Nathan Marsh
I’ve known Carl ever since he moved to Stokers Mill, four years ago. I really feel for him. He’s too young to be carrying the kinds of memories he is. The last few years of the Great War between the werewolves and the vampires were terribly brutal and unkind. Nobody that fought has come through undamaged or unscarred. I know that he wants to put it all behind him, but it’s a lot to get over.
The fact that a vampire has come into this quiet little town, and is now poking around Ivy’s home brings the war into the new life he’s trying to build for himself. It’s giving fresh breath to memories he’s trying to leave behind. I’ll need to keep an eye on him, be there for when he needs an ear. I hope there’s a way to let him know that I’ve been where he is now, without giving away too much about myself. Better he knows nothing about that.
While he’s spending his time watching over Ivy, my travels are taking me to other places around town. I want to get a good look at this newcomer, see what he’s all about. He’s of the Negre line, the absolute worst of the vampire clans, utterly evil and irredeemable. If you knew what I was, you’d know that I don’t make such claims lightly. Even other vampires fear and loathe the Negre, and consider them to have gone irretrievably into some deep darkness.
The thing is, this new vampire, though he’s Negre blood, doesn’t leave a lingering miasma of evil and corruption in his wake. And he isn’t leaving any of the more mundane signs behind, either. I know the aliases and bank accounts the Negre use, and the only ones active in this area belong to two vampires I know about. I know that now and again one of the Negre will go rogue, but they rarely last long. A rogue is the only thing I can think of, though.
Speaking of the two Negre I know of in the area, the one that lives in Colorado just drove into town earlier today. It took me a while to find her, with the possible rogue one moving about so much and muddling their trails together. But right now, I’m sitting across the street from a little motel looking at a car that is way too nice for the parking lot it’s in. I have to tread lightly here, because I can tell she’s very keyed up and vigilant. She knows she’s been drawn here for something, and she’s ready for a fight.
It takes me nearly an hour, but I’m able to meditate myself into a different state, something that appears a lot less like what I am. I come out of my trance, ready to go to her room with a good excuse for why I’d be knocking on her door, only to see that her car is gone. I still cross the street and walk along the line of doors, letting just a little bit of my senses free. Enough for me to pick out which room she’d been in when I touch the doorknob, but not enough to broadcast my true nature. It’s late enough that there’s not any traffic on the road, so I let myself just lean against the door for a few minutes until I’m sure that she’s truly gone. Not knowing that she’d have to contend with anything like me, she’s done nothing to ward the room while she’s been out. I let a little more of my nature resurface, enough to confuse the tumblers in the door lock, and it opens for me. I duck inside and feel around the place with my senses.
She’s definitely a hunter, and she’s come across some unexpected quarry. She’s got weapons in the room, but they’re a haphazard collection, as if she doesn’t know exactly what she’s after yet, just that she knows it’s dangerous. She also left the room in a hurry while I was across the street tranced out. I’m almost surprised I didn’t hear her drive off. From the state of the room, I’m sure she would have just torn out of the parking lot.
I take one final look at the room, and try to imagine it from her perspective. Even in a hurry, everybody is a creature of habit, and they tend to have some underlying pattern to their messes. I look at where things are relative to each other, a coat over here, money over there. The knives are all to the left, there’s a gun to the right. That there tells me a lot about her, how she fights and thinks. I move the knives over to the right. Then I put the gun where the knives were, after pulling out and pocketing the firing pin. A little something to throw her when she gets back to the room.
Once I’ve set up that little surprise for her, I decide I’ve wasted enough time looking around, and need to get back into action. Now that I know for sure that she’s on the prowl, I need to get my eyes back on her. I’ve got two choices of where to go. I know that the rogue vampire has been spending a lot of time just south of town, and also several miles east. Ivy lives southwest of town. The math there is easy. If the rogue is east and she followed him that way, Ivy is safe tonight. If the rogue is south, and she has followed him there, Ivy is at risk of getting in her way. Especially if the rogue is going to her place again.
In fact, it’s not even worth trying to find out what is south of town that interests either vampire. I just need to get myself to Ivy’s place as fast as I can.