“You don’t get a lot of wings or capes or tails these days, or even much blood on the screen. About the only thing that stayed consistent in terms of aesthetics is the fangs, unless you count completely metaphorical bloodsuckers, which I wouldn’t.”

Rai took a break to inhale some coffee.

Sao took in the view with bleary eyes. The cafe window looked in on the campus, which gleamed divinely under a layer of snow and frost. It was still early, and cloudy, the sky grey and vacant as the ground below. He saw only a few thick-coated figures flitting about, vanishing like woodland fey over the snowdrifts.

That was all backdrop. The central field’s main attraction, palatial pillars amongst desolation, were its great hardwood trees, huge trunks wrapped in black vines, leafless boughs branching so long and thin they were meshlike, iced delicately with white. The trees were planted in two long straight columns that created a tunnel leading over the field and beyond; Marsh had told him that the trees were maples, and this was what the school referred to as ‘the Row’. The Row stretched from the south tip of the campus almost all the way north.

Marsh’s home was a ten minute walk from the eastern entrance, an archway in the border wall. There were eight such entrances, Marsh explained, one at each corner of the octagonal wall that enclosed the school’s main grounds. The walls were actually buildings themselves, and inside the walls were the older dormitories.

He had escorted Sao to the front office, which contained the student bookshop and cafe which Rai had allocated their meeting point. Marsh very nearly skipped his way over, spry as any student if not more so. He threw his arms out at landmarks as if to embrace them and their ‘gorgeous, authentic’ architecture. Sao lagged behind, feeling not quite awake.

Skogul had caught a bus into the city to meet a friend.

In front of a tall but somewhat thin stone building, his beloved clock tower, Marsh clapped his hands together and looked up where the tower’s tip touched the clouds. Starstruck. He came just short of grasping Sao by the shoulders when informing him that the deans’ offices were under that very steeple and inside it was the legendary graduate’s bell.

Yet the morning company of Marsh paled in comparison to that of Rai.

“Everyone knows the vampire trademark is blood stuff, so you gotta have some red goop on screen. Otherwise, what’s the point? You know that movie that was getting a ton of press last year as the arthouse vampire movie, Blood in the Night? That got permission to use real royal costumes and furniture and cutlery. I actually fell for the hype and saw it in theatres and guess what — not a damn drop of red.”

Noticing that Sao had begun listing on the bench, or that his own cup was dry, Rai got up and went to the counter.

“Don’t tell me, another coffee?” asked the amused barista before he’d even reached her.

“With milk. And a breakfast tea for him.”

The place had been open only an hour and Rai was already a fixture. Sao had never known someone to consume so much coffee, and as he reminded Sao often, with his aura he didn’t even need it to stay awake. Just imagining the quantity of caffeine running through Rai made Sao sit up a little straighter, forcing his eyes open.

“So, from my quick shot at research I learned at least thirteen vampire movies featured this school,” Rai said. “That’s why you sent me the question last night, huh?”

“Sure. Oh, not exactly. I had just been looking through Marsh’s collection of student pamphlets, and noticed a pattern in the club mascots.”

“The movies and the mascots are probably sourced from the same story. This place was the base for an ancient warlord. It was a huge abbey before that but he got rid of all the monks and moved his vassals and pals in. The guy was rich from pillaging all the towns around, and able to sucker over anyone he wanted from the surrounding villages and make them swear secrecy and do anything he wanted. Slaves never returned home, or if they did, they were pale and whipped and wrung out, or sent back in bodybags, so there were stories...”

He gave Sao a minute to digest while he fetched their drinks. Sao thanked him, and smiled at the barista, who smiled back, tripped in her distraction, and sent a container of straws toppling.

Rai frowned. “Uh, lucky I picked our stuff up before that.”

“Thanks.” Sao pressed his hands around his cup. “So about this old landowner?”

“I’ve told you about all there is. They thought he was sucking the blood out of the staff, literally. For eternal life or whatever. Superstition.” The coffee’s lid came off. Rai wasn’t going to have a little nozzle getting in his way. “The story ends with him holed up in a decrepit tower full of bats in his final days. After going missing for fifteen months, a local scouting team decided to check in and found him a long-dead skeleton wrapped in dirty sheets. That got people talking again. Yeah, bats in a tower aren’t exactly rare, and the tower was the only building he had with an elevator, but I’m sure the rumor mill had a great time.”

Warmed by his tea, Sao had been ready to concede he was enjoying Rai’s dark fable until then. “Elevator?”

“Not a glass-and-infrared-sensor-buttons type. But rich folks’ homes had those pulley contraptions as far back a thousand years ago. And he had arthritis.”

“Well, even so, this Mr. Murnau sounds like a fascinating individual.”

“Uh, the old warlord was called something else. It depends on the movie. He went by a bunch of different names, more if you count all the Eastern dialects. Nah, Murnau is the Core capitalist who bought the property at auction and founded the school.”

Sao closed his eyes and sipped his tea. When he opened his eyes, Rai’s phone had been placed before him with a picture open on the screen. The one he’d been wondering after. Sao almost gagged.

“I didn’t think you’d want to see this before going to bed,” Rai muttered. “But don’t worry. Campus security confirmed the guy is fine. They called it a crashout after one of last night’s drinking contests.”

Burned by the flare of a camera flash, a tall young man was flung back against a grimy wall, his long limbs askew, mouth open with a stream of saliva trailing out the corner. The wet film of his eyes had caught the flash or perhaps his eyes were rolled back in his head, because they were pure white. His shirt was unbuttoned and belt undone and trousers yanked down partway, but the violence was more than implied - on his neck was a vicious red gash. Oval shaped. Mouth sized.

Painted in that same dark red, in bold capitals across his chest like a necklace, was the word

HOOKER

Sao turned away, and approached his second take more slowly, gradually letting the slackened visage slide into view like an image under a scanner. There was something familiar about the stunned man, but it unnerved him that he couldn’t place why. “Is he really alright?”

“Yeah.” Like the observers of the previous night, the photo appeared to make Rai antsy. He was shielding the screen with his hand, skin half exposed from its glove so he could operate the touchscreen. The blue glow of his thumb gave the image an even more sickly pallor. “But like I said, he apparently shook off any medical aid and went back to his dorm on his own. Not much of a case if so but we’re going to try to see him today, right after breakfast.”

“Perhaps we should give him a while longer to rest.”

A concept unfamiliar to Rai. “He’s had about six hours, and people forget things real fast. Anyway, it’s already time for the kids to get up for classes, isn’t it?”

They looked out at the campus beyond the leaded window. At that moment, it was completely devoid of life. Not so much as a sparrow or squirrel.

Sao waited a long while before muttering in lowered tones of his own, “If he was trying to downplay the thing from the start, it seems unlikely he’d want us delving into the incident now.”

“Probably. But apparently, these bloody writings and bitings have been an ongoing problem for years. We’re gonna meet someone else today who has been keeping track. The same someone who got me into the student group before this picture was deleted.”

The taste of iron seemed to rise in his throat.. “So someone is concerned. Did you find this willing helper by asking around?”

“Sort of. It’s student, he heard me asking about the group and just tapped me on the shoulder and clicked me into the Neocam group on his phone. He handed me a drink after that and said something like ‘about time’. He was pretty inebriated.”

“Perhaps he thought you were too. A little unfair, isn’t it?” Sao said with a slight smile.

“He can retract his approval when we see him later.” Rai might have been smiling too, behind his cup which he was emptying at a prodigious speed. “And he can blame my mom for my resistance to booze.”

They sat and watched the campus glitter for a few minutes. More students were emerging from their hiding-holes, limping tiredly across the snow, tracks spreading across the field like embroidery thread. A few newcomers trudged into the cafe, unwinding their scarves and pulling off mittens.

“Bitings.” The bottom of his tea was bitter. Sao set the cup down. “The mark on his neck’s a bite, then. An extension of the vampire theme?”

“Maybe. The blood could be something ritualistic, or a reference. Still - even if it’s a prank, it’s probably worth putting a stop to it. If this one’s a good outcome, I don’t wanna see one go bad.” Rai pulled the picture back to his side of the table, under his acid-burn stare, for analysis.

And Sao found himself picking at the silver wool of his coat in a bid to look at something else.

—

The young man from the bloody photo lived in student housing just outside the octagonal walls of the campus to the east. Several minutes more in the same direction was Marsh’s home.

Rai had extracted from Campus Security that the boy was a student named Ace. Either the snappy name or his interaction at the Security house had him looking skeptical.

The dormitory resembled a handsome three-storey inn. One of its two enormous wooden doors was propped open and despite the breeze the inside was warm and stagnant, the air yellow and smelling of yeast. A disheveled sitting area was just across from the entrance, filled with battered corduroy seats and a long counter that resembled a reception desk right in front, furthering the essence of an inn, the front bar of one, perhaps. The counter was covered in pamphlets, cups and bottles.

A cleaner with elbow-length rubber gloves was scouring the sitting room, scooping paraphernalia off the windowsills and from under the seats and throwing them into a large black bag. The pamphlets went in with the rest of the waste.

The stairwell had also seen quite a night. Rai had to push aside more than one cluster of cans. Ace’s room was on the top floor, a hallway of dim ghostly lighting and a reddish, almost brown carpet textured with glints of metallic thread, somewhat like Sao’s coat.

Ace’s door was ajar. Rai knocked and pushed it open without waiting for an answer.

“Get the hell out.” A pale hand caught the door and its owner staggered into view, rubbing eyes so puffy and purple they rivaled Rai’s perpetual dark rings. Ace was tall, much taller upright than he’d appeared in the photo, with long heavy limbs. His hair was black with a shock of white growing out a lopsided angle; Sao couldn’t tell if it was bleached or natural.

Suddenly self-aware, Ace adjusted the gauze on his neck. There was a small brown stain in the middle of the bandage, the color of the carpet.

“No morning classes?” Rai asked brightly.

“Nothing important. Everyone’s skipping, especially after last night.”

“Makes sense. I once stayed up for three months without sleeping, so I get it, but I gotta ask - why was everyone partying so hard on a Monday night?”

“You did what?” The pale grey eyes peeled open.

“We’re here about the incident from last night,” Sao said.

“Are you cops?”

“We work with the police. There was a report we’d like to clear up, if you’re willing to talk.”

“Only if you’re up for it,” Rai said, fumbling for the wallet where he kept his investigator’s ID.

Ace stared at them blankly for a spell then rolled his eyes and went into the room, leaving the door open for them. Rai’s early morning energy would have gotten the better of Sao, too.

The space was orderly, organized - presentable. Sao wondered with some amusement, that the neatness was a reason he was willing to admit them. The bed was the only thing unmade, but there was not a stray sock or scarf out of its rightful place. The bank of textbooks neatly lined on the desk were primarily on the topic of accounting. Seeing Ace (very slightly) at ease, recognition filtered through to Sao at last. The pamphlets. The club photos. “You’re in the Investment Club,” Sao said.

“So’s everyone on this floor.” Ace kicked a chair out from under the desk for Sao. Rai was left standing. “I’m the Vice President. The party last night was ours, informally for the COFL Cup. It’s like an inter-college investment contest. We came second. I was excited and went a little too hard on the shots. What else do you need to know?”

Rai stood by the window. He flipped back the curtain and the room was flooded with white. Ace groaned and Rai let the curtain drop. “I understand you were found in one of the bathrooms unconscious and one of your friends called for medical assistance."

“That was Rip. He’s first year. A little sheltered and prone to overreactions. He probably thought I was dead.”

“Do you remember how you got into that bathroom?”

“No. But it’s not the first time I’ve wound up somewhere crazy, and probably won’t be the last.” He rubbed his eyes again. “It’s nothing to worry about, trust me. If I’m the victim, shouldn’t you be taking my word over anyone else’s?” Ace managed a slight smile. “Wrap it up. I’ve got a killer hangover.”

“I hear black coffee helps,” Rai said.

“That’s a myth.”

Rai folded his arms. “Were you aware of anyone taking your picture, then? Know anyone who’s done this kind of thing in the past, bragged about it, threatened it, or threatened you? Would Rip have been involved?”

“If he was, he wouldn’t have posted the picture. If he had any sense of self preservation.” Ace rubbed the side of his neck with some force. The bandage rustled.

“But anyone else? Enemies, or guys with reputations, maybe?”

“Nope. I really can’t think of anyone.”

“Sorry for the intrusive questions, but one more thing. And you really don’t have to answer this one.” Rai shot Sao a glance as if hoping he’d take over, but not a chance. “The medical staff didn’t really get to take a look at you. Aside from the bite on your neck, and the writing on your chest, was there any other indication of…” Rai paused. “Any other sign of things being off, when you woke up?”

Ace lowered his hand. “You don’t have to be a prude. As far as I can tell they never got my pants completely off.” And, dreamily, he began to smile. “I almost wish they did go all the way. It would give me something to talk about. And show that girls around here have any spunk in them at all.”

Sao blinked. “You said you had no idea who could have done this.”

“I don’t.”

“You’re suggesting it was a woman,” Rai said.

“Of course it was. Who other than a woman would do this?”

Rai raised a ragged brow and glanced at Sao again. “I guess that makes a little sense.”

“You were acting like you didn’t know who did all this,” Ace said, suddenly rising to his feet, leveraging his considerable height over Rai. “But now you’re saying it’s a man. Why? Don’t think a girl has what it takes?”

“You’ve opened up the possibility for us. Do you have any names?”

He did not. “But it has to be a girl, right? Why would a guy do this?”

He was speaking more to assure himself than them, at that point. Sao opened the door and Rai saw him do it. They let themselves out.

—

Sao and Rai stood outside the thick panel doors of the dormitory and watched the cleaner haul away six enormous trash bags, and bring in the largest vacuum cleaner Sao had ever seen. She did not acknowledge them either time. Sao couldn’t blame her.

“He had his head screwed on perfectly fine in all ways but one,” Rai muttered. “He’s hung up on it being a lady who knocked him out. What if he was giving us a hint after all?”

“Do you suspect he’s covering for a woman?”

“No. From the way he talked… maybe it was wishful thinking.”

The cleaner’s vacuum blasted into action, drowning out any further conversation. The glass rattled, snow dropped from nearby trees. They meandered away. The roar of the engine chased them up the flight of steps back that took them up to the street leading back to the campus.

“I heard Murnau’s student body is some 80% male,” Sao said.

Rai made a face. The arcana he’d acquired on the old bloodsucking landowner hadn’t covered such facts. “Is that even legal?” He listened with a deepening frown as Sao recounted Marsh’s fears for him. “So the possibility of assault by a man might genuinely have never occurred to him. I feel kind of bad about bringing it up.”

“I suppose. The way he spoke about women was a little crude too.”

“Let’s do what we can to stop whoever’s making these pictures - whatever they identify as. Smart of you to tell me all this now, by the way. I wouldn’t have given Ace any peace if I had known that earlier.”

“I don’t think that was the effect, regardless.”

They came through the archway, which opened on a lovely view of the diamond-bright field. The walls of warm colored brick glowed almost gold in the daylight. It was rather trite to have such delusions at this stage of his life, but Sao had never stopped wondering how such gleaming, special places full of people who were mostly good at heart (something he was still sure of) could nonetheless breed such novel forms of misery.

A group of cheerful students came out one of the doors under the archway, rambling about deadlines, the printers at the libraries, and my asshole professor! Sao thought of the pamphlets, how disturbed he’d felt with all those eager, smiling young faces turned his way, but the ensemble that passed them by really were happy, immersed in their school life, and they didn’t have a shred of interest in him. They headed inward, their overlaid footprints melding into a unified line through the snow. He felt a little better.

“You went to a National University as well,” Sao said.

“Yeah. Almost everyone goes to a National U,” Eyeing Sao, Rai corrected himself. “If someone has to go to a university at all. The government network’s the cheapest. Although, Murnau’s business school is almost entirely funded by its alums, and it’s the face of the school, so it’s pretty close to being independent.”

“They have a lot to be proud of. You know, being here makes me wonder…”

“You can always go back.”

“Hm?” Sao snapped a wiry silver thread from his coat. The sudden drama of the line halted his thoughts.

Rai shrugged. “I was just - just thinking, before you joined HQ, you were doing vocational training and working at the same time, right? If you’re wondering what collegiate life is like, you can always enroll. Sometimes you see senior citizens getting their degrees after finally deciding what they want to do with life.” Sensing he was headed down a dark path, Rai rerouted. “You can sign up to just sit in classes, too. Nothing gets graded, you just listen to professors and hang out with the students.”

“Oh. I wasn’t really thinking of that.” Sao smiled. “But it’s a nice possibility. Especially if you’ve considered it that much. I was more wondering if we’d have gotten along at that age, if we’d met at a stage like this in our lives.”

That wasn’t what he’d really been thinking either, but it was enough to reduce Rai to ruddy-faced mumbling. He was pouring out a lot of barely-audible words but Sao could discern that the answer to his proposal was a no. Instant denial.

“You think you were a killjoy because you couldn’t get drunk?” Sao laughed, but found he wasn’t really so amused. “Look at me now - I don’t drink at all. I think we match up pretty well.”

Rai gave him a scathing look, one that could take skim off with prolonged contact. They’d had such exchanges often enough for Sao to know it wasn’t real loathing, but it was most definitely not a sign of agreement. “I don’t know what you were like back then,” Rai said. “But you know what I was like.” He motioned with one finger over his wrist, the faint blue of aura visible under the edge of his glove, and motioned slicing through the glowing veins. Once, then twice. “For a girl that would rather OD on sleeping pills than be with me. I was not exactly endearing. Meanwhile, you–”

“Maybe I would have been different. Or you would have. If we met then.”

Rai just blew a cloud of vapor from between gritted teeth into the icy air. Sao started to walk ahead, scraping a new path through the crisp frozen snow. He wasn’t sure why he’d cut Rai off there. The old girlfriend tale held no new revelations, it wasn’t something he couldn’t have handled hearing.

A pair passed by them on the walkpath. Two young men with overstuffed backpacks, walking alongside each other, jostling and kicking snow.

Sao waited until the two had passed and began to stitch together an apology, in some form. But when he turned to speak, Rai was busy with his phone, one glove held between his teeth while he fingered the keypad. There was nothing to do but wait.

It was a while before the phone was stowed away. “Our next appointment’s waiting.”