Mark and Doris met Norma that night at a discreet bar near Fifth Avenue. She had called them to discuss the case of the vampires and the disappearance of Brooke Daniels. She was waiting for them sitting at a table near a corner. She had a bottle of vodka in front of her, which was already half full.
“We only came as a professional courtesy, Norma,” Mark told her. “You know we can't share any information about the case with you. Mulligan would kill us if he found out.”
“Come on, guys! I owe it to Roy. I've also found out a few things for myself.” Despite everything she had taken, Norma was still not completely under the influence of alcohol.
“Yes? What things?” Doris asked.
Norma was silent; she had nothing until that moment and thought she could fool her companions. Maybe the alcohol was already taking effect.
“I knew it,” Doris said at her silence.
“Yes, it's okay, I accept i
Unlike Christopher, who had his lab at home, Dansk made the wise decision to have his lab elsewhere. That's how vampires differed from wolves, in the marked distrust they have of everyone. Dansk had his laboratory in the basement of another house just outside the city to have the greatest possible discretion. In addition, knowing how restless his clanmates were, he did not want to risk being seen when they went there for any reason or when he himself took them for some activity of scientific interest, such as the one in which he developed the compound on the skin to protect them from the sun and they were going from group to group to put it on each one.Leaving his home in the city was not a problem or concern for him. He had three more houses besides the one where he had his lab, and only the address of the one he left was on his driver's license, so he wasn't worried about the police looking for others he owned.He knew the police would find nothing in that house, si
The following days went blank for Norma, who in addition to being away from the case by orders of the captain, was unable to make progress with Daniel Ranlone. The boy had apparently left his quest to find her girlfriend trusting the police to do it, and in light of that he hadn't communicated with her anymore. Despite the fact that she kept following him and keeping a close eye on him to see if he revealed anything useful, she also did nothing to contact him so that he wouldn't walk with her and get in her way.She decided to talk to the captain about letting her go back to work since it had been at least eight days and she was starting to get over her grief over Roy. They were also far from solving the case.“Please, captain, I already feel ready!” Norma insisted. “I have to go back to work because if I don't I'm going to go crazy at home. Besides, I owe it to Roy.”Mulligan looked at her for a while in silence, deciding.“
The moonlight cast eerie shadows from the trees across the forest floor in the clearings that occasionally appeared in front of Dan as he walked. He had been about to reach that vampire three times, but two or three more appeared out of nowhere and made him distract himself from his goal without being able to catch them. He was now in the woods and had lost sight of them, but he still felt them. When they took him there, he thought that due to the number of his attackers, perhaps it could be a trap and he decided to be more cautious. He felt his presence everywhere and realized that he was practically surrounded.Zander commanded the actions from an SUV hidden among the trees a few meters from the ambush site. He ordered another member of the clan to draw his attention and take him there, where they would proceed to capture him. That's what he did, appearing in front of Dan and telling him that he knew where his girlfriend was but that he wouldn't tell him. But Dan was alread
The SUV quickly headed towards the nearest dirt road that connected further ahead with the road that led to the highway. Dan was approaching it quickly, but did not notice that it had emerged from a group of tall bushes and trees to the right. Next to that bush, with the vehicle's engine and lights off, Zander waited for the decoy SUV to move far enough away with Dan following it closer and closer to give the order to retreat again, but in the opposite direction.A few yards later and despite the SUV's effort to gain distance, Dan caught up with it. He thought that he should stop it in such a way that it would not involve a spectacular accident because Brooke was inside and with a big jump he was in front of it. When the SUV dodged him, it skidded twice and was about to overturn. When it stopped, Dan immediately slashed the driver's side tires with violent claws, grabbed the rear door and tore it off, then threw it away.He leaned into the back seat and saw no one. Startled, he tore o
Despite his suspicions, when Andrew found out he wasn't a vampire his world turned upside down. Not so much because he wasn't, but because it wasn't his real family. He felt like one of them, even though he was always in the shadow of the rest of the clan, living his life practically as a human. He never participated in the group's hunting expeditions because Zander wouldn't let him, claiming as a justification that he was not like the rest, that is, he was not a "renegade" in need of blood, and that made him leave aside his concerns and questions, although most of the time he wanted to do it fervently, perhaps because of his lycanthropic hunting instinct. The few times he interacted with the clan it was to carry out Zander's orders and wishes, either by moving them around or controlling possible unauthorized activities imposed by him.Of course, he was recognized as the highest rank after Zander, who introduced him to the clan as his son, and where despite the fact that everyone knew
Norma had left to start watching over Dan when he left for work around eight in the morning. To her surprise, he didn't leave at that time, but was arriving. Apart from being surprised for arriving at that time, she was also surprised that he arrived without his car, entering his building through the main entrance. She quickly got out of the car and followed him into the lobby, stopping him at the elevator entrance. Dan was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and Norma immediately noticed the wounds on his arms, which had almost disappeared, but were still somewhat visible.“Party night?” she asked him, pretending not to have seen the wounds. “I hope it was good for you to come back at this time.”Dan looked her up and down, thinking: this cop is asking me to get home at this time? Who does she thinks she is? My girlfriend? Amazing!“I hope you're not offended, detective,” Dan emphasized the word detective, “but I guess it's n
Suspecting that she might have a solid lead on her hands, Norma returned to the station to do some research on the man who was following Dan, and also on the address he went to in the cab. She took advantage of the fact that Mark and Doris were also there to help her investigate.“The facial recognition program doesn't give a definitive result,” said Mark, when the program had finished. “I knew that would happen because we only have half of his face, but I still wanted to try.”“And how many possible results does it show?” Norma asked.“You don't want to know,” Mark replied. “What have you found out about the address?”“The owner is a certain Anatoli Margorov, a Russian national, but something is not right here”, said Norma.“What do you mean?” Doris asked, coming up to her with Mark.“I have a copy of the registry of the house, and this Margorov guy ap
Norma found nothing amiss in the identification records of Zander and Andrew Udimov. Zander was of Romanian origin, while Andrew was born in the United States. It only remained to find out why the house was not in Zander's name. That would be done more calmly later. Now she had to follow Dan Ranlone again, and see if anyone else besides her followed him again.As he had been doing for days, Dan did not go to work. He wanted to stay home until his wounds healed so he would not have to explain himself to his co-workers. But he was also looking forward to finishing recovering to start his search for Brook again, and incidentally take revenge for the trap that had been set for him and that left him in that state. It was obvious that Zander already wanted to get his hands on him to find out about his hybrid condition, but since he did not succeed then his second option was to eliminate him. His father had promised to talk to Zander one more time to try to keep the peace, but he wa
Sitting on a bench facing the Hudson River Bay, Norma watched the river and its surroundings, thinking. It had been a shock to her to know that Dan was the dangerous creature they were looking for and he had caused so much damage to the vampires. She now understood Zander's stubbornness with him and the attacks he made on them. She was trying to assimilate how someone who was apparently so timid and peaceful could turn into something so dangerous and fierce, although in her mind anything was possible, especially after everything she had seen throughout her career. She really shouldn't be so surprised, although she was having a hard time accepting her new reality, especially when she was feeling so in love with him.Absorbed in her thoughts, she felt someone sit next to her, but she didn't flinch, thinking it was some stranger. What she least wanted was to have a forced conversation with someone, so she thought about leaving.“I'd like to explain my reasons why I
It was Dansk, who strangely hadn't died with Zander like the other vampires. Recognizing him, Norma pointed at him, but Dansk didn't seem to care.“He's your brother,” Dansk repeated. “Zander raised him from a young age. He is the son of Darius and Amira, given to seal a peace pact many years ago.”Dan looked at Andrew, who was staring at him and apparently crying. He was giving up fighting to get free.“Zander never told you, Andrew,” Dansk walked over to them and put a hand on Dan's arm. “Although you knew you were a wolf, he never told you whose son you were, and now I tell you, I accompanied him in your upbringing. He is your brother.”“It's the truth,” Darius said from the entrance door, everyone turned again towards the newcomer, even more surprised to see that the naked guy in front of them and that they knew, recognized that he was a wolf.Norma lowered her gun slowly and then sat
Zander was as always in his dark room, thinking about the way to finally finish off the hybrid, when there was a light knock on the door. It was Andrew, who after opening the door entered and stood in front of him.“One of the 'marauders' has just arrived,” he said to his father, “he brought a message from the alpha's son.”Zander stared at him. Despite the darkness, Andrew could see a faint glimmer in his gray eyes.“And what is that message?” He asked with a cold voice.“He wants to end all of this at once. You and him. Alone, with no one else. He challenges you to face him, if you dare.”“He's very bold,” Zander said, annoyed. “"It's very bold," said Zander, annoyed. He knows he has an advantage for being what he is.”“You won't dare face him, will you?”“I have to do it, my integrity and honor are at stake, but he won't believe I'll do
Norma gradually moved away from Dan. He wanted to keep kissing her but he didn't want to force her if she didn't want it, so he let her pull away from her.“Sorry, I didn't…” Dan awkwardly tried to apologize, as she took two steps back.“We shouldn't…” Norma said timidly. “You are the subject of an investigation and I am not...”Hearing that, Dan frowned.“Investigation?” He asked her, between annoyed and confused. “Is that what I am to you? I thought you felt...”“I didn't mean it that way!” interrupted Norma serenely. “It's that I'm a police officer, and you know it. I shouldn't get involved with you, at least until the investigation is over or we catch the vampire leader.”“Please don't think that way. You know I'm a victim in all of this, just like Brooke was...”Pronouncing her name made Dan feel homesick and sad, but he didn't want that to interfere with what he was feeling for Norma right now. He had loved Brooke very much, but she was gone, and he needed to get over her so she
During the night the healing process of Dan's wound, although slow, progressed enough to reduce the size of the wound, although there was still some pain and it was not closing completely. At dawn only the barely open and reddish furrows remained, and Amira was calmer when she saw the improvement.But the one most interested in healing completely was Dan himself, who had spoken to Norma again the night before, leaving Norma to pay him another visit the next morning after she reported to the station, and was quite anxious to see her again.His father and uncle had also arranged to visit him again, who went to his house early, Darius then going to the office after verifying that he was improving with the passing of the hours. Dan took the opportunity to ask his uncle why his now slow improvement. They were sitting on stools in the walk-in kitchen opposite Amira, who was making breakfast.“Wolves have an accelerated wound healing process” began to expla
Shortly after Christopher and Amira arrived and took care of Dan, Norma decided to leave. Amira asked her to stay a little longer but she refused, arguing that she had to see her partner for work reasons. She was surprised that her mother was so attentive to her, and ended up assuming that she was in gratitude for having helped her son when he was attacked hours before.“If you need anything, please let me know,” Norma said to Amira as she handed over one of her cards.“Thank you, Detective. We will take it into account,” Amira replied.When she left the apartment, Norma thought that it was not wise to have offered help to that family, unless they were in danger. She had already done it anyway and hoped that if Dan needed her in any way he would turn to her.Back at the station, she saw that Erick was already waiting for her outside, ready to start surveillance.“There will be no surveillance,” she told him after
Dan hoped his ability to regenerate would help him prove to Norma that the wound was indeed superficial and did not pose a great risk to him. When they got to his apartment, he quickly went into the bathroom, took a small first aid kit and took out a piece of gauze with which he began to dry the blood that flowed from his wounds. He also applied some alcohol to disinfect it and almost howled in pain. The wounds were still very open, despite the fact that the regeneration process had begun.“Come on!” he exclaimed looking at the wounds. “I don't want her to see me like this…”“Are you Ok?” Norma asked from the door, somewhat worried.“Yes, I'm Ok. Like I told you, it's not a big deal. I almost out…” Dan pulled out more gauze and applied it to the wound with more alcohol, then bandaged it. At least he was already stopping the bleeding a little. The pain was almost unbearable.He stripped off the rest of his bloody clothes and tossed them on the floor, put on a robe and went outside. Nor
The vampires escaped through the basement windows of the abandoned house and returned to Zander to be assigned a new lair where they could hide. They were two young men, between sixteen and twenty years old. They couldn't talk to him, since Andrew, who was on his way out, asked them why they were in that house if it was forbidden, and even more so if it wasn't Zander's; they told him the police had gone to search the abandoned house and they had no choice but to flee the place. Andrew thought he had no more hiding places where he could take them, except for the only one they had left in the woods but it was very far, already entering Pennsylvania, and it was reserved for the wildest "renegades". He would have to hide them in the gardens of Donaldson's property but without Zander finding out, since he would mercilessly banish them, but before that he asked them to accompany him to pay a "visit" to someone.“Excuse me, Master Andrew, but the membrane is about to expire,&r
After speaking with Zander, Andrew sought out Dansk at the house where he was hiding to get the address of the alpha's son. He couldn't help feeling intrigued by the unexpected request, and he hesitated before answering.“I heard he is dead,” he answered. “He died in the explosion along with the girl. Or not?”“If I'm asking you for his address it's because obviously we know he's not dead,” Andrew told him. “Haven't you heard about the latest events?”Dansk just looked at him, still intrigued.“He's alive, Dansk. This morning he took down a few of our people again, destroyed a group of "marauders" in the center.”Dansk had spent the last few days locked up and was convinced that Dan had been killed in the latest attack on Zander. He didn't want to go see his friend Christopher because he felt embarrassed and didn't want to see him face to face. He felt some relief knowing that the boy was still alive, but now with Andrew asking for his address he thought Zander wouldn't give up and tr