Shadows of the Night

look, its another weird and wild trip into my mind. such a frightening place to be. there are no warnings that i can think of for this chapter. not much action (gore or sex) takes place here. but it isn't all sunshine and shadows, either. please check all warnings before starting each chapter as things could get quite messy as time passes. just thought i'd let you know.

and, also, if you find you like this, please feel free to leave me a note and let me know.

Chapter Ten: Grisly Discoveries
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The sunlight streaming in through the crack in the curtains was what woke Kat up. Her initial reaction was to throw her hands up and cover her face as the bright yellow beams caressed her skin with their warmth. For a moment, she thought she could feel the heat of fire burning beneath her epidermis as she burst into flames. But the moment of terror passed as it came to her panicking mind that she was doing just that and only that. Feeling. It wasn't actually happening and, when the distress finally dissipated, she sat up and stared around her almost wildly.

It was morning or rather, judging by the position of the sun's rays coming through the window, late morning. She'd gotten in late with Mac after their meal and they'd engaged in some idle chatter for a while before she'd nearly fallen asleep in the middle of a sentence. With a soft chuckle, Mac had easily lifted her up into her arms and carried her to her room. He'd found her a nighgown to sleep in then, after laying a chaste kiss upon her forehead, he'd left her on her own. She'd yawned the entire time she'd changed from normal clothes to night clothes and had been asleep almost before she'd crawled into bed.

The room was the same as it had been the night before and every other time before that, but somehow things felt so very much different than they had previously. She put her head in her hands, burying her face as she sagged with relief. The conversation she and MacKenzie had had the night before in the car came back to her and she realized that this was one of those side effects he'd been telling her about. It scared her that she'd reacted without thinking. Almost as if she'd been a vampire for a very long time. She wondered if that instinct wasn't something that was deeply written into the code of the vampire's blood. In essence, it was a survival instinct that they were born with. And, in the giving of his blood to her, Mac had passed the fear in to Kat.

She wasn't surprised when there was a soft knock on the door. She should have known that Drum would have picked up on any change in her emotional state. He was a very observant man and his lycanthropic nature only enhanced that. Slipping from the bed, she padded to the door and opened it with a chagrinned smile. Drum blinked at her as if not expecting this, then gave her an uncertain smile. 'You heard me wake up, didn't you?" she asked in an attempt to break the tension.

"Sort of," he responded rather gruffly. He looked hesitant. "I've been waiting for you to wake up and I've been..." he trailed off, his face coloring in embarrassment.

Kat stared at him a moment, then understood his hesitation. "You were waiting for me outside the door," she observed softly. Drum's color deepened and she couldn't help but smile a little wider. Gently, she laid a hand on his shoulder. He looked so miserable to have been caught. She found she couldn't even be bothered to dredge up the slightest amount of anger. Here he was, this big man, and he looked as if he were trying to be the smallest person in the world because of his feeling of shame. Without thought, Kat went up on her tiptoes and pressed a sweet kiss to his cheek.

She was not prepared to see the flush in his cheeks only darken with the move. He turned to leave and she caught his arm, holding him in place despite the fact that they both knew he could pull away with ease. Drum refused to look at her and it took Kat several moments to realize that he was afraid she was upset with him. His body was tense and his eyes, though they wouldn't meet hers, were filled with regret. There was a frown on his face that she hated to see there. She could handle his fierce, set stare that told her he was mad. And she loved to see him smile. But she couldn't accept the frown. It made him seem smaller and boyish, somehow.

Moving so that she stood directly in front of him, Kat peered up into his eyes. "Drummond, I don't blame you and I'm not mad at you. I'm glad you made Mac tell me what's been happening to me. I thought I was losing my mind. Its scary to me and knowing that it isn't me helps me deal with it," she told him softly.

His eyes flicked to hers, his gaze uncertain. She nodded her head and offered him a genuine smile that wasn't hindered by any form of emotion other than understanding. Slowly, the smile caught on and his lips curved up. The haunted look left his eyes and she felt immediately better. She hated seeing anyone upset and most definitely because they thought they'd done something to upset her in the first place. "You're really not mad?" he asked, his voice still hesitant. It was somewhat unsettling because in the few days she'd known Drum, she'd come to realize that he was always in control of himself and never, ever, appeared to be self-conscious.

"No, I'm not mad," she assured him. "I am very glad that I know what's happening to me now. If you hadn't have demanded that Mac explain what the sharing of blood would mean, I'd never have known. And I really would have thought I was going crazy."

The relief that came into his eyes and his smile was such a wonderful thing to see. Kat had hated that look of uncertainty that had clouded his beautiful green eyes. He said nothing, simply stared down at her while she smiled up at him. She could see the loneliness there, in the back of his gaze, and she remembered that he'd been alone for such a long time. She wondered, briefly, what the woman he'd loved had been like. She knew there'd been one. She could see the haunting of sorrow deep within the green orbs.

Almost without thinking, Kat went up on tip toes, her hands curling over his shoulders to steady and balance her. Drum stared down at her with confused eyes for a moment, then seemed to understand because his hands curled around her arms as if he were going to push her away. Then her lips touched his and he forgot himself, dragging her closer to him to intensify the joining. His lips were firm over hers, barely giving in to the kiss as if he would allow her to kiss him, but he wouldn't return the gesture.

She pressed herself tightly against him, her breasts flat against his chest. He was nothing but hard planes and tight muscle and she felt small and soft against him. Her hands went up around his neck, her fingers sliding into his hair. She forced his head down and deepened the kiss, her tongue driving between his lips. She knew that he was allowing her to do so, but he had yet to participate fully in the kiss. And then her tongue touched his. Drum came alive.

His mouth moved against hers, his tongue tasting each corner and crevice of the moist cavern he had suddenly captured. His arms slid around her, his hands holding her close without pressing on her body too tightly. She understood that he hadn't reacted sooner because he'd been holding himself back. He knew how strong he was and he was afraid of hurting her. But her touch had been enough to send him over the edge. She'd started the kiss, but he was now in control of it.

His tongue moved deeply inside of her mouth, sending rivers of liquid fire snaking through her blood stream and along each and every one of her quivering nerves. Kat sighed softly and melted against him. She knew, on some level that she shouldn't be doing this. She thought briefly of MacKenzie. She was deeply attracted to him in a way she couldn't explain. It wasn't just that he was handsome. It wasn't just that he was helping her. It wasn't simply one thing she could name. It was a combination of things that made it seem much more than a simple attraction. He felt as if he were part of her and, by kissing Drum as she was, she was betraying him.

But she felt what she could only describe as an animal attraction to Drum. Just looking at him excited her and she couldn't help but want to touch him and show him how much she wanted him to touch her in return. A groan rolled up her throat as he pressed his body closer to hers. The feel of him so close to her. touching her, was making her crazy with desire. At the moment, she wanted nothing more than for him to force her into the room behind her, shove her down on the bed and forcibly drive himself into her waiting body.

His hands were molded to her head, holding her face still as he plundered her mouth with his own. Her fingers were curled into the skin on his back, her nails scoring his flesh through the shirt he wore. His tongue and lips, so expertly plied, were driving her wild. She inched closer to him, though it seemed impossible, and whimpered her need into his mouth. She was answered with a low growl in the back of Drum's throat, a sound that was entirely animal in origin. The growl drove him back from her and Kat stared at him in confusion.

"This is wrong, Kat," he said, his eyes wide as he looked at her. She wanted to protest, but she knew that he was right. It was wrong. He was Mac's friend and she knew he wouldn't do anything to hurt his friend.

"You're right. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have started it," she apologized, stepping back from him to give him some breathing room. When he didn't say anything immediately, she had the grace to blush. "At least this time we know it was me and not the blood," she told him before she could stop herself, which only made her blush all the more.

"Are you hungry?" Drum asked, politely ignoring her discomfort. Kat smiled at him thankfully. "Its almost lunch time and I thought...."

"I'm starved. But I'm making lunch this time. You made breakfast for me. My turn to repay the kindness," she insisted. He gave her what she thought was a very skeptical look, as if he thought she couldn't manage to boil water without ruining it. "I can manage a lunch for the two of us. I might not be a gourmet chef, but I can make something that will fill you up and satisfy your hunger."

"You don't strike me as the particularly domestic type," Drum eyed her. Kat made a face at him and motioned for him to step back out into the hallway.

"I'll show you domestic," she retorted, following him when he did finally move. His chuckle was full of warmth and good-natured humor as she slipped past him and hurried for the stairs. She could hear him coming behind her and it took her a moment to realize that she was hearing the faint sound of his bare feet hitting the carpet as he walked. She could have gone all weird about it if she'd stop to think, but she simply gave a mental shrug and pushed it aside. It was part and parcel to the relief from her pain. She wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth a second time.

Once at the bottom of the stairs, the two of them moved in companionable silence across the wooden floor of the entryway and into the dining room. The kitchen was connected to it on the other side, so they made their way through the formal room into the less austere kitchen beyond. Sun was flooding the room, coloring everything with a warm, golden glow. Without a word, Kat went over to the refrigerator and opened it then glanced in.

She was rather surprised to find that it was fairly well stocked, given the owner was a vampire who couldn't eat solid food. She found a package of ground beef on one of the shelves and decided that they'd have hamburgers. So she took it out and set it on the counter. A bag of salad followed, along with a few different pieces of fresh fruit. Giving Drum a grin as he eyed the chosen goods, she began a search for pans and utensils.

~*~

"I must admit I wasn't expecting anything this enticing," Drum told her as he stared at the plate she set before him. She'd put together a humburger for him, complete with bun and the extras. There was a piece of lettuce decorating the top half of the bun, as well as a thick slice of tomato and some red onion. Several wedges of fruit were nestled beside the burger, cold and crisp and glistening with fresh pearls of juice. A bowl contained the salad, topped with pieces of cucumber, radish, mushroom and onion. Cheese and bacon bits, as well as croutons and sunflower seeds, also covered the plain bagged salad. The lot of it was brought together with a swirl of dressing and there was fresh lemonade to drink.

Kat grinned at him and sat in her chair. She set her plate before her, then reached for the bottle of ketchup to add to her burger. "I'm not completely without domestic capabilities, you know. My grandmother did her best to teach me what she thought all young girls should know. I learned the basics of cooking, cleaning and sewing. But not much else. I can't cook a gourmet dinner and don't ask me to make you a new pair of pants from a pattern. Still, I'm not completely helpless when it comes to domestic tasks."

"You did well enough," Drum admitted shamelessly around a mouthful of hamburger. He'd put a dollop of mustard and a squeeze of ketchup on his burger, skipping over the mayonaise. She smiled to see him enjoying her simple meal. "Besides, its all to do with the love you put into your meals. If you created them with love, then that's really all that matters."

Kat set her fork down, ignoring the salad for a moment, and merely stared at him. When he realized that she was watching him, he set his burger down and frowned. Before he could ask her if he'd offended her, she spoke. Her voice was soft and distant, as if she were recalling a much loved and very worn memory. "Grams used to tell me that when I got frustrated with my inability to do more than burn toast. She always said that a meal made with love was always better than a meal bought from some faceless person. She always made me feel like I wasn't stupid when I couldn't do it right."

Drum blinked, then relaxed into an easy grin. "That pearl of wisdom came from my mum," he told her. "I had several brothers and sisters, as families were always large in those days, and there was never truly enough food on the table for us. When my siblings and I dared to complain about the lack, she'd tell us that quantity could never replace quality. She told us all that her meals might have been simple and lacking, but they always came with an extra large helping of love and that that would see us through the night. Funny thing, it always did."

Kat warmed at the hint of remembrance in his eyes. It was obvious by the look upon his face and the tone of his voice that he had been very fond of his mother. "You were her favorite?" she surmised. The faint blush that stained his cheeks told her she was right. She chuckled. "I was very young when my parents died, so Grams raised me. When I lost her....." Kat stopped and shook her head sadly. "It was so hard. I lost more than someone I loved. I lost my faith. I learned then and there that, in the end, I couldn't depend on my family. I could only depend upon myself."

"Its always hard to lose your loved ones. And when you're so young," he said softly. Kat nodded and picked her fork up once again, lifting a small heap of lettuce to her mouth. After chewing and swallowing, she looked back up at him and smiled.

"Don't worry about it. I made my peace with their loss a long time ago. You can't live in the present if you don't get rid of the past. Besides, I like to think that Grams, Mom and Dad are looking out for me still," she said softly, just the faintest hint of sorrow coloring her words. Drum reached out with his empty hand and covered hers in a silent offering of sympathy and understanding.

"I'm sure they are," he finally said after a moment or two of silence. "Parents always look out for their children and I suspect they loved you very much." Kat nodded and continued to eat without making comment. The two of them lapsed into silence, simply enjoying the companionship of one another as they finished the meal she'd made them.

~*~

The gazebo was old. There were six sides with one opening into the center of the gazebo. Every side had lattice work attached to it with climbing vines of ivy weaving their way to the top of the structure. The roof of the gazebo was flat and broad, with narrow eaves overhanging the body to cast some shadows around it. Intricate trim hang from the eaves, carved into patterns of swirls and loops. The sun had moved over the middle point in the sky so it shone on the vined walls. The light that filtered into the interior of the gazebo was tinted with green, creating an atmosphere that reminded Drum of a dense forest.

He sat on one side of the table, Kat on the other. They'd come out here on his suggestion after finishing their meal. It was quiet and peaceful, just what Drum thought they both needed after the slight feel of melancholy that had wrapped itself around them while eating. Mac's home had lovely, lush lawns of green that were always well maintained. He had a section of the back yard dedicated to nothing but flowers and they grew in wild disarray. There were many varieties that clamored with one another for dominance in the patch of soil they'd been given. The colors were bright and vivid, the heavy perfumes scenting the air. The smell of them even managed to permeate the air inside the gazebo.

Drum had brought a pitcher of lemonade with them. He'd also brought the daily paper while Kat had found a book on the shelf in Mac's library that she was interested in. They'd been outside for a short while and both were reading in companionable silence. Peering over the edge of his paper, he watched Kat as her eyes poured across the page of the book in her hands. He still didn't understand why she'd picked the book on history. He'd expected her to pull down one of the several dog eared copies of science fiction novels that Mac seemed to favor. It had come as something of a surprise to see her engrosssed in a book about real places and events.

As if sensing his scrutiny, Kat lifted her eyes to his. The book dipped slightly so that he could see the grin on her face. When he gave her an answering smile in return, she brought the book back up. It only made it halfway back to its original position, though. Her eyes seemed to be glued on the paper he held and he watched as a mere second of time saw all the color drained from her face. "Kat?" he asked even as he began folding the paper up to see what had caught her attention

The front page held a large caption and an even larger picture that screamed out the latest news. As he'd started reading from the back of the first section, he'd had yet to see the big headline of the day. When he finally got a good look at the picture, he understood why Kat was so unsettled by it.

Third Bizarrre Murder Happens in City Park!

The headline alone was scary. The picture that went with it was almost enough to make Drum want to hurt someone. Almost. There was a hurried, near grainy shot of the crime scene, not too far away from the spot where a white sheet covered a body. The picture was in color and the red that stained the while of the sheet was vivid against the backdrop of near darkness. Further away was another, smaller spot that was covered by a sheet, this one almost dripping with spilt blood. There were several people standing around the two areas, unrecognizable items clutched in their hands or littering the ground at their feet. Two men who were obviously detectives stood at the edge of the photograph, their heads bent toward one another to speak privately while their eyes were trained on the gruesome scene before them.

The main body of the story started under the picture. Another grisly murder has happened in the wee hours of the morning, sending the city into a panic about safety. The third victim, Tommy Peters, was found late last night in Cockrell State Park by a jogger, was a twenty three year old college student. While the police kept everyone away from the crime scene, it was learned that this death appears to be as strange and horrendous as the previous two involving Jimmy Dalton and Doreen Haviland. Detective Bill Freeman, the main detective on both murders, was on the scene of this death, too.

As reported by the press, the murders of Jimmy Dalton and Doreen Haviland were both strange and brimming with suspicious circumstances, though the police aren't discussing any information about any of the cases. Now they have a new one to add to their growing list of mysterious murders. An anonymous source close to the investigation has stated that the police can find no evidence that links the murders to one another.

Drum stopped reading after that. His eyes were dragged to the picture, smaller and less splashy than the one of the crime scene, that showed a previously living Tommy Peters. He frowned and swore up a storm. The boy looked rather like Mac. Oh, there were some distinct differences. But, if you looked at him from a distance, it was quite likely you'd mistake one for the other. Drum didn't like what this meant to his friend. If the picture was anything to go by, Mac could very well be in danger. "Son of a bitch," Drum snarled under his breath.

"Its her, isn't it?" Kat asked him hesitantly. Drum brought his eyes up to hers and stared. She was still pale, though she didn't seem to be as upset as she had a few moments ago. To his eyes, she looked calm and collected. "That woman... Niki. She's behind these deaths, isn't she? To try and get to me."

"We don't know for sure, Katya," Drum began but stopped when she gave him a look. He sighed and shook his head. "Yeah, its her. Mac and I think she's hunting you."

"But why? Why me?" Kat asked, closing the book and setting it on the table with very precise movements and Drum realized she was doing her best not to lose control in front of him. He silently commended her that, because there was nothing she could do by going into hysterics. It wouldn't help them with this and, in the end, it would only wear her out more than she already was. She needed the truth, or as much of it as he could give. Drum sighed and reached out to gently touch her face.

"Niki is sick. Twisted. She takes great joy in hunting people and breaking them. In bending and twisting them to her will. For some reason, though neither of us know why, she's taken a liking to you. She's hunting you. She wants to break you, then claim you as her toy. Then she'll break you some more," he told her as gently as he could.

"I see," she said slowly, nodding her head in time to the two words. "So not only do I need to worry about these shapeling things trying to attack me, but now I need to be wary of Niki."

"I'm sorry, Kat. I truly am," Drum told her.

"Well, it isn't like I have anything else to do with my time," she shrugged, looking back to the book before her. "After Jer's death and the attack, I was basically told not to come back until I was completely healed. Mentally and physically. I don't think I'll ever go back to work. It all hurts too much."

"I'm sorry this had to happen to you, Katya," Drum told her gently. "But I'm glad we got to meet."

Kat gave him a smile that lit up her face, despite the seriousness of the conversation, then reached across the table and laid her hand on top of his. "So am I, Drum. So am I."

~*~*~*~*~

Detective Bill Freeman stared at the door in front of him and sighed. It had already been a long day and it was only going to be longer. After finishing at the crime scene and dealing with the forensics team, he'd gone back to the precinct to file his report. His boss hadn't liked the fact that there hadn't appeared to be much at the scene to indicate who, or what, had done the deed and had taken his displeasure out on Bill in a colorful and threatening manner. The rest of his day had been spent at his desk, staring at crime scene photos from the three murders while trying to find some common denominator between them. After several hours of contemplation and a nasty headache, he'd been drawn back to the only thing that he'd been able to find that could possibly tie them all together was Katya Fitzsimmons.

And so it was that he found himself standing upon her doorstep. He'd found her address in the file on Jeremy Pillings' death and had come to speak to her instead of going home and to bed, where he should have been hours ago. Not that he thought Katya could shed any more light on this situation, but perhaps she could unknowingly give him some information that would be of use in his investigation. He straightened his rumpled tie, then lifted his hand and knocked on the door.

The face that appeared when the panel swung open was perky despite the worry that clouded jade green eyes, the features impish in appearance. The girl stared up at him, the door only opened wide enough to allow her to look out at him. Her body was obviously leaning against the door in an effort to prevent anyone from forcing their way in. Bill pulled his badge out and showed it to her so that she could see it. "I'm looking for Katya Fitzsimmons. Is she here?" he asked. "I'm Detective Bill Freeman. I need to ask her some questions about a case I'm working on."

"Kat isn't here. She didn't exactly move out, but she hasn't been home in several days. I'm Tami," the blonde stepped back from the door and opened it wider, inviting Bill in with one arm. He nodded and flashed her a grim smile, then stepped in. Tami shut the door, then motioned to the couch. He moved toward it, taking a seat. "Can I get you something to drink? Some water or juice? I can make a pot of coffee, if you like."

"No, thank you," Bill smiled at her. "Please, don't go to any trouble on my account."

Tami stared at him a moment, then nodded her head and took a seat in the chair across from him. She was obviously young, the skin still smooth and unblemished. She wore a knee length skirt and a blouse that made him think she'd just gotten home from work. Nylons covered her feet and calves but did nothing to disguise the bright blue polish that stained her toe nails. She had blonde hair that was done up in what appeared to be a complicated knot, leaving her neck exposed. If not for the polish on her toes and the youthful look of her face, the girl across from him could have been some cosmopolitan woman of age and style.

"What can I do for you, Detective?" Tami asked, her tone serious.

"As I said," he began, shifting forward on the couch so that he sat on the edge of it. He propped his hands on his knees and looked her in the eye. "I'm looking for Kayta. I have some questions for her and this is the address I found on file when I looked. Do you happen to know where she is or when she'll be back?"

"I honestly don't know. She hasn't quite been right since our friend was killed," Tami admitted with a shake of her head. "I was told she was fine, but I just don't know. I was assured that she isn't out of her mind, but I don't know who to believe."

"What do you mean, out of her mind?" he asked, his cop instinct picking up on information that could potentially be important to his investigation.

"Since Jer's death, she's been going on and on about these.... things," Tami told him in a tone that suggested she was glad to be telling someone. That whatever she knew, it had been plaguing her for some time and getting it out would make her feel better. "Things that can't possibly exist. And then there's the pain. She says she's in constant pain. But the doctors at the hospital could find no evidence to support her claims. Nor could they find cause for it. Terry thinks she's going out of her mind and her friend MacKenzie tells me she isn't. Terry said she showed up with some strange man and collected her clothes and.... I don't understand a damn thing that's going on."

"Things that don't exist and a pain with no reason. And her friend Mac assured you she's fine. You believed him?" Bill asked in as friendly a manner as he could, trying to make his question sound as if he were only mildly curious and not really anxious for her answer.

"I did. At the time, I was sure of what he'd told me. But now.... I don't know. It all seems so unreal. I mean, how can there be things out there that are like animals? Things that attack people, yet no one has ever seen or heard of them? Maybe MacKenzie was wrong and she has lost her mind," Tami's tone of voice suggested that she hoped that MacKenzie wasn't wrong. The girl didn't want to think about her friend actually going crazy. The very idea scared her like nothing else could.

Bill watched her as she twisted a ring she wore around her finger nervously. Her body language told him that she didn't want to believe either story. She was uncomfortable with both of them. It was more than likely that she'd been thinking all of it over for several days and was very confused with what she knew to be true set against what she'd been told was true. Many people he knew wanted to world to go by with nothing unusual happening to them, so they wore blinders to protect themselves from the truth. Not that Bill was ready to simply believe that something not quite natural was out there, killing innocent people. But he wasn't going to simply dismiss the idea that there might be something out there that wasn't part of the everyday world.

Tami Dubrinski was one of those people who hung on the edge of both lines of thought. While she struck him as being very sensible, there was still a part of her that was willing to lean toward a less conventional line of thinking. Which was what brought her into the dilema she was in now. She was perfectly willing to believe that something more was out there, but the things she'd been taught growing up screamed that it wasn't possible. Knowing and believing were two entirely different things. He suspected she wished that things had never gotten so tangled up.

Giving her a sincere, sympathetic, friendly kind of smile, Bill urged Tami to continue talking. The cop in him would pick out what was important later. "Well, obviously something attacked your friend. Maybe you'd like to tell me about it?"

~*~*~*~*~

The chair was warm under his ass, the beer cold to the touch. Bill stared down at the crime scene photos of Jeremy Pilling's murder. They were too damned weird for words. And graphic as all hell. Every one of them, all fifty some photos, were spread out across his dining room table save for the small space left open for the coaster that the bottle of beer rested on. They were so bloody. The photo guys had taken pictures from every angle. Large smears of blood that stained near by cars, the gaping hole in Pilling's neck and close up shots of the edges of the wound were in abundance. There was alot of blood.

The coroner had guessed that Pillings had been killed by a wild animal. The teeth marks left on the throat were similar to that of a wolf's bite pattern. But there were distinct differences in them. They were larger than a wolf's fangs, the bite radius suggesting something more human than animal. He'd been stumped as to what could have made such marks, though. His best guess had been a werewolf, made only half jokingly when Bill had asked him about it earlier today.

Tami Dubrinski had talked freely and told him all about her conversation with MacKenzie. She hadn't been able to tell Bill what the thing was that had supposedly attacked Jeremy Pillings, but she'd been able to assure him that it hadn't been human. Glancing once more at the close ups of the neck wound and to a picture of a dental impression made of the teeth marks, Bill thought it was safe to admit that nothing human had done that to the poor boy's neck.

Tami had also told him more than he'd even dared hope to know about Katya Fitzsimmons. Frowning, Bill pulled out the file on the girl. The doctor's report was in it. Her doctor had been thorough in documenting everything. She'd been brought into the hospital bleeding heavily and the question of a miscarriage had been brought up. But there hadn't been any sign found in her bloodwork later that she'd been pregnant. There had been a few surface wounds, but nothing to suggest the pain that she'd told the doctor she'd been in. It had been suggested that perhaps she'd suffered so severe a mental trauma that she was imagining things.

Bill stared out at the pictures and sighed. While he wasn't one to think outside the realm of known reality, there was too much here in just these few pictures that didn't speak of anything normal. The bite marks were too human while the attack had been too animalistic. It was plain to him that something had done these things to Jeremy Pillings and to Katya Fitzsimmons. But how did that tie in to what had happened to Jimmy Dalton, Doreen Haviland and now Tommy Peters?

Bill piled up the photos of Jeremy Pilling's death and piled them neatly on the chair next to him. Then he pulled out another stack and began laying them out. Photos from tthe Dalton death. Another row held the pictures of Miss Haviland's death. And finally were Tommy Peters' crime scene photos. Each scene was different, save one thing. All three off them had died in some of the most violent ways he'd ever seen. At least two of them had known Katya Fitzsimmons. And one more looked like a man who claimed to be marrying her.

If nothing else made sense, one thing did. All three of the murders he was working on could be tied to Katya Fitzsimmons in some manner. It was time for Bill to have a talk with Miss Fitzsimmons.

end chapter ten.
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many thanks go to my usual crew. i won't name names, but they do know who they are. as always, they keep me going. i love them all bunches. and special thanks to my Kitty Cat for helping me. she thinks it great, but i think she's biased.

this is entirely (for the most part) self-beta'd, so if you find mistakes, please forgive me. my godhead seems to have gotten lost in the mail. damn mail order companies!

finally, a few thanks.

to Alison: i had a couple of other people comment on the mouse. but you're right. its everything to do with the rest of the story, though at first it doesn't seem to. and yes, its a touch on the sick side all the way round. i have ot admit that i love writing it, too. guess that means i'm sick and macabre. i'll take that as a compliment. i'm glad you enjoy the characters. i try hard, if not some what subconsciously, to make them all unique to themselves. and each one could be a story unto themselves. intertwine those individual stories and... wow! they work great together. if the tense change was in the first chapter or so, its because i had to split it. i couldn't get it to post as it was. but thank you for taking the time to review and point that out.

to Anon: i'm glad you're still enjoying this. and its so interesting to see that someone has started to work some of the twists out. there are many more to come, though. never fear. thanks for reviewing and i hope you find this chapter to your liking.

to Cariad: thank you for your kind words. if i could get off my butt and send something to a publisher.... call me chicken. and i'm glad you like this. it really is a labor of love and i enjoy writing it as much as i hope you enjoy reading it.

to krillball6: thank you so much. i do try to come up with something that i consider unique. i suppose anyone could write a vampire story. but its what you do with the characters and the story line that makes it uniquely your own. i'm glad that this interests you so much. i will start a list of emails to send for this story and yours will be the first name on it.