Chapter VI

Katya

The lunch rush had passed at the restaurant, meaning there was far less a crowd now. Katya enjoyed her Mish-Mash omelette, enjoying the warmth on this cold spring day. Still had almost two hours to kill before she could go to the office. She refused to be the one that had to pay the pizzas.

The place was close enough to Balkanville that it catered to the more affluent population that lived in the area, which is where both the omelette option and several warm drink options came in. She quite enjoyed indulging in it from time to time. Just not when on the clock.

Didn't stop her from looking up every time someone entered. This time, it was some man wearing business formal, his hair styled with wax. She already was looking back at her meal when she heard the man speak. "Ah, I'm with her." That was a familiar voice... Her eyes shot up, then opened wide as she recognised the Carver, all dressed up as he came over to her table.

The waitress looked at her, checking for her confirmation. No surprise, given how she had never eaten here with someone else before. And Katya didn't want to start now. But why did he come? She whispered at him as he sat down. "Why the fuck are you here? No, wait, hold on. Yes, he's with me. He won't be staying long. You have three minutes. Speak."

He smiled and nodded his disagreement. "I'm going to need twelve. A Turkish Coffee please, medium-sweet." The waitress looked at both of them, unsure. With a sigh, Katya relented and gave the woman a nod. The very instant the waitress turned away, Carver's smile disappeared as if it had never been there, a stern look on his face. "Did you catch the news?"

"Absolutely not. I already did a triple shift yesterday, I wasn't going to worry myself with anything before my shift starts today." She blinked and her grump became more worried. "Why, what did I miss?"

His voice lowered as he answered. "Something tore apart a club owner in Kralingen. Killer got away, ran fast enough to escape encirclement. Problem is the corpse. It turned to ash when the drones put on their floodlights."

She wished she had eaten somewhere else today. Somewhere where she could have cursed openly. What a perfect way to ruin her day, and making sure she'd lose the bet.

Carver

It took him a lot of effort not to smile as Katya quietly unleashed a string of curses, mixing English, Dutch, even Bulgarian. She clearly cared a lot about her image here, but it wasn't as if he had given her good news.

She gave him a murderous glare, which he almost took personally. "You're telling me that a vampire got brutally murdered last night? And it hit the news?"

He resisted the urge to tease her by leading her on. "Not entirely. Shouts, screams, a police cordon, that yes. Not the fact a vampire got murdered, though some gossip rags are claiming that and worse already. But no, for now the news is contained."

Her voice was flat as she glared at him. "And yet here you are, already in the know. Which means that you know way too much, and you feel there's consequences large enough that somehow I need to be aware?"

"I don't know much, really. It's not as if I have the drone footage or anything." He shrugged, but it was clear she didn't believe him. "I just caught some news, so here we are."

"Bull. Shit. Then why are you here? It's not just to let me know we have a vampire problem, because that news could have waited for my shift to start. Why are you meeting me in private?" Suspicious. Couldn't really blame her.

He could still back out, though. But no. He inhaled once, gathering his courage. "There... Was a vampire recently, over at the docks. I encountered the aftermath. And..." Urgh, why did this have to be so hard to admit. He sighed again and bit the bullet. "You know what happens when a vampire kills fae?"

She shook yes. "I heard the basics. They fully consume the Fae, then begin transforming into their victim. A lengthy, painful process. After which they get a thirst for vampire blood."

"Right. In this case, the transformation was at a stage where I could identify neither victim nor culprit. It disappeared later on, so I have no idea who, what, or where."

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him in clear suspicion. "So your Fae murdered the vampire last night?" She sounded as if she was blaming him for it.

Carver grimaced at her anger. "Possibly. I have no idea how the transformation works, and it likely depends on whatever story they instinctively settled for. So I cannot say for sure. It's possible. Especially since both vampires were connected."

Katya

She wanted to kill him. Or at least, drag him to a cell with force. Maybe break his nose a little. But she saw the waitress come over with his coffee, forcing her anger down to not spook the uninvolved staff.

She saw Carver use the opportunity to put his fake smile back on his face. He was way too handsome this way. If Katya didn't know him, she could easily fall for him. But no, he was a criminal who secretly got his hands dirty, without remorse. She really didn't get why he was so reluctant in his retelling.

When the waitress had retreated, her anger had settled down a bit as well. "I don't know why you're drip feeding me, and quite frankly I'm not in the mood for it. Stop holding back and tell me what this is all about. You said you only needed twelve minutes."

"At least, not at most. And yeah, sorry. I don't know why I'm having a hard time telling you." He did know, she saw it on his face. But whatever the reason, he didn't even want to tell her why he was holding out on her. It was annoying, and the grumpiness on her clearly was getting to him.

He sighed again. Third time already. "Alright. I don't know who the vampire victim was, but I did find out who their killer was." He really didn't like using the word Fae, did he? He also was avoiding giving the Fae's gender away. "The guy was a mafia soldier, one of Sartori's lower goons. As for the club owner, he helps launder money for her."

It made sense. She knew at least a quarter of the big clubs in town were known fronts, their business making them really useful for laundering cash. And even more than that were still suspected of being fronts, even if not yet proven.

"So yes, it's possible that the target was chosen due to this connection. Or maybe there's a bunch of vampires on that side, and this was just coincidence. And maybe the killer is something else entirely. I don't know, but I did feel like you should know about the possibility."

Why though? Why did he care what she thought? No, not relevant right now. "How many vampires do you think there are in Rotterdam right now?"

"Too many. No idea how many, but too many." A single beat of reluctance, then he continued, his face more harsh. "That's why I let loose a hunting dog of sorts. Part of why, at least."

Carver

Katya was looking him right in the eyes, an indiscernible look on her face. He was glad he had his coffee, allowing him to take a sip and distract himself. He really didn't like having told her all that, but otherwise she'd have cut him off.

It wasn't like him to feel shame. He was fine with the way all of Balkanville looked at him, as if he were a big threat that had no conscience. Just hatred on his mind. It helped him with organised crime too, meant they focused on satisfying his urges rather than looking for a weakness to exploit.

But now, he felt ashamed. He had forced himself to admit what he did, when he'd been fine telling others his motives. He knew why, and he had to be wary with that. The mighty Carver actually caring about what someone thought of it? If anyone found out, they might make use of it. Of her.

She was judging him. He didn't like it, even if he deserved it. "You deliberately let it go. So that it would hunt vampires for you. Trusting on it to be able to handle the fight. And now you suddenly are ashamed of what you've done."

"Ashamed? Not really." A bit, and only because she cared. He shrugged it off, trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince her. "I made use of the opportunity. But I don't know their identity, so I have no idea whether they're really behind this. If not, that would be worse. That'd mean there's a second vampire hunting monster out there."

"I'm having a hard time believing you couldn't have found out its identity. Theirs." He couldn't help but notice she was matching his pronoun usage now. "So why didn't you?"

"Because if I don't know who they are, I cannot give away their identity. I need the vamps to be afraid, not knowing who's coming for them. That means I cannot know who it is." He shrugged, deciding to come clean a bit more. "Besides, they swore they'd kill me. So I don't want them to figure out who I am. Which means I need to keep my mouth shut."

Somehow, that statement lessened the contempt in her eyes. Peculiar. She spoke, cynicism instead of hostility in her voice now. "You're the Carver, and you let a Fae-vampire live. Balkanville might keep their lips sealed, but not that much. There's no way that won't leak out. If they're from the area, they're going to find out who you are."

He shrugged, an act of non-caring. "Maybe. And maybe their new story somehow overrides that hatred. I have no idea. All I know is that I need to watch my back, but that's nothing new."

She narrowed her eyes at him once more. "I see. Alright, thank you for the info. I'll pass it on, from an anonymous source. Now get the fuck out of my sight."