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Soon after he had given Inspector Lewis first refusal, he had noticed a few odd things about his new governor. Not that he was, per definition, an odd man – no, on the contrary – rather he was one of the most normal blokes, to put it simply, that James had ever met, or so he had thought (the fact that he was friendly and decent and good and – but that had nothing to do with that, and he should not be thinking about it anyway…)
The first time he had noticed things were not as they appeared to be had been about a month after he had first started working with DI Lewis. He supposed it was not strange that a woman should come into their office and ask to speak to him, but his governor sent him to fetch tea, which had never happened before and probably meant he wanted to be alone with her – but she had called him Inspector, so it was clearly not a private visit –
He only realized when he came back and she turned to him, smiled so that her fangs were on display and said, “Thank you, Sergeant, but I never drink tea.”
“Miss Karnstein” Lewis said, and there was a strange tone in his voice that he never heard before, and she laughed, and her eyes and skin were pale, unnaturally so, and he knew that he was talking to –
“I am sorry, James” he sighed. “Should have told you before you – well – before you asked to give me first refusal, but it wasn’t really on my mind –“
The vampire had happily glided off so he slowly said, “I assume then that this isn’t a one-off, sir?”
He laughed. “Would that – well – they need the police just as much as us human folks. Just because they happen to have strange eyes, or sharp teeth, or wings, doesn’t mean they should be left to rot.”
That was – well – that was exactly what he would assume from Robbie Lewis, because – if there was anyone who would –
“Don’t worry about it. No one else needs to – this is my duty, and my own choice.”
He nodded, and they returned back to their normal duties because what else was there to do?
He could not forget what he had learned, how could he. There were only so many people who would willingly decide to deal with – all of this – and that Detective Inspector Lewis should be one of them…
It made sense that Superintendent Innocent wanted to keep him, he realized. She must have learned as well what he got up to, and there were no other officers of his rank who would willingly undertake such work simply because it was their duty – someone like Anderson certainly wouldn’t, and God knew – but be that as it may, it seemed that his new governor was exactly the kind of man who did, and so –
And he was giving James a choice, he knew that. He would not begrudge him if he wanted to close his eyes and ignore all of this – but he couldn’t. He had tried that before, and it had never worked, and now, when it stood before him constantly –
Because it seemed that, since he had reacted in a normal manner, Inspector Lewis no longer tried to hide what he was doing, and he even told him what he got up to after hours now, because of course this kind of work was often done at night and when most people were in bed.
So, he was of the opinion that now that he knew, nothing would surprised him, and then –
He came into work and realized something must have happened, since there were groups of tow or three standing around, whispering, gossiping, and laughing – couldn’t be too bad, then, or at least he thought so until he realized that it was nervous laughter, the kind one would laugh when staring into the eyes of a madman and willing him to put down the gun.
He spotted Gurdip and went over to him.
He looked relieved to see him, which happened seldom enough that he was immediately worried. “Segreant. It’s – well – Inspector Lewis is on one of his special missions, or about to be –“
“I see. Thank you.” And he would have stepped away only Gurdip continued, “He said he was going on a hunt, I just didn’t realize –“
“What was it?” he asked when nothing else was forthcoming.
“Well, it – it’s – I think that –“ he sighed, stopped, began again.
“Please, Sergeant, I know how it sounds, but if I understand correctly, Inspector Lewis is going to try and catch the Easter Bunny.”
He was relieved when he went into the office, asked, and Lewis was absolutely indignant.
For about a second or so.
Then, right after, “Of course not” he added, “It’s just a large rabbit everyone thinks is the Easter Bunny, as if they wouldn’t have better things to do at this time of the year – and anyway, it’s stealing eggs rather than bringing them, which should have been the first clue, and then, well, if anyone dares interfere, it cuts their throats, which would be the second – “
Five minutes at work and already a headache. That had to be a new record, he figured.
“Oh, I am sorry James, I forgot you are –“
“How can I help?” he asked, because he suddenly had a vision of things going awry, and he would rather not see Lewis being nibbled to death.
“Are you sure, lad? Because well, hearing about it is one thing, but if you do help me, then there cooked be consequences – you’ll be hunting down banshees on a moonless night before you know it, wondering how it could get this far.”
He filed the information away for later because he really wanted to hear that story, but preferably when they were having a cozy pint at the pub. “Yes, sir.”
Lewis looked at him. “Good, then. Well, we need a big enough basket, first and foremost –“
“It’s the belief that’s the problem” Lewis explained to him sometime later, as they wee stalking the street at night looking for a big rabbit. “Or, well, not exactly. Can’t fault anyone for wanting to believe, lad, eh?”
It was too dark to see his face, but he could imagine his smile. “Not really, sir.”
“Well – the point is, you’ve got all these children who have grown up believe in the Easter bunny because that’s what their parents were taught when they were young, so they tell them the same. And then, instead of being happy or content or – oh, I don’t know, understanding that people grow up, when they become adults, all that Belief has to go somewhere. And well, sometimes it goes in the wrong direction – much like people that way, really – and what you end with –“
“Is a six foot tall rabbit who rips people’s throat off?” he asked.
Lewis chuckled without humour. “Yes, something like that. Morse was particularly adept at sniffing such things out before they ever came to pass – wouldn’t have been Morse if he hadn’t – and he would have had a field day with this – probably already held a lecture about how any of this actually came to pass, I mean the bunny –“
“Actually, the earliest attested reference to the Easter Hare or Bunny appears in 1678, recorded in De ovis paschalibusm, which means About Easter Eggs by the physician Georg Franck von Franckenau in south-west Germany…”
“Yes” Lewis laughed, which really did not quite fit with what they were about to do, “Something like that.”
At least he had made him laugh. That had to count for something.
Even at a time when he had had no idea where his life was going after leaving the priesthood, he had never imagined that this was where he would end up – chasing an anthropomorphical manifestation of Belief that was actually evil because it wasn’t the right anthropomorphical manifestation of Belief, and at the same time being incredibly worried that his boss, who really was rather more to him these days, even though he would never admit it out loud, would end up with his throat being ripped out because he just couldn’t sit back and let things take their course, because this was Robbie Lewis they were talking about.
“Mhh” he hummed, then kneeled down and checked the road. “Yes, I would say that are its traces… James, lad, look at this –“
And he realized he was once more being taught something in that peculiar Robbie Lewis way meaning you didn’t even really notice but he really thought you should know, and anyway, he would need a successor eventually, wouldn’t he, even if the thought of him just leaving or retiring made James –
For now, he concentrated on the traces the supposed Easter Bunny had left, and no, they really would not be difficult to follow at all, if this was any indication –
“Now, first thing you should know is because this thing is born out of imagination, only imagination can help against it. Thankfully I’ve always had a rather vivid imagination, so that’s no problem when it comes to me, and…” he trailed off diplomatically when he realized what he had been about to say.
“I agree, sir, my faith will help.”
“Wasn’t sure – thought you might be resistant to the whole idea, you know, because of faith –“
“There is all kinds of faith in the world, as you correctly pointed out.”
“Good. So – well – needless to say, traditional weapons against bunnies won’t work either, because this is not your ordinary bunny. We can catch it though –“
“Are you saying –“
And it turned out that trapping them with eggs was exactly what he was saying, because well, sometimes things did not have to make sense to work, as James had learned over and over and over again.
“There” Lewis said, sounding satisfied. “Looks like a nice easter basket, like the kind Val and I used to set up for the kiddies… reminds me, still have to call and let her know when I’ll down down for Easter –“
Naturally, now that his grandson was old enough to remember, he would want to –
“You should come with, James. Would hate for you to be alone at this time..”
“I –“ but before he could answer something between the lines off “There is nothing I would rather do” (the truth but not a very good idea, seeing as -) or “I don’t think that’s a good idea” (also the truth but he would have to explain –)
The Bunny attacked.
Here really was no other way to describe it. Here they were, and suddenly they were being jumped upon by a giant rabbit determined to get to the eggs, and how dare they try and stop it –
Lewis pushed him out of the way, of course, what else –
And then he quickly led the bunny towards the eggs, and –
James, he had to admit that, had had his misgivings when he had explained about the devil’s trap because well, some things might be bad, but they were not exactly hell spawn –
But it worked. The bunny could no longer move, and Lewis grinned.
“Aye. Such things always melt away in the sun, so we just have to stay here until then.”
And that, too, was far from a hardship.
So, he lit a cigarette and –
“Really wish you’d stop that.”
“Yes, I know, have to pick up the mantle eventually –“
“That’s not it, and you know it” Lewis said softly, and there was something in his eyes, and of course this would happen now with a giant supernatural rabbit staring at them –
He could have run, as he had done so often, but instead he put out the cigarette, then said, “I would love to accompany you to your daughter’s – Robbie.”
His smile was answer enough.