Without A Heartbeat

Faru Solignis and his hunting party, which consisted of seven of the finest Guardians ever to take the oath, stepped off the deck of the Iron Whale and onto the docks at Belfast. They had broken surface in the small hours, in the hopes that there would be nobody about to see them. After all, eight figures cloaked in black, one of whom had two glimmering white eyes and a third tattooed on their forehead was not the most inconspicuous thing in the world. Not to mention the Iron Whale itself, which was a vessel unequaled by any other, built by some of the finest technology and materials that Pandemonia had to offer.

Faru was utterly unsurprised to find the dock teeming with life. The update he had received when he returned to the base was that there had been a double homicide – definitely not caused by human hand – and mysterious double murders tended to attract quite a number of onlookers. A group of about fifteen people stood in a crowd, a mixture of drunks, night workers - and, he saw with a frown, children. The curious onlookers were being held back by several pale-faced policemen, who were clearly disturbed by whatever they had witnessed lying underneath the two bloodstained sheets.

A black man stood about twenty yards from the crime scene, his dark cloak flapping around him in the bitter wind. The man nodded at Faru and the Huntmaster started to make his way over. Faru kept his face hidden, so that no one would see it and create a new problem. As they walked, he signaled to one of his Guardians.

“Five, see to it that the crowd lose interest.”

The chestnut-haired Chosen gave a smile. “At once, Huntmaster.”

Faru always referred to his Guardians by their assigned numbers rather than their names. The reason was twofold – it was more efficient in critical situations and it kept their identity anonymous to their enemies.

Five moved to the crowd and spoke in a voice that was an octave higher than normal and carried a vibration with it, as if it were the vocal equivalent of a tuning fork.

Listen to my words and hear me. You are tired and cold. You no longer want to stand here and see this death and misery. You want to go home and…

The Guardians words faded as Faru and his team reached the cloaked man. Moments later the crowd dispersed, no longer interested in the chaotic scene that had enthralled them only moments before.

“Huntmaster Solignis, a pleasure to make your acquaintance again,” said the man, crossing his arms over his chest and then extending them towards Faru in the traditional Alliance salute. “It has been some time since last we met.”

Faru returned the salute. “That it has. It is good to see you again Outleader Kodessa.” The rest of his Guardians fell in around them, looking like members of a secret order in their unifying cloaks and dark garb – which, in fact, they were.

“To business then.” Faru turned slightly and gestured towards the bodies. “Have you been able to gather any information about what occurred here?”

The Outleader nodded. “Yes. The police captain is affiliated with us, he’s the one who bought it to my attention.”

“What about the other policemen?”

“Unconnected. The captain told his men that I was a private investigator contracted to take a look by the mayor.” He shrugged. “An unlikely story, but they don’t seem to care much.”

Faru nodded. “What exactly is under those sheets?”

“Two male victims, both in their late thirties. One has a multiple skull fractures caused by something crushing his head with tremendous force, the other a hole in his throat the size of my fist.”

“How long have they been dead?”

“I’d say only a few hours.”

Faru nodded, thinking. “Remind me, what is your usual Pandemonian activity here?”

“Well the biggest problem Ireland faces is Fera - namely Banshees and Kelpies. But we’ve been hunting those bootlickers down to near extinction on this side for some time, so their attacks are becoming far less frequent. Apart from that we have the usual mix of Fae and Umbra - mainly drifters, but most are tagged by the Alliance. Honestly, we don’t normally get much bother here. There’s no section of the Veil in Ireland, so there’s not much draw. I wouldn’t imagine there are more than a thousand Pandemonians and hybrids living in the whole of the country. This recent spate of disappearances and deaths has taken us by complete surprise. Up until now our biggest issues were domestic Pandemonian feuds, or Kapre murders.”

Faru raised an eyebrow. “A Kapre? In all my years I have never had the pleasure of meeting one.”

“It is no pleasure, trust me. Those bastards are pure mischief and malice. Plus catching one is harder than grabbing smoke with your hands.” He gave a smile. “We finally managed it though. I would be happy to show him to you later.”

“That is very kind of you, perhaps if we have time,” Faru replied. “Do you suppose a Kapre could have done this?”

“A lot of different Pandemonian species could have done this,” answered the Outleader. “However, this isn’t a Kapre’s style. They are tricksters, death through suspicious accidents. That type of thing.”

“I see. So apart from the method of death, were there any tell-tale marks?”

Outleader Kodessa shook his head. “Unfortunately not, but…” He leaned in closer to Faru, as if afraid that the policemen bustling around over twenty feet away might hear them. As it was, the officers were making great efforts to pay absolutely no attention to Faru or his Guardians. As was usual in these situations, asking questions about mysterious robed figures who had descended on a crime scene was considered a level of curiosity that was not supported by their wages. “This isn’t the first attack tonight.”

“Really?”

“The police captain told me they discovered another victim in an alleyway only a few miles from here.” He tapped his neck. “Puncture wounds, still oozing secretion.”

“Vampire,” said Faru.

“Looks that way.”

“Bloodseeker?”

Kodessa shook his head. “Hole sizes are representative of a Bloodling bite.”

“Did the man survive?”

He shook his head. “Too much blood loss. I’d say whoever attacked him got interrupted and had to move on. Poor wretch was left bleeding out without anyone to help him.” The Outleader nodded over towards the claret-covered sheets. “If you ask me, it was the same person who did these two in. Trying to feed.”

“Excuse my interruption sir, but were the victims were exsanguinated?” asked Two, himself a Bloodling Vampire. He had been a handsome man even before his change; his well-structured face descending to a strong jaw, and topped by long ashen hair that he tied into a ponytail.

“Actually…no. They both still had blood in them.”

“Then the Bloodling wasn’t feeding. If they were going to risk attacking humans, then they would certainly take as much blood as they could.”

“Thank you for your insight Two,” said Faru. He turned back to face the Outleader. “I am inclined to agree with my colleague, this wasn’t a random feeding gone wrong. However, like you say, I do think that both these deaths are somehow connected. Tell me, these dead men, what were they doing out here?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Perhaps the police captain might.”

“Let’s see.”

Outleader Kodessa made a quick signal with his hand and the captain – a skinny man with a mop of thinning ginger hair and a tuft of beard sprouting from his chin made his way over. A few of the other policemen cast their eyes over in the direction of the Guardians, but averted them again when their gaze was met.

“Mister O’Reilly, this is Huntmaster Solignis.”

“A pleasure to meet you…shittin’ hell!” The man recoiled when he saw Faru’s blazing eyes. “I…uh sorry sir, didn’t mean to offend. I just don’t often, uh you know, see those of your type,” he added breathlessly.

“You mean Pandemonians?”

“Yeah. Sorry, you jus’ caught me off guard is all.”

Faru gave a smile. “It is perfectly alright. I can imagine I look somewhat startling. Anyhow, I was hoping you might be able to tell us if anyone knew what these two men were doing out here on the docks. It’s cold enough that it would have to be for a good reason.”

“A good point,” the policeman said. “One of the girls from Red Lace said they was out here with Lisa, one of the newer workin’ girls. They didn’t ’ave any more rooms at the bordello, so…” he shrugged, “they had to take the party outside.”

Faru disliked the police captain. It was something he could see in his aura – a tainted colour that exposed his nature in a way only the Seelian race could see. He wasn’t a bad man, just not a particularly good one. Also the fact that he was allowing illegal prostitution to occur right under his nose and not doing anything to address it did not sit well with the Huntmaster. He didn’t need to merge minds with mister O’Reilly to know that most of the girls in the Red Lace likely knew him on a first name basis. Regardless, the man had information Faru needed, so tact was necessary.

“You say they came out with one of the girls. Have you managed to locate her?”

The man gave a solemn shake of his head. “No we haven’t sir.”

And there it is. The missing piece.

“It’s too dark out now, but when first light hits I’m going to have a team sweep the dock waters. Chances are we’ll find a bloated body,” continued the captain. He sighed. “Terrible thing this. She was only thirteen.”

Faru raised his eyebrows. “Did you know her?”

The captain nodded. “I’ve seen her around from time to time. Jenny her name was.”

“And knowing she was only thirteen years of age and being the police captain of Belfast, you made no attempt to alter her situation?” Faru asked flatly.

“I uh-I have other commitments. I can’t be everywhere at once!” spluttered the chief.

“Evidently. Or maybe you just do not care a great deal.” He could feel Kodessa’s eyes boring into him, but he didn’t look. “Thank you officer, you have been most helpful.” He turned back on the odious man to signal he was done with him. The captain passed seven glaring Guardians, walking back to the crime. Once he was out of earshot, Faru turned to Five and spoke low. “Go convince the dedicated leader of the Belfast police department that he should spend less time thinking of himself and more time thinking of the citizens of his town.”

“My pleasure sir,” he said with a grin.

Kodessa folded his arms but said nothing about Faru’s stern words to the captain. Instead he asked, “Do you think the girl could have been a Bloodling we were unaware about? Maybe attacked the men when they got a bit too heavy-handed with her?”

Faru shook his head. “No. That girl did not attack these men, nor will the police find her corpse tomorrow. She is gone, Outleader Kodessa. Someone killed these men and then took her, just like they took all the others.”

“But why?”

“That I cannot answer…yet.”