The Del Toro Saga: Curse of Moon (Part One)

You can see the clear night sky through the roof of a building and down into the town bar and lounge located in Middleton, Georgia. There is a dance floor across the room full of people dancing and shouting. Jericho is at a bar with friends. They're all having a great time laughing and drinking. Someone suggested they all head onto the dance floor to which almost everybody seems to agree. As they all start making their way there, Danali turns around to see Jericho still stationed by the table. She walks over to him and asks why he isn't coming with them. He says, "You know I've never been much of a dancer." She just shakes her head and replies, "Well, you are tonight." Danali grabs his hand and begins to pull him toward the dance area and he reluctantly follows her. She begins feeling the music and begins dancing with him. He starts dancing in rhythm with her and he starts to grin. "Is that a smile I see?", she says, "You know if anybody can get through that hard shell of yours, it's me." As they continue dancing the music suddenly begins to fade. The room begins to expand. He places his hand on his head as if he's getting a migraine. He looks up and sees the full moon in the night sky. As soon as he looked at it, everything began to become amplified. He quickly backs up and disappears into the crowd as Danali has her back turned. He walks quickly to where their group was seated, grabs his jacket and makes his way to the front door. The front area is too crowded so he turns and runs for the back door. The music is constantly getting louder and louder making it harder for Jericho to keep his composure. He gets to the back and nearly falls on his way out the door. He's grabbing his head, looking down as he walks through the alley. Jericho, not paying attention, accidentally bumps into someone which causes them to knock their date's drink out of her hand. "Hey, do we have a problem?", the boyfriend says. Jericho's hearing is all over the place. Loud, quiet, then louder than the last time. He tries to continue walking away but the man he bumped into and his friend are now standing in his way. "My friend asked you a question, d**k," the second guy says. Jericho trying his best to focus explains that he didn't hear the question. "Oh, so you can't see or hear now, huh?" the boyfriend says loudly. To Jericho, it sounds like they're yelling in his ears with a megaphone and neither one of them will stop talking or get out of his way. The second man repeats, "He said, 'DO WE HAVE A..." Jericho forces them out of his way pushing them both to the side. The force he used knocks both of them down to their backs. They're both startled as they look at each other then to the girl. Once she helps them up, they begin to look around for Jericho but again, it's as if he'd disappeared. "Let's go find him and kick his ass", the first man says and they run off to find Jericho. Moments later, Jericho is running through the woods in a panic. "No, no, please not right now", he begs. The sounds of the woods would be quiet to anyone else but the sounds of crickets feels like someone is grinding two pieces of metal against his eardrums. He can barely get his jacket off and he falls against a tree. He's trying to breathe slower and catch his breath. A loud crack happens as one of his bones shifts. He lets out a groan in pain and falls to the ground. He looks up as if he's looking at the camera and his eyes have completely changed. They are a bright golden color. At this point, Jericho is talking to himself, "You're okay, you're alright. Just breathe." He looks over and sees three people walking through the woods in the distance. Another bone shifts into a different place and it takes everything in Jericho not to let out a sound. Once it seems they have moved far enough away, he begins to continue relaxing his mind and body. He closes his eyes and continues to slow his breathing. "You got this, Jericho. Relax..... relax." He is able to find a sense of peace. You can see a tear go down his cheek before he slowly opens his eyes which now look normal once again. Jericho stands up and steadily walks to pick his jacket up. Just before he can grab it, someone tackles him to the ground but the momentum causes them to roll downhill. The person who tackled him is the angry boyfriend, Eric, from the bar. He stands up already seeing Jericho on his feet, staring straight at him, eyes glowing golden once again. Jericho in this state almost looks possessed. "Hey, stay on him!", a voice says from up the hill. Eric looks up to see Thomas, the second man who was with the couple, now making his way downhill. Eric goes to look back at Jericho, who is now gone. "Where is the punk?", Thomas says as he reaches the bottom of the hill. "I'm not... sure. He was just right here," claims Eric. Thomas, who's looking for a fight, suggests they split up because he couldn't have gotten far. Once they begin to walk separate directions, growling can be heard in the distance. Eric and Thomas look in the direction of the growling. Thomas is now standing maybe 10 yards in front Eric as they're both glancing. The camera shows Eric's face, then moves to the side to reveal Jericho standing directly behind him. Jericho, looking as if the lights are on but nobody's home, balls up his fist and gives a stiff punch to Eric's back. Eric screams out in pain and falls limp to the ground. His back is broken. Thomas turns around, sees his friend and charges at Jericho. Jericho stops him in his tracks, puts his hand on Thomas' chest and forces him onto the ground. With his hand still over his chest, Jericho starts pushing down onto his chest. Thomas starts breathing heavier and begins coughing up blood. This causes him to start panicking and begging that this stranger let him leave. Jericho isn't reacting to anything Thomas is saying. After a couple more seconds, Jericho removes his hand. He stands up and takes a few steps away as he looks around at his surroundings. His eyes still lit up shows he's still in trance. Thomas tries to sneakily crawl over to Eric who is holding a blade in his hand. He grabs the blade from Eric, takes a deep breath and storms towards Jericho who has his back turned. Just as Thomas swings the knife, Jericho quickly turns and knocks it out of his hand. He grabs Thomas by the head with both hands. Thomas lets out a wail in fear as he looks into the golden eyes of an unknown abyss. Jericho rests his right hand on the back of Thomas' head, still looking him in the eyes. The next second, he forces Thomas head-first into the ground. He was dead on impact. Jericho looks over at Eric, who has tears in eyes after seeing what's happened to his best friend. He walks over and turns Eric over onto his back. "Please, don't do this. I'm begging you," says Eric, pleading for his life. Jericho, still unfazed, looks down at Eric and lifts his boot. The last thing Eric sees is Jericho's boot slamming down into darkness. Jericho jumps out of his sleep, sitting up quickly. His breathing is rapid and he realizes he's at home and in bed. He takes a deep breath and relaxes. He falls back on his pillow. The next morning, Reby is asleep in the waiting room at the local EMC. Her hair has leaves in it and her eye liner has ran down her cheeks from crying. Reby's body is experiencing neurogenic tremors causing her body to shiver from the trauma she's dealt with in the last few hours. The tremors are also a cause of the nightmare she's currently having. The sight of Eric and Thomas' lifeless and dismantled bodies in the woods is so fresh in her mind that she can't help but to dream about it. You can see Eric's face, muffed and unrecognizable. Not far from him, Thomas' body faces down in a pool of his own blood. Footsteps slowly approach the area. There's a loud, sudden scream. Reby, Eric's girlfriend from the alley, has just ran over to see his and Thomas' lifeless bodies. She runs over and lays on Eric. She's panicking , screaming and crying. She sees two distant lights in the woods and hears an unknown voice. The voice keeps repeating the same phrase in a whisper: "Let me help you." The two lights begin to look like eyes the closer they get and the unidentified voice continues to get louder by the second. "Let me help you." It looks like a man can now be seen walking towards her. Reby can't figure out exactly what's happening and she's terrified. She makes a desperate attempt for comfort by grabbing Eric's body and puts her face in his chest. Several bright lights now shine down on her. She hears a second voice, "Ma'am, I'm going to need you to come with me." A hand reaches down and touches her shoulder. The touch makes her panic enough to wake herself from sleep. She realizes it was a nightmare and she's still in the waiting room at the med center. Reby then recognizes that the second voice she heard was coming from the on-duty police officer standing by her side. "If you wouldn't mind, the detective would like to speak to you down at the station. I'd like to ask you to come with me?" he says. She nods in compliance before getting up and to follow the officer out and into the hallway. Once she turns the corner, she bumps into another woman. The woman apologizes as she keeps walking past. The officer comes back and escorts Reby out of the building and into his police vehicle. After arriving at the police station, Reby is waiting in an interrogation room. She's tried to pull herself together and clean herself up but you can tell she's still in shock. Her eyes are swollen from crying. A man with a badge hanging around his neck walks in and introduces himself. "Hello, Reby. I am Detective Grant DaVicio and I'm just here to ask you a couple questions, is that okay?" he asks. She nods slowly. "If it becomes too much, let me know. We'll take a short break," Grant assures her. She nods again. "What do you remember from last night?" asks the Detective as he takes out his notebook. Reby just stares straight ahead silently. Grant says, "We can give you a couple minutes if you need." She makes eye contact and shakes her head, "I'm okay... We were standing in the alley beside the bar and this guy knocked my drink out of my hands and my boyfriend tried to stand up for me," Reby says. "And which victim was your boyfriend, Reby?" asks Grant. She responds, "Eric was my boyfriend and Thomas was one of our friends." "Who started the fight? Was it Eric, Thomas?..." asks Grant. Reby shakes her head, "The other guy pushed them both and ran off." "And they followed this man into the woods right after that?" he asks. She nods her head slowly. "Tell me what you saw," says Detective Grant. Reby is starting to get upset again. "I don't even know. I couldn't keep up," Reby says. She's crying again at this point, "I didn't know where I was going. I searched for what felt like forever before I... When I got there, they were already dead. My boyfriend is dead." She buries her face in her hands and Detective Grant has a look of sorrow on his face. He stands up and walks over to her. "You know, I have a daughter that's around the same age as you," he says, "Seeing you like this reminds me of a time when she was younger, that I promised her, there's nothing I wouldn't do if someone hurt her. I would stop at nothing until I got her justice. Right now, I am making you that very same promise." Reby wipes her tears and asks permission to leave. "You can leave but try to remain available in case we need to call you back in or update you about the investigation. Reby gathers her things and walks out the door. Grant exits the interrogation room behind her with a look of determination on his face. He was walking with a sense of purpose. Detective Grant walks up to the police chief, "I want to see where it happened." Across town, the sun is shining through the open curtains and radiating light throughout the house. After letting the water run down her head and face, Danali grabs her towel and steps out of the shower. She wipes the steam from her bathroom mirror to get a look at herself. She's still tired from the night before. She walks out the bathroom and cuts the light out as she leaves. Once dressed, she comes out of her bedroom. She has only been awake momentarily as she makes her way into the kitchen. After turning the TV on in the living room, she gets a cup from the cabinet and as she's pouring her coffee, someone is knocking on the door. "Just a second!" she yells as she tries to finish filling her cup. Once finished, she sits it on the counter and opens the door to see Jericho. She smiles and walks to lay her head on his chest. He hugs her back and they stay embraced. "Rough night?" he asks. She nods her head and responds, "Long night." All of a sudden, she backs away from him and playfully hits his arm exclaiming, "I can't believe you left me on the dance floor last night," before walking back into the house. Jericho follows her inside and explains that he had something that needed his attention. Danali pours a second cup of coffee and hands it to Jericho. "No, you just didn't want to dance last night", she replies, "You should learn to let loose and have a bit of fun every once in a while... and maybe not leave your best friend to be third-wheel to literally everyone for the entire night." Jericho nods his head, "I'll definitely keep that in mind." Danali takes another drink of her coffee and asks if he has any plans for the day. Jericho says he's actually there to take her out for the day to make up for the night before. A look of excitement comes over her face. "I'll be right back," she tells him. She then runs upstairs to get dressed. Somewhere in Washington, there is a silent forest. Nature's wildlife is the only noise to be heard. There is a cool breeze carried with the smell of oak. In a small, open area, you can see a body on the ground. It looks as if someone may have fallen asleep in the grass. The person begins to awaken and swat away small flies and other insects. A half-eaten elk carcass lays just yards away from him. Their blood-covered hand reaches up and rests on the foot of a tree. The man slowly gets to his feet and stumbles toward a nearby pond. After making sure no one was around, he continued downhill and washed himself of the blood that covered his body. You can see his reflection as he looks into the water. There is a quick flash of a raging wolf, then his reflection again. He shakes his head. As he quietly makes his way back through the woods, he walks up on a small camp set up along the trail ahead. Inside the tent, there's a bag containing fresh clothes, a wallet, cell phone and a single bottle of water. Once dressed, Trent walks to his truck. Cal is standing in front of the truck with his bag over his shoulder. "Looks like someone overslept," Cal says. "Don't start," replies Trent. "You're the one that's been in such a rush to get to Sicoco Valley. 'I have to find her. I have to find her.', "Cal says mocking Trent. Trent starts the truck once they're all loaded up. "Once we do find her, you'll be glad we did," Trent says as they pull off. Back at Danali's apartment, she makes her way downstairs only to see Jericho asleep on the couch. She kicks his leg and tells him she's ready to go. He looks at his watch, then up at her and jokes, "It's about time." "Shut up," she says as she laughs, "I was only upstairs for 30 minutes." "More like two hours," Jericho says as he stands to his feet. "How is it that I'm the one up drinking all night but you're more tired than I am?" Danali asks. Jericho responds, "Maybe you're not the only one who had a long night." A curious look crosses her face as she asks, "What's that supposed to mean?" "Nothing," he says as he walks out the door. She slightly smirks and follows him, closing the door behind her. While driving down the road, Danali decides to switch up the conversation. "So, you're really not going to tell me?" Danali asks. "Tell you what?" says Jericho. "I want to know who 'she' is," Danali answers, "Who's causing you to have such long nights?" "Its nothing," he says. "Come on, Jey. You can't keep this from me. I literally tell you everything," she says. Jericho smiles but still remains silent. "Fine. Whatever. Keep your little secret," Danali says as she folds her arms. After a few moments of silence, Jericho looks over and asks, "You're really giving me the silent treatment?" "Stop," she says. "Stop, what? Talking?" he responds. "No, Jey. Stop the car," she replies quickly. Jericho's eyes return quickly back to the road as he hits the brakes. They notice a road block set up ahead by the police force. There is a line of cars backed up as far as they can see. "The way this traffic is, we're definitely going to miss breakfast," he states. "I just thought about something. Turn around, I know another way," she says. Jericho turns the car around and starts driving the other way. Danali tells him to take the first right turn they come across. About a mile after, once they're clear from any other cars, she tells Jericho to stop the car again. "What are you doing?" he asks. Danali smiles. "Come on," she replies as she gets out of the car. "Where are you going?" he asks. "It's my little secret," she responds. Jericho has an unsurprised look on his face from her comment. "Isn't it obvious?" she asks. Jericho gets out of the car once he realizes she wants to go to the crime scene. He tells her she's not going. "Tell me 'no' all you want. That doesn't work on me. You can ask my dad," she replies. She begins to walk toward the woods but she turns around once she feels Jericho grab her by the arm. "I really don't think that's a good idea," he tells her in a more serious tone of voice. She almost seems upset that he doesn't want her to go and she jerks her arm away from him. "It's cute how overprotective you are over me but if you're scared, you can stay here," she says in a challenging way. She takes a few steps away. Jericho calls her nickname as one last attempt to keep her from going, "Dani..." "If you're going to protect me, you might want to keep up," she teases as she walks into the woods. "Shit..." Jericho mumbles under his breath as he reluctantly follows behind her. Outside of a shopping area in Sicoco Valley, Jacey approaches her car carrying several bags, all while managing to have a conversation on the phone. "Yes, I know. You've made that clear but, I already paid for the V.I.P. passes..." Jacey is starting to become upset from the conversation taking place. She's gradually beginning to walk at a faster pace and is constantly adjusting the bags on her arms. "Please Mr. Davis, don't do this. My bachelorette party has been planned for weeks." Jacey seems at a loss for words as she reaches the car. "Are you sure? Well is there anywhere else I can call at such short notice?... Club Erotica... I'll give them a call, thank you." As she tries to hang up the call, Jacey drops her phone and some of her bags. "Dammit!" she exclaims. She lets out a breath of frustration as she gets down to pick up her belongings. Someone else walks up and attempts to help her. "You look like you could use a hand", the man says. "Oh, no, it's just..." Jacey starts to turn his help down but she then takes another deep breath and allows the gentleman to assist her, "You know what, thank you." "Honestly, it's no problem. Seems like you're having a bit of a tough time so I figured I'd offer help", the man responds. Jacey nods, "Yeah, well, today is really not going the way I thought it would." "It might help to talk to someone about it", he suggested. Jacey shakes her head, "No, it's fine. I don't want to bother you with all my drama." "I understand", says the man, "Well, I hope your day gets better. My name is Trent by the way." "Thank you so much, I'm Jacey", she replies and they shake hands. "Oh, and congratulations on the wedding", he adds as he turns away. This catches Jacey off-guard. "How did you know I'm getting married?" she asks. He turns his attention back to her and responds, "Your wedding invitations had fallen out of your bag also. Between that and you raising your voice over a bachelorette party on the phone, I just put two and two together." Jacey chuckles,"Oh, gosh, of course. Thank you." The man nods and they part ways with Jacey getting back in her car and driving off. Trent walks over to his truck and gets in. "Did you even get a location?" Cal asks. "She mentioned a bachelorette party at a place called Club Erotica while she was on the phone. I hope you got a nice fit ready, Cal. We're going out tonight", Trent says with a smile on his face. "Nice", Cal says responding with a smirk of his own. Trent pulls out of the parking lot. Meanwhile, Danali is steadily making her way through the woods trying to make sure she doesn't miss anything that could lead her back to the crime scene. Jericho follows behind while keeping a couple yards between them. "Have you found any clues, detective?" Jericho asks sarcastically. Danali smirks a little. "I haven't seen anything yet but, there's this nagging voice in my ear. Almost like nails on a chalkboard," she replies, turning back towards Jericho. He smiles back at her. When she turns back, Danali sees yellow caution tape up ahead signaling the beginning of the restricted area. "We're getting close," Danali says. Jericho lifts the caution tape up and they both walk under. As soon as Jericho releases his grip on the tape, a pungent smell stops him in his tracks. It wasn't just any smell, it was familiar. He knew exactly what it was... it was blood. Jericho has a quick flash of Eric and Thomas being savagely beaten but the thought of it seemed to confuse him. Deep down, he felt something was wrong. The smell of blood was stronger towards the east. He noticed Danali was headed in a northwest direction away from the actual crime scene. Jericho silently broke away from Danali and went to check out the area. "I figured we would have gotten closer by now," Danali says as she continues walking. When Jericho doesn't reply, she gets concerned and suddenly notices that she no longer hears his feet hitting the ground behind hers anymore. She stops to look around for him but he's nowhere in sight. She calls his name but gets no answer. This makes her feel slightly uncomfortable. Jericho continues walking in another direction until the blood smell is at its strongest. He's standing over the exact area Thomas and Eric were beaten in during his dream. There are no bodies but he can see where the blood has dried into the ground. Jericho still doesn't quite understand what is happening. He just shakes his head and starts walking back towards Danali. As he walks, he notices a faint glimmer on the ground a couple feet away which brings him back to a stop. Danali hears a stick break in the distance behind her. She smiles and runs over. "If you're going to try and scare me, you're going to have to be more quiet," she says laughing. Danali's smile quickly faded once she could see that Jericho isn't who she heard. It was an on-duty officer guarding the area who turns around and sees her. "Hey! You shouldn't be here," he yells. Without hesitation, Danali makes a run for it and the officer chases after her. She trips over a branch sticking out of the ground but she uses her hands to push herself back off the ground to keep running. By the time she got back up to her feet, the officer grabbed her arm. Danali still had dirt in her hands from her fall and accidently throws it in the officer's eyes as she shrugs him off. He lets her go and begins grabbing at his eyes. A quick look of instant regret came over her face but she knew she couldn't just stick around. As Danali turns around, she runs right into Detective Grant DaVicio: her father. "Danali, what the hell are you doing here?" He asks. You can hear the sternness in his voice.