Alone, Like Always

The night was humid and far wetter than Maria would ever like. She was walking along the road with a frown on her face and the frown deepened when she felt some water leaking into her shoes. This is the second one this week! Her husband is probably just going to laugh at her again! He did tell her not to choose a job like this, but she was too headstrong to ever listen to him and so he agreed.

Whatever. She didn't care about the shoes.

The man beside her chuckled and Maria gave him a look that made him quiet down immediately! They were both partners in the police force, detectives that were currently handling a case in the suburban areas.

Their current destination was a run-down apartment in the east of Tokyo. There weren't many people around at this time of night and Maria knew that was good. At least no one can see the dead body!

"Get those bricks out of there and make sure they don't fall on the evidence!"

"Bring me a clip and the police tape! We need to quarantine this area right now!"

Things like these were being shouted out by the group of policemen gathered around the building. Maria and her partner were walking towards the building and the policemen quickly made way for them once they saw their badges!

Maria was a young woman, she looked twenty-five but people all wondered if she was far younger than that. She moved far better than a twenty-five-year-old woman should! She had brown hair and yellow eyes. It was a weird combination and a lot of people usually asked her if she wore contacts to make her eyes that color. She always said it was too much of a pain to wear things like that and people usually agreed with her because they all knew she hated stress! She was actually lying but she would never tell anyone that

Her partner, Joe, was an average guy. Brown hair, brown eyes, and a fairly tall figure. He usually carried a black glove with him at all times and he never carried his gun without using the glove. You might think he was just being paranoid, but he says that he didn't want people to ever track him using his fingerprints.

Maria thought he was absolutely insane to think anyone cared about tracking him down. But he was her partner so she didn't care so long as he did his job well.

"Clear everyone from the building and lock it up,"

Maria's partner said this to the policeman closest to them while Maria bent down to inspect the body. The policeman was shocked! Did they want to do something to the body!? You can't just prioritize your privacy over the inspection!

"Sir, I don't think you can do something like that!"

Joe took out his black glove and smiled as he put it on. Once he did this another police officer quickly came up to the rookie that was challenging Joe and dragged the man out!

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!? That's Joe and Maria! You can't just say stuff like that to them!"

The rookie was surprised but he allowed himself to be dragged out. The rest of the cops all cleared out and Joe finally turned back to the body. He hated when rookies didn't bother to learn who people were before speaking up. Things like that have put a lot of rookies in trouble.

He walked up to Maria and saw her moving the man's head from side to side.

"Nothing distinguishing. Blonde hair and blue eyes, just like the last two victims we heard about. Pale as death and his skin is dryer than the desert. I think it's the same MO as all the others,"

Maria said this before sighing and taking off the glove she used to touch the man. Joe looked out the window to the side as he saw a bat fly out of the window and he frowned. Disgusting animals! He and Maria began to move around to see if they could find any more evidence.

This wasn't the first case like this that they had been called for. Their department has been handling murder cases for close to ten years now, over the past week they have been getting calls from various places about people dying in different areas. The last two were both blonde-haired and blue-eyed and they wondered if that was some sort of clue. Did the murderer suddenly have a fetish, or was he just feeling peckish?

"I don't think you want to talk about it, but we should really consider it. There isn't any other explanation!"

Maria sighed at Joe's words. This man is getting more and more annoying.

"For the last time, Joe, it's not a vampire killing people! How do you even come up with a conclusion like that!? Arent you a detective!?"

Joe shook his head. He knew he was a detective and detectives were generally supposed to look at only the fact. But the facts all pointed to the truth about vampires! Why can't Maria see that he is right! If a vampire wants to kill someone then is this not how they will do it!? They will take the person to a secluded area and drain them of all their blood!

"You can't deny that it's possible! What could it be if it's not a vampire!?"

"I can think of almost ten diseases that can cause people to lose that much blood,"

"But back to back!? Ten people all losing their blood to the same sickness!? Impossible!"

Maria paused for a moment before she clicked her tongue and turned around to face joe. She knew that in a way he was also joking. He was just trying to get on her nerves with his theories because he wants something from her. Why is he so fixated on it being a fictional character. It may be just a killer that likes blood more than most other killers!?

"Why are you so fixated on it being a vampire!? You weren't this fixated before so there had to be a reason... Wait! You read that stupid book didn't you!?'

Joe coughed while looking away. He pretended like he had no idea what she was talking about but Maria gave him the most incriminating brow raise that he had ever received and he cracked!

"Fine! I read it okay, and it was freaking interesting too!! But that's not the reason! It's gotta be a vampire! There can't be anything else that can do this!"

Maria rolled her eyes as she continued walking. The book they were talking about was a popular book that began circulating on the underground recently by an anonymous author. The title of the book was 'Eyes of Fire' and it was all about two people. A woman and a vampire.

Maria and Joe managed to grab one of the books during their raids of an underground cartel and Joe, the idiot, went and read the book! He kept on telling Maria that he didn't read it but she just knew he did! She always knew there was someone hiding in the basement recently and that was the only place Joe could hide while reading that stupid book.

She didn't even know what he saw in it. The cover of the book was a literal skull and it looked like something the occult would use in their rituals!

"Oh, come on, Maria! Just read it once, and you'll love it! There's no way you won't love it! Come on!"

"For the last time, no,"

Maria stopped at the door of the building and told the cops there that they can finally go in to finish their jobs. She and Joe continued walking out and she started to get really annoyed as Joe just wouldn't stop begging her! She turned to him and scowled!

"Fine! Just tell me yourself then! I sure as hell won't be reading it though!"

The smile that bloomed on Joe's face was like the sun! He whooped and Maria sighed at his stupid display. This is her partner.

...

The first time they met was in 235 BC, the period when madness was a norm and witchcraft was the anthem of the day.

Raz was a vampire and just like any other vampire, he could only go out at night. He had all the abilities of vampires. Perfect reflexes! Perfect sight! Perfect body! Everything that you could think of, he has it! But he hated the fact that he could not live a normal life like the other people he always saw outside.

His eyes were red, like rubies. They were so red that even flames would reflect perfectly on them and that was why people started to call him the Eyes of Fire.

Since Raz couldn't go out in the sun or during the day at all, his entire life was spent in a mansion on the edge of a small town where he ruled. He kept himself sheltered and always inside. His family was nonexistent and he did not know if they ever existed in the first place so he simply spent his days in the same way.

Alone.