The Curse of a Vampire

Angelie was a famous bar in Lyon. Many vampires frequented it, day and night. Most of them were normal vampires who wanted to calm their thirst for blood. Abel had quite the stock in his basement. If some people were wine collectors, then Abel was definitely a blood collector.

Stella barged in when the time wasn’t right. It was the happy hour and the bar was packed. She made quite an entrance and the eyes moved on her. She decided to cover her aura for the moment.
She didn’t want to make any more enemies than she had. She was in Lyon with one purpose: she wanted to find as much information about her father’s past as she could. That was a good start for her mission. She didn’t want to show her real face; not yet.

“They’re watching our every move” The younger vampire moved closer to Alex. That partially annoyed the older vampire. He wasn’t a nanny. Somehow, he was already feeling like a babysitter. He had Stella on one side and Gavin on the other.

“Stop acting like a girl. Shouldn’t you have more pride as a Kraftig?” Gavin sighed.

“I’m a bastard, remember? It’s not like I became a vampire because my father was so very loveable” Alex rolled his eyes and tried to shake Gavin’s hand off.

They had to go upstairs, in Abel’s office. If the bar looked old and rather worn out downstairs, the upper side was brand new. It had large glass windows and the furniture was modern. However, that didn’t explain the mess. Stella frowned and tried to move through the pile of clothes and pizza boxes towards him.

“Ah, here you are!” Stella raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. Abel got a few files from his desk and turned them around so she could read them. “These are unofficial documents of marriages between Aaron Gregory and a few women” Alex and Gavin turned their heads towards Stella. Her eyebrow was twitching madly.

“A few women” Abel nodded.

“A few women” Stella tried to contain her annoyance. That was ridiculous. “5 in total” That was even more ridiculous. “None of their names is Beatrice Blanche. All of them died from unknown causes”

“Then your investigation is equal to nothing” Abel scoffed and placed another document in front of her.

“I beg you pardon! Here is a file with Aaron’s illegitimate children. Except you and Nate, there were no vampire children. They died before they could have been born!”

“But vampires can’t have children” Gavin’s statement made all three vampires scowl.

“Vampires between them can’t have children. Male vampires can procreate with human females. Who are you anyway, kid?” Gavin glared at the informant and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

He was ready to reply when Alex interrupted him.

“No one important. What else do you have?” Abel murmured something under his breath and grabbed a book from the shelf. It was twice as big as a normal dictionary.

“This is a book about vampires and their ancestors. I found it a long time ago in an abandoned house. Do you know what I found inside?” Stella tapped her foot impatiently. That was a rhetorical question. “I found this little piece of paper” He gave it to Alex to read it out loud.

My dearest,

You got my heart wrapped around yours. I want to indulge into your sweet touch and feel your soft lips covering mine. I can’t seem to forget the moments we shared together. You are the one for me. You have the power to make me forget the world I live in and try to be a better person. Let’s meet again one day. I will forever wait for you under the bridge towards our love.

Sincerely,
Aaron Gregory

After Alex finished readying, he looked around. Gavin was trying not to laugh while Stella was on the verge of breaking something.

“Bridge towards our love” She repeated the last part. It sounded stupid no matter what way she tried to take it. “Was my father an idiot?”

“Yes” Abel’s response was too quick. “He didn’t mention any name, right?” Everyone nodded. “That’s because he had these written and given to a few women at once. He was an evil little bastard” Abel didn’t hold it in. He started to laugh bemusedly.

“Can we take these love letters?” Abel nodded.

“Bridge towards our love. What the fuck is this bullshit?”

As soon as they left Angelie, Stella walked to the nearest human bar. She ordered two bottles of whisky and was currently trying to order a cocktail. Alex called the barman and nicely bribed him into disappearing for a while.

“Well, maybe he wasn’t as poetic as you thought. But he was young and stupid” Stella growled. “Ok, maybe more stupid than he looked. But he was a handsome man, right?” Gavin didn’t know whom he was speaking about.

“The Aaron I know was” He stopped. Alex didn’t know how to continue. “Truthfully, Beatrice was the one who always spoke with the guests in a formal way. She was always so classy and beautiful”

“Then my mother was the one who taught my father how to be a noble?” That theory didn’t sound pleasing to her. She sighed and placed her head between her hands.

Stella didn’t find much about her father. There was nothing that sounded remotely close to how she remembered her father. On the other side, Nathan had a few problems on his own.

There was a war approaching. He could feel it in his body. The adrenaline of a fight, the blood dripping from the corpses; it was alluring. But it was also bad. He tried to shake that thought from his mind.

“You become weirder and weirder” James was an annoying bastard. But, Nathan felt better in the Arche mansion than in his own house. His father was running errands and was continuously working in the hospital.

“Don’t you have a woman to sink your teeth into?” James bushed it off and laughed. He walked towards the young noble and watched him intensely.

“Are you working, Nathan?” His tone was nothing but teasing the Gregory. “And it’s about a murder. How interesting. You and the sheriff became friends” Nathan was trying hardly to ignore him.

“It’s none of your business. Go kill something” James rolled his eyes. He grabbed one file and started to read it silently. It didn’t seem to be a normal murder.

“These are claw signs. She had been ravished on a full moon by a werewolf. Probably a novice from what I can see” Nathan sighed and leaned back.

“But there are no werewolves left in Firehole” James chuckled.

“Werewolves are wicked, Nathan. Just because they said they left, it doesn’t mean they all did” The Gregory vampire sighed. He was already tired and nothing big happened.