Disclaimer: As far as the author of the following work is concerned writing fanfiction includes inherent admission that all the rights to the intellectual property of the work the fanfiction is based on belong to parties other then the fanfiction creator. The author therefore has no claim as to the ownership of any recognisable characters, locations or situations that might have been mentioned in the story.
Summary: Usually when your assistant is having heart problems, you worry about people being at each other's throat and you suspect your partner's ex would like to kill you, you don't mean that literally. Unless, of course, your name is Vicki Nelson. Sequel to That Thin Line.
Special thank you goes to my beta Marlana. For all her help and not giving up after facing a story this size.
Heartfelt Friendships
Chapter X
"Mike?"
Vicki entered the room and was immediately relieved to see her former partner not only alive but conscious. Kate was sitting next to the bed, keeping him company, almost as pale as he was.
"Kate? Could you let us talk with Mike alone for a moment? I swear it won't take long." The PI spoke fully expecting a protest, argument and ending the matter with Henry using his persuasion on the female cop. She got none of those.
The detective looked at them for a moment with an absent look and nodded, leaving them there without a word. Only then did Vicki realise that Kate probably was in shock. How come nobody noticed that remained a mystery to her. Still, making a mental note to address the matter later, she concentrated on her friend.
"Mike? How are you feeling? Do you remember what happened?"
"Trust me, this was one of the kind of hard to forget things."
"You never told me how you were feeling." The PI observed. "You need anything? Do you want me to get you something before you tell me all about it?"
"Need? Well, it would be nice if bloodsuckers stopped treating me like an emergency buffet, now that we're at that."
Behind her she heard Henry chuckle.
"I cannot speak for all of us, Celluci, but trust me when I tell you I'm in no hurry to repeat the experience. If one thought your sense of fashion was distasteful, they should try your blood."
Half-amused Vicki observed emotions playing on Mike's face as he was apparently trying to decide if he should be relieved or insulted. To cover for that he eventually decided to steer away from the topic.
"Well, let's hope whatever she was shares your opinion. And by the way, I'm not so sure if she's a vampire. She smelled like something that just crawled out of a sewer and her attack methods almost made you seem gentle in comparison."
"She was, however, much less effective. Just by the sound of your heart I can tell you didn't lose that much blood."
That, Vicki realised, was the reason behind Henry so easily falling into the word-sparring routine with Mike despite the situation at hand. Well, that and actually hearing that in the first place even if he would probably rather face the sun than admit he was actually relieved to find the detective well.
"Well, she did seem to have a bit adverse reaction to bullets coming her way so she might have been a bit discouraged. You will forgive me if I don't feel sorry for her."
"Mike, stay with us here, alright? Can you tell us exactly what happened? Are you sure she wasn't a vampire?"
"She didn't exactly want to chit-chat so I didn't get a chance to ask her, if that's what you'd want. But aside from what I told you… I know how this is gonna sound but her teeth didn't feel right."
"Do I even want to know what you mean by that?"
"Well, thanks to our prince of darkness here," he sent Henry a dirty look, "I got to experience firsthand how it feels to have a vampire trying to rip your throat out. And this was different somehow. Like she used more teeth or something. Sorry, but I didn't actually spend too much time contemplating that then. I had a few more things on my mind, you know."
"But if she wasn't a vampire what was she?"
"Sorry, Vic, but you are the experts here. I try to concentrate on the situations where assailants have a pulse as opposed to the victims, not the other way round."
"If you are complaining about escaping alive…"
"Besides, what did you expect me to do? Ask Kate to bring me an illustrated encyclopaedia of monsters so I could… God. Kate. She saw everything." He breathed in a sudden realisation.
"Took you long enough to figure that out, Mike. Hopefully Henry can…"
"I'm not letting Fitzroy brainwash my partner."
"It's not your safety that would be at jeopardy, Celluci."
"Oh, I assure you, if I find out Kate is experiencing sudden memory problems you won't have any safety to speak of."
Henry's eyes were darkening and Vicki decided to step in.
"Henry, I believe Mike had enough of vampire or quasi-vampire attacks for tonight, don't you think? And Mike, we'll see if we can somehow deal with Kate without changing her memories, but no promises, alright?"
"Vic…" Suddenly he paused. "Eyes"
"Eyes? What drugs did they give you and are you sure they are legal?"
"No. I mean her eyes. Whatever she was. There was something about them..."
"A girl wants to drain you and you look deeply into her eyes. Is that the famous Celluci charm your grandpa always told everyone about in action?" Her remark was pointedly ignored save for a brief accusatory look from Mike.
"What exactly about her eyes?" Henry came closer, his full attention now focused on the problem. "Can you remember or do you want some help with that?"
"Oh, I remember alright. And if I didn't I wouldn't want to change the fact."
"If you want, I could give you a hand with that as well, as soon as you tell us what you meant about the eyes."
"I thought we already established that you are to stay out of my head, Fitzroy."
"If that's what you want. I won't insist. Now about what you meant..."
"I don't know what to tell you, really. I have the image before my eyes but..."
"Okay, Mike, focus. Was it anything like a vamped out vampire?" Vicki joined in with a question.
"No. I had enough time to get used to that one." Henry snorted, earning an annoyed look from the detective. "If anything, I could swear that for a moment they were glowing red."
"Glowing red? C'mon, Mike. I've seen that movie and the special effects weren't that great."
"I'm serious, Vicki. And you really aren't the one to talk seeing what your job profile looks like these days, not to mention having a Dracula-wannabe tagging along wherever you go."
"I assure you, Celluci, I have no wish to emulate Vlad Tepes. A fact you should be grateful for, given his approach to those who crossed him. I'd think you should be the first one to pray I don't change my mind on the matter."
Mike glared at the vampire but didn't say anything. Vicki decided it was up to her to make sure the digression didn't escalate.
"Anyway, Mike, is that all you can remember?"
"More or less. I'm not sure if it's even possible but there was something in that look... Complete insanity, as if she was on drugs or something."
"Oh, that's just great. Freakish vamp-like junkie with deprivation syndrome. This just about makes my week."
"Don't look at me. If it was up to me I wouldn't have anything to do with this stuff anyway. I didn't ask for it."
"I know you didn't, Mike." She sighed. "We should probably go now and see if we can deal with Kate somehow."
"Just..."
"I know, Mike, I told you, we'll see what we can do." She thought for a moment. "We should probably talk to her someplace private, seeing that we don't know how she may react. And neutral if possible."
"Thank you for being considerate enough to at least think of some privacy for dealing with the matter." The slight sarcastic note in Henry's voice was not lost to Vicki. "Do you think your office would be neutral enough?"
"It will have to do, I guess."
III
When they left Mike's room, Kate was nowhere in sight. Vicki noticed that Henry paused for a moment before going in one direction and she decided that he apparently knew where to go, so she followed.
"At least that's good news, right? Not only is Mike going to be fine but probably nobody tried to take over your territory." She spoke conversely.
"That's one way to look at it. A very optimistic way, but a way all the same." She got a quiet response.
"Ok, if that's optimistic, what's realistic then?"
"Noting that while nobody might be going directly against me, even if that's not yet proven in any way, and the facts are to the contrary, then my territory is still threatened. And if Celluci is right about the red eyes we could very well be dealing with a demon. Possibly even one targeting you, not myself, if we go by the choice of victims."
"I didn't know the girl. It might all be a coincidence. And wouldn't you be able to sense a demon off of Mike right now if that was true?"
"That may depend on the skill of the demon. Supposing it wasn't one, there is still a question of how close whatever she is resembles a vampire."
"If you are worried about vampires getting bad press then it can't possibly be worse than that first demon in Toronto. I mean, there is only one victim so far, right?"
"Is there, Vicki? We know Mike got away but we also know the creature was shot, multiple times. If her physiology is close enough to a vampire's one that she will need blood... even without being wounded she drained the girl. Can you imagine where that could lead now that she is?"
Vicki felt the blood leave her face, probably making her complexion match Henry's.
"We would have heard if something happened." She stated, having a strange feeling that she was actually trying to reassure herself.
"Would we? Even if the police already found more victims the only person within the force who would know the significance is unable to respond or inform us."
"Oh God."
"Yes, that would seem just about the right entity to seek help from at the moment. And right on time as well." He gestured to the hospital chapel door.
Vicki raised an eyebrow but quietly entered all the same, nearly colliding with Kate who was holding something firmly in one hand. The PI couldn't really tell what it was but her bet was on some devotional item the cop expected would protect her from vampires.
She chose not to disillusion the detective that the vampire currently in their company was probably the most religious of the people present. Instead she retreated to the corridor, giving the other woman opportunity to leave.
"Kate. We were just looking for you."
"How did you know I would be here?"
"Well, I asked myself what I would do if I saw a vampire and figured..." she let the statement hang, trying desperately to ignore a very quiet whisper of "You'd attack him and wake in his apartment some time later," that she suddenly heard in her ear. She mock-glared at Henry. Thankfully the cop seemed to still be in enough of a shock that she didn't notice anything. "Listen, Kate, now that we know Mike is gonna be alright what do you say we go to my office so you could tell us what exactly it was that you saw."
"I already told you."
"Well, yeah, but at that point I was concentrating a bit too much on the part about Mike being attacked to pay attention to any fine details. And if we want to catch that thing that got him, we should probably try to work something out."
"How can you expect to nail a vampire, Vicki?"
The PI glared at Henry whose expression already showed what kind of comment he was about to offer on the matter. When Kate looked away for a moment she mouthed a "don't you dare" at him.
"Well, you will have a unique opportunity to see how one combines the training from the academy with dealing with supernatural, all for free. What do you say, are you in?"
"You really do deal with the supernatural, don't you, Vicki? I half expected you took those cases just to prove to everybody that after leaving the force you did more than chase cheating spouses."
"One doesn't rule out the other. Remind me to tell you a story about an incubus sometime. But for now we need to be going." She turned to the vampire. "Henry, will you drive us? I don't think Kate is in any state to drive a car."
"I did drive here, you know." The detective protested.
"Suit yourself. But don't blame me if you total your car because of paying too little attention to the traffic."
"I won't."
"Alright then. Come on, let's go. We have a lot to discuss."
III
Vicki entered her office last and slammed the door behind her with satisfaction. Taking her frustration out on inanimate objects was hopelessly childish but very effective all the same when it came to venting.
She noticed that her action had gotten her attention and there was no point wasting the time.
"So, Kate, do you want something to drink? Coffee, tea, water?" On the other hand it wouldn't do to have the cop slip deeper into shock because of being dumped into the matter too abruptly.
"Alcohol?" the cop asked almost hopefully.
"Sorry, I need you sober or by tomorrow you'd convince yourself you never heard what you are about to hear and we'd have to go over it again."
"Coffee then."
"Okay." Vicki shook her electric kettle to check if there was enough water and turned it on. "Now then, on the phone you told me you thought you saw a vampire."
"I did see a vampire. I know it's crazy but I was hoping that you of all people would believe me."
"Oh, I believe you. But there is a problem with that. According to what Mike says what you saw wasn't a vampire."
"Look, I know what I saw. I might not be an expert on supernatural stuff but I think I'd know a vampire when I saw one."
"Oh, really?" Given how serious the situation was Vicki felt she really shouldn't have such a hard time restraining a laugh. She glanced at Henry, catching his eye. "Your call."
He sighed and shook his head. For a moment she thought it might be his sign of refusal but in the end when he looked up he seemed ready to play along.
"Detective Lam," he spoke getting the cop's attention. "I'm afraid I may be forced to falsify that statement." The woman looked confused. "You have been in the presence of a vampire for some time now and you failed to notice that fact."
Before the detective could utter a question, his eyes darkened and his fangs elongated, earning a surprised cry from her. She took a step backwards.
"I'm not afraid of you." She stated shakily and very unconvincingly. She held, whatever it was in her hand, tighter.
"Good. If you were it might prove a considerable obstacle if we were to work on this together."
"I..." Suddenly she moved, uncorked what Vicki could now clearly see was a small bottle and threw the water it contained in Henry's general direction. A few drops might have reached him.
"I assume that was holy water?" He asked and when he received a shaky nod from the clearly distraught woman, he crossed himself, probably even increasing the detective's confusion.
"But..."
"I'm sorry to disappoint if you expected something more spectacular. And I wouldn't get your hopes up when it comes to the cross in your hand, seeing as wearing one never did me any harm."
Finally Vicki took pity on the other woman.
"Are you alright, Kate? I know it might be a lot to take in, especially under the circumstances."
"How... How can you be so calm about it? He just said..."
"Well, it helps a bit that I've known for some time now. As in practically for as long as I've known him."
"And he never hurt you?"
"Well, there was this one time when he asked me out only to have it later turn into..."
"Victoria, may I remind you that I'm still in the room." She heard his voice with a faint accusatory note.
"It's not like you don't know what you did." She looked back to Kate. "You think you can handle all this?"
"Handle what? That you are working with a vampire, while Mike was just... Wait. Does Mike know?"
"About Henry? Yeah. Though I'd appreciate if it took you less time to get used to the idea."
"Meaning?"
"You don't want to know. And I mean it."
"But still, he was attacked by another vampire." She paused. "How many vampires are there out there? Is it some conspiracy with a second world besides our human one?"
Vicki could distinctly hear Henry muttering something about cinematography brainwashing people before the vampire spoke louder.
"I certainly hope not, because I have no knowledge of any such thing. And to the best of my knowledge, assuming that Celluci is right and his attacker wasn't a vampire, I'm the only one of my kind in Toronto."
"Why?"
Vicki sighed, suddenly tired of Kate questioning Henry.
"Because I didn't get along with his ex and he kicked her out of town." She heard Henry snort. "Now can we go back to the real matter at hand? As in catching whatever it was that attacked Mike and killed that girl?"
"Do we have any chance of doing that?"
"Can we afford thinking we don't?" Vicki countered immediately.
"In any case, we should start by trying to find out what are we dealing with here." Henry spoke before looking at Kate. "Can we count on your help, detective?"
Kate nodded, still visibly wary of him. "We need to catch a killer. It's still my job to do that. Whatever the killer is."
"I don't suppose I need to tell you that you are bound to secrecy when it comes to what you learned here?"
"Last time I checked stating that you saw a vampire resulted in suspension and an obligatory visit to a shrink. I'm in no hurry to put myself in that position."
"Good. Now, can you remember any details of what happened? Everything may count."
"Not really. That thing was very fast. I just saw it bite Mike and then escape when we opened fire. If it helps it smelled like walking gangrene."
"Descriptive." Vicki muttered. "Anything else?"
"Not really. I wasn't exactly eager to get a closer look." She sat heavily in the client's chair at Vicki's desk. "And I still don't know what I'm going to write in the report."
"What do you mean? Mike was attacked by a dog, right?" Vicki said stonefaced.
"A dog?" Confusion in Kate's voice was impossible to hide.
"Of course. She attacked Mike. As far as I'm concerned she's a right bi..."
"Victoria." Henry's voice didn't do much except bring a faint ironic smile to her face.
"And anyway, how many excuses could you give to explain bite marks?"
For a second Kate sat still, looking at the PI.
"Dog attack it is then. Do I even want to know how often Mike was in my position?"
"No. You really don't."
"Figures."
TBC
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