Emily's Protectors

Chapter 5: Who was helping? ✔

Alistar waited in the shadows till he was sure the orderly entered the hospital, listening for the last time to the faint heartbeat of the girl he had brought to the hospital. Remembering how small and fragile her hand looked that grabbed his arm.

"You're safe now," he whispered before turning around and disappearing into the direction they came from just a moment ago. Alistar didn't stop until he reached the semi-darkroom with Gregory and Angelo inside. Alistar noticed that someone had picked up the lamp that had fallen earlier. The smell of Emily's blood still lingered in the air. The room they were in was on the top floor of an old abandoned three-story building and must have been a small office many years ago. The unplastered brick wall made it look darker and dirtier than it was.

Paul's bloody remains were moved to the steel table where Emily had been tortured. The three friends moved to stand around the body.

"The sun is about to come up, and you should not be here," Gregory said, looking sideways at Alistar, putting his hand on Alister's shoulder.

"She is not Isabelle."

"No, she is not, but we have to find out who this is and how he has been eluding us so long."

"How will you leave this building without burning to a crisp?" Gregory asked, raising one eyebrow?

"Don't look at me all concerned," Alistar said grumpy "It's Saturday. I don't think this neighborhood sees many people even during the week, so I can stay here till nightfall if need be."

"I know you two have been together for something like 500 years, but is it really necessary to sound like an old married couple" Angelo laughed, moving to where Paul had emptied Emily's handbag. "How is she?" he asked more seriously.

"She'll live... I think," Alistar said, taking Emily's ID card and studying the picture, turning the card over and over in his hand, wondering if she had family and if they had started looking for her already.

"Enough," Alistar said more to himself than the group, putting her ID card in his pocket and looking at the body in front of him. "We need to search and find answers. We know of 28 other victims and have been on his trail for almost six months, but last night was the first time we could come close to him. Why?"

Gregory stared intensely at the body, almost willing it to give up its secrets. "He is just human, which means someone of something had to help him."

"Angelo, please tell me you can sense something?"

"No," looking at the vampire and werewolf in front of him, "someone is helping him, that is for sure, but they are doing an excellent job of hiding themselves from us."

"I have his cellphone, and I will take it to Michael to see if he can get some information from it," Angelo said, going through the dead man's pockets. "Let's see if I can find more information on him."

"I'll take the room," Alistar said, looking at Gregory. "Would you please see if you can find anything outside?"

After about an hour of investigating, the three stood once more around Paul's body.

"There is not much to go on here. We found his wallet and car keys, the car was hidden behind this building, but we do have a home address," Gregory reported.

"You and Angelo need to go to the address. If there is any evidence, we must find it before someone has time to destroy it," Alistar stated.

"Agree, but I don't like the idea of leaving you here alone," Gregory said, walking over to the covered window, looking through the chipped paint that covered the windows.

"Bahahaha," Alistar laughed, "now you sound like an old married woman," looking at Angelo, who was trying his best not to burst out laughing.

Gregory growled at the two, "Go to hell" Turning to face the two, folding his arms in front of his chest, "something here does not make sense. Angelo, did you find nothing else on the body?"

"Nothing except for a tattoo on his wrist. There is nothing, no marks or talismans."

"What type of tattoo?" Gregory interrupted.

"Come, I'll show you" taking Paul's left wrist, he turned it for the other two to see. "It looks like an eagle attacking with a circle around it."

Gregory looked up at Alistar, and Alistar looked up at Gregory. "It looks like a tattoo that the roman soldiers had in the 1500s," Alistar said at last.

"Can it mean?" Gregory asked.

"Hello, can someone please enlighten me on what is going on?" Angelo asked, looking from vampire to werewolf.

Alistar turned around and walked away from the table with Paul's body, trying to get as far from the table as possible. Standing with his back to the wall. "I have told you before about the night I left my vampire clan?" Alistar asked Angelo.

"I remember when we first met when I refused to believe a vampire and werewolf could be friends."

"Or that a vampire could stop his blood lust. I had a hell of a time convincing you," Alistar said with fondness to his friend "in any case, I didn't just leave my vampire clan that night. I also left a vampire I made, Luther."

"Is that the vampire you have been sensing for a while now?"

"Yes"

"Why do you think he has anything to do with this? "Angelo asked.

"Luther had the same tattoo on his left arm. Luther was a soldier in the Roman army before I turned him, and that was his legions mark."

"The tattoo could be a coincidence. We need more proof. You and Gregory need to go to that address before whoever is involved covers his tracks. I have a feeling Paul was just a tool being used." Alistar continued after a moment.

Gregory looked at Angelo, who turned around and left the two without a word.

"Be careful if this is Luther. I don't think he will be showing himself now because he had a change of heart and has become, well, like you," Gregory said, looking at Alistar.

Unable to suppress a yarn, Gregory turned around and left the room mumbling about vampires and angels that didn't need any sleep.

Alone in the semi-dark room, Alistar sat down on the ground, his head resting against the wall.

Closing his eyes, Alistar thought about the day he left his clan and Luther.