Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996 20:56:16 +0200 From: Marina Bailey Subject: WG: Murder by Wolf 1/2 The following is a response to the Wolf Goddess challenge issued by Diane Echelbarger sometime last year. Sorry it's so late, I didn't get around to finishing it until now. Comments, as always, appreciated. Insert standard disclaimers here. MURDER BY WOLF By Marina Bailey WOLF GODDESS SEEKS THOUGHTFUL VAMPIRE SWF, 49, cerebral, hauntingly beautiful wolf goddess, seeks evolved, philosophical vampire muse for mutual worship, new sensory input and complicating the mundane. Schanke and Cohen looked at Nick, who had gone, if it were possible, even paler than usual. "Well?" Schanke finally asked. "Are you gonna do it, Nick?" Nick looked with desperation at Cohen. "Why me?" was all he could think of to ask. Cohen merely rolled her eyes. "You're available, Detective. You're it." Nick wasn't in the habit of answering personals. "What do I say?" "Write something that would make this Wolf Goddess take note of you." "I'll help!" said Schanke, a bit too eagerly. "Captain, there's no proof that these 'wolf murders' were committed by this person. They could have been committed by someone who watched 'An American Werewolf In London' a few times too many." Cohen nodded. "True, but let's not take chances." "Why a vampire?" Nick asked plaintively. "Get out there and do your job, Detective," was all Cohen would say to that. Outside at their desks, Nick snuck a glance at Schanke. His partner was grinning from ear to ear, obviously enjoying himself. Nick shuddered and sat down, picking up a pencil and notepad. He began to compose his response to the ad. "Hey, Nick?" "Yeah?" He *knew* Schank was going to offer advice, now. "What are you telling her?" "I'm trying to be mysterious, Schank." Schanke leaned over and snagged the notepad. "Blah blah... ah, this is good. 'We can enjoy the beauty of the night.' Yeah. Hey, when you go to meet her, wear one of those capes." "Assuming she wants to meet me, what capes?" "Y'know, the red-lined ones, like in 'Dracula'." "Why don't I wear fangs, too, Schank?" "Great idea!" Schanke thought about this. "Nah, actually. That would be overdoing it a bit, don't you think?" Nick merely closed his eyes and shook his head, grabbing the notepad back. But his partner wasn't finished. "Where are you gonna meet her?" "The Raven." Schanke's face took on a look of awe. "Perfect!" Nick was surprised his partner would think so. "You think the Raven is perfect for a meeting with the Wolf Goddess?" "Sure, it's a vampire bar, isn't it?" Nick look up with alarm, but Schanke looked as nonchalant as ever. "Come on, Nick, you don't like me going there because you don't want me hanging out with all those weirdo types. But I know it's one of those places where people go and pretend to be vampires." Nick tried not to smile and didn't succeed. "I guess it is." A few days later, Nick arrived home to find a message on his machine from the so-called 'Wolf Goddess'. She wanted to meet him, and had even specified a time - at night, of course. Nick called the station. "Captain? The Wolf Goddess wants to meet me - 2 a.m. tonight at the Raven." "Right. We'll get you wired beforehand. Oh, and Detective?" "Yeah?" "Don't try any of those tactics you use to impress me." Luckily Cohen couldn't see the face Nick made when she said it. "Just talk to the suspect and get what we need." "Right." Nick sighed. Not only did he have to go to the Raven (though it was the best place and he felt safe having chosen it), but he had to pretend (well, not pretend, er...) to be a vampire with half the precinct listening on the wire, probably. Great. It was going to be a long night. As they fixed the wire, Nick cringed to see Schanke standing there smirking. "What is it, Schank?" "I'd love to see you pull off this vampire thing." That irked Nick a bit. "What do you mean, you think I can't?" Schanke's smirk widened. "Well, Nick, let's face it, when someone looks at you, you can bet they don't go, 'Gee, that guy could be a vampire!' Aside from the blood in your refrigerator, there's nothing whatsoever that could make someone think..." Nick shifted nervously, causing the man working with the wire to mumble, "Sorry." "So you're saying I wouldn't make a good vampire, Schank?" "No. Well, yeah." For a fleeting second Nick considered showing Schanke his fangs, just to see that the reaction would be. This just made him smile, which made his partner think that Nick was agreeing with him. "I don't think you'd do well with that whole undeath thing, y'know. Garlic, crosses, being burnt up by the sun..." Schanke trailed off, looking at Nick a bit more closely. Nick knew now was time to change the subject. "Schank, if you try to connect my allergy with the vampire myth, I might really bite you." He tried to look menacing *without* showing his fangs. It was difficult, to say the least. "Okay, okay," said Schanke, backing off. "Gee, I wish I got to play vampire." "Why didn't you volunteer, then?!" "Are you kidding? Myra would kill me!" He paused. "Are you sure you won't wear the cape?" "Come on, Schank, do you really think a modern vampire would wear one of those capes?" "Hmmm... maybe not. I still think you should have worn all black." "Schank, give it a rest willya. I'll do fine." "We can only hope," said Schanke, patting Nick's shoulder. Nick sat at a table in the Raven, trying not to fidget. For once he *hadn't* gone to speak to Janette, which Janette found rather... suspicious, so she made her way over to him instead. "Nicolas?" Nick looked up. "I'm on a case," he said, pointing to where the wire was located. "I'm meeting a suspect here, so make sure we're not disturbed, okay?" "Very well, mon cher." Janette wandered away again, leaving Nick by himself. Not for the first time, Nick wished he were someplace else. And what was he going to say to the suspect, anyway? Why a Wolf Goddess? Why a vampire? He almost slipped into a flashback, but at the last moment realised that the look induced by flashbacks might scare off the Wolf Goddess if she arrived while he was in the middle of one. Anyway, the flashback he'd been about to have really wasn't connected with the case he was on now. "Are you my vampire?" came a very sexy female voice. Nick looked up to find a strikingly beautiful woman standing there, in a dress to rival anything that Janette had. But she wasn't a vampire. She had a heartbeat. Not to mention beautiful red-brown hair and amazing green eyes. Nick stood up. "Yes." "Great." Without waiting for him, she sat down, then pierced him with those amazing eyes. "Okay, ask." "What?" "Why a Wolf Goddess? Why a vampire? Didn't you want to ask that?" Nick nodded. "Well, yeah." "Do you think I'd have *any* excitement if I said, 'Female librarian seeks person who likes philosophy' or something?" "I guess not." "Well, now you know. And don't you *dare* tell me I don't look like a librarian. That's just a stereotype, you know." Nick wished Schanke could see this woman. He could imagine Schanke asking her where she worked, and taking up reading all of a sudden! "I suppose you're going to tell me I don't look like a vampire." She grinned. "You don't, but..." She reached across and touched his cheek. "Looks aren't everything. You are a vampire, aren't you?" "Sure. And so is Tom Cruise." "Look, I didn't put that ad in the personals for nothing. Only a vampire can help me, and I want one I can trust." Nick shrugged, hoping the people listening wouldn't get any ideas from what he was about to say. "Well, okay then, I'm a vampire." "Gee, he's really doing a good job - not," said Schank, out in the truck. "I told him to wear a cape." The woman looked at Nick, not sure. "I'm Courtney Morris." "Nick Knight." "Nick, you have to help me." Nick frowned. "With?" "I have this... admirer. We used to date, and we both liked those old horror movies - you know, the wolfman, that kind of thing. He was the Wolf God, and I the Wolf Goddess... but now... I think he's lost it. Either he thinks he really is a werewolf, or he's killing those people to get back at me for leaving him." "So why the ad?" "Because he's been watching me, and he killed my last two dates." That checked out. Until then, the department hadn't been able to come up with any links between the victims. The only thing they had was that it was the same killer, making the killings look like the work of a, well, wolf. Schanke and the other cops were nodding to each other. This made sense. "So what do you want with me?" "The last time, I had just advertised for 'philosophical, sensitive' men. And you know what happened to them." "So... you need a vampire to stop this guy? Why not just call the cops?" "I did. He had an alibi." That also checked out. So far, they had ruled out three suspects. Apparently they'd ruled out the guilty party, too. "Maybe he didn't do it," said Nick. "He did it, I *know* he did. It could only be him. Please, Nick, you have to help me." "I still don't see why a vampire..." "Because vampires can't die! They can fly, and... and..." Nick smiled slightly. "Move really fast?" "Yeah. After we leave here, he'll follow you home, then go back, set up his alibi, and then break into your place and try to kill you. I'm sure that's what he did last time!" Nick remembered the woman's report now. At the time he'd dismissed her as just another girlfriend trying to get revenge on a man who'd dumped her. But why go to all this trouble, if that was the case? He sighed. "What do you want me to do?" He'd know by her answer if she was just a woman scorned... She handed him a card. "Here's my number. Now that you know, you can wait for him, and call the cops when he breaks in. Then it'll all be over." So she didn't want him to kill the guy. She was telling the truth. Nick wondered how the woman knew about vampires, but now was not the time to ask. He nodded, got up. "All right." As he left the club, Nick spoke into the mike. "I obviously can't go to the station... I'll go home." Schanke must have agreed, because the surveillance truck didn't suddenly screech into sight. Nick went home, making sure not to lock up as securely as he usually did. He knew the cops would be covering the area even now. All he had to do was wait for the perp to show up. In the meantime, Nick drank some dinner and put a CD on the stereo - not too loud, because otherwise it would obscure sounds on the wire. He sat down on the couch and sighed, picking up the latest novel that Natalie had given him. Anne Rice again. He'd only read the first two of her Vampire Chronicles, and didn't have the heart to tell Nat that some of the things in the novels made him uncomfortable. He was only a few pages into the book when there was a slight noise at the door. At vampiric speed, Nick threw the book down and stood to the right of the door. It opened, and Nick heard... well, it sounded like someone trying to imitate a wolf, all right. The guy came into the room, still making the noises, and then only noticed that the room was empty, except for... The man turned around, to find himself staring at an unassuming-looking man holding a... gun? "Just take it easy," Nick said. "You're under arrest." "The Goddess doesn't leave her master and live. And no one touches her, not even the undead!" "I'm Detective Nick Knight, Metro Homicide, and I said you're under arrest." The guy crouched in a very wolf-like position. "You will die, unholy creature that you are!" He really did look poised to spring. "I wouldn't," bluffed Nick. "Silver bullets." Out in the truck, Schanke nearly choked on his doughnut. "Silver bullets? Where does he come up with this stuff?" As he spoke, he could hear reports that Nick's backup had surrounded the warehouse. "You're lying." The guy made the growling noise again, and Nick wondered, not for the first time, if he could get away with hissing at him, vampire fashion. Probably not. Damn. Nick let his eyes change and his fangs emerge. "I think you know I'm not." If he had expected that Wolfie would back off, he was very wrong. "I knew it! She seeks the damned for protection!" And he sprang at Nick... ... who moved out of the way (at vampiric speed, naturally) just as the uniformed police bashed the door in. The perp didn't seem to notice, he merely picked himself up off the floor and poised to spring again. He didn't even appear to hear the other cops yelling, "Police! Freeze!" as he jumped forward. Two shots rang out then, and it was over. The wolf god lay on the floor, his blood spilling out into a pool below him. Nick hadn't used his own gun, so he holstered it. The two cops who had shot the guy looked rather stunned, but immediately inquired if Nick was all right. "I'm fine, I'm fine," Nick was brushing the other cops off as even more cops and some emergency medical people poured into his private space. The one cop who had shot the guy looked on nervously as the young medic checked for a pulse. "Is he dead?" "Yeah." The young cop started shaking. "I just killed someone!" Nick knew he would never experience that same horror. Death had been different on the Crusades, and something else entirely after he'd come over. Schanke pushed his way in as the medics were taking the body out. "So he's not really a werewolf, huh?" Nick pulled himself out of whatever century he'd been about to slip deeper into. "No. I think he believed he was, but he still attacked me..." "Even though you told him about the silver bullets." "Yeah." "Maybe silver bullets don't really kill werewolves, and, I dunno, stakes don't really kill vampires!" Schanke said, warming to his subject a bit. "A stake through the heart would kill anything," replied Nick, wondering where he'd gotten that from. Must have been from a movie Nat had made him watch. Schanke nodded. "You have a point there." And he laughed. "Point! Ha!" Nick sighed. It *had* been a long night. "Look, Schank, can you finish up here? I'm really tired, I think I'll go and walk for a bit, clear my head." "Sure, no problem." "And send someone to notify Courtney Morris that her wolf god won't be attacking her dates anymore." Schanke grunted, and Nick left by the elevator. "So, mon cher, was it a werewolf?" Janette asked after Nick explained some of the case. "No, just a psycho." Nick downed the blood she had poured for him, thankful that although Janette didn't agree with his feeding habits, she at least respected them enough to get a little bit of cow's blood now and then. Besides, they did get a carouche type in *occasionally*... He looked at Janette suddenly, rethinking her question. "You mean there are such things as werewolves?" Janette smiled. "No, Nicolas. But your face was quite amusing to see." Nick smiled his little boy lost smile. "I almost thought..." "I think we are just about all the world can handle," mused Janette. "You got that right," Nick replied. "Werewolves. Ghosts. Vampires. The world is a large and interesting place, my children..." Copyright Marina Bailey, February 1996. All rights reserved. ... Play it again, Sam. I always wanted to say that! ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12