Nocturnal

by David Paul

  “Stay the fuck away from me, you psycho!” The detective is having a major meltdown. The walls of his lifelong reality have crumbled into shambles. Jack wants there to be trickery involved because his mind cannot comprehend the truth. “I saw it with my own eyes,” Jack mumbled. The detective struggles to get a grasp on his own sanity. “There has got to be an explanation for this. This isn’t real. Get a grip, Jack. This is all bullshit, Jack.” He kept mumbling, and he slapped himself in the face in an effort to wake up.

  “I am not a psycho. I am a vampire.”

  “This is all bullshit!” The detective kept assuring himself that everything is all right. “There is no way that this is real.”

  “Is this bullshit?” the nightwalker asked.

  David takes Detangelo’s pistol with the cop still holding it and puts it in his mouth. The cop is petrified. The vampire wills for Jack to squeeze the trigger. Another deafening gunshot rings throughout the house, and David’s blood and brains are spattered onto the adjacent wall. Detangelo is also covered in his blood and brain fragments.

  “Jesus Christ, David!” Fiona screamed loudly from the living room. “Can you fucking play nice? Fuck!”

  Emily is completely boggled by what is happening and doesn’t speak. This is a bizarre adventure for her, and she is rolling with the punches surprisingly well. In a sick way, Emily is excited by the drama and is unafraid. She longs for an escape from her mundane world.

  David exhales smoke from his mouth while the back of his head is also smoking. He lights another cigarette. The detective can see the powder burns from the gunshot on David’s lips and cheeks. David hands Jack a monogrammed handkerchief to wipe his face off with. The detective looks at David for what seems an eternity, but in reality was only a minute. A moment later, all signs of a wound are completely gone, except for the mess. Jack vomits all over a priceless oriental area rug that is already spotted with brain matter and speckled with blood.

  “Are you getting the point, detective?”

  “I don’t understand what the fuck is going on here.”

  “You are not hallucinating,” David said. “This is not a joke. Everything that I have told you is the truth. Carver is possessed by a powerful demon, and the demon is making him perform these rituals. Carver is an innocent man. I have the next and most probable victim, Emily Sunderland, in my living room smoking pot and watching the movie Superbad with Fiona.” The vampire nonchalantly explains all of this as he retracts his fangs, and his eyes go back to their normal piercing darkness.

  “But how can this be?” Detangelo asked. The detective is calming down, but still shakes his head in disbelief.

  “Jack,” David said, “we don’t have time for me to go through almost eight-hundred years of history to explain my story. I wanted to level with you before, but was afraid that you would never believe me. Not only is this demon using Carver to hack up innocent women, but the demon is working toward ending the world.”

  “That’s just fucking great, David,” the cop said, “or whoever or whatever the fuck you are.” The detective to stumbled over his words. “This is straight out of some kind of a horror movie. How did I get mixed up in this? I need to have my fucking head examined.” Detangelo cannot believe what he had seen and heard. “I’ll take that drink now,” Jack said.

  His mind is twisted, but the detective stays. David makes the drink a double for Jack and hands it to him quickly. Detangelo downs the Irish whiskey like it was lemonade and asks for another. David obliges him and sits down in the chair beside him.

  “Gimme a break,” Detangelo said. “You just proved to me in dramatic fashion that the boogieman is real. That is kind of hard to swallow in my line of work. There is never some magical reason behind anything. There is always a bad guy, and it is never the boogieman. It is always some jealous lover, a thief, or a madman.” The detective is still trying to make sense of it all. “Do you realize how many unsolved cases that we have?” Jack asked. “God only knows what happened to all of the missing persons and the victims of unsolved murders. You just discredited my entire career as a homicide detective.”

  Detangelo is still shaking his head in disbelief.

  “Jack,” the vampire said, “I am letting you in on a secret of the universe. You no longer have to walk in darkness with your eyes shrouded by lies. Ignorance allows these evil forces to operate. There is a God and a Devil, and they are both at work on a daily basis.” The vampire offered some consolation to the shaken detective.

  David explains to Jack about Rawley and who he is in the grand scheme of the world. David is being completely honest, and somehow Jack knows this even though everything seemed so far fetched. The detective is now starting to piece everything together. He explains to Jack how he broke into Carver’s office and looked through his files to come to the conclusion about who the next potential victims are. Jack is amazed by what the vampire is telling him and also by David’s detective skills.

  “We could use you on the force.” He jokes with David. Finally, Jack has suspended his disbelief because the facts are adding up. He is starting to correlate the information that David is giving him. Much like a typical human, Jack’s mind is routed in hardcore science, facts, figures, and not magical mumbo-jumbo. It is very hard to unlearn what you have believed in for your entire life.

  “So what are we going to do?” Jack asked.

  “First, we have to find Carver and stop him from killing Kaye Miller if possible. I was hoping that we could put Emily in protective custody even though I’m contemplating protecting her myself. I’m pretty confident that she will be safe here with Fiona and Damien.”

  “Who’s Damien?” The cop asked. David walks the detective through the house into the backyard. There is an air-controlled kennel that is the size of a small apartment. David opens the door and is greeted by the vicious growls of an absolutely huge dog. “Is that a wolf or a dog? Holy shit, that thing has got to be over three hundred pounds.” Jack watches in amazement from behind David.

  “Hey buddy,” the vampire greeted his pet. He receives kisses everywhere from the animal. “Damien is part German Sheppard, but mostly Arctic wolf.”

  Jack steps backward, and the dark-furred beast focuses all attention on him and grunts a deep growl that reverberates through the ground. Damien’s ice-blue emotionless eyes pierce through Jack’s soul and leave the hairs on the detectives back standing on end. Saliva drips from massive teeth, and the animal’s heavy breath is unnerving.

  “Come here, boy. This is Jack. He is a friend, and there is no need for alarm.” Damien becomes quite docile and walks slowly over to Jack. “Pet him, Jack. It is alright.” Jack slowly touches the animal, and Damien gives him his paw. David goes to a refrigerator inside the kennel and brings out a large piece of raw meat. “Good boy,” David said. The vampire gives him the huge treat. The meat is devoured in seconds, and David walks into the house with the detective and Damien.

  “Fiona,” David said, “introduce Emily to Damien to avoid the usual hysteria.”

  “Damien,” Fiona said, “come here boy!” Damien bolts into the house to get to Fiona. A loud “holy shit” is heard as Emily sees Damien for the first time. This is the typical reaction that comes from those who meet Damien. The beast is very protective over Fiona. David and Jack head back to the library while the women play with Damien in the living room.

  “This has been a very strange night to say the least,” Jack said. He still is shaking his head. “I still cannot get over what you have told me tonight.”

  “At least you are not a fool, Jack. Now, you know.” David smiles at the detective.

  “What are we supposed to do about Carver?” Jack asked. “I don’t want to shoot an innocent man if I don’t have to.”

  “We need him alive, so that we can perform an exorcism on him. It is the only chance we have of freeing him from the possession and keeping him alive.”

  “I’ll do what I can to locate him on my side. What are you going to do?�
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  “In about a half hour,” David said, “I’m going to meet with someone who may be able to help us. Any information that I get will be shared with you immediately.”

  “Let me get to work then,” Jack said. Jack stands up and starts walking out of the room.

  “Jack,” David said. The vampire stops him from leaving right away. “If you happen upon Carver before I get to him, then call me before approaching him. If you hear voices inside your mind, then do not listen to them, and do not entertain any thoughts about what they are telling or asking of you.” The vampire warned Jack. The detective is only newly enlightened on the ways of the world, and he does not know all there is to know about combating demons.

  “Why?” The cop asked.

  “You are not immune to the psychic attacks of a demon, and he could just as easily possess you. He cracked into my head briefly, and I’m an Elder vampire. If you hear voices, then just start praying over and over. Please understand that we are dealing with powerful forces that are real. No matter what you do…do not look into Carver’s eyes. The eyes are the windows of the soul, and you’ll help let the demon right in.”

  “I’ll remember that.” The detective walks himself out of the house a bit shaken. He covered his urine stained pants on the way out. David is shocked that Jack actually believed him without a permanent mental collapse.

  The untapped power that David had sensed inside of Jack is starting to shine through, and David is impressed. Most humans would undoubtedly dismiss him as a garden-variety mental case. For some reason, it is easier to convince a woman that David is vampire. Men tend to hold onto their ideologies longer, even when irrefutable information is introduced to them.

  David is truly worried for Jack because the detective is merely a mortal and truly has no idea what to expect. Even the most prepared warrior is not ready to meet face to face with a demon. There is not one thing that can be used to ready someone to interact with demons. It comes down to sheer will power and intestinal fortitude. When dealing with demons, the most important part of the body is the mind. Based on what he has witnessed of Detangelo, he fears that Jack will be too easy to tempt.

  Chapter Twelve: The Devil’s Child

  David walks over to the living room to find the ladies asleep on the huge leather sectional with Damien nestled between them like a puppy. They both are completely passed out from the pot they smoked earlier, and the movie is still running in the DVD player. David turns off the movie screen and the DVD player, and he covers the ladies with heavy blankets.

  He makes a quick phone call to Rawley to inform him of what transpired with Detangelo. Rawley is pleasantly surprised over the outcome of that meeting. He didn’t think that Detangelo could handle the truth. David assures Rawley that he will remain in touch as information comes in. Rawley is going out hunting for Carver and wants David to stay by his phone just in case. The vampire sits in the library by himself waiting for Capello.

  Capello arrives at the house roughly fifteen minutes late. Damien greets him at the door without a growl or sign of aggression. Somehow the canine guardian could sense Capello’s good-natured aura.

  “Animals love me,” Capello said. He pets the large animal.

  David cannot get over how he looks. Capello looks like he has only aged about three or four years in the seven hundred plus years since they last saw each other. The only differences in his appearance are some weight loss, his haircut, and his teeth which have been fixed. Gone is the broken tooth grin, and Capello looks a bit more polished.

  “Hello, old friend,” Capello said.

  “How have you been, Capello? Please come in.” David directs his guest to the library area.

  “I’ve been pretty well under the circumstances. How about yourself?”

  “About the same as you, my friend,” the vampire said. Capello is looking around and observing David’s house as he follows David to the library.

  “Would you like something to drink or a cigar to smoke?” David asked.

  “I know that you must have some good red wine, and I’d love a cigar.” David grabs two Cohibas and a bottle of wine from the early 1300’s that he had been saving for a special occasion. In his mind, this is a special occasion because he gets to meet again with one of the few people that he can trust and who has not let him down.

  “I didn’t realize that you were immortal as I,” the vampire said. David lights Capello’s cigar. David then opens the ancient looking wine bottle and puts the velvety red wine into a beautiful decanter. “You’ve barely aged.”

  “I was born a watcher,” Capello said, “and my immortality is only for my duties and obligations.” Capello takes a few puffs off of the Cohiba and gives David a nod of approval in regards to the cigar. David then pours two tall glasses for each of them in priceless ancient goblets.

  “These goblets look like they are from the Vatican,” Capello said.

  “At one point they were from the Vatican,” David said. “The Nazi’s stole these goblets from a museum in France, and I happened upon them.”

  “You got these at Falcon’s Landing, I suppose?”

  “You suppose correctly,” the vampire said.

  David really has no notion of just how much Capello knows about him and all of the events prior to their paths crossing again today. It seems like Capello knows everything, but David still doesn’t know exactly what being a watcher truly entails. He has the basic idea of what they do, but there is so much that he does not know about their responsibilities.

  “Last time we met, you had become a vampire. It has been many years since.”

  Capello spoke to David almost nostalgically.

  “Every day since has been pretty much damned with the exception of a few beautiful moments.”

  “It has been many long years for both of us,” Capello said. Capello sips his wine. “Immortality is like a curse because everything that you love dies before your eyes.”

  “Why does it have to be like this?” David asked.

  “We are who we are, and we can be nothing else. Man is supposed to be born, get married, produce children, and then die. Being an immortal directly conflicts with nature and the normal cycle of life. We are slaves to our duties, David. Find your joys in the little moments and be thankful for that. Neither of us will ever lead a normal life.”

  “That has been made painfully obvious,” the vampire said. David drinks his wine.

  “There has been much heartache in our lifetimes, David, but maybe the afterlife will bring justice and peace of mind. Some day we will meet our creator, and we will be judged. When that day comes, make sure that you are looked upon favorably in the creator’s eyes.” Capello tries to show some glimmer of hope to David.

  “I’ve seen many things in my existence,” David said. David seems ashamed. “I’ve seen atrocities that would make a devil cry. I’ve been the cause of countless atrocities.”

  “David,” Capello said, “you are nobler than most humans. You are a vampire that is helping the cause of good. By right, you should be ruthlessly evil and wanting to kill me right as we speak. Somehow, you have found a way to suppress those supernatural urges and use your gifts in a positive manner. To the faint of heart, killing someone that deserves death is immoral. In the grand scheme of the universe, on the level of gods and demi-gods, you are doing all of us a favor.”

  “It is the only way that I can tame the monster that rages inside of me,” David said. The vampire sounds like he is asking for acceptance or forgiveness.

  “All of your actions,” Capello said, “even your indiscretions have been observed by the powers that be. So far, your soul weighs in favor of the greater good, but you will be tempted further.”

  “What does that mean?” David asked.

  “Your soul will need more searching in the upcoming months.”

  Capello looks down at the ground.

  David feels like Capello has more grim predictions in store for him. It seems as if Capello has told him only what
he needs to know and not everything that there is to know. Fate seems to work in a strange way with interventions.

  “Do you really think that I will redeem myself in the eyes of the powers that be?” The vampire asked.

  “That depends on you,” Capello said, “I told you many years ago that redemption is not an impossible dream or an unachievable goal. You still have many more tests ahead of you that will tempt you into making the wrong decisions.”

  “That is comforting in a sense and awful in another sense,” David said. The vampire is quite sullen. “It is really hard to imagine being tested even further than I have been already.”

  “You will be amazed at what you are able to accomplish and overcome. We still have much to talk about.” Deep down that was what David was afraid of. It is not the kind of fear as in being frightened. It is more like being extremely concerned.

  David does not fear death or more accurately, an end to his existence. The aged vampire does not fear man, spirit, or beast. His only fear is for the safety and well being of his beloved Fiona. Even though his heart is black and cursed, there is a strong love for her. David would stop at nothing to protect her. The wise vampire knows all too well that his enemies will use Fiona to get at him. Evil goes after what you love the most to leverage it’s will upon you.

  “What is next?” David asked. “Are we going to do the usual ritual?”

  “In time, David,” Capello said. “Let us speak as old friends and enjoy a fond moment together. We have all of eternity in front of us. Enjoy a much needed pleasant moment with me.” Capello implores David to relax.

  The two paisons enjoy some small talk complimented by the excellent wine. They slowly smoke their cigars, savoring the freshness of the Cohibas. They drink the bottle dry and open another from the same priceless collection. They carouse into the later hours, and the two immortals actually enjoy some quiet stress-free time together.