Brenda found that she was again the first to wake from slumber the following evening. Her skin felt stiff and sticky where the bloody glyphs had dried on. Her first instinct was to go and shower right away, but she wasn't sure if that would interfere with the ritual Morgan had done.
Morgan was completely still and silent. Without the rise and fall of breathing, she looked like a corpse. Brenda supposed she must look the same way now when she slept.
Brenda slid out of the bed as carefully as she could, but her concern over disturbing Morgan was unfounded. She tightened the robe around herself and went to sit at the tiny kitchen table in front of Simon's laptop. After a few minutes of fiddling, she got it to show her the news channel.
It wasn't long before she saw her picture alongside Grace Simmons'. There still had not been any luck in finding either of them, and both were presumed dead.
Could Grace still be alive? After all that had happened, Brenda hadn't asked Simon about the details of the ritual he'd suspected the kidnapper meant to perform. If Grace was still alive, Brenda couldn't just do nothing. She had to find her. She had to stop him.
She glanced up as Simon emerged from his room. Morgan continued to sleep undisturbed.
"I thought you'd be in the shower by now," Simon told her.
"I thought I'd let you go first this time, since I've been using up all the hot water. And I wasn't sure if it was okay to wash off these glyphs."
Simon smirked. "Yeah. It's okay. It's advisable, actually."
"Oh good."
"Do you wanna go now?"
"You go 'head. It's okay."
Simon turned and took a step toward the bathroom.
"Does that ritual require him to kill her?"
Simon glanced back at Brenda. "Yes." It hadn't taken him any time at all to adjust to the change in subject from the trivial to the dire.
"So it's too late, then," she whispered, allowing her shoulders to slump. For an instant, she'd allowed her heart to be filled with hopes of a heroic rescue. Saving the little girl would not only be for her own sake, but also for Brenda's. It would mean something good had come out of her suffering and her lost life.
"Not necessarily. The ritual takes several days to perform, and he would need to keep her alive until the end." Simon grimaced. "The ritual requires that he remove the victim's face and wear it as a mask. He would have to spend some time having her skin stretched out."
"I have to help her." If Grace was still alive, she would already have suffered unimaginably. Would it even be possible for a little girl to recover from this sort of trauma? Brenda realized she'd been the lucky one. She'd only been subjected to his cruelty for a matter of hours. This madman had to be stopped, even if he turned out to be the Prince. "I can't let this go."
"I know," Simon told her with a resigned nod before turning and heading into the bathroom.
It was time for someone to stop this Prince. Brenda was certain Morgan would agree. If she ever woke up.
Simon's shower only lasted a few minutes, and as he emerged, Morgan was finally sitting up. She rose from the bed, stretching her arms and arching her bare back as if she was completely unaware of her own nudity. Her actions truly weren't those of a seductress, but simply of someone who had no sense of modesty.
Simon himself hardly seemed to notice. Brenda supposed Morgan probably did that sort of thing a lot.
"So, Brenda, do you want to go to Elysium with Simon tonight, or do you want to stay with me?" Morgan asked with a grin.
Simon gave Morgan an irritated glare.
"I really don't want to go back to Elysium, but I also don't want Simon to have to go in there alone." She didn't want to go near any of the Nosferatu, not again. "I also need to get back to trying to find a missing child." Brenda wondered if Morgan would be interested in helping her do that.
"You don't have to go there," Morgan said to Brenda in a smug tone. "And Simon doesn't have to go alone."
"But you can't go with him! They'll kill you!"
Morgan laughed. "My body won't be going. I'll leave that right here and follow Simon."
"Oh."
"We'll be all right," Simon promised. "Why don't you go ahead and get ready for what you need to do? You can use my car. Do you have any ideas where to start?"
"Not many. I'll ask Sanji if he can take me back to the place you two found me. I don't suppose you know a way I can get a gun when I have no money or identification?"
"Liz has a contact. You should go and talk to her first. And contact me if you're planning to do anything that might be dangerous."
"I will."
"I'm sure she can get you one. She won't fuck you for it, either."
Brenda smiled. "That's good to know."
"I meant figuratively…" Simon said, looking embarrassed.
"I know what you meant."
-
After Brenda had finished her shower, she'd come out of the bathroom to find the apartment quiet. Morgan's body sat motionless, naked and staring.
Trying not to feel too disconcerted, Brenda went to the couch, where Simon or Morgan had made up the bed. Simon had left some clothes there for Brenda, with his car keys sitting on top of them. This time she found herself with a long velvet skirt, a shirt made of shimmering, metallic purple fishnet, and a bodice to go with it. The fishnet shirt turned out to be every bit as uncomfortable as she'd suspected it would.
After applying her make-up she headed out the door and drove Simon's car the six blocks to Liz's club. It was still fairly early for the type of customers Liz catered to, so there weren't yet many people around. Liz was nowhere Brenda could see, but she spotted the familiar face of the man she'd fed from two days earlier.
He was talking to a slender brunette who didn't look quite old enough to be in a place like this, but she appeared mortal to Brenda. He glanced up at her as she approached and gave her a nod. "You lookin' fer Liz?" he asked.
"Yeah. Is she around?"
"Yeah. I'll go get 'er. Becky here'll keep you company."
As he began heading out a door on the other side of the room, Becky turned to Brenda and extended a hand. "We'll you already have my name . . ." Her fingers were utterly limp and cold in Brenda's grasp.
"I'm Brenda."
"So, are you part of the Black Sheep Club?"
Was that code for vampire? "I'm not sure. What's that?"
Becky shook her head, her thin lips curving into a smirk. "If you don't know what it is, you're not part of it," she said somewhat smugly. "Don't worry about it."
Brenda wasn't certain of that. There was still so much she didn't know.
Liz emerged from the same door the man had disappeared through. "You're here on your own? Do you want to come into the back room to talk?"
"Yes, please."
Liz led the way, closing the door behind them. "Where's Simon?"
"Elysium."
Liz grimaced and nodded. "How are you adjusting?"
"All right, considering I no longer have access to anything I used to own. Even my clothes are borrowed." She particularly missed underwear. "Simon said that you might be able to get me a gun. I obviously don't have access to any of my money, but if there's any sort of service I could do to make up for it, I'd be grateful."
Liz nodded. "It's actually a friend of mine who supplies the weapons. I'm pretty sure he'd be willing to help you out. I'll give him a call. If you come back here . . . say . . . after eleven, that should be enough time."
"Thanks. I'll do that."
"Before you go, there's one more thing. I hope this doesn't sound mean . . ." Liz paused as if carefully choosing her words.
Brenda braced herself, wondering what horrific faux pas she must have already committed.
"You're welcome to feed here as much as you like. But early in the evening when there aren't many customers, you need to be careful. Most of the people here at those times would be my herd. That's people who willingly allow me to feed from them on a regular basis. You can recognize them by these pendants I give them." Liz reached into her pocket and withdrew a small charm that looked like a little black rain cloud with a pair of red eyes.
The Black Sheep Club. Now it made sense. "I'll be careful," Brenda promised. She didn't want to step on Liz's toes.
Liz smiled. "Thank you. Now, I'm going to go and give my friend a call. I'll see you later tonight."
