Chapter 1
“… Is the mist seen only on moonless nights really the spirit of Lady Catherine, or is there a natural explanation? Until the next time, sleep tight.”
Loki Beaker stifled a laugh as his wife Circe switched off the TV.
“I’ll never understand why you watch that nonsense - you know it’s all faked!” he said as a cushion narrowly missed his head.
“And you’re just a miserable old sceptic,” Circe replied playfully, “but you’d never believe in anything unless it jumped up and smacked your face!”
Loki and Circe had been friends since they were children, and married soon after graduating from college. For the past fifteen years Loki had put his degree in criminal psychology to good use as a detective in the Sim City Police Department, where he’d gained a reputation as a hard as nails perfectionist. However there was no arguing against the fact that his methods worked, as he had one of the Department’s highest clear up rates.
Just as Loki was following his wife up the stairs, the telephone started ringing.
“I’ll get it,” he grumbled.
Five minutes later he was getting dressed, cursing the prospect of another emergency shift that wouldn’t finish until sunrise.
“It’s another one isn’t it?” Circe asked as Loki kissed her goodbye.
He nodded in reply; Circe would have all of the details the following morning as she carried out the post mortem.
“The victim’s name is Eve O’Brian, 22 years old and single,” Loki’s partner Rebecca Collins informed him as they arrived at the park.
Rebecca’s fiancee, Neil Specter, was the officer on duty when the call came in at headquarters and he now had the unenviable task of bringing the detectives up to speed, although Loki was sure that he knew the victim from somewhere. Eve appeared to be the fifth victim in a bizarre series of murders. All of the victims were females in their 20’s, attacked by a person or persons unknown between 10pm and 1am. There was no obvious motive for the crimes as none of the women had been robbed, and there were no clear indications of a struggle taking place. So far the only the evidence the police had to work with were the two small puncture marks on the victims’ necks and the cause of death, officially recorded as severe blood loss.
Neil had just finished reading the preliminary notes back to Loki and Rebecca when a woman cried out behind them. Loki turned around and let out an angry breath when he saw the woman’s face.
“Shit, now I recognize her,” he muttered to himself.
The woman standing behind them was a young reporter from the Sim City Chronicle who’d been getting on the Department’s nerves ever since the murders began. Convinced that there was more to the story than the police had been letting on, she’d been a constant presence at each press conference the detectives had given.
Yay! The story has begun! It was an excellent first chapter, I’m definitely hooked. Your description of the vampire feeding was interesting–very sensual and yet horrible. Nice cliffhanger too! Gah! I’m so looking forward to the next chapter.
Comment by Kara — December 7, 2007 @ 6:38 am
Wow, I wasn’t expecting the integration of some of Maxis’ own sims–that’s pretty cool. So is this set within ‘game canon’ or separately? I noticed Loki and Circe aren’t their usual crazy selves.
Interesting that a vampire is ratting out another. I’m sure that’ll go over well. Though I probably would, too. I mean, you need to cover your tracks better! You can’t just let the cattle lying about where everyone can see it! Sheesh.
Comment by Mao — December 7, 2007 @ 7:51 am
Thanks for reading you two, and I’m over the moon that you enjoyed the first chapter
Kara: I have to admit to enjoying the feeding slightly more than I probably should have *blushes* But with that particular vampire I’m hoping for a ‘love him and hate him at the same time’ effect, so I’m glad you thought it was sensual and horrible
Mao: From day one I had Loki and Circe in mind for this story as they’ve always been my favourite Maxis sims
This is separate though, and I did give them both a personality transplant (i.e. added some nice points) which is why they’re not as crazy! They’ve also moved away from Strange Town, which I deleted, so perhaps the move has done them some good 
I’m not sure if you realised that Nervous is playing the part of Neil Specter? He also got a personality upgrade and lives with Rebecca and his mum, so he’ll be easier to spot in a later chapter. As for the vampires, there’s quite a lot of history between them …. 
There’ll be some background in Chapter 2, and more in Chapter 3 - that main chunk has been simmed since July or August so that I could move a whole bunch of downloads out once I’d finished with them LOL!
Hopefully I’ll be able to get Chapter 2 online just after Christmas, as I’m still working on my royal kingdom
Comment by Tanya — December 7, 2007 @ 10:51 pm
Hi, I saw your post on SimScribes and here i am reading your new story. Nice work i must say, your description about the feeding really interesting. And Carolyn look pretty. A vampire running around killing women and leave their bodies there? Kinda careless or maybe overconfident if you ask me. I’ll be waiting for next update!
Comment by karen — December 8, 2007 @ 12:23 am
Great beginning! I will leave you more detailed comments at the Hangout.
Comment by Ava — December 8, 2007 @ 1:45 am
Thanks for the comments Karen and Ava
Karen: I have to admit that the vampire who killed Eve does have a lot of confidence - maybe more than is healthy - but without giving anything away he had his reasons for leaving her body in a place where it was easy to find ….
Ava: Seems like ages since I’ve spoken to you! Just to go off topic for a moment, I will finish Forefathers eventually
Glad you enjoyed this chapter! See you at the Hangout 
Comment by Tanya — December 8, 2007 @ 6:00 am
Very interesting story, the kind of story that kind of makes you feel as if you’re a witness and I can smell a good story from more than a mile because i’m an avid reader. Can’t wait for the rest. Princess
Comment by Princess — December 9, 2007 @ 8:46 am
Thanks Princess!
Comment by Tanya — December 11, 2007 @ 6:42 am
Great start! I can’t wait to see where this is leading.
Comment by Nvrrdy — December 17, 2007 @ 1:39 pm
Thanks Nvrrdy
There’ll be a few hints here and there in the next couple of chapters, but I’m trying to make them subtle so that you don’t realise that they’re hints. In fact there are a few different things going on that all tie in with the main plot ….
Comment by Tanya — December 20, 2007 @ 6:20 am
What a fantastic end twist. I finally finished this chapter!
I love that Circe and Loki are in this. I am seeing them in a whole new light and you already know how sensual I thought that feeding was.
Tanya: YAY! Well done for reaching the end
Loki was an instant choice of character for this story, as I don’t think any of the other Maxis sims would have worked. There’s something about him that seems to fit just right, and he ties in nicely with one set of vampires and their origins ….
The feeding seems to have been quite a hit with a few readers, and I certainly enjoyed writing it
Comment by Anghard (bohemianscribe) — March 7, 2008 @ 9:35 am