"What?" I asked, walking through the double doors to his autopsy room.

"What is that smell?" Scott asked.

"That smell is the deceased."

I crinkled my nose and gagged. "Why does he smell like that? What's wrong with him?"

I pulled up the sheet and gasped. His body was shriveled and looked almost like an ancient mummy rather than a 20-something college student who died not long ago.

"Why does he look like that?" Scott asked in a whisper.

"That's what's puzzling me. He shouldn't look like that. Look here." Andrew held up the wrinkled arm and turned it toward us. "You see that?"

"Um, the bruise?"

"In the center of the bruise."

I stepped closer, narrowing my eyes. "It looks like a pinprick."

"Yeah. That's a needle mark."

"A needle? Was he a drug addict?"

I looked up at Andrew as he shook his head. "From the toxicology reports I've run, no. There were no traces of the usual drugs or alcohol in his system."

"You said usual..." Scott said.

"The usual I see are cocaine, meth, marijuana, fentanyl, heroin, and benzodiazepines."

"Okay?"

"Well, this young man has a high level of general anesthetics that were administered within hours of his death."

"General anesthetics?" I asked.

"Yes. The kinds that only a surgeon or doctor would have access to."

"Do we know if he had any type of procedure done?"

"There are no indications that he had any sort of surgery."

"So, what killed him?"

"Starvation and dehydration."

"What?"

"Yeah. I don't know. This one is really confusing."

"But he is a vampire, right?" I asked.

"Yes. A brand new one. He has the typical high venom levels within his body. Fresh blood in his stomach and nothing else," Andrew said, stepping back. 

"How big are the fang marks?" I asked.

"That's the other strange thing. There are no fang marks."

"What? How? How are there no fang marks? That makes no sense."

"And one more thing."

"There's more?" Scott questioned.

Andrew nodded his head. "His blood. The vampire blood. Is not just vampire blood. It's bonded with a second."

"A second blood?"

"Human."

"Vampire and human blood? How is that even possible?"

"I don't know. But I have a theory."

"Okay. What is it?"

He took a deep breath and stared at me. "Someone is trying to create another you."

"What?" I nearly yelled. "Another me?"

"You are unique. You're the only vampire-human hybrid that has ever existed that we know of."

"Yes."

"You've said even your mother turned full vampire after your father bit her?"

I nodded my head.

"How did she manage to get pregnant in the first place?" Scott asked.

I chewed my lip. It was something I'd always promised mother I'd never tell anyone, but I guess this is a good reason to tell the two people I trust most.

Sighing heavily, I sat in Andrew's chair at his desk. "My mother wasn't just a human."

"What?" both men exclaimed.

"She was preternatural."

"What the hell is that?" Andrew questioned.

"Well, to put it simply. The opposite of supernatural. She had this ability to neutralize supernatural abilities with her touch."

"She could what?" 

"Yeah. When she and my father fell in love and married, she was able to neutralize the vampire side of him while they were having marital relations. She ended up pregnant."

"Fascinating!" Andrew exclaimed.

"I ended up with my father's vampire traits and my mother's preternatural traits. This is odd because they should cancel each other out, but they don't. They seem to work cohesively within my body and that's why I can survive on anything and can walk outside. But I'm always cold."

"Why would someone want to create more of Cassidy though?" Scott asked.

"Why not? She has the best of both supernatural and natural worlds. She is immortal, can blend into either world, walk in the daylight....she's the perfect specimen of a woman honestly."

"I'm far from perfect. This life is not even close to perfect. I can blend in sure, but eventually, someone always finds out about what I am."

"But, for someone who wants immortality and not the stigma of only walking at night..." Scott said, his voice trailing off.

"So we're looking for a psycho with an MD?"

Andrew nodded his head. "Or someone who can get close enough to general anesthetic, can bond two different types of blood, and lure college kids to their death."

"Great. That should be easy."

"Well, anything else?" I asked.

"That's not enough?"

"It's too much," I mumbled. "Let's go."

I picked up my coat and left the morgue. Scott followed close behind. 

"We're screwed. Aren't we?"

"For now. Yes. I'm sure the killings aren't going to stop. Especially if someone is trying to recreate another me. I'm sure we'll see the killings continue until they can perfect their serum and inject themselves."

"Someone insane."

"Yeah. Insane."

"Where should we start?"

I looked down the street at the large hospital that rose in the horizon. "There."

"The hospital?"

"Where else do you thing a psychotic doctor who knows how to mess with blood and get access to medical grades drugs would be?"

"I guess a hospital."

"Let's go stick our noses in places we shouldn't and ruffle some feathers. I'm sure someone will eventually out themselves unknowingly."

"I do love ruffling feathers."

"Hold on. I'll be right back." I turned and ran back into the morgue.

"Andrew?" I called out.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Hey, can you give me a sample of the kid's blood or something?"

"You want a sample of it?"

"Yeah. We're going to the hospital. I'm going to poke around until I find someone who will help and take a look."

He pulled one of the vials on the table out of a rack and handed it to me. "Try a hematologist."

"A what?"

"Blood doctor. Find a hematologist. They'll be able to look more into the blood and probably have better answers than what I can give you. I just know how to figure out what kills people. Not whatever that is."

I nodded and waved. "Thanks."

I met up with Scott at the car and handed him the vial of dark, clotted liquid.

"What is that?"

"Blood. Dead blood. Or whatever was in the college kid."

"Why?"

"To find a hematologist to have them look at it."

"Oh...okay."

"Andrew said it's a blood doctor. They can help us figure out what's going on with the blood."

"So to the hospital?"

"To the hospital. We have a starting point."

"I guess that's what we need, right? A starting point?"

"Yeah. We pretty much have the case solved now. We have the starting point."

Scott laughed as we pulled out of the parking lot heading right for the large building at the end of the street.