The strangest thing happened tonight as I was walking home from work. I stopped to feed the ducks when a man I swear I've seen before fired a few rounds over my head which gave me such a fight I pulled a knife from my belt and just about gut the guy. Lucky for him I caught nothing but the end of his jacket. At least that's what I thought it was.
He scared all the ducks away with his antics. People round here behave no better than dogs I swear. Just as I get one crazed fool off my back I mange to find another one... And I thought the subway in London was bad. I remember him yelling something about a house, but my nerves are so shot I can't trust my ears half the time.
Might be back to sleeping at the bus stop for me. There is a nice one in the park under that pretty tree I'm rather fond of.
The Hanging Tree
-
Owen (DELETED 2397)
Re: The Hanging Tree
Owen stared up at the white ceiling counting the small black dots that made a strange, mesmerizing pattern above his head. Row upon row they went on, even behind the curtain he could not see past. The weary male had already decided their numbers must range in the thousands, though he couldn’t remember the pattern of numbers that followed.
“Your head must be killing you,” the nurse said with a weary look, a look that said he would be in here for some time, a lot longer than he’d like to be. “Don’t worry, after the interview you will be able to get some rest, the police just want to take the details while they are fresh in your mind.”
Her words were like nails against a black-board, the sound ringing in his ears; every sound was agony. “Thank you, nurse,” he managed before closing his eyes and trying to block out the noise around him.
“You can call me Anne,” she replied softly and touched his shoulder below the torn flesh wound where one of his attackers had bitten him.
“You say he attacked you from behind?” The tall, lanky one asked. Owen thought he had introduced himself as Officer Smart, but he couldn’t be sure and so avoided using the man’s name.
“He let a few rounds off over my head, yes. I had stopped at the park after work to feed the ducks.” He glanced down, not wanting to admit that he actually slept at the park, as he was homeless, but then the doctors who had treated him probably already knew that if his smelly clothes were anything to go by.
“And you didn’t report this yesterday because?” The second man asked.
“It was late, dark out. I intended to by morning but when I woke and started making my way to the station I was attacked, so I ran and hid until it was dark again. I was jsut about to sneak over to the police station when I was attacked again.”
“By the same man?” Tall and lanky, who did most of the talking quickly asked.
“No, friends of his I believe as they both said something about breaking into a house,” Owen said slowly, feeling a bit tired now.
“Could you identify them?”
“Yes, the man in particular. I received an anonymous email that night from a stranger who gave me the man’s name, Robert Pratt. There was no return address.”
“Could we get a print out of the email?”
“Of course.”
“Have you ever seen this man before?”
Owen rubbed his face, thankful that there was no pain in his arms, unlike his left leg which had sustained a nasty bullet wound. “For months the man had been pushing files on me claiming that the people in the pictures’ were Vampires.”
When the two men at Owen’s bedside didn’t laugh, he felt a strange feeling in his stomach and chest, as if all the air had been sucked out of him and his insides twisted in tight knots. “You aren’t surprised?” He asked in a small voice.
The two officers looked at each other before long and lanky sighed. “We have increasingly strange reports of people going missing, being bitten, or attacked after dark.”
Owen laughed suddenly but had to stop as his gut stung where he had been shot. He felt sick when he looked back to the two men and saw their stern features hadn’t twitched in the slightest. “Are you ******* kidding me? You mean…” The man stopped suddenly very dizzy.
“I’ve been bitten by a Vampire?” Owen pulled his left hand to his neck then, covering the already bandaged wound.
The two men looked at each other once again before they both stared back at Owen and nodded. “Do you think you could give us a list of names?”
“I… Yeah, of course… I kept everything… In my backpack.”
Anne picked up the man’s bag and set it on the edge of the bed. Owen unzipped the black Nike bag and turned it upside down, staring at all the names and photographs.
Noelle
Niklaus
Elizabeth
Liam Goodryke
Habren Ashe
Robert Pratt
Tazare
Prudence
Drusilla
Bella Dupree
Marius White
Lelantos
Etienne
alexander White
Vincent Kale
Rocklin
Zachariah Staus
Jonah
Wynter
Killian
Aiden Geist
Rose
Zwei
Cupcake
Moriah
Shamus
Sliver
Kamikaze
Rudy
Lia
Elizabeth Swift
Velveteen
Lady Rabies
Asmodeus
Rogue Predator
Blake
Styx
Kincaid
Josephine
Leiren
Asia Rae
Emily Argent
Patrice Broussard
Eva
Alexandrea
Francesca Fontaine
Heinrich Wolfram
Snake
Zietsef
Lizzie Llewellyn
Pi
Asteria
Dietrich
Aidan
“You said he gave these to you?” Tall and lanky asked, suddenly looking very worried.
“Yes, about ninety per cent of them.”
“Do you mind if we take them?”
“No, go ahead,” Owen swallowed.
“Thank you for your time Mr. Allardyce, we will leave you to get some rest now and come back again tomorrow.”
Owen nodded and watched the two officers leave before settling back in the hospital bed. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight, or the next… Hell he wondered if he would ever be able to sleep again. Vampires… Every single one of them… Vampires.
“Your head must be killing you,” the nurse said with a weary look, a look that said he would be in here for some time, a lot longer than he’d like to be. “Don’t worry, after the interview you will be able to get some rest, the police just want to take the details while they are fresh in your mind.”
Her words were like nails against a black-board, the sound ringing in his ears; every sound was agony. “Thank you, nurse,” he managed before closing his eyes and trying to block out the noise around him.
“You can call me Anne,” she replied softly and touched his shoulder below the torn flesh wound where one of his attackers had bitten him.
- - - - -
The policemen were intimidating but both very empathetic and softly spoken. Owen thought they must have been trained specifically for cases like this; working with people who had experienced trauma, because they seemed to ask all the right questions. “You say he attacked you from behind?” The tall, lanky one asked. Owen thought he had introduced himself as Officer Smart, but he couldn’t be sure and so avoided using the man’s name.
“He let a few rounds off over my head, yes. I had stopped at the park after work to feed the ducks.” He glanced down, not wanting to admit that he actually slept at the park, as he was homeless, but then the doctors who had treated him probably already knew that if his smelly clothes were anything to go by.
“And you didn’t report this yesterday because?” The second man asked.
“It was late, dark out. I intended to by morning but when I woke and started making my way to the station I was attacked, so I ran and hid until it was dark again. I was jsut about to sneak over to the police station when I was attacked again.”
“By the same man?” Tall and lanky, who did most of the talking quickly asked.
“No, friends of his I believe as they both said something about breaking into a house,” Owen said slowly, feeling a bit tired now.
“Could you identify them?”
“Yes, the man in particular. I received an anonymous email that night from a stranger who gave me the man’s name, Robert Pratt. There was no return address.”
“Could we get a print out of the email?”
“Of course.”
“Have you ever seen this man before?”
Owen rubbed his face, thankful that there was no pain in his arms, unlike his left leg which had sustained a nasty bullet wound. “For months the man had been pushing files on me claiming that the people in the pictures’ were Vampires.”
When the two men at Owen’s bedside didn’t laugh, he felt a strange feeling in his stomach and chest, as if all the air had been sucked out of him and his insides twisted in tight knots. “You aren’t surprised?” He asked in a small voice.
The two officers looked at each other before long and lanky sighed. “We have increasingly strange reports of people going missing, being bitten, or attacked after dark.”
Owen laughed suddenly but had to stop as his gut stung where he had been shot. He felt sick when he looked back to the two men and saw their stern features hadn’t twitched in the slightest. “Are you ******* kidding me? You mean…” The man stopped suddenly very dizzy.
“I’ve been bitten by a Vampire?” Owen pulled his left hand to his neck then, covering the already bandaged wound.
The two men looked at each other once again before they both stared back at Owen and nodded. “Do you think you could give us a list of names?”
“I… Yeah, of course… I kept everything… In my backpack.”
Anne picked up the man’s bag and set it on the edge of the bed. Owen unzipped the black Nike bag and turned it upside down, staring at all the names and photographs.
Noelle
Niklaus
Elizabeth
Liam Goodryke
Habren Ashe
Robert Pratt
Tazare
Prudence
Drusilla
Bella Dupree
Marius White
Lelantos
Etienne
alexander White
Vincent Kale
Rocklin
Zachariah Staus
Jonah
Wynter
Killian
Aiden Geist
Rose
Zwei
Cupcake
Moriah
Shamus
Sliver
Kamikaze
Rudy
Lia
Elizabeth Swift
Velveteen
Lady Rabies
Asmodeus
Rogue Predator
Blake
Styx
Kincaid
Josephine
Leiren
Asia Rae
Emily Argent
Patrice Broussard
Eva
Alexandrea
Francesca Fontaine
Heinrich Wolfram
Snake
Zietsef
Lizzie Llewellyn
Pi
Asteria
Dietrich
Aidan
“You said he gave these to you?” Tall and lanky asked, suddenly looking very worried.
“Yes, about ninety per cent of them.”
“Do you mind if we take them?”
“No, go ahead,” Owen swallowed.
“Thank you for your time Mr. Allardyce, we will leave you to get some rest now and come back again tomorrow.”
Owen nodded and watched the two officers leave before settling back in the hospital bed. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight, or the next… Hell he wondered if he would ever be able to sleep again. Vampires… Every single one of them… Vampires.
-
Owen (DELETED 2397)
Re: The Hanging Tree
Owen turned over in the bed, uncomfortable. The whole night had been rough, painful. The bullet wound to his left leg and knife wound to his gut especially hurt, making every movement agony. Of course the nurse topped his pain meds up whenever he asked, but sleep had been impossible.
The police had returned for more questioning, with tall and lanky leading the way just as before, only this time he caught the man’s name.
Thomas Smart seemed a respectable man with a long history in the force. He made it sound as if he’d seen and heard it all, but it seemed the subject of Vampires saw him raise a scruffy brow. “It’s a possibility,” he agreed when Owen questioned him about the names on the list, guessing the pair had been cross-referencing them all night. “But we are investigating a number of reports that seem similar. It's more likely there are a group of weirdos running round pretending to be Vampires; Copycat mentality. You don’t mind if we take a few pictures of your neck do you?”
“Go ahead,” Owen agreed.
The two questioned the man for a while, mostly about the reason behind his intrusion in the woman’s home; the reason behind the attacks.
“I find it odd that more and more people are taking the law into their own hands in these parts. Twelve years on the force and I’ve never been involved in cases like we’ve seen in the last eighteen months.” Smart scratched his chin and looked as if he wanted to say more, more than his constitution would allow him to.
“I was just trying to get off the street and let a few old bumps and bruises heal before facing the park again. The woman’s home was closest and I was tired. I checked twice to see that nobody was home before curling up in the corner. I didn’t think anyone had seen me but then it never struck me that they might have security installed. Cameras have never bothered me in the past.”
“I wonder why they chose not to report it. Could you pinpoint the place on a map for us?”
Owen closed his eyes and tried to remember the name of the street. “I don’t know really, it was masked as something other than a home.”
“Perhaps a drive by when he’s feeling better,” number two piped up.
Smart agreed with a nod. “Is there anything else you can tell us before we leave? We have the description of the woman who attacked you and a sketch done.”
“I’ll contact you if I remember anything else,” Owen offered.
“Alright, thank you for your time.”
The two officers left and before lunch Owen was wheeled into surgery for the doctors to have a better go at the wound on his stomach. The nurse was concerned about infection setting in, and that night when he woke Anne popped her head in to announce that he had a visitor. “Renee is her name, do you know her?”
Owen looked to the blinds and pulled the covers up a bit, dreading the face that might walk through that door. It was night out after all. Vampires… He was now convinced the city was overrun with Vampires and he was sure they ruled the night. What if one of them had come back to finish the job.
“I’ll send her in,” Anne smiled and disappeared before Owen could object.
Sleep. He would pretend to be asleep, slow his heart rate down and try to remain calm.
It was Prudence that walked through the door, Owen knew her by her voice. She must have been stopping by after the work. Work… Did she work? He had never asked her and come to think of it he had only ever run into the woman during dark hours. Oh God, not her too. He felt his heart rate quicken and tried to slow it down again, noticing the monitor echo his fears; would she as well?
He heard the woman set something down on the bedside table before he smelt the bitter aroma of coffee. It had been so long since the man had had a decent coffee that he almost came out of his ruse just to pick it up and drink it down right there and then, but perhaps he should wait Owen told himself.
“Looks like death came knocking on your door last night,” Prudence stopped at his bedside and he could feel her eyes on him. "Nurse said I could bring it to ya, just had to be decaf. Better for your heart and trauma."
Decaf? He thought, damn that woman.
A few long minutes passed before Prudence started adjusting his bandages and the man suddenly felt a bit better, as if someone had restored him to his former self, the man he was before Harper Rock, but those bitter sweet moments were fleeting and soon passed.
Prudence must have found a chair then because he didn’t hear her moving around. About an hour had passed since she last spoke, asking him how long he’d be in here, almost as if she was wondering out loud. "I'll come back later to check up on you. Maybe bring ya a mag or something," she suddenly said and Owen felt himself jump slightly, though he managed to add a swift snorting sound as if he had been snoring softly.
Once the young woman left the room and Owen was sure she was gone he sat up in his bed and swallowed a massive gulp of air as if he had been starved, holding his breath for the last hour or so. “God, if you let me live through this I promise I’ll go to church more often,” he murmured to himself as he raised his gaze to the ceiling and frowned.
The police had returned for more questioning, with tall and lanky leading the way just as before, only this time he caught the man’s name.
Thomas Smart seemed a respectable man with a long history in the force. He made it sound as if he’d seen and heard it all, but it seemed the subject of Vampires saw him raise a scruffy brow. “It’s a possibility,” he agreed when Owen questioned him about the names on the list, guessing the pair had been cross-referencing them all night. “But we are investigating a number of reports that seem similar. It's more likely there are a group of weirdos running round pretending to be Vampires; Copycat mentality. You don’t mind if we take a few pictures of your neck do you?”
“Go ahead,” Owen agreed.
The two questioned the man for a while, mostly about the reason behind his intrusion in the woman’s home; the reason behind the attacks.
“I find it odd that more and more people are taking the law into their own hands in these parts. Twelve years on the force and I’ve never been involved in cases like we’ve seen in the last eighteen months.” Smart scratched his chin and looked as if he wanted to say more, more than his constitution would allow him to.
“I was just trying to get off the street and let a few old bumps and bruises heal before facing the park again. The woman’s home was closest and I was tired. I checked twice to see that nobody was home before curling up in the corner. I didn’t think anyone had seen me but then it never struck me that they might have security installed. Cameras have never bothered me in the past.”
“I wonder why they chose not to report it. Could you pinpoint the place on a map for us?”
Owen closed his eyes and tried to remember the name of the street. “I don’t know really, it was masked as something other than a home.”
“Perhaps a drive by when he’s feeling better,” number two piped up.
Smart agreed with a nod. “Is there anything else you can tell us before we leave? We have the description of the woman who attacked you and a sketch done.”
“I’ll contact you if I remember anything else,” Owen offered.
“Alright, thank you for your time.”
The two officers left and before lunch Owen was wheeled into surgery for the doctors to have a better go at the wound on his stomach. The nurse was concerned about infection setting in, and that night when he woke Anne popped her head in to announce that he had a visitor. “Renee is her name, do you know her?”
Owen looked to the blinds and pulled the covers up a bit, dreading the face that might walk through that door. It was night out after all. Vampires… He was now convinced the city was overrun with Vampires and he was sure they ruled the night. What if one of them had come back to finish the job.
“I’ll send her in,” Anne smiled and disappeared before Owen could object.
Sleep. He would pretend to be asleep, slow his heart rate down and try to remain calm.
It was Prudence that walked through the door, Owen knew her by her voice. She must have been stopping by after the work. Work… Did she work? He had never asked her and come to think of it he had only ever run into the woman during dark hours. Oh God, not her too. He felt his heart rate quicken and tried to slow it down again, noticing the monitor echo his fears; would she as well?
He heard the woman set something down on the bedside table before he smelt the bitter aroma of coffee. It had been so long since the man had had a decent coffee that he almost came out of his ruse just to pick it up and drink it down right there and then, but perhaps he should wait Owen told himself.
“Looks like death came knocking on your door last night,” Prudence stopped at his bedside and he could feel her eyes on him. "Nurse said I could bring it to ya, just had to be decaf. Better for your heart and trauma."
Decaf? He thought, damn that woman.
A few long minutes passed before Prudence started adjusting his bandages and the man suddenly felt a bit better, as if someone had restored him to his former self, the man he was before Harper Rock, but those bitter sweet moments were fleeting and soon passed.
Prudence must have found a chair then because he didn’t hear her moving around. About an hour had passed since she last spoke, asking him how long he’d be in here, almost as if she was wondering out loud. "I'll come back later to check up on you. Maybe bring ya a mag or something," she suddenly said and Owen felt himself jump slightly, though he managed to add a swift snorting sound as if he had been snoring softly.
Once the young woman left the room and Owen was sure she was gone he sat up in his bed and swallowed a massive gulp of air as if he had been starved, holding his breath for the last hour or so. “God, if you let me live through this I promise I’ll go to church more often,” he murmured to himself as he raised his gaze to the ceiling and frowned.
-
Owen (DELETED 2397)
Re: The Hanging Tree
The following night Pru, or was it Renee, returned to the hospital to visit Owen. He had been sleeping at the time and stirred when he heard the woman talking with someone else.
"He needs rest. Nurse said so."
“I do not mean, harm. I do not even have a gun,” the stranger replied.
Gun! Owen opened his eyes to see Lizzie Llewellyn set a large bouquet with her details attached at the end of his bed before quickly closing them again.
"Can we talk, Owen? I would like to apologize,” Lizzie persisted quietly.
Please, please, please God. More church, I promise! Owen thought to himself as his heart rate began to pick up now, the monitor once again echoing his fears. He recognised the woman; she was one of his attackers! If only he could make for the panic button without having the two women in the room spot him. They would surely tear him to shreds!
"Brought you that mag I promised earlier, Owen,” Prudence interjected; setting it down at his bedside with a smile that went unseen. “Looks like ya got some colour back on you"
"I will talk with him later when he wakes. I have a few errands to run,” Lizzie said before turning to leave.
He heard the door swing shut as Lizzie left the room and finally found the courage to open his eyes to see Prudence snort as she picked up the bouquet of flowers and dumb them in the bin. “*****,” she had said, making Owen smile, though the action was a weary one.
“Who was that?” He asked.
"Ya don't remember her?" Her question had a tinge of confusion being Pru was certain the guy would remember his attackers. She sure would have. Pru kicked up her feet in the chair, both her booted heels claiming a lip of the window sill being she faced the chair to the bed. "She's no one I'd go around trying to befriend. I'm sure she gave ya one of those there." She pointed to his most noticeable wound on his arm.
Owen looked down at his arms and lifted it slowly. It hadn’t given him any trouble, not like the other wounds, but he still knew it was there. “How do you know about the attack?” Owen asked, letting his gaze slowly creep back to pin Prudence, though he couldn’t look at her for too long, after all, she was possibly… One of them.
She snorted. "The same way I knew how to tell ya to lay low. That people were after ya for breaking into their house. Someone who was after ya spouted off about ya where I heard about it." She leaned the chair back a little, getting comfy.
He felt the sudden urge to ask her, are you a Vampire? But the words died with the thought. Would curiosity kill the cat? Owen sat up and threw the covers back, turned to face the woman so that his legs dangled from the bed. He had to know, but he also had to be able to escape if things turned nasty. “Prudence,” he looked at her again before checking for some kind of weapon, the flower vase perhaps? “Are you a… Vampire?” Oh God, there he’d said it! No turning back.
She looked at him. "Who told ya that ****?" Her feet dropped to the floor as she leaned forward in the chair. " Do I look like a vampire?" She always wanted to ask that to someone after she became one, why not now?
Phew. Not a Vampire. He trusted Prudence, he had been very kind to him, just a stranger that had returned his missing wallet one night and now, visited him daily after that brutal attack which would see him in sit in hospital for a while longer. “Robert Pratt, the man who attacked me.” Honesty was best; after all, she was being honest with him now, right?
Prudence rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. "Robert Pratt is a vampire. He preys on the weak and sucks the life outta them. That's your real vampire." She cackled for a second, then looked at him seriously. "What did he say about vampires?" Prudence crossed her arms over her chest, hoping he wouldn't notice her not breathing.
He didn’t understand. She had made him seem almost stupid for thinking she might be a vampire, yet this Robert Pratt fellow really was one? Maybe she was just kidding; maybe she thought he was playing. “So they do exist?” Owens head hurt now, this was far too much thinking for anyone recovering from a fractured skull to be doing.
“He didn’t ever say much, only passed me the identities of vampires for a few months.”
"I meant like he was a soul sucker." She shrugged again. "What if they did exist? Would it matter?" It probably did for him, but she always saw him around town, so the vampires must be leaving him alone till recently. "I mean, not like ya ever saw someone who ya thought might be a vampire til that Pratt guy opened his yap, right?"
Owen rubbed his face and sighed. “No, I feel like a right idiot. I spoke to the police and handed over a large archive of photos and names Robert had told me about, along with some strange goings on I’ve witnessed outside the bank in Wickbridge. I bet they think I am crazy. Oh no… What if they send me away? I’m not crazy Prudence!”
She almost frowned. Almost. How many names did he have? Was Cliff in those files? Rabies, Tempy, Mordie? She had to find out. "Look, I know ya ain't crazy."She stood up, moved to the door and closed it. "It's time we had a heart to heart, Owen." Pru plopped back down on the chair. "There is some strange stuff in the city. I'll tell ya some of what I know, but ya gotta give me what ya know in return. Deal?"
His eyes grew wide as she shifted his body tense. As the woman swerved away and shut the door he reached for the empty flower pot and pulled it against his chest, hugging it with his good arm. When Prudence returned to the chair Owen relaxed a little bit. “Alright. Deal.”
"Really? If I wanted ya dead, I would have killed ya all them months back, and if not then it could have been easy for me to do now." She laughed and then recrossed her arms. "And ya didn’t hear this **** from me either." She looked around looking for some wraiths before she went on. "When ya get out of this place in a night really open your eyes out there. Stop and look around. This city's got some crazy **** going on in it that I know you've had to have seen. Like the QZ. What other cities you know of have dead people walking around in it?"
He stared; it was all he could do. Stared, watched, and listened until his mouth fell open. Dead people? What she serious? He knew of the wall and had wondered but never had it occurred to him to ask any questions. Owen shifted to rest his head on his hand as if to say ‘go on.’
This guy was oblivious, she realized now. How long had he lived in this city to not know anything? "There is a whole bunch of other stuff too that is here. Ghosts and monsters of all kinds." She kicked her feet back up. "But before I continue, you got a copy of those people Pratt said were vampires somewhere?"
Owen looked around for his bag before he gave up the search just as quickly as he had taken it up. “I do in my email, but there is not computer around here and my phone was stolen.”
She just nodded and grabbed out her phone. "Why don't ya email it to me while we chat?" She stood up and put the phone on his bedside table. "I'm not sure I should tell ya this stuff, being how bad ya look, but I dont like bullshitting people and we've been pretty straight with the other. Pratt was telling the truth. Maybe. Those monsters I mentioned a few seconds ago, well, vampires is one of a lot of them." She leaned up against the window sill and looked at him. Just waiting.
He emailed her the long list of names before passing the phone back. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Owen was half tempted to take the phone again and call the cops, beg for a safe house, a ticket home, anything to get him away from this backwards city.
"Look, the best bet is to lay low and people won't think twice about ya. Not all vampires are as bad as Pratt and his religious fanatical group." She shrugged. "But if you're going to try and stay alive in this city, ya need to know what’s going on around ya."
He nodded. He had a hundred more questions but right now he just wanted to be alone. “Prudence I hope you won’t be offended by my asking you to leave… I need a bit of time to process all of this.” Owen set the pot down on the bedside table and shuffled back under the covers.
She just looked at him as she made her was to both feet. "I'm not the bad guy, Owen." Prudence walked to the door and stopped to look his way. "Be back tomorrow Owen." She headed out of his room not going far from the hospital. Just incase.
"He needs rest. Nurse said so."
“I do not mean, harm. I do not even have a gun,” the stranger replied.
Gun! Owen opened his eyes to see Lizzie Llewellyn set a large bouquet with her details attached at the end of his bed before quickly closing them again.
"Can we talk, Owen? I would like to apologize,” Lizzie persisted quietly.
Please, please, please God. More church, I promise! Owen thought to himself as his heart rate began to pick up now, the monitor once again echoing his fears. He recognised the woman; she was one of his attackers! If only he could make for the panic button without having the two women in the room spot him. They would surely tear him to shreds!
"Brought you that mag I promised earlier, Owen,” Prudence interjected; setting it down at his bedside with a smile that went unseen. “Looks like ya got some colour back on you"
"I will talk with him later when he wakes. I have a few errands to run,” Lizzie said before turning to leave.
He heard the door swing shut as Lizzie left the room and finally found the courage to open his eyes to see Prudence snort as she picked up the bouquet of flowers and dumb them in the bin. “*****,” she had said, making Owen smile, though the action was a weary one.
“Who was that?” He asked.
"Ya don't remember her?" Her question had a tinge of confusion being Pru was certain the guy would remember his attackers. She sure would have. Pru kicked up her feet in the chair, both her booted heels claiming a lip of the window sill being she faced the chair to the bed. "She's no one I'd go around trying to befriend. I'm sure she gave ya one of those there." She pointed to his most noticeable wound on his arm.
Owen looked down at his arms and lifted it slowly. It hadn’t given him any trouble, not like the other wounds, but he still knew it was there. “How do you know about the attack?” Owen asked, letting his gaze slowly creep back to pin Prudence, though he couldn’t look at her for too long, after all, she was possibly… One of them.
She snorted. "The same way I knew how to tell ya to lay low. That people were after ya for breaking into their house. Someone who was after ya spouted off about ya where I heard about it." She leaned the chair back a little, getting comfy.
He felt the sudden urge to ask her, are you a Vampire? But the words died with the thought. Would curiosity kill the cat? Owen sat up and threw the covers back, turned to face the woman so that his legs dangled from the bed. He had to know, but he also had to be able to escape if things turned nasty. “Prudence,” he looked at her again before checking for some kind of weapon, the flower vase perhaps? “Are you a… Vampire?” Oh God, there he’d said it! No turning back.
She looked at him. "Who told ya that ****?" Her feet dropped to the floor as she leaned forward in the chair. " Do I look like a vampire?" She always wanted to ask that to someone after she became one, why not now?
Phew. Not a Vampire. He trusted Prudence, he had been very kind to him, just a stranger that had returned his missing wallet one night and now, visited him daily after that brutal attack which would see him in sit in hospital for a while longer. “Robert Pratt, the man who attacked me.” Honesty was best; after all, she was being honest with him now, right?
Prudence rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. "Robert Pratt is a vampire. He preys on the weak and sucks the life outta them. That's your real vampire." She cackled for a second, then looked at him seriously. "What did he say about vampires?" Prudence crossed her arms over her chest, hoping he wouldn't notice her not breathing.
He didn’t understand. She had made him seem almost stupid for thinking she might be a vampire, yet this Robert Pratt fellow really was one? Maybe she was just kidding; maybe she thought he was playing. “So they do exist?” Owens head hurt now, this was far too much thinking for anyone recovering from a fractured skull to be doing.
“He didn’t ever say much, only passed me the identities of vampires for a few months.”
"I meant like he was a soul sucker." She shrugged again. "What if they did exist? Would it matter?" It probably did for him, but she always saw him around town, so the vampires must be leaving him alone till recently. "I mean, not like ya ever saw someone who ya thought might be a vampire til that Pratt guy opened his yap, right?"
Owen rubbed his face and sighed. “No, I feel like a right idiot. I spoke to the police and handed over a large archive of photos and names Robert had told me about, along with some strange goings on I’ve witnessed outside the bank in Wickbridge. I bet they think I am crazy. Oh no… What if they send me away? I’m not crazy Prudence!”
She almost frowned. Almost. How many names did he have? Was Cliff in those files? Rabies, Tempy, Mordie? She had to find out. "Look, I know ya ain't crazy."She stood up, moved to the door and closed it. "It's time we had a heart to heart, Owen." Pru plopped back down on the chair. "There is some strange stuff in the city. I'll tell ya some of what I know, but ya gotta give me what ya know in return. Deal?"
His eyes grew wide as she shifted his body tense. As the woman swerved away and shut the door he reached for the empty flower pot and pulled it against his chest, hugging it with his good arm. When Prudence returned to the chair Owen relaxed a little bit. “Alright. Deal.”
"Really? If I wanted ya dead, I would have killed ya all them months back, and if not then it could have been easy for me to do now." She laughed and then recrossed her arms. "And ya didn’t hear this **** from me either." She looked around looking for some wraiths before she went on. "When ya get out of this place in a night really open your eyes out there. Stop and look around. This city's got some crazy **** going on in it that I know you've had to have seen. Like the QZ. What other cities you know of have dead people walking around in it?"
He stared; it was all he could do. Stared, watched, and listened until his mouth fell open. Dead people? What she serious? He knew of the wall and had wondered but never had it occurred to him to ask any questions. Owen shifted to rest his head on his hand as if to say ‘go on.’
This guy was oblivious, she realized now. How long had he lived in this city to not know anything? "There is a whole bunch of other stuff too that is here. Ghosts and monsters of all kinds." She kicked her feet back up. "But before I continue, you got a copy of those people Pratt said were vampires somewhere?"
Owen looked around for his bag before he gave up the search just as quickly as he had taken it up. “I do in my email, but there is not computer around here and my phone was stolen.”
She just nodded and grabbed out her phone. "Why don't ya email it to me while we chat?" She stood up and put the phone on his bedside table. "I'm not sure I should tell ya this stuff, being how bad ya look, but I dont like bullshitting people and we've been pretty straight with the other. Pratt was telling the truth. Maybe. Those monsters I mentioned a few seconds ago, well, vampires is one of a lot of them." She leaned up against the window sill and looked at him. Just waiting.
He emailed her the long list of names before passing the phone back. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Owen was half tempted to take the phone again and call the cops, beg for a safe house, a ticket home, anything to get him away from this backwards city.
"Look, the best bet is to lay low and people won't think twice about ya. Not all vampires are as bad as Pratt and his religious fanatical group." She shrugged. "But if you're going to try and stay alive in this city, ya need to know what’s going on around ya."
He nodded. He had a hundred more questions but right now he just wanted to be alone. “Prudence I hope you won’t be offended by my asking you to leave… I need a bit of time to process all of this.” Owen set the pot down on the bedside table and shuffled back under the covers.
She just looked at him as she made her was to both feet. "I'm not the bad guy, Owen." Prudence walked to the door and stopped to look his way. "Be back tomorrow Owen." She headed out of his room not going far from the hospital. Just incase.
-
Owen (DELETED 2397)
Re: The Hanging Tree
He was the most disagreeable-looking man I’d ever seen, this husband of Renee, but kind all the same. I wondered if he had stopped by to make himself known because his wife had been visiting me in hospital, or if he saw me as someone encroaching on what is and always will be his.
Someone else came to visit me while I was resting. I think it was the same woman Prudence chased out before disposing of her flowers. She brought some more with her, Of course, but this second batch stayed, even when Prudence stopped by to visit.
I’ve been out of hospital almost a week now and to be honest it’s been rough. Some man I mistook for a woman punched me in the ribs, and a second (definite woman this time) shot me in the shoulder. Perhaps this whole house fiasco is still going on. Perhaps those thugs won’t rest until I am six feet under.
The safe house didn’t fly with the police. They think me a crazed old man making up stories to get off the street no doubt. All this rubbish about vampires is really doing my head in. Despite the lack of help from the men in blue, I have managed to find a place renting with a very kind young woman and rent is only a couple hundred a month. I still feel a bit strange going round there. That house is so perfectly still, almost as if it has never known anything but silence.
A good non-fiction book is what I need, something to read while I sit in the park under that tree I really like. I managed to scratch a few dollars together out of my pay check to keep feeding the ducks. My new job at the university is long hours but it keeps me from thinking about what happened last week.
I received an anonymous cheque in the mail, with no return to sender address. It doesn’t feel right taking three-thousand dollars I haven’t earned, but it sure helped pay for those horrendous hospital bills I’m likely to be forking out for until Christmas.
I will stop by the library and pick up that book I think. The Education of Henry Adams.
Someone else came to visit me while I was resting. I think it was the same woman Prudence chased out before disposing of her flowers. She brought some more with her, Of course, but this second batch stayed, even when Prudence stopped by to visit.
I’ve been out of hospital almost a week now and to be honest it’s been rough. Some man I mistook for a woman punched me in the ribs, and a second (definite woman this time) shot me in the shoulder. Perhaps this whole house fiasco is still going on. Perhaps those thugs won’t rest until I am six feet under.
The safe house didn’t fly with the police. They think me a crazed old man making up stories to get off the street no doubt. All this rubbish about vampires is really doing my head in. Despite the lack of help from the men in blue, I have managed to find a place renting with a very kind young woman and rent is only a couple hundred a month. I still feel a bit strange going round there. That house is so perfectly still, almost as if it has never known anything but silence.
A good non-fiction book is what I need, something to read while I sit in the park under that tree I really like. I managed to scratch a few dollars together out of my pay check to keep feeding the ducks. My new job at the university is long hours but it keeps me from thinking about what happened last week.
I received an anonymous cheque in the mail, with no return to sender address. It doesn’t feel right taking three-thousand dollars I haven’t earned, but it sure helped pay for those horrendous hospital bills I’m likely to be forking out for until Christmas.
I will stop by the library and pick up that book I think. The Education of Henry Adams.