"What do you want to play?" called out Lila from the living room, looking through a rather sizable collection of PlayStation games, most of which belonged to her girlfriend.
"I don't know, Mario Kart?" yelled Kacper from the kitchen, shouting over the sound of boiling water. He reached into a drawer and hissed in pain. "By the way, couldn't you have warned me you had silver spoons? How did you even afford it?" he asked, flapping his burned hand.
"Sorry! They're from my grandmother!" she replied. "Besides, they come in handy for spells sometimes!"
"Oh come on. Are you wearing your grandmother's cross too, or can I look at you?" he asked jokingly, entering the living room with two mugs of tea. He set them down on the coffee table next to the couch, moving aside a stack of some kind of pill medication (probably estrogen, but he wouldn't bet on it), and dropped onto the cushions impetuously, bouncing slightly. His earrings rang quietly, tapping against each other.
"Got Mario Kart," the pink-haired girl announced triumphantly, pulling out the appropriate box from among the others.
"Well, fire away," he decided. Suddenly, he furrowed his brow and twitched, disturbed by something. "Lila, how many other vampires have you let into this apartment?"
"What do you mean? Just you, and Grzegorz two weeks ago when he drove me home from the party, but I believe you trust your own brother," she replied, feeling a stab of uncertainty. "What happened?"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure! I'm not a moron. What's going on? Do you feel some kind of presence or something? This apartment is secured with sigils anyway, nothing can get in here." She looked out the window instinctively. Outside the glass stretched the night skyline of the city. In the fog, she could see glimpses of streetlights, cars, and neon signs. The apartment on the eleventh floor of the big block, which she rented with Natalia, might have been small, but she wouldn't exchange this view for anything.
"Actually… I don't know. Don't you feel anything? Don't you feel like something's… pushing against those sigils of yours? Like, outright from the hallway?" Kacper got up and started walking around the apartment, looking for anything that would confirm his fears.
"Wait."
She closed her eyes and focused. Her energy points were a little off, but meditation would have to wait. She reached outside herself with her thoughts, took in the entire apartment, and finally looked out the door, using one of the sigils as a window.
The difference in energy levels was impossible not to notice. She felt as if she had fallen straight from a hot shower into catacombs. Looking through the veil of projection, the corridor seemed to be drained of all color, even if normally it did not impress with its color palette either. Most of all, the entire block outside the apartment she was in reeked of an undead aura.
She shook herself out of her trance and looked at Kacper, who was treading a path in the carpet.
"You were right. Somehow, the entire building is open to vampires, as if no one lives in it, or… or someone issued a universal invitation. But that doesn't make sense, after all, these are separate apartments…? Kacper, what's going on here?"
"I don't know, but I don't like it. I mean… I have a theory, but even if…"
"Spit it out finally, then maybe we can do something about it!" she exclaimed, suddenly intensely nervous. She fixed her glasses, which had slipped down her nose.
"Okay, okay, don't yell. The last time I visited you, I think it was on Tuesday, I had to take the stairs because the elevators were broken, remember? And one of your neighbors, some guy from a lower floor, was carrying a new TV up the stairs. And he asked me if I could help him, and I felt stupid to refuse, so I did…"
"Okay, but what does that have to do with anything?"
"Let me finish! I helped him carry it all the way into the living room because he had the door open, and out of momentum I sort of carried it all the way down for him." He paused, combing a loose strand of brown hair behind his slightly pointed ear. "Lila, he didn't invite me in. I just barged in there with that TV." A grave silence fell.
"Meaning what? Meaning… You can go into any apartment in the whole block because I invited you into mine?" she choked out.
"So it would seem."
The witch hid her face in her hands, rubbed the base of her nose and sighed.
"But that doesn't explain why all vampires can suddenly party here," she continued with annoyance in her voice, although it hid her anxiety.
"Someone would have to issue a universal invitation, like you said. Except it had to be someone who actually lives here, and I don't suspect you or Natalia of that. As far as I know, no vampires live here, unless they recently turned someone? But no, we'd know that, you have spells for that. I guess that leaves us with deception."
"What are you suggesting? Even if we're not in immediate danger, at least a hundred and fifty people live in this block, we can't leave it like this, especially since it won't look good if me and Natalia become the only living people in the whole place after a bloody massacre, and…"
"First of all, calm down and don't panic. No one is massacring anyone. Remind me, where is Natalia anyway?"
"She's got a night shift tonight."
"At the Scythe, right?"
"Yes."
"Great." He stopped and stretched. He reminded her of a cat a bit at that moment. "Go visit her there, wait the night out together, if only as a precaution, and decide what to do about it in the morning. And I'll… go on a reconnaissance."
"Just don't do something that will make me and Natka prime suspects."
"Who do you think I am?" he bared his fangs in a crooked grin.
***
Kacper's footsteps echoed through the empty stairwell. He deliberately didn't flick the switch to turn on the light; he could see better in the dark than with the glaring, lifeless glow of the fluorescent lights mounted in these hallways. He also deliberately did not use the elevator; he wanted to memorize the floor plan better. He pulled out his phone, quickly dimming the screen so it wouldn't contrast too much with the darkness around, and tapped out a message: "come here asap, sharing the gps". Halfway down, he got a reply: "I'll be there in 10 mins." Reflexively, he combed his hair behind his ear again and continued his descent. He finally reached the first floor and stepped in front of the heavy, intercom-protected front door. As he waited, he pulled out and lit a clove cigarette. Leaning against the doorframe, he inhaled the aromatic smoke. After a moment, he saw the light and heard the familiar whirr of a motorcycle. He shook off the ash and approached the figure taking off her helmet.
"Katrina," he greeted his friend.
"Heya, Kacper," saluted the blonde woman in the tight, leather biker outfit. She had a slight Ukrainian accent. "What's up?"
"Er, something weird. But overall, a funny thing," the dark-haired man said, seemingly offhandedly. "However suspicious it may look, I think someone has set up a breakfast buffet for us here," he smiled, baring his fangs. "I have no idea how this plot twist came about, but there's one problem: there are two witches living here, and they're my friends too," he frowned.
"Wait, what exactly do you mean by 'buffet'?" asked Katrina, puzzled. Kacper raised one eyebrow and whistled quietly.
"See for yourself," he stated enigmatically, gesturing toward the door.
"I don't wanna worry you, but even if I'd been here before and had an invitation, there's an intercom here and you closed the door behind you," she pointed out. He rolled his eyes and punched in the code for Lila and Natalia's apartment.
"Okay, now see for yourself," he held the door for her.
"You have to invite me, I already told you."
"No, I don't. Now, put that boot over the threshold already, I'm not some doorkeeper," he exclaimed impatiently. Katrina tentatively slid inside, standing more confidently when she actually felt no resistance.
"Not bad," she muttered. "And you say you don't know how this came about?"
"No, it wasn't until a few days ago that I realized at all that individual apartments don't count separately, and thanks to Lila I can roam the whole building as I please," he admitted, carefully closing the door behind them. "Quiet now, there's always a terrible echo in those stairwells," he added in a conspiratorial whisper, stubbing out his cigarette.
"I think I know, though," she announced slowly.
"You do?" Kacper asked, surprised.
"Yeah, I do," she grinned. "But maybe let's go inside somewhere first, then I'll tell you."
"Well, alright. Anyway… have you eaten anything so far tonight?"
"No, I'd barely made it out of bed and you've already texted me."
"Well… here's your chance to get free, fresh blood instead of that nasty bottled stuff."
"Wait, what about those witches of yours?" Katrina frowned.
"They won't be back until morning," Kacper bared his teeth in a grin. "One is on a night shift, and the other has gone to her, I talked her into it. Anyway, as long as you don't massacre anyone, and I doubt you like that sort of thing anyway, they probably won't even notice."
***
Lila got on the night streetcar, tracing a glamour sigil in her pocket with her finger. I am not worth the attention of my fellow passengers. She always took this precaution when travelling at night; she preferred not to risk even a glance from some drunken jocks. Fortunately, it was only five stops to the place where Natalia worked. She got off at the right one, not encountering any obstacles on the way. Quickly, she walked the last fifty meters and, pushing against them with her whole arm, she opened the door under a bright neon sign with a dancing blue skeleton and the words: "Reaper's Scythe BAR & MAGIC SHOP." As soon as the quiet ringing of wind chimes hanging above the entrance sounded, she could smell the candles and incense.
"Good evening, how may I help you?" asked a slightly bored, familiar voice from behind the counter. Lila stepped closer, and Natalia finally lifted her gaze from the phone, a momentary look of surprise on her face.
"You can give me a kiss," joked Lila, leaning her cheek towards her girlfriend. Natalia gave her a quick smooch, then asked:
"Lilka! Weren't you supposed to hang out with Kacper today?"
"I was, only we discovered a, er, rather large problem. I didn't want to worry you via text, so I just came over, as he recommended I do anyway. Can we go to the back room?" she added, looking around the space. The far end of it, where the cushions lay and the tables stood, faded into the darkness. If she hadn't known there was also a way down to the "special guests" area, she wouldn't have noticed the staircase railing.
"Yeah, sure, there isn't much traffic today anyway. Wait, let me just put up a note." Natalia got up from her seat and began fumbling around, looking for a marker and duct tape. She quickly scribbled "Be right back" on a piece of paper torn from her notebook and stuck it with two bits of tape to a display case on the side of the counter that proudly displayed a variety of tarot decks. "That should do it. C'mon, let's go sit in the back." She put an arm around Lila's waist and both girls walked into the back of the store.
***
"You left Kacper there? All by himself?"
"I mean, if he wanted to, he'd have stayed anyway. He practically lives with us."
"Well, sort of. It's just, man… Kind of a poor situation. Hopefully he'll actually learn something," Natalia sighed, resting her elbow against the glass top of the table. "For now, all I can think of is spreading the tarot. Maybe it'll at least give us a little clue." Natalia patted around the pockets of her woolly, flowing… Hm. Lila herself wasn't sure what to call this piece of clothing. It looked like a combination of a cape and a bathrobe and a sweater. She knew one thing, though — Natalia looked incredibly good in it.
"I think I left my cards in my bag… Wait, I'll be right back." The dark-haired girl stood up and walked out of the back room.
On the other side of the counter stood a gentleman in a shabby coffee-colored trench coat and a wide-brimmed hat — the garb of a proper detective from eighty years ago. The shadow of the brim and the high collar concealed his face. He bowed slightly as he saw Natalia coming out of the back room.
"Good evening. Is it this way to the Scythe? I'm here for the concert," he said in a hoarse, sort of dry voice.
"Good evening," she replied, adopting a friendly face reserved for customers. "Please take the stairs down there, you'll need to show your invitation at the entrance," she waved towards the steps hidden in the shadows, the other hand rummaging through a drawer behind the counter. She glanced reflexively at her watch. "Except there's still over an hour left, since it's at one-thirty, so it's probably pretty empty down there for now."
"Thank you, I know. I'm friends with one of the musicians, I came to listen to the rehearsal as well," explained the guest, already halfway on his way to the stairs. By this time, Natalia had fished out her deck and, sending one last polite smile in the customer's direction, disappeared back into the back room.
"Lilcia, I have the cards," she triumphantly held out her arm with the pouch. Lila straightened up in the chair, from which she'd already almost slipped off at the moment of her girlfriend's entrance, and took her handbag off the table. In a planned series of moves, Natalia reached into a box standing next to her, pulled out a gray candle, put it on the table top and turned off the light. A moment later, a spark from the lighter flashed in the room, which quickly turned into a flame. The dark-haired witch lit a candle, sat down across from her partner, and with her eyes closed, began shuffling the tarot cards. It was a classic Rider-Waite deck, its edges heavily worn from frequent use. She separated the cards into three stacks and revealed a card from the top of the first one.
"Seven of Swords. Deception, strategy, betrayal…"
Natalia's hand went to the second stack.
"The Magician, reversed. Manipulation, in the context of the previous card a lie… but also poor planning…"
Slightly nervous, she reached for the third stack, but suddenly her hand twitched, scattering it. Five cards flew around, reverse side up. Natalia hesitated for a moment, then began to turn them over.
"Ace of Swords… King of Swords… Queen of Swords… Page… Knight… all swords, all figures. Conflict, intellect, lack of compassion, anger… and specific people." A grave silence fell. After almost a minute, Lila cleared her throat.
"Maybe we should go back there instead. Kacper's a little… I don't know, he's not clueless, but if this is some kind of organized attack, I don't really believe he'll get out easily if someone surprises him."
"I guess we really… really should." The fortune teller swallowed. "Let me just… call my boss. You order an Uber, no need to risk lugging around on the night streetcar."
***
There were two people sitting in Lila and Natalia's apartment, but they were not the owners. They were two vampires who had no problems entering the apartment whatsoever. It had only been half an hour — it was just past midnight — but Katrina had already started looking through the kitchen drawers out of boredom.
"You be careful, they have silver spoons in here," said Kacper leaning against the wall. The blonde girl just raised an eyebrow and stopped her hand already reaching into the drawer.
"Do we really have to wait that long? I'm hungry."
"I think until one o'clock at least. It's better to be sure everyone or at least most people are asleep, cause if someone raises a fuss it's going to be unpleasant."
"What do I care? We'll be out of there in a jiffy," Katrina snorted.
"You forget whose apartment we're in. They will know if we mess up too much."
"Right," she sighed.
"Alright, because I forgot to ask in the end. You said you knew where that effect came from?" he asked, gesturing around. In doing so, he inadvertently hooked the zipper on his jacket sleeve over one of his many earrings. "Ouch," he muttered, trying to wiggle himself free.
"Oh, that's right." She closed the drawer with a clunk. "More suspect than know, but I guess that's a plausible explanation. Generally, one of my friends, an IT guy, has been up to something lately, wanted to modify cookies or whatever… on various sites. So that when you click "accept all", you agree to let all vampires into your house. Kind of a hacked universal invitation. I didn't think it would work, to be honest. Except that doesn't explain why the whole block is suddenly open, unless by some miracle he's hacked Google or some banks or something…"
"No no, that's where I come in," Kacper livened up. "Recently, by accident, I found out that when it comes to blocks of flats, one person's permission is enough to enter every apartment. Apparently the law of the universe does not count apartments as separate homes. So…" He paused, trying to finish the sentence.
"So all it took was for one incel to click 'Accept cookies' on a hentai site to automatically expose the entire block to a vampiric attack. Not bad," she snorted with laughter.
"Looks like the mystery is solved," slowly said Kacper with a devilish grin on his face.
"Shouldn't you let your friends know?" the girl asked cautiously.
"Maybe later. To quote people wiser than me, 'when they give, take, and when they beat, run'." He straightened up and stretched. "I kinda wish we could run, I mean as a chaser, not escapee, but on the other hand it's a bit like wine tasting, don't you think?" he bared his teeth. Katrina grimaced and shot him a judgemental stare.
"Okay, that was extremely cringe. I'm ordering a walkout."
***
A young man was snoring in the apartment number 20. He lived alone, he had no girlfriend, boyfriend or anyone like that; he didn't even have a cat. That is, he had a cat until recently; unfortunately, a week earlier, Mr. Whiskers had died, crushed under a car. A personal tragedy, but he slowly got over it. Life and all that — no need to go through two years of mourning after losing a cat, come on.
Therefore, this young man (quite superstitious, one must admit) was incredibly horrified when, after waking up in the morning, he first felt and then saw dozens of long, somewhat jagged scratches on his wrists and forearms.
***
Dark smoke appeared on the dim stairwell, from which two silhouettes materialized after a moment, accompanied by a quiet sound, not unlike the fluttering of wings. The female silhouette wiped her mouth; a dark, wet mark remained on the sleeve of her leather jacket. The male silhouette opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly closed it and reached into his pocket instead, pulling out his phone and frowning.
"The girls are coming back," Kacper announced shortly and looked towards his friend. He heard a weird click somewhere in the distance.
Katrina goggled her eyes, shocked. For a split second, Kacper was surprised by such a strong reaction — until he saw a large, sharpened wooden stake protruding from her chest. Stunned, he took two wobbly steps back so Katrina wouldn't fall right on top of him. He looked around at his surroundings, panicked. On the stairs leading up, he saw a shadow of a figure who was just reloading a crossbow. Suddenly, he felt he was standing in something sticky. He looked down and found, with disgust and fear, that he was standing in a pool of black blood flowing from Katrina's body. Without thinking for long, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke and shot upwards, dodging the hunter and landing on the penultimate floor. He wiped his blood-stained soles on a random doormat and ran up the final floor, tumbling breathlessly into his friends' apartment. He didn't have much time; the hunter could track him down at any moment. He'd heard they had some magical technology for that. He didn't know if it was true, but he was in no hurry to find out. He pulled out his phone, searched for something in the gallery with trembling fingers, and sent a message back to Lila — "haha im in danger," followed immediately by: "hunter." He began nervously walking in circles around the living room, moving a few times as if in a particular direction, but immediately retreating back to the middle of the carpet. Finally, he collapsed on the couch and hid his face in his hands. He sighed deeply and stood up again. His phone vibrated: "we'll be right there." Kacper took three deep breaths and looked at the apartment again. On the altar by the window, besides candles, flowers and magical symbols, there was also a ritual dagger, used by witches to mark a protection circle when working with magic. He hesitated for a moment, then grabbed it with a firm motion. Better than a regular kitchen knife, since it evoked protection rather than slicing tomatoes. He crouched in the shadows and began listening.
After a few minutes, he heard heavy footsteps in the hallway that would have been quiet to someone else, but not to him — not in this state of intense attention and sharpened senses. He could hear exactly how far they were from his hiding place. Unfortunately, they were getting closer. After a moment, the footsteps were joined by an unpleasant and hoarse male voice, this time barely audible even to the vampire.
"Come out, ya leech. I'll find you anyway…" sneered the hunter, dragging out the second sentence melodiously. Kacper tightened his grip on the hilt of the dagger. "Shouldn't've bragged about hacking on the web, I wouldn't be 'ere then. Ha!" he laughed to himself. He was already only three apartments away from Kacper. The young man held his breath. Suddenly, a few meters from the door, the footsteps stopped.
"Dammit… the hell?" growled the hunter. The hidden vampire heard a clang of something metal. "Oh, boy…"
At that moment, the lights in the hallway came on.
***
"Excuse me sir, what are you doing here?" asked Natalia in a determined voice as she marched out of the elevator. The hunter — a graying middle-aged man with greasy shoulder-length hair and a three-day stubble — turned around in a sweeping motion, swishing his coat, and pointed his crossbow at the two women.
"You ladies stink of magic. This your apartment?" he nodded toward the door.
"Yeah, why?"
"You've got leeches," he announced mockingly and coughed loudly.
"First, please don't throw slurs around here. Second, by hunting vampires on our block you are violating the Treaty. I would suggest leaving. And preferably lowering that weapon as well."
"Shit," muttered the hunter more to himself. "Ladies," he adopted a fake, sleazy smile, "I appreciate your knowledge of your rights, but 'ave you ever thought that you might be in mortal danger? Ya never know with these things, ya think you trust one, and then — snap! — and your neck's done for! Ha!" he laughed again, running his finger along his throat. He then squirmed and shrieked: "Ow!" as Lila pulled out one of his hairs, suddenly appearing behind him.
"You floozy…!"
"This is our home. You have no say here. We need evidence of your illegal hunting, and this hair will come in handy for a tracking spell later. I'm sorry." There wasn't even a hint of sympathy on Lila's face, whereas the man's expression was one of anger and frustration.
"Dammit, okay," he began, lowering his crossbow and holding out his hand reassuringly. "I'll get the hell away from you, okay. I admit I didn't know such ladies lived here; my mistake. Leave the tracking spells and whatnot."
"Not so fast," Natalia interjected. "First, tell me how you got a lead on the vampires in this building."
"Ya must be dreaming…! Trade secret!…" the hunter was outraged.
"Okay, in that case, I'm gonna go inside and start preparing the tracking curse," Lila said.
"No, alright, hold on a minute," he got embarrassed. "It's like this," he coughed abruptly again, "me and my fellow experts found this forum, where those leeches chat. On the so-called deepweb, 'f course. So when one o' them bragged that they'd hacked into innocent people's houses with some kinda fake invitation, we found the addresses they'd unlocked and we split up to stop the bloodshed." The hunter's face twisted into a grimace of anger. "But ya can't stop my mates, ladies, unless it's some joint conspiracy of yours, and there are baba yagas residing at every address the leeches can suddenly enter." A new thought flashed across his face. "Well, then, I said it. Can I go now? I have a corpse to clean up on the fifth floor."
Natalia and Lila looked at each other over his shoulder.
"Just tell us your name and yes, you can go. And don't make it up, because we'll find out anyway," Natalia warned.
"Well… shit." He fell silent for a moment. "Dawid," he finally exclaimed, extremely annoyed. "My name's Dawid. I won't give ya my last name because ya only asked for a name anyway," he pleaded quickly, just in case.
"First name's enough, thank you," Lila commented with a fake smile. "Please, do go," she ordered, opening the door to her apartment and standing in the threshold, looking expectantly in his direction. The man, glaring down at her, backed sideways toward the stairwell with his hand on the crossbow. He hesitated a moment at the first step, then started running down.
Lila stepped back, letting her girlfriend inside. Upon entering, Natalia noticed two glowing dots in the depths of the apartment. After turning on the light in the hall, they turned out to be Kacper's eyes, who was huddled with a dagger under a bookcase with an unusually bright blush of fear on his face.
"He killed Katrina," he mumbled. "He killed Katrina and it's my fault."
TO BE CONTINUED1
