At First Sight (Persephonii Waters Book 1)
Page 26
"Let's just hope he was asleep during this whole fiasco and will not turn on the news until late...late this evening." Fin's voice drifted over from the corner in the silence after Studwick's statement. Studwick and Persephonii shook their heads at the same time, knowing that luck rarely was so kind as to give them a break.
Persephonii had yet to speak, something that Agent Savage seemed to suddenly find interesting.
"Nothing from you, Ms. Waters?" She paused not expecting to be addressed as both Agent Savage and Parker had a tendency of ignoring her.
"We need to assume that the Rogue has seen the release and plan accordingly. At this point, the Rogue has lost two of his major players. The doctors were the drive behind the Turnings, if we are lucky there will be no more new Chyldren." There was no point in arguing over the 'spilt milk' as the statement was already released. Instead, they needed to be pro-active as much as possible. "Our best lead is Anton, the name given to us by Dr. Edwards..." Persephonii started to try and rally the troops.
Vaughn's tone of voice held no small amount of doubt. "Which may or may not be the Rogue's Maker."
"It's all we have. We can sit here twiddling our thumbs, or try and track down the leads we have." Studwick's tone was calm, and it looked like her team was equally as glad to see he'd collected himself. At Studwick's reply, Parker looked like she wanted to protest even more.
"We don't make guesses Ms. Vaughn, we base our theories on facts, on the data and make cognitive leaps from there." It was all the reprimanding Persephonii was going to allow herself.
"We're all doing our best to hunt down leads, it may seem like looking for a needle in a hay stack. But the Vampyre Kiss has connections and skills that we can't hope to match. They have the Vampyre half of this case well in hand. If Anton is out there, they will find him. It's our job to try and find the identity of this third party from the doctor's crime scene. While searching through piles of papers isn't my idea of fun, any one could hold even the smallest missing piece in this puzzle." With her speech done, Persephonii was ready to head back to the computer room to try and put some of the information they'd gleaned into the puzzle. It looked like her exit would be some time in coming.
Nodding heads ringed the room, she could see her calm reply had in turn calmed Agent Savage's ire, hopefully enough that he was willing to listen.
"What resources do we have in play if a retaliation event does occur?" Looking to the group assembled, she began.
Computer Room; P.P.D Lakewood, WA. 7:49pm PST.
After the theatrics had settled down, the two factions had split. Persephonii headed off to meet with Madison, who had been up all night trying to get information from the dead. She appeared to be having more luck than Persephonii at getting Dr. Edwards and Pike to talk. After forcing Madison to take a break, eat, and catch a quick nap on the couch in the M.E.s office, Persephonii headed back to the Precinct. Lab notes and test results in hand. It was time to try and put some more pieces of the puzzle together, and she was going to need her team to do it.
Sitting in a chair for the majority of the day was not something Persephonii or her counterparts where used to. Gathered around the table in the computer room, they pulled documents and receipts from the piles of papers. Dr. Pike had stopped by a coffee shop a few times, there were receipts for cleaning supplies from a few stores. Agent King mapped locations, while combing through the paper trails. Persephonii was reading lab notes, looking for telephone numbers and contacts. The area that the Turnings and Incidents covered was large, nearly the whole breadth of the state. Surely in all the travel and preparation, there had to be a head quarters, a lair from which the Rogue worked. It was not Dr. Edwards home, despite his lab and office. Those were set up long before he shifted his focus to pseudo-science.
Sadly, in all the papers there was no clue as to why, as to what drove the emotions and thought processes of those involved. They were putting the puzzle pieces together, making good headway, including Madison's tests for residue found in shoe treads and under finger nails. Trace evidence pointing to where the two doctors had recently been. But half the puzzle was missing and night had already fallen.
Computer Room; P.P.D Lakewood, WA. 9:25pm PST.
Looking at her phone, Persephonii glanced at the caller. It was Sebastian, she stepped outside despite the busy work going on in the room. Both Agent Savage and Studwick had entered not ten minutes before asking questions and wanting to know where they were at on their findings. Out in the quieter hallway, she answered the call.
He merely spoke a few words before hanging up, but it was all she needed to hear. "Found him. On our way to you."
Agent King was arguing with the senior Agent asking for more hands on deck...well, eyes on the papers, to which Parker kept adding commentary. Studwick turned to Persephonii when she had reentered the room, his face concerned.
"They found Anton. They're on their way." She couldn't hold back the small smile from her lips, despite the solemn words.
Chapter 24: The Hunt:
An officially sanctioned manhunt for a Para. Usually involving a group of trained individuals with the speed and strength to take on the challenge of a Rogue. Be they Hunters, Reveer's or the House Council Investigator. Rarely is a Hunt lead by humans.
P.P.D.: Interrogation Room 3. Lakewood, WA. 10:53pm PST.
Anton Alexander, known simply as Anton after his Turning, had known poverty and strife in his human life. Swearing that he would become something better now that immortality was his, the handsome young man had hoped to change his very existence in more ways than one, but the truth of eternity had proved to be much more of the same.
“Do you know why your here Mr. ....Anton?” Sebastian and Persephonii watched from behind the glass, both interested in his story and sure that this callous, vain man, had been a large part in creating the monster that was Turning others.
Sebastian had hunted down anyone with information on Anton, the circles he tended to preside in where rife with rumors and men who knew how to be discrete. It was a surprise to find the Sire still in the area given the media coverage his Chylde was receiving. But then Anton was not one of those discreet men.
“Do I want to know where you found him?” Studwick was impressed with the quick turnaround, not expecting so large a break given Savage's recent media spectacle. He'd been sure this Anton would have seen the news and laid low.
“Some dive bar, trying to... rub elbows with a few college kids who were..what is the term they use? 'Slumming' it?” Sebastian shrugged as if to say it was no great chase.
“Something like that. I thought you said you were looking for an informant, bringing him straight back to the precinct was more than I expected... Thank you.” Persephonii meant it, they had every right to interrogate him first.
“You were the one who pointed out that a little more trust between us would go a long way.” Sebastian's conciliatory tone was slightly teasing.
“It did go a long way toward easing Savage's indignation. Not that it seems to count for much at the moment." Persephonii thought that the Agent could have been a bit more compromising with them, but he was holding true to form.
"You'd think that 'they' found the guy themselves, the way he's ordering things about." Fitz commented over his coffee. He was standing in the back of the observation room, Montgomery having been called in with Savage for the interrogation.
“I did not do it for them.” Glancing over to see Sebastian's reflection in the one way glass, she noticed his attention was no longer on the interrogation, but firmly resting on her. She focused on the interrogation, trying to ignore the shiver that ran down her spine.
At the last turn of the century, the five hundred year old Vampyre found himself out of funds and at the low end of the Vampyre hierarchy. He had backed the wrong people, used his funds frivolously and was in the down turn of a repeating cycle of gain and loss. He had lost his Maker, his house had fallen and his only Chylde had left to join another’s Kiss.
The nineteen eighties started with little relief for Anton, and even less in sight. The spiral into the lower echelons of the Para communities left him once again in with the wrong crowd, but also landed him a cash cow in the form of Bryce Hawke.
Bryce had been searching for something, whether a family or immortality, Anton didn’t know. Seeing it as a sign of increasing good fortune, the handsome if awkward young man sported a Rolex, designer clothing and asking if any Vampyres frequented the bar. Anton had been the first to introduce himself. Originally, he had thought the human had been looking to walk on the wild side, many humans throughout the centuries had paid to spend time with Vampyres. Anton was hoping it might lead to something more than a night of bad alcohol and a wad of bills. In fact, he had thought, if he just played it right, he might have just found a new backer.
Anton’s night had started out poorly, but now it appeared to be on the rise. Bryce, however, had other plans. After talking with the vampyre, nursing one drink all night, Bryce had given Anton his watch, a roll of fifties and said he would meet with him tomorrow at the Port. Nearly jumping at the opportunity to grow this new profitable relationship, Anton kept the watch and used the money to buy a new suit, in hopes that his new image might also increase his perceived financial worth.
The next night fell, dark and crisp, Anton arrived on time for the meeting at the Crow's Nest a more reputable bar by the edge of town, between the forest and the Port district. From there they headed to a house not far into the woods.
“I was expecting some more questions, to regale him with tall tales and give him a P.C. version of the Vampyre life. You know... sate his curiosity while building the relationship. All while leaving a little mystery.” Anton shrugged, the faded blue of his shirt peaking through the worn, separating seams of his business jacket.
“We greeted each other, he invited me in, it's clearly not his residence, but it is his house. One of many he says. The little bugger, knew what he was doing from the start, he really was something.” Shaking his head he continued.
“We enter the main living area and here are these lovely young ladies, ready and eager to... donate. Giving me a better meal than the back alley refuse I had been dinning on. Of course I was drawn in. Who wouldn’t be?” Anton looked to Montgomery for support, but both he and Savage were playing stone faced cop. He would be getting no empathy from them.
“So... the night progresses, things are setting up nicely and Bryce lays down an offer. Immortality for all this... a nice place, in flow of cash, willing donators. All mine if I make him my Chylde. It seemed easy enough.” As Anton relayed the rest of the tale, it was clear that he had given up on his Chylde long ago. Now he was simply trying not to be arrested for the Rogue's deeds.
Bryce Hawke was a hard man to find. What little records there were in the system had been neatly swept under a rug, apart from his birth certificate and a questionable record of his death. The rest had been wiped clean by someone who knew what they were doing. It was only through Anton's stories that they learned about the Hawke, as he had come to call himself after the Turning. Though Anton hadn't seen him in years, nearly two decades, Persephonii knew any insight into his back ground could give them a clue to his current whereabouts. Tape recorders on, she set about taking her turn at interviewing Anton, trying to prompt and coax every fact, no matter how small from him.
After all, Time didn't change a person, merely made them more of who and what they truly were.
Port District: Cape Meares, WA. 9:09pm PST.
Bryce Hawke had been born to an investor father and lawyer mother; the absentee parents had little time of each other, let alone their son. Growing up in a house where talk revolved around work and which college he would go into, Bryce had dreamed of the Paranormal, the wilderness, the magic. Though his parents were absent the majority of the time with late nights and early mornings, the watch was kept by a very nosy highly paid staff, that reported back to both parents about the boy's activities. Nannies came and went so that he never grew attached to them and the staff as a united front, told the parents of every wrong, and every item that he brought in and out of the house.
A shy boy had turned into a quiet, paranoid teen whose private school upbringing had only reinforced his desire for both family and the unfamiliar. He had hoped with moving to the Academy that the opportunity to live in the dorms would distance himself from the watchful eyes of his guards. But his parent had chosen a local school within driving distance, so he stayed an inmate in his own home.
The prestigious school taught him many things; the power of influence, the roles of society, the need for subterfuge, planning and being able to outlast your opponent. Many mistook his quietness for weakness, when in reality he was watchful, gathering information, waiting. His high school days may have given him the classic education, expanding his knowledge, but it had also enlarged his sense of brilliance and superiority over those around him.
Just after finishing high school, Bryce had lost both parents in a plane crash. The two, having gone on another vacation without him, had left for a two week stay in the tropics. Two weeks of ignoring each other and living separate lives to come back to separate rooms in a large suite. On the return flight home the plane had encountered unknown problems and had gone down somewhere in the Atlantic. No black box or substantial evidence had been recovered to explain the crash. The eighteen year old had inherited all his parents funds, and was of the age to use them.
The first thing to go had been the staff, fired without references. The second had been to spend his money creating a new image of himself, someone more mature, more Hawke rather than Bryce. Without the pressure of his parents' expectations, Bryce had immediately enrolled in the beginning programs for 'wizarding' schools. He had read books, secretly stashed between his mattress or in his closet and made plans.
Now free to follow his own path, he had applied to every guru, every school of 'magic' that he could find. What the world often passed off as magic, were those gifted with abilities much like the Waters family. Those that could control energies, manipulate matter. Perhaps in another world they might have been called 'super' or 'mutants' but here they were labeled witches and wizards. Those more powerful were thought of as sorcerers, the nearly ageless scholars who preformed wonders and drew the attention of the masses. What science couldn't explain was dubbed magic and myth.
Bryce longed for the power, the prestige, which money couldn't by. But he showed little sign of having 'Gifts' and while the school would have been happy to take his money, the teachers could not grow skills from what wasn't there.
His plans and dreams scattered, he looked to other avenues of longevity; potions, elixirs, along with technology. His research had lead him to the Vampyres, to a bar late one night were he chose his Maker, someone he could lure in and control. But he hadn't accounted for the bond between Maker and Chylde. It was strong and rigid the first few years after the Turning. Hawke bent to his Sire's will, but they were without aid. The more Anton taught him of the Vampyre ways, the Houses, the politics, the more Hawke came to realize his mistake.
He had thought immortality at the hands of any Vampyre could give him what he wanted, Time and perhaps a family, but Anton was a loner, unable to achieve residence as part of the House of Thane and by extension, Hawke too was barred from entrance. Money running low, the two had split paths, Anton back to his hidey-hole in Seattle, and Hawke to try and make what he would of this world.
Persephonii was moved by the ta
le, truly. But the results spoke volumes about Hawke. How could someone learn compassion, and love when they were not shown it? How could someone crave something so much as to force the bond, the Turning on those they wished to make family? They had the why...now they needed the where.
Sebastian sat behind the glass, watching as his Liaison deftly maneuvered Anton Alexander into revealing every detail he could remember about Bryce Hawke. The Agents, King and Fox, would come and go, garnering information from the session only to leave to make phone calls or type away at a computer. Agent Savage was suspiciously absent, but he couldn't complain. Detective Montgomery had informed him of the confrontation between Studwick and the lead Agent. He hoped the two had settled their difference enough to get back to the Hunt. Persephonii seemed to be finishing up with the Sire, packing her things, even thanking him for his assistance. They both watched the Sire walk out the door, free to leave. Sebastian had already given him a warning not to leave the area, and to make himself available to them should the need arise. No charges were filed against him, so he was free to return to the rock he lived under.
Anton was sufficiently cowed by the mere presence of 'the Bastard', Sebastian Ardeal, the House Council's Inquisitor and Investigator. With a few hours left, he headed home. Sure that whatever went down in the next few days, he had already lost his remaining Chylde years ago. Apparently parenting was not for him.