Chapter 11: Fellow Kindreds

Caine's nostrils were filled with the heavy scent of human blood as he stood in front of the door at the end of the corridor, inviting him to find the source of the smell and drink it. Caine definitely thought that he already got his killer; the problem is, how in the hell he could apprehend him.

If his observations are true, the culprit is clearly a vampire like himself, then arresting him, let alone explaining the issue to the normal and uninformed populace about this 'supernatural' occurrence, will be difficult. Caine, on the other hand, is new to this world; in fact, he barely knows anything about it; no one taught him how to do things; after all, he had only been a vampire for less than a week.

"You alright?" Morrel suddenly asked from the side, seeing Caine in deep thought.

"I'm perfectly fine." Caine let out a loud sigh. "Hey, your phone has a camera?"

Morrel was perplexed. "Yeah, it's new; I just bought it yesterday," she replied, taking her black BlackBerry from her pocket. "Why?"

"We'll use it to check our suspect." Caine responded, and then he lightly knocked on the door, alerting everyone inside the room.

They waited a few seconds until the door opened, revealing a bleak scene to Caine.

The person who opened the door was neither a woman or a man, but a young girl of about seven years old. She was dressed in her pajamas, looking in between the cracks.

"Yeah?" she asked, slightly opening the door.

Caine and Morrel exchanged glances. The woman predicted a dead end, while Caine predicted the worst.

"Hi," Morrel said, crouching to match the small girl's vision. "What's your name?"

"Samantha," the small girl said simply.

"Well, Samantha, you're rather awake late at night."

"I can't sleep... The sirens are bothering me." Samantha said quietly.

"Oh well, I'll just tell them to be quieter." Morrel laughed. "Are your... parents around?"

"My dad is sick right now," the girl replied.

"Okay. Can we meet him?"

Samantha nodded quickly and closed the door again, ostensibly returning to the depths of the room to inform her father about the detectives. Morrel stood up again, a serene expression on his face.

"What are you thinking?" she asked.

"The absolute worst."

Morrel is perplexed yet again, but says nothing. About a minute later, the door opened; this time, it was opened wide, displaying the apartment's immaculate condition. Samantha, not the father, was the one who opened the door.

"Dad says you can come in," says the girl. "You can sit on the sofa; he'll get out of his room in a minute."

"Alright."

They both entered the apartment silently and sat on the sofa in the living room. Caine detected a rich aroma of human blood as well as a subtle scent of citrus hanging around. The man noticed the child strolling towards her bedroom in the flat's corner, while her father's bedroom remained unopened.

Caine rose up from his seat, his buddy giving him a glare that he simply disregarded.

He looked around and noticed a brown trench coat on top of a chair. As he approached, a strong citrus scent emanated from it, the same scent emanating from the crime scene and the landlord's office.

"Uh, sorry, I'm quite sick right now." A voice came from Caine's back. He turned around, the door of the father's bedroom was opened, and from there came a brown-haired middle-aged man, probably in his 30s. His face looked as pale as Caine's.

The detective instantly knew that he was a vampire. He just knew it—the tired red eyes, the snowy white skin, and the distinct smell of blood coming from him—all pointed out to a vampire.

As soon as the man turned to Caine, his face seemed to fall. It seems he knew instantly that Caine was a vampire as well. "What can I do for you, officers?"

"We just want to ask some questions regarding the murder that happened last night, Mr...."

"Ah, sorry, I'm Henry. Henry Kagle," the man introduced himself.

"Mr. Kagle, you lived alone with your daughter?" Caine asked calmly, which made the man flinch.

"Yes. My wife, uh, died when giving birth to my daughter."

"Really? My condolences." Caine hummed. "Where were you from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. yesterday?"

"I was in my apartment all day." Kagle acted confused. "I'm sick."

"Don't lie to me, Mr. Kagle." Caine spoke calmly, slowly approaching the man. "I know you left your apartment yesterday evening. What did you do? Were you hungry? Craving for some crimson liquid?"

Kagle gulped deeply as he took a step back, looking at Morrel in confusion.

"Donovan, what are you doing?" Morrel asked, confused and alert at the sudden aggression of her partner.

"He's definitely our culprit, Morrel." Caine stated, inhaling the smell of blood that surrounded the man in front of him. "How did you do it? Did you hypnotize her? Did you hypnotize the landlord too so he wouldn't spill on you?"

"I don't understand—"

"Come one, Mr. Kagle. You can speak to me truthfully." Caine smiled.

"Donovan, stop it." Morrel said, touching Caine's shoulder to prevent him from advancing any further.

Caine sighed. "Morrel. I think you should take a step outside. I want to talk with him privately. Oh, bring the girl too."

"Donovan, what is wrong with you? You're being aggressive all of a sudden."

"Just do it, will you? I won't hurt him, I promise."

"That's not very convincing."

Caine looked at Kagle once again, and they seemingly communicated with their expressions and their eyes.

Finally, Kagle sighed and spoke towards his 'daughter' in her room. "Sweetie? Could you come out now? Dad wants to talk to the policeman alone."

======

Caine now stood just besides the window as he looked at the people below him. There, he saw Morrel with the 'daughter' of Kagle in her hands, seemingly watching her closely.

"Is that really your daughter?" Caine asked.

"Yes, she is." Kagle insisted, sighing in annoyance. "The things I've told you are true. My wife died because of childbirth, and I've been living with her ever since."

"Does she know?"

"I never explicitly told her. But she saw me drinking blood every now and then."

Caine hummed. "So you were turned after your daughter's birth. How'd you deal with it?"

The man looked down at the ground, a deep grief in his face. "Honestly, it's bad. Every time I'm hungry for blood, I have to fight my urge to not feed on her. So practically, I've been doing it every night."

"Why don't you just turn her?"

"Turn her?" Kagle laughed at the suggestion. "First of all, I don't want her to suffer the same fate as I do, and you know it's illegal, right?"

Caine was confused. "Illegal?"

"What? That's the basic masquerade—wait, which sect are you from? Mystikos, Kreiger—"

Kagle suddenly had an epiphany in his head. "Oh, don't tell me... a detective, clueless... Your sire is Everett Collin, isn't it?"

Caine frowned. "How do you know?"

Kagle shook his head in pity. Oh, you have no idea at all. Your sire is the one who caused this mess in the first place."

"What mess?" Caine said, approaching the man in an instant. "What are you talking about?"

"Do you think this will be the first?" Kagle chuckled. "Without Everett, the masquerade in New York won't be maintained. You, as a detective, will see more murders of humans throughout the city. It's only a matter of time before our fellow kindred will run rampant, hutting however they please."

"Explain." Caine said, clutching the man's collar tightly.

"Or what? You're not going to do anything to me. You have no idea how to use your abilities as a creature of the night."

"Maybe, but my punch will still hurt like hell. I know silver hurts you, I know garlic weakens you, and I know sunlight kills you. Are you willing to try? I could help your daughter become an orphan."

Kagle frowned deeply upon hearing Caine's threat. "You know all that stuff hurts you too, right?"

"Of course, but we'll see who succumbs to the pain faster. Now, if you could tell me about this vampire society you seem to be hinting at..."

Kagle sighed, secretly cursing at himself. "Fine."

Caine then released his grip on the man and told him to sit.

"A masquerade is a rule that we have to abide by as kindred." Kagle explained calmly. "We can't be seen by humans; we can't expose the society to the wider world; and we can't turn humans into vampires however we like."

"If you can't turn humans however we like, why am I here?"

"Because Everett Collin likes to do whatever he wants."

"Who even is he in this society?"

"Everett is a prince, a leader of a city." Kagle said. "He's also one of the higher ups of the Mystikos sect."

"There are sects?"

"Man, you really don't know anything, do you?" Kagle sighed. "Sects are like your race in the kindred society; each sect has different specializations. The Mystikos sect, which you belong to, often mingles with humans, using their superior mind control powers to infiltrate the high ranks of human society. They're businessmen, and they often mingle with tech as well, trying to find a way to nullify their weakness with sunlight."

"What sect do you belong to?" Caine asked, still in deep thought over the information he's receiving.

"Moksha," he said. "We have potent seer abilities, but that's only if we drink as little blood as possible, which I can't maintain."

Caine just hummed as he walked towards the window once again. "Is the beast within you that bad?"

"To be honest, I'm surprised you're not going crazy right now. Have you drunk anything?" Kagle asked. "A new kindred like you usually rages over to hunt for some blood instantly."

"I've drunk pig's blood."

Kagle looked as if Caine were crazy. "Pig's blood? That's gross as fuck! You haven't drunk human blood at all?"

Caine just shook his head.

"Oh man, you have a strong will." Kagle whistled. "You want some—"

"No."

"Well, alright, suit yourself."

It's still hard to believe that an actual vampiric society exists within the city of New York. creatures such as himself in a group, if all hell breaks loose, this city would surely fall, occupied by the natural predator of humans.

"From what you said, you broke the rules. You've exposed society to the rest of the world. What's the punishment?"

"No, no, friend. You're the one who's going to expose the society, as you're a fellow kindred as well, yet you're about to turn me in to the police." Kagle chuckled. "But if you're talking about punishment, don't bother. Everett is killed; they won't do anything until another prince is chosen. A meeting is going to take place to find a replacement, as well as discussing a bunch of other things."

"A meeting?" Caine questioned.

"The Century Gathering." Kagle said. "Every sect leader will arrive in New York to discuss the problems of the society as a whole. So before that, there's a power vacuum in this city, and it's a free-for-all."

"Fucking hell…" Caine murmured.

Suddenly, Caine could feel his senses alerting him; his instincts were screaming for him to move, but then, it was too late. The window in front of him broke; a man in all black clothing had infiltrated the room, holding a sword that gleamed under the moonlight, and that sword had planted itself on Caine's chest, penetrating through his whole body.

Caine dropped to the floor, and on top of him was the man who had stabbed him. He could see it—a black man with dark glasses, staring at him flatly as Caine himself felt that his body was crumbling to dust.