Love Bites

Chapter 10
Alex was out of the shower before Jack could even regain himself.
“What do you mean, Jack?” he demanded, eyes darkening slightly with paranoia.
“The police, Alex, t-they called and they want to see you.”
The vampire sucked in a sharp breath and attempted to control his heightened emotions. The police. The government. The scientists that would demand to see him. It’s not as if Alex hadn’t been through this before, it’s just that in the 1800’s, the government wasn’t nearly as clever and he himself was much more elusive. Now, he had Jack’s personal life at stake, along with his own. If the FBI knew something, they would immediately haul Alex away and send him to an isolated lab for testing in the middle of area 51 or something. The only other time people caught onto him, their solution was to attempt to kill him with wooden stakes and torches, and that wasn’t very hard for Alex to avoid and escape into the night, over to America. He winces as he remembers the dark evening.
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The vampire sat in his home, sipping a glass of red wine thoughtfully as he planned his exodus from the angry townspeople he heard approaching about a mile away. He had already gone through his home, getting rid of any evidence of his…irregular existence. If his heart could race, it would. This had never happened before. Alex had slipped up. He was caught feeding on a seduced young woman behind a shop that had been closed for the night. Word had spread faster than a forest fire and before Alex could even attempt to regain his status as a good-natured, wealthy, single doctor, the riots had begun. Vampires were not taken kindly to in England, especially not during the monster raids that had been occurring off and on since the 1600’s. The year was now 1814, and the raids had been big this year. Alex couldn’t have gotten caught at a more inconvenient time.
The people were approaching now, and their shouts were becoming clear. They wanted him dead. They wanted to watch him burn. Alex stood, setting down his wine and moving swiftly to the door. Maybe he should try to calm them first. He had never tried to compel an entire crowd at once, but with his natural aura of charm, it shouldn’t be too difficult.
A fist pounded on the door. The vampire steadied himself, adjusted his robes and answered, already preparing to compel the first person he saw.
He was greeted by an even larger crowd than expected. Some carried torches, some men in the front carried wooden stakes crafted out of fences and twigs. He saw some women with their children lingering back, watching eagerly at what was about to unfold.
“Doctor, your presence is no longer needed here. You’re a monster, and it is time for your end. You will no longer harm our citizens,” the leader of the mob growled.
Alex noticed his fingers grip the stake more tightly.
“My good people,” Alex called. “What are these crimes you so accuse me of? I have done nothing. If anything, I have saved you from ailments and other wounds. Would you be so bold as to murder your only well-respected physician?”
“I would be so bold as to kill a menace,” the man growled, raising his arm.
It was almost funny to the vampire. Here he was, hundreds of times faster and stronger than these mortals, and they thought they could simply barge onto his property and try to kill him with a piece of wood from a poorly built fence? It was cute. Alex saw that there was no reconciling with these people – they already knew too much. And killing them all would be a massacre. Stories would be printed and circulate around the entire country rather than just incredulous tales told by mouth. The only good solution was to flee. Alex had the stake out of the man’s hand before he could blink twice. He glided through the people, moving so quickly they hadn’t realized he was gone until they caught sight of the spot where he stood and realized it was empty. Behind him, he could hear the distant shouts and he felt wooden bullets skim by him. One landed in his shoulder, causing him to hiss in pain and pause to remove it.
As Alex traveled farther away, it occurred to him that remaining in England was not the best of ideas. Surely word would spread about the doctor, and despite how unbelievable it may seem to some, to others it would only be an invitation to begin their hunt. Alex himself couldn’t feed in peace. He needed to get out – maybe he’d live in France for a while, despite their fairly large werewolf population. Or perhaps somewhere in Asia. Or maybe, this would be a good time to go check out this America place he’s heard so much about.
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Alex knew that he had to face the local police and try his best to disprove their theories. Maybe if he showed them he was a regular guy, they wouldn’t get the government involved at all. Or maybe this was all a misunderstanding – he didn’t even know why they wished to see him. Maybe he forgot to pay his bills or something.
As he got out of his car at the station, he immediately sensed that something was wrong. He could hear two guards breathing heavily at the door. He sensed they were holding restraints. As if they needed to handcuff him - he isn’t some deranged, out of control monster. As if handcuffs would even hold him.
He chewed his lip, slamming the car door to announce his presence. There was silence in the front office. He slowly pushed the door open, only to be greeted by what he predicted. Two guards took hold of his wrists and led him to an interrogation room. Alex just sighed and let them guide him. When he was sat in a chair in the middle of a room with fluorescent lighting, he held out his hands and asked if they wanted to cuff him. The guards ignored his question and exited, passing the chief of police as he walked in.
“Hello, Mr. Gaskarth,” he greeted roughly.
“Hello, sir.”
“We just have a few questions for you.”
“Well that’s what I was told, sir. What can I do for you?”
The man paused, rubbing the back of his neck and taking a deep breath. Alex could hear his heartbeat quicken.
“This is going to sound a bit odd, Mr. Gaskarth, but we have a report of you that kind of…well, it kind of sticks out in particular, in the long line of cases we have going on here.”
Alex relaxed his posture and set his hands on the table. “I’m sure whatever it is can’t be that odd. What have I been accused of?”
This was good. Alex knew all about how humans try to read body language to determine if one is telling the truth. He was playing with this guy. He wouldn’t compel him – not here. It would be caught on tape. It would either have to be extremely discrete or he would have to do it somewhere that wasn’t being monitored. And even then, he was sure this report was brought in by the second man that saw him. Surely other people know about this by now. Compelling the chief wouldn’t do much good when the government was probably going to get involved. Alex could see this wasn’t going to be as easy as in 1814.
“Mr. Gaskarth, we have an eyewitness report claiming you ripped a man’s heart out of his chest and continued on to drink his blood.”
Alex tried to play it off. He snickered. “Well, sir, the only heart I’ve ripped out is my ex-girlfriend’s, and that was because I moved away and had to end things rather harshly.”
The chief raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “Well, Mr. Gaskarth, I would laugh at this, too. I did, actually, at first.”
Alex was confused. “At first?”
“Before we reviewed some street cameras.”