Under a Ghostly Moon (Jerry Moon Supernatural Thrillers Book 1) (7 page)

"
Oh, yeah," replied Moon.  "That would be great but it’ll have to be next weekend if we’re going to do it at all, my deadline's only two weeks away."

"
It's a date then," Sonia smiled, toying with her new pendant.  "Look, I can't stay too long in the
Rest
tonight; I've got work in the morning."

"
That's okay, I'll try to get some dirt out of Uri as quickly as possible then I'll walk you home."

"
Are you sure you don’t want to stay on?  I don’t want to make you feel obliged to walk me home.  It's just that going through the centre at night can be a bit dodgy, you know," She bit her lip nervously.  "I don't usually come over here unless I've got someone to go home with."

"
Look, it's really no imposition.  I’d do anything to spend more time in your company.  Anyway, I have to stay awake a bit late tonight to get ready for working nights during the week." Moon shrugged.  He knew it was scarier for a woman alone at night than for a bloke and Bristol city centre could be scary enough for anyone at night during the weekend.

Sonia

The
Rest
was quiet when they entered, with just a few hardened regulars propping up the bar. Some of them were still human, but Moon wasn't entirely sure which.  Sonia walked obliviously through a short, motherly looking lady who sported a badly permed bleach job and was wearing a lavender twin-set (this surprised Moon who would have bet good money that this was a 'live one') and greeted the barman, a short, skinny, cheeky faced young Goth, with a friendly, "Hi, Ragger!"

Ragger grinned brightly at them over the beer pumps
.  "Oh! Hi, Sonia, who's your mate?" He was very short and very slightly built with a pointed-chinned, high-cheekboned face like a Brian Froud pixie.  He was wearing - almost inhabiting - an oversized Stoker's Kiss T-shirt and his long black hair was tied back from his face in a ponytail.

"
This is Jerry, Ragger, he's doing an article about us Bristol Goths for Venue."

"
Cool," said Ragger, extending a hand over the bar.  "Hi, Jerry."

Moon shook his hand
.  "Most people call me 'Moon'," he explained.  "I'm not too keen on Jerry.  It was my Grandpa's name and it's always felt a bit second hand."

"
Okay, then.  Hi, ‘Moon’," said Ragger, extending his hand again.

"
Well, I like 'Jerry'," said Sonia emphatically.  "I think it sounds friendly."

"
Oh, I don't mind it from you love," Moon was quick to reassure her.  "From you it sounds special for some reason."

"
Do I detect a certain romantic ‘something’ between you two," observed Ragger teasingly.  "It's about time someone hooked our Sonia.  I can see you're good for her too - she's got a touch of a sparkle about her for a change.  What can I get you?"

A cheery Goth?
thought Moon, whatever next? "Oh, a pint of Guinness Cold for me and whatever Sonia's having."

"
Bacardi and coke," said Sonia.  "Any idea if Uri's going to make a show tonight.  Moon would like to interview him."

"
Whooo...Uri!" replied Ragger pulling a spooky face and raising his hands like claws.  "So you want to meet the ‘creature of the night’ himself, eh?" Ragger did a very good Vincent Price impression for 'creature of the night', which made Moon snort into his beer.

"
I take it you're not too keen on him?"

"
Oh, Uri's all right I suppose, if you take him in small doses.  But I think a person can take their fantasies a touch too far and he's taken his way beyond the edge of madness if you want my opinion.  You'd never catch me sleeping in a coffin, even if I could find one small enough.  Anyway, he's in most Sundays so you should get a chance to talk to him, if you can manage to fight your way through his entourage, that is.  He has a quite a fan club, Uri.  I suppose the whole being tall, buff and gorgeous thing must have something to do with it."

Moon and Sonia were sitting in a raised area with seats and tables on the right-hand side of the bar, sipping their drinks and chatting quietly together when Moon suddenly felt his spine tingle alarmingly.  He noticed that the few resident ghosts who had been floating around the bar this early in the evening had quickly made themselves scarce.  His head snapped up, like a dog that had suddenly caught an unusual scent, and he expanded his senses, searching for the source of the psychic disturbance.

H
e realised Uri and his two girlfriends had just entered through the barroom door.  How the hell did I ever mistake
that
for human? He watched with terrified wonder, as the vampire stalked into the room with the preternatural grace of a predatory cat. Intense waves of supernatural energy radiated out from him like a beacon, virtually blinding to Moon’s extra senses.  Uri belatedly caught Moon staring and a cloud of mundanity swiftly condensed into place around him like a sudden change in focus - making him look and feel normal.  But it was too late; Moon knew exactly what he had seen and he would not be fooled again.

"
What's wrong, Jerry?" asked Sonia, looking round.  "Oh, it's just Uri, you looked like you'd seen a ghost."

"
It's not the ghosts I'm worried about," replied Moon, candidly.  He nodded towards Uri.  "Do you think you could introduce us?"

"
Sure thing," replied Sonia, taking Moon's hand and leading him directly into the jaws of the largest predator he'd ever seen outside of a zoo.

"Uri, I'd like you to meet Moon." Sonia smiled up at the vampire and slipped her arm possessively around Moon's waist.  "He's a freelance journalist writing an article on Goths for Venue and I suggested he might like to speak to you because you, and your, uh... partners live Goth to the hilt, so to speak..."

"
Indeed we do, indeed we do, Mr Moon." All through Sonia's introduction Uri had regarded Moon knowingly with a mocking gaze but when he spoke his tone was sincere.

“P
lease, both of you sit down and you can interview us to your heart's content."

"
Just 'Moon', please," said Moon, "and may I call you Uri?"

"
Of course, of course, and my two playmates here are Charli and Roanne." The girls nodded and smiled at Moon.  Again, they were wearing matching outfits.  This time both wore black lace bodices with puffed velvet sleeves above tight black-leather trousers with laced up seams, which were tucked into knee high black suede stiletto-heeled boots.  Each of them had an identical antique silver ring, set with a single large ruby, on her ring finger and wore a black lace choker around her neck with a silver rose at the throat.

Though
they were equally beautiful, they weren't identical.  Moon realised on seeing them up close that Charli's dark hair was true blue-black and her eyes were the darkest of dark browns.  Moon thought she must have more than a hint of Spanish in her ancestry.  Roanne's eyes, on the other hand, were a deep, dark blue, like the mid ocean, and her skin had that peculiar milky paleness that can only be found in the dark-haired, Celtic Welsh.  Both of them, despite these differences, had a strange air about them that Moon couldn't quite put his finger on.  Their beauty seemed to echo from a different time… Perhaps it was the Gothic chic they wore that made them seem so ancient and ageless but Moon doubted it.

Moon
smiled at the ladies then furtively turned on the Dictaphone hidden in his jacket pocket and asked his first question.  "Uri, that's a Russian name, isn't it? But I don't detect much of an accent..."

"
Byelorussian, actually," replied Uri.  "But I've lived in England a long time and have lost most of my accent."

"
Oh, how long have you lived here?"

"
Half my life," replied Uri with a grin.  Were those real fangs? They certainly looked real.  "Or should I play the Game and say: 'Half my afterlife'?"

Moon laughed politely but
he was beginning to feel uncomfortable.  He knew that Uri hadn't really answered his question but couldn't think of a polite way to point this out.  "So, why do you play 'the Game' so completely? You don't really strike me as someone who needs to flee from reality."

"
Because - as they say in this country - Moon, it is fun!" He said this last with true Russian relish.  "But also because I am a performer and it pleases my audience to think perhaps I might be the real thing, no?"

"
I've been told that you play violin occasionally for
Unquiet Grave
, but surely that doesn't constitute a performing career."

"
Unquiet Grave
is not the only band I am involved with." Uri shrugged, "Charli, Roanne and I perform together as
Blood Velvet
.  I play violin and guitar, Roanne, keyboard and vocals and Charli is our drummer, if that is a sufficient term for one who is so accomplished in percussion as she is.  I am pleased to say we have quite a large fan base among the Goth community, both here in Bristol and elsewhere."

"
That's right, Jerry," interjected Sonia, "Uri and the girls have played at the Rest quite a few times but not so much in the last year or so."

"
We went touring for a while," explained Roanne.  There was definitely a hint of a Welsh accent to her voice Moon noticed.  "And we've been resting on the proceeds while we put together the material for a new album."

"
So how come I haven't heard of you if you're so successful?" asked Moon.

"
We aren't mainstream and it is unlikely that we ever will be in this present wishy-washy musical climate," replied Uri with a grimace.  "Our music is too strong meat for the current pop-obsessed generation.  Too much 'bite' you might say." He grinned darkly, showing an impressive set of double upper and lower fangs.

Talk about hiding in plain sight!
Moon thought with grudging admiration.

Despite
himself Moon was beginning to like Uri; his playful flamboyance was quite infectious, although Moon found himself wondering whether one reason Blood Velvet would never make mainstream might be that none of the performers would register on videotape.  Having spent several minutes in close contact with their auras he was now convinced that all three were vampires, although Uri was by far the most powerful among them.  "So you aren't a vampire, Uri?" he asked, hoping to catch him unawares.

"
Ah, ah!" replied the vampire, shaking one long forefinger in Moon's face.  "If you are going to publish this, Moon, then I need to keep the audience guessing.  Let them make up their own minds."

"
Aren't you playing a rather dangerous game, if you don't mind my saying so? Maintaining a reputation as a blood-sucking monster - especially when there have been several recent disappearances within the Goth community associated with this pub?" As far as he was aware the news of Dominic's death had not yet been made public so Moon felt it best not to mention it.

"
Hmm.  You have a point there.  However, most Goths are well versed in the vampire mythos.  They would inform you that vampires don't need to kill to take enough blood to survive. 
Bozhe Moi!
  A human body contains several litres of blood, where a litre would probably be enough to fill the greediest vampire's stomach."

Moon was surprised
.  "Really?  But the legend, as I recall it at least, is that vampires drain the blood from their victims, thus killing them and infecting them with vampirism at the same time."

"
Medieval church propaganda exploited by Hollywood for cheap thrills, I say." Uri gently banged his fist on the table in emphasis.  "The vampire legend is older than both and does not always involve the death of the victims, or even in some stories the taking of blood.  If there are vampires in truth I suspect that they choose not to kill those they feast from or they would long ago have wiped out their food supply.  Don't you think, Sonia?"

"
I suppose so," replied Sonia.  "I've not really thought about it." She pondered the question for a moment then continued:  "You know, I think you're right: the films and books don't seem to agree at all.  Some have the vampire draining a person in a single feed while others make it take a lot longer or say that they don't kill at all."

"
Fascinating," said Moon, who had heard enough about vampires for now.  "But we're drifting away from the main purpose of this interview.  Uri, the thing I've found most interesting about the Goth scene is the music.  Some of the bands I heard the night before last were excellent and, as you mentioned, very innovative compared to contemporary pop music.  Could you tell me, as someone who writes songs for the genre, what your musical influences are."

"
Ah," replied Uri, weaving his long white fingers together before him.  "I have many influences; the folk music from my country, a number of classical sources especially Bach, some of your English folk music, and some bands from the sixties and seventies, Curved Air, for instance, Genesis and Bowie.  Then there are also literary and movie influences such as the Anne Rice books, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, any number of early Hammer Horror films that I watched during my youth. I suppose even
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
has had her influence." He laughed.  "If you're interested in a genre you build up a kind of ‘library’, would you say?  Yes, a library of images and ideas in your mind that you can draw upon for inspiration.  You have already pointed out that the girls and I are absolutely steeped in this strange Goth culture, which eventually becomes an inspiration in itself."

The night moved on to a discussion of music and film and ended with Uri giving Moon a copy of Blood Velvet
's latest CD,
Requiem for a Rose
.  However, despite their companions’ superficial congeniality, Moon felt like he had spent most of the evening dancing at the edge of an abyss.  The unspoken truth that Moon knew what Uri was, and his suspicions that Uri was fully aware of this, had created an edge of tension that made relaxation impossible.

At ten o
'clock Sonia whispered in Moon's ear, "Can we go now, I need to get my full eight hours for work tomorrow."

Moon nodded
, then turned to the vampires and said: "Sorry, guys we need to get off.  Sonia has work in the morning."

"
Sure, see you soon, Moon," said Uri with a strange promise lurking behind his eyes.  "Remember that I can get you complimentary tickets to one of our gigs if you want them."

Charli and Roanne flashed two sets of pearly fangs as they smiled and wished them goodbye
.  Sonia smiled back, saying, "I like your fangs, I wish I'd brought my fangs too then we could have, you know... matched.  Where did you get yours? Off theInternet?"

"
They were a present from Uri," replied Charli, grinning to show them off.

I bet they were
, thought Moon grimly as he opened the bar door for Sonia and followed her into the night.

"
Phew!" exclaimed Sonia when they were outside.  "That was hard going.  I've never spent so much time with Uri before.  I mean, I like a bit of role-play as much as anyone but..."

"
Sonia, that was not role-play," Moon interrupted emphatically.

"
You mean you think... No!"

"
Yes, I do.  There's enough concentrated psychic fallout emanating from those three to rouse a thousand year old graveyard that's been concreted over and turned into a shopping mall."

"
But they sat there and drank lager, for God's sake!" replied Sonia incredulously.  "Roanne snaffled half my cheese and onion crisps."

"
I don't care.  Those three may have been human once but they aren't now, and I suspect they haven't been for a very long time.  We may well have found our murderers."

Sonia shook her head
.  "But what about what Uri said about vampires not needing to kill to eat?"

"
There are three of them, Sonia.  Even if what Uri says is true they could drain someone in a couple of sittings and who's going to miss the odd Goth if the scene here's as changeable as you say it is?"

"
Yeah, but Uri and the girls have been around for years…  People have only been going missing for the last few months."

"
You mean you've only noticed they've been going missing now.  Perhaps they've grown a bit careless and over-confident recently and taken a few people that were less isolated and alone than the others.  They could have been quietly disappearing people to their private larder for years.  This could have been going on for a decade or more if they chose their victims well."

They were walking through
St Augustine's Parade, which was surprisingly empty at that time of night, considering the rabble that would descend after throwing out time.  They decided not to risk walking along the Waterfront at night, and instead walked up to College Green, which separates the Cathedral from the bottom of Park Street with the 'Council House'; the City Council Offices making the third side of a rough triangle.  From there they took a side street that ran between the Council House and some of the Bristol University Buildings towards Hotwells and the docks.  Once they had passed these imposing buildings, the grandeur quickly fell away.  The road became a rather grubby back street until it reached the roundabout at the junction of Hotwell Road and Jacob's Wells Road.  In the dingy lamplight, half a dozen tiny blue fireflies hovered along behind the lovers, who were too caught up in each other's presence to sense their ghostly followers’ purposeful pursuit.

The left side of the road had once been un-reclaimed dockland but the recent astronomic rise in property prices had resulted in blocks of luxury flats shooting up like mushrooms with selling prices in the £250,000 to £350,000 range
.  In a fit of devilment Moon had once phoned the developers and asked if he could view the 'affordable key-worker property' that the Government had promised would be included in any new housing development.  The response had been short and obscene.  He had barely resisted the temptation to sneak round and throw rocks through the windows in reply.

Sonia pulled her thin coat tighter around her body
.  "It gets windy around this bit where it's open to the harbour," she said.

Moon put his arm around her shoulders
.  "Here, is that better?"

"
Yeah." She kissed him on the cheek.  "You know, I really don't want to get home tonight.  It means I won't be seeing you for a while.  I've enjoyed the last two days so much despite Dominic dying and everything."