History Repeats Itself

Chapter 11 – The Fangs Are Still Red

Xander ran his hand over his face, glad to be in his car and on the way back to his place, if even a little early. He checked the time and groaned. Okay, way earlier. Oh well, can’t help it now. He was still on the clock so anything could happen, but at this point, he doubted so. Especially in this case. He had no clue where to turn next without Jade.

Hell, he even figured he’d stop for a coffee on the way back. Not because the caffeine would help him stay awake, that crap usually did s**t for him, but just the thought sounded good. Maybe the warm liquid would warm up his soul. He hadn’t heard from Jade and honestly, it was bothering him. He didn’t want to send her into the lion’s den, but he knew he had no choice as well.

He didn’t think they would do anything to her, but they were vampires and outside of what she had told him, he didn’t know anything. But he could admit, he didn’t trust them. Something wasn’t sitting right, and as a cop, again, he trusted his gut. So, for the tenth time in just a few hours, he checked his phone, still not seeing a call or text from Jade.

He knew she would tell him not to worry and honestly, he couldn’t explain why he was. This was her world, not his. He shook his head to himself before pulling through the drive-thru of a local chain coffee shop that he loved. They tended to stay open later, unlike the other major chains. He was browsing over the menu, figuring out what he wanted when his phone rang, making him jump slightly at the noise intrusion.

“Hey,” he said after checking the caller ID.

“Hey,” she came back, and he heard the sigh in her voice, even if she didn’t let it out. He struggled to hold his own in, grateful she was okay.

“Not good news?”

“Not that, Xander. I’m left with more questions than I started with. And what’s worse, I can’t go back to check on anything again. I ran into the head of the council, a man I know well enough. I lied to get back into the archive, but I can’t do it again.”

“Do you think he suspected anything?” Xander asked, placing his order.

“I’m not sure. He’s known me for so long and knows how good I am at my job. It’s not like me to make mistakes. Even the simple detail of leaving something out.” Xander frowned. There was that feeling again of worry over her. He didn’t like it. He didn’t want to worry at all. She had way more years on him and could handle herself, he had to remember that.

“Okay, so no lying about going back. It sounds like it was worth it though. Care to explain what you found?”

“That a mass killing has been done before.” Xander almost lost control of his precious coffee cup at that. What the hell did that mean? He smiled his thanks at the barista and pulled out of the drive-thru area, finally parking his car. He rolled up his windows, making sure no one else was around before focusing back on the conversation.

“What do you mean mass killings?”

“As vampires, we don’t have massive orgies where we go on a turning spree. And we don’t have mass killings. If we have court, and the vampires die, it’s one at a time. The year that I was turned, there were just shy of two dozen deaths in a very small time frame. That’s a mass killing. And remember this only records vampire deaths. Those types of numbers are unheard of. I might come across writing a couple of deaths a year, but certainly not that many.”

Xander didn’t know what to say to that. He sure hadn’t heard anything in his lifetime that he could recall. But then again, he didn’t know vampires were real until a few nights ago. And it’s not like the cop’s private system would allow him to go back hundreds of years to check things like that. The only proof he might be able to get would be old newspapers, and that would be very time-consuming.

“I’m….,”

“Floored?” she offered, and he was. A simple, but relative term.

“How is something like this even possible?”

“I’m not sure, Xander. I have a couple of ideas about people I might be able to talk to. But whatever road I’m about to embark on. I’m sorry, we’re about to embark on, we both better be ready. I have a feeling it won’t end prettily here.” He opened his mouth to say something, letting her know he was with her, but he heard the beeping on his phone, letting him know he had an incoming call. He pulled the phone away and checked to see the number of the station.

“Let me call you back, Jade. Work is calling me, and I don’t think it’s a good thing.”

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Xander turned over the words in his mind that Jade had told him. He figured those deaths, like this, weren’t something that was normally done. But to have it stated that the last one might have been almost three hundred years ago? Why then? What was so special about these deaths? And they weren’t typical deaths. What the hell was going on?

He pulled up to the scene, having been a little shocked to hear that there were two bodies found. Was it a double vampire slaying? How was that even possible? Not to mention, what kind of skills were required to not be seen while getting the ice, or while killing these poor vampires. Jade said it was impossible for a vampire to kill another vampire for the laws that were in place, but he was struggling to believe that the person killing was anything other than a vampire.

“Susan,” Xander called out, walking up to the woman who was examining the young male on the ground.

“Xander. I’m getting rather tired of running into you at these places.”

“Likewise. What can you tell me?” Xander asked, looking down at the body that was at their feet. It struck him as odd that the man wasn’t impaled. Where was his ice? Or was this man not, a vampire? And if not, who the hell had killed him?

“Male, Bobby Tyler, age twenty-five.” Xander frowned even more. That wasn’t going along with the typical MO he was finding out. So, what made this guy so special?

“Okay. I see a ring on his finger so I’m going to say he’s married.” Susan looked up and shrugged.

“You’re the cop, not me. I just examine the bodies.” Xander chuckled at her comment.

“Fine, I’ll take on the hard work.” Xander kneeled down, pulling the sheet further back to see if there were any wounds. And minus the big ass chunk of skin missing from his neck, he hadn’t seen any.

“Do you know what kind of beast would attack a human like that and rip off that much skin?” Susan asked, looking at the wound herself. Xander was thinking that Bobby’s death wasn’t caused by that. And an animal sure didn’t do that. But he couldn’t see a vampire doing that either. Jade had been cautious when she fed off of him, trying to keep everyone calm.

“No, I can’t say I do. Where’s the second body?” Susan stood and pointed behind her.

“Same thing impaled on ice. The first one was cool, unique, now it’s just getting old.” She wasn’t lying on that. They had a serial killer on their hands and f**k it all, he couldn’t say what he suspected was the killer. He’d get locked up in the looney bin for sure. If not, other vampires might come after him.

Xander stood and walked over to the body, pulling back the sheet to look at the young female. She couldn’t have been any older than nineteen. What was going on with teens these days that so many were running away and being on the streets solo? Xander was a big man, and he could never phantom being alone out here.

“Dorris Lee,” Susan said, walking up behind him. “She’s nineteen, just dropped out of college. Her ID was on her.” Xander pulled her lip up and noticed the fangs, although they were red as if she had just fed. He whipped his head around and stared at the other body. It couldn’t be that she was feeding off of him and got caught, could it? But why? Was it a crime to feed out in the open? And again, there was the problem of who was doing it, if not a vampire? “Do you have any leads, Xander?”

“I don’t know, Susan. Minus Bobby there, every victim has been a runaway, and one under the age of twenty. I’m not sure what the connection is, but I’m working as hard as I can on it.” Susan nodded and walked back to her van, getting ready to head back to her work. Xander looked up, seeing Jade on the edge of the scene. But rather than looking his way, her eyes were fixed on Bobby, the sheet still exposing his neck and he saw something flicker in her eyes.