Home > Heart of the Vampire : Episode 2(4)

Heart of the Vampire : Episode 2(4)
Author: Tasha Black

“I’ll man the desk,” Hailey offered. “In case anything comes back online.”

“That should be sufficient,” Channing said. “Dru, I’m sorry to ask it, but would you come and record the moving of the body for us.”

“Record it?” she asked.

“Make note of anything you observe,” he told her.

She took a deep breath and headed over.

“We’ll want to roll him up in the rug,” Tyler suggested. “That will be the easiest way.”

“Won’t it be much heavier that way?” Jeffrey Wilder asked.

“At least it’ll keep all his guts in,” Johnny said. “Probably.”

“Would his guts have fallen out?” Jeffrey asked, looking a little green around the gills.

“I think what he means is that the blood and other loose body matter will stay with the corpse if we wrap the body in the rug,” Tyler said.

“Yeah, sure,” Johnny said. “It’ll be like a burrito.”

“Can we just do this?” Jeffrey asked.

“Of course,” Channing said.

But of course they couldn’t, because they had to figure out how to roll up the rug first.

Brian Thompson, obnoxious even in death, had fallen at an angle, which meant they would have to adjust him before rolling him up.

Tyler gamely took his head and shoulders and Jeffrey took his feet.

As Tyler lifted, the head fell backward, revealing the scarlet gash at the neck.

“Hey,” Dru said. “Look at his neck.”

“I’d really rather not,” Jeffrey said in a pinched voice.

“No, not the wound,” Dru said.

“What is it, child?” Channing asked her.

“His cross necklace,” Dru told him. “It’s missing.”

“It probably came off when the attacker slashed his neck,” Tyler pointed out reasonably.

“Then it should be here somewhere,” Channing said. “Place him down again and let’s find it.”

The others begrudgingly obeyed.

Dru turned her back as Tyler and Channing shifted the body around looking.

“Roll him over,” Channing called out.

Dru shivered.

“Nothing,” Tyler said.

“We’ll search his room for it,” Channing suggested.

“He was wearing it every time I saw him,” Dru said.

“Then this may be a clue,” Channing said. “Well done.”

Dru nodded, hating the feeling of so many eyes on her.

If it was a clue, then the murderer definitely knew it was her fault that it had been brought to light.

“I’ll go on ahead and open up the catacombs,” she said absently.

“You’ll do what?” Channing asked.

“The basement tunnels, I mean,” Dru said. “It’s cold enough down there to preserve him somewhat. We can’t put him outside, or the animals will get to him. And it will be easiest to get him down there if we go out the back way.”

With a swirl of snow and a gust of wind, the front door opened and Howie entered, with Zander and Chester in tow.

“What’s going on here?” Howie asked.

“We’re moving the body to the basement,” Channing said, as if it had been his idea all along. “It can’t be allowed to decompose in here.”

“That rug is an antique,” Howie retorted.

“Perhaps you’d like to have a look at it?” Channing offered.

Howie stepped closer, took one look, and backed away quickly, waving his hands. “Go ahead, do what you have to do.”

“I’ll help,” Zander offered.

Viktor stepped back immediately. “I’ll accompany Miss Holloway to the basement to open up.”

“Fine, fine,” Channing said.

“I would help,” Howie informed them. “But I need to… put Mr. Moosehead back up on the wall before someone trips on him.”

He was obviously reaching with that excuse. The giant moose head had been down since before Dru started her shift. She assumed Gert must have taken him down to give him a cleaning.

But it didn’t matter. Howie would only be in the way anyway. And someone should stay behind to watch over the other guests.

Dru grabbed her coat and headed out to the dining room and into the solarium with Viktor trailing behind her.

She had a weird feeling she couldn’t place, the hair on the back of her neck was standing up.

You’re in the middle of a murder scene. You were just privy to a very detailed description of decomposition. It makes sense that your Spidey-senses are tingling, she told herself.

But there was something else tickling her mind too.

“Slow down,” Viktor said. “It’s going to take them a few minutes to catch up. They haven’t secured the body yet.”

“Sorry,” she said.

“You’re understandably upset,” he said gently. “This is frightening for everyone.”

“You don’t seem frightened?” she observed.

“I am, though,” he told her. “I’m just better at hiding it. But I can’t stand the thought of you being in danger. Please don’t go anywhere without me, Drucilla.”

“Aren’t you even a little bit scared for yourself,” she asked.

He smiled a bitter smile. “Let me focus on worrying about you.”

She opened the door leading out of the solarium. A blast of icy wind lifted her hair. The storm seemed to be intensifying. The world outside was just a blank sheet of white.

She ducked her head and headed out into the weather.

Viktor took her arm, and together they battled the driving wind and snow to get to the basement entrance. She slid the skeleton key out and opened the door.

For once, she was relieved to step down into the stony tunnels below.

Once she was out of the snow, she took a deep breath of slightly less cold, musty air.

“You’re freezing,” Viktor said, pulling her into his arms.

He felt so good, his arms strong and secure around her. She closed her eyes and basked in his presence.

“Oh, Drucilla,” Viktor murmured, nuzzling her hair.

She felt her heart rate slowing and her body coming back to itself, comforted.

But there was a commotion at the threshold. The others must have managed to roll up the body faster than expected.

“Dru,” Channing shouted.

“Right down here,” she called back, heading toward the steps to guide them in.

Behind her, Viktor sighed.

 

 

4

 

 

Dru wrapped her coat around herself and followed the others up the stairs and back out into the storm.

It had been a little gut-wrenching to leave a person’s body alone in the dark tunnels, wrapped haphazardly in an old rug.

But what choice did they have?

She tried not to think about the rats she sometimes saw in the tunnels. At least the body wouldn’t be mauled by bigger animals.

Viktor wrapped an arm around her as they walked, but when they reached the solarium door again, he had to let go so she could walk inside.

She slowed her pace and let the others go back into the lobby ahead of them, not anxious to be surrounded by the stressed-out crowd again. But after a lap around the solarium, she realized she was going to need a little more time.

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