History Repeats Itself

Chapter 10 – ‘Not The First Time’

“I may start thinking you like me if you keep talking to me this much,” Jade told him as she answered his call, the cigarette against her lips. She exhaled as she leaned back against the wall outside, waiting for the sun to peek over the hill.

“I refuse to comment on that. I’m still left figuring out my feelings on it.” Jade smiled. She could agree with that. Xander did things to her, and she didn’t like it. Found it questionable and she wasn’t sure how to handle it. This was new territory for her, and that was saying something given how crazy long her life had been.

“Yeah, well, don’t blame you.” Jade finished off her smoke, killing the flame under her booted foot, and went inside, the colors changing enough to warn her she had to get in. “What’s on your mind, Xander?”

“Your cell, it’s not like tapped or anything, right?” Jade tried to control her laugh, but she couldn’t help it, it slipped out.

“Sorry, it’s not funny. If you’re referring to the council, they don’t even have phones, let alone how to tap one. They still send handwritten messages.” Jade plopped down on the couch, slowly frowning as she thought the question over. “Why do you ask?” She heard the squeaking of the chair and realized he was still at the office. Sure, he had said he was a night owl, but as it was sunrise, she thought he would have already been in bed. Night owls didn’t make it till the sunrise.

“The vampire deaths, they’re victims, teens that have been reported as missing or runaways.”

“Yeah, thought that was the path you were leading on already?”

“It is, Jade. However, it’s not the first time in our history that a group of teens have gone missing altogether within a certain amount of time.” Jade wrinkled her brows, confused by the statement. Okay, so it wasn’t normal. She gathered that much. Missing teens, as sad as it was sometimes, wasn’t a common thing. A lot of people just overlook it these days.

“I’m sorry Xander, I don’t get what you’re asking or what you’re thinking.”

“I don’t think this is the first time this has happened. Within our history,” he paused, making her sit up at the words he was about to say, “or yours.”

“k********g unwanted kids and turning them?” She knew that wasn’t exactly what he was getting at. But if she thought she had any idea of what was coming next, she wasn’t sure what she could say in response to the question.

“Yes. But also, in the killing of them. Two doesn’t make it a serial killer yet, but something tells me whoever is doing this, isn’t done. And it’s not a human. Which means it’s part of your world, not mine. Jade, I need to know what you can find out.”

“Nothing, Xander, I can’t find out anything! I told you, it’s not like I can walk into the council house and just research it like I could at a library.”

“I know, but I can’t think of anything else. Something is odd about this, Jade, something doesn’t make sense, and I can’t compute it, can’t put it together without some help.” Jade groaned as she closed her eyes and leaned her head back on the couch. She wanted to help him, she really did, but he had no idea what he was asking of her.

“You do understand this could be my death, right? If I got caught.”

“Don’t get caught. But you know as well as I do that something is off-kilter here. You have the glint in your eye of questioning this, so don’t pretend you aren’t curious.” She hated that he picked up on that. f*****g hell though, she didn’t want to put her life on the line either.

“Fine,” she ground out between clenched teeth. “I’ll make a trip over when I wake up.”

“I can meet you later.”

“You can bet your sorry ass, you are.” With that, she ended the call and tossed it on the end table, shifting to lie down on the couch.

-----

Jade stared up at the three-story mansion that she had parked in front of, her fingers playing a drum beat on the steering wheel. The sun had set four hours ago but she fought with herself in coming over. Well, she was still fighting. She didn’t want to do this. Her report had already been given and though she had a grand excuse for coming back, she wasn’t sure they would buy it.

Then again, it wasn’t like it was something she had ever done. With a grunt, Jade threw open the door and climbed out. Sooner or later, the questions were going to start being too much for her and she needed answers. Xander was right, these deaths were different, not like anything she could recall or had seen. And that’s saying something for her age! And she did have the glint. But she also knew what could happen, and that usually stopped any forthcoming questions.

With a deep breath, Jade rounded her car and walked to the door, ready to knock. But it swung back, revealing the head of their council, Winter. Named after the season and according to him, that’s when his mother gave birth to him, expecting a daughter and had a son.

“Jade,” he told her, no expression on his pale face. Of course, vampires didn’t have the regular golden skin color of most humans, but for some unknown reason, Winter’s complexion always reminded her of death, of ghosts. And if it weren’t for the fact that she had partaken in meals with him, she would have sworn he didn’t feed.

“Sir.”

“What brings you by?” Jade offered him a timid smile and he shook his head. “Where are my manners, please come in.”

“Thank you.” She stepped through, giving him her back for a mere moment before turning around to look at him. “Is the report I turned in already in the archives?”

“Of course, it is, why ever do you ask?”

“I was distracted yesterday when I was writing something down and I left out a minor detail, which is not like me. I was up well into the morning thinking about it.” Winter glanced out the window, noticing the darkness.

“And yet you didn’t come over right away?”

“I slept past sundown. I was up that long thinking about it. Would it be a problem to go correct it?” Winter pulled out the watch that was attached to his three-piece suit, a clothing habit he hadn’t broken over time. Of all the vampires in the council, Winter looked the oldest. He looked dated and acted as such, having claimed that class never went out of style, and Winter had class.

“I have an important meeting with the council, and I can’t miss it. I don’t have time to take you down to the archive library to fix it. This is very unorthodox of you, Jade. You don’t make mistakes like this.”

“I know, sir, it’s not. I feel horrible. But you don’t have to take me down, I can find my own way; I’ve made the trip plenty of times before.”

“Nonsense, you know no one goes alone. I suppose I can have Jude take you. It shouldn’t take too long to fix something, I would guess.” Winter eyed her again before sighing. “Do not make this a habit, Jade. You’re one of the best at what you do, but I’ve seen the best fall through the cracks as well.”

“I do feel terrible, especially since it’s not like me. I can fix it and be back on my way.”

Winter nodded and then signaled to a servant who quickly ran over, eager to do Winter’s bidding. “Have Jude escort Jade to the archive library and then send him to the meeting room when done.” The man nodded and Winter turned back to her. “A pleasure, Jade, but I fear I must be going. Do take care.” She nodded back at him and then waited.

It wasn’t ideal, having someone take her, but she figured it would happen anyway. There was a way to distract him easily enough. She just needed a moment to get her eyes on something, anything, that would flash as different. The hard part was getting the approval to go down. The look Winter gave her, though, told her he had better not see her back again. This was dangerous ground she was walking.

“Jade, follow me.” She jumped at the sound of Jude’s voice but quickly followed him. Just a few minutes later, they were below ground in the archive, and he held the door open for her. She thanked him and walked in, seeing the report on the desk. With a quick glance around, she walked over, picking up the quill from the inkwell. Just as old school as ever. However, it was part of the perfect ploy. She dipped the writing instrument in and then brought it out, frowning. “What is it?” Jude questioned.

“The inkwell is dry. Can you check next door to see if one is there?” Jude hesitated but Jade smiled. “Promise won’t move at all. I just really need to fix this, or I’ll get in trouble. Won’t say a word, Jude.”

“Don’t move,” Jude ordered, and she nodded, almost jumping for joy when he closed the door. She made quick work of scanning the rest of the desk but saw nothing. With a quick movement, she walked to the rows of papers behind her, mentally clocking the documents of deaths. As she carefully listened, a date caught her eye. With carefulness, she pulled the document out, seeing the year of her vampire birth, and did a quick count of the number of deaths with a four-month window of the time she was turned. There were twenty-three, which was odd. As was the fact that they were all dead by impaling on ice. This wasn’t the first time the history books had something of this nature.