-Mid-town: 12:30 AM -
There were two boys, probably no more than sixteen laughing and jeering as another boy about the same age held a very pretty woman in a very pretty green dress down on the ground. She whimpered and struggled but was no match for the young man’s strength as he brought her hands above her head and revealed sharp fangs. She screamed then and the two laughing boys stopped laughing and stepped back in quick shock.
It was fake.
“Shut the fuck up.” said the young man holding the woman down as he neared his face to her neck.
This was as good as time to step in as there was I suppose.
“Okay, that’s enough you guys. I’m not a meal.” They all snap their attention to me as I come within view on the dark street. Apparently I was closer than even they thought.
“Help me!” the woman screams, which causes the boys to grin, the two standing beginning to make their way towards me. Apparently they hadn’t recognized me, but their scent was still familiar to me. They had been doing this same ploy in an alleyway downtown a month ago until Jersey and I had kicked them out.
“Help yourself Bella.” I reply coldly before nodding to the teens approaching me. “Junior. Bobby.”
“Oh shit! It’s that cop guy again!” Bobby says as he turns to the two on the ground.
Bella is a vampire, has been for awhile, Junior, Bobby, and Jack who is holding her down are her thralls. When she’s not using her feminine wiles to attract potential victims, they do this. They wait until they hear their prey and pretend that Jack, the bigger of the three, is going to do bad bad naughty things to Bella hoping to inspire the good in someone, drawing them over so the four could ambush them.
“Oh God damn it!” I hear Bella yell in frustration. “Get off me Jack!” Bella yells angrily, shoving Jack and lifting him not only off of her but off the ground completely before standing up and dusting herself off. Jack lands with a thud in a crumpled heap but slowly begins picking himself up, holding his chest where she hit him. Poor kid probably broke a rib.
“What do you want now Nathan?” Bella asks approaching me in a huff. Bella was a looker, just under six feet, thin, well endowed, and all the curves from head to toe. She had a small purse, leather of some kind, and was wearing a sparkling green dress that covered her from head to toe, but with a long slit at the bottom up to her hip revealing shapely legs.
“Actually Bella, I’m on my way to the Medical Examiners office to check out a body. I had heard there was some gang of punks.” I pause to nod at the trio, standing obediently behind Bella a few steps. “Causing trouble, and the reports say they had fangs, which were scaring the locals even more than normal. Figured I’d see what was going on while I walked, you know, two birds- one stone, that sorta deal.”
Bella suddenly took several steps back, holding her hands out like a shield, a face full of revulsion.
“Bleh! Garlic! Really!? Was that necessary? You could have warned me first!”
I chuckle. “Sorry Bella, Slipped my mind.”
“Ugh, well, we’ve only been here a week or two. I don't know who’s telling who what but I have been on my boys the whole time making sure they don't cause any trouble while we get a better lay of the land.” Bella explained matter-of-factly.
“Even when you’re sleeping? These are all mostly during the day.”
The boys are giving me the evil eye but jump back in fear with shame filled expressions as Bella whirls around on them.
“What have you been doing!?!” she hissed.
“N-nothing!” Bobby stammers out, the other two backing another step away.
She glares at Bobby a moment before smiling sweetly up at Jack.
“Jack, dear, tell me the truth. What have you been three been doing while I am sleeping the day away hmmm?” I was facing away from her, but from my experience with my late master, I could tell by her sweet voice that she was coercing them as all vampires can to their thralls. A vampire and a thrall have a special connection, and vampires can call upon that mentally turning their thrall into a big ol’ puppet incapable of denying their master anything.
I don’t miss that part. Well, sometimes it made things simpler I suppose. I don’t know.
Jack’s shameful expression went blank for a moment, that’s the connection working you see, before it fell into a look of despair. I was surprised he held his composure long enough to answer.
“It just started off as teenager stuff, like when we were just humans. We would walk around and just hang out. We found an arcade not far from here we would hang out at.”
Bella sighed. “Have you been feeding without me?”
Jack just blubbered a response, something akin to a yes. Bella hissed.
“Go back to the room. Now.”
“But, will you be okay with him h-” Junior this time dared speak.
“What did I just tell you.”
The three nodded, and without another word, not even look of spite at me, they walked off. Bella watched them go for a minute and sighed before turning back to me, her face was a mixture of anger and what looked like nervous tension. I pull out my pack of smokes and offer her one but she says nothing, waving it away and pulling out her own. I light up and take a thick drag.
“Sorry for bugging you tonight Bella, I was unaware that they were feeding myself. I figured they were just causing trouble.”
Bella nods, taking a drag from her own before tilting her head back and releasing a thick plume of smoke into the air. “It’s fine, i’m no longer mad at you for it.”
I nod and pull out my card, extending it to her to take. “When you see them again, get them to tell you what they can about whoever they drained and where they hid the bodies. If you can get me that information I might be able to help keep it covered up and then you guys dont have to move spots again.”
Bella nodded, taking the card. She tapped it against her chin thoughtfully, smiling up at me with a mischievous grin. “Do you miss it?” she asked
“What? Drinking blood? Or being a slave?”
“Both, I guess.”
The air goes silent as I take another long drag from the cigarette, releasing my own thick plume into the air before answering.
“I guess I sort of do. Sometimes.”
Bella just smiles and nods, stepping towards me and patting my shoulder and extending her neck to whisper into my ear.
“Too bad you’re so old or I’d make you mine.”
I grin, turn to face her, and blow air at her, the scent of garlic still thick on my tongue. Bella gags and reels, lurching away from me.
“You’re an asshole Nathan!” she manages to get out through her chokes and wheezes.
“You bet your ass I am.” I say smiling as I walk away giving her a farewell salute as I go.
-Mid-town: Medical Examiners Office 1:30AM -
The body was more gruesome than initially described in the report from Jimmy. I could only imagine how it looked covered in blood and fresh at the scene. The throat was sliced neatly and clean, but there were impressions around the cut, like someone bit down without breaking skin, possibly to suck the hot flowing blood?
My fangs feel itchy at the thought. I glance at the face and take a look at the cuts up and down the cheeks. They were thin, barely piercing the skin. Maybe using the cheeks to clean the blood of the knife? I shake my head and turn my attention to the horrible sight of the stomach. The entire abdomen has been ripped away, there didn’t seem to be any signs of the knife that sliced this man’s throat. As if something plunged its fingers into this man's stomach and literally ripped a chunk out to get to the organs inside.
The throat looked like a human’s work, even the bite marks showed that. The stomach looks like that of a Werewolf or Skinwalker, using thick rugged claws to deal this kind of damage. However, with clicking on the light of a small handheld flashlight the interior damage looks more like a human once again. The blade that was used on the throat has returned to carve up the inside.
“Pleasure and business?” I click off the flashlight, normally i’d use the overhead lights but no one seems to be around, and I had to sneak in through an open window a few stories up. Don’t want anyone to know i’m here or even was here.
I instinctively reach for a cigarette but stop and sigh and instead reach into my jackets inner pocket and pull out a flask. I pop off the top and take a swig of cows blood before replacing the top and putting it away. I wont be able to formulate properly until Jersey talks to the Skinwalkers tomorrow for me. Time to clean up here, get home, polish off this cow blood, and pass out until tomorrow evening.
I take my time cleaning, drinking at my flask as I go, and by the time I’m done I’m feeling pretty buzzed. So much so that I nearly trip over myself and out the window. Thankfully, no matter how loud I am on the street, no one is around to see. My apartment is a good mile or two, but i’m feeling pretty content with just walking. A tune begins playing and I put a little pep in my step until i realize that the tune was coming from my phone.
“Heel-oh!” I say in a sort of sing-song voice, trying to disguise my slurred words.
“...Uh. Nathan? It’s Jimmy.”
“Jimmy? Whatsssssup?” I wince at my words. I was a little more far gone than I thought.
“Are you drunk?”
“...Yes.”
There’s silence. Then: “We found another body Nathan, like the last one.”
Now it’s my time to fall silent. The news shocks me. I expected another body, but in the same night? “Where? The woods again?”
“No, Iron Heights Park. The kill is fresh, the body is still warm.”
I curse. Jimmy continues. “You want me to call Jersey?”
“Nah, let the big guy sleep. I’m almost home, let me sober up quickly and I will be right there.”
“Okay, better hurry, my shift ends in an hour.”
“Why the hell didnt you take the rest of the night off?”
“We’re super short handed right now, and I felt better after I got back to the station and filed my report. I was going to finish the night up and take tomorrow off to unwind… Might take a vacation.”
“You might wanna do that. See you soon. Dont leave until I get there.” I hang up the phone, cursing loudly as I enter my apartment building. I send a text to Jersey that I am going to investigate another body and tear off my jacket, throwing it messily against my chair before taking my phone and setting up an Uber. I need to get there, sober or not, as fast as I can. Warm bodies means there may be some kind of trail to follow.
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