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So now you know that a dose of prudence was appropriate after Agent Jenkins was bitten. But prudence was not in team leader Hard Ass Henderson's vocabulary that night. And the result was one of the dark days in the history of the FVZA, Detroit bureau.

Date: December 18, 1973
Place: Detroit, Michigan

7:00 a.m. This is how your day begins. In the emergency room at Detroit Mercy Hospital, a nervous intern leans over you with a big fat needle in his hand and says, "I've never done this before," before plunging the needle into your abdomen. Sweet Jesus, that hurts! Apparently, the vampire vaccine has to be acted on by the digestive system in order to be effective, which is why they deliver the shots to the belly. Did I say shots? Yep, seven in all. Each one hurts as much as the last, but the pain pails in comparison to how you feel about losing two team members.

After the vaccine is administered, the doctor leaves you alone in your bed. You lie back and close your eyes for the first time in about 30 hours, but sleep will not come. Instead, your mind returns to the vampire encounter at the industrial park. You see Hard Ass Henderson leading the agents into the building after the vampires, and you hear the body of an agent hit the pavement with a squishy thud after being thrown from a third floor window. Of course, you had no choice but to leave your wounded friend and go in. And it was a good thing you did, because the team was pinned down in a dark stairwell and needed you to help fight their way out. But rescuing them came at a cost: you sustained a minor bite wound to the hand.

Dec. 18, 1973: a homeless man maneuvers through the storm

You were just coming to grips with your injury when you heard the explosion. And then you remembered: Jenkins! Unfortunately, when you got back outside, the Plymouth Valiant and the surveillance van were already engulfed in flames, and Billy Blue and his vampires were driving off into the night in his Lincoln Continental. The mission was an unmitigated disaster: two agents, including a good friend, dead, and a pack of vampires still at large.

8:00 a.m. Leo Garber, boss of the FVZA Detroit office, stops by your room at the hospital. He's no spring chicken, but this morning he looks especially haggard: he's taking the loss of the agents as hard as you. After you explain what happened, he puts a sympathetic hand on your shoulder and says, "I want you to get some rest today. With the storm, there's not much you can do anyway." He pauses by the door before leaving. "When you report in tomorrow," he says, "I'm putting you in charge of this case." Your expression betrays surprise. "What about Henderson," you ask. Garber shakes his head and says, "he's on administrative leave until further notice."

12:15 p.m. You try to rest at the hospital, but it's no use. This is the first case you've ever been put in charge of, and you can't wait to start. So you throw on your clothes and walk out of the hospital and into the driving snow. You look for a taxi, but only the snowplows are running now, so you walk the fifteen blocks to the Fisher Building. When you arrive at the office, Garber and the others are not surprised to see you. They inform you that a sweep of the industrial park revealed that the vampires were using it only as a temporary base and that their real base must be elsewhere.

2:45 p.m. A couple of hours trying to pin down possible vampire hideouts has gotten you nowhere. The problem is, Detroit's blight-ridden downtown is chockablock with potential vampire bases such as abandoned hotels, theaters and auto factories. You suggest the team go out and talk to some homeless people, a suggestion that draws a laugh from one of the investigators. "Those people are scattered all over the place," he says. "Normally, yes," you respond, "but not today."

A once-pricey address in Brush Park

3:30 p.m. Today's storm has driven hundreds of homeless into the cavernous old Detroit Rescue Mission on Cass Boulevard. Men huddle shoulder to shoulder at long tables, trying to warm themselves over bowls of soup. Although the homeless men are in no mood to be bothered, you and your team move among them, flashing pictures of Billy Blue and his Lincoln Continental and asking for information. It's tough going. Some people cuss you out, some tell you their life story. And the ones who claim to have seen Billy are just trying to make conversation. But one man is different: Joe Devane, who only recently joined the rolls of the homeless. Mr. Devane tells you that he was crashing in an abandoned home in the Brush Park neighborhood last week and on several occasions saw a blue Lincoln Continental "big as a boat" driving through the neighborhood late at night.

Brush Park is a familiar name to FVZA agents. The neighborhood was once the pride of Detroit with its mansions and handsome Victorian homes. But the "white flight" from the city transformed Brush Park into a ghost town. and made it prime real estate for vampire packs.

4:30 p.m. The Blue Diner, Woodward Ave. Meatloaf, coffee, and conversation. It's said that even the most idealistic FVZA agent becomes a skeptic over time, and your team is no different. One agent sums up the feelings of the rest by asking, "are we gonna do a sweep through Brush Park based on the statement of a wino?" After a lull in the conversation, someone says, "so what do we do?" For a moment you wonder why they are all looking at you, and then you remember: I'm in charge.

Inform the appropriate city departments (police, snow removal, etc.) of the possibility of a vampire pack operating in and around Brush Park. Go back to headquarters, plan an investigative mission for tomorrow and then go home. Go back to headquarters and prepare for Night Patrol. Take a surveillance van and go to Brush Park. Cruise the neighborhood and look for evidence of vampire activity.