"Forrester, good that you're here, and you as well, Marshal Blake." He was wearing gloves, so there were no handshakes with this inspector, who was introduced as Superintendent Pearson, either. He glanced at the men around us. "And who are these gentlemen?"
Names weren't what Pearson wanted to know. He wanted to know what good they were going to be inside his crime scene. How could they help the investigation? The four of them stayed silent and let Edward and me do the talking. They probably didn't know what to say either.
Edward said, "It depends on what kind of scene we have here. Everyone has their specialties."
Pearson nodded, as if that made sense. "Currently, we're trying to decide if it's safe to move the vampires out of the house. Do you remember the vampire that burned up on us before you came in on the investigation?"
Edward turned to me. "Paramedics got called to an unconscious victim, but when they tried to take him out of the house on a stretcher the sun was up."
I gave him wide eyes. "He burst into flames?"
Edward and both of the inspectors nodded.
"Wow, that must have been quite the surprise for the paramedics."
"According to witnesses the vampire woke up as it was burning to death and started screaming. The paramedics weren't prepared and didn't know what to do to help the victim . . . the vampire."
"Once they go up in flames from sunlight there isn't always a way to put out the fire," I said.
"May I interject?" Jake asked.
"If you have something useful to add," Pearson said.
"Once a vampire is out of direct sunlight, you simply extinguish the flames as you would on anyone, though admittedly some types of vampires burn more violently than others."
"Marshal Forrester has been trying to enlighten us on the variety of vampirekind," Pearson said.
Sheridan asked, "If the paramedics had put the vampire in the ambulance, would they have been able to put out the fire, or would the entire ambulance have gone up in flames?"
"I'd have rushed him back to the house--more room to work with and less likely that you'll burn down an entire house. I am not certain I would want to take a combusting vampire into the back of an ambulance. You say this one was screaming and thrashing around?"
"Witnesses say he was," Pearson said.
"The vampire was panicking at that point and might have reached out for the medics. If the vampire had grabbed hold of them in his panic he could have burned them, too, and the interior of the ambulance could have gone up with them inside it."
"They attempted to douse the flames but didn't think to try to get him out of the sunlight," Pearson said.
"I told them that the only thing I'd ever used sunlight for was to burn vampires. I'd never tried to save one, so I didn't know if it was possible," Edward said.
"I've never tried to save one from sunlight, not once they caught fire anyway," I said.
"I am glad that I could add something to the conversation," Jake said.
Pearson was looking at him closely. "We have a house full of paramedics who are wanting more information on how to treat vampires medically."
"I will be happy to lend what knowledge I possess."
"Is that why you have so many ambulances out front, because you're treating the vampires and the victims both?" I asked.
"We transported everyone in the house that didn't have fangs as victims found unresponsive at the scene," he said.
"I told them that fangs were one way they could tell vampire from victim," Edward said.
"The not breathing is a clue, too," I said.
"But some coma patients have respiration so shallow that it can barely be detected, Marshal Blake. A doctor with better equipment needs to make that decision."
"That's fair. So how many . . . victims with fangs do we have left, and are they what the three ambulances are waiting for?"
"We have three possible vampires on site," Pearson said.
"How many nonvamps did you transport?" I asked.
"Four."
"What are you doing with them?" I asked.
Sheridan answered, "The hospital is trying to figure out if they are alive, dead, or other, and if there's anything they can do to bring them back."
"I just read a new study on brain activity in vampires. It turns out that unlike the true dead, bodies that are going to rise as vampires don't go completely brain dead," I said.
"Does that mean that vampires aren't the walking dead?" Dev asked. "I mean, brain death is one of the ways they decide whether to pull the plug on life support, so does that mean vampires don't really die?"
"It's cute when you try to be deep," Nicky said.
"Actually it's a good point, but for right now if the hospital looks for brain activity on the victims and doesn't find any, then they're probably dead," I said.
Dev gave Nicky a look that said, See, I was right. Nicky frowned back at him. I noticed that Sheridan was watching the interchange more than Pearson.
"Where did you read this new study?" Kaazim asked.
"I'm on a list for science and medical articles about vampires, zombies, wereanimals, and preternatural research in general. It's like an old-fashioned clipping service except it comes on the computer and doesn't kill trees unless I print something."
"That's my partner, always trying to improve herself," Edward said, so dryly that I couldn't tell if he meant it or was wanting to be far more sarcastic than Ted would be.
"I talked to the couple that owns this house personally, Marshals. Less than two weeks ago they were in wanting--no, demanding--that we work harder to help locate their missing daughter." Pearson's pleasant but unreadable cop face crumbled around the edges, and I got a glimpse in his brown eyes of how much pain this was causing him. It was just a moment, but it was enough to let me sympathize.
"Are the parents at the hospital, or here?" I asked.
"Mr. Brady is at the hospital along with his parents and the youngest daughter. Mrs. Brady is here along with the daughter we couldn't find and the daughter's best friend."
"It's always hard when you knew them before they became vampires."
"Have you known people before and after?" he asked.
I nodded.
"It's always harder to kill someone that you knew," Edward said, and there was none of Ted's happy down-home charm in that sentence.
Pearson looked at him. "Have you killed all the people you knew once they became vampires?"
"They were trying to kill me at the time," Edward said.
"When people first become vampires, the bloodlust is so powerful that they will attack anyone. They just want food, and that means fresh blood," I said.
"Is that why we found the daughter here with her family?" Sheridan asked.
"No," Edward said, "you found her here because some of them remember enough of their humanity to go home. They can be drawn to places they knew well in life, and it's easier to persuade family to get close so they can feed."