TASTE OF BLOOD

Rogue

Rad was on his cellRad was on his cell. He dialed what some Vamps would call a servant. Rad called him friend. "Marco, wake up."

"Rad, where are you and what can I do for you?"

"I am in a little town in northern Louisiana, doing something for the Council. Listen, I am sending a sample of blood on a tissue. I want you to do some tests on it, but be careful. First of all it has the most beautiful smell to it. Second, I don't want anyone to know that we got this sample. Do you understand? No one must know. See if there is enough of the blood to find out what makes it so good and what makes it different."

"As always, I am your servant." The man on the other end spoke with respect before the connection was broken. Rad drove to a mail drop shop, purchased plastic bubble wrap and an overnight mail envelope. He addressed and sent off the package, then returned to his job.

He drove back to her street and sat in his car, thinking about her. He was wondering how she was going to react to finding out that there really were monsters out there. Well, she had already seen him dust a guy at the end of a fight. So if she kept it together after that, then she might make it through the rest.

* * * *

Misty got up and went in to her computer. She logged in, deciding to try some research on weapons that would turn a person to dust. Not much there. Evidently it was pretty hard to get rid of the human body when you were trying to kill someone. Turning to dust on death brought up cremations, and how long it took to cremate a body, which took hours but still left some small tokens, like fillings, some bone pieces, etc. Several times, as she was trolling through the web, she got Vampires, but she just deleted them and continued. She found instant human combustion, but there also was some traces left, whole body parts that did not burn up completely.

She next logged onto a chat room to question some geeks as to a weapon that would turn a human body to dust. When the room got serious she threw the whole thing into a tizzy when she added that the clothes and possessions did not turn to dust, just the person. This led to theories on living matter only and a lot of wild guesses such as vibrations, radiation, beams being controlled, just how far was science in these areas? The general consensus was that no one was into this right now. Some of the geeks on line worked in these areas and said they were disappointed in today's results.

One person said, "You know when you drive a stake into the heart of a Vampire, they turn to dust." The chat room turned to talk of whether there really were Vampires so she logged out. It was past noon and she was starved.

She made a sandwich and grabbed a juice and made a face. When she had gone to the store she had not bought anything to drink. This was her last juice and she only had one water bottle on a lonely shelf. She went to the front window, looking out, but did not see anyone. She saw a neighbor go by with his dog. It wasn't one she was friendly with, but she did know he lived in the area. Okay, this afternoon, she would get in the truck and drive to somewhere away from the little complex that she had always found so safe. She would pick up a few more items.

Going back to her workroom, she began applying color to a drawing. This was the type of work that she loved so time flew away. Finally, nature took over and she had to go to the bathroom. On her way down the hall she glanced into the living room, becoming aware that it was dark. She finished her business, went on through her small house and turned on lights in every room.

There was a knock on her door that froze her in the middle of the room. She stood there waiting and there was another knock. A voice that she knew called out. "Misty, it's Terrie, I have a delivery for you." She breathed a sigh of relief going to the door. Terrie stood there with her hands full. Misty took one bag and Terrie immediately rushed into the little kitchen bar to set down the rest of the bags.