Chapter 40

Stevens woke the next morning with the mother of all hangovers. That extra bottle of whiskey wasn’t such a good idea after all. He dragged his sorry body kicking and screaming from the inside, out of the bed and into the bathroom. It was sometime around midday. This was to be the first day of the rest of his life. He had decided that the time for wallowing in self-pity was over and it was time to put the incident with Amy and his ex-partner firmly behind him. He had met someone that he could be in very great danger of falling in love with.

He switched the shower on and as the bathroom quickly filled with steam, he clipped away at the three weeks of growth that had taken over the lower part of his face. He didn’t fancy the full clean-shaven look, that wasn’t quite his style, but he desperately needed to make what was there look not quite so ‘devil may care’. Stepping into the shower, the hot water washed away the bitterness that had covered him, as he scrubbed frantically in a bid to remove any trace of the past. When he emerged from the shower, he felt refreshed. It took at least an hour in total for all the grooming but the end result was worth it as the new, well-groomed man stared back at him from the mirror. Feeling alive again he stepped from the bathroom and was faced with the tricky part of the process, finding something clean to wear.

He had been clever enough to keep a suit in the back of the wardrobe. It was a sort back up plan, a ‘just in case’ suit. There in case of an emergency, saved for funerals or court appearances. Although given the lack of enthusiasm over keeping his room clean and tidy and the build-up of things like dishes and laundry not to mention rubbish, finding clean underwear and socks would be an extremely difficult task. And the thought of going ‘commando’ for a day was enough to make the hairs on the back of Stevens’ neck stand. He could never understand the appeal to letting everything swing free.

As soon as he had dressed and was neatly presented, Stevens went down into the main house to beg his sister Julia for her help. He asked her if she would wave her magic wand over his room and give it a good spring clean. He finally persuaded her by producing a handful of notes in an attempt at bribery. She agreed to clean the place up, wash the dishes and sort out his laundry and even went as far as agreeing to shop for some new clothes for him. She convinced him that if he was going to turn his life around as a ‘new man’, he would have to look the part in order to feel it. Stevens was sure that there had to be some mad female philosophy behind, which was something he was never able to understand.

He telephoned Detective Williams and asked if he could meet with him. He wanted to discuss the letter his father had left, questions needed answers and the only person remotely qualified to give them was Detective Williams. They arranged to meet at a small café on Willow Street. It was quiet and out of the way, there would be no risk of anyone they knew overhearing anything they had to say.

It was nearly three in the afternoon by the time Stevens got there and his partner had already ordered coffee for both of them. They had been sitting for about twenty minutes or so before Williams finally got up the courage to speak.

“Alright what’s on your mind? I know you didn’t ask me here for the culinary delights this place has to offer. So, what is it?” Williams asked, although in the back of his mind he knew what their meeting was about.

“My father, why didn’t you tell me?” And there it was, Williams had tried his best to prepare for this question. He knew someday that his partner’s son would come looking for answers, and even though he had seen things, unbelievable things, it was still a little hard for his own brain to accept. If someone had come up to him in the street and told him that vampires existed he would have laughed and thought the person crazy. But to know, one hundred percent, that it was true, to have seen it with his own eyes, was all a bit too much. And then to have to relay it to someone else, was even harder to carry out. That meant that he was admitting to believing in something that should be fiction.

“I wasn’t sure how much you knew. Believe me, I wanted to tell you everything. But I didn’t know how you would react. It was such a long time ago.” Williams pulled out a box of cigarettes from his pocket and set them on the table, offering one to Stevens as he did. He lit one up. Nicotine was a definite requirement of this conversation. He waited for a response. But Stevens knew that he was still waiting to find out how much he actually knew. Stevens pulled the letter from his pocket and tossed it across the table. It confirmed everything, Stevens knew most of the story, and now it was time for him to fill in the blanks.

He explained how he found out. The case he was working on, the McCaine sisters. He’d had a gut feeling that it was murder but had no way of proving it. His partner at the time was Stevens’ father. They were told to close the case due to insufficient evidence pointing to foul play. Even though the family of the two girls swore it couldn’t have been suicide and they didn’t believe it either. Anthony, Stevens’ father told him about the vampires in the city. He let Williams into his family’s secret. He showed him the talisman and explained what the angelic script on it meant. He told him about the three angels and how they had created it with the purpose of banishing Lillith’s soul into slumbering.

“The night your father was murdered, I was there. I was in the car waiting for him when this girl walked up to him. Pretty little thing too she was and tiny. She looked no more than seventeen, long curly hair. But the way she lifted him, it was as if he weighed nothing and then she threw him against the wall, I was stunned. When she stuck her hand through his chest and ripped his heart out, that was it for me, what chance would I have had against her. No human could have done that, not that easy.” He stubbed the end of the cigarette out and lifted another one to light up again. He was shaken at retelling the story and Stevens could see it.

“A vampire killed my father? He mentioned in his letter that he thought someone was watching him.” He pulled the letter from the envelope and showed it to Williams who was frantically smoking the cigarette in his hand.

“Yeah well, I’d be careful if I was you. You do look awfully like your father. And if they are back in the city again, you can be sure they’ll be looking for you.” Williams continued chain smoking. They ordered more coffee as they continued talking. “I think your father said something about killing her would move her soul on. I think that if you find her, whoever she is and kill her, then this Lillith character will move on to another body.” He continued.

“I can’t go around killing people.” Stevens added. He lifted a cigarette feeling the stress of the situation a little now.

“Okay, but you can’t let them get her. He said something about her being a force unlike any other, and that no man would be able to stop her if she was released.” Williams said taking a drink of coffee. He looked up from the mug at Stevens who had a look of contemplation on his face. “Penny for them?” He asked.

“How the hell do we find her, where do we even start looking?” He was thoroughly confused.

Outside it was getting dark and across the city in the nightclub vampires were rising in tune with the setting sun. Sophia had been given a mission. She had the task of finding the last crusader. It shouldn’t be too hard. She had killed his father and as they shared the same genetic coding, they would have a similar scent, and taste. She set out into the city to find him.

She tried the usual haunts for police officers, she guessed that given his father’s horrific death he would no doubt want to follow in the footsteps of his ‘dear wonderful daddy’. She had almost given up hope of finding him in that particular night, there weren’t many places a person could hide but he was doing a good job, when she picked up a familiar scent. It was near Willow Street, it had to be him. She followed it to the café, and through the window she saw him. He had the same square jaw as his father, the same dark hair and blue eyes, for a human he was rather attractive. It had to be him, she found a shadowy place to hide and wait. And it wasn’t long before he got up to leave. The man he was with, she recognised also. Although he had aged some since she had last seen him, twenty years at least.

She watched patiently as the two men left the small café and went their separate ways. Of course, she followed Stevens. She would have to find out his name, this would call for a little skill. She would have to pick his pocket. Swiftly moving ahead of him she positioned herself that she could pass him walking the opposite direction and accidentally bump into him. Who would suspect such a sweet looking young girl?

As he passed the corner of the street she stepped out and into his path. She excused herself and held onto him in an attempt to recover her balance. That was the moment she lifted his wallet. He felt an icy coldness touch him. It was a strange sensation that left him puzzled for quite some time. And with her mission accomplished, she returned to the nightclub to give Caine the news.