Chapter 2 - Spade
"Denise saw and was grabbed by the ghost? Blimey Charles, what have you gotten yourselves into?"
"You'll know as soon as we do."
It was the next day, the afternoon sun shining in the windows of our bedroom as I rested in a chair on the phone with Crispin, a fellow Master Vampire. He went by Bones to everyone else and is one of my best mates. The telly was on, turned up just loud enough to keep others from possibly listening in. The less who knew about our strange encounter with these "ghosts," the better.
I already gave Ian a ring, hoping to gain more information. Between Ian's dealing with the more obscure and illicit side of the Undead world and his wife Veritas, who used to be the vampire equivalent of a cop, judge, and executioner, I figured they would've known something. But this was the first either one had heard of such ghosts like those we met last night. I wasn't entirely surprised Ian hadn't heard of such ghosts given that he was old as I was, but I had been more hopeful about Veritas given that she was over 4,000 years old.
Thankfully, Ian and Veritas were both intrigued and planned on looking into it through their own means.
It was frustrating not being able to give either Ian or Crispin more details. Or at least, more details about that monstrous creature who seemed to be a ghost. As for the ghost girl who saved Denise…
"And it ran off as soon as you showed up?"
"Yes," I quickly lied.
It was not that I didn't trust Crispin, Ian, or Veritas to know about the ghost girl, this 'Dani Phantom' as it were, it was that I wasn't sure how they would react to the news.
This girl was strong, strong enough to make that other ghost run off and that creature had been strong enough to make a meal out of a moose last night. Given our history with ghosts, Crispin might want to join the investigation to put an end to it as soon as possible. And where Crispin went, his wife Cat was sure to follow. There is no reason to pull them away from Canada any time soon. And Ian and Veritas would definitely want to come along to investigate, but their more forward approach may scare the girl away. Because as reliable as Ian could be, he could be a right asshole when it came to doing something he wanted.
But she saved Denise.
My darling, brave Denise. That ghost's presence was far stronger than I had anticipated, forcing me to actually take time to hunt it down. As much as I don't blame her for looking for me when I took too long, it's difficult to appreciate her bravery when nothing filled me with more terror than hearing her scream my name like that.
And this Dani Phantom saved her. She even stuck around to defend her from me, not knowing that I would never harm my wife. Judging by the look on her face, she didn't know what I was or what to expect, but she was still determined to fight me. Despite her strength, she had looked young, and if it wasn't for her otherworldly traits of glowing green eyes and her ability to float, she would have easily blended with other kids on Halloween night in that little black-and-white superhero costume.
But perhaps she truly was that young and hadn't had much interaction with other species of the Undead World. Most likely she has been around long enough to recognize other members of her kind and to determine who meant harm or not, but has had no experience with vampires and ghouls yet. Or even encountered Marie LeVou, the VooDoo Queen of New Orleans.
'Scary man' indeed if this was the case.
With so little unknown about the girl and her ghost species, as well as now owing her a debt, I decided to keep quiet about the girl for now.
"You're sure you don't want me to come to America, Charles? I'm sure Kitten can miss me for a couple of days if you need it," Crispin reasoned.
"We'll be fine. I'll bring it to your attention again if it's necessary. Ian's as well."
A pause on Crispin's end, then, "If it's necessary," he agreed.
"Cheers mate. I should go, I've got to confer with Alten on some matters that need to be watched before Denise and I keep investigating."
"Until our next call."
I ended the call, taking a moment to put my thoughts together before I make a call to Alten, my most trusted member of my vampire line. But if Crispin and Ian weren't going to be told of the ghost girl, neither was he.
"You know, I feel bad we didn't get to enjoy what I packed last night."
I took a breath, taking note of Denise's honey and jasmine scent. It was deeper than I was expecting. "You needed a different sort of comfort from me last night, darling. I would never regret giving you-" My words cut-off as I caught sight of her wearing her anniversary "gift."
Well, well, well. Clearly, Alten can wait.
Her dark, mahogany hair cascaded over her shoulder, leading my eyes to roam over the lace and satin piece she wore. My eyes met hers, a lovely brown that always reminded me of chocolate, so warm and inviting. Though chocolate bars weren't a thing until much later, I quite enjoyed the hot chocolate drinks that were around when I was still human and Denise's lovely eyes brought back such memories.
"I mean, if you really do need to talk to Alten, we can wait-" I cut her words off with a kiss before she could entertain that treacherous line of thought any further.
Yes, Alten and this ghost girl investigation can most certainly wait.
The air was cool but given that the cold didn't affect my kind like that of humans, I wore a black coat along with the rest of my dark clothing to help me blend into the night better. Denise was not with me this time, and it took some convincing to make sure she stayed home for the time being. Yes, there were circumstances where she was helpful in a pinch, but I did not particularly care to put her in the path of this creature again.
The warehouse in front of me was currently quiet given that its occupants during the daytime were home after the day's work. The rest of the yard was silent as well, leaving me to wonder just what the ghost was thinking coming here.
I had seen it leave the house when the Phantom lass had chased it away, but not where it went. Thankfully, the creature was too dimwitted to continue to hide its presence, so there have been sightings reported in the human news of it around this area.
Fool. Once I got ahold of it, it would regret even thinking about harming Denise-
A light flickered on in the warehouse, its sudden luminescence stark in the night.
Intriguing.
Can't imagine that ghost needs light at all, not that it was intelligent enough to recognize that. Perhaps it was a human who came back in to finish up some work?
Best go in then and rescue the poor bloke then. Denise would be quite put-out if she heard I did nothing to help.
The door was easy to open once I twisted the knob hard enough to break the lock. I inched it open slowly to make sure it would not alert the human or ghost of my presence. Better to explain why I was there if I had to rescue the poor human from the ghost instead of before. People tend to not react well if they believe you don't 'have' a reason to be there. But as I made it further into the warehouse, it changed from a place of industry to something entirely different.
A laboratory of sorts, complete with curtained off sections, test tubes, monitors, and even hazmat suits hanging to my right. It was obvious that the warehouse was not built to house this, but clearly whoever needed this space was ready to set up shop. Just one light from the ceiling illuminated the area, creating shadows that I could stick to without being seen, but some of the lamps on desks were turned on as well. Before I could wonder too much about who was bloody daft enough to be here at such an hour, I saw her.
It was the ghost girl.
Her back was turned to me and I could see that she was wearing that black and white outfit again, though there was no sign of that scratch on her arm. Perhaps it is what she died in. A horrid thought really. Even if death is an essential part of the Undead World, children should never be forced to be a part of it as ghosts. Her snow white hair was in a ponytail, but the ends of it turned wispy and floated slightly. Even if I can't see them now, I had seen her glowing green eyes back at that dilapidated house, a brighter shade compared to the green of vampires.
What was she doing here? Was she after that ghost again?
She was holding some papers, reading some of one before switching to the other, as if she was looking for something. Her shoulders sagged and she groaned slightly before she took the time to compile the pages back into a neat pile and floated over to another desk, opening its drawers and pulling out some more papers to rifle through.
"Where is it, where is it?" she muttered, barely a whisper.
So she is looking for something. What exactly would a ghost child be looking for in a laboratory? Would she even be able to understand what she was looking for? Unless Denise and I misjudged her behavior and she was actually much older than she looked, I couldn't imagine there would be much a child would understand from scientific papers. Unlike Crispin and Ian, I've tried to keep up with modern academic sciences as I had been raised with better education than most, and sometimes it was too advanced even for me.
"Here we go," she whispered triumphantly. I could see graphs and tables on the couple of pages she had before she folded them up and tucked them in a pocket in her pants.
Fascinating. Best to try and talk to her now as it looks like the creature wasn't around here. I moved slightly to get closer and she gasped, spinning around as her green eyes frantically swept around the room. Her gloved hands balled into fists.
There's no way she actually heard me-
"Hey! If you're there, come on out! I'm not afraid."
Well. I'll be damned.
Admittedly, I wasn't as quiet as I could have been, but I hadn't expected her to actually hear me. Knowing when the jig was up, I moved forward into the light. A gasp as I came into view and then her eyes moved up, trying to catch my face before her head had to move up as well. She gave up on that once she realized how much taller I was than her and instead floated higher off the ground so we were more eye to eye.
Interesting that she gasped, a very human thing to do. Was she so new as a ghost that her human habits still lingered?
"It's you! That pretty lady- Denise's husband. The definitely-not-a-human, human looking guy."
'Definitely-not-a-human, human looking guy' is the first I had ever heard someone describe one such as myself, but I couldn't argue at how accurate it was. It did, however, prove my theory. She isn't aware of vampires or ghouls, after all. It looks like we are on equal terms at the moment.
"Yes, the 'Scary Man' as you put it. I do believe my wife would disagree." I brought up my hands to quote her title for me last night.
She was a mix of sheepish and indignant as she responded, "Well, can you blame me? You're all… tall, dark, and brooding. The way you emerged from the shadows just a minute ago proves me right." A pause, before "What are you doing here anyway?"
"I could ask the same of you. I am here looking for that miserable sod that decided to try and make a meal out of my wife last night," Waving a hand towards her pants, I continued, "Clearly whatever you were looking for, you found."
The girl suddenly looked nervous, her eyes darting around the room as she took on a defensive stance and began to float back to put some more distance between us. She is still scared of me, I realized. And she is probably right to do so since I haven't done much to assuage those fears. I made my way to the desk closest to me, ignoring her flinch as I leaned back against it, taking on a more relaxed stance. Hopefully, this will get her to talk more.
"Do relax, I have no intention of harming you. You saved my wife. And I don't take that lightly." She relaxed significantly, though remained slightly on guard. Good. It means she's both cautious and smart enough to not let her guard down completely and trust a stranger blindly.
"Perhaps we can play a game. You answer a question from me, I answer one of yours. Since you don't know what I am and I am not sure what you are exactly, I would say it's fair play."
"You don't know what I am? I'm a ghost, obviously." Her tone of voice said 'duh' without her actually saying it. Cheeky little poppet, apparently.
"I've seen ghosts, even had to help take one down a while back. You are not them. Or at least, you are not like the ghosts I've seen."
She looked genuinely confused, taking a moment to ponder what I said before replying, "Do you mean those figures in the graveyards? The guys who look really human but are always intangible?"
"Yes, those are ghosts. Most act like broken records, repeating a certain memory or moment in their lives, but there are a few who are aware of their surroundings. Even then, you aren't like them."
She took another moment to think something out before responding, "My ghost sense did go off around them, so they must also be ghosts, just a different type. I wasn't lying when I said I am a ghost because I am, as well as that monster back at the house. We're just not that type of ghosts. We're always solid, with some ghosts looking like humans, others looking like monsters, and the weak ones looking like living blobs."
Ghost sense? A different type of ghost? What the bloody hell was she going on about?
Ignorant of my confusion, she piped up, "My turn! What are you? You look too human to be my kind of ghost, but humans don't have fangs or glowing green eyes."
"I… am a vampire." My fangs slid out and the green glow of my gaze lit up the area slightly. "More specifically, I am a Master Vampire. Meaning I am the Master of my own line of vampires as well as being more powerful than your average vampire. You may call me Spade. As I understand from my wife, you're Dani Phantom."
There was a lot more to being a Master Vampire than that, but there was no need to go into such details. As it was, the ghost girl didn't seem frightened at learning I was a vampire. If anything, she seemed intrigued, nodding her head at her name.
"Whoa, retractable fangs! That's so cool. No wonder I thought you were human," and then the guard came back up as she continued, "Doesn't that mean you bite people and drink their blood?"
"Yes, though we do not have to kill everytime we feed, like some myths say. A few sips, and they can go on their merry way. Otherwise, I do not think Denise would've married me."
Denise was more open-minded than most, especially considering that her first interaction with vampires was one actively trying to kill her as he fed, but even she had her limits.
"Considering I came across that moose carcass last night, does that mean your kind feeds as well?"
"Yeah, I don't know what was up with that dude," she shrugged her shoulders. "It's not that we can't eat human food, it just depends on the ghost, I think. My cousin fights a ghost named Ember who plays rock music and she gets stronger the more her human crowd cheers her on, and there's another ghost who poses as a therapist because the more misery she absorbs, the younger she looks. So some ghosts feed on human emotions."
So did Heinrich Kramer, using the fear from his victims to make him strong enough to become solid. But this sounds like it produced more immediate results than his plan did, which took decades to get to the point that he did.
"Cousin? Your kind can have families?"
She seemed excited to talk about her cousin before she changed her mind, her expression shutting off.
"Sure. We can have relatives."
Fascinating. She loved to talk about her kind and clearly wanted to talk about her cousin, but decided against doing so. Why? What about her cousin made her hesitate?
"Does your cousin have a name? Does he fight other ghosts often?"
"Hey! I haven't asked my question. And I don't wanna talk about him. Don't vampires have families?"
Just play along for now, Spade. Forcing the issue won't get you anywhere.
"Not in a traditional sense, no," I started, realizing the topic was going into dangerous territory. Humans were far more modest than vampires, nudity being the biggest issue, but even I knew that the discussion of sex and pregnancy wasn't something you casually discussed with a child. Especially since the more we talked and the more I watched her mannerisms, the more Dani Phantom truly seemed to be just as old as her appearance.
And that made her current status as a ghost all the more tragic.
"We can develop bonds that resemble families with those of our choosing, but it depends on the vampire. Menchares, the vampire who turned me, had become somewhat of a father figure for me when I was first turned, but I know that is not the case for every vampire. As it stands, we cannot have children. Vampires are created by other vampires."
Of course, the exception to the rule that always comes up was Cat, Crispin's wife, as she was born half-vampire. Historically, Joan of Arc was too. But the circumstances surrounding her birth are far too specific to easily replicate: that the vampire has to be so newly turned, that some parts of him were still human enough to impregnate a woman. Cat's father hadn't even known she had existed until she started making a name for herself as the 'Red Reaper,' killing vampires on behalf of the U.S. government's orders.
But there was no need to go into that with the ghost lass. Again, dangerous territory and it didn't matter as Cat was no longer half-vampire, even if her birth made her different from other vampires. Perhaps it was time to move onto what exactly the girl was doing here.
"Why are you here? Does it have something to do with those papers you grabbed?"
"Uhh, maybe a different question."
My eyes narrowed.
"Not likely. Answer the question."
"No." Her posture was all defiance now, arms crossed and chin held high. "Ask a different question. What I've got is none of your business."
I straightened up from my leisurely stance. Did she really think she could avoid the question? Of course she did, she was a child.
"I told you I have no intention of harming you and I meant it. But that does not mean you are exempt from avoiding questions. Especially if it's related to all of this."
"Oh yeah? And what are you gonna do about it?"
Stubborn little chit.
I lunged forward, intending to grab her before she disappeared. But even with my preternatural speed, she was ready. A blast of green light shot towards me and I was thrown back, knocking over a desk. Bloody hell, that hurt! The stinging sensation stopped as I picked myself up in time to see her flying up and away. She even turned around and stuck her tongue out, blowing a raspberry.
"We're not bloody finished! Get back here!"
I flew up after her, but she was already going through the roof. I made my way to the closest window and kicked it open. The glass shattered outwards as I sped through, trying to catch up with her before she disappeared.
But she was already gone.
I swore viciously.
Between that monster ghost being on the loose and this makeshift laboratory clearly meant to be hidden away in a warehouse, I had the sinking suspicion that something bigger was going on. And Dani Phantom was not only present both times, but actively investigating things. I needed to not just find her again, but figure out a way to get her to trust me… somehow.
Ah, bloody hell.
Author's Note: Spade's going to have his hands full with this one. Dani isn't going to make it easy for him when it comes to her cousin.