The Trouble with Evie

Chapter 42

The builder looked at the pictures with dismay. Anzide remained unseen, pacing the floor behind the man. The greeting and initial discussion were longer than necessary while Anzide checked this guy over. He'd given the all clear.

There were no thoughts or memories of Drakkus, no knowledge of vampires.

Brad used his phone to take the photos so that he could show this guy the level of destruction and how much we'd done since the incident.

We were getting there slowly. I'd like to put in a solid effort, but the issues that were hanging around were proving to be a problem. Hopefully making this agreement with Harlwood will give us a little relief.

"You say that it was a gas explosion?"

"Yeah," Brad said softly.

"That's an awful shame. Such a lovely house. Never knew the original owner. Some say he was a bad man, but that doesn't mean the house shouldn't be restored to the way that it was. Better than some modern monstrosity."

The added bonus of Anzide was that he was adding a little acceptance to this. There were no scorch marks, no fire. It looked like the house had exploded, but that's all that there was that was similar.

"Well, it's possible to use some of the wood and bricks. I'd have to inspect them to make sure they're solid. To be honest, you'd be better off ordering brand new. Get a truck in, clear the site and start fresh."

Brad looked at me, and I shrugged. I was desperate to find Niko and ask what he wanted but I was told to leave him be. To stay away and let him approach us. It was frustrating, to say the least.

"It will be cheaper too. The amount of time I'd spend searching through the rubble, it would be hours. You could clear the site, pull the nails from the wood and make neat piles, but I'd still have to go through every single piece to make sure it's viable. This is an old house, it probably had good bones, but that may not be the case now that it's suffered a blow like this."

The builder handed Brad his phone back, then pushed a pen and paper across the desk.

"Tell you what, I'll get the plans for that place. I'll do up two quotes for you. One, exactly as you want. An estimate of time to go through the wood, select the good pieces, and then to rebuild. It will be an open quote because I don't know what you've got out there and what I won't be able to save. The other quote is to rebuild exactly to the original plans with all new items. That one will not be an open quote because I won't use a single item from the original house. How's that?"

"Sounds great."

"Good, write your details there, and I'll get back to you. Probably about a week, alright?"

"Sure."

Scanning the street, I saw a familiar face across the road. It was one of the women, one of the vampires that taunted us. Pulling out my phone, I discreetly snapped a picture and then looked at the image. It was a fuzzy blur, like a static-filled television screen.

Thinking it was an odd, one-off occurrence, I took another picture. The result was the same. When Brad opened the door, the woman walked away with her friend, and I'd lost the chance.

Anzide looked at the screen, then at the woman that walked away. He turned and waited for the door to swing shut.

"You can't take pictures of them with a phone. Sorry, I should have told you that. Between what Harlwood's doing and the efforts of the demon Drakkus has working for him, they're useless for vampires. You need an older camera, something that is not connected to towers like that one."

He pointed to the horizon where there was a cell tower, small and unassuming from here but monstrously large close-up.

"There's a pawn shop down the street. I'll see you two later. I've got a yard to clean up. Ring me if you're being lazy and want a lift home."