Free Absolution - The First Book Of The Vampire Immortalis Trilogy by Elizabeth Mitchell

blood was splattered all over the walls and on the toilet itself. Forensics found traces of the disinfectant used in the toilets in his hair and on his body and it's likely that his head was repeatedly forced into the toilet basin.
    “There is no suggestion of Scott being injured in any of the CCTV images we have, so that places him in the toilets at some point after 10.46pm and almost certainly before midnight, but there is also no footage of him having returned to the town centre. The cameras on Abbey Street haven't been working for several months, unfortunately, so we have no footage of comings and goings at the toilets. We still have no idea how Scott got to the toilets or how he got from the toilets to the rugby pitch on High Cross Avenue. He apparently did both without being picked up by any of the cameras in town.”
    “Somebody must have seen something,” said Buchan. “The lack of any blood trail between the two crime scenes suggests he was being transported in a vehicle. I want CCTV footage from the High Street looked at again for any vehicles coming out of Abbey Street from eleven at night onwards. Has anybody got anything else to add?”
    Detective Constable Tony Craig raised his hand. Tony was the token geek on the case and was in charge of making sure all the information regarding the murders found its way into the computer system. His party trick was retrieving deleted text messages from mobile phones.
    “Yes, Tony?”
    “This may or may not be relevant, but I've been looking on the Net for similar cases involving vampires...”
    Murmurs of laughter accompanied what Tony was saying until Buchan told everyone to be quiet. “This better be good, Tony.”
    “Well, it's just that there have been a number of vampire-style murders in America and Europe that have involved people who identify themselves as goths and who practice devil worship. In 2002, two goths in Germany killed a man, believing they would achieve immortality as vampires if they drank his blood. In court, they said that they had learned about vampires and Satan during holidays to Scotland.”
    “Whereabouts in Scotland?” asked Buchan.
    “That I don't know, but I'm in touch with the Kriminalpolizei in North Rhine-Westphalia in the hope that they can give me the specifics.”
    “There are a few goths in Melrose,” said Jane Carver, “but they are just kids.”
    “Kids or not, I want to know everything about them,” barked Buchan. “Joe, find out if any of them are known to the uniformed officers in the town. From now on, they don't drop a sweetie wrapper without me knowing about it. They don't fart without me knowing about it.”
     
     
     
    Vampire hunting was not as exciting as Walter Miller had thought it would be. Since arriving in Melrose yesterday, they had spent most of their time at local cemeteries, looking for any soil disturbances or anything else out of the ordinary that might indicate vampire activity. Nick Webster had been using what he claimed was a vampire detector while examining graves, but Walter thought it looked suspiciously like one of those damp meters surveyors use. Not that Walter could get a good look at it. Nick said that the handler had explicitly stated that only he, “the commanding officer”, was allowed to use it. Of course, the handler had said nothing of the sort. He hadn't even given it to Nick. It was indeed a damp meter.
    After visiting the cemetery on Huntly Road, and the one on the other side of the by-pass, the two intrepid Londoners were now on their way to the abbey before it got too dark to see what its graveyard held in store for them.
    Walter was complaining because one of his trainers had a hole in the sole and was letting in water. “I'll need to buy a new pair of shoes if this rain continues. My left foot is soaking.”
    “Kit should be checked and double-checked before going on manoeuvres, Miller. Basic training 101. Anyway, a dose of trench foot never hurt anyone.”
    As they