Transylvania's Most Wanted

Transylvania’s

Most

Wanted

By M L Dunn

Copyright 2013 M L
Dunn

Smashwords
Edition

Chapter 1

It was unusual for Red to be summoned to the
mayor’s office. In fact, in his whole time as chief inspector he
never had been.

The mayor’s secretary told him he could go
on in, and as Red entered the room, the mayor was sitting at his
desk talking to a distinguished-looking gentleman with gray hair.
They seemed to be talking about the weather.

“Here he is,” the mayor said, standing up.
“I will let you two speak in private. Good to see you again, Red,”
he said, as he walked to the door, shutting it behind him.

“My name is Mr. Jordan,” the man said,
rising from his chair to greet Red. “I’m with the
Administration.”

“I got a telegram from you not too long ago.
In fact, two of them,” Red said, shaking Mr. Jordan’s hand.

“That’s right. I sent you two young men I
thought would make excellent recruits.”

“One of them was killed,” Red said. “In the
line of duty.”

“Yes I know,” Mr. Jordan said. “I wish now I
hadn’t sent him on to you.”

“It might have helped had the Administration
let us know Jack the Ripper was being dropped in our laps.”

“Yes,” Mr. Jordan agreed. “Unfortunately, we
are strictly forbidden from revealing such kinds of
information.”

“What do you want to see me about now?”

“There’s the irony,” Mr. Jordan said,
sitting back down. “I’ve come to warn you about a similar
matter.”

“Someone else been released from the dark
realms? Attila the Hun, maybe?”

Mr. Jordan smiled. “I wish it was that
simple. I’m afraid this matter will require something more than
turning the city upside-down looking for a madman. Why don’t you
have a seat,” Mr. Jordan said, gesturing toward the leather couch
against the wall.

“What is it then?” Red asked as he sat
down.

Mr. Jordan leaned forward as Red noticed he
was crushing the brim of his bowler with his fingers. “I have
reason to believe a conspiracy is planning some evil act here in
Transylvania City.”

“What are they planning?” Red asked quickly.
“Who are they?”

“I have no idea. Neither could I tell you
who exactly these conspirators are, but I have seen their handiwork
before and I can tell you that it is not beneath them to blackmail,
bribe, trick or coerce some person to carry out their dirty work
for them,” Mr. Jordan explained. “I had to plead with my superiors
just to be able to come here to tell you this much.”

The two men sat staring at one another then:
the one unable to say anything more, the other rendered speechless.
Finally Red spoke. “The only thing out of the ordinary happening
here now is the Prince and Princess visiting here from another
realm.”

Mr. Jordan said nothing.

“Have you told me everything you intended
to?” Red asked.

“I’m afraid so, yes, but I may have some
advice for you.”

“All right.”

“I’m trying to think of the best way to say
it.”

“Try saying whatever pops in your head
first.”

“Very well,” Mr. Jordan said. “Do you play
chess?”

“No,” Red said. “Never really cared for it,
but I know the rules well enough.”

“Well then, let’s just say a game was begun
once long ago. Neither side has committed a move in some time now,
but now our opponent has and the game is afoot again.”

“That does not really tell me much,” Red
said.

“I know,” Mr. Jordan said. “I just want you
to understand that you will be responsible for protecting the
pieces on our side of the board, and by that I mean people’s lives
are at stake,” he said. “Might not hurt to brush up on the strategy
of how the game should be played.”

“I’m not actually going to be playing chess,
am I?”

“No, of course not. It’s just that in this
contest that you are about to be drawn into, people, as well as
their actions, may appear to be something entirely different than
what they really are.” Mr. Jordan stood up then. “Maybe I should
not have said anything.”

“You haven’t, really,” Red said, getting to
his feet as well. He nodded at Mr. Jordan as he put his hat back
on, and started out of the room.

“Of course, it is the right of any public
official to call upon a member of the Administration to witness the
truthfulness of some official action taken in the presence of that
same Administrator,” Mr. Jordan said cryptically as Red opened the
door.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Yes, do that. I’ll be in the city the next
few days, at The Fountain hotel if you need me.”

Red nodded and left.

Chapter 2

The TCPD Defense

As Red came out the City Hall building he
looked around for the nearest call box, walked over and picked up
the phone. He asked to be connected to the inspectors’ offices.

“It’s me,” Red said when Miss Kensington
answered. “Inspector Flynn was due back at work today. Has he
checked in yet?”

“He did, and I sent him downstairs to see
Stone. He should be back soon.”

Every few days, while being held in the TCPD
jail, Stone would ask the guards to send for Inspector Flynn. Each
time he promised he had some important information that he was only
willing to pass on to Inspector Flynn. Of course, every time Tom
arrived, Stone failed to deliver on his promise.

Instead, the only information he had for
Inspector Flynn was that he would be wise to double his life
insurance because his wife would be collecting it soon, or that
there was a coffin sale going on and Inspector Flynn should buy one
because he was going to need it shortly.

This charade had been going on for the past
month, except for the last week, as Tom and Rebecca had been on
their honeymoon.

“It will take me a few minutes to get
there,” Red told Miss Kensington. “If Inspector Flynn shows up
before then, just send him out front.”

“All right, dear.”

When Red pulled up in front of the TCPD
building, Tom was waiting for him.

“What advice did Stone have for you today?”
he asked, as Tom climbed in the car.

“Told me there was a suit sale going on and
I should check it out, because I would want a nice suit to be
buried in.”

Red chuckled at that. “My favorite was the
one about needing to go to confession so you could die with a clear
conscience. I don’t know how much longer he can keep coming up with
them.”

“That’s what I said to him today.”

“What’d he say?”

“He said he wouldn’t need to for much
longer. Did you tell him he was going to be transferred out to the
Bastille or something?”

“No,” Red said, shaking his head. “It’s
going to be awhile yet.”

“Wonder what he meant then. Where we headed
anyway?”

“Oh, to see your wife, actually. Is she over
at the library?”

“No,” Tom said. “She’s at home.”

“Oh, could we go see her there? Would she be
up?”

“She’s up. Let’s go see her.”

“I’ll wait ‘til we get there to tell you
what it’s all about. I’m not quite sure of the best way to explain
this to you.”

After asking about their trip and briefly
being shown around the small home they had rented on a street where
a number of other young constables and firemen lived with their
wives, Red sat down at the kitchen table and accepted the cup of
coffee Rebecca offered him.

“Did you see those two zeppelins while you
were in Londonium?”

“Oh yes,” Rebecca said
excitedly. “The
Tempest
is dark in color, like a storm cloud. It has a
series of lights built into its outer hull that flash like
lightning, and its horn sounds just like thunder. The
Dauntless
is the king’s
personal craft, and both ships have large red stars on them to
identify them as belonging to the U.R.R.K. It’s a shame they won’t
be coming here.”

“That is a shame,” Red said. “But I just
learned today that Prince Marko and Princess Alexi are coming here
to attend the Halloween Ball at the Hotel Triumph. However, they
are coming by train. That’s what I was hoping you could help me
with, actually.”

“
How can I
help?”

“I have a copy in my office, but I haven’t
looked through it yet. I’m talking about the pamphlet they’ve been
handing out about the U.R.R.K. Have you seen them?”

“I have one,” Rebecca said. “I picked it up
while we were in Londonium.”

“Would you mind getting it?” While Rebecca
hurried to another room to find it, Red turned to Tom. “You might
find it interesting how all this came about.”

“Really?”

“Mr. Jordan, a member of the Administration,
asked to talk with me today. I just come from the mayor’s office
where I met with him.”

“Mr. Jordan, the man who suggested I join
the Flying Squad?”

“Yes,” Red said. “He’s staying at The
Fountain hotel. He warned me something might happen here. I can
only assume it has something to do with this prince and princess
visiting here.”

“What else did he tell you?”

“Absolutely nothing, other than to say the
first moves of what he compared to a game of chess, were made long
ago, and the board has sat untouched until just recently.”

“What’s that mean?”

Red shrugged his shoulders.

“I found it,” Rebecca said, stepping back in
the room.

“Would you mind reading it to us?”

Rebecca sat down and
opened the pamphlet. “The U.R.R.K stands for The United Realm of
Russians and Kreatures. I guess “creatures” is spelt with a K
there,” she said. “It is the realm where people of Russian descent
are sent, after their time on Earth is finished and is one of the
few other realms where vampires, trolls, golems and witches live.
While Britannia is much like England circa 1920, The U.R.R.K is
much like Russia of circa 1900. The U.R.R.K. is a vast
stretch of frozen tundra, and
temperatures often drop to twenty below there. It is heavily
forested in spots and it is
estimated
there are over forty breeding pairs of hell hounds
there.”

Red and Tom exchanged glances at learning
this.

“Every twenty-two years, the winds over the
Pole die down enough for travel between Britannia and the U.R.R.K.
to be possible,” Rebecca read.

“Is that right?”

“Twenty-two years ago,” Rebecca continued,
“nearly a hundred vampires and other creatures emigrated from there
after a prominent vampire was charged with treason and murder.
Despite King Havel’s assurances for their safety, some persecution
arose following this event, and some of the vampire community
decided to leave there for Transylvania.”

“Were you here then?” Tom asked.

“No,” Red said. “I arrived here a couple of
years later. But you say some creatures came here from there
twenty-two years ago?”

“That’s right,” Rebecca said.

“I guess you might call that a long time,”
Red said looking at Tom. “So what caused all the trouble?”

“Let’s see,” Rebecca said flipping the page.
“In the last few months of his life,” she began, “King Nikola took
to his death bed. A year before, he had banished his eldest son,
Yuri, from his sight. Yuri had fallen in love with a young witch
named Anna and wanted to marry her, but King Nikola forbid it, so
Yuri left the Royal City with her. By decree, King Nikola then took
away Yuri’s birthright to the throne. After a year, King Nikola
came to regret his rash decision, and he wished to be reconciled
with Yuri. So he sent his most trusted advisor, Count Voorhees, a
vampire, to find his son.”

“Yuri and Anna, upon receiving the Count,
learned King Nikola wished for their return. They traveled several
days across the vast, cold landscape of the U.R.R.K to the Royal
City. Prince Yuri’s reunion with his father was a happy occasion,
made even happier when King Nikola learned that Anna was pregnant.
The king was doubly glad, for Yuri’s younger brother and his wife
were also expecting, their second child.”

“I can see trouble coming,” Tom said.

“Only days later, King Nikola died just
after midnight,” Rebecca continued. “When some of the King’s Guard
went to awaken Prince Yuri to tell him, they discovered Count
Voorhees trying to kill Prince Havel while Prince Yuri lay already
dead at their feet. The captain of the guard rushed to Prince
Havel’s aid, as Count Voorhees fled through a secret
passageway.

Count Voorhees had gone to Prince Yuri with
a plot that they conspire to kill Prince Havel, so that Prince Yuri
could be king. He told Yuri that he had already summoned Prince
Havel there. Prince Yuri though, wanted no part in the Count’s evil
plan, so Count Voorhees murdered him. He then lay in wait for
Prince Havel.”