I have enjoyed reading all the DS fiction on this list and one of them
gave me an idea, halfway through company law revision for 
finals! Inspiration hits at the weirdest times! :)Thanks are due to Catalina
Dudka for the idea and to my friend and fellow Dueser, 
Audrey, for letting me try out my madcap ideas on her. TYK, kawan! 

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Alliance. Just borrowing and will
return them in perfectly good condition. All typos and errors are my
own.

All comments and criticisms are welcome at llyjhly@ccn4.nott.ac.uk

Some Like It Blood-Red

----------------------
    "Not the Red, Benny." Ray shook his head at the mountie.

    "Not the red?" Fraser paused in the act of buckling his belt. "Why
not, Ray?"

    "Because it's not a formal dinner, Benny." Ray replied with a sardonic
lift of his eyebrow. "Besides, it makes you look too pale." 

    "It does?" Fraser scrutinised his reflection in the mirror. It was
true. The red serge jacket did make him look pale. "The brown uniform,
then?"

    Ray rolled his eyes dramatically. "Fraser, don't you own anything
else besides your uniforms?"

    "Yes, but..."
    
    "No buts. Face it, Benny, you are a *vampire*. You suck people's
blood, you kill..."

    "Not intentionally, Ray." Fraser protested quickly.
    
    "Ah yes. Only when you forget your preternatural strength, of course."

    "There's no need to be sarcastic, Ray."
    
    "Oh, was I being sarcastic? No, don't answer that. Just go and change.
Oh, and lose the hat, Mountie. Even if you don't kill your victims, I
don't think the RCMP will appreciate having reports of people being attacked
by a rabid mountie."

    "That's true, Ray. However, to be rabid, I would have to be 
infected by the rabies virus 'Lyssavirus Rhubdoviridae'. And in my condition
at the moment, I don't think..."

    "Don't think, Fraser. Just go...and...change." Ray sighed. "I'm thirsty,
and you know I get irritated when I don't get to feed." He bared his
teeth for one terrifying moment, his tongue licking his tiny, sharp fangs.
"I wonder what wolf blood tastes like..."

    A low growl answered him as Diefenbaker bared *his* own sharp teeth
at Ray, as if daring him to try.

    "Keep your fur on, Dief. I was just kidding." Ray laughed, 
slipping dark glasses over his brilliant green eyes. It had been a month
since he and Fraser had been transformed into the beings they were now.
One month of learning to survive as fledgling vampires. Fraser still
had his qualms about killing his victims, though he insisted that they
only hunted down criminals. Give the man a chance and he would be thanking
him kindly for their blood!

    Ray allowed himself a little smile. Since developing his 'long- term
allergy' to the sunlight, he had been transferred to the night shift.
Whether or not a night shift for detectives existed, he did not care.
What mattered was that he was on it! The one good thing to come out of
his 'condition' was that he had finally managed to close every one of
his long outstanding 41 unsolved cases. Somehow, the 
perpetrators had a strange tendency to turn up in alleys, either dead,
or delirious, claiming that they had been attacked by a 
vampire. Vampires in Chicago? Who would believe them?!

    "I'm ready,Ray." Fraser spoke from behind him, making him jump. 

    "You should try to make some noise when you walk, you know." he complained
irritatedly, though he noted with approval that his friend was dressed
more casually.

    "Sorry, Ray." The brilliant blue eyes that looked into his were anything
but sorry. If he did not know better, he could have sworn that Fraser
was laughing at him!

    "Right." Ray rubbed his hands together eagerly, grinning widely as
they stepped out of the apartment block into the cold night. 
"Tonight, we have a choice of fresh bank robbers, rapists or 
murderers. Or, we could be lazy and break into the blood bank for a quick
frozen takeaway!" he laughed uncontrollably at his own joke. 

    Fraser simply cast him a despairing look and shook his head. "That's
so silly, Ray."

    THE END...?

Hsu-Lyn Yap
llyjhly@ccn4.nott.ac.uk