Page 44 of Stalk the Dark
“Yeah, I’m starting to accept that.”
“Tulpas are creatures born of human imagination,” Merry provided. “What some might call the monsters under the bed.”
“What kind of monsters?”
“The kind that have made Dracul territory their home,” Padma said. “You won’t find many like these creatures in any other territory.”
“The ones who live here have adapted to being among humans in the open,” Edwin said. “Even though they’re often shunned.” He broke away and headed down the street. “I’m surprised we got a Raven about this one. The Sangualex usually ignore these reports altogether.”
We followed. “Aren’t the Sangualex asleep at this time?”
“The vamps are,” Padma said. “But their personal veins run the operation during daylight hours.”
There was so much I needed to learn. So much that hadn’t been in my brief. I bit back my annoyance; it would do no good to me now.
Number eleven was a neat mid-terrace house with a green door and golden knocker. The drapes were drawn, and the windows looked grimy, but the small front yard was well-kept, grass neatly trimmed with aborder of soil ready for spring blooms. Someone cared about this garden, even if their net curtains needed a wash.
Edwin knocked on the door, and we waited.
Long seconds passed, and Edwin was about to knock again when the door opened a crack, and a gray face with deep-set eyes peered out.
“Winnie Dargo?” Edwin asked.
“Yarrk.” Her voice was deep and echoey.
“We’re with the Order.”
“Ick, one mormenth.” She closed the door, and when it opened a moment later, it was to a smaller version of Winnie—a child dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. She had the same gray, gaunt look as Winnie with the deep eye sockets so it looked like her face was more skull than skin.
“Come in,” she said in the same echoey voice. “Please.”
We entered a dark corridor with ugly peeling wallpaper and the sharp acrid smell of cat piss.
I switched to breathing through my mouth.
Winne was visible in the doorway down the hall. Her head touched the top of the door frame, and I realized she’d stooped down when answering the front door to us. She was a tall, slender thing with arms too long for her frame. Her legs were hidden behind her floor-length skirt, but the feet that peeked out were long and bony.
Someone had imagined this creature into being?
“Tell thaam,” Winnie urged the child version of her.
“My dad hasn’t come home in seven days,” the girl said. “He always comes home on time from the factory, but he didn’t. We called his phone and even borrowed a Raven but nothing.”
Seven days? “Why’d you take so long to report it?”
“We didn’t.” It was difficult to be sure with her eye sockets so dark and deep, but I got the impression she was glaring at me. “Reported him missing when he didn’t come home.”
Of course they did. But the Sangualex didn’t bother doing anything about it till now. I glanced at Padma, but she was staring straight ahead, jaw tight, probably thinking the same thing I was. Missing persons cases got harder to solve the colder the trail got, and seven days was pretty icy.
“We’ll look into it,” Edwin said. “Give us the address of the factory, any recent photos, and do you remember what he was wearing?”
Padma tapped my shoulder. “Let’s wait outside.”
Back on the street, fresh air in my lungs. So many houses, so many tulpa, and the law here was neglecting their needs. Clearly marking them as second-class citizens.
“We have to help them.”
“You know as well as I do that the trail will be stone-cold by now.”
