“Don’t tell me there’s another one?” If so, the time between attacks was diminishing fast.
“We think so.” Justin was terse. “A couple of vampires have reported receiving garbled voice messages from one of theirs, an Alexander. He’s not known to me or Dalziel, which suggests he’s not usually problematic and he keeps to himself, but he sounds frantic. Not everything he said makes sense, but high-pitched whispers about ‘blood, I need blood’, ‘make it stop’, and some agonised moans followed by ‘I think I’m sick’, would indicate our perp has struck again. Sheffield this time, another gay club, but we think he’s heading north. Alexander, that is, not whoever attacked him.”
Gethin swallowed. “That’s a bit close for comfort. If victim two hadn’t been a shifter, I’d have been half inclined to think someone’s got it in for anyone Sorley’s been in contact with. I’m going to ask him if he knows an Alexander though.”
He asked Justin to hold on and opened the door from the kitchen to stick his head into the basement room. Sorley was putting a running machine through its paces to the background of music Gethin didn’t recognise. He whistled sharply.
Sorley looked up, caught the sombre expression on Gethin’s face, and clicked the music off. “What’s up?”
“Don’t suppose you know a vamp, Alexander someo—” He was cut off by a phone ringing. Sorley held up a hand and snatched the handset up.
“Alec?” His eyes widened. “Christ, man, slow down. I can’t understand a word you’re say—” His face was a mask of horror as he looked up at Gethin on the cellar steps. “Alec, it’s okay, we’ll help you. Breathe, c’mon. Start from the beginning. Where are you?”
“Bollocks,” Gethin said into his own phone. “That sounds like this Alexander right now, speaking to Sorley. I don’t like this, Justin. We can’t just leave him.”
“Get him on speaker,” Justin urged. Gethin repeated the request to Sorley, who did as he was asked.
“I cannot stop it, it huuurts. Why does it hurt? What’s wrong with me?” Harsh sobs filled the basement, making both vampire and shifter wince.
“Alexander?” Gethin aimed for sympathetic reassurance. “My name’s Gethin Hughes. I’m with the Council. We know you’ve been hurt and we can help you, but you need to trust us. Can you tell Sorley where you are? We’ll come and get you, make the pain go away.” He knew he had no right to promise anything, but restraining the vamp before he could descend into blood lust, or even get himself picked up by human first responders, was essential. They could beg his forgiveness later.
There was a snarl. Then more sobbing. Gethin followed as Sorley ran to his bedroom and started pulling on clothes. He stepped into the hall and said quietly to Justin, “We’re heading out to look for him. There’s no way I could prevent Sorley from leaving.”
“I gathered as much. Keep me on the line in the hope he knows where he is. I’ll send anyone in the area to search too.”
“Sorleeee?” The tortured groan sent a cold dart through Gethin.
Sorley grabbed his phone charger as he ushered Gethin towards the front door. “I’m here, babe. Do you know where you are? Are you still in Sheffield?” He typed quickly and held up his notes app to Gethin.I was in Sheffield about two weeks ago, with Alec.He raised worried eyes in a question Gethin didn’t have any answers to.
Sorley bounced on his toes until Gethin unlocked the car, then dived in and fixed his phone to the dashboard with the clips provided, ramming the charger into a free socket. “C’mon, sweetie, we’ll help you, but you’ve got to give us something.”
“Ran away…Want to feed…Must not feed…MonDieu,I feel so sick.”
“I know you do,” Sorley purred. “You’re being very brave, darling.” Under his breath, he muttered, “We can’t just drive. We need some kind of clue as to where we’re going.”
Gethin already had the car pointing south and was moving at speed through the quiet streets, praying they didn’t meet any cops.
Justin’s voice sounded in his shirt pocket, making him jump. “Put an ear piece in, please.”
Gethin fumbled to comply, then murmured, “Update?”
“We’ve got a fix on his phone. He’s just north of Barnsley, heading slightly northwest, towards Mapplewell, following the path of a river, The Dearne. Can you find it?”
He wrenched the car into the kerb, zoomed in on the satnav, and blew out a relieved breath. “Got it,” he said into the mic, pulling out onto the road again. “He hasn’t half been moving.”
“At least it’s more rural than the city centre,” Justin said soberly. “Fewer people to maul if he goes rogue.”
“Let’s hope we capture him before things go completely to shit.” Gethin mentally ran through the tools he had onboard. “Now for the fun part.”And to think I’d hoped for a whole six hours’ sleep tonight.
Justin’s harrumph was tinged with a touch of amusement. “Don’t do anything too stupid,” he cautioned, before urging Gethin to keep him informed.
Gethin kept his foot down as he drove towards Mapplewell, while Sorley kept up a torrent of comforting phrases directed at Alexander. The sick vamp said less and less, and eventually his phone went dead.
Sorley swore. “He must have run out of battery. Now what?”
“We wait. You call Justin as soon as I tell you to, and we’ll get the car as close to Alexander as possible. I’ve got things in the boot that will help us subdue him if necessary.”
“Things?”
