STIGMA 2: MEMORY
Chapter 3: Frozen
"Okay guys. Debrief will be at 5.30 pm." My team of agents surrounded me on the landing pad. "Go relax for a bit and we'll meet in the library. Dismissed."
As they walked away Logan approached me.
"So coffee?"
I smiled at him. "I'd love to. Let's try your crappy cafeteria. I'd love to know if they burn the coffee there as badly as they do in mine."
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The coffee was just as bad but at the least the conversation was good.
"Have you ever been bitten by one?" I asked him.
Logan nodded. "Twice. Both times I've saved myself by pointing my crossbow in a direction most people would consider stupid and pulling the trigger."
I laughed. "Nice one. Who says self harm isn't helpful?"
He smiled. He had a wonderful dazzling smile that made me melt. "I heard you shot yourself to beat Yvanna."
"That I did. Who knew lead was so useful?"
He pushed his coffee cup away. "So do you have a date for the Yule ball?"
The mention of the Yule ball almost made me groan. It was an annual formal dinner in which we were all supposed to dress up and 'have fun'. I had managed to avoid going for the last few years. The thought of putting on a ball gown, a crap load of makeup and high heels was not my idea of good time. However I had no reason to avoid going this year.
"Ah no I don't."
"Well would you consider going as my date?"
Before I could stop myself my answer was out of my mouth. "Okay."
He seemed stunned that I had said yes. "Wow. That was easy. So can I walk you to your briefing?"
Before I knew it we were outside the library.
"I'll pick you up on Friday at 7." He took my hand and kissed it. I blushed as he walked away. I then indulged quietly giggling like a school girl. It had been a while since any man had been brave enough to hit on me. Once I had killed Yvanna a lot of people, mainly men, steered clear of me. But something told me that this one might be different. After all, how many 'brave men' could say that they specialised in vampire hunting?
As I turned to enter the large intricately carved almost black wooden doors of the library I gasped as I almost ran smack dab into the pale white angelic face of Vergil Sparda.
Those ice blue eyes might as well have been hot coals from the way they burned into me. Every gaze shot painful spikes deeper and deeper into my soul. And that face…that face almost never shifted from its scornful expression. That wonderful terrifying face was always able to hide what he was truly thinking; always leaving me blinded.
"Good evening, Alex." Then he simply walked off into the hallway.
"Good evening, Vergil." I whispered, watching him walk away. I shook my head, pulling myself out of my angst/love induced coma state. God I was so pathetic. I pushed the doors open and entered the library. The library was dark, ornate and was inspired by Gothic style architecture. Gray Gargoyles sat upon pillars around the book shelves. It was beautiful yet cold and creepy. No wonder Vergil liked it in here.
"Alex, over here." Melissa called. My team were sitting on large red armchairs near the fireplace at the end of the ground floor. A figure cloaked in white stood facing the fireplace.
"Mr Giovanni." I bowed. "What brings you to our briefing?"
"The ground report from Agent King worries me. Vampires are quite troublesome." He paused. "I wonder if it was a rogue or if the council have violated our treaty?"
"Our treaty?" Dita questioned.
"STIGMA formed a peace treaty with the vampire head council fifty years ago." I explained. "No vampire is to drink from man without the human's consent and no human is allowed to hunt vampires without the will of the council. If a vampire or human break this arrangement then each side's party has five days to catch and execute the criminal. If this is not resolved then the other side will step in and resolve the problem."
"An accurate description of our laws." Mr Giovanni murmured. "I will be approaching the vampire council tomorrow regarding this incident. Our vampire specialists will start sweeping the surrounding area of the village for clues. Also council member Vakos will be at the Yule ball this coming Friday.
"What shall we do in the meantime?" Dita asked.
"Information on that village is being gathered as we speak. The town is quite old and any records pertaining to its origins are hard to obtain. However the slaying of those ten women was not random and very intentional. The question is why. You will assist the analyst and research department in anyway possible."
The thought of being shut away in the library for the next few days didn't quite appeal to me. "Mr Giovanni, would I be able to join the vamp team in searching the surrounding area? It would be a better use of my combat skills."
"It would also be a waste of your intuition and investigative skills. I believe you also have some vacation time after the Yule ball as well. You wouldn't be able to get back from Canada in time. That is all. Dismissed." He then left us silently as if to express the finality of his orders.
I sighed. "Great. Two days in the library. What more could I ask for?"
"Come on, Alex." Arkan grinned. "At least there's no danger of any of us dying in here."
"Except of boredom." I replied.
"You used to love sneaking into here during lecture." Melissa teased. "Now you avoid this place like the plague."
"Well I'll be the first to admit that I'd rather be out there kicking ass than hitting the books. Never mind that." I took my seat. "So far all we have is the facts. We have ten dead women bled out by vampires which explains the loss of blood with one blood spot on the wall. Our significant factors are the number ten, women, blood stains and vampires. Has anyone marked the murder scenes on a map yet to see if there's any pattern emerging?"
"I tried that already." Arkan replied. "I can't see any pattern."
"Forward it to me anyway and I'll take a look. Dita and I will research the significance of the number ten and blood marks, Charlie I want you to research women in relation to the number ten. Arkan and Mel, please look into any historical vampire murders including all these factors."
"Sounds like a plan." Charlie said.
"Until we have more information on the town and its people, this is really all we can do. We'll begin tomorrow morning at 8am sharp and convene at 2 pm after lunch to cross check our information. Any questions?"
No one said anything.
"Good. Everybody go home and get some rest. I'll see you all tomorrow at eight."
As they left I collapsed back onto my chair. This was my first major assignment in months. It had been strangely quiet on the supernatural front lately. I would have gone so far as to say it had been too quiet. Or maybe I was just bored. I was so used to perpetually being close to being killed that living in peace and quiet was uncomfortable for me.
"A penny for your thoughts?" I whipped my head around. A tall blonde haired woman dressed in a loose white man's shirt and black leather pants stood behind me holding a pile of ancient looking books.
"Hey Trish. It's been a while."
"It has been." Trish looked around. "Have you seen Vergil? These books are for him."
I shrugged. "The last time I saw him he was leaving. If you just want to leave them in his office you can. The door's unlocked."
"Whatever." She disappeared into the shadows. I smiled in her direction. I had never really gotten to know her too well but I liked her well enough. She was quiet, confident and didn't fuck around. How she put up working with Dante was a complete mystery to me. They were total opposites of each other.
"So how have you been?" She asked as returned from completing her task.
"Well up until recently bored. How about yourself?"
"Same as always."
"You gonna be here all night?" I asked.
She nodded. "I promised Vergil I would help him with some research."
"Well I'm going to the gym to practice my sword play." I stood up and stretched. "Let me know if you get bored with popsicle head."
I swear I heard the smallest of chuckles from Trish as I exited.
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I had changed into red track pants and a blue tank top that was cut off at the midriff. I sat on the blue mats in the sparring area of the gym with my eyes closed as I concentrated on my breathing.
I always put a lot of effort into 'cleansing' myself of my thoughts before picking up a weapon. I wanted to regain some control in a world where chaos ruled and human emotion caused more damage than any pistol or sword. I wanted to be able to have some freedom from the conflict within my heart. After all, if I couldn't control myself, the most dangerous weapon of all, how could I wield a blade properly?
I grasped my black wooden bokken with the light brown wrapping on the handle and jumped to my feet. While only a training sword, it was still deadly in the hands of the right person and mirrored the sleek deadly elegance of the katana.
I took first position and tried to imagine having opponents to fight. I was never good at using my imagination. I suddenly wished I had Carmen or even Adrian to spar against.
"Okay, Alex. There's a vamp in that corner. Go get him." I muttered unenthusiastically. It was no good. I couldn't visualise anything. So I practised each position over and over again.
Finally I came to number six and swung my bokken around my head. I closed my eyes and sank back into a defensive position. This time I would use the power of my imagination…provided I didn't run into any walls.
"Okay vamps, here I come!" Keeping my eyes closed I launched myself at my imaginary target. I imagined the vampire with a sword as well. As my katana came around to collide with his sword, a very real sword impacted with mine.
I opened my eyes. A brown bokken had connected with my black one. The owner stood there waiting for me to respond.
"I thought you were in the library with Trish."
"She said you were in here practicing." Vergil raised his bokken. He had changed into black pants and a black sleeveless shirt, revealing his well muscled arms. "My work is done for the day. I thought you could use some company."
"Oh." Occasionally Vergil would join me for training. But that hadn't happened in a long time. He didn't so much as avoid me as picking when he wanted to interact. It was just the way he was. I was one of the few people he knew at STIGMA outside of the library. It was only natural that he would gravitate towards me. It wouldn't have been nothing more than that.
"Shall we begin?" He asked.
I regained my composure and once again took first position. "I'm ready."
And so we fought. The sound of wood emanated from our fighting again and again. I knew he wasn't using his full speed and strength against me. Otherwise I don't think I would have been able to keep up with him.
Eventually Vergil started backing me into a corner. He always won no matter how much he slowed himself down. It was inevitable but I had to say that I was lasting longer against him than our previous matches. Slowly I had been managing to adapt.
Soon enough I felt the wall back against my back and mentally cursed. There was no way I could ever beat him in a one on one with just a sword. I waited for Vergil to pretend to land a killing blow. Our training swords collided for the last blow. I struggled against him.
"I guess I win again. Though you are getting better."
I attempted to push harder against him. "What's the matter, Verge? Afraid I might bi-"
The next thing I knew he was kissing me. Vergil AKA Frosty the snowman had me pinned against the wall and was kissing me. Soft and slow and first but then harder and desperate. I dropped my sword, wrapped my arms around his neck and reciprocated.
Slowly he moved his arms to wrap them around my waist, bringing me closer to him. I arched into his body. For the colour of his skin, he was surprisingly warm.
"Vergil," I whispered as we broke apart for air and he started trailing kisses down the right side of my neck.
"Alex," He breathed into my ear. "Do you trust me?"
"Yes."
In that moment pleasure turned to pain. Unbelievable, excruciating white hot pain wracked my entire body. It seemed to come from a sharpness in my neck. All different colours flashed before my eyes.
I fell to the ground. Vergil reeled back from me. He had partially shifted into his devil form and blood dripped from his mouth.
"Oh god, Vergil what did you do?" I whimpered as I put my hand to my neck and found blood.
"What have I done?" He whispered. His humanity left him and he flew upwards through the glass skylight. I struggled to my feet. Whatever he had done, it was bringing me down fast and possibly to my death.
My vision was starting to blur as I stumbled down the hallway. I collapsed on the ground.
"ALEX!" Micah was running to me. Everything was turning to black.
"Micah, find Trish." That was all I managed to get out before I lost consciousness.
Author's note: Well I'm heading a little bit darker than the last story.
Devilrebel: Welcome back! Thanks for the first review! Please keep them coming.
Next chapter: Infected With You.