Absolution - The First Book Of The Vampire Immortalis Trilogy (10 page)

* * *

Adam and Anna were back home, discussing the days events. “I think I'll pay a visit to our friend in hospital shortly,” said Adam.

“No, it's better if I go. He will recognise you instantly and may cause a scene. He won't be expecting me.”

“Good idea. I still can't believe he was actually carrying my picture around with him on the off-chance that he would bump into me.”

“Well, with a ten million dollar bounty on your head you better get used to it.”

“If the Sabbatarians find out I'm here, this place is going to be awash with vampire hunters. I'll phone Henry later and let him know what's been happening, but the sooner we catch up with the Hundeprest and then get out of here, the better.”

Anna put her arms around Adam. "I'm worried about what they might do to you."

Adam hugged her back and for a moment they stood in each other's arms. Part of him wanted to hold onto her forever, but he knew that there would be no happily ever after for Anna and him.

"What are we going to do about Liam?” Anna asked.

“I'll see what I can find out tomorrow, but the police wanted to question him in relation to the murders. Maybe they think he knows something.”

“You could smell vampire when you met him and now the police are questioning him,” said Anna. “There's no smoke...”

“Lisa's in danger,” said Adam suddenly. “She's scared.”

Anna was a little taken aback. For a vampire to have that kind of connection with the emotions of a human meant that Adam must have feelings for Lisa. “Do you know where she is?”

“No, but she would be the first person Liam would contact when the police released him. Take Oscar home. I'm going to see if I can find her.”

* * *

Peter Cameron was beginning to creep Lisa out. He was standing far too close for comfort and his bad breath was enough to make her turn away every time he opened his mouth. He also appeared to be deliberately blocking her way. She was starting to feel very uncomfortable when the street lights hummed back into life and the alleyway was once again bathed in a yellow glow. The two large silver crosses around Lisa's neck glistened in the light and Cameron took a step backwards, as if dazzled by them. Then, without saying another word, he pushed past her and went on his way.

Lisa started to walk quickly along the alleyway, looking over her shoulder to make sure that Liam's creepy Dad wasn't following her. She was almost within touching distance of the safety of Fairways, when she walked straight into someone. She almost jumped out of her skin. She was about to scream when she realised that she had walked straight into Adam.

“Oh my God, this isn't good for my heart,” said Lisa. “I'm never using this shortcut again at night.”

“Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Are you okay?”

Adam was half listening to Lisa telling him she was fine and half looking beyond her to see if anyone else was in the alleyway. The smell of vampire was unmistakable. “Did Liam walk you home?”

“Don't talk to me about Liam. He was in a really bad mood. He's just got the bus to Galashiels to get to work.”

“What did the police want with him?”

“I don't really know,” replied Lisa. “It's weird. They asked him if he believed in vampires!”

“Vampires? That is weird,” said Adam. “Come on, I'll walk you home.”

The two teenagers made their way along the road to Lisa's house. They said goodnight and Adam watched Lisa walk down the short path towards her front door. Then she turned round, came back to where Adam was standing, and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you,” she said.

“Thanks for what?” asked Adam.

“I don't know. Just for being you.”

Adam smiled. “Any time.”

With Lisa safely in her house, Adam turned to walk away. That's when he saw Anna and Oscar standing at the road entrance to Fairways, waiting for him.

“I thought you'd gone home,” said Adam as they started to walk up Chiefswood Road together. “It was a false alarm anyway. Lisa had been arguing with Liam and was upset. I must have picked up on that.”

Anna knew that didn't make sense. A tiff between girlfriend and boyfriend would not have registered with Adam, not like it did anyway. She knew that she couldn't be with Adam herself, and that their time together was limited, but it wasn't easy knowing that he had feelings for someone else. She decided to let it go all the same. All that really mattered was that the Hundeprest had not struck again.

“Looks like the police might be on to the Hundeprest too,” Adam added.

“Why?”

“Because they were asking Liam about vampires.”

Nick Webster was sleeping in a hospital bed recovering from emergency surgery on his right knee. He had suffered a stellate fracture and the doctors had operated to restore the kneecap to its original position with the use of tensioned wire. Anna looked at the notes hanging on the end of his bed and smiled. At the top were the initials RTA, meaning Road Traffic Accident.

Movement in the recovery room must have woken Nick. He was still feeling groggy from the anesthetic and there was only low-level lighting on in the room, but he could make out the figure of a woman in a white coat attending to his drip.

"Doctor, did anyone phone to speak to me while I was asleep?" Nick asked anxiously, hoping that someone from the Sabbatarians had answered the frantic voicemail he had left just before going into theatre.

"I'll ask the nurse at reception for you."

“Thanks. Can I get a drink please? I'm really thirsty.”

Anna finished changing the drip bag and poured a small glass of water from the jug on Nick's bedside table. “Just take a few sips. Your mouth will be dry folowing the operation, but if you drink too much you might be sick.”

Nick did as he was told and gave the glass back. “Thank you, doctor.”

“You're most welcome,” said Anna. “Someone will check on you again in the morning.”

That someone would find Nick dead. The morphine overdose in the saline drip would see to that.

CHAPTER TEN

“We're closed!” Gordon shouted as he emerged from the stock room, adjusting his clothing. He had told that fool of a girl, Lauren, to make sure that the snib was down and the door locked when she left ten minutes ago. Gordon was working in his Kelso salon, just like he did every Saturday, and had stayed behind after closing to do some “stock taking” with the new girl, Chloe. He just wanted to shoo away whoever it was who had come into the shop after hours so that he could get back to the business at hand.

“Peter, what are you doing here?” Gordon was startled to see his partner's ex-husband standing in his shop. “If you're looking for Yvonne, she's not here.”

“Hello, Gordon. I was passing by and thought I'd just pop in to say, hello.”

Gordon could only assume that Peter had been drinking. He knew all about how he had taken to the bottle when Yvonne had left him. There was no obvious reason for him to be in Kelso, let alone to “pop in” to his salon. “I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave, Peter. I'm up to my eyes with stock-taking.”

Just at that moment, Chloe stuck her head around the door of the back room to see what was keeping Gordon. She too was adjusting her clothing.

“Go back into the stock room, Chloe, there's a good girl,” Gordon said to his employee. “I'll be with you in a moment. Mr Cameron is just leaving.”

“No rest for the wicked, eh, Gordon?”

Gordon's face was turning an interesting shade of embarrassed red. “I must insist you leave immediately.”

Peter turned and walked towards the shop's front door, but instead of opening it to leave, he pushed the snib up to lock it from the inside. He then turned back to face Gordon.

The hairdresser had had enough of this tomfoolery. “Right, if you don't leave these premises immediately, I'm calling the police,” he said, heading in the direction of the reception desk and the telephone. “Your hooligan of a son tried to smash my salon window in Melrose yesterday so I really am not in the mood to be playing silly games.”

Peter lent over, picked up the phone, yanked its cable out of the wall socket, and then dropped it on the floor. “Oops. Looks like your phone might be out of order, Gordon.”

Gordon looked at Peter in total disbelief, wondering what on Earth had come over him. Since he had been with Yvonne, contact with her ex-husband had been minimal, but on the rare occasion that they had crossed paths, Peter had shown little in the way of animosity. He had always given the impression of a deflated, beaten man. Now he had a vengeful glint in his eye and a nasty edge to his voice.

Peter grabbed Gordon by the throat with one hand and pushed him hard towards the door that Chloe had poked her head around, sending the hairdresser flying across the room and knocking him clean off his feet. “Let's see how the stock-taking is coming along, shall we Gordon?”

Gordon tried to pick himself up off the floor, but in what seemed like a blink of an eye, Peter was standing right over him like a man possessed by demons. The hairdresser started to crawl his way into the stock room, his eyes fixed on his tormentor. “If you leave now, we can forget this ever happened. I won't breathe so much as a word about it to Yvonne.”

Peter just laughed, but just as he was about to say something, Chloe lunged at him with a pair of scissors. Two or three times she lashed out, stabbing the intruder in the arm. Peter continued to laugh as he stepped over Gordon to grab hold of Chloe by the wrists. She was only sixteen years old, barely out of school, but her tiny frame struggled with all its might to break free from Peter's grasp. Gordon lay on the ground, horrified, as Peter sunk his teeth deep into Chloe's neck and watched as she slumped lifeless to the floor. “Dominus noster Jesus Christus te absolvat. Dominus noster Jesus Christus te absolvat.”

Peter now turned his fury on Gordon, pulling him into the depths of the stock room by his ridiculous ponytail and slamming the door shut.

“Please, don't hurt me!” pleaded Gordon. Don't hurt me! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!”

“Quiet, my child, quiet. I have come to absolve you of your sins. You will soon be at peace with your Maker. And the man that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. Dominus noster Jesus Christus te absolvat...”

“Adam! Adam!”

Adam was enjoying a long hot soak in the bath when he heard Anna screaming his name. Grabbing a towel, he ran downstairs to the hallway where he found Anna preparing to leave the house.

“He's killing someone now. I can hear him giving absolution. Get dressed quickly and go to Lisa's. Find out where Liam is and phone me. I'll check the town and will wait for you at the abbey.”

When the doorbell went, the McIntyre family had just sat down to their evening meal.

“I'll go,” said Lisa, her chair being nearest the front door.

“If it's Connor tell him I'll be out in half an hour,” her brother, Ben, shouted after her.

When Lisa opened the door, she was surprised to see Adam standing there.

“Hi. Just checking you're okay after last night.”

“Yeah, I'm fine, but I've just sat down to dinner.”

“Oh, sorry. Didn't think what time it was. Is Liam with you?”

“No, I've not heard from him today. I tried phoning him this afternoon, but his phone is switched off. The battery must be dead.”

“Right. I'll let you get back to your meal. Give me a call if you're going down to the abbey later.”

DCI Buchan sat at his desk with only a whisky bottle and a glass tumbler for company. The other officers working on the murder cases had called it a day over an hour ago, but Buchan was still in his office, working on the murder cases.

The picture that emerged from talking to family, friends and colleagues, was that Jim Scott was an arrogant man who didn't suffer fools gladly. That meant there were plenty of people who disliked him, but not enough to resort to murder. The idea that he might have crossed the wrong person or persons in a business deal also looked like a non-starter. He didn't run with a bad crowd. In fact he was squeaky clean. His property business was profitable and he had plenty of money in the bank. The murder of Steven Baker had all the trappings of a random killing so maybe Jim Scott had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time too.

The puncture marks to the neck had now been confirmed as bites. Traces of saliva on both bodies also confirmed that both men had been bitten by the same set of what the pathologist described as fangs. The possibility of both killings being Satanic in nature had brought the town's close-knit group of goths into the frame, but all enquiries suggested that they were just normal teenage kids. The Cameron boy that they had pulled in did not seem capable of murder, but maybe he wasn't acting alone. He certainly wouldn't have been able to hoist Jim Scott's body up onto those goalposts without accomplices.

A knock on Buchan's door disturbed his train of thought. “Come in!”

“Sorry to bother you, boss,” said the desk sergeant standing in the doorway to his office. “Just had Kelso Police Office on the phone. There's been a double murder.”

Buchan reached for the phone on his desk and dialled a number. Only then did he gesture for the desk sergeant to leave. If the murders were connected to the ones in Melrose, he wanted to know immediately.

Anna was waiting for Adam outside the entrance to the abbey. She had been all over Melrose in the hope of picking up the scent of the Hundeprest, but without luck.

“Lisa's at home, but Liam wasn't there.”

“Did she say where he was?”

“No, she's not heard from him all day. She pointed out his house to me when we were walking around Melrose the other day, and I called in on my way down here, but no answer. The house was in complete darkness.”