Chapter 1: 1 – A night-time stroll

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In the harbour district of Baltimore stood a sizeable building made out of red brick. It was old, compared to some of the buildings surrounding it, which among other things included a handful of luxury apartment buildings built right upon the wharf, leaving the residents in close proximity of their relatively small yet undeniably pricey yachts. 

Considering the neighbourhood, and the high-end hotel housed in the same building, it was remarkable that the bar was still able to operate. Because firstly, it was not a particularly busy one, even on a regular Friday night. Secondly, there were the patrons, many of whom did not fit well into the image of the upscale neighbourhood that the city wanted to project.

However, seeing as to how the owners had categorically refused to sell and any noise complaint or other reports filed to the police seemed to disappear, the bar had ultimately become one of those things advertised as a lesser local attraction – because in spite of the regular clientele, the bar itself proved a relatively faithful rendition of one of those English pubs, creating a quite atmospheric environment for any adventurous tourist finding their way inside. And as a matter of fact, many did, although few appeared or stayed very late into the evening, when the establishments normal patrons typically showed up.

Tonight however, the bar was remarkably dead. The brunette tending to it certainly did not mind though, taking her time wiping down surfaces and cleaning glasses, and by the time she was done with it, she blew a stray lock of chestnut brown hair out of her eyes and grinned, her light-brown eyes lighting up well before doorbell signalled a new arrival.

“Aidan!” she immediately greeted, waving at him with the rag. “Long time no see.”

“Dana,” Aidan returned, bowing his head slightly as he entered, bringing along a briefcase. “It hasn’t been that long.”

At this, Dana promptly shrugged and then ducked down behind the counter. However, before she got around to grabbing one of the specials, she poked her head back up and said: “Did Lyall get up to some stupid shit again?  Because I told him to leave you alone or else I’d⸺”

Aidan sighed, dragging a hand through his copper hair, which seemed to have grown at least a few inches since Dana saw it last. As for Aidan himself however, the redhead had certainly not grown any taller, and certainly not any wider either. Rather, upon closer scrutiny, he looked even paler and thinner than usual, highlighting the freckles dotting his nose and cheeks, which in turn naturally drew Dana’s attention towards his eyes.

As ever, they were a beautiful green colour – and Dana vaguely recalled Lyall having waxed poetic about those emerald green eyes at some point but resolutely shook off the thought in favour of looking at the quite visible dark circles surrounding them.

“No offence,” she said, straightening back up. “But you look even deader than usual.”

There was a slight twitch at that, a faint smile that quickly turned wry.

“Thanks,” Aidan said, claiming one of the barstools for himself before promptly hunching over the bar disk, evidently exhausted. “I feel even deader than usual. I just got here from the airport.”

“From the airport?” Dana echoed, ducking back down to get the necessary ingredients.

“Yeah, from the airport,” Aidan said. “I just got back from Orlando.”

Hearing this, Dana very nearly hit her head on the counter. Then, quickly retrieving the necessary items, she straightened back up before there could be a repeat of the previous incident.

“Orlando?” she repeated. “As in, Orlando, Florida?”

“What other Orlandos are there?” Aidan asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, Orlando, Florida.”

But⸺ “Why would you of all people go to that place? And at this time of year? You, in Florida, the sunshine state?”

Dana had far more to say on the issue, but instead, she busied herself in mixing the appropriate drink. Because there was no real need for the other to order, really; Dana already knew what said order would be; the same as always.

“On the house,” she finally declared, sliding the drink across the counter. “Oh, I forgot to ask: Did you want a straw?”

Without waiting for an answer, she quickly grabbed one, moving briskly to stick it into the drink just as it reached its intended recipient.

“Thanks,” Aidan simply said. “I didn’t go there because I wanted to. It was for a conference. My boss insisted that I attend.”

Dana hummed, looking at the clock. It was late, but this did not necessarily mean anything to the bar’s typical patrons. Most of them were after all the nocturnal sort.

Tonight was remarkably dead however – not without reason though, perhaps.

Dana sighed, opting to think of other things.

“Were you okay?” she asked, focusing on Aidan. “With the sun and the heat and all?”

Straw still in his mouth, Aidan offered up a mildly dismissive wave. Then, finally⸺

“I was fine. I’ve got sensitive skin, sure, but it’s not like I’m going to burst into flames the moment the sun touches my skin.”

Hah. “Well, that’s a relief. And with your complexion, I guess no one’s going to question it if you stick to the shade.”

“It’s one of the benefits of this appearance,” Aidan said, twisting one of those copper locks in-between his fingers. “One of the few benefits, I might add.”

“Honestly,” Dana snorted. “You’re selling yourself short. If you were a woman, I’d marry you in an instant.”

“I’m sure you would,” Aidan deadpanned. “For tax benefits, if for nothing else.”

“Tax benefits?” Dana snorted. “Please. If I’d been aiming for those, then would you be single now?”

At this, there was a mild shrug, as Aidan continued slurping up the red liquid. Then, finally⸺ “Fair point. That said, unfortunately, you’re not my type.”

“We could still get married, you know,” Dana said, perfectly droll. “Not just for the benefits but to rub it in that idiot’s face forever.”

“That’s a hard pass for me,” Aidan said. “No offence, but you’re too young for me.”

“Who isn’t too young for you these days?” Dana asked, taking no offence. “But yeah, I guess you’ve got a point.”

Their lighthearted conversation petered off into silence, broken only by the sound of the ticking clock hanging up on the wall and by the noise of slurping. The latter soon came to an end however, as Aidan finished with the drink, letting go of the straw to lick his lips instead. There was an undeniably satisfied expression on his face, washing away much of the previous weariness. The pallor largely remained however, as expected.

“Let’s go for a walk,” he said. “I feel like we could both use some fresh air.”

 

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They went, closing and locking the door behind them. They left Aidan’s suitcase there as well, because they would only be going for a short walk and there was no real need to bring that thing with them. Besides, leaving the suitcase there meant that they would have to go back there as opposed to get lost into the night, which had happened in the past. It had happened a lot with Lyall as well, with short walks turning into lengthy hikes with no particular destination.

There was a difference though, because Lyall was a decidedly more outdoorsy type. He liked parties well enough, but he was not the sort that could live without easy access to nature. And knowing this, Aidan had opted to buy that townhouse out in Owings Mills. Because the distance to various parks and nature areas was not overly great.

As it turned out however, Aidan’s consideration had been for naught. It had not been a complete waste however, because Aidan was quite fond of his current residence.

Having an additional bedroom might have seemed a bit excessive. However, as things were, Aidan did have a lot of books.

“Honestly,” Dana scoffed, tapping her shoe against the boardwalk beneath them. “The nerve.”

Aidan pointedly did not ask. He did have a fair idea as to what she was commenting on after all.

“So,” he said, pointing. “This way or that way?”

“You choose,” Dana said, pulling zipping up her thin jacket. “I come here a whole lot more often than you do.”

And this much was true, at least as far as recent years went.

“There’s a lot more buildings than I remember,” Aidan said as they steered their steps towards the left, moving away from the old boardwalk to the newer one made out of red and dark bricks.

“Of course,” Dana said. “They’re luxury apartments. Can’t have rich people live too far away from their boats now, can we?”

“I guess not,” Aidan said, eyeing the buildings illuminated both by the lights outside and within. The buildings themselves were quite boring though, giving off a uniform impression of red brick, large windows and black-painted metal. Looking at them, Adam had renewed appreciation of his own apartment having a more classic façade. Those boxy modern houses had never quite appealed to him.

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Soon, they passed the newer area and once again found themselves walking on the old boardwalk, passing by boats on one side and parked cars on the other until they reached the end of that section. And by that point, it was easy enough to step up over the nearby ledge and continued walking past some other red-brick building. Here, there was a metal railing unlike elsewhere, and they ended up taking a break there, leaning against the railing as they looked out over the darkened waters and the numerous yachts bobbing in the water by the docks. Beyond them was another row of newer houses, but these looked to be townhouses, and Aidan absentmindedly approved of their existence.

They stood there in silence for a long moment – long enough to be noticed, but by no means awkward or anything.

“Say,” Dana said at last, still staring out towards the harbour. “It’s not that I’m not happy to see you again or anything, but... you should probably stick to your own turf for a while. Most of the regulars seem to have taken the hint, but... since you don’t come by very often, I might as well tell you directly. Recently, there’s been a lot of... incidents.”

“A lot of corpses, you mean,” Aidan deadpanned. “Exsanguinated bodies pulled from the water.”

Dana swallowed. “I guess you knew already,” she finally said, her voice a lot quieter now. “It hasn’t reached the press yet, but... I guess you lot would know.”

“We would,” Aidan said, staring down into the dark waters below them. “At this point, it’s only a matter of time before it gets out. Hopefully, things will have been resolved by then though. The FBI is on the case, apparently.”

Dana scrunched her nose at that. “That guy,” she said, positively scowling. And it was not really a question either.

“Who else but him,” Aidan said. “Who else but the Raven?”

Dana scoffed. “I don’t like that guy,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “He’s such a creep.”

“Well,” Aidan said, staring out at the more distant lights. “Not that I disagree, but even so, he can be quite charming at times.”

At this Dana made a noise of disgust. This did not mean that Aidan was not right though, because as things were, the individual known as the Raven was in fact a quite charming individual when he felt like it; when there was something that he wanted, and when he felt more inclined to use charm than force to get it. Nevertheless⸺

“You don’t need to worry,” he said. “It will be a cold day in Hell before I’ll accept his proposal.”

“You said so before as well,” Dana said, with evident disapproval. “And yet⸺”

“We all have our moments of weakness,” Aidan said, entirely unconcerned. “And our share of bad decisions.”

And indeed, Aidan had made a whole slew of them – some outright bad, others merely questionable. Still⸺

“For what it’s worth, I don’t regret it. Whether it was my time with the Raven or my time with your brother, none of it was truly wasted. Valuable life experience, and whatnot.”

“Valuable life experience, huh?” Dana muttered. “He left you at the altar.”

Aidan exhaled slowly through his nose. Then he finally said: “It’s not the first time I’ve been stood up. Though I guess it was the first time it’s happened that far into a relationship. Though to be fair, it’s only in recent years that marriage has been a legal option. Also, I’m quite sure part of the reason why he ran away was because he feared for his life.”

“And he was certainly right to do so,” Dana responded, grinding her teeth. “If I’d caught him then, then I’d definitely⸺”

“Even if you had, it wouldn’t have made me happy in the slightest,” Aidan said. “And it wouldn’t make me all that happy now either. I’ve moved on, and so should you. Let sleeping dogs lie, and let him live with the consequences of his own decisions. He was the one who initiated this. He was the one who wanted to get married. And he was also the one who screwed this up. He can come crying to me all that he wants, but I have already made up my mind. He made his bed, so now he may lie in it. And if he wants money to return to college, then he can ask that exotic dancer boyfriend of his, or better yet, earn that money for himself. I’d sooner burn my own money than spend even one more cent on him.”

“You wouldn’t burn it though,” Dana said. “You’d spend it all on books.”

“I’m fairly sure I’d spend at least a fraction of it on bookshelves though,” Aidan said, offering up a mild shrug. “And a few display cabinets as well, probably.”

“At this rate, you’re going to run out of space,” Dana said. “Maybe you should invest in a bigger place instead. You do have the money for it, right?”

“What use would I have for even more space?” Aidan asked, staring wistfully towards the horizon. “What do I have to fill it other than books?”

Dana made a quiet yet undeniably wounded noise at that. And it made Aidan feel bad, truly. Because unlike her, Aidan had already come to terms with it, more or less – the possibility that he might be destined to spend eternity alone. Besides, even that would be his own choice. There were other options after all – and particularly one option, whose door would always be open for him.

Thankfully, Aidan was not quite that desperate just yet.

“Let’s go back,” he said. “There’s no use standing here all night.”

 

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As they got closer to the bar, they noticed them; the flickers of lights in the night. These were not streetlights though, nor the headlights of cars, coming and going. These lights were different; different and decidedly familiar.

“Guess they found another body,” Aidan said.

Dana said nothing at first, narrowing her eyes at the sight. She was undoubtedly straining her ears as well, trying to listen for the snippets of conversation that carried well over the water. It was useless though; they were speaking much too quietly, even for Aidan’s ears. He could hear them speaking, yes, but he could not quite make out the words. For that, he would have to get closer.

“It’s not... one of you guys, right?”

Hearing Dana’s quiet voice, Aidan turned back to face her, taking a brief moment to consider the look in her eyes.

“Of course not,” Aidan then said, and quite truthfully at that. Because⸺ “No one, local or outsider, would be brazen enough to do this right under the Raven’s watch. And if they were, then they would have been dealt with already. Besides, there are too many corpses.”

Too many, far too many, considering the intervals. Because⸺ “We don’t need much blood to live, and harvested blood would turn foul within hours. They’d have little use for it.”

At best, they could bathe in it, should they have such inclinations.

“What about the blood banks?” Dana asked. “Or maybe there’s more than one perpetrator?”

Well, there being more than one perpetrator was not entirely unlikely, given that the whole process involved a fair bit of work. And even drained of blood, a dead body still weighed a significant amount – for a human that is. That said however⸺ “There’s no use harvesting blood and selling it to the blood banks. The blood banks have already got a steady supply, and any one of us can get a steady supply of blood from there.”

About a hundred years ago, Dana’s theory would have held more water. These days however, things were different.

“Blood can be tainted with all sorts of things,” Aidan said, and upon seeing Dana ready to argue, he held up his hand, signalling that he had more to say on the issue. “Yes, it was much the same back in the day, but... if you had the option of choosing to drink clean water or water polluted with heavy metals or cholera, which one would you pick?”

Those were only examples though. There were also things such as drugs and STDs to consider.

“...Is that where you people’s obsession with virgins comes from?”

Hah. “...I really can’t speak on the behalf of everyone else, but I would say that it does play a part for some, yes.”

Hearing this, Dana snorted, moving her gaze back towards the flashing lights. “Hah, I guess you learn something new every day.”

Hah. “I find the fact that you didn’t know already all the more surprising.”

At this, there was a mild shrug, and then Dana turned on her heel.

“If you guys weren’t such a secretive lot, then I would’ve known,” she said, stretching. “Instead, I have to conduct my own research.”

Hah. “Is that why you keep a copy of Twilight under the counter?”

“That one?” Dana laughed quietly. “Please, give me some credit. I keep that one around for entertainment.”

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