Night Realm (30 page)

“Yeah, we’re sorry,” Paul offered, but didn’t sound anywhere near as convincing.

“Was it just the one?” Michael kept Paul locked with his intense gaze.

Paul nodded. “Yep. Just the girl.”

“I can read minds, Paul, and you’re lying.”

*  *  *

Marks was halfway home when the report of another murder victim came over the police radio. He did a U-turn and sped back in the direction he’d just come from.

He arrived on the scene twenty minutes later. Two patrol cars were there already and as he came to a stop on the side of the road, other emergency vehicles, more police and the SOCOs started to arrive, fresh from the last crime scene. The small truck with the floodlights arrived and soon the entire area was illuminated with bright light.

The victim was a male motorcycle rider. The bike lay on its side half buried in bushes. A helmet rested on the dirt just off the shoulder of the road. The dead man
was prone at the edge of the forest.

Before the SOCOs took over and booted everyone out of the cordoned off area, Marks managed to get a look at the dead man’s throat. He saw two distinct puncture wounds there before Chris Saunders gently nudged him aside.

Marks remained at the scene until the SOCOs had finished their work. Meanwhile, he had officers combing the area and canvassing any nearby residences, probing for information and clues.

Two murders in one night occurring within several kilometres of one another. What the hell was going on?

*  *  *

When Travis had finished going through the information Selena had wanted him to look over, he woke up slumbering Chelsea by lying on the bed beside her and taking her in
to his arms.

Chelsea felt his cold lips touch hers. She was still half asleep and felt incredibly relaxed. She kissed him back, then opened her eyes. He smiled at her.

“You finished?” she asked him.

“Pretty much.”

“Good. So now it’s me time.”

“It sure is.”

She glanced over at the window and saw that it was still dark outside. She asked, “What time is it?”

“After two in the morning. Plenty of time yet before I have to close that blind.”

“Good. Come closer,” she urged and their lips locked and eager tongues embraced.

Chelsea felt herself getting aroused very quickly. Travis had that affect on her, despite his lack of physical warmth. It was such a strange and surreal experience being intimate with a man who wasn’t hot-blooded in the literal sense.

Their hands roamed everywhere, probing particular body parts. Travis undid Chelsea’s jeans and started tugging them down her thighs.

“I can’t,” she said, stopping him.

Travis was disappointed. “But I’m so desperate to be with you in that way.”

“Then you know what to do, Travis.” She looked deeply into his dark eyes. “Turn me. Right now.”

Marks slept in his office on the couch and he awoke just shy of eight AM. He utilized the communal restrooms to freshen up, then went to the kitchen to make himself a coffee.

“You look like hell, Detective,” said Anita the cleaning lady.

“Thanks for pointing that out.”

Marks made his brew and took it back to his office, avoiding engaging in conversation with anyone and ignoring the stares he attracted because of his disheveled appearance. He seated himself at his desk and rummaged around through the mess of paperwork that cluttered it while he drank his coffee. He wasn’t really looking for anything in particular, but when a printout caught his eye he picked it up, glanced it over and let out a huge sigh. He snatched up the landline phone and dialed a number from the sheet.

When it was answered, he said, “I’d like to speak to Doctor Marlon Becker, please.”

“Doctor Becker’s not in right now,” came the reply from the receptionist. “Can I take a message.”

“Yes. This is Detective David Marks from Queensland CIB. I need to speak with the doctor concerning some information that may or may not be relevant to some cases I’m working on at the moment. Can you please get him to call me ASAP?” He gave the receptionist both his landline number and his mobile number.

“Thanks, Detective. I’ll certainly pass that on.”

Marks put down the phone and sat there pondering last night’s murders. Two bites, different perpetrators for each bite. Possibly even different to the Amanda Simms lesions.

Whatever was going on, there was definitely more than one of them out there.

He hoped Becker had something tangible and useful for him when he called.

*  *  *

Angela Cartwright called Ryan at midday.

“Doctor Becker’s research is very interesting,” she told him over the phone. “Don’t worry, I won’t ask how you got hold of these files or why you want this information.”

“I wouldn’t tell you anyway,” Ryan replied, smiling into the phone.

“Can you come see me this afternoon? If you can get here soon, I have some free time to go over this with you.”

“I’ll leave right now,” Ryan said. “See you shortly.”

He drove the short distance from Surfers paradise to Southport. Traffic was fairly heavy, making the trip take far longer than it should. Ryan pulled into the car park behind where the pathology lab was located. He entered the building through a rear entrance and knocked directly on Angela’s office door.

“Come in,” she said, her tone always friendly and inviting; something that had attracted him to her in the first place. When he laid eyes on her he was reminded of the second thing that had attracted him.

She was seated cross-legged at her desk, slender legs clad in black stockings that tucked into red high heels. Angela was a brunette and wore her hair quite short, just below the ears. She’d always maintained the same hairstyle for as long as Ryan had known her. And why wouldn’t she? It really suited her. Her eyes were dark and framed with long lashes, accentuated by the application of thick mascara. Her plump lips were painted scarlet red, and a layer of light foundation gave her face the appearance of having been airbrushed. She wore a white top and black skirt that rode most of the way up her thighs when she was seated.

She watched him enter, her eyes looking over the top of her reading glasses. Something about those glasses added to her sex appeal as well. Ryan still felt an immense physical attraction for this woman, but he was
planning never to go there again. She was a good and useful friend. He wanted to keep it that way.

She stood up to greet him. He took her hand in his and they kissed each other on the cheek.

“Take a seat,” she offered with a smile.

Ryan sat on the opposite side of the desk, her large computer screen to his right a bit and not blocking his view of her.

“It’s good to see you again,” he said, returning her smile.

“It certainly is.” She fixed her gaze on him for a moment longer, then turned her attention to the computer screen. “I know you don’t understand scientific terminology much, Ryan, so I’ll try and make this as plain and simple as possible, so hopefully you understand.”

“Ouch,” he said and smiled again.

“I wasn’t putting you down,” she said with a sideways glance, her dark eyes sexy above those glasses. “I figure you, or your client, was looking for something a little out of the ordinary in Becker’s research. Am I correct?”

Ryan shrugged. “I’m not really sure what she’s after. I’m not certain she even knows.”

“Okay.” Angela nodded. She adjusted her glasses. “Well, a lot of this material seems like fairly everyday sort of research, and much of it’s not directly related to Doctor Becker himself. So I’ll focus on his specific research only; the stuff he’s been working on alone. It’s quite unusual and I find it a little hard to
digest.”

She paused and Ryan waited. He eventually held up his hands in supplication when she refused to speak. “Well? What have we got there?” he prompted and tugged at his ear.

Angela shook her head while staring at the monitor. “It’s really weird stuff, actually.”

“Angela. Stop procrastinating and just tell me what the good doctor’s been up to. I need to know. Don’t ask me why. It’s just a gut feeling I have.”

She finally looked his way and spoke. “The main focus of his solitary research seems to be based on a serum or antidote he’s been developing. And he’s been working on it for quite some time, too, by the looks of it.”

“What’s the serum for?” Ryan wondered.

“Well, that’s the weird part.” Angela hesitated again. “From what I can gather, and it’s pretty plain to me, he’s been developing,” she looked up at the ceiling, “how shall I put it?” She looked at Ryan. “He’s been working on an anti-vampire serum.” She giggled incredulously.

“A fucking what?” Ryan wasn’t sure if she was being serious
or not. “Are you having me on?”

She shook her head adamantly. “No. That’s what he’s creating.”

“And has he managed to make some of this vampire potion?”

Angela looked back at the computer screen and performed a few mouse clicks. “It seems that he has, yes.
He calls it APHV, which stands for Anti Porphyric Hemophilia Vaccine.”

“Okay,” Ryan began. “So humour me here a little. What exactly is this antidote supposed to do?”

Angela sat back and kept her eyes locked on Ryan’s. “Two things, actually. For one, if a person is injected with the serum, it renders them immune to the bite of a vampire.”

“Meaning what?”

“I assume it means that the recipient can’t be turned into a vampire if bitten and contaminated with the vampire’s virus.”

“Okay. And what’s the second function of the magic potion?”

“According to Becker it can turn a vampire back into a human being again.”

Ryan raised an eyebrow. “So, what do you make of all of this?”

“It’s a fairytale. This Doctor Becker - as brilliant as he seems to be and highly respected in his fields of expertise - is living in a fantasy world. We all know there’s no such thing as a vampire, Ryan. Don’t we?”

“Well, I’ve never met one.”

He wondered about that a moment. Is this the information Selena was after? And if it was, what did it mean to her? He thought about her hands covered in gloves all the time. She shakes hands. Vampires are supposedly cold. Can’t feel that her hands are cold because of the gloves.

No. That was ridiculous. Selena Thorne wasn’t a vampire. Or maybe she was delusional and just thought she was? Possibly she dwelled in the same world of fantasy and fiction as this Doctor Becker obviously did?

“Anything else of interest?” he asked Angela, breaking from his thoughts.

“I don’t think so. Feel free to call me anytime if you want to ask me further questions.”

“What do I owe you?”

She shook her pretty head. “Nothing. Seeing you again is payment enough.”

Marks was in his office finishing off his lunch when the landline phone rang loudly to the left of him. He washed a mouthful of chicken curry down with some coffee and answered the call.

“Detective Marks here.”

“Good afternoon, Detective,” came a booming voice with a foreign accent. “This is Doctor Marlon Becker calling from the Research Institute for Blood Disorders here in Melbourne. I believe you wanted me to help you with some enquiries?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Marks said quickly. “Thanks for calling me back, Doctor. It’s most important.”

“What can I help you with?”

Marks explained the current spate of mysterious murders that had been happening on the Gold Coast the past week and a half. He then went on to document the lesions on the victims’ throats.

“You had dealings recently regarding this strange virus with a Doctor Jenkins of QHSS in Brisbane. He said his team identified the virus through yourself.”

“That’s right,” Becker affirmed. “It is the Porphyric Hemophilia disease.”

“Which is apparently,” Marks hesitated and took a deep breath, “a vampire disease.”

Now there was hesitation on the other end of the line.

“Doctor Becker? That
is
what you told Doctor Jenkins’ team, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is,” Becker finally spoke again. “Don’t think me crazy, Detective, but vampires are a real species.”

Marks forcibly stifled a frustrated sigh. “And you know this how, Doctor? Have you encountered one?”

Again hesitation.
Then, “Yes.”

“When and where?”

“It was many years ago when I still lived in Europe. Vampires killed my friends.”

Marks was struggling to believe it, but tried his best to give Becker the benefit of the doubt. After all, there had been some strange and unexplainable findings in these cases so far. And he was getting nowhere fast with his investigation. He decided he’d better keep an open mind.