A/N: Another chapter of a short saga. One chapter remains to close the tale.
Murders Abundant
Seras staggered into her apartment and, disregarding her clothing, collapsed into her bed. She both begged and dreaded the sleep which her body craved, as she both wanted and feared for the dreams she would have with the stranger ever present. Her whirling thoughts and memories, mixed with those of the man's, caused her mind to disobey her body's request until long after the sun had risen. Then did she slip into a quiet and peaceful slumber, one without the inclusion of the man.
Seras was jolted awake at the sound of her alarm, and she clumsily reached out and knocked the ringing object to the ground. She winced as she heard the fragile thing break as it roughly hit the floor, for now she would need to buy a new one. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, the young woman finally recollected that she'd had no dream, nor had her rest been disturbed by unnatural visitors.
Somehow her sleep felt unnatural without company.
"I must be going mad" she muttered to herself as she stood and tried to get the creases from her uniform.
The sun was low in the sky as she sat down for her dinner which consisted of a bowl of cereal. Her eyes flitted to a blinking light and she realized a message had been left on her machine. With a groan of exhaustion she stood and half-heartedly pressed the button to play the voice mail.
"Hi Seras, this is Will from the station. Just wanted to let you know the chief is having a late meeting and that you should come down early today, about seven o'clock."
Seras gasped and looked at her watch in horror. The time read ten minutes until seven, and her drive took as long to get to the station. With frantic haste she forgot her bowl of half-eaten cereal, grabbed her purse, and slammed through her front door. She wasn't in such a hurry, however, that she once more did not lock the portal to her apartment.
Seras barely made the clock as she rushed into the station as Big Ben chimed the hour. She rushed to where a crowd of people stood, one which appeared to represent the entire force. The young woman sidled up to William just as the chief began to address the group, his voice cutting through like a knife as all conversation stopped.
"Murders happen on a regular basis, as they always do here in London" Harry explained to the officers, his face grim. "But there's been a strange increase in them the past few weeks, and these recent ones are more than ordinary."
"What could more unusual than some of the murders we've seen, Chief?" one of the new officers to the homicide squad asked.
"Well" the commanding officer spoke slowly, obviously hesitant to reveal the facts. "The victims had been all women, and they all appeared to have been torn to pieces." Then he looked around the group for a moment, and breathed deeply before finishing his explanation. "They also had their blood drained from their bodies, every drop."
The crowd was quiet as each allowed the thoughts and images of such a death to mull within their minds. Several of them shuddered at the thoughts, and more than one woman put a hand over their mouths in disgust.
"My god" Seras softly whispered, speaking aloud what everyone else was thinking.
"But what could do this?" William quietly questioned, even his humor dampened by the newest murders.
"We have no idea" the lead officer of the homicide division chimed in, a man named Roger Schumer. "We have had no eye-witnesses to the murders and there have been no clues left behind by the murders."
"So we're left with a dead end?" Will lamely joked to break the tension in the room.
A few people snickered, but the seriousness of the situation was heavy upon everyone's minds. Chief Harry merely scowled and shook his head in disapproval as he turned back to the group.
"We thought we'd brief you on these occurrences to make you more aware how important it is for you to keep your eyes and ears open for any clues to these mysteries" he explained as his eyes seemed to turn directly upon Seras. "You never know what may help us out. Now, you're all dismissed."
The crowd quietly dispersed, each with their own thoughts of the recent murders, and Seras most of all was heavily burdened by the news. She thought of the two visitors she'd had at her apartment, and their less than coincidental arrival with the start of these deadly happenings.
"Seras, I need to talk to you a moment" the chief requested as he caught her attention and guided the confused officer to his office. He opened the door for her and closed the portal behind himself, and invited her to take a seat. Her superior took his own chair on the opposite side of the desk and leaned over in a contemplative posture. "You heard about the murders. What do you think is causing them?" he seriously asked as he stared hard upon her features.
"Me, sir?" she asked in surprise as she blinked in confusion. "What would I know about them?"
"William has told me about everything that's happened to you these last few days" Harry informed as he leant back in his tall chair. "I doubt I need to tell you that what's been happening to you may be connected to the murders."
"But I don't understand" Seras confessed with a hint of frustration. "I don't know anything about these murders. I can't help with any clues or anything" she protested.
For a long moment the chief looked to her in contemplation, his fingers drumming against each other as he mused over her words. Then he sighed and brushed back his hair with a hand, a sad grin on his face.
"I'm sorry about this, Seras, I really am" he spoke slowly as he sighed deeply. "But in light of everything that's happened, to you and everyone else in the station, I'm going to have to pull you off the force for a while."
"But why?! Seras exclaimed as she stood to her feet in outrage. "I can still do my job."
"Not according to William" Harry countered as he picked up a file and tossed it in her direction. She picked it up and read the contents, her eyes wide in disbelief. "He believes you've had a trying time and should be given a few days of rest, at the very least."
"Will, you bastard" she muttered in disbelieving anger as she closed the folder and threw the file back to Harry. "Fine, if that's what you guys want."
"We only want what's best for you, Seras, you must believe that" the chief argued with a slight hint of a frown. "In a few days we'll reexamine your health, and by then I'm sure you'll be reinstated. For now, you're excused."
"Yeah, right" Seras answered as she half-heartedly saluted her commander and walked out of the office.
The young woman strode across the station to her desk and grabbed her purse as she noticed William out of the corner of her eyes. She ignored his waves as she brushed past the desks and walked briskly through the front doors, gaining not a few stares from her fellow officers. Angered and hurt at her temporary forced leave of absence from the force, she blinked back the tears and got into her car.
The drive home was silent as Seras thought of the chief's announcements, both the one in public and private. Harry's suspicions and her own had collided in that tiny office, and she had been left with little choice but to feign ignorance about the whole matter. But how could she really help the squad solve these mysteries? All she held was a dusty old book and stories which could not be corroborated by anyone else.
However, thinking over the developments within the squad and their increased worry about the murders, she suspected she would have someone waiting for her when she arrived at her apartment.
Perhaps her uninvited guests were growing anxious over their prolonged stay here in the city.
Seras tromped up the stairs of her building and, not bothering to pull forth her key, checked the door knob to her apartment. Not to her surprise she found the portal unlocked and, opening the door, found a visitor seated comfortably upon her couch. The room was unlit save for the light from the windows, but the street lamps were enough to brighten the features of her unwanted guest.
"You again" she greeted the woman known to her as Narcissa as she walked into the living room and closed the portal behind herself.
"Indeed" Narcissa replied with a smile on her lips. "I thought I would honor you with my presence, as I heard you were no longer wanted elsewhere."
"And how would you know that?" Seras asked as she threw her bag on the couch next to the woman. Then, quickly tired of the lame greetings they were both giving, turned her attention to the question which had been nagging her all night. "You're the ones killing them, aren't you?" she quietly accused.
"We need to feed, little one" Narcissa responded with some distraction as she turned to the handbag beside where she sat. The young officer's lack of surprise with her arrival made her uneasy. "And London has such a large populace, we doubted they would be so sorely missed, but apparently your captain thinks otherwise."
"They were humans, not animals" her hostess countered with a slight touch of anger as she towered over the woman. "You had no right to take their lives."
"Ah, but what right have you to judge us?" the monster questioned in her own right while a slow grin grew on her lips. "Perhaps you feel you are to blame for their deaths?" she inquired.
"I didn't ask for you two to come here!" Seras yelled as she covered her face and shook her head in frustration. "Why don't you leave me alone? Why won't you leave me with only memories of your horrible faces?" she quietly asked as the young woman collapsed onto her coffee table.
"Memories are what makes us" the woman explained, her voice low as she stared directly into Seras' face. "Experience, emotion, without these wouldn't we be anything more than an infant?" She slowly moved to the front of the couch and leaned in toward Seras. "But back to your question, the one about the murders." Here Seras lifted her head and blinked in surprise at Narcissa's blunt attitude. "There are a number more of us in London than usual" she admitted as she smiled in slight amusement. "They are all after the book which you hold in your possession."
"The book?" Seras softly repeated in confusion as she turned her head to look at the object at her side. "But what would anyone want with this worthless thing?"
"They don't know what they want" she mysteriously spoke as she stood and began pacing the room in some irritation. "They believe the book will help them obtain true immortality, or satiate their thirst for power, but neither will occur."
"Then what will?" the young woman asked with suspicion.
"Memories will be given to the keeper" Narcissa seemed to answer in a distracted tone, as though she were speaking aloud an ancient saying. Then she shook her head and laughed aloud at her words. "But I believe I've kept you long enough. We will speak another time of this, perhaps when you're ready to understand my words."
"Wait!" Seras objected as she stood only to watch the woman fade into the darkness of the room.
The young woman's call went unanswered as she slowly walked over to where the visitor had stood. With a sudden sense of unnatural fear she rushed to the light switch and illuminated the room. She scoured the area where Narcissa had disappeared, but found nothing which would have assisted her guest to leave.
With her adrenaline drained and the night still young, Seras gave up the search and firmly locked the door to her apartment. She cleaned up her forgotten bowl of cereal and warm milk, then dressed for bed. Slipping beneath the covers, she was entirely grateful for the sleep which soon took her wearied body to rest.
Seras felt as if she had just dropped off to slumber when her eyes opened to a different scene other than her bedroom. There were thin trees and a muddy river ran at her right, gurgling softly as she clutched her nightgown to herself. The area appeared to be a forest, and the air was cold with a heavy fog as she stepped cautiously forward.
The young woman stumbled about for what felt like hours as she wandered her way around the area. She could find no habitation and no sign of human life anywhere within the vicinity, and her fears began to increase as she thought of how she would get out of these woods. Thus to her glee did she hear the sounds of footsteps and voices coming from ahead, the human indications a welcome to her ears.
With renewed steps Seras ran on toward the people, and soon found herself within a limited clearing which held a pond created by the river. She stopped to catch her breath as she realized the voices were those of men, and that they were approaching where she stood. The young woman, faced with meeting these strange men, suddenly hid behind a tree for fear they would be unfriendly.
Seras watched as three men entered the clearing, all dressed in heavy clothing to protect them from the dew. She gasped as, even with a fine beard and mustache, she was able to recognize the mysterious man from her previous dreams. Silently the young woman was glad to see he had apparently escaped his prison, but he seemed to have aged the worse for his treatment in the wretched room.
His steps, however, were still light with strength and his features still heavy with youth as he stopped before the small pond. He turned his back to her and began the conversation, one which seemed to be of dire importance to all three. She could not discern what was within the discussion which then commenced between the three men, but her strange man appeared to be angered by their words. She frowned in frustration at not being able to understand their discussion, but her heart beat ever faster as their tones began to rise.
Then Seras noticed a flash of light and her stranger cried out in pain as he clutched at his chest. Her eyes widened in horror as he turned his face toward where she stood, and then could she clearly see the dagger which stuck from his chest.
"No!" she screamed as she jolted up in bed.
Seras stared ahead at the wall opposite herself, sweat dripping from her body as she clutched the sheets.
She knew the wound had been a death blow.
