Scott and I left the emergency room. The sun was setting and the lights of the city were coming on. Somewhere out there was Maddy with some crazed lunatic.

"What's the next step?" Scott asked.

I sighed. "I don't know."

"Come on, Perry. There has to be something."

"Scott, I'm trying. I'm really trying. Don't you think this is hard for me? I mean, shit, I can smell everything. Why can't I smell her?"

"Okay. How about we just drive around for a bit and see if you pick up her scent?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah. I guess."

"Let's go. I'll drive, you...sniff?"

I chuckled lightly. "Something like that."

I sat in the passenger seat with the window down and my eyes closed just inhaling deeply, hoping for any slight scent of Maddy.

He drove down Route 28, heading toward downtown. 

"No. Not downtown." I sat up and sniffed.

"What? Where then?"

"Straight. Go straight."

"Straight? There's nothing down there but old warehouses."

"I know that, Scott. Go straight. I think I smell her perfume."

Thank God she wears that weird perfume.

He drove further down the highway and the smell got stronger. 

"Take this exit and head toward the river."

"Toward the river?"

"Yes."

He drove along the little side road before I motioned to a parking lot. It was an industrial area with warehouses and a marina. 

I jumped out of the car and walked along the walking path behind the parking lot. It was one of those things the previous mayor wanted to put in to encourage tourism or exercise or something. The sandy gravel crunched under my feet as I followed the smell. 

"Well?" Scott asked.

"It's really strong. We're going in the right direction."

We walked further down the path, leaving the parking lot and road behind us, and came upon a large blue building. Parts of it were rusted and the windows were busted out.

"Shit," Scott said, looking up at the structure.

"Sorry, Scott. This is where the smell is coming from."

"Of course it is. I hate abandoned warehouses."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Scott had a slight fear of abandoned warehouses ever since he and his former partner were ambushed when chasing down a lead.

"It's okay. I'll be there with you."

"Yeah, so was Ricky."

"You can wait out here," I said.

"I'm not going to just let my partner go inside an unknown building alone."

"Okay then. Let's go."

I pushed open the rusted door and the smell of blood and Maddy hit me like a sack of bricks in the face.

"Oh God," Scott gagged while backing out a bit.

"I think that we found where he's been performing his experiments."

I held my breath, another pro in the vampire category, I could hold my breath for an inhumanly long time, and walked through the warehouse. I sniffed at random intervals, honing in on Maddy. 

I heard a soft moan from somewhere above me. I squinted and looked around until I saw a light at the far end. 

"She's there!"

I sprinted across the rest of the area and leaped over the stairs right up to the landing where an office with almost entirely boarded-up windows sat. The moaning came from within. The smell of blood wasn't as strong as the floor area, but Maddy's scent was overpowering. I turned the knob, but the door was locked so I just ripped it off the hinges.

"Maddy?" I asked, walking into the dimly lit, musty area. 

"Mmm hmmm mmm."

I saw her foot sticking out from under the desk. I pulled it away from her and saw her laying there blindfolded, gagged, and tied up.

I took off the blindfold and saw something I didn't want to see. Red. Her eyes were red.

"Shit."

I took off her gag, and ties, and picked her up. She gnashed her teeth which were looking a bit pointier than normal.

"Shit!"

I ran from the room and leaped from the balcony.

"Perry?"

"Meet me at the hospital. The car is too slow."

"What?"

"No time," I shouted, flitting through the door. 

I flitted the entire way to the hospital. I didn't have the endless power and energy that full-venomed vampires had so I was out of breath and struggling when I reached the ER.

"Plasma. No blood," I huffed out, putting Maddy on the stretcher.

"What?" the nurse asked, jumping up. 

"She's been injected with something. It's turning her into a vampire. Please, only plasma. She hasn't fed yet."

"Yes! Okay." She kicked the stretcher into gear and pushed it toward the back. 

I followed close behind her. 

"I'm sorry you can't..."

I held up my badge. "Detective Cassidy Perry. She's part of an investigation. I have to go."

The nurse pursed her lips and nodded. She put Maddy into a trauma room and paged the entire ER team. Nurses and doctors flooded into the room, but Frank Matson was nowhere to be seen.

"What happened?" another doctor I didn't recognize asked.

"She was kidnapped not long ago. She was injected with something that is turning her into a vampire."

"This is against her will?"

"Yes!"

"She needs blood."

"No! Do not give her blood. Just plasma. She hasn't had her first feeding yet. She's not changed yet. If she has plasma she'll stay in the in-between state until a cure can be found."

"Are you sure?" the doctor asked.

"Yes. Just plasma."

"Okay. Send to the blood bank for 5 units of plasma to be sent immediately."

"Where is Dr. Matson?" I asked.

"Um, I don't know. He was here 20 minutes ago."

"He's gone now though?"

One of the nurses nodded her head, filling a syringe with haldol.

"What's that for?" I asked.

"To calm her. We find that people who are mid-transition can be a bit out of their minds until the first feed."

"Okay. Calm is good." I walked from the room. "I need to find my partner and make a few calls. Her name is Maddilyn Rose. Her date of birth is March 5, 1990. I'm her emergency contact, Cassidy Perry." I pulled out one of my business cards. "Call me if anything changes."

I left the ER and looked around for Scott. He should have been there by now. The warehouse wasn't that far.

"Shit," I groaned.

I started walking toward the road when I saw something that sent shivers down my spine. Maddilyn's car.

"What are you doing here?"

I walked over and pulled on the handle. It was unlocked and her keys dangled on the ridiculously big keychain in the ignition. 

"That's not typical Maddy to leave her keys in an unlocked car."

I knew that taking her car meant I was probably destroying evidence, but I had to find Scott. I climbed in and sped toward the warehouse. My car sat there with the driver's side door wide open and a small puddle of blood on the driver's seat.

"Shit!" I screamed. "Scott!"

No answer. 

I searched the warehouse but he was nowhere to be found. Scott was missing but Maddy was found. 

I shouldn't have left him. I should have never left him.