Title: Sanctuary – Beneath The Dark
Summary: Doctor Helen Magnus and her team discover more than an Abnormal and things that go bump in the night when on the hunt in Seattle. A/U.
Pairings: H. Magnus & OFC, A. Magnus & W. Zimmerman.
Rating: M for Mature readers.
Disclaimer: No profit or copyright infringement intended during the writing of this story. All characters other than original remain the property of creator Damian Kindler, Sanctuary 1 Productions and Stage 3 Media. Please note that this tale features a relationship between two women and if that is not your cup of tea, then go make a coffee elsewhere.
A/N: Cheers to my splendid proof reader Wendy Woo and please remember this all takes place in an alternative universe, so I do not follow the story line of the actual series to the letter. It's called creative licence and I use it to bring back to life characters who may have fallen to the wayside on television. Now if I could only use it to inject a bucket load of cash to SyFy so the fifth season of Sanctuary could actually see the light of day!
Chapter 1
The five foot ten uniformed Patrol Officer sat down at the table in The 5 Point Café and stretched her long legs as her partner strode purposely to the restroom to relieve his bladder of the three containers of coffee he had partaken of during the first six hours of their twelve-hour shift.
Madison Cross took off her navy blue tuque and ran lean left hand fingers through short blonde strands in an attempt to mess up the flattened hair. Laying the winter woollen hat on the table, she glanced at her platinum sports watch and sighed loudly. It was ten past one, snowing outside and she was chilled to the bone.
Her partner, Robert Spillane, thirty three, black haired and brown eyed, had spent the entire past six hours complaining bitterly about the non-functional heater in their patrol car, and Madison was tired both emotionally and physically from dealing with his whining and the numerous radio calls they had attended to.
The Officer's thoughts were interrupted when she looked up at the youthful brown haired waitress who had arrived beside the table. "How you doing Molly?" she asked cheerfully.
A smile spread across the younger woman's face, "I'm good thanks Madi, what will it be tonight?"
"I'll take a pot of green tea and the Southwest omelette with a side order of onion rings. Bobby will have the Grilled New York steak medium to well, extra mushrooms and a large mug of black coffee," answered the older woman without the aid of the menu.
The bubbly server finished writing down the order and asked, "Cold enough for you?"
With a slight smirk, the striking thirty five year old retorted, "I'm frozen through. The damn heater packed it in last night and won't be fixed until tomorrow. Bobby is still looking for his testicles somewhere between here and the station."
Molly giggled softly, "It's a good thing that it's your last shift for the week and you only have six more hours before you can go home and snuggle up in bed and stay warm."
Madison grinned cheekily at the attractive brunette, but chose to ignore the obvious innuendo, "Yeah, I'm looking forward to me and the fireplace."
With a small shrug of the shoulders, Molly countered, "I doubt you have trouble finding someone to heat your bed. I'll go give your order to Vic and grab your drinks."
"Thanks Molly," replied Madison before watching the medium height female sway away. She smiled at her partner as he came into her line of sight shaking his head. "What?" she enquired while he sat down opposite her.
"Come on Madi, I saw you checking out Molly's ass."
"Nothing wrong with looking," admitted the blonde happily. "But she is way too young for me."
Chuckling, Bobby taunted his friend, "Since when have you ever been concerned about age?"
"Since I realised that women under the age of thirty were a lot of hard work."
"Yeah right," scoffed the strongly built Officer. "Admit it; you are getting way too picky. You haven't dated in months and even blind Freddy can see Molly has a huge crush on you."
Madison waved her hand in the air, "Bobby, the woman would be lucky to be twenty."
Shrugging his broad shoulders, Bobby responded, "And your point is?"
Rolling her blue eyes, Madison explained, "My point is she is far too young and I am not interested."
Bobby conceded the point with a tilt of his head, "Fair enough Partner."
Seconds later Molly approached their table carrying a pot of tea, an empty cup and a mug of coffee.
"Thanks Molly," said Bobby cheerfully. "This will warm me up."
"Glad to help," commented Molly while placing the cup on the table and pouring from the container. "Your meals won't be long."
"Cheers sweetie," replied Madison with a grin.
Molly blushed at the comment and scurried away.
Bobby shook his head, "You know talking like that will only encourage her."
"What can I say, I'm a friendly woman?"
Five minutes passed in humorous conversation regards Madison's hopeless dating attempts before the two Officers tucked into their dinner.
"Hey," began Bobby between bites. "You still up for the game Saturday?"
Swallowing before answering, Madison wiped her mouth with a napkin, "Sure am and I'm looking forward to seeing your lovely wife."
Hiding a chortle behind his mug, Bobby responded, "Ellen is anxious to see you too and I think she is going to quiz you about Christmas."
"Shit!" exclaimed Madison with slight annoyance. "Didn't you tell her I don't do the whole Christmas bullshit?"
"I did inform her, same as I did last year and the year before that. I suspect my darling wife believes she is wearing you down and you'll eventually say yes to an invite."
"It won't happen," mulled Madison. "Not in this life time at least."
"I know buddy, but she is the eternal optimist."
Looking outside the large windowpane and into the outer courtyard, Madison glimpsed a frantic female run past them on the sidewalk. "Finish up Bobby, looks like there is trouble outside."
Standing, Madison took out her wallet and paid the bill, leaving a generous tip for Molly. Pulling on her beanie, she ran to the door and glanced back at her partner, "Come on."
As she stepped outside, a bulk of a man raced past her. He was wearing a hooded coat and she was unable to get a good look at his features. She did however note his laboured breath. Bobby joined her and Madison quickly voiced, "Some guy's chasing a woman, grab the car and follow me."
Taking off to her left on Cedar Street, the blonde Officer noticed the woman flee past 3rd Avenue, heading towards fourth. She took a left into 4th Avenue then down a side alley. Her pursuer was closing on her fast, as was Madison.
Before entering the darkened alley, the Officer drew her Glock and increased her stride.
Hearing the woman scream chillingly, she pulled a torch from her duty belt and shone it in the direction of the shriek. What she saw made the seasoned Officer stop in her tracks.
The heavy coated male had the woman by the throat and lifted several feet from the ground.
"STOP! POLICE!" Madison yelled in a controlled voice as she aimed her weapon at the hulk.
The Patrol car's headlights flashed behind her and the alley was suddenly illuminated by a spot light.
The perp turned to face her and she baulked. "What the hell?" she muttered as pale yellow cat-like eyes glowed at her. Bobby was by her side as she studied the lion-like face before saying, "Put the woman down and step away."
Bobby's gun was trained on the creature as he surveyed the scene and he whispered, "Holy fuck!"
With a loud roar and bearing of feline teeth, the individual released his hold on the petrified brunette and she slumped to the asphalt and into merciful unconsciousness.
Reaching for her radio while maintaining a visual on the animal-like man, Madison calmly transmitted, "Dispatch, this is 3 David – 10. We have a 040 assault and require immediate backup, an Ambulance and Animal Control to the alley behind Rite Aid on 4th Avenue A-SAP - over."
"10-4 3 David - 10," acknowledged the female radio dispatcher. "Vehicles are on route."
Madison detected the clawed hands of the creature before them and quietly said, "Easy does it, nobody needs to be hurt here."
With a tilt of the head to the left, the creature sniffed the air then suddenly pounced on top of the blonde, knocking her to the ground and instantly forcing the air from her lungs.
Madison's arms were pinned to her chest and breathing became her top priority.
A long arm lashed out and knocked Bobby onto his back as he came to his partner's rescue and screamed, "GET OFF HER YOU BASTARD!"
While Bobby struggled to his feet, Madison managed to work her left arm free from under the weighty beast exhaling a foul stench over her and fired off a round into the snarling monster's right shoulder.
It staggered backwards and off her torso, allowing her the opportunity to rise to her feet and take in a breath.
Both Officers aimed their weapons on the feline-half human creature as it backed up down the alley. Whatever monster they were looking at was trapped in the dead end, but it was far from finished.
Springing forward, it lashed out with both arms and caught Bobby in the chest as Madison rapidly discharged her weapon three more times.
The impact of the assailant caused her partner to hit the asphalt again, stunning both his body and mind. His voice cracked as he watched the fur lined monstrosity slash at Madison's chest, slicing through her duty parka and bulletproof vest with ease.
She succeeded in getting off another two rounds before Bobbie fired four shots into the massive attacker. He gasped loudly as his sergeant fell to the ground with several bloodied gaping holes to her upper torso.
The creature stumbled backwards then onto its knees, but managed to strike out one final time at Bobby, sending him crashing into the wall and oblivion.
Madison groaned from the incredible pain that was flooding every nerve ending of her body and lifting her gun with a shaking hand, she pointed it at the creature's lolling head.
"You fucker," she mumbled as she fired her semi-automatic pistol once more before lapsing into a black void.
-o-
Two women dressed in black trousers, short black leather jackets and combat boots ran into the entry of the alley and surveyed the scene. A similarly dressed male with spiky hair and wearing prescription glasses joined them along with a black Ford E-series van.
"Quickly, we don't have much time," announced a dark haired woman with a clipped English accent.
"Damn, we should have gotten here sooner," commented a younger, longhaired blonde.
"It couldn't be helped Ashley," snapped the brunette. "With haste now, we have to move." Her comment was strengthened by the sound of sirens blaring in the distance.
A large Neanderthal-like man stepped from the back of the van and said in a deep voice, "Ack, ack, I'll assist Will with the Abnormal."
The two females lifted the mortally wounded Police Officer and placed her into the rear section of the van.
-o-
As the black vehicle sped away from 4th Avenue, two blue and white Ford Crown Victoria Interceptors and an ambulance pulled in behind Bobby's Patrol car.
Bobby regained consciousness slowly as one of the two Paramedics reached him. Shaking off his disorientation, he glared at the area where Madison and the creature should have been. "Where the hell is she?" he asked no one in particular.
Officer Dan Mellor approached and queried, "What happened here Bobby?"
Barely holding on to his composure, he answered, "The Sergeant was attacked after we chased some kind of half cat half man monster."
Several feet away a Paramedic assisted the assaulted woman while asking her questions to gauge her responsiveness. After the first incoherent answer, it was obvious she was in shock and remained inconsolable as she was quickly aided onto a gurney.
Bobby turned to face Mellor and continued, "This thing had a hold of the woman around her throat and Sarge got its attention. It just kind of roared and attacked her. Sarge got off a few shots while she was pinned to the ground and I managed to hit it three times before I got knocked out." Taking a moment to rid his mind of the image, he added, "Her chest was all ripped open. Dear God, she has to be here somewhere. There is no way she could have walked away from this."
Following one of two blood trails, the Officers were stumped to discover the heavy droplets came to an abrupt halt at the start of the alleyway.
"How could that be? They couldn't have just vanished," mumbled Bobby with a heavy sob.
Mellor comforted his friend with a hand to his shoulder, "We'll find her Bobby."
"Dan," remarked Bobby in a whisper, afraid to give voice to his own fear. "She was pretty torn up, I think she's dead and that son of a bitch thing has taken her as a trophy."
-o-
Madison groaned softly as she tried to open weighty eyelids. She could not manage it, but could hear the sound of helicopter rotors around her. "Bobby," she murmured before the blackness overtook her again.
The good looking, dark blond haired male with the glasses spoke, "How's she doing Magnus?"
"It's hard to say Will. She has lost a significant amount of blood. How long before we land Ashley?" replied the brunette.
"Forty three minutes mom," answered the blonde from the cockpit.
"Is there anything I can do?" questioned the young man, eager to assist in any way he could.
"Yes, apply pressure to where my left hand is while I try to stop this blasted haemorrhaging from her chest."
"You got it Magnus."
The dark haired woman set to work and continued until the group landed inside the grounds of a massive compound.
-o-