Prologue:
Throughout human history there have been unexplainable events sightings, reports and rumors of things out of the ordinary. Most people call these events, supernatural or paranormal. Most classify it under the "Occult". Many believe that none of these things exist, that the people that go to jail and put in nut houses for seeing 'vampires' and 'werewolves' are crazy.
They don't know how wrong they are! There is a world apart, yet coupled, with the 'normality' that most live in. It is all around them, everywhere. Even the most mundane events are really those other forces at work. There is another world within the one that we all live, it is out there, it is a world of Darkness!
My story in this world is like most that are in my shoes. I am human a living, breathing human being. No fangs or transforming body parts, just a normal person. Of course, I think I should define normal for you. The dictionary defines normal as conforming to or constituting a norm. Yeah, that's me. I am a regular average Joe, nothing wrong with me, not a thing. Just normal, everyday James Takiro. At least...that's the way it was...
Darkness falls upon the city,
The moon's light illuminates the shadows,
People sleep comfortably,
In their beds of silk and cotton,
This is the time when the others come out,
This is when no sound is heard,
No one knows truly,
What the night will bring.
Darkness falls upon the city,
Lights turn out,
Windows close,
The beasts of the night unfold,
They awaken from darkness,
To live in darkness,
Night by everlasting night they feed,
No ever sees them coming,
Before it's too late,
No one knows truly,
What the night will bring.
Darkness falls upon the city,
Men change to beasts in shadows,
They walk unseen,
Swift among the allies and streets,
They are keepers of nature,
Keepers of Gaia's creations,
They protect the world,
From apocalypse and doom,
No one knows truly,
What the night will bring.
Darkness falls upon the city,
Strange events take place,
People bend the will of the world,
Their very existence destroys normality,
They bend and shape the weave of time,
No one knows truly,
What the night will bring.
-"What the Night will bring" by Mykial Henderson
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Chapter 1:
What in Hell is Going on Here!?
The sun was setting by the time I had made it to the movie theater. I was supposed to meet her here at six, but my boss was being an ass as always. I didn't expect to see her still waiting, three hours is way more than fashionably late. I decided I should call her when I got home, I would have called her earlier but my cell phone died. Only our second date and I'm sure I've ruined any chance I had. The walk home was cold and lonesome, the same thing as every night in this city. Being mid December didn't help any. I could have taken a cab, but I was short on money at the moment, and I needed all I had just to make rent.
Shortly after arriving home, if you can call my beat up old 2nd street hole-in-the-wall apartment a home, I noticed that something was oddly amiss. My furniture was upturned every which way; clothes were thrown haphazardly about the room and my favorite CD collection was totally destroyed. Things didn't look good.
My neighborhood was not the best place in the city, but never before did I hear of someone being robbed. The scariest thing was that nothing was missing. It appeared that they were looking for something. Figuring that the police were better suited to look into this I called them.
I heard the sound shortly after hanging up the phone. It was a low, rumbling growling sound. It seemed to be coming from the bathroom. I slowly moved to the door, which was partly opened already, grabbing my metal baseball bat as I went. The light was off, the bathroom got pretty dark at night, so I could see nothing inside, no shadow or figure. My heart started to play a symphony in my chest, sweat beaded down my brow. I slowly pushed the door open with the end of the baseball bat.
What I felt when I glimpsed the long k9s and the wolf-like eyes peering down at me from an amazing nine foot height was sheer, inhuman terror. I fled as fast as my legs could carry me, which wasn't fast enough. The nine-foot tall wolf man sprinted after me slamming the front door shut in my face. Standing between me and freedom was the culmination of my worst nightmares raised to the fifteenth power.
His body was covered from broad, muscular shoulders to clawed feet. His mouth, protruding from his face in a snout started to growl again. I could feel every bit of my willpower drain away at the sight of his 4 inch long razor-sharp claws. He took a step towards me, I would have stepped back, had it not been I could hardly remember my name at the time.
One giant clawed hand raised up to face height, just as he was about to rip my head off the sound of gun shots came from my bedroom door. The bullets sailed like tiny birds at the wolf-mans unprotected side. The bullets hit with enough force that any mere person would be sent flying. Not this beast, it merely looked angered. I felt I was a goner for sure.
Though it seemed the wolf-man was not interested in a prolonged fight, for it snatched up the door handle and fled my apartment slamming the door shut behind him. The shooter in my bedroom moved quickly across the room to open the door. I could see over his shoulder to the outside, the wolf-man was gone into the blackness outside.
As if just remembering I was there the man turned to me,
"Are you all right?" he asked me. Physical the answer was yes, but mental I felt as stable as a box of rocks.
"I'm f-fine. W-what was that thing!?" I questioned him. For the first time I got a good look at him, he was wearing a long, red leather overcoat. The Desert Eagle handgun he used earlier rested in his left hand. His lower face was covered by a strip of red cloth and he wore red wire sunglasses.
"Let's just say you are lucky I heard the ear splitting screams from outside." He said with a grin on his face. "Let's have a seat"
"Y-yeah sure" I stumbled over to my couch, which still lay on its back. The man helped me turn it over and we both sat.
"So, h-how did you get into my bedroom" I asked.
"The window" he said simply. It was obvious he didn't take a good look around my room.
"There is no window in that room."
"Ah...I see. Well then I guess you caught me, I was here all along." He didn't seem to be telling the truth, but I could discern no other logical way for him enter without me knowing.
"Anyways, now tell me, what the fuck was that thing?"
"Well, that was a werewolf. A part wolf, part human beast." He remarked. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would have thought him mad, as it was I thought myself nuts.
"A w-werewolf!? That's impossible, they don't exist!" I screamed a bit too loudly.
"So then, what was that? A dog?" he shot back. Having no immediate answer to that I just sat there staring straight ahead.
"If you want answers I can only offer you one choice. Go here next Friday night." He handed me a small business card with only an address printed on its parchment colored surface 'The Hotel Fortune 34th and 8th.'
"The password to get in is Solaris" he mentioned. "Just tell them Spenser sent you." With that Spenser stood up and walked to my bedroom door.
"Err...The front door is over there" I pointed out to him.
"Oh, so it is" he grinned and walked into my bedroom. I quickly stood up and moved to the room. When I looked into the room there was no sign of him.
"Ok, now this is really getting creepy." I remarked backing away form the bedroom door. I jumped almost ten feet when I heard the knock at the front door. I walked over and shouted,
"Who is it!?"
"The police!" Came the voice on the other side. I quickly opened the door for them. They weren't dressed like normal cops, instead of the black and blue uniforms and badges of officers these men wore black suits. They reminded me of secret service agents. The one that had called over the door seemed to notice my confusion for he said,
"We are from the Department of Special Investigations. We investigate break ins and robberies."
"But I didn't report a break in yet." I said, a bit shakily.
"I see." Said the other man. "Sir, you will have to come with us."
"R-right"
I was brought outside and shoved into the back of some unmarked black car. The windows were so tinted around me that I could barely see street lights. There was no way I was going to know where they took me.
It was about 4 hours later when the car finally came to a complete stop. My heart was racing again, and sweat started to run down my face. The door opened to allow me to exit the car. I did so. Stepping out I noticed I was in a parking garage, it must have been underground for there were no windows about. They lead me over to an elevator at the end of the row. The first black suit pushed the call button. We waited for about three minutes before the elevator finally opened. Another man in a black suit was waiting for us.
"Finally, the Council is awaiting your arrival with the witness." The new man in black said.
"W-why are we here. Council of what?" I questioned them. They didn't answer me. We boarded to elevator and the doors promptly closed. The third man pushed a button, unmarked and faded, and we slowly started to rise. When the elevator door opened we stepped out into a rather large open room with bare stone walls, the only thing covering them were almost fifty simple wooden doors. The lined the wall on every side. Judging by the width of every building in the city, there was no way, with the number of stories we rose, that those doors could lead anywhere.
The two man that brought me here took me over to one of the doors. The second one reached into a pocket and produced key ring of about fifty simple keys. One for each door I assumed. He pulled one key up and stuck it into the lock; amazingly it was the right one! It would have taken me ten minutes to sort the mall out. The room beyond was much more notable, its walls were covered in a simple off white shade, and the carpet was a soft green hue. There was one large table with seven chairs around it.
They instructed me to sit in one of the chairs; I did so almost with out realizing I was obeying.
"Mr. James Takiro, right?"
"Y-yes, sir."
"Please tell us in explicit detail." He ordered. I wasn't sure if I should tell them about the wolf-man, they would think me mad for sure.
"Mr. Takiro, we do not have all night, I am sure you want to go home, so please tell us what happened." He said, a bit upset.
"W-well when I got home my place appeared to have been broken into. As I hung up w-with the police I heard a growling noise. I headed over to my bathroom, where I heard the n-noise from. When I got there I opened t-the door and saw..." I swallowed hard before going on, "a wolf-man standing there staring at me."
"Good, what happened after that?"
"Well...I ran toward my front door," I started, "but the beast-man was fast and shut it in my face. He stood between me and my only escape. By this time I couldn't move to run, even if there was another escape. That's when I heard gunshots from my bedroom door. There was a man dressed in red standing there. He hit the wolf-man with both shots. It hardly seemed to care, but it ran away anyways."
"After these beast-man left, what did the man in red do?" asked the second man in black.
"W-we talked. He said that the wolf-man was a werewolf, but they don't exist, right?" I said, embarrassed about looking like a nutcase in front of these feds.
"Did he tell you his name?" asked the first man. I considered the question for a moment, he had, but something didn't feel right now. I felt as if there was something going on here other then federal work. Something was wrong.
"H-he didn't say, sorry." I stammered, hoping I sounded slightly disappointed.
"Are you telling me, you two talked and he didn't tell you his name? he asked me, not believing my claim. I shuttered a bit under their stare, but I didn't tell them the name.
"Fine then," said the first, "did he give you anything, a letter or a note of any kind?" I thought on this for a second. He had, but that I was not giving up.
"No, sir, after he told me it was a werewolf he took off. He walked into my bedroom and...vanished..." I shuttered visibly again.
"If that's all you can tell us please fill out this form and you may go." Said the second, handing me a long, legal sized sheet of carbon paper. It took me another ten minutes to fill out the damn document, but once I was done, they let me go as they had said. I wasn't sure where I was, this part of town I hadn't been in before.
"Shit! The least they could of done was give me a ride home" I complained to myself. I was walking around a corner when I felt a sharp pain run through the back of my head. After that I wasn't sure if I hit the ground or not. I just saw blackness.