Chapter 2

Marie was examining her papers with growing frustration. She had by now spent weeks in the city, digging up all she could with her limited resources and the small substandard team she had been supplied with. Without any kind of backup. Without a pack of hunters. She didn't know what she would do when she found her target. She was a sitting duck without any protection, with only team of forensics and information gatherers at her disposal, and not very good ones at that. They would hardly stop the killer if he decided Marie was a threat. What she had learned was all very poignant and interesting, but they led to nowhere.

The killer was obviously not an irate witch-hunter on a personal quest. Or if it was, it was a witch-hunter from The Planet of Professionals. The team she had been supplied were all troublemakers and on extpress route out to oblivion. She had been sent to hostile city without backup to hunt what looked like the world's most professional killer. It took all brain capacity she had in two of her brain cells for a one second to come to a conclusion:

Someone wanted to get rid of her, and fast. Well, she knew that in advance, anyway.

She sighed and closed her eyes. There was nothing she could do. She wasn't trained to fight, her profession was inquisition. Interrogation. Interviewing. Examine facts, compare them to the lies and intents, to the moods and the minute betrayal the people gave away every second with their bodies. She hadn't handled a gun for years. If this killer decided that she was cramping his style, she would find herself executed in some alley. If any of the vampires here sniffed the presence of Inquisition, she would end up as their lunch.

She sighed and returned to her papers, with a impeding sense of fatality.

The hits were all extremely straightforward, no witnesses, no reports of shots. The kills were always efficient and methodical leaving no possibility for revival or surviving. In fact, if the executions wouldn't be so methodical, Marie would have rated the killer as a psychopath or a madman. The amount of damage delivered was always excessive.

But knowing what she knew of Vampires and Dimensional Beings, she had to agree with the methods. When your target is a corpse and clinically dead to start with, you might wonder where their death will cross the border to permanent death. Easiest way to ensure that is to disable, maim, and generally just deal enough damage that laws of physics take over.

Marie was also very impressed of the accuracy of their unknown killer. To the point of disbelief. And since she had week ago the fortune to be able to be one the first to examine one of his victims, she had quite detailed information.

The victim had been killed in a alleyway next to a busy street. He had been shot six shots to head - or the area that was left of the head, six to heart. Two in each knee, two in throat, and two in each elbow with the last two shots residing in the general proximity of major arteries. Twenty four shots with hollow point .45 caliber guns. It was unnecessary to mention the condition the body was in after such treatment. All shots were dead on, which suggested very close range. She had counted six to seven meters, which was not point blank range, but was very close when considering the opponent had been apparently vampire of seventy years of experience.

Once her forensic team had went over the site, what she had found with her resources, was that the six in head and six in heart were from one gun, and the rest were from another gun. There were also other matters that were difficult to believe.

Apparently, and this was what Marie had difficulty of believing, the killer had shot from two guns simultaneously aiming at all the vital parts and additionally disabling the target in case it would not be dead. The accuracy was near-impossible. The calculating brutality was wholly another matter to consider.

She sighed and leaned back, trying to relax, despite the growing tension in her neck. She knew beyond any doubt, that she was treading on a very dangerous ground.

She turned to look at the knock from the door. It was Matt, her exec. A troublemaker, with several rumors flying about several attempted rapes. Perhaps even rapes. She knew for a fact that he was marked for suicide missions. The fact that he was her second hand man didn't sit well with her stomach, especially when he looked at her. She had to fight to keep herself from showing the revulsion she felt every time he stared at her.

"What is it?" She asked. Trying not to read his intents like open book. She didn't want to look sick again. Matt probably thought she was ill by now.

"Just thought that you look tired. You should go to take a break."

Marie almost replied nastily, since she didn't much care for him. But she did not wish to complicate the mission any more. Having a hostile exec did not go well with her plans to survive this suicide mission. Not to mention the fact that the exec was a potential rapist, and would most likely enjoy nothing better than paypack.

Belatedly, she realized the idea had some merit. She could clear her thoughts and return with fresh mind to her task. Hopefully. They were going nowhere, and they had no leads other than the killer being exceptionally dangerous. In fact, there was nothing for her to do for the moment. There was no one to interview, and no leads until another corpse would pop up.

"Good idea." Marie said rising from her chair.

"I thought I-" Matt said, but she cut him off, knowing what he would say.

"I will be back in a hour or two, I'll try to clear my thoughts. Thanks for the idea." She said and breezed out of her office and to the street before he could rearrange his transparent proposition to lunch with her. She doubted she'd be able to keep her lunch in her stomach if he tried to flirt with her.

She stopped at the street and sighed in relief. The fresh air was revitalizing. The world brightened and she turned to look up, the sun was peeking behind the clouds and suddenly everything looked much more hopeful. Lately, the sun had been hiding from the city making it gray and depressing. The sunshine was a welcome change.

She skipped the thought of going somewhere to eat, so she just bought a sandwich and headed towards the small park that was near her hotel room. She stared at the trees and their blossoming leaves in the breeze as she slowly finished her sandwich. It was unusually tasty for a prepackaged trash, not that Marie was complaining.

Content for the moment, she leaned back and surveyed the surroundings.

There were few people in the park. One apparently a poor student reading, two older women gossiping, one man on a evening stroll and a pair of men walking. As her eyes fell on the two men, she had hard time not to make a sudden movement, since she saw quite clearly that they were vampires.

They were well masked, but Marie was an empath and her unusual sensitivity made the small hints of their bodies practically scream out their reanimated existence. Due her sensitivity, she had always found Vampires extremely disgusting. If she ever hard to talk to one, she would have to work not to vomit.

Even thought it had very little to do with her mission, or duties, she followed the two corpses with her eyes as they ambled past her. The two were not really paying attention to their surroundings. The sun was out and their skin was probably protesting even now, not to mention their sensitive eyes. They were in too much discomfort to pay attention to one curious norm.

If she hadn't been so interested in the two vampires, she would have missed what happened next, it was so natural and inconspicuous.

Suddenly she noticed that the young student was following the two men. She hadn't even noticed him standing up and moving close to them, even thought she had been looking in that direction. His movements were fluid, and neither of the vampires made any notice of their sudden tail. Neither any people around them took any notice of the student. Once they were far enough she stood up as well, and noticed the book that the student had left.

Purely on a hunch, she carefully wrapped it in a cloth - trying to avoid smearing any possible fingerprints.

As she turned to her quarry, they had disappeared. She cursed herself for the lack of attention and hurried in to the direction they had been traveling. She saw no trace of the three men, and she cursed profoundly.

The shop door behind her opened with a jingle and she turned around, and found herself staring in to pair of unblinking yellow eyes that glittered in the light. Marie found herself frozen, and intrigued not only by his inhuman eyes, but also by his emotional aura.

She knew right away she had never met someone like him, and probably would never meet again. He seemed to elude any definitive emotion, and she could grip only some faint traces of moods before they fluttered in to another emotion. She blinked and his lips quirked in to a very small thin smile and spoke.

"The book is quite good." He said, his voice expressive and yet carrying uncannily little emotion for her to distinguish, and then disappeared in to the crowd.