Chapter Text
Nikolai had brought the two kwami back to Fu’s place, and given him a rundown of the battle before running out again. He wanted to find Varujan’s day hideout before anyone thought to investigate the young heroes’ stories. Thanks to the Ladybug’s tale, and the warehouse location, Nikolai was able to figure out roughly where Varujan should have been hiding.
His guess was good; since there were two blood donation centers within reasonable distance, it made sense that a vampire who didn’t want to kill immediately would hide out in a nearby cemetery. The old family mausoleum near the entrance showed signs of recent entry; a human couldn’t have moved the granite slab, but it was no trouble for a vampire after jumping the wrought-iron fence.
Nikolai found clothing and a few personal items, including a handmade leather-bound journal. Touching it, he had the unsettling feeling that the leather was made from human skin. Which objectively, made sense; Varujan wasn’t completely wasting a kill only for the blood and the thrill. But subjectively… someone had died to make this journal. Someone with family…
It was something a vampire like Nikolai hated. Humans were people. No matter that historically they were prey (and still were, to a certain extent), they thought, created, and lived much as vampires did. To a thinking creature, it was repellent to kill another one just to satisfy one’s own desires. Animals were different; Nikolai had touched the minds in his herd, and they just didn’t think the same way. Although they were intelligent in their own way, theirs was a simpler existence, with little thought for the future. But the cattle he raised had an instinctive acceptance of life and its cycle that made their necessary deaths much easier.
He brought his mind back to the present. No doubt that there would be a police investigation; this wasn’t a day where two teenagers could stumble into a hospital and their story not be questioned. Nikolai would have to stay an extra day to check in with the local contacts in the police department. Part of why they were there was for situations like this- when the worlds of the humans and the others collided, it was best to contain any damages. The last thing the world needed was another Inquisition- of any kind.
He cleared out all of Varujan’s possessions from the corner of the crypt. While he couldn’t hide the signs of occupation completely, Nikolai did his best to make sure the signs looked older than they were. Hopefully, if an investigation could not be deterred and the detectives came here, they would not connect the dots.
Settled in Fu’s apartment for the remainder of the night, Nikolai debated which of the two calls he needed to make should be first.
How about leaving the nasty one for later? Nikolai opened up a Skype call on his laptop.
His wife picked up immediately. “Hi, beautiful,” he smiled at the screen.
“Hi, handsome.” Hearing his wife’s voice was the soothing balm he needed after the night’s battle and before his chat with his contact in Romania. He had been stressed the whole day, although he felt the little Black Cat had done outstandingly well for one so young. Honestly, Nikolai was amazed at his determination and resilience. The fight had been way too close, though- the tiny Ladybug even now might not make it.
It was in the hands of human doctors now, to see her through- them and her devoted Cat. Nikolai thought the two of them were adorable.
“Is it a rogue after all?” Katrin’s concerned face watched his. She knew as well as Nikolai did the dangers that rogue vampires were to the rest of their community; it was why he had volunteered to be part of the official supernatural policing force in the first place. Not that there was much call for it, these days; he generally had to worry about the farm more than rogues. But every few years, something came up, and it was his duty to put a stop to it before the humans cottoned on and started hunting their kind again.
Nikolai nodded, and smiled. “It was. One of the really bad ones- he only went after teenage girls.” The previous rogue he had helped to fight had been only interested in adult men- handsome, young adult men, but still, adults. She had been a pain to find, especially since the young men in question weren’t the type to admit weakness. Another he had heard of targeted the elderly, in the mistaken belief that he was assisting them to pass on (even as he picked the heartiest seniors instead of the infirm). Still- there was a difference between attacking an adult and a child- and this Varujan had compounded his crime by going after children.
Well, thanks to the Cat, he wouldn’t be doing it again.
His emphasis on the past tense made the worry lines in Katrin’s face soften and disappear. She closed her eyes and exhaled. “So, you won. Good.”
“With help. I’ll tell you all about it when I get home.”
She smiled. “Does this mean you’ll be home soon?”
Nikolai shrugged. “Since I’m here, I thought I’d check in with our contact at the blood bank, see if any supplies have gone missing. Chances were our rogue was supplementing his diet- he seemed pretty fixated on his target; I doubt he was thinking of draining anyone else until he finished with her.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “Why do these idiots have to endanger ALL of us with their outdated nonsense?”
It was a rhetorical question, and Katrin had the sense not to answer it. She knew as well as he did how he felt about the more ‘medieval’ vampire sects that had the habit of spawning rogues every so often. And she felt the same . “So, a day or two more, then?”
“Probably just one day, to check on loose ends. Make sure anyone investigating gets enough to satisfy their curiosity, without being able to out us. Our people in the local police department need a heads-up to help with that.”
Katrin bit her lip. “Okay. We just might have a situation with Sami when you get home. Or- not with him, exactly- I gather there’s an issue at school, and he flatly refused to tell me about it.”
Nikolai groaned. Tweenage drama of another sort, no doubt. He hoped he was up to it. “Okay, beautiful. I’ll see if I can get our young Stone-Face to talk.”
Katrin smirked, then got serious. “Also, I think we have to consider what’s best for Honey. Her knees are really arthritic, and she’s gone off feed. The vet’s doing what he can, but he said it would be kinder to let her go.”
That wasn’t totally unexpected- he’d seen this coming for a month. Honey was positively ancient for a goat, but she’d been the herd matriarch for years. “We’ll deal with that when I get home, too. And it’s good timing, all things considered. Anything else?”
“Cows are good, goats are good, other kids besides Sami mostly good.” She blew him a kiss. “Get your rest and keep us safe.”
“Always, beautiful.”
“Night, handsome.” The call ended, and Nikolai sighed. Time to have the nasty conversation.
Cosmina, a vampire contact of his in the Romanian area, picked up the call. Cosmina was one of the whole-human vampires who lived near Brasov; while she had embraced some modern ways (she got her blood through blood banks), she had never seen the point of getting her needs from any other creature, and sympathized with the ‘herder’ vampires that still kept villages of humans. Still, as a member of the vampire community, she understood the need for them to police their own.
“Nikolai,” Cosmina almost purred. She had clearly been feeding, and well, quite recently; her eyes had the slightly unfocused, euphoric look that human blood gave vampires. “What makes you call at this time of night? Shouldn’t you be sleeping like a human?”
Nikolai refused to roll his eyes at her dig. “Sorry to interrupt whatever you were doing.” He made sure his tone was as neutral as possible.
“As it happens, you were interrupting a Blutfest.” Cosmina caught Nikolai’s involuntary twitch at that, and her smirk widened. A Blutfest was a vampire ritual, killing an animal (or a person) by bleeding them out and then feasting on the blood. Among Nikolai’s group, it was reserved for beloved animals that were old or in too much pain to live; it was considered humane to link mentally with the animal so it felt no more pain or fear as it passed. But Cosmina’s condition clearly meant that a human had been the focus for this ritual.
And she knew how uncomfortable she was making him. “Poor human; he just got the word that his stage-4 cancer had not responded to treatment last month. He came to us, begging for a pain-free end. We have been caring for him and freeing him from pain as he weakened, and the doctor declared him terminal this morning.”
Nikolai breathed heavily through his nose. “I didn’t call to debate lifestyle choices with you, Cosmina. There was a rogue in Paris.”
“In Paris? Isn’t that your jurisdiction?” Cosmina got serious- or as serious as she ever seemed to get with him.
“From what I managed to learn before he perished, he was from your area. Does the name Varujan ring any bells?”
Cosmina’s face twisted, and she spat a curse. “That one! Running so he wouldn’t have to face our justice-I’m astonished he made it as far as Paris! He should have been killed a long time ago for his stupidity!” Her face grew cold. “How many girl-childs did he cull?”
Nikolai did roll his eyes at that. “Too many. I found records on at least ten girls in major cities; there may be more.”
“There probably are; he did have the wit to clean up after himself- sometimes,” Cosmina huffed. “We might not have suspected him ourselves if he had kept his mouth off the mayor’s daughter. The publicity of her death almost sent a witch-hunt after him, AND us! I hope he got what he deserved!”
“If you call ‘death by Black Cat’ what he deserved, then yes,” Nikolai stated calmly, and he took great pleasure in seeing Cosmina’s eyes widen. “It pays to keep tabs on other parts of the world, Cosmina. There have been monsters plaguing Paris for some time now; the Black Cat and the Ladybug have awoken to deal with the threat.” Nikolai leaned closer to the screen. “We’re going to have to do better at containing our own problems. After all, we don’t want them thinking of us as a threat, now do we?”
Cosmina shuddered. “No, we don’t- not after the last time. I will spread the word to my contacts in Eastern Europe; they will pass it on to the Middle East and Africa. Eventually it should get to Asia-“
“Don’t worry about that. I already sent emails to my contacts in the Americas, Australia, and Japan, as well as Europe; they will pass the word on. I was just requesting help for any who may not have joined the digital age yet, since you know who that is better than I do.” And really, there were a few of those in every country; Nikolai was counting on the tech-savvy ones to enlighten the ones who refused to look at a computer. “Better to spread the word fast, though, before a potential problem actually becomes one.”
“Done. I will mail the notices by the end of the week.” Cosmina nodded sharply.
“Good. I will send you Varujan’s journal,” Nikolai held up the leather-bound book. “Maybe it’ll tell us where to look for other victims. I’ll also find out anything more I can about Varujan’s activities in Paris, though it’s a moot point since he’s a smear of black dust now.” Nikolai knew it was wrong, but it was almost worth it to see Cosmina turn a greenish color and almost lose her food at his statement. “Sorry. I’ll send an email if anything else important comes up.” He paused. “And I’m sure you’ll let us know of any- problems- that come up in the future. Before they show up.”
Cosmina simply nodded again in acknowledgement of his quiet rebuke, and cut the call. Nikolai stretched, shut down his laptop and laid down to sleep. He’d have a lot to do tomorrow.