The motorcycle sputtered to a stop. He set his feet down and slowly coasted into an empty parking space near the side walk. He raised his arms up and cracked his knuckles. Looking up he noticed specks of dried blood caked into the crevices. It seemed he forgot to wash his hands before he left.
It was just after midnight, James was sore and stiff. He had been driving, nonstop, for over two hours attempting to get to the university before that girl got herself into even more trouble. He had never met an aware human who was so reckless and thoughtless. He had met her once and she was already causing him more stress than any other woman in his entire life.
James wondered to himself why he was so infatuated with her. Yes, the curiosity of her blood was significant to him, but it seemed like there was more to it. Every time he thought of her, his pulse quickened. It could be the mystery she presented. It had been a few years since he had come upon a truly difficult challenge.
Yet, if he was just interested in her blood he could force an answer out of her. For some reason, he was fearful that he would scare her away. He knew practically nothing about the girl, yet all he could think of was sparing her from any more pain. No woman had made him feel that way before.
He stood up and stretched out the rest of his body before turning to look at the large stone building that was Debora Millers office.
As much as James would like to keep Debora Miller out of his personal business, she was the only one with information on what happened to Tara. He tossed his keys into his pocket and walked around to the main entrance.
The building was dark, with the exception of a few small emergency lights. He walked inside and pushed the up button, calling the elevator. It immediately 'dinged' and opened its doors wide. James walked in and banged the number 4. He stood in silence, listening to the whir of the metal rope slowly pulling the elevator up.
The elevator sounded again as he reached the top floor, he walked out and down the dim hallway until he reached the door of Debora Miller. He knocked twice and stood waiting.
"Hold on one minute! I'll be there in a second" James heard papers shuffling and objects being moved around quickly. He heard her hurry over to the door and open it. She looked disorganized, her hair was falling out of its braid and her makeup seemed old and nearly worn away. This was very unusual for Debora. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long, come in please."
She stepped to the side and motioned him into a chair. He stepped in and immediately smelled Tara. He sat down and looked into a trash bin next to the desk; There were bloody pieces of gauze.
"Miss Miller..."
"Oh, Mr. Lupus, I've told you a thousand times to call me Deb." The small woman closed the door, locked it, and rushed back over to her chair.
"Yes, anyways..." He cleared his throat attempting to rid the mystifying smell from his nostrils. "You mentioned on the phone about some... incident involving Tara. Can you explain to me exactly what happened?"
"Yes, well, Tara ran to me very frightened and covered in blood. Apparently, she was doing laundry and cut her hand. The blood attracted the attention of a Vampire that was in the room with her. We determined through her description that it was an Eater. She said that it started transforming and when she became paralyzed she could see the magic that was coming out of the creature. Have you ever heard of something like that?"
"No, never..." James had heard of something like that before, though not in many, many years. "Take me to this laundry room, I want to see the beast."
-=-=--=
Walking out of the building James took a deep breath, he could smell slight traces of where Tara had come from, though the lingering rain had worn away most of her scent.
"It's this way, James" He looked down at Debora and caught her gaze. She cleared her throat and smoothed her jacket down. "Mr. Lupus, it's just straight across the campus, it should only be a few minutes' walk."
She started walking and James, chuckling to himself, followed behind her. He never got tired of that reaction.
It was dark and cold. Small raindrops misted down from the sky dampening everything they touched. The campus was empty and quiet, the only sounds heard were the hiss of the wind and the tattering of leaves across the ground.
They reached the dorm and walked through the glass doors over to the elevator. The building seemed fairly old and worn inside, as if they had no desire to keep up with regular maintenance.
"All of these old dorms have laundry rooms in the subbasement." She pushed the down button and waited for the doors to open. They walked in and pushed the "S" button, sending them down two floors. The elevator was old and rusty. It creaked and shook with every inch they passed. James noted that Debora looked unnerved being in the small metal box.
"Do you know which room is Tara's?" James asked, attempting to ease the old woman's nerves. "We may want to check her room afterword's to see if she's there."
"No, I honestly have no idea. I only just became close with the girl after all of this started. I could call a woman I know in housing. She does owe me a favor" It appeared that Debora was not as close to Tara as she made it seem. He would have to call Cane and get the information.
"I would rather not involve anyone else in this, if you don't mind." James was annoyed enough that he had to involve the human doctor.
Debora Miller had, somehow after years of poking around, managed to get into contact with Gideon. He had met with her once or twice, that James knew of, before his death. James met with the woman, out of obligation, after taking on Gideon's duties. He felt it was a bad idea to put trust in a human, but Gideon believed the Human doctor could be the final stepping stone for mutual acceptance. Although, it seemed that in the end, not everyone agreed with Gideon's vision of harmony between the species.
The elevator chimed again then opened its doors. Blood immediately assaulted James' senses.
"What's wrong?" Debora looked at him as he quickly walked across the hallway and into the laundry room. There were large scratches on the walls; half of the machines were dented or completely broken apart, some even thrown halfway across the room. Their damaged hoses leaking water all over the floor.
"Someone else got here before us." James trudged through the wet floor towards the far wall. A girl was lying in a heap of broken wood, once belonging to a table. Her eyes were open staring dryly at the ceiling, blood pooled around them leaving unpleasant tear streaks down her porcelain face. Her nose was slits and her mouth was broken open; her jaw undoubtedly shattered to pieces. Dried white foam was caked into the corners of her mouth.
James walked over to her and carefully pushed on her chest, a sickening crack echoed through the room. Debora flinched at the sound and turned away from the beast. He continued around her body, pressing his fingers into her arms, legs, stomach and face. Her bones were brittle, as if every last drop of marrow had been sucked out of them.
Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz
James wiped his hand off on his pants and standing up pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Cane" appeared on the screen.
"Cane, good timing I need..." He was interrupted by Cane.
"Sir, I just received news of an attack on a Were- bar in our territory. It sounds like a group of Vampires attacked less than an hour ago."
