Chapter 2
Danny awoke to a pounding in his head. It felt like his heart was racing. Funny, he felt calm. He wondered why he felt so peculiar. As he opened his eyes he realized that there was more than one heartbeat in his head.
He didn't have time to figure out what was causing the pounding, as he felt like he was being blinded. Not with light, but with color and vivid detail. It took him a moment to figure out what he was looking at as the details overwhelmed him.
"Mac?"
His voice was deafening to himself, though he spoke barely above a whisper. It took a moment before Mac realized that he'd said something.
"Danny," Mac responded.
That one word seemed to hold so much more behind it than it had ever before. Every inflection was not lost on Danny. There was worry, stress, and a hint of fear in Mac's voice.
"Why are you afraid?" the question didn't come out as he thought it would, his new fangs making him slur his words somewhat.
Danny saw Mac wince and recoil, though he'd actually barely moved. The other heartbeat in Danny's head spiked and made him look to the other side of the hospital bed he was lying on. There stood Lindsey.
Danny's breath rushed from his lungs. She looked so tragically beautiful. He wondered how he'd never noticed how sad she was before.
"Lindsey," Danny began to speak but stopped short when he saw a flash of horror on her face.
Before he could ask what he'd done she rushed out of the room, leaving a trail of tears that only Danny could see.
He went to sit up but found that he couldn't, as he was strapped down onto the bed.
"Mac," Danny's voice was pleading, "What'd I do?"
Mac shook his head and leaned forward, though every instinct in him was saying to retreat.
"Nothing, Danny. It was my fault," Mac spoke in all honesty, "I underestimated the danger of the crime scene. I should have sent reinforcements and had you wait until day light before processing the surrounding area."
Suddenly, it all came back to him: Images of fangs; the taste of blood in his mouth; the feeling of his back pressed against a brick wall and the piercing pain in his throat.
"Stella, is she ok?"
Mac nodded, "A bit shaken up, but she's still working on the case."
Danny felt relief wash over him. He wondered why emotions were hitting him so strongly, yet he also felt so disconnected from them.
"When can I get outta here? She's going to need help."
Danny felt Mac's heartbeat quicken, "Hawks is helping her," he paused to swallow, "Danny, do you remember what happened?"
It was Danny's turn to swallow. There was a feeling in the pit of his stomach, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was.
"I got bit… There was nothing I could do. He had me against the wall before I could think about grabbing my gun."
One thing that Danny had never thought of himself as was defenseless, but that was exactly how he felt when he'd been bitten. He remembered how weak he felt when the blood ran down his throat and he began to swallow.
As Danny remembered the sensation, it seemed more appetizing to him than when it'd happened. Danny was brought back to the present when he caught a whiff of Mac's unique scent, though it was different from how he normally smelt. The scent was raw, seemed more pure than what he'd smelled like before. It smelled like… blood.
Danny realized what the feeling in his stomach was. It was hunger and now he knew what he was hungry for.
He was actually happy to be tied down to the bed, as the urge to bite and drink from his boss became overpowering.
Mac noticed the change in Danny. The fear that he'd been holding back sprung loose as he came face to face with the monster that could possibly consume the man with whom he'd had issues with in the past, but in recent years had come to count on.
"I'm sorry," Mac spoke quietly, as if to himself, "I can't authorize your release."
--
Flack glared at the vampire across the table from him. The vampire could almost look like the clichéd vampire. He was tall with dark hair, though it was unkept and greasy. He had a long face, pronounced cheekbones. There were several wrinkles around his eyes as he squinted at the detective. Flack had purposefully set him on the side of the table facing the windows.
"You know most perps find the room to be a little dark," Flack said in a no-nonsense tone, "But I guess you'd have your own opinion on that."
The vampire snarled, baring his yellow fangs, while wincing painfully against the light of the sun peaking through the blinds.
"Here's the deal. I'm going to ask you some questions and if I think you're lying, I start redecorating and I'm gonna start with takin' down those," Flack pointed at the shades threateningly.
"I already told you," the vampire hissed.
"Well how about filling in a few gaps, like your name for starters."
The vampire hesitated for a moment, "Charles Hinckley."
"You got a job, Charles?"
"How is this going to help with your investigation?"
Flack stood up from his seat and walked over to a window in the corner of the room.
"You know I never realized how old these blinds are," Flack said in an almost conversational tone, "My girlfriend would say these are 'dated.' Now I'm not too picky. I figure we could get at least another year or two outta them… Then again, she could have a point."
Charles shifted uncomfortably in his seat, trying to put as much of his body under the table as possible, "I wasn't anybody important… Just a store clerk."
"This was before the whole…" Flack made mock fangs with his fingers.
Charles nodded, "I lost everything: My job, my home, my life."
Flack sat back down across from the vampire, "What were you doing in that alley?"
Charles smirked, "You really think I was alone," he shook his head and leaned forward, "There were so many vampires there we could fill this room."
Flack tried to poker-face his discomfort at the thought that just hours before there were several vampires watching him and the other officers from the darkness and they had no idea.
"So what was goin' on? Decide to have a little vampire get-together and figured you'd grab a snack while you were at it?"
"I had nothing to do with the attack on the investigator," Charles insisted, "I saved his life."
Flack shook his head, "That's not how I see it. We have a cop attacked by a vampire, and look whose in custody. A vampire found at the scene, standing over the vic with blood in his mouth. Sounds like an open and shut case to me."
"Then why are you questioning me?"
Flack shrugged nonchalantly, "Maybe just for my own curiosity."
They stared each other down for a moment before Flack spoke again, "Why did you do it?"
Charles stared back. As Flack looked into the vampire's green eyes he felt himself become dizzy and nauseous. He felt like he was being lifted out of his chair and pulled into the green depths.
Before he knew it he was looking at an image of the alley through the vampire's eyes. The image was blurred and distorted but unmistakable. Just as he saw Danny walk into view he felt a pull back to reality.
When he came to he was no longer sitting at the table with Charles, but up against the two-way mirror, the vampire mere inches from him.
"Don't fight it," Charles spoke in a smooth voice, trying to lure Flack back into the trance.
Flack's nose wrinkled at the smell of decay from the vampire's mouth. He flinched away, breaking eye contact and the spell. He quickly grabbed the vampire and slammed him onto the table.
"Whatever that was, it was the wrong answer," Flack said while cuffing Charles.
He was clearly disturbed when he called for the guards to help transport Charles into a special holding facility.
He couldn't for the life of him remember ever uncuffing the vampire…
--
A/N: Updates probably won't be this quick all the time, but I was urged to keep writing until the second chapter was done. :)
Even though there wasn't much response to the first chapter I hope you're all enjoying. Extra thanks to those who added me to their favorites list and story alerts, and extra-EXTRA big thanks to xdannyx for their review.
