The world around him was spinning, full of darkness, dampness, and pain. Above all else, there was the unbearable pain. Every vein in his body seemed to pulsate with an overbearing burning sensation. His arm ached, his ribs stabbed him with each breath, and his neck was swollen, the gaping holes festering and bleeding. With blurry vision, it was hard to make out the body of the nurse where she lay crumpled next to him. She had to be in even more agony considering she had also been shot. He secretly hoped she would just die so that she wouldn’t be in such misery, but he could hear her crying softly. Dixon was born to help others; knowing he was helpless to save her, in many ways, was far worse than the physical pain he was experiencing. If he had enough energy, he would reach over and wrap the chain that held him to the wall around her throat. But he couldn’t move. Even if he somehow managed to rest long enough to restore himself, he knew they would just come and drain him again.
It had happened three times now. First, there had been the hideous monster in the waiting room, the one that began this nightmare. Then, he had been draped across Gibbon on two separate occasions as his captors facilitated the draining of his veins so that their creature may live. He had never been one to believe in the supernatural. Now, he wished he knew more about how to stop these demonic beings so that he could save the nurse and return to his beloved girlfriend, Cindy.
As he lay on the floor staring through unfocused eyes at the table that contained Gibbon, he prayed that his partner had survived and that Abby Watson would find a way to help him. Otherwise, he just wanted to die. And the more he lay there, the more he hurt, the more he watched the creature come to life at the expense of his own blood, the more the latter sounded appealing. For Detective Dixon, dying would be most welcome.
* * *
Abby Watson lived in a quaint apartment near the precinct where she worked. And by the sounds of the locks she unlatched after Andrew knocked, it was also quite secure.
“Ms. Watson?” Andrew said, smiling politely. “How are you this afternoon?”
“About as well as can be expected,” Watson shrugged, pulling the door open just wide enough to speak to him. She had dark circles under her eyes, and though she was dressed and her hair and makeup were done, it was obvious she had been recently crying.
“This is my superior,” Andrew began, gesturing to Aaron.
“Aaron McReynolds, nice to meet you, detective,” Aaron said offering her his hand.
She shook it, but she had a questioning look in her eyes.
“I hope you don’t mind me coming along. When Andrew said you’d called and wanted to chat, I thought it might be a good idea for me to come as well. I’ll be handling the investigation from now on,” he explained.
“Oh, no, of course,” Watson stammered. “Won’t you come in?” she asked, stepping out of the way.
As they sat down in chairs near the minimalistic gray couch, she asked, “Can I get you anything? Water? Tea? Coffee?”
“We’re fine,” Andrew assured her. She nodded and dropped down on the couch in front of them. “We don’t want to take up any more of your time than necessary.”
“I appreciate that,” Watson nodded. “I was hoping to go into the office today… but my chief wouldn’t let me. He said… he said I should take some time to clear my head.”
“That’s understandable,” Aaron said, “considering what you’ve been through.”
He had a gentle nature about him, and coupled with the serenity of his blue eyes, Watson began to feel calmer. “I’m glad you could come,” she said dropping her eyes to the floor. “I mean… I didn’t know if I should call you or not—part of me thinks that what I wanted to talk to you about sounds crazy. Now. In the light of day. But…” she paused, considering whether or not she should continue. They were both looking at her with patient, encouraging expressions. “I want to make sure that—if I saw what I think I saw—someone knows about it. I just don’t want you to think I need to be committed. Although, I’m pretty sure that—if you are who I think you are—you already know that what I saw was real.”
“Detective Watson?” Aaron asked, leaning forward in his chair. “Did you see a Vampire last night?”
Andrew choked a bit, clearly startled by the bluntness of the question, and Watson was momentarily distracted, which gave her a moment to gather her thoughts. As Andrew assured her that he was fine, she finally nodded and said, “I believe so.”
“You’re not crazy,” Aaron assured her. “And you called the right people.”
Watson let out a deep sigh of relief. “Really? You don’t think I’m insane?”
“No, you’re perfectly sane,” Aaron assured her. “Now, I know it won’t be easy, but can you tell us exactly what you saw?”
Taking a deep breath, Watson looked into his eyes for a moment and stilled herself for what she was about to say. “I was asleep when… when everything happened. I woke up to what sounded like assault weapons being fired. I grabbed my revolver and checked the hallway. It was clear, so I started moving toward the nurses’ station. I thought there would be a silent alarm there. I didn’t see anyone else; I had no way of knowing if everyone else was down or if they were hiding, but I found the alarm and tripped it. And then….” She paused again, taking another deep breath. She was having trouble putting into words what she had witnessed.
“It’s okay, Detective Watson,” Aaron assured her. “Just tell us what you saw.”
“Well, when I approached the waiting room, first I saw the body of a nurse—her name was Sally—on the ground, shot. And then I saw this… man… this big brute of a man, straddling my partner, Peter Dixon, and he was… sucking his blood. He had his mouth pressed against his neck, but when he pulled his head back… I could see. I could see his fangs dripping my partner’s blood.
“I froze. I ducked behind the wall—and became paralyzed. Maybe, if I could have reacted faster—maybe I could have saved Dixon. But, I just couldn’t get myself to move forward. It took me a few seconds… maybe twenty… and then, when I finally pulled myself together and started to move into the waiting room, they were gone. The monster, the nurse, and Dixon.”
Aaron and Andrew exchanged glances, and after a moment, Aaron reached over and placed his hand reassuringly on her arm. “Thank you for sharing your story with us, detective. And I assure you, there was nothing you could have done to save your partner. If you had tried, you wouldn’t be here with us today. Your bullets would have done no good against the Vampire you saw. You would have been powerless to stop him.”
Tears were streaming down Watson’s face now. “I just wish I could have done something.”
“You are doing something,” Aaron reminded her, leaning back in his chair. “You’ve told us, and this helps us tremendously. Now we know for sure that we are the right people to investigate this case. We know what we’re up against. Thank you so much for being brave enough to talk to us today.”
“Do you think there’s a chance he’s still alive?” she asked, a hopeful expression on her face.
Although Aaron was well aware of what Eliza had seen in Giovani’s lair in the Czech Republic, he knew there was really no reason to give Watson false hope. Even if they did find some semblance of Dixon, he would never be the same man she had known. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, but Vampires like the ones we are up against don’t keep people alive.”
“Then why did they take him?” she asked.
“Who knows? There’s a possibility that they were traveling a great distance and thought they might need him for that trip, but from what you’ve described, chances are he was dead before he even left the hospital. And if the nurse had been shot, she was likely dead already, too,” Aaron explained.
“Well, if you do find him, you’ll let me know, right? Even if… even if he’s not the same?”
“Of course,” Andrew assured her. “If we are able to find out what they did with him, we’ll let you know.”
“Thank you,” Watson said, letting her breath out and leaning back on the sofa.
“So, you didn’t see any of the other intruders, did you?” Andrew asked. “And you don’t really know how many there were, right?”
“No, I’m sorry,” Watson replied. “I didn’t give chase. I was just too shaken up by what I’d seen, and they were moving so quickly.”
“That’s okay,” Aaron assured her. “Again, you’d have been a casualty if you had.”
“Right,” she said, nodding her head slowly, wondering if that would be such a bad thing.
“Is there anything else you want to tell us?” Andrew asked, smiling at her meekly.
“No, that’s all,” Watson said quickly. “Nothing else.”
“All right, then,” Andrew said starting to pull himself out of the chair.
“Are you sure?” Aaron asked, still sitting. “It seems like… there might be something else.”
