Chapter 23
“See, I told you it stinks,” Vicky muttered as the team made their way down an alley, clinging to the shadows, hoping to ferret out a Vampire who might be willing to talk. Though most were not willing to work with “the enemy” occasionally they’d find one who was willing to provide information for the promise of safety.
“Smells like flowers to me,” Edmund, a Guardian who was born and raised in London and was fairly new to the team remarked, flashing his charming British smile at her.
“Nah, that’s just me you’re smelling,” Vicky replied with that delightful grin, and Aaron felt the muscles in his stomach tighten.
“Let’s just focus on the task at hand and put the odors out of our minds, shall we?” he asked, though the rest of the team would take it as an order. Technically, he was only in charge because Ward had given him the file, and he took it upon himself to organize the exploration, but it seemed that more often than not, if Aaron was out in the field and Ward wasn’t, the teammates looked to him for direction. Sometimes, even when Ward was present, he found himself giving instructions, which were quickly followed.
“There’s movement up there,” the fourth member of their team, Frank, an older Hunter with a thick cockney accent, pointed out. “I got butterflies.”
“Me, too,” Edmund agreed, which was an indication that they may have stumbled upon a Vampire in their first try, but when the noisemaker emerged from the shadows, it was only a stray cat.
“Perhaps it is a feline Vampire?” Vicky offered.
“There is something nearby,” Aaron said, though he wasn’t certain where the feeling was coming from either. Not only did he have the same nervous sensation in his stomach that his teammates described, he could sense fear. Wherever the Vampire was, he knew they were there, and knew what they were.
He had discovered his special talent a few years after he first started training with Ward.
At first, he thought he had none, but as his Guardian skills began to increase, so did his ability to sense the emotions of others. Though he wasn’t sure how it worked or even how to describe it, he somehow knew when others were fearful, happy, sad, or in some cases, lustful.
The team continued on, traipsing their way through narrow alleys and down broad streets. Though they were dressed all in black, there was nothing particularly unusual about them, and the humans they passed paid them no mind.
It wasn’t until after they split up that he and Vicky made a discovery between two apartment buildings. “A Vampire’s been here recently,” she said. “I can smell it.” Her special talent, a particularly sensitive nose, allowed her to pick up on the scent of their enemy, though she had to be in fairly close proximity.
“Are you sure that’s not just Stinkytown?” he asked, teasing. He could sense it, too. It was the same Vampire as earlier, and as they closed in, the fear intensified.
“There—up ahead in the corner,” Vicky whispered without moving.
Aaron saw it too, the shadow of a man hunkered against the wall, trying to crouch in the darkness.
From here, the alley appeared to dead end into another building, but they couldn’t be sure there wasn’t another narrow passage that led off to the side; nor could they be certain he wouldn’t attempt to break through one of the glass windows of an apartment building. Before he even took a step forward, Aaron raised his hands so that the Vampire could see he had no weapons. “We just want to talk to you,” he called, his voice clear but not overly loud.
The form didn’t move, and for a moment, Aaron thought they may have a chase on their hands, but a few seconds later, the man unfolded himself and began to cautiously move forward.
“I didn’t do nothin’,” he shouted as he stepped out into the middle of the alley, his hands in his trouser pockets.
“I believe you,” Aaron calmly replied, taking only two steps forward, Vicky behind him. He didn’t actually believe the Vampire was innocent; after all, why make such a statement if it were true? Nevertheless, he did not believe this was the person responsible for the recent deaths in the area that had made the newspapers. “We are just looking for information.”
“’Bout what?” he called, his left foot twitching as if he might turn and run at any second.
Aaron and Vicky took two more cautious steps forward. There was still a good twenty feet between them. “About the murder last week, the one where the lady had her throat cut.”
“She weren’t no innocent,” came the reply, the left foot still twitching. He wore a long jacket and a cap, and with the sporadic movement, the hat jiggled on his head. “She was a streetwalker.”
“We know that,” Aaron nodded, two steps closer. “That’s why we’re just looking for information. Do you happen to know if it’s even our concern?”
The man clearly understood his meaning—was it a Vampire who was responsible or a human? There was a lengthy pause, and eventually he said, “Yeah.”
Aaron felt Vicky’s hand on his arm, her way of hiding her excitement that they’d gotten an answer to a very important question. “What about the first two?” he asked, still keeping his distance. They could hear each other easily now without shouting.
“You mean the one last spring with the pipe? Nah. We don’t work that way. You know that.”
“Didn’t think so,” he replied. “And the stabbing victim? Early August?”
“Nah, I dunno,” he shrugged.
Aaron filed that information away. If that one was a Vampire, it wasn’t the same fellow who was responsible for the death last week. “You know him?’
“Nah. Not yet. But I will. We all will.”
“What does that mean?” Vicky asked, no longer able to stay silent.
The Vampire startled at the sound of her voice, and Aaron put his hand up to still her.
“I dunno,” he shrugged again. “I gotta go.”
“No, wait,” Aaron said, hoping he would give just a bit more clarification. “Who is he?”
“Who is he?” the man echoed. Then, he broke into maniacal laughter which bounced off the sides of the brick building around them, filling the space with the sounds of insanity. “I’ll tell you who he is. He’s the Ripper.”
With that, the man turned and bounded down the alley, disappearing somewhere in the shadows near the end where the other building stood guard.
“The Ripper?” Vicky repeated. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted, “and I’m not sure I want to find out.”
