The Pilgrims of the Damned: A Vampire Thriller, page 9
“Heavenly Dusk?” Amelia asked.
“It’s what they call the gods,” Sam said. “Their… pantheon, if you will.”
“I spent time with the First Lord,” Amelia said. “He seemed like a pious man, a believer in his faith, but he didn’t really talk about anything to do with Heavenly Dusk, or even mention that his gods were old vampires.”
“Members of House Idolator talk about their faith a lot, but they don’t usually mention specifics unless they trust you,” Miles said. Being a member of House Venator, and then an Arbiter for the Assembly, had ensured that he was left out of the preaching process. Hopefully, that wasn’t about to change. “I’m sure you’ll hear more about it once we’re on the pilgrimage.”
“Speaking of which, are you ready for it?” Sam asked Miles, who shrugged in response.
“Have you done it before?” Amelia asked.
“Not the pilgrimage, no,” Miles said. “No phone lines in Maine, and for some reason it’s a gigantic black spot when it comes to getting a signal. Radios are spotty unless within close range. Satellite phones work, but otherwise, getting information in and out is hard work, and done via letters and couriers who work with, or at least alongside, the pilgrimages. The last time I went there, it was like going back in time, and it doesn’t sound like much has changed in the decades since. It’s a bit of a culture shock, so I understand. Have you had all of this explained to you?”
Amelia nodded. “No phones, no signal, no Wi-Fi. Drest said that there’s a satellite phone in Bangor, but otherwise, once in Maine, you’re on your own.”
Miles stood and stretched.
“What else can you tell me about the Magistrate?” Amelia asked.
“After Seattle, the Magistrate were hit hard,” Sam said. “Lots of investigations, lots of arrests for people who helped those involved there. It’s made those who stayed a little hardened. These are the believers. Those who think that vampires are nothing but a threat to the human way of life. Who have bumper stickers that say things like A good vampire is a dead vampire, or Ashes to ashes is the only way. There are rumours of Magistrate hit squads moving in Maine and New Brunswick, hunting down any lone vampire who wanders away from one of the settlements. Don’t know how true it is, because we can’t get reliable news in and out of the place in a timely fashion.”
“Also, the Magistrate are still backed by powerful people,” Miles said. “If this guard killed Heather, and if he’s a Magistrate member, there’s a possibility that they ordered her death to keep her quiet.”
Amelia nodded. “I know, and I also know that if they did kill Heather, I want to ruin them. I’m not scared of going after the Magistrate. Some people just need to be reminded that they’re not gods, and they don’t get to do whatever they like without some form of recompense.”
Sam laughed. “I like you,” he told Amelia, pointing at her. “I wish there were more people who thought like that, but thinking like that is also more likely to get you killed.”
“Which is why I’m here,” Miles said.
Amelia yawned. “I’m going to go sleep. It was lovely to meet you, Sam. Thank you for your time.”
Sam nodded his head toward Amelia, who said good night and turned in.
“You think she’s for real?” Sam asked after several seconds of silence. “She’ll go after anyone if it means getting her friend’s killers?”
Miles nodded. “I think she’s got a lot of anger about how her friend was killed. About why her friend was killed. But she’s also keen to return the grimoire to its rightful owners. The fact that the people we’re after are responsible for both hopefully makes it a little easier for her. Whatever happens, this group with Stuart and Liam isn’t going to be arrested and tried by a jury of their peers. If they’re linked to the Magistrate, they’re never gonna let them get to a position where they can spill secrets. It would end up being a political hot potato, at best.”
“That also why you’re here?” Sam asked.
Miles looked over at his friend and shrugged.
“You might have to make sure there’s no evidence that any of those who killed Heather are ever found again,” Sam said. “That they just vanish. You think that’s why Drest asked you to help Amelia?”
Miles nodded again. “Partially.”
“And what’s the other part?” Sam asked.
“That I keep an eye on the Magistrate,” he said. “It’s possible that they’re gaining power in Brunswick. And if that’s the case, it could cause long-term problems for everyone in Maine, especially vampires.”
Sam stared at Miles for a moment before he said, “You ever hear about the Maine curse?”
“Really?” Miles asked. “A curse.”
“People say that if you were there when it fell, you feel compelled to return,” Sam said.
“People say that, do they?” Miles asked with a smile. “What people and how much crack have they been smoking?”
Sam chuckled. “I figured that might be your response, but I’ve heard from a few Agents who have links with people in Maine that no one wants to leave. That they’re fixated on the early 1980s, the poor bastards, and those who do feel compelled to return. I’m just saying, it might be a lot stranger than we first thought.”
“Superb,” Miles said. “I’ll keep an eye out for people who are compelled to stay in Maine for reasons they don’t understand. I’ll also keep an eye out for monsters, psychopaths, werewolves, witches, and I assume roaming gangs of delinquents.”
Sam slapped Miles on the back. “Man, I don’t envy you.”
“If it helps,” Miles said, “I don’t envy me either.”
Chapter Eight
Sam went back to his hotel in Boston an hour before dawn, and Miles crashed on the bed in Amelia’s basement. Just before he fell asleep, he reminded himself of the need to stop at an emporium and get some blood. He wasn’t sure what the pilgrimage did for food while on the road, and he had little desire to be hunting rats and mice on the trip. He’d done that in the past, but it wasn’t what he’d call a fun experience. Vampires could live on the blood of vermin, as their biology destroyed any pathogens that might exist, but it wasn’t what Miles would call a good life.
Sam was already at the door of the house when dusk started. He greeted Church with his usual exuberance, passed Miles a file and a blood pouch, and went to make himself some coffee.
Miles drank the blood pouch, savouring the feeling of how it made his body relax. He hadn’t realised he’d been so tense.
“You needed that, I assume,” Sam said as he brought out a pot of coffee onto the decking.
Miles nodded. “Thank you.”
“You’re going to Kittery tonight, yes?”
Miles nodded again, leaning back against the chair and operating the lever at the side to move to a more comfortable lounging position. “Whenever Amelia gets back from talking to her Detective friend. Apparently, whoever had Patrick Rodgers—the guard who let Stuart and his little party of friends into Maine—in custody doesn’t have him anymore. They’re moving him to somewhere more appropriate, or something. Amelia got a call about an hour ago. Seemed pretty flustered.”
“You know I’m not coming with you to Maine, right?”
Miles looked over at his friend. “You’re on holiday, sorry, vacation. You’ve got those tickets for Broadway. Can’t be missing that. In all seriousness, thanks for your help. It’s good to get a sense of the people we’re looking for.”
“Do we actually know who killed Heather, though?” Sam asked. “Like, a name, or photo?”
“Well, someone kidnapped and killed her,” Miles said. “There’s CCTV of her car being driven into Maine. But we don’t know who did it yet. I was hoping the guard they arrested might have more information.”
“I’m thinking it was on the orders of Liam, rather than Stuart,” Sam said. “He’s used people in the past to do dirty work for him.”
Miles considered it for a while before he said, “You know what bothers me? Why would Liam help Stuart? Stuart asked around about being turned into a vampire to save his life, and Liam hunted vampires.”
“You’re thinking that maybe their aims aren’t quite aligned?” Sam asked.
Miles nodded. “Stuff isn’t quite all adding up. Is there magic that can cure cancer?”
Sam didn’t even have to consider it. “No.”
“So what’s his plan?”
Sam took a little longer to reply. “Nothing good.”
“That’s all I’ve got so far, too,” Miles told him, looking over at the nearby glass table as his phone began to vibrate. He picked it up, noticing Amelia’s name on the screen, and answered it.
“Can you come to the address I’m sending you?” she asked before Miles could speak.
“Sure, what’s going on?”
“Patrick escaped from custody,” Amelia said.
“What?” Miles almost shouted.
“He had help,” Amelia continued. “Patrick’s lawyer wanted his client moved to an Assembly facility, and he escaped mid-move.”
“Fantastic,” Miles said with a sigh.
“Also, the person who sent in the footage of him was found dead this morning. Drowned himself at World’s End.”
“Do we have any idea where Patrick is?” Miles asked. “And did the second guard die before or after he was released?”
“Before,” Amelia said. “Patrick was caught on CCTV walking toward the address I sent you. He stole a car with GPS in it, dumped it close by. We’ll find him.” Amelia hung up.
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Miles said, getting to his feet and checking his messages, then copying the address and adding it to the navigation app on his phone. “You hear that?”
“I’m a vampire,” Sam said. “Of course I heard it. We going then?”
“Church!” Miles shouted out, and a second later there was the sound of the dog running through the nearby greenery and up the stairs toward the decking.
They were in the car two minutes later, with Miles driving as he followed the fifteen-minute journey to the address Amelia had sent him in Burlington.
“Humans just can’t help but get in trouble, can they?” Sam said as the little blue car on the BMW’s computer screen edged ever closer to its destination.
Miles had nothing to say to that, but there was a pit of fear in his stomach that he couldn’t shake. He took a corner a little too fast, and the vehicle fish-tailed slightly before he got it under control.
A few minutes of tense driving later, and they’d reached their destination in Burlington. It was a grey stone, two-storey office building, with a small parking area out front and well-maintained lawns on either side. The building had lots of large windows and a flat roof, with a welcoming presence. It looked to Miles like the kind of place that would have bring your pet to work days.
Miles parked out front and got out of the car, letting Church out, who sniffed the ground and set off at a steady pace as Sam followed them slightly down the dark, badly lit road to where Detective Payton Hauser and Amelia sat inside his Ford Expedition.
Amelia got out of the car first, with the Detective following shortly after.
“So, what’s going on?” Miles asked, looking between the pair. “You found our escapee yet?”
“We know he was here,” the Detective said, pointing to a CCTV camera outside a nearby building. “Security guard there is ex-job and was very helpful. Found the abandoned car a block away; he was caught on camera running at speed.”
“From something, or toward something?” Sam asked.
“You sure he went in there?” Miles asked, pointing to the building closest to them.
The Detective removed his phone, typed in his passcode, clicked on the correct file, and passed the phone to Miles. The picture quality was excellent, which Miles was grateful for, but while it showed the man running, it didn’t show who or what he was running from. The man removed a key from his pocket, opened the door of the nearby building, and darted inside. Miles continued to watch the feed and caught a glimpse of a shadow in the distance. He paused the film, rewound it, and played it again.
“What is that?” Sam asked, over Miles’s shoulder.
“I have no idea,” Miles admitted, passing the phone back to Detective Hauser. “The time stamp says that was forty minutes ago, that right?”
The Detective nodded.
“So Patrick has been in there for forty minutes,” Sam said. “What’s in there that’s so important?”
“We should go find out,” Miles said.
“It’s his lawyer’s office. Stupid thing is that he might have been released anyway,” the Detective said. “His lawyer quoted the fact that Maine isn’t under US law anymore, and would actually come under Assembly law.”
“I’m Assembly law,” Miles pointed out.
“Me too, sort of,” Sam said.
“Well, this man is now your problem,” Detective Hauser said. “Captain said that maybe we should let some Assembly people know where Patrick was last seen so that he can be someone else’s problem. Here’s me, letting you know. Enjoy.”
“Was he really going to get released because no one wants to deal with Maine?” Miles asked. “Seems short-sighted.”
“Not the first time,” Sam said. “There’s a law that states all crimes in Maine, human or otherwise, come under Assembly jurisdiction. It’s not exactly something used regularly, but some law enforcement pull it out when the humans don’t want anything to do with something that happened in Maine. Maine is the talking point no one wants to talk about. The last presidential election felt like it was trying to see which one of them would bring it up first. You know what the official policy for Maine currently is? Ignore it and hope it goes away.”
“That’s just magnificent,” Miles said.
“No one said it was a good policy,” Detective Hauser said.
“Like the murder of a young witch, and the letting in of a group of highly trained murderers,” Miles said, feeling as if his involvement in the whole situation had been a lot longer than the few days it had actually been. “Love political bullshit. So, this Patrick guy is in there?”
“Seems to be,” Amelia said.
Miles turned back to look at the offices. From where he stood, there were no lights on, no parked cars, no semblance of anyone actually being inside.
“Church, do a sweep,” Miles said.
Church set off at a gentle run and was quickly gone from sight.
“What happens if she runs into trouble?” Detective Hauser asked.
“She gets fed,” Miles said without looking back at him.
Fortunately for anyone stupid enough who might have designs on hurting a large Doberman, Church made it back to everyone without getting covered in blood and gore. She licked Miles’s hand and whined a little as she pawed the floor.
“She smelled something she didn’t like,” Miles said. “Let’s go check.”
Detective Hauser placed a hand against the holster at his hip.
“Not you two,” Sam said. “Humans can stay here and not get eaten.”
“This is my—” Amelia said.
“If it’s nothing, we come get you,” Miles said. “We find something, we come get you. Right now, my exceptionally fierce dog, who is capable of taking down vampires, smelled something she didn’t like. And both Sam and I noticed movement on that footage we can’t confirm the identity of. If there’s another vampire out here, that’s nae good news for the squishy species among us.”
Amelia didn’t say anything, and Miles and Sam ran off with Church in front. The vampires followed the dog around to the rear of the building, which consisted of a large piece of lawn in front of the beginnings of some woodland. There was a pond between where the three stood and the start of the woods.
Miles walked up to the pond, which was large enough to have three wooden benches around it comfortably, and looked up to the woods. Something made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end, and he took a long, deep breath through his nose, trying to smell what was bothering him. He let the breath out slowly through his mouth, and tasted something on the air. Blood. New blood. He looked around on the grass, and spotted the droplets of blood on them.
“I smell blood,” Sam said from closer to the business premises. “Fresh.”
“Me too,” Miles told him as he rejoined his friend. “There’s drops here. That’s nae what Church was worried about.”
Church pawed the ground again and let out a slight bark.
“There’s something exceptionally bad here,” Miles said, licking his lips, the taste of blood still in the air.
Miles looked up at the building beside him and made out a mark on the top, by the roof. “What is that?” he asked, pointing to it.
“Let’s go look,” Sam said, turning into his vampire self. His face gaunt, his eyes two dark pools of red, the hands growing long talons which he used to scale the side of the building as if it were nothing.
Miles did the same, arriving just after Sam. The scent of blood was considerably stronger on the flat roof. He looked down on Church, who remained where she was, looking up at them, whining. “Be right down,” Miles told her. “Do another circuit and go back to Amelia.”
Church barked that she understood.
“You’re gonna wanna see this,” Sam said.
Miles turned toward his friend who was crouched down by a smashed skylight. Glass was scattered around it, as was a smear of blood.
Sam touched the blood and licked it. “Human. Fresh. Probably happened around twenty minutes before we got here.”
Miles walked back to the edge of the roof and looked down at Church. “Be careful, there’s something out there.”
Church barked, and turned to the woods. If there was something out there, it wasn’t going to have a fun time if Church got hold of it.
Miles looked back to where Sam had been standing to see him drop through the smashed skylight. He ran over and dropped through after, landing next to a pool of blood that was smeared across the wooden floor. The room was thirty feet by thirty feet in size, with several identical wooden and metal tables, along with plastic chairs around them. At one end was a kitchen, with microwave, oven, and fridge.
