Nightwalker chapter 9

Lev stared at his phone. He had reactivated his plan, and nothing was really stopping him from messaging Jessica. But yet, he hesitated. Do vampires even use phones? He wondered to himself as he battled with whether he should even try contacting her or not.

Eventually, he let out a sigh and decided to just do it. With a flurry of tapping, he wrote; Jessica, it's me, Lev. I know mostly about what happened and what you have become. I want to help you, I want to see you again. We can fix this somehow, I'm sure of it.

His finger hovered on the send icon for a moment before finally hitting it. A moment later, the sent icon popped up, and Lev stuffed his phone back in his pocket. "Now we wait," he muttered to himself as he stood up and refocused on what he was supposed to be doing: Finding and pressing an accountant by the name of Karl Baumann about his time working for Anastasia Bathory and why he suddenly quit working for her.

It would be nice to know something about either of these people first, Lev thought to himself as he stood outside a high-rise office building. He glanced up skyward, his eyes following the never-ending rows of glass that stretched up seemingly forever, like finding a needle in a haystack.

Lev walked inside and went over to the list of who and what was on each floor of the building. A man in a black suit and a very noticeable earpiece walked over to Lev. "Hello, can I help you?" the man asked.

Lev sighed and pointed at the list, "Which one of these is the accountant's office?" he asked, much to the amusement of the man.

"All of them. Do YOU have business here?" the man asked as one hand shifted towards his belt.

"I'm looking for Karl Baumann, a friend recommended his services." Lev lied, which unfortunately turned out not to be a good one.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave, sir," the man said bluntly as he motioned to the front door.

"Eh?" Lev muttered, "Okay, fine, I have divorce papers to serve him," he added in agitation.

"Sir, if you'll follow me to the door, please," the man said a bit more firmly this time.

"Uh, he's got an overdue parking ticket?"

Lev sat at the bus stop across the street from the high-rise offices and looked around as he pondered what to do next. I don't even know what this guy looks like. Lev thought as he thought about giving up and trying something else on the list, a familiar caw from behind him made him chuckle. "You're gonna enjoy telling him all about this utter fail, aren't you?" Lev said to the crow, but Lev then shook his head in disbelief.

The crow was standing on a newspaper, and much to Lev's disbelief, a man's face was under the crow's foot. "No, there's no way that's who I think it is... Son of a..." Lev muttered under his breath as he took a closer look at the picture and the caption under it.

The crow rubbed its beak on the paper, then cawed again as it looked over at the front door of the office building. Lev looked at the bird, "Oh, no, you're not about to..." Lev trailed off as he looked over to the office and saw a man who matched the picture in the newspaper leaving the building.

"H-how the hell do you do that?" Lev said to the crow before standing up and beginning to follow the man while staying on the other side of the street.

What am I going to do if I manage to get near him? Ask him nicely? Taser? If only Reggie had some Chloroform under his bed, Lev thought as he continued to follow Karl Baumann.

After a few minutes, Karl entered a coffee shop, and Lev hurried across the street and entered too. Much to Lev's surprise, Karl was at the counter picking up a coffee. Damn, ordered ahead, I guess. He panicked internally as Karl turned and started heading towards him.

"Ohp, here you go," Lev exclaimed as he opened the door for Karl.

"Thanks," Karl said without even looking at Lev.

Crap, now what? Lev thought as he followed Karl outside. He put his hands in his pockets and felt the taser against his knuckle. I guess that's all I can do.

Karl Baumann stopped at a crosswalk and, while he waited, pulled out his phone and made a phone call. The dial rang and rang before eventually going to voicemail. "Damn it," he muttered to himself.

Right as the walk symbol flashed onto the traffic light above him, a sudden jolt seized his body, and before he could look or even react, he collapsed.

A fair chunk of the people who were waiting at the same light didn't even notice Karl collapse, a couple did and paid him no attention, and a few gasped and knelt to help him.

"Oh snap!" Lev exclaimed as he knelt down and grabbed Karl's arm, "It's alright, everyone, I'm a paramedic, even though it's my day off, I can help him out," he said to the couple of people who helped him get Karl to his feet. "If you insist on helping, let's get him over to that bus stop, out of the sun," Lev instructed the couple of people who seemed adamant on helping.

Karl eventually regained consciousness with a groan and a palm to his head. "Oh, what happened?" he muttered as he slowly opened his eyes and noticed someone next to him.

"You collapsed, me and a couple of other people helped you over to this bus stop," Lev answered as he patted Karl on the shoulder.

"Oh, ok, well, I had better get back to work," Karl said as he tried to stand. Lev put his hand back on Karl's shoulder and pushed him back down onto the bench seat.

"First, I have some questions I need answered, Karl," Lev said with a smile.

"Christ, what do you want? Money?" Karl responded, more annoyed than intimidated.

"No, I want to know why the sudden job change?"

"Wait, what?" Karl exclaimed, "Who sent you?"

"Not important. What made you want to stop working for Anastasia Bathory?" Lev responded as he poked Karl's leg with his taser, "I don't want to use this, so just answer the question.

Karl looked down at the taser, then back up at Lev, before laughing, "Ok, who set you up for this? Someone must be playing a joke on me." Karl said as he tried to stand up once more.

An angry Lev forced him back down again, harder than last time. "The hell's so funny?" he growled in confusion.

Karl rolled his eyes, "If you actually knew anything about what you were talking about, you'd know the answers to your questions already." Karl said dismissively.

Lev noticed down the street, a bus was coming, and he decided a change in plan was needed. "Alright sleepyhead, looks like we are taking a trip."

"Wha-" Karl began to ask, but another jolt ripped through his ribs and sent him crashing back into the realm of unconsciousness.

Lev waved for the bus, and he laughed as the bus driver opened the door and gave him a suspicious look at the sight of an unconscious Karl draped over his shoulder. "Ol' Karl here is a bit of a daydrinker, just getting him home to sleep it off before the boss kills him, y'know."

The bus driver sighed and shook his head, "I hate this part of the city," he muttered.

Karl once again regained consciousness, but found he couldn't move his hands. He blinked his eyes open and looked down to find he was tied to something behind him and was sitting on a cold concrete floor. "Wh-what the hell!" he exclaimed as he looked around to find he was in some sort of old abandoned warehouse.

Lev walked around in front of him and sat down cross-legged on the concrete facing him. "A bit cliché, I know, but it was the first place I found," Lev said as he set the taser on the ground next to him.

"Jesus Christ, what do you want from me!" Karl groaned, not finding the situation funny anymore.

"Why did you change jobs? What made you stop working for this Anastasia Bathory woman?" Lev asked once more.

"Woman?" Karl said in disbelief. "That demon is no woman, she's the devil itself!" he exclaimed. "Look, since you're so clueless, do you know the nickname she has earned herself?" Karl asked.

Lev shook his head. "Enlighten me."

"The blood countess," Karl answered.

Lev shrugged, "Cool, answer my question."

Karl sighed and looked at the roof. "Jesus, someone came to me, revealed what was coming, and I got the hell out of dodge."

Lev picked up his taser and turned its voltage to max ."I'm clueless, remember, don't be so vague."

"Another vampire, alright! He's rounding up all the old guard and is going to bleed them dry to create a new progenitor. Anastasia's days are numbered." Karl exclaimed, "I was just a familiar. I got the hell away from her before I could get caught in the crossfire."

"Who is this 'other vampire', what's their name, where do they hang out?" Lev asked, thinking if this was all lining up the way he thought it was, this vampire Karl spoke of was the one responsible for turning Jessica.

"He didn't tell me his name, just made a convincing argument and an offer I couldn't refuse," Karl answered. The panic in his eyes and voice gave Lev reason to believe him, as disappointing as the answer was.

"What offer was that?"

Karl smiled sadistically, "That I'll be one of the new generation. I'll get to rule this city while he and his new progenitor spread the new blood over the world!"

Lev shook his head with much disdain, "Have fun with that. Where would I find this Anastasia woman if I wanted to have words with her?"

Karl cackled and shook his head, "Y-you fool. You do not want to have words with her. She's called the blood countess for a reason; she BATHES in blood, she covets it, collects it. She uses her beauty to lure men and women alike to her, then tortures them in ways you can only imagine. I've seen the aftermath, their broken bodies, devoid of even a drop of blood!" Karl rambled

"Groovy, I'll take my chances. Where does she reside?" Lev responded, doing his best not to sound rattled by what he was being told.

Karl sighed, "The Burnwood Sanitarium, there's no way you'd get inside unless it's with her. And before you ask, there's no telling where she will appear in public; she operates on lust, just comes and goes as she pleases," he said, the fear thick in his voice.

Lev nodded his head and pondered if there was anything else he should be asking Karl before ending their conversation. "Hmm, well, this has been fun, Karl. We should do this again. Oh, did you get any way of contacting this other vampire? How will you know when it's time for your ascension?" Lev asked, not holding out much hope of anything useful.

Karl shrugged, "I think he has some sort of ties to the diamond palace."

Lev looked at Karl and ran his tongue along the front of his teeth before standing up. It seems vampires don't use phones after all, "Alright, well, you're free to go," he said before pulling out a knife and cutting Karl's bindings.

"Actually. There's one thing you never answered or even touched on: what did you do to get such an offer? What is it you bring to the table for this guy?" Lev asked.

Karl shook his head and shot his eyes around anxiously for an exit. "I can't tell you that! All I can say is, I'll be instrumental in ensuring he can get to Anastasia," he said, seemingly thinking he was speaking cryptically.

Karl spotted a door and started edging his way towards it. As he went, he called out to Lev, "What's your part in all this? What do you even want with him?"

Lev shrugged, "Try to kill him, I guess."