12
Edmund rolled his head on his tired neck. Dive bar after dive bar, scumbag after scumbag. In the last hour he’d worked his way through four bars in the surrounding blocks, doing a quick shakedown of the patrons inside to see if they knew anything. Edmund always found it easy to interrogate humans, and could always rely on his Intention to get the truth straight away, but it was still hard work.
“Nothing funny around here padre.” The first barkeeper had told him.
“Funny? Funny how? Nothing happens in this city buddy, not since the plant closed down last year.” Another said.
And so it went. Useless words, meaningless answers. If the Order had been here, someone would have seen something. He checked his watch, realized they were due to meet back at the hospital in ten minutes and headed outside. Feeling that his luck had been a little flat, he ducked into one last bar, deciding it might be worth checking out.
‘The Hop’ was a dirty little place. The scent of stale beer and cigarette smoke hung in the air, a TV in the corner was playing a silent image of college football. Country rock blasted out through the hot room. A couple working girls stood around a jukebox in the corner trying to snare johns with their short skirts and suggestive glances. It was Edmund’s type of place. He pulled up at the bar, and took a stool next to a drunk in a cowboy hat. The sound of shrieking came from somewhere behind, and he turned to see a drunk college girl in a short skirt, spinning on a stool cowboy style. Laughing, he turned back to the bartender, a middle aged blond woman with tired eyes and a pretty face.
“What you having partner?” She asked.
Edmund waved his hand subtly over the table top and flared his eyes into hers. His Intention wrapped around her easily enough. As he connected with her mind, he caught a brief glimpse of the woman being tied up and beaten. It looked sexual, but it wasn't a happy situation for her. The brief image was cloudy, but he could see the captor was in all white. Images like this happened sometimes when using Intention on humans.
“Anything unusual happen around here recently?” He asked. “Men in white? Weird things going on at the hospital?”
The woman gulped. He could see there was trepidation in her eyes. Under his Intention, lying to him wouldn’t be possible, but she did.
“Nothing like that honey.” Another image came, the woman was bawling while a man ripped her clothes from her body. A strong hand pinned her down while another spread her legs. “Why you ask?”
For a moment he said nothing. The Order had been here, and they had abused this woman. The evidence was in her mind, but she seemed to have no memory of it. Had they blanked it out?
“Never mind.” Edmund released her from his grasp and sat back on the stool with a smile. He looked up at the bar behind her and searched for an empty bottle of liquor. He found one. “Could I get a double of McGurk’s bourbon?”
She turned around, spotted the empty bottle after looking a moment. “We’re out honey, I’ll go down to the basement to get some. Be right back.” The woman disappeared, and Edmund felt a pang of hurt for her. What had those men done? He stood up to leave.
“So you’re looking for the White Order?” The man in the cowboy hat next to Edmund lifted his head to reveal a pair of dull red eyes. “You stupid or something boy?”
Edmund tensed his jaw. The man looked old. In a way he reminded him of Hurst, the old bartender from the Black Font, a vampire bar back in Dead Rest. “What you know about them? They been around these parts?”
“Bout a month back, yeah. Ain’t like they used to be. Those boys got some darkness inside of them now.”
“Any idea where they’re headed to?”
“Not specifically.” The man rolled a toothpick around his mouth and took a swig of his beer. “Friend of mine in Culver city spotted them around those parts though. If you were a man crazy enough to find them, you might search there.”
“Will do friend, thanks for the heads up.”
By the time he got back to the hospital, Edmund was the last in the group. He was surprised to see that one of the Belmont girls, Sophia, was standing with Rubago.
“I didn’t realize you were traveling with us?” Edmund said to Sophia as he met the group. As usual, the girl didn’t have a response for him, she simply dropped her eyes down to the ground. The girl had met all of his conversation attempts with silence so far, and it seemed like today was no different. He strongly suspected she disliked him, but he couldn’t say why.
“Turns out Sophia is great at staying silent.” Rubago said. “She’s been following us since we left the castle. How was your search?”
“I might have something. Last bar I was in. The barmaid was involved with the Order, but it looks as if they wiped her mind. Met a vampire at the bar, he said there’s rumor of them moving down to Culver.”
Will York nodded. “Mirrors what I heard in the hospital. Deaths were a little higher than usual about a month back, things have returned to normal since then. Rubago… tell Edmund what you found.”
The witch sighed. “I believe the witch we’re hunting is my sister.”
Edmund raised his brows. “Sister. Shit. All this time we’ve known each other, I didn’t know you had a sister?”
“We haven’t seen each other for some years. I believe Ansel met her briefly, however. Her name is Azu, she is dangerous.”
“So let’s head over to Culver and find her then.” Edmund said, looking around the group. Sophia still had her eyes down to the floor, her lips pulled tight. He studied the girl for the briefest moment. If she lifted her head once in a while and smiled, she would actually be beautiful. Why were the beautiful ones always the ones to ignore him? He pulled his eyes back to Rubago.
“We'll scope it out before heading over there. Will and I can dematerialize. Culver is a few hours on the other side of Belmont, we can get there much faster if we travel through the air. No offense to you and Sophia, but traveling with the two of you would just slow us down.”
He opened his mouth to protest, but Will spoke first.
“Rubago is right. We’ll travel there first and check the surrounding area. When we know what we’re dealing with, we’ll come back to the castle.”
“Whatever.” Edmund shrugged. “If you're convinced you don’t need help, I’ll head back.”
“Take Sophia with you and protect her. Eric won’t be happy if his darling sister got hurt.”
He rolled his eyes but agreed. “Fine. Me and short stuff will travel back to the castle together. I’ll babysit the brat and make sure she doesn’t get hurt.” This forced a look from Sophia, much to his pleasure. For the briefest second she curled her hands into fists and stared at him with fire in her eyes, but still she said nothing.
Will smirked at this. “Then it’s settled. Rubago and I will travel on now, and we’ll meet you back at the castle later.”
Rubago and Will retreated from the hospital into a side alley, deciding that de-materializing in plain sight wasn’t the best of ideas, even if it was the middle of the night.
“That just leaves me and you short stuff. Want to get a happy meal on the way back?”
Sophia opened her mouth and flared hatred at Edmund. “Just what is your problem? I risked my neck and came out here to help. All you’re doing is making fun of me.”
Edmund walked and Sophia jogged after him, her small legs struggling to keep pace with his. “I came out here to fight bad guys, not to babysit weak little vampire girls.”
“I’m not weak and I’m not a girl!” Sophia stropped. “I’m eighteen in human years, eighty in vampire!”
He paused for a moment. The girl was actually older than he was, but he could tell that her strength was nowhere near his. If they got into a fight, Sophia would need serious protection.
“Just stay close and try not to get us into trouble okay?” He huffed. Just what exactly did this girl have against him, anyway? He glanced at her, hating himself for finding her so attractive.
Her eyes were large and dark, with bright red rings around her black pupils. Her body was slender and waif like, her skin a gorgeous snow white against the onyx sheen of her straight black hair. Her knee length ink blue skirt hugged her body beautifully, showing off her slender frame. A white bow came around her slender waist. On her torso she wore a muted cardigan, and a black choker on her neck highlighted the neat edge of her white jaw. Her legs looked smooth as silk, and the dainty black shoes on her feet only made her look more fragile. She was both delicate and beautiful. He looked at this girl and felt an overwhelming need to protect her. He also felt a need to devour her completely.
“What are you staring at me for?!” She said, scrunching up her face. He couldn’t help but notice how her nose wrinkled in the most adorable way when she got angry.
One of those rare moments came when he found himself wordless. His breath caught in his throat. His eyes darted between her twinkling blacks and her plump red lips. Being together alone now, it was as if he was really seeing her for the first time. The girl was perfection.
And she hates you. So don’t do anything stupid.
He got a hold of himself, pushed everything he was feeling down and squeezed his fingers against his palms.
“Just keep quiet and stay close you little brat.” He growled, wanting nothing more than to take her in his arms and plant kisses over every inch of her milk white skin. “It’s bad enough you’re here in the first place, don’t make it that I have to talk to you too. Rubago said you're great at staying quiet, why not demonstrate that skill starting now?”
She pouted her lips and her nose wrinkled in anger once more. She crossed her arms, lifted her chin and looked away from him with a small ‘Hmph!’. Silence would be good enough for now, it might help keep his mind off how much he wanted her.
Once they were in a quiet enough spot, they used their speed to exit the city. In the woods they were free to travel at their normal speeds, but they kept things dialed down a little to avoid attracting any unwanted attention. Sophia couldn’t move as fast as Edmund, so he had to hang back every so often so she could catch up with him. They were about half an hour away from the castle when she forced them to slow to a normal walking pace. Perched in a tree, they were about to move forward when Sophia stuck her delicate arm out in front of Edmund’s chest.
“Wait! Don’t jump!”
“What’s up? Do you hear something?” He asked, watching the girl in fascination as he saw her eyes staring through the darkness ahead. She turned her head as if she were trying to locate a sound. He flared his own senses. Apart from the usual cacophony of the forest and nature, there was nothing ahead that seemed unusual to him. Through the gaps in the leaves ahead, he saw that the ink black of night had began its first slant towards dawn. The sun would be up soon enough.
“Directly ahead, between us and the castle. I think a shifter pack is traveling in our direction.”
He flared his hearing again. “Are you sure? I can’t hear a single thing.”
“I might not have the same strength or speed as you Edmund, but my senses are one hundred times more powerful than yours.”
He blew air through his lips. “Not a chance, if there were someone else in these woods, I’d know about—”
The sound of a breaking branch rattled through the distance, followed by the sound of a bike engine revving toward them. Sophia looked at Edmund and flashed the most insufferable ‘I told you so’ look at him.
“Fine.” He conceded. “I guess you’re right. That rules out getting back to the castle before dawn. What are our other options?”
She thought it over before dropping back to the forest floor below. Edmund sighed and followed her down, running after her through the trees in the opposite direction of the approaching shifter pack. Sophia stopped in front of a tall tree. She ran her hands over its rough bark. “Oh no, this isn’t good at all.”
“What?” He asked, turning his head to the sound of engines behind them. If they wanted to avoid the approaching shifter pack, they had to get a move on. They’d be on them in under a minute.
“We have bases hidden throughout the forest.” She said while moving her palm over the tree. “Underground cabins to help avoid enemy detection. Trees with a black cross like this mark a base is nearby.” She pointed up at a faded black cross painted on the tree above them.
“There's supposed to be a code in the bark under each cross, but it looks as if someone has destroyed this one.”
“Who would do a thing like that?”
“Either Wraith or Veronica, messing about when they were younger. I guess they thought it was funny.”
“That's an interesting sense of humor. Anyway we can find this base without the code?”
Sophia spun around, pointing to the left. “I think it's over there somewhere, from what's left of the code.”
“I smell vampires!” A ghastly voice shouted from somewhere behind them. There was no time, they had to get moving.
Edmund grabbed Sophia and threw her over his shoulder. “What are you doing?!” She squealed. “Put me down now!”
He ran at full pace, bursting through the trees. “I don’t know if you realized darling, but there’s a pack of shifters on our heels, and they’re approaching fast.” Even Edmund could hear the sound of their snarls now. The men and women had shifted into their wolf forms. From everything he’d heard, they could catch a vampire like him no problem, speed was of the utmost importance.
“But I need to find the underground hideout!” Sophia squirmed. “I’ve been to this one before, I know it’s around here somewhere, I just need to remember!”
“Well remember faster!” He growled, while looking back. The yellow eyes of three wolves met his gaze. Edmund kicked off a tree base, turning ninety degrees and launching high into the air above the tree line. A moment later they came back down again in a different part of the woods.
“Damn!” Sophia hollered over his shoulder. “That’ll throw them off for a few minutes! How did you do that!?”
He didn’t offer a response. Years of bounty work gave him a quick mind. It was his specialty to chase people down, and he knew every trick there was for putting up a good run.
“You need to remember where this base is fast!” He growled while trying to put as much distance between them and the pack. “They’ll pick up our scent fast. I don’t know if you noticed, but the sun will be up soon too. If the Wolves don’t get us, the light will. Where is the base?!”
“I’m thinking!” She cried. “They’re always at the base of trees. Disguised entrances. You have to be right on top of them to enter!”
Edmund felt like snarling. In a forest full of trees, what were the chances they would stumble across something like that? So much for looking after this precious Belmont girl. They were both as good as dead.
The ground disappeared as Edmund’s feet came into contact with the hidden trap door. They both plummeted down the shaft, hitting a cushioned floor at its bottom. The door overhead closed, shutting out the picture of the dawn forest and leaving only black. Edmund was on his back, and Sophia had somehow landed neatly on top of him, her legs on either side of his, her hands on his chest. Everything was quiet, everything was dark. There was only them.
“Good news Edmund.” She squeaked. “I think we found the base.”