FTF XIII - Hunt for the Vampire

[Mark]

Year: 1950
Location: Island of Kauai in the island chain of Hawaii.

It was a dark and stormy night. Lightning flashed across the night sky and thunder rumbled deafeningly in the distance. The sky had opened up with rain about an hour ago, and the man shivering in the butler's uniform leaned his face close to the windshield as he attempted to peer through the torrential rain. The rain was coming down like somebody had turned on a faucet in the sky, and he knew from experience that the road back to the manor would be washed away soon. Such was life at Kincaid Manor though. He looked at his watch again, and decided that the guests would have all arrived already. He needed to hurry. He risked stepping on the accelerator just a little more, as he knew tonight would be a monumental evening.

______________________

20 minutes later

The man entered the main foyer of the sprawling house shivering from the cold. Glancing at the coat rack and counting, he was pleased to note that everyone that was expected had indeed accepted the invitation. Pausing to check his uniform in the mirror, he then made his way down to the library where he was sure all the guests were taking their ease. His polished shoes made an audible clicking as he walked down the hallway. Kincaid Manor was a custom built home, near the top of one of Kauai's largest mountains. Never had anyone here seen a home like this before. The locals considered it a tourist attraction by day and superstitious by night. It had been modeled after a mansion in an old "whodunit" movie of the silent era. It was a VERY large and spacious palace that was designed with numerous hidden rooms and secret passages. The odd construction led to the rumor that Mark Kincaid was completely off his rocker. Those rumors were probably right. He reached the library and pushed open the great double doors. A fireplace held a roaring fire, usually not needed in the Hawaiian tropical heat, but with the storm was rather welcome. Eleven men and women, all elegantly dressed filled the room, broke up into small groups chatting pleasantly. Dr. Shaw conversed with Dr. Glitch, where Abby looked excited Sonic looked rather bored. Anthony Lazar in a white three piece suit vied with Sionnach Glic for the attentions of Sophia Uzume. From the look on her face, she seemed enraptured by both men and hung on their every word, however, her eyes betrayed something else. Dr. Preston, aka "Tsuki" was attempting to chat up Lady Foxx, to seemingly no avail. Commander Steven Crush had cornered young Lt. CJ Staplic and seemed to be sharing all of the wisdom of his years of military service, all at once. Nick Seaborne was standing quietly, nursing his drink, with his eyes in constant motion, no doubt evaluating the value of everything in the room. Alone, off in a corner, in a plush overstuffed chair, sat a man in a Hawaiian Aloha shirt, surfing shorts, and slippers who sat quietly and deflected any attempt to speak with him.

"May I have your attention please?" the still wet man requested

All background noise died away as all eyes turned on him.

"I'd like to thank you all for coming, and again assure you of the historic significance of what we do here." The man continued. "I assure you that the million dollar incentive will seem like nothing next to the import of what I intend to reveal to the world."

Crush joked "Will it make me even richer?"

Smiling the man continued "In some ways yes. You see, I have spent most of my adult life in study and searching. Looking for something extraordinary and I've found it with somebody in this room. I'm just not completely sure who that may be yet, exactly. I gone through tens of thousands of potential candidates, and have found you all to be the most likely."

Dr. Glitch asked "Are you on drugs? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Not at all sir, I assure you" he continued. "Since the dawn of time certain myths and legends have persisted and cropped up in all corners of the world, in cultures that never met each other. One of these I now know is a fact. Somebody in this room is a Vampire."

Everyone started at the butler in shocked amazement.

"Are you insane?" Lady Foxx asked.

It's been suggested before, yes." The man replied.

"Who the hell are you, anyway?" Mr. Glic asked.

"Why, my name is Mark Kincaid of course." The man replied.

"Then who's that?" Staplic pointed at the man dressed in Hawaiian in the corner.

Looking perplexed, Mark replied "He's the butler, of course. Anybody need a fresh drink?"


The rest of the night passed in a blur. But their host had reasonable answers to everybody's questions. They all lost track of time. Soon, the huge grandfather clock chimed, indicating it was nearly morning. "Let's pick this up this evening again."

Everybody was escorted off too their rooms by the butler. Had anyone checked at that point, they would have found their bedroom doors had been locked. However, for one person, that no real problem.

________________

The Next Evening
Banging on doors and shouting could be heard as the guests demanded to be released from their rooms. With a uniform and audible click, all the doors opened at once, releasing everybody. They saw the butler slump to his knees, with blood gushing from his neck, at the lever which released them all. All he could mutter was, "He's dead" before falling to the ground and dying. Crush and Staplic ran towards the master bedroom, and found Mark Kinkaid, laying naked on his bed. He was pale as marble, and had two holes in his throat.

BEGIN

[Lt. Staplic]

Son of a B*&%$! I knew this dude was nuts!

:: draws 9mm service pistol::

Who killed him!?

[Nickswitz]

I was going to ask that, but it is merely a lesson in futility, they obviously do not plan on giving themselves up. I would however like to say that I did not kill him, if that helps you any?

If it truly does though you are sadly mistaken to believe anything anyone says, not saying I am not saying I did it, but the killer would not give himself up unless he could kill you at the same time.

[Lt. Staplic]

What?

Can you repeat what you said you weren't saying you said?

[Nickswitz]

I said I didn't do it, but if you believe me just based on that, you are a sadly gullible person, if the person was gonna tell you, he would be prepared to kill you as well.

[Abby]

This is rather upsetting... and I'm not just speaking of their deaths. This means he was right. He said one of us is a vampire, and with those two holes in his neck, that means either he was right, or someone here is insane and is using Mr. Kincaid's insanity as cover. But either way we are in trouble.

Does anyone know anything about such creatures? I'm afraid I am limited to what has been put into fiction.
And Staplic please put the gun away, someone could get hurt.

[Lt. Staplic]

::puts gun back, but keeps hand close::

don't worry, my gun doesn't go off unless I want it too *wink*

[Tsukiyumi]

Daniel folded his arms around his ribcage as the color drained from his face at the sight of Mr. Kincaid's body. His brows furrowed for a moment as he regained his composure, and pressed his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose, " It can't hurt to be vigilant, Lieutenant, uh... Staplic? I'm with the lady, though... I don't think guns are necessary... At this point at least. We need more information."

[Lazar]

So we got some Transylvoonian fella on the loose, eh? All we need is some of my mamma's garlic bread!

[Sonic Glitch]

[Dr. Glitch stomps in on his cane]

What in Gods name is all this noise about? [sees dead body] Oh. Well that explains that

[Nickswitz]

You had better hope we were making noise, if we weren't it would probably mean we were dead. About him, what was he doing down here so late at night?

[Uzume]

Just then, Sophia walked into the room in a slinky pearl colored night gown. As she wrapped herself in a silk robe, she caught a glimpse of their host. A whimper barely escaped her ruby lips before she seemingly fainted.

[Abby]

*Runs over to Uzume*
Someone dampen a cloth with cool water.
*sighs quietly*
Can't have people hurt themselves falling...


So, any way to identify a vampire... I mean before they bite you?

[Sonic Glitch]

[retrieves some smelling salts from pocket] Here, try these. And well you could check to see if their name tag says "Hi, I'm a Vampire and I'm here to bite you." for all the good it'll do.

[Uzume]

Sophia came to, a dark ringlet of hair fell, a beautiful contrast to her pale skin; her seductive green eyes met Dr. Abby's. " What is going-" just then she remembered their host lying on the floor, " Oh, we must get into his study quickly. Maybe we can find out more information. He brought us out here, studied us if you will; he could have known who the Vamp is. " Her voice was like a hot cigarette washed down with a nice glass of scotch, so smokey and smooth.