London, 3.

Monday


Sunday had passed with very little besides a hangover and sore feet. After spending a few hours at the pub I’d found on Saturday, I’d taken to walking the streets of London, looking for the feeling of recognition which would have hinted at the presence of the vampire who most likely had caused Frank’s death. It was Sunday morning when I had finally made it back to my hotel, and then I’d spent most of the day asleep. Come evening, it was back to walking the streets again.

So Monday found me with feet so sore I was surprised they had not strangled me in my sleep. Don’t get me wrong: even though there had been no sign of that particular vampire, it had been wonderful to get to walk leisurely around London, to watch the people and the nightlife of such a large city. And there were parts of it that were practically still the same they had been in the twenties and fifties, so I had managed to easily slip into the past and relive some fond memories. Bad ones, too, of course.

I had gotten to bed only when the sun had started its rise and the vampires had gone underground. I had felt a few of them around, but none that had been familiar. Because of getting to sleep so late, or more precisely, early, it was long into the afternoon before I finally woke on Monday, sore and ravenous. After a shower and a large cup of coffee I headed out, once again towards the pub, to see my new friends.

The sun was peeking out from behind a thin cover of clouds, and the brightness of the day hurt my eyes enough that I decided to take the tube to the pub. It was rush hour already, so for once my small size was a plus as I elbowed my way into a full carriage. The air in it was hot and dry, full of smells of people sweating and tired after a long, warm day.

I should have braved the bright day after all.

The pub was absolutely packed, which was to be expected. I headed straight for the bar, not even attempting to find a seat in one of the full tables. The barman nodded at me as he rushed past, calling out orders to the kitchen. Leaning against the bar, I looked around for either Claudia or Heidi. I soon spotted the blond, carrying several pints across the room, trading them for empty ones. Soon enough she started to head back to the bar, and noticed me.

“Busy, eh?” I greeted her with a smile and a nod. She left a tray full of empty classes on the bar and ran a hand over her sweaty brow.

“That’s an understatement if I ever heard one! People want to forget it’s Monday again.”

“Is Heidi around?”

“She’s still at work, she’ll be over later, when it gets quieter.” Claudia picked up a full tray before giving me a questioning look.

There was that strangeness in her again, the heat of her sweaty body making it all the more notice-able. I figured I should find out what it was about her that just didn’t fit. You know, before another pretty blond tries to kill me.

“That sounds like a good idea. I think I’ll go see her at the shop, and come over later.”

“Okay!” Claudia said with a bright smile and excused herself, heading out across the bar again, somehow managing not to drop anything from the tray as she navigated her way through the throng of people, most of them at least half a head taller than she was.

Damn blondes and my weakness for them… I followed her example and dived into the crowd, making my way to the door and the relatively fresher air outside. The streets were full of tourists and people who had just left work, now going to shops or their homes or to meet up with friends or loved ones. Normal people doing normal things.

Days like these, I envied them so much.

The bell above the door rang as I entered the shop, and Heidi, standing behind the counter, looked up.

“Well hello there! Haven’t seen you since Saturday.” She greeted me once I got to her. There were a few customers at the shop, but they were more interested in music than us. Still, I kept my voice low.

“I’ve been hunting for our vampire.”

“Any luck?”

“No sign of him yet. How have you been doing?”

Heidi gave me a sheepish smile. “I haven’t actually gotten far yet. I had a few failed attempts. It’s only my first time, you know.”

I lifted my hands into the air and smiled when she started to get defensive. “It’s no problem! There’s no rush, I appreciate that it’s not so simple as it may seem.” And I wholeheartedly believed that. Except for the part of me that was growling and clawing, eager to sink its teeth into Alby and Kielo. But really, to find Frank’s killer, we needed more time anyway. “Better to practice and make a proper one than to get stuck in customs because of an obviously fake passport.”

“Thanks.” Heidi muttered but perked up as her eyes fell on the book she had been leafing through as I entered. I recognized it immediately as Frank’s address book.

“Find something in there?” I asked and nudged my head towards the book. Heidi nodded and leaned towards me.

“I got so frustrated with the id’s that I started to look through this. And guess who I found?” she looked at the book for a moment, frowning. “Well, guess who I think I found would be more accurate.”

“Our killer?” That would make life so much easier. We’d only have to track the bastard down and kick some ass.

“No.”

Ah well. No one ever said life was supposed to be easy.

“The dentist who made those falsies.”

I blinked a few times and shivered with disgust. “How do you reckon that?”

Heidi opened the book at a place she had marked with a slice of paper, and turned it around for me to see. There was only the one word on the page, Dentist, accompanied with a phone number. Heidi started talking before I could ask the obvious question.

“I called the number so I could get more information, or an appointment, or something, and guess what?” she was so excited she was practically bouncing.

“Tell me already.” I’m not so good with the guessing game.

Heidi leaned even closer. “The guy died. A week after Frank. Guess how.”

I glared at her from underneath my eyebrows.

“He bled to death, but! There wasn’t enough blood around him for that. Like someone had, oh, I don’t know…” she took a dramatic pause and I wanted to throttle her. “Sucked it out of him.”

We stared at each other for a long while, gears turning in our heads as both headed towards the conclusion I so eloquently voiced out.

“Well, fuck.”

“So I’m thinking,” Heidi said, looking at the book again and leafing through the pages, “that there might be more dead people in here. But why? Is the killer trying to get rid of all the witnesses? People who know he’s a vampire?”

“That would be my guess.” I said with a shrug.

“But… why? These people, if they’ve worked for long with Frank, they’re all gonna know to keep their mouths shut.” Heidi ran a frustrated hand through her hair. “I mean, all the clients should know they can trust Frank.”

I nodded. “That’s the basic principle. And most have taken his word, through all these years. But if there were more people involved: the dentist, perhaps a plastic surgeon, who knows who else, maybe our vamp thought that his secret wasn’t such a secret and wanted to make sure no one blabbed any-thing.”

“Too bad that having figured that out doesn’t get us anywhere.” Heidi nodded towards the customers who left without buying anything, leaving us alone for the moment.

“Don’t be so sure…” I said, for a thought had just popped in my head. I rolled it over for a moment while Heidi stared at me, one eyebrow raised in expectation. “If he’s so afraid of his secret coming out, I’d be willing to bet my… teeth,” I wasn’t that sure of my idea, “that he’s someone who has a lot to lose if the truth comes out.”

“Someone famous?” I could swear I saw curious wolf ears pop up on top of Heidi’s head.

“Someone famous.” I repeated with a nod.

“Cool. I mean… well. Cool.”

“It makes kicking his ass that much harder. There might be bodyguards.”

“Oh, yeah.” Heidi’s mood flattened, but she soon perked up again with where the trail of thought was leading her. “Maybe the dentist was blackmailing him.”

I was nodding, having reached the same conclusion. “Sounds likely. Him, or someone else who was helping with the vampire’s new life. If one of them was blackmailing him, I doubt they’d let the vampire know which one of them it was. Have you tried calling anyone else?” I nodded towards the book again.

“There is a number for a doctor, but he’s in the States for some conferences, has been for two weeks already. The rest…” she spread her hands in defeat. “Frank obviously had some code for all this. There’s mostly numbers here, no names, just initials and more numbers.”

I nodded, having seen the book myself.

“We could start calling the numbers…” Heidi started, clearly not looking forward to it. I shook my head.

“No point. Not yet, anyway. Who did you talk with about the dentist?”

“His assistant, the call was forwarded to her number. I pretended to be a client, and she was very chatty. Apparently, she didn’t like her boss much, and he was a bit of a twat. I doubt Frank would have hurt his own business by starting trouble with his client, so my bet’s on the dentist. Besides…” she frowned and looked at the book, “I’d like to think Frank would have told me if he would have been in enough trouble to start blackmailing people.”

I agreed. “It really wasn’t his style.”

“So, if we’re suspecting the dentist, does this get us anywhere?” Heidi asked. I shrugged, jolted out of my thoughts when the shop door opened and a few customers entered. Heidi greeted them with a happy wave, and leaned forward. I did the same, and tried to catch the end of my thoughts.

“It gives us a motive, but other than that… we could go over his client files, if we could get to them. Which I doubt. Besides, he probably wouldn’t include this kind of clients in those. Too risky, and most demand extreme confidentiality anyway.”

“So we’ll just keep tabs on the doc and see if he kicks the bucket under mysterious circumstances?” Heidi seemed disturbed at the thought of letting someone die like that.

“If we know when he’s coming back to London, and where he lives and works, I can try to keep an eye on him. If we’re right, that way we’ll have better chances of finding the vampire than by me running all around London.”

“I’ll see what I can find out!” She seemed thrilled at the thought of playing detective. I nodded, thinking that finding the vampire wouldn’t be so simple but not wanting to bring her down.

I moved away from the counter as the customers came to pay for their purchases, and wandered past the shelves myself while Heidi started her investigation with the help of a phone book and the internet. Those would have made my job so much easier in the olden days: she soon had the doctor’s addresses, both home and work. A single phone call told us that he’d be back in London next week.

“I might as well keep on walking the streets until that.” My choice of words, intentional of course, made Heidi grin like a wolf. I still doubted finding the vampire would be as easy as just stalking the doctor, but it was a possibility, and if it turned out well, we’d have our killer within the fortnight. Sweet. Less pressure on me finding him by walking aimlessly, no matter how minimal the chances.

Heidi and I chatted about this and that for about an hour after that, listening to music, until it was time to close the shop and head over to the pub. I had just started to educate her on the subject of Cole Porter, my favourite songwriter, but for some reason she seemed relieved to turn off the music and head on out. Kids these days, no respect for proper music.

The pub was slightly emptier than it had been earlier, but the atmosphere was a lot calmer. I suppose it was because the patrons already had a few pints in them, and could face the reality of another long week ahead of them with a more relaxed attitude.

We managed to get a table all to ourselves, and Claudia was there immediately, to give Heidi a kiss and me a smile. “Hey you two, what can I get you lovely ladies?”

“Pint, and fish ’n chips for me.” Heidi said, almost glowing at the little blonde. I looked away, pretending to read the list above the bar.

“Same for me.”

“Coming right up!” With that, Claudia was gone again. I turned back to Heidi who gave me a wide grin.

“You know, there really is not anything quite as annoying as a sweet couple in love.” I muttered. She laughed.

“Suck it up. Figuratively speaking, of course.”

Claudia was soon back with our pints, but the food took a while longer. We were almost done eating when she joined us with a cup of coffee, taking a break.

“So many people, I thought this day would never end. My feet are killing me. You’re going to have to rub them tonight.” She had slipped off her shoes and was now poking at Heidi with her toes. My eyes were glued to her shimmering stockings.

“All right, just put them away!” Heidi laughed, trying to defend herself. “No offense, love, but you have been wearing those shoes all day. And we are trying to eat here.”

Claudia pouted and retracted her feet, slipping them back under the table. The loss of the sight of those legs woke me from the near trance they had caused, and I remembered to eat again, feeling quite guilty at staring so. Neither of them had noticed, or at least they didn’t comment on it.

…damn blondes.

With my worries at the back of my mind for the moment, I had time to notice that strangeness in Claudia’s scent again. While the two of them chatted quietly, leaning against each other while Heidi ate, I concentrated on the blonde to try and figure it out. It took a minute but it was their closeness which finally made it clear.

I blinked a few times in surprise when I realized what it was, and since my mouth is too often quicker than my head, and since I was so surprised, the words were out before I could stop them.

“You’re a man.” I said, staring straight at Claudia. They both froze, eyes wide, just staring ahead. Heidi dropped her fork. It felt like the pub around us stopped while a bright blush raced up to Claudia’s face. The next second the world was moving again, and she –or he?- was running across the bar, towards the backroom.

“Why the hell did you do that for?” Heidi yelled at me before rushing after her. I was left sitting at the table, feeling both dumbstruck and very, very dumb. I could feel the stares of the people around me, but they seemed mostly curious about the shouting and running, rather than if they had actually heard my words. Which was good, I guess.

I could see the barman making his way towards me, a stern look on his young face. When he reached the table he leaned close and told me to go after them and apologize. I nodded hastily, having expected a sermon, and got up. Before I could pass him he grabbed my upper arm. My first instinct was to tear his off, or throw him away, but I forced myself calm. This human couldn’t possibly hurt me.

“And whatever the fuck you do,” he whispered into my ear, “don’t ever, ever hum or sing Crying Game around her, or she’ll lock herself into the bathroom for three hours again.”

Fighting down a grin I nodded and headed towards the door which said ‘Staff only’ in big bold letters. No one stopped me from passing through it, though, and I found myself in a very full corridor. I had to dodge and twist around boxes, crates and piles of various things before I reached a small room. It seemed to be some sort of a restroom combined with a small kitchen and tiny closets for the worker’s things. Heidi was in there, standing next to a closed door, talking quietly. She gave me an exasperated glare when I entered, but moved away a little when I reached the door. I pressed my head against it to be heard on the other side.

“Claudia, I am so sorry. It just slipped out. I didn’t mean to say it like that.”

“You could tell!” came a muffled answer, followed by sobbing.

“Honey, trust me! You totally pass.” Heidi said, waving her hand at me, urging me on. It took a moment for me to realize what she was talking about.

“She’s right. I wouldn’t be able to tell just by looking at you.” I tried to assure Claudia through the door. It was the truth. If I hadn’t noticed her scent, I wouldn’t have been able to tell. But I didn’t know whether she’d understand if I told her that. I had no idea what Heidi has told her of me or her-self.

“Then how did you know?” Claudia asked. I gave Heidi a pleading look, spreading my hands a little. She rolled her eyes and leaned against the door as well.

“Honey, you remember when I told you that I’m special in a way?” she said in a low voice, not wanting to be heard outside the room. Sobbing ended on the other side of the door, and Claudia sounded less muffled when she spoke next.

“Yes. You mean she’s…”

“Yes, love. She’s special as well.”

“Is she like you?”

“Kind of, but in a different way.” Heidi explained, looking at me. I gave her a grin and pressed my mouth almost to the crack between the door and the wall.

“I have a very keen sense of smell. That’s the only way I could tell. You look just like a girl, I swear, but you don’t smell like one. Close, but not exactly.”

There was a long silence before the bathroom door opened slightly, and Claudia peered out at me quizzically. “What are you, then?” she asked with a whisper. I glanced at Heidi who nodded.

“I’m half vampire.”

Green eyes blinked at me, and she wiped the last of her tears away. I muttered one more apology to her and moved back as she opened the door to come out. They were both now giving me examining looks, and I bore it with just a small sigh.

“How can you be just half a vampire?” Claudia asked, her head tilted cutely to the right. In the poor lightning of the room she looked too much like Kielo again.

“My father was a vampire and my mother human. Sometimes, if too much time hasn’t passed after the vampire’s been turned, he can still sire children.” I explained with a shrug. Heidi nodded at this; she must have done some homework on the creatures of the night. Claudia’s eyes grew wide and her mouth even opened into a small ‘o’.

“I didn’t know that was possible!”

“It’s not too common, but it happens.”

Claudia gave a small sound of wonder, and the three of us looked at each other for a moment. Heidi was the first to start grinning, and I soon followed. Claudia’s small smile was too cute.

Normalcy is overrated anyway.

The barman was still glaring death at me when we returned to the pub, but the patrons paid us no attention, which helped to calm Claudia further. This sudden revelation about her did help to distinguish her from Kielo, but it also made my interest in her grow. I have met a lot of different people and creatures during my near two centuries of existence, including people who dressed as the oppo-site gender, but never anyone quite like Claudia. She was more woman than man, clearly, but from looking at her I couldn’t honestly tell what I might find underneath her clothes. I wanted to ask, purely out of curiosity of course. No need to mention the urge to get a better mental image. But as much as I wanted to, it was clear this was neither the time nor the place for that kind of a conversation. Most likely she wouldn’t even want to talk about it with me, practically a stranger, someone she’d met a handful of times. Besides, she had to get back to work.

“Sorry.” I said once more after Heidi and I were left alone again, but she just waved her hand.

”Don’t worry about it. Had I realized you could tell, uh, that, I would have mentioned something.”

“Yeah, so that I don’t go and blurt something stupid in public.”

That got a smile out of Heidi. “So, you’re gonna spend the night walking again?” she asked after emptying her pint.

“Yes. I’ve slept all day, so I might as well. The doctor is a good lead, but I’m not willing to bet everything on it.”

“It’s your feet.” Heidi said with a shrug and gave me a warm smile. “Still, thanks. Frank would appreciate it. But if you want to take a night off or something, you’re welcome to hang out with Claudia and me. All work and no play and so on.”

“Thanks.” I honestly considered the offer. “Claudia won’t mind?”

“Nah. She’s actually quite interested in werewolves and vampires and such, for some unimaginable reason.” Heidi said with a smirk which showed off all her sharp teeth.

I grinned back, refraining from mentioning that I was starting to find the blonde quite interesting myself. Bad girl!

I kept Heidi company until Claudia’s day was done, and headed to my hotel after we parted ways outside the pub. I had wanted to change into clean clothes, I had worn these last night as well, but realized that everything I owned could do with a wash. Or, alternatively, I needed to buy new clothes. Yes, that was far preferable. But not now; now I just grabbed my new gun and headed out to walk the darkening streets of London.

The sun had already gone down, but it was still warm, a nice summer’s evening. The streets were still quite crowded, and as I walked through the busy Oxford Street, full of stores, towards Hyde Park, I felt more than one vampire in the vicinity. That was nothing new, not a night had passed so far when I hadn’t noticed a few of them, lurking just inside my range, most likely trying to find out who I was and whether I was trouble. It was frustrating.

You see, I couldn’t be exactly sure that I could tell whether one of the vampires was the one I was looking for or not. I wanted to run from one bloodsucker to the next, find a place they hung out at –there’s always a place like that- and interrogate or bully them into telling what I wanted to know. I had tried questioning a few the other night, but they had not been too keen in telling me anything. Geez. You kill a few dozen vampires and suddenly everyone hates your guts.

I didn’t really make any move to follow any of them, so they had left me alone. So far. Still, the gun in my bag gave me some small amount of extra security. It would not kill an attacking vampire, but it would slow one down. A human I could handle without it. Hopefully, I wouldn’t need it at all.

I was quite frustrated by the time I reached the park, and started to walk through it straight towards south and Knightsbridge. The park was quiet but not empty by a long shot. I stuck to the paths, but let my senses spread out as far as they could go. It was refreshing, and nice to be in such an open area for a change.

My thought wandered along my senses, and without my common sense looking after them, I soon realized they had found their way to Claudia. I stopped dead in my tracks, not unlike walking to a wall, and slapped my forehead.

“Not going there. I haven’t even gotten over the last one. And, this one’s taken.” I muttered, ignoring the people who had just passed me and were giving me very long looks. I shook my head and continued walking, faster this time. It’s in my nature to pursue any romantic option presented, but I still have some morals. I’d never go between a loving couple like that. Not anymore. Thrice was enough, and that was a long time ago. I would like to think myself an older, smarter little ungodly creature now. And it was silly, fancying someone so suddenly, just because they’re something I’ve never ‘tasted’ yet. Not that I hadn’t found Claudia lovely from the first time I met her; it’s just that I had figured that was because she reminded me so much of Kielo.

In any case, she was with Heidi, and I am a responsible, reasonable adult, who was picturing Claudia naked at the moment.

I started to run.

I reached the south end of the park in no time, and had to concentrate on not walking into people again, so my mind was blissfully empty of pretty blondes. Until I realized that I was not thinking about either Kielo or Claudia, of course. You can imagine yourselves the visuals that brought up. Hurrying my steps, I soon turned away from Knightsbridge, and passed Harrods. Following our brilliant deduction that the vampire was rich and/or famous, it made sense that he would live in wealthier parts of London, like Kensington. It was as good a place to start tonight as any.

Soon the road changed its name to Cromwell Road, and I was setting myself up for another night of walking till my feet fell off. But wouldn’t you know it. Then, just then, I felt the familiar tug of a vampire approaching. Fast. From behind me. I whirled around and was almost blinded by the head-lights of several cars on the road beside me, released by the previous set of traffic lights, rushing to-wards the next ones. I blinked several times and stopped breathing when the tugging became some-thing more than just the normal warning of a vampire close by.

Frank’s killer was in one of the cars, passing me just now.

I spent another three heartbeats staring like an idiot, and then took off running after the cars. There were about a dozen of them, several taxis, a few lorries, the rest private cars. I couldn’t tell which was the right one, they had passed so fast. But the first ones were already stopping at the next traffic lights, so I’d get a chance for a closer look.

If I could run a little faster, that is. The lights were already turning green, the cars taking off. I could still sense the vampire vaguely, and the feeling got stronger as I got closer. But it wasn’t enough, and I wasn’t fast enough. I couldn’t make out which car the feeling was coming from, and they were gone before I got to the lights. All I could see was their tail lights as the line of cars drove on, some turning off Cromwell, some heading on along it. I stopped after a few more meters, out of breath and annoyed, but also quite excited.

Our man was still in the area.

If that wasn’t him leaving the city, my annoying pragmatic side voiced up, but I refused to let it get to me. I had found the vampire once: sucking those dentures hadn’t been for nothing.

I would surely find him again. The hunt was on.