Chapter 5: Murder and Bigotry

 

 

The door slammed with a satisfying thud. Bending over, she unfastened the iPod strap and set it upon the table. Hanging her keys on the door hook, she strode into the bathroom for a much-needed bath. She was drenched in blood and her body was bruised and battered from the Leech fight. She was also pissed off with a certain vampire.

‘Treating me as f*****g property,’ she snarled. ‘I’m as f*****g flesh and blood as he is. This was a bad idea.’ In a sudden fit of anger, she flung her arm across a nearby table. A wine glass flew several feet before smashing against a wall. She hoped to never hear from the vampire lord again.

‘B*****d,’ she growled. Not bothering with the catches, she ripped the gown off and threw it in the fire. She couldn’t remember feeling this angry, well, feeling this angry without a means to vent it. The last time she had experienced anger to this point, a vampire servant was involved. He had branded her with an upside down cross, thinking it would be funny. He had subjected her to unimaginable torture, even going so far as to rip her chest open and still have her breathing. The humour came to a brutal and bloody end when Kaileena ripped his face off and impaled him a*s-first on an iron poker.

 

That was over two hundred years ago, of course. But the inquiry into his death had lasted a week. The murder had been so savage it was put down to gypsy curses. The irony to this day was never lost on her, since the vampire servant had been a gypsy to begin with. Many vampires had died by her hands before the job was over with. But the girl she’d been asked to reclaim had already been sacrificed to a vampire goddess with a thirst for virgin blood.

A familiar story, one that left no doubt in her mind her mark had been behind it.

 

She turned the knob of the built-in bathtub, allowing the sound of running water to soothe her nerves. She’d already heard the myth about vampires and dhampirs being unable to cross running water. About how the joints stiffened up and paralysed the limbs. It was true for vampires, and partially to her, but a bath was still water so it didn’t affect her in the slightest. The steam began to fog the tall mirrors that lined at least three walls of her bathroom. Her reflection was nothing more than a transparent image of herself. A ghostly hand touched the long thin scars that ran diagonally across her stomach. Starting from beneath her left rib and plunging past her right hip, four raised scars marred her pale flesh. The memory of her last encounter with the Blood Countess was forever etched into her body. It served as a focus on her goal should her heart waver. Not that it ever did. Her hatred for Elizabeth ran deep, touching her soul with searing fingers. She would never rest until that accursed b***h was sent to hell in a matchbox.

 

She slid into the water and sighed in content, feeling the lily-scented water soak into her tired limbs. Perhaps now she could rest for a while…

 

‘Interesting. You barely have a reflection in the mirror. As though you barely exist in between the realms of the living and the dead.’ The smooth voice was shattered by a harsh chuckle. ‘How appropriate for an abomination like yourself.’

 

Her eyes flew open to stare at the well-dressed vampire sitting on the counter. His legs were crossed and he was reading a copy of the Malleus Demonium, or in their language The Demon’s Hammer, a handbook on eliminating demons. The irony didn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. His long raven hair had been combed smooth and his loafers gleamed in the fluorescent lighting. Kaileena glared at him, hoping the suds were concealing everything from view.

‘I thought you were going to contact me,’ she said evenly, her gaze boring holes into the vampire lord. There was no room to be rude in this situation, especially when she was the only one in the room with no clothes on. Vincent smirked, the arrogance of his position giving a devilish light to his handsome face.

‘Is that not what I am doing?’ he replied coolly. She felt the strongest urge to jam a stake into that perfect mouth. Instead, she slowly shifted towards the mountain of suds and flicked a switch. The water began to bubble and the air hummed as the spa buzzed to life. She felt a slight burning sitting in the tub but it was the best she could do in this situation. Good. At least one problem is taken care of, she thought.

‘Barging into a woman’s bathroom while she is in the bath does not count,’ Kaileena retorted. The spa bubbles distorted the image of her naked form enough for her to relax more. Contrary to popular belief, vampires could not see through walls or obstacles. That didn’t stop certain bloodsuckers from living up to the hype, though. ‘What do you want?’

‘I am in need of your…services,’ he said softly, his voice like a river of ice cascading down her spin. She glared at him.

‘Spare me the voice tricks and state the requirements and what the job entails.’ Her voice was stern as steel and cut as sharply as a bladed whip. Surprise rose in the vampire’s face before it was quickly stamped down. He met her gaze squarely.

 

‘There has been a sect of heretics kidnapping young girls for bizarre and gruesome rituals,’ said Vincent. ‘Their bodies have been turning up all over the expanse of London, either with their heads or hearts missing.’

‘Any links between the victims?’ Even naked in a tub of bubbling water, the Hunter was all-business. And the vampire lord couldn’t help but admire that in the half-breed.

‘None as of yet,’ he replied. ‘But we do have a suspect we wish to interrogate. However, he lives near Piccadilly and he will not negotiate his capture.’

‘In other words, this is a seizure and interrogation operation,’ surmised Kaileena flatly. She turned off the spa and the water became still. She didn’t notice at the time, but the stinging pain made her aware of the pale blisters forming on her pale skin. Though running water didn’t kill her instantly, it did hurt like hell. She noticed Vincent was eyeing the burns and she glared at him.

‘If you’re going to stand there, the least you can do is give me a towel. I’m getting out now.’

Vincent smirked, flashing fang. ‘Is that any way to treat your new master?’ Kaileena fought the urge to deform that beautiful face.

‘Please?’ The word was gritted out between clenched teeth.

‘There, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?’ He grabbed the towel in the corner and handed it to him. Slowly getting out, she turned her back to the man, wrapping it around her lithe form.

 

‘What is that?’

Kaileena turned to glare at him. Vincent gestured to her back. She glanced in the mirror. A large scar in the shape of a double x rent her back. It was a scar she didn’t want to recall as to how she got it. The vampire lord frowned at the expression upon the dhampir’s face. Her eyes seemed brighter than usual and a desolate pain shadowed her beauty. She shook herself and that defiance returned. What had she been thinking about?

‘It’s nothing,’ she said hollowly. ‘Just an old scratch.’ She padded out of the bathroom, making a beeline for her bedroom and shutting the door in the vampire’s face. For once, Vincent was not indignant. He did not need an interpreter to realise he’d hit below the belt with that question. Still, if it had been just an ordinary battle wound, why did she feel such pain remembering how she sustained such a mark?

 

His pondering was abruptly halted when the door swung open ten minutes later. Kaileena adjusted the sheath upon her back and ran a hand through her short locks. She glanced at Vincent and tossed him a short sword and pistol. The vampire lord looked at the weapons dubiously, but harnessed them anyway.

‘Where do we need to go?’ she asked.

A phone beeped and Vincent pulled out a sleek device from his pocket. After a brief glance at the screen, he raised his gaze to the Hunter.

‘The Ten Bells,’ he said. ‘There’s been another murder.’

                       ~*~

The crime scene was pandemonium.

Police officers, coroners and forensic specialists darted back and forth in a frenzy of activity. The rustle of tarpaulin was accentuated by the constant, sporadic flashes of light illuminating the area in a strange imitation of a lightning storm. But with no sign of the homicide detective, they might as well have been chickens with their heads cut off. And one of them seemed to be taking the grim tableau very lightly. The officer was running around with his head tucked in his shirt, his screams muffled by the pressed black linen. The others nearby laughed and Kaileena felt a hot, sick swoop of anger rush through her veins. She wanted to rip the b*****d’s throat out. She dared a glance at Vincent, wondering if he was sharing the tasteless joke.

She was very surprised to see his lips were pressed into a hard, thin line and his eyes were glowing crimson with rage. He put his foot out in front of the officer, tripping him up. There was a muffled yelp before the man fell face first onto the asphalt.  Cursing, the officer stuck his head out and the vampire lord grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, slamming him against the wall.

‘Is this how we are meant to act as law enforcement?’ he demanded icily. ‘This is a crime scene, not a David Strassman concert. Show some dignity and respect for the fallen.’

‘Y-yes, my Lord,’ stammered the team in unison. They were shaking slightly and it rendered the dhampir speechless. It would seem this man was not just a dallying charlatan after all.

‘Ensure it does not happen again. Now get back to work,’ the vampire lord ordered flatly. They nodded and he turned back to the dhampir. He frowned at the expression of shock on her face. ‘What?’

‘You surprise me,’ she said in an even tone. ‘I never guessed you were more than a dandy in a leather coat.’ Vincent blinked at the statement before shrugging.

‘I am full of surprises. It’s not like you don’t have your fair share yourself, Dhampir.’

Kaileena fought the urge to laugh. In spite of the intense hatred she felt towards his race, she was beginning to not mind being around the b*****d. She schooled her expression into a grim set as she turned to the body.

It was a truly gruesome scene.

The head had been torn off the neck and was no where in sight. The ribs were broken badly and the chest was sunken on the left side due to the absence of the left breast. There was blood everywhere and some of the fingers of the left hand had been broken at the tips. Judging from the nudity of the corpse and the various wounds and burns that were exposed, this woman had been tortured horribly before being slaughtered.

‘Time of death?’ Vincent asked the coroner nearby.

‘Uncertain, my Lord,‘ the man answered promptly. ‘We think it may have been some time before 6 am this morning, but the humidity was very high and encouraged decay. A prostitute found the body shortly after 7 pm and reported it to the nearest constable. There has been no sign of the detective as of yet, so I assume he was held up.’

‘The detective was called away on urgent business, so I was asked to oversee the investigation until he arrives,’ answered the vampire. ‘Collect what evidence you can of the crime and ensure it remains uncontaminated.’

 ‘Understood, my Lo- Hey! Get away from there! You’ll harbour the investigation!’

The vampire lord turned to see what had caused the coroner’s outburst. 

Kaileena was approaching the body, her eyes riveted upon the sunken chest. She knelt beside the corpse and pulled on a pair of latex gloves, pulling them down with her teeth. Vincent watched the casual gesture with a flicker of intrigue. He couldn’t place it, but there was something unusual about her. Dhampirs were strange creatures in their own right, but Kaileena was truly a peculiar case. Everything she did seemed to be done with certain flair, no matter the scenario. It pulled him in and he couldn’t help but wonder exactly what this woman was.

 ‘I said get away from there, you filthy half-breed!’ snapped the coroner, charging forth and grabbing the dhampir by the arm. Jerking her back roughly, he threw Kaileena away from the body and slapped her hard across the face. Vincent was expecting the woman to attack the coroner. Instead, to his great surprise, the Hunter merely glared at the forensic specialist.

‘There is something not right about the body,’ she said. ‘I was merely investigating the source of the anomaly.’

‘Hah! Like you know anything about corpses aside from sucking them dry,’ sneered the coroner. ‘We don’t need filth like you contaminating the crime scene. Get out of here, you scum!’ The coroner kicked the dhampir in the stomach, throwing her out of the scene. The surrounding crowd laughed derisively at the woman as she staggered to her feet. She glared at the crime scene investigators and then at the vampire lord before stalking out of the area. The coroner turned to Vincent and bowed low.

‘I apologise, my Lord. I almost failed my duty in protecting the scene from contamination. I didn’t realise there was a dhampir here.’

  ‘She is here on my orders,’ said Vincent flatly. ‘She is assisting in the investigation using her own expertise.’

The coroner was speechless. He stared at the vampire lord as though he sprouted a second head. ‘But, my Lord, she is a half-breed. Why would you allow such a creature near us? Particularly since she is a Vampire Hunter!’

‘She has offered to give her expertise in exchange for information on a current Council target.’ The man glared at the coroner. ‘Or are you questioning the Council’s decision to use her services?’

The specialist shrunk back in fear. He knew the penalty for questioning the rule of the Dracului. ‘No, sir. Forgive my rudeness.’ Vincent nodded.

‘Get back to work,’ ordered the vampire, and the coroner was gone. Better find that girl before she decides to nullify our agreement. Once the man was out of earshot, he turned on his heel and walked off in the direction the Hunter had left the scene.

 

It didn’t take long for Vincent to find Kaileena. There was a loud crash and a yelp of pain coming from an alley just a few feet ahead. Turning the corner, he saw the woman standing over a seedy-looking vampire who was cowering at her feet. The ice-like blade that was her trademark was in her hand.

‘Are you going to give me answers, or are you going to piss me off further?’ she growled. The vampire cowed under the words.

‘All right! All right!,’ cried the cowardly creature. ‘I was following you the whole way to the crime scene. There’s been some strange s**t going on lately in this part of town and everyone’s hella scared. Some new race created a sect in this area and has been hunting down young girls to appease their goddess’s hunger for carnage.’

‘Any particular characteristics to indentify these creatures?’ Kaileena seemed to be on the verge of losing her patience with the vampire. She clenched her blade tightly. ‘Don’t dance around, Raaz. I’m not in a good mood.’

‘Whoa, what’s up your a*s?’ Raaz blinked. ‘Not to mention, you look like hell. You’re usually the one doing the kicking than being kicked. What happened? Someone get the better of you?’

Kaileena struck out at the vampire with her boot, connecting solidly with his shoulder. Raaz yelped.

‘Ok, ok! These things, I dunno what they are, but they have big masses of purple hair and orange teeth. Kind of cat-like but kind of got bird wings too. And some kind of symbol.’

The dhampir froze slightly. She raised her left wrist and turned it upward. Vincent’s eyes narrowed. There was a strange symbol there; a cross woven with thorns and bones dripping blood.

‘Was it this?’ she demanded softly. Raaz looked at it for two seconds before his eyes widened.

‘Yeah, it was. But where did you get that thing?’

‘None of your concern,’ she snarled. ‘You better come back in three days with some kind of information as to their weakness, Raaz. Or I might change my mind about letting you live.’

‘Ok, ok! I’m gone!’ Raaz disappeared into the shadows. Once the vampire was gone, Kaileena snarled in rage and slammed her foot into a trash can, spilling the contents and denting the metal with the force of her kick. Her lips were curled back to expose her fangs and her eyes were blazing with fury.

‘It was you the whole time, you f*****g b***h,’ she growled softly. ‘You better be ready, because I’m coming to get you. And when I do, you’ll be sorry you even came into this world.’

A flash of silver and the can was split in two. There was not even a mark on her blade! She closed her eyes and relaxed, her anger subsiding as she sheathed her blade. Vincent was greatly surprised to see a single bloody tear trickle down her face. She scrubbed it away with her sleeve and sighed.

‘It can’t be helped,’ she said softly. ‘I should have expected them to treat me like that. Nevertheless, I better get going before Lord Assface gets pissed off. I am his ‘property’ now.’ She glared at herself and then slowly turned to walk out of the alley.

 

Vincent swiftly slipped back out without detection. His mind was reeling from what he’d seen. He didn’t know what to make of this whole scene. He’d just witnessed a Vampire Hunter demanding information from the very thing she sought to wipe out. And let him live! All his life, he’d thought that dhampirs were nothing more than mindless beasts and Vampire Hunters were ruthless killers with no thought for those they hurt in the process. But clearly that was not the case at all with Kaileena. She showed mercy, she showed compassion. He’d been taught to hate dhampirs but in reality he knew nothing about them!

And that moment of pain he’d seen. The pain she felt at her isolation and her exclusion from the world. The killer of one kind and the protector of another, yet hunted and hated by both because she stood between both realms. Perhaps it was just an act, but for some reason, Vincent was not sure of that. It was best to act as though nothing had transpired, and to watch to see if what he’d seen was truly the face of Kaileena.

A few seconds later, she emerged from the alley. It was time to get back to crime scene. Vincent pushed off the wall and approached her.

‘There you are,’ he said smoothly. Kaileena glared at him.

‘Going to punish me for wandering off?’ she asked coldly. The vampire lord shook his head.

‘I will forgive the transgression this time,’ he said. ‘But you still have work to do.’

‘Fine.’ Kaileena brushed past the vampire and stalked back to the crime scene with Vincent in her wake.

 

The coroner was waiting for the vampire lord and he nodded as he allowed the two of them to pass. Vincent did not miss the look of disgust that he shot at the woman, but Kaileena seemed to pay it no mind. Or if she did, she didn’t show it. Pulling on a fresh pair of gloves, she pulled them down with her teeth and knelt beside the corpse once more.

‘Give her some room to work,’ ordered the vampire lord. The others hesitated but with a cold glare from Vincent, they immediately backed off. He turned his attention back to the dhampir as she began her examination of the victim’s body.

 

Kaileena leaned into the corpse, pressing her hands against the sunken side. Only part of the ribs was present from what she could discern through touch. And there seemed to be no sign of any vital organs. She ran her hand across the chest and noted there was a small flap of skin at the base of the misshapen sternum. She carefully pulled it up and saw it was concealing a hole in the body. A gust of air pushed against her face, carrying the unmistakable scent of blood and s**t. Her eyes narrowed, taking on a faint crimson glare.

‘The heart is missing,’ she said. ‘There is a strange tear near the artery. It’s not precise or even clean. It would appear it was torn from the body in a rage. All the injuries on her body point to a viciously brutal attack induced by anger and hatred of an enormous degree. But without the head, we can’t be sure of her identity.’ The dhampir picked up one of the greying hands and turned it over so the palm faced skyward. The fingertips of the hand were black and brittle, puss oozing from a blister upon the cracking surface. ‘Her prints have been burned off. Whoever this was, they went to extreme lengths to assure the victim could not be identified.’

“Time of death?” asked the vampire lord. The dhampir bent over the body and examined the wounds.

“About two days ago, roughly around 2 am.”

“Pah! How can you be so sure?” sneered the coroner. He glanced at his superior and went a ghostlier shade of white.

“The lips of the wound are still intact. Her skin is fairly rubbery to the touch but the last of the rigor mortis lifted some time ago. It rained the night before so it’s a fair bet that any evidence present on the body would have washed off. But there is still a chance there are fibres or hair still in the wounds themselves.”

 

Vincent clicked his fingers, summoning the coroner over. “Get whatever fibres you can from the wounds.” He glanced at the dhampir who rose to her feet, peeling off the gloves and dusting off the powder that had been left behind. “Good work, Ms. Rose. We’re done here.”

 

“Understood.” The word sounded as though she was gritted it through her teeth but she merely shrugged and walked away from the crime scene. The coroner knelt before the body and picked out three small fibres. Slipping them into a vial and capping it, he ordered the others of the team to move the body.