It was a dark and cloudy night in the middle of fall. The leaves were turning into all kinds of different colors, Halloween decorations were in the store windows, and the air was FREEZING. Cars were tucked away while families went trick-or-treating. Everyone was enjoying the Halloween night. Well, ALMOST everyone.
1-Adam 12 was cruising down the street, waiting for any calls from the station. So far the only things that they had were stopping a couple of bullies from stealing another kid's candy, and a grouchy father who wouldn't let anyone get any candy from his house. Officers Pete Malloy and Jim Reed both had night shift that night.
Reed looked at the time and sighed. "Looks like it's going to be another long night, Malloy." Malloy glanced at Reed, before focusing his sights on the road ahead of him. "Oh really, and why do you say that?" "It's only 8:20." At the next light, Malloy stopped and looked at Reed in astonishment. "8:20?! I thought it was somewhere around midnight!" Reed chuckled and looked outside again, then looked at the radio as it came on. "1-Adam 12, 1-Adam 12, see to this call. 4268 Parker Street, call made by 1-L-20. Murderer ran into house and disappeared. Code 2." Reed picked up the communications piece. "1-Adam 12, roger." Malloy glanced at Reed again. "Looks like it's not going to be so boring after all."
Adam 12 arrived on the scene with Adam 49, 1-L-90, and a S.W.A.T. team close behind. Sergeant Macdonald was approaching them from behind a large mansion. A large 'NO TRESPASSING' sign was hanging on the front gate, with bullet holes in random spots on the sign. The lawn was overgrown and untidy as the weeds stretched as high as Malloy's shoulder. The mansion was and was not better. It looked better, but was no less clean then the rest of this place. It was a tall brick building with a black, steel roof. The windows were cloudy and broken, while the front door was huge and certainly very sturdy. It looked a lot like the Haunted Mansion without the ghosts. Not exactly the best place to go trick or treating.
The sergeant pulled out the back of his car, showing blueprints for the house. "Okay," he stated, "I've got a search warrant, so here's what I want you to do. Wells, I want you to take Reed and Duffle into the house and scour it from pace to bottom. Split up as soon as you're in there, but make sure to watch your backs. This guy is armed and extremely dangerous. Malloy, I want you to take the others and get into your S.W.A.T. outfits. We might have to use tear gas, but I'd rather wait and see what happens."
Reed and the other officers entered in the back door. If they thought that the outside looked bad, the inside looked worse. It was like one of those old Victorian houses, with the grand staircase and the chandelier. There were cobwebs everywhere, and the dust was so thick that they could not help choking on it. The house had a smell of mold and, burning flesh? "Alright," Wells said, immediately taking charge, "Here's what we'll do. I'll take the second floor, Duffle, you take the first floor, and Reed will take the basement." Before either police officer could argue, Wells strutted off to the second floor. Duffle looked at Reed before shrugging, than entered the living room. Reed just snorted and went downstairs.
When he kicked open the door to the basement, the first thing he noticed was the smell. It was the same burning flesh smell that he noticed upstairs, only down here, it was stronger. He slowly walked in, aiming his flashlight anywhere that might give him a clue as to where the murderer was. As soon as he walked in, however, the door crashed behind him, locking him in. He ran to the door and tried to get out, even tried kicking it down, but nothing opened the door.
"Reed?!" Duffle had heard the commotion that Reed was making, and had come to investigate. "Duffle?! I'm stuck in here!" Reed couldn't help sounding a little panicked, because the smell was getting stronger. "Hang on Reed! Someone's coming!" Reed felt a little relieved, until he heard Duffle struggling on the other end of the door. Soon, something crashed into the door, knocking it open. A large form was holding Officer Duffle, dead. The tall figure was as tall as a basketball player, black hair slicked down to where not one hair stood up. His eyes were glowing yellow, while his teeth were glowing white. Two teeth were sharper than the others, fitting the perfect Dracula look.
He threw Duffle into Reed, allowing him to see the two perfect red pinpricks on his neck, right before 'Dracula' shut the door, plunging him back into darkness. Reed dropped Duffle and backed up, frightened and hyperventilating. As his back hit the wall, it moved. Something cold, wet and slimy fell on his shoulders, and it felt a lot like a dead hand. Suddenly, the lights turned on. There were dead bodies being hung from the ceiling, all had been dissected with their guts spilling on the floor and their heads cut off and laying in random spots on the floor. In the middle of the basement was a surgical table with Duffle on it. 'Dracula' stood over him, slicing into his abdomen. Reed wasn't hyperventilating anymore, but he wasn't silent either.
"So," Wells said, finishing his report, "All we have to do is wait for Reed and Duffle." Wells looked at Malloy, who was studying the blueprints for the best way to get in. "Hey, Malloy." Before Wells could finish his question, they all clearly heard a scream. Scream, nothing. This was your high-pitched, little girl screech, clearly from Reed. All of the men burst out laughing as Malloy set his head on the board and sighed. "Thanks a lot, Mac." He said, "I was assigned a little girl for a partner." The Sergeant couldn't stop laughing, just like the other men. Malloy looked at the house, concerned for Reed. The other men couldn't hear it, but Reed was still screaming, a little more manly this time. "Mac, I'm going in!" The sergeant stopped laughing and listened with Malloy. Now Reed was screaming for anyone to help him, even calling for his son. Malloy ran in, closely followed by the Sergeant and the S.W.A.T. team. As soon as they ran in however, they could hear a loud crack, and Reed was silent.
When Reed woke up, he was chained to the wall, bleeding, bruised, burned, and terrified. He could hear Malloy pounding on the door, but he could not see anything. The lights were turned out again, but the smell was worse than ever. The officers were on the other end of the door, trying to bring it down to get to him. Something was dripping on him, warm when it hit him, but cooling down quickly as it met the chilled autumn air. The floor was hard and cold, also wet. Someone was moving around, cutting into the bodies. Every time the person did, though, Reed could hear the blood gushing out, while the smell in the room intensified. Soon, he heard the mystery person approach him. He whimpered and curled into a ball to try to protect himself. Instead of going for him, the person grabbed the body above him and cut it open, pouring the still warm blood all over Reed and coating him in it.
"Glad to see that you could join me." A deep voice said, picking him up roughly. Reed gasped as the blood rushed to his head and worsened the pain he was already feeling. The person turned him around and held a knife to his throat, while smelling his neck. Reed felt him lick his neck, not helping his nerves at all. The person then looked toward the door. "Listen up, pigs!" he shouted, getting their attention very quickly. "I have one of your friends in here! If you don't let me leave, then it will be only me in here!"
Malloy growled in frustration, continuing to try and break the door down. The murderer continued to tell them to stop by threatening to hurt Reed. A couple of times, they also heard Reed scream, and begging them to stop. At one point, they could hear the murderer threatening to mutilate Reed's face if he didn't get up, and then he threatened to repeat what he had done with the other bodies, the only difference being the fact that he would be alive. On the next kick, Malloy felt the door give out from beneath his foot. He ran in, turned the lights on, and nearly threw up. Dead bodies hanging from the ceiling, Duffle torn to pieces with his insides laying everywhere, blood all over the floor, blood all over REED. The Sergeant's face matched Malloy's as he looked around. Reed was at the end of his rope, actually crying while being held against a guy who was smelling his neck for some reason.
As the police cautiously entered the basement, the murderer looked up at them and smiled. Suddenly, he threw a trembling Reed into the policemen and vanished. Malloy barely looked up in time to see a bat fly out the window into the night. The Sergeant looked at Malloy. "Well," he said, "I don't think we'll be seeing him again." Malloy lowered Reed to the ground, who grabbed him and started sobbing into his chest. Malloy couldn't get him to either stop quaking or to loosen his grip on him the slightest bit. Every time he tried to get him to let go, Reed only gripped tighter.
Knowing that he was going to be there for a while, Malloy looked around the room to find out what went on. There was a red hot poker in the corner of the room, and the knife the killer had had been left in the middle of the room. Duffle's body was hanging from the ceiling, along with at least twenty other bodies whose blood had been spilled all over the floor. Reed was covered in blood, though most of it apparently did not belong to him. And when he thought about Reed, he realized that the longer he stayed in there, the more agitated Reed became. So Malloy picked up Reed and started to head out. "Sergeant, I'm going to take Reed out. He really needs to RELAX." Sergeant Macdonald looked up and nodded, before looking around with the detectives again.
Malloy brought Reed out and set him in Adam 12. As he entered the Driver's seat, he couldn't help noticing that Reed was starting to calm down a bit. He shook his head and smiled a bit, before dropping Reed off at his house so that he could get at least SOME rest.
Officer James Reed is one of the best police officers in the Los Angeles police department. He was never superstitious or believed in old wives' tales. But if you ever mention Officer Duffle, Dracula, or that old house on Parker Street, he will pale instantly, feel sick to his stomach, and change the subject. But if its Halloween night, you will notice that he always carries a small stake and mallet with him, just in case Dracula does come back.
