DANIEL HERON: BECOMING

33 - You're out of your mind!

Ana and Teresa sat on the opposite sides of the coffee table, one on the armchair, the other one on the sofa. They were looking at each other. Daniel sat on the other armchair, visibly upset. The news he learnt earlier that day made him agitated, but also made him determined. He wanted to know what they are planning to do about the vampire hidden in the ruin at the park. They discussed it before. Actually, it was the main topic of the conversation the previous night. They reached only one conclusion – if they plan on doing anything, they would have to do it as soon as possible.

"We have to react quickly," said Teresa.

Sergeant Novik, who stood at the front door, stepped closer. The lamp cast its light on his face, making the wrinkles on his forehead, painted by worries, even more noticeable.

"I could organize a stake out," the sergeant suggested.

"No," Teresa cut him off. "He still doesn't know we found his hideout. The moment he suspects that he was discovered, he will leave. That is why we have to take action tonight."

"Tonight?" Daniel's eyes widened. "As in, this night?" Although all the drapes were pulled, he knew the sun was approaching the edge of the horizon.

"Yes," Ana replied. "Tonight, the element of surprise is on our side."

"Tonight," Daniel repeated in a quieter voice, got up and started pacing. What the women said made some sense. Still, he figured they would have more time to plan the attack. At the bottom line, he was already able to testify just how powerful was the vampire who knocked at the door a few days earlier.

"You cannot just spring into action." Concern crawled into sergeant Novik's voice. "We're talking about someone who killed three people in the past three days."

"Nights," Daniel muttered, attracting the attention of the sergeant and Teresa.

"He was injured. He needed blood to heal," Teresa stated, reminding them once more of the mysterious nature of vampires.

"You healed with only a few gulps of my blood," Daniel pointed out. "He drained three people. He got more than enough healing energy. Didn't that make him some sort of super vampire?"

"Yes, he is stronger now," Ana confirmed. She stood up and walked over to the window. She opened the curtain just for a moment. "We never said this undertake will be risk free."

Sergeant Novik stepped towards Ana. "You will have full support of my men."

Neither Ana nor Teresa responded. Ana just cast a glance over her shoulder, towards Teresa who still sat on the armchair. Daniel knew they wanted to tell the sergeant that his generous offer was useless. He saw what the cornered vampire was capable of. He was sure that just the sight of him would be enough to incapacitate the policemen.

And then there was the vampire stare. He only had to establish eye contact with one of the cops to command him to open fire on the others.

"We will not bring innocent people into jeopardy," Ana finally said. "This is our battle. It's up to me and Teresa to defeat him."

"And it's up to me to make sure that the residents of this town are safe." Sergeant Novik never broke contact with Ana's blue eyes.

"You can't do that," Daniel remarked. "You can't keep the people safe. You haven't seen what the vampire can do to humans. Do you even know what Ana could do to you right now?" He turned to the long-haired vampire before he said, "Show him."

Ana blinked several times, and with every move of the eyelids, the blue hues were vanishing from her eyes, to be replaced by amber. "Give me your gun," she calmly said to the sergeant who stared as her as if he were mesmerized.