A couple of Enforcers were guarding the front of the building, just in case anyone dared to try and breach the crime scene tape, but I didn’t recognize either one of them. I moved on, making my way to the hospital.
It took a few minutes of asking around, but I was eventually able to pass a message on to Grigore via one of the Assistant Healers, asking him to meet me in the cafeteria. I still had exactly zero desire to be anywhere near food, but the cafeteria was the easiest place to meet someone and have a relatively private conversation.
I only had to wait about fifteen minutes before he arrived. Grigore made his way toward me with a confident stride. He looked much more like a typical vampire than the Sadoveanu family: short, but slim, with a narrow face, defined cheekbones and the typical fangs of his kind.
“You are Althea?” he asked as he approached me, and I nodded.
“Yes, but please, call me Ali. I’m sorry about your friend.”
“Thank you,” Grigore replied, bowing his head slightly. “His parents have let me know that you are investigating the death, and have asked me to be as open and candid with you as I would be with the Enforcers.”
“Good,” I said. “I’m hoping you can help me. I didn’t know Luca at all, but I want to find his killer, so anything you can tell me about his life will be useful.”
“Luca was a kind vampire,” Grigore said slowly. “He was very empathetic. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was going into the family business, I think he could have been an excellent Healer.”
“Did he have any enemies? Anyone who you think might have wanted to kill him?”
“No,” Grigore said with a firm shake of his head. “And I’m not simply saying that because we’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead, or because I want to protect him. I genuinely can’t think of a single instance in which a disagreement with someone could have led to his death. For goodness sake, he stocked the shelves at the local supermarket during the night, and slept during the day. He worked extremely hard, because he took the family business seriously.”
“He was on board with his parents’ plan to retire in fifty years?”
“Oh yes,” Grigore said. “To be completely honest, I think Luca would have been happier doing something that would have involved more interaction with other paranormals. He could be a bit of a social butterfly, and being in that store at night with just a few other people wasn’t ideal for him. But vampires have a strong sense of duty, and Luca was no different. He wanted his parents to be able to retire secure in the knowledge that the store would continue on with a Sadoveanu carrying on the legacy, and he was fully willing to do it.”
“So he wasn’t especially resentful about not being able to live his own dreams?”
“Oh, not at all. I’m not sure Luca even considered what he might have done otherwise. I think he would have been a great Healer, but he was always fully on board with his parents’ plan for him. Besides, it’s not like all he did was stock shelves. His parents were also teaching him things like how to run a business, how to do the books, how to manage staff, and that sort of thing. I know they were planning on shifting him more into that side of the business in the coming years, but even now Luca was given a lot of freedom.”
Alright, so it didn’t sound like there were any problems on the work front.
“What about in the vampire community? Did he have any problems with anyone?”
“No, he was a well-respected member of our community. Luca volunteered at the blood bank, to make sure less fortunate vampires were still given access to blood, and he was a staunch advocate for the expansion of our species through the biting of humans who were willing to turn.”
“Oh?” I said. “What’s all that about? I’m afraid I don’t know too much about vampires.”
“Well, vampires are born in one of two ways,” Grigore said. “Either they are born naturally to two existing vampires, the way Luca and I were, or they were humans who are turned by being bitten. Up until around a hundred and fifty years ago, when paranormal law enforcement began cracking down on visits to the human world for the purpose of biting humans, that was how the majority of vampires were born. But since the Treaty of Venice of 1873, the punishments for vampires who traveled to the human world to turn humans have become a lot stricter. Now, any humans who are turned must be done so willingly, and since we’re not authorized to show our presence in the human world, it’s become a lot trickier to advertise that as an option.”
“So now most vampires are born the natural way,” I said with a nod, understanding.
“That’s right. The problem is vampires have a relatively low birth rate. What with our natural immortality, if we had the same birth rate as witches and wizards we’d quickly find the paranormal world completely overrun with our kind. I know of quite a few vampires who would be fine with that, but I’m not one of them.”
“Ok, so you need to turn humans to keep the population up?”
“That’s right,” Grigore said. “The current vampire birth rate is so low that thanks to murders – not so much here but in bigger cities especially – our total population is actually in decline. We need to turn the occasional human to keep the birth rate up, and also to ensure genetic diversity in our population.”
“The fancy way of saying you’re all going to end up marrying your sisters if you can’t bring in new blood.”
“Exactly.”
“Alright, so Luca was a strong proponent of bringing in humans. And I suppose Enforcement officials were opposed to that?”
“Well, Luca would never advocate breaking the law. He wanted the existing law to be relaxed slightly to allow more advertising of the vampire option to humans, so that those who chose to join our way of life could do so. The problem wasn’t so much with Enforcers as it was with other vampires. There is a powerful and vocal part of our community who are opposed to turning more humans.”
“But why?” I asked. “It sounds like bringing more humans into the vampire fold is the best way to ensure the long-term survival of your species.”
“It is, but many vampires consider turned humans to be inferior to those born into the life. As much as it’s detrimental to our overall species, many do not believe humans should be turned at all, and that vampires simply need to work harder to increase our population the natural way. It is, in fact, quite a contentious subject among members of the vampire community, with extremists on both sides of the issue. It’s understandable, of course; the subject refers to our entire existence as a community and to the definition of what it means to be a vampire. There are going to be strong opinions on both sides.”
“Alright,” I said, nodding in understanding. “So basically there are the old, snobby vampires who don’t want to bring in new blood, and the other group who realize that new blood needs to be brought in for vampires as a whole to survive.”
“That’s right,” Grigore said with a nod. “The latter group is generally dominated by the younger generation of vampires, who tend to be more willing to accept new vampires who don’t necessarily understand our lifestyle straight away and who need time to come into the fold. Besides, who is to say that the former humans cannot teach us anything? We vampires are old, very old, but that does not mean we are unable to learn new tricks, as the expression says. There is much to be learned, in my opinion, from new vampires.”
“So who are the leaders of the other side of things, the group that wants to keep vampire blood pure? Especially here in town?”
Grigore’s eyes widened slightly. “You don’t mean to tell me you think one of them could have killed Luca.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know yet. But I do know that political differences have led to assassinations in the past, and it sounds like this is a hot topic among vampires.”
“I suppose you are right,” Grigore said slowly. “Still, I struggle to believe that any of our community could have killed Luca. I’ve known many of these vampires for centuries; I can’t believe any of them would have done i
t.”
“And that’s why I’ve been brought in, because I’m a fresh set of eyes who doesn’t have any preconceived notions,” I said with a small smile.
“Of course. Of course.”
“Besides, if none of them did do it, I can eliminate them from the suspect pool and move on to whoever did want to see Luca dead.”
“You are right. Whoever did it, I just want them found. George Balan is the most vocal vampire in Mt. Rheanier dedicated to the maintenance of vampire kind through birth. You should speak with him. There is also Anastasia Lupu. She caused a commotion at one of Luca’s demonstrations a few weeks back, and was actually arrested for harassing him.”
“Good to know,” I said. I underlined Anastasia’s name; she was definitely my prime suspect. “Who should I speak to at the blood bank?”
“Titus Petrescu,” Grigore said. “He is in charge of the blood bank. You can find him working there most days.”
“Ok, thanks,” I said. “I appreciate the help.”
“Whatever I can do to help find the person who killed Luca, I will do,” Grigore replied. “Please, let me know if there’s anything else you need help with. Let me leave you my number so you can get in touch with me anytime.”
I handed Grigore my phone and he added himself to my contacts before passing it back to me and standing up.
“I really hope you do find who did this,” he said.
“I’m going to do my best.”
He nodded and walked off, leaving me looking at my notebook where I had scribbled down notes of everything he said. I definitely had a few solid leads to get started.
Chapter 7
Since it was already night time, this was the perfect time to interview vampires, who generally spent the day sleeping. It was going to be a long night, so I made my way back home and grabbed some energy-boosting potion from the fridge.
“Want to come interview some vampires?” I asked Vinnie.
“Hard pass on that,” he replied. “They’re scary, and it’s past my bedtime. Maybe tomorrow.”
“Ok,” I said with a smile as I made my way back out into the street. I pulled my jacket close to me and considered casting a warming spell. Now that the sun had set it was even colder than it had been during the day as I made my way toward the northern end of town, where a number of the vampire-run buildings were clustered together next to the lake. This was the oldest part of town; Mt. Rheanier had been founded by a group of witches, wizards and vampires. While the witches and wizards who founded this place had long since died and their properties passed on and sold, the vampires who had built this place still lived here for the most part, and still owned the properties. As a result, this whole neighborhood was very vampire oriented.
A giant red drop of blood on the front of a single-story, plain-looking wooden building told me I was in the right place to meet Titus Petrescu. I knew where the blood bank was, and what it looked like, but I had never been inside.
I stepped into the building to find myself in a very dimly-lit room. The walls and ceiling were painted black, giving the place an even darker feel than it ordinarily would have.
Along the walls on either side were two shelves, filled with small vials of blood, each looking to contain about one shot glass’ worth. There were labels on all the vials, and I was suddenly glad I’d never been in here before. This place was insanely creepy. I felt like the dumb character at the beginning of a horror movie who’s about to die.
I didn’t even notice the vampire sitting at a tiny desk in a corner.
“Welcome to the Mt. Rheanier blood bank, can I help you?” I jumped about three feet in the air and let out a squeal of surprise. “My apologies, I didn’t mean to scare you. We don’t often get witches in here, what can I do for you?”
“Well, I’m pretty sure I need a cardiologist,” I said. “But I’d settle for being able to speak with Titus, if he’s available.”
If the vampire showed any surprise at my request to see the head of the blood bank, he didn’t show it.
“And who may I tell him is here?” he asked. “I shall see if he is available.”
“My name is Althea Everwood, and I’m investigating the death of Luca Sadoveanu on behalf of his parents,” I explained. Wow, that sounded pretty official. I liked it.
“Alright, please wait here,” the vampire said, standing up and passing through a door that had been invisible to me behind his desk. I made my way to the super creepy blood shelf closest to the desk and squinted in the dark to read the label on the one closest to me.
Type: O+
Origin: Veinal
Special notes: blood’s originator has Type II diabetes
Well, that wasn’t any less creepy when I got up close. I decided I wasn’t going to read any more of the labels when the vampire came back into the room.
“Titus is available to see you. Please, follow me,” the vampire said, and I did as he asked, trying to forget about the blood vial room I was standing in and hoping that Titus’ office was significantly less blood-filled.
I was very pleased to find that to be the case. I was brought into a dark room, and a second later a light came on overhead and I blinked as my eyes re-adjusted.
“My apologies, I normally do not keep the light on when I work alone or with other vampires,” the vampire in front of me said. He was of medium height, with a slight pudge in his middle. His eyes were blue – rare for a vampire – and his round face was friendly.
“Thanks,” I said with a smile. “I do better when there’s a little bit of light.”
Titus motioned for me to have a seat on the chair in front of his desk, which I did, then he crossed his hands in front of him as he gave me his full attention.
“What can I do for you, Miss Everwood. I hear you’re investigating Luca’s death?”
“That’s right,” I said, nodding. “His parents have hired me to investigate alongside the Enforcers in the hopes that it will expedite the finding of the killer.”
“I do hope you succeed,” Titus replied. “Luca’s death is such a tragedy. I only found out about it when I woke up late this afternoon. He was such a bright young vampire.”
“I understand he volunteered here at the blood bank?”
“That’s right,” Titus said, nodding. “He came by once a week and did whatever was needed.”
“So the blood bank is where vampires who can’t afford it go to get human blood?”
“Yes,” Titus confirmed. “Human blood contains elements that are essential to vampire health. While vampires used to get this blood by biting humans directly, of course, nowadays that’s not only frowned upon, but illegal. Instead, we pay for it, from donors willing to give their blood in exchange for money, which is then transported to the paranormal world and drank from vials. This blood bank exists to allow vampires who cannot afford to buy their own blood to still have access to the goodness of the blood that we all require.”
“I have to ask… what’s with the labels on the blood at the front?”
“Ah,” Titus said, nodding. “Well, the blood from humans affects vampires differently. Some are allergic to certain antibodies, for one. I myself am unable to drink any blood from a person with negative blood typing. So the donor’s blood type is tightly controlled. Blood which comes from an artery is more oxygenated than blood which is taken from a vein, so a vampire looking to increase their oxygen content from the blood would want to look for the blood’s origin. And finally, anything else that could affect the composition of the blood is noted.”
“Does it… taste differently?” I asked. Seriously, why couldn’t I stop asking questions about drinking blood?
“It does,” Titus confirmed. “In fact, some more affluent vampires will only drink blood from humans who follow a gluten-free diet, for example, and those vials gather far greater a price on the market than others.”
“So how does the blood bank get its blood?” I asked.
“We ask that when vampires place their bloo
d orders they get an extra vial or two and bring it to us,” Titus explained. “Luckily, we have a very kind community here in Mt. Rheanier. We also get some money from the community to buy blood, and we accept donations from the public.”
“Well, that’s definitely something,” I said. “Thank you for the information. But now, about Luca.”
“Of course, how can I help?”
“You say he worked here once a week?”
“Yes, every Thursday. He had Thursdays and Fridays off from his job at the grocery store, and always spent four hours on Thursdays doing whatever was necessary here.”
“Did he just man the room at the front?”
“He did that sometimes, but he did whatever was required of him. Sometimes it meant doing administrative work at the back. Printing labels, tracking inventory, that sort of thing. Luca was very much willing to do whatever was needed. He was good that way.”
“Did he get along with everyone here?”
“Oh, absolutely. We’re really quite a tight-knit bunch, here. I’m one of two full-time staff members, and we have around ten regular volunteers who give up their time to help us. Luca got along with each and every one of them; I’ve never heard of disagreements.”
“What about customers? Maybe Luca wouldn’t let them get the blood vial they wanted? Or someone wasn’t happy with the available blood options?”
Titus shook his head. “If anything like that happened, I didn’t hear about it. Blood is first-come, first-served, and has been for the hundred and ten years this place has been operating. Believe me, everyone knows the rules. As for available options, well, we’re lucky to have some excellent supplies here. Lots of available blood for vampires who need a boost but can’t afford to buy it themselves.”
Potion Sickness Page 4
