Nightwalker Chapter 10

As the sun sank towards the horizon, Reggie stood at the mouth of an alleyway. He was gazing down its maw at a sign that swung in the breeze, on it was written: Apothecarium Occultorum. Unlike when he and Lev visited Maman's premises, this shop put Reggie on edge.

I don't even know what this stuff is, Reggie thought to himself as he looked down at the list in his hand: Dippel's oil, Bezoar, calvariae pulvis, usnea cranii.

Reggie stuffed the list back in his pocket and took a deep breath as he stepped into the alleyway. "Here goes nothing," he muttered under his breath.

The door to the Apothecarium was down a dozen steps and set back into the building to some degree. Reggie stood at the top of the steps and sucked his teeth in scepticism. After tiptoeing down the steps, he peeked around the corner and spotted the door about a metre into the passageway.

“Holy guacamole,” Reggie muttered as he approached the door and inspected it closely; the door was an ornate mixture of blackened wood and rusted iron; the wood was carved in the likeness of a series of thorned vines descending. At first, Reggie didn't notice it, but as he reached to try to push the door open, he spotted that the iron of the door was patterned with the design of human skulls.

Grim, Reggie thought as he pushed gently on the door, "What the?" he muttered as the door didn't budge at all.

With one shoulder pressed hard against the door and with all his force, Reggie managed to get the door to screech open just enough for him to enter. As soon as the door had cracked open, Reggie was met by a chill that enveloped him like a mist. Nope, don't like that. He thought as he slipped inside.

A wave of confusion washed over Reggie as his eyes adjusted to the gloom, and he saw spread out before him a crypt; a row of marble pillars and arches ran down the room on either side of him. Candles hung on each pillar, and in the small light they provided, Reggie swore he could see the end of several sarcophagi. "Aw, hell, what is this?" he muttered under his breath.

With an internal debate raging on whether he should turn and leave, Reggie was struck frozen as he heard the sound of something approaching from his right; it sounded like something was being dragged along the ground, a sack with something heavy in it? He thought to himself. Reggie inched back to try to sneak out, but found the door had seemingly closed on its own. With a sigh, he decided just to make himself known and let fate do its thing.

Reggie cleared his throat, and the dragging sound almost immediately stopped. But to add further confusion to the matter, a voice echoed out from elsewhere in the crypt, "Ah, a customer, it has been a while, hasn't it, Merek?" A voice sounding like it belonged to a jovial elderly man said

From nearby, a deep and serious voice responded, "Sixteen days, it has been."

Reggie sighed with relief as he was yet to be run through with some torture object, and he decided to chime in. "I even have a list!"

After an awkward period of silence, the elderly voice called out, this time in a serious, almost angry tone, "Come, down to the end here. Let's see your list."

He doesn't like lists? Reggie thought as he tiptoed out from the doorway and into the open area of the crypt, with a trepidatious glance to his right, he saw a towering figure in the not-so-far-off distance; mostly obscured by the poor or outright lack of lighting, this man, seemingly named Merek, appeared to be somewhere close to seven feet tall and solidly built. The owner of the dragging noise was indeed a large sack that he had been dragging along the ground. Reggie grimaced and tried not to think about what might be inside.

As he advanced towards the person at the back of the Crypt, Reggie shot glances around him in an attempt to gain an understanding of what was going on; he noticed that several of the sarcophagi were missing their lids, and in the darkness, he could see the outlines of bundles of items sticking out of them.

Upon reaching the end, Reggie saw the owner of the voice that had beckoned him forth; sat behind a sarcophagus that was full of a dark viscous, syrupy liquid was an elderly man with long, grey, wispy hair, a well-wrinkled face adorned by glasses looking likely to break at any moment, and not an ounce of fat to be seen on him. He was wearing a long, white coat, like a scientist straight out of a movie, and glanced up at Reggie with a forced smile.

"So, young man, let me see this list," he said as he held out a hand over the dark liquid.

Reggie handed the list over to the old man, his eyes scanning the liquid, wondering what on earth it could be. Noticing Reggie's morbid curiosity, the old man chuckled.

"Curious are we?" the old man asked as he swirled a finger through the black liquid.

Reggie gulped and nodded, "It smells like asphalt or something," he added after taking a deep breath in through his nose.

"Close," the old man replied, "It's Mumia," he added, and let out another chuckle when Reggie gave him a blank look. "Once upon a time, this would have been made with mummies from Egypt mixed with Bitumen and rendered down into this lovely elixir... Nowadays, we have to find the bodies and do the embalming ourselves first."

Oh, Jesus Christ. Reggie thought as he tried not to throw up or retch, "G-give me a moment," he muttered as he took a step back and walked through one of the archways to compose himself.

The old man crowed with laughter as he slapped the side of the sarcophagus, "Merek! We have a fresh rube come to visit us; it seems one of our fanged friends is initiating a new familiar!" he called out to his colleague.

Reggie groaned at the old man's mockery. He looked down as he continued to gather his wits and, in the gloom, saw in the sarcophagus next to him an assortment of bottled liquids and herbs. He considered taking a closer look but thought better of it when the image of that black liquid popped into his mind.

The old man, now serious, called out, “I don’t sell to Vampires, boy, so I suggest you come back here and convince me why I should get whatever it is you have on this list.”

Reggie took a deep breath and lightly slapped himself on the face. You can do this. He told himself before turning and heading back to the old man.

"If I may, what is your name, sir? I gather that your friend over there somewhere is Merek." Reggie said to the old man as he extended a hand for a handshake.

"Oh my, what a gentleman, I am Winfred Anders." The old man responded as he reached out to accept Reggie's offer of a handshake.

Oh god damn it! Reggie exclaimed internally as he saw Winfred's hand that was approaching his; long, shrivelled fingers which looked to be no more than bone wrapped tightly in skin, fingernails that were long and stained with black splotches, most likely from the 'mumia' that swirled between them. His hand, in general, was covered in splotches of what Reggie could only imagine had been caused by.

With a brave face, Reggie gave a good account of himself with a firm handshake while making sure not to break the skeletal hand that was wrapped in his. "N-nice to meet you, sir, my name is Reggie."

"We shall see if you feel that way still when all is said and done," Winfred murmured as he finally took a look at the list Reggie had handed him.

A few moments passed, and then Winfred handed the list back to Reggie. "No, I refuse," Winfred said as he dismissed Reggie with a back-handed shooing motion.

"Wh-what, why?" Reggie asked in confusion as he looked down at the list again: Dippel’s oil, Bezoar, calvariae pulvis, usnea cranii. "What is this stuff? Do you not have it?" Reggie followed his question with another.

Winfred shook his head and sighed, "I have that 'stuff' but like I said earlier, while you were trying not to empty your stomach in my shop, I do not sell to vampires. And while you are no vampire, this list is absolutely for one, isn't it?"

"Y-yes, but he's a... good vampire," Reggie muttered, immediately feeling stupid at what he was saying.

And sure enough, Winfred scoffed and looked over Reggie's shoulder. "Did you hear that, Merek?" he said in a reasonable volume, which made Reggie realise...

He's right behind me, isn't he?" he thought as he slowly looked over his shoulder and saw nothing but the chest of a man who absolutely could snap every bone in his body with one good squeeze. "Oh Jesus!" Reggie exclaimed in fright, jumping instinctively away from Merek and incidentally toward the mumia-filled sarcophagus and putting one hand down to stop himself from falling in.

And then, Reggie felt it, his finger automatically curled around the rim of the sarcophagus, and all four of his fingers went into the mumia.

"Oh, I bet you don't like that." Winfred cooed as he watched the colour drain from Reggie's face.

Don't throw up, don't throw up, don't throw up.... Reggie repeated in his head as he slowly removed his hand from the sarcophagus and slowly wiped it on his pants while his stomach churned in revulsion. "No, no, it's fine," he lied.

"Well, you've piqued my curiosity with this 'good' vampire of yours, so explain away, and perhaps I'll rethink my refusal to sell these items to you?" Winfred said, much to the apparent disapproval of Merek, who let out a low growl of disdain.

Reggie rubbed his forehead with his one 'clean' hand as he debated on whether or not to tell this strange duo of what he was in the midst of. They clearly already know of vampires, so what's the harm... he eventually decided.

"Well, that is quite the predicament you find yourself in, isn't it?" Winfred responded rhetorically once Reggie had finished his story.

"One thing, I'm curious about though..." Winfred added before pausing for dramatic effect, "What, any of that has to do with... you?"

A stupefied Reggie looked at Winfred for a few moments, shocked at what he had just been asked. Truthfully, he had never even thought about why he was continuing to involve himself in what, in reality, was solely Lev's predicament.

"Well, I'm his friend and that's what friends do, help each other out, y'know... That and despite how terrifying and... disgusting, all this is, it's pretty freaking awesome too!" an impassioned Reggie finally answered, motioning near the end at the mumia that continued to swirl between him and the old man.

Winfred clapped his hands together once and smiled, "Fine, you've convinced me. Give the list to Merek, and he will fetch what you need while we take care of the payment."

Reggie paused mid-retrieval of his list and looked at Winfred sheepishly. "P-payment?" he asked as he tallied his paltry monetary situation in his head.

"Yes? What kind of business would we be if we just gave our goods away?" Winfred replied.

"C-can I start an account and Ulaq will pay it?" Reggie asked as he gingerly handed the list to Merek, who scowled at Reggie before heading off to get the items.

An unimpressed Winfred stared at Reggie before pointing over to a small wooden table off to the side of the mumia-filled sarcophagus. "Come on, let's see what you have to offer."

Reggie rummaged through all of his pockets and began to withdraw his findings: "ok, so, a twenty-dollar note, five dollars worth of coins, a half-eaten chocolate bar, a taser, a pocket knife." Reggie then clasped his hands on Sonja's business card and his hand grenade. "Heh, and a... and a hand grenade, from World War II," he said as he placed the grenade on the table gently.

Winfred looked at the assortment of things on the table before him. Moments went by without him moving or even saying a word. Eventually, he shrugged and looked at Reggie blankly, "Tell your good vampire friend to get you a dozen vampire teeth, and I'll consider your bill paid."

"Wh-what do you do with vampire teeth?" a curious and slightly scared Reggie asked.

Winfredd cooed as he gathered up the payment on the table, "Grind those up with some human teeth and you could make a mighty fine powder to sell to people wanting to strengthen their own teeth."

I had to ask, didn't I? Reggie thought to himself as Merek appeared from the darkness and placed a brown paper bag with the requested ingredients inside.

"Look, Merek, a grenade! From World War II, he says. I can always use more Toluene." Winfred remarked as he waved the grenade up for Merek to see with one hand while peeking inside, then pushing the bag towards Reggie with the other. "Remember, a dozen vampire teeth, oh, and don't open that oil or get it on you, the smell is horrific even to professionals like Merek and me. Isn't that right, Merek?"

Merek nodded disapprovingly.

Reggie gently picked up the bag and craddled it to his chest, "Uh, well, thank you, Mr. Anders and... Merek. I'll be back with those... Teeth you want as soon as I get a hold of them," he said sheepishly as he backed away from the pair, eager to get outside.

Winfred smiled and gave a regal sort of wave, "See you next time, oh, if your good friend gets hungry and takes a bite out of you, don't try to enter here with the teeth... Just set them down at the door, wouldn't want a valued customer combusting due to our anti-vampire measures, would we, Merek?"

"No, we wouldn't," a stoic Merek replied.