As I stepped into the hall, I noticed that another white envelope had been tucked under the door. I picked it up and removed the folded piece of paper from inside. The handwriting was identical as that scribbled on the last two letters. I wondered what else Annie had to tell me. It read: I think we should forget about each other…until I’m ready to contact you again.

I was too tired to read and re-read her note and pontificate on its meaning. So I placed it back into its envelope and tucked it into my jacket pocket. I closed the door and went upstairs. Chloe was asleep on her side, making those gentle breathing sounds she always made when deep in sleep. I kissed her on the cheek and lay down next to her. I was asleep before I’d even removed my clothes.

Rom obviously didn’t like the idea of me sleeping, as it was the second time in the last two days he had disturbed my sleep by calling me on the telephone. I woke suddenly, and for a moment I couldn’t remember where I was. The room was in total darkness, so I fumbled around for the bedside lamp. I switched it on and stared at my watch through bleary eyes. I blinked twice when I saw the time. It was 22:37 hours – I had slept through the entire day and evening. Chloe must have decided to leave me be and rest, and I guessed she was working a nightshift.

The phone continued to ring beside me, so I picked up the receiver and said, “Hello?”

“Murphy, is that you?” he said.

“Yes, it’s me,” I replied.

“I’ve been trying to get hold of you all day!” he barked.

“Sorry, but I’ve been sleeping,” I explained.

“Look, I just wanted you to know that we drew a blank at the bar…you know, in the basement. Your friend’s body wasn’t there.”

So it was true – Pen really had been murdered. I’d hoped it had been part of some hideous dream nightmare, I thought to myself as I tried to comprehend what Rom was telling me.

“That’s strange, because Marc definitely hadn’t wanted me going down in the basement the other day when I paid him a visit,” I said.

“Yeah, and I know why!” he boasted.

“The place was full of stolen property. Looks like Steve, Marc’s younger brother, has been responsible for a spate of robberies that have been taking place over the last few months. So thanks to you and one of your hunches, the local cops have managed to solve over thirty robberies.”

“I’m pleased for them,” I said dryly.

“I sent a couple of the team to go track Steve down. They brought him in this afternoon,”

Rom explained.

“But what about Pen’s body?” I pushed.

There was a pause on the other end of the line and I could hear Rom clearing his throat. “I haven’t had much luck there, I’m afraid. Neither Marc or his brother is talking – they ain’t saying anything. I got some of the team to take ‘em both round the back of the station and give ‘em both a slap – but they still didn’t talk. So I went and paid ‘em a little visit in their cells. Even when I had young Steven’s nuts squeezed so tight in my hand I thought his eyes were gonna pop straight outter his head – he still wouldn’t say anything!”

I mentally recalled the size of Rom’s huge hands and even my eyes began to water at the thought of him crushing Steve’s nuts with them.

“Look, it sounds like you’ve got a grip of things…” I never intended that to sound like some cheap punch-line, but Rom roared with laughter down the phone.

“That’s the way, son, keep looking on the funny side of things. I’ll have those bastards talking before long…I promise, when I’ve finished with ‘em, they’ll be wishing they’d been castrated at birth! And when they do start talking, you’ll be the first to know,” he assured me.

“Thank-you,” I said and hung up the phone.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Murphy

Rom never did manage to incite Marc or Steve to confess where and how they had disposed of Pen’s body, however much encouragement he gave them. They probably believed that if her body was never found they wouldn’t be found guilty of her murder by the Elders. So both went to trial without saying a single word about the death of Pen. Then again, they didn’t need to, as everything the Elders needed to find them guilty was on that DVD.

During the days after losing Pen, I told Chloe everything that had happened – well, almost everything and it was becoming harder and harder for me to keep my true identity from her. There was never going to be a trial in a courthouse, with a judge and jury, defence lawyers and prosecutors. The case would be held in secret, below ground – deep within The Hollows. It wasn’t only that which made me feel like a fraud.

Even though Pen had gone, I knew I was still in love with her – however much it had been forbidden. Chloe deserved someone better than me. She deserved a man who would love her – she needed to be with a human. I would only bring her heartache and I couldn’t do that to her. So one evening as she left for her nightshift as a paramedic, I sat at the kitchen table and started to write her a letter. However much I tried, I couldn’t find the words I needed to say. Whatever I wrote would only be a lie. So taking the letter Pen had first written to me when she had made contact again – the letter which spoke of The Hollows, the Fountain of Souls, the Vampyrus, and the Lycanthrope – I placed it open on the table for Chloe to find. It explained everything. Then, taking the slippers she had bought for me that Christmas, as I wanted something to remember her by, I turned out the lights and left her. I wondered if we would ever meet again – something might push us back together.

Rom moved me to another station, but I kept in touch with him. We talked about possible locations of where Marc and Steve may have disposed of Pen’s body. The fact that they remained silent seemed to me to be the cruellest part of their crime. I found it impossible to even begin to deal with my grief without being able to bury my friend and say a final goodbye to her. I think they both understood this, and refused to give up their secret to inflict on me as much pain as possible.

Rom surprised me by suggesting I get together with some of Pen’s friends and hold a small wake for her. I didn’t really know too many of Pen’s friends, only the ones she had briefly introduced to me on my visits to see her. The only friend of Pen’s I really knew was Annie, but in her last note to me, she had asked that I forgot all about her. I planned on respecting her wish.

Two weeks after discovering the DVD, Marc and his brother Steve were taken before the Elders. The short hearing was held in one of the many temples deep in The Hollows. The room looked something like a small chapel, with walls that had been carved out of red rock. Clusters of candles burnt in each corner, casting long, eerie shadows over the walls that flickered as if they were alive. The Elders, stood in their hooded grey robes, faces covered. They cleared Steve of the murder of Pen but found him guilty of the attempted murder of me, a Vampyrus police officer, while trying to capture a rogue Lycanthrope. He was given life imprisonment in The Hollows. Marc was found guilty of murdering Pen and was sentenced to death by decapitation – one of the only sure ways of killing a Lycanthrope.

As the Elders stated his fate, their childlike voices echoed chillingly off the stone walls of the temple.

On hearing the sentences passed down, I looked across the makeshift courtroom at Marc and Steve, who stood next to one another looking gaunt and pale, their hands manacled to a chain that looped about their waists. As Marc heard his fate, he howled at the hooded Elders and rattled his chains.

Rom began to chuckle. The Elders turned their covered faces towards him, and Rom’s laughter faded. I thought I would feel some sense of satisfaction, some form of closure on hearing their sentences, but in truth, I didn’t feel anything.

I was numb at the thought of all the lives that had been ruined, theirs included. Marc’s death wouldn’t bring Pen back.

Marc and Steve were escorted from the courtroom and back to their cells. I was about to leave, when one of the Elders spoke from beneath their hood.

“Constable Murphy,” the Elder said in its childish voice. “We heard what the female Lycanthrope claimed on that disc before she was murdered.”

I turned back to face them.

“She said she loved you,” another of them spoke. “And said she always had.”

“I can explain...” I started.

“You had better not have mixed with the wolf, Constable,” the Elder said. Although its voice sounded like that of a nine-year-old girl, it had a menacing and threatening tone to it. “You were obviously close to this female wolf. If it wasn’t for the fact she is dead now, you too would be facing trial here today.”

“But...” I started again.

“We’re not interested in your excuses, Constable,” said another, a harsh screeching tone to its voice. “Keep your distance from the wolves – don’t be tempted by them.”

“I won’t be,” I whispered back.

“We’ll be watching your career with interest,” the one with the girl-like voice warned.

Outside the courthouse, Rom approached me and patted me on my back. “Well, kiddo, looks like justice has been done. It’s a shame that both of ‘em won’t be getting the chop, but one outter two ain’t bad.”

“I’m just glad that it’s all over,” I said.

“You’ll come on the big day, won’t you?”

Rom said.

“What big day?”

“You know, the day they hold numb-nuts down and chop off his head!” and he made a swiping motion through the air with the flat of his hand.

On realizing what he was talking about, I shook my head and said, “No, I don’t think I’ll bother…”

“Hey, you got to! I’ll make sure we get front row seats…” Rom started enthusiastically.

“I’ll see you around,” I said, slowly walking away.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Murphy