Ares was wrapped from head to toe. He wore a black Akubra hat, a scarf tightly wound around his neck and face, black leather gloves, a dark gray trench coat, black slacks, black leather boots, and of course, thick black sunglasses. He had even gone as far as tying his hair back and pinning it neatly under his hat. Ares looked like a terrorist, and he knew it, but he didn't want to overexpose himself to the sun.

Vampire lore stated that his kind originated from True Vampyres, one of the darker fairies, and the most powerful fairy to have existed. They fed on human and animal flesh and drank their blood. It was said True Vampyres even fed on otherkin. They were shape-shifters, possessed powerful glamor, and ruled over fairy, otherkin, and man in their time. It was believed True Vampyres could come out during the day and were immune to the sun, but their power was at its fullest at night. According to legend, the moon was their mother.

Vampires like Ares were but a shadow of the once noble and supreme race of True Vampyres. Ares was a turned vampire, third generation, to be more specific. Any respectable vampire could trace their lineage, but only a few could be traced back to the original fairy that made them.

There were many myths surrounding the creation of turned vampires. Some say True Vampyres were dying out, and for fear of their race fading away entirely, they created a race to carry on their magick.

Others say a single True Vampyre went rogue, and in an attempt to save himself from the rise of the primitive human race, he built an army of turned humans who, having been turned by the True Vampyre, were under his control. The blood of a True Vampyre carries his will. However, he was defeated and his children scattered to the four winds to create a new race.

Ares's father, Naram-Sin, one of the oldest vampires in existence, once told him that most True Vampyres loathed and detested turned vampires. He said that the fall of his great civilization, Babylon, was the result of a war between true and turned vampires.

Sadly, no one had heard of, or seen, a True Vampyre in thousands of years. If they existed, they had not made themselves known during The Great Awakening. Ares wondered what had become of them, if and why they had been fading, and whether he was a gift of the night left behind to preserve a species—or an abomination created out of war.

Knowing who he was and what his vulnerabilities were made him very careful that morning. Unlike his ancestors, he would burn if he were exposed to the sun for a prolonged period of time. Now, he often scoffed and laughed at vampire movies, the way vampires burst into flames the moment the sun's light touched them, or turned into blood bombs. But, truthfully, he would burn if he was out in the sun too long.

His parents had warned him when he was turned that he could be out in the sun for an hour or so without being killed, but it would severely weaken him. If the sun touched his skin directly for any length of time, it would unravel him like a spool of thread.

Most vampires found it impossible to get up during the day, and because they were so secretive about their resting place, they never really had to worry about it. So, naturally, Ares produced a series of experiments to overcome the heavy sleep and walked about during the day anyway. Ares harbored a secret thrill for it and was willing to take the risk, especially for a good case like this one. He had started with small experiments at first, covering himself differently and even using sunscreen (which definitely did not work; he had almost lost a pinky to that experiment) and finally came up with the ensemble he was wearing now. As long as he made sure that no sunlight touched his bare skin, and moved quickly from vehicle to house, he would remain intact. Ares could manage this for a couple of hours, but would eventually have to retire early if the Detective and Alexandria wanted to stay longer.

Ares had just finished explaining this to Alexandria, who looked at him from the other side of the limo in horror. Worry had been written all over her face from the moment she realized Ares was coming with them. Apparently, when they had originally discussed these plans it had not occurred to her that the sun would be out on Saturday morning. Ares found her concern puzzling, especially since he had never been that nice to her.

"Ares, are you sure about this? I mean, you could get killed," Alexandria said.

"Don't worry yourself, my dear. Ares will be alright. He and I have had plenty of practice with this, eh ol' boy? Ha ha. Now, now, trust Ares to know his own limitations. Believe me, I have tried to talk him out of this before, but he is as stubborn as they come!"

Ares was relieved the Detective answered, because he was having a hard time mumbling his answers through his scarf. She was not his mother, and even if she were, he would do it anyway.

They arrived at the house. Yusuf tapped the horn, and Nancy came out to meet them in the driveway. Ares told Yusuf not to go too far in case he started to get sun sickness.

"Hoy, how mine back is aching," Yusef told them. "Me think if I stay too long in car I never get out again. Then mine son be without working father. Who will support mine wife when I'm no working?"

"Alright, alright. Go for a walk or something, but don't go too far. I mean it, Yusuf, don't go far," Ares mumbled through his scarf as loud as he could.

"Aye, me, already it aches. Thank you, it good to have good boss. I no go too far."

Ares rolled his eyes behind his big sunglasses and put his hand on the door handle. He looked out the tinted window and waited for the Detective to give him the signal.

To Ares's dismay, the Detective was talking to Mrs. Calloway about her mother's dormant flowerbeds instead.

"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt, but Mrs. Calloway, is your front door unlocked?" Ares heard Alexandria ask through the car window.

"Yes, I unlocked it when I got here. Do you want to go in now and-and do the investigation?"

"Yes, thank you, one moment." Alexandria walked over to the car door. She held three fingers up and counted as she put each one down. One... two... three... She grabbed the car door and held it fast. Ares whipped out of the car like a fierce wind and was on the doorstep opening the door before Mrs. Calloway had a chance to blink. She and the Detective were bent over, looking at trimmed rose bushes when he made it inside.

"Oh my goodness!" Ares heard Nancy shout. He had slammed the door shut and was pressed against the far wall of the living room. He made sure he was away from the door or any windows. He waited for them to come in, listening as they approached.

"Ah, now, Mrs. Calloway, do not worry yourself. Ares has always been as quick as a whip, that boy! Why, I've always said he would have made a fine athlete, ha ha. Wouldn't you say?"

"Why—why yes, I suppose I would say that. I guess I've never seen anyone move that fast before. He has lupus, you say? Is that why he never played?"

Ares smacked his hand onto his forehead, almost knocking his hat off. He sometimes wondered why the two of them kept up this façade and why he kept himself hidden. His parents were exposed to the world freely as vampires, but for some reason he still worried his identity would harm his reputation with his students and colleagues at the university, not to mention that he would never want his identity to ever affect the Detective's work—and then of course there were the reapers. There were a lot of people out there who simply would never accept vampires.

Alexandria was the first to come through the door. "Ares, are you alright?" she asked in a hushed voice.

She was walking toward him, and Ares felt a fluttering in his stomach. He pressed his hand against it and furrowed his brow. He did not understand why he was responding this way. He wanted to wait there in the shadows for her, wanted her to walk into him. He would enfold her and consume her essence. Ares wanted everything she was to become a part of him...

What sort of nonsense was this? Ares shook his head.

What was that?

"I'm over here. Could you ask Mrs. Calloway if she closed all the blinds to the house like we asked? I can see that a few are open here in the living room."

"Okay. I'll close the blinds and then go get her."

Ares listened as Alexandria ran over to the large bay windows and closed the shutters. He heard her fiddling with something and realized she was tying the curtains together. He was surprised at how attentive and thoughtful she was being, but he wondered too what she was hoping to gain from it.

When he heard Alexandria open the door and go outside, he took a look around. He relaxed and removed his sunglasses. He unraveled his scarf and finally freed himself from his clothing cage.

The house was enormous, typical of the wealthy, mostly Italian area. Though the family was Italian, it appeared the décor was primarily French country. Perhaps one of the parents had been French or French Canadian. Ares assumed Calloway was Nancy's married name.

The living room looked like it was more for display rather than practical use. It was white-walled and filled with expensive furnishing. There were large extravagantly framed paintings hanging from the walls and a large throw rug covered much of the hardwood floor. The curtains that thankfully covered the windows had typical French country style prints on them, and there was an unnecessarily large fireplace adjacent to them.

The front door opened, and Ares pressed himself against the wall, waiting for everyone to come in.

"Why, what an exquisite home you have here, Mrs. Calloway," remarked Docherty.

"Oh, thank you, Detective. My mother was quite the decorative enthusiast."

Ares could feel a smile forming on Nancy's face. The Detective was good with flattery that way.

"This is all very lovely, but can we close the front door? We don't want to affect Ares's lupin—er lupus, right?" Alexandria said hurriedly.

Ares did not understand the fuss. He could take care of himself.

"Of course, of course. Now, Mrs. Calloway, could you show me where your mother fell?" asked the Detective. Good with flattery, but not so great with approach.

"Uh, yes," Mrs. Calloway replied. Ares could feel moisture returning to her face as she attempted to hold back tears again. He finally heard the door close and the lock snap into place. He assumed it was Alexandria being fastidious.

"She was here when... when her neighbor, Mrs. Russo, found her." Nancy pointed to the bottom of the wooden stairwell near the front door. Ares stepped out of the living room and into the front hallway, joining the group. Everyone was staring at the giant brown spot that stained the carpet. Brown where it had once been red.

Death was a foreign concept to Ares. It was something he never had to worry about. He supposed that's why the subject never bothered him, and why, where everyone else wore a haunted expression and cast their eyes to the floor, he started to look up the stairs to take in the overall fall.

There was a time that he wanted to be death, a predator to mankind. Every vampire felt that instinctual pull, that longing to satiate the thirst they were created for, but with the help of his parents, he had mastered it. Ares no longer sought the presence of death, but he often pondered its relevance to his life.

The Detective turned to Nancy, "H-hm. Well then, Nancy, could you tell me what the police concluded from their initial investigation?"

Mrs. Calloway began to cry. "They-they said she fell forward into the stairs and continued to roll down. They said her neck was broken and she died instantly, but when she hit the tiles on the floor... it..."

Ares grew impatient as Nancy wailed like a banshee. He realized how insensitive that was, but this really wasn't getting them anywhere.

"I'm sorry, I can't help it." Mrs. Calloway paused and dabbed her eyes. "I... I think it's best that you go ahead without me. I'm just going to take a minute down here in the living room."

"Of course, my dear girl, of course," Docherty said and patted her on the shoulder. He escorted her into the living room and returned with his notepad in hand. Ares never understood how the Detective could write notes on such a small pad of paper.

Ares's notebook was divided into sections by color and his notes were dated and highlighted. He was opening to the section he had created for Mrs. Calloway when he got distracted by how Docherty miraculously flipped directly to the right page in his notepad and started writing.

"Now then, I doubt we'll get much more from the poor woman on her mother's death. It appears that the police have closed the case on the premise that she tripped and fell down the stairs. I want both of you to keep in mind that that could rightfully be the case. Mrs. Calloway is still in search for closure, so make sure that you keep sharp, and do not go looking for any false leads. We must always remember that despite the fact that we live in a world with fantastic creatures, mundane accidents still happen." Docherty looked at both Ares and Alexandria with all seriousness while he said this. His spectacles had dropped to the bottom of his nose, so he repositioned them before continuing. "Of course, we still want to keep ourselves open to all possibilities as well, eh, Ares? Ha ha."

Docherty put his notepad away and clapped his hands together. "Let's get started then. I think we shall work our way from the bottom up. Let's get a feel for the house and her life, and that will help us to paint a better picture. To the basement." He led the way to a door located underneath the stairwell and opened it. It was a bathroom.

"Ah, well this will come in handy later, I am sure," he said as he proceeded toward the kitchen to a second door that did indeed lead to the basement.

Docherty went straight down the stairs, but Ares paused to hit the light switch at the top of the stairwell. Alexandria came up behind him.

"Ares, aren't you hot in all that clothing?"

"No, I no longer get hot or cold. I always feel the same, regardless of the temperature or what I'm wearing."

"Huh, does that mean you can't feel the warmth of a human body? Can you feel this?"

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