My Boyfriend is a Monster

by Coates, J. H.

  But the young Inspector was finished. “That is it,” he said shrugging his shoulders.

  “What about flights, train tickets, credit card purchases?”

  Rossi just shrugged his shoulders again. Changing the subject on to more exciting things Rossi smiles then asked, “What does Interpol do here?”

  Merrick sighed. “We believe what happened here was perpetrated by an individual we’ve been trying to apprehend for a very long time.”

  “What happened here?” Rossi asked looking around.

  Knowing something happened here the other night Bianchi looked at Merrick hoping he could shed some light, since there was very little evidence to even theorize. “There is blood inside,” Bianchi said pointing towards the warehouse.

  “May we?” Merrick asked already starting to walk.

  Nodding Bianchi followed him to the far end of the warehouse. As they walked Merrick let his nose tell the story. The blood from the roof was all Yaroslav’s and so was the blood that was splattered all around them now. The rain from the other night already drained it underneath and Merrick doubted Bianchi could find it with a Blood Hound let alone with just him and Rossi. But he could smell it as plainly as the sun was shining.

  “We haven’t figured how this was done,” Bianchi said pointing to the large hole in the wall ten feet away from a door.

  Rossi stuck his head into the hole and gave it a quick once over. “Looks like a man went through it,” he said looking a little bewildered.

  “Don’t be stupid,” Bianchi said pulling him away.

  Stepping towards the hole as Bianchi talked to his subordinate Merrick began sniffing for clues as inconspicuously as he could. There was no blood but some of the wood splinters and jagged tin had tiny little fibers on them and those tiny little fibers had a distinctive scent. Gently grabbing one and sniffing it he could tell it was a Chakan who made this hole. Nathan! Merrick thought observing the fiber and keeping the red in his eyes at bay, Maybe Yaroslav got a couple of lucky punches in after all. This made him feel better about any future encounters he might have with the highly touted Chakan.

  Stepping into the hole and emerging into the warehouse Merrick envisioned Nathan exploding through the wall. Looking at the impact of the hole he noticed the way the wood and tin jetted inwards making him think it was as if the wall just got out of the way of pure force. Merrick saw the different impacts on the floor with scattered dust making roads a body would make being dragged or slid across it. Looking down Merrick saw the blood stains all over the concrete floor that reeked of the Ukrainian.

  Coming through the actual door Bianchi noticed it all over the place. “There is blood all over the floor.” He turned and barked at Rossi who was just coming through the door. “Get someone up here now. I want this analyzed as soon as possible.” Rossi turned around immediately and pulled out his phone.

  Knowing Yaroslav wouldn’t come up on any watch lists or data banks Merrick felt sorrier for the blood worker who was going to spend weeks trying to figure out that puzzle. Even if the technician had the most recent technology at his disposal (which he seriously doubted) the results would only confuse them and raise even more questions. Every basic part of the test, amount of sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate, blood urea nitrogen, magnesium, creatinine, glucose, calcium and cholesterol would be off the charts. Sending it off to a better equipped lab that would only find that the cells were not even human and the blood would be considered contaminated then scrapped. They would not even know that Chakans even existed, let alone have two blood types that share the same body and work harmoniously together. A Human side and a Ring side which together creates a Chakan. The Ring blood allows the Human side to retain its vitality sometimes for thousands of years and the Human blood allows Chakans to camouflage into the much larger human populace as well as to control there more animal and violent Ring instincts.

  “The blood over here,” Merrick said pointing to the large stains by a crate and what seemed to be a metal bowl. “This was the victim’s blood.”

  “Just one victim,” Rossi said looking at the large pool. “This a lot of blood.”

  “He was most likely bled dry.”

  “Well, when we get the blood work back,” Bianchi interjected.

  Shaking his head Merrick walked around the pool of blood putting the final pieces together for himself. “The blood work will come back inconclusive.”

  “How do you know this?” Bianchi asked.

  “Because if it is our guy who did this and I believe it is . . .” Merrick paused widening his eyes as if he could see the fight between the two Chakans unfold in front of him. Following the ghostly images he even got out of the way when the fight crossed where he was standing. The two detectives watched silently not knowing what Interpol agent Merrick was actually doing. “He does something to the blood left behind.” Merrick continued while watching his own personal explanation unfold while offering the two detective’s weeks of wondering until the first test comes back inconclusive. He followed the prints in the dust and the splatter on the ground until he noticed something below him. Gesturing for a pen or pencil, Bianchi nodded to Rossi who reluctantly handed him what appeared to be his only pen. Dipping it into a tiny puddle of blood Merrick twirled it around until he produced a small piece of flesh. Bringing it up to his eyes he almost by instinct tasted it but instead caught himself in time and just examined it

  “What is that?” Bianchi asked raising his head to study it.

  Obliging him Merrick held out the pen so he could take a closer look. Squinting he tilted his head trying to come up with an educated guess. Finally he looked at Merrick and shrugged his shoulders.

  Merrick replied as if letting them in on a dark secret. “If this is our guy, this will be a piece of the victim’s heart.”

  Bianchi stood back immediately from the pen and looked to see if agent Merrick was serious. He could see he was telling the truth and returned to observing the pen.

  Rossi did not understand what was being said but knew it was something horrible. “Che c'e?” he asked.

  “Un pezzo di cuore,” Bianchi said explaining that it was a piece of heart.

  “Cuore,” Rossi said sadly while holding his hand across his chest.

  “A psychopath,” Bianchi offered looking at Merrick who nodded in agreement.

  Smiling he handed the pen back to Rossi who darted out of the warehouse in search of an evidence bag. “Your blood tests will come back male human or animal but definitely old. Call me if anything definite comes back,” Merrick said knowing it would not.

  “How does he do this?” Bianchi asked staring at the pool of blood below.

  “We haven’t been able to figure it out . . . yet.”

  Bianchi would get his tests back and they would be exactly like Merrick described. They would decide the case was out of their expertise and forward their findings to Interpol. Where agent Merrick would take over the case and promise to keep them updated.

  “So where is the body?” Bianchi asked.

  “That’s the thing, never a body to be found.”

  “No body?”

  Shaking his head Merrick knew this was a lie because he knew exactly what happened to it. Knowing Chakan customs he knew after Nathan sent Yaroslav to the After by injecting his saliva directly into his heart he most likely preformed the Voyage of the Warrior and burnt him.

  “I don’t know what else to say Agent Merrick,” Bianchi said stepping out of the warehouse and into the warm afternoon sun.

  Following him Merrick tried to spark the earlier conversation. “The man who left the city?” he asked.

  “Hmm,” Bianchi said looking away from the sky then remembering. “Oh, right the man who left the city,” he said. He turned toward a crowd of officers. “Rossi,” he yelled. Rossi looked back. “The man who left the city,” Bianchi said waving him back.

  Rossi ran back up the path to them bringing it up on his phone. “Kevin Hobbs booked a flight with his cre
dit cards,” he said waving his phone in the air.

  “Well bring Agent Merrick up to speed,” Bianchi instructed.

  “Where was the flight to?” Merrick asked. He was already guessing east coast of either America or Canada in his head.

  “Brazil. South America,” Rossi said impressed with himself again.

  “Brazil?” Merrick inquired confused.

  “Thank you Rossi -”

  “He also booked a flight to New, New Found Land. In the Canada’s,” Rossi spit out.

  “Let me guess,” Merrick said not so confused anymore.

  “Also Tokyo Japan, Hong Kong, Sydney Australia,” he said seeming to be waiting for more information to load on his screen.

  “That’s ok Rossi,” Merrick said. Knowing there were probably thirty more destinations and all of them would have been bordered by name changes of young men. All local and offered a free trip. And only one would be Nathan, who would be incognito of course.

  “Send that to Agent Merrick’s phone,” Bianchi told Rossi.

  “They just keep coming up,” he said holding out his phone to show his superior he was telling the truth.

  “Just send it.”

  Merrick was right back where he started, actually worse. He now had thirty or forty more starting points.

  Another officer handed Detective Bianchi a clipboard. He started to go through it. “It says here he owns a small book store in town and the entire inventory is still there.” He looked at Merrick. “He would come back for this No? His bank accounts are active with money in them . . . You can catch him when he tries to take it out.”

  Merrick knew he wouldn’t be coming back, at least not for several decades. He was also positive that Nathan knew who sent Yaroslav. The book store might help, he just had to be on the lookout for a bookstore opening up anywhere around the world. Unless he has hundreds of them already open, he thought adding more grief to his plate. “I’ll be in touch,” Merrick said handing Bianchi a card. He would have liked to stick around and play investigator or even take in the beautiful coastal town. But he got what he came for and walked down the path and waited until he was past the crime scene unit. Pulling out his cell phone he noticed he already had a message.

  Flight to Tokyo already booked.

  Meet twins at the Bar High Five.

  They will chaperone you during your visit.

  Merrick was going to Japan. “Fuck!” he yelled. Wanting to throw his phone out into the sea he made his way to the parking lot, pocketing his phone.

  CHAPTER 3

  ONE: The Battered and the Beasts

  Lily walked out of the bathroom in nothing but her bra and panties. Walking down the hall she peered into the bedroom and saw he was still sleeping. Opening the door slightly more hoping today wasn’t the day a creak made its way into the hinges. Looking at the clock beside him she saw it was almost 5:30am and tip toed silently through the room looking for her jeans. Spotting them on top of a pile of clothes on a little wooden antique chair she carefully knelt down to grab them. Putting her right leg into the pants she gritted her teeth while forcing it through. She put her other leg through and forced the jeans up to her butt. Here comes the hard part, she thought. Then as quietly as she could began to jump up and down trying to use gravity to her advantage. As she bounced for the final time her eye caught the arm of her big green hoodie hanging in the closet. “That son of a bitch,” she said low and angrily. Creeping to the closet she saw the hoodie was either hugging another sweater or trying to cop a feel. She couldn’t decide. Putting her hands on opposite sides she slowly spread them apart and unraveled them. The scraping of the hanger hooks made a few screeches sliding along the pole but he only mumbled and rolled over.

  For reasons unknown and the cause of later debate she grabbed the hoodie and tried pulling it down over the hanger. Why Lily just didn’t take the hanger off the pole and remove the hoodie instead of taking it off like a ten year old became the center piece of said debate. Trying to stretch the sweater over the arms of the hanger the tension became greater and greater and she started feeling the anticipation inside her grow. She started to become frightened and excited all at the same time.

  Suddenly the hoodie goes limp as the hanger snapped back sending it shooting through the air. Soaring overhead it cleared the entire room and hit the far wall.

  “Holy shit,” she bellowed out loud then quickly slapped her hands over her mouth.

  Falling on to the dresser it knocks over the round cologne bottle with a little echoing clang. Rolling along the dresser to the edge and despite her low whispering prayers the cologne decides to jump anyways. Dropping from the top of the dresser onto the pile of clothes on the chair it rolls off of them and on to a shoe box on the floor. The box was already teetering on a spray can (of what she wasn’t sure). Running down the shoe box and about to roll off onto the floor where it would have come to a stop suddenly catapulted into the air (the clothes on the antique chair came tumbling down landing on the opposite side that was sticking up and caused a teeter totter effect). Flying across to the other side of the room hitting the wall just above him the cologne bottle dropped, hitting him squarely on top of his head.

  “Shut the front door,” she gasped in total amazement.

  Shooting up from the pillow immediately she could already smell the over powering smell of spilt cologne. “What the hell is going on?” he yelled more instinctively than he did with any type of awareness. His brown hair was ruffled and the static caused it to stick out in all directions. He looked at her dumbfounded. “Qué estás hacienda?” he asked. Widening his eyes and wondering why his head hurt. And why the bed smelled like his cologne. “Lily!” he yelled seeing her run out of the room. The Spanish from the bedroom just got louder and more violent as Martin was yelling how upset he was that Lily and Todd promised him he could sleep in today.

  Lowering her hands and slowly walking towards the kitchen like a criminal trying to mix in with civilians she saw Todd reading his tablet. He took a sip of horrible instant coffee while peeking up and giving her a look, but she quickly assured him, “Nothing . . . a bottle just fell off the dresser.”

  “It couldn’t wait honey?”

  Wrestling to do up her pants and not sparing any grunts or moans she replied. “Not if you want to go in to work with someone wearing clothes.”

  “Found it did you,” Todd said seeing the green hoodie he keeps trying to steal.

  “I did - thank you very much.”

  Looking down the hall listening to Martin still yelling he smirked. “My little jalapeno can get so angry some mornings.”

  “Well it is five thirty and I did just drop a bottle of cologne on his head,” she said remembering. Finding a new found enthusiasm she began to share her incredible story. “You should have seen it -”

  “Pulled the sweater off the hanger, hanger went flying and knocked cologne bottle off dresser and against all odds a series of events occurred sending the cologne across the room and it dropped on his head.”

  Standing amazed and confused Lily thought for a moment. “How the hell did you know that?”

  “I’m like a big gay Oracle,” Todd said. Then with his tablet still in his hand he folded his hands over his head to a point and bobbed his head around like it was floating underneath.

  Lily frowned. “You were standing in the hall.”

  Putting the tablet down with a big smile he gestured with his hand, “Like right behind you. Honey I nearly pissed my pants,” he said with a snort.

  Then from behind her the voice that neither of them wanted to hear spoke. “So why am I up at five thirty in the A.M,” Martin stated more than asked while wiping cologne from his hair.

  “What are you doing up sweetheart?” he asked signaling Lily to get a move on.

  “Because of the Lily, that’s why I am up at five thirty in the A.M,” Martin said ignoring Todd and finding new places to wipe.

  Running down the hall she scrambled for her shoes while Todd
put his coffee cup in the sink and turned off his tablet. Slipping it into his carry all he turned to Martin as if nothing was wrong. “Well go back to sleep silly, it’s your day off,” he said calmly but looking for the keys frantically.

  “Sé, sé que es mi día libre,” Martin said explaining he knew this was his day off and this was why he was so upset.

  “Well go relax, watch some T.V or something,” he said finding the keys and giving a little thank you shout out to the man upstairs. Giving Martin a quick kiss on the cheek as he stood there furious Todd pushed it one more time. “Hey, you smell great,” he said then ran to the door squeezing past Lily who was still fighting to get her other shoe on. “Hurry up you slow ass bitch,” he said practically done.

  “I’m trying.”

  “Well try harder, unless you want to end up in his breakfast churro,” Todd said heading out the door.

  Laughing their asses off they made it down the elevator and out onto the street of a nearly empty morning in the city.

  “Oh my God was he mad,” she said helping him keep his balance.

  “Mad? Honey he was pissed, oh my stomach hurts,” he said continuing to laugh. Then he suddenly stopped. “Let’s get a coffee.”

  “Ah, were going to open, your coffee shop right now,” she said putting a heavy emphasis on “your”.

  “But it’s like . . . fifty blocks away.”

  “It’s twelve,” she corrected accurately.

  Jumping up and down he started to whine. “Please Lily. We’ll call it competition research . . . please, please, please.”

  “Okay,” she laughed as they started to make their way down the street.

  “You’re much more fun than that grouchy Latino,” he sang grabbing her arm and starting to skip.

  “I hope he wasn’t too mad,” she said starting to feel a little anxiety.

  Noticing it he stopped them. “What’s wrong girl?” he asked looking her over. She just shook her head and started to laugh but Todd could see it in her eyes. “If you think we would ever . . . ever and honey I mean ever! Kick you out I am insulted.”