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Darkness Rising: Chapter Four.

It's been awhile since I posted anything on this website. Honestly, the hiatus did me some good. I've got more ideas, and I've never been more relaxed than I am now. Anyways, I mentioned in chapter three that Ariel was going to be staying away for a while. I wasn't kidding. This chapter is all Eric. Now that I've gotten that out of the way; the following chapter contains gore, death, the supernatural, zombies, a heavily wounded man, furries, and a female cop. If you ain't old enough; leave. If you don't like; leave. If you get caught reading this; blame your dog since they're the reason for a lot of bad things. If you're still here, the following story starts up in 3...2...1...NOW. (THANKS TO NEX-CANIS FOR EDITING THIS CHAPTER)

Mercy Hospital. November 18th.

*BANG!* A set of double doors sprang open as a group of paramedics rushed into the emergency room with a patient who had a piece of re-bar coming out of his stomach; strapped to a gurney. Almost immediately, the ER doctors rushed over to them, and started asking questions about the patient. "What the hell happened to this guy?" asked a doctor as he checked the patient's pulse. The paramedic, a middle age man, quickly told the doctor that the patient had been impaled through the stomach by a metal pole, and shot in the chest. The doctor thanked the paramedic, and helped lead the way to an operating room. As the medics rushed the patient over to the O.R, he suddenly sat up and let out a loud roar of pain, before falling back again. The doctor looked at the patient, more worried than he was before, and then started to shout out orders to move faster. Five minutes later, the medics reached the operating room. Just before entering, the doctor asked the paramedic what the patient's name was. "His name is Eric Carballo. "At least, that's what the cop at the scene says. Nodding, the doctor entered the operating room, leaving the paramedic behind to hear the agonized screams of a lion in pain.

30 hours earlier. 9:00 P.M.

"Good afternoon. My name is Eric Carballo, and I'm here investigating the double homicides that happened this past week," said the lion as he shook the hand of a tigress secretary at the coroner's office, and showed her the credentials that identified him as a federal agent. The secretary gave the lion a small smile, and then directed her gaze to the computer in front of her. "Please wait a moment Mr. Carballo as I let the coroner know to come pick you up." Eric gave the secretary a smile of his own, and nodded as he went to look for a seat. Finding one, the lion sat down, and placed one leg over the other as his tail moved from side to side behind him. _ It's been at least a week since every vampire on earth suddenly died. No one has been able to explain it, not even my supposed angel friend; Balthazar. I wonder if demons were involved. _ The lion was about to go on thinking about the extinction of the vampires, when he suddenly heard his name being called. Looking up from the floor, which the lion hadn't even noticed he had been looking at, Eric walked up to the secretary, who was standing beside a Doberman in a white lab coat.

"Nice to meet you Eric. I go by Dr. Gonzalez, and I'm sure you can tell that I'm the coroner of the small town of Buies Creek, North Carolina. How can I help you?" the coroner greeted as he held out his paw. Eric grabbed and shook the paw, and introduced himself. "Name's Eric and I would like to see the bodies of the two homicide victims. I believe that they may be the victims of a serial killer I'm after." The coroner nodded his head, and beckoned for Eric to follow him. Obliging, the lion walked with the coroner all the way to the morgue. Once they reached the entrance, the Doberman stopped, and turned to look at Eric, a serious look on his face.

"Now I know you said that these victims might look similar to those of your serial killer, but I'll still warn you. What you're about to see is not for the faint of heart, and very gruesome." Eric frowned a little as he told the coroner he would be fine. _ What could the monster of the week have done to these bodies? _ The lion asked himself as both furs stepped into the morgue. Motioning for the lion to stay where he was, the coroner walked over to two of the cold chambers, opened up both, and rolled out death beds of each. Once each body was fully out in the open, Eric's fur stood on end, and he had to swallow quickly a few times to prevent himself from vomiting. The body of the first victim; an African-American human male, was covered in over twenty bite marks, most of which were located on the chest. What looked like strips of flesh that had been physically torn from the body, left gaping holes for all to see. The markings on the first victim did not compare to those of the second.

The second victim, a lioness, seems to have had her entire face eaten away. Her nose was completely gone, leaving only the white of her skull underneath. Parts of her jaw were chewed off, leaving muscles and tendons bare. Her right eye had been eaten, while the other looked like it had been hanging out of its socket. Putting a fist to his mouth, Eric asked the coroner to conceal the bodies again. The coroner did so immediately, and then turned to Eric, who was starting to ask him about the bodies.

"Well, as you saw; the bodies of both victims were covered in bite marks, which leads me to believe that it could have have been an animal attack. That is, until I looked closer at each bite mark." At that point, the lion interrupted the good coroner. "Let me guess; they were human?" The coroner nodded in confirmation. "That's what I was able to determine. Now, here's where it gets interesting, and more tragic. Both victims were completely taken by surprise, but they did put up a good fight. However, based off the bumps on the back of each victim's head, I believe their attacker was able to knock them out." "What's so tragic about that Coroner?" asked Eric as he looked over at the cold chambers. The Doberman held up a finger, telling the lion to wait. "That isn't the tragic part. The tragic part was that each of these bite wounds were inflicted while the victims were alive." At this, Eric could no longer hold his stomach. The lion ran over to the nearest trash can, and threw up everything that he had eaten that day, and the previous day. The coroner patiently let Eric do what he had to do. Once it looked like the lion was done vomiting, he continued.

"Both victims were alive as they were being eaten. Interestingly enough, they did not die from blood loss, or from the shock of all the pain they must have been going through. Instead, I ruled cause of death as a gunshot wound to the heart, for both of them. It seems the killer wanted them to suffer before they died." Eric nodded his head as he wiped his mouth off with a paper towel. "Thank you Dr. Gonzalez. This definitely matches the victims of my serial killer. Please, if there are any more bodies-" Eric took out a card with his number on it, and handed it to the coroner, "-Call me right away." Thanking the Doberman for his time, Eric left the morgue, and the hospital, and walked over to the motorcycle he had parked a block away from the building. As the lion walked, he couldn't but think over what he had just seen. _ There's only one monster that I'm aware of that eats it's victims while they're still breathing. It's a fucking zombie. Now I just gotta figure out how to kill it. _ With that thought in mind, Eric got onto his bike, put on his helmet and drove away from the hospital.

Two Hours later.

"Yeah, let me have a cup of coffee, and a burger." said Eric as he handed his menu to the waitress of a restaurant he had stopped at. The waitress, a human by the name of Janet, smiled sweetly at the lion as she took his menu, and then headed over to the kitchen. Eric watched her go, and then leaned back against his seat and closed his eyes as he waited for his food to come to his table. However, just as his head was about to hit the back of his seat, the lion heard the slightest ruffling of feathers, coming from the chair in front of him. Discreetly reaching into his pocket, and holding his gun, Eric opened his eyes to see who his companion was.

"Hello Eric. It's nice to see you again." came the throaty voice of the tiger in front of him. Eric let go of the gun in his pocket, and acknowledged Balthazar's greeting with a nod. "What you want Balthazar?" asked the lion as he straightened up in his seat. The angelic tiger looked at Eric under half-closed eyes, and gave him a small smile. "I'm sure you know that you have to kill a zombie now. I'm not here to confirm that. I'm only here to tell you how to kill the damn thing." At those words, Eric quickly leaned forward, his ears perked, and his eyes searching for the information he needed. However, before either furs could talk, both the waitress, and a newcomer stopped at their table. The newcomer, a white female wolf in a police uniform, held her badge out at both furs, and asked to sit with them.

Eric looked at the cop with suspicion, but let her sit next to him. As he did so, he also took his food from the waitress. "How can I help you officer?" the lion asked as he set his food down. The officer looked at Eric for a moment, and then opened her muzzle to speak. "My name is Officer Akia Greene. I understand you were at the local morgue today. Can you please explain why?" Eric, who was just about to take a bite out of his burger, stopped about halfway to his mouth, and set it back down on his plate. Not sure what to say in response to the officer's question, he looked over at Balthazar, who was doing nothing but checking his claws to see if they were dirty. Sighing, the lion turned to look back at the white wolf, gave her his best smile, and answered her question.

"I visited the morgue because I heard that the local police department found bodies here that have matching injuries to those of a serial killer I'm after." The white wolf raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing the lion's story. Before she could voice her doubts, however, she was interrupted by Balthazar. "Officer Greene, my friend here is correct. He really is here to try to catch this serial killer. In fact; I even recommended that he come here, after having heard about the bodies." With those words, the angel went back to cleaning his claws, not bothering to see if the officer believed him. Sighing, Officer Greene looked at Eric, and told him to watch his back, and to not do anything stupid. After giving the lion that piece of advice, she made to leave the table, but was stopped by when Eric grabbed her paw.

"Officer Greene, I do have some questions to ask you. Do you mind hanging around for a while?" as he spoke, Eric put a pleading look in his eyes, and a charming smile to his face. Smirking, the wolf nodded her head, and sat back down. Still smiling, Eric grabbed his burger again, and started eating it. The officer patiently waited for the lion to finish eating. Luckily; she didn't have to wait long. About five minutes into his meal, the lion finished, and was wiping his mouth before he spoke. "Has anybody recently moved into this small town? And if they have, has anybody reported strange noises, or weird things in that person's house?" Slightly confused, Officer Greene tried to think of any houses that had been moved into recently, and was able to come up with five people. Of this five, she was able to determine that two of them had had recent complaints filed against them. "There's only two that I can think of at the top of my head, that match what you just said. One is a raccoon who goes by the name Neil Burke, and the other is a human who goes by the name Patricia Watson. Does that help?" Eric nodded his head in confirmation and thanks. He then took out his wallet, and took out a few bills to pay for his food. "I'm going to go question these people. Can you take me to their houses?" the lion asked the Officer. She nodded, and got up.

As Eric and Officer Greene got up from their seats, Balthazar finished cleaning his nails, and grabbed onto Eric's arm. Pulling the lion's head down to his mouth, Balthazar quickly whispered; "Only weapons made of brass will kill this thing," and then let go of the lion's arm. As soon as he saw Officer Greene's back turn, the angel disappeared from the restaurant. Biting his lip, Eric quickly followed the officer out the door. Once outside, he walked over to his bike, and signaled that he would be right behind her. The officer nodded her head, and got into her squad car. Within moments, both furs were driving in the direction of one of their person's of interest.

Twenty minutes of driving later.

After some heavy driving, Officer Greene finally slowed her car down in front of an apartment building. As she was stepping out of the car, Eric pulled up right beside her, and got off of his bike. Taking off his helmet, the lion looked up at the apartment building, and shook his head. "Whoever lives here, definitely ain't the killer. He/she would want to be in an area that is somewhat more secluded than this." Nodding her head, Officer Greene got back into her car, Eric got back onto his bike, and the both of them were soon speeding over to the next house.

Two hours later.

After driving for another two hours, both Eric and the officer pulled up to a somewhat cozy looking cottage, all the way at the end of a suburban block. Getting out of her car, Officer Greene looked over at Eric to see if this was the likely place, and received a nod in response. Reaching for her gun, Officer Greene walked up to the door of the cottage, with Eric right behind her, and with his paw on his own gun, and knocked on the door. The furs both waited for a moment for someone to answer the door. Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long, because thirty seconds later, they heard the sounds of a deadbolt being unlocked, and then the door opening. What was behind the door, was something surprising. "Why hello dears. How can I help you?" asked the elderly Patricia Watson as she slipped her reading glasses up her nose.

Eric looked over at Officer Greene in shock. "We went to the wrong place. It appears that the raccoon was the guy after all." Nodding in agreement, Officer Greene apologized to Patricia, and then ran back to her squad car, and turned on her lights. With a loud screech, the squad car sped off in the direction of Neil Burke's house, Eric closely following on his motorcycle.

Neil Burke's House.

A light humming noise came from inside the apartment of Neil Burke. The raccoon was swinging his hips from side to side as he walked over to his kitchen counter, knife in paw, and started to chop up a pair of fingers he had placed on the cutting board. Once he finished chopping, Neil scooped up the fingers and dropped them into a pot of boiling water. Humming softly, the raccoon walked over to his guest bedroom, opened the door, and looked at his zombie slave. Said slave, a parakeet, was currently sleeping on the bed, but ready to wake up at a moment's notice should he need to serve his master. Smirking, the raccoon closed the door, and walked back to the kitchen. Still smirking, Neil turned off the pot of boiling fingers, and set it on the counter to cool. After doing so, the raccoon bent down and opened the cabinet underneath the sink. Humming softly, the raccoon took out a piece of re-bar he had been saving, and then turned around. "Hello Officer Greene, and Eric. How can I be of service to you two?" Neil asked, a cocky grin on his face.

Officer Greene's eyes widened, shocked that the raccoon would know her name, but Eric was not surprised. "Let me guess; you're the man who created, and controls the zombie?" the lion asked as he moved to the right of the raccoon. Officer Greene looked over at Eric, confused by what he just said, while Neil nodded his head slowly, and let out a small chuckle. "That's right. But quick question, did you have a warrant to enter my home?" Eric let out a snarl in response, not bothering to give the question a worded answer. Neil chuckled again, and started backing away from both furs. As soon as they saw this, Eric and Officer Greene both pulled their guns out of their holsters. With loud growls, both furs told the raccoon to stay where he was. Neil instantly froze, knowing full well that he couldn't outrun bullets. However, a smile soon appeared on his face. "You don't think that my creation wouldn't be here did you? JESSE! COME AND PROTECT YOUR MASTER!" With that loud exclamation, the zombie in the next room quickly woke up, broke down the door to his room, and quickly ran over to his master's attackers.

Before either Eric or Officer Greene could get off a shot, the both of them were knocked over by the undead avian. As all three of them landed on the floor, Officer Greene's gun went off, and sent a stray bullet into an unknown target. Eric's own gun flew out of his hands, all the way to the other side of the room. Almost immediately afterward, the zombie picked up Officer Greene, and tossed her to the other side of the room, wanting to go straight for the fur that knew how to kill him. Grunting in pain from a sudden blow to his shoulders, Eric tried to scratch at the zombie's face, but only managed to rip off pieces of dead flesh. The zombie's reaction to losing his flesh was slightly disturbing; it didn't seem fazed by that claws. Biting his lips, Eric started fighting back even harder; punching and kicking the zombie in a half-dozen different places, all to no effect.

Neil looked at the one-sided fight with a glint of happiness in his eyes. _ This is just great. I'll end up being the lone person who can say he killed one of the best supernatural killers out there. _ Smirking, the raccoon ordered his zombie slave to hold Eric's arms down as he walked over to the fighting pair. The zombie; in its mindless state, quickly did as it was told. Holding the piece of re-bar in his hand, Neil squatted down to look at Eric, a look of pity on his face. "Tell me Eric; how does it feel to be beaten by one of the very things you kill?" The lion's response was to gather saliva in his mouth, and spit in Neil's face. Almost instantly, the raccoon's face twisted in anger. Looking over at his zombie slave, Neil told it to begin eating the lion. The zombie leaned it's head towards Eric's neck as the raccoon walked away from the pair. Just as Neil reached his kitchen, and just as the zombie was about to bite down on Eric's neck, two shots rang out. Turning around, Neil was treated to the sight of Officer Greene standing over the dead body of the zombie, Eric's gun in her paws.

"I really hope I don't need to tell you to raise your hands, and to drop your weapon." the wolf growled. Neil's ears drooped in defeat, knowing full well that he no longer had the upper-hand. Sighing, the raccoon made to drop the piece of re-bar on the floor, only to throw it hard; in the direction of Officer Greene. The wolf's eyes widened, and she quickly jumped out of the way of the thrown piece of metal. As she jumped, the wolf fired Eric's gun a total of seven times; in the direction of the raccoon. Neil's body spasmed violently as five of the seven bullets hit him in the chest, stomach, and arms. A second later, the raccoon fell to the floor, bleeding from the holes in his dead body. As soon as Neil's body fell, Officer Greene got up from the floor, and walked over to the body. Bending down, she checked for a pulse, and let out a sigh of relief when she didn't feel one.

"Di...Did you kill them both?" came the gasping voice of Eric; who had just walked up behind her. Officer Greene nodded her head in confirmation, and was about to turn around and ask Eric if she had truly killed a zombie, when she felt something wet and sticky dripping onto her arms. Furrowing her brow, Officer Greene turned to look at Eric, and let out a gasp of shock. The re-bar that Neil had thrown at her, but missed when she jumped out of the way; had imbedded itself into Eric's stomach. Not only that, the lion was also currently bleeding from a gunshot wound to his chest. Looking down at what the wolf was seeing, Eric let out a dry chuckle. "Don't worry, I've been through worse." As soon as he uttered the last word, Eric fell against Officer Greene's side, causing the both of them to fall to the floor.

Grunting, the wolf gently moved Eric off of her, and onto his back, and then reached for her radio. "I need an ambulance at this location. I've got a male lion in his twenties, bleeding out on the floor from a gunshot wound. He's also been impaled by a piece of re-bar. Please hurry!" Turning off her radio, Officer Greene started ripping off parts of her shirt, and folding the pieces together. Once she finished, she applied the makeshift gauze to the hole in Eric's chest, and start putting pressure against it. "Come on Eric. I need you to stay with me. Don't die on me. COME ON BOY!" shouted the wolf as she watched Eric fall unconscious. Biting her lip, the wolf continued applying pressure to the lion's wound, until she heard the sound of paramedics entering the apartment; a full ten minutes later. Stepping away from Eric, she let the paramedics take over, hoping that they could save the lion.

Present day.

"Officer Greene?" The wolf raised her head when she heard her name get called. Standing in front of her was a surgeon. Immediately alert, the wolf got up from her seat, and started asking the doctor if Eric was going to be okay. The surgeon raised a paw to stem the flow of questions. Only after he was sure that the wolf wouldn't speak again, did the surgeon talk. "Officer Greene, we managed to save Eric. He's lost a lot of blood, and a portion of his stomach, but when I last saw him, he was in stable condition. However, I've got some bad news." Worrying at what the surgeon had to say, she nodded her head to tell him to continue speaking. "Ms. Greene, I last saw Eric when we put him in the ICU immediately after surgery. However, when I went to go see him ten minutes later, there was a small problem." Biting his lip, the surgeon looked for a delicate way to say what he had to say next. He finally decided to be blunt. "He's no longer in his room. In fact, he's no longer in this hospital period." The eyes of the Officer widened in shock as she looked over in the direction of the ICU. However, before she could say anything, the lights in the hospital started flickering. Both the surgeon and Officer Greene looked up in concern. Just as they were about to say something, the lights went out, and the screams of several furs fill the night.

Yes, yes. This is a cliffhanger. The ending does have significance to what Ariel and Lilith are doing, so if you want to find out what that is, come back when chapter five is up. In the meantime, constructive criticism is welcomed, non-constructive criticism is not. Till chapter five is up, I bid you all good day.