Bloodsucking fiends: a love story

on a hunch."
    "What?" Jody asked. She didn't know what to think. This man knew she was a vampire, and strangely, she felt an urge to attack. Some protective instinct wanted her to hurt him. Kill him. She fought to stay calm.
    "Hemoglobin. I added some human hemoglobin and the tissue started to regenerate again. I ran it through the sequencer. It's not human DNA. It's close, but not human. It doesn't produce heat, doesn't seem to burn fuel the same way that mammalian cells do. The coroner said that he was the one that had drained the blood from the body, but he'd never done that before. And I knew that the guy had been murdered. I made a guess. I saw the ad in the Weekly for a vampire support group, so I've been watching."
    Jody said, "Suppose I believe what you're saying. Suppose I believe that you believe this bullshit, how could you help me? Supposing I wanted to be helped?"
    "My major is gene therapy. There's a chance I could reverse the process."
    "This isn't science. I'm not saying that you're right about your theory. There are a lot of things that you don't know, that can't be explained by science. If you don't know that by now, you will. What you're talking about is magic."
    "Magic is just science that we don't know yet. Do you want me to help or not?"
    "Why would you want to do that? As far as you know, I kill people."
    "So does cancer, but I still work on it. Do you have any idea what kind of competition there is for jobs in my field? It's an all-or-nothing field. I could end up getting my PhD and giving saccharine enemas to rats for five bucks an hour. What I learn from you would put my resume at the top of the stack."
    Jody didn't know what to say. Part of her wanted to drop the phone and go after him. Another part wanted to accept his help.
    She said, "What do you want me to do?"
    "Nothing yet. How can I get hold of you?"
    "I can't tell you that. I'll call you. What's your number?"
    "I can't tell you that."
    Jody sighed. "Look, Mr. Scientific Genius, figure out something. And by the way, I really didn't kill those people."
    "Then why are you even listening to me?"
    "I guess this conversation is over. Get in your car and get comfortable with asking rats to bend over. Good-bye."
    "Wait, we could meet somewhere. Tomorrow. Someplace public."
    "No, it has to be at night. Someplace private. You could have cops everywhere." She watched him as she talked. He had put the binoculars down and she could see that he was Asian.
    "You're the killer here. Would you meet you someplace private and dark?"
    "All right. Tomorrow night. Seven o'clock, at Enrico's on Broadway. That public enough for you?"
    "Sure. Can I bring a blood-sample kit? Would you let me?"
    "Would you let me?" she asked.
    He didn't answer.
    "Just kidding," she said. "Look, I don't want to hurt you, but I don't want to get hurt either. When you leave here, drive like hell and take an indirect route home."
    "Why?"
    "Because I really didn't kill those people, but I know who did, and he's been following me. If he's seen you, you're in danger."
    The line was quiet for a minute, just the ghost voices of a cellular connection. Jody watched the Asian guy watching her.
    Finally he cleared his throat. "How many of you are there?"
    "I don't know," she said.
    "I know that all of the victims don't change. It couldn't work. The geometric progression would have the entire human race turned to vampires in a month." He sounded more confident now that he had brought the conversation back to science.
    "I'll tell you what I know tomorrow. But don't expect much. I don't know much. Or I'll tell you now if you want to talk face to face, but I don't think it's a good idea to talk about this with you on a cell phone."
    "Yeah, you're right. Not now, though. Not here. You understand, don't you?"
    Jody nodded, exaggerating the gesture so he could see. "The longer you stand there, the better chance you have of being seen by… by the other one. Tomorrow night, then. Seven o'clock."
    "Will you be wearing that dress?"
    Jody smiled. "Do you like it? It's new."
    "It's great. I didn't think you would be a woman."
    "Thanks. Go now."
    She watched him climb into the Toyota, the cell phone still in hand. "Promise not to try and track me down?"
    "I know where you'll be tomorrow night, remember?"
    "Oh yeah. By the way, my name's Steve."
    "Hi, Steve. I'm Jody."
    "'Bye," he said. He disconnected. Jody hung up the phone and watched him drive away.
    She thought, Great, another one to worry