Chapter 10

“Look, over there near the stadium,” Dave’s voice came, breaking through the wind whistling past AJ’s ears. The scene of the fire came into view below. From this height, the chaos formed a grotesque constellation: news vans with satellite dishes, their logos pulsing in neon; police vans arranged in a protective crescent, their blue and red strobes painting the smoke that still curled from the haven; OUSR agents in their unmistakable dark suits moving with military precision; fire engines with their ladders extended like the limbs of dying insects; ambulances whose white sides reflected the carnival of emergency lights, making them appear to throb with unnatural life.

“I’m going to set us down a street away,” he said, a hint of tiredness bleeding into his usually steady voice. The descent was a lot quicker than AJ expected and they landed with a soft thud on the pavement. He set AJ down on the ground and straightened his jacket. “How do you want to approach this?”

AJ slowly scanned the surroundings before his gaze settled on a car dealership. “You should be able to get a clear view from that garage over there.” Dave nodded, “Give me your phone, I’ll put my number in. Ring me if you see anything.” AJ keyed his number in, before Dave took flight once more. He tracked his silhouette as it melted against the garage roofline, the vampire's form dissolving into shadow until only the faintest outline remained.

I really like this guy. 

AJ turned and made his way toward the yellow tape where reporters clustered around their vans. Fishing out his OUSR ID badge from his wallet, he shouldered past a wall of microphones and camera lenses.

“Excuse me, OUSR coming through…” he shouted over the cacophony. They parted and he ducked under the yellow tape, flashing his card at the police officer, who barely acknowledged him. Waves of residual heat rolled off the blackened structure as AJ approached the perimeter where OUSR agents stood. Through the haze, he recognized Michael's broad shoulders and Sofia's distinctive ponytail.

“Michael,” AJ called. His boss turned around, his face hard.

“AJ, how did you get here?” his focus was distracted by glass shattering nearby, “It doesn’t matter, I can actually use you. Get over to the field ops tent, I need an analysts’ eyes looking over the drone footage.” AJ nodded and started moving towards the tent. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

“You didn’t have to come…” Sofia moved up to his side and matched his gait, “you should’ve just rested.”

“I couldn’t stop thinking about it after we chatted, I thought I could make myself useful.”

A dry chuckle escaped her lips. “Yeah you’re going to be looking through a whole load of pictures of smoke.”

“So dreams really do come true!” he smiled.

“I’m gonna get back. It should be cool enough to inspect pretty soon.”

“Grab me when you go in, yeah?” AJ asked. She studied him for a second.

“It might be a bit dangerous, I’d stay out here if I were you,” she concluded.

“Dangerous? The fire’s out! I won’t be any trouble,” AJ pleaded.

“AJ, it’s an active investigation and you’re not field trained.”

“That doesn’t sound like the Sofia I know, all cautious and bothered about protocol,” AJ joked. 

“We… ain’t in school now, AJ this is serious shit,” she responded, half-smiling at his words.

“You know I’m a great lookout. I spot things others don’t!” 

Sofia closed her eyes and sighed. “OK, but you’ll need some gear. I’ll bring you a helmet and goggles.”

“Cheers Sofi!” AJ exclaimed.

“Sofia, man, come on, this is the workplace!” she scolded playfully before turning on her heel back towards the warehouse.

The field ops tent was empty, save for a few paramedics tending to a field agent’s burns. AJ settled into the chair facing a makeshift command station; a rugged computer terminal housed in a military-grade flight case, its thick cables snaking toward a cluster of identical cases that hummed with processing power. Logging in, he was immediately faced with a file full of drone images and footage.

Urgh this is a mess, too much in the way.

He clicked through some of the images; pixelated smoke plumes obscured charred beams, while heat distortion warped what little remained visible. Thermal imaging rendered the scene in false-colour; angry reds bleeding into sickly yellows against the purple-black void of collapsed walls. He played one of the videos, watching as the drone's camera struggled to focus through the billowing ash, its stabilization software fighting a losing battle against the thermal updrafts.

Hold on a second…

He wound the recording back a few seconds.

Is that someone walking?

Zooming in as much as he could, before the pixellation made the image unseeable, he squinted at the monitor, willing the blur to resolve into something his instincts already recognized.

It is… Sofia was definitely right, a Vampire started this…

He leaned closer. Through the pixel blur, a figure moved; too smooth, too calm. Smoke curled away from them instead of around them. 

He flagged the timestamp for further review when he got to the office and quickly snapped a picture on his phone. AJ clicked to the next folder and found himself staring at images with startling clarity. Three consecutive frames caught his attention; all marked 3:03 despite his watch showing nearly five AM. Each frame captured what looked like a wave rippling through the scene. The smoke didn't billow randomly but moved in perfect synchrony, revealing something beneath the chaos. There, barely visible through the heat distortion, faint geometric patterns glowed on the ground like luminous circuitry; patterns anyone without his training would have dismissed as camera artifacts.

Is this… CCS?

The frames directly before and after showed the correct time and no hint of any pattern. He looked around the tent; satisfied he wasn’t being watched, he snapped pictures. The rest of the photos didn’t turn up much more, but he was now eager to get in and have a closer look.

His phone buzzed. It was Dave.

“Nothing happening from here, will you be able to get a ride home?”

“Yeah, thanks for your help, I’ll give you a shout tomorrow.” AJ replied.

“Ciao.”

He opened up his chat with Eliza and started typing.

“I’ve found something.” The three dots took a moment, but they appeared.

“Tell me…” came the reply.

“I went to the fire. They’ve got some images there that are very interesting.”

“You went? I’ll kill Dave.”

“Don’t kill Dave, Dave is good. Trust me, it was worth it.”

“OK, fine he lives for now. I’ve also got news. We’ll have to meet tomorrow as it’s getting late, and I doubt you’re able to get out of there any time soon.”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologise, I just don’t want to see you hurt.”

“I won’t, I promise. I’m gonna go into the wreckage to see what I can find.”

“What did I jus say? ARe you joking?” her message was clearly rushed.

“No, it’s cooled now. The fire service said it’s all good.” The dots, this time, took slightly longer to show.  

“Fine. If you find a dagger pendant, pick it up. Please.”

“OK, any reason why?”

“Please just do it. I’ll call by your place tomorrow night xxx”

“I’ll fire you the location. See you then xxx”

He pocketed his phone and walked out of the tent, back towards Michael.

Shit… do I tell him or do I wait until I go through it back at the office?

“Find anything?” Michael asked.

“I think I saw someone through the smoke, but I can’t be sure. I’ll need to look at it on a proper screen back at the office. Also some of the drones glitched their timestamps, so I don’t know if they’ve just malfunctioned or what.”

Michael nodded. “Yeah the smoke probably screwed them up. Ah well, we can clear the footage up a bit on Monday.”

Thank God he said Monday, at least I can try to catch up on sleep later today… - AJ thought, checking his watch. He felt a light kick on the back of his leg. He turned to see Sofia, carrying a helmet, goggles, some gloves, a torch and what looked like a black hazmat outfit.

“Suit up, Field Agent AJ!” she shouted.

“You’re not gonna let this reprobate go in there with you are you?” laughed Michael.

“He asked for it. The fire service has deemed it safe to search, so nothing is going to fall and kill him. Besides, he’s got good eyes. Might see something we don’t.” Sofia wunked, handing the gear over to AJ, who started to put it on.

Gotta love Sofia, allowing me to inspect this so I can show Eliza. Fuck, who’s side am I on here?

“Has the helmet got a camera on it?” AJ asked, “we’ll need to get some sort of footage to go over.”

“No helmet cams, unfortunately. Field ops doesn’t get the budget for toys,” Sofia said, dry.

“You have drones, Sofia, don’t get sassy. And AJ just use your phone,” Michael said, arms folded.

“I can use my phone on a site we think is Type-V activity?” AJ asked, perplexed.

“Sure,” replied Michael, “look at all those media cameras speculating it could be arson, or faulty wiring, or whatever the hell else. So long as you don’t share the footage you get, and only use it for work purposes, record away.”

“Got it,” said AJ.

This will definitely impress Eliza.

“Right, come on,” Sofia put her arm around AJ as they moved towards the burned out building.

Despite hours of firefighters' efforts, the building exhaled heat like a living thing, radiating in visible waves that distorted the air. AJ felt it press against his face even through the protective gear, stronger than he'd anticipated.

They said it was safe to go in? For what? A salamander?

Sofia briefed the small team of field agents that were heading in with her.

“Fire service has cleared us for entry. Nothing seems to have survived there. There are two floors, we can’t access the second, but should be able to see up into it. Try not to disturb too much, the next sweep will do a run for any artifacts and bag them for review. AJ is accompanying us, make sure he doesn’t die.”

A smattering of laughter rose in the air from the agents.

Bro…

“OK, let’s move in.”

They made their way through the entrance. AJ set his phone to record and held it out in front of him, torch in the other hand.

If this is anything like the other Haven, there’s probably some stairs down…

Scanning the area with his phone, he noted the scorchmarks on the walls. There was a lot of ash on the floor; unnatural amounts of ash.

“What are we walking through?” he asked the field agent next to him.

“Dead V-Entities,” replied the Agent, “this is what they look like when killed by fire.”

“But that would mean…”

His phone camera swept across the scene as he turned. Ash blanketed everything; a gray sea that swallowed his shoes to the ankles. With each step, he and the other agents churned the powdery remains, unearthing glints of metal; the only survivors of the blaze. What had once been vampires was now indistinguishable from what had once been floor, except for these scattered artifacts they'd carried in their final moments.

There’s pens, and rings… some coins there… a necklace? Shit, is that a dagger on it?

He kicked the ash slightly surrounding the half-buried pendant, revealing the dagger. Sofia’s words echoed in his ears, warning them not to disturb too much.

OK, I have a plan. A gruesome plan that involves me getting up close and personal with the remains of one or many Vampires. I am definitely living the dream.

He kicked the back of his own heel, faking a slip. His phone fell near the necklace, as he had planned it, and his hand landed on top of it. Scrambling to get back up, he slipped the necklace into his glove, along with, to his disgust, some ash, and got back to his feet. The metal burned cold, not hot. Like it was remembering the fire.

“You alright?” asked the agent nearest him.

“Yeah, tripped over,” he replied, retrieving his phone.

This is nasty, I can feel Ash in my glove. I have a dead Vampire in my glove. It’s touching my hand…

He continued to record for a while longer, wandering over into the far corner. Nearly tripping for real this time, he caught himself quickly. 

His eyes settled on a section of floor that had collapsed in on itself like melted wax. Through the blackened crater, AJ could see scorched wiring and metallic components jutting from the concrete; tech that looked military-grade, not the kind you'd find in a normal building. Scattered throughout the ash were dozens of glass beads, perfectly round and smooth, as if something had burned hot enough to liquefy silica and let it cool into spheres. No ordinary fire could do that.

“Sofia! Get over here!” AJ called. Sofia looked in the direction of his voice and moved towards him as fast as the ash would allow. 

“What have you found?” she asked. 

“This… circuitry. It’s far too high tech for this place… I don’t recognise its design,” AJ said, recording as much as he could.

“Lord have mercy on our souls,” Sofia whispered, “what was this place?”

“A Vampire Haven…” AJ muttered, absentmindedly.

“What words just came out of your mouth, AJ?” Sofia asked, coldly; as if he had just blasphemed.

Before he could reply, a humming vibration rose through the floor, sending tremors up AJ's legs. Mr. Grey's warning crystallized in his mind as panic seized his chest. The vibration deepened; three pulses, a pause, three again. 

"Run!" he yelled.