Chapter 9 – Tying Loose Ends

September 27, 2004 = Monday

As far as diners went, I only knew of one, and I returned to it. I was tempted to go up to Jeannette and Therese's room and tell whichever one was there there job was done. As I looked at the door to Asylum though, I wanted nothing to do with those crazy sisters. I wanted out of this devil's contract, and the chance to find my own niche, whatever that may be.

Entering the diner, I found it mostly empty except for the short-order cook and the old lady at the register. She eyed me absently, and I walked up to her.

"What'll it be, honey?" she asked, in a tired, nasal voice.

"You ever see any pale, kind of strange types in here, really late at night?"

"That a trick question?"

Ok, so maybe a little more direct-ness is needed. "You see any girl's hanging out here? Pale girls?"

"Pale girls? Like the Fitzsimmons' albino? She hasn't been here in ages."

So no vampires. Maybe Lily wasn't the pale type, or maybe she hadn't paled out yet from a serious tan. "Ever hear the term 'thin blood?"

"Thin blood, sounds familiar. That one of those tropical diseases?"

Elation nearly had my heart beating. She was here. "Try to remember, I'm trying to find a friend. She's kind of a strange, pretty girl that would have been by recently. She's gone missing and I'm trying to find her."

"Oh, that girl. Nice girl. First decent human being I've seen in here for years. Not like all the junkies and crazies I normally see. Yeah, I remember her. Weird? She left a tip but didn't order a thing. Looked so hungry, too. Just sat there all night with a full glass of water in front of her, talking about this and that. She seemed lonely, scared, so I let her stay in the booth as long as she wanted. She left her stuff here, why don't you give it back if you find her."

"Sure," I said, taking the purse, "Thanks for telling me she was here.

I left the diner, then turned down the sidewalk, pausing underneath a lamp-post to examine what was in the purse. Not much, besides the lint, but I did find a photo of a girl with red hair in a tye dye tank top and low cut jeans. The back of said photo marked it as Lily, and was taken the month before at the beach where E and the thin bloods hid at. Also there was a printed receipt from Kilpatrick Bail Bonds for a Rolf Toten and a set of car keys. As far as leads went, this one went nowhere, but the bail bond might lead me to someone who might know where Lily went.

I checked a nearby phonebook for the address, and found it was just down the street from here. A quick walk later found me at a dingy little shoebox of a building. There was a small neon open sign still lit in the front, so I went on in. The dingy-ness extended inside the building, and the room's only occupant was a slightly overweight man in a red shirt and black slacks.

"Welcome to Kilpatrick Twenty-Four Hour Bail Bonds. My name's Arthur Kilpatrick. How can I help you?"

"Looking for some information on a person you bonded out. Name's Rolf Toten."

"Toten, huh. I remember him. Bonded him out just a few weeks ago. Euro-trash prick. His girlfriend bonded him out, put up her car as collateral."

Well, that told me just about nothing. Something nagged on my brain though, something a guy had told me back in high school. License plates…

"Got the license plate number? I'm trying to find her, return her purse." Ok, it was flimsy, but like I had anything to work with?

"Sure, the car is in the parking garage at the beach, anyway. Had it booted so it couldn't be disposed of," he said, sitting to his computer and looking up the information. After writing it down, another thought occurred to me.

"Wouldn't happen to know a Virgil Crumb? I found his driver's license on the sidewalk, and was about to mail it in to the DMV."

"Crumb? Might as well throw that ID in the trash, he's dead. Had to go to the morgue below the clinic yesterday and identify the body. Don't know what got into that guy, but he ain't right."

"Thanks Arthur," I called as I headed out, glad that I had at least a clue. Didn't know if that would help me or not. I headed back to the parking garage, knowing I was mainly just burning time. I still had like five hours till I met Sharron, so I could at least hunt down Lily. Since I had the license plate number, and vehicle model, it wasn't hard to find the car. I used Lily's car keys to unlock the trunk, finding nothing but a spare and some crumpled up papers, and a journal. I took the journal out and looked at it, and skimmed through it.

Most of what it covered was Lily meeting Rolf, the time she was turned, and her time as Kindred, up until last week. It also covered her meeting and accidentally turning E, and that he forced her out of his life. The last entry said she was going to the blood bank to steal some blood because she couldn't bring herself to feed anymore.

So, the blood bank was where Lily went. That meant I'd need to speak with ghoul boy again. Well, at least ghoul boy would know what happened to her. I put the planner and purse back in the trunk and closed it, then headed back for the clinic. I could also check the morgue for Crumb, see where that led me. I used the back door for the Blood Bank, soon finding myself looking at ghoul boy again.

"Need a fix?"

"Information. Young red-headed Kindred name of Lily came here not long ago to get blood, need to know what happened to her."

"Never heard of her," he said, his face carefully neutral.

That just struck me as wrong, if he remembered me, he should have remembered her. So he was hiding something. "Then you won't mind if I check things out?"

"Nobody is allowed back here, orders from the Queen Bitch herself."

I wonder if Brian talks that way about me? "Listen ghoul, Therese might not be able to rip through this wall, but I can," I threatened. "Open the door, or find out what we're like when we're angry, then you can say hello to my shadows. They scared that poor security guard to death."

He looked worried, and finally grumbled, "Fine."

I heard the door beside me buzz open, and I opened it. I started forward, finding the first hallway was a row of freezers. I checked each one, finding no bodies in it. The first one had a keypad in the back. Odd, what were they hiding?

I went back and continued my door to door search, but the door behind the freezers was locked. So they were hiding something. Letting my strength flow through my arm, I twisted the lock and broke it. Opening the door, I found Lily strapped into a donor chair, an empty bag of blood was hooked into her, and I wondered if they were keeping her alive for experimentation, or torture. Judging by the amount of blood on the floor around the two donor chairs, I'd say torture.

"Hunger, I need it," she breathed, head still hung down. She looked up at me, but there was hardly any life there, just a glassy sheen. "A drop of it on my tongue, I can smell it everywhere, blood..."

I started walking forward when she started talking again.

"Let me go," she said, pleading with me. "It's painful, like I'm going to die. It's calling, never felt like this before."

"Hang on, Lily," I said, undoing her straps. "I'll get you out of here."

I was just unfastening the last strap when the door opened. The orderly was saying something but Lily flashed by me in one step, jumped to the wall on the second, and tackled the orderly with the third. I watched her as she fed on the orderly, then as she finished she turned back to face me. It was like looking into a predator's face, our true face. She got up, leaving the orderly on the floor. I looked at his chest and it had stopped breathing, telling me he was dead.

"The heat, it's never been so satisfying. All of it, I drank until I heard his heart stop and I was sucking on a dry dead artery. It was euphoric," she said, a wicked grin on her face. Then her face lost it's glow, and she suddenly looked worried. "But I've, I've killed him. I've never killed anyone before. What happened? What came over me?"

Damn. I was hoping she had some answers. "I was hoping you could tell me. It's happened to me once before. I didn't kill anyone, but it took over. You are Lily? Toten's girl?"

"Yeah. He left me here, last year. I tried to steal some blood, heard they sold it here. I was hungry and I can't hunt in town. They caught me and," she said, leaning against the wall, shaking her head, "strapped, trapped me. I thought I'd never escape. But I've killed a man, I have to get out of here."

I shook my head. Here was what I was afraid of becoming, a lonely, trapped woman unable to hunt and dying of unnatural thirst. Without being on the inside, accepting my new condition and the liabilities that came with it, I was going to be stuck on some beach, hoping to prey on some lost and lonely soul, hoping that I was never caught. It wasn't worth it, and I silently promised I wouldn't let myself be ousted. I was going to have to be the undead predator, even if it meant I'd have to kill to stay in.

"You're the one E told me about. I hunted you down so to find out more about his condition."

"I tried to tell E about that, but he was so furious at me for what I'd made him into he wouldn't listen. A thin blood, from what I've been told, is a vampire whose blood is weaker than most. Rolf, my Sire, told me some vampires consider Thin Bloods a bad omen and want them destroyed. Rolf wasn't a Thin Blood, and apparently I am. I don't know why. Rolf anbandoned me. His clan wouldn't take me in. They said I was a liability.

"He left me with so many questions, and I did the same thing to E, but I didn't want to leave. He forced me out of his life. I should go, I have to get out of here, out of this city, soon."

"You should go see E," I told her, even as she was eying the door. "He forgives you and wants to see you. He was the one who sent me to find you."

"E doesn't hate me anymore," she said, looking back at me, hope coming into her eyes.

"Quite the opposite. You should go talk to him."

"I'll go see him," she said, moving into the door then turning back to see me one last time. "Thank you. What I did, here, please don't tell E. It's not my fault. I couldn't control it. I'm no killer."

"Your welcome," I said, giving her a small smile. "Goodbye."

Lily disappeared through the door, and I started to follow her. I hadn't made it out of the door though before Therese's ghoul stopped me.

"Why'd you have to go and let that bitch out? There's one less Phil in the world now. Now I'll never get to do that bastard in myself. Well, you know what? No blood for you, no more!"

I had it with the ghoul. Letting my strength flow through my arms, I reached forward and grabbed him by the throat, swirled around and buried him to the shoulders in the wall behind me. I could also feel my the shadows swirl around me, and a glance at my arm showed them creeping towards the ghoul. The ghoul in question went slack jawed at my display of strength, and then his eyes followed the shadows creeping up my arm and then his eyes got wide.

"Listen ghoul," I spat at him, letting my anger at Lily's condition show, "I need to get blood from somewhere, and yours is just as good."

"Mistakes are made from time," he coughed. "Without them, some of us might never have been born. Here, have a freebie, my compliments." He pulled a unit of "O Positive" from the pocket of his scrubs and handed it over. I took it with my free hand, then dropped him.

"I'll be back, and next time, the service better be with a smile. Now which way to the Morgue?"

"There's a hole, in the laundry room behind you. Other side is the Morgue."

I didn't even look back, just opened the door and closed it behind me. Once I didn't have the ghoul watching me, I bit into the blood bag. It wasn't quite as good as biting into a neck, kind of tasteless, but it did take the edge off my hunger. How did Kindred survive off these things? They couldn't be cheap, and the tastelessness made me long for the sweetness of a neck to bite into.

I dropped the empty bag into the trash, and entered the morgue. I could see the wall of freezers in a glass walled room, and Crumb was laid out on a bed, apparently just have been autopsied. I went into the morgue, and checked the locker marked for patient effects, to find Crumb's personal items. The paper bag contained a broken watch, a fancy engagement ring, and a key card marked "Foxy Boxes" and his clothes. I took the key card and the ring, the latter to sell if I could find a buyer, and put the bag back.

With a new lead, I could only hope it lead me back to this person who was scaring Knox half-to-death. I headed out the door, tucking the card into my pants and the ring into my bag. They had ramped stairwells to help get the rolling beds down here, and soon I was back up in the clinic and in Malcolm's office. His phonebook was easy found, and I looked up Foxy Boxes, finding it was a warehouse not far from the beach access. Putting the book back, I left the guys office and the clinic and headed for the warehouse.

The warehouse itself was easy found, and once I had a look at the door handle could see where the card key was needed. It was one of those new card lock doors, supposedly more secure as it didn't need keys and had no lock to pick. With the card key, it was easily going through and left me in two offices. The left office was empty, but the right one had a laptop open and powered up. I checked it, finding a list of reports. The guy I was looking for was checking up on the "Cainites" in the area, which I guess meant Kindred. He seemed to catch on to Knox pretty fast, confirming his story, and also knew I was on his tail, and that I was an agent of the Prince. It left no clue as to whom he actually reported it all too, so I shut it down, closed it up, and tucked it and the power cord into my bag. If we were under surveillance, the people in charge needed to know.

He also knew I had found him, and was waiting somewhere for me, probably in the warehouse where he had the ability to snipe me or otherwise trap me. Just great. I pulled my pistol from the bag, and following Brian's instruction, checked the drum once again to make sure it was fully loaded. I tucked that in the back of my jeans, then pulled the knife from my bag. That I kept in my hand, and walked to the door marked "Warehouse." It opened easily enough, and I knelt and looked up to make sure nothing would fall on my head, then from side to side to make sure nothing was there.

It seemed safe enough, so I stepped through. I hadn't made it more than a few steps in, my heels making a nice clicking sound to give me away, when a small Asian man stepped out from behind some crates. He faced me, bowed, then hefted a hand-held crossbow. I ducked behind the nearby crates as a bolt thudded into the wall behind where I had been standing. I reached for the shadows, pulling them over me like a blanket and ran for the next set of crates. I didn't see him, so I snuck around the side, to see him setting a bolt back into his little dart thrower.

I charged at him, burying the knife into his stomach, then with my strength threw him to the ground. The small crossbow clattered from his hands, and I pulled the shadows over him, hoping if he were mortal they'd kill him. The pull on the shadows left me hungry, and I hated that I hadn't made sure to feed before getting into a fight. I picked up his small crossbow with my left hand, as the shadows started to fade over the man, but he wasn't dead. He was crouched, some sort of short katana in hand. He looked at me, with eyes wide from fear, and charged.

I caught the blade on my knife, and let it slide off the end and stabbed it in his arm. His hand went limp, and I left the knife then stepped past him, using a now empty palm to shove him over my leg hooked in behind his to trip him. Spinning around, I tried to reach for his blade, but he somehow slid underneath my hand and knocked the blade away.

I did a quick hand change on the crossbow, as he spun to face me, my knife already gone from his arm, and his short katana in his hand. I pulled the trigger, letting the bolt fly, but he jumped from his crouch and launched himself over twenty feet away. If he weren't intent on killing me, I'd ask how he did that.

I tossed the crossbow, not having a fresh bolt for it, and picked my knife up. The vampire, and I knew it was a vampire, eyed me warily. I didn't know what all he could do, as each clan seemed to do different things, but he seemed to be a warrior type. I didn't have any way of leaping like he did, but I did have shadows.

My enemy made a lunging feint, leaping to my left, and rounding the corner of the crates. I rolled clear even as he started swinging, and summoned my shadows again. I could feel the hunger roll in like a storm, raging inside me, with each boom of thunder a pain of hunger I was finding hard to ignore. The Asian vampire was caught not by a shadow, though, but by a long tendril of solid shadow that wrapped around his leg. He tried using his sword to slice the tendril, but the slice proved too shallow to separate it entirely, and it instantly healed. He had his back turned to me, and I spun the knife in my hand so the blade faced down.

It was a perfect setup, and I lunged forward and buried my knife deep into his neck. The vampire let out a screaming gurgle, and I wrenched the knife sideways in his neck, ripping out the blade through the side. My shadow tentacle had already dissipated, letting the man fall to his knees and dropped the blade so he could grasp his badly injured neck with both hands. I reached down and grabbed the blade, dropping my own knife in its place, and used it to make a quick uppercut on the vampire's neck. The blade was as sharp as its longer cousins, and it sliced clean through the hands and remaining piece of neck.

The vampire immediately crumbled to ash, consuming every easily burned item on him, leaving nothing behind but a pile of ash, with the spare bolts and scabbard for his little katana behind. I picked up my knife, and retrieved the scabbard and extra bolts, stashing all three in my bag. I pulled the gun from behind my back, retrieved the hand-held crossbow and stashed all three in my bag, though it was far from being able to fit everything. I had to pause and resituate everything, and ended up carrying the sword, and the top handle of the crossbow poked out of my bag. No way was I carrying this thing everywhere I went, and the sword would need some kind of overcoat to hide.

I left the warehouse, noting the time on the desk-clock as I passed as a little after two. I hurried back to the apartment, glad it wasn't far and went inside. Brian was sound asleep, so I didn't wake him, and dumped the overstuffed bag under his bed where it would be safe.

I looked at the sword, pulling it from it's scabbard, noticing the foreign lettering on the blade. I had no idea what it meant, but was sure I could find someone later who could tell me what it meant. I knew from my prior experience with the martial arts that swords carried into battle wore adorned with their owner's name. That made this little gem an ID card of sorts, I just had to learn how to read it. At least I had the time over the next few centuries.

I also kept forty dollars from the bag, after stowing the sword under the bed, so I could buy the services of one the girls. After that, I left the apartment and headed back down the stairs and out the door. There was indeed a hooker waiting across the street, and I hurried over to her.

"Hey sweetie, I need some loving," I said, trying to be playful. "I need some loving."

"You got forty baby?" she said between puffs from her cigarette.

"Sure," I said, handing her the money. She stuffed the money in her purse, and we went into the alley behind her. I swear I could hear her heart beat as we walked to the end of the alley, and when we turned the corner and she rolled down her tube top revealing her breasts, I could see the jugular vein throbbing in her neck. I took her in my arms, then bit deep for the jugular. Her blood was like heaven in my mouth, and I kept drawing it into my being. It lasted for a bit, but at last it began to thin and I pulled my fangs out before I took too much, licking the last of the blood from her neck.

I lowered the girl to the ground, then pilfered her purse for her cash, only finding my forty in it. I closed it back up, dropped it beside her and walked away, her blood humming in me. It felt good to be sated, and I headed straight for the diner, so I wouldn't be late. I got there, and took a booth in the back, ordering only water to drink. I sniffed it, and it seemed like a sourness had taken root in it. I put it to my lips, and tried to drink some, and immediately gagged on it. It was sour and bitter in my mouth, and I guess I couldn't stomach even that anymore.

It didn't take five minutes for Sharron to enter. The buxom enhanced bimbo with the dyed blonde hair was easy to spot, she dressed in a form fitting tube top that didn't keep the ladies from jiggling as she walked and drew every guy's eyes. She also had a pair of low cut leather pants that showed off every curve she had, with four inch heels making her hips sway with every step she took. It wasn't hard to see why she thought she could be an actress, but her one mistake, to me at least, was she was heroin chic with a boob job. It just didn't mesh well together.

She spotted me in the corner booth, and came right over, heels clacking on the linoleum tile. Sliding into the booth opposite me, I wondered how best to handle the situation, then decided the best way was to face up to what I was asking.

"Sharron," I said, deciding to introduce myself first. "I'm Eliza Flores. You decided you want in?" I asked, leaning back in my booth and pitching my voice low.

"Yeah, and you look good in what I picked out. What Brian was washing yesterday makes you look kind of...nerd-ish."

"Definitely lacks a certain aesthetic," I agreed. "I'll drop the price for you, but it's still going to be high. It does also last longer than hitting a pipe."

"Brian said it was safer too, that you can't overdose on it."

"True, but I don't know all of its effects. It's still experimental. Brian is one of my test subjects, and I was looking for a third. The cost is in the actual procurement, not in what it takes to make it."

"Experimental? So any side-effects?"

I frowned, knowing I was tap-toeing all around the 'You'll be my slave, forever' part. "Extreme dependance. Like heroin or cocaine, it takes only one hit. Some studies in mice show it to help keep mice from aging, but you have to keep taking it."

I could see her think over that for a bit, so I pressed on. "Also, it's made our mice harder to kill. We don't understand the why yet," I said, bending over to study my glass of water as if I was trying to contemplate the a vast and highly complex problem. When I looked up, I could almost see something in her eyes. Hope maybe? The secret to eternal life?

"You mean your lab might have the cure for aging? Ok, major nerd issues here, but what do you need me and Brian for?"

"Mice can only tell us so much," I lied, trying to think of a plausible reason I'd need human test subjects so soon. "Brian is going to be testing the physical nature side of things. Healing factors and so on. He's in on it free for that as it does still hurt to get beat up. My first test subject is actually displaying better warrior capabilities, using the hard-to-kill nature to increase their endurance and strength."

"The first? Who?"

I shrugged, why not tell her a bit. "Me. I was hoping to make Dennis an offer, farm some of the experiments and profits out, but his flat refusal almost ended my life. I'm not kidding when I say this drug makes you harder to kill. Dennis shot me five times at point blank range to the chest just a few days ago. Pulled the bullets myself, not even a scar."

Her mouth dropped open at that. It was unbelievable, but the truth was in connecting the few dots she'd been given. Dennis's death, Brian having a new boss, a new drug, yeah, she wasn't a complete idiot. "Why did he not like it."

"He wanted the formula to make it himself. Just means he wants to cut me out, which I can't have. He got mad and threatened to use me for shark bait. The long and short is, he's dead and I'm still looking for test subjects. But I'm willing to drop the price back, a lot, to get a few. I just have to add a few things. One, any problems, any whatsoever, you come to Brian. And two, you can never tell anyone you're on this and what it's doing for you."

"Do I still have to hit the eight ball?"

"I don't know. That's one you'll have to figure out. Just be careful about it. Might just make you sick, might just make you jittery. Might even break the hold of it and just leave you dependent on this. That's why I need test subjects."

"So how much?"

"I'll drop it back to five hundred, with the price of the first hit delayed until your second hit, IF you want to hit it again."

"So a thousand in a month? Okay," she said, nodding her head. "When can I get the first hit?"

"Tonight, say seven. Should be back by then," I said, pretending to drink the swill in my glass. Had to keep up appearances, right? "Meet me back at Brian's, and I'll have it ready then."

"Great, I'll see you then," she said, getting up from the booth.

I followed her out, and while she called a nearby taxi, while I headed straight for Asylum across the street. I had one last thing to do before I could do whatever I wanted. Entering Asylum, Knox was still nursing his beer, though his glass was almost empty. I sat at his table, and he looked blearily at me, taking another sip of the amber brew.

"Did you find him?"

I nodded, a smile at my lips. "I got him. Definitely Kindred. Left nothing behind but a pile of ash and his weapons."

"Wow, that guy was really fast!"

"Not fast enough. Caught him in the shadows, and then I showed him who the mistress of all shadows is," I told him, knowing bravado was a sure way of getting dead. Well, dead-er in my case.

"Great," he said, reaching into his jacket and tossing me a small wad of money. "Thanks for helping out. If I see my master, I'll let him know you're looking for him."

I took the money, and stood up. "Thanks Knox. Keep it safe out there, ok. Seems like he was spearheading some kind of invasion. They think Santa Monica is weak, and if that guy wasn't their best, we might be in for some serious trouble."

Knox paled at that, but nodded. He took another long drought of his drink, finishing it. "Think I'll stay here for a bit. Drown the worries."

I let Knox drown his sorrows, and left Asylum. Turning back to the clinic, I needed a fresh set of blood draw kits. I used the Blood Bank entrance, then cut left for the clinic itself. At the T-section, I cut right and found the supply closet at the end. Ducking inside the empty room, I rummaged through the cabinets for two kits, tucking those in my cleavage, and then then four empty tubes to fill joined them.

I didn't stick around. I might have a few hours left before sunrise, but I didn't want to get caught out either. That didn't end too well for Dracula either. I stopped by a newspaper stand, and got a paper on my way out of the clinic. Figured if nothing else I'd look for apartments for rent. Back at the apartment, Brian was just getting out of the shower when I walked in.

"Good, she'll be here at sunset tonight for her fix," I said, fishing the blood kits and tubes out of my cleavage. "I'm giving it to her for free, but she's also been told to come to you if she has problems. Try not to tell her more than she already knows. She also believes it's some kind of new experimental drug. I did tell her about the anti-aging properties, and that she'll be more resistant to dying, but that's about all she knows. Don't tell her it's my my blood okay?"

"Alright. Anything I need to do today?"

"See about a long coat, preferably black leather. Just find out how much it will cost, and shop at several stores, I want to get a good price."

"As you wish, mistress," he said, as he sat on his bed with his magazine. It was a different magazine, the cover having some kind of fish on it. Men and their toys.

I turned the news on, and sat at the end of the bed on the floor to read my paper. I found several places with several bedrooms, most being over a grand a month. I'd also need furniture, and that was just increasing the cost. I also considered using a motel room, but if the cleaning lady found me playing corpse, I'd wake up in the morgue if I was lucky, ash if I wasn't. No, I needed a private place where no unwelcome guests would find my corpse. No, even as the sky brightened on me, I knew I'd have to have a private suite, I just needed to find something affordable, even if my eye kept going to the higher end apartments near Beverly Hills.

Like I'd ever be able to afford that.

I folded my newspaper and placed it on the desk, then went into the bathroom and stripped out of my new clothes. I unfolded my bedroll in the shower stall, and wrapped a towel around me. I took my clothes out and laid them beside the desk then went back into the bathroom and settled into my spot as the sun began to rise. I didn't even fight it, and let myself slide off into sleep.