A Bump in the Road. Chapter Eleven.
A Bump in the Night
Chapter Eleven
By Roofles
I wasn't sure what the hell I was doing. I had planned on taking this damn creepy, somewhat cute... voodoo, hex, cursed doll and toss it into the swamp letting it rot for the rest of time. Hell. Leaving it back with the perverted witch doctor would've been better than pawning it and, of all the things, bringing it home.
Marco had split the second we were back. Making sure I was safe, good and wasn't going to leave before having to do something or other. "I have to see a man." How vague is that? Was he dating someone (then again that would make him gay...) or meeting up with some other freaking deaky werewolves to go prance under the moonlight with? Once more the whole gay thing comes up there as well. Or did he have to go off someone? And once more that sound so faggy... Kill, go off to kill someone, that sounded far better. As a huge ass werewolf I was sure he didn't need a gun for that. The killing someone. Not the whole getting another guy off thing...
To distract myself from these disturbing thoughts I looked over the creepy plush doll. Lewis had said it can't get to me. That it was safely locked away and I wasn't in any known danger. But once more the wild dog hadn't exactly said that. Just used some kind of net (the easiest way to think of the Soul Snare he was talking about) and trapping it in a cage (this voodoo doll). So as long as I didn't open said cage I should be fine. Hopefully. I really didn't want to get murdered right now.
That reminded me I had been rather distracted these past few days (though it felt FAR longer than that). I was working on a case still. A big case. Biggest of my life (money wise that is) and here I was following the yellow brick road to neverland, up and down the rabbit hole through wonderland, almost getting killed, shot, mauled by strange were coyotes, getting cursed by some old god from a dead culture and discovering the secret underground world that's in my backyard. OK, not exactly boring but not productive either. I learned very little on the main matter here. Who and why did these people get killed.
So I tossed the plush onto my bed, why? Cause thats where creepy cursed feiths, voodoo dolls belong. And began pacing my room trying to mull things over. My thoughts were clear, though I was a bit tired from this whole charade. Hell I thought I saw some kind of spark in those black button eyes. A teal light that made my stomach suddenly drop.
"How does the in-between link to the murders?" I muttered aloud opening up several files on the cases and began looking them over once more. "The bodies were mutilated beyond anything a normal human could do. There were animal sounds before the killing and I found marks left behind from some of those therian gang members. Or I'm sure it was them." Only now did I notice I was talking to the damn plush doll on my bed having sat down at the very edge of the bed.
It had it's fingerless arms open as if he were a teddy bear trying to give me a hug, that or strangle me. His fur felt real even the black splotches looked accurate to how I remembered it. Remembered it before it tried to maul my face off that was. This was like bringing fucking Chucky home. Great, why did I bring this cursed doll home? It was somewhat cute sure, something I would get a date after she made a huge fuss over it in the mall. But put a knife in those squishy, fingerless adorable paws and I'd be a dead man.
"Ok. Putting the creepy doll aside." I put it in the far corner next to the mirror and away from me never fully turning my back on it. "The murders." Not mine...hopefully. "The bodies couldn't be identified. So maybe they too were from this other world? Butchered so nobody in our world would be able to know they weren't human. Some strange otherworldly murders on our hand? Great. Just fricking great.."
"That or they could be those of the construction workers that were spirited away like you were."
"Good point, I didn't think about that. I figured they had just been turned into something...or eaten..." I looked over at the corner. "No. No, no, no." I nearly shouted before lowering my voice. "Demon dolls don't talk. It's all in my head."
"Was in your head." That smug voice corrected and I could almost see it smirking at me with those brilliant teal eyes.
"Shut up. You know what I mean." Focus on the case, try not to focus on the fact your going crazy. Don't give it that power, don't acknowledge it and send it to the church for a promptly exorcism once you got the chance too. "But if it was the workers that were lost why would we find them in our world? And not only that wouldn't it have been better if we could identify them? That way we wouldn't chalk it up to the fact they just magically disappeared."
"Maybe they weren't human when they died. Or to begin with. What do we know about them?" It had a point there. It was like something I would say. So yeah. I wasn't crazy. I wasn't talking to an evil possessed plush doll. I was just having a conversation with myself. Lovely. Far better...
"The workers?" I frowned before going over my files a bit before finding the old news article I had originally stumbled on...and by stumble on was not so subtly given by a shady source even if it did come in a nice package. "John Johnson, Louie Moore and Justin Williams. A bunch of nobodies from the looks of it. John had a family, a wife and two kids. Louie seemed to be a loner that had no real family."
"Like you." That voice chuckled and once more I could feel it smirking.
"Shut up. And Justin began working in construction after he came back from the war. Nothing special about them." I frowned. This was a dead end as well. There wasn't any similarities. They all died streets apart and in no known crime gang territory. Actually...
"The gangs haven't marked the whole city. Just a few large parts of it. The main parts of it." I muttered once more scratching the growing fuzz on my chin. I got up and went into the side room, unlocked the door first and closed it behind me before pulling the string for the light bulb above. It hung down in the, slightly larger than, closet sized room.
This was my office or where I moved it after Marco moved in. I kept my desk in my room but everything else had been shoved in here. Two file cabinets sat pushed up into the corner. One wall was taken up by a map of the city and on it were several different color flags. I pulled a few out, from old cases and looked over the others.
I made sure to mark the known gang areas. It was easier that way. If a body came up there it was more than likely some gang issue. And if it wasn't? The gang in question was going to get involved. Both a huge problem in themselves. I used red flags to mark the deaths of the last Three found bodies. These red flags were spread out but each weren't in any kind of known gang area. In fact that in itself was odd.
John Johnson was the first case. He was located in the middle of a park, dragged behind a few bushes before being... well yeah. The next one was in the subway. And the last was in a gas station. Each were spread out from each other but somewhat close in the same general area's located between the gang zones. Using a ruler I found that they were approximately the same distance from each other.
"We already knew they were relate though."
"Correction. We had assume. We know now that they are." I rubbed my brow trying to think it over. "Why would they be outside gang territory and equal distance from each other?" Even before I was able to mull that over my phone rang.
I shook my head, grabbing it and heading into the kitchen to make some actual coffee. "'Yello?" I said a bit gruffly pouring the ground beans into a filter and placed it in.
"Hey! Where the hell have you been?" The voice on the other line shouted. It was Charlie, the young spunky Irish headed cop. It was the first time I actually heard him swear, good for him.
"Why?" I changed shoulders, beginning to pour water into the back of the machine.
"Everyone is freaking out! The chief was trying to get a hold of you for the past week!" I frowned at that.
"Week?" I've been gone a day, at most. I pulled the phone away and saw Seventy-Two missed messages. "That's impossible." I left on the Second and now it was...the Ninth? What the fuck. "That's impossible!" I nearly shouted looking at the calender again.
"Well yeah. You have been. Some people down here are pissed because of it." I could only imagine who. "The thing is. We got another murder?"
"Great." I rolled my eyes and my shoulders fell as I groaned. I wanted some coffee, to mull things over, fap a bit and go to bed. Not more workload. "Where at?"
As he told me I nearly dropped the phone. I stammered a thank you before shutting the phone cutting him off mid sentence.
I ran back towards the closet, skidded in the hall and ducked inside. Fishing another red flag from the box next to the map I stuck it in. Right in the very warehouse I had used to enter the in-between the first time. "That does make me wonder about the fact if there are more than..."
"One entrance?" I tried not to jump as I saw the damn plush doll resting on the cabinet in the corner. Damn fucking possessed, demonic objects.
"One entrance to the in-between... yeah." I muttered slowly before looking back at the map. I took out a yellow flag and, looking around, found the spot where I (assumed) the pub me and Marco had used was at and marked it. It wasn't on the map. Go figure. Measuring it I found it was roughly equal distance from the other three murders and, adding another yellow flag, marked the warehouse. "Each portal to the other world is exactly equal distance from another? Or roughly rather." I rolled my eyes.
"As if they aren't able to build the other ones too close to each other." I nodded as it spoke.
"Humans do the same thing. The government can't just build hospitals, schools and such where ever they please. They have to do it in certain locations." I'm not in realestate and knew little about it so this was out of my element. "So they just made them as close as possible without breaking any kind of...zoning laws?" I chuckled at that shaking my head. I swear if there was a damn government in that place I was going to scream. Probably more stable, less corrupt than our own but that was another issue all together.
"It could also do with territory."
"How so." I eyed it wearily. I couldn't see its mouth speak or body move but heard it from its general direction.
"These human gangs have markings on your map." I looked at it. I used a marker to mark their known borders.
"What's your point." I asked eying it once more.
"Most creatures of the night do too. That's why you don't see a whole fuck ton truck load, as you would put it," I wouldn't have put it like that. Well...yeah I actually would've. "In one location. The only time you see that is when two gangs, lets call them to make things easier, go to war with each other trying to take the others territory."
"What's so great about that?" I knew that if you crossed the line you were as good as a dead man and if you were to do something on their turf that would be an insult to them. So to regain their pride, honor and bullshit they'd do equal or greater damage on the others home turf. If not a giant blood bath.
"Creatures of the night," he said again using the broad term to classify them. I wonder if he fell into that category. "Need to, or most do, live off of or feed on humans."
"Like you were trying to do to me." I pointed out crossing my arms.
It ignored me and went on. "Most couldn't survive if a great deal of them were in the same area, feeding on the cattle," I winced at that. "And it would attract far too much attention from hunters if they did whatever they pleased."
"Hunters?" I could almost feel those teal eyes turn towards me sending shivers up my spine.
"Religious fanatics of no known religion. They are part of every single one but belong to none. They use them to achieve their goals no matter the cost. Like when those across the sea invaded my lands." It's voice faded and I could see that teal spark in its eyes die down to only a flickering flame.
It took me a few moments to gather what he meant. "You mean the conquistadors?" The Spanish that had invaded South America and wiped out the Aztecs.
"That is what I heard the men in metal call themselves." Men in metal? Most likely a reference to the Spanish soldiers who used metal breastplates and armor.
"These hunters were the Spanish conquistadors?" I got an annoyed growl at that.
"Hunters use whoever they have to, no matter the time period, to get the job done. I heard there was a great uprising in the other lands where they used the most powerful group at the time to attack others they have branded heretics. The church was behind them believing they were doing the work of their gods while just being nothing more than puppets for these hunters." The crusades. I nodded as a brief image flashed in my mind.
I held my forward, wincing at the image. "I got it, don't got to flash me." I tried not to focus on what I said, again.
"In the farther lands, past those, I heard on the wind great wars. Empires falling while others built walls to protect themselves." The wars of Asia, India and the great wall of china? "Yes. Those." I shuddered as I felt that paw scooping at my mind once more as if digging through my own memories as it had before.
I found myself glaring at it coldly, breathing a bit heavy and sweating a bit before moving away towards the kitchen to get a glass of coffee. I wasn't too surprised to see it waiting for me on the kitchen counter.
"I thought you couldn't get to me anymore." I spat, glaring at it before getting a cup.
"I can't." It said and some part of me knew it was telling the truth.
"So your just talking to me because I'm crazy then?"
"No matter who or what you are, once a spirit is...inside you." It tried to phrase that better and I could see it struggling for the right words. Now that he wasn't in a spot of power it seemed he was trying to be rather diplomatic once more. "They leave a permanent mark on the soul. Through this mark I am able to communicate with you."
"Going to show me horrible images again? Hound my dreams and torture me until I give in to you?" I chuckled a bit at that putting about eight spoonfuls of sugar in my coffee. "Or just try to eat me again?"
"This is...a sign of good faith, I hope." That growl was still in it's voice and I could feel its annoyance with this whole matter. "I am trying to help you for...saving me from that place."
"Lewis isn't bad. I don't think he would've done, too much, too you. Not like you don't deserve it." I chuckled thinking of needles being stabbed into him in all the wrong places.
"Not that place." It said, it's voice dying down.
There was a moment of silence and I took a much needed drink.
"Then what place?" I played along, humoring it. It was nice seeing it trying to NOT biting my head off.
"That place with no light. Where sound echoes and only silence answers." It took me longer than it should have, maybe because I didn't really care until it dawned on me.
"That was where you were?" Inside the medallion was just that? An empty dark plane of existence. All alone. For only who knows how long. "In that place?" I didn't get an answer, a growl, anything and the light in those eyes had vanished. Great he was just another emo. Not like I really wanted to talk it over or anything...
There was movement and one of the old lamps I had stashed on the shelf fell off to the floor. It crashed making me jump. I reached for my gun but what walked around the corner made my blood chill.
On all fours a large, human sized (possibly bigger), jaguar walked. It rolled it's neck looking from one side to the other before sitting down, tail curling around itself. I quickly looked back at the doll, saw that it was there, and moved back.
"Don't worry." It purred and I lifted up my gun, making it frown. "I can't hurt you. I just needed to stretch my legs. It is nice to be able to walk once more. Feel things under my paws and breath the clean air again."
"H-how are you doing this?" I stammered still pointing my gun at it. I was sure, though I wasn't sure how I was, that my bullets wouldn't do anything too it.
"Your crazy remember?" It chuckled harshly at that before looking towards the door as if someone was there. It's ears folded back and my eyes were soon watching the door with it. But it looked away and began licking the top of one paw. "I am simply using you as I had originally planned before to project myself. I am nothing but an image," it toyed with that word and I knew it was referencing my own memories. "Locked inside your head for so long it was easy to be able to get you to...see me, once more."
"So I am insane. Lovely." I rubbing my forward head, resting back before reaching around to grab the doll, pointing at it. "Evil spirit return." It stared at me, stopping mid lick before continuing what it had been doing and ignoring me. So I chucked the doll at it. It bounced on the ground, rolled a few steps and stopped. It went rather through it as if it weren't even there.
"Nice one." It rolled its eyes, walking over to nom itself in its maw and walked back over like a dog to drop it on my lap. I had collapsed onto my rear as that large creature stalked towards me with a thankfully bored expression on its face. "Keep it safe for me." It grinned and I could feel it's breath on my face. "I'm being nice," it almost winced at the word. "For saving me from that freak. If he licked me one more time..." One of its eyes twitched.
"I can...understand that." I said weakly in a tiny voice.
"Good." It raised its head before standing up in front of me, making me pull back more even more against the counter and began licking at the spilled coffee. It likes coffee. An old, aztec jaguar god likes coffee. Who would've figured. "This is good." It pushed itself up and began walking on the counter, knocking several things over.
"Stop that." I said getting up and shooing it off the counter. It stopped to look at me once more. "Please?" I asked far nicer getting that bored expression once more.
And with that leaped down, through me and onto the floor to stalk towards the door once more.
I shuddered as it past through me. It felt like a cold fog had just drifted through the room forming goose flesh on my arms and legs. "I still don't get how your doing this."
"Shush, boy." It hissed back at me before looking at the door.
"Hey." I said louder getting angry. "Don't think you own the place," cats go figure you let them in once and they think they own everything.
"Boy." It snarled now not taking it's eyes off the door.
"What?" I shouted back. And there was a very loud thunk against my reinforced, metal door denting it inwards as someone knocked.
"We got company." It said in a low voice, fur rising up on its back and staring forward.
"It's just Marco I'm sure..." There was another heavy knock on the door denting it. "I'm sure he just forgot his key is all...."