by Maria Wiberg

PART 1

"Get over here, lover," Peter pleaded from the door to his apartment. "I want a goodbye kiss before I go to work."

His words were answered by a giggle; Moura bounced towards him, her steps light as a ballerina's.

She wrapped her soft white arms around his neck and pulled him down towards her inviting red lips. He'd expected a brief and playful kiss, but what he got was one that once again stirred the passion they had shared that night.

"Hey, hey, I gotta get to work or the Captain will have my head," he moaned as he reluctantly let go of the woman filling his arms.

"See ya tonight, Lover!" her voice low and husky, still filled with the promise of passion. Leaning up against the wall, stretching out to reveal the soft curves of her body, she did everything she could to make him stay just a little while longer.

Peter closed his eyes in a feeble attempt to resist her, knowing he'd made a mistake when he'd asked for a goodbye kiss. With a cry of defeat, he ripped off the thin lace gown covering her body, pressing her harder against the wall.

~~~

Captain Karen Simms opened her office door to find out if Detective Caine was late again. She didn't find him where he was supposed to be. "Strenlich, send Peter in here if he decides to come to work today!" she barked

"Yes, Captain!" Strenlich understood exactly why she was getting irritated at the young Detective. He had not been himself lately, that much was clear.

"He's been behaving too irresponsibly lately. Arriving later each day, looking like he hasn't slept in weeks. Dozing off on stakeouts and his reports are near enough impossible to read these days. It's time to do something about it."

"Yes, Captain."

Simms returned into her office, closing the door with a bang. She didn't like to lecture people, but something had to be done about Peter's behavior.

Outside Jody and Skalany giggled with their heads together when they saw the object of the commotion this morning come waltzing into the squad room like he didn't have a care in the world.

"He's in love. Ten bucks says he's in love!" Skalany whispered.

"You're on. He's never behaved like that when he's been in love before. This is something else."

Strenlich stepped into the path of the absentminded young Detective. "Captain wants you!"

"Oh shit, I'm late again, aren't I?" Peter said, but he didn't sound very sorry about it. In fact the very thought about why he was late brought a smile to his lips.

"And you better stop grinning like an idiot before you get in there, too."

"Okay, Chief. On my way." He couldn't hide a hint of a smile in the corner of his eye as he walked towards her office.

Inside the Captain's office, he felt like he was back in the orphanage principal's office once again. He knew he'd been naughty. Knew he'd be lectured for it. He sat down even before she asked, wondering what she'd punish him with this time.

"Detective, tardiness does not suit you well. Sloppy work becomes you even less." Karen Simms was her usual calm self, but her words were as sharp and hard as a knife's edge.

"No Captain, It's just that I've had trouble sleeping lately," Peter replied. He was perfectly honest, he just didn't tell her the reason.

"Oh, is that so? Then I have the perfect solution. As from tomorrow you work nights."

"What?!" Finally, she got through to Peter. "Are you kiddin' me? Nights?"

"If nights are when you're awake, then you might as well work then. Report in tomorrow at seven." Then she dismissed the now wide awake Detective with a wave of her hand and went back to her files.

Peter wandered out of the office, stunned, no longer smiling. He ran his hand through his hair, didn't quite understand what had brought this down on him. Sure he'd been a bit tired lately, who wouldn't be with a girl like Moura, but it couldn't have been bad enough to bring this on. Could it?

"What happened Peter? You look like you've been fired or something?" Skalany teased him.

"I think I just got demoted," he answered, shaking his head in disbelief. "I'm on night shift as of tomorrow."

~~~

The apartment felt empty without her in it. He sat down on the couch with a beer, not knowing what to do with the rest of the day. He wouldn't be able to see Moura until this afternoon, and his father was out of town. He didn't have to make any decision though, within ten minutes he was sound asleep on the couch.

He woke by a gentle kiss placed on his lips. His lover had entered the apartment without him even noticing. It was already dark outside, and he realized he'd slept through the whole day. Well, he might have needed it, he knew he had not slept a whole night since he met Moura. And that was a month ago now.

He willingly let himself drown in her mouth, forgetting she was the reason he'd been demoted to working nights. With this woman, he was rapidly becoming a sex-crazed maniac; everything else came second hand. The job, his father, his family and friends were neglected and almost forgotten when he was with her. And she was with him every single night. Waited for him when he came from work. Kissed him goodbye in the morning. Peter had no life without her anymore. He didn't miss it either. He readily threw it out the window every time he laid eyes on her. The long dark hair, the brown, almost golden glimmering eyes, the soft curves of her small body against his own, the smile, everything about her amazed him. Made him want her even more.

Sometimes at work, daydreaming, he realized he honestly didn't care that he didn't know much about her. He knew her sparkling laughter, her witty jokes and constant friendly tease. That was more than enough. Hell, it was enough to make him think about her all the time.

"Peter, darling, what are you doing home this early?" she queried when she'd satisfied her thirst for his kiss.

"Told ya, I'd get in trouble this morning, didn't I?" he smiled at her. The world around them faded now that she was here. He just couldn't be mad at this woman.

"I didn't think you were serious, darlin'. You always tease me that you're gonna get in trouble."

Pulling her down into his lap, he nibbled her ears, started to kiss her neck, not the least interested in anything else.

"Hey!" she pulled away from his arms. "Do I really need to stay out of reach to get a remotely serious answer from you?"

"I'm under your spell, you know that Moura," he teased before he actually told her what had happened. "The Captain moved me to the night shift. Beginning tomorrow at seven."

"Nights? Nights!" Her surprise and disappointment was painfully obvious in those plain words. "But...? What about us?"

"I don't know, Moura. I honestly don't know." Not until he saw her disappointment he realized what working nights meant for the two of them. Less time together. "Let's not waste a minute, not a second of our time together."

"Yea, let's not," she agreed and moved forward to embrace her lover.

PART 2

"Nooo, what have I done?!" Moura moaned out aloud and backed away from the almost lifeless body of her lover. With terror in her eyes, she stared down at the harsh reality of her deed.

In the moment of pure passion, she had done what her true nature dictated; she had drained him of blood, and she had vowed never to do that. She'd told herself that she loved him too much to ever let that happen.

The very thought of now losing him made her heart ache on the verge of breaking. A heart that until a month ago had been frozen, dead. If she left now, he would die. In only moments she had to make a decision, live or die. Both a curse.

"Noo," she cried again. "I can't lose you! You may hate me forever for this, but I can't bear to lose you." And then, with tears rolling down her cheeks, she bent down to kiss his pale mouth. Biting deep in her tongue, she let her own blood pour down his throat to give him something very much resembling life back.

Within seconds, he reacted to the warm blood gushing down his throat. Still unconscious, he started sucking, drawing his life back through the blood from her. When she started to feel dizzy herself, she pulled away, quickly shutting her mouth so that she wouldn't bleed all over him and the floor.

Seeing the wonderful color of blood fill the body of her lover once again made her heart once again whole. He'd be like her from now on, but she didn't care as long as he lived and loved her. With ease she lifted him up and carried him in her arms towards the bedroom they had never used that night.

She placed the sleeping man on the bed, and kissed him lightly goodbye on his lips. She left him there alone to make sure she herself had enough blood to make it through the daytime sleep.

~~~

Peter woke with a dry mouth and a headache from out of this world. He didn't remember drinking though, only lots of good sex. He reached out to touch Moura but she wasn't there. "Moura?" he called out. No answer. She wasn't in the apartment.

It wasn't until he pulled the blinds and looked outside he realized it wasn't morning. It was night, and he'd slept through one more day. It was time to go to work. "Night shift," he sighed. He shouldn't feel like crap now, he'd made love and he'd slept. He should feel great, on top of the world, but he didn't.

He opened a new bottle of water to clear out his dry and foul tasting throat and to wash down some aspirin. Head back he let the cool water run down his throat. ‘God, this is terrible!" he realized, choking on the water. It was like sewer drain or sour milk mixed with vinegar. Emptying the content of his stomach in the kitchen sink, he really began to feel sorry for himself. Even Moura began to fade in the pain of the moment.

A shower and a shave later he didn't feel any better, but he had to get going. If he concentrated on work, he could perhaps forget about this thing he was coming down with.

~~~

Work didn't help, the longer the night progressed the worse he felt. The dry throat and foul taste in his mouth rapidly progressed into a terrible thirst. But whatever he tried to drink came right back up again. He'd tried to eat, same thing. Nothing made the thirst any easier. Even thinking about food or drink had made him nauseous.

On the way home, he had to concentrate to even be able to see straight. His vision blurred, and he felt like he was going to pass out any second. Miraculously, he made it home with both him and the Stealth in one piece.

Moura opened the door before he could get the right key into the small hole. It was like he was drunk, everything was out of balance. "Moura!" he smiled and almost fell over her into the apartment when he tried to embrace and kiss her.

"Peter, I'm so sorry." She easily supported and guided him towards the couch. "I should have stayed with you. I didn't think you would go to work feeling like you must have felt this afternoon when you woke. I thought I had time before you left."

"I thought it would go away." Peter managed to reply while falling down onto the couch.

"No Peter, this will never just go away." Moura said with words so sad and so full of regret that she actually got through Peter's own pain and confusion.

"What are you talking about? I just got the flu or something, all I need is to rest."

Moura sighed and slowly shook her head. "No Peter, what you've got is not the flu or any disease you've ever heard of before." Actually saying the words, trying to gather enough courage to tell him made her almost cry. She'd spent the entire day regretting what she'd done the night before.

Peter looked at her, didn't understand what she was talking about. How could she know what was wrong with him when he didn't understand it himself?

Turning away, not able to face his disoriented gaze any longer, she confessed. "Oh, Peter, my true love. I'm responsible for this. And I'm so very sorry."

He tried to get up to comfort her, it hurt him to see her in so much agony. He couldn't, his limbs didn't want to cooperate. "Moura, please, tell me what's wrong." And he didn't mean what was wrong with himself, he didn't care.

Avoiding the inevitable words she walked over to the kitchen to get the only thing that could cure Peter's pain. For a while anyway. She'd thrown out beer and food leftovers to fill his fridge with bottled blood. She knew he'd need a lot the first few weeks before his body got stabilized on the new diet.

She grabbed two wine glasses and one of the bottles from the fridge and returned to the living room couch. Sitting down beside him, without a word she filled the two glasses.

"To love forever!" she toasted.

Peter looked at the thick red liquid in the glass, not sure if he could keep wine down when all else had failed earlier at work. "To love!" he returned the toast and finally made himself take a careful sip of the wine.

The careful sip, was immediately followed by the rest of the content in the glass. Finally! Something he could drink, it tasted like nothing he'd ever tasted before. Better than anything he'd ever tasted. In an instant he also knew exactly what it was. ‘Blood!’

He just had to have more. Grabbing the bottle from the table, not wasting time by using the glass this time he poured the content down his throat without even bothering to swallow. When he was done with it Moura handed him another one and he grabbed it with animal-like greed. ‘More!’ was all he could think.

He emptied three bottles before the thirst was under any kind of control. He slowed down, took the time to taste the wonderful stuff. Closing his eyes, leaning back in the couch he realized he felt so good, so very good. Horny.

Like she knew what he was thinking, Moura popped down into his lap, giving him a kiss still tasting of the blood she'd been drinking. It made Peter mad with desire for her like he'd been for the blood moments earlier.

PART 3

Peter stood out on the tiny apartment balcony. His old fear of heights strangely gone, he leaned his elbows on the edge, and looked out over the lights of the city night. He desperately needed some fresh air and solitude to be able to think.

It was night, but it wasn't dark, not for him. The moonlight was as bright as the sun had ever been, but the world he saw was different; he was different. In only a few hours he'd changed so completely he had a hard time knowing who, or what, he was.

When all he wanted was solitude and silence, the world around him was violently imposing on his heightened senses. The wind brushed lightly against his skin and played the trees far below him like chimes. He listened briefly, until a wild and rhythmic beat took over; a man jogging passed the tree below. Peter couldn't help himself; he let his eyes eagerly follow the man until he disappeared around a corner. His sensitive nose could still follow the trail of blood and sweat left behind. He looked out over the city skyline again. The siren of an ambulance skirting through the heavy traffic on Main made him want to cover his ears.

Still clasped in his hand was the bottle of blood. Absentmindedly, he lifted it to his mouth and took a large sip of the dark liquid. It tasted good, better than anything he'd ever tasted before, but at this moment he didn't notice; his mind was elsewhere.

He wondered if he would be able to continue his life as a cop now? Could he ignore what was happening to him and be the one he'd always been? The strange things he could feel happening within himself made him uncertain he could be around people.

He could smell the blood, it was everywhere. He wanted to throw himself off the balcony, float out over a world reeking with blood in search for live prey. But he didn't have to search, or even concentrate to hear the rhythmic thump of an old man's heart through an open window two blocks away. It was as if the whole building pulsated along with the hearts of the people living there. He started to fantasize about the warm liquid gushing down his open willing mouth, what it would be like cutting a throat to get to the wonderful liquid. He took another sip.

Sadness sneaked into his mind, enclosed the core of pleasure the blood had created. So much would be lost to him now; the sun, the blinding light of day, dawn. A world of carefree happiness and laughter. Then again, the loss didn't seem as hard to bear when he looked up at the bright light of the moon and it was just as bright as the sun used to be.

‘Pop, what will you think of me now?’ he wondered. ‘Will you turn away in disgust over what I've become? Will you still love me, a creature of the dark? Maybe it's a blessing you're not here to see this.’

Peter heard Moura softly pad across the carpet, heard the whisper of the drape as she brushed past it and onto the balcony to join him out there. The early morning already made the light so bright that Peter had to shut his eyes. He hugged her close without seeing her when he felt her hesitant touch on his arm. "I don't know if I'm gonna be happy or sad, sane or mad. What am I gonna do now, my love?"

"Oh Peter, whatever you decide, I will be right by your side." She comforted and lead him inside, away from the rising sun. "Your path may be lit by a different light now, but you can still walk it. You can still be a cop if that's what you want."

"I'll try Moura, I'll try."

"That's all any of us can do, Peter. Come, let's go to bed, it's morning."

"Okay." Peter followed her into the bedroom. For the first time since he met her he didn't have any need to make love to her. He was so tired, so very tired.

~~~

The precinct. It used to be home, a safe place. It wasn’t anymore. The constant loud buzz of people made Peter's head spin. The bombardment of impressions on his heightened senses made him confused and irritable. He didn't know how to turn it down, how to cope with so many people, so much blood all around him. The painful need for blood was still so new to him, it imposed on his every thought. He'd emptied three bottles before driving to work and then an hour later all he could think of was the next meal.

Hardly even communicating with his fellow officers, he got his paperwork done faster than ever. Concentrating on that very practical chore was the only thing that kept him from going berserk in there, sensory overload very close. Done with the paperwork, he almost ran towards the exit. Two deep breaths outside on the stairs and he regained some of his calm; the thick walls of the precinct effectively shut out the chaos and the blood.

"I can do this, I can do this!" he kept saying, trying to convince himself that he actually could as he slid in behind the wheel of the Stealth. All he could really think about was blood. He needed it badly now. Leaning over, he quickly opened the glove compartment to find the bottle of blood he'd hid there earlier. It was empty in seconds, and he still wanted more. "Damn!"

Almost out of control, he let the Stealth spin out of the parking lot on the way to his first assignment for the night.

~~~

Peter soon found he really could do his job. With a couple of bottles hidden away in the trunk of his car, he could function just like any normal human being, only better. Absentmindedly drinking out of a coke can, he smiled wickedly as he tuned in on a phone conversation in an apartment across the street. The perp he was watching kept a busy line, but always seemed to find the time to talk to his favorite phone sex operator. Peter patiently waited for a call from the man's accomplice, and couldn't help but miss his own woman when he heard the man whisper into the phone.

Young Asian girls were kidnapped in China and Hong Kong and sold as sex slaves on the black market in the US. Ships from several Asian destinations were about to arrive in the city port, and Peter knew this sleaze would lead him to the right ship. Donny was a good snitch, he knew better than to make something up for Peter. Bowman had to be the one he was looking for.

‘All things considered, being a vampire isn’t so bad,’ he thought. All he needed was a steady supply of blood and he was okay. But it would never be the same again, he knew he was rapidly becoming a stranger to his old friends and coworkers. It wasn't just the night shift, it was the fact that he needed to hide his true nature. He knew without a doubt he'd never pull it off if he didn't work alone. The Captain had, of course, offered his old day shift back when she saw he behaved. He'd declined with a smile. "I like nights, Captain. I'm staying." Inside he ached, he would have loved to go back to days. If only he could.

He knew they blamed his unbalanced behavior on his father's absence. But they couldn't be more wrong. All the anger and feeling of abandonment he'd felt when Caine left had disappeared the moment he met Moura. He didn't need his father, he had her. She filled his senses, made everything else around him fade. And the feeling of independence from his father grew even stronger when the blood entered into his life. For the first time in his life, he actually didn't care that his father had gone somewhere unknown.

He focused on the present again when he realized Bowman had finally stopped breathing heavily into the phone and was now talking enthusiastically with another male. Peter smiled when he heard what they were discussing.

"Gotcha!" he smiled.

~~~

"Tomorrow, Chief. The next shipment of girls will arrive in a cargo-ship called MS Fortuna, tomorrow evening," Peter happily reported when he returned back to the precinct.

The Chief didn't smile, but it was as close as he'd ever come to smiling. "Good. And we will be right there to catch the bastards."

"Count on it! There's no way they can escape us this time."

"Finish up your report, and get some sleep Caine. You look awful."

"Okay Chief," Peter readily smiled. He knew he looked like shit. He needed blood, and the sun would be up in less than an hour.

~~~

Peter and the others from the 101st hunched down behind the plentiful crates and boxes on the dockside when their target drove up to the docking ship. The place was full of activity, but the dark made it easy to blend in among the shadows. The thin, almost spider-like smuggler nervously paced the dockside, cellphone glued to his ear, impatiently waiting to be allowed on the ship.

Peter almost giggled when he listened in on the phone conversation. The guy amazed him. He was obviously very impatient to get aboard the ship, and still he could make out with his girl over the phone. If not for the fact that Peter could hear her on the other end, he might have thought it was some kind of code.

The cops waited too, only a slight degree less impatiently. Peter soon wished he'd brought a bottle of blood; this thing took longer than he'd calculated. He needed to drink, and soon.

When the gangway finally was down, Bowman was almost running over it. Peter, ignoring the swat team, quickly hurried after him, equally fast. He didn't want to lose him inside this huge ship. Damp air and sticky heat hit him like a wall when he entered. "Make sure to put on your gas masks before you enter, " he joked into his radio to the swat team following behind. He didn't wait for an answer; he had to stay reasonably close to hear the perp's footsteps and constant talk over the distractions of the sounds of the constantly moving ship.

Deep into the ship, Bowman obviously found what he was looking for; he stopped talking. Peter sneaked close. From his position just outside the door, he could almost touch Bowman and Alexander in the next room.

"Is the cargo okay?" Bowman anxiously asked.

"Sure thing man, they're just fine, " the other man responded.

Peter took a deep breath of the thick air and entered the room like he belonged there. "Police. I'm here for the girls. Hand them over, and I will go easy on you."

The two surprised smugglers turned to face the intruder. "You gotta be kidding? You're no cop!" Bowman protested when he saw the glaring eyes and the pale face of the intruder.

Peter briefly flashed his badge as he slowly but steadily closed in on the skinny man right in front of him. "You better believe it," Peter said with a low, almost growling voice, "and then you better forget it. Cause you're sure as hell gonna regret it if you don't tell me where the prisoners are."

Alexander didn't just stand by to watch his accomplice get squeezed. When Peter's eyes focused on Bowman he drew his gun. "Not so fast, copper!"

Peter laughed when he turned towards the fat man with the gun. "Watch this!" he playfully called out as he snatched the gun from Alexander and sent him flying with a punch right on the nose. The heavy man with a face as round as a pumpkin almost bounced when he hit the cabin wall, blood splashing out of his nose.

Even before the poor criminal realized the cop in front of him had moved, Peter had grabbed him by the balls and effortlessly lifted him two feet off the deck. "You don't want to mess with me! Understood?" he said as calmly as if he was ordering pizza.

Alexander almost screamed his lungs out, but he got the message. "Okay, okay, let me down. Let me down!" he miraculously managed to beg.

By then Peter had almost forgot the man himself; all he saw, all he smelled, all he could think of was the blood right in front of him. Slowly he let the man down only to put his lips to the man's quivering double chins. He instinctively wanted to bite but in the very last instant got some scrap of sense back and instead started to lick the blood off Alexander's throat and face. This ultimate humiliation and show of power was too much for the man; he messed himself as he passed out.

Peter dropped Alexander, he was no longer of interest to him. Lustfully smiling, licking off the last of the blood around his lips he turned towards the other man in the room. "I want the prisoners!"

Bowman tried to back through the wall. "I don't know where they are. Honestly. I don't know where they are," he babbled when Peter came step by step closer.

Peter lost his sense of reasoning as well as his temper. "You're going to tell me where they are!" he demanded. "Now!"

"Pleease, I don't know where they are..." the terror and fear made Bowman's voice crack up.

"You're lying!" Peter snapped back. "You know your way around this ship, you've done this thing before, you bastard!"

The man hunched and tried to turn away from Peter's glaring eyes and demanding posture. "No," he squirmed, "no!"

Peter didn't let him. With a disgusted grimace he grabbed Bowman by his greasy black hair and lifted him up. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

It didn't work, all he got was a scared silly lowlife criminal that couldn't get anything said. "Snap out of it!" he called out as he slapped the man hard over the side of the face. The shock of the hit didn't do any good, Peter still couldn't get anything out of the guy. "Where are they!"

"I..I...I don't know..." came an unsteady stutter.

"You're going to tell me!" Peter didn't even register that the man was too scared to lie. He slapped again, and again, and again. He didn't even stop when Bowman's face turned into a bloody mess. It felt good to hurt this man, and the blood released a wonderful sweet fragrance into the thick warm air.

"Peter! Stop! You're going to kill him!" a sharp voice called out behind Peter.

"I know," he grinned as he turned to face Kermit and Skalany in the doorway. "This sleaze doesn't deserve to live."

"Peter, my God! What happened to you?" Skalany gaped. "You got blood all over your face."

"I do?" Peter replied as if he didn't know and wiped his face with the back of his blood covered hand, and made it even worse.

"For his own good, get him out of here, Kermit."

"Come Peter, it's all over. We already have the girls. They were held in a couple of the crew cabins below. The captain was very helpful."

"Thank god for that," Peter sighed, and left the room without even a look back at the bloody scene behind him. It was over.

On the way back to the precinct, when he'd silenced the craving demand for blood, he realized what he'd done. He'd enjoyed hurting that man. He'd been only too close to ripping Alexander's throat open. "What if I can't stop myself next time I see blood?" he shuddered, the car suddenly freezing cold.

~~~

"Peter, my darling. What's wrong?" Moura whispered as she crouched down beside the man curled up against the bedroom wall.

He lifted his head and showed eyes filled with fear and confusion. "I'm losing it, Moura."

She sat down beside him, took his hand. Wanted to make him feel better, but she also needed to know what had happened. "What's happened to you?"

He didn't look at her, as if he didn't want her to feel guilty for bringing this on him. "You said I could go on living like I used to... be a cop. But I'm not so sure about that anymore. I almost killed someone today. I almost beat him to death with my bare fists, and I enjoyed it. Every damn blow."

Moura sighed. "I'm so sorry, Peter. I was afraid this would happen."

Now she had his full attention. "What do you mean? You knew?"

"You're a vampire Peter. Vampires are deadly and dangerous creatures. You've only experienced a tiny part of what it means to be a real vampire so far."

"What else is there? What haven't you told me?" he snapped at her, his fear turning into anger.

She looked away from his demanding stare, couldn't face him. She herself had left her vampire life behind, decades ago. And she had not intended to go back to it. But she knew that she couldn't hide the true ways of a vampire from Peter much longer. It would soon start to take over, if it hadn't already done so that afternoon. She definitely preferred the transformation happened under the control and supervision of an elder vampire instead of among unsuspecting humans.

"Don't be angry, my love. I never intended you to become a vampire. It was an accident born out of my passion for you. It happened, and I couldn't undo it. So instead I let you stay as human as I possibly could. I had ruined enough in your life as it was."

"Don't give me that guilt crap. I want the facts!"

"There's no way I can tell you, Peter. This you have to experience. Nothing I can say could possibly prepare you for this."

"Okay, show me," he demanded.

"First thing tomorrow, it's too near sunrise now to be safe." She let him know the discussion was over by leaving him alone on the floor. The sun was near and she was ready to sleep. She sat on the side of the bed. "Come, get some sleep."

He just gaped surprised at her. "Do you really think I can sleep? You drop this bomb over me and expect me to be able to sleep. You're crazy!"

She smiled and started to remove her clothes. That had always distracted him before. "Come over here and hold me then, let me feel your strong sensual arms around me. Let me give you the comfort of my undying love for you."

His tense expression weakened as she had planned. "I'll never be able to resist you, you know that."

~~~

"Peter, darling." Moura purred when they had just finished their act of love after waking up. "Are you really up for some fun tonight?"

"Always." Peter smiled and rolled over on his side to face her. "What do you have in mind?" his eyes telling her what he was expecting. The anxiety and fear of the night before was forgotten for a moment.

"No, not that, you horny bastard", she teased and rolled away when he reached to pull her close again. "You wanted to be a real vampire, remember. I will take you to meet a friend of mine, he will help us."

"You mean there's others like us?" Peter almost held his breath waiting for her to answer. He'd never even thought of the possibility that they weren't the only vampires in this city.

"Yes Peter," she confirmed. "Others like us."

"I don't know. What are they like?" Peter sounded really nervous even thinking about it. The vampire part of him scared him more than he wanted to admit. Sure it was part of him and he had more or less demanded that she showed them to him, but at that moment he was more scared than curious.

"Peter, you've been living like you've always done. Continued your work, continued being the caring individual you've always been, continued being the son of a Shaolin. But you have to know, inside you lurks a vampire. A vampire just like the one's you've read about in the stories. Dangerous, deadly and without mercy."

"If I'm really this savage beast, how can I still be me?"

"Because you haven't yet had human blood Peter. When you do, everything will change. And you will know what it truly means to be a vampire."

"I'm not sure I want to know that. I'm perfectly happy the way I am now. I like being this kind of vampire."

"I know you do Peter, and so do I. But you have to know that sooner or later that will change. And I don't want to be around you when you do. You need to get this other part of you under control before it starts to control you."

"Okay." His reply was very hesitant. He didn't really want to do this. "And how do we accomplish this?"

"We release the beast and hope for the best," she answered, but couldn't hide a humorous twinkle in the corner of her eye.

"No, we don't," he picked up on the twinkle immediately. "Stop kidding about this you little tease, you."

She laughed too. "Okay, okay, we don't really. But you will have to face your demon."

"Let's go then, my love. With you by my side I can face anything. No danger too great, no enemy too strong for Peter Caine."

PART 4

Peter and Moura stopped at the bar when they entered Delancey's. "Hi Terry!" Peter cheered happily. It had been too long and not until he entered the place he realized exactly how much he'd missed it.

"Good to see ya again Peter. Hi Moura, always a pleasure!" Terry replied without even raising his voice to make himself heard over the loud crowd around them. "The usual for the both of you?"

"Sure," Peter replied without even thinking. To his great surprise he didn't get what he expected. He got what he wanted. A wine glass with nice cool blood.

"Enjoy!" Terry winked when he saw Peter's surprise. "Talk to ya later."

Peter looked at Moura. "He knows?"

Moura smiled back. "Yeah, he knows. He's the friend I mentioned we'd meet tonight."

"No shit! I've known Terry for ages, and I could never have told, not even now I could have guessed."

"I know, it takes a long time to learn how to spot the others."

Peter's friends cheered happily when they approached. They'd missed having him around. They rarely saw him at work, he was always in a hurry to get out of the precinct in the morning and the rest of them didn't do night shift that often.

"Welcome back, stranger!" Skalany teased and moved over to make room for the couple around the table.

Jody looked at his glass and couldn't help but tease about it. "What are you drinking? I don't think I've ever seen you drink anything but beer Peter."

"It's this wonderful woman that's doing magic with me lately," Peter replied and squeezed Moura closer, dodging the question.

"Don't listen to him," Moura laughed. "He's the one doing magic to me."

They had a wonderful time, Peter even managed to forget the real reason for them being in Delancy's for a little while and just enjoyed himself. He promised himself that he would get together with the old gang much more often. Just because he drank blood instead of eating and drinking, he didn't have to deprive himself of good company. Moura was great, but friends were too. And he needed both.

For two night people like Peter and Moura the night was still young when the others broke up around midnight to get some sleep. They moved over to the now almost empty bar to catch up with Terry, and to get a refill on their drinks.

"Ready for some adventure, Peter?" Terry greeted them when they sat down at the bar.

"I don't know, Terry. I have absolutely no idea what you and Moura have in mind for the night. She's been really mysterious about it."

"You will find out soon enough. Come into my back room, this isn't something you'd like humans to see."

Wondering what was going to happen, he followed. What ever it, was it had something to do with the vampire part of him, and he wasn't sure he even wanted to know more about that.

He could sense something inside himself that he didn't like very much, something cold that probably had taken over at work more than once, but the other night it took over, no mistake. He found himself wanting to step over the line to protect the innocent, and he had been too close lately. It was only a matter of time before he crossed that line, and became a killer himself. It scared him, a lot.

In the back of the bar Terry had a spacious living room, complete with leather couches and a big screen TV. "Wow," Peter whistled. "This is not what I expected in the back of a bar."

Terry laughed "I know, but this is my place, and I kinda live here at the moment. Have a seat friends, and I'll bring out the good stuff."

"Good stuff?" Peter wondered.

"Haven't you taught this youngster anything yet?" Terry teased Moura shaking his head.

"What?!" Peter was suddenly getting impatient.

"Let's begin this with the blood." Terry started when he reached into a huge refrigerator and brought out a glass carafe filled with the liquid. "There's a very good reason you're still the Peter Caine I used to know when you were human. And that's the blood, the kind of blood I should say. What you and Moura usually drink are pigs blood, it will keep you alive, not much more."

Peter got a disgusted expression on his face. "Eww, pigs blood!" But inside he let out a sigh, secretly he'd been worried about the huge amounts of blood he was drinking. He had wondered where Moura got it, and too afraid to ask. But pigs blood, that had a disgusting ring to it.

Moura and Terry laughed at his disgusted outburst. They knew exactly what he meant, perhaps even more than he did. They knew what the real thing tasted like. But the real thing was a little too dangerous to drink on regular basis.

"This is the real thing Peter." Terry said as he handed Peter a filled glass. "It will blow your mind. Literally blow your mind. Enjoy yourself Peter."

"You sure make it sound dramatic and almost dangerous. What's the big deal? It's only blood."

"Drink!" Moura encouraged and lifted her own glass in a silent toast.

Peter drank. And from the moment he emptied that glass everything changed. "Moura...noo...what's happening to me?"

In an instant she was by his side, hugging the shivering body of her lover. She knew what was going on inside him, she felt it herself, but she knew what was happening and had learned not to fear it, he hadn't.

In a rapid flow of motion, Peter's body became that of a fierce creature of the night with nothing remotely human about him. The demon inside him, now fed by the blood of a human, kicked to life, and covered the mind of the surprised Shaolin like a wet blanket. Helplessly he looked with his now bright red eyes at Moura, saw that she'd changed too, saw in her what he himself must look like.

"Drinking animal blood does not only sustain us Peter, it keeps the demon inside us asleep and passive. We can live and be the humans we once were, only we have to do it by night," Terry explained to his guest while pouring a drink for himself from the same carafe.

It didn't take long for the change to settle and Peter found himself feeling rather good. He still didn't understand exactly what had happened, but he didn't care. He let out a loud growl, opening his gap showing off the sharp fangs that had replaced his teeth. "I feel soo good!" he roared, and stretched out his body. His voice was different too, it came from somewhere deep down his throat.

Without even asking he snatched the carafe on the table and poured another drink. But he found it was difficult gripping the elegant glass with his long clawed fingers, and it was even more awkward drinking from a glass. In a fit of anger he threw the glass away, smashing it against the far wall.

"Come Peter, let's go hunting, " Moura invited, opening the back door out into the alley behind the bar. She was as equally thirsty for blood as Peter.

"Okay, my love, show me the ropes. This will be fun." Peter quickly agreed and followed her outside into the night.

PART 5

The annoying noise of the alarm-clock returned Peter to the world of the living once again. The first thing he noticed was that he wasn't hungry. He always used to awake starved. Not this evening, he felt good. He felt so very good. He turned to his bed partner, and reached out to gently touch her. A chill of fear ran down his spine when he saw his own hand and arm. It wasn't over, his body was still not back to normal. And in an hour he had to be at work.

"Moura, look at me. I'm still a monster!" his voice was still low and growling. Nothing had changed but his mind, the wild raging beast was gone. The demon must be retreating.

Still half asleep, Moura turned over to look at him. "What are you talking about?" she mumbled. She was her usual beautiful self. Then she saw him and woke a bit more, he looked wonderfully wild. She loved him like that, almost as much as the old Peter. She reached up and caressed his deformed face, looked into those confused red eyes, and kissed him. "Don't worry dear, you will be fine soon, it will wear off in a few days."

Peter bolted away from her. "A FEW DAYS! are you crazy? I have to go to work?" His raised emotions woke the demon inside him again. And a short breath later he didn't care. "Sorry Moura," he immediately apologized, and returned to the bed. Sitting on his side of the bed, he called the precinct to tell them he was sick. And with a voice like his, they didn't doubt him for a second.

Then he joined his partner under the covers to do as they had done many times before; to spend most of the night together in bed.

Just before dawn, Peter finally had the nerve to make himself face the change in himself. He entered the bathroom and faced the mirror. He wanted to be shocked, he wanted to be afraid of the monster that looked back at him from behind the mirror. He wasn't. The demon inside him made that face his, just like his old face had been his. The fact that he wasn't worried about the change was what bothered him more.

Thinking back at the night before made him smile when it really should make him terrified. Hunting human blood together with Moura and Terry. He had killed a young woman, and he didn't even care. He had buried his teeth into her neck and felt only satisfaction, and buried her body out of necessity. He had flown high over the ground, wondering what it was about heights that he'd been afraid of all his life.

"Get back here lover!" Moura pleaded from the bed.

"What's the hurry?" Peter teased as he leisurely strolled out of the bathroom. "We got all eternity."

~~~

"Peter's doing it again," Karen Simms complained. "He's getting unfocused and sloppy. I've been getting complaints from the officers working nights with him. He's been acting weird."

"Yea, it's as if his mind isn't in it anymore," Strenlich agreed with her. "He's been showing up at Delancey's more frequently lately, but he seems wired and stressed out. Perhaps it's that girl of his."

"Send him in here when he comes on his shift tonight. I will have to talk to him about it."

~~~

"The Captain wants you!" Strenlich barked towards Peter when he arrived shortly after sunset for his shift. He looked like shit, he was pale and sweaty, and Strenlich could see a hint of the blue circles under the dark glasses Peter wore even inside lately. "You been seeing too much of Kermit lately?" he tried to joke.

Peter just grunted "Hi Chief," and passed him to get into Simms' office.

"Peter? Are you all right?" the Captain asked. When she saw her best detective in this condition, her determination to come down on his behavior disappeared. He was obviously sick.

"Well, I've been out of shape lately, that's all. I'm gonna need a few days to get back on my feet again." His voice still wasn't completely back to normal, and he had to clear his throat several times.

"Have you been to see a doctor?"

"No, you know how I feel about hospitals. I don't go there if I don't have to."

"Well, I say you have to Peter. I can clearly see that there's something wrong with you."

"Nothing wrong with me, Captain. I'm just a little under the weather. It will pass."

"I'm not so sure about that, Peter. You're going to see a doctor, and until you do, consider yourself on sick leave. I don't want to see you here looking like this. Understood?"

"Yes Captain."

Peter left her office feeling even worse than when he'd entered the precinct. He'd woke up this evening with the worst hangover he'd ever had. The human blood had finally worn off, and he was back to his normal self. In every sense of the word. He had gotten his body back a few days earlier, but it wasn't until this morning the mental effects had worn off completely. And now he was absolutely appalled at what he'd done under the influence. His conscience was killing him just as the headache threatened to do.

~~~

Once again sent home from work by his Captain, Peter went directly to the kitchen to get a drink. Looking at the bottles, he realized he longed for another kind of blood already. He didn't want to feel this way, he wanted that good feeling back. And he knew just what he had to do to get it back.

"No I don't!" he screamed at himself the next moment, and grabbed a bottle.

But the blood didn't taste good to him. It was dead, the taste was stale, and it didn't stop the hunger anymore. "Shit!" he put the now empty bottle down on the sink with such a force it shattered against the hard surface. Peter didn't even notice the splinters of glass scarring the inside of his hand.

He already wanted to be a vampire again, wanted to get away from this aching pain in his mind. With a cry of defeat, he surrendered. With a few fast leaps, he was out on the balcony, balancing on the thin iron rail. Only hesitating for a brief fraction of a second, he threw himself forward, out into the air.

~~~

When Moura entered the apartment a few hours later, she immediately understood what had happened. She had feared it would, but she didn't regret her decision to show Peter this side of the vampire for one second. The demon inside them were strong, especially for the young ones. She herself could control it, she could stay human even after drinking human blood if she wanted to. Peter didn't have that control yet.

She left the apartment the same way Peter had, to look for him.

She found him on the roof of his father's apartment. Sitting on the very edge, looking like he'd lost everything; his sanity, his life, his very soul. And in a way he had. Everything he used to be was now out of reach. He'd given in to the demon.

"Oh Moura I love you so," he confessed, and hugged her close when she sat down beside him. "Don't leave me, please don't ever leave me."

"Oh Peter, I will never leave. I'm forever yours. Just as you are mine, my love."

"I feel so lost. I am no longer Peter Caine, the cop. And I can't be this savage beast either. The two parts of me are on a collision course. I don't know what to do."

Moura hugged him close. "Just relax, Peter, and let me take care of you. I will never let anything bad happen to you."

He sat silent for a while. "Okay, Moura. I'll try and let go of my fears, and be whatever it makes me. I just wish Pop was here. He'd know what to do."

"Didn't you tell me once that he would be back?"

"Yea, he promised he'd be back."

"Then, let's wait until he gets back. We're not in any hurry Peter. We got eternity."

"Okay, I guess I can do that." Peter admitted, but he didn't feel any better.

~~~

"Where are we going, Moura?" Peter wondered when Moura started to pack a bag when they returned to the apartment.

"We need to go someplace where you have no emotional attachments. Too much around here reminds you of who, and what, you used to be. You are not a Shaolin cop anymore, Peter. You are a vampire."

"But you said I could be both if I wanted to."

"Yes you can, but I can clearly see it's tearing you apart inside."

He was silent for a moment, thinking. "I guess you're right."

"Of course I am, darling. And since you can't get rid of the vampire inside you, I'm going to take you away from the cop part for a while. I'm not asking you to forget who you were, but you could use some distance."

"Okay, were are we going?" he asked again, this time a little bit more enthusiastic.

"We're going to see an old friend of mine, and then who knows. Haven’t you ever wanted to just go wherever the road leads you?"

~~~

"Captain, I've been trying to find Peter for days now. No luck. He's not answering his phone, and he's not home, days or nights. He's not been at Delancey's either lately." Kermit's voice betrayed his worry about his coworker and friend.

"I've kept this quiet, Kermit. I didn't want to believe it, but I got his resignation in the mail the other day. He wrote that he wouldn't come back, he didn't feel like he belonged here anymore." Simms shook her head. Peter was one of her best detectives, but lately she would have to agree with him. He'd lost his drive and motivation. She'd thought it was because he was sick, but it had to be something else too.

"If only Caine was here," Kermit thought out aloud. "He could probably find out what was wrong with Peter."

"Do we know where to find him?" Simms got a glimpse of hope in her eyes.

Kermit sadly shook his head. "No."

"Keep your eyes and ears open for him. He might be in trouble again, and need our help."

"Will do," Kermit replied and left Simms' office to start his search. If Peter had indeed turned in his resignation, then something really bad must have happened to him. Peter wouldn't do that in a million years if he still had his sanity.

PART 6

Some time later:

Jack Wong entered the hall of the local mob boss. He was pissed as hell to even be there. Bon Bon Hai had practically thrown him out of his own territory, had told him he wasn't needed in Chinatown anymore. And that just because Bon Bon Hai was bored since both Caines had disappeared. The operations ran smoothly, the cops no real threat with Caine gone.

The boss waved him closer when Jack entered the spacious room at the end of the hall. It was very different style from what Jack was accustomed to in Chinatown. It looked more like a traditional men's club, than a base of operations for a mob boss.

Jack bowed respectfully in the customary Chinese way even though the huge man in front of him wasn't of Asian descent. Quite the opposite, the thin short hair was blond and the watery blue eyes looked almost as white as the soft pink face was supposed to be. "I'm honored to be here, Mr. Z," he replied, carefully hiding how disgusted he was at the sight of the fat man.

"Welcome to Debville, Mr. Wong. You come highly recommended by my good friend, Bon Bon Hai."

"Thank you, Mr. Z. I had hoped to break in some new territory here, now that Chinatown's in our hands at home."

"That is why I invited you here. Our Chinatown has so far resisted every effort from our side. They're a stubborn bunch. If you can bring them in line, you will be greatly rewarded, Mr. Wong."

"I will do my best, sir."

"Good, good. I already have one of my men present down there. I'm sure he will agree to show you around." He looked around the room, and found what he was looking for on a brown leather couch across the room. "Caine, get over here and meet your new partner!" he barked to get the man's attention.

Jack turned surprised to see who the man with the familiar name was.

For a moment, the very out of place looking man, dressed in black leather and making out with a girl, didn't seem to notice. "Caine!" Mr. Z barked again. "Stop fondling your missy and get over here!"

"Yea, yea, yea, hold your horses, boss," came a reluctant reply. "Who do you need dead now?"

Then he turned towards them and Jack saw who it was; Peter Caine. Damn. This job was too good to be true, that particular cop meant only one thing. Trouble. "That's Peter Caine!" he called out. "He's a cop!"

But...it was something different about this Caine, Jack could clearly see when Caine calmly, almost mockingly calmly, came closer. It wasn't just the clothes and the attitude. It was something in his eyes. But it wasn't enough to make Jack even reconsider this wasn't an undercover cop.

Mr. Z laughed. "Was a cop, Mr. Wong. Was a cop. He's a killer for hire these days. And I pay well for the kind of job he does."

"Good to see ya again, Jack," Peter greeted as he laid his arm around Jack's shoulders, and gave him a pretend affectionate squeeze. His voice was deeper and completely void of any emotion. His arm radiated coldness through the thick leather.

"Are you sure he's not just pretending? I don't trust him, he's been a cop too long. He's done too much damage to my old operations."

Caine laughed, it was a cold and utterly chilling laugh. "Trust me Jack! I'm not a cop anymore!"

"Caine might be a weirdo, but he's earned his place among us, Mr. Wong. We trust him, and I'm sure you will too when you get to know him better. Now, I have other business to attend to," he dismissed the two. "And I expect a progress report in a week."

Peter turned the paralyzed Jack around, and steered him towards the door. "Come, let's get to work. We have lots to do." He waved at his 'missy' to come along when they passed the couch.

Jack couldn't believe that Mr. Z actually trusted Caine. How could he? Caine was a cop, and a Shaolin. His father was a Shambhala master. He knew Caine would never ever turn to the dark side. "You may fool them, Caine, but you can't fool me. I know you."

"Do you, Jack? I'm not the same Peter Caine you used to know any more."

"Yea, you look different, you sound different, you act different, but deep inside you're no different; once a cop always a cop! How did you fake those killings? "

"No fake, Jack. I've even done a few of them right in front of Mr. Z himself. And we had fun, didn't we Moura," he winked at the woman beside him. "This is my Moura," he introduced.

"A pleasure to meet you Jack," she smiled and winked at him.

Jack stepped away from them in disgust. "What is this shit! I know you!" It didn't matter what anybody told him. He could not believe Caine was anything but a cop. Too much had happened between them over the years for a few words to change that.

Peter just shrugged and sighed at the show of temper. "Well, in a sense you're right, you do know me Jack. Since I left the force I've found a great way to cut crime on my own. I kill off the bad guys."

"Then what the hell are you doing here? If anybody's bad, these guys are."

Peter laughed shortly. "My relationship with Mr. Z is a strange one, I have to admit. He's sort of paying me to stay away from his people as well as for taking out his opposition."

"Tell me one good reason you're not dead yet, Caine."

"I'm not that easy to kill?" Peter winked.

"I'm being serious here Caine! Bon Bon Hai, or me for that matter, wouldn't hesitate a single second before blowing you away."

Caine only smiled back, nothing seemed to affect his good mood. "They tried, believe me they tried, Jack, but they soon realized I really wasn't that easy to kill. So instead, we made a kind of truce. Mr. Z gets rid of his enemies, and I don't have to waste any time searching for the baddies."

Jack shook his head. What Caine said was logical enough, but this was Peter Caine; the cop that single handedly had made more trouble in Chinatown than all the rest of the police force put together. "I guess that makes some kind of weird sense. But I still can't believe you're actually killing people, Caine. This must be some kind of elaborate scheme on your part."

Jack's doubts didn't seem to even touch the strange Peter Caine. "I got a new target tonight. I'm of course going to check up on the information before I'm actually going to do anything, but if it checks out, I have a bad guy to kill tomorrow. Want to come?"

"Sure thing, I'd love to see you get out of this one."

"That's a date then," Peter confirmed. "It will be fun to have a friendly face around. I'm at Brennan Square. Show up any time after dark and we'll set it up."

They had their own transportation Jack saw when they got back out on the street. A classic Harley waited for them right outside the entrance. Puzzled, Jack watched Peter recklessly burn rubber as he took off into the night. Moura's long dark hair flew in the wind. "What the hell's going on here?"

~~~

"Jack Wong, who would have thought he'd show up here?" Peter mused as he opened the front door of the dark building on Brennan Square for Moura. "This will be fun, don't you think?"

"Will it Peter? Are you sure he will not stir all your old doubts again?"

"So what? I am what I am. Nothing can change that."

"True," Moura agreed.

"So quit talking and enjoy the fun, my dear. Tomorrow we make a friend out of an old enemy."

"Let's just make sure we're not killing the wrong man tomorrow, first," Moura reminded him.

~~~

The Harley outside was the only thing telling Jack which of the dark houses belonged to Caine when he arrived at Brennan Square. It was a very traditional Chinese style building located at the corner of the flower-market, right in the middle of Chinatown. It wasn't the kind of place he'd imagined Caine living in. It looked more like the home of a successful businessman than an ex-cop.

A bit nervous, he knocked on the ornamented wooden door. What if he was Caine's target tonight? 'Don't be silly!' he told himself sharply.

"Step right in, Jack!" he heard through a well hidden speaker above him.

He entered the dark building. It was pitch black inside. He groped for a light switch as the door slammed shut behind him, but couldn't find one. Still in the dark with one hand against the wall, he slowly made his way into the building.

He almost died of shock when a hand grabbed his shoulder from behind. "Welcome to my house of a thousand deaths, Jack!" a familiar voice greeted from out of the dark.

"Jeez, Caine! You want to scare me to death?"

"Sorry about that, Jack. We don't have any lights out here, this house is supposed to be empty," Peter apologized, but didn't sound very sorry. "Come, we're in the kitchen."

"How can you move around in this? I can't see a thing," Jack complained as Peter dragged him along, never hesitating or slowing down the brisk pace.

"I can see in the dark," Caine said as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Night goggles," Jack thought.

Finally, a faint light could be seen under a door at the other end of the corridor. Caine swung the door open before Jack had a chance to cover his eyes. The bright light blinded him temporarily. When he could see again, he found himself in a spacious country style kitchen.

"One of Mr. Z's more trusted associates turned out to be skimming. Mr. Z wants me to kill him to set an example."

"And exactly how are you planning on doing that?"

"Any way you like, Jack," Caine smiled wickedly, and turned his attention to the door at the other end of the room. It opened. Moura entered, pushing a huge bear of a man in front of her. The man staggered, almost fell. He had a confused look on his deadly-pale face.

Jack stepped out of the way, didn't understand a thing. But obviously the prisoner understood. The moment he laid eyes on Caine he panicked. Obviously he knew what it meant to be taken to Brennan Square.

"Help me, pleease, get me away from him!" the man pleaded towards Jack when he saw him. "I didn't do it, I swear, I didn't do noth..." the begging was abruptly cut short as Peter slapped a piece of duct tape over the man's mouth.

"What did you do to him?" Jack wondered.

Peter laughed, and easily grabbed the bigger man by the arm and forced him down on the huge kitchen table. "I didn't do anything...yet." One by one, he strapped the struggling man's limbs to the legs of the table. Jack could hardly believe how easy it looked, it was as if Peter had handled a small child and not a terrified grown man twice his own weight.

"You've been a bad boy, Frankie! You should have known better!"

"MMpf, ommpf.." the man shook his head in terror when he saw what Caine got out of a drawer under the table.

Caine smiled at the reaction and turned towards Jack as he calmly started to pick his nails with the tip of the huge kitchen knife. "So, Jack, how do you think we should end this man's life? You're my guest, you're the one doubting I can do it, you decide."

Jack tried to swallow the lump growing in his throat. This situation looked less and less like a police setup. The man on the table wasn't faking, he was really scared for his life. "I'd break his neck or shoot him in the head, quick and no pain," Jack reluctantly replied.

"Okay, Jack." Caine looked almost disappointed when he put down his knife on the counter and walked over to the man on the table. "Broken neck it is. I'm afraid I don't have a gun available."

Peter laughed, that misplaced evil laugh, and grabbed the man's head. One second later it was all over.

Shocked, Jack stepped up to the table and put his finger to the side of the man's neck. The man was indeed dead. Speechless and with disbelief in his eyes, he looked up at Caine's still smiling face.

"Told ya, didn't I?" I'm not a cop anymore. I'm Doctor Death."

"What the hell happened to you?" Jack could but ask, trying to avoid looking at the dead body.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that."

Somehow Jack knew Caine was gonna say that. Perhaps he was under some spell or been brainwashed? Whatever had happened the last few months since he last saw him as a cop, it had made a monster out of Peter Caine.

"How about some coffee, or perhaps a drink now that the job's finished for tonight?" Moura smiled towards them, completely ignoring the macabre sight on the table.

Peter casually grabbed Jack over the shoulders, and led him out of the kitchen. "I wouldn't mind a glass of wine," he said as if Jack was only there for a friendly chat.

"I'm sorry Caine, I'm outta here. This is just too much even for me," Jack said as he disengaged from Caine's arm to put some distance between himself and this weird new Peter Caine.

"No problem, Jack. It's not every day you see your favorite cop turn psycho criminal, huh? Get settled, and I'll get in touch with you in a few days."

"Let me show you out, Jack," Moura volunteered.

Jack left the house with one big question buzzing through his head. ‘Why?’

'He killed that man without even blinking. As if a life meant nothing to him.' Trying to shrug off the uneasy feeling he entered his car and left Chinatown.

~~~

"I believe we confused our guest tonight, Moura."

"You have changed, my dear. Maybe even more than you realize yourself. If you think about it, you are now the very opposite of your old self."

"I guess you're right, but I couldn't care less. I'm enjoying myself too much."

"I know, and so am I. I didn't realize how much I've missed being a real vampire again. I've been pretending to be human too long."

"Who could have imagined the dark side was so much fun? Since I gave in to the demon, I've had the time of my life."

~~~

"I'm getting nowhere here!" Jack complained when Peter entered Jack's new office in the heart of Chinatown.

"They're a stubborn bunch. I could have told you that," Peter smiled back. "That's why I'm here to help you."

"Whatever I come up with to threaten these people, they just seem to turn their backs and ignore it."

"That's what I'm here for. I don't just threaten them," Peter laughed.

Jack looked at his new friend, still wondering if he was for real or if he was still a cop.

As if Peter could read Jack's thoughts, he continued. "Don't you worry. I will not let you down. I'm gonna have far too much fun for that."

PART 7

one month later:

For a brief moment, the Debville Chinatown looked just like home. For a fraction of a second, Peter could almost see his father step out of one of the small shops. For a short while, it was as if he was still human, walking among other humans. Then, the people around him started to realize who he was. They saw his darkness for what it was in the early evening; evil, and they turned away in hate and disgust.

Realizing he could never be a part of this world, he began to wonder if he could go back; if he could reclaim his old life, his old place in society? He'd destroyed every chance of that ever happening in Debville. He'd made sure of that on his nightly walks around Chinatown with Jack. He'd made too many threats, acted upon too many of them to get Jack what he wanted. They knew him too well here, knew he was evil. The people on the street turned away from him, tried to move as far away from him on the sidewalk as they possibly could. He could smell their fear as well as their warm blood in the air all around him.

Peter sighed when he thought of the reality of his new life. 'I'm a bad guy now, not a cop, not a Shaolin. I'm an evil vampire, sucking the life out of others to live.'

Walking among the normal people of Chinatown made him, for the first time, question this existence. 'Is this really who, and what, I want to be? Is fun and games really everything in life?'

~~~

"Can I go back, Moura?" Peter asked his love later that night when they met at their luxury hideout.

"I don't know." She replied, hugging her sad partner.

"I miss being a part of the real world. I miss my friends on the force."

"I know my darling. It's your home."

For a while, they just stood there in the middle of the room. Hugging, supporting, each in their own thoughts. Both of them calculating if they could pull off pretending to be human again.

"Our job's really done here, Moura. Let's clean up all loose ends and return home." Peter had decided what he wanted to do.

"Anything you want, my darling. Let's pack."

~~~

Months had passed, and Peter was still gone, and so was his father. His friends didn't spend all their free time looking anymore. Slowly, they faced the fact that something awful must have happened, and there were nothing more they could do. That was when someone finally spotted him.

"Hey Peter!" Skalany yelled, and started pushing her way through the Friday night crowd at Delancey's to get to the far end of the bar. She'd been sitting at a table, waiting for the other's to arrive, when she spotted a familiar shape coming in through the door. Her heart started to move faster at the thrill of finally seeing her old partner alive.

When she arrived at the bar, she couldn't find him. She knew he'd been there only seconds earlier. "What? Where did he go?" she said to herself.

"Hey Terry! Where did Peter go?" She called out to Terry standing just on the other side of the bar of her.

"Peter?" he looked completely surprised. "Haven't seen him in ages, MM."

Something in his eyes made Skalany question his sincerity. "Don't lie to me Terry!" she blurted out. "I know he's here, I just saw him right here. You couldn't have missed him."

For an instant, Terry didn't know what to do. Then, he decided. "I'll see if he's still here." Then, he disappeared into the back of the bar.

"Pete, you still decent?" he called as he entered the back room.

"Yea, no problem Terry. I got the transformation thing mastered by now." Peter replied as he emptied the last of a carafe human blood from the refrigerator.

"I have a friend asking for ya. She saw ya come in here."

"Okay Terry. If you don't mind us using your room, send her back here.

"No problem, Pete. Just put your glasses on, will ya? You still haven't gotten those eyes under control," he laughed, and went to get Skalany.

"Peter, it's so good to finally see you!" Skalany cheered happily at the sight of Peter coming towards her. He looked so very different from the Peter she used to know. He looked more like that actor he once doubled for, Wolf Gannett. The black leather fit him well, but his pale complexion still made him look sick. If not for that sparkling smile below the dark sunglasses, she would have been worried about him. He did not move to take them off either as he hugged her.

"Mary Margaret, my friend! It's good to see you again too. I've missed this place too much to stay away you know."

"Where have you been?" the question was inevitable and she just blurted it out immediately.

"Oh, we've been traveling around," Peter answered in a very evasive tone that made Skalany aware that he didn't want to talk about that subject.

"You're staying here now?" That question was safer.

"Yeah, we're back to stay. My dad may like to wander, but it's just not in me. I like a steady address and my friends around me."

"If you asked the Captain, I'm sure you could get your old position at the precinct back."

Peter laughed shortly and shook his head. "I don't think I want it back." And then after a short break: " "No, there’s no way I can go back. I'm not a cop

anymore."

"But Peter, you used to love being a cop. What happened to you? You're so different." Skalany couldn't believe what she heard, but it kind of fit the image she could see in front of her now.

Peter just shrugged in a way that made her think of his father. "I dunno, I guess love and Moura changed everything for me."

Something made Skalany doubt that. He had never been able to hide his emotions very well. And his casual shrug made her suspect that this was much more serious than he wanted to let on. She decided right then that she would find that secret out.

"What are you gonna do then, Peter?"

"Terry's got an opening here in the bar, so I'll start working here, and I guess we'll see what happens."

Skalany just looked at him. She had a hard time believing that the once ambitious and dedicated cop was gone, replaced by a carefree and completely different attitude towards life. Now more than ever, she needed to know what exactly had happened to him.

"The others must be here by now. Come out and have a drink with us like old times, Peter," she invited when she realized she wouldn't get a straight answer out of him.

"Okay!" he happily agreed. He didn't seem to have a need to hide.

She followed him out into the bar again. He stopped behind the bar to pour himself a glass of red wine, and then went over to say hello to the others.

~~~

"It's good to be back, Moura. I've missed my friends so much," Peter said to his lover, leaning his head on his hand as he laid beside her in their bed.

"Yeah, we had a good time in Debville, but this is our home."

"I wonder if my father's back in town," Peter said almost to himself.

It had been a long time since he'd lost his mental contact with his father. At first, he'd been too busy with the wonders of his new life to notice, but later he came to realize he missed it and wanted it back.

"Are you thinking about going back to your old life as a cop?"

"You know I am. It doesn't matter how much I enjoy this life, I still want to go back. Is that silly of me?"

She wanted to shrug it off, tease him about going back on the pig stuff. She wanted to see that face of disgust when she mentioned it, but none of that came out of her mouth. "No, my dear, I know that way of life was more than just a job with you, it was part of your soul. And I am so very sorry to have ripped that away from you." She turned away, couldn't face him when he was in this mood. She would forever regret her quick decision to bring him over to the Vampire world. She loved him just as much now, but for his sake she wished he was still human.

Peter couldn't watch her suffer alone. He embraced her, and reassured her that he didn't love her any less because of what had happened.

Sitting there with Moura in his arms, he honestly didn't know why he even wanted to change. He was happy, happier than he'd ever been in his whole life. He lived and loved. An interesting and gorgeous woman shared a life that was never dull or boring. Every time he thought about it, he came to the conclusion that he didn't want to change at all.

But something about meeting his old friends had once again sparked that romantic and very unrealistic desire to be Peter the Cop again.

"I need some time alone," Peter turned away from her, trying to decide what he really wanted to do without getting distracted by her beautiful sight by his side. He didn't succeed, he could still sense her presence close to him, her sadness. Suddenly frustrated, he got out of bed. "I need to meditate, I'll be back in a few hours dear."

"Meditate? This must really be getting to you."

He discarded his usual black outfit, and dug into the closet to find his old jeans and a T-shirt. He didn't want anything from his new life distracting him when he went searching for his old self inside of him.

Standing on the balcony railing, ready to throw himself out into flight like he used to, he realized that flying wasn't what he needed to do. Completely oblivious of the height, he turned around and stepped back inside. Grabbing his car keys, he went to get the Stealth from the underground parking garage.

It felt good to be driving again. Doing something simple and very human. He enjoyed driving just as much as he'd always had. The night time journey with Moura had been interesting in it's simplicity, no suitcases and no car. None needed.

For a while he just cruised the bright night of the city, but without being able to relax from the vampire within. All the people around him distracted his focus on himself. Too much blood filled his senses.

He ended up at his secret place by the lake, no people around at the late hour. Sitting comfortably only inches from the water, he finally managed to shut the rest of the world out.

Trying to analyze his current situation only resulted in more questions. ‘Who am I? Where and when did Peter the Cop disappear? Why do I enjoy this life so much? I've become everything that I once despised and fought as a Shaolin. I could fit in among the Sing Wah easily these days.’ And that was true, he could. The police probably had a file on him too, the vampire assassin.

When he thought about it, it scared him how easy it had been to take that first life. The vampire demon inside him had mixed itself with his mind and taken over when Peter didn't know how to stay in control. Making him love every moment of the hunt and the prize.

The appeal made so strong that Peter's whole world of beliefs changed along with his body. And not even when he had made the demon go to sleep, and he got his body back, had that appeal disappeared. As the days had gone by the demand for human blood only got harder to endure. Until nothing else mattered.

No amount of Shaolin training had managed to restrain that demand. His father might have been able to help him battle it, but he was gone. And without that support he'd given in.

Now he wanted his old life back, and didn't know how to do it. Inside, he wasn't able to feel any remorse or regret about what he was or what he had done these past months. And still, he would very much like to go back to being a cop.

Sitting by the lake, he knew that as long as he was a vampire, that would never happen. He'd asked Moura about going back to being human, and she didn't know of any cure. All she knew was that animal blood kept the demon sleeping. She had never heard of anyone that had got rid of it and lived.

A vampire could live forever but very few did. A vampire was more likely to die from suicide than a stake through the heart. For a brief moment, Peter actually understood why.

Sensing dawn coming closer, he got up and walked back to the car. The car used to be his passion. He'd loved to just drive around the city, feeling the power of the engine, controlling it. Now it was only a reminder of time lost.

Half way home, he realized he wouldn't have enough time to get back to the apartment before dawn. He quickly parked the car, and took off through the skies towards sanctuary with Moura.

~~~

Skalany spotted Peter right away when he came out on the balcony. She'd never even seen him open the door out there when she'd visited his place. Now, he scared the shit out of her. He jumped up on the railing, elegantly balancing with his arms stretched out. For a moment, it looked just like he was about to jump out into the air. With a sigh of relief, she saw him jump back down onto the balcony, and just as quickly as he had entered the balcony, he disappeared inside again.

"Peter, Peter, what are you doing?" she mumbled to herself in her car.

Minutes later, she saw the garage gates open and the Stealth appeared. Without even stopping for traffic, it sped away down the street. Skalany quickly got out of the parking lot and followed. It seemed like he was only driving around, he changed direction every once in a while, but didn't seem to have a destination.

More than once, she wondered why she followed him around. Wondered why she doubted her old partner. Her gut feeling was that there was something weird going on in his life, and she wanted to know what it was. It wasn't likely that he would just tell her.

Skalany was about to give it up for the night when he suddenly sped up and headed for the outskirts of town. Soon, she saw him enter one of the parks in the city. "Now what's going on?" she wondered. "This must be it, he's meeting someone here," she assumed.

But no, he just sat down by the pond. His whole posture looked troubled and sad to her, and she wondered if that was the whole problem. Maybe he wasn't in trouble at all. Maybe he was just depressed?

Driving back towards his apartment, she only followed him because it was on her way home too. It was then she saw the thing that convinced her that he really was in trouble, big trouble. She followed him off the highway and saw him park the car in the early morning. She could almost see the sun over the horizon in front of them. He stepped out of the car and she briefly wondered what he was up to out there in the middle of nowhere. The office buildings and stores in the neighborhood were all closed this early.

He briefly turned his head around, as to see if anybody could see him. He didn't spot her, and then he flew off into the skies. Skalany's heart almost stopped right then. "Oh my God!" was all she could gasp.

She didn't move for a long time.

PART 8

The thrill of the hunt once again flooded the senses of the being known as Peter Caine. He hunched down on the rooftop of a Chinatown warehouse, his red eyes eagerly followed a young woman walking down the alley below. Grinning, showing off all the sharp fangs, he let himself fall forward, down towards the unsuspecting prey when she passed right below him.

In the very last second before he reached her, she turned, startled by the loud growl. She hardly had time to get scared, and no time to scream before she had a strong hand over her mouth and fangs buried deep into her neck. In seconds her world and her life started to fade.

"Let her go!" a sharp voice called out.

Surprised by the dare and determination of that voice, Peter did just that.

"Pop?!"

Forgetting the now unconscious girl, he dropped her on the spot and smiled at his father. Surprised and happy to see him, he smiled and showed off all his bloody fangs, sparkling blood-red eyes and animal-like features.

The shock in Caine's eyes was apparent when he watched the grinning monster in front of him turn into his son before his very eyes. "Peter?" he managed to say.

"Pop, it's been too long. I've missed you," Peter smiled as he moved closer to hug his father, like he'd always done.

Caine backed away from him in terror. The very thought of hugging this being that now looked like his son made his skin crawl. He could feel only the presence of evil, pure evil. Not since he'd fought the Dark Warrior in Shambhala had he encountered this kind of deceit. "Who are you? What have you done with my son?" he called out, still carefully backing away.

Peter couldn't believe his father's reaction. "Pop, it's me, Peter." Not realizing the extent of his own change, he continued walking towards his father. "I love you Pop, don't push me away, " he pleaded, reaching out, but somehow his words didn't quite sound as sincere as they were intended when he, in the excitement of finding his father, didn't manage to control his vampire voice.

Caine continued to back away, the words of this creature meant nothing to him. The soul of this man or beast was a deep void of darkness, so deep he couldn't see into it. "No! You are not my son!"

The harsh words made Peter finally realize that his father didn't recognize him at all. "NO!" he cried out in pure despair, and faster than Caine or any human could register, he was gone.

Left in the alley was a visibly relieved Shambhala master. He quickly moved over to the unconscious girl to see if she was okay. She was still breathing, but she had lost a lot of blood. He quickly grabbed some revitalizing herbs out of his pouch, and placed them under her tongue before he lifted her up to carry her to the nearest hospital.

~~~

"Moura, Moura..." Peter cried as he dove into her comforting arms. "...he didn't recognize me. He was right there, just a few meters away and he didn't recognize me...my own father..." blood red vampire tears ran down his cheeks as he couldn't stop sobbing. He'd put every hope of ever being human again on his father's return, and his father had treated him like a stranger, an enemy.

~~~

'Where are you my son?' Caine pondered as he walked back home to his long closed up rooftop apartment. 'I should never have returned to help the emperor in China. I should have stayed with you, my son. They said you were alive and well, yet still, I can not feel your presence anymore.'

He was tired, so very tired. He could already see the sun bleaching the night away, and he knew he wouldn't have the luxury of sleep. He entered the alley behind his building. The spot where the girl had been attacked drew him closer. Touching the ground where it had happened, he tried to trace the essence of the creature of the night. He could not, all that entered his mind was the desperate plea that had echoed through the alley hours before. "Pop, it's me, Peter."

PART 9

"Caine!" a happy female voice shouted from a car pulling up behind him in the alley.

"Mary Margaret!" Caine's troubled face lit up at the sight of his friend. He moved over to her car. "It is good to see you again." He fondly touched her cheek through the open window.

"It's good to see you too, Caine. I've missed you," she smiled back at him as she got out of the car to hug him.

"You are troubled, my friend." Caine stated when he'd let go of her.

"Oh yeah. Something's happened to Peter, Caine. And I don't know what to do. I can't tell anyone without being dismissed as crazy and I can't help him. I don't know what's wrong."

"Come, I will make some tea and you can tell me all about it. I am worried about him too. I cannot find his essence anymore. That is the reason I am back."

Fondling her teacup Mary Margaret hesitated. What she was about to say sounded so crazy. The week since she'd seen him fly off had been full of doubts. Perhaps it was just a dream. She could have fallen asleep waiting for him to get back to his car and dreamed it all. When she'd met Peter at Delancey's the next evening he'd been as normal as ever, except that he still couldn't be persuaded to come back to the precinct. "You're gonna think I'm crazy!"

"Let me be the judge of that. Go ahead, Mary Margaret."

"A week ago I saw Peter fly off into the sky."

This was not what Caine had expected her to say at all. He'd expected her to say he'd been hurt or perhaps missing or kidnapped. "Are you sure?" slipped out before he could stop himself.

"See, even you're doubting me!"

"I am sorry, I did not mean to. I do believe you. I saw someone; or something; looking like Peter fly off a few hours ago too. I do not think that thing is Peter."

"That thing? What are you talking about? He looks just like he's always done. He just doesn't behave like he's always done."

"Tell me about him, what does he do that is not like him?"

"Well, for starters, he quit the force, disappeared for months and is now happily working as a bartender at Delancey's"

"You are right, that is not the Peter we know."

~~~

Merely hours later Caine stood outside the door of his son's apartment. The conversation with Mary Margaret had only increased his confusion. He had tried to find his son's essence for a long time with no success, but according to Mary Margaret Peter should be right here. Standing outside the door, with only a thin piece of wood between them, he still felt nothing. Focusing his chi, he easily opened the lock and quietly entered the apartment.

Even though it was almost noon, he entered a dark room. All the windows were covered with heavy black drapes, shutting out every glimpse of sunlight. Caine easily adjusted his senses, and saw that except from the drapes the place looked completely normal. Almost holding his breath, he slowly opened the bedroom door. The sight that met him surprised him because it was so normal, and warmed his heart because it was a scene of love. Curled up in Peter's arms, was his woman, both of them sound asleep with a hint of a smile on their faces. The only thing lacking in the picture was the presence of his son's essence.

Moving his hands close enough to almost touch the sleeping body of his son, he tried to examine the chi of his son. But no matter how hard he tried he found nothing, only a huge dark void where the familiar presence of Peter should be.

‘I do not understand.’ Caine readily admitted to himself as he quietly slipped out of the bedroom.

~~~

"Pop! You're here!" Peter smiled happily when he stepped out of the bedroom just after sunset and found his father waiting. This time, there was not the slightest hint of vampire in his voice. Just honest surprise to see his father after that violent denial in the alley the night before. "You came."

"How could I not..." Caine replied before he even opened his eyes from mediation to look at his son. When he did open his eyes to return the smile he heard in the voice of his son, he couldn't get a word out. In front of him was not the still sleepy son he'd expected to see. Towering over him stood the leather clad demon from the other night with a very misplaced smile on his face and eyes glimmering with tears.

Before Caine even had a chance to get scared, he'd been pulled up from the floor in a wild hug. He was so strong Caine didn't have a chance to resist the now wildly sobbing beast.

"Oh Pop...I've missed you like crazy...thank God you're back," the creature managed to say in between the sobs.

For the first time in his life as a Shaolin, he had to trust what he saw and heard and completely ignore what he felt. Every ounce of his soul were itching with disgust at the contact, but his hands touched soft hair and his eyes saw real tears. When his inner vision heard the roar of a beast, his ears heard the honest cry of a lost son. And he knew the truth.

"I am here my son, I am here."

PART 10

Peter could plainly see the conflict of emotion radiating from his father. He knew no human mask could hide what he'd become from his father's inner vision. He just hoped his father would be able to see past the darkness and into his aching soul.

"I'm walking in the darkness Pop. What you saw in the alley last night, and what you are sensing about me is true. I'm a monster, an evil beast. I know the light is out there somewhere, I treasure it, I want it, but I just don't know how to get there." His every word betrayed the pain in his heart, and his words were the only thing he could use to make his father understand. The mental link was gone, and Peter knew his eyes were as cold as ice.

"You have changed my son, but I can see now that it is really you."

"Hey Pete, you talking to the breakfast?" Moura broke the tender moment between the two when she, half dressed, toweling her hair, entered the living room.

Peter let go of his father, and turned smiling towards Moura. "This is my father." And then adding with a twinkle in the corner of his eye "...and no, you cannot have him for breakfast, he's all mine. You fix your own snack." No matter how serious the situation, the sight of her still made him full of laughter.

Caine heard the affection, and the joy of the joke, and knew he'd made the right decision. These two creatures of the dark were indeed his son and his woman. "Moura, I am honored to meet you," he bowed slightly towards the woman he instantly knew his son loved. She might be a vampire, but he could not sense any danger from her.

Moura raised her eyebrows in surprise. "You are?" she'd not expected him to accept her just like that.

Caine smiled. "I can sense your honest affection for Peter, as well as the darkness radiating from you."

Peter squeezed Caine around the shoulders in a very honest and appreciative way. "Didn't I tell you he's someone very special? Didn't I tell you once he came back, he'd help us?"

"You sure did, darling. It's just that I've never encountered a warrior of the light that didn't try to kill me." she admitted, still looking at Caine with wonder in her eyes. "This will take some getting used to for the both of us, I think," she admitted, and reluctantly broke eye contact to get back into the bedroom and finish getting dressed.

"Want some tea for breakfast, Pop? I'm afraid that's all I got left from my human days." He queried as he wiped off the tears with the back of his hand, and was in the kitchen before Caine even realized he'd moved.

"Breakfast?"

Peter laughed "Ooops, my mistake, it's dinnertime for you. Let me get you something to eat, Pop, and then we can all have a talk."

At a moment like this, food was the last thing on Caine's mind. "The tea will be fine..."

Looking into the refrigerator Peter took no notice of the reply. "No bother Pop, we're low on the red stuff too. I'll be right back," and before Caine had a chance to stop him, he was out the balcony door. Peter's vampire powers such a natural part of him now, he never even thought of taking the elevator and the car to get some Chinese food for his father, and some fresh blood for himself and Moura.

Left alone in the living room, Caine wondered if he was doing the right thing. His psychic abilities had never been wrong before, but now his ordinary senses told him he had found his son, and the inner vision screamed viciously that he had found two evil vampires with minds black as the darkest night. Reasoning told him that this had to be the reason he had lost contact so completely with his son. Accepting this as the truth didn't make it any easier to watch the obvious change. Once again, Peter was a stranger to him, just like he had been when they had found each other again four years ago. He knew this was a change he could never accept, something he could not allow to go on. He must find a way to exorcise the vampire parts of Peter and Moura. Preferably without killing them in the process. There just had do be a way.

When Peter came flying back into the apartment with a box of food in his arms, Caine knew this would be a difficult task. Peter seemed a little too comfortable being a vampire.

PART 11

Caine could hardly believe it, but the two vampires in front of him on the couch had trouble focusing on him. The moment they touched to sit down together, it was as if the world around them disappeared. "What happened? Who did this to you?" Caine had to interrupt to get their attention.

Peter forced himself to ignore the closeness of Moura beside him in the couch. He kept his arm around her waist, but let go of her captivating eyes. "It's not important who did this to us, Pop. It just happened." He shrugged just like Caine himself used to do.

"It is important to me, my son. If I am to prevent this from happening again, I need to know who did this." He could not let this go just like that, it was a danger too great to ignore.

When Peter hesitated, Moura spoke up. "It was me. I did this to your son!"

Her voice was calm but somewhere, beneath the surface of the simple confession, Caine sensed pain and perhaps even guilt. Too surprised by the simple honesty, he forgot to be shocked, he'd expected anything but that. He wanted a vicious monster of a vampire, someone he could fight for his son's freedom, and not the woman his son loved. This would be difficult.

"Don't judge her too hard, Pop. I have forgiven her a long time ago. It doesn't matter who did this, all you need to know is that we want this to be over. We want to be human again. Will you help us?"

"I will find a cure. I promise you I will." He wasn't sure he believed in it himself, but he hoped he made his voice sound confident enough to reassure his son and his woman.

~~~

Peter could hardly sleep a minute the next day, and only minutes after sunset he landed on the terrace of his father's apartment. "Pop, you here?" he called out just as he'd always done when he came for a visit, and as usual he just darted in, not waiting for an invitation.

He found his father and the Ancient in front of the Buddha statue, hands joined, in deep meditation. Not wanting to disturb them, he backed out on the terrace again. He actually didn't mind waiting at all, he rather enjoyed sitting on the edge of this terrace looking out over the city. It was peaceful like no other place he knew. He'd sat there many a night contemplating his fate, wishing his father was back. Desperately trying to deny the bloodlust.

Not even five minutes after his arrival, he heard a car pull into the alley below. Curious to whom it might be, he bent out over the edge to find out. It was Skalany.

"Hi Skalany!" he greeted, and waved to her while she climbed the last steps of the fire escape.

"Hi Peter! Is your father here?"

"Yeah, but you better get in line. The Ancient's in there now, they're meditating," Peter joked, and smiled fondly at his old partner as he casually swung his legs around to face inward the terrace.

Skalany drew a shocked breath. "Hey, what happened to your fear of heights?"

For a moment Peter didn't understand what she was referring to, then tried to joke it away. "Fear of heights? Me? You gotta be kidding, I love heights!"

She smiled and even managed to get a laugh out, but inside she noted yet another thing that was different about her old partner. "Let me catch my breath for a moment, and then I think I'd better leave the two of you alone to do some catch up. I can always come back tomorrow."

"Don't worry, I'm just having a quick word, and then I have to get to work. He's all yours for the evening."

"You sure?"

"Yea, I'm sure."

Caine entered the garden with a smile on his lips. "My two favorite people here for a visit. Welcome"

"Hi," Skalany smiled back. "Is my favorite man available for the evening?"

"Always for you," Caine confirmed as he hugged her briefly, and gestured for her to walk inside ahead of him. "I just need a short word with my son."

"I needed to see if you had any good news." The eager anticipation in the seemingly casual statement revealed just how much Peter wanted a positive answer.

"There is hope my son."

The smile on Peter's face grew wide. "Thanks Pop, see ya later then." And in a blink of an eye, he was gone.

Inside, Skalany's eyes grew wide as she saw him apparently disappear into thin air. ‘What's going on here? Is Caine in on it too now?’

~~~

Except for the anticipation of a possible cure, Peter and Moura's vampire lives continued pretty much as usual the next few days. None of them had any live prey, Terry’s deal with the blood bank supplied the bar with everything they needed as usual. Peter didn't want to disappoint his father, and stayed away from the deadlier of the games he liked to play. For once in a long while, the precinct had a slow week.

"Hey Kermit, we're going for a beer at Delancey's. Wanna come?" Skalany queried sticking her head into the loner's office.

She didn't get much more than an absentminded grunt of an answer.

Skalany opened the door even more, and gambled her life with a wave of her hand in between the screen and the covered eyes of the ex mercenary. "Was that a yes or a no?"

"What?"

"We're going to Delancey's, Kermit. You could use a break too."

"I've run into a mystery here, Skalany. Nothing's more relaxing than investigating a good mystery."

Now Skalany got interested. Having her own mystery, she instinctively wondered about his. "A mystery, how intriguing. Do tell?"

Kermit looked more than a little hesitant before he decided to share with his friend and coworker. "Dr. Sabourin called me. They're getting desperate for blood at the hospitals. For no apparent reason, they're short in supply lately. When I started to look into it, it turned out that blood banks and hospitals all over the city, and even some of our neighboring cities, are constantly losing blood. Inventory never adds up, random deliveries never arrive at their destination, and a delivery truck in Debville was robbed. Three fuckin' times!"

"Blood thieves? This is weird."

"Oh yeah! And because of that, nobody even reported the theft. Except for the robberies we have nothing, not even a case."

"Come on, Kermit. We all need a break from mysteries and cases some time." Skalany winked. "I'll give you a hand tomorrow." She knew she wouldn't get any rest from her own mystery. Peter would be there all evening bugging her with his very existence.

"Oh, what the heck, let's go!" Kermit sighed and switched off his computer screen.

~~~

"If I live to be a hundred, I'm never gonna understand what happened to Peter," TJ commented to Skalany, Jody and Kermit when Peter had left another round of beer at their table.

"I always knew love would do strange things to him when it finally hit," Jody replied as she let her eyes follow her old crush and partner as he moved towards the bar. "He's happy." She could almost hear him sing along with the music as he took dance steps around the tables and people in his way. It was weird seeing him that happy.

"You are right, Jody. I was just wondering what was so different about him. He's happy," Karen Simms added as she squeezed in between Kermit and Skalany around the table.

Kermit looked in the direction of his friend, knowing the women were probably right, he felt a sting of jealousy. The woman of his dreams now so close to him, yet so far away. Behind his blessed glasses, he let his eyes caress the curve of her neck and downwards. Sighing, he sipped his beer and told himself to forget it.

'I don't get it?' Skalany thought to herself. One day he looked as if he was going to jump off a cliff, and the next he was happier than ever. Might be just his father returning, but something in her gut told her everything was not entirely right with Peter Caine these days.

PART 12

"We must be crazy, staking out a blood bank!" Skalany tried to shake off the uneasy feeling she had. "Who would want to steal blood?" Her mind made up explanations ranging from the very rational to the more mystic. She almost wanted it to be an illegal organ transplant operation, or a deranged psycho thinking he was a vampire. She didn't want to admit it, but she'd been around Caine long enough to actually contemplate the real thing.

"I promised Dr. Sabourin we'd find out what's going on. You don't have to stay, Skalany. I can do this myself."

"I know you did and I promised to help you. My imagination is playing tricks on me, that's all. This neighborhood is creepy after dark. I'll take the overcrowded Chinatown any day rather than these dark, empty streets."

Kermit tried to laugh, but only a chuckle came out. He didn't want to admit it, but her mood was rubbing off on him. "Oh yeah!" he agreed, then grew quiet.

Three hours later Skalany slept behind the wheel of the car, and Kermit surfed the net for more information on stolen blood on his palmtop. All he got were links to vampires. Somehow, he couldn't make himself believe all the references to vampires even if many of them came from otherwise reliable sources. If they were indeed out there, he preferred them to drink blood like this rather than from the living.

Kermit almost dropped the small computer when a car sped past him and screeched to a halt right in front of the blood bank doors. "Wake up, Skalany! It's going down" he whispered, and poked her in the side while getting his gun ready.

"Who? What?" Skalany yelped, still disoriented and only half awake.

"A car pulled up," He paused as he got a better look. "It's a ... a Stealth?" His disbelief grew even more when he saw a familiar figure exit the very familiar car, and quickly run up the steps to the bank. The locked door stopped him only momentary, as if he had keys. "Peter?"

Now he got Skalany's full attention. Peter in another weird situation. She hadn't told Kermit about Peter, but now she would probably have to. "That figures..." she mumbled.

"What? Do you know something I don't? What's Peter doing here?"

"I don't know Kermit, but I've seen Peter do some very strange things lately. This just adds a bit to it."

~~~

Whistling a happy tune, Peter put his keys back into his pocket and headed towards the storage cooler in the back of the building. The night watchman would be there somewhere, but he didn't care. His mind was preoccupied with imagining Moura in that little blood red lace and silk outfit he'd bought for her earlier that evening. She would be waiting for him when he'd finished this little errand for the bar.

The box with bottled blood stood waiting for him in the cooler, just as it always did. Terry had a nice little arrangement here, he had to admit. Peter had been more than a little surprised to find out that Terry not only had a steady blood source, but also had a company dealing in human blood. It must have been a dream for any vampire to have his very own blood bank.

Turning the last corner before the exit, he confronted the night watchman's flashlight. The blinding light almost made him drop his precious load. "Jeez, Martin, you scared me," he smiled when he realized who was in front of him.

The poor man backed when he saw who it was. He knew what this man or beast was capable of. "I'm sorry, Mr. Caine, didn't mean to scare you.