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"What'd you think?" he asked his partner as he looked into the smoke filled room he had just left.
"Doesn't look too promising," Michael returned, rubbing his eyes and yawning.
"How much time do we have?"
Michael looked at his watch and said, "Two hours. You know she may already be dead, don't you."
"Yes. But if there's a chance we need to take it." Aaron yawned as he stretched his arms into the air and his spine popped like a machine gun. Michael cringed at the sound.
"I hate it when you do that."
"I know, why do you think I do it?" They exchanged glances but were too tired to laugh.
Aaron looked back in the room, at the sandy haired young man sitting at the metal table inside. Smoke plumed up around the lifeless eyes as the young man lite another cigarette.
"You notice that that's the last pack of a full carton of smokes?"
Aaron looked at his own watch. "Damn, we've been at this for twelve hours? No wonder I can't keep my eyes open, we were supposed to be off three hours ago." They both yawned in unison.
"Do you want another go at him?" Aaron gestured to the man in the room before them.
"No, I don't think it would do any good. I think we should call Vlady." He didn't look at Aaron when he said this but Aaron looked at his partner in disbelief.
"You know he works the graveyard shift," Aaron checked his watch again, "and there's still two hours of daylight left. He wont come."
"I think if we tell him the situation and the urgency we're under to find the girl he'll come."
"Well you call him, I don't want to wake him up." Aaron stood unmoving as Michael said O.K. and moved on down the hall to his office and the telephone that sat on it.
Aaron watched the young man for signs of fatigue and saw none. This kids on something, he thought. Between he and Michael, they had been grilling the young man for hours, trying to pry out the whereabouts of his kidnapping victim. Stupid kid, he thought, why'd you go and pick such a famous face to kidnap? And the ransom, what's up with that? Twelve million? Aaron laughed, despite the situation that inspired this humor.
Michael reappeared magically by his side again and made Aaron jump.
"Sorry," Michael said.
"S'O.K. I think I was dozing." Aaron slapped his face a couple of times, trying to revive the life there and wake himself up a little. "He coming?"
"Yes. He'll be here in fifteen."
Vladimir Skulsky, in the minds of most of the officers at Precinct One, was the single most important person the force had as far as interrogation went. The hulking Russian had a secret working for him that aloud him the ability to obtain whatever information he wanted. His 6'8" and 260 pound frame helped a lot too, not to mention that he was just damn scary to look at.
Vlady arrived right on time and came up behind the two investigators. "That him?"
Michael and Aaron looked back and up over their shoulders at the Russian. "Yah, that's him," they said in unison. They'd been doing that a lot lately.
Vladimir looked at Michael and said, "You know I don't like coming to work while the suns still up." It wasn't a question, but a cold hard reminder.
Michael stood his ground, not looking away from the giant Russian. "You know I wouldn't have called if it wouldn't have been important. We've done everything but beat the bastard and you know we can't legally touch him without him bringing down every lawyer in the city on our heads. Your our last resort."
"Chelsea, huh." The smaller men nodded seriously, once again in unison.
"O.K. Michael, turn off the camera..."
"You know we can't do that," Michael returned, but knew he'd be doing it anyway.
"Just do it, Michael. And dim the lights in there a little, would you Aaron?"
"Sure."
The investigators did as they were told as Vladimir went around the corner and stood in front of the investigation room door.
"O.K. Vladimir," Michael called as he and Aaron watched the Russian enter the room.
Vlady went directly to the only unoccupied chair in the room and placed at the table in front of the young man, his back was to the one-way mirror that hid the other two investigators from view.
"Now, you little maggot. Where's Chelsea."
The young man turned his head away, avoiding eye contact as he lit another cigarette.
The smoke in the room made it difficult to see with the lights dimmed, but Aaron noticed the same defiance on the young man's face.
"Come on Vlady, do your stuff," Michael said quietly.
As if on que, Vladimir asked, "What's your worst nightmare, punk."
The question threw off the thought process of the young man and he turned to look at the big Russian. "What?"
"You heard me, you little prick, what scares you most in this world."
The young man ignored the question, putting his attention back to his cigarette and the shape of a water stain on the ceiling.
"He's in for it now," Aaron said, just as Vladimir stood up, grabbed the chair he had been sitting in and threw it over the young mans head, smashing it into a hundred pieces against the wall behind him.
The young man jumped out of his chair, dropped his cigarette and backed into the corner while he screamed at the Russian. "What the hell's wrong with you man?!"
"When I ask you a question, you answer it!" Vladimir screamed right back. His voice made the young man melt into the corner.
The young man looked at Vladimir then, and it was the first good, hard, long look he had taken. There was something odd about the big man's grin as he stepped in front of him. The teeth, Oh my God, his teeth....
Vladimir saw the direction of the young man's gaze and smiled. He smelled the sweet smell of the young man's sweat soaked body and noticed the coppery smell of blood. A splinter from the shattered chair had imbedded into the young man's shoulder and a soft trickle of blood stained the white of his T-shirt. The Hunger took Vladimir then and it took all his strength to not fall upon this helpless piece of trash. He had to get this over with soon, the smell of the young man's blood would soon overpower him and the Hunger would take over, causing him to make a violent mistake in the witness of two other officers. He was ever mindful of the two beyond the window. The camera was off, but they were still there watching, he could hear their breathing.
The young man watched in horror as the Russian's face began to change. Despite the dim light, the cops eyes began to glow a soft green and the veins in the cops face sensed the blood and began to swell and pulse under his skin. The young man watched as the cops mouth opened in obvious pain, the fangs dripping saliva onto the front of the uniform.
The young man screamed, his voice shattering the pains of Hunger in Vladimir, bringing him back to where he was and what he was supposed to be doing. He fought back the Hunger and asked in a simple, quite voice. "Where's Chelsea?"
"O.K. O.K." the young man said, "I'll tell you... Oh God, I'll tell you. Just get me the hell out of here!" He ran to the one way mirror and pounded on the glass, his sweaty arms leaving waxy smears over its surface. "Do you hear me out there? Get me the hell out of here... Now, damn it, now!"
Vladimir composed himself and walked out of the room, the young man shrank back into a corner as he passed by. Michael ran in before the door shut and got the address before the young man could pull himself back together. He ran back out of the room and got several units on their way to the location as he rejoined Vladimir and Aaron.
Vladimir was breathing heavily and looked pale to the two other officers.
"You need to go sit down, big guy, you don't look so hot," not to mention those freaky fangs you've got there, Michael thought but didn't come out and say.
"Thanks Vladimir, we owe you one," Aaron said as he directed Michael down the hall.
"No problem, guys. And Michael?"
"Yah?"
"Don't call me Vlady."
"Oh, O.K. big guy. Sorry." It didn't occur to the two men that Vladimir couldn't have been able to hear Michael use the nickname while he was in the interrogation room and they were standing outside. But of course they were in to big of a hurry to rescue their damsel in distress for such a little detail as that.
When they thought they were out of earshot from the Russian, Aaron asked Michael, "You mean dentist will actually give people vampire fangs now?"
"For the right price, sure."
"They sure look real on Vladimir, don't they?"
"Yes they do, they certainly do." They ran outside, leaving Vladimir in the hallway alone, watching the two investigators back as they disappeared out the door.
If only you knew, the big Russian thought, if only you knew...
