“No, he’s the older one,” answered Murkh, his eyes taking in what Damien was doing.
“A family of vampires you say,” hummed Damien before standing up straight, “You have the filed report which was submitted to the council room?”
“It should be somewhere here. Ah, here it is,” the lean doctor walked to the desk his frame making Penny remind her of the time when she used to let a cloth dry as the wind blew at it. Handing over the parchment which was bound with a flap around it, Damien twisted it out to open the parchment and read what was written in it.
Penny in the meantime looked around the room which wasn’t too big but enough to have to more bodies in here. It made her wonder what happened to other bodies if the count increased in a day. Surely, there was a place to accommodate other bodies here or somewhere that wasn’t too far from the council building.
Little bottles were placed on the shelf, something that similar to the ones that they had brought in here right now but these were of different colors that held no label on it. Taking a step closer to Damien, she looked down at the body this time much more clearly. The sight was ghastly which looked nothing less to a horror she would have imagined how a ghost would look like.
The person had eyes that were black in color. No hair on the body, the body as if had been burnt only halfway through while leaving the person to suffer. It was a disturbing view which Penny couldn’t stop herself from frowning. The hands were left crooked, the skin that had half-melted making it look odd.
“The report here says that he’s a vampire but I doubt he is,” said Damien to receive a frown from the doctor.
“But he had fangs,” said the doctor for Damien to start pulling the gloves that he wore, throwing it into the sink. Murkh bent down, taking another look at the dead man’s cavity.
“He positively has fangs.”
“Where is it written that a person needs to have fangs to be identified as a vampire from the very birth?” Damien asked as he picked up a bottle and squeezed the gel-like liquid on his hand. As he rubbed both his hands, he said, “The report says he was from a family of low vampires but it doesn’t appear that he is a vampire. Maybe a turned one, not a recent one though as it’s been dated since child which might be a wrong entry,” Penny who stood not too far from the body looked at the dead person’s face, “The spots at the ends of his eyes is one of the very evidence which comes under the transformation of a human turning to a vampire.”
“He is not a vampire,” murmured the vampire doctor. Penny looked at the body and then at Damien who was eyeing the bottles that were set on the table, “They fell out of his mouth. The council in the court wrote down that it was pulled out forcibly for the shame that was caused,” said Murkh standing away from the body.
“Rubbish. The council doesn’t check enough. There are only some who do a decent job while the rest only slack. It makes me wonder how they even passed the council exam int he first place. This man, he must have been a human, a man who was either adopted or the entire family who were turned one after another. It can be either of them. Sometimes fangs fall off right after the transformation which is one of the many symptoms that the transition didn’t go well.”
“Thank you, councilman Damien. I will be sure to let the case handlers know what it is so that they can look into the case further. Why don’t you join the council of groups? With your intellect you would be able to find and solve the unsolved cases quickly,” Damien didn’t bother to respond and instead opened the box which he had bought from his mansion that had to be delivered.
“It needs a lot of work. I prefer to have my hands empty than keep them full but lately, they have turned full thanks to the black witches who never rest.”
The vampire doctor came around to notice a slot empty while the others had little tubes in them, “Did it come like this?”
“It did?” asked Damien for Murkh to look at him confused.
“One of the tubes is missing,” Murkh continued to look at the box to hear a hum from the councilman.
“So I see. This is the box for the potions that have been created by black witches. They need to be tested to check on what they are made of.”
“Is this what I think it is?…. Corruption…?” Penny heard the vampire’s words trail in question. It looked like most of the questions that were asked to Damien, the pureblooded vampire conveniently ignored the questions as if it were asked to him.
“Get it tested quickly by tomorrow morning. I will be back here-”
“Wait, the tube here is green. Is it another potion which is special?” there was excitement in Murkh’s voice as he said it, “Ah no,” the light in the vampire’s eyes dimmed down. It is green for another reason.”
“What reason is it?” asked Damien interested in knowing what just happened.
“Give me a moment,” said the scrawny doctor to take the tube to place it on an instrument and look at the tube through a hole that Penny didn’t know what it was, “Hmm. It’s not what I thought but they appear to have different properties, something similar and distinctive to water.”
“The water holds no impurities,” stated Damien where his eyes trailed from the doctor to Penny. The doctor to nod his head after he pulled away from his instrument to only get back to continue to observe it.
“Councilman Damien, is this tube being mixed up with the rest?” came Murkh’s voice, his hand turning a knob on the instrument as he continued to stare in it, “There are elements of the witchery which a white witch uses.”
Penny had been standing quietly when she felt Damien’s gaze on her to say, “White witch you say?” why was he staring at her as if to imply she was a witch?
