The Cabbie and the Cop – 32

“Quaint,” Vergil commented as they left the garage where Simeon had parked the cab. He stretched to loosen the kinks he’d gotten from lying on the back seat so that it would appear the cab was empty. “Who lives here, Hansel and Gretel?”

“No, elves,” Simeon replied with a touch of asperity.

“You can’t be… Okay, I’m sorry. That was uncalled for on my part.”

“It was. But understandable none the less. I realize it doesn’t look like much from the outside but there’s more to the house than meets the eye.”

Vergil definitely hoped so. It resembled pictures he’d seen of log cabins, except it had a steeply pitched roof with two tiny windows, indicating there must be a second floor. The front wall was broken only by a door and one window, with a rustic porch running the length of it. Surrounding the house was a wide expanse of lawn and then fields. All in all, in his estimation, it was much too exposed for a place which was supposed to be a hide-out.

Simeon must have sensed his unease because he reiterated that the interior would make up for what he was seeing at the moment. He unlocked the door and stepped inside; pausing to disarm what Vergil saw was a very sophisticated alarm box.

“Impressive,” Vergil said, and he didn’t mean the security system per se. There was only one room with a slender flight of stairs at the back which led up to the second floor. A stone fireplace graced the wall to his right, a surprisingly well appointed if very small kitchen area was to his left. A sofa flanked by two comfortable looking armchairs filled the center of the room. The only light came from a fixture above his head, although he saw another light over the counter that separated the kitchen from the rest of the room.

Simeon smiled. “The house belongs to an old friend of mine who likes both his solitude and the ability to know if anyone’s approaching from any direction.”

“Hard to do with only one window.”

Striding across the room to the wall under the stairs, Simeon slid open a panel to reveal an extremely high-tech surveillance system.

“Alright, I take that back.” Vergil came up beside him to study it. “Was your friend in intelligence somewhere along the line, or is he still?”

“No. He’s just a very cautious vampire who doesn’t like surprises, almost to the point of paranoia. When he travels, which is quite often, I have his permission to use the place if I want to get away from the city.”

“I presume there’s a bedroom and hopefully a bath upstairs.”

“There is, and a very nice wine cellar in the basement, among other things.”

Vergil cocked an eyebrow. “Other things?”

Smiling, Simeon told him, “Follow me.” In the kitchen, he pulled on one side of the refrigerator and it rotated away from the wall to reveal a door that he unlocked via a touchpad. It opened onto a flight of stairs lit only by a bare bulb at the top. Thankfully that wasn’t a problem for either one of them as they wended their way down the steps. Simeon had a vampire’s night vision and for Vergil it took just the merest light for him to be able to see almost as well as his friend.

Even that light vanished as they seemed, from Vergil’s point of view, to be heading into the bowels of the earth. He had to put one hand on Simeon’s shoulder to keep up with him. He found out he was correct when they finally came to the bottom. Simeon switched on a light and Vergil saw rough stone walls with a floor to match. Each wall held one door with no visible way to open them.