Chapter 5b
As the two vampire hunters went through the archway of the temple Scath turned away from the window and walked out the door of his fourth floor rooms. He descended the spiral stairs past other peoples rooms, professors and lecturers offices mainly, to the basement where the entrance to the tunnels were easily accessible. Half the reason that he kept the rooms was the ease of access to the tunnels below. Opening the door to the tunnels he pushed through and walked into the darkness. Behind him the last sliver of light vanished as the door closed behind him. Scath was comfortable in the total darkness of the tunnels and he walked along ignoring the many twists and turnings in the darkness, under the street he travelled and beneath the temple. When he was under the gardens of the temple he took a turn and ascended the very tight spiralling staircase up through the floor. He placed an ear against the back of the heavy panel and listened through the wood to the voices on the other side. The three women were talking about the situation in the city. He was listening intently as they described the situation of their suspicions of another vampire being involved but they were unsure of the situation as they couldn’t tell if this new vampire was for them or against them. Scath smiled, he was very impressed that they had worked out that he was a vampire and not just a stolen body but didn’t know what he needed to do about the he turned on his heel and walked back through the tunnels to his rooms. He walked over to the bed and lay down again, it was going to be a long night ahead and he needed to rest to finalise the recovery of the bolt wound in his side.
Dúlra, Marion and Caran sat in the High Inquisitors office. They sat in the chairs beside the fire talking about the situation and drinking watered mulled wine. Caran was staring into the fire lost in thought. She looked up and spoke to the two vampire hunters sitting with her. ‘We need to concentrate on the vampire gang as oppose to this rogue vampire’ she finally announced. ‘We don’t know the nature of the rogue but I have faith that between the pair of you there is enough ability to deal with a single vampire after you’ve dealt with the main problem of this gang being out there killing as they choose when they choose and where they choose’. She sighed and looked at them. ‘What did the chuirgeon say to you about the girl?’ ‘Well’. Began Marion, ‘It appears that despite the large number of bites on the girl it was only three or so individuals that inflicted the injuries on her. She was bitten over thirty times. That’s why this strikes me as odd. A single vampire tends to bite once and drain from there, that’s what makes tracking down the bitten so difficult sometimes. The idea of a few vampires biting so many times means one of a number of things. One, the victim was a blood doll and was drained on a number of occasions to supply these three. Two, the vampires are unaware of our links into the University and our ability to identify bite marks and therefore are trying to hide their numbers, don’t forget we did believe the numbers until we got that information from the chuirgeon. Or three, we’re dealing with some very sadistic vampires that wanted to torture their victim before killing her. A not unlikely suggestion given the nature of these creatures’. Caran sat back in her chair, clearly not happy about any of the possibilities. 'We've had a tip off that there is something untoward happening at Bolands warehouse. Its beside the river off tanners lane. I want you to go there tonight and see what's going on. You'll need to be careful of course'.
'What has been reported to you', asked Marion.
'Its reported that people have been meeting in there, late at night, and that they may not all be human. There's an implication that one of the Dark Elves is involved in this plot and given their nature that's not entirely unbelievable'. Caran replied. 'I'm concerned that there is a non human involved in this, it makes it all seem a little more sinister' I don't know why, but I'm more concerned than I was before. Go to the warehouse and see what's going on, it may be unrelated but I somehow think not'.
'Yes, High Inquisitor', Marion said formally, standing and bowing. 'We had best get some food and rest Dúlra. It looks like its going to be a long night'.
Dúlra stood and bowed to Caran and they left her office. Walking across the grounds to the dining hall they chatted about what they had learned so far. They got food, a platter of bread, cheese and cooked meats and glass of wine each and sat by the fire in the hall to eat.
'What puzzles me', Dúlra began, 'is where does the High Inquisitor get this information. Who is her agent out there? You don't suppose its one of the watch do you? They'd be in a good position to monitor all the comings and goings in the city'.
Marion smiled 'While I was her novice Caran taught me everything I needed to know about this job, from how to spot a vampire in the crowd to how to deal with the more powerful ones. There is only the one thing I really learned about Caran herself and that's that she plays her cards very close to her chest. They continued their meal in silence from then each lost in their thoughts about the case. Marion finished her meal, stood up and stretched. ‘I’m going to go and get some rest before we go to the warehouse tonight. I suggest you do the same’.
‘I will in a bit’ Dúlra replied, ‘I just need to get some things straight in my head first’.
‘Fair enough, but I think the next few days and weeks may be some of the toughest we’ve had to face yet’. Marion turned and walked off while Dúlra stared into the flames looking for the answers there.