Vampire Agent (English Version)

Chapter 17

Widow

Jonas had breakfast and I went to take a quick shower. I didn't touch the suit, the thing was too ugly for me. A short time later we were both in a cab again and were around ten o'clock at Piccadilly Circus to go from there to a large, office building. At least that's what Jonas had told me when we left.
"What time is the fucking meeting?", I asked as I got out and let my eyes wander through the already crowded streets. I felt out of place here.
All the people swarmed around on the sidewalks like ants.
"At noon." replied Jonas, to which I looked at him questioningly.
"You said mid-morning," I then reminded him, annoyed. The guy should get some of that English punctuality while we were here.
"I have to pick something up first, I'm afraid you can't come with me," he explained, glancing at his wristwatch, "I'll be back in an hour, can you manage until then?"
I stared at him disapprovingly, but nodded.
Standing around for an hour waiting?
Joyful anticipation.
Then he pulled out his wallet and held out a few banknotes to me. I raised an eyebrow.
Pocket money? Like, for real?
However, I didn't hesitate for long, took it wordlessly and pocketed it. I couldn't get to my bank account at the moment and having some money in reserve couldn't hurt.
"Alright, I'll see you in a bit. I'll meet you back here.", he said, got back into the cab and drove away again. With a sigh, I looked around.
Actually, it was wiser to keep me a little away from the tourist traffic. Only I couldn't move far from here, because I didn't have a watch.
My gaze lingered on a sandstone building across from a subway station.
With a sigh, I went there and leaned against the railing. I thought about it for a moment. Then I pushed myself off again and strolled to a store to have some of the bills changed into small change. I hadn't been here in so long that I had to take a good look at the coins.
They hadn't changed much, but compared to the coins from the U.S., it was a huge difference.
After that, I just stood around and waited.
For the whole damn hour. I watched the people who were worried about missing their bus or subway. It wasn't much different from the daily hustle and bustle in New York, except that you could hear the typical English accent everywhere.
Almost on the minute, the same cab stopped again at the side of the road to pick me up. I went with a saying on the lips, was just at the stairs to the subway station, when I noticed a smell that I knew from somewhere. When I looked around to find out where it came from, I was jostled and almost fell down the stairs.
Someone grabbed me by the collar and yanked me back up.
"Don't fall. This time your friend is not there to give you an advantage," someone growled in my ear and again that stench hit me. I contorted my face in disgust and looked at the man who was still holding me by the collar.
I froze.
This was impossible.
Our eyes met.
For a moment, time seemed to stop.
"Watch your ass." he whispered in my ear, loosening his grip and smoothing my T-shirt back down. Then he disappeared between a bunch of tourists.
I stared after him in horror.
Impossible.
I heard the horn of the cab and Jonas' voice. Then a car door slammed. I still didn't turn my attention away from where he had disappeared into the crowds. Not even when Jonas approached me with a furrowed brow. He followed my gaze and then looked at me in confusion.
"A friend of yours?" he asked me after a few moments of silence. I didn't respond to his question.
"I have to make a phone call," I then said quietly, and only now did I realize that my hands and voice were shaking slightly.
"What?" he inquired in irritation as I left him standing and walked to a phone booth.
He, on the other hand, jogged to the cab, talked briefly to the driver, and then followed me.
I entered the booth and inserted several coins.
Then I dialed the number of my employer.
It didn't take long for him to pick up.
"Who is this?" he asked, bored.
"Widow. I need a favor," I said, leaning my forehead against the phone box.
"Again?" my employer asked, "I thought you were on vacation."
"I am, but I ran into a big problem."
"What kind of problem?"
"Vingate. Luke Vingate."
My client was silent.
"Are you sure?" he then finally asked.
"Sure I'm sure, the guy smells like a homeless person and looks at least three times as bad," I lowered my voice as Jonas gestured for me to be a little quieter from outside.
"Alright, I'll see what I can get out. Call back tonight.", and he hung up. So did I.
Then I leaned against the inside wall of the phone booth and closed my eyes for a moment.
Fuck.
This was impossible.
I'd put a bullet in his head and checked his body later at the morgue.
He had been dead for sure.
Jonas knocked on the door from outside and I opened it.
"The man just now, who was that?" he asked with a serious look. He could probably guess from my reaction that his appearance did not bode well.
"That was...", I thought for a moment how best to put it and it was impossible to hide the hatred I felt for him, ".... Someone who would have been better off staying dead."
I had to ask him for a gun in a quiet minute. And about silver ammunition.
It couldn't be a coincidence that he happened to address me in the middle of the street, specifically alluding to our last encounter, which was almost two centuries ago.
"Let's go.", I then muttered to Jonas and we walked back to the cab. As I put my hand on the handle to open it, I heard something hiss through the air.
In slow motion, I jerked my head around, grabbed Jonas by the arm, and rushed back several feet with him. The moment we arrived at the stairs to the subway, a projectile sent the cab exploding, flinging us and all the bystanders to the side. A scream went through the people as if in a wave.
"Fuck!", I yelped, shakily picking myself back up, my eyes searching for.... Found.
The shooter.
On top of one of the buildings. Someone in a mask, cloak and cape. The same mask the woman in the woods had worn. A blink of an eye and the figure was gone. The smell of adrenaline filled the air and my stomach began to rumble. I shook my head jerkily. Not now!
Jonas also stood up with a horrified expression.
He braced himself against the bars of the subway station to keep from buckling again.
"What was that?!" he asked me as he looked at the burning cab. I massaged my temples and tried to put the pieces together.
The vampires had to have been sent by the same clan. Whether they already belonged or not was beside the point for now.
I couldn't tell yet what role Luke Vingate played, but even his warning just before this attack couldn't have been a coincidence.
Did they really just want the flash drive?
No, to influence the public like that just because of some data?
This was not like a big-clan-behaving. But maybe the responsible wasn't one of the big clans at all? Maybe it was a newer, smaller clan? But where did they get the means? And why were they attacking so obviously for the second time now?
Too many unanswered questions. After this meeting I had to brainstorm, write everything down and think through it again. Just to see at which end I had to start. And if I carried out this investigation only to calm my conscience.
"A projectile. Lucky again," I muttered as I put my hands back down and surveyed the damage on the road. The paramedic could already be heard in the distance.
"Did you see the shooter?" asked Jonas now surprisingly calm again. I nodded.
"A vampire.", I said quietly, casting a glance around to make sure no one was staring or eavesdropping on us.
He then muttered, "If those bastards aren't careful, they're going to be in more trouble than they'd like."
"Wrong, Jonas.", I said, my gaze somber with worry, "The clans have the upper hand and they know it."
Then I fell silent for a moment.
"We should walk, that way I could pay better attention to the surroundings and react faster if there was another attack.
"How far is it from here to this office building?", I asked him.
"Twenty minutes walk.", Jonas replied, patting a few stains off his suit.
"Then we'll walk.", I decided and gestured him to go ahead, which he did without further ado.
The walk to the meeting went without incident and we arrived unscathed at the huge white house. A newer building with lots of glass.
Thank God there was no tourist traffic in this corner of London and no one cared that I walked past the tinted glass without my reflection. We went inside and were already expected at the reception desk.
"The ladies and gentlemen are already terribly impatient," said the secretary and took us to a room with two large swinging doors.
Then the woman turned and left.
"I know you don't want to be here, but please show your best side anyway," Jonas was still mumbling. I rolled my eyes and didn't reply.
Why should I promise something I didn't know yet I could keep?
After a sigh, he knocked and entered the room.
I kept a short distance behind him.
"Ladies, gentlemen.", Jonas greeted the few people present with a serious nod. Most of them were quite old. But what do you mean most.
There were six people, two women and four gentlemen. All of them had to be over sixty.
They were seated at a couple of conference tables put together and really seemed to be waiting.
"Ah, Jonas. You're late." said one of the two women. One had short gray hair, the other brown dyed chin length hair. The one with the short hair had spoken. She looked rather pinched and eyed me as skeptically as I eyed her.
"And the gentleman there was again...?" she then asked, obviously referring to me.
"That's Widow Stravinsky, he's under my supervision at the moment and has agreed to help us," Jonas explained.
I stood next to him and slowly turned my gaze to him.
When, where and in which file had he looked?
I hadn't used the last name since 1843?
A year after Norman's death, I had dropped that name.
I was such an idiot.
Where had I been thinking he was?
I rolled my eyes and wanted to hit myself in the forehead with the flat of my hand. He had certainly looked into the old case files. The most important question now was: How much of what happened back then did he know?
"... Stravinsky?" the woman asked with raised eyebrows, looking at me disapprovingly, "A vampire, Jonas?"
She exchanged a glance with her colleagues.
"You instructed me to find a trustworthy person who knows this area of law, and I did. I brought you the only person who I think is capable of helping here," Jonas said seriously.
"If he were smart enough to deal with our problems, he wouldn't have come along," snorted one of the men now.
I had to stifle a laugh.
"If you think I'm here voluntarily, I have to disappoint you. Mr. Duman here had to drug me with carfentanyl to get me to England in the first place," I explained and watched as everyone turned their eyes questioningly to Jonas. He cleared his throat and nodded.
"Carfentanyl? Isn't that used to anesthetize elephants?" the brown-haired woman now asked, amused.
"That's about how I felt afterwards," I mumbled softly, looking out the window to let Jonas do the rest.
"Yes. I must stress that I had no other choice, he wouldn't have come otherwise," Jonas affirmed.
His superiors were silent for a moment. Then the oldest of them spoke up.
"How much does he know?"
"So far, nothing about the facts," Jonas said.
"Then sit down, we have much to discuss.", He pointed to a couple of empty chairs at the table construct.
Now I looked at Jonas. He nodded at me.
Hopefully this wasn't something I would regret later.