DRACULA REBORN

CHAPTER SEVEN: THE HUNT

Dracula

The alarm on my phone started to play, my eyes opening to the dim light of the room. I reached for it and silenced the annoying racket as I sat up and swung my legs over the side. Too long it had seemed for the sun to go down and who knows where Nathan is now. I just hope he's still out there somewhere. Waiting for me. Standing up, I reached for my leather jacket and grabbed my sword from against the wall as I left the room and marched down the hall like a man on a mission.

I placed a call back home to Nicholas who answered on the first ring. His voice sounded serious, almost positive given the information that I was about to receive. I barged my way through the roof access door at the end and headed up to the roof as Nicholas spoke in my ear.

"Vlad. It's about time. I'm glad you called because I got something here that might prove useful. According to the hotel security feed it looks like the kidnappers came in through the underground parking garage. Now, to get access to the upper floors requires a special keycard and only members with the highest seniority are allowed to have them. And before you ask, I already sent you the name and address of the person responsible."

"Good man. And what about the woman, Dahlia?"

"Yeah. She was no easy find. But I think I managed to narrow down her last known location. You'll find her in the States in the city of New Orleans."

"Alright," I replied, checking my phone to see an incoming text from Nicholas. "I have the address. I'm heading there now. Talk soon."

Once the call ended, I slipped it back into my pocket and strapped my sword across my back as I stepped right up to the edge of the building, stepped off, and transformed into bats. I flew high above the city, between buildings and landmarks, and even dipped my wings in the water along the la seine river. When I sensed that I was close to my target, I rematerialized in a darkened courtyard and stared at the sixth floor balcony that was to be his apartment. I leaped from the ground in a single breath, scaling the wall with ease before vaulting over the railing and taking a peek inside.

The place looked like it had been ransacked. A diversion to make it look like a robbery in order to cover up the real evidence. I yanked on the handle to the sliding door and the lock broke free, allowing me to enter. Inside, the smell of fear was everywhere as was the blood. I followed it into the bathroom and found a man nearly half dead on the floor. His legs were broken, his skull bashed in from being smacked against the tub. I kneeled down and touched his face, the life in his eyes returning but only for a moment.

"Take it easy. I'm not here to harm you," I said. "Can you tell me who did this to you?"

He winced from the pain. "Ah, I'm not sure. It all happened so fast. One minute there was a knock at the door and the next I wound up here."

"Did you see his face? Piercings, tattoos, markings, anything at all."

"No! I already told you. I didn't get a good look at the man who attacked me."

"So you're sure it was a man?"

He sighed out of anger. "Positive. Now are you going to call for help or what?"

"No."

The instant I released him his heart stopped beating. A neat little trick when someone's near death. I can bring them back by touch, but only for a limited time. I leaned in and sniffed around, rebuilding the bigger picture in my mind's eye like the rewinding of a scene from a DVD. The scene of the attack played out just as I had imagined it. The man opens the door to see another man dressed all in black, his face covered by a mask. The two scuffle around a bit inside breaking glass and destroying the furniture before meeting an untimely death in his own bathroom.