“Well, you were right,” ME Perkins said as she handed the report over to Roy and Norma. “They were also vampires. All of them. Amazing.”
“And the blood on the tree?” Roy asked.
“I compared the DNA of the blood with the DNA of the hair sample that you brought me and it is one hundred percent compatible. It's from your missing girl.”
“I told you it was a good idea to ask the parents for the hair sample when we came!” Norma boasted, patting Roy's shoulder lightly.
“It was logical seeing that we had a blood trail,” Roy told him. “Don't brag so much.”
“You won't take away my desire to continue being a good detective.” Norma smiled like a girl. “Almost as good as you.”
Roy looked at her with a "please, you won't get over me, at least not yet" look, and Norma stuck her tongue out at him, amused.
“Save a copy for Forney and Ventur
Darius Ranlone and Zander Udimov meet again in the abandoned industrial complex where they made peace twenty years ago. This time they were accompanied only by their drivers, who were ordered to stay inside the vehicles. It was getting dark, so Zander didn't need an umbrella, although he did keep his sunglasses. They walked a few steps away from the vehicles at Darius's request.“Twenty years ago we had a great achievement here,” Darius said, stopping. Zander stopped too and stared at him.“You can call it an achievement,” Zander told him, “but for me it was a fair trade. And you know what I mean.”“I can't consider it that way. In any case, I am satisfied with what happened here twenty years ago.”Zander took a quick look around, perhaps looking for a way to start the conversation that brought them there. With a volatile temperament but a little calmed over the years, he did not usually seek a solution to w
Darius and Dan had already arrived at the meeting place with Zander. They entered the abandoned industrial complex heading west and came to the wide open ground where the earlier meetings had taken place. Zander was already there waiting for them.They stopped the car in front of his and left the lights on, then got out and waited for him to do the same. Zander got out on the passenger side, then went to the rear door on the same side and opened it. Darius and Dan saw another person slowly walk out, apparently a woman, dressed in a white dress, her hair covering her face. Dan was expectant, fighting the urge to run to her and hug her. Zander brought her to the front of his and then she lifted her head, brushing her hair out of her face.It was her! It was Brooke. Dan ran to meet her and hugged her compulsively. Zander took a few steps to the side. Darius joined him, watching the emotional scene.“Brooke, it's me, Dan,” he told the girl when he stoppe
The next day Roy and Norma arrived very early at Dan's apartment. They would not give him time to leave his house, if he was there, and disappear again.But this time Dan was there. He opened the door for them still in his pajamas. It was seven in the morning.“I see that the law gets up early,” he told them, rubbing his eyes.“We want to talk to you,” Roy said. “We'll wait for you to get dressed so you can go with us to the station.”Dan looked at them contemptuously.“Am I being arrested?”“That depends on you,” Norma told him firmly, “on whether you come voluntarily with us or not.”“Fine.” Dan stepped aside at the door, giving them way. “Although I didn't like your tone, I will go with you "voluntarily" so you have no excuse to arrest me. Maybe you have good news for me regarding my girlfriend.”“We're waiting for you,&rdqu
Mark and Doris also arrived early in the morning at Dansk's house and rang the doorbell. They had obtained his name from the copy of the sales receipt from the Gucci store, and his address from the system. When they first went looking for it with Roy and Norma they didn't find it there, so now they hoped to.“I hope he is home this time,” Doris said. “It's the second time we come.”The door opened and a tall man with dark glasses came out to meet them. He was still in his pajamas. Mark immediately noticed that his face and hands were very pale. "Why is he wearing dark glasses inside his house?" he thought.“Can I help you?” Dansk asked.“We are Detective Mark Forney and this is my partner Doris Ventura from the NYPD. Are you Wladimir Dansk?”“Yes, I am. May I know the reason for your visit?”“We just want to ask you a few questions, Mr. Dansk,” Mark said. “Can we c
After the police let him go, Dan went straight to his uncle's house. He wanted to discuss with him an idea that he had to rescue Brooke from the clutches of the vampires.“What are you doing here Dan?” Christopher asked, puzzled. “What's going on?”“I want to talk to you, uncle. It's important.”“Come in.”Dan and Christopher walked in and sat on the living room furniture. Dan didn't look good.“What's going on Dan? You have a terrible face.”“The police already know about Brooke. They know she was kidnapped by vampires.”“I knew sooner or later they would find out,” Christopher said. “It was obvious from the trail of broken vampires you left behind. How did they link the girl to them?”“They found a trace of her blood in a tree near the site of the last confrontation, in addition to finding out that she had not returned from t
Dan went down to what looked like a small room under the floor and found a dark and damp place. The dim light that came from outside allowed him to barely glimpse that the walls were also made of wood. He looked around a bit and in one of the walls he saw a kind of gap or hole. He came closer to examine it and barely a slight breeze reached him with a mixture of the essence of flowers and mold, surely from the ground, since he realized that the hole communicated with a kind of tunnel.“Are these damned also moles?” He wondered in a low voice.He sharpened his eyes to see better inside and to his surprise he did. He saw everything clearly, despite the darkness, and he thought it must be because of his new hybrid condition. He decided to check out that tunnel and see where it led to, because he was sure that perhaps it had an exit somewhere else due to the brief breeze that came from inside.At times he could see absolutely nothing and kept groping his
Mark, Doris, and Captain Mulligan reached the clearing in the woods where Norma and Dan were waiting for them. They were accompanied by the emergency services and at least three other police patrol cars. She was sitting on the ground against a tree with her legs bent, her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. Dan was standing next to her; he had long since stopped comforting her when she broke into tears.The three of them approached where Roy's body was and saw him lying on his back, with a reddish-black stain on his chest. The gun next him. The captain put his hands on his waist like a mug and lowered his head, while Doris put a hand to her mouth and her eyes filled with tears. Mark walked over to Norma and crouched down next to her.“What happened?” He asked her softly.She lifted her head and just looked at him, tears streaming down her face.“They followed me to the abandoned cabin, where I found an underground cave that wa
“Have you lost your mind or what?” Christopher asked upon hearing Dan's request.“Please, uncle. I need to find Brooke.”The two of them were sitting on the furniture in the living room, and upon hearing that, Christopher got up annoyed and walked to one of the windows next to the door, looking outside through the half-open curtains. He thought about how desperate his nephew could be that he was not thinking things through.“You're definitely not thinking clearly, Dan,” he told him without turning to look at him. “Somehow your judgment has been clouded.”“I am on the verge of despair, Uncle Christopher! I need to find her!”Christopher closed his eyes and heaved a short sigh of disappointment before turning and facing him.“You know, the other night when you and your father went to see Zander, I had this strange feeling that it would all end right there. I thought: my nephew w
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