Enter Sandman (part 1)

 

It was a cold January night when we went to patrol. Phipps had us monitoring a sandman situation.  A sandman is an energy vampire that feeds on the chemical energy released from the brain during a sleep cycle. The Sandman had been feeding on several people in an apartment complex in central Mendosa. Several people had been sent to the hospital due to exhaustion over the last six months. Our orders were to observe and capture. My binoculars stayed focused on the community balconies that connected each floor.

Jester, Damon, Jade and I had the 10:00 pm- 3:00 am shift. Jester and I had been stationed on the roof that had the view over the entire building. Thus far nothing out of the ordinary had really happened.  A homeless man shambling down each corridor as people came and went about their day. There was the occasional person who hassled him off the bottom floors. I felt a pang for this poor man. He was only looking for somewhere warm to rest.

 Damon and Jade were doing rounds in the courtyard. Phipps had given us a file that said they suspected that the person of interest had long black hair, medium build green eyes, olive complexion and was dressed all in leather. His name George.  I had no choice but to laugh. It seemed too easy. Of course, the bad guy had to look like he fell out of the Matrix movies. Things had been quiet until a quarter to midnight.

That is when we saw him, but the document did no good to show how attractive he really was. His face had a canvas of an 18^th century Julian Sands. His hair was like floating black feathers that framed his face making his eyes look like absinthe tinted broken mirrors.  His shoulders slightly stooped as he moved easily. He stopped at one door and jiggled the handle. After a few tries, he moved to the window. Gazing around to see if anyone was looking. He opened the window and slid inside.

“I’m going after him,” Damon growled.

“Damon wait!” but it was too last. I watched Damon rush across the courtyard and slip through the window. “Jester, we gotta go!” I whispered. We made record time getting down. Jester and I got close to the window and there was silence. I slid in barely ruffling the curtains. Something slammed into me knocking me into a lamp smashing it.

“Crap! I loved that lamp.” I pushed the lump off of me and turned on the light. Damon was on the floor where I had just gotten up from. The man we had been watching stood in an attack stance with a blood bag dangling out of his mouth with a large fluffy pink dress in one hand. One the floor were the remnants of a sewing kit. I stopped and looked at the man.

 “Sir are you ok?” Damon, you idiot. This is a blood vampire, I thought to myself. The man takes another step toward me and growls. “No, I’m serious sir are you ok?”  He looked confused. “I’m so sorry we thought you were someone else.” He took the bag out of his mouth and laid aside a dress.

“What is going on here?” He straightened himself up.

“We’ve had some complaints about a sucker seriously injuring people in the apartment complex.”

“Oh sure,” he said sarcastically. “And it just has be the blood drinking tailor!”

“I know this looks bad,” I said while holding my hands up. “You match the description of the only person around while the attacks where going on.”

“I haven’t feed on a human being in 400 years! And how old are you anyway, twelve!?” He gathered his supplies up off the floor. “I forgot my key and had to use the window! The next thing I know I get tackled by that foul mouthed little shit! “ He pointed to Damon on the floor. “I run The Vibe down the street, and I came to get one of our performers dresses.”  I helped him gather the needles and threads.

“I’m so sorry sir. We should’ve approached you like proper people. Is there anything I can do?” He finishes putting things back into his kit and sighs. “No, but I can’t help that I come and go at night. It’s the only time I can work. Although,” He considered. “It would be nice to teach that friend of you’re a lesson.” A knock sounded at the door. The door opened and a tiny white flag appeared through the crack.

“I come in peace!” It was Jester.

“That’s my partner can he come in? He can help me get Damon out of your hair.” I said to George, and he nodded. “It’s all good. Damon’s an idiot.” Jester came in and took one look around the room.

“What a freaking clown.” George smiled darkly.

“You know as a matter of fact there is something you can do to help me.” He came close to me and whispered what he wanted incase Damon woke up. Oh my… that was good. I stifled a laugh and kept nodded.