me for years. About six months ago, he sent me a letter that he was coming for me. Of course we got anxious about it, but he’s been strangely quiet. As in… neither of us have seen him since the day I was taken from that club months ago and he attacked Marcus.”
“You’re saying a fucking vampire maimed you?” Karsyn asks. “And Marcus let the fucker live?”
Marcus stiffens and I know he doesn’t want anyone questioning his protection over me. So I squeeze his wrist. “You don’t understand, he’s not just any vampire, he’s… ridiculously strong.”
“He attacked Marcus and I’m not sure if Marcus would have won,” Brooks explains.
Marcus takes a deep breath before saying, “I’m honestly positive he could have killed me because I wasn’t prepared for it… even knowing what I was up against, I barely scratched him.”
“You’re shitting me,” Karsyn says. “You’re talking about this Marcus? The one who threatens to murder me?”
“Yes, the one you tried killing with an eraser the other day. That very one,” I say.
“I didn’t…” He gets one look at Marcus. “Please continue.”
“Hold on,” Briar says as she thinks. “True vampires are the eldest of vampires. Even though Marcus has never actually stated he’s one, we can assume he is, right?”
“I am,” Marcus says.
“So… there’s speculation that all true vampires were born relatively in the same time frame, so how can there be one that much older or stronger than Marcus?”
“We don’t know,” Orin says. “I’ve never felt the aura of the man myself, but Marcus claims that it was suppressing even to him.”
“He dropped the entire club of humans to their knees just walking into the place,” Marcus says. “I can’t do that. I can terrify humans, of course, but not like that.”
Of course, he says.
“Okay, let’s take this back a moment,” DeGray says. “We’re currently struggling to process this. I’m trying not to stare at you in disbelief, but our main focus is figuring this out, right? It’s a case we have to end. So let’s rewind and start acting like the detectives we are. We have two bodies that are, presumedly, from this man. We at least now have a suspect. With the suspect in mind, we have more information than we did yesterday. Hayes, can you tell me anything about the man?”
“Honestly, I don’t remember much about him. He was constantly covered in dark clothes and a hood so his hair wouldn’t show. Most of his face was covered by a mask but what I did see was his eyes. I’m sure everyone thinks I’m insane but I swear his eyes were glowing.”
“Glowing?” DeGray asks, looking thoughtful.
“Do you think it could be the light? Church’s eyes are unique in color, so they reflect light differently,” Karsyn says as he glances at Marcus.
I’ve been asked this question so many times that I feel like maybe I’m wrong and they’re right. “I don’t know… I was terrified, in pain. I don’t know.”
“I think we need to dive into some research about true vampires, right?” Karsyn asks. “Most true vampires should be known at this point unless there are some in hiding. If we run through all of them, we could narrow it down. There aren’t that many left alive.”
“We’ve done it again and again,” Brooks says. “The issue is, we don’t have enough to go on, and we don’t have enough information on true vampires. There could be hundreds in hiding for all we know.”
Marcus lets out a sigh. Not any type of a sigh, but an exasperated sigh that claims that there are horrible things on the horizon. “I… happen to know a person who… has done extensive research on the history of vampires. I will… contact him and see if he can speak with us.”
“I take it you hate this person?” Brooks asks.
“With a passion.”
And I instantly know who it is. “Claude?”
“Fucking Claude.”
Karsyn growls. “That asshole from the other night?”
Marcus gives a curt nod. “I’ll contact him and see if he can come in to help. If he has no information for us, we may kill him.”
“Sounds good to me,” Karsyn says as he examines his nails like he might need to sharpen them. And I can’t help but wonder how the two can’t see how alike they are. Karsyn’s phone beeps and he looks down at it. “I asked the medical examiner if our new victim was missing any parts of her body and he just responded that her toe is missing.”
“So this is clearly a theme.