Price of Power

Written by J.Wills

Part One

Alone and a mess, Cole sat on the sofa in his penthouse – drinking alcohol. It had no affect on him at all, and it pained him dearly. It pained him because it was a human thing, drink too much alcohol and you get drunk. The only thing he could do that was human was grow a beard, and he'd already done that. He looked up at the clock above the giant marble fireplace; they'd only just entered the afternoon. Cole crushed his bottle and launched it at the clock, shattering both the bottle and clock. It reminded him of Phoebe – because it was a house warming present from her sisters.

The demon now sighed and got up from the sofa, going over to his cupboard he got out the dustpan and brush. Cole then began clearing the all the glass, this was something he could do in seconds but because it involved using demonic powers – he resisted and did it the slow human way.

At that moment, his cell phone starting ringing. He quickly leapt up and answered it – something to do at last. "Cole Turner." He said, hiding the excitement.

"Turner, its Lieutenant Morris... Have you done something to George Kemp this morning?" He asked nervously, "He's due in court in twenty minutes and no one's seen or heard from him since yesterday."

Cole shook his head. "Morris, I'm not going to take the blame for every person that goes missing in this damn town! I'm not the only de... Did you say George Kemp?"

Darryl checked his watch nervously as Cole spoke, "You've been working on the Marsden-Warner case with him. Anything you can think of that might help us find him?"

No, Cole finally responded. "You want me to head over to the courthouse
and file for an extension?"

Darryl shook his head, "That wouldn't help, what would be the grounds? You know Judge Finnigan is a hard ass when it comes to extensions, especially if the lead attorney's absence is the cause."

"At least let me try," Cole insisted. "We can't just default on a thirty
million dollar wrongful death suit. Besides..." he added, "I handled the due diligence for that case before I went on my honeymoon. I could probably
stand-in, if you give me the case file."

Darryl sighed and wiped the sweat from his face with his handkerchief, being a Lieutenant was a huge step up from Inspector. "Oh yeah hand over the case file to a demon, your work firm may not know about you but I am not getting involved with you. If you see him, tell him he's needed at the courthouse. I'm gonna go see the chief about an extension; he might be able to convince the Judge." Morris swiftly cuts Cole off before he could reply; he wasn't in the mood for talking to him any longer than necessary.

Cole angrily burnt his phone in the palm of his hand, and then when opening his hand – ash dropped to the ground. He sat back down on the sofa and held his head in his hands, what a mess.

Police Station Car Park

At the Police Station car park Morris hurried to his car, whilst talking on his cell phone. "That's right sir, the main man for this case is missing I just need you to convince the Judge to give an extension – otherwise Marsden walks a freeman. Nothing you can do? Sir you know I worked tirelessly on bringing Marsden's operation down it was one of the reasons for my promotion – now that we have him behind bars he has to stay there. Yes, I am aware who the Judge is for this case. That's why I need you to talk to him, he only listens to you." Darryl breathed a sigh of relief and punched his fist in the air. "Thank you sir, yes – I'm heading over to Kemp's apartment now."

At that moment, two men in plain black clothing came towards Darryl. "Lieutenant Morris?" The first man asked, standing just in front of his colleague.

"I'll keep you informed." Darryl told the Chief as he hung up his cell phone. "Yeah that's me, who's asking?" He asked, trying to block the sun from his eyes with his hand.

"My name is Mr. White, and this is my colleague Mr. Black. We'd like to discuss the Marsden-Warner case with you."

Darryl (who was still trying to block the sun out of his view) shook his head, "Sorry gentlemen but I'm not at liberty to discuss my cases with civilians. If you have anything to contribute someone at the desk will be glad to help." He smiled and moved his hand away from the sun, going to unlock his car.

The second man stepped forward, "No we would like to discuss it with you Lieutenant." He told him, moving his hand back and firing an energy bolt at Morris, knocking him out cold. "You killed him." Mr. White said, staring Darryl's unconscious body. "No, it was low voltage - he'll live." The men picked up a side of Darryl each and shimmered away.

TO BE CONTINUED