When I got home I quickly showered and changed before arming myself. I strapped a pistol to my left calf, two on my hip, and one on my right ankle. I then strapped a dagger to my right thigh, left ankle, and one on my hip, along with my strongest taser on my hip too. I needed to be ready and prepared for anything and everything.
It was 10:30 p.m. when I got to the address. As soon as I pulled up I knew something was off. I got out and walked to the front door to see it ajar. I immediately pulled my gun as I turned on the flashlight before carefully pushing it open. I went through the first floor and found nothing, however, the second floor was a different story. As I walked up the stairs I noticed a light on in the master bedroom. When I entered the room I saw a man and a woman lying in the bed, grey, cold, and dead… I was too late. I immediately grabbed my radio. I need to call this in now.
"This is detective Adelaide Clayden, I have two 10-187's at 7108 Lawford Rd."
"10-4, officers are ten minutes out."
"They're not going to make it in time."
I jumped when I heard the deep, gruff, dark, and very masculine voice. I turned to the window to see a man with short spiky black hair, and large black eyes; he's muscular with broad shoulders, a thick torso, with pale white skin, and stood at 5'7. This man looks as if he's been carved by the Gods themselves. His face and body is perfectly chiseled with a sharp jawline and perfectly defined mussels. Despite this man's beauty, he screamed danger and death to any who dares to disrespect or to go against him, but oddly, despite all that there was this strong pull, drawing me closer to him. I fought hard not to approach him. To hide my struggle and my desire to go to him I replaced the desire with all the anger and sadness that I felt with all those families torn apart by this man. I stood my ground and narrowed my eyes at him.
"You."
I said through gritted teeth. The man simply smiled wickedly.
"Hello, detective."
His voice matched his look; gorgeous, masculine, alluring, sly, and deadly. He went to take a step, but before he could I immediately aimed and cocked my pistol at him; ready to fire. He just laughed deeply, sending shivers down my spine.
"Do you really think that your pathetic gun could harm me?"
I glared at him and at his overweening attitude.
"You're not a God, you're merely a man. A bullet is far faster than any man."
"Oh, is it now?"
He said into my ear. My eyes widened. What? How? I didn't even see him move! It's impossible for a man to move that fast!? He lightly grabbed my wrist as one of his fingers put down the hammer of my gun. What felt like a pleasurable burst of an electrical current flooded my arm from his touch, causing my fingers to relax and for my gun to drop to the floor. He then moved his head to my neck, his breath on my skin was both hot and cold all at the same time.
"I've waited soo long for this."
He said softly as he placed a feather-light kiss on my neck, electricity flooding my neck. I tightly shut my eyes as I bit my lip to hold in a moan as my knees went weak. Suddenly I felt both pain and pleasure shoot through my neck as I felt his teeth sink into my warm flesh. I didn't hear drinking as the survivors have said, no, instead I felt something ice-cold enter my bloodstream as I quickly became weak.
He then bit into his wrist before his lips met with mine. My eyes widened as I felt a surprisingly warm thick liquid enter my mouth and down my throat. It had a strong metallic taste, I immediately knew that this was his blood. My eyes quickly became heavy as my body felt like my bones were made of lead and my blood turned to mercury, ringing filled my ears as my head began to feel light-headed. That's when the muffled sound of police sirens filled my ears. Relief immediately washed over me. The man sighed heavily.
"Damn it, out of time."
He said as he gently laid me on the floor.
"See you soon… detective."
Despite the heavy ringing in my ears, I was still able to hear his soft voice clear as day. I felt his slightly rough and warm lips as he placed a tender kiss on my forehead before darkness fully took over my vision and passed out, but not before the sound of people entering the house cut through my ears, then... I heard nothing.
(Josiah's P.O.V)
When I got the call that Addi discovered two bodies I was immediately on edge. I couldn't help but worry about the safety of my partner and best friend. I had a really bad feeling about this whole thing as all sorts of situations filled my head, the worst being that she ran into The Vampire.
I got to the address in just six minutes; four minutes ahead of the others. As I pulled up I immediately noticed the wide-open front door. Something is wrong. I quickly got out of my car as I pulled out my gun and flashlight. I cleared the first floor and then went straight up to the second floor and into the master bedroom where I saw the light of a lamp coming from. As soon as I entered the room I saw the man and wife dead on the bed, my eyes then darted to where I saw Addi laying on the floor unconscious, her gun lying a few feet away from her. I rushed to her side as I grabbed my radio.
"This is Detective Fisher, we have an officer down! I repeat! An officer down!"
I was relieved to find that she was breathing and had a pulse, but her pulse was weak and her breaths seemed shallow; she was deathly pale and her skin felt cold. That's when I noticed the two puncture marks on the side of her neck and the small dribble of blood trailing from the corner of her mouth and down the side of her cheek. My face paled, matching Addi's complexion. I can only hope that that's her blood and she's not in critical condition.
Everyone… please-- please hurry.
(Adelaide's P.O.V)
I couldn't hear or see anything, everything was shrouded in a thick and heavy darkness. I couldn't tell where I currently am or how long I've been here, but I knew I wasn't dead, I could feel my heart beating in my chest, be it a bit slower. I felt cold, but my blood felt like it was being replaced with lava. The pain in my limbs, mouth, eyes, lungs, throat, and even my hair made me feel like I was in agonizing pain. I tried to scream out, but no sound came out.
It felt like hours till the pain began to subside. Slowly I began to feel my fingers and toes. As I moved my limbs around I felt soft cotton sheets under and on top of me and a pillow under my aching head. The sound of a ticking clock began to fill my ears, slowly pulling me out of my slumber.
As my eyes fluttered open I was faced with the rhythmic pounding in my head caused by the ticking clock on the bedside table. I quickly sat up, the blood rushing to my head making my head throb even harder. I grounded as I grabbed my head till the room finally stopped spinning. Once the pain diminished a bit I looked up to notice that I was in my bed. How did I get here? I looked around my dark room only to notice it wasn't very dark as I could see every tiny detail of my room. It was then that I noticed the extreme dryness and pain in my throat, my stomach growling simultaneously.
Once the room completely stopped spinning I carefully got up from my bed and walked into my strangely not so dark living room that has blackout curtains. I walked to the window and carefully pulled it back to look outside. As soon as the sunlight hit my eyes they immediately began to burn and water as I just as quickly shut them again.
"Ok, that was not pleasant. Note to self; eyes highly sensitive to sunlight at the moment."
I said to myself as I rubbed my eyes. Sighing, I walked into my kitchen and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. As I opened my water I noticed my phone, bag, and belt with all my tools on the dining table. I grabbed my phone to see it was at 30%, there was also a text from Joe. I unlocked my phone and read the message, it read;
"Hey, let me know when you're awake. We need to talk."
He sent this two-and-a-half-hours ago at 10:45 am. I immediately called him. Three rings later and he finally picked up his phone.
"Hey Addi, glad to know that you're finally awake. How are you feeling?"
"Hey Joe, I'm feeling fine. I have a bit of a dry and painful throat, aching muscles, and a decent-sized headache, other-than-that, I feel pretty good."
I lied, well, I didn't completely lie. I do have a dry and painful throat, aching muscles, and a headache, but I truly feel less than good, even less so than fine. I felt absolutely horrible, everything hurt so bad, it was like I got hit by a train then ran over by a bus immediately after.
"Good, I'm glad."
"By-the-way, what happened and how did I get home last night?"
"I took you home after the hospital decided to clear you, saying that all you needed was lots of rest and you'd recover on your own. Oh, speaking of last night… WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!!??"
He yelled into the phone. I quickly pulled the phone far away from my unusually sensitive ears.
"Why didn't you tell me you got a message from The Vampire!? And out of all the idiotic stunts, you could have pulled WHY do you fucking go alone!?"
Once he finished ranting about every reckless stunt I've pulled; this being the worse, he finally stopped his yelling. I put my phone back to my ear.
"I'm sorry. I thought that I could handle it, and I thought that if I didn't go alone I wouldn't have been able to confront him as I did."
"Wait, did you actually come face-to-face with The Vampire?"
"Well, yes and no."
"Explain?"
I paused for a moment. I can't tell him what he did to me, there's no way he'd believe me. He'd probably think that I was crazy or something, that I hit my head pretty hard and dreamt the whole thing, or that the adrenaline rushing through my body was soo great that I hallucinated the whole thing, but I knew that I couldn't tell him anything, he'd know that I was lying. I have to give him something, anything till I can come up with a logical-sounding explanation of the events of that night.
"Well, everything is still a bit fuzzy around the edges, but I do remember him as clear as day. From what I could tell he was a white man in maybe his late 20's, and he stood over 7 ft tall. I couldn't tell what his face looked like because he had his jacket hood over his head, shading his eyes and nose in darkness, I could only see his mouth. I don't know if it was my imagination or not, but his eyes looked like they were glowing bright red."
"Damn, well, do remember anything before encountering him?"
"A bit, yeah. When I arrived I knew something was wrong, the front door was slightly open. The ground floor was clear, but the second floor and the master were a different story. The light was on, and when I entered I discovered that I was too late. After I called in the bodies I heard his voice and met him. However, I don't remember much after."
It was quiet for a moment; an intensely painful moment.
"I see. Well, Juli has given you today and tomorrow off to rest and recover. She also told me to tell you to call her if you needed anything else, including if you need more time off; which I honestly doubt."
I chuckled lightly.
"Tell her thank you for me."
"Will do. Also, don't forget that we need an official statement from you as soon as possible, so if you remember anything else write it down before you forget. Eyewitness reports aren't the most reliable, but you're the best we got."
"Uck, ok, fine."
"You also need to drink more water. Your voice is beginning to sound worse."
"Yah yah, I know."
"Remember to get lots of rest and to just relax.
"Yes, mom."
I said mocking the voice of a teenager. Joe chuckled.
"I'm serious, don't push yourself too hard and take the two days Juli gave you."
He said seriously.
"Don't worry. I plan on just going back to bed."
I lied. I hate lying to him, but I really don't have much of a choice.
"Good. Take care."
"You too, bye."
"Bye."
Once the call ended I sighed as I plugged my phone into the charger and plopped down on my couch. I really didn't quite understand why I lied about the man. I know why I lied about the other events, but why did I lie about him? I still remember his face as clear as day, with a police sketch we'd be able to find and catch him no problem. Was it because of this unnatural pull that I have towards him that only feels stronger now, even though he's not here? Part of me wants to see him again so that I can question him, but yet, another part of me fears that if I do meet him again that this time I won't escape with my life like I did last night.
It's been a few hours now and I've drank about five bottles of water and ate half of the large pizza that I ordered, but I still can't get this insatiable thirst and hunger under control, along with the pain and dryness in my throat. This new hunger and thirst has only developed not long after I ended the call with Joe. I then remembered when the man bit me, my hand instinctively went to my neck. Could this be a side effect from whatever he did to me? Could he really be a vampire? No! It's not possible! There's no such thing! Come on Adelaide, don't be ridiculous, vampires don't exist outside of fiction novels and trashy B-ranked movies. Think Addi, think, there has to be a perfectly logical and realistic explanation for all this. Said trying to reason with myself.
~~~~~~~~
It was the next day and my thirst and hunger and the pain and dryness were only getting worse. I can't stand another day outside of work, I have too much to do and too much on my mind. I extend Josiah telling him I'll be coming into work today. He, of course, tried to convince me otherwise, but he knew he was fighting a losing battle, a battle that forced him to throw in the towel and to inform Juli that I'll be in in about the next 30 minutes or so.
When I walked into the station I went straight to my office. When I entered I was met with Chief Julia, Josiah, and another person. I craned my head up to look at the man; when my round brown eyes locked with those large black eyes. I tried to hide my shock as she just smirked down at me, the irresistible pull began to draw me in, but it was stronger than when I first met him. I fought the urge to not only walk straight up to him but also the urge to call him out on who this man really is.
"Glad to see you feeling better Detective Clayden."
Juli said formally as she gave me a warm simple.
"As am I. Thank you for your concern, Chief Crawford."
I responded respectfully.
"I would like you to meet Kendal Dendow."
Juli said introducing the man. Kendal held out his hand for me to take.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Denbow, I'm Detective Adelaide Clayden."
I said as I reluctantly shook his hand. As soon as our skin touched a thousand fireworks flooded my hand and shot straight up throughout my entire arm. I quickly released his hand, his smirk widened. Juil continued.
"We figured you could use a more outside view with all the cases you tend to take one. So, Mr. Denbow is here to become your private and personal consultant. Think of him as your new official partner."
I gave her a confused look. New partner?
"Excuse me for my bluntness Chief, but Detective Josiah Fisher is already my partner, what'll happen to him?"
I asked.
"It's fine Addi,"
Joe started before Juli even opened her mouth.
"I'm either going to work solo for a bit, in the office, with Officer Clive, or Detective Soames. Besides, you're the best of the best, you really don't need another detective or officer helping you solve cases. And just think about it, having a civilian consultant will provide you with a view from the outside of a case. It may be much more beneficial for you than you think it'll be."
Joe explained calmly. I sighed, not really wanting to argue, and as much as I'd hate to emit it, but Joe might be right, that and it'll provide me a chance to question Kendal and to even keep a close eye on him too. I turned back to Juli.
"Very well Chief, if you think this is the smartest decision then I trust your judgment."
Juli smiled as I turned to Kendal to see his fists clenched as he glared at Joe. Kendal quickly looked to me as I forced a smile.
"Well Mr. Denbow, I'd like to formally welcome you. So, please call me Adelaide or Addi is fine with me too."
I said, trying to sound happy. He seemed to have relaxed a bit once his eyes met mine, his eyes softening as he gave me a genuine smile.
"Very well, in that case, call me Ken. I too look forward to working with you."