Chapter 20 – Confronting Confusion

Chapter 20 – Confronting Confusion

Danni was mere steps away from the house when she realised that she had completely forgotten about getting blood for those damnable vampires. Her first thought was that she should throw them out, tell them to get their own and go for a nice sunbathe. That was the vinegar, but after the last few days, maybe it would be worth approaching this with a honeyed touch? Something that might get them talking… but… There were so many buts, when would they end?

The last person to see Joey, that she knew of, was Widow Samuel’s BUT from the brief glimpse of her that Danni gotten, she only seemed fit enough to smack someone with an umbrella. Joey was fit and strong, not to mention a good deal taller than her BUT he’d been found in the bathtub. Had he been surprised? How could someone have gotten in? Had he left the door open when he’d gone for his bath or… had the killer, she shuddered at the word, somehow made it seem that way? So many buts, so many uncertainties, it all made her hair stand on end. Though that could be just because, even now, she was running her hands through it, trying to squeeze some answer from her brain. Turning back towards the village, Danni was thankful for the sun still high in the sky, lighting her way.

Back when she had been small and the summer holidays had rolled around, Danni’s parents had found themselves in a conundrum. Without school to send her, they were faced with the possibility, the problem more like, that they would have to spend time with her. They loathed the idea of sending her to a camp of any kind, as that meant extended periods of time spent in the car and if they ‘forgot’ to pick her up, people might look at them funny. That was the conclusion that she had come to several years later. You could call her dramatic, but then again, that person had not spent any stretch of time with her parents. Their lives revolved around work, each other and if it were not a physical essential that they eat and sleep, Danni was sure that they would have cut that out too. So, summers were a problem.

Then they remembered that there was another avenue to approach. From as early as she could remember, Danni had been packed off with a suitcase of clothes to her grandmother’s place. It was tiny, with just the one bedroom, a spare room and a bathroom. No living room or office space as Danni had seen in her own home, but to her small eyes, it may as have been a palace. On every table, shelf and other horizontal surface that could have found, there were books. Of all shapes and sizes, there were stacks of well-loved books. Without any idea as to what to do with Danni, her grandmother had put on a tv show for her, though she had none of the channels that would be suitable for one of her age, and somehow Danni had found herself binging Murder she Wrote and Midsummer Murders. All the while, she was placated with tea, biscuits, snacks, as her grandmother turned the pages of whatever book she had been chewing on, but when she got tired with all of these repetitive plot lines, Danni had asked about the stacks.

Seemingly amazed to be approached about such a thing by one so young, Danni’s grandmother had searched the stacks for the first child appropriate volume she could find and handed it to her. Half an hour later, it was finished and two hours later, five more had been placed on top of it. Somewhere along the way, Danni and her grandmother had begun to discuss what they were reading. From there, the discussions seemed to flow like wine. Over dinner, in the morning, after a night that Danni had spent curled up underneath her covers with a torch, reading until her eyes itched, over lunch and on and on and on, reading and talking and occasionally watching more of the shows that Danni had found herself attracted to. She liked the ‘what if’ the ‘why’ the ‘how’ and, best of all, the answers at the end. When the inspector or the detective or the person at the centre would find the truth of it all, fend off the culprit or outwit them and watch them be taken away.

But they were meant to stay stories. That was how reality worked, mysteries didn’t just spring out of nowhere! You didn’t just find yourself in a random place and time and find a dead body! Even if you did, you left that shit to the police! She knew that for certain! Sticking your nose where it didn’t belong could easily get you killed, especially if you were dealing with someone who had already proven that they weren’t afraid of getting their hands dirty.

Mr Tine was stood behind the counter, handing a tall woman with glasses some packages of what might have been ham as her child, a small boy in a blue shirt and shorts, peered around her legs, seemingly taking everything in. That was the funny thing she had noticed since coming here, it was rare to find someone with a phone in their hand. She had seen some people with headphones, and they must surely have been listening to something, but there hadn’t been the telltale glow reflected on their faces. Instead, people actually talked to each other here. They knocked at the door asking for sugar, they had house parties, they cared. It was one of those many strange shocks she had come to recognise the longer she stayed there.

Stepping aside for the woman and her son, as Danni assumed the child to be, to reach the door, she approached the counter and looked over the selection. Unsurprisingly, the usual array of fresh meat in its varying shades of pink and white were on display before her.

“How can I help you, Miss Danni?” Mr Tine asked, meeting her eyes with a slightly somber smile. Clearly, Joey was still on his mind as well.

“This is going to sound incredibly strange, but I need three bags of blood… I don’t suppose you might have some on hand?” She asked, ducking her head.

“What on earth would you need something like that for?” Mr Tine giving her the strangest look.

“It’s for a recipe, just something that I thought I would test on a whim… though I might have picked a better time to try it out…” She pressed her fingers into each other, twisting them together.

“I see… I can look for you… We might have some leftover from the last…” He didn’t seem to want to finish that sentence. “I’ll… go look.”

“Thank you…” Danni replied meekly. How she wished that she could have put it off. Before he disappeared around the corner, Mr Tine looked towards her, his face a mask of concern.

“How are you holding up? I mean… You’re the one who… Sorry, I’m not being terribly gentle about this. But… it must have been quite the shock.” Mr Tine’s voice was filled with sympathy.

“It was… I’m still struggling to believe that it could happen… that anyone could do such a thing.” Danni pulled her hands apart and wrapped her arms around herself once again.

“I don’t blame you… I think it’s come as a shock to all of us… We’re all… The whole place is asking about it, talking about it, turning it over and over and…Can I be honest with you?” Mr Tine asked, leaning his massive frame over the counter, arms resting on top.

“I’d be offended if you weren’t…” Danni leaned in a little closer, casting a wary glance over her shoulder as if worried there might be someone eavesdropping on them. But the mother and child had been the only customers, and they were long gone by now.

“I think it is disgusting how fascinated everyone is. I liked joey as much as anyone else and now it seems they’re about to make a movie all about it.”

“A… movie?” Danni asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

“Sorry, it’s an old term my father used to stay. Whenever there was a big fuss over anything, he used to say that they were ‘making a movie’. They were still new in his day, and he never really caught up with the times. So he believed that they were a fad, something that everyone would get sick of. Sort of his way of saying ‘making a mountain out of a molehill’.”

“You think… They are making a big fuss out of nothing?”

“Not at all. Death is a big deal, especially when it’s someone you knew. But people these days are addicted to trying to find the culprit, trying to work out themselves when they don’t know what they are doing. Leave this stuff to the police, mourn and move on. I know that sounds callous, but when you work as I do, it’s that kind of mentality you need or else the grief will drive you insane.” He explained. “Now, let me find you that blood.” He disappeared behind the corner, appearing to enter a kind of freezer or something.

It was an interesting mentality, Danni could confess… but not one she thought she could maintain. She felt too much. Unlike her parent’s, Danni felt everything to a painful degree.

Someone was shouting something outside the place. Despite herself, Danni glanced back towards where Mr Tine had disappeared, then poked her head out the door. Something was going on in the direction of Joey’s shop, but… what? It felt wrong to watch, deeply hypocritical, but curiosity was simply too much. Casting another look towards the back, she prayed that Mr. Tine would take forever to find what she needed. Trying to look as casual as she could, she stuck close to the doorway, leaning against it, pulling out her phone to maintain the illusion. The sounds outside rose and fell as the speakers moved around, but Danni was sure that one of the voices belonged to Maggie, Joey’s sister.

“Don’t put those there, you’ll squash them! They need a lot of light and oh! Don’t complain, they aren’t that heavy!” What sounded like boxes were being moved around at Joey’s place, and, again despite herself, she glanced around to see Maggie standing outside the shop, arm out and shouting something. Her husband, looking red in the face from exertion, was heaving boxes this way and that. It looked like, to Danni’s eyes, that they were rearranging the entire shop floor! Was… was Maggie planning to take over the business? Granted, someone had to. They couldn’t expect everyone to go down to the city to get their fresh things?

“That looks awful! Put it back! So ugly!” Though she may have been a small woman, she had a carrying voice that travelled even down here!

Danni spotted a pair of women coming down towards the shop, and heard someone coming out of the back, and retook her place before the shelf, pulling her headphones on to try and pretend she couldn’t hear.

“I hope they won’t spend all night like that! It was bad enough yesterday; I couldn’t get a wink of sleep the whole night through!” Said one woman as she crossed the threshold and her partner appeared to shush her. No doubt, she was pointing at the back of Danni’s head, all too aware that though Mr Tine was not here, they were not alone. It appeared that her partner, the first woman, had gotten so wrapped up in their conversation, she had neglected to notice.

Fortunately, none of them had to wait long. Mr. Tine came out, a large parcel underneath his arm. “Found some! They’re frozen but should defrost within a few hours and they’ll keep well until then so just put them in the fridge and you’ll be good to go by tomorrow.”

Somehow, Danni didn’t think that the liquid status of this would matter much to the people who were really going to consume it. Maybe it would be like an ice lolly to them? “Thank you.” She replied, taking the parcel from him, feeling the cold plastic underneath the paper and praying that she didn’t drop it in the street. She paid for her purchase and bid farewell to Mr Tine, her mind filled with all this information.

Danni collected her bike and was immediately relieved that Maggie was so busy ‘supervising’ her husband, she didn’t notice Danni slipping around her. She piled the parcels into the basket and pedalled away, the sudden weight up front forcing her to move slower, grunting with the effort of pedalling without gravity to help her alone. Once or twice, she was tempted to climb off and push it the rest of the way. Still, she didn’t particularly like the idea of being stopped on her way and having to explain what she was doing with so much blood. Regardless of what she had said, she didn’t have a single idea on what to do with all of it. What if someone wanted to come up and taste test it? Wasn’t it bad enough that she would be feeding the three freeloaders taking up the spare room.

Perhaps Lady Luck had seen what had happened to her already that day, she decided to smile on her and she made it back to the house without incident. She put her bike away, shoved a few more logs into the pipe in the hopes of earning the Salamander’s forgiveness, placed the parcels into the fridge, not wanting to unwrap them for fear that the sight of so much blood might make her sick and she had already seen enough that day and sank down onto the couch. At some point during the past few days, she had relocated her laptop back up to her room and so her fingers failed to perform the familiar twitch they did whenever she came near it.

In truth, she was in no mood to approach that familiarly disheartening blank page. She didn’t think that she could face her own disappointment. She scarcely had the energy to pull out her phone and lose herself to the electronic opiate. Her head was pounding behind her glasses but every time she closed her eyes, flashes of red and glimpses of Joey’s white skin danced around in her head like a grotesque pantomime. Would she ever be able to close her eyes without seeing that? Would she see it in her sleep? Would it plague her with nightmares?

When she next opened her eyes, the sun had gone down, filling the house with darkness. Her skin was covered in a strange film, her glasses were sitting askew on her nose and her mouth felt strangely gummy and dry, like it had been hanging open for a long time. Her clothes were twisted around her, the straps of her bra cutting into the side of her neck and the button of her jeans was pressing uncomfortably into the spot right over her bladder. Speaking of which, she had to jump off the couch and bolt to the bathroom when her stomach gave a warning gurgle and even then, she scarcely made it in time. There, she fixed her clothes, righted her glasses, splashed water on her face and dragged wet fingers through her hair. Feeling significantly more human, Danni stepped out to a beam of light shining out from the kitchen.

Knowing she hadn’t put it on, she sighed and walked over, positive that she knew what she would find. Sure enough, the fridge was hanging open, and a figure was bent over, examining the contents with apparent interest. Leaning against the doorframe, in a manner that was quickly becoming a habit for her, she cleared her throat. With a jerk and a bang, the figure lifted his head, and Danni recognised him as Eric, giving her the same look as a child caught with their hand in the piggy bank.

“Are you looking for something?” She asked, lifting an eyebrow at him.

Slowly, he lifted one of the red-filled bags from the fridge for her to see. She inclined her head and he gave her another nervous smile. “Thank you?”

“Close enough… I should hope that you’re grateful. That stuff isn’t cheap and I had to come up with a stupid lie to get it. I suggest you ration that stuff or I’ll start looking very suspicious if I start asking for more of that stuff.” She grumbled, something about his face and demeanour inciting her ire.

“Is… Did you like the bezoar?” He asked. Unbidden, he pierced the bag with a fang, much like someone would use their teeth to open a coke can if their hands were occupied or unable, and began to drink from it.

“I suppose, I don’t know what I’m meant to do with it though…”

“Well you used to be able to make medicine with it or —.”

“Yes, yes, I know that. But that was back before my grandparents were twinkles in their parent’s eyes. I don’t know what I’m meant to do with it now… Especially after what you’ve done. Medicine made from a stone won’t fix that.”

To her annoyance, he had the audacity to look confused. Removing his mouth, he swallowed and wiped a drip of the thick red liquid from the corner of his mouth with his thumb and sucked it off. “I don’t… What are you talking about? What happened?”

“You happened. You or one of your brothers or maybe it was all three of you!” When he continued to look lost, she scowled at him. “You killed Joey! The grocer down in town! Ripped his throat out and left him to die like that.

“What?” Erik asked, aghast.

“You! You or one of your brothers attacked him last night and killed him!”

“We never! We were eating fine from the cows and that could usually keep us full for a few days if we’re not travelling far!” He insisted, looking panicked at being confronted with such an accusation. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“I concur.” Came a voice behind her. Danni spun around to see Victor and Cesare standing behind her. It had been Cesare, looking surprisingly put together, who had spoke but Victor opened his mouth next.

“You shouldn’t speak so loudly. Some of us haven’t eaten yet and I’m starving.” He pushed past her, muttering something that sounded a great deal like with ‘Dam woman’ and grabbed the second of the bags, holding the third out to Cesare. Giving Danni a polite nod instead, he slid past her in a far gentler manner than his brother and took it. For a moment, the three of them stood there, each drinking as Danni glowered at them.

“One of you killed my friend! I want to know who it is.” She demanded, “I hope you got your fill because that was MY friend you mutilated!”

The three of them looked between each other, something about that casual gesture only serving to enrage Danni even more! “Well? Don’t have anything more to say? C’mon! Answer me! What did you do to my goddamn friend!”

There was a synchronised swallow, a moment of enduring silence in the wake of her outburst before Erik spoke up. “What are you talking about?”

“Haven’t you been listening?! You killed my friend!”

“Why on earth would we do that? He’s a human, he would have tasted vile!” Erik stuck his tongue, a vivid red in colour, out in disgust at the idea.

“How dare you! You basically cut him open and you have the nerve to say that!”

“We didn’t! We don’t eat humans, they taste awful!” Erik spat, looking around for something. When he didn’t seem to find it, he made a grunting sound towards Cesare who only rolled his eyes, dug in his pocket and handed him something. Whatever it was, he used it to seal off the bag and replaced it back in the fridge, folding his arms. “First and foremost, I have to repeat this. We don’t drink humans; it’s the whole reason we didn’t attack you when we first got here. Your blood is too polluted, it’s like drinking petrol!”

“How do you know what petrol tastes like?” Victor asked with a giggle that Cesare and Erik silenced with a look.

“Secondly, we didn’t go near his place. Wherever it is.”

“What Erik was trying to say is that we have an alibi, if you’re willing to hear us out?” Cesare spoke up for the first time.

“Fine, where did you go? Give me one good reason why I should believe a word you say. You’ve already shown that you don’t give a rat's ass about needing an invitation.”

“We said we were sorry…” Muttered Victor, looking down at the ground, scuffing the floor with the tip of his shoe.

“Sorry doesn’t fix that gaping wound Joey has in his throat!” Danni accused, jabbing a finger in his direction.

“It’s good we didn’t cause it then, you stupid girl!” Erik snarled.

“My name is Danni, you arrogant prick and I’m willing to bet that I’m a hell of a lot smarter than you!” She shot back.

“Why? Because you think that you can solve this guy’s murder?”

“No!” That had caught her off guard. “Who told I was doing any of that?”

“Oh please! You’re only saying all of this nonsense because you think you can, girl!”

“Danni!”

“Girl!” His drawling pronunciation of her name made her wish she could throw that blood into his face. “You are barking up the wrong tree. In case you hadn’t noticed, we don’t have the ability to leave, what was it you called it? A ‘gaping wound’ in this guy’s throat?”

“What are— Oh God!” Erik had crossed the room in two strides, opening his mouth wide in front of her face and the smell of blood redolent on his breath made her nose wrinkle. It was like breathing in the smell of a handful of old coins! “Close your mouth! Have some manners! You’re disgusting!”

“We can only make tiny pinpricks! See?” He jabbed a hand behind him and Victor held up his bag, revealing two small holes in the plastic.

“That’s revolting!” Complained Danni’, but there was no denying what she had seen. He only had two fangs, hanging from the top of his mouth, long, sharp and thin as needles but they wouldn’t have been enough to slice a throat like Joey’s had been.

“Fine! Say, I believe you for the time being. Show me evidence of this ‘alibi’. The police are investigating and I’m going to need something to tell them if they come sniffing around and find you here.” She was NOT going to go to jail, or worse, because of these three!

“Please allow me to show you. I’m glad it’s dark now so we can go outside.” Cesare spoke up, opening the door with a familiar hand motion and Danni was immediately glad that she had neglected to remove her coat and boots when she had collapsed onto the couch. She followed them a few steps behind, first out into the garden then towards the gate she had found the first day she’d woken up here. With this distance, she could sprint back inside and lock them outside if this proved to be a load of rubbish. Still… they looked like they were eager to clear their names.

“We came out here, stood right there and admired the moon! We only wanted to get a sense of where we were after sprinting across the countryside. It just happens that this view is simply aces.” Cesare explained, Danni staring at him in confusion at his odd turn of phrase. Erik and Victor were barely hiding snickers behind their hands.

“Aces?”

“Cesare slipped.” Victor giggled, grinning from ear to ear. It exposed his fangs, his laughter escaping through his teeth.

“So… you spent the whole night outside here? Just… watching the moon?”

“Stargazing is a perfectly respectable hobby, I’ll have you know.” Cesare insisted, this time it was his turn to sound offended.

Danni didn’t say anything in response. Assuming she believed this, that left her with another, far more concerning problem. There was someone in the village with the capacity for murder.