32: I Fall to Pieces – Pt. 2

“What’s this?” Derrick growled as Perry dropped a stack of papers in front of him.

“It’s inventory from last night’s restock and sales report for the last week.”

“I didn’t ask for this, I only wanted the morning paper.”

“Why? So you can see what that detective is up to? Planning on stalking more crime scenes in hopes of catching a glimpse of her?” Perry asked as he started for the door.

Instantly Derrick was on his feet and across the room before Perry could exit his office. Pressing him against the door, Perry struggled once before giving up as Derrick pinned him successfully against the hard wood. “You forget your place?” he snarled angrily, his claws digging into Perry’s throat. “If you were wondering if my mood’s improved since I showed the bouncer how to properly dispel a patron last night it hasn’t. Now unless you want to join the faceless, rotting corpse of that vampire out back with too much cologne and not enough sense, keep trying my patience.”

Slowly Derrick lowered Perry back to the ground, his eyes lingering on the man as he stepped cautiously away from his boss. “My apologies Mr. C, I didn’t mean to offend you. I only meant this girl is a distraction you cannot afford right now.”

“Perry, if I want advice I’ll write Dear Abby. Go do your job.”

“Yes Sir.”

“And bring me the fucking paper.” It had been three and a half weeks since he and Victoria last spoke and he found that the absence of his new best friend became a series of acts lodged out of boredom and anger, the latter taking precedence most. He’d called a few days later hoping she would pick up but gave up when he realized she was ignoring his calls. A few times he drove by her house on his bike out of ritual just to check on her. But it was his perusal of crime scenes that really got tongues wagging. There were a few recent homicides that aroused his suspicions and he concluded it was the work of a super. 

Hoping to speak to Victoria on the subject, he made an unscheduled appearance to her precinct but she wasn’t in at the time. Derrick sat with a cup of warm blood and the Avondale Times on his desk. Quickly sifting to the Metro section he pulled open the paper and read through the recent murders looking for anything supernatural or high profile; something that Victoria would work. It didn’t take long before he hit pay dirt and came across the story of a woman recently found murdered in an alley behind the Fresh Produce Market on the corner of Perth and Darby. 

According to the article she was the second in a series of unsolved homicides where the victim was found in a busy area with minor defensive wounds and no identity. But the odd thing about each case is that each victim had been completely drained of blood. “Shit,” he mumbled under his breath and jumped from his seat.

Holding his badge up, Mike and Victoria walked towards the crime scene being cordoned off by a group of patrols standing near the diner. They held their positions in front of strategically placed police units while some had their arms extended to keep the curious onlookers behind the crime scene tape. A quick nod from one of the male officers allowed them to enter and Mike held the tape up for his partner before ducking under the streams roping off the crime scene behind the Llama Bus Station in downtown Avondale.

The two detectives strolled across dew frosted grass towards the bus station alley, passing another blocked entry point with a throng of reporters flashing their many cameras and scribbling in notepads. Large halogen lamps had been placed on the entrance to the alley and the path behind it, casting a bright, eerie light on the scene. On one end of the alley was a patrolman jotting down the statement of a distraught woman onto a writing pad. A small terrier breed sat at her foot as she spoke and Victoria noticed the way the animal continued sniffing at her pant leg.

The other end of the alley was another mass of yellow tape and a crowd of people all scrambling to see what was going on behind the bus station. With slight apprehension, Victoria looked at the faces of the people around as her partner knelt in front of Robbie the head medical examiner, his eyes immediately roaming over the sheet covering the body. 

“Hey Robbie, looks like we interrupted something,” Victoria remarked noticing the M.E. in his street clothes.

He looked down at his clothes and nodded. “Date night with the wife. I was taking her to the movies.”

“Oh? What were you going to see?”

“Some chick flick. I guess I can kinda count myself lucky the phone rang,” he joked and moved the Black & Mild around his mouth with his tongue. Robbie had been trying to quit smoking for a while now and often times would suck on a cigar or cigarette for the nicotine taste but never lit up.

Quietly Mike prepared himself for what was hidden beneath the sheet and took a deep breath through his mouth to avoid the smell of decomposition. Gripping it by the hem, he peeled the sheet back revealing a woman of about 25-30 years of age, average height and long chocolate brown hair. Damn shame, he thought as he took in her appearance and the obvious care she had in her looks. She was healthy from what he could tell and exercised regularly, she had a tone physique. “Who made the discovery?”

“Some homeless guy looking through the dumpsters back here for cans. He flagged down a patrol car about a block away yelling and hyperventilating. It doesn’t appear he had any involvement but we’re not ruling him out just yet.”

“Any eyewitnesses?” he asked, pulling himself out of a somber daze and looking up in time to notice his partner’s attention was not on the victim. Something in the crowd caught Victoria’s eye and she quickly moved from beside the body and followed it behind the yellow tape and towards a large oak tree. 

“I know you’re here Derrick, I can smell your cologne.” Victoria unhinged the clip on her belt and retrieved her weapon as the vampire stepped out from behind the tree.

“Easy Victoria, I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“Oh you mean again?” She asked in annoyance and slid the safety off the weapon. “What are you doing here?”

“I needed to see you.”

“What for? You can’t seem to take a hint?” She asked, keeping her weapon aimed at his head. “You see this gun? I loaded this ammo cartridge just for you Derrick. Do you know what’s in it?”

“Considering your recent trip to the local Parish I can only assume it’s something specifically for killing my kind.”

“So what you’re stalking me now?”

“I’m doing what I’ve always done and that’s look out for you. It’s why I’m here. You’re not answering your phone and so I figured the only way to get your attention would be to show up…”

“Where you’re not wanted!”

“On neutral ground,” he corrected her with a snarl. “It’s about the bodies from the paper. Two victims found so far, all with strange puncture wounds and drained completely of blood and now a third. You know what that is Victoria.”

“Yes. And I don’t need you here to point it out to me. My partner and I have been doing this kind of work for some years now I think we can handle it.”

“Victoria…”

“Fuck off Derrick!”

“Victoria!”

“Excuse me Officer, do you see that man over there,” Victoria asked stepping beside a patrolman and gesturing towards the vampire standing in the crowd calling her name. “He’s a person of interest in a few armed robbery/homicides. I’d appreciate it if you could cuff him and take him into the station.”

“Sure thing Detective.” The patrolman started through the crowd, pushing his way towards the tree behind the yellow tape. But by the time the officer approached Derrick’s location he was long gone.

Victoria got back to the body just as Mike stood and she replaced him beside Robbie. “No blood?” he asked as she took a peek beneath the sheet.

“None on the ground around her and from the sallow appearance of her skin, she looks to be another victim of exsanguination. There are some fluids soaked into the ground around her which suggests that she has been here for a little while but a timeframe is hard to determine right now. The condition of the body as far as rigor mortis is also an estimation at this point considering her exposure to the elements. No ID found, right now the best thing for me to do is mold the teeth and hope for a dental match.”

“Ok, we’re gonna meet you back at the lab,” Victoria finally spoke as she stood. “With the victims moving up in numbers the Captain is being pressured for answers. We’d like to be available if any evidence comes up during autopsy.”

“Absolutely,” Robbie nodded and tucked his clipboard under his arm. He leaned forward and pulled the sheet down to the woman’s knees as one of his staff members arrived for photographs. Reluctantly, both Mike and Victoria looked over the body once more, taking in the details they may have missed the first time.

“It’s gonna be a long night,” Mike blew out a sigh and started towards his truck.

Mike drove them towards the morgue after completing the initial report and informing the Captain of the scene. Keeping him in the loop meant he stayed off of them for results and let his two best detectives work without the handcuffs of a supervisor. Mike held the door open for Victoria to walk through first and they found Robbie and his assistant Jared going over the victim.

The woman had been undressed and washed down and was laying on the metal slab in the middle of the room. Her skin, now completely visible beneath the better lab lighting, was paler than first glance. A dark shade of blue colored her lips and there were small spots of petechia around her neck and the puncture wounds as well as the lower half of her eyelids.

“Glad you’re here Detectives,” Robbie remarked as he moved away from his station and joined them near the body. 

“You find something?” Mike asked and watched as the M.E. went over his clipboard for the trace evidence located on the body.

“Just a little something out of the ordinary.” Victoria’s phone rang and she sighed as she pulled it from her pocket to look at it.

“You need to get that?” Mike asked watching his partner check the caller ID on her cell for the fourth time in an hour without answering.

“No, it’s no one important,” she replied and tucked the phone back into her pocket after placing it on silence. Yeah, no one important; just Derrick calling for the hundredth time. Victoria was at her wits end. If the silence wasn’t enough to tell him to fuck off, she would possibly have to send a bigger message.

“As I was saying,” Robbie started again and peeled back the sheet. “Other than the small smear of blood found on her clothing, there was none found in or around her. Early presumptions would be to say the suspect moved her to the alley she was found but I don’t think that was the case after all. The suspect used an 18G beveled tip needle which is often used to perform a pericardiocentesis, a procedure where fluid is aspirated from the pericardium. These puncture wounds here were made by specially designed tubes that were inserted into her neck to extract the blood.”

“Or really sharp teeth,” Victoria murmured to herself.

“Based on her state of rigor and the temperatures noted at the scene and from her liver, we believe she’d been out there for maybe three hours before she was found. That places T.O.D anywhere between 6am and 8am.”

“And the cause of death?” Mike asked.

“There are no other visible markings, no stab wounds or points of entry. No strangulation marks or obvious discoloration caused by poisoning. Her lab work came back clean just like the others; I’d say yes, the puncture wounds to her neck is what killed her.”

“Was she sedated at any point?”

 “Again there was nothing that we found in her system from the organ slushy.” Mike cringed hearing the M.E. refer to the mess sitting in the blender on the counter as “slushy”. But the techs had taken parts of the victim’s organs and ground them down for testing since no blood was available. But the results were either negative or inconclusive. Mike dragged his hand over his mouth to muffle a yawn until he heard a frightening detail of their unique case. “Similar to the previous two victims, she also had gold flecks on her fingertips.”

“What’s the significance of the gold?”

“That, Detective Rizzitello, I do not know.”

Victoria pinched the bridge of her nose as she felt the pulsing of a headache at her temples; she might need Derrick’s help after all. “Thanks Robbie,” she smiled politely and retrieved the buzzing phone from her pocket again.

Mike snatched it away this time and glanced down at the ID. Looking up at her with a knowing expression, he sighed and handed the device back to his partner. “I told you to be careful with him.”

“And I told you we were just friends.”

“Then why have you been avoiding his calls all day?” he asked as the two started out of the morgue and into the hallway leading to the motor pool.

“I don’t really want to get into that right now.”

“Well tough. We have a long night ahead of us and a twenty minute ride back to HQ. We’re talking about something and this is the subject that I’m most interested in.”

“Really? We have three bodies completely drained of blood and left to rot in some of the busiest locations around town but my problems with a friend are the subject of interest?” Mike glanced over at her with a raised brow and she sighed. “Why do you want to know so badly?”

“Because. When things start to affect the job, it’s affecting me and I won’t have my partner’s head not in the game while we’re out in public. Anything can happen. So. Talk,” he replied and slid behind the steering wheel.

Victoria sighed again as she chewed her bottom lip. Mike was like a dog with a bone. There was no way he was letting this go. Looking at him through the side-view mirror she started in on her tale of woe. But leaving out the supernatural pieces, the story just didn’t have the same flare. What it all boiled down to was, “Derrick lied and I found out the truth and there was just this big…thing.”

“Lied about what?”

Shit. She was hoping he’d be happy with just the cliff notes version but being a detective, asking questions and investigating came with his job. “Ok this is gonna sound strange and maybe a little ridiculous but hear me out.” Mike nodded and Victoria continued. “He had this bird that he asked me to watch for him and after I got attached to it he took it away. But it turns out that the bird wasn’t real…um really his in the first place. I just…I know it’s stupid but I don’t like being lied to.”

“It’s not stupid. He shouldn’t have asked you to look after stolen property. I can totally understand why you’d have qualms about it.”

Yeah that’s it, Victoria smiled at her partner. “Thanks Mike.”

“What kind of bird was it?”

“A Raven.”

“Oh. In that case next time if he comes over for a favor like that, tell him you’re getting half of whatever it sells for.”

“What?”

“Well I assume it was an exotic and he was hiding it with you while a buyer came through. That’s how these things work Vik.”

Fucking detectives. They pulled into the station and Victoria quickly hopped out. She felt her phone once again and this time took it out and turned it off completely. Mike shook his head and led the way up the stairs towards the conference room. 

“Hey Vik, some guy was here to see you earlier, said you’d know who he was and to give him a call when you get a chance. Says it’s important about this case you’re working.”

“Seriously he just won’t quit,” she growled to herself and nodded towards the desk clerk. “Thanks Lou, I’ll get to him later.”

Mike had the evidence and case files laid out on the table once Victoria joined him with a cup of coffee for the both of them. He retrieved the java from her hands as she looked over the photographs from the scene and the trace evidence reports taken from the morgue. “I don’t get why the perp is taking the blood,” Mike spoke as Victoria concentrated on one area of pictures in particular. “And how does each victim stand perfectly still while they are being drained to death and no one seems to notice someone with a tube, sucking blood out of a woman’s neck?”

Because it looks like a warm embrace, Victoria thought as she looked at the footprints photographed beside the wall of one of the buildings. “Mike…” she started but then stopped herself. It would be so easy to just let everything out of the box and tell him what’s really going on. But there was no way she could convince him without exposing herself as well.

“What’s up Vik?”

“I was just gonna say that the suspect’s boots are a bit unusual. Look here,” she motioned towards the photo on the table and he leaned over to check it out. “It looks like a wingtip but there’s an imprint in the toe. I think letters? I can’t quite make it out.”

“It looks like J. L. F?”

“T,” she remarked as she narrowed her eyes to see better. “What the hell is J.L.T?” A knock on the door interrupted their concentration and Mike stepped towards the officer as he came in with a file folder and handed it to the detective. “What’s that?” Victoria asked as her partner read over the documents inside.

“The last victim was identified as Casey Morgan,” he paused as he got to the biographical information on her and looked up at his partner with a dazed expression.

“What? What is it Mike?”

“Her last known employment, Blue Note Casino owned by none other than Tommy Calabrese!”

“Perry you have those files I asked you about?” Derrick asked as he stormed into his office and took a seat behind his desk. Dante’s manager dropped a stack of folders in front of him and he quickly began sorting through them looking for something in particular. Finding the folder in question he immediately began reading and stopped when he got to a section of interest. “All 5 quarts,” Derrick repeated as he read the words on the police report.

“What about 5 quarts?” Jake asked pulling away from the bar with a drink in hand.

“The amount of blood drained from three sisters over 25 years ago in Winchester. They were attacked the night of Halloween and completely drained of blood. In addition their cat’s eyes were cut out and the killer left no trace of himself where the bodies were found.”

“And you think that’s related to the three women found here in Avondale?” Perry questioned and leaned forward to read the notes on Derrick’s desk.

“It was the work of a serial killer, at least that’s what police believed. A few people were questioned but no one was ever arrested. The murders went unsolved.”

“But you don’t think it was a serial?” Perry continued, helping Derrick sift through the files.

“No. This was a ritualistic murder with a specific purpose. Those three women were witches, the cat their familiar. The killer needed specific items to complete a spell. The killings continued for five years and then out of nowhere just stopped. All of the victims were associated with our world.”

“And if these are related?”

“Then that means his work’s not done and Victoria could be in some serious danger,” Derrick replied, deep in thought.

“Is there a pattern to the killings or do they just seem random?” Jake asked and joined Perry at Derrick’s side. Images fell from one of the folders and the three men each looked at them with great interest. “Puncture wounds on their necks, a vampire did this?”

“Not just a vampire. A hitman for hire and one I believe is working for the Cult of the Damned.”

“Well you gotta tell someone, Detective Carson…”

“Victoria and I aren’t exactly on speaking terms right now. She won’t listen to me.”

“Then I’ll go.” Derrick looked up at Jake and an idea began to form. This information was not only vital to the case the APD was currently working but that of many other innocent civilians in the city and Victoria needed to know. Otherwise it could mean the difference between life and death.

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