The Red Haze (The Webber and Ko Series Book 1)

by D. M. Wicks

  Alan pulled out his planner, "Yeah that will work. How about you cover the two essays..."

  Alan trailed off as a tantalizing smell wafted up to him. His mouth immediately began to water. He knew he was getting hungry, but this was ridiculous. His stomach cramped as if he hadn't eaten in days and he realized that it wasn't his usual hunger pains for human food. He wanted blood as well. His teeth began to ache and his vision blurred.

  "Alan? Are you okay? You look flushed."

  Alan stood up and slowly walked behind the couch so that William was in front of him. William followed his partner's movements with confusion; he began to stand when suddenly Alan leaped and attacked him, taking him to the ground. William yelled, but Alan covered his mouth, muting it. Alan had his front pressed to William's back, pinning him into the carpet. There was a brief struggle as Alan tore into William's neck until his fangs reached the artery. Blood spewed into his mouth and he drank in large gulps. William's limbs flailed as he fought his attacker, but soon his luminous blue eyes began to dim as the fight left him. Alan's red eyes glowed as William turned pale and ceased all movements.

  Alan's mind began to clear as his ravenous hunger was sated, but when the red haze that had engulfed his mind faded, panic rose in his gut.

  "What the fuck?" he said as he stood. He walked around the room, pacing. What had he just done? He killed the guy for no goddamn reason. He paused when he reached the kitchen then ran out of his apartment and knocked on his neighbor's door. Suzy would know what to do. She was smart.

  Suzy Gale opened her door and took one look at Alan before slamming it shut again. Alan knocked again, "Suzy!"

  "Go away."

  "Suzy, I need help."

  "I said go away."

  "Just open the door."

  "I knew you would do it one day. You red eyes are all the same. You think you own the world."

  "That's unfair."

  "Says the man covered in blood. What happened? Wait, don't tell me, I’d rather not know."

  "Help me, Suzy."

  She was quiet for a moment and Alan could hear muttering on the other side of the door. Then she spoke again. "I just called the police. I just told them that I heard a scream in the hallway and I was worried. Now leave me alone, Alan. This is the last time I help out an ex."

  Alan went back to his apartment. The police would be there in about five to ten minutes. He looked around and realized that they were going to blame him for all of this. It wasn't his fault that the blue eyes suddenly smelt so good. He had fed last week like he was supposed to. Why he suddenly got so hungry, he didn't know. Alan walked into his kitchen and pulled a piece of paper off of the fridge. He dialed the number from the paper into his cell phone and held his breath. The phone rang once before it was answered by an annoyed female voice. "What?"

  Alan was taken aback by the woman's tone. "Um… My name. No. Um, something just… No…"

  "Just fucking say it already."

  "I just killed a blue eyes!"

  The line was silent and Alan began to wonder if he’d dialed the wrong number, when the woman spoke again. "Have you told anyone else?"

  "Yes. I panicked and didn't know what to do..."

  The voice interrupted, "Who?"

  "My neighbor, Suzy Gale."

  "Lock your apartment door and wait for three knocks, a pause, then three more knocks."

  The line went dead. Alan ran past the living room avoiding looking at the dead man there and locked his door. He leaned his head against it and began to cry.

  ***

  It was about two minutes after receiving the call when Cato Dimitri knocked three times, waited, then knocked three more times. When the door to apartment 304 opened she was instantly annoyed with her species. She walked past Alan and took over. Her glowing red eyes narrowed as she spoke to her team, "Hurry and clean up this mess. I want this place wiped of all evidence of how Alan fucked up."

  She turned around to the four men standing behind her, three of whom were in police uniforms. The fourth man was Alan Dublouse. She addressed the three men first, “Deal with the neighbors. They are probably wondering what all the ruckus is. Hurry up too; we have about four minutes before the police get here."

  The men nodded and split up. Cato finally turned to Alan and gave him a once over. His clothes were wrinkled and his neon green shirt had blood around the collar. Around his mouth were bloodstains and when he smiled at her his teeth were stained pink. His curly hair was in a style of permanent bed hair that young women usually found attractive, but that Cato personally found lazy. She always thought that if you were going to have all that damn hair you should get a fucking comb. Alan Dublouse was what she expected a typical college student to look like, but without the blood.

  "Okay, Mr. Dublouse, tell me what really happened for my services to be called in. I want the truth, don't fuck around or I'll leave your sorry ass to clean up your own mess."

  He wiped at the blood around his mouth and fidgeted under Cato's intense stare, "I don't really know what happened exactly."

  Cato sighed, "Well at least tell me the dead guy’s name."

  "His name is … was … William Archer. He was a student at the college that I attend. He came over so we could work on a group project. Then… I don't know." Alan paused and licked his lips as his rose-colored eyes lost focus.

  "Alan, I don't have all damn day. How the fuck did William end up drained of blood and on your living room carpet?"

  His eyes came back into focus and he looked down at his feet, "I was just so hungry suddenly. No, I was starving. He was a Blue Eyes so I figured he could handle losing a pint or two. Everything from then on is like a red haze. When I came back to my senses he was dead. I just don't get it. I'm not usually this reckless. I fed a week ago. I'm usually okay for a few weeks afterwards."

  Cato nodded and turned back to her team who had just finished with the apartment and were packing up. A woman walked up to Alan and wiped the blood off his face then handed him a change of clothes and gum. He changed and took the gum, chewing thoroughly. The woman held out a plastic bag and he spit the gum into it. A man came up to him and started combing Alan’s hair and cleaning under his nails.

  The man said, "You're lucky that you attacked that guy from behind. It would have been harder to clean you up if you had wounds. Well, we are finished here. You're all set, Mr. Dublouse."

  Cato waved the man and woman away. Just then the three men dressed as police officers came back and she spoke. "Good work. Help the rest pack up the van. I can hear the sirens already. I'll be down in a minute."

  They nodded and left while Cato turned back to Alan. "Okay, Mr. Dublouse. This is the story of what happened today. Pay attention because I'll only run through it once. You left this morning for work at nine o' five. What time did you have class?"

  "Um… My only class today was at twelve o'clock until one forty-five."

  "What do you do after that?"

  "I usually go back to work at the school library and pick up the second shift until six thirty in the evening."

  Cato said, "Well, today you went to the Panera Bread on Brown Street for dinner and to do some homework after work. You were there until seven twenty. You returned home at seven thirty to find the body of William Archer. You immediately called for help and your neighbor, Suzy Gale, dialed 911 for you. They won't take you in tonight for questioning. If they do for some reason, William Archer is a classmate whom you gave your address to for the class project you two were working on. You were hesitant to give him your address though because he had previously made advancements on you."

  Alan interrupted. "Like sexual advances?"

  Cato frowned. "Don't interrupt, but yes, of the sexual nature. Anyway, you recently started seeing someone. A woman named Liz—short for Elizabeth—Wharton. She is also a classmate in the class you share with Archer."

  Alan spoke again. "Was there a woman by that name in my class?"

  Cato scowled. "I told you not to interr
upt, but yes, there is now. William seemed to be acting strange today in class, more depressed. He tried to speak with you several times, but you brushed him off. You told him you could handle the project by yourself and that you would call him if you needed any help, but that you probably wouldn't."

  Alan said, "How do I explain the teeth marks on his neck?"

  Cato smiled and moved to the side revealing the apartment. "What teeth marks?"

  William was sitting and leaning up against the living room wall. There was a bloody sushi knife in his hand and a large gaping wound on his neck. There was blood surrounding him; it stained the walls and carpet.

  Alan said, "What the…"

  "Don't ask questions. Do you remember the story I just told you?"

  Alan nodded. "I have a good memory."

  Cato said, "Good. Don't fuck it up. Now play the victim role well because my business is done here."

  "Wait!" Alan yelled, but Cato continued to walk and disappeared into the stairwell just as the elevator dinged and two cops came running down the hallway. Alan immediately began to cry and yell as the cops pushed him aside and ran into his apartment.

  Cato left the apartment complex and climbed into the white van that had a cleaning company's logo on the side of it. Jack was in the driver’s seat. He started the engine and pulled back onto the road nearly hitting an unmarked police car with a siren on the roof. Another white van followed behind them. Cato sighed and looked out the passenger seat window.

  Jack spoke. "Was it another one?"

  She nodded. "The Red Haze strikes again. Father is going to be pissed. It's spreading to fast for us to keep up. At this rate the blue eyes are really going to become extinct and we will be screwed."

  Jack chuckled. "Don't be so dramatic. Alphonse Dimitri is a reasonable man, not to mention a genius at fixing messes. Why do you think he is the Father of the Crew?"

  "I know, it's just… I don't like this. The Red Haze is bad news. I have never heard of anything like it. A temporary loss of control caused by some unknown factor that leads to the death of surrounding blue eyes. Red eyes are supposed to be resistant to viruses and bacteria that usually cause illness or disease."

  Jack nodded. "Have the cops noticed anything?"

  Cato said, "Yeah. District Six was getting close to discovering the connection. We managed to slow them down with the fire, but it won't work for long. Speaking of the fire, did you manage to track down the deserter?"

  Jack glanced at her. "We took care of him, but he didn't have the USB. It seems he managed to pass it off to the police. The fire should have taken care of that though. Hopefully, we won't have to worry about it getting into the wrong hands."

  Cato scowled, "Dammit Jack. What if the fire didn't destroy it? We are fucked if that USB gets into District Six's hands. Don't we have anyone on the inside anymore?"

  "Our last guy was discovered after the fire and we had to pull him out. They've been weeding our people out for the past month. The deserter gave them a lot of information before we managed to take care of him. Don't worry though. We will have new operatives on the inside again by the end of the year. It's a temporary setback. It's like I was saying; Father Dimitri is a genius. He has already made a plan of action. We simply have to follow it and we will always end up on top. He wants to meet with you, by the way. Something about a report on our progress."

  "Great,” Cato said. “Now I have to give him a report and I don't have anything good to tell him besides the fact that we eliminated the deserter. I've finally been recognized and promoted to a leading position in the Crew then all this shit starts happening."

  Jack laughed. "Believe me when I say you don't have to worry about your job. It's the kind of position you can only move up from. My job is to see that you succeed. I'm the one who takes the flack when we mess up. We've already begun to clean up the mess your predecessor left behind. That's a step in the right direction."

  Cato nodded as she glanced back out the window. It had just begun to rain and she saw a man in a black leather jacket walking along the side of the road. Jack veered closer to dodge a raised manhole and hydroplaned water onto the man, soaking him. Jack laughed. "At least your day isn't as bad as his."

  Cato smiled. "I guess not."

  Chapter Two

  Lieutenant Faye was pissed. A white cleaning van had nearly side swiped her as she was entering the parking lot to the apartment complex. It also didn't help that the man she was questioning was a babbling mess, not to mention the dead guy in his apartment was another body to add to the already growing number of cases she has been assigned to. The man in front of her was Alan Dublouse, a red eyes, and the mess in his apartment was William Archer, a blue eyes. Yes, to say she was pissed was just the tip of the iceberg.

  "Let me get this straight. You came home at seven thirty to find a body in your living room?"

  Alan nodded. The tears on his face had already dried and he was sitting on a chair at the kitchen table. "That's right."

  "Do you know how he got into your apartment?"

  "Probably through the front door. It's never locked."

  "You don't lock it?"

  "That's right."

  "Why not?"

  "I live in student housing. It's pretty safe around here."

  "Okay. Let me run through this again."

  "Alright. I want to help in any way I can."

  "I'm sure you do. William Archer is a classmate who has a crush on you and was acting weird today."

  "That's right, lieutenant. It was most likely due to me recently becoming involved with a woman named Liz."

  "Elizabeth Wharton, correct?"

  "Yes."

  "I see. So he was depressed or at least acting strange in class today and approached you, but you dismissed him, so he kills himself in your apartment to get back at you?"

  "Well, I don't know the reasoning behind it all, but I suspect it was something like that."

  "One more thing."

  "Yes?"

  "Just for the record, you said the blood bank you usually go to is the one on Third Street? The old gothic one?"

  "That's correct. It's called the Samuel Blake Donation Center."

  Faye snapped her pocket book closed making Alan jump a little. She then stood. "Well, that is all I need from you, Mr. Dublouse. I'll contact you if something comes up. For now, you may want to stay with some friends until this is all cleared up."

  "Yes, of course. I don't want to get in the way."

  Faye left the apartment and found her partner, detective Logan Liam, speaking with one of the beat cops. "Liam, with me."

  He immediately ended his conversation and ran after her, meeting her in the elevator just before the doors closed.

  "What's up, buttercup?"

  She shot him a glare. "Say that again and I'll demote you so far down the ladder you'll be pulling speeding tickets out your ass."

  He cleared his throat. "Right, sorry. What I meant was what do you need, lieutenant?"

  "Much better. I've seen all I need here. We can add this information to the file. I suspect it is another one for the case we are already working on."

  "What did the red eyes have to say?"

  "It was the same. The neighbors' stories coincide with his on the surface. I still need to check with the roommate and the girlfriend. I sent some uniforms to question the library supervisor where Alan works, but I suspect they will match too, giving him a solid alibi. It's always like this. Those fuckers are good. We haven't been able to do shit against them."

  "That's not true. We've managed build a file about the incidents. You were the one who put this all together. No one else noticed the trend of murders. That has to mean something."

  Faye snorted. "It means jack squat if I can't prove anything. I've been following this case for the better part of this year and they haven't messed up once. We are always too late, always one step behind. I don't even know why the murders are happening. There is nothing connecting any of the cases besides t
he murderer being a red eyes and the victims always being a blue eyes. The House of Roseus must be behind the cover up because if the House of Caeruleus found out about it there would be riots in the streets. The blue eyes population would rebel. It doesn't help that their checks have been slowly getting cut back. Soon they won't be able to live off them anymore."

  Liam was silent as they left the elevator. Some college girls walked past him whispering and giggling to each other. Faye noticed and glanced at her partner. He was a good-looking man in the broken nose kind of way. He was six years her junior and just made detective last week. She handpicked him out of the lot because he showed the most promise. She liked to have the best on her team. They climbed into the car, Faye in the driver’s seat, and hit the road.

  "What do we do now?"

  Faye glanced at him. "We add it to the file and go and question the roommate and the girlfriend. Then we add that to the file as well. We keep adding to the file until they slip up, and then we fuck them sideways and make them wish they didn't rub me the wrong way."

  "Do you think they will mess up soon?"

  "I don't know, but my gut tells me I'll have my chance soon."

  Faye parked the car and the two of them walked into the temporary District Six. Faye made a beeline to her office making Liam keep pace with her. Her office was a glorified janitor’s closet. She took a seat at her desk and logged into her computer.

  Liam stood next to her. He would have sat, but the room was too small for another chair, so he was forced to stand. He sighed when he realized that his partner had already forgotten he was in the office. She did this every time. She was supposed to give him a sign of what she needed him to do next or at least clue him into her plans. Was she going to the college to question people or was she just going to work on the computer for the rest of the night? He was always left standing there like an awkward turtle. Suddenly, Faye looked over to him, “Well, don't just stand there. Go and call the college and find out what room William was staying in at the college. We can deal with the girlfriend sometime tomorrow. I have to speak with the commander about his decision on whether or not we can pass some of our case load on to some of the private detectives in the area."