She sighed.
That had been her plan but now it was already six forty-five and she was only halfway through cleaning the piles on the floor. She really needed to get another bookshelf. The other half had nowhere to go since all the shelves were full. She put her hand up to her chin as she contemplated. Maybe she should put some bookshelves in her room. That way she could put the more valuable books in there. Hmm. Now that was an idea. Marie stretched one final time before she headed upstairs. It was a little early but there was a good chance Mark was already up. The sooner she got some answers, the sooner he could go home.
Marie knocked on the door and waited for an answer. Nothing. A small frown tugged at her lips. Should she try again or come back later?
“Come in.” His voice was sullen but at least she got an answer. Marie turned the knob and entered the room. The curtains were closed but the light was on. The boy was standing by the window with his hands in his pockets on the right side of the room. He didn’t move and only watched her as she took the only chair and pulled it towards the bed. Marie sat down and waited.
Would he ignore her? Or was he already given an order?
That would make things tricky if that was the case. After a moment, Mark made his way over to the bed and sat down. He stared at the floor as his hands gripped the bedsheet in a fist. Since it didn’t look like he was going to start, she should talk first.
“I wanted to ask more questions about last night.”
“Do I have a choice?” He glared at her as he hunched his shoulders.
“Yes. You can answer my questions and help this case get solved faster. Or you can keep your information to yourself and slow down the case considerably. The choice is yours. I won’t use magic to force you to speak to me.” Torture was also something she would never use. Though saying it out loud probably wouldn’t convince him.
“But you won’t let me leave.”
“If you had no restrictions on you, would you stay?” He blinked for a moment before he averted his eyes.
“That.. Um...No.”
“Once you left here, Adrian wouldn’t let me see you and he wouldn’t share any information he discovered. If this is just a simple case of vampires fighting vampires then he would probably be fine.” Mark nodded along with her explanation. It was very easy to see that he admired the man. “However, If this is a case involving magic, would Adrian be able to keep you and the rest of your clan safe?” He frowned as his hands tightened around the bedsheet again.
“There… “ He swallowed visibly. “There might have been magic used.” Mark wasn’t meeting her eyes as he spoke.
“Why do you think so?” Based on the way he acted earlier, it was unlikely he was sensitive to magic or knew anything about it.
“I...” He stopped talking and glanced up at her quickly before he stared at the window. “I went into your library and in one of your books there were symbols. I think I remember seeing some of them that night.”
“Does your Master have a countermeasure for magic?” Mark flinched and his shoulder went up a bit before they came back down to their original position.
“I-I don’t know.” His voice was soft.
“I can protect you against magic.”
“What if the two of you worked together?” Mark gave her a weak smile.
“That is a possibility.” It wouldn’t be a good idea to shut his hopes down since he might stop talking. “Are you willing to answer my questions now?” He grew quiet as he fidgeted on the bed. Mark took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before nodding his head.
“What do you want to know?”
“Do you remember the last place you were before you woke up next to the body?”
“I was walking back to the safehouse on— .” Mark cut himself off. He was probably about to say the street where the safe house was located. Obviously, vampires guarded the secret of their safehouses very carefully. Wouldn’t want to be attacked by other vampires. Or humans.
“I only need a general area or the last street you remember being on. I don’t need an exact location.”
“Um. M-Montview and Northway, I think.” He fidgeted some more before going silent again.
“Do you remember them kidnapping you or seeing anything suspicious?” Mark looked up for a moment before shaking his head. “When you woke up, did you recognize any of the people yelling at you?” Again he shook his head. “Were the ones chasing you the same ones that yelled at you when you woke up?” No again. “Did any of them harm you or did you wake up this way?”
“I woke up this way.”
“When you woke up, did you feel really tired, dizzy or numb?”
“No. I was a little stiff but other than that I was fine.”
“Did you see anything strange when you woke up?”
“I think I saw symbols on the ground but I don’t remember exactly what they looked like or anything like that. I just know that they didn’t look like regular letters.” Hmm. Hopefully, the crime scene would shed light on these “letters”. If he did see script written somewhere, then magic was definitely involved.
“Do you remember the place where you woke up?” Mark opened his mouth to answer but he snapped it shut immediately. His eyes took on a faraway look as he tilted his head to the side. Mark avoided her eyes as he shook his head. Tsk. Adrian must have told him something. One of the unconfirmed pieces of information she had stated that vampires could communicate telepathically. She had just witnessed it but she wasn’t happy to have this piece of information confirmed. If he gave Mark an order, there wouldn’t be a point forcing the issue. A Master’s orders were absolute. “Anything else you remember?” He avoided her eyes as he shook his head. Adrian really needed to teach him how to lie. “Thank you for cooperating. There’s blood in the fridge. If you need anything else, let me know.” With that she stood up and made to leave.
“Wait!” Mark jumped up and took a step towards her. His fists were clenched at his side as he stared at the floor. He raised his head and looked her straight in the eyes. “What does a Guardian do?”
“My job is to help others.” They had gone over this already. Adrian must have said something that made him doubt her.
“And?” Marie tilted her head to the side. What else did he expect her to say? She wasn’t lying. Everything she did stemmed from that duty. Mark frowned as he stared at her.
“We can talk about this later. I have more guests.” His head snapped up at the word guests. “There’s two of them.” She already knew it wasn't Adrian. The man was fine coming to her house on his own, he wouldn't bring others. Mark looked down and sighed again. He cleared his throat as he glanced at her then away.
“Can I… Would I be able to stay in some other room?”
“The room next door is the same as this one.” She didn’t understand why he would want to change rooms. They were pretty much identical.
“So it’s okay?”
“Go ahead.” Marie followed him out as he went into the other room. She waited until he had shut the door to the room before she placed a quick spell on the door to keep it shut. With that done, she went downstairs to see who was at her front door. According to the defenses on the house, there were two vampires standing at her front door. She put her hand to her chin as she thought about how she wanted to handle this. The last time there had been multiple vampires, they had tried to eat her. Hmm. Marie sat on the sofa and waved her hand. The door swung open to reveal two of the vampires from yesterday. Their leader was nowhere to be seen.
Both vampires stiffened and plodded into the living room upon seeing her. They knelt down about two feet away from her and kept their eyes to the ground. The one closest to her reached into his suit and pulled out an envelope. He held it out to her, careful not to meet her eyes. Marie took it and examined it for a moment for any signs of magic. None. There was a gold ‘B’ and ‘M’ printed on the front in flowing cursive but other than that there was no other identifying mark. She opened it and inside was a check for a large sum of money.
“Our Mistress apologizes for the behavior shown to you and would like you to accept this as a token of gratitude for your gracious attitude.” Mistress? Wasn’t the Master of Bel Meade a man?
“Tell your Mistress that the transgression is forgotten.” Marie slid the check back into the envelope and put it on the sofa next to her. Later, she would shred it. It wouldn’t be good for someone who was supposed to be neutral to accept bribes from anybody. The one wearing glasses shrank a little as he cleared his throat.
“Our Mistress would also like to know if the boy under your care might be released into our custody.” His voice wavered at the end a little. Marie stared at him. The man flinched and looked away.
“Why does she want him?”
“I’m sorry. I can not say.” Another order. Not that it was likely he knew anything of worth. He was probably a low level pawn. Someone easily disposable.
“Tell your Mistress that until my investigation is over, he will not be released into anyone’s custody.” Marie waved her hand and the front door slammed open. The vampires took the hint and immediately scrambled to their feet before bolting out of the room. She closed the door again with a wave of her hand. This was worse than she thought. Without knowing why Bel Meade was involved, she might be operating on a time limit without any clear idea of how much time she had left. This was a problem that needed a quick solution.
Speaking of problems, there was one she had been ignoring up to this point but now it was going to get her full attention. Marie picked up the envelope and took it with her to the kitchen. She ripped it into four pieces before she dropped the pile in the trash. Marie dusted her hands off before turning to her other guest. Adrian was leaning against the counter as if it was natural for him to be there. His polite smile was firmly in place but his eyes burned with anger.
“Done inspecting my house?”
“This needs to be fixed.” He tapped the fridge with the back of his hand.
“It has food and blood. What more is needed?”
“You can’t honestly tell me you think that is enough food.”
“He's not going to be here that long.” It’s what she ate most of the time but he might be right. There were two people living here now. She had no idea how much Mark would eat. Well, if he finished the food, then she would just buy more. Adrian didn’t answer for a moment, just stared at her through narrowed eyes. Finally, he tilted his head to one side before his smile grew wider.
“You still don’t know where the crime scene is. How are you going to get the information?” Her eyes narrowed as she looked back at him.
“I don’t need your help."
“And you think Bel Meade will help you? After you declined their offer?” He was right about that but she didn’t want to accept his offer either. Marie worked hard to keep the frown off her face and her emotions even. Obviously, he would ask for something in return. Without anything to bargain with, this was only going to go his way. But she also needed to get this solved quickly. Did she have enough time to search for the crime scene herself?
“What do you want?” His smile turned into a smirk. He was going to be trouble.
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