8 December 1888
Night
Vampires
🔔 Location: The Ten Bells Pub
💭 We have heard all the normal theories. We should see what else is out there. Could it be a vampire? The word alone feels theatrical. Absurd. And yet the persistence of it. Decades of whispers that the killer drank blood, moved like mist, vanished into the London fog. Refuses to die. Kim is already too deep. I can hear it in her breathing before she even speaks.
📞 Kim (to you)
I’m at the Ten Bells. You can hear it, can’t you?
This place is loud. It’s packed with dockworkers, factory hands and a few men who look like they haven’t slept since August.
And yet everyone here is talking about the same thing. Whitechapel. The bartender keeps pretending he isn’t listening. But he is. I have heard rumors about this place. About a certain… backroom.
📞 You
Start simple. Ask questions.
📞 Kim (to you)
Right. Here we go.
📞 Kim
Evening. Busy night.
📞 Bartender
Busy month. What’ll it be?
📞 Kim
Gin. And a question.
📞 Bartender
Questions cost extra.
📞 Kim
I’m trying to understand something. Everyone keeps telling a different story about the killer. But one rumor keeps coming back.
The one about blood.
📞 Bartender
You hear that one somewhere particular?
📞 Kim
In a tea room full of respectable ladies, actually. Which is why I’m curious where it started.
📞 Bartender
Respectable ladies don’t start that kind of rumor. They borrow it.
📞 Kim
From where?
📞 Bartender
There’s a back room. Couple of regulars in there. Strange lot. If anyone’s feeding that story into the streets, it’s them.
📞 Kim (to you)
Good. This is exactly what we want.
Alright. I see three people. And they all look like they belong in different nightmares. Oh man I want to go home.
📞 You
Describe them.
📞 Kim (to you)
First one is a man sitting perfectly still. He is thin, tall and his hands are folded. And he hasn’t blinked once since I walked in. Second is a woman surrounded by notebooks. She’s writing constantly. Furiously. Every few seconds she mutters something and scribbles it down.
And the third… I recognize him. The mortuary attendant. Whitechapel mortuary. The man who helps wash the bodies.
📞 Mortuary Attendant
You’re not here by accident.
📞 Kim
No. I’m here because people say strange things about these murders. And I’m trying to understand why.
📞 Folklore Woman
People always say strange things when something refuses to make sense. Fear needs a shape.
📞 Unblinker
And sometimes the shape is correct.
📞 Kim (to you)
Okay. I officially dislike this room.
📞 Kim
Let’s start with the simplest rumor. The one about blood. Why do people say the killer drinks it?
📞 Mortuary Attendant
Because people see the bodies. Even if the police try to keep them away. Word travels.
📞 Kim
And what have you seen?
📞 Mortuary Attendant
The throats. That’s the first thing. Every one of them the throat was cut deep. Always first. You wonder why, don’t you?
📞 Kim
That could simply be the quickest way to kill someone.
📞 Mortuary Attendant
Yes. But listen carefully. When you cut a throat that deep… blood goes everywhere. Walls. Floor. Clothes. Everything.
📞 Kim
And that didn’t happen?
📞 Mortuary Attendant
Not the way you’d expect. There was blood. Of course there was blood. But not enough for what was done afterward.
📞 Kim (to you)
That’s actually interesting. If the mutilations happened after death, you’d expect a lot of blood. But some witnesses say there wasn’t as much as expected.
📞 Folklore Woman
That’s where the stories begin. When something feels… incomplete.
📞 Kim
You believe the killer is supernatural?
📞 Folklore Woman
I collect stories. And London has many. Creatures that feed. Creatures that move through fog. Creatures that appear human until the moment they are not.
📞 Kim
You mean vampires.
📞 Folklore Woman
Among other things. Eastern Europe speaks of the strigoi. Ireland has the deargh-due. Creatures that drink life from the living.
📞 Kim
And one of them moved to Whitechapel?
📞 Folklore Woman
Cities attract monsters. Human and otherwise.
📞 Unblinker
But there is another possibility.
📞 Kim
Which is?
📞 Unblinker
Not a vampire. Something older. Something that walks like a man but sheds its skin.
📞 Kim
Oh good. We’ve upgraded from vampire to shapeshifter.
📞 Unblinker
Witnesses describe the killer differently every time. Tall. Short. Dark coat. Light coat. Different hats. Different faces.
📞 Kim
That’s called unreliable witnesses.
📞 Unblinker
Or a creature that changes shape.
📞 Kim to you
I refuse to engage that theory seriously.
📞 Mortuary Attendant
Ignore him. Listen to the simpler explanation.
📞 Kim
Which is?
📞 Mortuary Attendant
Whoever did this knew the body. Not just where to cut. But where to find things.
📞 Kim
You mean organs.
📞 Mortuary Attendant
Yes. In one case the killer removed a kidney. Clean. Fast. In the dark.
📞 Kim
That would require knowledge.
📞 Mortuary Attendant
Or practice.
📞 Kim to you
Yes yes he was a doctor. Or a butcher. We have heard of this so often by now.
Removing organs in darkness is not easy. I get it.
📞 Folklore Woman
Unless the organs were not trophies.
📞 Kim
What else would they be?
📞 Folklore Woman
Ingredients.
📞 Kim
Ingredients for what?
📞 Folklore Woman
There are traditions. Rituals. Potions made with pieces of the human body. Hearts. Kidneys. Blood.
📞 Kim
You’re suggesting ritual magic.
📞 Folklore Woman
I am suggesting someone believes in it. Which is often enough.
📞 Kim to you
Occult motive. Not supernatural; but someone believing in it. That’s actually more plausible than vampires.
📞 Unblinker
You ask many questions.
📞 Kim
That’s usually how conversations work.
📞 Unblinker
But you don’t believe anything we say.
📞 Kim to you
He’s not blinking. Still not blinking.
📞 Unblinker
Come here.
📞 Kim
I’d rather stay exactly where I am.
📞 Unblinker
Just a moment. Let me show you something.
📞 Kim
Hey!
Let go of me. Ough.
📞 Unblinker
Your pulse. Fast. Fear makes the blood sing.
📞 Kim
Okay that is enough. What did you do to me!?
📞 Mortuary Attendant
Leave her alone.
📞 Kim
We’re done here.
I am back in the main bar. And I am never going into that room again. That touch.
That was WEIRD. Hopefully, I am not cursed now. Anyways: the vampire theory survives on barely anything. But maybe that’s because we lack evidence. Maybe it was deliberately withheld. Maybe they want us in the dark.
📞 You
What now?
📞 Kim
Now I’m going to finish it
🔔 Call Disconnects
💭 What a weird ending. It’s certain that Kim has lost all thinking capacity and is on full survival mode at this point. You wonder when she will call again. If she calls again. She might not. That thought haunts you. What did she mean with ‘Now I’m going to finish it’? What is she going to do? You must go to Secrets Hall to communicate with Mr. Sterces.
📞 Call Disconnects
