Bitemarks 4.1

Bitemarks 4.1

Ed was beginning to hate the feeling of waking up with a sore head and lurching stomach. As he groggily surveyed his surroundings he recalled the crash. Time to speculate further was lost as he became aware of sirens some way off in the distance. Regaining clarity he scrabbled on the seat for his rucksack and stuffed the crossbow inside it. The driver's side door of the car was wrecked. The vehicle had struck the tree side on, mercifully it was the rear door that had connected and buckled under the impact but it had been enough to twist the metal frame. The glass had shattered in the window and the section round the locking mechanism told Ed it wouldn't work. He shuffled over the handbrake to the passenger door and tried it. It was stuck. Ed shifted his position, gripped the handle and gave it a firm kick. This time it shifted and two kicks later it was open. Ed made sure he hadn't left anything behind then climbed out of the car. The sirens were drawing closer. Ed caught a glance of himself in what remained of the wing mirror. He looked a mess. Fragments of glass had cut his head in places and his face was bloodied. He certainly wasn't in any state to be seen by anyone. He slung the rucksack onto his back and took off into the woods at a jog.


Maybe they'd notice he'd fled into the woods. Maybe they wouldn't. Either way Ed wasn't about to take that chance. He ran and as he did so he rang the Bureau. As long as he kept going in a straight line they could track his signal easily and get a chopper out to him. Ed was glad he lived in the digital age. Agents past would have had much more difficulty in dealing with a scenario like this. All he had to do was keep moving. He used his time wisely as he ran, thinking back over what he'd seen at Beauclair's place. Trying to find some clue as to what the Mother would be doing next...

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Back at the Bureau Alf and Ed had a lot to discuss.
"What on Earth happened to you?" Alf asked, as Ed entered the briefing room.
"Had a little run in with the Mother." Ed told him.
Alf raised an eyebrow.
"And she didn't feed on you?"
Ed shook his head.
"No... at least... I don't think so."
Alf came over and examined his neck.
"That's odd." said Alf.
"Now that I think about it." said Ed, "It's really odd. I must have hit her with the crossbow. She bled all over the place."
"So why wouldn't she have fed on you?" Alf mused.
"Yeah, thanks for the sympathy."
"You know I'm right though. If we can figure out why, we might be able to use that to our advantage. Are you anaemic?"
"No." Ed sighed, "Just have someone sift through my medical records later."
"Did the crossbow do much damage?"
"I dunno." said Ed, "I was unconscious. I didn't even see it fire let alone hit her. She moved so fast. I heard her coming but before I could even turn around..."
"That we can help with." said Alf with a smile. "Beauclair told us all he could before he passed away. Turns out that the vampires have conscious control over their endocrine system. It this that allows them to increase or suppress their healing rates among other things. The other thing it allows them to do is massively increase the flow of adrenaline around their system. Oh sure they might already be faster, stronger, but it's that surge that gives them the boost."
Alf pulled out a disc shaped object and passed it to Ed.
"You know what this is?"
"Micro syringe, right?" said Ed, examining the button on top of the device.
"Exactly. Place it over the vein, push the button. Piece of cake. That one's loaded with a small shot of adrenaline. Enough to flood your system, not enough to kill you. It's not exactly going to let you outpace her, Ed, but we figure every little edge counts."
"We'll see if it works before too long. I have a feeling I know where she's headed."
"How?"
"She blew up the spaceship." said Ed. "But she went inside it first. She didn't go there just to blow up her ship. I think she wanted something from inside it and whatever it is, she's taking it back to the Arctic."
Alf mulled this over.
"I'll have to get some people out there. See if any parts of the ship survived. If we're dealing with an alien race then we need all the information we can get."
"Then it's a good job I have this."
Ed produced the device he'd stolen from Skarletta's ship.
"If I'm right, it's a weapon of some kind. If we can figure out how to work it I want to take it with me. Maybe I can use it against her."
"Even if we do stop her, Ed... we're still left with some major questions. Knowing now that she's an alien... Why the hell was she here in the first place. Why in all these years haven't we seen any others? And just how advanced could her race be after all this time?"
"The questions are your job." said Ed, "Stopping her from doing whatever she's planning to is mine."