The Dark Streets

by Matthew Smith

  “Okay, the first one is 2773 North Sheffield Ave, 110 Sheffield Ave, 90 Sheffield, 2790 Kenmore Ave and 2798 Kenmore.”

  “Okay thanks Laura, have a good day.”

  “You too Jack and good luck on your book.” I hung up the phone,

  “So this man with the axe is a local man, there have been five incidents before you, I have the addresses that these incidents happened at, so we'll start with those.” Willow nodded,

  “Okay sounds good Jack.” I put my shoes on and grabbed my jacket and put it on and walked to the second bedroom, I took out a key from my breast pocket and unlocked the door and walked in. I shut the door and walked to a cabinet and used the second key on the same key ring and unlocked the cabinet and opened it and grabbed a 9mm Glock and grabbed some ammo for it and grabbed two holsters and ammo belts, and closed the cabinet and locked it andI left the room and closed and locked the door and I handed the 9mm Glock to Willow,

  “Here take this... It's for protection.” I also handed her one of the holsters and ammo belts,

  “Here, this will help you carry the gun and ammo.”

  “Thanks Jack.” I took my jacket off and I put on my holster and ammo belt and put my gun in the holster and the ammo in the belt and I put my jacket back on and Willow gave me a seductive look and winked at him,

  “No problem, Willow.” I walked up to her and leaned in and we kissed. “Alright let's go.” We got out of the bedroom and I locked the door and we walked out of my apartment and I locked my door. We walked to the elevator and I pressed the down button, the elevator started going down. It reached my floor and the doors opened and we walked in. I pressed the main floor button and the doors closed, the elevator started going down and after a couple of minutes the elevator reached the main floor, and the doors opened and we walked out and walked towards the exit. We walked out of the apartment building and we reached her car and we got in and buckled in our seatbelts, she looked at me,

  “So where is the first partner?”

  “Let's go to 2773 North Sheffield Ave first.” She nodded and turned her car on and started driving towards the destination,

  “So these people saw that same man I did?” I nodded,

  “Yes, that seems so, but most of them saw him before my father was murdered.” Her eyes grew wide,

  “This guy's been around before your father was murdered... That's not good, by the way I need to go to Cajan's to quit Jack.” I nodded,

  “Yeah sure.” We started driving towards Cajan's Bar, after a couple of minutes we reached Cajan's, she parked the car in front of the bar and turned the car off and we got out and walked into the bar. In the bar standing behind the counter, washing some beer mugs was the owner of the bar, Mr. Cajan. He stopped washing the mugs and looked up at us,

  “Hello Jack, hello Willow!” I waved at Mr. Cajan,

  “Hey Mr. Cajan, preparing for the day?” He nodded,

  “Yes, what brings you guys to my bar this morning?” We walked up to the counter and sat on a stool,

  “Well Mr. Cajan, I'm letting you know that I'm quitting, I'm helping Jack as a counsellor at the drug addict recovery program.” He nodded and smiled,

  “That's okay, you didn’t need the job that much anyways and sounds like you and Jack will help this city.”

  “Yes, thanks for being so understanding of the situation Mr. Cajan.” He smiled,

  “Yeah no problem and at least you're doing something honorable.” Mr. Cajan went back to washing his mugs,

  “Well I have to go back to getting ready, have a good day guys.”

  “Yeah you too, Mr. Cajan.” We turned around and walked out of the bar and got into Willow's car and we buckled up and she turned the car on and she started driving towards our destination. We arrived at the first address, 2773 North Sheffield and she turned her car off and we got out and walked towards the front door, I knocked on the door and it slowly pushed open and I noticed that it was kicked in, we walked inside,

  “Looks like either a break-in or a strange incident, I'm gonna go with the latter.” Willow nodded,

  “I agree, we should check upstairs, I got a hunch there's something up there.” I nodded and we walked upstairs and noticed one of the bedroom doors open and walked towards the room and saw the body of the owner of the house, hacked to death and blood splattered everywhere.

  Chapter Six

  Willow took one look at the body and ran to the bathroom and threw up, she came back to the room,

  “Looks like the man that was following you, is our killer alright.” I kneel down to touch the blood on the floor, “the blood looks a little dry, he must've been murdered during the night.” I looked at Willow, “you should feel very lucky Willow, this easily could've been you.” She couldn't stop staring at the body and she looked as pale as a ghost,

  “Who could've done something this awful?” I put my hand on her shoulder,

  “Someone sick, crazy, depraved and insane in the head.” We heard sirens blaring towards our location,

  “Fuck! How could they’ve known about our location!? Someone must’ve called it in, we need to leave now or we're going to be arrested for a murder we didn't commit!” We ran out of the room and down the stairs and out of the door and we got into her car. She turned it on and we sped away from the house,

  “That was closer than it should've been, we need to be more careful next time, I wonder if someone called it in?” I rubbed my chin,

  “That is very possible, it is very populated here.”

  “Jack, if we are to continue this mission, it is time for Willow to know everything.” I nodded and looked at Willow,

  “There’s someone I’d like you to meet Willow, he’s a very old friend of mine, a friend back from college, let’s go to my apartment.” Willow looked at me,

  “Who Jack?”

  “Just go to my apartment and I’ll show you when we’re there.” She nodded and we drove towards my apartment and we arrived at the parking lot and she turned her car off, “follow me.” We unbuckled our seatbelts and opened our door and we got out. We started walking towards my apartment building and we made it to the front door and I opened it and Willow walked in and I walked in after her and pulled out my key and unlocked the main lobby door and walked to the elevator and I pressed the call button and the elevator doors opened, “you first, milady.”

  “Well thank you my kind sire.” She smiled and mockingly bowed and walked into the elevator and I walked in after her, I pressed the third floor button, and the elevator doors closed and it started going up. The elevator stopped, and the doors opened and we walked out of the elevator. We started walking down the hallway towards my apartment. We reached it and I pulled out my apartment key and unlocked the door and opened it and we walked in and I closed the door behind us. We walked into my living room and we sat down, she looked at me,

  “So Jack, who do you want me to meet?”

  “You can come out anytime Stake .” I back away from her and close my eyes, I opened them and Stake was in front of me and Willow, Stake looked at Willow and offered her his hand and smiled,

  “You must be Willow, Jack has told me a lot about you”

  “No I haven’t.” Stake smiled,

  “Oops must’ve been inside of your head then, my bad.” Willow shook his hand,

  “Who exactly are you?” Stake bowed,

  “I am Stake, I’m an Morpher from the Dimension called Ether and I am the son of an Elder of the Ether Dimension, Marlik. My people created your Dimension and two other Dimensions by using Principle and Nepharia Energy to recreate the Big Bang. I’ve known you friend Jack here since he was in college, but then I had to leave because my brother Drogoth is trying to merge the Principle and Nepharia Energies of all five of the Dimensions to create his One Dimension Universe, I’ve enlisted yours and mine friend Jack here to help me take my brother down, because he’s infected with a psychological virus called the Darkness which was created by a race that my people are at war with called th
e Zions, they created it to win the war but it so far it’s just spreading and corrupting the minds of all living creatures in the Dimensions.” Willow’s eyes grew wide,

  “I’m but what are you talking about!? What are these Energies you’re going on about?” Stake looked at me,

  “Can you explain it to her for me please?” I nodded and looked Willow,

  “So Willow the Energies that Stake is talking about, Principle and Nepharia Energy are the building blocks of life, Principle Energy is your physical makeup like your body and blood and what not, Nepharia Energy is your Soul Energy, the Energy that gives your Principle Energy it’s meaning, that’s the best way to describe it, all living creatures have both Energies, and when you die your Principle Energy manifests into pure Nepharia Energy in the Soul Dimension, the afterlife where all living creature go when there Principle Energy dies.” Willow looked at me,

  “So there is Heaven?” I nodded,

  “Yes, it’s just a different kind of Heaven.” Stake nodded,

  “I’ve been there multiple times, it’s actually just like living in a big city and it’s also ruled and governed by a race of people that were born there, they’re called the Lynars, they are basically the government, police, justice system and the border patrol of the Soul Dimension, my people merely just work with them on a treaty basis, every year a representative of the Elders of the Ether Dimension will meet with the leaders of the Lynars and sign a new treaty.”

  “Wow, sounds very sophisticated for an afterlife.” Stake shrugged,

  “Hey it’s there home as much as it is ours so it only makes sense to do it that way and it’s worked for centuries, no war between our two people at all, ever since my people discovered them.”

  “I wish I could say the same for my people but unfortunately we would have already killed all of them and ruled it for our own greed.” Stake smiled,

  “You think so highly about your people Jack.” Willow looked at Stake,

  “So who exactly is this Drogoth? You said he was your brother right?” Stake looked at Willow and nodded,

  “Yes that is correct, and Drogoth is quite possibly the most evil and most dangerous person in all of the Dimensions, he has fused his Principle and Nepharia Energy with the Darkness virus and has become an almost unkillable monster of destruction, he is slowly killing your Dimension, he was the one behind the cult ten years ago and he is once again involved with the current situation.”

  “So Drogoth is behind the murder of Jack’s father?” I nodded,

  “Yes I’m afraid so Willow, and the cult could very well be back because Drogoth is to weak to make himself physically here, like right Stake is draining the last bit of his power to introduce himself to you and then he will be back inside my head for now until he can recover more Energy.” Stake looked at Willow,

  “Speaking of which, I must go now Willow, it was a pleasure meeting you and keep an eye on my friend there, if he dies, a part of me dies.” Willow nodded,

  “Will do Stake.” Stake then disappeared,

  “Well you met my friend Stake, what do you think?”

  “I think we have our mission now and it’s time to save our Dimension.” I nodded,

  “I agree, but I think there’s one thing left to do.”

  “What’s that?” I started taking off my clothes, I had my shirt off,

  “To have some fun.” I took off the rest of my clothes, and I was standing naked in front of her,

  “You really want to do it with me?” I smiled,

  “Of course silly.” Willow blushed and I kissed her on her neck,

  “Oh Jack, I love you.” Willow started taking her clothes off and she was in her bra and panties, I look up and down her body,

  “I love you too Willow.” I walked up to her and started kissing her body and then we made love. I awake and I see Willow's naked body laying next to me,

  “Good morning beautiful.” Willow opened her eyes and looked at me,

  “Good morning Jack, that was the best night in my entire life.” I got up and put my clothes back on,

  “So what do you think of my friend from the Ether Dimension, Stake?” She got up and looked at me and smiled,

  “I like him, I do find it weird he’s from another Dimension but also is in your head.” I smiled,

  “He’s not exactly in my head, just his voice is and when he comes here, he’s teleporting.” Willow nodded,

  “Oh okay that makes sense now.” I walked up to Willow and looked her in the eyes,

  “I have something I want to say to you.” She smiled and looked at me,

  “And what exactly is that?”

  “I love you.” I kissed her on the lips and she kissed me back, we let go of each other and she blushed and smiled,

  “I love you too Jack.” I smiled,

  “Let’s go, we have to stop whoever is going on a rampage through the streets of Chicago.” She got up and got dressed and we walked out of my apartment and I closed the door behind us and locked it. We started walking down the hallway towards the elevator. We reached the elevator and I pressed the call button and after a minute of waiting the elevator doors opened and we got in and I pressed the ground floor button and the doors closed and the elevator started going down. It stopped and the doors opened and we got out we started walking towards the exit out of the main lobby door, we reached the door and I opened it and walked out the apartment building and walked to her car and we got in and buckled our seatbelts in, she turned the car on and drove out of the parking lot,

  “So where to now Jack?” I looked at her,

  “We're going to 2790 Kenmore Ave.” She nodded and started driving towards the address,

  "So... how did you meet Stake exactly?" I looked at her,

  “Well when I was in college studying biochemistry, I got involved with some bad people and started doing terrible things, things I’m not proud of… anyways it started eating at me so much that I almost killed myself but then Stake convinced me otherwise told me I was important, that I was destined for great things and well we became friends after shortly after that.” She nodded,

  “I’m so sorry to hear that Jack.” I looked at her and smiled,

  “Don’t be, it’s okay.” I looked out the car window and back at Willow, “I may not be proud of the things I've done but at the same time I'm glad I did do them, because they've led me here... to you.” We reached the address; it was a house that looked like it was about to fall apart. She parked in the driveway and turned the car off and we unbuckled our seatbelts and opened our doors and got out of the car,

  “Well here we are... looks a bit sketchy.” I nodded,

  “I agree.” We walked towards the back door and I tried to open it but it didn't open,

  “Here let me try." She took out a bobby pin from her hair and started picking the lock to the door, after a while there was a clicking sound and she pushed the door open, “ta da! Open sesame!” I chuckled,

  “Okay now, nobody likes a show off... ladies first.” We walked in and the house was completely empty,

  “Looks like whoever lived here before doesn't anymore, we should look around to see if there's any evidence of the person or people that used to live here before.” She nodded,

  “Okay.” We walked around the bottom floor of the house and found nothing,

  “Nothing down here, let's go upstairs and see if there’s anything up there.” We walked up the stairs to the top floor and the hallway at the top of the stairs splits in two directions, left and right,

  “You go that way and I'll go this way.” I pointed for her to go left, she nodded and walked down the left path and I walked down the right path. I walked into the first room I came across and it was a bedroom, it was completely empty and I looked in the closet and saw a bunch of hangers with sweaters and jackets hanging on them,

  “Jack! Come here, I think I found something!” I ran to where Willow was and she was in the master bedroom, she had a picture in her hand. She handed me the
picture, it showed a girl and a guy smiling and holding each other in each others arms, “I’m pretty sure this is Elizabeth, Mr. Cajan's sister and this must be her boyfriend, they must've lived here before she died a week before your father.”

  “How did she die?”

  “She died of a heart attack.” I put the picture in the breast pocket of my jacket,

  “That’s sad, such a pretty life died too young, we should pay Mr. Cajan another visit, this time we need some information from him.” She nodded and we walked down the stairs and out of the house and we got back into her car, and buckled our seatbelts in and she turned it on and she drove out of the driveway, and down the street towards Mr. Cajan's bar,

  “So what’s your thoughts on the case Jack?” I rubbed my chin,

  “I’m not going to lie Willow, that’s the thing that scares me the most, this case is definitely a mystery, and I can’t exactly put my finger on it, what about you Willow?”

  “Well I think it’s very possible that the cult that your father and Jonathan took down could’ve come back under a different name and is helping Drogoth.” I nodded,

  “I think you’re right Willow, when I was talking with Mike when me and Jon raided his warehouse, he said Drogoth will be proud of him because he successfully spread the Darkness to Jon and made him shoot me and I had to kill him and Mike was the leader of The Blue Knights, the cult from ten years ago, him and Thomas, another member of The Blue Knights were bailed out by a anonymous source.” Willow’s eyes grew wide,

  “Well there you go, you just confirmed it Jack! Mike and Thomas were bailed out by the new leaders, who are working with Stake’s brother Drogoth and maybe Thomas is the Axe Man?” I nodded,

  “That seems logical to me, I like the way you think Willow, it’s very sexy.” I winked at her, she blushed, we reached Mr. Cajan’s bar, Willow pulled up to an empty parking space in front of it, she turned the car off and looked at me and kissed me and let go of me,

  “I love you Jack.” I smiled,

  “I love you too Willow.” We got out of the car and started walking to the front door of Cajan's, we opened the door and saw Mr. Cajan behind the counter cleaning mugs,