Chapter Text
Dick groaned softly, dragging the palms of his hands down the front of his face. He yawned and reached for the paper cup of bitter, room temperature coffee on his table. He took a sip and grimaced, tossing the empty cup into the trash.
He sighed and leaned back into his chair, frowning at the scatter of papers on his desk.
Dick had been working on the case for a few weeks now. He was one of numerous detectives working on the case. But on top of that, Dick also helped out actively on the police force on a regular basis. Yet things just were not adding up.
Gotham had no shortage of crazies, everyone knew that.
Usually, the police department left the major ones to the Batman to handle, but the small things? They were expected to handle that. And Dick was slightly annoyed that the Batman, whoever that pretentious ass is, did not trust the police department to do their job. Yes, a good portion of the police force were corrupt, but many of them worked hard to make ends meet and clean out the city the best they could.
And Dick’s current case is new. Batman had yet to show interest in this little serial killer, since he had bigger serial killers to deal with, but Dick knew it would not be long before the Bat picked up on this one too.
And Dick did not want that. He wanted to finally be able to crack a case that is not some stupid drug bust, or some kidnapping by a jealous ex-spouse.
But so far, Dick felt like he had been running in circles.
The serial killer, nicknamed the Blood King, has been taking a couple victims a week, which is actually quite often for an average serial killer, but not in Gotham. The Blood King had an interesting way of killing his victims.
So far, all the victims have been found in dark alleyways, their bodies stuffed in Dumpsters, or in the flowerbeds of a neighbor, or even in their own bedroom. In other words, not very well hidden.
There are also no signs of struggle. In all the cases, it looked like the victims had approached or been approached by the murderer willingly. After all, their faces were always contorted and frozen in euphoria, which Dick had no idea how, seeing that their bodies were completely drained of blood as well.
Even weirder, there seemed to be no wounds in which the blood could have been drained from. Nor were there any fingerprints on the victims’ bodies other than their own or people they encountered that day. But none of the five victims had the same fingerprints on them. And to add on to the creepiness of the whole case, every single one of the victims were criminals in their own ways, whether they were thieves, drug dealers, rapists or something worse.
So in the end, Dick was still at square one. He had a whole bunch of cold facts, a whole bunch of lifeless corpses, and a dead, dead end.
He sighed again. He really needed another coffee, but he really should not.
No, he needed to find another way to approach this. He sat up a little straighter as an idea struck him. Yes, he would go do a little scooping himself. Though there was absolutely no proof supporting his theory, Dick guessed that this serial killer was picking up their victims at bars or clubs.
The killer also targeted bars in the Narrows, where no one asked questions until it was way too late. It was dangerous and stupidly reckless, but Dick needed that adrenaline. Even if he found nothing, a night out will not hurt him. Beside, he would carry a gun, Taser, all those things with him, of course. He was not that stupid.
Dick entered the club called Renegade, and he makes his way through the tables, past the dance floor to the bar. He can feel eyes on him. He expected it.
His clothes were too clean, his eyes still bright and hopeful, and just did not have the same presence as everyone else. In other words, Dick stood out like a beacon. Fortunately, that was what he wanted.
“I’ll just take a beer,” he told the bartender.
She raised an eyebrow at him and nodded once. Dick sat down at the bar and surveyed the room.
There were a few prostitutes in the corner, chatting up some drunk men. There was a corner booth of muscled bikers, all of them glaring at Dick like he had trespassed onto their territory. Dick ignored them, hoping they would cast him off as unimportant.
Dick took his time drinking his beer, just listening to the music and watching. He did not have to wait long. Halfway through his beer, he was approached by a girl wearing a skimpy red dress.
“Hey,” she said. “This seat taken?” Dick shrugged. She sat down, slowly crossing her legs and turned towards him. “Are you new around here? Haven’t seen someone as handsome as you in here before.”
“Just passing through the city,” Dick lied. “Stopped for a drink, see the city sights. Y’know.”
“Dangerous place to be seeing the sights,” she laughed. “Gotham’s not known for tourists.”
Dick shrugged. “I don’t mind a little risk in my travels.”
“So what do you do for a living? Businessman?” she asked.
“Of sorts,” Dick lied. At least now that he was talking with the girl, the bikers had gone back to their own conversations and left him alone. Now, he just needed to get this girl to go away. He sipped his beer.
“Ooh, so hot and smart.” Dick watched out of the corner of his eye as she leaned in a bit closer, her hand slipping over onto the bar and she slipped something into his beer.
“Um, thanks,” Dick said, his eyes narrowing a bit. She leaned back into her stool, smirking at him.
“Good looking guy like you must have a wife or girlfriend, right?” she asked.
He frowned a little bit, not at all sure what she was trying to get out of him. “Yeah…” he just said, trying to throw her off.
“Well, she must not be doing her job right,” she laughed. “After all, you wouldn’t be here at this bar today, if you were. Trying to forget?” she asked sympathetically. “Yeah, me too, sometimes.” She sighed loudly, waving the bartender over and ordering a drink. “See, my father was sexually abusive towards me, my sisters, and my mom. My sisters and I stuck together, but my mom turned to drinking. Wasn’t long before her daughters caught the habit too.” She pulled a face and held her up her new drink. “Cheers?”
Before Dick could shut her down, a man staggered over, falling onto the bar between Dick and the girl. She yelped in surprise.
The man raised his head, and he was clearly very drunk. He grabbed the girl’s drink and downed it. Then, he grabbed Dick’s drink and downed that too, before Dick could stop him.
He then slumped down onto the bar, groaned. He waved his hand in the air. “A… nurthu.”
The bartender came over and slammed her hand down on the bar by his head. “Hey, idiot! Get off my bar! You’re disturbing my customers, and you’re over the top drunk. Go home!”
The man groaned and pushed himself off the bar. “’Mmm gon’ talk ta… yur- yur BOSS!” he said, pointing his finger shakily at Dick. Dick leaned back, smelling the alcohol on his breath.
Then, the man turned on his heels and stumbled out of the bar. The other customers in the bar did not bat a single eyelash. The girl watched the man leave the bar, an almost worried expression on her face.
“Oh, do you think he’ll get home alright?” she asked with an almost sweet, concerned tone. She was faking it.
“Probably not,” Dick said.
“I’ll go call him a cab,” she said, sliding off her seat and pulling out her phone. She flashed Dick an apologetic smile. “Nice talking, handsome!”
Dick watched her leave as well. A few seconds later, he followed. Something felt very wrong here. He clearly saw the girl slip something into his drink. And that drunk man took the drugged drink, and now the girl was going after him?
Dick growled low in his throat. If she was planning on doing something, god help her. She would find herself in cuffs before the night was over.
Dick watched from a distance as the girl caught up to the drunk man, who was leaning against a wall, looking sick.
She talked to him, and he nodded. She then led him away. They slipped into an alleyway a few streets down. Dick hurried to catch up, slipping his hand into his coat to grab his gun, just in case he had to do some threatening. However, when he turned the corner, he was not expecting the scene he was met with.
The drunk man had the girl pinned to the wall, and he was kissing her neck. She looked like she was on the brink of climax, but… unnaturally pale and very limp. It was then that Dick realized that the man was not kissing her neck, but sucking on it.
He gasped loudly. He did not mean to, but the pieces just clicked in his mind, as crazy as it seemed.
The drunk man dropped the girl, who collapsed onto the dirty alleyway floor, her face still contorted in pleasure.
The man turned towards Dick, his dark blue eyes flashing in the moonlight. Dick took a step back, slowly raising his gun. But deep down, he knew that his gun was no match for whatever this creature was.
Blood dropped from fanged teeth as the man stepped out into the empty moonlit street. It landed on the collar of the man’s shirt.
The man then licked his lips, erasing the ruby red liquid that coated his lips with one swipe. When he opened his mouth again, the fangs were gone, replaced by normal, human teeth. Dick’s heart was hammering loudly in his chest, and he was more than sure that this vampire man could hear it took by the way he cocked his head to the side.
Dick had made his way across the street now, and he was slowly backing into the alleyway across the street. And yet, the vampire man was still approaching.
“St-Stay away!” Dick commanded. “Or I’ll shoot.”
“Shoot away, officer,” the vampire said, opening his arms. “I can’t die.”
His nonchalant, very not drunk voice chilled Dick to the bones. This vampire (vampire, Dickie? Do vampires even exist, or is one beer really too much for you?) knew that Dick was a police officer. What else did he know.
Dick’s back hit the wall, and he let out a small whimper. He was going to die tonight.
The vampire closed in on him slowly, like a cat toying with his food before striking. “Aren’t you the pretty one,” the vampire murmured. “Looks like that whore was right. But alas, she was too needy for her own good.” He snorted. “I hate it when people take advantage of others. It’s just sick.” He stepped right up into Dick’s personal space like a batter stepping up to the plate to swing.
Fuck, he was big. He blocked out the moonlight, but Dick could see that the vampire was very unfortunately beautiful. He had never seen any man as gorgeous as his would-be-murderer. What a romantic way to go.
The vampire had dark blue eyes, like a stormy sea or a clear twilight sky. His hair was deliciously rumpled, either from the dead girl’s hands all in it, or because he was acting stupidly drunk in the bar earlier, or maybe he just wore it like that.
The vampire reached out and grabbed Dick’s gun, crushing it in his hands like a piece of paper. Dick felt weak at the knees. He was not sure if it was because he was turned on (what a horrible evaluation of a situation, Dick) or because he was terrified. Either way, there was not much Dick could do now.
The gun dropped to the ground between them, and the vampire smirked. “Aw, look at you. You’re about to piss your pants. Ah, I feel bad,” he sighed. “I’m not planning on killing you, officer. But, I can’t let you go either, since you just saw my little secret.”
“I won’t tell anyone,” Dick blurted out, amazed that his voice still worked, though it did sound a bit pathetic and weak.
“No, that won’t do. You’re an upstanding citizen of the law. You’ll surely report this, and before long, I’ll have something more than the police onto me.” The vampire sighed. “No, sorry, officer.”
Dick whimpered and squeezed his eyes shut as the vampire raised his hand again. The hand came down onto his head, fingers curling into his hair and pulling his head backwards. Dick winced, squeezing his eyes shut more. He was going to die, he was so done for now, please let it be painless, fuck, he was so screwed.
But instead of feeling like his neck was being torn out, Dick felt lips pressing against his, kissing him. The second the vampire started kissing him, Dick was filled with a sense of elation. He arched up towards the vampire, pressing harder into the kiss. His knees actually gave out under his this time, and the vampire held him up with his other hand.
However, the kiss did not trail lower towards his jugular like Dick expected it to. Instead, he felt a sharp nip at his lip. A second later, the taste of iron filled his mouth. His lower lip started tingling, going numb. Dick whined softly into the kiss.
The vampire sucked his lip into his mouth as Dick felt his consciousness slowly being tugged from him. Was he dying? He did not feel like he was dying, just being lulled into a very enticing sleep.
Dick’s eyes blinked closed, then open slowly. He stared into the vampire’s dark blue eyes, so bright yet so dark, and so very close to him.
Then, Dick let the ropes of darkness wrap him up and pull him in.