Stalking in shadows: Chapter three

Chapter Three

I tossed my keys onto the couch before sprawling onto the seat opposite. Merely glad to be home after such a stressful day, more so since on the way back to the VCOA impoundment with Dan I noticed that dark haired female again, she was watching me intently from the opposite side of the busy street, the slightest look of surprise in her strange purple shimmering eyes as I dragged the screaming Dan into the 4WD.
The sight of her reminded me to start carrying my backup gun, which was a 5mm Blackhawk; I fingered the gun thoughtfully before checking the magazine and placing it into my cross draw shoulder holster.
I admit that I felt slightly stupid for getting all paranoid over the female, but then gathered it was better to be paranoid and carrying a backup gun then feeling smart and getting ones head shot off.
Brushing my growing fringe out of my eyes in annoyance, I made myself a mental note to get my haircut later today since it was my day off. Pulling a small file out of my backpack, I settled back into my seat, learning that they had managed to get a partial thumbprint of the second victim, revealing that her name was Sophia Greensworth. A necromancer that had a highly interesting criminal record for demon summoning and sacrificial ceremonies, and that’s just scratching the surface, this was one very sick and mean female.
Like most necromancers/animators who own the power of raising and controlling the dead, she belonged to a death cult. Naturally her kind hated my kind with a deadly stubbornness; if you go into their "bible" it makes God to be controlling and rather well, sadist. Lucifer on the other hand is naturally the good guy, rebelling against an insane and power hungry God.
Yeah whatever, I had dealings with demons before, and I'd be damned if they happened to be the good guys. But if the cultist wanted to rot with their chosen master let them, at least God keeps Lucifers little minions the fuck away from me.
I ran my fingers slowly over my cross as I leafed idly though the file, finding a mug shot of Sophia, and wow. She was a complete knockout, her shoulder length wavy black hair and darker complexion from an unknown heritage mixed with chocolate brown eyes and a devious grin. By looking at this picture you'd have never guessed that she had Melbourne in complete turmoil as her cult went around sacrificing their residents, preferably small children who'd not yet chosen God as their saviour, in disgusting and bloody cruel ways. Once caught she was then sentenced to three life terms in prison only to escape the high security prison for the Paranormal in the middle of the Sampson desert two years ago, her helpers were captured a month after escaping, but Sophia had managed to drop off the face of the earth. Until now that is.
Slipping the photo back with the rest of the papers I slid off the couch to search the fridge, as I walked into the kitchen I happened to look out the small window of my fourth story apartment block and instantly froze.
That dark haired female was leaning against the fence on the opposite side of the road, my eyes just happened to meet hers and she grinned in a mocking way, pointing at her eyes before turning them to me. With a lazy two-finger salute she then turned and walked down the street that was just starting to light with the approaching dawn.
Holy fuck, I had a stalker! Do I feel special or afraid? What did I do to gain her attentions? Was it the case? Fuck, was she the murderer? Ok, deep breathes Tor. I told myself sternly as I walked into the kitchen, opening the fridge and pulling a can of Bundaberg rum out. Get a goddamn hold of yourself here, I slowly ran my fingers down the cold, wet side of the can, cracking it open and taking a mouthful aggressively before turning on my heel and walking back into the lounge room, determinedly not looking out the window. Grabbing the remote I flicked the news on, unsurprised to see a reporter from the popular morning news show, Sunrise standing in front of Chermside shopping centre raving on about the murder, really the VCOA was lucky that we had managed to keep the first murder under wraps from the hype of morning show reporters. Otherwise the media would start screaming serial killer, not enough eyewitness and camera's I guess.
I bolted upright on the seat, slamming my hand down on the hand rest. "Fuck Tor, you are one big fucking idiot at times!"  I exclaimed angrily, getting to my feet and reaching for my phone. Chermside was the biggest bloody shopping centre in QLD; they would have cameras in their car parks for sure. All we had to do was get out hands on it and we might have footage of the murder.
"Vampire controllers of Australia, this is Mika speaking, how may I help you?" I polite male voice asked over the phone.
"Mika. It’s Tor. Think you could patch me though to Joseph?" I asked hurriedly.
"Sorry Tor, Joseph left for home just over 15min ago." Mika answered, his tone dripping with sincere apology. "Courtney has recovered him for today if you'd like me to patch you to her office instead."
Fuck, Courtney was one of Zac's many ex's and well. He didn't dump her in a nice fashion. Since I was one of his friends her hatred had somehow expanded to me by default.
"Okay Mika, patch me though. Just explain to her that this involves the murders before she tells you where I can shove this call."
It took me twenty minutes to get though to her that yes, I was deadly serious and no, I wasn't pulling her leg or making her life hell because of Zac and yes, Zac was a complete asshole that needed to learn how to appreciate females better. God, now I remember why I remained single. Poor Zac, he had no idea how bad his life was going to be now that Courtney was pissed at him.
I opened my second can as I looked idly around my small, untidy yet comfortable two bedrooms, one bathroom flat. The flash of pain across the right side of my chest reminded me that I needed to take care of myself before I decided to crash for the day, slowly getting to my feet I wondered down the small hallway into the bathroom, I took another swig off my can as I took a good look at the guy staring back at me from the mirror, God I looked bad, my forest green eyes were dull and had bags under them from lack of sleep, my coal black hair was starting to sneak past my ears with meant my hair was getting a wavy appearance. I smoothly removed my black tank top before taking another mouthful of rum, looking at my muscular chest it was easy to spot my latest problem, a small burn in the shape of the Celtic cross that I had received when a vamp bear hugged me from behind was imbedded just above my right nipple, and from the angry red appearance my skin was starting to get around it, the wound was getting infected.

Fucking grand.
For those that don't understand what happens when vamps touch holy items it’s kind of like shooting a Lycan full of silver, they tend to have a very bad reaction to it and if they survive gain an extremely bad temper. This particular vamp had, as I stated earlier, grabbed me from behind, when he came into contact with the cross it flared to life with its awesome holiness. I dunno all I know is that the damn thing burnt both me and the vampire; before the vamp could incinerate itself it let me go and ran off howling. So, somewhere a vamp with the exact same burn is plotting his revenge, yeah. My life sucks.
With a sigh I finished cleaning the burn and gulped down some anti-inflectional crap the doctor gave me, the longer I stayed in this profession the more mangled I was going to get, I already have at least 10 note worthy scars on my body. But shit, at least I had fun, sort of.
I drained the can before returning to the kitchen for another, I was halfway though my 6th can and seriously debating about going to bed when there was a loud knock at my door. With a groan I slowly rolled into a sitting position on the couch, blinking as the room spun around me, swearing to God that if it was some salesman I was going to chew his ear and half his face off. Speaking of which, I was starting to get hungry. Stumbling to the door I spent a couple of seconds trying to remember how to operate the lock before swinging it open and leaning heavily against it as my stomach decided to revolt against the sudden movement.
I was almost disappointed to see Zac grinning at me; he stopped, starting to frown as soon as he took a good look at me.
"Drunk again Tor?"
I shrugged, struggling not to fall asleep right there. "What you want Zac?" I asked, proud to hear that my voice wasn't slurred.
"Courtney rang something about finding something of worth on those tapes you told her to retrieve." The look in Zac's eyes told me that she had also taken the opportunity to gnaw his ear off painfully and slowly whilst between doing business.

Poor bastard.
I sighed. "Guess that means we have to head back in?" I asked, vaguely remembering that I had tossed my keys onto the couch, somewhere.

Zac shook his head with a small smile. "No, you stay here and sleep it off. I'll go and take a looksee at those vids."
I frowned at him, knowing full well that I need to be sober to even step foot into work, but, Zac just seemed far too casual about it. "Don't seduce Courtney; I don't want to have to scrape you off the footpath." I growled, resting my forehead against the doorframe, suddenly feeling woozy.
Zac just smiled and waved casually. "Have a good sleep Tor. I'll ring you later about what I've found." With that he turned and walked back down the stairs. With a soft sigh I swung the door shut and stumbled into my small bedroom that hardly had any walking space between my unmade double bed, entertainment unit holding a TV and Xbox and my closet. Throwing myself onto the bed I burrowed into the covers and instantly drifted gratefully off to sleep.

I was awoken seven hours later, the loud ear shattering ringing of my phone snapping me out of my comfortable sleep. With a muttered curse I rolled over and grabbed the phone.
"Hello?" I snapped, grumpy from a slight hangover and lack of sleep.
"Afternoon Tor." Zac's amused voice crackled though the phone. "I'm going to be at your place in roughly 20min, I want you up, dressed and waiting for me outside."
I groaned, rolling out of bed. Having to close my eyes at the fuzziness that washed over my head. Oh yeah, got to love the morning after. "Can you tell me anything?" I asked, swallowing roughly wondering why this was affecting me so bad, usually I don't wake up with hangovers. Then I remembered that I didn't eat anything last night. Fuck.
"No, I'll fill you in once I get there. Only, wear plain clothes." Zac replied sounding extremely businesslike.
I nodded as I walked into the bathroom. "Ok, see you soon then." I said before hanging up and preparing for my shower.

I looked over at Zac expectantly as we drove through the city, the setting sun constantly getting into our eyes made even worse as it reflected off the Brisbane River that wound its way through the city.
"So, where we going?" I asked for the tenth time, causing Zac to grin in amusement.
"Patience Tor," He replied cheerfully, as I grit my teeth in annoyance. Zac looked over at me with a soft laugh as he swung us onto the highway that headed to the Southside of Brisbane. "Okay, okay. Those vids Courtney, who still so wants me by the way, showed that the second Vic was actually dumped at the scene, we managed to get the number plate of the 4WD and found out that it’s registered to a Dr. Potter."
I couldn't help but chuckle softly as I heard the doctor's name. At Zac's confused face I grinned. "Sorry, since that damn Harry Potter series, I simply cannot take that name seriously."
Zac rolled his eyes. "Well, before you make this meeting more awkward then is necessary. His whole name is Glen Mates Potter."
I raised an eyebrow at him, noting the tightness around the edges of his eyes and the way he clutched his steering wheel tightly. I fiddled with my watch, watching him out of the corner of my eye debating if I should poke at him. Then decided that he'll snap sooner or later, Zac was hopeless at keeping a secret.
We pulled outside a small Doctor's clinic that was actually a converted house that was about half an hour from the highway. I rarely came over to the Southside so I had absolutely no idea where we were. Zac on the other hand seemed completely at ease on this side of the river.
Zac killed the engine of the car. I slide out slowly, ignoring my body and head complaining loudly at the sudden movement, before sliding my sunglasses into the collar of my shirt and tapped lightly on Zac's window. He glanced up at me before opening the door slowly.
"You alright mate?" I asked, feeling vaguely nervous at his strange behaviour.
Zac nodded and got out of the car, slamming the door shut before locking it and walking up the narrow stairs that lead to a dark tinted slide door. Stepping inside revealed a spacey air conditioned waiting room that held three couches, a small play area in one corner, a low TV currently showing the wiggles and a plain wooden desk that held an outdated MAC and a young female with short spiked, and I kid you not, sapphire blue hair, looked up with a polite smile as we walked in. She couldn't have been any older than 18.
So, I walked over with my most charming smile turned on as I leaned casually against the counter. "Hey, we're from the VCOA. We need a quick word with Dr. Potter.'
Just like that her polite smile turned into a frown. "If you have an appointment you just need to say so. Now, I have no time for assholes who think they can pick up females with a charming smile and a good cover story."
My smile didn't even slip as I pulled my badge out of my pocket and place it lightly on the desk. "Don't feel flattered love, I'm actually telling the truth."
The receptionist face paled, as she looked closer at my badge, she quickly licked her lips before getting to her feet and nodding. "Ok, I'll get the doctor." She stuttered as she got to her feet and hurried down the corridor.
Zac slung his arm casually over my shoulder with a laugh. "Well, you sure know how to sweet talk the ladies."
I shrugged him off with a snarl, knowing that I was going to get a serious ribbing on the way back.
Dr. Potter was an average looking male with greying hair; clean shaven face and glasses resting on his pale grey eyes his once athletic build going to waste.
He smiled at us nervously; yeah no one really seemed to enjoy it when VCOA agents come a knocking. But then again, I guess I can't really blame them, some of my co-workers can be a little trigger-happy. And, once you place silver nitrate into ones blood system it is near impossible to prove that the dead wasn't in fact some form of Lycan.
The reason it was near impossible to tell if they were a Lycan once silver nitrate had been injected into their blood stream is that it acts like a form of cancer, attacking and removing the thread, effectively curing lycanthropy. The only real downside is that it kills the person in the process, as it removes the hosts’ immune system. Some of the more fanatical cults still work with the silver in hopes of finding a less deadly cure, unluckily for their chosen victims they don’t have enough moral’s to prevent them from torturing people to death in the name of ‘science’ and ‘religious’ advancement. 

“How can I help you both today?” Glen Potter asked, with a slight tremor to his voice.

“You’re under VCOA arrest.” I replied as I slowly pulled my handcuffs off my belt.

Glen’s face paled as he looked at us both in shock. “What am I accused of?” He demanded, I couldn’t help but give him extra kudos points for not completely breaking down.

“Your car was caught on camera dumping the body in the underground Chermside car park.” Zac replied as he shifted effectively blocking the good doctors escape routes if he was stupid enough to try and make a runner.

“My 4WD? That was stolen three days ago outside this clinic. I filed a report with the police.” Glen replied, his eyes showed that he was hoping that we’d take his word and leave it at that. Well, if this wasn’t his unlucky day, even though it explained why they didn’t try and hide the number plate. I slipped the cuffs around his wrist firmly.

“We’ll still need to take you in for questioning, if your story checks out you’ll be released.” I said, moving to shove him towards the door.

“But! I have patients.” Glen shouted, as he dug his heels into the floor. “I have important appointments to attend to!”

“Don’t you worry about that now Glen, I’m sure another doctor will take them on if it’s that important. Worst comes to worse, the VCOA can send out a replacement.” I growled debating whether or not I should just shove him bodily out the door.

“Liana, call Tamika and inform her that I’ll be unavailable for the next few days, but if she gets pains then she should head straight up to the hospital.” Glen grunted. “And, Liana take the next few days off. I’ll contact you as soon as I can.”

His receptionist nodded with a small nod. “Yes Mr. Potter.”

Zac gave her a wink as he slid the door open for me to shove a decidedly docile doctor outside.

 I watched Zac light up a cigarette with a look of disgruntlement. “How can you smoke that stuff?” I asked in thinly veiled disgust.

Zac smiled at me, trapping the smoke between his teeth as he rolled the window down, letting the warm night air wash into the car. “How can you sit back and get drunk at every opportunity?”

Ouch, that was a little harsh, even for Zac. Wonder what was gnawing on him this time. Mind you, I’ve never understood why smoking is viewed as a social thing while those who drink tend to be looked down upon by the general society.

“It helps with the nightmares.” I grumbled, shifting slightly suddenly finding the dead street extremely difficult to navigate.

Zac nodded slowly, almost as if he thought I was making up excuses to hide an addiction. I wasn’t addicted dammit!

“Think whatever you want Zac.” I growled angrily, peering at the apparently quiet street for signs of the disturbance that command had sent Zac and I out to investigate. Apparently a vampire had called in worried about a bunch of cultists attacking him and his daytime hide away. Everyone knows that even the smallest, weakest ray of sunlight is extremely bad for vampires.

I switched the spotlight on the patrol vehicle as we slowly crawled down the street, searching for any sign of the distressed vamp and his unhappy cultists. Honestly, I shouldn’t have bothered, near the other end of the street there was about 10 people with spotlights cursing and hurling abuse at the house while another two seemed to be digging around a large metal door. Oh yeah, got to love those frantic morons.

“Which do you want to deal with? Scared vamp or pissed off cultists?” I asked.

Zac looked at me with a grin, casually flicking the cig out the window. “Cultist, you deal with the possibly homicidal vamp.”

I sighed, yeah. My job has its screwed up moments. I turned the siren on and off in quick secession, causing the casual onlookers to scatter. I slide out of the car, my hand already on my Nighthawk, fully expecting violence from the cultists, all of the remaining 12 or so people wore red bandannas with silver cross dangling at the front of it, attached by a small silver ring.

I walked towards the male with a gold cross instead of a silver one.

“What the hell is going on here mate?” I demanded.

The male turned towards me, his mousy brown hair was poking out from under his bandanna and his hazel eyes were watching me carefully. “We are getting out daughter back from this demon spawn!”

Demon spawn, right… “Daughter? How do you know she wasn’t willing?”

The male’s eyes narrowed in anger. “That thing,” He growled, pointing towards the house. “Took the youngest, hottest member of our cult and took her in as his sex slave!”

Uh huh… “Right, well. Call your goons off while I go and have a word with that… Demon spawn.”

“We are the Followers of Ariel cult.” He said hotly. “We do not have to listen to you VCOA scum.”

Hated by our own kind, life keeps getting better and better.

“Zac! Round these idiots up and keep them the fuck away from that house. I’ll talk to the owner.” I ordered in my best military voice as I turned and walked towards the house.

I knocked firmly on the door. “Open up, this is Tobias Desmond from the VCOA.”

“Hold your badge up against the door. I won’t open up the door unless you do.” I muffled voice replied through the door.

I sighed, flipping my badge open and holding it against the door. Running my hand idly over the butt of my gun. To my relief the vamp opened the door, he couldn’t have been any older than 30 his orange hair was an odd reddish colour from lack of sunlight and his muddy brown eyes watched me warily.

“Thank goodness you called those people off.” He said constantly looking at the mob nervously.  “I thought they were going to kill me.”

“Do you know why there were here?” I asked, hoping to get his side of this story.

The vampire swallowed roughly. “I’m dating an ex-member of that cult.” He admitted. “They want her back. You know how it is, got to save their ‘daughter’ from the evil demon spawn.” He said faint humour entered his tone at the last par.

Is it sad that I seem to share the same form of humour as a vamp?

“Ex-member?” I asked. “Do you know where she is now?”

“Yeah,” The vampire replied, his eyes narrowing slightly. “But, I’m not telling you 'cause you’ll take her away.”

Oh, for fuck sacks Romeo. “I’m not going to take her away unless she is unwilling. Then of course, well. You have no say to her.” I replied, getting seriously sick of all this crap.

The vamp hissed at me angrily, his pupils dilated and his fangs seemed to grow longer as his, humanity, for lack of word folded away, leaving nothing but the monster.

I un-holstered my gun and shoved it into his chest, taking a hurried half step back. “Watch it fang face. I’m not in the mood for fucking around. Not to mention if this bullet even nicks your heart you won’t have enough time or power in the universe to heal.”

Faster than my eye could catch, the young vampire swung his arm out. Knocking my gun out of my hand before tackling me onto the ground, I managed to wiggle my way out from under him and go for my bola as he backhanded me, making me feel like I’d ran face first into a brick wall. I think I blacked out for a minute or so because when I came to the vamp had my hands pinned above me head. I moved to try and flip him over when he sunk his fangs into my collarbone, my cry of pain quickly turned into a moan of pleasure as the vamp injected, well, his spit. Turning my blood thinner to make it easier to suck out like a mozzie, instead of leaving an itchy bite mark it makes its host feel unbelievable pleasure. There is a reason why some humans become addicted to vampire bites.

As much as I hate to admit it, I loved every second that vampire sucked my blood. Hell, I even moaned in complaint as Zac herded the vampire off me with his cross, leaving me bleeding and slowly coming back to my senses on the porch.

A young female hurriedly knelt next to me, tilting my head to the side as she examined the wound. “You’re lucky he didn’t just rip your throat out.” She stated, moving to press a bandage against my neck.

“Who are you?” I asked, winching in the slight afterglow of pleasure with the beginnings of pain as she pressed the bandage firmly against my neck to stub the bleeding.

“Kirin,” She replied, brushing her short red hair out of her eyes. “I live next door and luckily for you a trained supernatural nurse.” She replied, sitting back as she rummaged through a small canvas bag. “And you are?”

“Tor.” I answered, slowly sitting up to watch Zac shove the vampire into the back of the VCOA van and shove a cross over the door, effectively stopping him from even touching the door. Got to love it when God evens up the playing field. Thanks for your help.” I muttered as I got slowly to my feet, ignoring Kirin’s worried expression.

My neck was burning and my ribs felt like they were badly bruised from where the vamp tackled me. I didn’t even want to think about my face, it vaguely felt like I had acid slowly poured onto it. But, I guess I had worse and my ribs didn’t feel exactly broken.

“You should go and get your chest looked at, and that wound cleansed.” She unnecessarily warned me.

I nodded, forcing a polite smile. “We have the proper facilities back at base.” I replied, hobbling towards the house, glaring at any fanatic that tried to sneak closer.

Stepping into the barely lit and for some reason extremely cold house, it was a shock both to my eyes and slightly fevered body.

Running a hand down the lower half of my face as I peered into the darkness, I decided that I really needed more light if I was going to explore this place better. Reaching over my shoulder for my M4A1 I switched the light just about the nozzle on. Flashing it along the wall I was surprised not to see a light switch, frowning slightly I shuffled deeper into the house. Regretting that I hadn’t gotten the girls name, I really needed to stop making so many small mistakes.

The small narrow hallway was a pale washout pink with dirty white carpet and nothing else, no photos, frames or furniture. The first room I came to was a dust covered babies room with what appeared to be fairly evil looking clowns dancing over the pale blue walls. Okay, dumb question I know, but why the hell would a vamp need a baby’s cot? Everyone knows that once a vampire hit their second death year all of their sexual organs stop functioning properly, one of the down sides about being dead I guess.

As the old cliché goes, ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this’, crinkling my nose at the faint musky smell of the place I pushed open the last door in the hallway with the heel of my boot. I did a quick duck and scan of the apparently empty room before moving to cross over the threshold. As I moved to check behind the door a shadow swung from the ceiling, both of its feet hitting me in my already bruised and battered chest. Knocking me to the ground and leaving me slightly stunned from the pain, while I tried to catch my breath the shadow straddled my waist taking the opportunity to punch me numerous times in the face. Reaching over I grabbed my M4A1 and shoved the butt of it into the side of its face.

Getting to my feet as the shadow rolled off me I shone the light at my target, fully prepared to pull the trigger when my brain finally registered the rather pissed off looking female with long unwashed lanky brown hair that was tied back into a ponytail.

“You leave Sebastian alone!” She screeched as she got back to her feet, her chin and cheek were already starting to bruise from when I hit her. She made to lunge at my legs, barely giving me time to jump out of the way, fuck. In this light I couldn’t even tell if she was vampire or not, if I shot her and she turned out to be human well. Let’s just say handing in my gun and badge will be the least of my worries. The VCOA tends to frown down on their veteran hunters getting a nervous shooting finger.

I comprised, reaching down to pull my bola back out from its boot sheath, slinging my machine gun over my shoulder facing the half crazed women face on.

“Sebastian is the vampire right?” I asked in my ‘come now buddy, don’t jump off the roof’ voice. “He’s just outside, who are you?”

“Cassie.” She replied, some of the madness retreating from her eyes. “Sebastian is my master.”

I frowned, really not liking the sound of what she’d just told me. “You know Cass; we have a lot of people out front looking for you.” I said, going out on a limb assuming that she was the cultist’s daughter.

Cass’s eyes went fanatical again. “Sebastian saved me from them and showed me love, death to all cultists!” She screamed.

Oh boy, I was so not qualified for this. Taking a deep breath, ignoring the pain that raked through my ribs in complaint, I tackled the girl off her knees. Pinning her face down on the ground as I slapped cuffs around her wrists, before dragging her bodily to her feet.

“Come on love.” I growled, shoving her towards the door. “The VCOA shrinks will help you make it all better.”