Darkness Beckons by Nicholas Woode-Smith

Author:Nicholas Woode-Smith [Woode-Smith, Nicholas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Warpmancer Press
Published: 2019-12-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13.

Sanguine

The last time Brett had seen Miriam LeBlanc, she had been smiling. Nothing so unrefined as a toothy grin, but rather a subtle and satisfied curve of the lip. Brett had thought at the time that Miriam looked like a vampire, but he had enough sense to know that Miriam, despite her dark fashion and pallid skin, looked much too old to be a vampire. Rather, her appearance seemed to be an unconscious imitation of her dedicated study. Fashion was very much a cultural phenomenon, and culture is just a case of mass imitation. Miriam spent most of her time around vampires. So, the only things she had to imitate were goth wannabes with a blood-based diet.

Miriam was not smiling now.

“Conrad told me what you’re doing,” she said, her tone measured, even as she clenched her fists. Brett and Guy divided their attention between her and their equipment on the table. Most of it was ready, but there were some last-minute checks that needed to be made before nightfall. Brett and Guy didn’t mind Miriam seeing their less than legal arsenal. Friends of Conrad seldom coloured in the lines of the law. And both Brett and Guy had enough favours with the cops that they could probably get away with owning a tank.

That was something Kat didn’t get. Sure, the cops and bureaucrats were often scummy, incompetent and lazy, but they set the rules. If you wanted to play the game, you had to schmooze. Had to make friends. Had to actually play the game. No point calling every cop a tick. Best it accomplished was pissing them off. Brett and Guy disliked Hope City’s less-than-finest just as much as the next private contractor, but the cops didn’t need to know that. And drinks were cheap. Bringing coffee to a clean-up for a Council call-out cost a few bucks and meant that everyone there felt they owed you something when push came to shove. Give it a few years, and every bit of coffee, donuts, and pro-bono monster hunting work meant that precincts looked the other way while you committed mass murder.

Brett and Guy were also not worried about Miriam going to the cops with the information that Conrad had given her. If she had any intention of doing so, then there’d be cops at the door, not her.

“You know more about vampires than we do,” Guy answered her. “And that’s why you’re here and not cops.”

“Vampires are monsters,” she said, pointing out the obvious to Brett and Guy. “But so is the kraken and dragons. Yet, we don’t hunt them with impunity.”

“Dragons and krakens don’t kill as many humans as vampires do,” Brett replied.

She shook her head. “Proportionately, krakens and dragons kill insurmountably more than vampires.”

“Statistics is a demonic language,” Guy replied. “Please cut to the chase. If you might not have guessed, we’re planning on heading out tonight.”

Her pale cheeks reddened, confirming that she wasn’t a vampire. She looked about to yell but closed her eyes and sighed heavily.

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