[SPEAKER_00]: Part II.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mori stretched his arms and flexed his hands.
[SPEAKER_00]: He smiled, even though he felt a little sick being out in the sun like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: His sunglasses protected his eyes, but it still made him feel uncomfortable.
[SPEAKER_00]: But, an artist had to suffer for his art.
[SPEAKER_00]: His master had taught him that when he was just a boy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Besides, his suffering was minor, compared to the suffering of his subjects.
[SPEAKER_00]: Diego looked a little uncomfortable.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is this really a good idea Maurice?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's very public and there are a lot of things that can go wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's part of the fun!
[SPEAKER_00]: Maurice put one arm around his friends shoulder.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have to vary our methods, or we never grow as artists.
[SPEAKER_00]: Besides, the police and Corrigan have now decided that midday is a safe time.
[SPEAKER_00]: We need to educate them.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as the coming leader, you need to get out and enjoy yourself a little too.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why I brought you along.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ernst shouldn't have all the fun for himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ernst, who was the one of them least affected by the sun, grinned, showing his fangs.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the weeks in San Francisco, the quiet and often nervous Ernst had found a confidence he didn't know he had.
[SPEAKER_00]: It had always been Diego who was Maurice's favorite, but so much of Diego's time had been filled up with his administrative duties that Maurice more and more counted on him, Ernst, to be his right hand, and he enjoyed that immensely.
[SPEAKER_00]: His hunting skills had improved, and Maurice had complemented him several times for his artistic kills.
[SPEAKER_00]: Behind them, the ferry building shimmered in the sunlight.
[SPEAKER_00]: The clock high above them ticked away the minutes, and around them hundreds of people were going back and forth across the square.
[SPEAKER_00]: The large fountain, which looked like a bunch of building blocks dropped haphazardly to a pool of water,
[SPEAKER_00]: Sent a smell of chlorine into the air that made most people's nose wrinkle when they came close, but Maurice did no such thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: The only smell he was interested in was the one coming from the people around him.
[SPEAKER_00]: The intoxicating scent of fresh blood about to be spilled.
[SPEAKER_00]: What about Cameras?
[SPEAKER_00]: Diego asked.
[SPEAKER_00]: won't there be cameras in the building or outside?
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope so, Maurice said, his eyes beginning to get the light that always signaled a creative burst coming on.
[SPEAKER_00]: It would be wonderful to have a video of us performing.
[SPEAKER_00]: It will make for excellent reviews straight to see an in.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are cameras, Ernst said.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we should be able to slip away without problems.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going by water and the cameras outside are aimed at the street.
[SPEAKER_00]: Diego relented.
[SPEAKER_00]: He unbuttoned his white shirt, folded it, and put it in a ziplock plastic bag inside his backpack.
[SPEAKER_00]: Under it, he was wearing a white undershirt.
[SPEAKER_00]: He liked his shirt too much to have it ruined by blood stains and baywater.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's go!
[SPEAKER_00]: Maurice said.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ernst, you time us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Three minutes, not a moment longer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ernst took a stopwatch from his pocket, and the three men headed across the square, crossed the street, and went inside the building.
[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly three minutes and four seconds later, they emerged through the door on the very side, running toward the edge of the dock and diving head first into the water of the bay.
[SPEAKER_00]: Behind them, screams and cries filled the air from the people whom they'd left alive.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even with Maurice's incredible speed and efficiency, they had not been able to kill everyone in the fairy building.
[SPEAKER_00]: It had been too big and had too many smaller rooms to search.
[SPEAKER_00]: As they hit the water and began swimming east,
[SPEAKER_00]: Maurice felt the crimson liquid he had just drunk running through his system, giving him extra strength and making his senses keen and alert.
[SPEAKER_00]: He loved the feeling right after feeding.
[SPEAKER_00]: When the blood he drunk made him feel alive in a way he never had before he became a vampire.
[SPEAKER_00]: The taste of so many different people's blood on his tongue, men, women, children.
[SPEAKER_00]: The twin babies he'd grabbed just before leaving, excited him, and he savored every single nuance, every drop of strength they had given him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, he could hardly drink people dry when they were doing an event like this, but it didn't matter.
[SPEAKER_00]: There had been so many beautiful dismemberments to balance out the kills.
[SPEAKER_00]: They swam underwater, not needing to surface to breathe.
[SPEAKER_00]: The current was strong, but they were all stronger than a normal human, and the temperature of the water didn't bother them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ernst, who had watched the movie escape from Alcatraz since they came to the city, couldn't help but think that if Clint Eastwood and his friends had been vampires, the escape would have been a lot easier.
[SPEAKER_00]: When they crawled out of the water in Oracle Park, they looked at each other with barely contained glee.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maurice was almost ecstatic, and Diego had a smile on his face that almost looked a little drunk.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was incredible, Mesami.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maurice said, and put his wet hand on their shoulders.
[SPEAKER_00]: You did a wonderful job.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ernst, the old woman you threw up over the restaurant sign with the fork,
[SPEAKER_00]: That was inspired!
[SPEAKER_00]: I loved it!
[SPEAKER_00]: Ernst couldn't blush, but if he could, he would have.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Diego!
[SPEAKER_00]: Maurice continued.
[SPEAKER_00]: Such elegance!
[SPEAKER_00]: Such grace!
[SPEAKER_00]: You truly have an eye for maiming!
[SPEAKER_00]: You're coming into your own?
[SPEAKER_00]: I can tell!
[SPEAKER_00]: You have both impressed me to know it!
[SPEAKER_00]: He squeezed their shoulders again.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's get dressed and head home.
[SPEAKER_00]: They pulled the dry clothes, wrapped in moors-it-lock bags from the backpack on Diego's back.
[SPEAKER_00]: After changing clothes and putting their sunglasses back on, they headed for the bus stop.