Double Take
There was no dining room table in Dudley’s apartment, so I sat on the couch as I crammed Chinese noodles in my mouth.
Dudley was in the shower. He came into the apartment two minutes before and disappeared into the bathroom.
I was stuffed to the brim on noodles and diet cola by the time he made a second appearance. His hair was wet and he wore a loose pair of jeans with a white T-shirt. He looked good—every bit as attractive to me as the other day when he was standing in the office. I noticed the lines of his arms and had to avert my eyes to stop myself from gawking.
“Did you leave any for me?” he asked as he picked up one of the cartons.
“Only just. So, did you find out anything interesting today?”
He frowned. “Not really. Marshall acts tough, but I’m gravely disappointed in him. He’s getting old and lazy. Actually, I think he’s planning on closing his office soon and moving someplace warm. He didn’t know anything, but I spoke to another one of my contacts who did.”
“What?”
“I have a friend who catalogs as many vampire creation stories as possible. Roan and Schroder’s story is a rather interesting one. Roan had a vampire lover who tried to kill him and Schroder stopped her, except he didn’t just kill her, which would have mirrored what you and I did for London. Instead, he chained her up and drank her blood until he became a vampire, like his brother.”
“And then he killed her?”
“Yes, except there is one interesting twist to this story. I told you how Schroder used to mate regularly. Roan isn’t like that. According to my source, he has never taken a mate. Like I thought, that guy is really not cut from the same fabric as his twin. I don’t know what to make of him.”
Neither did I.
Instead, I put it out of my mind and watched as Dudley paced the length of the room. He picked up a set of chopsticks and broke them apart. He was silent as he ate and paced. “What did you find out?” he asked between bites.
“I went around to the clubs London was frequenting when she met Garth and asked about him. No one knew him.”
“Surprise,” Dudley said in a deadpan tone.
“Then I went to the police station to see if Roan or Garth were being chased by the police.”
Dudley snorted. “Were they?”
“No, but someone interesting talked to me.”
“Who?”
“Pierce Wagner.”
Dudley nearly choked on the food in his mouth. “You actually talked to him? You can get an appointment with the mayor faster than that guy. What did he say?”
“Nothing much,” I said, but I felt like I was lying. Because I felt bad, I amended my comment by adding, “I asked him if he knew Roan and he said he did.”
“Anything else?” Dudley asked eagerly.
“No. By that point I wanted to get the heck out of there, so I left, but he gave me his card and told me to give him a call if I had any questions for him.”
Dudley scratched his face thoughtfully. “Well, that’s different. Do you know why he stopped to talk to you?”
“No clue.”
Dudley clearly had an idea why, but he wasn’t saying.
“What is it?” I demanded.
“Nothing,” he said, stopping to pick up a napkin to wipe his mouth. “When do you think you’ll be ready?”
“To do what?”
“To go back to Roan’s. I borrowed a car, so let’s go back to that basement and see if we can get London back tonight. I don’t have any other ideas.”
I felt like squirming, but I tried to keep a cool head on my shoulders. “We can go when you’ve finished eating.”
***
“Empty,” I whispered as I climbed the stairs out of the basement in Roan’s old garage.
Dudley had already told me it probably would be deserted because there were no cars crowding the back gate, but I had to check anyway. I had my doubts the other night, but tonight, I was fearless. Those vampiric monsters were torturing London and I had to find her.
Dudley’s jaw was clenched like he was suppressing a scream. I was frustrated, too. Our leads were slim.
“What do you think we should do now?” I asked as I took his offered hand to help me up the last few steps.
“We can hide in the bushes and wait to see if they show up later. It’s only twelve-twenty-three now, so they might not show up until later. Humans who are about to become vampires want to throw their time schedule off, so they might not show up until three or four. Do you want to wait?”
“Let’s check out the house,” was my answer.
“Sure.”
We split up and started circling the grounds.
I was an idiot. Dudley had no idea how much of an idiot I was. I didn’t think we were going to get anywhere doing things his way—creeping around the back alley and waiting in the bushes. I was prepared to sacrifice my life for London, so I had another plan. While Dudley was around the other side of the house, I walked right up to the front door and rang the bell.
It was a minute or two before the door was answered by a maid dressed in a smart black pantsuit with a white collar. “May I help you with something?” she asked skeptically as she examined my outfit (still the same one I was wearing earlier when I spoke with Pierce).
“Yes, I was wondering if I could speak with Roan.”
“Whom shall I announce?”
“Sweeper Robertson. Tell him I’m Detective Marshall’s assistant and I’d like to talk to him briefly about his case.”
The maid pursed her lips and invited me inside while she went to ask if the master of the house was available.
After she left, I took a look at the place. The decorations and furnishings were classic and had been kept immaculately. I stood there and priced out the furniture. In the entryway alone and I couldn’t even calculate the cost—it was staggering.
After a minute, the maid returned and asked me to follow her. She led me through a doorway, down a dimly lit hallway, and then through another door into a sitting room. It turned out to be a library chock-full of the most beautifully bound books I had ever seen. I didn’t even know people had book collections like his. I thought books only looked like that in period films.
Inside, Roan was sitting behind a huge oak desk and to my surprise, Pierce Wagner was lounging on one of the brown leather armchairs.
“Hello again,” Pierce said, rising to greet me before Roan could say anything. The Chief of Police seemed strangely pleased to see me. I smiled and extended my hand, which he shook warmly—even though his hand wasn’t exactly warm. “I didn’t expect us to meet again so soon,” he continued.
“Oh?”
“As a matter of fact, he is visiting me today only to ask if I know you,” Roan said blankly from behind the desk. “Except when he appeared, I was at a complete loss. It’s good to get visits from old friends, but I had no idea how I should know you. Now that you’ve introduced yourself it makes perfect sense. Detective Marshall’s assistant?”
“Yes,” I said, moving away from Pierce and standing in front of the desk. Standing closer to Roan, I was surprised by his looks. He looked almost identical to Schroder, but his skin wasn’t smooth. It looked almost crumpled. Well, most identical twins looked slightly different.
“If you have something to say, I wish you had called and arranged for a meeting. As you can see I have company now and it’s quite late. Could we meet tomorrow morning?”
I gathered up my courage and started talking. “I’m afraid not. This matter is rather urgent.”
“This isn’t how I do business,” he said, picking up a telephone receiver and preparing to dial a number.
“You see,” I said before he could call anyone. “While I was at work I happened to see a file regarding a search request from you about my sister—London Robertson.”
At this statement, Roan looked distinctly uncomfortable. His eyes flicked toward Pierce, back to me, and then he dropped the phone.
“She disappeared yesterday and I was wondering if you’d managed to get in touch with her?”
Just then, I saw a flicker of movement outside one of the windows. Dudley was watching.
Roan’s expression was disgustingly relaxed. “I haven’t seen her.”
“I find that hard to believe. Did you hear from her at all? A phone call? An email?”
“No.”
I couldn’t help glaring at him. Actually, I had to clear my mouth of saliva before I could speak to stop myself from spitting on his desk. “All right. Then I was wondering if you possibly had the address or phone number of a guy named Garth. I understood you were in contact with him.”
Roan leaned back on his chair and put his left ankle on his right knee. “Sorry, I’ve never heard that name before.”
At this point, I was fuming and I didn’t know how to continue. I wasn’t sure if his lies were for my benefit, or Pierce’s, or both of us, but I didn’t want to leave without getting something from him.
Suddenly, a slightly different tactic popped into my head. “You know, I knew your brother Schroder,” I said boldly.
For a second his eyes lost their façade and he looked at me like he could kill me just to get me to shut up. Then the mask was back up and he looked at me casually. “Of course you did. Since you’re London’s sister.”
“Look,” I continued, audaciously leaning my knuckles on his desk. “I don’t know what kind of protection you have from the police, but I’m just going to come right out and say what’s on my mind. You’re after London because you think she murdered your brother who turned her into a vampire.”
Roan didn’t look at all shocked. He had obviously gotten a grip on himself in the past ten seconds.
Pierce came up beside me and said calmly, “That is a very serious accusation.”
My head flicked toward him. “And what’s your position in all this? Do you just let vampires and humans do whatever they want?”
“It’s complicated,” he drawled.
“Explain it to me.”
He licked his lips and said, “Roan here is one of the most powerful vampires in our city. I’ve known him for several years now and I can give a fairly accurate description of his history and dealings. He was made honestly, no matter how dishonest his brother made it afterward. If you think he loves his brother, you’re wrong. His brother was unbelievably dishonest and cruel—even from a vampire’s perspective. If you make an attempt on Roan’s life—no matter how justified you think you are—the ramifications will be so dire you won’t be able to bear the consequences.”
I tilted my head. “Oh?”
“The stable vampire community won’t just let you do whatever you want. I’m telling you this for your protection. Now, if your sister is missing, it doesn’t matter if she is a vampire. You should contact the police and we will look for her. I’ll even supervise the investigation myself if that will make you more comfortable.”
I didn’t believe he would find her and now I really did feel like spitting, but Dudley told me this was all I could expect from the police.
“Right,” I said bitterly, before turning to leave.
“Wait,” Roan said, getting up from his chair and coming around to face me. “If London didn’t kill my brother, do you know who did?”
I stood there and looked at him. I didn’t know how to answer him and I was sweating bullets. If I said Dudley did it, then Roan would go after him, but since London already pointed the finger at him, Roan was probably planning on going after him anyway. If I said London did it—the torture would be double and she’d probably be dead before I could find her anyway. If I said I did it—I would be forfeiting my life and he probably still wouldn’t let London go. Not to mention my death wouldn’t be painless.
I had to do some creative lying—lots of truth mixed with a couple of carefully selected falsehoods.
I winced.
It was a part of the act.
“I was there that night, but I was fifteen years old and kind of traumatized by what I saw. I’ve never remembered that well. All I do remember was London screaming when he bit her, but she didn’t want Schroder dead. Plus, I’ve lived with her for eight years since then. She has only just stopped mourning.”
“Is that so?” Roan asked disbelievingly.
“Yeah.”
“You really don’t remember anything?”
When I looked up to read his expression, he was much closer to me. I could see his face and neck with more clarity. Suddenly, I was so scared I could hardly move. Roan was supposed to be Schroder’s twin. He wasn’t.
I grabbed the collar of his shirt and ripped it open until the buttons popped. His chest looked exactly how I thought it would. Exactly where I stabbed him were scars. His collar hid most of it, but his throat had the mark all the way around where Dudley beheaded him.
“I thought I killed you,” I breathed as I stepped away from him.
“It took me five years to recover from what you and that brat did to me, but I didn’t want revenge against you,” he said, stroking the scar on his neck with his thumb. “Even though I suffered that much, I didn’t feel like you did anything wrong.”
“Why?” I gasped.
“Why do you think?”
I thought madly, but nothing made sense. The ends didn’t join up. “Because your brother,” I stuttered, but the truth was staring me in the face. “You never had a brother did you?”
“No. I had a twin brother and a bloodsucking bitch drank on him until he died. I went after her. I could have just ended her legacy right then and there, but wouldn’t that have been a waste?”
Pierce spoke up. “So, you did the same thing to her that she did to Roan? That’s brilliant,” he said sardonically. “How did you do it? How did you make everyone believe Roan was still alive?”
“It wasn’t easy. It started when I had to keep Roan’s death a secret from my parents. I’m sure Sweeper knows all about keeping secrets from parents. It was noble enough at first. I had to play both myself and my brother to stop their hearts from breaking. I’m sure you can understand the lengths a loving sibling would go to.”
“Are you sure you know which one you are? Roan or Schroder?” Pierce asked. “Things like this get confused so easily.”
The vampire shrugged his shoulders elegantly. “Ah, I can’t remember. These days I go by Roan. His reputation is cleaner than Schroder’s.”
I heard Pierce suck in his breath.
But Roan didn’t seem to care who he was talking to—whether it was me or Pierce. He was half lost in memory as he continued, “Sweeper, how could I blame you for trying to stop the same thing from happening in your family? I would have saved my brother if I could have.”
“Then why did you go after London in the first place, if you knew the damage it would cause?”
“I fell in love.”
I groaned and rolled my eyes. Vampires were so stupid about love.
He waved his hand in dismissal. “Not with her. With you, but how could I stand to murder you? I would certainly let you kill me if I let you drink one drop of my blood and I knew my passion would eventually drive me to that if I didn’t take steps to stop it—so I drank London’s blood and thought about you.” He touched my cheek and whispered in my ear. “I pretended she was you every time I touched her, every time I tasted her blood. She wasn’t herself. For me, she was you.”
I slapped his face.
“I had to keep my love for you pure—to keep both of us alive.”
My head was spinning and my brain was breaking. I couldn’t stand this. “Liar. Do you think telling me such a ridiculous tale will win you any points now? You hardly even saw me back then. How dare you say you loved me?”
“But I did,” he said softly. “You were like the opposite of a vampire. Most people want to be vampires, but not you. Can you imagine the horror of taking a flask of blood to your lips every night and drinking, say, a hundred and eighty milliliters, for two months? A person seeking to gain a vampire life does it. They know where the blood comes from and they don’t flinch. The price is too high—much too high for you. You didn’t love things or even seek selfish pleasure. You loved perfectly.”
“What?”
He took a deep breath and what he was saying sounded like something he had been aching to say. “If I came into your life slowly and took even a few days to make friends with you—you would have liked me. I would have done anything to make you like me. After our relationship was established, you would have done everything to defend me. That’s how you treated London and everyone else.”
“How could you know how I treated others? I repeat; you hardly saw me.”
“I didn’t need to. It wasn’t hard to see and I fell in love with you instantly. Everyone loves you, though you didn’t know it. You don’t see the way their eyes turn as you brush past, Sweeper.” His voice slowed as he finished his thought, “You wouldn’t want anything to do with me if I killed your sister. I did it to protect myself.”
“And you didn’t worry that I’d come after you and kill you?”
“I’d forgive you,” he said quietly.
This was infuriating. “You don’t make any sense. If you didn’t care that I would kill you, then why not try to have a relationship with me?”
“I didn’t feel that way at first.”
“I’m going to kill you now if you don’t start making some sense! What about what you’ve done to London now? Do you think I’ll forgive you for chaining her up in the basement of your garage and letting seven humans drink off her last night?” I accused, pulling the gun out of the back of my pants and pointing it at the ceiling. I wanted to hear what he had to say in response to my accusation. I wanted to force him to answer.
At first, he just stared.
Beside me, Pierce was preparing to play referee.
“It’s not me who’s doing that.”
“Is that so?” I said acidly. I couldn’t talk to him and I couldn’t stand his attitude of feigned innocence. I cocked my gun and pointed it at his head. “Well, if it’s not you then call Garth now and tell him to let London go before he drinks enough blood to change himself into a vampire. Do it now!”
“Why?” he whispered. “Aren’t you tired of having to babysit London? Don’t you feel like she is ruining your life? Don’t you want to have a relationship with a man? Get in deep with someone special in your bedroom without worrying about her down the hall? Live your life like it matters?”
“And you want to give all that to me?”
“Yes. I know it’s too late for you and me to be together, but I want you to have your life like you bit a piece out of it instead of what you’ve been doing, admiring your own life in a shop window… like it’s something you can’t have.”
“Stop making this about me. You could save her. She loves you. You could take her back.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Fine. Don’t take her back, but why are you torturing her and selling her blood to monsters?”
“He can’t help it!” Pierce interjects. “Once you’ve made someone a vampire, you can’t escape the suspicion they’ll come after you until after they’re dead.”
My eyes were hot as I pushed my sweaty bangs off my forehead. “Call Garth now or I really will shoot.”
“You won’t kill me with that little gun, and I want to do this for you. It’s a gift.”
“Call Garth!” I screamed, tears running down my cheeks.
“Pull the trigger,” Pierce ordered.
I tightened my finger around the trigger, but I couldn’t pull it. I couldn’t do it. I was afraid if I did, I’d shut his mouth forever and I’d never be able to save London. I dropped my gun and fell to my knees on the floor. “Please, save London. Stop them from hurting her. I beg you. Please, tell me where she is.”
He bent down so his eyes were level with mine. “You have to understand. I have to be strong now for you.”
He was completely crazy. I was never going to get anything from him. I picked up my gun, put it to his temple, and SMASH! BANG!
Roan was lying on the floor with blood splattered all around.
Except I wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger.
I looked to my left and Dudley was standing outside the broken window. He did it.
He took the barrel of his gun and broke away the extra glass around the window. Then he came in through the frame.
“It’s okay, Sweeper,” he said, getting down next to me and putting his arms around me.
“Why is it okay?” I wailed, pushing him away from me. “Now we’ll never find London.”
Dudley pushed my gun away and held my head to his chest. At first, I struggled against him, but then I released the handle and clung to him. Unhappiness assailed me, but his strong heartbeat soothed me. I wiped my tears away and tried my best to slow myself down.
Then I noticed what Pierce was doing. He was kneeling beside Roan, inspecting his body. My panic completely ebbed as I watched Pierce pull off Roan’s hair. He was wearing a wig?
“Don’t tell me this bloodsucker isn’t Schroder or Roan now!” I whined in complete confusion.
“No. It’s the right guy,” Dudley said.
Pierce looked grim. “It’s just that when he was burnt, I’m assuming by you, all his hair was burnt off. The eyebrows and eyelashes are false, too. He said a single bullet to the head wouldn’t kill him. It made me wonder if he’s taken one or two before. See? There’s a mark—here and there.” Pierce lifted his head and examined his whole skull. “He’s been shot in the head on four other occasions. He needs surgery to have them removed.”
“Is that possible?” I gaped.
“Sweeper, you slashed him through the chest, I severed his head and we burned his corpse and he lived.” Dudley sighed. “This is only going to stun him and when he wakes up, he’ll be more demented than before.”
“Great,” I groaned, “but how? How did he live? Only ashes were left the morning after we burned him.”
Dudley frowned. “I must not have put his head far enough away from his body. He must have gotten up and left while you and I were sleeping. That’s why there was no skeleton. There should have been bones at least.”
“But how could he move at all if his head was severed?”
Dudley looked sheepish, like he didn’t know the answer. He finally responded by saying limply, “He’s undead.”
“All right, so how do you kill a vampire, if doing all that doesn’t kill him?”
“There’s only one way—you have to bleed them dry. Well, I suppose there are gorier methods, but bleeding them is the most effective. When we burned him, we cauterized the cuts. If we’d left him to bleed out on your living room floor, we wouldn’t be having this problem.”
Pierce looked troubled. “Sorry to interrupt, but I need to take him out of here if I’m going to have time to help him before he wakes up. Can one of you please call for the maid? I need to talk to her.”
Dudley got up and went to get the maid.