What would you do if you were given a choice: doing what is right and potentially breaking the rules; or turning a blind eye to a situation and allowing life to run its course?
First, let me introduce myself.
My name is Sgt Dex. There are a few things you should know about me right off the bat: I am a police officer in a small town in the Southeastern United States, working in a Major Crime Unit. That sounds pretty straight forward, until you take into account that I am also a werewolf.
Caught ya off guard, didn’t I?
The story of how I came to be a monster stems from the fact that I basically inherited it. Like my grandfather before me, I was bestowed this gift by birth rights. In my family, the first child in every second generation earned the ability to willingly transform into a beast when needed.
None of the full moon stuff, and none of the “raging monster hell-bent on destroying everything in it’s path” nonsense. As you might suspect, some of my kind use this curse for evil. I, on the other hand, do my best to make a positive difference in my community with the skills that come with my ability.
The people who knew me best called me the Beast of Burden, because I had dedicated my life to protecting others at the cost of my own well-being.
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You might wonder; as a police officer, how do you know what evil looks like?
The answer is simple. I have looked true evil in the eye; and real evil does not always wear a sign hanging around it’s neck relaying it’s intention. To reveal evil, you must look deep into the soul.
My partner Adam and I are pretty damn good at dragging that essence to the surface. He knows of the monster that I am, and he might be the only person on Earth that I trust with my life. So naturally, he was the one I chose to be by my side when I became a part of a supernatural 3-lettered Federal team.
We often get cases assigned to us that require me to use my abilities to be certain that justice is carried out- no matter what. One such case was a string of murders we had in our town about 6 months ago. Because of our well-known reputation in the departments of the area, we generally receive cases that involve some sort of irregularities or cases that cannot be explained.
This case seemed, on the outside, pretty cut and dry. 16 bodies found in the mountainous terrain just outside of town; all in different areas, and no real distinctions between the victims. The fact that these people were killed at random was only the beginning though; the most heinous and intriguing aspect of the case, we learned, was that every body was drained bone-dry of their blood.
Most investigators would be stumped. What logical explanation could anyone provide?
Well Adam and I, we know a bit more about the world we live in than most people do. You would not believe how much money our country puts into supernatural cases, mostly to keep them secretive and out of the knowledge of the population. It reduces panic.
The FBI grabbed this case before the media could even get a whiff of it. Fortunately, Adam and I regularly work with the FBI on cases such as these; for there are many like me on the force. You heard me right, not all of us are like the monsters shown on television shows; we hold our humanity close and protect those who cannot protect themselves.
On this case, we had our warning. Our contact in the Bureau phoned us first; Let’s call him Frank. Frank warned us to back off of this case, to take a vacation and get our minds off of it. But after a solid month of no news and no clarifications in the case, Adam and I knew we could not sit around and wait.
“You know it’s a vampire, right?” I asked, cocking my head slightly as I turned to Adam. We were at our favorite mom and pop coffee shop, and he took a sip before laughing under his breath. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.” He shook his head. “You wanna tell me that those Twilight bitches are real?”
“No man,” I looked him dead in the eye, “these aren’t sparkling little emotional shits with weird facial expressions. You get on a vampire’s bad side, they become some mean fuckers.” I felt the large, indented scar that ran down my rib cage.
It was true. My grandfather had always been kind, yet weary, when it came to vampires. The ones in our area were part of an ancient coven, and knew how to blend in with society. The rouge vampires were a different story entirely.
These particular monsters knew no man-made law. Some where thousands of years old, and were part of no coven. The government had done a pretty good job of exterminating the ones who dared step out of line, but in this case, they were stumped.
I flipped through the pages in my notebook, looking for the information I had gathered about these seemingly “rouge” vamps.
“Man, the Ancients won’t say a word,” I said as I sipped my coffee. “This has got to be one bad dude if even they won’t talk.”
Adam looked up from his newspaper suddenly. “The Bladden Coven?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Nope. They refused to say a word. Some guy from the Feds said that he tried to pry some info from them, only to be threatened by the leader.” I shook my head. “That’s the strongest Coven in our area, man. They won’t even speak of this.”
Adam rubbed his head and closed his eyes. “So the most notorious and strongest coven in the Southeast won’t even touch this, but you think WE can?”
I sighed heavily and pulled out my phone immediately. “I MAY have some contacts who can help us out.” I looked at him and smiled.
“Oh hell no,” he huffed, “I can’t deal with any more monsters roaming around this place. You’re enough monster for me.” He sat back in his seat.
I laughed. “Man, we can’t take this one without some help.”
Adam perked up. “Didn’t Frank tell us NOT to get involved, Dex? Do you know what kind of a shitstorm we will have on our hands if we have a blood-sucking murderer, AND the whole damn Unit down here?” He slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand.
I cocked my head to the side, and stared at him intently. “Look, you’ve got to trust me man.”
He stared back for a moment, in deep thought. “Who are you bringing down here, Dex?”
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Andrei was the first contact I made, and also the most essential.
Standing at 6’6” in human form and jacked like a body-builder, Andrei was a giant-ass Russian werewolf with a penchant for danger. We had worked on many cases in the past together previously, and this guy defined the word “beast”. To make matters better, Andrei HATED vampires.
I had once watched him clear out a small rogue coven by himself, in under fifteen minutes. The guy was a weathered badass, and knew vampires better than anyone I’d ever met.
The phone rang once, before I heard a loud, labored breathing in the background.
“Andrei, it’s Dex. Might need ya over this way to help with a serious vamp. You in?”
On the other side of the line, I heard a deep growl that almost sounded like a chuckle. “I get on plane tonight” he said and immediately hung up. Hey, he was a man of few words, and that’s why I liked him.
The other contact I made was to Nick.
As a world-renowned vampire hunter and a vampire himself, I couldn’t think of a more capable individual for the job. His specialty? Rouge vampires.
Nick hated vampires. From what little he had told me, a group of those fiends had murdered his wife and two children. They attempted to leave him for dead, too; but through sheer willpower and hatred, he pushed through- only to become the very thing he hated. He used his abilities to become so powerful that most covens won’t even utter his name.
A true badass.
I say that I contacted him, but it was he who actually contacted me first. Apparently he is on top of the vampire problems in the world.
I explained the murders to him, and gave him the little information we had. Turns out, he was already headed to our area to take a look for himself, so joining our little ‘monster-party’ was actually pretty convenient for him. He was, however, apprehensive about Adam coming along for the ride.
Nick sounded stern, with a hint of sadness in his voice over the phone. “Dex, I know he’s your partner; but you know the danger he would be putting himself in. He needs to sit this one out.”
As we sat in our police vehicle waiting for a call, I suppose Adam overheard Nick’s warning- and reacted in the only way Adam knew how to.
He leaned his head against the window and huffed deeply. “Fuck YOU, dude.”
That was that, I suppose.
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We met at my house around 6pm, with Andrei hauling luggage containers full of odd weaponry into the living room. Adam sat anxiously on the edge of the couch, lightly tapping his foot on the hardwood.
I could tell he was nervous, and I don’t blame him. He didn’t know Andrei or Nick, and had trouble trusting new people.
“They’re going to be a huge help” I whispered to him as we watched Andrei unpack several boxes, and Nick scour over documents I had regarding the case. Adam just huffed.
Andrei showcased his assortment of weapons and explained each of their characteristics, as Adam and I sat mesmerized over the elite stash.
“This one here,” Andrei boomed, “this one is for burning vampire. BOOM! Explode!” I felt Adam tense up with every loud noise Andrei made.
Suddenly, the demonstration was cut short after Nick let out a huge gasp. We looked to him in confusion.
“We have a problem, guys.” I could tell that it was serious, just by the worried and anxious look on Nick’s already pale face.
Nick was not the kind of being to ever be caught off guard or surprised. It was as if he expected every outcome of every situation. So when he spoke and I could hear a tinge of fear in his voice, I was especially unnerved.
“Guys, I don’t think we are dealing with some ordinary vampire here,” He began. “Look at these photos. What stands out to you the most?”
I eyed the photo carefully, focusing on something that I previously had not seen. The scene before us was of two men in a camping area, torn to shreds. Blood adorned the surrounding trees and shrubbery. In the upper right hand side of the picture, though, was a perfectly drawn pentagram etched into the bark of a tree trunk.
How had I missed this?
I could feel myself involuntarily began to tremble. I believe Adam felt it too, because he turned to me with a confused and terrifying look on his face.
I knew what was killing the people around my town, and it was no ordinary vampire. It was a vampire/demon hybrid, much more powerful and terrifying. I shuddered as Nick said the name of the creature, instantly darkening the room around us.
“Hanyou.”