Blood Ties Fanfic "The Things of Nightmares" Part 3

[mariewynn]

Coreen had no luck the previous night at Dr. Sagara's office trying to find a mystical cause for blindness, and she and Vicki were having even less luck of it today.

"Maybe it's not about the blindness. Maybe there's something more to it," Vicki thought aloud.

"What do you mean? Like a vengeance spell?"

"No, not like a spell. Henry said he would have sensed any magic going on."

"He's been wrong before, though."

Vicki contemplated this for a few seconds. "True. We won't rule it out just yet."

"If it's not magic then what else could it be though?"

"Demonic?"

Coreen shook her head. "I doubt it. Dr. Sagara had never heard of this happening before, and aside from ones that feed off of your eyeballs, I haven't read about any demons that make you go randomly blind."

Vicki wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Feed off your eyeballs?"

"It's a ritual thing, and could totally be myth," Coreen assured her. "So no to magic, and no to demon..."

Vicki was rubbing her brands in thought and glanced down at them. "Maybe it's a reaction to these things..."

"Like a side effect of the marks?"

"Maybe...I dunno, I know it sounds crazy. But something has to be going on here. Henry's right, people don't just wake up blind one day only to find their vision restored when they wake up the next."

"It doesn't make sense for it to be the brands though. You've said yourself that your eyesight felt like it was getting better since you got them."

"I never said since I got them."

"You didn't need to. You've been mentioning it more and more, which means it's recent."

"Okay fine, so it's not the demon tattoos." Vicki started pacing the floor of her office. "We have to be missing something."

"I think we need to see what it does next."

"That's a great plan, Coreen. Let's all be sitting ducks while the baddy of the week tries to get us."

"If whatever this thing is started with making you go temporarily blind, then it's safe to assume it's next move won't be a huge jump from that, say to killing people. And whatever it did to you wore off, so after 24 hours this thing's hold seems to weaken."

"So we wait?"

Coreen shrugged. "So we wait." Coreen seemed to be pondering something in the silence that now sat between them.

"What?"

"I was just thinking...what if it's not just you?"

"You mean what if other people are randomly going blind?"

"Going blind, or anything else odd."

Vicki nodded. "You know, you are getting more like a detective everyday. I'm so proud."

Coreen preened at the compliment and bounced over to her desk. "So where should we start? Hospital records?"

"I guess I could try to pull a few favors...they don't exactly hand out hospital records like jello down there."

"Or we could try a back door." Coreen sat down in front of her computer, a mischievous look on her face.

Vicki recognized the signs and threw her hands up. "I don't want to know. I'm going to call Mike and see if he can find any weird reports from last night."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mike approached the fresh crime scene solemnly. He and Dave had gotten the call while they were out for lunch. Young girl, mid teens, found dead in graveyard, her brain partially removed. Staring down at the site before him, Mike was glad he hadn't had time to eat yet.

"This is crazy," Dave said as he examined the body. "What kind of monster would do this?"

"I thought you lived for this kinda thing, Dave."

"Nah," Detective Dave Graham shook his head. "This is just sick. It's like some sort of bad horror movie, girl dead in a cemetery with her skull ripped open and half her brains missing."

Mike circled Dave and examined the skull. It did in fact look as though someone had ripped it open. "The wound doesn't look surgical at all."

"Who could do that kinda thing by hand though?"

"I didn't say it was by hand. We'll know more after Dr. Mohadevan takes a look at her." Before Mike could say more, his phone rang. "Celucci."

"Mike, it's Vicki."

Mike turned and walked away from the crime scene, trying to gain some privacy. "What can I do for you Vicki?"

"Come on Mike. Don't be like that. So we had a little spat-"

"You stood me up to go gallivanting around with Henry, and then you kicked me out. I'd say that's a little more than a spat."

"And I accept you're apology."

"Who said I was apologizing?" Mike asked through gritted teeth.

"You did, on more than one of the eight messages you left me yesterday."

Dammit, she had him on that. "Fine, so what do you want?"

"I need you to check any reports that came in yesterday for anything strange."

"Gee, Vick, think you can vague that up for me?"

"Like full moon strange Mike. Just anything weird that might've happened, anything unexplainable."

Mike turned to look back at his unexplainable crime. "Alright, spill it. And if you tell me this has anything to do with killer zombies on the loose eating people's brains, I'm hanging  up."

"Killer zombies?"

"Dead girl in a cemetery, missing half her brain."

"First I've heard of it. I don't know what I'm looking for exactly. Can you just look into it for me?"

"After you fill me in, maybe."

Vicki sighed. He had a right to know, especially if he was going to be helping her out. "I woke up blind yesterday."

"You what??"

"I woke up and I couldn't see a thing."

"I'm on my way-"

"Mike, no. I'm okay now. Okay as in I woke up this morning and was miraculously able to see again. Something hinky is definitely going on."

"Did you go to the eye doctor?"

"Yea, Coreen took me after we figured out that the city wasn't experiencing a blackout."

"What did he say?"

"That I was blind, Mike. Which I already knew. He couldn't explain why, he said it didn't make sense."

"What did he say after you went back today?"

Vicki paused. "I didn't go back today."

"For chrissakes Vicki, why not?"

"Because I don't think this has a medical explanation, Mike."

"So you just jump to the conclusion that it has to be supernatural."

"No, I just...I know how this sounds, Mike. But you have to admit that it's really odd to go blind one day and wake up fine the next. Henry doesn't think it's magic, but I'm not so sure-"

"Henry. You didn't call me at all to even let me know what was going on, but you let Henry come riding to the rescue."

"First of all, I didn't need rescuing," she lied. "Second of all, I didn't let Henry do anything. He's the one who came barging in on me and didn't leave me much of a choice."

"I'm sure."

"Dammit Mike, can we not do this right now? There are bigger things going on right now than the pissing contest you and Henry have going on. Can you check into the reports for me or not?"

"Fine. I'll call you if I find anything." Mike hung up his phone with a huff and made his way back to Dave at the crime scene.

"Trouble in paradise?" Dave grinned.

"You have no idea. Let's finish this up."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Only fifteen minutes after the sun had set, Henry showed up at Vicki's office. He was relieved to find her sifting through a book, legs propped up on her desk. Coreen was in front of the computer as usual, sifting through her findings after hacking into the medical records of the hospital.

"Ladies," he greeted as he entered the office. "Find anything of interest?"

"Nothing in the books," Vicki answered as she sat hers down.

"I'm still looking through the medical records, but so far the only thing I've found is an ambulance showing up after a guy called claiming that he was burning to death. There was no fire, and he's currently undergoing psychiatric evaluations before release."

"And I suppose it's safe to say you haven't found a mystical cause or cure for blindness yet either," Henry added.

Coreen nodded.

"And nothing out of the ordinary has happened since this morning?"

"Nope. Not that we can find." Vicki leaned forward and stretched her arms over her head. "I had Mike look into any weird police reports, but he either hasn't found anything or is too caught up in his current case, which is odd enough as it is."

"What case is that?"

"One that I think he would prefer a supernatural explanation for over anything they might find. Teenage girl found dead in the cemetery, her skull ripped open and her brains missing. Or part of her brains."

Henry raised his eyebrows in interest.

"Think we should check it out?" Coreen asked.

"Hardly seems related to going blind, Coreen. Besides, Mike can handle it."

"So let Coreen assist Mike in giving the crime scene another thorough look," Henry suggested.

Vicki narrowed her eyes at him. "And what do you have in mind for us?"

A wicked grin crossed Henry's face. "You do realize you just opened a number of doors for me."

"The investigation, Henry."

"I think we should go check out this burn victim, and then we can all meet back at my place with our findings."

"Why not here?"

"You've already been targeted once, and you seemed to be safe at my place, with the pleasant side effect of having whatever was causing it wear off. I think my condo is a lot safer bet than here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"And what exactly are we supposed to be looking for?" Mike asked grumpily as he and Coreen walked through the cemetery. "My team has already been over this area with a fine toothed comb."

"Yes, and now we go over it with our fine toothed supernatural combs," Coreen added.

"Great."

"We're not even sure these are related, Henry just figured it was a good idea for us to explore all the possibilities."

"I'd like to know what he's exploring right now," Mike mumbled.

Coreen smiled, pretending she didn't hear his last remark. She aimed the flashlight at the graves before them, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

"So...what happened yesterday?" Mike asked.

"You mean when Vicki went blind?"

Mike shuttered at the thought. "Yea."

"Well, she was still asleep when I got in around noon. You called, a lot, but I didn't want to wake her. And by the way, I told you I wasn't lying."

"Yea, sorry about that."

"Anyway, she finally woke up I think around three. She came stumbling out asking me why I was sitting in the dark and then when she found out I wasn't, she kinda lost it."

"What do you mean?"

"Like usually Vicki losing it. Angry, yelling, looking to break things. I took her to the eye doctor, and when we got back to the office she made me leave."

"You left?"

"After she threatened to fire me about 3 times, and tried calling the police."

Mike laughed. Coreen was starting to show her more stubborn side around Vicki, which was usually exactly what Vicki needed.

"Henry called me after he went to the office and told me to meet them at his place, so I did. I've never seen him so mad."

"What do you mean? Like he was going to hurt her?"

"No, like he wanted to bite me in the not so good way. He's never vamped out at me before, but he did last night."

"Why was he angry with you?"

"Same reason you were angry with her. For not calling to let him know what was going on."

"Why didn't you call one of us?"

Coreen stopped in a huff and turned to Mike. "Because I know Vicki, and she doesn't need a knight coming to her rescue. She's used to being the one on the white steed, and I had no plans to make her feel like she needed otherwise. The sooner you realize how inadequate that makes her feel, the better off you'll be."

"I never made her feel ina-"

"Mike, look." Coreen was staring down at what appeared to be a freshly buried grave.

"It's a new grave, Coreen. These things happen."

Coreen cut her eyes at the detective and shown her flashlight on the headstone, which was faded. Mike had to squint closer to make out the dates.

"1815 to 1862...."

"Not exactly a fresh grave," Coreen added.

Mike examined the soil in front of the headstone, which was definitely new. "So what does this mean? A zombie really did kill that girl last night?"

"I don't know. Zombies that eat brains are usually only the fictional kind, unless ordered to do so by the person that raised them. But to order a zombie to do that is pointless, it's just crazy."

"I think we left the land of the sane when we started considering zombies, Coreen. I'll check at the station and see if maybe someone had the body exhumed for some reason. That would be the only rational explanation. We should split up and see what else we can find."

Coreen nodded as Celucci made note of the grave, and headed in the opposite direction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vicki stood behind Henry as he convinced the security guard to let them through with such ease that she almost felt cheated.

"What?" He asked as they made their way to the padded room that currently held the formerly sane Mr. Donovan Richardson.

"Nothing, it's nothing."

"This is your nothing face, is it?"

"Yup." Vicki squirmed under his scrutiny. "It just felt...too easy, that's all."

"You'd rather have to work for it? Argue with someone?"

"Sometimes. I like to feel I'm earning my pay, that's all."

Henry grinned and placed his hand on the small of her back as they turned the corner. Henry swiped the card he had convinced the hospital security guard to give him, and opened the door to Mr. Richardson's cell.

"Donovan Richardson? My name is Vicki Nelson, I'm a private investigator. This is my associate Henry."

Henry bowed his head in greeting. "We'd like to ask you a few questions about what you experienced last night."

"I'm not crazy," the frazzled Donovan Richardson immediately barked.

"No one here thinks you are, Mr. Richardson," Vicki used her best 'the police are your friend' voice she had mastered while on the force. "You have no history of mental illness, nor does your family. You've never been so much as pulled over or given a parking ticket. I don't think you're crazy. I think something happened to you that you don't understand."

"I understand it alright," he argued. "Someone tried to burn me alive."

Henry shivered, understanding fully well the fear of being burned alive. "Why would someone want to do that to you Mr. Richardson?"

"I don't know," he sobbed. "I was sitting on my couch, watching TV, when I smelled the smoke. I tried putting myself out, but nothing was working. A neighbor heard me screaming and called 911." He was heaving with sobs now.

Vicki put a comforting hand on his back. "It's okay, you're safe now."

"You don't understand! To have this happen..." He looked up at her, the fear of a now broken man shining through his tears. "I'm a firefighter, Ms. Nelson. Burning alive is my worst nightmare. I've dreamt it before, but to have it happen...how can I go back to the job now?"

Vicki locked eyes with Henry, hoping he wasn't thinking what she was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mike?" Coreen called through the dark. The batteries in her flashlight were dying, causing the light to grow dimmer by the minute. She cursed herself for not grabbing a new set before leaving. Vicki would've thought to do that. "Mike!" she called again. Still no response. She had been searching for him for about 20 minutes through the dark graveyard.

A few yards ahead, she could make out a figure hunched over, leaning on one of the headstones. She could see the person's shoulders shaking and could barely make out the sound of the tears that were most likely mourning the gravestone they clung to. As she got closer, the shape was grew more familiar, until she could make out the tan trench coat and blonde hair. "Mike? Mike? What's wrong?" She asked as she rushed over.

Mike couldn't move. He couldn't find any words. He traced the letters in her name, heart breaking more and more by the moment. Victoria Nelson, the headstone read. Beloved partner and friend, she gave her life so that other's might live. "Vicki..." he whispered.

Coreen tilted her head as she looked at Mike with confusion. Why was he crying over Vicki at this tombstone, and why all of the sudden? She shone her flashlight on it, but the tombstone belonged to that of Marilyn Henders, who died at the ripe old age of 96. "Mike, what's going on?"

"She's gone..." those two words hung heavily in his heart, sending him into a new wave of sobs.

Coreen placed a hand on his back in comfort. "I'm sure she's fine, Mike."

"Can't you read?" He yelled, gesturing at the tombstone. "This is not fine, Coreen!"

Coreen backed away slowly. "I'm going to call Henry. We should head there and try to make sense of this..."

"Henry," Mike growled as he stood up. He looked at a now wide eyed Coreen and stomped off.

"Mike!" Coreen tried to follow, but collided with a small grave marker that landed her face down on the ground. By the time she looked up, Mike was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It all makes sense," Vicki protested as she and Henry entered his condo. "Nightmares. This thing is attacking people through nightmares."

"I thought you didn't believe in the boogie man," Henry joked as he tossed his jacket onto the table.

"Henry, be serious."

"Okay, okay. I've never heard of anything besides the boogie man that attacks people through nightmares. Perhaps we should give Dr. Sagara a call." Henry reached for the phone, but took note of the blinking light on his answering machine, then hit the button to retrieve his message.

"Henry, Vicki, it's Coreen. Look, I lost Mike. We split up in the graveyard and next thing I know, I find him weeping over some 96 year old lady's grave muttering Vicki's name. I can't be sure, but I think for some reason he thinks you're dead Vicki. And when I said I was going to call Henry, he got all pissed...I think he blames you. I'm not sure what's going on, but I'll try to get there as soon as I can."

The message ended, and Vicki and Henry barely had enough time to exchange glances before Mike slammed through the door, heading straight for Henry. He threw him up against the wall and pinned him there, a knife aimed directly at his heart. "You son of a bitch!"

Henry eyed the knife cautiously. "Detective Celucci...is there a reason you have a knife aimed at my heart?"

"The better to kill you with. It's all your fault...ever since she met you!"

"Mike what are you doing?" Vicki yelled, trying to pull him off of Henry.

Mike didn't budge and took no notice of her presence.

"What are you talking about?" Henry asked.

"She's dead! And it's your fault!"

"Mike...Vicki is not dead."

Mike slammed Henry against the wall with new force. "Don't toy with me, Fitzroy! I was there! You could have saved her and you didn't! You just watched her die!"

Henry cut his eyes to Vicki. "What do you mean I could have saved her?"

"You could have turned her! But you let her die!"

Shock washed over Vicki as she backed away. Mike would rather see her as a vampire than dead?

"Detective," Henry began slowly. "Our beloved Vicki is no more dead than you. She's standing right over there."

Mike released his grip and turned in the direction Henry was gesturing to, looking right past Vicki. "Vicki?"

"Right here, Mike."

Mike continued to look around, then threw a fist into Henry's jaw. Henry had enough time to react and dodge it, but he was trying very hard to not send Mike over the edge. At least not any further than he already was. "You lying son of a bitch!"

Henry's eyes blackened as he grabbed Mike's shoulders. "You will wake up from this trance," his vampiric voice ordered.

Mike threw Henry's hands off of his shoulders and pushed him away. "Don't you try that vampire crap on me! Tell me why you did it! Why you let her die!"

At that moment, Coreen rushed through the door. "Mike! There you are! What are you doing?"

"Stay out of this Coreen," Mike ordered. "Tell me why you let her die."

Vicki was at a loss for words, still in shock as to his reaction to what he believed to be her death. "Mike..." She tried getting his attention once more.

"Mike, Vicki's not dead!" Coreen shouted, trying to pull him off of Henry. "She's right there!"

Mike threw Coreen off of him, sending her crashing to the floor.

"Coreen!" Henry shouted.

"I'm fine," Coreen mumbled as she sat up, rubbing her temple.

Anger at Mike's violent reaction overwhelmed Vicki and she rushed forward, shoving Mike off of Henry, and punching him in the face. "You stupid son of a bitch! You could have hurt her!"

Mike's eyelids fluttered as Vicki came into focus. "Vicki..." He dropped to his knees, wrapping his arms around her legs in a tight embrace.

The anger left Vicki almost immediately as she knelt down and hugged Mike. "I'm okay, Mike."

Mike sniffed as he pulled away, uncontrollable tears still leaving his eyes. "What the hell is going on?"

"It seems as though people's worst nightmares are coming to pass," Henry answered as he helped Coreen stand.

"Coreen, I'm sorry-" Mike began.

"It's alright. You were upset, you weren't thinking straight."

"Looks like I'm not the only one your vampire charm doesn't work on, Henry." Vicki said as she brushed her fingers through Mike's hair. He still hadn't released her, and after what he had experienced, she wasn't going to force him.

"I'm immune?" Mike asked with hope. He had always silently feared that Henry would try some sort of vampire mind trick on him that would cause him to forget Vicki.

"No, whatever is causing this wouldn't allow me to interfere. It gained control first," Henry responded. "Which means if it happens again, I can't help to snap any of you out of it."

"I love how you assume it won't happen to you," Mike noted.

"I assume it won't because vampires don't dream, detective. When the dawn comes, I'm as good as dead. It's not like human sleep, where you dream, or can be woken up."

"Good to know."

"That would be like you to strike when I'm at my most vulnerable." Henry glared.

"Let's not forget who just had a knife to your heart, Fitzroy."

"Let's not forget the reason I didn't use it to cut your head off, Celucci."

"Guys!" Vicki yelled, pushing Mike off of her. "Geez, we're in crisis mode here and you still can't put a pin in it. Now in case you've forgotten, there's something pretty hinky going on here and there's already one dead body because of it."

"One dead body?" Mike asked.

"Like 'Night of the Living Dead' never gave you nightmares," Vicki returned.

"Not since I was a-" Mike stopped in realization. "Kid. That would explain the freshly dug grave we found."

"And the fireman that thought he was being burned alive that we found," Henry added.

"But here's what doesn't make sense," Vicki began. "If this thing is attacking us using our worst nightmares, then why did the fireman survive without a burn on him, my blindness wear off, but this girl die?"

"Could it be two non-related incidents?" Coreen asked. "Like something attacking through nightmares, and a killer zombie on the loose."

"I doubt it," Mike interjected. "If the zombie was still on the loose, the grave would have looked like someone had been dug up, not like someone had been buried."

"So you think this corpse rose from the grave to attack the girl, then returned back to it's resting place?" Henry gave Mike a quizzical look.

"Do you have a better explanation fangboy?"

Henry bit back his retort with the cautioning look Vicki gave him. "Perhaps it's time to contact Dr. Sagara with this new information. Coreen?"

"Sure, I'll just leave and miss all the action." Coreen grabbed her cape and headed out the door.

"So now what?" Mike turned to Vicki.

"Now I believe it's time I check out this grave," Henry responded.

"We already checked it out," Mike shot back. "You know, the professionals."

"Well, detective, unless the professionals can pick up scents the way I can, perhaps it would be best if I take a look as well." Henry's suggestion bordered on professional courtesy as he tried to take into account what Mike had been through tonight. Henry still couldn't shake the hypocrisy of Mike's experience, though. Ever since he had found out his true nature, Celucci had treated him like a repulsive thing. And tonight he had threatened to kill him for not turning Vicki into the same thing when he thought she was dying.

Mike nodded in agreement, causing Vicki to exhale. "Good, let's go then." She pushed past them and held the door open, waiting for them both to stop eying each other and leave, which they finally did.