Chapter 4

Kimberly powered down and ran over to Xavier. She sidestepped the large crack in the ground to get to him. The other rangers followed suit and went to him. Billy bent over and put his fingers on Xavier's pulse. He turned to Kim.

"It's strong Kim. I think he just passed out." Kim smiled and looked down at Xavier. His shirt was almost completely ripped off showing his well muscled body underneath. She gently shook him awake.

"Good morning sleepy head." She said with a smile. He grinned back. While helping him up Kimberly felt an electrical charge coursing through her body. Realizing that she was holding his hand for too long she let it go quickly then blushed. Xavier grinned and went to pick up his and Kim's books. The others quickly took them from him ignoring his protests.

After a few minutes they reached Xavier's house. It was a large colonial house much like the others in the area. It was white with the paint peeling from age. The windows were dingy and almost impossible to see through. The lawn was overgrown and choked with weeds. The only pristine thing on the property was the car. It was a 67 Shelby Cobra. It was emerald green with a gold racing stripe.

"Nice place you got here." Jason said sarcastically.

"Bite me. We just moved in." Xavier said with a smile. He looked at Kim. "Listen I know I said I would walk you home but I am really tired."

"No I understand. You go rest." Kim said with a smile. Xavier grinned back and then went inside. A few seconds later an older man ran out of the house. While he looked a lot like Xavier he was noticeable older. His hair was short and he had a small beard that framed his mouth. As soon as he left the house he lit up a cigarette. He was wearing a three piece grey business suit with a red tie. He looked over at the kids.

"Can I help you with something?" He asked. His English accent was much more pronounced then Xavier's.

"We just walked Xavier home and were wondering if he was o.k." Jason said.

"Well he went to his room and passed out so please don't bother him." The man said as he hopped in the car and took off. As soon as he was out of site the rangers went to the door and knocked. Eagle opened the door.

"What's up?" He asked.

"We want to see Xavier if you don't mind." Trini said as sweet as she could. Jason seemed to melt but then he shook his head.

"Sorry but he's sleeping and I can't let you. I will tell him you stopped by though."

"O.k. you have a good day." Trini said disappointed as they left. After a few moments they reached Billy's house. It was a single floor blue house. Billy opened the garage. The inside was a large lab. Putting their books down the rangers started to talk about what happened.

"What do you think Rita was trying?" Zack asked.

"Isn't it obvious? She was trying to get Kim when it was impossible for her to morph." Billy said.

"Yeah and when that didn't happen she tried to kill Xavier. I guess she figured that if we couldn't save him it would kill us." Jason added.

"But what I don't get is how Xavier moved that pile. I mean it was huge and then what he did to Rita's goons. I have never seen anything like that." Trini said. The other rangers agreed. After a few hours of talking and joking they said their good-byes and went to their homes.

The door to the Angel Grove Memorial Hospital's morgue opened. A man in a grey business suit walked in. He walked over to the coroner. The coroner was a young blond woman. She was cute with her white lab coat and her hair up in a bun. She looked up and saw him enter.

"Can I help you?" She asked. The man pulled out a badge and showed it to her.

"Detective Nick Masters of the Angel Grove Police Department. I called earlier." His accent was very thick. She looked him in the eye and smiled.

"Hi I am Dr. Hawthorn. What is it you wanted to see?"

"Any strange cases of death in the past couple of days?"

"Yeah we got one just about two days ago. What are you looking for?"

"There is a cult that came out of Stone Canyon. They use some weird technique to make it appear as if the victim was attacked by a vampire. The victims are drained of all their blood. The S.C.P.D. said the cult leader was heading this way. Then three days ago we got a missing person fitting the general description of the victims at Stone Canyon. A young woman about 16-21 with good health and no substance abuse."

"Well we got one like what you say. She came in yesterday. Punctures on her carotid artery are how they got the blood. I've seen people bleed out before but I've never seen anyone like this." She walked over to a drawer in the wall. Pulling it out she removed a sheet of the body. It was a young woman with brown hair. At least that is what he was told by Dr. Hawthorn. She looked to be a lot older. Her skin was pulled tight over her bones. It was incredibly pale. There were two small holes in her neck. Nick covered the body back up.

"The oddest thing is that when we swabbed for DNA what we got was so degraded that we couldn't use it."

"What do you mean?"

"That the DNA was like almost fifty years old if not older."

"But she has only been missing for three days."

"Exactly so maybe your killer is using something very old to cause these wounds."

"Maybe old dentures that have been used before."

"Yeah that would work. If anything else comes in I'll call you."

"Thank you very much Doctor." Nick said as he left the morgue. He walked over to his car. After climbing inside he switched the radio to a frequency far below what the police use. He picked up the mike and pushed the button. He used no call sign because he was the only one that used this frequency.

"He's here."

"How do you want to proceed?" Can the voice on the other end.

"It's just a waiting game now. We watch the morgues."

"I don't like reacting."

"You and me both. I'll talk to you later." He said as he sped off into the night.

Author's Note: Made minor changes through out the chapter to lengthen it.