Page 31 of Princess
“I will annihilate your whole race, to protect my family!” Now Vladimir was the one who growled, moving closer to the television screen. Nadira shivered at the tone of her father’s voice, but the look in Sodan’s eyes made her want to hide against her mother. She couldn’t look away from it because she knew he was comingforher.
* * *
~Cooper~
“Watch it!”Cooper exclaimed, as Teague and Toma almost dropped the last body. They had brought a customized black Econoline van to transport the bodies to the vampire containmentcenter.
“Who the hell are these guys?” Sam asked, watching Teague and Toma, as they loaded the body into the back ofthevan.
“Guys who specialize in what we saw the other night,” Cooper explained, keeping his voice low, not wanting any of the employees of the coroner’s office to overhear their conversation. Sam’s eyebrows jumped almost to his hairline, as he looked at the tallmuscularmen.
“Dude, you need to let me in on what you know!” Sambegged.
On the way to the coroner’s office, Teague and Toma explained that it would be best that he not say anything to anyone about what and who theyreallywere.
“A government agency, that even I wasn’t supposed to know about,” he murmured, praying that Sam gave up on hisquestioning.
“What? Like the NSA orUNBOSA?”
“Really,” Cooper moaned, grabbing his head. “The United Nation’s Bureau of Space Affairs?” he asked, annoyance lining his voice. “They monitor Earth’s galactic travel! Making sure all the countries are following laws of space travel. Not.Aliens.”
“You never know! They could have some secret-level shit organized under that group!” Sam was dead serious, as he looked Cooper intheeye.
“Will you please just leave it alone?” Cooper begged his longtime partner and friend, almost ready to pull hishairout.
“Detective Cooper and Colsten, Dr. Bevins said he is done with the two new bodies and needs you to come down to the exam room,” a guy in blue scrubs called out from the door that Cooper recognized as one of Dan’sassistants.
“Thanks, we’re on our way,” Sam replied, looking back at Teague and Toma. “Are they comingdowntoo?”
“Yeah,” Cooper answered, signaling Nadira’s brothers over, letting them know the coroner was done with the latestbodies.
These two were John Does also. No identification found on them, prints were not in the system and there were no leads whatsoever. Both of the men were found in an alley in downtown Cleveland. One of the men was found face down at the back of the alley while the other one was found near the entrance to the alley. The police report suggested that a noise drew in the second man and became the next victim. Dan worked a miracle by doing the two autopsies right away. Something must be wrong if he was donesosoon.
“Hey, Cooper and Colsten,” Dan greeted them as they walked into the exam room. He was dressed in his standard blue surgical scrubs and looked like death warmed over. He’d been working non-stop with all of the serial murders, including the regular unsolveddeaths.
Shudders ran through Cooper’s body as he stepped into the examination room. Cooper shook his head; he understood the concept of keeping the autopsy room a little chilly so bacteria didn’t grow and stuff, but did they need to keep the air onAntarctica?
Dan raised his eyebrows at Toma and Teague as they entered the sterile room. “These are the two specialists I told you about over the phone that will be taking the bodies,” Cooper explained, introducing them quickly. Dan nodded, motioning everyone over to thebodies.
The two victims on medical carts were naked except for the white sheets covering their genitalia. Both of them had the standard y-incision on their torsos, sewn up with sutures. “Let’s start with the younger victim,” Dan said, picking up a clipboard. “Caucasian male, between the age of twenty-five and thirty-five, six feet even, one hundred and seventy-five pounds. No signs of any diseases, and seems to be in tip top health.” Dan sighed looking up, shaking his head, throwing his clipboard on the metal countertop. “It’s the same with both of these two new JD’s, no sign of anything that could have caused their deaths. I sent blood out, for tox screens. I put a rush on them and I’m hoping I can have something by tomorrow. I have a contact at the lab over at Charity Hospital that owes me a favor. I’m hoping they can just run the test for me tonight instead of sending it out, and having to wait weeks for something tocomeback.”
“Anything different between these and the first three John Does that you’ve noticed?” Samasked.
“Nope, these are just like the others — two holes on the neck and blood missing,” Dan laughed. “It’s almost like they were bit by vampires! If only they existed.” Toma and Teague didn’t move a muscle atDan’sjoke.
“Doctor, these two will need to be released with the other bodies that we are taking,” Toma said, walking around thecarts.
“After what happened the other day, you can have them. I doubt anyone will step forward for the bodies anyway,”Dansaid.
A half hour later, they had the bodies loaded into the back of the van with the others. Cooper, Teague, and Toma left the morgue headed to the vampire’s containment center. Nighttime had now come, Cooper remembered Nadira saying that vampires were strongest at night as he stared up at the bright moon inthesky.
“So, this containment center—” Cooper started but wascutoff.
“An undisclosed facility that we’ve ran for centuries. You are not to say a word to anyone about it,” Toma said, pulling the van on an empty dark road. They sped off into the night, away fromthecity.
“What will happen to the bodies?” Cooperasked.
“We have cells to put the bodies in,” Teague answered, looking back at Cooper. “The necros will call for them and once they do, the bodies will rise to do their bidding, as you saw on that video. Our cells will be able toholdthem.”
