The Nosferatu Adventures
page 290, chapter 290
Out of Time...
The Van Helsing Boys
Landin ran his hand through his bleached blonde hair, chewing on a piece of gum. His blue eyes searching the crowded lobby of the police station, his ears buzzing with the constant ringing of phones. The full moon really did bring out the strange in people. His younger cousin was already talking to the nearest officer, informing him that they were looking for Arthur. The officer pointed towards the back room, telling them they could wait there. Seward all but skipped back to where Landin was, a look of pure delight in his eyes.
"He's in with a reporter. But we can wait for him in the back. You okay?" Seward asked. Landin nodded shrugging.
"I've got that feeling again." he shook his head. "I'm cool. I'm cool. Just if I seem like I might faint or something, at lest don't let me fall on my nose okay?"
"Always jealous that you got grandma's perfect nose." Seward grinned wide at him, tossing his head back slightly causing his mass of wild curls to bounce. "Ah cool. There he is." The two started moving in unison towards the older male, neither sure just what to say. "So you want to break the silence first?"
"With what? Hi I know we only met once, but your ex-girlfriend is a bloodsucking fiend but not to worry about her, it's her shapeshifting ex that wants to kill you."
"Works for me." Seward cleared his throat grabbing Arthur's hand. "Hi. Hi."
"Can I help you?" Detective Holmwood looked at them through very tired eyes. Seward tilted his head to the side grabbing his cell phone. Snapping a shot he texted it off quickly before turning back around, already reaching into his backpack for something.
"Nosferatu asked us to stop by. She's worried..."
"She's worried that you were..." Landin butted in but quickly lost any train of thought he had, puffing out his cheeks with a deep sigh.
"Her ex boyfriend is sort of on a ripper tonight, she asked us to stop by on our way home just to see if you were okay. Make sure you hadn't had any dealing with him tonight." Seward commented as he grabbed a blood pressure cuff. "Mind if I?" he gestured to Arthur's arm not waiting for the other man to approve.
"The guy who was in here the other day?" Arthur asked his eyes suddenly half closed. He was so exhausted the last few hours, that he just let Seward have his examination.
"That would be Edric, her new...uhbbb...friend. No, we mean Dagan." Landin replied. He noticed the detective rubbed at his jaw a few times in the minute and a half they'd been talking to him. "Forget to shave this morning?"
"What? I must have. Been so tired the last twenty-four hours, I barely remember my own name." Arthur's voice dropped a notch and became muffled as he yawned.
"I'm going to call Quentin and tell him to swing by here. I think we might need some of the bagged bl ...uh...cocktail sauce." Seward said nodding his head smiling closed lipped. "You're just looking a little peckish, and I think it might be a bit of a virus...flu! But, we've been dealing with this with Nosferatu the last few days so..."
"Cocktail sauce? For the flu?" Arthur asked rubbing his jaw again.
"Really amazing...cocktail sauce." Seward smiled again nodding. "Vitamin B12. Great for the iron." he started to dial.
"What happened there?" Landin asked noticing for the first time the red marks on Arthur's hands.
"Rash. Allergic to something I suppose." he started flexing and unflexing his hand as if never having seen it before. "Sort of appeared yesterday after I was on a case."
"Something to do with chemicals? Cause those sort of look like burns." the bleached blonde said elbowing his younger cousin. "Want to take a shot of those."
"It was just really weird. One second I was fine, brought a guy into custody, and then this happened." he held up his hands towards them, noticing how his normally manicured nails were suddenly longer. "I must be more tried than I thought, I swear I just trimmed those?"
"Again, I ask were there chemicals at the crime scene?" Landin asked not completely sure he should touch the detective's hands, but wanting to examine the glass like nails.
"No." the older male sighed crossing his arms. "I don't know? Might have been. Just remember cuffing him and then this burning sensation..." Seward looked up at him from under his hair.
"Your jaw...that from the other day when Edric was here? When he took me home?" Landin asked.
"Yeah." Arthur responded not looking at them but somewhere between the two males. "When he threw me into the cabinets."
"Okay. New plan. You're taking the rest of the night off and coming with us. I have a feeling Nosferatu is going to want to know about this." Seward remarked. Landin held up his finger gesturing for Arthur to give them a second, as he grabbed his cousin by the shoulders guiding him away a few feet.
"If you're implying what I think you're implying, we can't let him anywhere near Nosferatu. Not tonight."
"Oh shack!" Seward's eyes went wide. "What do we do?"
"Take him back to our place I guess? That's far enough away from both the hotel and the occult shop." Landin replied as he started to walk back towards the detective. The bleached blonde male's gaze fell upon a set of handcuffs sitting on the edge of one of the desks. Clearing his throat he scooped them up as he continued on. Carefully, he brushed them against the detective's arm expecting to see it burn. Only, nothing happened. "Um...huh." he turned nearly smashing into Seward. "We've got a problem."
"You mean more than the one staring us in the face right now; with the fact Detective Holmwood is about to become the latest member of the furry faces are us fan club? Because I don't think that anything else you have to tell me right now, could be more of a problem?" Seward replied.
"The handcuffs did nothing. I touched them to him and nothing." Landin said holding up the set still in his hand.
"That's because handcuffs are not made of silver. Of course they had nothing to do with the burns on his hands. Werewolves react to silver. And those my friend are not made of silver. They are made of stainless steel."
"Okay smarty pants, then what the hell caused the burns?" Landin asked, the handcuffs clanking in his grip.
"Yeah I have no idea. Like seriously. What in this day and age is still made of silver?"
Groaning, Landin rubbed the heel of his palm against his eyes shrugging. "I don't know. Jewellery? Maybe?" Seward leaned over his cousin's shoulder asking Arthur if he could remember touching any jewellery at the scene? The detective stood there for a long moment, just staring off still, before mumbling something neither could hear. Scratching at his temple, Seward asked him again.
"There was a ...thing..." Arthur gestured towards his neck, the nails gleaming in the lights. "...a trinket. Coin."
"A coin? Old coins were made of silver, but that would mean the thing was priceless. Ohhh." Seward made a face as a realization came over him. "Was it a robbery? Did you arrest him for robbing someone?"
"Museum."
Tune in again for another installment of the Nosferatu Adventures starring your heroine...me(straight up story. Bet you didn't see that coming...)
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