Devil Inside

Food And Entertainment.

Elsa couldn’t shake the sensation of Sebastian’s touch as she walked out of the lift and into the brightly lit, crisp white hallway of Haven’s facility floor. Knowing she did not have to watch what she was doing here, she was outside her father’s office in seconds, eager to find out what it was he had to talk to her about and maybe distract herself from some rather unwholesome thoughts about Sebastian.

This was, of course not the dilapidated, fetid petri dish of an office Marcus had shown her when she had first visited his workplace. This office was as clean and clinical as the rest of Haven and much more acceptable to Elsa’s keen olafactory perception. Her eyes told her that Marcus was not in his office, her nose told her where to find him.

A few doors down she knocked on a clear glass door to get her father’s attention. He was stood with Gray, the large werewolf she had met only briefly and who made her wish her sense of smell wasn’t quite so enhanced. She told herself she would make a much better job of hiding her distaste this time; after all, if Gray hadn’t tracked her down that night a few months previously, her answer to Sebastian’s question of if she had ever killed anyone would have been entirely different. She had a lot to thank this quietly intimidating man for and she knew her father had a huge amount of respect for him.

Marcus smiled when he saw her, one of those smiles that didn’t reach his eyes, he was clearly concerned and motioned for her to come in.

Both men were stood in front of a large piece of what looked like glass. It was completely see through but was clearly some kind of computer screen as there were various open files and images covering it, which Marcus seemed to be able to move about with just a small hand motion in the air in front of the screen. Elsa had seen gadgets like this on television and always assumed it was the over active imagination of writers and producers she was looking at; apparently it wasn’t.

“Wow,” she said appreciatively, “You guys must be funded by the same people as CSI Miami’s crime lab.” Gray gave her a quizzical look but said nothing, merely nodding politely to welcome her.

“I’m not even sure where all our funding comes from,” Marcus admitted, “Come and look at this.” He indicated to a collection of still photographs on the screen, “Recognise anyone?”

Elsa had already spotted him, the vampire she and Kate had met at the concert. He had clearly recovered well from the broken neck she’d given him as he was pictured, hands in pockets walking down a street. A long length, black jacket covered up his tattoos; the collar was turned up and he had sunglasses on so his eyes could not be seen but Elsa knew it was him. She recognized his build, the sharp line of his cheekbones and the set of his jaw. She pointed at his picture, “Him,” she said, “That’s the one that attacked us.”

Marcus nodded, rubbing his jaw and looking thoughtful.

“So what else am I looking at here?” Elsa asked; there were other pictures and scanned images of notes and official looking files.

“We’ve been looking into groups of vampires across Europe that have been causing us a few – problems,” Gray spoke in a low, gravelly voice that made Elsa wonder what he sounded like as a wolf, she was curious as to what a werewolf really looked like when they changed, she’d only ever seen the fake kind in books and films.

“So this guy is one of them?” she asked.

“It would appear so,” said Marcus, “Which means they’re set to become a problem here too.” He pulled the vampire’s picture into the middle of the screen and enlarged it, “This is Vincent Lissner. The first record we have of him was in Estonia about 50 years ago and he’s popped up in various European countries more regularly over the last few years. Wherever he’s been, dead bodies and young vampires are found; we believe he’s a major part of the blood movement.”