nice man and he was fairly close to Hitler at times.’
‘Do you know what he looked like?’
‘Second hand. He was just the kind of guy Hitler liked. Tall, strong, blonde hair and blue eyes. Handsome, I think. Rumour was he could have any woman he wanted. Real Aryan ideal sort of guy. No one knew what happened to him. He vanished sometime during the Shattering. I never gave it much thought, but I figured he was in Berlin or maybe Hamburg when the bombs went off.’
Ceri spotted empty glasses on one of her tables and straightened up from leaning on the bar. ‘Thanks, Alec.’ She started off toward table twelve, but could already tell that she was not going to be needed. The two vampires there were getting ready to leave, the man dropping a couple of notes onto the table for her. She continued on to clear the table and pick up her tip while they headed for the bar to pay their bill.
Lily fell into step beside her as she returned through the room. ‘Does something seem a little off to you about the vamps?’ the half-succubus asked, her voice kept low.
‘Kind of a fast turnover.’
‘Like they don’t want to be out late.’
Ceri put her tray down on the counter. ‘Vampires getting an early night?’
Lily sucked on one of her fangs thoughtfully. ‘I think we should drop by the Dubh Linn on the way home.’
Ceri grimaced, but Alec broke in before she could answer. ‘You want to drop by that hole in the early hours of Saturday morning? Did someone hit you in the head?’
‘We’d be perfectly safe,’ Lily replied. ‘The Black Lady likes Ceri and Sean’s scared of her.’
Ceri barked a small scoffing laugh. ‘A fairly old, powerful Unseelie fae is afraid…’ She stopped. Maybe he was not exactly afraid of her, but he was certainly scared of the enigmatic, faceless woman who seemed to haunt his pub and the Black Lady did seem to like her. ‘Well… maybe. If the vamps keep acting oddly, we’ll go.’
Mayfair, May 26th
The Dubh Linn was a subterranean pub on Vigo Street just inside the bounds of Mayfair. The walls were bare brick, the floor and ceiling were bare boards. It was one room divided up by the wooden supports which held the building above up, and booths which occupied the side walls. Its best feature was the polished counter along the back wall with its array of optics and bottles, and Sean standing behind it, tall, dark, handsome, and dangerous.
It was also noticeably lacking in clientele. The place normally had people in it on a weekday in the middle of the afternoon. The one time Ceri had been in it at night it had been fairly full. Tonight, even if there was a little light in the sky outside, there was a distinct lack of anything undead. The other supernaturals around the room checked out the new arrivals as they walked in and then went back to their drinks. The first time Ceri had been there she had been watched the entire time she was there; tonight there was none of that, word had got around it seemed.
‘Quiet tonight, Sean,’ Lily said as they arrived at the bar. She slipped off her coat, entirely relaxed, and placed it on one of the stools before sitting on it. The uniform of the Jade Dragon’s waitresses was a dress which bore the name only because there was no other name for a garment that shape. Incredibly short and very revealing, it seemed the height of stupidity to be dressed like that among supernaturals who liked nothing more than seducing attractive young women. Ceri understood what Lily was up to and followed suit. It said, “We know we’re not in any danger here because we’re more dangerous than any of you,” and that was probably true.
‘Staying for a drink, Lil?’ Sean said in reply. ‘I thought you were too good for us.’ The surliness which had graced his lilting Irish-accented voice the last time they had been there was gone.
‘Ceri’s too good for you, I just prefer spending time with her.’
Sean’s dark eyes flicked over Ceri and then he said something Ceri was not expecting. ‘I can understand that. Fae wine?’
‘Small ones,’ Lily replied. ‘We’ve got work tomorrow night.’ His lips twitched into a half-smile as he turned toward the bottles at the back of the bar.
‘You’re a little short on vampires tonight,’ Ceri said. The statement begged an answer.
He placed two glasses of deep red liquid in front of them. ‘Noticed it at the Dragon too? They all left early. Looked edgy before then.’
‘What’s got into them?’ Lily asked, her brow knitting.
‘No idea, but when a vamp that’s been around since Victoria was a brat is acting scared I tend to get a little worried myself.’
‘You’re being very accommodating, Sean,’ Ceri said, her own lips twitching into a slight smile. She picked up her glass and took a sip of her wine. The effect was almost immediate; fae wine tasted like nothing else she had ever drunk, rich, full of fruit, full of the taste of weakening inhibitions. A slight tingle began in her groin and her nipples tightened.
‘If you’re asking about this, then you’re probably going to do something about it, if something needs doing. It’s affecting my profit margins.’
Lily sank half her wine and licked her lips. ‘Very public spirited of you.’
The bartender leaned across the counter, lowering his voice. ‘Lily Girl, I’m Unseelie, not stupid. Your mistress here has power and she’s clever, and I’ve never underestimated you. Something bad’s in the air and I’d rather you were after it sooner than later. Enjoy your drinks.’ He stepped back and turned, moving down the bar to give them some space.
Lily turned her head to look at Ceri, raising an eyebrow. Ceri gave a tiny shrug. ‘What next?’ Lily asked.
‘Tomorrow we talk to Lorna. She’s about the only vampire I know we can trust.’ Ceri lifted her glass and took a long drink, feeling her head growing fuzzy and her skin warming. ‘We’ll stay here a little longer though. I’d like to see the sun up before we leave.’
Hammersmith
The wine had worked its usual magic, Ceri had been very keen to get Lily out of her dress while they were still on the tube train to Kennington, they had gone to sleep very late, or very early, and it was mid-afternoon before they were walking up to the terraced house on Tabor Road where John and Lorna Radcliffe lived.
Lorna answered the door in a long, satin robe which she was clutching together at the waist. Her long, black hair was dishevelled, which just looked sexy on a woman who could have made a living on a catwalk if the flashbulbs would not have given her headaches. The squinting was a lot less sexy. ‘Who is that?’ she mumbled. ‘Ceri?’
‘Hi, Lorna. Lily’s here too. Can we come in?’ At least there was no hangover to deal with or Ceri would have been squinting too. Fae wine never gave you a hango
ver. Sometimes drinking it left you wishing you could not remember what had happened afterward, but there was never a hangover.
‘Of course,’ the vampire said, backing up into the shadow of the hallway. She let go of her robe as she turned toward the lounge; both of them had seen her wearing less before. ‘John’s at work though.’
Walking in after her, Lily shut the door and Ceri explained that, ‘We came to see you. We didn’t wake you, did we?’
‘No. Yes. Sort of. I was dozing on the couch. I slept really badly last night. Gave up entirely after an hour. Would you like some coffee?’
‘Yeah, please. We were up kind of late.’ They went through to the lounge and sat beside each other on the couch while Lorna breezed through to the kitchen. The Radcliffe’s kept a relatively modern looking house. The sofa and matching armchair were a soft cream colour, the wallpaper was a beige and gold abstract design. There was a large TV mounted over the non-functional fireplace, which was decorated with an arrangement of dried flowers. Ceri and Lily sat quietly, waiting for Lorna to return.
‘What did you want to talk about?’ the vampire asked upon her return. She handed over two mugs of dark brown liquid and settled onto the armchair, crossing her legs and letting her robe fall wherever it wanted.
‘You not sleeping,’ Lily told her.
‘Bad dreams?’ Ceri suggested.
‘No dreams, no. I was restless. It felt like I was waiting for something. I felt like that most of yesterday.’ She frowned. ‘It’s not there now.’
‘Something good or bad?’ Ceri asked.
‘I don’t think it was good, but it didn’t feel like a threat. Why? What’s going on?’
‘It seems like every vamp in the city was feeling the same way,’ Lily said. ‘They were leaving the Dragon early. Even the ones who go to the Dubh Linn were a bit freaked. We figured we’d ask you if you’d felt anything.’
Lorna was about to say something else when the sound of the front door being opened stopped her. A few seconds later John, her husband, and Kate Middleshaw, his partner in the Greycoats, appeared in the doorway. He stopped and blinked. ‘What are you two doing here?’
Ceri giggled. ‘Nice to see you too.’
‘They came to ask why I wasn’t sleeping well,’ Lorna supplied.
‘Interesting,’ Kate said, pushing John into the room and waving at Ceri to move over so she could sit down. ‘We came to ask the same thing. Also convenient since High Towers was our next stop.’
‘I’m intrigued,’ Ceri said. The couch was a little tight for three, but it was amusing to have John resort to sitting his wife in his lap to sit down. Despite loosening up a lot in recent months, the man was still a bit of a stiff when on duty and this was just not good for his image. Lorna did not help by wrapping her arms around his neck and resting her head contentedly on his shoulder. ‘Why were you coming to see us?’
‘You first,’ John replied. ‘Why were you asking about my wife’s sleeping habits?’
‘We weren’t, exactly. She’s the only vampire I know to talk to. Something had them all spooked last night. Lorna said she was restless and it seems like they all were.’
John grunted and twitched his chin at Kate. ‘Show them.’
The red-headed detective reached down and pulled a couple of photographs from her bag, handing them to Ceri. ‘What do you make of that?’ It looked as though the pictures had been taken inside a boat. The boat, it seemed, had been used as an abattoir. There was blood spattered about all over, but one wall in particular drew Ceri’s attention. The second photo was a closer shot of that wall and the runes which had been painted onto it in blood.
‘They’re Futhark runes. I could transcribe it… um… bloot slitsan?’ The words meant nothing to Ceri.
‘Best guess is that it’s Old High German,’ Kate said. ‘Bluot slīzan. It means “shed blood.”’
‘Vampire terrorist manifesto?’ Lily suggested.
‘Don’t say the T-word,’ Kate responded immediately. ‘Special Branch will be all over it.’
John grunted, though he seemed to be having trouble maintaining his gruff exterior. ‘At the moment it’s a double homicide. The owner of that yacht and his wife. Dutch nationals.’
‘Thankfully, we put both bodies in isolation,’ Kate added. ‘They woke up about two hours ago. Hungry.’ Ceri saw Lorna stiffen. John wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Kate saw it too. ‘Sorry, Lorna. I could have put that better.’
The vampire relaxed a little, though she still held onto her husband. ‘You couldn’t have put it any way I liked, and it’s work. I’m not mad at you or anything.’ Lorna had not been voluntarily turned. She knew what it was like to wake up after thinking you were dead and suddenly discover you had a craving for someone else’s lifeblood.
‘You said they were Dutch?’ Ceri asked. She was getting a bad feeling about this.
‘Yes,’ Kate replied.
‘Crap.’
Lily was getting the same bad feeling. ‘You think it’s followed us?!’
The two detectives looked at each other and then back to Ceri and Lily. ‘What’s followed you?’ John asked, frowning.
Chiswick
The yacht had run aground on a bank right beside the entrance to a small marina. It was large, maybe thirty feet, and looked luxurious until you got inside and found the remains of the carnage.
Decked out in disposable coveralls and with bags on their feet, Ceri and Lily edged inside the main cabin. This was not where the writing was, but there was a large, bloody swastika on the ceiling. Ceri looked up and frowned at it. ‘Nazi symbolism?’
‘It’s the wrong way around,’ John said as he came in after them. ‘The Nazi one is right-facing, this is left.’
‘Ignorance or meaning?’ Ceri asked, receiving a shrug in reply. ‘There might be a connection with some guy who was high up in the SS during the war. Alexandra suggested a connection, but I’m not sure about it. It’s pretty circumstantial.’
‘The man was killed in here,’ John said. ‘It seems like he piloted the boat in down the Thames, and then the vamp came up from the bedroom and tore his throat out. He just stood up here and steered…’ The detective broke off, shaking his head.
Ceri frowned at him and headed down the stairs to the lower deck. There were bloody handprints on the rail and she avoided touching them. One side of the small space had a door leading into a bathroom. Lots of chrome and opulence for a boat. On the other side a corridor went aft, presumably to the engine room. The bedroom with its bloody message was ahead, in the bow.
The bed was huge. The pillows on it were blood-soaked, but the sheets suggested something else. Ceri’s nose suggested the same thing. She looked back to where Lily and Michael were standing in the doorway. ‘The woman died here?’ John nodded slowly. ‘Her husband steered the boat into London while the vamp was down here screwing his wife?’
‘She had several bite wounds,’ John said. ‘They examined her before she woke up. She wasn’t raped, but there had been recent sexual activity.’
‘This doesn’t make sense,’ Ceri said. ‘A vampire old enough to control two people like that wouldn’t have the anatomy left to have sex.’
‘We’re still waiting on some results,’ the detective said. ‘It’s possible her partner was her husband and the vamp was being a voyeur.’ His brow knitted. ‘I just don’t think that’s what happened. It doesn’t feel right.’
Ceri nodded; somehow it did not feel right to her either. She looked at Lily, raising an eyebrow.
‘There’s no magic I can sense here, but there’s a vague sensation of demon again.’ She looked around at the room and shivered. ‘This is sadistic. He’s taking pleasure in subverting them, making puppets out of them before he turns them.’
‘Have you been able to talk to them?’ Ceri asked John.
‘Me? No. A councillor was brought in. We have a couple of vampires on retainer for forced turnings.’ A flicker of emotion passed over his face; Ceri wondered
whether the Northumbrian force were so thoughtful. Doubtful. Lorna had probably had to deal with it all herself, with whatever support John could provide. ‘They don’t remember much of anything after arriving at the marina they moored this thing at in Amsterdam. We’ve sent a request to the Dutch force to see if they can find anything at that end.’
‘See if they have any similar odd vampire victims,’ Lily suggested. ‘This guy seems to have quite an appetite.’
‘And he seems to turn anyone he kills,’ Ceri added. ‘We need to catch him, John. This guy’s a walking vampire plague.’
Soho
Ceri watched the night closing in outside the Jade Dragon’s entrance and shivered slightly. Dean Street was bright with street lights and the illuminated signs of clubs and bars, but somehow the light outside did not seem as bright tonight. Her Sight showed her nothing unusual, but she could not quite shake the feeling that there was something out beyond the wards.
The vampires in the club seemed back to their normal spirits now. There was none of the restlessness of the evening before and no one seemed likely to leave early. There were no older ones around to look disgusting under their glamour; somehow that made Ceri a little edgy tonight, though she was trying not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
At the bar Cheryl was looking happy and stunning in a new gown Carter had bought for her. Ceri had to admit it looked gorgeous, and Cheryl looked good in the shimmering silver fabric. Carter looked rather pleased with his purchase as well. Then again, so did Alec and Lily, not to mention various people passing by. Ceri was just having trouble shaking the feeling that something bad was happening somewhere and she should be there doing something about it. She sank herself into work instead, trying to ignore the world beyond the doors.
It was almost midnight when she felt the disturbance around her. The club’s warding spells were reacting to something and, looking over to where Carter was standing beside the bar, she could tell that the owner of the Dragon had felt it too. His gaze turned toward the entrance and she saw him frown. Ceri quickened her pace across the floor and soon she was standing beside him and looking at the figure standing outside.
Thaumatology 08 - Ancient Page 12
