Chapter 3 - Night Life

Kaitlyn Russo quietly stood outside the parking lot of the building where she had previously met Doctor Laura Whitehorse earlier in the evening. She dialed a number on her cell phone and patiently waited for the other end to pick up. She was returning her partner Simon Fererra’s call that was made just as Kaitlyn was leaving her meditation session. Kaitlyn just slowly paced back and forth waiting for Simon to finally pick up on the other end. Simon’s voice finally came on the other end. “Fererra here,” he said.

“Hey,” Kaitlyn said as she proceeded to get inside her Volkswagen Jetta. “You called me earlier?”

“Yeah, we got a name of our John Doe from earlier this morning – Gavin Tresscott, aged nineteen. Had a reputation of being a hustler and selling ‘roids to gym rats.”

“So, maybe we have a drug deal that went south? Any word from the M.E. yet?”

“Not yet. Though heard they may have some info for us tomorrow morning.”

“Great,” Kaitlyn said as she turned the ignition and started her car. Noticing a noisy background in Simon’s call, she decided to ask “Where you calling from?”

Simon answered “Just down at the Rose Bowl. Catching the last period of the Oilers game with Cam and Sully from vice. You gonna come down too?”

“Sure. Want to see Sully one more time before his retirement party later this week.” Kaitlyn said. “Be there shortly.”

“’Kay. See ya then!” Simon said as Kaitlyn ended the call and began to slowly pull out of the parking stall.


Grant Roberts sat by himself in the break room. For most parts, Grant did enjoy the solitary time he had during his coffee and meal breaks. Even though he appeared to be in his early twenties, Grant felt no connection with anyone at his work. Perhaps it was the fact Grant was really in his early hundreds and was alive when most of the people he worked with had grandparents or even great-grandparents that would be his true age – most of them long since passed away. Perhaps it was the fact that Grant was among the undead as opposed to the living. Or perhaps it was the fact that Grant carried upon an air of being unreachable he had carried with him since working at the Royal Alex Hospital. But how was Grant suppose to just carry on conversations with normal people? The only recent exception to this behavior of his was Amy Moore. And despite his fears of Amy’s reaction to his true nature, Grant decided to slowly proceed this one part of his life he lacked – a workplace friendship.

Grant’s foray into this unknown frontier would have to wait for a few moments as he saw Amy walk into the room. She was among three other nurses, talking and laughing as they took a table a few feet away from where Grant was doing his quiet reflection on life. Grant watched all four ladies, but in particular Amy, as they all sat down. All four of them chattering and laughing away, almost like a pack of attractive looking hyenas. Grant’s view was then obstructed by a fellow assistant named Russell, who sat down at the table. “So, you got the eye for ol’ red there, eh?” Russell asked Grant.

“I, um, guess so.” Grant said, not feeling like having small talk with Russell. Or anyone else for that matter.

“Want me to ask her if her carpet matches the drapes?” Russell crudely asked.

“I prefer if you didn’t do such a thing.” Grant quietly protested, slightly disgusted by Russell’s perverse question.

“You gotta loosen up here a bit, Grant. Acting all dark and sullen may impress the emo girls who hang out in front of Hot Topic, but it ain’t gonna get you a piece of a real woman like that over there,” said Russell as he cocked his head towards her. Almost as if she may have heard a bit of the conversation, Amy got up from her table and approached Grant and Russell.

“Hey Grant,” Amy said, totally freezing out Russell. “How are you doing tonight?”

“Oh just fine I guess. Been pretty quiet I guess. Taking away messy bed sheets and switching over catheter bags in the geriatric ward can be quite cumbersome though.” Grant answered back dryly.

“Yeah, it’s been a bit of a bore over in emergency tonight too.” Amy said. “Too bad everyone tonight is being extra safe, huh?

“I suppose so.” Grant said.

“Any-hoo, I noticed on our work schedule we have the same days off coming up soon and I was wondering if you wanna go and do something together?” Amy nervously asked Grant.

“Sure, if you don’t mind being with a night hawk,” Grant also nervously said. “Been doing night shift for so long my body can’t ever go back to being a regular person”, he added, trying to cover up his true nature and hoping she would bye into the lie.

“Yeah, cool beans.” Amy said, smiling. “I know this nice little corner pub near my flat. Really makes me feel like I’m back home. We should totally go there.”

“Nice. I’m a bit of a fan of the old English style pubs myself. You play darts?” Grant asked hoping for a positive response.

“Yeah. My father taught me well. He was village champion five years in a row.” Amy said proudly.

“Hmmm, a challenge? I like that,” Grant said. “Listen, my break is almost over here so we’ll talk later about the details, okay?”

“Sure, sounds like a right idea.” Amy said as she wander back to her table. Grant then got up and whispered into Russell’s ears “Just a word of advice: you might be a bit too old to try the Hot Topic look.” Russell looked slightly annoyed by that statement as he just simply watched Grant walk off and politely wave to Amy and the other ladies at the table.


Kaitlyn Russo was the exact opposite of Grant when it came to socializing with people with her work and being a little more brave in trying to live a normal life despite carrying her own secrets. Here she was here now at the Rose Bowl - a staple of Edmonton’s late night bar scene – along with her partner Simon Fererra, sipping on a glass of Diet Coke, watching the Edmonton Oilers lose a heart-breaking game in overtime to the Vancouver Canucks. Also at the table was Cameron Swift and Ryan Sullivan, two officers from the vice squad. Sullivan was a friend of Kaitlyn’s father, also a vice office. “Uncle Sully”, which Kaitlyn knew him first as before deciding to keep up the Russo family tradition of serving in the Edmonton Police Service, had served as a mentor and even father figure to Kaitlyn. Especially when her own father passed away five years ago from a battle with prostate cancer. Despite never fully disclosing her own true nature to her comrades, Kaitlyn felt accepted into a lifestyle her father always said was like a another family. But right now was not time to dwell on her own sins as the true source behind the Mill Creek Ravine Reaper case, tonight was to bask one more time in stories from a family friend and comrade in arms.

Sullivan was in the middle of telling a story to Kaitlyn : “…So your father and I we go to the old CN rail yards there off the Yellowhead off a tip about some human cargo being held in a sea-can. We see these two big colored guys, swear to god they were like shaved apes. He quietly tells me ‘You take the big one, I’ll the bigger one.’ Well, I say back to him ‘It’s fuckin’ hard to tell which one is which!’ and then he’s ‘Just follow my lead and go the opposite way!’ as we jump out from behind. Surprisingly the Gorilla Brothers there know the gig is up and quickly fold down.”

Kaitlyn smiled and got a bit choked up. She said to Sullivan “Well if it was any consolation, Dad did confess to me he was scared shitless that night. One of the last few things he told me before his death.”

“That’s what I always liked about him,” Sullivan said. “Always had the balls and never let on he was lacking them. That, and the whole case was built on old-fashioned foot work and investigation skills.” The older Sullivan looked at both Kaitlyn and the younger Cameron, who was just in his second year on the force. “Something the new generation may not fully get with your reliance on technology. To find someone bringing in illegals, we had to rely on guts and instinct. You younger cops now hop onto the computer and scour the Craig’s Book or My List to track down potential trafficking victims.”

“Sign of the times, I guess” Cameron said, somewhat uninterested in hearing Sullivan’s ramblings and more interested in making eye contact with a petite raven-haired waitress.

“Yeah, changing of the guard and all that other crap I suppose.” Sullivan muttered as he took a big drink from his mug of beer. Looking at Kaitlyn, Sullivan went on to say. “Was a damn shame you didn’t come into vice with us, Kati. Sure with your dad’s balls and mom’s brains, you would have been one of the best I figure.”

“But then what would I have done then, huh?” Simon spoke up jokingly.

“Oh I’m sure you have muddled your way through somehow” Kaitlyn slyly reassured her partner. Around this time, an almost mass hush fell across the barroom as four vampires made their way in. The quartet sat at a table almost kitty corner to where Kaitlyn and her party were sitting at. It was also close to a table with four intoxicated university students.

“Speaking of balls,” Swift said. “Four vamps in a human joint? Are they trying to undermine reform to the registry on purpose?”

“They’re not doing anything illegal… yet.” Simon piped in, noticing they all had the necessary arm bands.

“Their time to be accepted will come as well.” Sullivan said. “Everyone else has been slowly accepted. But it’ll be by the way of the younger generation. My generation is too stubborn to accept some social change. Hell, I still feel uncomfortable with my son after him telling me he’s gay.”

“Yeah, both my grandparents just recently try to get me to sign up for a pro-vampire rights group.” Swift solemnly stated. “Told me they remember another time back in Poland when other people were told to wear armbands to signify what they are.”

“Now I just didn’t hear you compare vampires to Jews, did I?” Simon asked Cameron.

“A little too heavy-handed, huh?” Cameron sheepishly backed off his previous anecdote.

“Just a tad.” Kaitlyn said to Cameron. Then she noticed the university students get up and approach the vampires at their table. One of the students was seen yelling at one of the vampires while another student slapped the back of the head of another vampire. “Someone needs to do something about this,” Kaitlyn said as she got up from her table. She proceeded to make her way to the scene as both Simon and Cameron jumped to act as potential back up. Surprisingly, the vampires remained calm despite being constantly harassed by the male students.

“Something the matter here?” Kaitlyn asked, looking directly at one of the students.

“Nothing that concerns you.” One student said to Kaitlyn. “We’re trying to make this a Fang-Free Zone!”

“We are not causing anyone harm.” One of vampires spoke up. “We just came in and these upstanding citizens decided to make a deal out of this.”

“You have your own bars to hang out at, fangers!” Another student shouted.

“I think it’s best if you all just leave these people alone.” Kaitlyn instructed to the university students. A couple of them laughed at her.

“Yeah, right, sugartits!” The first student said. “Who are you do defend these things?”

“Yeah, you one of them fang-bangers?” Another student spoke up. “These things have no rights here!” Standing behind Kaitlyn, both Simon and Cameron produced their police badges almost in time with her.

“True,” Kaitlyn said. “But I’m sure I’d be doing the entire bar here a favor tossing you all in the drunk tank for the night.”

While mutters of “Let’s go” and “Forget this!” came from the other three students, the main one got into Kaitlyn’s face. “You can’t protect them all the time, you nosy bitch!”

“Want to add ‘assault of a police officer’ to your list here?” Kaitlyn snapped back as the man just back away slowly, knocking a glass off a table. The four students left as Kaitlyn let out a sigh of relief.

“I’ll call dispatch and make sure they don’t cause any more problems tonight.” Swift said.

“You alright there?” Simon asked his partner.

“Yeah, he just rattled me there for a moment. Was really looking forward to him taking a swing just so I could arrest him.” Kaitlyn said regretfully.

“I dunno, you cuffing him probably would constitute foreplay in his drunken mind.” Simon jokingly said, trying to lighten the mood. Kaitlyn gave a half-smile and said “Think I’ll call it a night. See ya tomorrow.”

“Sure. Think Cam, Sully and I are gonna do the same here too.” Simon said.

“Right then.” Kaitlyn said. Then she felt someone grabbing her by the wrist. Kaitlyn turned around to see the one vampire was the one who had the grip. The vampire motioned for her to come closer. Kaitlyn obliged reluctantly and said “Really? After I stood up for you?”

“We are grateful for what you did,” the vampire said. “I am assuming you will want something in return now.”

“What? No. I have no clue what you’re…” Kaitlyn said, confused as to what was going on.

“… We know what you are,” the vampire coldly interrupted. “We will then keep it as our little secret, lest we break our truce with your kind.” Then very quietly, the vampire whispered in Kaitlyn’s ear: “Werewolf,” and then let go of his grip on her wrist. Kaitlyn quickly ran out of the bar and to her car. Kaitlyn just gripped the steering wheel and was breathing heavily. Kaitlyn wasn’t sure what was more scarier: almost coming to blows with the archetype drunk male that was responsible for her own attack years ago, or almost being outed as a werewolf by a group of vampires.