After Dark (The Vampire Next Door Book 2) (13 page)

“I have told you, none of us would want you. Nor would the poor hungry wolves.” He left her side and quietly informed the innkeeper that an old friend was in the town and that he was going to seek him out. The innkeeper nodded and said someone would let him in when he returned.

He went to the stable and took his bow and quiver, which he had earlier told the servant to put in the stall with his horse. He saddled his coal black stallion and mounted. The horse was tired from traveling, but in the morning he could sleep the day. Pavel rode silently out of the city gates and headed for the forest…

He saw them with the brightness of the moon’s soft silver light; two vampiresses knelt under a fir tree at the top of a hill, each with a bow in hand. He came up behind them and they turned to see him. “Greetings, my beautiful sisters! And I thought I was alone in the forest, in this world, for I have not seen my own kind for nearly a century.”

They stood slowly as he dismounted. “Where are you from?” the dark haired one asked. “We have never seen you.”

“The other side of the hills.” He gestured slightly toward the forested hills that were directly under the bright full moon. “Where the temple was, where it still is. I remain by it, the last to stay there, though only a few remember me.”

“The last?” the fairer one said. “But such a lonely place. Stay with us, do not return there. There are many of us here, and the hunting is good. The men of the city below do not even know of us.”

“Ah but no, someone waits for me there. But for tonight, if you’ll have me, I will share your hunt.”

The women agreed and he tied up his horse and followed them.

Together that night they surrounded a large stag, shot it through the throat, weakened it, and cut a vein. They drank their fill and left the dead beast for the wolves.

He led his horse back onto the road to the small city and they walked alongside him. He told them of his journey and his troubles with the ill-tempered princess.

“Leave her in the forest for the wild beasts and outlaws!”

“Too good for the wench!”

“Ladies, please. This shrew is of the royal house of Yaroslav.” He laughed, as if that would have meaning to anyone but Olga herself.

“Yaroslav who bravely butchers monks to rob the church?” asked the dark haired one.

“And who slaughters women and children as well?” said the other.

It was to be a difficult journey indeed.

He returned before the dawn; the innkeeper seemed irritated that he was returning so late. To avoid talk and invading questions he hurried up to his room. He needed to rest; he had traveled a long distance and hunted, drank his fill, and was ready for a long day’s sleep.

He heard sobbing in the room next to his. Slowly he opened the door. “Olga?”

She turned to look in his direction; she did not see him because of the darkness. “What? Another nightmare?”

“A nightmare, yes, or a pleasant dream. I can be either.”

“You have come to devour me?”

He remained silent.

“Use my helpless throat for your foul pleasure, then?”

“Is that why you are weeping? You are quite safe. I swore to protect you until you were delivered to your home.”

“I am ill.”

“I see. Well, perhaps you mustn’t eat as much.”

“I am with child.”

“You are? I see. I did not realize you were married, Highness. And is your husband not sending warriors looking for you? Or, is he perhaps held captive in the dungeon where I found you? I do not know. You did not tell me this.”

“I am not married.”

“And is this why your Highness is weeping? Is it not?”

“No! When I return home I am to wed an old man who I have never met before. If I am lucky he will believe the child to be his.”

“I see. Perhaps he will, yes.”

“An old man. I must submit myself to lie below an old man—”

“You were running away, then?”

“Running away, yes! To my lover, who at the command of his father tossed me into that pit. He does not love me anymore. I wish to die. I do! Take me! Kill me in your most horrible way.” She turned away and cried uncontrollably.

“There is not much I can do for you, Olga.”

“That foolish little girl of yours, still just an innocent maiden. Her father worships you and you worship her. Her home is burnt to the ground and she has a warm place to sleep. I am a princess and I shall be cast out of the house of my father.”

Exhaustion caused her to slowly tip sideways onto the couch until her blonde head rested flat on the cushions. She sighed and reluctantly gave in to her need for sleep. Laura suddenly opened her eyes again and saw that the room was now in full darkness. She could hear his soft whispering voice, somewhere close by, telling stories of long ago and far away. Where was he? Was he there, or was he a dream of some kind? Her hand lethargically drifted off the side of the couch, almost dropping onto the floor.

He held it gently, and kissed it.

He was sitting on the floor, by her side, leaning against the wooden frame of the Italian leather couch. She sighed sleepily. “Are you going to leave?” Don’t go, she wanted to cry the words out but she could not.

“I have to,” he said firmly, as if reading her thoughts. “I’ve got to go.” He held onto her hand and caressed it. His lips ran softly over the delicate vein in her wrist.

He was gone when she awakened in the morning. She looked up to see the sun’s intense brightness pouring its golden fire through the windows; and he was gone like the night’s darkness.

Another beautiful sunny day. Too damn bad he wouldn’t enjoy it much. Martin glared out the window as he usually did before forcing himself to get involved with any sort of paperwork. It helped him to think. He wondered why Rick had left a message for him. He wondered how bad the news could be. What did Rick find?

“Excuse me?” the voice was fragile and birdlike.

He turned to see her. The young woman was at least eight and a half months pregnant.

“Excuse me?”

“Yes?”

“I am looking for a Detective McMurphy.”

“Oh. Yeah. McMurphy.” Where the hell was the crazy fool? He was late again today. “Sorry, he’s not in this morning. Sorry, miss.”

“When will he be in?”

“Don’t really know, lady. He didn’t call or leave a message. Can I know if I can help you in any other way? Maybe give him a message for you?”

“Rhonda! Just say Rhonda was looking for him! Okay?”

“Rhonda? Yeah. Okay. Any last name?”

She smirked, as if the question was stupid. “Oh. He’ll know me. I just kinda, you know, haven’t seen him in a while.”

“Okay. It’s Rhonda, just Rhonda.” He repeated the name so he could remember it. His head hurt. He was still hung over from last night. “Yeah. Okay, Rhonda. I will definitely let him know. Oh. How about a phone number?”

“He knows that, too!” She ran her red tipped fingers through her sweat moist jet black hair. With weight loss, better clothes, and more tasteful makeup, she might be good looking. But not now, he decided. She seemed worn down, exhausted, and desperate. She wore no wedding ring.

“Yeah, Rhonda. Yeah. Don’t worry. I will definitely tell him to get in touch with you, soon as I see him.”

She left quietly, walking slowly and with the tired difficult pace the extra weight forced on her.

McMurphy. What a pig. Martin guessed at her problem easily.

Again he gazed sadly out the window at the distant beach and tried to forget, but he could not stop seeing Rhonda’s face. Or the face of the kid McMurphy killed that night so many years ago. Martin had the dream again, a few nights ago, and he drank to forget it. But he would never forget it.

Help me, man! Help me! Don’t let him kill me —

The kid would scream out in his sleep forever. It would never stop. The kid was dead, but he would never stop screaming out in the darkness.

He sipped his coffee and tried to stop thinking about it. But he could not. He had to think about the case he was working on. What the hell kind of crackpot would rip out another guy’s throat with his teeth? Besides one of Them? And, he, or it, would do it again. And again.

He would need to call Rick, right away, as soon as the sun went down. Damn, why can’t those people pick up a phone during normal hours? Because they were all out of it now, that’s why. It was all too unreal. Every man, woman, and child is living side by side with things that aren’t even supposed to exist.

A reporter asked if there were any suspects. How the hell was he supposed to explain the reality to them? He just said no, not at this point in time, no further comments, please, thank you.

He couldn’t even explain it to himself. They were out there, all night, every night. The very thought of it terrified him. They were in homes, next door to everyone else, on the streets, out there, everywhere.

It was early, only ten fifteen in the morning. Still, he dreaded the coming dusk.

He could not get a babysitter. He knew his little girl loved it when Alexandra used to mind her, but he could never ask her again. Not since he found out about her. About Them.

So instead he let the little girl take her bowl of Spaghettios into the next room and let her eat the artificial canned stuff in front of the television. He picked up the phone. He forgot to save Rick’s number, but someone had to have it. He thought a moment. Alexandra would not be home at this time. She worked nights. Leon would know. Leon knew everybody. He dialed.

It was Leon himself who answered.

“Yeah? Hey. You don’t need his number. I just saw him come in. He’s downstairs. I’ll get him right now—” and Martin was put on hold.

He hated being on hold. He hated being on hold and could never figure out why people could not just yell
Hey! Phone call! Get over here.

“Martin?” It was Rick.

“Hello?”

“Hey, listen man, I just found out something kind of ugly. Mind if I come over? Can’t talk here.”

“No.” He really did mind. But he didn’t have much choice.

“Okay. When does your kid go to bed? I don’t want her to hear any of this, okay? I mean, it’s kind of bad.”

“Come over in an hour.”

Martin did not like letting him in the apartment, especially with his little girl sleeping in the next room. He did not know how little it took to set one of them off. And what was the story he heard once? You lose all control over them when you let them in. But Rick drifted in quietly, said hello softly, as if he did not wish to awaken little Jennifer.

“I went through that neighborhood again, where it happened, you know.” Rick sat down at the kitchen table and Martin reluctantly sat across from him.

“Rick, hold on. There aren’t any of you people in that part of town, are there?” They were, it seemed, concentrated in the old part of town, where they settled in almost a century ago. “What the hell were you doing there anyway?”

“Just seeing someone, that’s all.”

“Seeing someone?”

“Yeah? So?”

“Never mind. Go on.”

“Well, after I left this person alone to get some sleep, I wandered back to see if the homeless guy was still alive. He was okay, sort of bruised, and smelled pretty bad. Can’t stand people who don’t wash. But, anyway, I ran into him and asked if he was okay. I took him to McDonalds to get him food, and we had a talk.”

“About what?”

“Well, basically, it seems that this kind of stuff has been going on for a while. Street people, homeless kids, bag ladies, hookers, all disappearing. But since nobody cares, the cops never know much. People have been disappearing, at least ten or fifteen years, maybe even more. It’s only a few times that bodies are found. When bodies are found they are always mutilated in really ugly ways, or sometimes half eaten. The street people have a legend, they call this guy the sasquatch, or sometimes the ape-man, because he is so big. I saw him. He is real. People are terrified out there. The thing kills men, women, and now they say even kids are missing. All the street people, the people no one want. Some say he is a cannibal who eats parts of people before violating them. Some say he eats people while they are still alive. I know, sounds disgusting. I don’t know how true it all is, but it really annoyed me to listen to it.”

The phone rang, startling both of them. Martin rose to answer it. “Hello? Yeah. Uh-huh. Where? Shit. Okay. I’ll be there.” He hung up.

“Bad news?”

“They found another body. It’s a woman.”

He finally awakened at dusk. He heard the innkeeper’s wife snarl behind his back that he would not wake up all day because perhaps he was a drunkard. He laughed silently. If only they knew.

Pavel had only been away one night and already he missed deeply the ones he now considered to be his family. He missed Yuri. Yuri was like the brother he never had. He missed Yuri’s patience and quiet dignity. And he missed the two little ones who were constantly underfoot, constantly annoying him in one way or another. He now wished to hear them playing noisily outside his window, with their mother scolding them. And he missed Yelena the most.