Six months had passed since Grant Robert’s leave of absence. Feeling as if the terms of his leave were met, Grant was given back his usual shift – the graveyard one. Today was Grant’s first shift back to work since the incident that led to his leave and there seemed to be many changes on a night that was for most parts business as usual. The RN he had a heated argument with was apparently transferred to the day shift and most of the other staff that night also transferred or have no more recollection of what really happened. For most part, Grant’s return to work was met with little fanfare or any excitement. As Grant now waited outside for a taxi cab to return him home before daybreak, he spotted a somewhat unfamiliar face walking towards him: a fair-skinned woman with bright red hair and a gray-looking wool-style coat. Grant vaguely remembered seeing her face while on shift, but with so many other personnel changes than had occurred during his absence Grant could not memorize everyone now on the late shift. The woman reached into her pocket to pull out a pack of cigarettes and looked rather annoyed. “Bloody hell,” she said with a thick British accent. Noticing Grant, she looked at him and asked “Oi, mate, you got a light?”
Even before Grant became a vampire, he had an irrational fear of fire or any kind of pyrotechnic device. He did not feel the need to share any of this with the new girl but did politely reply back to her “Nah. Sorry. Not really a smoker.”
“No worries,” she said although slightly dejected. “Guess I’ll wait ‘till I get home to smoke now. Oh silly me, where are my manners? I’m Amy. Amy Moore.”
“Hello Amy,” Grant said to her and extended his left hand out as if to shake Amy’s hand in the customary greeting. “Grant Roberts is my name.”
Amy smiled and then asked “You new here too? Didn’t seem to recall seeing you here when I started a couple weeks ago.”
“Nah, was on a leave of absence. Just got back today,” Grant said and paused, not feeling comfortable discussing the entire incident with Amy. “I had some issues that I hopefully got worked out.”
“Ah, I see,” Amy said. “Well, welcome back then.”
“Thanks. So you’ve been here for a few weeks, huh?”
“Well working here at least. Moved to Edmonton just over a year ago. Was staying with my cousin Emily while I finished up my nursing degree. She ran off with some writer guy. And that’s my little tale.”
“Nice. Been living here for about seven years myself,” Grant said, looking then nervously at his watch. Thankfully it was now late autumn and sunrise wasn’t for at least another hour. Keeping up with the small introductory talk, Grant asked Amy “So, where were originally from?”
“Just a little town north of Sheffield,” Amy replied back.
“Ah the Steel City” Grant said, being familiar with his former country that he had once fought for during the First World War. Although time had eroded away his accent, and his life’s journey had him now far removed from his ancestral home, Grant still yearned for that part of his life. Amy smiled as perhaps now she had a common ground with someone. This small bit of conversation was then inconveniently interrupted by an approaching taxicab. The cab pulled up to the curb and came to a stop. Amy then proceeded to open the back door, stopped halfway and asked Grant “Which way you going, mate?”
“Oh, um, towards Garneau,” Grant said.
“Cool beans, I’m heading in the same direction. Wanna split the fair?” Amy asked.
“Sure, why not?” Grant answered enthusiastically, despite feeling uncertain as to why this previously unknown woman was now willing to share a cab with him. Perhaps she was not familiar with his true identity. As he got into the back of the cab, Grant quietly thought to himself that if he were to tell Amy the truth would she would react like every other woman he tried to have any kind of meaningful relationship? Would she either run off in terror or have that little hint of lust in her eyes of being with a vampire? Best not to press the issue unless she brings it up I suppose Grant said to himself in his head as the cab pulled away.
Kaitlyn Russo sat on her bed with a worried look on her face as she watched upon video recordings on her laptop computer. She watched a recording of her own bedroom from the night before, looking for any evidence of her possibly leaving the room inexplicably. So far, nothing out of the ordinary. Kaitlyn breathed a huge sigh of relief – no signs of shape shifting or sleepwalking like she had last month. Maybe the new meditation techniques taught by a Navajo spiritual leader Kaitlyn met through a friend had finally begun to work. Feeling relieved, Kaitlyn then proceeded to put on a light purple robe and got ready to take a shower.
After the shower, Kaitlyn returned to her bedroom, towel covering her brown hair and bathrobe tightly done up. Drying off her hair, Kaitlyn walked towards her closet to pick out her clothes for the day. She did not get to far ahead in her plans as a beeper on her night stand went off. Instinct, Kaitlyn picked up a cellular phone that was near the same beeper and dialed a particular phone number. She placed her hand on the left side of her shapely hip while waiting for the number she dialed to pick up on the other end. A male voice answered. The voice belonged to her fellow homicide detective and partner Simon Fererra, “Fererra here.”, he said.
“Yeah, it’s me. What’s up?” Kaitlyn asked as she placed her cell phone on top of her dresser drawer. She pressed the speakerphone on as she slid on her underwear.
“Just got a call-in. A couple joggers in Victoria Park found a body. Looks suspicious.”, Simon said.
“Well, you sure know how to greet a lady in the morning with good news.” Kaitlyn dryly replied as she zipped the fly of her dress slacks.
“Hey, Annie has been so patient and understanding for ten years now, don’t see her changing her mind now.” Simon said back, “Anyways, be there in five to pick ya up.”
“We got time for a Tim’s run?” asked Kaitlyn, realizing she won’t have time for breakfast or her morning coffee.
“Already got your usual – Bagel BELT and medium coffee. Double cream, no sugar.”
“Great. See you soon then.” Kaitlyn said as she hung the phone up. Looking for an appropriate blouse for a suspicious death investigation, Kaitlyn felt a slightly creepy presence in the room. Rolling her eyes in frustration as she buttoned a dark blue dress blouse, she turned around and said “Please tell me you waited until I was dressed before coming in here.” Sitting on her bed was Seth Rollins, a twenty-year old man with curly blonde hair, shaggy beard, and wearing a home-made “Noam Chomsky Fan Club” shirt.
“Yeah yeah, I remember the rules. No possessing you, no peeping on you in the shower, and no riffling through your underpants drawer.” Seth said to her in the tone akin to a child being scolded for being caught doing something he was told not to do.
“I thought we agreed not to use ‘underpants’ anymore.”, Kaitlyn said slightly annoyed by Seth’s unexpected arrival.
“It’s an unwritten rule of comedy writing. Underpants is funnier to use.” Seth said.
“Right,” Kaitlyn said sarcastically. “Anyways, shouldn’t you be annoying Grant with your theory that Lorraine Mansbridge is a day walker vampire?”
“Ehh, Grant came back and was in a bit of a light headed mood. Either he forgot to feed off a stray cat or he’s in love, maybe.” Seth said as he got up from the bed. Kaitlyn exited her bedroom as Seth phased through the wall to follow her. “And you can’t tell me that she isn’t one of them! She seemed to be there forever in Ninety-Nine and is still doing the same pointless drivel today!”
“Love to discuss this further but I got a dead body to check out.” Kaitlyn said as she grabbed her service revolver and a black leather coat.
“Sure, leave me for a stiff!” Seth shouted towards her. Kaitlyn opened the door of their suite. Sharply she replied back, “Like I said before, I prefer a man whose junk I can actually touch and not have my hand go through him.”
“Ouch. I’m sure if I had a physical heart, it would hurt now.” Seth said back as he watched Kaitlyn leave and lock the door behind her. With Grant sleeping, Seth went back to watching television.
A cool grey morning greeted Kaitlyn as she stepped outside of her trendy condominium building that added to the modern and old style mix of the Garneau neighborhood. A white sedan pulled up to where she stood waiting. Kaitlyn got into the car’s passenger side and saw Simon Fererra, who passed a paper Tim Horton’s coffee cup to Kaitlyn as she finished buckling up. Simon then began to drive off just before turning on the car radio. A howling wolf sound permeated from the speakers, making Kaitlyn’s heart nearly jump out of her chest. Thankfully it belonged to the sound effect of “Wolfman Zack” Hawkins, an on-the-rise popular morning disc jockey on one of Edmonton’s rock stations. “Good morning E-town!” Zack’s voice went through the sound system of the car, “Wolfman Zack here bringing you rock hits from yesterday and today…” Kaitlyn proceeded to turn the radio off much to Simon’s dismay.
“Aww, come on! Today was the first day of his Crazy-Assed Contest!”, Simon protested.
“I dunno, something about his whole shtick annoys me.” Kaitlyn said. “His whole presentation just seems so contrived and forced.” Maybe this is how Grant feels about vampires and their portrayal in the media. She thought to herself while taking a sip of her coffee.
“Well he’s been a breath of fresh air in a rather stale market, but I guess different strokes for different folks.” Simon said.
“I guess. Then again, I think the modern radio station is almost an archaic form of music and entertainment.” Kaitlyn lamented. “Besides, I like the idea of having a varied selection of music to choose off my iPod.”
“Yeah, but where’s the heart in that? The soul? The sophomoric wit and banter of a man in his early thirties getting people to wax their privates to win tickets for Nickelback?”
“Gee, you convinced me to see the error in my ways.” Kaitlyn sarcastically answered.
“Or maybe it’s just the inner young adult in me that finds him so freakin’ funny. Maybe I’m just getting a jump start on my mid-life crisis, huh?.” Simon said, thinking about turning forty next week.
“As long as you don’t trade in your Expedition for a Mustang and a twenty-something Hooters waitress, you’ll be fine.” Kaitlyn said jokingly as she wiped a bit of mayonnaise that got onto the corner of her lip after taking a bite of her breakfast sandwich.
“Funny thing is, I think Annie would kill me more over the vehicle than the Hooters Girl.” Simon said, laughing and smiling at Kaitlyn.
A few joggers and other morning people looked on in curiosity as a couple uniformed police officers taped off the crime scene. Another officer played crowd control as the forensics unit van moved into the scene where a half-naked man lied face down in the slightly frost-covered grass in Victoria Park. Fererra’s car then pulled up next to another unmarked police car. He and Kaitlyn both got out of the car and showed their badges to one of the constables on the scene, who led the two detectives towards the scene.
“What do you got so far?” asked Simon to the constable.
“Not too much really” The constable answered back. “No wallet or any other form of identifying the body – male, appears to be in his late teens to early twenties. Nothing from Missing Persons fitting his description.”
Both Simon and Kaitlyn walked towards the body of the short blonde-haired man, slightly tanned. Kaitlyn suddenly picked up a scent of something that she chose to keep to herself for now. Simon crouched down and looked at some marks on the man’s arms, noticing needle marks.
“We sure he just didn’t OD here?” Simon asked.
“Toxicology reports will come in as soon as we get him to the M.E.” a forensics officer said. “Although I would say drugs had no effect on his cause of death.”
“Which would be what then?” Kaitlyn asked as she observed a couple of Medical Examiner workers place the body into a bag, noticing parts of the deceased’s stomach and internal organs hanging out. Once again, Kaitlyn fought off what could be best described to her as a blood frenzy.
“I would say evisceration was the cause of death,” the same forensics officer said.
“So? Twinkie here decides to come down here for the night, maybe tries to score a hit? Or tries to suck off the wrong guy and gets gutted?” Simon asked with a bit of disdain, but knew this part of the park was a notorious cruising spot for members of the gay community.
“Not unless said guy was Wolverine,” the forensics officer said as the Medical Examiner team loaded the body bag into an ambulance and another team scooped up any remaining organs and tissue. “His abdomen was ripped right open, almost like he was prey to a really aggressive predator. Almost like a…”
“… A wolf?” Kaitlyn nervously interrupted.
“Yeah, we’re getting a Conservation Officer down here soon. Maybe our beast is back?” the constable from earlier.
“What? The Mill Creek Ravine Reaper?” Simon asked. Kaitlyn’s eyes nearly bugged out at the mere mention of a name she had not heard in three years and preferred to keep it that way.
“We don’t know for sure. Doesn’t seem to fit its M.O.” Kaitlyn defensively stated, hoping to get this topic killed off quickly.
“Well, we’re combing the area for any other possible clues. Weapon, maybe some I.D. for the poor guy,” the constable said, “For now we’re trying to keep this as low profile as possible before the media gets wind of it.”
“Good. Meanwhile, we’ll canvass some of the usual spots. Maybe we’ll luck out and someone will know who are John Doe is here.” Simon said as he noticed Kaitlyn quickly ran off back to their vehicle. “Excuse me for a sec?” Simon said as he went to track down his partner. Kaitlyn paced back and forth, all the while breathing heavily but in a way to try and get her heart rate down. The smell of blood, although cooled off overnight from the kill, the instant stench of human entrails, and the mentioning of the Ravine Reaper. Too much for her to lose control now.
“You okay there, Kate?” Simon asked, almost startling his partner.
“Yeah, just, I dunno. I shouldn’t be acting like this is my first time out here, right?” Kaitlyn nervously asked.
“Yeah. Panic attack maybe? Thought you said you had them under control?”
“So did I. Maybe something else triggered this off. Reminding me of my own incident like this. Just the scent of his guts?” Kaitlyn guessed as she took in a deep breath. “Think I’ll be okay now,” she said reassuringly to her partner.
“Great,” Simon said as he opened the door to the car. “Now let’s go see if we can get a name to the face.”
“Right,” said Kaitlyn. Please, oh, please don’t let me be responsible for this one! I thought it was all under control! She thought to herself, putting on a façade of being in control on the outside while potentially freaking out in the inside.
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