Chapter 14.

  “Oh shit, a Vampire,” Scott gritted his teeth and readied his weapon, girding up for the battle that was at hand.

  “It’s a what?” Hank asked, calling from the hallway as he rested his belt and gun on Mom’s old crucifix before getting out of his dress shirt so he could chill for a relaxing night in an undershirt and slacks. He came out of his room just in time for the microwave to beep, alerting him that his dinner was ready.

  Scott was on the couch, leaning forward with the PlayStation controller in his hand, “I’m playing Skyrim, ran into a Vampires den, I was just expecting some wizards,” he said as he dodge around and struck to his enemies when he saw his moment to attack.

  Hank took his dinner from the microwave and peeled off its plastic wrap. He grabbed a knife and fork and took a seat by his brother.

  “So how do you kill a Vampire in this game?” he asked.

  “Fire does the job well, but I’m not trained for magic. Have to brute force it, just stab it until it’s dead,” Scott said as he maneuvered around on screen fighting his vampiric enemy.

  “Do you got to stab them with a wooden stake? That’s how you kill a Vampire right?” Hank asked, ignorant to the game as the only reason he even owned a PlayStation was because Scott had bought a pro-model for himself, now pawned, and mom didn’t want it in the house.

  “No, not really a wooden stake item in the game, you just burn them up and slash into them with your weapons like any other enemy,” Scott said.

  “So you don’t have to stab them in the heart, I thought that was the only thing that killed a Vampire,” Hank said.

  “Wouldn’t stabbing anything in the heart kill it?” Scott asked, as he dodged and weaved from the Vampire's attacks on the screen.

  “Fair point,” Hank said, shrugging his shoulders.

  Scott was taking an expert unemployed man’s hand to the game as he talked to Hank, “I got some good news for you,” he said.

  “You found a nice studio?” Hank asked, grinning at the tease he could throw at the ne’er’do well brother riding his couch.

  “Let me get a few paychecks and stabilize before I look for a place, I was living off my credit card the past few months, got to get that under control first,” Scott said, “The news I have for you, is that I paid a visit to your crush the other day, and she’s totally into you, I can tell,” he said, “You got this bro, you’re in, you’re so in,” he said.

  “What did she say?” Hank asked, always curious at whatever someone would say Eleanor’s opinion of him would be, then he snapped back to business mode, “Wait, what were you talking to her about, don’t go trying to help me, it could backfire and then I’ll be screwed, I like this girl Scott, don’t ruin this for me,” Hank warned.

  Scott paused the game and turned to Hank, “I showed it to her first, but I figure you should know,” he rolled up his sleeve, “At the last Vampire party I got this,” he said, showing off the scars left by the bite he suffered after being drugged at the party. He revealed to hank the bite, the scarred tissue over his left arm.

  “What the fuck is this,” Hank raised his eyebrows, “You got this at that party, who the hell are you hanging out with?” he asked.

  “I don’t know, maybe a fucking psychopath, I showed this to Eleanor, and she’s been doing work to tie the parties to it, I think we have something here,” Scott said, “I didn’t feel like explaining it to a hospital so I showed it Eleanor,” Scott said.

  “I remember Eleanor showing me some fake teeth she found at the first scene,” Hank looked up at Scott, “Did she match them to this?” he asked.

  “Yeah, she did, perfect match. That means that someone at the Vampire party is our killer, or at least they’re adjacent to the killer. This party has a connection to the murders,” Scott said.

  “What the hell have you found yourself in,” Hank said, “You’ve been sharing drinks and good times with a fucking serial killer,” he said.

  “I remember little about how I got the bite, I was drugged, but I remember who was in the room, so our list is narrowed down, Jacobin was there,” Scott said.

  “Your suspect, Jacobin Hearsay, Trevor Ellis, he was there when you got this bite?” Hank asked.

  “Yeah, he was there, with fake teeth and all, and the fake teeth Eleanor has at the lab match the pattern of the bite perfectly,” Scott said.

  “Did Jacobin bite you?” Hank asked.

  “I don’t know, I hope not, but it looks like he did. He bit me with a set of those fucked up fake teeth found at the scene. There’s something else, I was drugged before I was bit, that’s why I have no idea who it was. Eleanor is running a test on my blood to figure out what they gave me. Hopefully, if we can bust them with whatever drug it was, we can put another nail in their coffin,” Scott said. “Amelia said it was just food coloring, part of the game, but I experienced it, I got fucked up that night and I can tell you that food coloring couldn’t have done the job that whatever they spiked their wine with did,” Scott said.

  “Wait, you’re saying this party you went too, they drugged you?” Hank asked.

  “They gave me something, I blacked out, woke up in my car, woke up in my car with this,” Scott said, showing his scar. “I don’t know what it was. I’ve been hung over before, but I can tell you that what I felt was not the product of mere alcohol. Who knows, if we can pinch this psycho for murder, we can throw a controlled substance charge on top if it, add insult to injury, sound good?” Scott asked. “Eleanor can find out what I was given, gave her some of my blood, she said she would run the test ASAP, and she’ll come by here with the results, you’re welcome by the way,” Scott said.

  That’s when Hank’s intercom buzzed.

  “Speak of the devil,” Scott smiled, “I bet that’s the lovely brilliant and beautiful Dr. Laterbauch now,” Scot said, already moving to get his bedding cleared off Hank’s couch and in the closet to make Hank’s apartment appear more welcoming to a feminine presence.

  “Hello?” Hank said, gulping and trying to straighten his shoulders.

  “It’s Eleanor, I mean, Dr. Laterbauch, is Scott with you?”

  Hank looked over to Scott, “Told you she would be here soon, let her in, let her in,” Scott said.

  “Yeah, Scotts here, he told you had some tests done on him?” Hank said, “I’ll buzz you in,” he said, pressing on his intercom.

  “Good, I have his results, you’re going to want to hear this too,” Eleanor said, hints of both worry and a grim excitement in her voice.

  “Okay, come on up,” he said, buzzing her in. He turned to Scott, “How do I look, should I go put my dress shirt back on?” he asked.

  “She’s into you, just nut up before she gets here. Strength, mother fucker, strength,” Scott reminded him as there was a knock on the door.

  Hank took a deep breath, “This is still work related, going to bring a working man’s mentality into this, I can do this,” he nodded as he readied himself to open the door.

  “Women do like a man who works, Amelia excluded of course, doesn’t seem to have too much of a problem with me sleeping on a couch currently, guess I’m just that charming?” Scott said. “Of course, she brought me to a party I got a chunk of my arm ripped out at, so I’m not sure if it’s good luck or bad luck on my end,” Scott said.

  There was another knock .

  “What are you waiting for, open it,” Scott said.

  “Right,” Hank cleared his throat and opened the door to welcome Eleanor into his home. “Dr. Laterbach, so good to see you, so you said you have something to show Scott, something I should see too?” he asked.

  “That’s right, Hank, Detective Tavares, I mean,” she said, fighting a small blush coming across her cheeks. “I got the test results back from the sample of blood you gave me Scott, and the residual DNA I found on your bite,” she said. “The Chromosome found on it says that it’s male DNA,” she said.

  “Jacobin, fuck it’s Jacobin, it has to be,” Scott said, taking a seat, looking at his bite, “That pasty, chubby, neckbeard mother fucker,” he said, “Is this admissible, can we get him for this?” Scott asked, not having the years of knowledge Hank and Eleanor had for getting enough evidence to arrest a perpetrator.

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  “We might, we have enough evidence to search the biters house, if the person who bit you was using these teeth, and these teeth match the same pair we found at the first crime scene that could be enough to take the alleged party to trial, what do you think Hank?” Eleanor asked.

  “We have to be very careful, fruit of the poisonous tree,” He turned to Scott, “If this Jacobin character you suspect bit you, we need a way get his DNA legitimately, and if he’s a millionaire like you’ve said. We arrest him we’ll be facing a defense attorney who would rake us over the coals for any misstep we make,” Hank said, “If we go after him, we need to be iron clad sure that he’s our man,” Hank stroked his chin, trying to think of a way to get Jacobin in the interrogation room so Kramer and himself could browbeat him into a confession.

  “I have some more information,” Eleanor said, “I had your blood work sent off to be run,” she reached into her purse and pulled out a manilla folder, laying it down and opening it up for Hank and Scott to look over.

  “Sorry, Eleanor, told you I wasn’t the best at science,” he shrugged his shoulders as Scott looked over the paper.

  On one page was a bunch of empty boxes without check marks next to abbreviations, on the other was a mostly level line graph going over different abbreviations with a huge spike on top of one of them, “I’m assuming that’s going to be the piece of information you’re about to enlighten us with?” Scott asked, tapping graph.

  “Yes, while we didn’t find any drugs in your system, that spike there is the residual levels of adrenaline in your blood, it was way higher than a normal sample should show,” she said, “It’s the only thing in your sample that captured my interest. Tell me, this drug that you allegedly took, how was it administered?” she asked.

  “The put it in wine,” Scott said, “He kept it in the fridge, unmarked bottle, poured about a shot glass worth into each glass,” Scott said, “So whatever it was it wasn’t some drug like coke or heroine that can show up on a standard test, you’re saying this drug gave me more adrenaline? What the hell kind of drug does that?”

  “From the symptoms you explained to me, I know of one substance that can cause that kind of reaction, it’s called Adrenochrome,” Eleanor said.

  “Adrenochrome, I’ve never heard of that, is it illegal?” Hank asked.

  “It’s complicated, manufacture for medical use isn’t, but recreational use definitely is,” Eleanor said.

  “Reporter here,” Scott chimed in, “As you know, I’m familiar with the works of Hunter S. Thompson, they made a movie about him starring Johnny Depp, Adrenochrome is this fuck up drug his lawyer and him took during a bender in Vegas,” he said, “You’re saying that’s what they gave me?” Scott asked.

  “Adrenochrome is harvested from human blood, pure adrenaline. It can cause hallucinations, out-of-body experiences, forgive my language, but if you took a shot glass full you probably got pretty fucked up,” Amelia said.

  “What does this Adrenochrome drug have to do with the case?” Hank asked.

  “It’s not so much a drug as it as it is a chemical,” Eleanor said, “If a subject-” she pursed her lips at the thought of using that word for what was probably a murder victim, “When a subject is put through a severe trauma, their blood produces excess adrenaline, the chemical humans produce to help them try to struggle and fight for their lives. This desperation saturates the blood with adrenaline, and that chemical can be harvested from the blood. How these Vampire parties, as you call them, could have acquired this, I have no idea,” she said.

  “Jacobin, deep pockets, big nerd, probably knows a scientist or two. Is it possible that the blood they harvested this shit from came from the victims?” Scott asked.

  “Possible? Yes. Probable? Maybe,” Eleanor said, “If Jacobin has the money you say he does, he could probably pay a private lab tech some hush money to do a black book job for him,” she shuddered, “I’ve seen the photos from the scenes, from the wounds inflicted on the victims, they were probably under a lot of stress when it happened,” Eleanor said.

  “This has to be enough for a warrant, I’ll testify, Jacobin is in possession of an illegal drug, one harvested by a damn murder victim, if we can connect the drug to the murders, we can take him down,” Scott said.

  “It may be enough to investigate, granted,” Eleanor said, “I don’t think enough to bring charges, if Jacobin is both as rich, and as messed up, as you can say he can probably get a lawyer to prove he had medical need for the chemical, and again I stress, this isn’t a drug,” Eleanor waved her hand over Scott’s lab report, “We come to them with this and a lawyer can say you could have been involved in a car accident or something at the time, the chemical isn’t traceable,” Eleanor said, “It’s probably worn off on Jacobin by now and he wouldn’t have any evidence of it. You came to me the day after the bite, what you took has probably worked its way out of your system by now.”

  “Eleanor is right,” Hank said, “If we’re going to get Jacobin, if he really is the killer, we need something air-tight, his defense is going to poke any hole it can in whatever we bring against him. I’d be surprised if anything short of him on video killing someone would be enough to put him away,” he shook his head, “We have a lead, nothing more,” he said.

  “There’s something else in Scott’s blood I found. I don’t know if it has a connection to the case, but it was interesting considering other facts about what I’ve seen so far,” she turned to Scott, “Did you know that you actually have RH Negative blood?”

  “I do, wait, what does that mean?” he asked.

  “It means that you have a rare blood type,” Hank said, remembering the conversation he had with Elanor, “How is that possible, I’m A-Positive, I know because I donated to my dad after he had that car accident while we were in high school, you know the one that gave him a bad leg. I have the same blood type as Dad. You said an RH Negative woman can’t carry a child with positive blood without medication, Mom never mentioned that so that means she must be positive too,” Hank said.

  “It’s a rare blood type, but it is possible for two people with RH positive blood to have a negative child. The negative gene was recessive in both your parents, even if they both had the positive blood type, there was a twenty-five percent chance that, if they both carried the recessive gene, they would pass it on to Scott,” Eleanor said.

  “Wait, like my brother, I didn’t pay attention in the one Biology class I had to take either. What are you talking about?” Scott asked.

  “Draw a punnet square,” Hank said, I remember that much from biology class,” Hank said.

  “He’s right, do you have some paper,” Elanor said, pulling out a pen as Hank found a napkin for her to write on. She drew a square and divided it into four parts, “So your parents,” she drew a big R and a small r on the top and side of the square, “Both of your parents carried the Rhesus gene, as most people have, but since DNA is broken into two genes, one from each parent, the dominate one being the one expressed in your parents, they both must have still had the negative gene in their genetics,” she drew a capital R and a lowercase r over the top two boxes, and then a capital R and lower case r on the left side, “Hank probably has one of these,” she said, circling the top left square with two capital R symbols, “But Scott, you hit the one in four chance of having this match,” she drew two small r symbols in the bottom right corner. “The gene is recessive, but that’s what you have, just a wonder of genetics,” Elanor said.

  Scott turned to Eleanor, “So I have the RH Negative blood type, and the Vampire blood you found also has that type?” he asked, getting a bit worried.

  “The, Vampire blood,” Eleanor rolled her eyes at that stupid name, “The Vampire blood as you’ve been calling it doesn’t have the Rehsus marker if that’s what you’re asking. But your blood is still normal, any person could have it, at least fifteen percent of the population could have it,” she said, “No worries Scott, you’re not a Vampire,” she said with sarcasm in her voice.

  “Yeah, I’m not a Vampire yet,” Scott said, “Amelia told me the council is considering turning me, I got to keep going to these parties,” he said.

  “Scott, give it up,” Hank said, “You were bitten at one of these parties, these people are psychos, it could be dangerous. She’s not worth it,” Hank looked at Scott with that same look Mom had when Scott brought that one goth girl over for Dinner while he was in high school.

  “This isn’t about Amelia, it’s Jacobin I’m after, we have enough evidence here to prove he’s who’s behind these killings, he’s got to be. Between the bite and the blood we’ve found, that and the drug they gave me, Adrenochrome. I’ve seen this guy in action, seen how he talks at these parties, I have a real feeling that he’s the killer. Amelia has fun at these parties, and Jacobin commands her respect. If I stop Jacobin, I can save Amelia from getting even deeper into this shit,” Scott said.

  Hank looked to Scott with a brotherly concern, “It sounds like Amelia is already pretty deep into this nonsense. How do you know she isn’t a part of whatever group it is killing people?” Hank turned to Eleanor, “You told us that there were three blood samples at the first scene, so if one of them matched to Jacobin, there’s still another sample unaccounted for, for all we know it could have been Amelia’s, and I’m not saying it is, but it’s possible,” he said, turning back to Scott.

  “She’s not like that,” Scott said, for some reason his brain felt itself incapable suspecting Amelia of anything devious, “It was probably Jacobin and one of the other girls, he has a girlfriend, Suvilia is what she calls herself, she could be in on this too. Amelia is just playing this silly game of pretend. But Suvilia was with us when we took the Adrenochrome, and she appeared to be very used to consuming it. If it’s anyone else from the party’s blood we find it will not be Amelia’s, I would bet it’s Suvilia’s,” Scott said.

  “All we have is the bite marks from the fake teeth from the scene and DNA, but we have nothing on file to test it against,” Eleanor said, “If we had Jacobin’s DNA, a legitimate sample of Jacobin’s DNA we could put him at the scene,” she said, “But I have no idea how we can get it,” she looked to Hank, “Do you know how we can get a sample from him?” she asked.

  “I think I can get us a sample,” Scott said, “It won't be admissible, but if we test it, we can get a confirmation that he’s our guy. Jacobin, Trevor Ellis, he’s the one who rents out the houses for the parties. Maybe I could find a comb he uses, he’s balding after all, I could get some hair, you can get DNA off that right?” Scott asked.

  “Unfortunately, no,” Eleanor said, “Hair from a comb would be unreliable, hair doesn’t have DNA unless it has a follicle, hair that just falls out wouldn’t give us the information we need,” she said.

  “What about a toothbrush?” Scott asked.

  “I could work with that, but you have to be sure it’s his,” Eleanor said.

  “Again, I have to say, fruit of the poisonous tree, I can’t get you a warrant to pick up some guy's toothbrush, Scott, if you’re going to do this, it has to be under the table. Know that you’re not getting us something we can actually pull him into the station with,” Hank said.

  “I know, but we can find out if Jacobin, if Trevor Ellis, is our guy, we can find out if he’s the killer, or one of the killers at least,” Scott said, “Eleanor, if I get you his DNA, you can match it to the crime scene, and then he’ll be the one we know we have to go after,” Scott looked to Hank, “Is any of that illegal?” he asked.

  Hank thought for a second, looked back on all his years of schooling and training, “It’s all circumstantial, but as long as we don’t rely on any evidence you find in the actual case, it could be helpful,” he said, “Your job is to put a target on his back, let me and Kramer figure out how to take him down if he’s the guilty party,” he said.

  “There’s another party this Friday,” Scott said, “I’m going to need to borrow your black tie again,” he said to hank, smiling nervously.

  “Get the shit, and get the fuck out, I don’t want you waking up with another bite, who the fuck knows what these freaks could infect you with,” Hank said.

  “Don’t worry,” Scott said, “Amelia says I’m not ready to be turned yet, to be accepted, it will just be another cocktail party. But if I’m invited upstairs again, you better believe I’ll snake out of it. The last thing I need is another bite and another hangover,” Scott said, “I’ll get us proof Jacobin is the killer, then when we bring it to light, I can hopefully convince Amelia to find another hobby,” Scott nodded.