This story is the seventh in an ongoing series of Batgirl adventures, mainly based on characters in the early Batman comics and that wonderful '60s TV series but with the timeline brought up to the present.
Warning! This fictional story contains strictly ADULT content and is ONLY intended for mature readers and for personal consumption. No copyright infringement is intended.
The Adventures Of Batgirl
Batgirl: The Vampyre Caper
Chapter 8: Even The Best Laid Plans...
The call came through on the police radio, while the two homicide detectives were on their journey back to GCPD headquarters in central Gotham. They diverted off their route and headed for an old rundown industrial area of the city, situated just to the south-west of the docklands. Apparently, some young kids who had been playing hookey from school, had stumbled upon four dead bodies in an old abandoned church. Renee wound down the window and clamped the magnetic base of the flashing lamp onto the roof above her head, while Harvey turned on the police siren and pressed his foot down on the gas pedal.
The battered Chevrolet Impala swung into the dusty square in front of the crumbling church building, raising a billowing cloud of dust, as it screeched to a halt behind the two black and whites with flashing blue lights, that were already parked out front. The two detectives leapt out of their vehicle and ran inside.
The police officer on the door, instantly recognized the two homicide detectives and waved them through, with a perfunctory greeting. None of the media vultures had arrived yet, but a small crowd of curious bystanders had already started to gather outside the church, attracted by the police presence.
"What have we got here, Maloney?" Harvey growled, approaching a uniformed officer who was trying to keep a tight rein on three scruffy youngsters, all about 10 or 11 years old, who were yelling their heads off and generally misbehaving..
"Four bodies, all gangland types, plus a suitcase full of high grade cocaine. We figured this might have been a shoot-out between rival gangs, until we caught sight of the bodies."
"Wha'd'ya mean?" Harvey asked, frowning.
"Better go take a look for yourself, Harv."
Montoya had already walked over to the centre of the room, where a second uniformed officer had just finished marking off a large area in the centre of the nave, using fluorescent yellow police barrier tape. Four blood splattered corpses, lay sprawled out among the remains of the shattered pews. She automatically crossed herself, being a devout Catholic. Even if the church had long since ceased to be used for worship, Renee still thought of it as a Place of God.
Harvey ambled over and joined her. It was obvious what Maloney had been alluding to. All four bodies had an unearthly bleached white pallor to their skin, and expressions of absolute terror on their faces. They had all died a horrible death.
"Another four victims of the vampire, by the look of it," Montoya muttered, hugging herself. The slim brunette shivered, violently. The atmosphere inside the church, suddenly felt very chilly.
Harvey nodded, before ducking under the tape barrier and approaching the nearest of the dead men.
"Hey, don't go tramping around in there, you moron," protested the uniformed sergeant, in an alarmed tone. "The forensic boys haven't had a chance to check things out yet."
Harvey ignored this comment and did a perfunctory check of all four victims. They all had the familiar twin puncture marks in their necks. "Looks like the vampire must've surprised these guys, while a drugs deal was goin' down," he said, looking over at his partner.
Montoya nodded her agreement, before indicating the battered suitcase with a further nod of her head. "Well, there's the suitcase full of drugs, but where's the money?" she asked.
Detective Bullock peered around. "Yeah, where IS the money?" He gave the uniformed sergeant a jaundiced glare. "They don't usually accept checks or credit cards during this sort of transaction," he informed the man, pointing out the blatantly obvious.
"Don't look at me, I ain't seen no money," the policeman protested, going bright red in the face. "Perhaps one of them managed to hightail it outta here with the cash?"
Renee shook her luxurious crown of long dark hair from side to side. "No way, Sarg! No-one gets away from this creature."
"In that case, where the hell is..." Harvey paused, as a metaphoric light bulb lit up in his mind.
He hurried over to the group of youngsters, who were still noisily playing up a red-faced Officer Maloney. "Okay, you guys, where is it?" he growled, impatiently.
"Where's what?" retorted a cheeky-faced youngster with spiky ginger hair and freckles all over his face, grinning at the scruffy copper. He was obviously the leader of the trio. "Ya stink, Ugly!" he added, as he caught a whiff of Harvey's stale tobacco breath.
Harvey grabbed the front of the kid's shirt in one meaty fist and lifted him high off his feet. "The money, you little shit," he snarled, giving the youngster a vigorous shake. "Where's the money?"
The wide-eyed kid was frightened now. He could see that this big, fat copper was in no mood to be flim-flammed. "It's hidden over there, under that pile of rubble," he cried, pointing a shaky finger. "We weren't gonna keep it, honest, mister!"
"Yeah, sure you weren't," agreed Harvey, gently placing the kid back onto his feet and smoothing down his crumpled shirtfront. "Good boy." He showed him a nicotine-stained set of teeth, then patted the urchin on his cheek, perhaps a little bit harder than was strictly necessary. "Honesty is always the best policy, son. You remember that," he advised, with a chuckle.
He turned and strode over to the indicated pile of stone rubble, accompanied by Maloney.
"You didn't have to be quite so rough on the kid," Renee remonstrated.
"It got the right result didn't it," Harvey snapped, bending down to start sorting through the rubble. "Ah, here's what I'm looking for!"
