Bloodstones
Bloodstones are extremely powerful. Legend has it that the bloodstones are what caused vampires to exist. Supposedly, they date back to the beginning of Christianity and were born of pure sin. I’m not a religious person but I wouldn’t deny this origin story. There aren’t many legends about how vampires came to be and, if what this vamp was telling me was accurate, than I had even less reason to doubt the authenticity.
“You mean, one of the bloodstones?” I ask, incredulous.
“Do you know of another?”
I
shrug. “I don’t know everything.”
He
smiles.
“So,
you have a powerful stone that pretty much controls every vampire in the world,
and you lost it? How do I know it’s even
yours to begin with? I’m not a fan of
putting powerful things into the wrong hands.”
His
smile fades. “Nor am I. That’s why I took it in the first place. The clan I’m from had been misusing it. They were turning humans into vampires and
building a personal army. I don’t know
what they were planning to do, but I knew I had to act. I stole the bloodstone, the only one they
had, and ran as far as I could. As you
would imagine, it did not take them long before they figured out it was
missing. I have been running for nearly
six months now and fate brought me to Chicago.
I was cornered so I hid it. I
managed to get away. When I went back
for it, it was gone. I’m still being
chased, so I know they haven’t found it.
They would have used it to draw me out and killed me if they had
it. So, I looked for help, and here I am. I do apologize, again, for showing up on your
doorstep, starved and rabid. When you’re
running for your life you don’t always have the time to gorge yourself.”
I
took in his account. Assuming he was
telling the truth, he had a whole clan of vamps riding in his wake. I didn’t know if I could deal with them very
well. Not alone, at least. I could call in some help but there were few
people who owed me favors at the moment.
“I’ll
need to double check your story, make sure you’re not lying to me. If everything lines up, I’ll see what I can
do. I can’t promise I’ll find it before
someone else- I’m sure there are others looking for it and whoever found it
could be someone powerful. In addition,
with so many people trying to kill you, I can’t promise your safety. Can you promise mine?”
He
looked me in the eye and said, “I cannot.
However, I will do everything in my power to keep them off your trail.”
“Alright. If you need more blood, there’s a blood bank
that caters to vamps. Just ask for
Todd. If you have a safe house, I’m
going to have to ask you to leave. I
need to clean up my house and try to corroborate your story. Do you have a number I can call?”“No, and I would prefer not to use a cell phone. Too easy to track.”
I
nod. Several of my clients were like
this. “Then…?”
“I
can come by tonight, to see if you’ll take the case.”I glanced at the clock. It was a little before noon, but I wasn’t sure whether or not that would be enough time to do some background checks, talk to a couple Supernaturals who lived underground.
“I can’t promise an answer by tonight, but you can stop by if you want. Just in case I have more questions.”
“Thank
you,” he said, standing. I stood,
too. “You won’t regret this.”
I
thought it was a strange choice of words, but I didn’t know how old he was, and
from his time they might be rather calming and less threatening than they
sounded today. I led him to the door and
watched him hail a cab. When I closed
the door I was forced to confront the mess he had left me with. I sighed, knowing the back breaking amount of
work that went into this sort of thing.
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