Chapter 81
“All right, let’s get to it,” Jeffrey began. He pulled a large sheet of rolled up paper from the edge of the table and unrolled it, revealing it was a blueprint. “This is the Clifton Hotel, the one next door. And these are the rooms in question. Every evening, the bell hop, one of our informants, a turncoat, witnesses four bloodsuckers, two men and two woman, going in and out of these two rooms. They go out around midnight and come back with several intoxicated people, laughing and carrying on. The next morning, there’s no sign of anyone leaving the room, but when housekeeping makes up the room, there’s no trace of them in there either.”
“What are they doing with the bodies then?” The question came from Bridgette, and Jamie was glad she asked it because he had wondered the same thing. Unlike Vampires, people’s bodies just didn’t disappear into ash.
“No one knows,” Jeffrey admitted. “But if we stop the monsters, then we will stop the killing, and then no more people will disappear.”
“So it doesn’t really matter what happened to their other victims,” Sol shrugged.
“Doesn’t matter?” Joseph echoed. “Of course it matters.”
“Not much we can do for them now,” Sol shot back.
“Hopefully, when we get inside, we’ll get some sort of a clue as to what they’ve been doing. It’s been a few nights, so the turncoat estimates they’ve brought at least a dozen people up, none of which have rematerialized.”
“Why is he just telling us now?” Gidgette asked, her voice very similar to her sister’s.
Shrugging, Jeffrey said, “Hell if I know. He told me yesterday, but I was waiting for Dr. Joplin to get her before we formulated a plan. My understanding is these guys are pretty ruthless, and I don’t want anybody getting hurt unless I have somebody here who can put ‘em back together.”
“Hope he’s handier with a scalpel than Dr. Marlin,” Sol muttered, swinging his new, unlit cigar back and forth in his hands. Jamie figured he must be a chain-smoker. Having seen the effects on the lungs first hand, that was another reason for the doctor not to like him.
“He is,” Jeffrey assured him. Jamie didn’t know who Dr. Marlin was, but he figured he was another Healer who used to work with this team. “Now, let’s go over the plan.”
Jeffrey launched into a rough proposal of what they would do to intercept the Vampires and follow them back to their lair, where hopefully, they could trap them inside of their room and destroy them. “Being as though they are on the third floor, it is possible they could try for the windows, so we’ll have to have a team down there, ready to pounce should they make a run for it. But as vicious as these bloodsuckers seem to be, I can’t imagine they won’t try to fight their way out the front door.”
“So we’ll be in three teams then?” Abel asked, his voice deep and gruff. “That leaves us thin.”
“I’ve called in some temps from other parts of the city to station outside,” Jeffrey replied, standing and putting his hands on his hips, still studying the map. “We’ll be in our regular formations. Bridgette and Gidgette with Abel and Joseph with Sol. Kit, you’ll go along with them. I’ll be positioned in the hallway, Jamie alongside me. If one of them should happen to get out, I’ll be able to cut them off. And if one of you three should happen to get cut up,” he said, gesturing at the Hunters, “Jamie here will be able to put you back together. I hope.” He eyed Jamie with a bit of skepticism, and the doctor wasn’t sure what to say or do, so he just swallowed and tried to smile.
“I don’t like it,” Sol said, shaking his head. “There’s no way that’s going to work.”
“Beg pardon?” Jeffrey asked, leaning forward over the table, as if he couldn’t hear when it was certain he’d understood every word and just didn’t like what Sol had to say.
Sol paused to light his cigar. He inhaled deeply, waving the match out and dropping it into his nearby ash tray, blowing out more slowly than necessary as if he were composing his thoughts. Jamie didn’t think the was the case, however. Hot heads never needed to collect ideas before they spoke. “Nah, we go crashing in there, Kitten there’s gonna get messed up. And Abel can’t take two ferocious vampires by himself.”
“We’ll be there,” Bridgette—or was it Gidgette—spoke up.
“Yeah, like I said, by himself.”
The merriment was gone from the other team members’ faces as Sol no longer seemed that funny. Jamie glanced at Kit, and she looked more than a little offended, perhaps because Sol had made a joke out of her name or perhaps because he had no faith in her.
“Well, then, what do you propose?” Jeffrey asked, crossing his arms.
“We take them one at a time, one room at a time,” Sol replied, shrugging as if it were so simple. “We’ll all go in and end the first two. Then, we’ll all go to the second room and take out the next pair.”
“That will never work.”
Jamie hadn’t meant to speak, but as soon as he had, all eyes flickered to him. He could feel the red creeping up his neck.
“What’s that now?” Sol asked, chewing the end of his cigar as he leaned forward.
Clearing his throat, Jamie said, “It’s just… they have telepathy. They can warn each other. There’s no way we can do it that way.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize you’d brought in the world’s foremost expert on Vampires, Jeffrey. Pardon me.” Sol put his cigar in the ash tray and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest.
Jamie wasn’t sure if he should say more or just let it go. He looked at Jeffrey who seemed to be hiding a bit of amusement behind his otherwise very serious expression. “I think we should try the plan as I have outlined it. If it doesn’t work, one of two things will happen. Either you’ll drive them out the windows, or they’ll come out to us, and Dr. Joplin and I will manage to stop them.”
Sol scoffed. “Or, I’ll get double-teamed and have my ass handed to me.”
“I can fight, you know?” The meek voice belonged to Kit, and heads swiveled to look at her. “I might be young, but I’m not inadequate.”
“That remains to be seen,” Sol replied, still solemn.
Kit’s lips pursed, but she didn’t say anything more. Jamie wondered if she’d been in battle before. Surely, she must’ve, or else Jeffrey would’ve mentioned it, wouldn’t he have?
“Look, I’ve already gathered the other team. They’ll meet us at 1:00 at the hotel. I’ve got one stationed alongside our turncoat, and as soon as he sees them coming back, he’ll send her out to let us know, not that she wouldn’t likely recognize them herself. Then, we make our move.”
“Great. You ever reattached a severed head, Doc?” Sol asked, leaning forward and resuming his puffing.
Jamie ignored the question since, obviously, Sol would know that wasn’t possible. He caught Kit’s eyes, which were narrowed. Despite Sol’s story earlier, he seemed to be a bit of a thorn in this team’s side. Jamie wondered if he wouldn’t be putting at least a few pieces of him back together, eventually, if he approached everything the way he did smoking cigars, with gusto and abandon. That was a good way to get hurt when it came to Vampire hunting.
“All right. We’ve got…” Jeffrey checked his pocket watch, “three hours before I want to meet back here to move into position. Go have some dinner, make sure your weapons are polished, and be back here at 11:30.”
