by Andrea Wölk
»Actually, I’m way too tired for that tonight,« muttered Philippe hoarsely. »That will change in a minute.« Sunny’s fangs appeared and with one short, sharp surge, she dug her teeth into Philippe’s jugular. He fought back as a stabbing pain went through him like hot iron. After that he only registered the pain and for a second he stared in fear at her changed features, her fangs and silver black eyes. It excited him though and soon enough, Sunny’s sinister appearance and his fear were forgotten. His hands slid down Sunny’s body. The pain faded and he felt only a sensual excitement, as the blood flowed out of his veins and arteries. »Merde, what are you doing to me?« he moaned. Sunny didn’t answer him at first, but drank his blood quickly in deep gulps to feed herself.
Since it was part of her job to do it, she could kill two birds with one stone and satisfy her own hunger at the same time. When she let go of him, a small drop of blood ran down her lips. She quickly moved her own wrist up to her mouth and bit into it. Crimson blood gushed from her vein as she held her arm up to Philippe’s lips.
»Here, drink!« she whispered into his ear. Slowly, the first drops dripped into his mouth. He caught them with his tongue and no sooner had he taken note of the taste, did she press her arm to his face and forced him to drink. Sunny noticed a slight resistance, but compared to a mortal, her strength was immeasurable, so it wasn’t a problem for her to force Philippe take his new elixir of life from her veins.
A rush of cold water pulled him back to reality and the first things that hit him was the pain in his head and wrists. With his hands were tied behind his back, he felt something metallic on his skin, not handcuffs, but felt more like a steel cable. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Gibson, the head of security, who pulled up Aragón’s head by his hair to have a look at him.
»So, vampire, I thought you’d never wake up. Where are your people now?« »What people?« Gibson’s fist hit Aragón in the face and his head jerked to the side. He recognized that this guy was a vampire too. If his scent hadn’t given him away, then the power of the punch in Aragón’s face definitely did. Gibson laughed contemptuously. »I guess your warrior brothers have abandoned you. As soon as they noticed we were on your tail, they took off. Come on, tell me where they are. Where do you hide?«
Aragón could see another vampire with his arms stretched out. »Gibson, you’re offending our friend here. He’s a warrior, a man of faith. I don’t think he’s going to answer your questions.« Gibson stepped aside submissively to make room for Kilian Castaway.
»I don’t mean to be impolite and I apologize for having to make you so uncomfortable, but you surely understand that I don’t have any other choice when it comes to warriors. Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Kilian Castaway and I’m looking for the Diarium.«
Aragón raised his head and looked at him blankly, and without even blinking an eye, he spoke. »I don’t know what you want from me or which warriors or Diarium you’re talking about.« Rage welled up inside of Aragón and he pulled on his restraints. His blood was pounding in his head and his fangs emerged.
Castaway bent down to him and rested his hands on both sides of the chair.
»Are you trying to fuck with me?« he hissed loudly showing his fangs.
»Do you think we don’t know anything about the warriors of faith, who protect the Diarium and the secrets of the vampires?« A loud contemptuous laugh followed, but Aragón held his gaze.
»And you think that if I were a warrior, you’d be able to stop me with these restraints?« He spoke calmly and without hesitation. He felt someone pressing something cold and metallic onto his neck from behind and it annoyed him that he hadn’t felt the presence of another vampire.
»Move and I’ll gladly cut your head off!« It hissed into his ear. Only at that moment did he notice the stinking smell of another creature. He saw a hand covered in filth as if it had just crawled out of the sewer.
»So,« Castaway approached him again. »Where do you keep the book? Where’s your headquarters?« But when he noticed that not even the threat of death would make Aragón talk, he signaled to Gibson.
»Bring him to the estate for now. Let’s see if starvation helps loosen his tongue.«
Transformation
Chapter 14
The house in Blue Ridge was totally dark when Ruben and Jôrek got back from downtown. There wasn’t a star in the sky and even the moon was hidden behind low-lying clouds. The garage door slid open silently and after Ruben parked the SUV, it slid just as quietly closed. They met Maroush in the meeting room, where he’d already made himself at home. His feet were comfortably resting on the table and he was turning the chair back and forth while sharpening his sword.
»Brother,« greeted Ruben giving Maroush a fist bump. Maroush greeted back with a nod of his head. »Where are the others?« Jôrek said looking around the room.
»Aragón isn’t here yet and our lovebirds have gone to their rooms,« said Maroush grinning broadly. »Aragón isn’t back yet? We thought he left with you?« Ruben lifted his eyebrows questioningly.
Maroush shook his head. »No, I wanted to go, but he insisted on staying and looking around and then driving back with you.« Maroush reached for his cell phone and entered Aragón’s number and let it ring.
»He’s not answering. Something’s wrong.« The three warriors looked around at each other anxiously. »What’s wrong?« Shia opened the glass door of the meeting room and walked in. »Aragón isn’t back yet,« they all said in unison. »Who saw him last?«
»He was with Channing and Sara in the club. When I saw him he was waiting for Jôrek and Ruben. Then I left.« You could see Channing and Sara walking towards the meeting room through the door. »What happened?« asked Sara before she’d even actually opened the door. Her intuition had told her that something was wrong so she’d rushed to the meeting room with Channing.
»Aragón isn’t here yet and he isn’t answering his phone!« informed Maroush.
»He told me to take Sara home after some fans in the club had recognized her,« said Channing running his hand through his hair. Sara reached for her cell phone and it nervously slipped out of her hand. Channing caught it reflexively and handed it back to her. »Don’t worry, we’ll find him.« He stroked Sara’s hand soothingly. Her attempt to reach Aragón on his cell phone also failed. »Maybe he just can’t be reached at the moment.« Channing tried to look at the situation logically. »We can assume that much,« said Shia in response. »We don’t use the cell phones to just call and say Hi. When your phone rings, it’s important.« He tossed him a small black device. »Don’t lose it. You can reach us all using speed dial. Sara is number one.« Channing nodded and put the phone in his pocket.
»What should we do?« asked Ruben turning the conversation back to Aragón.
»We have to go back to the club,« said Sara upset and stood up to leave the room.
»Stop, it doesn’t make any sense to rush down there. That might put all of us in more danger.« Channing held her tightly by the arm. Shia nodded approvingly. »Channing’s right. Now that the sun is beginning to rise, there won’t be any vampires there anyway and only the hunters of darkness could manage to capture Aragón. A human being would never be able to accomplish that.«
»But maybe we could look around for clues he may have left,« Channing in threw looking over at Shia. »And maybe the police can help. Don’t forget, two people were murdered there.« »Are you thinking of Eva?« Channing nodded. »I don’t want her to get involved in this.« Shia shook his head. »In my view, I’m already so deeply involved in this, that there’s no going back,« said a voice from the door. Eva had already been standing there awhile unnoticed by the others.
»I woke up restless and noticed that Shia wasn’t next to me. I overheard you say that Aragón was missing. If you want, I can file a missing persons report.« Shia shook his head again.
»No, we can’t do that. We don’t know what to expect. You can help more by just being at the police department and keeping your eyes and ears op
en.« »It’s safer for you there.« Sara looked over at her apologetically. »I know that you’re not afraid, but we’re dealing with savage creatures that aren’t afraid of anything, not even a warrior. You’re a mortal. Don’t be angry, Eva, I just don’t want anything to happen to you.« Eva nodded contemplatively. »I know, I’m just a measly little human being.«
Esposito arrived at the department a little after eight o’clock. He was surprised to see Eva sitting there waiting for him with a steaming cup of coffee in her hands.
»Good morning,« he muttered grouchily, »you’re already here? What’s wrong? Didn’t your boyfriend let you sleep?« »He’s just a colleague. When are you going to get that through your think head? So, what’s new? Do you have anything on the club case?« Esposito picked up a file from his desk and tossed it over to Eva.
»Not a lot, unfortunately. The two victims hadn’t been employed at the club for long. It was their second day on the job.« »Anything on the owner of the club?« Esposito shook his head as Eva slowly leafed through the file. »We’re still working on that. There’s a complicated web of companies and company shares. I’ve put a few people on it, to try to disentangle the network. The head of the company is a Greek American named Stavros Dimatros. He seems to be a front man. He runs the club, but doesn’t seem to have much say in things.«
»He was fished out of Union Bay this morning.« Eva turned around in shock. Shia was standing behind her with a serious look on his face.
»Keane, where did you get that information?« Esposito was looking at him confused when his cell phone suddenly started ringing. He answered, nodding repeatedly. »Yes, I just found out ... that doesn’t matter now. We’re on our way.« He ended the call quickly. »That was the Chief informing us about Dimatros’ death. We need to drive out to the scene. The Governor is giving him hell about all the recent murders. He’s got to have something to show for this case, otherwise all our jobs are on the line. I have no idea where you got your information, Keane. Come on Eva, we have to get down there.« Eva gave Shia a worried look cursing the fact she couldn’t speak to him openly.
»Here Esposito, I have something for you.« Shia threw him a little package, which he skillfully caught and unpacked. »Hey Keane, a Breitling! It looks just like yours!« he shouted out excitedly looking over at Shia who was wearing the same watch on his wrist.
»Yeah, you liked it so much yesterday. I have two, so I figured, I’d be a shame not to use it.«
Shia casually shrugged his shoulders. »Jesus Christ, I can’t believe it! I owe you one, man.« He patted him on the back pulling him towards the exit.
»Come with us to the crime scene, if you have the time.« »Sure, Eva can ride with me. I’ll follow you.«
Eva had hardly closed the car door behind her when the tough policewoman surfaced.
»What are you dong here? How did you know about the murder?« »We picked it up on police radio. The information was radioed in and then I drove straight over here. The others are checking out the club. I told you I wasn’t going to leave you alone anymore.« »But I’m safe here. What could happen to me?« He looked her straight in the eyes and rubbed his knuckles across her cheek. »You’ve been lucky so far. It wasn’t my idea though. Sara sent me. She feels that the situation is too dangerous. We can’t be careful enough, now that Aragón has disappeared. Maybe there’s a mole in your department.« »It wasn’t necessary to buy Esposito’s friendship with an expensive watch,« she said disapprovingly. A smile slid over Shia’s face.
»Nothing is too expensive for me when it comes to you, my love.« He left the motor of the R8 running, leaned over to her and gave her a quick kiss on the mouth.
The body was found in a remote area on Union Bay. It had gotten caught in the weeds along the bank. The bruised and swollen face was almost unrecognizable. The coroner had already finished up when Eva, Shia and Esposito arrived.
»Death by strangulation. That much I can tell you. I think he was thrown into the ocean just beyond the Bay. Look at the marks on his neck. A dark blue thumbprint on the right and four small bruises for the rest of the fingers on the left. The guy who strangled him was left-handed and did it with one hand. Judging by the crushed larynx and size of the finger marks, it must have been a very strong person, most likely a man.«
»Time of death?« asked Eva looking down at the body to see if she recognized the face. It was already so swollen from being in the water, that she couldn’t identify a thing. She turned away.
»I’ll be able to tell you that after the autopsy.« Eva nodded and looked around for Shia who was standing a little further away talking to the officer who’d arrived at the scene first. The coroner said good-bye and promised to submit his report by the end of the day.
»You kissed him,« mumbled Esposito quietly, when he was alone with Eva for a minute.
»I saw you. So don’t tell me he’s not your boyfriend. What’s so bad about admitting it? He seems like a great guy.« »Yeah, and he’s even better than you can imagine,« said Eva slowly.
»I have to admit he looks a little young. He must have good genes.« »What are you now Esposito, a biologist?« »The guy seems to have money to burn, so he must be a catch. You should keep him on the line, Butler!« »I will, Esposito, before you snatch him away from me. Let’s drive over to the club. Maybe we can find something important.« »Why? The forensic unit was there and has secured all the evidence.« »I only trust myself. Let’s meet over there.« Shrugging his shoulders, Esposito made his way through the undergrowth, clumsily pulling away branches obstructing his way to the street.
»Did you find anything?« Eva looked at Shia questioningly as he steered the car through the Seattle morning rush hour. He drove up to a red light and stopped.
»I’m absolutely sure that a vampire killed him. But they didn’t drink his blood. He was strangled. Did you see the huge handprints?« Eva nodded.
»Yeah, but how can you be sure it was a vampire?« »What kind of human being would be capable of strangling a person one-handed? Then those huge fingers. Those can’t be human. To me it looks like someone grabbed him by the neck and held him up in the air. Did you see the huge finger marks?«
»Do you think it was Aragón?« Shia shook his head forcefully. »No, that’s impossible. He’s a warrior. Okay, sometimes we have to do things that human beings would consider horrible, but it’s not Aragón’s style to fight and kill. Plus, he’s right handed so we can take him off the list of suspects.« Eva exhaled in relief. She didn’t want to have to investigate a warrior. She’d been grateful yesterday when Aragón had supported her participation in the mission. I would be simply impossible to turn against him. Eva didn’t even want to imagine the situation ever coming to that. She didn’t want to have to choose between her job and Shia because she secretly knew how that would turn out. Shia saw how torn she was and gently put his hand on top of hers.
»I know how hard it must be for you and I’m sorry that you have to deal with all this, but I can’t just disappear out of your life, even if I wanted to. You know so much now that it would be too dangerous for us and for you. You have to understand that.« Eva nodded.
Not to mention the fact that I couldn’t bear leaving you, she thought to herself.
»Yes, of course, I actually understand that well. But it can only go well for so long. Cruz keeps asking questions and he’s not stupid.« Shia nodded and parked the R8 GT in front of the Empire. Esposito was already waiting for them in the parking lot. »Hey, how did you get this car?« he asked curiously. Shia threw him an innocent look. »It’s not mine. I borrowed it.« Esposito patted him on the back laughing. »You don’t happen to have a second one you don’t need in the garage, do you?«
Philippe Orlandie could hardly open his eyes. It felt as if there were heavy bricks covering them. His body felt so dizzy and numb that he must have slept for days. First he couldn’t feel his hands and feet at all, but then he felt a pain that made his entire body shake. Like a junkie looking for his next fix. He look
ed around trying to figure out where he was, noticing only a windowless room, a cabinet and the bed he was lying on. Then he remembered Sunny and how she had kissed him, but that was all. He could vaguely remember the bite in his neck and the long fangs in Sunny’s mouth. The smell of blood rose up into his nose and he gagged. His body cramped up painfully again. He heard the door open and someone entered the room.
»Hey Philippe, how’s it going?« It was Sunny. »Oh God, I think I’m dying. What did you do to me?« he moaned. »I’ve given you eternal life. You should be thankful. The pain will go away. Here’s a blood bag. You’ll feel better as soon as you drink.« He looked at the red bag in Sunny’s hand in disgust.
»You’ve lost your mind if you think that I’m going to drink that. I’m not crazy.« Sunny shrugged her shoulders indifferently. »It’s for the pain. No one is forcing you. I just wanted to make it easier for you.« She tossed the blood bag onto the bed and left the room without making another comment. The dark red blood bag seemed to sneer back at Philippe. He felt like he could already taste the sweet metallic flavor on his lips and saliva began to collect in his mouth. He could hardly bear the pain he was feeling in his body. He sat up and reached for the bag reluctantly. He ripped it open with his teeth as soon as it was in his hands and greedily let the red liquid run into his mouth. He did it so rampantly that some of the blood dripped from his chin onto his shirt. The bag was empty in practically one gulp and he squeezed out the rest with his fist. He hungered for more, gladly three or four more bags. He fell back down onto the bed exhausted, and the pain slowly began to disappear from his body. Only then did he realize what he had just done. He looked at the empty blood bag in disgust, which minutes earlier had been full of dark red liquid. Oh God, what had he done? He’d swallowed it as if it had been orange juice. No, that couldn’t be. What had happened to him? What had they done to him? Given him the gift of Eternal life, whatever that was supposed to mean. It wasn’t what he wanted. But he had the uneasy feeling that he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.
