Bitemarks 2.2

Seriously, the lack of time I have at the moment is ridiculi!

Bitemarks 2.2

Ed fumed silently in the car as one of the bureau's drivers took him back to headquarters. He waited impatiently for Alf to show up in the briefing room. When he did Ed stared angrily at him. Alf sighed.
"Ed, there's no point being mad at me. It's not like this is my decision. Just like it's not my decision about who gets full disclosure."
"That doesn't make it right."
"Well right or wrong there's not much we can do about it. Beauclair is alive. He plays by our rules and there's an agreement in place. Speaking of which..."
"Yeah well, you might want to know that letting Beauclair live was one hell of a bad decision."
Ed put his feet up on the desk and lit up a cigarette.
"I don't even know where to begin. The vampires. You know they call themselves the Karal?"
"I did."
"Well Beauclair's been doing his history. He has a vault full of old relics. Artefacts, books, ornamental stuff. Probably been collecting it for ages. He says he's been having teams dig it up around the world. That's why he had Keibler's team up north."
"Digging for artefacts?"
"One artefact. He calls it the Mother. It was supposed to be the remains of the very first vampire."
"The remains..." Alf looked decidedly worried.
"Yeah. Only I've never seen remains kill ten people and drink their blood."
"So you're saying..."
Ed interrupted before he could finish.
"Yes. I'm saying that because WE let a vampire survive the cull he's managed to locate the body of the very first vampire, dig it up and let it loose on the world. Now I don't know much about complex bloodlines Alf but I had to hunt down Grace and let me tell you, the mother of all werewolves was a lot stronger than a regular werewolf and I get the feeling we won't be taking down the Mother with a fancy sniper rifle shooting tranqs. In fact, now that it crosses my mind, how do we kill a vampire? Garlic, stake through the heart? Lure her into sunlight?"
Alf shook his head.
"I have no idea. We'll have to research. There'll be records."
"From the cull?"
"No. The cull was en masse. It had to be a surefire method. Nearly all of the vampires were killed by beheading, in their sleep. It was the only way to be sure."
"What a resounding success."
"Well I'll get everyone right on it. I know we can discount a few myths straight off. Sunlight won't do a damn thing. Garlic neither. Vampires of old were resistant to being shot. Arrows, muskets, rifles. The problem with projectiles it that they go straight through, or at least can be pulled out. As long as the vampire can feed the wound just heals itself over."
"Instantly?"
"For most small wounds yes. Larger ones can take longer. And they can't just regrow limbs. There are limits. I'll try to find out what those limits are. In the mean time..."
"In the meantime I need to get some sleep, something to eat and try and wind down."
"By all means. I'll have all traffic monitored for anything sounding even remotely vampire related. If anything comes up before tomorrow I'll send Katia to check it out. Anything that crops up after then is all yours. I'll also get hold of Beauclair again, see what useful information he can provide."
Ed stubbed out his cigarette and stood up, making for the door.
"Oh and Ed."
Ed paused.
"What's done is done. We have work to do. I don't want anger getting in the way of that. Go home, relax. I have a feeling I'll be needing you at your best."