The Fabled (3 page)

I quickly parked and started toward the dead
body and our medical examiner Calvin.

“Hey Cal.”

“Hello Sunny. Tell me, what do you see
here?”

“I’m going to assume you mean besides the
obvious.”

He nodded. The obvious would be a cluster
fuck. We were standing in the middle of a crowded street. There
were at least four Wizards holding a ward around the crime scene
which was causing the cars and people to divert their course.
Luckily, there didn’t seem to be much backup as far as the cars go
but we need to get out of here quick.

I concentrated my attention on the body. He
appeared to be in his mid-twenties. That didn’t mean much as Vamps
go since most Fabled could change their age at will. Only a few
could change their complete appearance while most could just make
themselves younger or older depending on what they wanted. It was
because of the magic that kept them immortal. Blood magic, in the
instance of Vampere, was easily manipulated if you knew how. It was
always working to keep them eternally young anyway so it made sense
they could use it to look younger or older. I once met a Vamp that
appeared as a child and liked being that young. Personally, I think
that’s creepy but to each their own.

This Vamp was good-looking with blonde hair
and light colored eyes. They were probably blue at one point but
had a white haze over them now. He had a swimmer’s build and was at
least six feet tall. It didn’t surprise me that he was attractive.
As the only species of Fabled that are made instead of born it is
quite common to find them the cream of the crop, so to speak. I
mean, who wants to turn some short, balding accountant into a
Vampere and then have to spend all of your time with them for the
next couple of centuries. From what I’ve learned about them all
Vampere sires treat their creations as sons or daughters and
dedicate the time after their rebirth to teaching them everything
there is to know about being a member of the Fabled. I guess it
made sense because the sire was responsible for them and if they
screwed up, the council wouldn’t hesitate to eliminate them to
prevent exposure.

I continued to evaluate the dead Vamp before
me. He was laying spread eagle in the very middle of the street. No
doubt he was placed here. The thing I didn’t see was an obvious
cause of death. Vamps, like all Fable, are hard to kill. Usually
decapitation or destroying the heart were the only two sure fire
ways for immediate death. This guy didn’t appear to have a scratch
on him. As I inspected the body for wounds I noticed there was a
sheen of liquid on his skin. I checked the face and arms. All
visible skin seemed to have it covering it.

“Why is he sweating?” I asked Cal.

“That is not perspiration you see but
condensation.”

Condensation? That means he’s cold and it was
definitely becoming warm out here on this early spring morning.

“He was refrigerated?”

“Frozen. Look at the eyes and when I took his
internal temp a few minutes ago it was only forty-six degrees.
Without being able to open him up I would guess that was probably
the cause of death.”

“Freezing won’t kill a Vamp. Unless someone
managed to freeze him and keep him frozen until he ran out of
magic.”

Cal nodded. “That is what I’m thinking.”

“So someone locked him in their deep freezer
until he died?” Tristan asked.

“No. He could have broken through something
that flimsy. Even an industrial freezer wouldn’t have held him,” I
said.

“Not unless it was lined,” Cal said.

“With silver. That would mean the killer
planned this out.”

It wasn’t that silver would kill a Vamp just
that the alloys in silver combatted a Vampere’s magic making them
unable to bend or break it any more than a Human would be able
to.

“If that’s how he died. I won’t know for sure
until I get him back to my lab.”

“Take him but leave the spell casters for a
few more minutes. I need to see if I can find anything left by the
killer.”

Cal nodded then held out his hands and the
body lifted off the ground and became invisible at the same time.
He started for a van and the body followed. I looked at the asphalt
where the body had been laying. There was a wet spot the size of
the corpse on the road.

I knelt down, put my hand to the ground and
sent my magic out in a radius around me. My magic mixed with the
energy in my surroundings and I pulled it back to me, absorbing it.
From it I could get snatches of what took place here in reverse. I
saw Cal standing over the body, then the casters spreading out,
then a Human standing over the body screaming, then finally a black
van and two people dressed completely in black pulling the body out
of the back and putting it in the middle of the street. Their
clothes were nondescript and they had ski masks over their faces.
They took the time to place the body in the center of the road and
it took both of them pulling on the legs and arms to spread them
out. As they returned to the van one stayed behind to look at the
body. The other waved his hand for him to come on. That was the
only clue I would get. On the palm of the one man’s hand was a
tattoo. An odd place for a tat and an even odder design. It was the
symbol Caduceus. You know, the winged staff with the two serpents
entwined around it. The US medical corps had adopted the symbol
like a hundred years ago but it was originally the sign of Hermes,
the messenger for the Greek Gods. Why would one of the killers have
it tattooed on his hand? Was he a military doctor or did it stand
for something else.

I stood up and turned to Tristan. “Come on.
I’ve found out all I can here.” I turned to the caster closest to
me and nodded. He returned a nod and as one they dropped the ward.
Just like that cars started driving down the street and people
stood at the crosswalk ready to go once they saw the green man. I
started for my car and Tristan followed. Once inside I turned to
him.

“What do you know about the symbol of
Caduceus?”

“Uh, not much other than the basics which I’m
sure you already know.”

I nodded. “I think we need to find out what
organizations are currently using that symbol. Other that the US
military of course.”

“The killer have that symbol embroidered on
his shirt or something?”

“Tattooed on his hand. It was the only clue I
picked up. Other than an unmarked black van.”

“Yeah, let’s go with the tattoo.”

I smiled.

“I can start calling around to local shops to
see if they’ve done the piece recently while you check out the
symbol itself.”

“Good idea.” It wasn’t much but it was better
than nothing.

“
Demons are a girl’s best friend”

My search for groups using the Caduceus
symbol brought up nada. Other than a few off-shoot medical
companies and a few American ambulance companies there was nothing.
No secret organization that liked to freeze people to death. I did
find out the victim’s name. He was Howard Davidson of Aberdeen. He
was reported missing just over a year ago. There were no leads in
the case. He seemed like an average Joe as far as Fabled go. He
worked for a telecommunications company in middle management. He
hadn’t been a Vamp too long, only about thirty years. Which isn’t
long for a Vamp, trust me. His sire was the one to report him
missing.

Like most Vampere relationships Howard’s
father considered him his son and treated him more like a young
adult than the almost thirty year old man he had been prior to
turning. Most sires care for their “children” for at least the
first hundred years of new life. After that the relationship turns
into more of a regular adult parent/child situation. Some stay
close to home while others move to the other side of the world,
depending on their wants or needs, but stay in contact with their
sire. That doesn’t mean all sires are created equal. Just like
Humans there are good parents and then there are those parents that
should have been sterilized at puberty for the good of the
population. Like those mothers that give their sons bleach baths
because they are unclean and then the child later becomes the
latest and worst serial killer. Unfortunately, there are some sires
that are just as bad and just like children those Vampere children
have no way to fight back. They are only mildly more powerful than
an adult Human for the most part until they reach their first
century. Then slowly gain in strength for the next eternity if they
live that long.

It seemed Howard’s sire was one of the good
ones. He had already showed up to identify the body and was
standing before me now with tears in his eyes. He was too manly to
allow them to fall though.

“You will make him pay for this. I know you
can and you will do this for me.”

I don’t do demands very well but I was
willing to let this one pass since it was obvious he was upset.

“Yes, Mr. Ortega. I will find your son’s
killer and when I do he will meet the same fate as all of those who
have the misfortune of getting on my radar.”

“Si, yes. I am confident you will. Please
keep me informed.”

“As soon as I find them and eliminate them
I’ll give you a call.”

He nodded then cleared his throat before
turning and leaving my office.

I will do as I said and find this killer.
I’ve been working this job for close to thirty years and I have
never failed to find my man. This will be no exception. Granted
it’s a little weirder than my usual cases but I’m sure I’ll find a
break soon enough. With that thought my cell started ringing.

“What cha got, Cal?”

“Hello to you too, Sunny. We were right.
Looks like the vic died from lack of magic. Being unable to
regenerate caused him to expire. There was something else I found.
There was a two and a half inch incision made just under the
ribcage on his left side. It was mostly healed prior to death. Want
to guess what was taken?”

“Let’s see. Left side under the ribcage.
Obviously it wasn’t the heart since that wasn’t the cause of death.
What can be removed from the body without causing death?
Spleen?”

“Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner.”

“Why would anyone freeze a Vamp then cut out
his spleen? Why would anyone want a spleen? Is there some kind of
black market I don’t know about? I thought those usually dealt in
organs that were vital. Like kidneys and such.”

“I wouldn’t know about black markets but I do
know that approximately a pint of blood is contained within the
spleen of an average adult. Vampere being no exception. When under
duress or during times of extreme stress blood flow increases and
the spleen can hold up to one and a half pint of blood. If it was
frozen at that time, it would give the killer quite a bit of the
victim’s blood.”

“Why would they need the vic’s blood?”

“That would be for you to figure out. That is
the only reason I could think of for removing the spleen. It isn’t
as though they could use a syringe to withdraw blood when it’s
frozen. A spleen would give them all the blood they need. For what,
I don’t know.”

“Crazier and crazier. Okay, thanks Cal. If
you find out anything else, call me.”

“I don’t think there is any more. No other
injuries. I ran all the usual spells on him and his clothing but
there was nothing. Which is quite odd. Usually the killer leaves
some kind of signature. It’s as though they were cloaked.”

“You think another magic user did him
in?”

I could practically see him shrug. “I don’t
know, Sunny.”

“Alright. Thanks again.”

I hung up. Well that was quite unusual.
Obviously whoever did this had medical training. Perhaps they were
ex-military doctors or something.

When Tristan finished his search for tattoos
he joined me in the office we shared.

“Well, I got bupkis. There were several
tattoos done over the last few years but none on the palm of the
hand. How about you?”

I told him what Cal told me.

“You think the government is behind
this?”

I thought about it for a minute. “Unlikely.
They would have destroyed the body instead of bumping it.”

“Unless they wanted it found.”

“Why would they want us to find it?”

He shrugged.

“It’s more likely the killer didn’t have a
means to burn the body or didn’t feel like digging a hole.”

“But they had a giant reinforced freezer? One
strong enough to hold a Vamp I might add.”

“Good point but I still don’t think it’s the
government. If they knew about us, we would have a lot more to deal
with than a single frozen Vamp.”

“True. But they could be keeping it on the
down low. Experimenting on Vamps to find out what makes them tick.
That way they can build the perfect weapon to blow them off the
map.”

“Whoa. Someone’s been watching too many
sci-fi movies.”

“Sure, poke fun now. We’ll see what fun
you’re having when their shooting you with lasers from space.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not a Vamp and I’m
pretty sure they don’t have lasers in space. Oh, and if they get
me, I’m taking you with me.”

“Gee thanks.”

“Sure thing.”

It was his turn to roll his eyes.

That evening I dropped Tristan off at the
house he currently rented. I had laughed last year when he told me
he was moving out and then proceeded to tell me the house he would
be moving into was less than a half mile from my own. I had just
pulled up to the gate surrounding my home when Doyle called.

“Hello my Sun. Would you have the time to
come for a visit this evening?”

“Not tonight, Doyle. It’s been an
exceptionally long day.”

“All the more reason to come by. Look Sun, I
really need a pick me up. I promise to make it worth it to
you.”