Chapter Three: Visions and Vampires
Sheldon Hawkes nodded to the body of the young woman on the table. "Puncture wounds, almost drained of blood."
Marty Pino pushed up the sleeves of his Giants jersey. "Vampire."
Sheldon snorted. "Come on, Marty. Vampires? Are you serious?"
Marty shot him a 'duh' look and jerked a thumb at the body. "Have you looked at the body you brought in?"
"There has to be an explanation," Sheldon said.
"Oh, there is," Marty said. "A very simple one at that." He made a "grr" face and formed his fingers into claws. "Vampires."
Sheldon laughed. "You need to get out more," he said.
"Look who's talking," Marty shot back.
Sheldon shrugged. Okay, so the ME had a point. "Official COD?"
"Isn't it obvious? Exsanguination," Marty said. "There is no blood in this woman's body."
"Anything else?" Sheldon asked.
Marty held the dead woman's hands up. "Defensive wounds. She fought like hell. Look at these bruises and scratches."
Sheldon scraped underneath her fingernails. "DNA."
"You can't get DNA from a vampire," Marty protested.
Sheldon rolled his eyes. "You can get DNA from a dead person. Vampires are dead persons."
"Never saw that one on Buffy, did you?" Marty observed.
"Never watched it."
"Now who needs to get out more?" Marty shot back.
Sheldon waved from the door, his samples in hand. "If she comes back to life, a wooden stake'll do the trick," he called out.
Marty stared at the body on the table. For a second, he thought he saw her move. He rolled his eyes. "Funny, Hawkes," he said. "Very funny."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While Hawkes and Marty were battling it out over the dead versus undead, Mac Taylor and Stella Bonasera were across town, looking at another body with the same marking as the first one.
"Second one in a week," Stella observed. "Same guy."
"Both female, both dumped in this alley," Mac Taylor replied.
"And as usual, no witnesses," Don Flack said. "Found some ID in her pocket, though. Gennifer Holland. Just her driver's license. I'm thinking she might've been out clubbing, there's a couple around here." His voice was still scratchy, a week after the fire.
Mac glanced around the alley, picturing the scene. A young woman is running for her life. She takes a wrong turn, ends up here. He's on her, covering her mouth so she can't scream. She tries to fight him off. He finally subdues her, leans over the body…
He waved the digital camera at Stella. "I'm going to take these back to the lab and start looking for commonalities between the cases," he said.
"I'll finish up here and escort our girl here back to the lab," Stella replied. She looked at the young woman and shook her head. "Hey, Mac. Do you believe in vampires?"
He didn't turn around. "Not for a second."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Danny Messer knocked on Mac Taylor's door later that day. Mac looked up from the file on his desk and waved him in. "Morning, Danny." He noticed the look on Danny's face. "Everything okay?"
"Truthfully, Mac. I don't think so." Danny said. He began pacing in front of Mac's desk. "I'm having nightmares again."
"Like when we were covering the Lohman case?" Mac asked.
Danny nodded. "Yeah. Except this time…well, okay. Let me start from the beginning. They started about a week ago. In the dream, there's this girl. And she's running. She's trying to get away from something, Mac."
Mac leaned forward in his chair, listening intently. "Okay. She gets to this alley, realizes it's a dead end. You can see it on her face, she knows she's dead."
Danny sighed. "Mac, the person chasing her is me. I mean, it's me, but it isn't me. I'm watching the dream, like a bad movie, but I'm also the guy. It's from my point of view."
Mac asked, "What happens next?"
"I…I mean, the guy, he covers her mouth, so she can't cry for help. She tries to fight me…him…off. But she can't do it. I'm…he's stronger. He forces her down to the ground, pulls her hair back…What?"
Danny had just noticed that Mac's face was growing very, very concerned. "Mac? What is it?"
"Danny, do you…does he…bite her?"
Danny nodded, utterly confused now. "Yeah. Yeah, almost like-"
"A vampire," he and Mac finished together.
"Exactly. Mac, what's going on?" Danny demanded.
Mac handed him the Gennifer Holland casefile. Danny read through it. "You gotta be freakin' kiddin' me. Vampires?"
Then he froze. Mac noticed the change in his body language. "Danny?" Mac pressed.
Danny flipped the folder around. He tapped the crime scene photo clipped inside. "Mac. Is this where you found her?"
"Her and the last victim," Mac replied.
"Mac, this is the spot in my nightmares. This is the alley," Danny said.