Chapter Twelve: The Lawman’s Baptism by Fire!
1339 Words
(Oakwood Street #117: Fetid Back Alley)
Leo sagged against mildewed brick—lungs rasping like ruptured bellows. Each inhalation—iron filings. Vision tunneling. Limbs tremoring. Diego’s purification had siphoned him to husk-status. Standing—an Olympian feat.
Christ! That gelid scrutiny—a serpent’s tongue on his nape—persisted! Locke’s hounds? The shadowkin’s kin? Imminent ambush!
Move!
He shoved off the wall—staggered deeper into the alley’s carcinogenic gloom. Seeking shadow. Sanctuary.
*“FREEZE! POLICE!”*
A voice—cold steel honed to lethal edge—shattered the alley’s hush!
Leo whirled!
Alley-mouth—backlit silhouette.
Tall. Lithe.
Golden hair—battle-tight ponytail—liquid aurum in the murk.
Navy patrol jacket—tactical cut, accentuating whipcord muscle. Duty belt: badge-star, sidearm—frost-metal glints.
Eyes—falcon’s gaze—pinning him across twenty yards. Assessing. Suspicious. Undiluted… revulsion.
Ella Thorne. Foghaven PD Homicide. The “Thunderbolt Valkyrie”.
*“You.”* Ella’s tone—dry ice on granite. Boots struck concrete—staccato authority. *“Leo Yang. Correct? St. Mary’s ‘Miracle Orderly’?”* Her lip curled—sardonic blade. *“Resurrected Locke? Insufficient? Slumming for occult kicks? Ghost-hunter chic?”*
She halted—three paces. Dominating space. Hand hovering near holster. Searchlight eyes scouring his pallor, tremor, grime-caked garb. *“Or… Locke’s pampered ‘asset’… slumming incognito?”* Contempt incarnate.
Leo’s gut clenched. She knows me? Catastrophe. He forced spine straight—suppressing vertigo. Voice—gravel and grit: *“Officer. Homeward bound. Illegal?”*
*“Home?”* Ella’s laugh—glacial shatter. She jerked her chin toward the stench-belching tenement. *“En route to ‘treat’ another neighbor’s child? Martha Rodriguez? Diego? Ring bells?”*
Leo froze. Diego? Reported? Martha? Impossible! Unless… that voyeur…
Ella advanced—predatory. *“EMS call logged. Diego Rodriguez. Critical. Undiagnosed. Hospital refused. Eyewitness: grey-hooded Asian male fleeing scene. You.”* Her finger jabbed—accusatory spear. *“What did you pump into that boy?!”*
*“I saved him!”* Leo’s retort—volcanic. *“Dying! Abandoned! I—”*
*“Saved him?”* Ella’s scoff scalded. *“Via laying-on-of-hands? Or… illicit chemistry?”* Her palm settled on pistol grip—knuckles whitened. *“Brandon Grayson’s affidavit. Reviewed. Contraband. Corpse-desecration rites. License revoked. You—a toxin—dare preach salvation?!”*
Grayson! Revocation! p********a ingested!
*“Lies!”* Leo’s fury detonated! *“Grayson’s perjury! Diego wasn’t sick! He was infested by—”* He choked. Shadowkin? Confession equals straitjacket.
*“By what?!”* Ella pounced—razor-focus. *“Speak! Demon? Specter? Your latest alibi?!”*
She ripped photos from her pocket—flung them!
Images scattered—gutter-grime.
Children. Four.
Pallid as death-shrouds. Necrotic bruising. Distended obsidian veins. Comatose. Dying.
*“Last week. Four juveniles. Identical presentation. ‘Etiology unknown’.”* Ella’s voice—Arctic absolute zero. *“Diego—number five. And you—fraud, suspect, revoked practitioner—present. Coincidence?!”*
Leo’s mind imploded. Four? Epidemic? Shadowkin swarm?
*“Not my doing!”* Leo roared—eyes incendiary. *“I intervened! Those children—tainted by—”*
*“Tainted?!”* Ella’s sidearm cleared leather—lightning draw! Muzzle centered on Leo’s brow! *“Elaborate! Now!”*
*“Entities!”* Leo blurted—instant regret. f**k!
*“Entities?!”* Ella’s laugh held zero mirth—only homicidal frost. *“Demonic jurisprudence? Your defense?”* Her finger kissed trigger. *“Leo Yang! You’re implicated in serial juvenile assault! Rights recited! Hands! Head! Wall! NOW!”*
Steel orifice—death’s own pupil—stared unblinking.
Leo’s muscles petrified. Pupils needlepoints. Mortal chill seized him. She’ll fire.
Surrender? Locke or Grayson would butcher him in custody.
Fight! Emptied vessel versus .40 caliber?
Adrenaline surged—final reserves! He coiled—
*HMMMMMMMM—!!!*
Vibration—faint. Familiar.
Slithering into his mind’s abyss.
Gelid. Adhesive.
Ravenous.
Close.
*“DOWN!!!”* Leo’s bellow ripped out—not at Ella—toward the alley’s stygian throat!
Ella flinched—muzzle deflected! Gaze snapped alley-ward—
Nothing.
*“Deceitful bas—”* Fury reignited! Barrel whipped back—
*Too late.*
*Phut! Phut! Phut!*
Suppressed gunfire—staccato burst.
Three rounds—hyper-sonic whispers—unleashed from:
Rooftop left. Rooftop right. Shattered third-story window.
Trajectories: converging.
Ella’s spine. Cranium. g*n-hand.
*Triangulated extermination.*
*“f**k!!!”* Leo’s cognition blanked. Instinct usurped reason. His depleted frame erupted—not attack, but tackle—hurling himself at Ella!
*CRUNCH!*
Bodies collided—tumbling!
*Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!*
Slugs gouged brick—sparking—where Ella’s heartbeat resided seconds prior.
Death—near-miss.
*“Ugh!”* Ella gasped—ribs shrieking! Combat reflexes fired—roll! Draw!
*Too slow.*
*Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!*
Three wraiths—materialized from:
Left wall-shadow. Right roof-edge. Ground-floor void.
Matte-black tactical gear. Balaclavas—eye-slits only. Movements—economical. Lethal.
Assassins. Elite.
Target: Ella Thorne. Mission: Disable. Delete.
First specter—blurred—edge-hand strike! Guillotine descent toward Ella’s carotid!
Ella twisted—desperate!
*Shriiik!*
Strike grazed deltoid—Kevlar shredded! Skin split!
Second specter—piston-kick—cannonballing her solar plexus!
Ella crossed arms—block!
*BOOM!*
Impact hurled her backward—slamming dumpsters! Putrescence geysered!
Third specter—silent—dagger materialized! Ice-pick thrust—kidney-seeking!
*Terminal.*
Ella’s eyes dilated—trapped!
*“OFF HER!!!”*
Leo’s roar—wounded dire wolf!
He surged—snatching a dented trash-lid—hurling it! Wild pitch! Maximum torque!
*CLANG!*
Steel met skull—resonant gong!
Dagger-specter staggered—microsecond stun!
*Reprieve!*
Ella rolled—dagger scored flank! Blood-bloom! But alive!
*“TERMINATE!”* First specter pivoted—abandoning Ella—launching at Leo! Fist—bone-splintering freight train—aimed at Leo’s face!
Leo swayed—vertigo vortex. Evasion—impossible. Death’s knuckle approached—
*Done.*
*HWWWOOOOOONG—!!!*
Vibration—magnified. Cataclysmic.
Gelid. Viscous.
Saturated with bottomless malice. Ravenous hunger.
Erupted from the alley’s deepest pit—a reeking storm drain!
Tsunami of absolute zero!
Sulphurous miasma! Rot-flesh stench!
Flooded the alley!
Assassin’s fist—froze mid-arc! Eyes—behind slits—flared… dread?
Ella—rigor-mortis seized her! Soul-deep terror—paralyzing!
Leo’s sinuses gushed hot copper! He gagged—swiveling toward the drain—
*There.*
Crawling from the primordial abyss—
A talon.
Monstrous. Twisted.
Forged from coagulated umbra.
Ichor-drenched.
Reaching.
Hungering.
- Writer
