The room was dark – the only source of light was the computer screen in front of her. She was in the biggest room of her small apartment, a room she’d set up to be her home office instead of the bedroom it was used to being. It had seemed like a waste of space to put so much into a bedroom when all it would be for was sleeping.
Most of her paperwork she kept at the office, only bringing her current case home with her. The open file sat to the right of her laptop, and the sight of it made her want to scream. She’d pinned the picture her client had given her to the inside front cover, and had gotten as much of a back history as she could. She’d made no progress at all in the last week since she’d accepted the assignment.
To the left of her laptop was an open pizza box. Supper had consisted of half of her pepperoni lover’s pizza – the other half would go in the fridge for breakfast/lunch tomorrow. She’d run out of groceries four days ago, and not wanting to take time away from trying to find this person she’d started ordering in for every meal. Pizza was easiest. When this was over with, she never wanted to see another pizza again.
Lifting her arms up over her head and leaning against the back of her computer chair she stretched out her back some, causing the sounds of her spine popping and her chair creaking to momentarily fill the silence. She’d let her eyes fall closed at the released tension, and now she opened them back up as she moved her hands back to her laptop keyboard, hoping for some inspiration on where to look that wouldn’t end up being just another dead end.
With a sound of disgust, her right hand moved to flip the file closed so she wouldn’t have to look at that face anymore. She didn’t want to have to confirm her client’s fears. She wanted a miracle – wanted to find at least one small thing to bring back, just the smallest thread of hope. Was that too much to ask for?
Moving her hand back to the keys, the annoying sound of her fingers clacking down on them began to fill the room once more as she tried every avenue she could think of to find information. With the more time that passed, the harder her fingers came down on the keys, and more of her frustrated sounds combined with the noise to surround her. She’d never been this frustrated before, but then again, she’d never spent this long on a case for nothing before, either. Train stations, plane tickets, hospitals, deaths, she’d looked through so many records she was surprised her eyes weren’t starting to cross.
She’d checked through Ontario, and had even started to delve into some of the surrounding provinces. Bringing her hands down hard against the keys – the force enough to send the file to the right of her flying to the floor, she curled her fingers around the laptop, fully intending to chuck the thing in her frustration. Before she could, something at the bottom of the screen caught her eye and had her releasing her grip so she could scroll down.
Her eyes blinked a few times to make sure she wasn’t imagining what she was seeing. The date wasn’t recent, but she thought, maybe, it was after the last time the client had heard from them. She jumped up from her chair, going down to her knees on the floor as she looked through the papers with nothing but the still dim lighting of her laptop screen. Finding the paper she was looking for, she sat up on her knees and knee walked to the desk, slapping the paper down to the right of her laptop where the file had been earlier. Her eyes moved down the paper, re-reading the highlighted date there, before scanning back over to the laptop screen.
A smile of triumph slid over her face. The date was, in fact, after the last contact. There wasn’t much information to be had, but it was a start. She was sure this was as far as she could go from her dark office – it was time to stretch her legs and get into the field. Light gray eyes flicked over to the location of the new information. Harper Rock, Ontario. She’d never even heard of the place. She’d heard of it now, and after a good night’s sleep she was going to get herself down there and see what she could find. With a new sense of hope, she saved the information to a secure drive on her laptop and shut it down.
Grabbing up the pizza box, Velia made her way out of the office to the kitchen. Wincing at the bright light from the fridge as she opened the door, she slid the box inside and shut the door. The tile beneath her feet was cold against her bare feet, so she made her way into the claustrophobic living room, that at least had a carpet. Her couch was still pulled out from the last time she’d grabbed some sleep – blankets and pillows strewn all around it as she hadn’t even taken the time to fold them up. She didn’t care right now, however, as she quickly slid under the blanket and set her cheek down on the pillow. She let all of the frustration and tension from the past few days lift as sleep quickly overcame her senses.
***
September 9th, 2012 Harper Rock, OntarioShe’d decided not to bring the file with her to Harper Rock, or even bring her laptop. She’d occasionally take them if she knew the place she was going, and knew she could keep them secure. She’d taken a quick detour to the office before leaving Toronto – long enough to lock the file and her laptop both back up. She had the face memorized, as well as all the information she’d need to attempt to find them as well.
The trip to Harper Rock had taken longer than she would have liked, as she’d been anxious to get started. It had only taken two days for her attention to shift from her assignment to the town itself. The first day, she’d slept at night and been out during the day, just looking around the town itself to see what she could see. The longer she walked the streets, and watched the people walking around, the more her instincts were screaming at her that all was not as it seemed to be.
As the sun set, the feeling of unease had grown even more, making her wish she had have wondered as to what this town may possess that would help someone almost completely fall off the grid. She hadn’t wondered, not until after her arrival – and being in the town had her unable to leave without finding out the secret. Finding out why she felt uneasy, even though a part of her felt as if everything was okay. The two beliefs inside of her were combating for a winner, leaving her curiosity winning the only possible outcome.
Now it was a Sunday night, as she sat outside and watched the sunset. It had been a week since she’d found the thread to lead her to Harper Rock, and she was still no closer to finding the answer than she had been before she’d heard of its existence. She hadn’t bothered bringing any wigs with her, and didn’t much care that her bright purplish-red dyed hair was sticking out. She’d seen way more unusual looking people in the few days she’d been here.
Her jeans tonight were a dark black in colour, the same dark black as the long trench coat she wore overtop, coming nearly to her knees in length. She wasn’t actively trying to conceal herself, but even without trying she subconsciously found herself sitting in dim lighting in a place that gave her an optimal view of her surroundings, while leaving her mostly concealed herself. Old habits die hard, or not at all, in some cases.
Movement caught her attention, causing her to lean forward and tilt her head instinctively towards what was going on. Her attention was so focused on the sight before her that she noticed nothing else around her – not the way she was now more vulnerable to being seen as she moved into slightly better lighting, nor the way the moonlight was now glinting off of the two piercings in her bottom lip. How could she focus on such things, while witnessing what she was seeing?
The woman, she was fairly sure it was a woman, had started to make her way over to another, whose features Velia couldn’t quite make out. The way the woman walked was almost predatory, which had her fearing she was about to witness a mugging or something of the like. Why else, of course, would a person walk in such a way towards another person?
The woman was about to hide herself further from view to keep the criminal from noticing her there when the moonlight shone on the woman’s face. As a P.I. she’d gotten used to noticing features, remembering features, having them nearly branded on her mind after just a second of seeing a person’s face or picture. Now? All she saw were the fangs. The fangs that were currently piercing into the other person’s neck.
A faint squeaking sound escaped her lips at the sight – the sound not loud enough to carry over to the fanged woman she was watching, but one that anyone closer to her would be able to hear. Up until now she’d seen so much in her line of work, humanity at it’s lowest sometimes, that she didn’t think she had it in her to be surprised anymore. Vampires, though? All the colour in her face drained as she realized just what she’d stumbled onto, as well as thoughts as to why this town was so unheard of, and reasons why the person she was sent to find may have dropped off the face of the earth.
A cold feeling of dread settled in the pit of her stomach as she jumped to the next logical train of thought. She was in this town, now – and with hours before day break, and a vampire still in front of her, she had no idea if she’d be able to get away safely. Her parents had worried constantly that her job would be the death of her – she could hear her mother’s high pitched voice now telling her: “One of these days, you’re going to stumble upon something, or see something, and some policeman is going to need to come knock on my door to give me the news.” She would always tear up then, knowing full well Velia had no intention of giving up her line of work.
Doing her best to stay as still and quiet as possible, she continued to watch the scene in front of her, still paying no attention to anything else. So focused on the monster in front of her, she had yet to contemplate that there may be others lurking about.
