Under a Blood Red Moon
By: Lady DeathAngel
Disclaimer: don't own them, don't sue me
Warnings: slight language and a tad bit of vamp violence at the beginning (not really but just to be safe I thought I'd mention it ^^;)
A/N: Well, here's the first chapter (the other was a prologue). This takes place fifteen years after the aforementioned prologue, and the girl at the beginning isn't anybody anyone knows. Heck, I don't even know her . . . ^^; Anyway, please review. Thanks!
It was the middle of July and a cold wind was blowing. It blew through the trees, it blew over the water of the lake centered in the park. It rifled the hair of the young woman walking home late at night.
"Damn that man. I knew I should have had him drive me . . ." She muttered, shivering.
Why was it so cold? She didn't know, but she was frightened. She quickened her pace.
"Only two more blocks and you're home." She told herself. "Two more blocks . . ."
She stopped suddenly at a faint hissing noise. "Who's there?" She called.
No one answered.
She started walking again, biting her lip and looking all around her in an attempt to make sure that no one was following her. She had just started to breathe easily, one more block to go, when she heard the hiss again. Only this time it formed words.
"So hungry."
She stopped. "Who's there?"
"I'm so hungry. I smell blood. Whose blood is it?"
"Who are you? Where are you?" She cried, stumbling backward.
"Is it yours?" The voice asked right at her ear.
She opened her mouth to shriek but a cold hand closed over her lips, trapping the sound. She fought the arms that held her, but they were too strong. She felt two pricks at her throat, felt her blood being drained from her veins. It hurt so bad. And then she was too weak to fight. Too weak to scream. Too weak to do anything but fall backwards and allow the figure to carry her into the dark alley way.
~*~
Phones were ringing off the hook at the police station. Everyone had a different account of what they'd seen the night before. Everyone had a story. It was getting annoying.
"Hey Noin, Une wants to see you now."
Lucrezia Noin nodded at the young police officer who'd called her and headed toward the Chief of Police's office. When she got there it was to hear Lady Une on the phone.
"Yes I know and we're very sorry about your loss Ma'am, but . . . of course we're doing everything we can but these things take time . . . yes we'll let you know if we have a lead . . . right, goodbye."
"Another hysterical mama?" Noin asked, leaning against the doorway.
Une nodded. "Another hysterical mama." She affirmed.
She took her time shuffling some papers at her desk before she finally got to the point.
"We need an officer to go the morgue at Lansview Hospital and examine the bodies one more time. Look for anything that's similar, besides the obvious, and write a more thorough report."
Noin made a face. "Doctor Po is *not* going to be happy."
Une's grin was solemn. "I know that. But we need to do this if we want to get any closer to catching our culprit. In the meantime, I've got officers patrolling the streets 24/7/365 until we catch our man or woman."
"Or creature of the night." Noin added with a grin.
Une sighed and rubbed at her temples with her fingers. "That's all bullshit Noin and you know it. Vampires in Emerald Springs? Who came up with that story anyway?"
Noin thought for a moment before snapping her fingers. "The Rising Sun."
Une shook her head in disbelief. "No possible way, Noin. That's Quatre's paper isn't it?"
Noin snorted. "The Rising Sun? Hell no. That's his competitor. He runs the Emerald Springs Central. Oldest running newspaper in the county."
"How'd that story get out anyway? Mayor Darlian specifically said to the police force and hospital that if any of this got out . . ."
Noin shrugged. "Don't know. But he's probably got his panties in a real twist over it."
~*~
"Oh my God Trant! Did you hear about what happened? I mean, did you hear about the vampires?"
Hilde glanced sideways at her best friend Trant and the blonde haired, big chested girl in front of him. She was gazing up at him raptly, her eyes wide and shining. While Trant probably thought it was cute, Hilde thought she might gag if she had to listen to another word. She had a business to run and she didn't have time to listen to stupid rumors about vampires.
"They found the fourth victim last night! She was all carved up and . . . and . . . and *bloodless*! What if I'm next Trant? Oh God, I can't stand it!"
Next thing everyone at Hilde's garage knew, Trant had taken the girl into his arms and was using a means of comfort as an excuse to cop a feel. Hilde raised an eyebrow at him from behind the girl's back. He only grinned at her.
She made a face and started to walk toward the small house she owned about fifty yards west of the garage. Vampires. What a hoax. Maybe once upon a time she thought they were real. She'd been completely convinced that she'd encountered one when she was little. Her parents and brother and about ten therapists and psychologists managed to convince her differently.
Just then she heard a loud shout and groaned.
"Hey Hilde! What's shakin'?"
She turned around with a sigh.
"Duo, what are you doing here?"
Duo Maxwell smiled at her and shrugged.
"Aw come on, do I need an excuse to visit a friend of mine?"
She raised an eyebrow and watched him walk toward her.
"We're friends? Since when?"
His smile took on a slightly more crooked edge.
"Okay, okay. I was checking up on ya. You know, as your competitor it's my job to make sure you don't die and leave me to clean up after you."
"Trant would take care of that." She said, turning and walking.
He fell into step next to her and glanced over his shoulder at Trant who was currently in the process of asking the bimbo out on a date.
"You trust him with that, huh?"
She glanced over her shoulder then laughed and shook her head.
"Okay, maybe not. But why would you clean up after me?"
He stretched and then laced his hands behind his neck.
"Well, you know, all of your faithful customers would be in desperate need of a tune-up and where would they go? To my garage of course and the next thing you know . . . BAM! Me and Heero are swamped!"
She laughed again. "Most people would think of that as a good thing. Your business would boom."
He laughed with her. "True, true. But I think of it as the loss of a good competitor. And a cute one at that."
She blushed and then walked into the back door of her house.
"Well, no worries. I get the feeling that whoever's out there isn't going to be after me. Besides, I can defend myself."
He looked at her skeptically. "You? You're two foot nothing! How could you stop a killer?"
"I'm five feet and four inches, thank you very much. And I'm a black belt. I can handle it."
"Well, if you say so . . ."
She stuck her tongue out at him. Before walking into the kitchen and grabbing a water bottle out of her fridge.
"Want anything?" She asked.
He shook his head. "Nope. I'm fine."
She shrugged and took a swig out of the bottle before leaning her hip on the counter and turning toward him with a raised eyebrow.
"Are you sure that was the only reason you wanted to talk to me? To tell me to be careful? Because Trant tells me that often enough."
"When he's not feeling some girl up, you mean." Duo said.
Hilde grinned.
"That's true."
He was quiet for a moment, obviously thinking about what he wanted to say next before he finally started talking.
"Look, you know that people are really freaking out about these attacks. The police have been working non-stop and they still haven't found a single lead."
Hilde nodded. "Yeah I know. So?"
"Well, since Mayor Darlian's such a spaz, he started looking for someone to watch over his daughter."
"A bodyguard for the Mayor's daughter, huh? Sounds interesting."
Duo chuckled. "Yeah, that's what Heero said too."
Hilde's eyes widened and she stared at Duo incredulously.
"Don't tell me that he . . ."
Duo nodded. "Yep. And he's got quite the resume and a reputation any man would be hard-pressed to ignore. It was pretty much no contest."
Hilde fought hard to take it all in. Almost ever since she'd arrived in Emerald Springs a few years ago, the name Heero Yuy and the word mechanic had been synonymous. The same thing went for Duo. Now he was playing babysitter to some political figurehead's spawn? That didn't sound like Heero to Hilde, but she didn't know him that well, so she guessed he could have been the knight in shining armor type . . .
"Anyway, he's thinking of taking the job full time." Duo continued. "And I'm the only thing holding him back. So I came here to ask if, you know, you had any positions open."
Hilde's jaw went slack and Duo smiled sheepishly.
"I've been told I'm a really good with my hands, if that helps."
"Um . . . I . . . guess . . . so . . ."
Duo grinned.
"Great! I'll start on Monday, is that good?"
Hilde could only manage to nod slowly.
~*~
Sally Po pushed her hair out of her face with a heavy sigh. It had been a very long day. What with the Rising Sun spreading rumors about vampires and the police swarming around the hospital looking for clues . . . she really wished they'd leave well enough alone. Besides, all the police wasting their time snooping around her hospital should have been out looking for the killer. He was still on the loose after all, and no one was safe.
"Doctor Po! A Lieutenant Noin is here to see you." A young intern said, running into her office.
Sally nodded tiredly. "Send her in."
The intern nodded and then ran off. A few minutes later Noin walked in.
"What is it this time?" Sally asked in annoyance. "You and your police force have already torn my hospital asunder looking for clues, what do you want now?"
"You know this is necessary." Noin said. "After all, the second attack happened here and the latest attack happened just a few blocks away from here."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Noin shook her head. "Look, I don't have time for this. All I came here for is to examine the bodies. Do you still have them?"
Sally nodded and couldn't suppress a shudder. "Yes, they're in the morgue. I'll take you."
They walked through the hospital silently, the air between them crackling with unfriendly energy. Lucrezia Noin and Sally Po had never really gotten along. They'd graduated from the same highschool, grown up together, and they still could barely stand each other. They were both very absorbed in their jobs though, and that only made things between them rougher. Especially when things like this happened.
They entered the morgue, surprising Ben, the coroner. "Sorry Ben." Sally said. "But do you think you could take out the victims of the attacks? Lieutenant Noin here would like to examine them."
He nodded. "Sure."
He hurried off to get them. Noin watched him go with an amused look.
"Jumpy little fellow, isn't he?"
Sally glanced sideways at the dark haired woman. "You would be too, if you were constantly surrounded by dead bodies."
Noin thought about that while Ben brought out the bodies, one by one.
"As far as you know, were there any traces of anything on the bodies?" Noin asked, slipping on latex rubber gloves and bending over the first dead girl.
Ben shook his head. "Nothing. Then again, the police ordered me not to touch anything, so I didn't get a good look at them before I covered them up and put them away."
Noin nodded absently, and studied the bodies. She must have been bent over for nearly an hour, moving from body to body and making small noises when she found something.
"These bodies really are devoid of any blood at all, aren't they?"
"Yes." Sally said reluctantly.
She didn't feel comfortable affirming that. After all, if that was true there weren't many plausible explanations besides vampires and she didn't like that theory. Didn't like it at all.
They lapsed into silence again, Noin poking and prodding, Sally standing and watching, and Ben fretting over the bodies. Finally though, Noin found something if her loud exclamation was any indication.
"Aha!" She yelled.
"What?" Sally and Ben asked at the same time.
Noin grinned and held up a long, strand of bright, blonde hair.
"A clue."
A/N: Well, I hope you liked it. Please review to tell me what you thought about it. Thanks a bunch. ^.~
