(60) Trevor Wallace – Dhampir

Next morning. Shower. Shave. Feel like a new person. Follow my nose down to the kitchen. Bacon. Eggs. The works. He looks up from the stove. Waves towards the table. When I offer to help he shakes his head.

“Got it in hand. You can do clean-up though.” He adds that with a laugh.

After we eat I clear up. Go into the living room. He takes a chair. I settle on the sofa. Look at him.

“Ok Mr. Larkin, let’s talk.”

He smiles. “Call me Frank for starters. I stopped being ‘Mr. Larkin’ when the Home closed down.” Leans back. Sips his coffee. Thinking. “Alright. As I told you on the phone, this Vampyre is deadly. More so than most which is saying something. What I didn’t tell you was he runs one of the biggest street gangs in the city from behind the scenes. One comparable to the ‘Satan’s Disciples’ or the old ‘Blackstone Rangers’. His particular gang is well organized and into everything. Some of the top leaders are Vampyres that he made, although the rest of the gang has no clue about this.”

“Damn. How come no one’s done anything to stop them?”

“Oh the cops, and the Feds, have been. But they don’t know anything more than anyone else about what the creatures are who run it. They think they’re dealing with normal, well as normal as any gang member is, humans.”

“And you or someone else hasn’t let them in on the true facts? Why?”

“Because until just recently even I didn’t know. It was pure dumb luck that I found out. I’d heard rumors about this Vampyre, Neculai Dalca. He came over from Romania half a century ago, fleeing his maker it’s said, and vanished. I’ve been researching him, trying to find out if he really existed, and if so where he might be. And low and behold not only is he real but he’s here in Chicago.”

“You’re sure it’s him?”

“Oh yeah. I have many sources, one of them an FBI counter terrorism agent. He happens to believe there is more out there than just human enemies.” Frank smiles a bit. “No, he doesn’t think we’ve been invaded by aliens but he’s does believe in things that go bump in the night. Primarily Vampyres. Seems he’s had run-ins with a couple of them.”

“So why hasn’t he let his people know about them? Damn, Frank, we need all the help we can get.”

Frank temples his fingers. Looks over them at me. “If you worked for a group like the FBI or HLS—the ultimate in conservatism and what have you—and someone said they believed in the creatures, how would you react? You’d probably see to it that that person was, at the very least let go, and more likely you make sure they were locked away for the ‘good of the country’ so they didn’t tarnish the image of the group. He can get more done, and learn more, but keeping quiet on his views.”

I nod slowly. “I guess I can see that but it pisses me off big time that so few actually know what’s out there. They call them fairy tales, myths, or worse write cute little romances making them seem like the salt of the earth trying to survive in a hostile world. Give me a break.” My voice has risen. I know that. Anger does that.

“Calm down.” He waits a beat. Continues. “I agree with you, but there’s nothing we can do about it except to defend humans against them by eliminating them. And right now Dalca is your prime objective.”

“Give me facts. Locations. Everything you have on him.”