Mortal Agent of a Vampire - Chapter 13

I was glad to have a free evening, although it was kind of hard to get used to not having Vince to harass.
After watching the evening news, I yawned as the antique clock in the living room pointed to twelve. Time for bed, I thought, gathering the newspapers spread out on the coffee table into a pile.
A photo on the top paper caught my eye; it was my shot of the scene of Liz’s death. I stared at it for a moment. Liz was curled up in a twisted position in the corner of a brick wall. Arms spread out, blood gushing from her slit wrists and spreading to the ground. She was so young, her face childlike and beautiful, like a budding camellia, but she was already in the cold embrace of death.
I shook my head, folded up the newspaper, and stood up from the couch. Ghostly, I thought of something. That airline booking hotline. Maybe the police had already done that, but I still wanted to make sure. I dialed the number, said I’d forgotten the flight’s schedule and time, and gave Liz’s passport number.
“One moment, please.” The sweet, mechanical voice of the lady on the line said, and after a moment she resumed speaking, “I think you’ll have to hurry, your flight leaves at one o’clock this morning.”
“Today?”
“Yes,” she confirmed, “please arrive as soon as possible with your traveling companion.”
“I have a traveling companion?”
There was a pause on the other end and I knew what she was thinking, I was losing my memory, but she remained patient, “Yes, you have two tickets booked, first class.”
I hung up the phone and flew to the garage. Liz wasn’t alone, she had a mysterious traveling companion, what did that mean? Even if that person wasn’t her killer, he or she must have known something about j□j. I didn’t know if the other person had learned of Liz’s death, but it was still worth a try. Maybe he or she would wait for Liz at the airport.
By the time I arrived, passengers were already changing boarding passes. I ran to the information desk and pretended to be a family member or friend who was seeing them off. Employing some journalistic skills, I learned from the driver and passenger that the person who had joined Liz was named Nellie and that they had not yet boarded the plane.
Relieved, I decided to wait here until the plane took off and leave if I had no luck.
I had just sat down on the bench when my cell phone sang cheerfully and I answered it.
“Come out.” To my surprise, it was Vince.
“Come out where?”
“Heads up, right.” He seemed to sigh.
I did as I was told, and from a distance, I saw him outside the terminal, waving at me through the glass.
I hung up and walked out.
“I thought you were going away for a while. Was this just a smoke screen you created to follow me?” I punched him in the chest, “Congratulations, you’ve confused me, satisfied?”
The streetlight cast a shadow over Vince’s face, “I’m not stalking you.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
He was about to speak when I interrupted him by putting up my palm, “Don’t talk about catching a plane, you have an airport.” I paused and looked at him, “It’s one, right?”
Vince shook his head in annoyance, “Why don’t you just get it?” He looked at me as if he was looking at his own indisputable son.
“Is it that other guy thing again?” I guessed, “You should know from a casual use of mind reading that I’m here for nothing to do with you, I’m here to investigate Liz’s death.”
Vince shook his head, “Of course I know that. But let me help you sort it out. Dean asked you to help him investigate Liz’s death.”
“Yes.”
“To prove that Liz didn’t kill herself.”
“Yes.”
“You proved it.”
“Yes.”
“That’s where it should end,” he emphasized, “don’t hold on to it.”
I sized him up, and after a moment, I said, “Do you think I’m meddling too much?”
“By UN standards, okay.”
“Too coincidentally, for you, I feel the same way.” If I was idle, then he must have been more idle than I. Imagine bothering a meddler, “Look, I’m your agent, but that’s only part time, more often than not, I’m a reporter, and if you were a human being you’d know that it’s a reporter’s job to be meddlesome. Now tell me, are you stopping me based on any reason at all, or is it just pure fun?” I clasped my arms together, determined to fight him to the death.
Vince looked down at the concrete and after a moment he lifted his eyes back up and looked into mine, “I have a reason.”
In the reflection of the glass, an airplane roared across the runway and rose into the deep night sky.
“What?”
“You.”
Vince’s face showed an unfamiliar apprehension and I was confused, “Me?”
“Yes, it’s out of your league,” Vince’s voice was getting lower, “I don’t want you to get involved in danger ……”
“How is it dangerous?” I asked, and suddenly, in a flash, I connected the dots, and I felt a chill run down my spine, “When you said, other people, your alliteration was on people ……” oh god, “It wasn’t people that killed Liz!”
“Welcome to the world of vampires.” Vince spread his hands, looking very helpless.
My heart pounded violently, “When did you …… you ……?”
“When I saw that picture.” Vince explained, “I know exactly what caused a wound like that, and …… slitting your wrists doesn’t just bleed that much.”
“There are other vampires in the world besides you?” I lowered my voice and looked around, for some reason the people around me suddenly looked suspicious.
Vince snorted, “Like there are any other idiots in the world besides you.”
“Which means you’re investigating Liz’s death too.” He must have called the booking line like I did.
Vince nodded, “I have to find this guy.”
“Because this guy was hunting on your property without permission?” I tried.
“It’s worse than that.” Vince said, he didn’t go into detail as to how bad, and I didn’t ask, I’d had enough excitement for the day, I didn’t want to dig any deeper into any dark little secrets.
When the plane took off and the man we were waiting for didn’t show up, Vince and I drove back to the city.
“What now?” The Jaguar sped down the road and I tried not to look out the front window.
“Are you afraid of ghosts?” Vince asked.
The question sounded a little clueless, but I answered, “What do you think? Hint, there’s one sitting right next to me.”
It didn’t take long for me to realize why he was asking. At that moment we were walking through the morgue in the middle of the night with no one around.
Carts covered in white cloth were neatly lined up on either side, and rows of metal cabinets stood up on the four walls of the room, the cold air leaking out of the cracks like spirits out to let off steam. I never wanted to know what the inside of the cabinets looked like.
“Why didn’t you tell us we were coming to the morgue?” I hated to stick it to Vince’s back, if it wasn’t for the little pride that was left stopping me.
“I gave you the chance to sleep at home.” He said, with a hint of gloating, “Besides, you said you weren’t afraid of ghosts.”
“I didn’t think it was this kind of ghost, okay? I thought it was the 400 Years of Fright and you’re telling me to watch the Exorcist?”
Vince shrugged his shoulders.
After a moment, he stopped, “Okay.”
“What do you mean, okay?”
“Liz.” Vince shined his cell phone on one of the cabinets, “Let’s wait here.”
“Here?” I pointed to the ground floor.
Vince laughed.
This had to be the craziest thing I’d ever done, hiding in a morgue with a vampire in the middle of the night.
We were sitting under the cart, white sheets draped around us like drapes, “How did you know that guy was bound to come here?” I asked.
Vince thought for a moment, “Sometimes we fall into a state of pseudo-death, let’s say we haven’t hunted for a long time …… but it lifts as soon as things get better.”
“Does that have anything to do with now?”
Vince scratched the ground, “Liz packed her bags and was ready to leave, but was attacked and died before that.”
“That’s the premise.” I nodded, “Go on.”
“But why did she buy two tickets? What kind of person is Nellie?”
“Maybe it’s her partner, she said she wanted to move to England.”
“That doesn’t explain her suddenly cutting off contact with her doctor, diabetes is a chronic condition that requires ongoing treatment, isn’t it?” Vince said.
I never considered that suspicious. The fact that the doctor visited her in person after she disappeared proves that her condition was not so optimistic that she didn’t need medical assistance. If she had planned to leave, she should have at least prepared enough medication first, but she didn’t. Why?
“Because she didn’t need it anymore.” Vince stated quietly.
Sliding down the rope he threw, I sucked in a cold breath, “Your kind …… he tried to turn her into ……” I still couldn’t get that word out smoothly.
Vince nodded, “I think Nellie’s the guy we’re looking for, he was going to transform Liz and run away with her, but halfway through …… something must have gotten messed up and he had to leave Liz there alone.”
“What could have gone wrong?” I asked, feeling like I was being sucked into a deep vortex, but unable to pull myself out.
Vince’s eyes flickered and he didn’t answer.
I don’t know how long we sat there in the darkness, before I was freezing to death, Vince spoke, “Stay here, keep quiet and don’t come out.”
Hiding alone under a morgue cart was definitely my least favorite thing to do, but I didn’t want to act like a coward. “Okay.”
“Lyle.” Vince turned back before drilling out.
“In.”
He suddenly grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards him, and I felt his thumb brush against my neck, bringing a shiver down my spine.
“What are you doing?” That tickles. I wanted to laugh, but laughing out loud would be weird in this situation.
He doesn’t answer, and the whole thing lasts only a split second before he lets go of me, “Don’t come out.”
“You said so.”
“Uh-huh.” He nodded, his golden eyes glowing in the darkness, and then he went out.
I stayed in the silence, the white cloth hanging motionless, only the cold air rolling across the floor. It was so hard to stay awake. I had absolutely no idea what was going on outside, no idea where Vince had gone.
After what seemed like a century, a footstep approached and stopped in front of me.
“Vince?” A strange man’s voice said, sounding like a wounded lamb.
“Who else do you think it is?” Judging by the voice, Vince was in my way, and I relaxed my tightened nerves. It was ridiculous to say, but he gave me a sense of security.
The other man sighed, a mixture of relief and exhaustion, “Thank God you’re here …… I thought I was desperate!You know, Lutz found us, he got mad, and I had to run …… away”
Thank God? What a pious vampire.
“He should be pissed.” Vince said nonchalantly, “You tried to transform someone without permission.”
“But ……” Lamb argued, “But I love Liz!”
“That’s not a reason, Nellie,” Vince said in the tone of a Head Teacher, “You know the rules of Lutz, you can only transform a human if all members of the clan agree.”
Nellie wailed, I didn’t realize there were so many rules to being a vampire, “So you’re towards him too? I can’t get help from you?” Now he was the desperate lamb.
“You’re a pain in the ass.” Vince sighed softly, “I’ll help you, after all this is my territory and I don’t want anyone executed here.”
“Really?” Nellie made the sound of a naïve girl meeting her idol.
Apparently not all vampires wanted to be as sophisticated as Vince.
‘But on my terms,’ Vince added, ‘you’re going to Switzerland, to join Muhammad’s tribe.’
Nellie ahhed, “You don’t mean the tribe of vegetarians, do you?”
Vince supposedly nodded, and I heard another wail, like a gambler being told he was banned from a casino. The vegan tribe, horrible.
“It’s not fair, Liz hasn’t even had a chance to enjoy human blood yet!”
“That’s even better, she’ll get a kick out of sheep’s blood soon enough.” Vince said, and I could almost picture him hugging his arms and looking indifferent.
“You can’t do that!” Nelly protested.
“I can, either you say yes and I help you, or you say no and get off my property.” Vince said desperately, then laughed a little, “Oh, and I think Luz will be glad you chose number two.” What was that, a friendly reminder?
Nellie muttered, “Fine, let’s go to Switzerland ……” That was the end of the negotiations.
Then I heard the sound of a metal cabinet opening.
“Liz!” Nellie whispers, “Wake up, Liz! It’s me!”
There’s a wailing, the sound of plastic bags rubbing together, and then a woman says, “Nellie?”
Your sister died, but came back to life as a …… uh …… vampire. I don’t know if Dean will be happy to hear that. Better to keep it from him for now.
一堆拥抱、接吻，还有肉麻兮兮的情话，奈利和莉丝就好像吸血鬼版的罗密欧与朱丽叶。 Luckily Vince couldn’t stand that as much as I could, “Can we hit the road now, lover-birds? You have almost as long as forever to talk about love next.”
Reluctantly they stopped, I know because they let out a disgruntled mumble at the same time. “Thank you, Vince.”Nellie said, after which two footsteps moved outward, fading out of earshot.
“Come on out, Lyle.” Vince said.
Finally.

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