Detective Sergeant James Ware had not yet arrived so I ordered an extra large coffee–none of the fancy names of some trendier places just small, medium, large, and extra large–with cream and sugar.
While waiting, I set my phone to browse news. Several news outlets were making much of the rash of slasher murders. I skimmed through three editorials using the rise in slashings as an excuse to call for more gun control. I shook my head at that.
One headline caught my eye using the word I never wanted to see in the news.
“Vampire Murders Sweep Nation.”
This wasn’t Weekly World News or even the Enquirer. This was Fox.
I tapped on the edge of the phone for a moment as I thought, then I tapped the article to open it.
I had gotten no more than two paragraphs into the article before realizing that if anything Matei had been underplaying the problem. The reporter here had pulled a lot together. Tampa, Miami, Chicago, Kansas City. The hospital in Indianapolis had been the worst single incident, but already several hundred people had been slaughtered.
A vampire only takes at most about a quart of blood at a feeding. Their stomachs are no bigger than human stomachs after all. Most of their feedings are only about a pint. It takes repeated feedings in short time to kill that way.
So you don’t end up with bodies drained of blood like you see in the movies. Instead, you have someone with wounds to a major artery–the neck is common but not the only target–and the body is simply someone who has bled out.
If someone thinks to check they might notice the amount of blood spilled and the amount still in the body don’t match up with what should be present but even that’s not likely. The problem comes when you have hundreds of bodies, all bearing double cuts from the fangs, many with additional teeth marks. People start asking questions, uncomfortable questions.
The article speculated that the kills were the work of a terrorist organization, attempting to strike fear by mimicking vampire kills. Even so, they were getting entirely too close for comfort.
The Writer in Black 