Cowboys Meet Dracula

A cowboy and his companion were walking through the cemetery, running and panting for breath. The cowboy held a bag of heavy stuff. The stopped running, and dropped the bag, and chiiiing. A bunch of gold coins fell out. 1

"Let's check our stash." said Joe.

Dorlan counted the coins. "Damn...it's only 600 yen. That's nothing!"

Suddenly a third voice was heard. "Blood...I need blood."

The cowboys, sweating nervously, turned around. They saw Dracula. "Ahhhh!!"

They ran for it. Dracula ran after them with high speed. He grabbed Joe's arm then punched him. Pow. Then he jumped on Dorlan, knocking him down.

Both cowboys were down on the dirt. The crawled backwards.

"Please don't kill us, dude!"

"Yeah, we didn't do anything to you!"

Dracula stopped. "You two...are foreigners?"

"Yeah...are you that vampire dude everyone's been talking about?"

Dracula smirked. "Yes, my name is Dracula. I am the king of all vampires. If you two do not want to die, come with me." He turned around and walked on.

The two cowboys got up. "What should we do now? Should we follow him, or make a run for it?"

"Even if we run, he'll get either one of us. Let's see what he's about."

So they followed him, after picking up the bag of coins.

Dracula led them to a big altar. He walked inside. The cowboys came in, curious and nervous. "Whoa, what is this place?"

Dracula opened a chest. Inside were lots of gold coins. He tossed it at the floor. "See this? All this can be yours, if you provide a service to me."

Being the greedy bastards they are, they quickly kneeled and checked out the chest of coins. "All of this?"

"Yes. As you see, I am a vampire, and vampires need to consume blood in order to survive. Just like your mortals need oxygen, we vampires need blood as much as you need to breathe. I need you guys to give me a supply of blood. Bring me people that I can suck blood from!"

"People? What kind of people?"

"Anybody! As long as he or she is alive. But I prefer the blood of young girls, the blood of a virgin, they have the best tasting blood."

The two cowboys looked at each other. "But that's kidnapping, and assisted murder!"

"I'll murder you if you do not comply! But I am offering you all this gold. It will be worth it, wouldn't it?"

"Yes." Joe agreed.

"We'll do it." Dorlan complied.

"Excellent. This job starts immediately! Go and find me a victim, now!"

"Right away, boss!"

Sakume walked along the path back to the police station, and little did he know he was being followed by Ritoshi. Arriving at headquarters, officer Saito had some urgent news for him. The second he stepped into his office, Saito comes. "Detective Sakume, we have made a startling discover regarding the case. You have to come see it."

"Oh?" Sakume said. "What is it?"

"You just have to come see it."

Saito took him to the autopsy room. There were two tables - one for Nabiki and one for Furitsu. Their bodies were covered by a white cloth.

"So, what's the big news?" Sakume asked.

"Listen, I don't think these two have been killed by a human."

"Oh God, not that vampire theory again."

"No look at their necks. It must have been pinched by a really sharp object. But judging from the incisions and the size of the holes, it wasn't a knife."

"It must've been some other sharp weapon then. Something not commonly used."

"But we had a thorough examination of these bodies...and we discovered that nearly half the blood in their bodies are missing. That was the cause of death."

Sakume was shocked. "What?! Half their blood is gone?! To where?"

"We don't know, sir. If they had bled to death, the blood must be dried up on the ground somewhere. But we were not able to find anything...not even a trace of blood on the ground, aside from what we've already found."

"You're kidding me?"

"No."

Sakume checked the body carefully. "The body is so pale...skin's changing color. You're right...there is a huge amount of blood loss."

"Who less but a vampire can do that? Do you think Mr. Yokoyama is capable of such a thing?"

Sakume suddenly thought of Yokoyama. He knew that bastard rich man is a sick man, but probably not sick enough to be capable of doing such a inhumanely thing. Who could do such a thing? Could it really be a vampire?

So the detective stood there for a moment, not saying anything, and thinking a lot. His mind was filled with questions and confusion. How can this be? This is impossible! Being one of the finest detectives on the force, he was usually right 98% of the time. Rarely was he ever wrong on a case or on an assumption. But this time, he may be wrong. But this is so unscientific! Vampires? Sucking blood? Is this a bad children's story that he is living in? Is this a bad dream? No, it's too real to be a dream.

Do vampires really exist? Does this defy all logical reasoning and science?

"No." Sakume said. "Mr. Saito, please have a search ready...search for any trace of blood within the murder area - the cemetery. Search every inch and corner of that blasted place until you find the blood!"

"Yes sir." he said, saluting.

Ritoshi had followed Sakume all the way home. Not wanting to be seen, he hid amongst the rooftops. Being a ninja, he was trained to withstand all kinds of hardships - including cold weather. It was pretty cold at night, even for summer.

Sakume went home that night, all tired and beat up from investigating. It was a hard day's work. He took out some wine, poured it, and drank it.

Uramaki came into the room. "How is the investigation, sir?"

"Horrible. This case is making less and less sense."

"I see. You must be tired. You should stop thinking about it and get some rest. Then tomorrow, you will become refreshed and start investigating with an energized mind."

"Yes, that is true. But I am still not into the vampire theory."

"Do you know the definition of stubborn, sir?"

"Very funny. I refuse to believe that these bloodsucking creatures exist until I actually see one for myself."

Merla came into the room. "Your dinner is ready, sir."

"Oh just in time, I'm starved." said Shikura.

"Oh one more thing sir. A woman came by to visit you this afternoon."

"Oh? Who's that?"

"I believe her name was Faith Lin."

Shikura became pleasantly surprised. "Oh it's her."

Merla noticed his reaction and became suspicious. "But she left right away without leaving so much as a message."

"What a shame. I would have liked to see her."

Merla's instincts flared up again. "Is she your friend, sir?"

"Something like that. Perhaps I'll pay her a visit later. She lives in a shrine in the cemetery and there is a murderer out there so it's not safe."

Knock knock.

Uramaki answered the door. Sakume sneaked behind the wall to listen in.

It was Officer Saito.

"Mr. Sakume is a little busy. Can I take a message?"

"Sure thing. Can you please tell him that the men did their best to search for the blood trace, and they found nothing. They do not want to partake in such a useless search anymore."

Uramaki said, "Very well, I shall tell him that."

Saito said, "Thank you, and have a good day."

"You too."

The door closed.

Sakume heard everything. "Damn. What could've happened to the victim's blood?"

Ritoshi heard everything as well. (Searching for blood? What does he mean? Does he still suspect Yokoyama?) he thought.

In Kyone's bar, one of Sakume's favorite places to hang out, it was nearly closing time. A bum was still drunk there, lingering and half-asleep over the counter. He had finished his root beer.

Gon, a mustached man, who was well dressed, was cleaning a cup, looking at the drunken bum. "Mr. Kyone, what should we do with him?"

"Kick him out! It's 2:00 AM and we're closing."

"Yes sir." Gon went to the bum and tapped his shoulder. "Sir, we are closing. Please leave."

The bum woke up and mumbled some non-sense sentence. "Yeas yu focking hooligan, keepon a kicking me out, jus like all tha other fockers out there. Fock off!" He gave the finger, then left. He walked about the empty alleys drunkenly.

Joe and Dorlan saw their opportunity.

"This is perfect. He'll be the unlucky one."

"Is this really okay?" asked Dorlan.

"Dude, there's so much money on the line! Think of all the gold. Once we get away with this shit, we'll go home rich. So of course there's some risks involved. But this guy is drunk, he'll be an easy target. And he doesn't look like he has family or friends either, so no one will notice if he's missing."

"Good idea."

So the bum walked on. Suddenly, the cowboys put a bag over him and beat the shit out of him. He screamed and cursed and then lost consciousness. The cowboys carried the bag away.

Inside the altar, Dracula sucked the blood out of the bum. He screamed and thrashed like hell. Blood splattered. The cowboys winced and looked away. It wasn't something they needed to see.

When Dracula was done, the bum was shaking and nearly dead. With so little blood in his body, he can only survive a few more minutes. But still, it was not enough to quench the vampire's insatiable thirst. "More blood!! More blood! Now!"

"Yes boss." The cowboys hurried out the door.

Sakume walked about the street, looking at the different stores in the market place. Ritoshi followed him, and he was hidden amongst the crowd. The detective was still thinking about the activities from the other day, particularly what Saito said.

"But we had a thorough examination of these bodies...and we discovered that nearly half the blood in their bodies are missing. They died from loss of blood." said Saito.

Sakume sighed. All of a sudden, he wanted to take a break from the case. Just relax his mind from the troubles of the case, and maybe enjoy life a little. A date with Faith sounds good right now. But she's not here, so that's not an option.