inside them, no matter how badly you cut them. You’d have to run them through a blender. There must have been some blood left when she was dragged into the alley.”
“So you think a vampire got to her in that alley, sometime between the point at which she was beaten to death and the time the police arrived?”
“That’s what I think could have happened, yes.”
Connor noted six heads nodding at his assessment. With any luck, he now had a majority. Having numbers on his side might even swing some additional votes his way, especially if some were more interested in leaving early than in seeing justice done.
“But you’re not sure?” asked Mrs. Rational.
“How can anybody be sure?” asked Connor. “But the prosecutor-bot sure didn’t bring it up, and it should have.”
“So let’s say,” said the woman, “for the sake of argument, that she wasn’t a vampire when these six guys beat the tar out of her.”
Connor nodded.
“And let’s say, for the sake of argument, that a vampire got to her in the alley after she was dumped there, and it drained all her blood, which turned her into a vampire, but then she was too weakened so it didn’t stick and then she died…”
Connor nodded again.
“If that’s the case, then these kids are still not guilty of murder. Some vampire killed her.” She leaned back in her chair, waiting for Connor to come up with a valid reply. There were murmurings from almost every other seat.
“We don’t have to find them guilty of murder,” said Connor. “At that point we could return a guilty verdict for a lesser charge like attempted murder.”
“But that’s a lot of theory,” said Mr. Angry. “There’s still reasonable doubt that the girl was already dead before they got to her. We have to find them not guilty.”
Mrs. Rational nodded. “It’s not that I disagree with you about vampires; I think we as a society could, and should, find a way to integrate them, but that’s not our job here.”
Connor stared back at her. If he lost her support, then there was no hope for a guilty verdict. Was it enough that he had convinced one person that vampires deserved equal treatment? He had come to see justice done for a girl whose only crime was to have been bitten in the neck, could he live with having altered one person’s perception towards the undead?
No.
“God damn it!” Connor stood up so quickly that he strained the bolts which held his chair to the floor. “Don’t you even care about doing what’s right? Doesn’t it matter to you that these kids beat a girl for no good reason, maybe beat her to death? They punched her, they kicked her, they threw her down, and they beat her with a piece of wood they’d been carrying around since they found it at a construction site. When it broke they jammed it into her chest!”
Blood rushed to Connor’s head, but the flow left him unsteady. He was running out of energy and he could feel his rationality being pushed aside by instinct. He forced down the feelings of confusion and hunger as best he could.
“The girl was a nobody!” Mr. Angry stood too, his face red. Connor could see veins straining against the skin of the man’s forehead, could almost taste the pulse of the arteries in his neck. “And if she was a vampire then she was less than nobody! I’m not saying these kids are angels, but we’re here to uphold the law, and the law says that if she was a vampire then they aren’t guilty. I don’t know that she was, but she might have been, and if we can’t prove for sure that she wasn’t, then we have no choice! It’s not our damned fault that there isn’t enough evidence!”
He swept a hand across the table, sending his pencil flying as he sat back down, one hand rubbing the left side of his chest, under the armpit. “Fuck the girl and the piece of wood to the heart. All of this yelling is making my heart hurt.”
Connor stared at the man, forcing aside thirst and focusing on one coherent thought.
“So you think a vampire got to her in that alley, sometime between the point at which she was beaten to death and the time the police arrived?”
“That’s what I think could have happened, yes.”
Connor noted six heads nodding at his assessment. With any luck, he now had a majority. Having numbers on his side might even swing some additional votes his way, especially if some were more interested in leaving early than in seeing justice done.
“But you’re not sure?” asked Mrs. Rational.
“How can anybody be sure?” asked Connor. “But the prosecutor-bot sure didn’t bring it up, and it should have.”
“So let’s say,” said the woman, “for the sake of argument, that she wasn’t a vampire when these six guys beat the tar out of her.”
Connor nodded.
“And let’s say, for the sake of argument, that a vampire got to her in the alley after she was dumped there, and it drained all her blood, which turned her into a vampire, but then she was too weakened so it didn’t stick and then she died…”
Connor nodded again.
“If that’s the case, then these kids are still not guilty of murder. Some vampire killed her.” She leaned back in her chair, waiting for Connor to come up with a valid reply. There were murmurings from almost every other seat.
“We don’t have to find them guilty of murder,” said Connor. “At that point we could return a guilty verdict for a lesser charge like attempted murder.”
“But that’s a lot of theory,” said Mr. Angry. “There’s still reasonable doubt that the girl was already dead before they got to her. We have to find them not guilty.”
Mrs. Rational nodded. “It’s not that I disagree with you about vampires; I think we as a society could, and should, find a way to integrate them, but that’s not our job here.”
Connor stared back at her. If he lost her support, then there was no hope for a guilty verdict. Was it enough that he had convinced one person that vampires deserved equal treatment? He had come to see justice done for a girl whose only crime was to have been bitten in the neck, could he live with having altered one person’s perception towards the undead?
No.
“God damn it!” Connor stood up so quickly that he strained the bolts which held his chair to the floor. “Don’t you even care about doing what’s right? Doesn’t it matter to you that these kids beat a girl for no good reason, maybe beat her to death? They punched her, they kicked her, they threw her down, and they beat her with a piece of wood they’d been carrying around since they found it at a construction site. When it broke they jammed it into her chest!”
Blood rushed to Connor’s head, but the flow left him unsteady. He was running out of energy and he could feel his rationality being pushed aside by instinct. He forced down the feelings of confusion and hunger as best he could.
“The girl was a nobody!” Mr. Angry stood too, his face red. Connor could see veins straining against the skin of the man’s forehead, could almost taste the pulse of the arteries in his neck. “And if she was a vampire then she was less than nobody! I’m not saying these kids are angels, but we’re here to uphold the law, and the law says that if she was a vampire then they aren’t guilty. I don’t know that she was, but she might have been, and if we can’t prove for sure that she wasn’t, then we have no choice! It’s not our damned fault that there isn’t enough evidence!”
He swept a hand across the table, sending his pencil flying as he sat back down, one hand rubbing the left side of his chest, under the armpit. “Fuck the girl and the piece of wood to the heart. All of this yelling is making my heart hurt.”
Connor stared at the man, forcing aside thirst and focusing on one coherent thought.
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