Patsy and Faith were strolling along the streets of a mid-sized city.
There was a stray wino or two sitting on the sidewalk, passed out with their
heads leaning awkwardly against the sides of buildings which were slightly smaller
than the skyscrapers the slayer was used to back in Boston. A few pieces
of litter were scattered around, mostly near the bases of strategically located
trash bins.
Faith turned slowly, in a circle, taking in the city; it was no Boston.
“So, uh…this is St. Louis?” Patsy nodded. “Wicked small for a big
city. Beats the rest of this state though, the entire place is like…original
Hicksville. So, is there…anything to do ‘round this place? What’s
that thing?” Faith nodded her head and pointed in the direction of a large
metal arch jutting upward into the sky.
“That’s the Gateway Arch. It’s St. Louis’ signature tourist
attraction.” Patsy stopped walking and faced Faith.
“What’s it do?”
“It doesn’t do anything really, it’s just to attract tourists.”
“Neato!” Faith did the sarcastic finger twirl.
“Why would some big archy thing that doesn’t do anything attract tourists to
this middle of nowhere city?”
“I’m not sure, I suppose maybe for the view from the top.”
“You mean you can go to the top of that thing. It’s like, wicked
tall. Let’s go!” Faith pulled Patsy in the direction of the arch.
“We could spit off the top and stuff.”
Patsy sighed. “We didn’t come to enjoy the sites Faith, we
have work to do.
“Oh come one. What’s an hour or two? Please!!!!”
the young girl pleaded with her watcher.
“Faith!” The older woman said sternly.
“Party pooper,” Faith whined, but there was as smile on her face.
“So, then, back to business. You think this Ka-killjoy dude’s here in
St. Louis?” The pair resumed walking in their original direction.
“I honestly don’t know where Kakistos is,” Patsy emphasized the vampire’s
name rather than correcting her charge, “but if he’s somewhere in this
state than this would be the best place to start looking. The city library
has a plethora of newspapers from the surrounding areas. We’ll begin by
researching those.”
“Wicked fun.” Faith rolled her eyes.
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Six wooden tables occupied the center of the room, each surrounded
by six chairs covered in worn and dirtied upholstery. To the left of the
door on the way into the room was a check-out desk behind which sat a young
college aged student with long blonde hair pulled loosely back into a pony tail
and a pair of think rimmed reading glasses. On the right side of the room
were a few rows of metal shelves stacked with periodicals covered in dust.
On the opposite end of the room was an ancient looking microfilm machine.
“This thing-a-ma-bob looks older than my dinosaur fossil collection,”
Faith tapped the machine from her position standing behind Patsy who was seated
in a chair she had taken from one of the tables.
“You have a fossil collection?” Patsy turned her attention
away form the newspapers stored on microfilm. The fact that Faith might
be interested in anything at all was exciting news to the watcher.
“Pa-shaw!” The exclamation came out almost as a giggle.
“The only people who collect dinosaur fossils are such geeks that even the losers
think they’re losers. I was just making a point.”
“Oh.” The disappointed Brit turned back to her microfilm.
She clicked on a button and the slide changed.
“Oooh! There!” Faith pointed excitedly to the screen.
“Serial Killer Leaves Victims Bloodless.” The brunette read the headline
a little too loudly and excitedly. The girl behind the desk looked up
form the homework she had been doing and gave Faith a baffled stare before returning
to her work.
Patsy continued reading the article in a hushed tone. “Another
victim of the recent series of murders was identified last night. Jonathon
Redifer was found with a slit throat and was drained of all his blood.
Redifer was the fourth victim in as many nights to be found in such a condition.
No clues as to the murderer’s identity have been found. Officials are
advising everyone to remain in their homes or offices whenever possible and
are imposing a mandatory curfew between the hours of dusk and dawn.”
“Gentleman, it looks like we have a winner.” The Bostonian
said to here British companion.
“Now Faith, let’s not be hasty. It is obvious to me that these
murders are vampire related but there is no way we can tell if it’s Kakistos
of some lesser vampire.” Patsy looked up at Faith.
“It’s him, I can feel it in my gut, that’s the only proof I need.
Patsy sighed and turned back away from Faith. It was pointless
to argue with the slayer when her mind was made up and Patsy new it. Anyhow,
if a vampire was menacing the locals in some St. Louis suburb then it was there
responsibility to stop it, no matter who the vampire was. “Alright then…”
Patsy looked back at the microfilm and read the title of the newspaper, Freestorm
Herald, “Freestom, Missouri, here we come.”
