Chapter Three
Manhattan, New York 2006
Normally Peter didn't mind when someone borrowed one of his tricks, hell, he had borrowed a trick or two in his time, but to flat out steal his act was something he wasn't going to tolerate. Walking down the hallway, he walked into the main showroom and looked around. He had performed at Madison Square Garden a number of times and was still amazed by it. Some of the others called out to him as he nodded his head and waved his left hand at them. Walking faster, he headed for the stage while the person in question was doing one of his tricks then yelped when the fire in the pit on the stage shot up and the person fell bottom down onto the stage.
"Bloody wanker!" Peter thought as he stormed for the stage and ran up the steps.
"Oi, just what do you think you're doing?" he demanded as the person in question slowly turned around and….
Manhattan, New York 2011
"Peter, wake up," Cassandra said when Peter opened his eyes and she smiled, brushing the hair out of his eyes.
"What's wrong?" he mumbled and she kissed his lips, making his heart speed up a bit.
"We're here," one of the young women said from the doorway as he glared at her then sighed, placing his head on the pillow. Nodding, he watched the young women walk away as the curtain closed while Cassandra helped him up and Peter frowned, trying to remember his dream then sighed and went to get dressed.
The plane sat on the tarmac as the flight attendant widened her eyes when Peter came out from the back room and was dressed in his leather boots, leather pants and leather coat and was made up in his makeup, wig, sideburns, goatee and moustache. Cassandra gave her a cool look as they headed for the small staircase and left the plane. A stretch limo was waiting for them as the limo driver opened the back door and the young women got in. Cassandra smiled while Peter held her hand as she got in then he looked at the men taking the luggage off the plane and he folded his arms over his chest.
"Careful with that!" he said as one of the men smirked and rolled his eyes.
"Keep your shorts on, Lord Gaga!" he whispered and the other man laughed. Peter had heard him as he glared at him, concentrated and snapped his fingers. The men yelped when their jeans dropped to their feet and Peter smiled, getting in the limo.
The limo stopped at the curb when the driver got out of the limo and opened the door. The young women got out of the limo as he helped them when he looked in the back of the limo then coughed, leaning against the limo. Peter and Cassandra were sleeping with Cassandra's hand resting between Peter's legs and the limo driver didn't know if he should wake them or not.
"We're here!" one of the young women shouted when Peter's eyes snapped open from Cassandra digging her nails into his cock and the limo driver softly smiled. Growling, Peter got out of the limo then turned and helped Cassandra out of the limo and the limo driver closed the door. The doorman came out with a luggage cart as the limo driver opened the boot of the limo and Peter looked up, seeing the large banner with his picture on it hanging on the front of the hotel with some spot lights shining on the banner.
"Blimey," he whispered as the doorman pushed the luggage cart toward the doors and the young woman followed him. Cassandra looked up at the banner while the banner moved in the breeze and she slid her arm around Peter's waist. Smiling, Peter held her as they headed for the door and Cassandra placed her head against his arm.
Jessie stood near the steel table while she placed the remains of the liver onto the scale and wrote on the chart. The sheet covering the body was stained from blood as she placed the liver back inside the body then looked up as the doors opened. Seamus and Mark walked inside the room while heading for the metal table and Seamus stood behind Mark.
"So, Doc, did you figure out who this is?" Mark asked, looking at the body.
"Not yet. I did get a print off of one of the remaining fingers and sent some of the teeth to see if there are any dental records," Jessie said as Mark nodded and Seamus looked down at the floor.
"Do you know the T.O.D.?" Mark asked as Jessie looked at the chart and tapped the chart.
"Yep, T.O.D. was between eight and eight forty-five p.m.," Jessie said and Mark nodded his head.
"What I don't get is what could do this much damage," Mark said as he slid a pair of rubber gloves on and picked up the body's right arm.
"I was going with maybe an escaped lion or bear, but I called the Central Park Zoo and all of their animals are accounted for. Then there is the angle of the marks."
"What about them?" Mark asked and Jessie took the metal pointer out of the pocket of her lap coat, opened the metal pointer and tapped some of the wounds on the body's chest.
"As you can see, there are five, jagged wounds. If this was a bear or a lion, there would only be four."
"Are you suggesting that whatever did this had five fingers?" Mark asked and Jessie nodded, retracting the metal pointer and placed the metal pointer in her pocket. "Shit, so what we're looking for is some sort of gorilla?"
"I've never seen a gorilla with razor sharp claws and whatever this was ate nearly all of him!" Jessie said then looked at Seamus and slight smiled. "The bathroom's that way!"
Nodding, Seamus ran to where she was pointing then closed the door and Mark lightly laughed, shaking his head.
"There is something else," Jessie said as she removed a wad of blood soaked paper from the bowl on the tray to her left and gently unfolded the paper. "I found it crammed into the chest cavity."
Mark picked up the paper as he looked at the picture on the paper and could just make out COMING TO THE HARD ROCK HOTEL – PETER VINCENT'S FRIGHT NIGHT.
"Who the hell is Peter Vincent?" he asked while Seamus came out of the bathroom and Mark slid the paper into a plastic bag he had taken out of his pocket.
"Oh my God!" Cassandra said after the lift doors opened and she followed Peter into the penthouse. Unlike his penthouse, the penthouse only had one floor and the furniture was elegant and posh with crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The bar to the left was loaded with bottles and glasses and Peter walked to the large window, looking out at the city. The luggage had been brought up while they were checking out the showroom and most of Peter's equipment had been set up. The rest of the equipment had been sent to where Magic Showdown was being held and Peter removed the battered pack of cigarillos and his silver lighter from his coat pocket. He removed one of the cigarillos then placed the batter pack into his coat pocket and lit the cigarillo with the silver lighter. Cassandra had walked to the bar as she poured him a glass of Midori then walked over to him and handed him the glass.
"Quite a view," Peter said, taking the cigarillo out of his mouth and sipped on the Midori.
"Don't you want to change?" she asked as he looked at his reflection and sighed, nodding his head. She watched him saunter toward the bedroom door when he turned around and held his hand out. She walked toward him as she took his hand and he opened the door.
"Shit!" he shouted when Cross flew into the living room then settled on a large, china urn near the bar and Peter stood against the wall, his hand on his chest while his heart slammed against his fingers. Boe slowly walked out of the bedroom when it settled in front of the large window and Cassandra softly smiled. "Where the fuck did they come from?"
"They must have followed us by using the Dark Road," she said as she slid her hand under his hand and felt his heartbeat. The Dark Road is a passage that witches, wizards and other magical beings use to travel from one place to another, but it can be hazardous if anyone strayed off the path. Peter had used the Dark Road only once and he would have become lost if Boe hadn't led the way.
"Ah, well, that's explains it," Peter said with a nod of his head then took her hand and they walked inside the bedroom, closing the door behind them. Boe glanced over at the door then made a soft snorting sound before it placed its head on its paws, closed its eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Sitting at his desk, Mark looked at the photographs on the dry board while Seamus typed on the keyboard and Mark balled his hands into fists. Next to the photographs was the paper that was advertising Peter's appearance at the Hard Rock and Seamus was trying to find out who Peter was.
"I found something!" Seamus said as Mark walked to Seamus' desk and leaned on the back of the chair. On the screen was Peter's Fright Night website as they looked at the home page and Mark's eyes widened.
"You have to be kidding," he said as he looked at the information on the screen and Seamus smiled.
"Nope, according to this, he is an expert on…vampires!" Seamus said with a grin and Mark rolled his eyes.
"There is no such thing as vampires!" Mark said as Seamus clicked on the BIO tab and Peter's biography appeared on the screen. Reading the biography, they frowned as Seamus looked up at Mark and Mark stood up, scratching his neck. "Shit."
"That's not the only thing. I found this," Seamus said when he opened another window as Ginger's death notice appeared on the screen and Mark read the death notice.
"Wait, it says here that she worked for this Vincent guy," he said and Seamus nodded.
"It also said that she was attacked by an unknown assailant and her throat was torn open."
"Did they question Vincent?"
"Yeah, but he wasn't charged with anything," Seamus said and Mark sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. Walking to the dry board, Mark looked at the paper advertising Peter's show when he pulled the paper off the dry board and looked at the picture of Peter.
"Doing anything tomorrow?" Mark asked as he glanced at Seamus and Seamus titled his head to one side.
"No. Why?" he asked and Mark crumpled the paper in his hand.
"We're going to go see what Mister Vampire Hunter knows about our John Doe," he said then dropped the paper to the floor and stormed out of the room.