Peter strode from the station and across half the town to the university campus. The square campus of fifty acres was an old one from a land grant given by a wealthy donor two centuries before. The front near the main road was lined with brick-covered buildings and their pointed roof peaks reached to the skies. Old brick pathways wound between them and slowly morphed into the broad, modern concrete sidewalks that stretched across the rest of the campus. Campus apartments of inferior brick sat jumbled in one corner, and behind the older buildings were the newer teaching buildings.
Peter aimed his feet toward the tall, imposing science building at the rear of the campus. It was a hulking structure of concrete with large, gleaming windows that looked down on the others with as much conceit as the others gave it. He pushed through the glass doors and into the echoing lobby. Peter climbed the stairs to the third floor of a half dozen and his footsteps clacked down the empty halls. Classes and labs were in session, but Peter headed to one of the near-empty lab rooms.
He opened the door and peeked his head inside. The room was filled with metallic-looking tables, and on those tables were beakers and test tubes. He noticed one of the Bunsen burners was on. Seat in front of the fire on the stool with his back turned to the door was the young man he was looking for, Liuxue Li. The male student was of Asian descent with short dark hair and narrow eyes. The student of science watched with near-obsessive intensity as a colored liquid boiled in a beaker .
Peter walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. The young man yelped and spun around. He saw Peter and glared at him. "What the hell are you doing? Trying to get me burned?"
Peter sheepishly grinned. "Sorry, Liu, but I'm in a hurry." He pulled the clump of hair from his pocket and showed it to him. "Is there any way you can take a look at this for me? I want to know what kind of hair it is and see what's holding it together."
Liu shook his head. "If this something to do with the attacks then I want no part of it."
Peter shrugged. "Um, maybe?"
"Not doing it." Liu spun around to face his burner. "Besides, I've got enough on my plate."
Peter moved to stand beside him. "Come on, Liu. Do this for me as a favor. The police think I did all this stuff."
Liu leaned forward to hover his face near the heated glass and snorted. "Then they obviously don't know you."
Peter leaned down so their faces were level. "Aren't you just a little curious how they did it?"
Liu turned and frowned. "How who did what?"
Peter smiled. "How anybody could've drained their blood without being a-I don't know, a vampire?" He straightened and shrugged. "Of course, if you're not curious I could have someone else look at this."
Liu sat up and frowned. "I'm a scientist. Of course I'm a little curious."
Peter held up the fur and smiled. "Then I think you're going to want to take a look at this fur."
Liu arched an eyebrow. "Why?"
Peter shrugged. "Let's just say whatever attacked everybody probably isn't human."
Liu's eyes widened. "A new species? Or an invasive one?"
Peter held the fur out to him. "That's for you to find out."
Liu grinned and snatched the fur from Peter's hand. "I always wanted to find a new species. Come with me please."
Liu led Peter over to a long table against the wall. A row of microscopes sat on the top, and Liu carefully placed the fur on top of a slide and slid it beneath the lens. He peered through the microscope and adjusted the magnitude. "Where did you find this?" he asked Peter.
"Near where the first guy was found. Can you analyze and get me the results of the fur today? I'm kind of in a hurry to clear my name before the cops decide I've done more than just jaywalk recently," Peter pleaded.
Liu waved his hand at Peter. "I will try, but this fur is not interesting. It is just the fur of a common animal in this area."
"Like a bat?" Peter guessed.
"No, I would say a rat, like one of the ones at my apartment building. They follow the trash that floats down the canal and climb up the bank." He wrapped his arms around himself and shuddered. "Lately they've been chewing through the walls of that place like mold through bread."
Peter frowned. "What about the blood?"
"Well, it is definitely blood. Human, I think, but there is something strange about it. I have never seen one with this structure before." He leaned closer. "Let me put on some more light and see what I can-whoa!" They both jumped back when the slide exploded. A cloud of black smoke floated up from the broken glass.
Liu waved his hand in front of him to brush away the smoke. "W-what-cough-was that?"
"What'd you-cough-do to it?" Peter asked him.
Liu shook his head. "I just applied strong light to it. It reacted like I set off an explosion."
Peter frowned. "Strong light? You mean like sunlight?"
His friend nodded. "Yes, why?"
Peter stepped back and shook his head. "Um, no reason. Well, would you look at the time, I gotta go."
Peter rushed through the cloud of smoke and out into the clear hall. He hacked and coughed his way downstairs to the lobby, and paused near the doors. That exciting adventure in vampire anatomy proved his assumption. Ana's father was the one who attacked that guy in the park, and probably followed him home and attacked Rich. Why he'd want to attack the latest victim was unknown, but it wouldn't be unknown for long.
Peter hurried across campus and through the town to his house. Rich still lay in the hospital and Val wasn't home for classes or by his side. Peter snatched a flashlight from the emergency kit in the kitchen, a cross from Val and Rich's bedroom, and some limp, cold garlic off the top of a half-eaten pizza in the fridge. Armed with these anti-vampire essentials, Peter strode from the house and to the park.
In a half hour he stood on the edge of the meadow. His ears and eyes told him the dogs weren't at play. The sun beat down on the old house and nothing stirred save for the vine leaves and the weeds that grew against the home. He jogged across the meadow and flattened himself against the side of the house. Peter scooted along the siding to the front porch and up to the door. He tried the door. Locked. Just his luck to be trying to invade the home of cautious vampires.
He walked around the side of the house and tried the rear door. The knob was locked, but the door was old and hadn't properly latched. He pushed it open with his shoulder and peeked inside. The sunlight illuminated the long hallway and chased away the shadows of the night. He hoped it did the same to vampires.
Peter stepped inside and tiptoed to the door of the study. If he was going to find any definite proof beyond the exploding fur then he had to find it in the lair of the beast. He jiggled the handle of the closed door. Again locked. Peter tilted his head back and noticed a half circle of glass above the door that allowed light from the room into the hall, though at that moment no light emanated from the closed room. He fetched a light wooden chair from the front-right room and stood on it. A push of the glass showed it swung open to allowed ventilation. He peeked inside and saw the curtains were drawn on a bay window and the room was dark, but empty.
Peter was grateful he never took gym seriously as he squeezed through the narrow opening. The young man slipped over the edge and realized his mistake. He was headed into the room head-first and there was nothing to catch nor fall softly onto. His hands pawed at the inside of the door, but gravity would not be defied as he slid forward. He crashed to the floor in a jumble of limbs and his head hit the hard floor. His world blackened and he knew no more.