The Immortal Plague, page 5
“You forget how well I know your family. Weeks is a long time for you to have not heard from her.”
His shoulders slumped, relieved someone else understood his concern. “I went to her apartment. Her answering machine was full. There was a layer of dust on everything. Neighbor hasn’t seen her in months.”
“But it hasn’t been that long since she’s been on air. A week at the most?”
Ethan pulled out the stack of papers from his bag. “I found these papers along with a bunch of pictures scattered in her office. The problem is, all the notes are written in shorthand.”
Gale raised an eyebrow. “Your mother’s shorthand?”
“Yes. How did you know about that?”
She opened the bottom drawer of her desk. “I’ve been working with your mother for a very long time, child. You don’t think I’ve stumbled across her shorthand before?” She continued to dig through scraps of paper as she spoke. “We used to do a writing exercise and when she got really agitated her perfect handwriting would turn into what I thought was nonsense.”
“Were you able to interpret it?”
Gale handed him a slip of paper and laughed. “After I made her write down the key.”
Ethan stared down at the worn note. “I can make a copy, if you need to keep this.”
“Oh, no. That won’t be necessary. I haven’t needed it in years.”
“Thanks.” He slipped the paper and notes in his bag and stood. “I should get going.”
“Before you do, I feel obligated to warn you. I heard bits and pieces of what you mama deciphered—vampires and the synthetic blood center. Whatever mess Evie’s gotten herself into, it’s best you don’t get involved.”
“Thanks for your concern, Gale, but she’s my sister. If she’s in trouble, I have to find a way to help.”
“As a vampire sympathizer, there’s no telling what kind of mess you could be stepping into. People don’t take kindly to that sort of thinking. And she’s been so public about it all.” Gale shook her head. “After everything your family’s lost. Everything the human race has lost.”
Ethan understood where the woman was coming from. It was the stance most people took. As much as he agreed with them, Evie was still his sister. “That’s exactly why I need to find her. After everything my family’s lost, she’s all I have left.”
CHAPTER NINE
It took Ethan over a week to sort through and decipher every note he’d taken from Evie’s office. Sprawled out on his living room floor with the key Gale had given him, he worked day and night trying to piece together Evie’s mess. Early on, he decided two separate piles were needed: useful and nonsense. The nonsense pile was by far the largest, outweighing the other four to one. It was almost as if Evie was on the brink of a mental breakdown; her notes jumped from one thought to another without any sort of logic and most made little sense. Ethan couldn’t understand what any of it had to do with the picture of the synthetic blood center—the center of it all.
The most useful information he found came from the transcripts of several interviews Evie had conducted with a vampire named Sam who worked at the underground club Blood Lust. This was one of multiple illegal establishments; a place humans and vampires could come together, drink, dance, and do God only knew what else. He’d been to a couple for business purposes and hated every minute.
Most of the interviews were dedicated to dispelling myths—what humans thought they knew about vampires versus the truth. Or the truth according to her source; Ethan thought little of the monsters’ integrity.
The Sanguines believed themselves to be superior beings; faster, stronger, with each of their senses heightened beyond that of human. They lived thousands of years, weren’t dead—like the legends suggested, but a different species. One that needed blood like humans needed water to survive. They ate food for substance. The sunlight was a nuisance but not deadly since they were nocturnal. Holy water, garlic, crosses, and mirrors: all a bunch of bullshit. Evie had questioned every vampire myth he’d ever heard of and then some. Each, Sam dismissed, chalking them up to humans’ overactive imaginations.
The other notes he’d kept were nothing more than a bunch of information on missing humans. It had long been rumored that the vampires were responsible for the drastic rise in these occurrences, but there was no way to prove their involvement. Law enforcement had no jurisdiction in the Immortal realm. Hell, they barely had jurisdiction in the human realm, as the vampires created all their current laws.
As insightful as the interviews were his sister’s notes revealed nothing about her disappearance. Unless the information was not to be shared with humans. In that case, the Immortal Council would not be too pleased about Evie’s curiosity. But as far as Ethan could tell, she was on good terms with the vampires. They even trusted her enough to publicly bring her into their realm—something that had never been done before.
So, if none of this had to do with her disappearance, then why did she have to lock the information away? And why the hell hadn’t she contacted him?
He leaned back in his recliner and stared at the ceiling, a thousand thoughts racing through his head. There were only a few possible outcomes that made any sense. None were pleasant.
What he needed more than anything was answers. Lifting the phone from the receiver, he rapped his fingers on the dusty end table as he tried to recall the number to the only news station left in the country. He’d memorized it years ago when Evie was first hired as morning news anchor; without cell phones and the long hours she worked, it was the easiest way to get a hold of her.
But it had been years since she sat behind a desk; her interest was investigative work.
A few minutes passed with no luck, so Ethan gave up and went to grab his personal phone book. It held dozens of numbers—none he ever used but he kept it around for times like these.
He dialed the number and on the fifth ring a woman picked up. “Immortal Broadcast. How can I direct your call?”
“Yeah. I’m Evie Calaway’s brother, Ethan. I—”
“She’s on assignment,” the woman interrupted in a clipped tone.
Ethan took a deep breath and held back his temper. “I’m aware. However, I haven’t been able to get a hold of her in a while. Can I speak to someone who knows where she is? Her boss, maybe?”
“What did you say your name was again?”
“Ethan Calaway,” he grumbled through his teeth. “Evie’s brother. I need to get a hold of her. It’s…” He paused. If this woman was going to connect him to someone, it would have to be for a good reason. “It’s an emergency. Our mother is very ill.” Not entirely a lie. She didn’t need to know Evie was already aware of the situation.
“Hold, please.” The receptionist muted the phone before Ethan had a chance to respond.
There was no music to pass the time; the Immortals didn’t allow such luxuries. The wait was excruciatingly long. Five minutes passed; ten. When he reached the twenty-minute mark, he was about ready to hang up, but that would mean calling back and going through the whole damn process again. Ethan didn’t have the patience.
Once thirty minutes had elapsed, the line clicked and a man answered. “Hello? This is Barry Goldman, Evie’s boss. Can I help you?”
Ethan straightened in his chair, surprised by the unexpected voice. “Yes, sir. Mr. Goldman. My name’s Ethan. I’m Evie’s brother.”
“So my secretary said. How can I help you, Mr. Calaway?”
“I’ve been trying to get a hold of Evie for several weeks now, but she’s not returning my calls.”
“That’s because she’s on assignment,” he snapped, “and we’re having technical difficulties.”
“Yeah, I got that from the nightly newscast. Isn’t there anything else you can tell me? Maybe give me the number to her hotel room? Please, Mr. Goldman. I really need to speak with her. She would want to know about our mother’s deteriorating condition.”
“Your mother who’s been living in the assisted care facility for the past ten years?”
Dammit. Ethan didn’t think Evie would have shared such personal information with anyone, let alone her boss.
“Listen, man. I don’t have time for your bullshit. I’ll let Evie know you called. Other than that, there’s nothing I can do.”
“Wait!” Ethan yelled, fearing he was about to hang up. It didn’t look like appealing to the man’s sense of family was getting him anywhere. He needed a different approach. “I was at Evie’s apartment a few days ago. Stumbled across a story she was working on about missing humans and the synthetic blood center.”
Goldman remained quiet for so long, Ethan wasn’t sure the man was still on the line. “Mr. Goldman? Are you still there?”
“You shouldn’t speak of such things,” he whispered. “Over the phone, nonetheless. You know they have eyes and ears everywhere. If Evie was working on a story like that, I had nothing to do with it. Do you hear me! Nothing to do with it!”
Ethan wasn’t sure if Goldman was talking to him or some unseen ears he believed were listening. “I’m worried she may be in some sort of trouble. Can you please help me get a hold of her?”
“No! I will not be a part of this.”
His lack of cooperation was starting to piss Ethan off. Goldman knew more about what was going on than he was willing to say; Ethan was sure of it. “Listen, Barry. You either tell me what the hell you know, or so help me God I will come to the station and kick your ass.” It was an empty threat. Ethan had never gotten into a fight—had never even thrown a punch. Evie was the more volatile of the two, but Goldman didn’t know that.
“There’s no need to threaten bodily harm, Mr. Calaway.”
“Where’s my sister?”
Goldman sighed. “I don’t know.”
Ethan’s chest tightened. “What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“After her conference with the Immortal Council, she was to meet up with her crew but never showed.”
Ethan waited for a more detailed explanation, but the man didn’t elaborate. “That’s it? She didn’t show and what, they left her there?”
“We’ve tried to contact the Council, but they haven’t returned our calls. Her crew remained at their hotel for days in hopes that she’d show, but she never did and now so much time has passed...”
“Do you think they kidnapped her? Are keeping her against her will?”
“What?” Goldman’s voice rose an octave. “I would never speak an ill word of our saviors. If Evie is still with the Council, it is for a good reason and under her own free will.”
Ethan bit his lip so hard it bled. What kind of bureaucratic bullshit was this man spewing? “Give me the address of the hotel. I want to speak to her crew myself.”
“Sorry, they are no longer there.”
“They left her with those monsters?”
Goldman scoffed. “Your sister has spent her entire career defending those so-called monsters. If she remains in their realm, it is because she wants to be there. And if she hasn’t contacted you, it’s because she doesn’t feel it’s needed.”
Ethan didn’t believe that for a second.
“Take my advice: drop it. Evie will show up when she’s damn good and ready, like she always does.” He hung up the phone without another word.
Maybe Evie’s boss was used to her little disappearing act, but Ethan was always the exception to the rule.
CHAPTER TEN
After hours of internal debate, Ethan concluded the best course of action would be to seek help from the local sheriff’s department. If Evie was in trouble, there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it on his own.
Forty-five minutes later, he pulled up to the sheriff’s office and parked his bike next to the lone patrol SUV. He couldn’t be sure which of the two officers was in today and which was out on patrol; neither drove the SUV unless there was an emergency in which two officers were needed, which was rare. The majority of people in their sleepy town did what they could to stay off the radar. Commit a serious enough crime and you would be tried not by the local authorities but the vampires themselves. The consequences were severe and ever-changing as they came from the imagination of those who served the punishments. Ethan once saw a man convicted of stealing a car run over by the same car he stole. The man survived but never regained the use of his legs.
The sheriff’s office was quiet. Ethan headed down the hall unrestricted; there was no longer the need for staff to man the front desk as most people preferred not to deal with the law.
Sheriff Adrian Briggam and Deputy Willy Jones’ offices were located in the back of the building. One of the two should be there—neither of whom Ethan really wanted to speak with; each had their flaws. Willy was a backwoods country bumpkin (a term Ethan’s mother always used to describe his classmate). He only held the deputy position because no one else in their right mind wanted it.
“Can I help you?” Sheriff Briggam’s voice broke through the silence.
Ethan rotated to find the graying man coming up from behind him, coffee cup in hand.
“Oh, Ethan. This is a surprise. What can I do for you, son?”
Ethan forced a smile. He hated when people called him son. Briggam meant nothing by it but it still somehow felt like a punch to the gut. Like the man was trying to replace his father—a ridiculous notion, but painful nonetheless. “Afternoon, sir. I need to speak with you about my sister.”
Briggam motioned Ethan to follow him into his office and they both took a seat. “And what has Miss. Calaway got herself into this time?”
Again Ethan questioned how much information he should reveal. Briggam was a good man, and at times was like a second father to his older brothers, as Briggam’s son played football with them. Like Ethan’s brothers and father, Briggam’s son was killed in the Blood War. How he remained on the force, in direct contact with the monsters responsible, was beyond Ethan. That was another reason so many officers had resigned; no one wanted to take orders from those who caused so much death in their community.
“Ethan?”
Breaking free of his thoughts, he glanced at the sheriff patiently waiting for him to speak. “Sorry. I’m not sure where to start. Have you watched the news lately?”
Briggam leaned back in his chair. “Can’t say that I have.”
“Well, a few weeks back Evie was invited into the Immortal Realm to meet with the Council.”
He folded his arms across his chest. “Of course she was. What’s it to you?”
Ethan understood Briggam’s annoyance. He didn’t like Evie’s work with the vampires any more than the rest of the human race. The shame that tainted his family made it hard for him to find honest work in their small town. Ethan had been lucky a friend of his dad’s took pity on him but it came at a price: denouncing his sister publicly. Evie had understood and even encouraged him to do so, still he hated that the majority of the town believed he hated her as much as they did. Briggam was one of the majority, which was going to make this conversation a lot trickier.
“She’s my sister, sir.”
“And a traitor,” Briggam added.
“True, but the thing is I spoke with the station and it turns out she’s missing.”
Briggam cocked an eyebrow. “I got a stack of files a mile high on people who are missing. How is this any different?”
“She hasn’t been seen since entering the Immortal Realm. Never arrived to meet her crew at the designated time once her conference was over.”
“I’m still not seeing how this is my problem. Or how this is even a case. Did someone force her to enter the Immortal Realm?”
Ethan shook his head. “Not that I’m aware.”
“So she went with the vampires willingly and decided to extend her stay. Maybe make it permanent. It’s not like she has anything left on our side. No love lost between her and the humans.”
Shit. This was going about as good as Ethan had expected. Probably would have been better for him to speak with Deputy Willy. He would have at least taken Ethan’s statement and made a few calls without all the questions. “The thing is, sir, she always calls.”
Briggam leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. “I was under the impression you had disowned your sister.”
Sweat beaded on the edge of Ethan’s hairline. “I did…I do, but that hasn’t stopped her from contacting me—to touch base—once every few weeks.”
The sheriff tapped his fingers against the desk. “So you’re still in contact with her?”
“She is with me,” Ethan corrected.
Briggam’s hard frown lifted. “Well, seems your problem has been solved.”
“My problem, sir?”
“Yep.” He rolled his shoulders. “You want nothing to do with her and now she’s gone.”
And Ethan thought the hatred he carried ran deep. “She’s still my sister. She and I may have opposite views on the world but that doesn't mean I want to see anything bad happen to her.”
Briggam’s eyes turned cold as he slammed his fist into the desk. “You don’t want to see anything bad happen to her? What about all the lives lost to those monsters! My boy’s life! My only child! Your father and brothers! Do their lives mean nothing? They were killed by those blood-sucking bastards that your sister so freely defends. All those people who have joined her cause turned against their race. I will not lift a finger for that woman. Her disappearance is an act of God.”
Ethan sprung out of his chair as if Briggam’s fist had struck him. “I think there is more to Evie’s relationship with the vampires than we suspect. I found these in her home.” He reached in his bag to pull out the stack of information and notes.
“Save it! There’s nothing that will convince me she’s not the traitorous bitch we all know.” His hand twitched against the hilt of his gun. “I hope they find her body drained of every last drop of blood. Maybe that will put an end to her nonsense once and for all.”
Ethan rushed from the room and then the building without a glance back. He should have known better than to go to the authorities about Evie—though he had to admit he hadn’t thought Sheriff Briggam’s anger towards his sister was quite so intense. Most didn’t care for her, but to wish her dead? That was a bit extreme. She only wanted to make the world better. Improve the lives of humans so one day their children and children’s children didn’t have to live under such dire circumstances.
