Frustrations of a Search

"No, I'm telling you he was no vampire, and definitely started that fire," Kendra said and Bryce backed her story up. While the others saw the flames appear from nowhere they didn't see the man. Nor the creature that has been there.

"Then he was a fire starter, some psychic human," Riley said, seeing this as a waste of time.

"No way a human moves like he did. We saw him bite into their necks, drinking, and that thing that appeared. I've never seen anything like it." Bryce said. "You should have seen him, he didn't even break a sweat flinging them around, breaking their bones."

"So where would you suggest we start looking for this man?" Came the voice on the phone. They were on a conference call with Biegon and a couple of others.

"There were a few fires recorded in other populated areas. The cause was unknown but the fires were no small thing, most of them forming a circle or arc. They were very spread out though over the years and hard to track down." This was a feminine voice over the phone, Linda Precen. She was in flight heading toward them.

"So what does this mean for us?" Riley asked her. Linda was one of their top researchers who had her face stuck in a pile of papers or a computer screen. She could pick out the most obscure pattern and very rarely be wrong about their connection.

"Well, it's something not human. These burnings have large years of space between them and over several different countries. Around the same time of course people were saying that they saw a large dragon-like creature. Also, odd attacks were reported to local authorities. Our obvious mythical community acting up. Shortly after the burnings, no more attacks or they dropped dramatically."

"So what, is he like a vigilantly superhuman?" Kendel asked leaning against the wall. She just kept thinking about this male and that creature.

"I doubt it, he didn't look to be helping out. He burned a huge area with no thought of the humans there. He didn't attack until they came at him, but I don't think he was worried at all." Kendra said.

"So clearly we are dealing with something that knows his own strengths and is confident in them. Hopefully overconfident and that will give us the upper hand." Riley said.

"I want this man found. Linda and a few others will be there shortly. Find out where he or she is staying and then I want recon done to find out what it is, if not before. If he poses a threat we must eliminate it. Seeing that he easily destroyed ten or so vampires without a problem, this thing is dangerous and not our friend." Biegon said. "That being said, there could be other uses for it. Don't forget that a lot of our miracle drugs come from these types."

"Or worst weapons," Lee mumbled at Biegon's talk.

"Figure it out people, and while you are there I want a team to look into any possible other supernatural occurrences. Not too far there was talk of a phoenix and of course, the Yeti that Bryce seems fond of." There was a bit of laughter and the call was ended shortly after.

Then started the hard part. Trying to track down a man that they had a rough description of, and even after going through the whole town, not one person could say that they knew anyone that matched the description. The others arrived that evening to join them and they worked solidly through the next week.

They moved locations by week two as they had a hit on the Phoenix, but that was chasing a needle in a haystack. Currently, Riley along with a few others was out searching a few shops for the phoenix, and one that had burned down. It seemed that they had had the animal, but no longer. It could have gone anywhere and that was just as hard to find as their mysterious man.

"Okay," Linda said, both Kendra and Lee looking up from the card game that they were playing. "So I think I have it narrowed down to a few possibilities. I've been up going over these sightings and other reports."

"What do you have?" Kendra asked curious.

"Well, our mystery it, could be a few different things. A mage is one, they had power like that once, possible he's a demon, shapeshifter, it could explain the unknown animal, a dragon tamer, or something I haven't pegged."

"A mage?" Lee said. "That didn't seem to fit, they stick to the sidelines. Plus they are normally human in origin."

"Yeah, I thought so."

"What's the dragon tamer?" Kendra asked about the one she didn't know.

"A name given to a group of people from long ago," Linda said with a yawn. "They were fascinating really. A group that studied magic and fought dragons until they made a pact with them. Or so the story goes, but you know how legends are things get mixed up. It's the best translation that I have and comes with the story that Biegon told us."

"Ah, and what about the demon? He'd have to be extremely high level to have a body like that and the power to go with it."

"It's been a long time, but it's possible. Especially with how many people are willing to give up their souls for things in this world." Linda said.

"True, and how do you go about tracking him?" Lee asked.

"With the sightings of a winged person, and vampire attacks that seem just a bit off." Came a voice from behind a stack of papers. Conroy was behind them and appeared a moment later, he was married to Linda. They both had reddish brown hair, but he had brown eyes and Linda had a blue and lighter complexion.

"Anything yet?" Kendra asked.

"Yep, in two towns. Though one is closer to a small city. Both have reported sightings of some odd flying creature, but the one had a man show up dead in its morgue. He was drained of blood, but there was a toxin that looked more like venom. No one could place it, so I think we should pack up and go there first."

"Why do I hear a but?" Kendra asked.

"Here we know that this city has a horrible problem with its mythical inhabitants. As far as we know there could be two groups there and they fight all the time. Humans are oblivious of course, but our two main groups are there. Lycans and vampires along with a few shifters."

"Oh joy. " Lee said.

"Do you think it odd that if he did go to this city, it has this infestation like it does?" Kendra asked.

"Perhaps he's looking for something," Linda commented. "This city has a good population to it and is right up against the mountains, which seems to fit his wants. Also, there were a few reports of shadow people." Shadow people were just a type of demon that tended to stick to areas of turmoil, or where the dead were buried. They were notorious for attacking those that were unsuspecting and then possession took hold.

"When do we leave?" Kendel asked coming into the room and the others filed in with him looking rather bored.

"A couple of hours," Linda said.

"Well, you heard the lady, get packed. We're moving out." Riley said clearly ready to be out of this place.

So the group did what they were told, and once again they were moving from one place to another. But that was their job, what they did, and when they arrived in the city, Kendra felt the malice in the air. This wasn't a place that she would like to live, it was dingy and had a sad air to it.

"Team one, you'll be going out to find what you can. I want to know where these locals are hanging out by sunset." Riley said as they moved into the large house-like building that was outfitted for them. When Riley said locals, they knew he meant the nonhuman inhabitants.

"Yes sir." Said those that were on the first team. Kendra was the second team, she would be going out later tonight to see what she could. And they were going to more remote areas around the city, scouting to find where anything might be setting up shop to watch.

"I'm going to the morgue," Conroy said. "I want samples and to see this body."

"I'll come with," Derrick said curious at the state of the body, Kendra turned.

"I'm tagging along." She said and no one objected to her going so she followed. It had to be more interesting than sitting around here waiting to go out for a hike that was going to take hours. It was starting to get cold and they might not be back by nightfall. Secretly Kendra was really hoping to see this mystery man again. There was a thrill in hoping so.

They arrived at a rather sad-looking building and Conroy spoke with the woman at the desk. She nodded looking at his ID and then told them where to go. They went down a hall, down two sets of stairs. The walls were a dingy grey and the stairs a green and white tile.

"Well, I'm not sure that this place is where I would go for any kind of medical help," Derrick commented.

"This is the lower-income hospital, you forget that we are in the poor part of this town."

"I saw the rich part on the way in, but still didn't look all that great," Conroy said and they came down a hall into a double set of doors. It was cooler down here and had the typical setup. A man was leaning over a dead woman who had clearly been beaten to death.

"Better be something important Hiro. I've got enough stiffs to deal with already." The man said not looking up.

"Actually we are here to see the one that was found bloodless, or nearly so," Conroy stated and the man looked up.

"Oh, you're the group that was contacted? Excellent, maybe you can tell me what to put on my report then. I'm Kin by the way." He said and moved over, opening a metal door and sliding out one of the slabs. He opened the body bag and pulled it back.

A man was lying there and besides being dead he wasn't in that bad of shape. His eyes were sunk in a bit and his lips an odd dark shade. "I was going to write the cause of death blood loss, but I'm not so sure. He did still have a bit left in him. It was his tissue samples that came back all weird. His toxicology was off the charts with something they can't identify."

"Let's see the report," Derrick said and the man handed him a folder and he opened it reading through it and went into his own world.

"See I think it was some weirdoes doing things they shouldn't. Some new drug tripped them out of their mind, not like this one is going to be missed. He was part of a local gang, liked to take what they wanted and kill people just for fun. The one I'm working on now, she was a girlfriend of one of his little family."

"I see," Conroy said looking at the body.

"Here, look at this," Kin said and pointed to the neck. "See these puncture marks? They would look like a vampire right? Hate when I get those bodies, this isn't the first corpse with the marking of a vampire. I wish we could find this group and stop them. Occult nuts." Kin said none of them corrected him in that it was real, so no need to panic the masses.

"However this has an odd puncture, not the normal two or four. You know like the bottom teeth sometimes. This one has what looks like six maybe, there's the two that punctured the jugular and imprints of two other pointed "teeth" on the bottom. If someone has teeth or whatever like this, they bit hard. The odd thing is that it started to heal."

"I see that," Conroy said. "No other marks on him?"

"No, well a broken rib, but that was all."

"Hey look at this," Derrick said and Kendra stepped forward moving a hand above the dead man. She used her talent to read energy on the dead man. He'd come to a quick end, the energy wasn't violent in a way that said he'd suffered long before he died, but he'd suffered something.

"Isn't the report interesting? His tissue and DNA were all screwed up. So what do you think?" Kin asked and Conroy looked up from the paper.

"Drug, a new one that's just come out like you said. Some nut draining people of blood." He held up the paperwork. "Can we get a copy of this?"

"That is a copy, feel free." He said, putting the body back. "Anything else? I have a lot to do."

"No, thank you," Conroy said and they moved out, at least this doctor wasn't asking a million and one questions like most did. He was happy that they agreed with him and he signed off on a few papers and went back to work. Sometimes working with those that were overloaded was best, they just wanted to write it off and go to the next.

"Well, what's up with the report?" Kendra asked curiously.

"It's something else," Derrick said as they got into the car and drove off. "The results are consistent with a change starting to occur in the body. However, it was too fast a reaction for the human DNA to assimilate it. Though it doesn't say that on the report, but just reading the damage to the tissues in the body that is what happened."

"So what do you think werewolf, shapeshifter? A lot of time changes go wrong with them. The body had a lot to undergo in the process." Kendra asked. This was true, the change to the DNA was a complete breakdown of the human genome and then it was reassembled to change the body.

"We'd have to examine the body more. I'll go back later and do a more thorough exam, I just didn't want to deal with the doctor at the moment." Conroy commented. "But no, there was far too much damage to the body, it would be some kind of venom that reacts to change the body. Doesn't seem compatible with humans."

"So this is a good sign that our mystery being is in the area?"

"It would seem. As I said, I have to go back and look the body over." Kendra sighed and sat back as they drove to where they were staying.

"You know that these things are rarely easy," Derrick said.

"I know. I really would like to see this man again. Really the power that was there was awesome, I've never seen anything like it, and that creature." She said replaying the scene in her mind. Kendra could see the figure clearly, the strength that he held. It was a draw for her.

"You seem awed by it," Conroy commented looking back at her through the mirror.

"Tell me that you aren't jealous of the talents these beings have. The super speed, hearing, strength, longevity? We are set to die, and some of these beings will go on long after we are dust." Kendra said.

"I'm happy to be human. I'm not happy being prey to some of them."

"I know," Kendra said and looked back out the window. How could she explain to them, that even while she had the time span of a human, she wasn't human? That when she saw these creatures she saw what she could be, but then she would be hunted in a different way. Just because humans hunted them to save themselves, didn't mean that humans were the better race. She saw the horrible atrocities that they did against each other. Maybe the world would be better if the slate was wiped clean and someone else got the chance. Kendra though, should really be careful what she wished for.