The vampire stared down at his kill before he collapsed onto all fours, startling me. His hands clawed at the hard dirt exposing the whites of his knuckles, and his back arched up as if he was an intense amount of pain. Even his breathing became erratic—short and quick sips of air.
I stood and walked behind his hunched body, wanting desperately to understand what was happening. But after just a minute, his breathing relaxed, and he let go of the earth to reach over and unzip the man’s coat where he retrieved a concealed package wrapped tightly in a brown paper bag. The vampire gathered it up with one hand, stood, and with the other hand, grabbed the man by the back of his coat and dragged him off until he disappeared altogether into the fog.
I tried to follow him, but the moment I stepped into the haze, I awoke in my room back in New York City just as the alarm went off.
Chapter 35
The following day, the children at The Academy were let out early for parent/teacher conferences. With time to kill, I headed to the Deific.
“You’re off early?” Sarah asked me when the elevator doors opened. She closed a book. “I’m so bored. Maybe I can get off early, and we can go to a movie or something.”
I strolled over to her desk and spotted Charlie through the glass window of the conference room. He was kneeling on top of a long table scooting papers and photos all around. “Possibly. What’s up with him?”
“He’s been like that all morning. I wish he’d find a hobby or something.” Her eyes went big and she grabbed my arm suddenly. “I met a guy last night! I almost called you, but it was midnight.”
“Where?”
“At my apartment. This is totally cliché, but we were doing laundry together. He’s new and gorgeous. I got his number and—”
There was a knock on the conference room window. Charlie was motioning me inside.
“Let’s finish this conversation later,” I said to Sarah. “I want to hear more about this mystery guy.”
I walked away and opened the conference room door.
“You must’ve gotten out early,” he said. “Good.” He turned his attention back to a series of photographs spread out across the long table.
“What is all this?” I picked up the nearest photo. It was of a couple dancing in what looked like a bar.
“The club I told you about last night. I had one of our guys take a bunch of pictures of everyone in the club. You recognize this vamp?” He held up a profile picture of a man sitting at a table with short hair.
I examined it carefully. “I think so. It was pretty dark in the house, but I think that’s the one who attacked me.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“So why all the other photos?” I asked.
“Just seeing if I recognize anyone else.”
“The man who took something from you,” I stated. “One day do you think you might be more specific?”
He gathered the pictures up. “One day. Your laptop is over there.”
I followed his gaze. A black case rested upon a small table.
“Be sure this is what you want,” he said.
His words gave me pause. I wasn’t sure what I wanted from the strange vampire, but there was one thing I did know—I wanted to know more. “I’m sure.”
The briefcase felt heavy in my arms as I carried it up to my apartment. Inside my room, I carefully unzipped the black bag and removed the laptop. On a yellow sticky note attached to its top, Charlie had scribbled the username and password and then given explicit instructions to tear the note up when I was finished.
After a few deep breaths, my hands hovering just above the silver metal of the computer, I opened the laptop and entered in the codes. Immediately, a database of some kind appeared. The first entry was a man named Alvin. It showed a photo of him, gave a brief history off to the right, and declared his threat level—his was high. It was no one I knew. I hit the next button.
I continued to press next many more times, flashing through pictures of men and women I’d never seen before. Occasionally, I would stop to read their history. They were vampires, witches, psychics, demons, diablos (I was surprised to discover that they actually existed), and even some creatures I’d never heard of before.
I stopped abruptly. The image of Boaz flashed on the screen. It was a black and white photo taken in 1863. On the right side his history read:
Name: Boaz
Age: Unknown
Status: Possibly dead (see history)
Current location: Unknown
Priority: Extremely High