Cold Day in Berlin (Vampires in Berlin Book Five)

Cold Day in Berlin Part 7

Richard and Paul called in at Olli's apartment after they'd left Till's, and the bassist showed them through to his living room, where his computer glowed in the corner, monitor displaying a folder filled with thumbnails. The vampires followed him over to it and crowded round the desk, whilst Olli took the only seat, and enlarged one of the thumbnails.

On the screen, was a photo that had obviously been taken with a camera's night mode. Beneath the trees that framed the edges of the photo was a dark shape, too large and too hunched to be even the largest of dogs. Richard leant in and squinted at the screen, brows pulled down low over confused blue eyes.

"What the hell is that?" he asked. "It almost looks like a bear."

"That's what I thought," Olli said, with a shrug. "I wondered if one had escaped from the Zoologischer Garten. I haven't heard anything about it though, in the news; if one had broken out, it would have made the main headlines, at least, surely."

"I'm sure it would, too," Paul agreed, as he looked to Richard, who merely shrugged and nodded silently.

Olli nodded, as well, even as he continued to stare at the computer screen.

"What are we gonna do with this?" Richard asked, as he gestured towards the screen. "We've gotta do something, surely."

"Like what exactly? It's too grainy and blurry to do much of anything with. I'd probably be accused of scare-mongering or lying or fiddling around with Photoshop or something. I'd say do nothing, probably," Olli said. "At least not yet. No one seems to be panicking. It probably is only an abnormal dog or something, after all. Either that or it's a werewolf."

"Hah! Werewolf," Paul said, but despite his laugh, he still frowned.

"What?" Olli asked, as he caught a hold of his friend's expression.

The vampires then told him of the noises they'd heard outside their apartment, a few nights before, and the scent of wet dog that they'd smelt hanging in the air of their corridor.

"Perhaps it really is a werewolf," Olli said, with a suddenly excited grin. "I mean you guys exist, why not werewolves, too?"

"That's exactly what we said the other night," Paul said, with a nod, but he didn't smile. "I suppose that if it really was a werewolf, we would have come across it, or them, by now, surely. It's a bit of an obvious assumption to make, though, isn't it? See a large animal and say - oh, werewolf!"

"I suppose. But don't you think that'd be cool though?" Olli asked. "If there were werewolves?"

"I suppose" Richard said. "Just so long as they don't impose on our territory."

Olli turned to raise eyebrows at Richard in surprise.

"It always surprises me whenever you come across as being territorial," he said, his tone as amused as his expression suddenly was. "I would never think it of you."

"Yeah, we are; very much so. Things have changed though, now, ahven't they?" Richard asked, with a snort. "I, for one, have a lot to defend, and it isn't just merely the right to hunt."

He looked to Paul then, and Paul smiled, gently, knowing what Richard meant.

"You really think they'd try to fight you for Paul?" Olli asked, a little skeptically. "I mean, no offense, Paul."

"None taken," Paul murmured, with a vague smile.

"Don't sound so surprised; they might. They might think it the best way to cripple me, by harming Paul in some way, and they'd be right. And if it comes down to a fight, I fucking will," Richard said, and his expression was deathly serious. "I mean, I've done it, before. I'm sure Paul would do the same in my place; it'd be the same situation for him as it would for me."

He didn't have to mention their recent run-in with the mute vampire, The Hungry Ghost. Olli nodded, but didn't offer comment. Paul's only response was to kiss Richard on the end of his nose. Olli made a mock-disgusted noise, but the smile he gave Paul was a little wistful. Paul's only response was to grin and to nod in corroboration.

"Have you got anything else to show us there, anyway?" Richard asked, changing the subject as he gestured towards the screen again.

"Not really; this is the best shot that I took, such as it is," Olli said, as he scrolled through the rest of the exposures taken in the Tiergarten.

The vampires could see what he meant; each shot was as blurry and as hastily taken as the one before, yet still, in each, the blurred figure beneath the trees was hulking and ominously beastly. Eventually, after growing tired of staring at the photographs and coming up with no explanation for what the shape could be other than the vague assumptions already posited, Richard and Paul left the yawning, tired Olli to his bed and imminent sleep; the vampires went from his apartment back to their own, where they spent the rest of the night engaged in writing music together.

****

Flake yawned his way out of his apartment doorway, cat winding its way around his ankles. His only thought was to check his step for errant milk bottles, hoping to put some fresh upon his morning cereals. The first clue that he had something other than milk on his doorstep was the sudden alarmed, screeching yowl that the cat made as soon as the door opened, flash of streaking fur brushing past Flake's ankles as the pet made its way inside again.

Flake then had the sense of something large and humping laying on his doorstep, followed swiftly by an awful smell. He rubbed his eyes, slid his glasses back on and almost gagged upon the thick and putrid smell of blood hanging in the air on his next breath. The next thing he became aware of was the sound of flies, just beginning to swarm; he looked down and saw that there was definitely something more than just milk upon his doorstep.