Another Reality

Chapter 6


The next evening at work, Nick sighed as he was just covering a body. It had
been a long autopsy. He pushed the gurney into the cooler room and closed the
door. Stripping off his gloves, he went to get a cup of coffee. He still had
four hours of duty left. He had just sat down to enjoy the coffee when his
beeper went off. 

"Damn," he groaned, reaching for the phone to call the dispatch. Another
homicide. He would have loved to work on the stacks of paper work on his
desk. He wrote the address on a piece of paper, grabbed his bag and headed
for his car. 

The drive was easy and there was very little traffic at 2:00 am. He could see
the flashing lights from the crime scene two blocks away. He noted that the
sky blue caddie was parked near the ambulance and he felt excited that he
would see Natalie tonight. 

He came up behind her. "Hi Natalie, what's up?" 

She turned and her eyes flashed what Nick thought was pain, but it lasted a
fraction of a second and was gone. "Young woman, stabbed. She appears to have
been out jogging. 

Nick knelt down and stared into the face of the girl probably in her early
thirties. Beautiful, long blond hair like corn silk. There was a large knife
wound in her chest and lots of blood. 

Natalie came and knelt down beside him. He saw her reach out and dip her
finger into the puddle of blood. She glanced around and then slipped the
finger into her mouth. 

"What are you doing!?" he gasped in a whisper. His stomach lurched. 

"It was her boyfriend," she said, ignoring him. "She wasn't afraid until she
saw the knife." 

Nick wasn't even listening. He stood and grabbed her arm and dragged her
quietly away from the crowd into the trees close by. 

Her eyes turned amber with anger and she jerked her arm away from him. He saw
her fangs descend and she moved suddenly closer. He felt her icy breath on
his neck. 

Then she cried a strangled cry and backed up. Her fists were tight balls. She
closed her eyes and stood silently taking deep breaths. When she opened her
eyes they were blue again. She looked back at him. "Do not ever threaten me
again, Nick. I could easily lose control and kill you." 

He opened his mouth to apologize, but she had continued, "I WAS doing my
job." 

"You snack on your victims?" he asked, obviously disgusted. 

"Nick," she said softly, hurt flashing in her eyes at his disgust. "I can
tell a lot by one taste of their blood. I can see who killed them if they
themselves saw the killer. I can feel what kind of person they were." 

"Just by tasting their blood," he asked, unbelievingly. 

"Yes," she said, glaring at him. "This girl was killed by her boyfriend. He'd
found out she'd had a one night stand with his best friend. The knife was
from a set of hunting knives she gave him for Christmas. This girl was in
love with him. He's away for work a lot and she often spends time with his
friends. One night it ended being just her and his best friend John. One
thing led to another and they had sex. She was devastated that she'd cheated
on him. She loved this man more than her life and she made a mistake." 

She looked at him, closely. "You find the murder weapon and it will prove who
did this. The boyfriend had a set of eight with matching designs on the
handles." 

Nick was impressed, but he said, "I'm not sure what you do is right." 

"It saves time," she said in her own defense. "Why look at five suspects when
you can concentrate on the guilty party. Do your job Nick. Find out the
height of the killer and the angle of the wound. Get any samples you can
find. This will help me to prove what I already know." She turned at walked
away. 

Nick stood open-mouthed. He would have to find out more about her abilities
soon. She could make a valuable investigator. What if someone were to see
what she had done? She was 800 years old. She knew how to take care of
herself. She must have wanted him to see or he wouldn't have. He turned back
to the crime scene to gather and catalog the samples and evidence. 

******