Bonus Scene: Metairie Cemetery

The following scene is very old. I wrote this back in 2004 or early 2005 when the working title was still Blood Bound. As to the context, I don't remember except that Lucy was still in training and was walking with Evan.

“Ah hell!” They had just reached the side door to EJC when Evan had received a phone call. He spoke in short, one word answers and as soon as he hung up he was sending messages furiously.

“What happened?” Lucy asked, worried.

“An attack in Metairie cemetery. I have to get out there. Actually, if you don’t mind, come with me.”

“Sure.” They’d had a relatively quiet night and Lucy was now accustomed to being up all night so she wasn’t at all tired.

“This is bad news,” Evan explained as they drove out of town. “We’ve been seeing attacks further from town here recently and that stretches us very thin. If I have to assign a team out here it could also get dangerous.”

“How is it any more dangerous than what we deal with in town?”

“The Metairie police aren’t familiar with our little problem.  I do have two watchers on the force though, one called me tonight. Aside from little police back up, any team I put out there is essentially on their own.”

They arrived at the cemetery just as the sky began to lighten. They drove to where two police cars and an ambulance were parked.

“Morning Mr. Conroy, Miss,” One of the officers addressed them with a nod. “The body’s in the ambulance if you want to take a look. I’m putting in a call to your chief to see if he can find a way to have the body authorized to move. Time of death looks to have been between two and four.”

“Thanks Brian,” Evan motioned for Lucy to follow him to the ambulance.

Lucy suppressed a shudder and her gag reflex when she saw the corpse, or what was left of him. His matted hair and filthy clothes suggested that he may have been homeless, but Lucy barely noticed that. Her eyes went to his neck, which had been torn open and was covered in blood. It was clear that the vampires took no chances that their victims would survive.

“We’ll need to see where he was found.” Lucy snapped out of her horrified reverie at the sound of Evan’s voice. She followed Brian, the police officer, to a crypt, marked off with police tape. Next to the crypt was a plastic grocery bag and a tattered blanket.

“Definitely homeless,” Lucy pointed to the bag and blanket, “Was he lying there?”

The officer nodded, “I got the impression he was asleep when he was attacked. There’s no sign of a struggle.”

Evan and Lucy searched the rest of the cemetery, looking for other signs of vampire activity, but came up with nothing.

“This doesn’t feel right, does it?” Lucy asked.

“No, it really doesn’t.”