Chapter 2

Dante laid in his bed staring at the ceiling thinking about his encounter with Remy the day before when he heard a knock at his door. With a quick glance at the clock on his bedside, which showed 6:15, Dante called, "Come in."

Alex entered the room with a cup of coffee in his hands, "Morning boss." Dante sighed then sat up in bed accepting the cup from Alex. Dante takes a sip of the coffee as Alex shifts on his feet.

Dante sighed, "What is it Alex?"

"Well, Doctor Cho phoned last night. He said that he needs to see you as soon as possible." Alex watched as Dante nodded and got out of bed. Dante downed the last bit of coffee in his cup before setting it down on his desk and entered his bathroom, throwing water on his face. "He sounded quite shaken." Alex said leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom.

"I'm sure it's nothing." Dante said patting Alex's shoulder before heading over to the shower. Alex left the bathroom and headed towards the kitchen where he began to make himself some toast. After about twenty minutes Dante entered the kitchen drying his hair with a towel.

"So what have you planned to torture me with today?" Dante joked as he sat down by the kitchen island, stealing one of Alex's toasts.

"Nothing much. You have to meet with Mr Reid at ten then I booked time for you to go and see Doctor Cho. After that you have a meeting with the board concerning the stock prices." Alex answered taking a sip of his orange juice.

"Alright. Make sure to print out the company statistics. I want to present it to the board as well." Dante said taking a bite of the toast while getting up from his chair.

Alex nodded, "Will do."

~~~

"Ripley!" Dante called once he caught sight on the Asian doctor. Doctor Ripley Cho smiled when he recognized Dante and aproached him. They greeted by shaking hands and Dante asked, "How have you been?"

"I've been well," Cho replied with a smile, his face turned serious when he spoke again, "Although, I can't say the same for the people if things are as bad as I think they are going to become."

Dante frowned and Cho nudged his head for Dante to follow. Cho led Dante to the morgue and opened the door for Dante to enter. A body under a white sheet laid on one of the metal tables inside the room and Doctor Cho approached it with Dante close behind. When Dante stood next to Cho, Cho removed the white sheet to reveal the head of the corpse beneath. Dante recognized it as the young man who died the day before. Cho turned the head of the young man to expose his neck.

"See these two marks here?" Cho began by pointing towards two cuts in the man's throat.

"Yeah?" Dante replied.

"I was curious about it and asked the coroner what he thought it was but he dismissed it as cuts from the glass. Also, the autopsy showed that the man only had twelve percent of blood left in his body."

"What are you getting to?" Dante asked confused.

"I took a sample of the skin surounding the neck wound and did a couple of tests and found faint traces of vampire venom." Cho paused to look at Dante's concerned face, "I don't think our man here committed suicide. I think he was killed by a rogue vampire and tossed out the window as a cover up."

Dante took a step back an leaned against the table behind him with his hands in his pockets and closed his eyes, bowing his head. Cho sighed and covered the head with the white sheet again.

"Dante," Cho began as he turned to face him, "If this rogue vampire attacks again and becomes more sloppy with his disposal methods, we run the risk of being exposed."

Dante rubs his eyes and sighs, "This can't be a coincidence." he mutters.

"What do you mean?"

Dante sighs again, "I saw Remy yesterday afternoon when the incident happened."

"Do you think it was him?" Cho asked, crossing his arms.

"No, he was in my office when it happened."

"You know what that means then, don't you?"

Dante nods, "He wasn't working alone."

Cho followed Dante out and stopped once they reached the lobby of the hospital.

"Thanks for calling me, Rip. I'll keep you posted with what I find." Dante said extending his hand out to Cho.

"Do that." Cho answered shaking his hand.

Dante nodded and headed towards the exit when he heard a female voice call out, "Hey, Irrelevant!" Dante turned to see the lady he saved from falling at the library. When she stood in front of him she asked,

"What are you doing here?" Dante just stared at the doctor before turning and leaving without a word again. Nicole scoffed and walked over to where Cho was standing, a smile on his lips. With her hands in her pockets of her doctors coat, Nicole asked Cho, "You know that guy?"

Cho laughed before he replied, "I think he likes you."

Startled by Cho's answer, Nicole stammered, "What? I mean...No. He's..." Nicole groaned, "Nevermind."

Cho chuckled, "You had lunch yet?" Nicole shook her head. Cho smiled, "Come on. My treat."

~~~

Dante arrived in the suite of his business and the secretary greeted him and told him that there was two detectives waiting for him in his office. Dante thanked the secretary and headed towards his office and saw two detective sitting there. He opened the door and the detectives rose from their chairs. Dante recognized them as the detectives from the suicide scene. The male detective stretched out his hand,

"Afternoon, I am Detective Brian Wilfred and this is my associate, Detective Joeye Wheeler."

Dante stared at the two detectives with his hands in his pockets, "How can I help you detectives?"

Brian pulled back his hand before answering, "Do you know anything about what happened yesterday? The man who jumped out the window."

"No, he didn't work for me, so obviously I wouldn't know anything. He was probably under a lot of stress. Humans always seem to take the easy way out, isn't it?" Dante said walking over to his desk, picking up a file.

"It's interesting, don't you think? The man's colleagues say that he was a very cheerful person, not capable of committing suicide." Brian said cocking his head to the side.

"Well you know what they say: the biggest smiles hide the most pain. Excuse me, I have a meeting to attend to." Dante said and left.

"What do you think?" Joeye asked with her arms crossed.

"He knows something. I can see it in his eyes." Brian replied.

Later that afternoon, Dante sat in his office leaning back in his chair thinking about the day's events. The possibility of a rogue vampire, or the possibility that the vampire wasn't working alone, possibly with his old aquaintance Remy. Then there is also the detective who thinks he is strong enough for this world of supernaturals. He should probably just stick to his tiny office and meager job and not meddle with things he couldn't possibly understand. All the possibilities of possibilitites were driving Dante insane.

With a sigh, Dante finally decided he needed to visit another old friend of his. Hopefully someone who would have answers. Dante took his phone from his pocket and dialed Alex.

After several rings Alex answered, "Yeah boss? What's up?"

Dante smiled at the young man's tone, "Drive the car home for me today, please. I'm gonna go take a walk and visit someone."

"Really?" Alex asked a little too excited.

"Not a scratch, Alex. Or there will be hell to pay." Dante warned.

"You can trust me boss." Alex says with his confident voice, "Promise to fill me in later?"

"Mmhmm." Dante replied. Dante ended the call then got up from his chair and headed out the office. He tossed his keys towards where Alex was sitting in the office next door to him, "I'll see you later." Dante called and left.

As Dante walked down the dark streets he noticed a figure walking ahead of him. Dante watched carefully to see who it was and was immediately annoyed when he recognized it as the doctor who he seems to keep running into. Dante sighed, what is she doing walking down dark streets all by herself. Almost as if on que, another figure exits the dark and follows the young doctor. Dante began to steadily speed up in case. He watched as the doctor turned a corner and with his sharp hearing he heard her say,

"Can I help you?"

"What is a pretty lady such as yourself doing out here all alone?" a scruff voice replied.

"Don't you know this isn't a place for a young lady?" another voice added.

So there was two of them, Dante realized. He picked up his pace when he heard the sound of struggle and the doctor yelling, "Get off me!"

Dante turned the corner, "Hey!" he said, catching the thugs attention. One gripping the doctors arm the other trying to get ahold of her handbag. The two thugs looked at Dante then grinned,

"Mind your own business, man." the one gripping the doctor said.

"I'll give you one warning." Dante threatened. The thug grinned then pulled out a knife from his pocket. Nicole's eyes growing big. The thug approached a very calm looking Dante. Thug then jumped forward trying to stab Dante, but instead Dante grabbed his wrist and gave it a quick twist to the right, breaking it. Thug cried out and held his hand to his chest. Nicole took this opportunity to grab her pepper spray from her bag and aim it at the man behind her who cried out, rubbing his eyes, Nicole then delivered the most punishing blow and kneed the man where it hurts. Dante couldn't help but also cringe from pain. It was a guy thing.

Nicole scoffed as the two men straggled away. Dante kicked the knife that the man dropped into the drain next to him and then turned to Nicole.

"I had it." she said fixing her coat wrapped around her.

"Obviously." Dante insulted and continued on his way.

"Hey!" Nicole called, "You know you have a habit of walking away." Nicole sighed then ran after Dante, "So what's your name, Irrelevant?" Dante decided that if he ignored her enough, she would just leave.

"I'm not leaving until you tell me your name." Nicole says looking up at Dante.

Dante sighed, "It's Dante." Nicole smiled.

"Where you headed, Dante?" Nicole said savouring the sound his name had on her tongue.

"To visit someone. You?" Dante replied.

"I was taking a walk. I guess I took a wrong turn." Nicole replied.

"You should be able to find your way home from here." Dante said when they reached a lit street.

"Mmhmm." Nicole replied, "Thanks."

Dante nodded then turned left. Nicole watched him for some time before she turned right.

Dante continued to walk until he saw an old man with white eyes sitting on bench in the small park ahead of him. The old man was leaning slightly forward on his wooden cane and cocked his head slightly when he heard Dante approach.

"The young lady will make her way safely home." The old man said.

Dante smiled as he sat down next to the old man, "How'd you know I was looking for you?"

"Please," The old man said offended, "You know I can the future and yet, every time we meet you ask how I know you're looking for me."

"Maybe I like to annoy you, Uncle Sam." Dante replied and smiled when Uncle Sam chuckled. Sam wasn't really Dante's uncle, he just liked being called that. Sam felt like he was everyone's uncle. Over the many years of his life he would sit in such parks, coffee shops and playgrounds, giving advice to anyone who struck a conversation with him. Not many people felt at ease talking to Uncle Sam, in all fairness, he did look blind, but in truth, Sam could see just fine. He was a Seer who could see the most immediate future. He was known in many places as the wise-old-man.

"You wish to know what is going on?" Uncle Sam asked. Dante sighed then nodded, leaning his arms on his knees, "Me too." Dante looked up at Uncle Sam who also sighed looking up to the sky, "The future is unclear. I can't make out much but I can tell you that there are troublesome times ahead."

Dante let out a breath of air and leaned back on the bench looking at a couple taking a walk in the distance. Dante turned to look at Uncle Sam to ask him something, but Uncle Sam was already gone. Dante let out a frustrated sigh, then got up to head back home. He stretched his arms out in front of him and rolled his head. Dante moved to step forward, but before his foot touched the ground, he turned into a swarm of bats and flew away.