Chapter 4 - Frenzy?

Morning. Daybreak. Whatever one wants to call it, to Grant Roberts it meant it was time to rest and be out of the sunlight. Normally returning from his shift at work, Grant’s routine was to come back to the condo, catch the morning news, and listen to Seth’s inane theories about various members of the Edmonton morning news scene being vampires. This morning Grant was greeted with something slightly different – Kaitlyn running on a treadmill in the middle of the living room. Grant nearly found him hypnotized by either the pulsating techno music Kaitlyn blaring through the stereo. Or maybe it was also the monotonous sound of the treadmill’s conveyor belt. Or maybe it was seeing Kaitlyn’s thighs and butt moving in black lycra workout pants. Trying to regain focus, Grant turned the volume down on the stereo. A move that garnered him Kaitlyn’s attention. “What the… oh, when did you get in?” she asked Grant after stopping the treadmill and proceeded then to do some push-ups.

“Just now, I suppose.” Grant said as he made his way onto the couch and continued to watch Kaitlyn working out. “What are you doing up so early?” he decided to ask.

“Had a bit of a rough night sleeping,” Kaitlyn said in between breaths. “Some upstanding citizens last night decided to play bouncers for a group of vamps and I decided to intervene before things got ugly.” After finishing off a set of push-ups, Kaitlyn popped upright quickly and started doing jumping jacks - unaware Seth was standing behind her.

“Not only that, but by the sounds of it, some meathead frat boy decided to get all in our girl’s grill” Seth said, startling Kaitlyn slightly as she took turned around and nearly swung at Seth.

“Yeah, that made my night!’ Kaitlyn said sarcastically. She paused from her workout and took a drink of water and wiped the sweat pouring from her brow. “Some big shot asshole trying to look all cool in front of his buddies. God, if it was five years earlier…”

“…You would have hit him first?” Grant interjected.

“Yeah or probably hunt him down and tear him limb from limb.” Kaitlyn said with a tinge of regret and quiet rage as she crumbled the plastic water bottle.

“See, that’s the one thing I always hated about those frat boys. They come and go, but every year they somehow find the lowest common denominators and they ruin it for the rest of them.” Seth said.

“Meanwhile the vampires I saved from getting publicly staked decide to quietly threaten me, but I guess since I stood up for them I got some brownie points within the community now.” Kaitlyn said, looking directly at Grant, who then said “Maybe. I have heard rumors of some sort of uneasy truce between our respected races, but you know how out of touch I am within my community.”

“Well that’s all about to change soon, right?” Seth asked in a probing manner.

“What are you talking about?” Kaitlyn asked, feeling left out of the loop.

“Oh, Seth convinced me to sue Hollywood and the mainstream media for its portrayal of vampires.” Grant matter-of-factly stated.

“Oh for the love god, this isn’t one of your get rich quick schemes, is it Seth?” Kaitlyn annoying asked.

“Get rich quick? Nah. Scheme? Not really. I suggested it as merely a joke until Count Duckula here decided to take it seriously.” Seth defended himself.

“Really? ‘Count Duckula’? You’re going with that?” Grant said to Seth.

“Well I figured all the other atypical vampire references would have been played out by now, but that is neither here nor there.” Seth said.

“Well, have you two geniuses figured out how a vampire is going to appear in a day court setting, let alone find a lawyer crazy enough to take on a case like this?” Kaitlyn asked. Grant answered back “We’re considering Claire Sawyer…”

“… The Vampire Lawyer!” Seth chimed in with false enthusiasm. Kaitlyn rolled her eyes and said “Oh Christ, not ‘Cadaver Girl’!”

“You heard about that too, huh?” Seth asked Kaitlyn.

“Yeah. A guy I dated back then told me the story. He himself was bit of an oddball. A little too obsessed with wolves for my liking.” Kaitlyn recalled.

“Thought that would be up your alley?” Seth teasingly asked.

“Not when he was thinking there would be a wolf uprising during the fall of man and he would be the one defending the remains of society.” Kaitlyn retorted rather sharply.

“Ah. Speaking of dates,” Grant said looking at Kaitlyn, “I got one this Friday. Was wondering if you want to be my wing person?”

“This Friday?” Kaitlyn asked then remembered: “Can’t. Got Sully’s retirement party that night. Why not take Seth?”

“Um, hi, excuse me?” Seth said. “Ghost here. The reaction most people have around me is ‘Ahhh! G-g-g-g-ghost!’ Don’t think that’ll win any points for young Grant here trying to pass himself as normal…”

“You didn’t tell her you’re a vampire?!” Kaitlyn exclaimed.

“Look, you’re able to go out and lead a normal life somewhat,” Grant lamented to Kaitlyn. “Why can’t I have the same right as you?”

“You can, but,” Kaitlyn paused and sighed. Then she went on to say “It’s just after last night, there are just people out there that don’t seem so reasonable, no matter what. And until things change, there is nothing really protecting you out there from anyone looking to score cool points killing a vampire.”

“Well thanks for your concern, but maybe it is time I do something to change peoples’ minds.” Grant said as he got up from the couch and left in a huff before the sun shined in to the room. Kaitlyn just sighed and sat on the couch. Seth sat down beside her as Kaitlyn turned on the television. “You sure you’re not just letting last night really get you more than you’re letting on?” Seth asked Kaitlyn.

“Maybe. I dunno. It’s just not last night,” Kaitlyn answered. “It’s like there is something different in the air. I keep hearing reports of violence escalating between vampires and people. We’re getting a new chief sworn in next week and he’s staunchly anti-vampire to the point where he wants to set up a special force to patrol and maintain peace in the vampire communities here. Plus I just hope this one case I got is an isolated incident and doesn’t lead into reopening the Mill Creek case.”

“Because you’ll be exposed as the one behind it and lose everything, huh?” Seth asked.

“Well, being a respected member of the Edmonton Police Service, it will just quietly be swept under the rug and I’d be probably turned over to Section 31 for the rest of my life or until some crack pot decides to dissect me for shits and giggles.”

“Yeah, that would totally suck balls… though I’d prefer that over being a hit-and-run victim, or getting run over by the LRT.” Seth said, noticing a story on the news. Looking confused, Kaitlyn focused on the television, turning the volume up enough to hear “… ETS officials have closed service at the Grandin Station as reports of four bodies being found on the tracks. No word yet on how long the bodies, first discovered by the first LRT operator of the morning, have been there. The investigation is still ongoing and we will have more details as they come…”. Kaitlyn shut the television off and quickly bolted to the bathroom, knowing full in well she would be most likely be called in soon as part of the investigation.


“We’re gonna have a helluva time finding the identity of the one body,” Simon Fererra told Kaitlyn as he held up the police line tape for her to go under. “Apparently the train ran it over and the driver stopped a little too late. The other three are still intact though.”

“Well that’s reassuring,” Kaitlyn dryly commented.

“Well don’t be too excited. Captain Sperling is here this morning.” Simon stated.

“Really? What brought her down from her mighty roost?” Kaitlyn asked as she and Simon made their way down the stairs from the surface and down to the platform miles below the surface.

“Think we’ll find out soon enough.” Simon said as he and Kaitlyn now were down at the passenger platforms of the Grandin LRT Station. Standing next to a parked train was a short black-haired woman, medium build and wearing a brown trench coat. She was Captain Joan Sperling, Kaitlyn and Simon’s superior, and she was not looking too pleased as the two of them approached her.

“Any further info for us?” Simon asked Captain Sperling.

“Nothing yet. Forensics is going to try and scrape up what they can of John Doe One over there.” Captain Sperling said, pointing to a team of forensics officers trying to pick up any remains from the body that got ran over. “Meanwhile, a little birdie told me two of my officers decided to some grandstanding last night and protected some vampires.”

“I was just trying to ensure a potentially volatile situation did not escalate further than it needed to.” Kaitlyn said, defending her actions from last night.

“Save the soapbox for another time, Russo,” Captain Sperling snapped. “Between that, the mayor and the police commission breathing down my neck about the Tresscott case, and the fact that the new chief is looking to poach my best officers for his little ‘Vamp Patrol’, the last thing I need to hear is anyone on the force showing a pro-vampire stance!”

“Duly noted, ma’am.” Kaitlyn reluctantly acknowledged. “Now anything about this case that requires us to be here?”

“Well, considering the three remaining bodies were scattered, battered, and beaten, I’m sure this is not as simple as a bunch of university students trying to play on the tracks or some fraternity prank gone horribly wrong.” Captain Sperling said as she led Simon and Kaitlyn towards one of the bodies. Quietly to each other, Kaitlyn asked Simon “University students? You don’t suppose…?”

“What? Revenge killing? Our vamp friends try to take the train, meet up with our buddies, and pick up where they might have been heading at the Rose Bowl?” Simon whispered back. Their quiet assumptions would prove to be correct as the body they saw belonged to one of the students, in particular the one who was the more vocal and got in Kaitlyn’s face. Kaitlyn had a look of shock on her face when she realized who it was. Inspecting the body, Kaitlyn noticed that the student’s throat had been violently slashed right across. Once again, Kaitlyn’s heart began to beat rapidly, almost feeling herself come to her primitive urges. No! Focus away from the smell of blood! Kaitlyn told herself as she walked away. Breathing in and out, she tried to regain composure. Noticing this, Captain Sperling approached Kaitlyn and asked “You all right, Russo?”

“Yeah, just something about this made me feel a little…” Kaitlyn paused and thought of a lie to cover up her true feeling. “…Uneasy I guess.”

“Heard something similar happened yesterday.” Captain Sperling said, coldly but understanding. “Look, if you’re going through some of your issues from before, I recommend going back to the department shrink, or take a personal day to regain focus, or maybe seriously reconsider transferring to a less violent department.”

“Yes, ma’am” said Kaitlyn. Around this time, Kaitlyn noticed a very tall, broad-shouldered man, wearing a dark leather trench coat. He was seen looking closely at another body, which was smashed through the board that showed a map of the city’s transit system. He then walked over to where Kaitlyn, Simon, and Captain Sperling. In a thick Ukrainian accent, the man spoke “Ya, this was a definite frenzied attack.” Both Kaitlyn and Simon looked on in confusion and then at Captain Sperling.

“Oh yeah, another surprise from the commission,” Captain Sperling said and then introduced everyone. “Detectives Russo and Fererra, this is Special Constable Sergei Koloff from the Ukraine.”

“Hey, welcome to Canada,” Simon greeted Sergei with a handshake.

“Thank you,” Sergei humbly said to Simon. Sergei’s attention then turn to Kaitlyn, who he took her hand and kissed it like a nobleman would to a lady in the days of yore. “Always an honor to work alongside such beauty,” Sergei said to Kaitlyn, who looked confused as how to react to this archaic form of chivalry. “Thanks, I guess.” Kaitlyn said, unsure how to really react.

“You are quite welcome.” Sergei said with a sly smile on his almost granite-like face. “Anyways, Captain Sperling, this attack was indeed caused by what I suspected to hunt down when brought to this city.”

“Excuse me? What do you mean ‘hunt’?” Simon asked.

“And what do you mean ‘brought to this city’?” Kaitlyn asked, although her question was more directed at Captain Sperling.

Sergei answered Simon’s question. “In my country, we call them ‘vovkulaka’, I believe the English translation would be…”

Kaitlyn interrupted Sergei by saying “… Werewolf.”

“Correct, Detective Russo,” Sergei said. “Your city was gracious enough to bring me here to hunt down this one or even both of them.”

“Wait a minute. What do you mean both?” Kaitlyn asked. “There’s more than one?”

“Possibly but right now is hard to tell.” Sergei said in a slightly broken English verbal string. Sergei went to look at another one of the bodies as Simon and Kaitlyn pulled Captain Sperling to the side. “Care to explain all of this?” Simon bluntly asked Sperling.

“All I know is someone with ties to the police commission suggested bringing him in.” Captain Sperling said. “The Tresscott case was the breaking point although they wanted to bring him in three years ago.”

“Three years ago?” Kaitlyn asked worryingly. “That would have been…”

“…The last known confirmed death in the Mill Creek Ravine Reaper case.” Captain Sperling stated. “And whether or not these deaths are linked to that case, it’s part of the new chief’s mandate when he comes in. He wants to reopen the Mill Creek Reaper investigation.”

Just great! Kaitlyn thought to herself Maybe I’ll take Joan’s suggestion and use a personal day after all.