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In the Eyes of a Vampire
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Chapter 9
Nazarene awoke with a start, the events of the previous night came flooding back like a raging storm, hitting him fiercly in the heart. His mortality filling him again with sorrow and pain. With his heart breaking all over again he yearned to climb back in bed and tune out the world until he could feel no more. But with a stiff body and a heavy heart he pulled himself up and made his way towards Lais' suite. He paused only briefly by Aspaisia's door, then quickly pressed on.
He found Lais just rising, still groggy and unwilling to start the night in a hurry. The look on his face expressed how badly he wished that Nazarene's current quest was simply a fleeting dream and had vanished with the sunset. However, this thought was quickly banished when he settled on Nazarene's earnest eyes. They say the eyes are the windows to your soul, and Nazarenes soul was full of pain and determination. Lais sighed and rose, knowing there was no point in arguing any further. Nazarene's stubborn niavety would surely be the death of the both of them.
"Please Lais, tell me you will help me." Nazarene asked with urgency.
Lais sighed again, closing his eyes briefly before softly replying.
"Nazarene, my child. A father can never deny a son what his heart most desire's if its within his power to give. I can not give you the answers and I am only your father in immortal blood. However, what I will do is assist you in this doom fated journey."
Nazarene embraced Lais with fierce abandonment, his heart filled with hope. With Lais helping him, surely they would find the answers.
"Nazarene, please, release me." he pushed Nazarene gently away and straightened his clothing. "I guess the first place to start would be her suite. Come lets get this nonesense started." He walked out with Nazarene following quickly behind him. They entered the room slowly, Lais taking in all the surrondings. Lais had made sure to leave notice to the cleaning staff that the rooms were not to be touched in any way during their stay, so he knew any evidence of someone in the room would have been unwanted. Lais observed the small piles of ashes that remained scattered beneath the window and the shards of glass sprinkled in the corner. His eyes followed up the wall to where the lamp had left a dent in the wall. Stepping closer he examined the dent, the depth and amount of damage that had been done was obvious it was an immortal hand that had thrown the lamp, and from the opposite end of the room no doubt.
Nazarene's eyes lit up as Lais' eyes furrowed in thought. Shooting Nazarene a glance to silence him he continued to survey the room. Falling to his knees he examined a stain on the carpet. Mud, and quiet fresh at that. He followed the trail and discovered an almost perfectly detailed mud footprint beside the bed. He eyeballed the size of the step with both his own and Nazarene's shoes. It did not match either, nor would it match the small delicasy of Aspaisia's feet. He stood up and glanced at Nazarene again, his eyes told what his words did not have too and both nodded in agreement. Someone besides the three had been in the room, someone uninvited. He glanced again at the ashes left on the carpet.
"Nazarene, i am going to go into the hall, I want you to scream as loud as you possibly can and do not stop until i tell you." Nazarene gave him an odd look but nodded his agreement and Lais departed from the room. Closing the door behind him he strolled several feet down the hall until he stood in front of his own suite. Nazarene's screams came pouring from the room unto the hall, several guests coming to the corridor to see what was happening. Lais nodded at them and informed them that the were rehearshing for a play and not to worry. The gave him strange looks but retreated to their rooms. No doubt with their ears pressed to the door. Lais strolled back into the room and waved for Nazarene to cease the ear shattering noise. He sat on the bed and looked deep into Nazarene's eyes.
"What?" Asked Nazarene impatiently. "What was all that about? What do you think? Am I right? Was this all some illaborate scheme?"
"Well," he began slowly. "Hear me out and please do not interupt me, lord knows how much I detest that."
Nazarene nodded in ernest. "Alright first off, the footprint confirms that a male other than you or I was in this room. Now we do not know for sure that he was an intruder. Aspaisia may very well have let him in. A victim perhaps that she had led back her to feast on in privacy. Now before you say anything to protest, We must be logical about this." Lais held up a hand to silence Nazarene as his mouth opened to form a response.
"Secondly, I know for a fact that when a vampire is exposed and thus killed by the leathal rays of the sun, they do not go quietly into the day, but quiet the opposite. Now the sun begins to rise around 5:45 am The Sun would not be lethal enough to kill her until it was strong enough to chase away the nights darkness. Which would place the time of her death around 6:15am, very near the time the hotel begins to stir and the business guest start their day and when the hotel staff would be in full swing. However, even if it were in the dead of the night, though this hotel is built in excellence, no wall is guaranteed soundproof and these are no exceptions."
Nazarene looked at him in confusion but Lais did not continue, he waited for the wash of realization to come over his face. As the shock won out over confusion Lais began again.
"Yes Nazarene, I am saying what you think. I do believe there was foul play here. I do not know whose ashes you found here that evening, but it is quiet possible, nay probable that they were not hers. In fact, most likely they were planted in deception, to make you believe they were in fact hers, that she was, as you originally thought, dead. Now," Lais stood and started pacing back and forth at the foot of the bed as his thoughts poured from his mouth. "It is possible, though not probable, that she was killed elsewhere and her ashes brought back here. I did not see her while you were gone, I had assumed she needed her space and allowed her such. Nazarene, I do beleive, if she is dead, that she did not take her own life. Also, there is a large part of me that suddenly discounts that she is even dead."
Nazarene's mouth hung open in disbelief. In all this frenzy he had caused, the logical part of him did not actually believe he was right. He thought that it was all a fabrication caused by grief and a refusal to accept that she was gone. But with the facts proving he was in fact right, the shock took over and he collapsed into the chair. Tears choked back any words he may have had as his mind swam with all that Lais had said. She hadnt left him, she hadnt yaken her own life. The reality of this was more than he could bare. He felt a mixture of emotions: grief, anger, disbelief and even relief. He could not have lived with himself knowing he had saved her only to have her loathe him so much that she took her own life.
Suddenly it hit him with a force so strong he leapt from his chair and ran across the room, grabbing Lais and almost shaking him with force.
"Lais, she is alive. I know it, I feel it. You said as your fledgeling you would know if something ill happened to me. I dont feel the loss of her. Please, we must find her, I cannot rest knowing she may be out there in grave danger. I know there is nothing to track whoever took her and we have no way of finding her other than to search her out. But I can not just sit by and do nothing. You may chose not to help me and I would understand that, but please do not try and stop me. I will find her. If its the last thing I do. If it means the very death of me. I will find her."
"Nazarene," Lais began slowly, "You can not do this alone. We do not know what kind of fiend may have her, though your will is strong, be it one who is not new to the dark gift, you would be of no match to them. We have no leads, no starting point, only these small indications that it is not her ashes that we found, or if they were that she was killed by another." He raised a hand to silence Nazarene's protests. "the best we can do right now is to remain in the city. Find another lodging near here where we may watch closely the comings and goings of the other guests. Also we can keep our senses awake for any traces of another vampire. Even if it is not the one which we seek, they may have information, sightings, something that may assist us. It is true that we are going into this blind, very blind and may never find her nor any other leads. However we will do what we can to find her, or what may have happened to her."
"So then you will stay? You will help me? Lais, you do not know how happy that makes me, I could not do this alone. You are stronger than I, your powers more defined and controlled. You could sense another in the city whereas I could not. Thank you, you can not begin to know what this means to me." He grabbed Lais, embracing him as one would a brother, his grip going soft as the red tears stained his ghost white cheek. All that they had discovered was finally sinking in, the grief winning out over the other emotions.
"Yes Nazarene, I will stay and assist you. All I ask is that you take tonight to grieve. You can not let these emotions control you. If in fact her killer or whatnot is still in the city, he may be very powerful and will sense your grief, use it against you. Please my child. We will start fresh first thing tommorow night. Now come my son, I can see you have not fed. Let us take to the city and quench our thirst."
Nazarene nodded and wiped the blood from his face. following Lais' lead from the suite and into the cool night air. Though it was late the city did not sleep and was abuzz with sounds of people. Finding a victim would not be diffeicult, the streets would be full of drunken party goers, stumbling their way through the alleys to pass out in their beds. Tonight they would feast and enjoy the city's nightlife, one last night of fun before they began their hunt for Aspaisia.
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