Plus ca Change: Part 3c
by Tom MacCarrol
Anne woke as the first light of false dawn spilled through the window. She was momentarily confused, blinking at the unfamiliar surroundings, then the sight of Liz, tangled in her bedding snapped Anne into focus. Vampire, fight, pain, Liz's house, Liz's questions, Gerrard- now.

She slid out of the folding bed, favoring her bad leg, bracing herself for the pain. As she almost had expected, while stiff, the pain had faded to a dull ache. Anne walked over to Liz's vanity and checked herself in the mirror. While her thigh still looked like a work of full-color abstract art, the lesser bruises were mere shadows- her lips were back to their normal size and shape, with no sign of cuts or splits. Damn, this was spooky. After a beating like the one that the vampire had given her, she should have been marked and partly crippled for a couple of weeks, not just a few hours.

"Rise and shine Liz, or at least get up.", Anne said, gently shaking the other girl's shoulder.

Liz was a study in bleary-eyed confusion. "Huh, Mom? Lemme sleep. ANNE? What are you doing here...Oh god. That stuff really happened. It's all mixed up with these horrible dreams, but you DID stab that guy, and then he exploded. I saw that, but it doesn't make any sense, none of this does. Am I going crazy? Please, tell me what's going on..."

"Whoa up. I don't have all the answers, but I know someone who does. Let's get ourselves together and go see him. Uh, could I borrow some more of your clothes? I didn't know to bring an overnight bag, and it's probably not a good idea to go across town looking like an escapee from a slasher film..."

"Uh sure. There's some stuff in the back of the closet I outgrew but couldn't bear to toss, it'll probably fit you better than the rest would."

Ten minutes later they slipped out the side door into the silent early morning. They saw no one else until they were half-way down the hill toward the industrial section and the mag-lev line. The only other human in sight was an early commuter striding toward the distant station, sipping coffee, lost in his own world.

"Gives me an idea.", Anne said pointing in the direction of the rapidly leaving man. "How about us stopping off for some fried rolls and coffee on the way? Caffeine, sugar and grease - three major food groups."

Liz made some assenting noises, and they continued walking. The two were just about to follow the road under the mag-lev line when Liz grabbed Anne by the arm, pointed into the opening between a welding shop and a metal recycler, and asked "What's that, that blue thing on the ground, over there? It looks too new and clean to belong in the middle of the service road."

Anne looked, and wished she hadn't. The object was the same bright blue as Felicity's dress the night before, and something about the size and shape of the bundle lying there was way too right for something really wrong.

"I..I think I know what that is, and I'm pretty sure you don't want to find out. Just stay here while I go closer and make certain."

Anne walked slowly up to what proved to be a body. Sticking her hands into the pockets of her borrowed jeans so as to avoid touching anything, she did a careful visual exam. As she'd dreaded, it was Felicity. The dead girl looked so small and pale, huddled in an untidy heap in one of the many ruts scarring the graveled path. Anne noted the pair of puncture marks on the side of the victim's neck, and the absence of any other wounds or disarray. Her attention was caught by a thin ribbon of dried blood trailing from the lower corner of the girl's mouth. Anne remembered Br. Gerrard saying 'To create a new vampire ...before death intervenes, the intended must drink their blood.' Gently, using the very tip of her stake, she pried the girl's lips apart. Her mouth was partly filled with clotted blood.

Anne felt her own blood go cold. She'd seen the other girl only a few hours before; laughing, dancing, alive. Soon to be un- dead, to rise as yet another of the monsters.

"I.Is it her? Felicity?"

"Yeah Liz. It was."

"She..She's d.d..?"

"Yes. Maybe even worse. Forget the coffee stop, I have to get to Gerrard as fast as possible. Not only that, we've got to get away from here before someone sees us with her."

They did stop at a public comm unit to report the body, then hurried the rest of the way to Br. Gerrard's. His address turned out to be in a basement unit of a rather less savory section of the apartment complex. The outer door to that area had a cracked window, and the public hall not only badly needed painting, but disinfection and sandblasting as well. The doorbell didn't work, but the knocker crudely screwed into the door did.

Gerrard let them in, carefully re-locking the door afterward. "Probably not necessary in daylight, but a useful habit to keep up."

Anne made quick introductions, "Gerrard, this is Liz, my friend. Liz, this is Brother Gerrard, my... we'll get into that later."

"Pleased to meet you. I understand you want me to help explain what happened to you last night..."

"Overtaken by events, Gerrard. We have more problems now. When we first ran into that guy he said we were 'seconds'. I didn't understand at the time, but found out on the way over this morning. He'd killed another girl earlier, we passed her body down by the tracks..."

"I knew her. We weren't very friendly, but... I knew her. She's...was... in classes with Lou. And now she's dead in an alley. It's just not fair." Liz was talking in a flat monotone, all the scarier than if she'd started shrieking. "That..that guy, he tried to kill me, too. Annie, if you hadn't stabbed him with your stick- I'd be d..dead right now. 'Scuse me, I think I'm gonna have some screaming hysterics in the bathroom for a while." She sprinted for the fresher.


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