STIGMA 2: Memory

Chapter 1: B is for Brutal, M is for Murder

It was cold; freezing cold. The windows had frost on them, the fireplace was all but dead in the small apartment in this small town just west of Alberta Canada. I pulled my red winter coat tighter around me for warmth. The coat was not only protecting me from the chill but also hiding my black STIGMA jacket.

I stood in this place staring, just staring at one thing; a tiny blood stain. It was almost impossible to see but it was there next to the light switch on the stark white walls of this god forsaken place.

"Do you ever pay attention, Alex?" The voice of Melissa Cuthers, fellow STIGMA paranormal investigator seemed to laugh at me through the earpiece of my headset.

"Only when you're not talking, Mel." I replied. "Were you saying something?"

"Not really. Just asking if you had found anything different than from me or Charlie."

"You mean other than one tiny blood speck from what appeared to be a grisly murder of ten different women? No. Nothing. The cops haven't cleaned anything yet so why is there no blood, no gore or anything that suggest that the women were murdered?"

"It's the same over here." Dita Wetherington cut in. "One tiny blood speck. The only reason we've been able to see it is because it's giving off mass readings of dark energy."

"Cheer up ladies," I could practically tell that Arkan Yousif was grinning. "It just means we get the fun of solving this while the local cops run around for weeks before they call it unsolved."

"Good work everyone." I interrupted. "Everyone please proceed to their next investigation point and report what you find. Once we're done we'll meet in the town centre. I'll advise Carmen only to have one cleaner squad report here.

Two days ago, Carmen's techies had picked up a 911 call reporting ten murders in this town in one night. They were all women of various ages. The bodies were all found in their homes all gruesomely mutilated. Yet no blood was on the floors where their bodies lay and there was nothing else to suggest violence had occurred in those places; just one tiny speck of blood that surrounded by darkness.

Something was wrong here but none of us could figure out what. There would have to be further investigation done. The area would be scanned for any supernatural significance and that would be about it. All the town's people had apparently fled from fear of a curse. We would have to break into the morgue to get the coroner's reports and examine the bodies. If the cops hadn't gotten there first we would have been able to do more a more thorough investigation. But we didn't always get lucky when it came to murder investigations. It was just the way things were.

I decided to head over to the next site when my cell phone rang. I rerouted the audio to my headset and answered.

"McCann here."

"Alex, we're headed your way." Jason's voice was crackling. The reception in this place was absolutely piss poor.

"Jason, perfect timing, I was just about to call you." I replied. "By the way tell your guys plain clothes only. There's no one left here but just in case someone shows up I'd prefer to avoid any unnecessary questions."

"You got it. By the way your brother's been sent back to headquarters. He just got promoted to squad leader for crew number thirty."

"What? When did this happen?"

"This morning. They just finalised hiring the final members. They could use someone of your brother's calibre."

"Well tell him congrats for me. So who's leading you losers?"

The signal started breaking up. Pretty soon it was all static. I sighed and hung up. There was no point in wasting precious battery time.

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The next site was the same. I quickly took a video scan on the site and headed to the centre of town which was marked by a large grey well in the middle. Dita and Charlie were already waiting for me.

"Are you the first ones here?" I asked. Dita nodded, her long caramel coloured hair making swishing noises against her parka.

"All of our sites are the same. I don't get it. How could something like this happen and barely leave a trace."

"It could be the work of Mannite demons," Charlie offered. "They have the ability to freeze time around their victims."

Charles 'Charlie' King was of African American descent. He stood about 6'4, had chocolate coloured eyes and had shaved his head. He was one of the best marksmen we had. We had recruited him from the US Marines. Dita was our trainee agent and was petite and didn't stand higher than 5'4 but she was quick with magic and not bad at combat either. However her origins were a complete mystery to me.

"Yeah but what would they have done with the blood?" I pondered aloud. "Mannite demons are vegans. They hate human blood. This whole thing doesn't make much sense.

He shrugged. "Beats me. Do we have any information on this town yet?"

I shook my head. "The geeks are digging up a report for us but it could take some time."

"Hey don't start the party without us!" A very Irish accent yelled.

I grinned. Arkan was laughing as Melissa ran over to us. She was about my height and had short red hair. Arkan was of Egyptian descent. His black curls were cropped closely to his forehead against his brown skin.

Both were assault specialists but while Melissa was Irish and formerly with the IRA, Arkan had been abandoned by his own people and left to join the Israeli army. He had never told me the circumstances of his exile but Melissa would most likely know. It was well known but never spoken that they were a couple.

"Anything different?" I questioned.

"Nada, nothing." Arkan answered. "What the hell is going on here?"

"I wish I knew." I replied. "Cleaning squad eight is on their way so we won't be here too much longer."

"Thank god." Dita complained. "Any longer and I'll turn into a popsicle."

Our conversation was interrupted by a slight screeching sound from the well. . All at once everyone drew their weapons and pointed them in the direction of the well. Me with Diabolique, Charlie with a double pump action shot gun, Melissa with a Beretta 92Fs, Arkan with a scoped MP5 submachine gun and Dita lastly with her pure silver staff. I shook my head and handed her my backup gun, the desert eagle; fully loaded with a spare clip.

"I taught you how to use this, Dita. Make me proud."

The screeching grew louder. I motioned for everyone to back away.

"Nice and slowly people." I whispered. Charlie put an arm up in front of Dita, his protective nature kicking in. She was far too impetuous to be left alone in a fight just yet. I looked over to him. Charlie glanced at her and nodded at me as if to tell me he would look after her.

This was not an ideal situation for a trainee but there was nothing I could do about that. We couldn't pick and choose the danger level as we liked it. She would just have to adapt as best she could. On the flip side, however, a trial by fire now would probably be best now than having to deal with more perilous situations later. I just hoped that she wouldn't get herself killed.

All five of us were holding our breath, or at least I was. Charlie was completely still, focused, ready; the consummate professional. Dita looked mildly uncomfortable. Arkan and Melissa side by side were unshakable.

"It's getting closer." Arkan said quietly. The look on his face was calm yet his eyes darted over to Melissa. They expressed love and concern and one simple thought; I will never let anything happen to you.

The silence was broken by a raven flying out of the well. All five of us exhaled quietly and laughed.

"You idiots." Melissa said while laughing.

"Just a bird." Arkan laughed. "You guys really-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence. A dark shadow erupted from the well and knocked us all backwards.

"BATS!" Dita screamed. I looked up. She was right. There about at least fifty bats above us. I raised Diabolique and fired. A bat started smouldering and hissing. It then exploded in a pile of green goo.

"Correction, Dita. Vampire bats. Everyone switch to either holy or silver shot! Their bite isn't potent enough to change you but they can do some serious damage!"

Charlie dropped his shot gun and pulled out duel Mac 11s and began unloading bullets. Melissa and Arkan switched their magazines. I noticed Dita panicking and remembered I hadn't taken a clip with silver or holy shot. I put a hand on her shoulder.

"This gun has been enhanced to cope with magic being used on it. I want you to remove the clip and infuse the bullets with a fire spell."

She nodded and began casting the spell.

"Charlie, can you give us some cover?" I yelled. I pulled out my katana and used it in combo with Diabolique. Bats were dropping around but there still half of them left.

"Okay ready." She packed the clip in it.

"Okay take it steady. I've never used it in this capacity before."

Bang, bang, bang. Her accuracy was perfect. Three bats exploded and fell to the ground."

I could not have been prouder. "Good girl. Keep firing." I swung my sword and cut one in half that was flying towards us.

"Alex, Dita get out of the way!" Charlie shouted. I pushed her aside and jumped as the remaining ten flew towards us. Seven of were taken down in a barrage of bullets. Arkan fired the MP5 and killed the remaining three.

"You guys alright?" Charlie's voice echoed over me. I grimaced looking at the mud on my coat.

"Yeah we're fine. Just dirty." I jumped to my feet and offered Dita my hand. She gratefully accepted and handed me my gun back.

"Nice work today Dita. Your shooting skills have come a long way since you started. I'll order you a gun when we get back to headquarters."

She made a face. I rolled my eyes. "You need one. I don't care if you never use it but I want you to have one. It's better to take it with you and never have to fall back on it than to not have it and need it."

"Can I get it enhanced like this one?"

Seeing the grin on her face made me smile. "Of course. Once we get it in I'll get the coven to work their magic on it."

"Vampire bats…" Arkan trailed off. "Are they indigenous to this part of Canada?"

"They're not indigenous to anywhere except the underworld." Charlie muttered. His eyes grew wide. "But that would mean-"

"ALEX, DITA LOOK OUT!" But Melissa's warning came too late. All I could see was a set of fangs flying towards me. I pushed shoved Dita out of the way. Even as I raised Diabolique, I knew it was too late. It was about to rip my throat out.

But instead of bloody death and pain all I heard was the sound of an arrow flying past my head. I turned to look. A pale woman was lying on the ground with a crossbow bolt lying in its heart. She started to smoulder and burn. The body erupted in flames and quickly burned to ashes.

"Holy shit." I breathed. "Which one of you had a crossbow and didn't share with me?"

I turned to face my agents. The cleaner's truck was parked just near the well. A man I had never seen before was standing next to it with a crossbow in his hand.

His mocha coloured hair was tied back but bits of it hung around his sharp angular unshaven tanned face. Well defined arms seemed to make his brown leather jacket bulge. A smirk was aimed directly at me.

"Yeah that would be me."

Author's note: Well here we are at the end of the first chapter of Memory. I'll try to have the next chapter up soon but I am going on holidays in a few days time so it might be a while.

Reviews and comments are appreciated.

Next chapter: A Place Beyond the Sun.