Go to the police station

"Fran, I'm going to meet with Sergeant Ashton. Here, this is my new number. Call me if anything happens." You wrote your number on a note and gave it to Fran, "Be careful."

"Uh... Okay." Fran, properly dressed, grabbed the note and went out of the room, "See you later, James."

"Yeah."

Dec 27th. It's bright outside and you felt like your skin was burning in the sunlight. It's getting worse, but you needed to contact Sergeant Ashton first.

You arrived at the police station at around 9:30 a.m.. As you entered the station, you noticed that there were dozens officers on duty today and it made you feel safe. However, before you could do anything, you were immediately stopped by two police officers.

"Mr. Wilson, you're a suspect for Neil Brown's ****. You need to come with us." One of the officers, Peter, handcuffed you without hesitation and led you to the interrogation room.

"I understand. I'll cooperate, but may I speak with Sergeant Ashton?" You pleaded earnestly, "I have some urgent matters to discuss with her."

"Sergeant Ashton will be with you shortly. Please wait." Peter just left you in the room alone and went back to his work.

Melissa Ashton was at her late 20s when she was promoted to Sergeant of the Owl city police department early this year. She was on duty today and things were already looking bad. There was another animal attack and some disturbing evidences have been collected near the victim from the scene. There were several reports of strange noises coming from a bar in the north of the city. And she just had an argument with her father yesterday. All these things were making her a little bit edgy recently.

When she was irritably scratching her short, silver-gray hair and was about to drink a sip of coffee to ease the tension, she heard that an unexpected "guest", James Wilson, just showed up at the front door of O.P.D.. What the hell, she wondered and went to the interrogation room.

Only minutes later Melissa entered the room.

"Alright, James." She threw the papers at the desk and stared at you, "Neil Brown was killed, his wife is missing and we found your cellphone and your wallet at the crime scene. What the fuck has happened!?"

"You're not going to believe me, but, uh..." You paused for a second before you took off the scarf and revealed the wounds on your neck, "All those deaths... It wasn't animals. It was vampires! Neil's wife, Olivia, was turned into one. She killed him and bit me!"

"Vampires!? James, are you high on something?" Melissa sneered at you and punched the desk angrily.

"Look, I know you probably won't trust me." You were quite helpless as you didn't have anything solid enough to convince Melissa. You sighed and continued, "All I'm asking is that-"

"James!" Melissa yelled at you, "You are one of the suspects for Neil's ****! We have your fingerprints on his corpse and on the bed! I can't help you if you don't cooperate! You'd better tell me the truth, right now."

"Please... I'm telling you the truth! I-"

Before you could finish you heard the cellphone ringing in your pocket. You were cuffed and unable to reach it, so you asked Melissa for help. She reluctantly came to your side and grabbed the cellphone to answer it, but no one's talking on the other end.

"It's from Fran!" You shouted anxiously as you recognized her number, "She must be in trouble! Shit... I need to go to her!"

"Damn it, James, that's not gonna happen! You know I have to detain you here." Melissa hook her head and sighed with her arms crossed, "Where's your friend? I think I can send someone to help her."

"She... I think she's at Night Crawler's Bar. She works there."

"Night Crawler's Bar?" Melissa frowned with a serious expression, "That can't be coincidence. Someone has reported that there were some strange noises coming from that bar. I should go check it myself. Jack! Peter!"

"Yes, Ma'am?" A rookie police officers under her command came in her officer. And the one that brought you here came after him.

"Jack, bring Ernest and we'll go to the bar that was reported to have strange noises, and see if there's anything." Melissa grabbed her things and gave the order as she walked to the door, "Peter, take Mr. Wilson to the detention room. I'll be back soon."

"Thank you, Melissa, but please trust me." There was nothing else you could do but tried to warn her again, "THEY are real."

She said nothing and just left the room.

Peter and another big guy brought you to the detention rooms on the basement level. You leaned your back on the bed and rested. Gradually you felt your eyelids were getting heavier and your arms weaker. The strange heat was building up in your stomach again and slowly spreading through your whole body. Deep down you knew that you didn't have much time left. Maybe I should go to the church earlier... You said to yourself before you fainted.

You opened your eyes again and found yourself still lying on the bed. You were about to check how long you were out, when you heard footsteps in the hallway outside. A few seconds later, a figure appeared at the door. It's Melissa.

"Melissa! You're back! Listen, I-"

You suddenly paused as you noticed that there were several small bloodstains on her uniform. You were shocked and immediately wide awake. Before you asked anything, she opened the door and uncuffed you swiftly.

"What-"

"Shut up and follow me." Melissa grabbed your hand and dragged you out of the detention room.

"Sergeant, this is against the protocol." Peter, standing in front of the security room by the entrance, tried to stop you.

"Fuck the protocol, Peter." Melissa gently pushed Peter aside, and he didn't resist or insist.

She led you to the underground garage. Luckily, most of the officers were either having lunch at the canteen or patrolling outside, so you didn't attract any unwanted attention. She's taking a serious risk of getting me out, you couldn't believe what was going on. Something must've happened.

"Damn it, James..." Melissa pushed you in her private car, started the engine and immediately drove away, "Fuck..."

You noticed that her hands on the wheel were shaking.

"Melissa, what happened? How's Fran?" You asked carefully.

Hearing your words, she quivered. She slowly pulled over and took a deep breath before she spoke again.

Melissa and two rookie police officers under her command, Jack and Ernest, arrived at the Night Crawler's Bar at around 10 in a police car. It was deadly quiet around the place and she didn't like it.

The front door of the bar was opened and she noticed some uncommon ashes by the door. Someone's burning something here? She wondered.

"Sergeant! Over here!"

The sharp kid Ernest found a blonde lady lying in the corner of the alley when he was checking the surroundings. The lady was ****, probably due to the blood loss from those large scratch wounds on her leg. "Animal attacks?" Jack asked with confusion, "But we've never seen wounds like these on the other victims. It looks like they're from... claws, right?"

Melissa wasn't professional with animals but she could tell that, if they were from claws, the size of this claw was similar to that of a human hand. Vampires? The word James just mentioned came to her mind immediately. But that's ridiculous, isn't it?

The cellphone in the lady's hand indicated that before she passed out she had called James. This must be Fran, Melissa thought.

"Jack, take this lady to central hospital. Here, take the keys." She threw the car keys to Jack. She didn't know what happened but she couldn't get the answer from Fran like this anyway, "Ernest, you and I go check the bar."

"Yes, Ma'am." They both answered.

Jack left with Fran in the police car, while Melissa and Ernest stepped inside the bar. The tables and chairs were all in their places. No signs of fights, not anything or anyone. However, the smell in the air was strange. Stale, metallic, and a little bit sweet. She couldn't tell what that was and that made her very uncomfortable.

"Ma'am, should I go check upstairs?" Ernest asked.

"Just be careful." Melissa nodded, "I'll go check the lounge."

And so they split up. Melissa cautiously pushed open the door to the lounge and noticed that someone was lying on the floor, facing down. From the look in the dim light, it was an old man. By instinct she walked up to him to check if he was alright.

"Hey, mister? Are you alright?" She flipped him around and, when she looked at his face, she was shocked, "Dad?"

"Mel?" The old man, Ian, muttered.

"What are you doing here? What happened?" It was at this moment that Melissa saw the blood on her dad's shirt. Before she could ask about that, Ian opened his red eyes and she was almost captivated by them instantly.

"I came here to drink after our argument..." Ian grabbed her arm and looked at her hungrily, "And I need to drink more!"

Vampires?

Melissa kicked his lower part with everything she got and successfully broke free. Ian painfully rolled on the ground, but he quickly recovered from the kick, stood up and hissed at his beloved daughter. Even in a dark room like this, Melissa could see the fangs in Ian's mouth clearly.

"Stay back!" Melissa pulled out her gun and aimed at her dad with shaking hands, "Don't come any closer! I don't want to shoot you, dad!"

Ian totally ignored her warning and kept walking towards her. Melissa gritted her teeth and shot his leg. Her dad's blood got on her uniform but he didn't even back down one bit. They are real. Words that once she thought to be ridiculous echoed in her mind. She turned around and ran back to main hall as quickly as possible.

"Ernest! We need to go, now!" She shouted, hoping to hear from the boy, "Ernest?"

She heard no words but a scream. Ian was walking out of the lounge while a few other people were stepping downstairs. They all shared the red eyes and sharp fangs. When she glanced at their eyes, Melissa felt like someone was trying to drill into her head as she was having a terrible headache and her vision was becoming blurry. She stumbled out of the bar and, while bathing in the sunlight, immediately she felt better.

All those vampires, her dad included, were staying in the shadows, laughing. The door was closed, and everything was quiet again. Just like nothing had happened.

"Ernest... I left him behind..." Melissa spoke in a shaking tone.

"It's not your fault..."

You tried to comfort her, but you didn't know how. The fact that the Night Crawler's Bar has become a vampires' nest was too serious for either of you to deal with. Those monsters were only trapped there by the sunlight. Once the sun set and they were unleashed, the city would be doomed.

You didn't have much time to come up with a plan and save the city from a pack of bloodthirsty vampires. What should you do next?