Nightmare City

As I bounced and jostled over Gabriel’s shoulder, my view of the surroundings was fairly limited to the back of Gabriel’s pants. “You have something sticking out of your back pocket.” I told him.

He stopped, but I grabbed the slips of paper before he set me down. “Don’t just take things out of my pockets.” he warned, snatching the papers from my hands. He looked over them, then dropped them on the ground and walked away.

Curious, I bent down and picked them up. My eyes widened as I read the colorful font. “These are concert passes.”

“So?”

“There’s going to be a free concert at Central Park later this month. It’s like, all Callie was talking about. These passes let us go backstage.” I was getting more and more excited as I read the tickets, my words tumbling over one another. “Some people would kill for these.”

“Then sell them on eBay, I don’t care.”

“You don’t want to see Desyre that much, huh?” I ran up and walked beside him. We were back on the sidewalk now and close to where we parked the car.

“If I can, I never want to lay eyes on her again.” Gabriel’s profile was grim.

“She seemed to like you, though. She was a little strange, but nice. She doesn’t strike me as an enemy.”

“She’s not my enemy.”

“Then if she’s not an ex-girlfriend, and she’s not your enemy, why do you hate her so much?” None of this made any sense to me, why was Gabriel acting this way? Desyre didn’t seem all that threatening or sinister to me.

I had met vampires that wanted me or Gabriel dead on sight, like his ex-wife Nora or Callie’s sister Callisto (both of whom were dead now), and I had also met vampires that were helpful and even nice, like Callie and little Nora. I assumed that vampires were just like the humans they originally came from. Some were good, some were bad, and some were just batshit insane.

Desyre struck me as one of the good-ish, but slightly insane, types.

Gabriel sighed in annoyance, clenching his hands at his sides.. “I don’t hate her.”

“Well, you’re certainly exuding some serious dislike over here.” I observed. “Who exactly is she?”

We were at the parking garage now. “I don’t want to talk about it.” His voice bordered on a snarl.

“Fine, I won’t press.” I pocketed the passes, if Gabriel wasn’t going to use them, Callie and I would. “So, what’s our next step?”

“I don’t know.” He opened the car door roughly, stepping in and closing it loudly. I hurried into the car before he decided to drive off without me. Gabriel was looking at his phone, the glow from it’s LCD turning his pale skin a sickly green.

“David still hasn’t gotten in touch with you?”

“No, and it’s starting to bother me.”

“Starting? You’ve been on edge for days.” He shot me a look and I held my hands up defensively. “If he won’t answer his phone, why don’t you go and see him yourself?”

“You think I haven’t thought of that?” He glared hard at me, then looked away. “I don’t know where he lives.”

I relaxed a little. “Is that all? He has a condo on the other side of the island. I know where it is.”

Gabriel set his phone on the dash and started the car. “Tell me where, we’ll go now.”

“Now, like right now? It’s the middle of the night.”

“He’s a vampire, he’ll be up.”

I sighed. At this rate, I was never going to have a normal sleeping schedule. “All right, but only if I drive. You’re going to get us a ticket with the way you drive.” I scooted closer to the front seat. Gabriel glared at me again, but I was unperturbed. I made shooing motions with both hands. “Go on, get out.”

His eyes narrowed, but he opened the door and got out. I slid into the driver’s seat as he walked around to the passenger’s side. I buckled my seat belt and waited for him to do the same. “Seat belt.” I said when he just sat there and looked at me.

He gave me an exasperated look. “...why?”

“Because it’s the law and I don’t want a ticket, so shut up and buckle up.”

He sighed again, but obeyed. I entered David’s address into the GPS on my phone, then I started the car and pulled smoothly out of the space.

**********

We arrived just under an hour later, which was good considering the traffic. Just because it was the middle of the night didn’t mean that the streets weren’t completely clogged with cabs, limos, pedestrians, and buses.

There was free parking under David’s building, which was lucky. Especially since there was an empty space.

Gabriel looked up at the tall apartment building. It was clad in black glass that perfectly reflected the bright city lights. “Lucian lives here?”

“Yep.” I answered. “Up on the 17th floor. I think he owns the whole building, his practice is on the top two floors.”

“It’s going to be another fifty years before I’m not surprised by how much things have changed, isn’t it?”

I punched his upper arm, lightly, so I didn’t bruise my hand. “Just go with the flow and you’ll do fine.”

We took the elevator up, and it opened out to a short hallway leading to only one door. I guessed David’s apartment covered the entire floor.

I rang the buzzer and we waited. Ten seconds later, the door was opened by a rather frail looking young woman, who appeared to be only a few years older than I was.

“Can I help you?” she asked in a soft voice. She had straight brown hair that hung limply over her shoulders, and gentle gray eyes.

“We’re here to see David Lucien.” I said politely, taking charge before Gabriel could say something that would get us kicked out.

Her gray eyes looked over both of us, then turned to the side. “David is not home right now.” she said. He pale, thin hand clutched the doorknob.

“Do you know where we might be able to reach him?” I asked, carefully keeping my voice bright and casual. There was obviously something troubling the woman, and I didn’t want to exacerbate her worries. “We tried his cell phone, but didn’t get an answer. It’s fairly important that we see him right away.”

She hesitated, then shook her head slowly. “I’m afraid I can’t help you, you should try upstairs at his office.”

She started to close the door, but then Gabriel spoke up. “You’re his wife?” he asked, his voice laced with influence.

She paused, turning her eyes to Gabriel. “Yes, that’s right.”

“What is your name?” His eyes scrutinized her face, but in a sad way. I felt sorry for him. He and David weren’t that close, Gabriel didn’t even know his son’s wife’s name.

“Alice, Alice Lucien.” She looked up at Gabriel and her eyes narrowed slightly. “And you are?”

“My name is Gabriel, everything else is unimportant.” The influence in his voice was stronger.

Alice was unshakable in her curiosity, however. “Are you related to David? You look very much like him.”

“I’m his brother.” Gabriel lied smoothly.

Alice shook her head. “David told me Lucifer was dead.”

“I’m his younger brother.” he replied, without even so much as blinking. It was true that Gabriel kept his appearance in his early twenties while David looked perpetually in his mid-thirties, so this answer made more sense than the truth.

She opened the door wider and stepped to the side. “I’ll put on a pot of tea.” she sighed.

Soon, Gabriel and I were seated in a love seat opposite a large sofa chair. Alice set a cup of tea in front of each of us and took a seat in the chair. I picked up my cup and blew at the steam curling over the rim. I mulled over various conversation starters in my head, but Alice beat me to it. “I have not seen my husband in nine days.” she stated clearly. “I do not know where he is or how to reach him.”

“Oh.” I said, trying to cover my surprise. “Has he done this before?”

“Not in the five years we’ve been married.”

“Have you contacted the police?”

Sitting across from us, Alice looked less frail. Her shoulders were squared and her gray eyes were steely. Her cool expression was somewhat out of place against her fragile beauty. “I have not. David is fine, and he will come home when he’s done.”

“How do you know?” Gabriel asked, ignoring his tea completely. He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and lacing his fingers together.

“Because I know my husband better than anyone else.” she answered confidently. “I gave him everything that he has now. When he is bored he will come back to me.” She lifted up her teacup and took a delicate sip.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes. “You think he’s cheating on you.”

“Of course he is, I’ve seen her with my own eyes. She’s beautiful, but in an exotic way. All men, even great ones, grow bored eventually, it is a primal need. But he knows that I’m the one who loves him and will be here when he’s done with her.

“This woman, what was she like?” Gabriel asked softly.

Alice’s eyes narrowed. “It doesn’t matter what she was like.” she snapped.

“Of course.”

“Is this all you wanted to talk about?”

“No, actually.” I stepped in. “We wanted to ask David about a grave site. My great aunt wasn’t buried where we thought she would be.”

“There might be a record in his study.” Alice said, standing. “It’s this way.”

Gabriel and I stood and followed her through the apartment. The outside of the building was covered in black glass, but this apartment had no windows. Of course David would not want the threat of sunlight in his own home, but I wondered how he explained it to his wife. I would have to wait for another opportunity to ask though, since there were more important questions at the moment.

“Won’t David mind us going through his files?” I asked hesitantly.

“He’s not here to stop anyone.” Alice said easily. “You’re not planning on taking anything, are you? Or leaving a mess behind?”

I shook my head. “No Ma’am.”

“Then it’s not my concern.”

“I like you.” Gabriel said. “I wish my brother would have introduced us before this.”

“I didn’t know you existed before today.” Alice threw a skeptical look over her shoulder. “You weren’t at the wedding.”

I felt a force emanating from Gabriel, his influence washing over Alice. “Five years ago I was incapacitated. I regret not being able to attend.”

Alice stopped at a door and opened it for us. “Please keep it tidy.” She met my eyes and held my gaze for a long second. I nodded obediently.

Gabriel and I stood in the doorway, taking in the layout of the study. It was a large room, bookshelves lining one wall, filing cabinets on the other. Everything was done in warm oak and mahogany, even the filing cabinets were clad in wood paneling. The desk was a wooden monster, dominating the center of the room.

“I call the computer.” I said at once, hurrying over to the desk with it’s leather executive’s chair. Gabriel turned towards the filing cabinets, looking over the gold colored face plates.

“Of course it’s password protected.” I said in annoyance. I had read an article about the four most common passwords a couple of weeks ago. I quickly tried all of those with no luck. “Any ideas?”

Gabriel tested the handle on one of the filing cabinets and found it locked. He gripped it more firmly and gave it a quick, controlled pull. The lock snapped easily, making a cracking sound. He leaned his head back, looking out the door, probably to see if Alice was going to investigate the noise. Then he turned back to the cabinet and slid the drawer open fully. “Lucien has always been an enigma to me.” he said. “I don’t know what word he would choose to secure his computer with.”

“I don’t think David’s all that complicated.” I started typing in names. Nora, Gabriel, Lucien, Alice, Katrina, were no good. “He doesn’t talk about himself too much, but that’s because everything else about him speaks for him. He wears his status, in his clothes, his hair, that gold watch, those Armani shoes. He has style, but not a loud one. He wants you to know he’s successful, without blaring it in your face. He’s also a cunning, slimy weasel.”

“Do you say that because he tricked you into inheriting the house?”

“Before I met you, I thought I had worries, problems. I can’t believe I’m starting to miss them.”

Gabriel cracked open another drawer, while also checking to see if Alice was observing. “Problems? What kind of worries could you possibly have had? You’re practically still a teenager.” He pitched his voice high. “School is so lame, Mom never lets me have any fun. She keeps making me dress like a girl. My life is so tough.”

“Hey, I had real problems. Real crap to go through.” I felt my blood start to heat up. Just because he’d lived a few hundred years, it didn’t mean he could treat what I’d been through so lightly.

“For instance?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I replied, glaring at the screen. Clamming up was my usual response, it was automatic now. It didn’t matter anyway, it wasn’t as if any of that stuff was going to show up here.

“Have you tried Lucifer?” Gabriel asked.

“What?”

“For the password. Lucien looked up to his brother, try Lucifer.”

I typed in the letters, and the password screen blinked away, revealing the desktop. “It worked. Looks like you know him better than you thought.”

Gabriel pulled a thick file out of the drawer and dropped it on the desk. He pulled another chair over and sat down across from me. He began quickly scanning through the files, reading them much faster than I could.

David’s computer was very organized, folders clearly labeled. I browsed through them, pulling up everything that looked like it would be related to Katrina Riley. There was a lot of information, so I grabbed a silver pen and cream colored notepad from the drawer and began jotting down names, addresses, and phone numbers. “Looks like David was the one who kept up the payments to the fertility clinic after Katrina died. Why do you suppose he would do that? She’s dead, so it’s not like she can use their services.”

“I’m sure he had his reasons.” Gabriel replied. “Did you know there is another property under Katrina’s name? It’s right here in the city.”

“Cool beans, write down the address.” I slid the paper and pen over to him. “I found the payment information to the cemetery. He got the most expensive casket and a prime plot, but he didn’t have a funeral. Well, it’s not like anyone would have shown up, she alienated herself from her relatives quite effectively.”

“If anyone did show up, it wouldn’t have been anyone Lucien wanted to see.”

“I don’t see any records of another burial location. Nothing he paid for anyway. I guessed he could have buried her body somewhere else. Not at a cemetery.” I looked over at Gabriel, who was staring into space, his expression darkening. “What is it?”

“What if she’s still alive?” Gabriel said softly.

I blinked in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? She’s older than Grandma Alice, and she’s been in a home for a decade.”

Gabriel focused his dark eyes on me. “Alice?”

“Great Aunt Katrina’s little sister. She was just a baby when you razed her village.”

His eyebrows pulled together in a frown. “You said she was in a ‘home’?”

“Yeah, a retirement home, a place that takes care of old people. Like a hospital crossed with an adult daycare.”

“We should drop by, ask your grandmother when was the last time she saw her older sister.”

“Grandma Alice’s mind isn’t what it once was.” I told him. “I don’t think we’ll get anything useful out of her.”

“It won’t hurt to try.”

“Just how much of my family are you going to meet?” I asked irritably.

“I don’t know, where do your parents live?”

“My mom lives in Queens, outside your range of haunts. And you’re not getting the address.”

“You mention your mother specifically. What about your father?”

“No idea, I never met him.” Gabriel opened his mouth to posit another question, but I cut him off. “Looks like another fertility clinic was interested in Great Aunt Katrina’s genetic material. They actually offered to buy the eggs from David, several times.”

“They must have wanted them for some purpose.”

“Dude, some of these figures goes into six digits. They wanted those eggs badly.”

“Badly enough to perhaps break into a lab and take what they wanted by force?”

I peered at him around the edge of the monitor. “Could be. It’s a more viable lead than harassing my Nana. I’m sending the info to the printer now.” I looked around the office. “Wherever that is.” I heard a whirring sound under me and look down. I opened the bottom drawer and discovered a small printer chugging out a sheet of paper. “Never mind, I found it.”

Gabriel closed Katrina’s file. “Good, let’s depart. I don’t wish to overstay our welcome.”

“Yeah, David’s wife seems like more than she appears to be.” I folded up the paper and stuffed it into the back pocket of my jeans.

“Lucien would not have chosen her if she wasn’t.”

We tidied up, pushing the chairs back into place. Though Gabriel couldn’t repair the locks on the drawers he had broken, they still closed. Alice met us in the hallway. “I’ll see you out.” She escorted us to the door, drifting across the plush carpet as quietly as a wraith.

“May we meet again under better circumstances.” Gabriel nodded his head to her.

“Or else not at all.” Her mouth was thin, and her eyes were stormy.

“Touche.”

We were about ten feet away from the door when it burst open with incredible force, spraying splintered wood in all directions. A dark haired woman stood in the doorway, wearing a long dark coat, fingerless gloves, and steel toed boots. “Who do you think you are?” Alice exclaimed indignantly.

The woman’s eyes were locked on Gabriel, who stood next to me. She raised her arm, revealing a sawed-off shotgun in her hand. She deftly smacked Alice in the cheek with the butt of it and the woman crumpled to the floor.

Instinctively I rushed towards Alice. The woman raised the shotgun level to Gabriel’s chest. “Die.” she said, and fired.