pg. 5

The crimson hued sunlight beamed through the window casting the room in a dusty red light. Anthony sat at his cluttered desk overlooking the sun lazily declining behind the cityscape with his silhouette being cast on the dark mahogany shelves full of books behind him. From the corner of his desk, a cell phone rang. He picked it up and flipped it open hoping for a certain call, “Hello? This is detective Rice.” “Hey Tony, how’s the case going,” asked a male voice on the other end. “Reggie? I told you not to call me on this line.” Anthony lets out a sigh, “can you make it quick? I’m waiting on an important call.” Reggie laughs through the phone, “I guess that mean’s your not going to make Friday’s game again.” “Nope. I probably won’t be able to for a while either since this case is pretty hard... Not to mention strange.” Anthony trails off with that last word. “Alright, see you around the precinct then Tony.” “Yeah, stay safe Reg.” with that, Anthony closed the phone and placed it back on the desk near the open folders of various case files. He turns to view a webpage again filling his laptop’s screen. The page describes berserkers and their history for wearing bearskins and for entering into rages when in combat. It went on to explain about a similar group of berserkers named Ulfhednar that were known for wearing wolf skins. Anthony muttered, “Berserkers… in wolf skins?” The cell phone rang again. “Hello? This is detective Rice.” “Good evening detective,” the mature female voice pronounced. “Good evening captain,” Anthony quickly replied, “I’m waiting for an important call from the labs so can I ask you to be quick please, captain?” The captain promptly answers, “I want you to take a look at another case for me, come to my office tomorrow afternoon. I also want you to tell me how the ‘Wolfman’ case is coming as well.” Anthony began speaking as though he was slightly irritated, “Now you too? As if the mass media spreading these urban legends isn’t enough. Either way, I’ll come by and check that case for you. Good night Captain Valder.” “Good night,” Valder said just before Anthony hung up. He began to stare out at the darkening scene through his window, watching as the fiery reds and pinks cooled off into various shades of blues and blacks. (1) Comments

Posted: 1/25/2007 5:44:40 PM

pg. 4

“Over here detective, we found another one!” a male police officer said as a series of uniformed men and women carefully study the apartment searching for even the smallest piece of evidence. A man wearing a dusty brown jacket walks into the bedroom in the back only to find the room thoroughly demolished. An unrecognizable body lays on the destroyed bed covered in blood and massive claw and bite wounds. Detective Rice walks towards the body carefully stepping in precise places to avoid disturbing the mass destruction surrounding him. Splashes of blood cover the walls almost hiding the tan paint beneath in thousands of crimson dots and splotches. A single light hangs by its own wire swaying lazily. The detective sighs, “Looks like our beast got another one.” He pulls a latex glove from his pocket and puts it on. He notices a large animal claw deep within one of the body’s wounds and points to it as the officer standing right behind him takes another picture. Carefully with his gloved hand he pulls the nail out of the body and places it in a plastic bag sealing it and marking it as evidence. He stands up looking at it and comments, “I think we finally have something to work with on this case.” The officer behind him continues taking pictures of the room as Detective Rice carefully makes his way back to the living room. A uniformed woman walks up to Rice and hands him a small black address book, “This one didn’t have many friends, but there’s one in here that you should check out.” “Thanks Officer Lynn,” he says accepting the booklet. He begins thumbing through it when he notices the herds of news vans and reporters collecting at the base of the apartment complex just outside of the police line. He can already hear the questions that the reporters are going to heckle; he’s heard them all before. Returning to the address book in his hands, he finds one entry heavily circled with one word underneath, “Ulfhednar.” (0) Comments

Posted: 1/18/2007 4:08:43 PM

pg. 3

We walked into a 24 hour café nearby as I asked, “do all human blood taste so….” “otherworldy?” she says interrupting my attempt to find the right word. “Now I understand why you don’t like the plasma.” We both sit down across from each other in one of the booths and she replies to my comment, “The plasma just doesn’t have something that the real stuff does and as you found out, there’s a big difference.” I lean forward putting my elbows on the fake wooden table with the fake leather cushion beneath me making that all too familiar sound. Aria just smirks at me. The waitress approaches our table, a dreary worn out looking woman in her late middle ages, “Welcome to University Avenue Café, I’ll be your waitress for tonight. So what can I get ya?” she announces in a tired manner. Without a moment, Aria mentions, “I’ll just have my usual tonight Janice and get one for him too.” Janice writes something on her little notepad and then sticks the pen behind her ear as she walks away. There are two older men sitting at the bar across the restaurant talking to each other, though I don’t bother listening in to their conversation. “Don’t get too relaxed,” she says as the waitress walks behind the bar. I direct my attention to her with a pique of interest. She continues, “We are wolves among the sheep, after all, and while the ones we took care of tonight were simply bottom rank initiates, we still have to be careful of the shepherd’s dogs.” The old men continue to talk quietly and the waitress turns on some machine for making our drinks. “You seem much stronger than the typical newblood, but you have to be careful anyways,” she continues as she begins to lower her voice, “Once you come across a real hunter, you will know. They have this aura that some of us vampires can sense and it makes me uncomfortable,” she pauses briefly, “like a bad headache.” After a moment of silence, I change the topic, “Has anyone at the House been able to find out who gave me this blood?” She thinks for a moment and simply shakes her head. “The elders can’t even figure out your bloodline, almost like its new,” she retreats into thought again, “Or is it old? Whatever, that’s not my job. You’ll have to ask our coven’s Elder of the Magi.” Aria quickly shuts up as the waitress approaches holding a glass of some kind of red fluid in each hand. She sets the glasses down in front of us and says wearily, “Here ya go, two virgin maries on ice.” She then rips a page from her notepad and sets it down on the end of the table face down and walks away. Aria pulls out a small metal flask from inside her purse and puts a single drop of some thick red substance in each glass and says with a sly grin, “Now we can drink this too.” “Aren’t these a little cliché?” I mention as I’m looking at the tomato red drinks. “What? I’d ask for bloody maries if only they served alcohol here,” as she quickly follows her sarcastic remark with a short laugh. “No really,” she cuts me off by putting her hand up demanding silence. “Humans are so disillusioned by their own arts in this age that it’s actually safer to look and act like one of their fake vampires than not to. If someone starts getting suspicious of your true nature, just get up in their face and say ‘Blah, blah!’ They’ll almost always write you off as crazy and on top of that, it’s a lot of fun!” She begins to laugh out loud and draws the attention of the three people at the other end of the restaurant. “And those times when they don’t, they will most likely come after you with a team of hunters,” she finishes with a sly grin. She picks up the glass in front of her and begins sipping at it. I do the same out of some unknown compulsion. I can taste the blood that she put in mine, but otherwise it’s flavor is based on tomato juice with hints of other ingredients giving it a spicy flavor. Little bits of what I think are horseradish flow over my tongue and I can sense a slight peppery flavor. It seems that the ingredients were all mixed together in this building. Aria lifts her glass up and makes a dramatic gesture, “The best comedian in this world has got to be irony.” In an expressive manner she brings the cup to her lips and takes a large swig of the swaying red drink in her hand. I notice the two old men leave some money on the bar, get up and walk out of the café. Feeling like I needed to follow along in her little play, I raise my cup in a theatrical way and before taking a large swig, I call out, “Here, here!” She sets her glass down rather hard and begins to laugh loudly again. Janice looks at her for a moment then walks into the kitchen carrying a small plaid cloth in one hand. (1) Comments

Posted: 10/21/2006 11:51:38 PM

pg. 2

I followed Aria to a nearby alley where we watched several humans walk by. She quietly spoke, “look at their hands, see those rings?” Each one wore a golden ring with a pattern of three rays on their right hand. “Are those the hunters you kept telling me about?” I asked. She simply nodded and slowly let out a sadistic grin that revealed a small piece of her true vampiric nature. “Let’s follow them.” I glanced at her as the humans walked past the building and out of sight, “I thought we weren’t allowed to kill humans.” She looked irritated with me for a moment, “I brought you into this coven for several reasons, one of which was to become a Crimson Veil hunter. If you’re going to have problems killing humans when I tell you too, then I’ll just have to kill you right here and right now.” Her ivory complexion seemed to have grown cold. A little ashamed, I gathered up my resolve preparing for my first kill. “Let’s go now,” she commanded as she adjusted her clothes and began walking towards the streetlamp flooding its fluorescent light across the street. I followed her into the partially lit streets as we tailed the three humans we just saw. I felt her bloodlust creeping through me as we started walking faster catching up to the humans whom were dressed in typical clothing other than the golden rings resting silently on their right hands. They walked into the nearby park and we followed hiding ourselves within the shadows cast by the trees. The waning moon shed a pale blue glow across the serene landscape. I hear a sudden ‘woosh’ followed immediately by a gust of wind as I suddenly notice Aria dash out at them with blinding speed. They quickly turned towards her apparently anticipating her attack and threw several exquisite golden daggers at her. I dash through the shadows to take them from behind as the daggers are blocked by some invisible force in front of her. I manage to dash in from behind as two of the vampire hunters pull out pistols they had been concealing around their hips while the third one reveals two short swords both etched with many exotic glyphs. Aria gleefully exclaims, “Now you have the idea,” as she quickly closes in on the first gunman. I duck as a ‘swish’ manages to clip a little of my long black hair. I hear a scream as the sound of gushing blood fills my ears and tantalizes my body. A flash of steel erupts to my side making a glancing slice into my abdomen as I lift the swordsman up off the ground with a feeling of rage and lust I’ve never felt before. Several gunshots ring out as I bite into the swordsman’s neck without hesitation causing my victim to go limp in my arms. Euphoria, that’s all I could think as I tasted the metallic crimson fluid flow into my mouth and down my throat. An eternity passes in a mere second as I draw my victim’s blood into my body feeling it tingling through my soul. From the distant reaches of my mind, I hear a familiar voice speaking in a sarcastic tone, “You’re taking long enough. Come on, let’s clean up before we get caught.” (1) Comments

Posted: 10/8/2006 10:41:38 AM

Beneath the Veil of Night

Every night I sit here on this rooftop and watch the passing of civilization. I watch as people walking on the side of the street meet and part ways as the cars beside them speed by rushing to their destinations. I haven’t been this way for long, but I’m already feeling the weariness that many of the others have warned me about. I’m approached from behind by a woman in tight black clothing, jeans and a t-shirt. Her soft feminine voice caresses its way into my ears, “so you’re out here again. Are you feeling it already?” I stare up at the moon and simply nod in reply. She sits down beside me with her soft almost feline physique. her smooth black hair barely brushing against her shoulders, she looks more like a picturesque model than like vicious, cruel monster that she truly is. “We all go through it at some point.” Her eloquent voice sounded more like a soothing song that I could listen to every night, in fact I do. “You know what I think?” she continued, “I think that it’s the final stage of becoming truly immortal as you’re giving up the last piece of your old life. It’s odd that you would be getting it so early, it usually takes decades and you’ve only been a vampire for a few years.” She reaches back and grabs two wine bottles from behind her and sets one next to me, “drink up, you need to maintain your strength.” I know it’s only synthetic, but it’s the only thing I’ve ever had since my awakening whereas Aria, the beautiful woman sitting next to me, constantly complains about how it’s not like the real thing. She sets her bottle down and bursts out, “to hell with this fake shit, let’s go hunting tonight!” I turned to her and protested out of shock, “what?! You know we’re not allowed to do that! What would our coven’s elder say if he heard this?” She stares right at me, or was she staring through me? "Do you know how many humans there are in this city that want to be like us? They go around drinking each others’ living blood believing that they are vampires when all they’re doing is lying to themselves, to each other and even to everybody else. All we’re going to do is give them a small taste of the real thing.” I know that look; I’ve seen it many times already, those deep, bottomless eyes flaring up with sparks of deviancy. There’s no way of talking her out of it once she’s reached this point. I stand up and sigh, “alright, maybe it’ll help get my mind off of these feelings.” (2) Comments

Posted: 9/30/2006 12:39:20 AM

prologue:

this is just a little hobby i figured id try. something to help me develop my creativity and writing skills, maybe something will come of this or maybe not. anyways, i hope you can enjoy my story(ies). (0) Comments

Posted: 9/30/2006 12:38:37 AM