Raving Moon, Lords of the Night Book One

Chapter 21: Brutal Reality

After Okune's Garden we drove back to Stygia, but it was too late to go back to the crime scene. Morning would soon be upon us. The guard shift was likely already in progress. Our thrones would return to their morning lairs and GCPD would take over. Our badges would get us past the police officers, but without the proper spell components we wouldn't be able to learn anything new. It would create an unnecessary interaction between our task force and the local human authorities.

We would have gone straight back to headquarters, but Jacob needed to eat. His eyes had already taken on a reddish tint and his hunger was a palpable thing. I felt it and I'm sure Ariane felt it as well. A sensitive human would get one look at him and run for the hills. With limited time and very few options we stopped at the Main Vein off Exit 2.

Main Vein was a fast food franchise modeled off a fictional vampire who fed on ketchup and loved for children to eat healthy. The mascot, Vladimir Vegetable, had gotten so popular in the last couple of years that he was getting his own cartoon on Netflix. The food was no better than the competition, but the secret menu kept the restaurants open twenty-four hours. The managers were all contracted willing blood donors.

While Jacob fed in one of the clandestine feeding rooms in the basement beneath the store, Ariane and I enjoyed a pair of Transylvania Meals. I traded her half my french fries for her pickles. We ate in comfortable silence, Ariane seated in the front row of the van while I sat in the passenger seat.

"Do you miss it?" she asked after sipping her drink.

"Miss what?"

"Blood. Do you miss the taste of it?"

I looked up, surprised at her question. Equally surprising, I had to think about it.

"It's been thirty years. To be honest, I've forgotten the taste..." I turned to her, pickle chip sitting on my tongue. "I don't remember the flavor, but I do remember the feeling of drinking in another's lifeforce. Do you know that feeling you get when you drink a glass of cold water on a hot summer day?"

Ariane nodded, her eyes focused on my expression. I know now she was studying me, but at the moment I was lost in my own memories.

"Each gulp of blood fills your limbs with new life until you're full of a warmth that seems impossible to achieve any other way. Before the craving takes over, you feel cold and hollow. Empty. Feeding from a living breathing creature fills the void. The more vibrant, the more energetic, the better."

I met her eyes and, for a moment, I heard the blood rushing through her veins. She possessed a youthful strength and the wild power of a lycanthrope. That double dose of warm energy called to me and shook me out of my musings. I blinked rapidly and shook my head. Thirty years was a long time.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine," I lied.

My phone rang and I grabbed it, eager for the distraction. Jumping out of the van, I answered on the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Lieutenant Michele." It was Dr. Noraa. "I know it's almost dawn, but I wanted to let you know we had a setback tonight."

"What kind of setback?" I moved further away from the van for privacy, knowing Ariane could still hear the conversation if she chose to.

"We attempted to lance the infected flesh surrounding Lieutenant Cano's wound. Not only did it do nothing to slow down the decay, but one of our surgeons has now contracted the pathogen."

"Shit... You said pathogen. Does that mean you have some idea of what we're dealing with?"

"No. We don't. We're using the term pathogen as a placeholder. As of right now the only thing we know for sure is that the corruption is contagious." Dr. Noraa lowered his voice. "There is talk of euthanasia."