“Be right there.”
He put the diary back in his pocket. He read through the text a few times already. He was starting to think Randolph really cracked it and had contact with “the other side” in the weeks before he was attacked. There were subtle clues about his methods all through his works. Unfortunately, it was a lot of chaff and only a few kernels of wheat.
Matt drove the Civic to an expansive house on a peninsula in the River. The house was still spectacular, a large Georgian with a brick driveway that was guarded by two large lion sculptures. He stopped at the end of the drive and checked them out. They had been carved from limestone. The lawn and landscaping weren’t tended to, however, and the house was surrounded by nature’s return. Tall grass waved and saplings had cropped up everywhere in the lawn.
He knocked on the front door then pressed the doorbell button. An actual bell sounded, a deep chime.
The door opened. A scrawny thirty-two year old woman held it close to her body. She wore a sweatshirt and some dirty sweatpants.
“Hi, I’m Matt Wells, I called earlier.”
“Yeah, c’mon in. I’m Amy.” she said. Her skin was pale and she had dark circles around her eyes, and her lips were dry and cracked. She absentmindedly scratched her arm. Her eyes sort of wandered around.
“Your ad was pretty general--are you selling everything?” he looked around. The place had already been picked over. There were dusty outlines of long-sold furniture. The hardwood floors were all bare and slightly darker where rugs had protected the floor from the sunlight.
“Yeah… there’s still some stuffs here. My parents place. They’re both dead now.” she gestured vaguely. Her speech was slightly slurred.
“OK. I’ll take a look around. Want to walk with me?” he said. His heart went out to her. The tendrils of the Brotherhood extended from opium fields in Afghanistan and crept into her blood. She sold off the wealth of prior generations of her family to keep her addiction fed, and she enriched and gave power to a hidden force, an invisible empire.
They walked through the house. Nothing was left for him.
“Amy, look, there’s nothing here that I’m interested in. I’m sorry. Maybe the lion statues… I couldn’t take them today, but I can get them trucked home in a couple of days.”
“Can you pay me now…” she mumbled. She rocked back and forth. “Or if there’s anything I can do for you instead…” she twirled a finger in her oily hair and tried to look coy.
“I’ll give you $1500 for the lions.” he said. Her face brightened. “I’ll give you $500 in cash now and the rest when they’re picked up.”
“OK. That sounds great.” she smiled. “They have names.”
He smiled. “Oh really?” He pulled out the notebook. “What are they?”
“The one on the left’s Leo… the right one’s Aslan.” He smiled indulgently and jotted them down.
He fixed her with his gaze. “Two more things. I want you to remember a phone number. When you need to call, someone there will help you. Understand?” He spoke the number.
She nodded. The words didn’t make much of an impression through the fog of her mind. Then Matt sang it, something like a Gregorian chant. The digits lodged in her long term memory. She looked a little puzzled. “Mmm. OK.” she said and repeated the number.
“And one more thing… Can you feel a presence, a goodness, that there’s something that cares about your existence? I see you’re on a really dark path right now, but you can always go back into the light when you’re ready. The world needs you.” He patted her shoulder.
“Mmm.” She nodded blearily. He paid her the $500 and left. He made arrangements for the statues to be picked up.
Chapter Thirteen
The school bus pulled into the parking lot of Star Chariots. Dana hopped out and ran around the bus and put her hands up to the sky to stretch. Robbie, Johnny, and David piled off behind her.
“Damn! I need a shower.” she said.
“Yeah, I think it’s time for a hotel. My back needs a break.” Robbie said.
“You’re getting soft!” David laughed.
There was a tall metal sided building with an office on one corner. They went over and Robbie peered through the dark panes. He banged on the door. One of the bay doors slid open and a stocky man in coveralls walked out.
“Oh shoot, is that Robbie Wells?” he asked.
“Hey, Kenny!” Robbie went over and hugged the man.
“You guys wanna come inside, lemme shut this parts washer off.” Kenny walked over to the other side of the shop. Two shiny tour busses were parked in the building.
Dana climbed inside one of the busses. She poked her head out. “Wow, now that’s what we need. That’s traveling in style.”
Kenny got back and was drying his hands off. “Hands can get so dirty. It’s amazing they ever get clean again.”
“Speaking of dirt…” David let the segue fall like a lead brick, “what’s going on in Necropolis?”
“Oh man, I tell you what, the freak show there gets worse every year, I swear.”
Johnny asked, “What’s Necropolis?”
David said, “Oh that’s just our name for the Vampires in Nashville.”
Johnny said, “Vampires? Metaphorical, I hope.”
Kenny said, “No, these blood suckers are real.”
“What with fangs? Sleeping in caskets?”
Robbie laughed, “Ha! That’s the fictionalized version, but they are real blood suckers. You ever hear of Elizabeth Bathory?”
“Nope. Who’s that.”
Robbie said, “Well, every once in a while, one of these freaks gets caught, and she is maybe the most famous case. The reports say she bathed in virgin blood.”
Kenny jumped in, “but it’s not a bath; today these guys get transfusions from kids. They keep ‘em locked up. Some local, although lately they fly the blood in from god knows where.”
Johnny was aghast, “that is fucked up! Who does that?”
David said, “you see their faces on TV all the time--politicians, diplomats, some ‘elite’ business men.”
Johnny was still trying to process it, “Why??”
David answered, “keeps ‘em young--well younger anyway. They can’t stop the aging process, apparently, but the blood slows it down and keeps them trucking into their hundreds. They don’t like the risk of switching bodies, apparently. I guess it’s not a foolproof process.”
Robbie chimed in, “Remember those ‘entities’ I told you about? When they move into a body, they don’t like to move out.”
Dana smacked Johnny’s ass. “Sometimes we help em move along ahead of schedule.”
Johnny went pale. “Wait… How?”
Dana said, “we hunt the fuckers down and snuff them out.”
“I need to get some air...” Johnny spun on his heel and went outside quickly. Dana shrugged and followed.
Kenny asked, “Who’s that? Seems totally green.”
Robbie answered, “he’s a good kid… a former intelligence analyst and electrical engineer. Dana speaks highly of him.”
Kenny nodded. “That’s really a good guy to have. We need some brains in this outfit.” he cackled.
David said, “yeah, we’re going to show him what we’re really up against here. The Necropolis is a good place to do that.”
Kenny said, “Your timing’s good. A whole bunch of shit going on this weekend. Music Awards downtown. All kinds of VIVs in town.”
David raised an eyebrow, “VIV?”
“Very Important Vampire” Kenny laughed so hard he started coughing. “Oh shit. Anyway, I got your number. I’ll call when I have a good lead.”
Chapter Fourteen
Dana caught up with Johnny. He had a hard time looking at her.
“What’s up?” she said matter of factly.
“The crazy just keeps coming.” he said. He rubbed his face.
“What do you think we’ve been talking about for the past couple of days? A game???
? she said angrily. “This shit’s for real.”
“Wow. I believe you… but man, it’s so far out. I mean, holy shit.”
“OK.” she said. “I get it. I remember what it was like to be in your shoes. You can walk away now. I’ll be hurt, but I’ll get over it.”
“No. I don’t want that.” he said.
“Well, soldier, things are about to get interesting. You’re going to see this shit with your own two eyes.” She said.
“Alright. I’m in your hands.”
She grabbed his ass cheek and pulled his face down. “No. Now you’re in my hands.”
Chapter Fifteen
Kenny loaned them a Black Lincoln with livery vehicle plates. They loaded a few bags of gear in the back in addition to their clothes. The crew climbed into the car and Robbie took the wheel.
“I’m glad you’re driving. I can take in the scenery.” David lounged back in the seat, “or nap. Wake me when we get there.”
Dana and Johnny were sprawled in the back seat. “What’s the plan, man?” Dana yawned. The comfy seats were sapping her will to stay awake.
Robbie said, “well, we will drive into town and hang out in a hotel until we get the call, then the plan is to catch these guys on camera and get some audio… and then distribute it as widely as we can.”
Johnny was also getting ready to doze off, “so, to kill a vampire, do you need to do the whole stake through the heart thing?”
Robbie chuckled, “I’m not sure what the origin of that lore is; I think if there’s any basis in reality, maybe those was some kind of ritual to kill the thing thats inside the Vampire.”
“Ritual?”
“Yeah, for some reason, whenever humans are dealing with these beasties, there’s almost always ritual involved. If Matt was here, he could talk your ear off about it.”
Chapter Sixteen
They rented a couple of rooms in a hotel that overlooked Centennial Park. The replica parthenon was lit by sodium lamps. The streets were busy. Groups of college students strolled down the road on the way to restaurants and clubs. The girls were barely wearing anything in the summer heat.
Robbie unpacked some of the gear. There was a camera with a huge telephoto lens, plus a little black box that was mounted on a tripod.
“Hey Johnny, can you help me with this thing?” Robbie asked.
“What is it?”
“It’s an I/R laser remote microphone. Let’s try it out. Looks like there’s a couple of output jacks. I want to be sure they’re both active.”
They went out on the balcony. There was a couple in a car below.
Robbie pointed the box in their direction. Johnny said, “oh cool, check it out, the camera picks up the I/R dot. It’s on the street over there...”
Robbie smiled. “Oh excellent. Stealthy! now we can aim.” he pointed the box at the car window. A faint indicator LED labeled ‘LOCK’ illuminated. “I think that’s a good sign… But man, we need to cover that up with some tape… might give us away.”
They both plugged headphones into the jacks. They heard the couple’s conversation. It was filtered by the signal processing electronics in the box and sounded like a tin can phone. Robbie and Johnny smiled.
“Hey, now that is cool! It’d make sense to build that into the camera… like a lens ring.” Johnny said.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea!” Robbie said. “You think you could do a job like that?”
“Yeah, sure. I don’t know about the software that’s processing that signal. That might take a while.”
Robbie said, “don’t worry about that, we got a guy--he’s out in Nevada.”
Robbie’s cell phone rang. “Kenny?”
“Ha yeah, it’s me, what no code names?”
Robbie put the phone on speaker and they sat around it on two queen beds. “If you want a codename, you needed to let me know ahead of time!” Robbie laughed.
“Call me Turd. Turd Furguson.” Kenny laughed hard, and Robbie smiled.
“OK, Turd.” David said. “What’s the word?”
“I got a guy working the Music Row corner… he sells papers… Great guy. He’ll call you ‘Kings and Queens’. Give him a good tip.”
“Alright. See ya Turd. We’ll be back tonight… I think.”
They loaded up the gear bags and changed into dark clothing and went down to the car. The summer air smelled mostly sweet from blooming flowers, but there was an undertone of rot wafting up from the city storm sewers. They made the quick drive to the Music Row roundabout.
A tall African-American man was standing on the corner flagging cars down, looking for donations for the homeless produced newspaper. He had close shaved hair and a soft face and eyes. David put his window down and the man leaned over.
“What’s up Kings--oh and Queen, good evening little lady.” he tipped an imaginary hat. “Would you like a paper or two? every donation helps the homeless.”
“Hey, what’s your name? We’re friends of Kenny.” David said.
“I’m Stan.” he shook hands with David.
“Kenny said call him Turd Ferguson.” Robbie leaned over and said through the window.
“Oh that Kenny.” Stan laughed. “Say, I bet you guys would like to know about two friends of mine.”
“Yeah, we sure would.”
“If you look for a yellow Lambo… the only one I’ve seen in town, you’ll find ‘em. The one guy’s a producer… dude’s got bad implants… I mean bad. Looks like a brillo pad. That’s his car.” He laughed. “The other guy is his buddy. They always together. The dude’s tall, always wears a dark suit, has white hair, big ass gold ring.” he squeezed his ring finger. “That guy works right over there,” Stan pointed at a glass office building, “He’s some executive. Man the dude looks like a vampire. Looks like, if Elvis lived, then became a lawyer.”
“OK, thanks. Keep up the good work.” David handed over a wad of cash and did a fist bump with Stan.
“Lemme know how it goes, King.”
They drove around the hot spots in town. Parked for a while at each, and watched slow moving traffic. They found a whole lot of nothing.
“I see nothing but hay in this haystack.” Dana said.
They crossed over the Cumberland River into East Nashville and stopped as the neighborhood went from cityscape to residential neighborhoods. Hipsters in skinny jeans rolled by riding fixies with cowhorn bars. Tattooed girls wearing wispy dresses and flip flops strolled to local shops like flowers in motion.
Johnny said, “Hey, why don’t we split up. Me and Dana can rent some bicycles--there’s a bike shop there. We’ll go down by the river--looks like we can see a lot of road from that spot.”
David and Robbie nodded. Robbie said, “sounds good. You got my number?”
Dana checked her flip phone. She picked his number and started the call. His phone started playing a crackly version of Moondance. “Yup” she said.
Chapter Seventeen
Dana and Johnny went into the bike shop and rented a couple of sky blue cruisers. A young guy with a thick mop of hair helped them set up the rides. They rolled downhill toward the river, where an elevated pedestrian bridge called to them like a beacon. From the bridge, they could see along several streets, plus the view was pleasant. People walked over the bridge between events at the parks on the river bank and at the stadium.
They took up a position on a deck that was cantilevered off the side of the bridge. The river was a brown-green placid mass rippling by far below their feet.
“Oh man, this is a nice day.” Johnny said. He held his arms up to the sky.
“This is the life.” Dana put a hand over her eyes and looked around. “I’m gonna go get an umbrella. My skin in this sun--I’ll be a lobster in no time.”
She walked down the steep incline to a vendor selling parasols. On the west side of the river, the tourist crowds rolled by. Cowboy wannabes in new boots, jeans, and hats stumped by, stifling in the roasting heat. Asian tourists in pressed khaki shorts and
polo shirts went by in big groups. She spun the parasol and hiked back up the steep incline.
“Dude, this is like a mountain!” she grunted as she got back to the deck.
“Oh man,” Johnny stood up and pointed. “I guess that’s a lucky umbrella.”
“Parasol,” she corrected him.
“Well, whatever it is, there’s the Lambo.” he pointed along the river. The car was at a stoplight working its way from the east side back over toward Music Row.
She called the boys on speaker phone, “let’s see, uh ‘john has a long moustache. john has a long moustache.’”
They heard laughter from the other end. Robbie’s voice broke up a little, “....ere are they?”
Johnny announced. “It’s just crossing the river now, near a big fountain… Just went out of sight. Seem to be heading this way.”
“OK. Great. Probably back over toward Music Row. We’re en route… head back up that way and we’ll pick you up.”