The two African American men sat in the diner finishing their meal. The older man ate, confident and relaxed in the knowledge that they were in their own neighborhood and nothing could harm them here. The younger man didn't share his confidence.
It was close to midnight and the younger one seemed ill at ease. He seemed distracted. He was continuously tapping his feet and playing with what little remained of his burger and fries. The older man was still eating and the constant tapping was starting to get on his nerves. He, finally, decided that he'd had enough of it and slammed his hand on the table. This sudden interruption jolted the younger man back to reality.
"Kenny, do you think I could finish my apple pie in peace? I don't think I need you to tap dance while I'm eating." The older man growled.
"Sorry Jacob, didn't mean to disturb you. It's just that with everything that's happened, I'm you know… a little worried."
Kenneth had known Jacob since he was a kid. Jacob was a career criminal. In his forties now, he'd done three stints in prison for crimes ranging from grand theft to assault and battery. He had been a suspect in various homicides but none of them had ever been proven. He had also been part of one gang or another for a majority of his life. Over the years he had known a string of ambitious men who had wanted to rule the city and he always knew which one to follow. But he was only loyal till a point. He had always known when to switch sides without it looking like betrayal. Usually that point came right after someone would put a bullet in his current boss. That was what had led him to join the Brotherhood. It was Link who had shot his previous master and had made him a simple offer, either he could join his boss or join them. It was the simplest decision Jacob had ever made.
Kenneth had joined the Brotherhood a few months after Jacob had come on board. Jacob had known Kenny's father before he was sent to prison for life and he had promised that he would take care of his son. Kenny wasn't a smart kid and by the age of nineteen everyone knew that he had very few prospects. But, he was good at taking orders and executing them and sometimes that was all that was expected. He also had no problems with pulling a trigger. Both those qualities made him a good low-level soldier. Jacob had recommended his name to Link and Link had accepted and for a while things had been good. In fact, things had been very good and why wouldn't they be. Ever since their boss had defeated Elias, who had then disappeared, they controlled the city.
But all that sense of power and superiority had completely vanished since Dominic's disappearance nearly ten days ago. Now all they were left with was a continuous sense of dread and uncertainty which was what Jacob could see reflected in Kenny.
"It's been ten days now and we still have nothing... and then there's Darryl." Kenny whispered to Jacob worried that someone might hear his thoughts.
"Kenny, you have to stop doing this to yourself. You're panicking for no reason. There is no boogeyman out there hunting us."
Kenny looked around to make sure that they were indeed out of earshot of the rest of the patrons.
"But I'm telling you man, it happened. One minute Darryl was there and then shadows and then nothing. He was just… gone. Maybe that's what happened to Dominic too."
"And you saw with your own eyes." Jacob asked.
"No, but Zeke was there, he saw everything. He told me. He said he heard Darryl empty his entire clip into a dark alley and by the time Zeke got there, there was nothing. No Darryl, no gun, no body, nothing."
"God damn it Kenny, Zeke's a fucking coke head. Most days he can't tell the difference between a dog and a car. Do you know he tried to shove his car keys into a dog's ass trying to start it, thinking that was his car? For all he knows, Darryl could have been abducted by aliens." Jacob rolled his eyes in disapproval. He expected more common sense from his friend's son.
But Kenny was in no mood to listen to reason.
"But, what about the Russians, and all those pimps and dealers? People have been talking. I'm telling you man there's something out there."
To Jacob, Kenny was beginning to sound like a conspiracy nut. He might as well have been telling Jacob that he saw Big Foot in the city.
"Kenny, you don't need a boogeyman for any of this stuff. I could just be Elias. I'm telling you, Dominic should have killed him when he had the chance and now he's back for revenge. Dominic's gone, the Russians are losing people. It could be time to jump ship again."
Kenny knew he wouldn't be able to convince Jacob so he remained silent. Once Jacob had finished his pie, they paid and left the diner. They both lived not too far from each other so they were walking back home together and Kenny was grateful for that. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, because it might make him look weak, but he was terrified.
The diner was usually open all night and by the time they left, it was mostly occupied by the usual night time patrons. Jacob and Kenny knew most of them and they waved their goodnights to everyone as they left for home. It was a little over half past midnight and there were a fair few people outside the diner, some of them working and some just hanging around. But as Kenny and Jacob made their way down the street the crowd started to thin out. By the time they were a few blocks away they were completely alone. Even though it was a trip that Kenny had made since he was a kid, considering the events of the past few weeks, Kenny was beginning to grow increasingly nervous.
The streets were lined with a few trees and the sidewalks were littered with garbage. Occasionally they would step on a broken bottle or accidently kick a can. The sounds generated were amplified in the empty street. Kenny was starting to get extremely jumpy. Every single sound, even the occasional rustling of the leaves, would cause him to panic. To him it felt as if behind every darkened window and in every alley way, there were monsters lying in wait to drag him into the abyss. Strangely enough he wasn't too far from the truth.
Jacob, on the other hand, was completely oblivious to Kenny's increasing paranoia. Kenny had never been this glad for the company, but the companionship wasn't meant to be. Soon they reached a crossroads where their ways would part. Kenny's house was just across the road to the left and Jacob had to travel through an alley on the right to get to his house.
Kenny very reluctantly waved goodnight to Jacob and increased his pace to get to his front door. Even though the streets were lined with street lights not all of them functioned, but luckily the one in front of Kenny's house worked just fine. Kenny could see his front door lit up by the warm glow of the street light and with every step the doorway grew larger. It welcomed him like a lover waiting to take him in her warm embrace. Kenny's walk turned into a run and at last Kenny reached his doorway. He had never felt so relieved in his entire life.
Kenny laughed a little at how paranoid he had gotten and chided himself for letting his imagination getting the better of him. Just as he was about to enter the safety of his own home, He turned towards his right to see if he could still spot Jacob and he could. Jacob had just reached the entrance of the alley that led to his house. But just as Jacob turned into the alley the street light next to it went out. Kenny's paranoia returned, but he told himself that these neighborhoods were poorly managed by the local govt. and that streets went out regularly. But then something else happened.
Kenny began to notice the shadows starting to move. It made no sense to him. It was as if they were built of fluid and they all collectively began to flow into the alley after Jacob. Kenny didn't know what to do. A part of him screamed that he should just open the door and get inside his house, but Jacob was his friend and Kenny chose to be brave instead.
Jacob had just entered the alley when the light behind him went out. It didn't bother him as much. Jacob knew these streets better than the back of his hand and he didn't need a light to get home. He paused for a bit to let his eyes acclimate to the dark. Just as he was about to start walking again, he heard something move next to him. He turned to see what it was when he heard something move behind him. He turned around and to his surprise was faced with a wall of darkness. He couldn't see the street anymore. He felt something brush past him and finally Jacob began to panic. He pulled out his gun and put the safety off and pointed it in front of him. He whirled around to see if he could see anyone but there was nobody there. Then the voices started. Strange whispers came from the shadows. They spoke to him and about him. They knew his darkest secrets and his greatest fears. They talked about all the things he had done and the things they would like to do to him. The chattering in the shadows grew louder and Jacob could catch glimpses of the things that hid in the shadows. They somehow didn't seem right, like they shouldn't exist. They looked like the fevered imagination of a very twisted mind and they were moving towards him.
Jacob had had enough. He opened fire and hit nothing. The shadows kept advancing. It was then he felt another presence in the dark and a strangely beautiful voice spoke out.
"Don't worry, they won't hurt you. Not unless I tell them to." It was a woman's voice and she sounded amused.
Jacob wasn't amused. He trained his gun in the direction of the voice and fired. By now his panic had reached a fever pitch and he emptied his entire magazine into the shadows.
The shadows went silent for a moment as the sound of gunfire echoed through the alley but it returned with an even greater ferocity. Jacob began to feel like he was caught in a nightmare and he decided to make a run for it, but just as he was about to start a figure stepped out of the dark. It was a woman, dressed in jeans and leather jacket and she smiled at him.
"That was excellent shooting, but can't really kill shadows" saying that the woman shot him with a taser.
Jacob's body went rigid with the shock and the woman kept smiling, a very unhinged smile.
Kenny heard the gunfire and increased his pace. He was running as fast as he could, trying to reach the dark alley and just as he reached the entrance he saw the shadows come to life. Jacob was lying on the ground, unconscious and he was surrounded by shadows that seemed to be pulling him in. There were claws reaching out from the darkness to drag him into their world and watching all of this was a woman and then she saw him.
She looked right at him as smiled. Her eyes glowed slightly but then a hundred other glowing eyes opened in the shadows and they all saw him. Kenny was about to scream but the woman lifted a finger to her lips and his scream never left his throat. He was frozen in his place. The shadows began to advance upon him but then the woman spoke.
"No, leave him be. We already have what we need, maybe next time."
And as if on her command all the shadows immediately retreated and covered the woman and in an instant they were gone and so was Jacob.
Kenny was still frozen in his place when the street lights came back on. He was shaking and only thought went through his mind.
"Zeke was right. The boogeyman is real and it's a woman."
The knife moved once again, as it had moved before, through the base of the neck with cold and deadly precision. The kill was quick, death near instantaneous. It had been nearly a month since Dominic and Root was eager to see Sameen again. But the delay had been necessary. Root needed to ensure that she had the key ingredient in store and needed additional equipment to keep things safe and secure. But now it was all done and she waited impatiently for Death's arrival. She heard a sound behind her and turned.
"I thought you were going to lay low for while?" Sameen asked as she collected the soul.
"I was laying low. But I missed you." Root smiled.
"You're going to get yourself killed, Root."
"Don't worry, I've taken precautions." Root grinned slyly.
Death looked at her curiously and then noticed a truck with a large container attached to it parked in the warehouse.
"What's in the truck, Root?" Death asked suspiciously.
"Nothing, just supplies. You want some doughnuts." Root was trying to divert Sameen's attention from the truck. But Death isn't easily distracted.
Sameen vanished and appeared next to the truck. Root ran the distance to catch up to her. Just as she reached Sameen opened the container doors.
"Root, what is the hell have you done?" Death looked at the contents of the container and asked.
Inside the container were six men strapped down on metal beds. They were all unconscious with an IV drip that was feeding them intravenously. The drip also contained a sedative to ensure that none of them woke up before they were needed. There were tubes sticking in other places to ensure that it didn't get messy. Root had indeed spent the last month picking up a lot of new skills. It looked like a scene from a horror film.
"It's nothing. They're just supplies, so that I don't have to go out hunting every few weeks. It's really dangerous out there on the streets right now."
"And whose fault is that?" Death was starting to sound a little angry.
Root just grinned sheepishly.
"Root, this is insane. You can't just go about kidnapping people."
"It's fine, they're all bad guys. No one's going to miss them. Besides I'll make sure they die painlessly." Root replied nonchalantly.
"Root can't you see how crazy you sound right now. These are people not cattle."
"You didn't have a problem with it before." Root was beginning to get a little angry herself.
"Because at first I thought it was cute that someone was willing to go to that extent just to meet me. But now you're really starting to lose your mind."
"But I'm doing this for you. How else can I see you?" Root sounded defensive.
"Root this is wrong and you know it. But if you can't see that yourself, then I can't sit down and try to explain to you how nuts all of this is."
"But… I like you. I'm doing all of this for you." Root repeated herself sounding a little desperate.
Sameen knew that it would be impossible to reason with Root and besides she was needed in other places.
"Root, I can't do this, I need to go. I have a job to do." Her tone was colder than she intended it to be. But she couldn't stand there and watch this person that she liked descend into madness.
So, saying that Death vanished, leaving a heart broken Root behind.
Root was still looking at the place where Sameen last stood.
"But, I thought you liked me."
She stood there and kept repeating those same words over and over again. She couldn't understand why Sameen was mad at her. Those people were nothing more than supplies. They were just a means to an end. She loved her, how could Sameen not see that.
Feeling depressed and distraught Root went about the job of disposing off the body. She promised herself that she would make it up to Sameen next time. She would get her something fancy to eat, that would make Sammen like her again.
Root liked her plan and the more she thought about it the happier she felt. She told herself that this was just a minor issue and the next time they meet everything would be fine.
The room was littered with dead bodies. There was blood splatter on the walls and pools of dried blood on the floor. There were shell casing strewn across the floor like glitter. The cops and the forensic teams were going about their jobs trying to identify the bodies and the cause of their demise, even though that wasn't going to be a very difficult thing to do.
Fusco was climbing up the eight flights of stairs to get to the scene of the crime, it was on days like these that he wished that he was in better shape or that all buildings had a working elevator. Martine was already upstairs checking out the crime scene.
Eventually, after much huffing and puffing Fusco managed to get to the top of the rundown building. He took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off his brow as he made his way into the room.
"Holy fuck, what the hell happened here? This is like a friggin' war zone." Fusco commented as he laid his eyes on the scene of destruction. Martine looked at him and grinned. She scared him a bit considering how much she enjoyed violence. But she was also a good detective and knew how to close cases.
"So, what do we have?" Fusco asked Martine who was back to taking some notes.
"Looks like nine bodies. We had three survivors that were taken to the hospital. The news from the hospital is that at least one of them won't make till tomorrow, multiple gunshots to the torso and legs, and another one is in critical condition. The third one might be in a condition to talk in a couple of days."
Fusco started to look at the bodies to see if he could identify any of them.
"These guys look like The Brotherhood and from the tattoos of the other guys, they are definitely Russians. Is there a war going on that we aren't aware off? This is the third time this month they have had an altercation." He stopped talking for a while as if he was trying to connect the dots in his mind. "You think this could have something to do with those missing persons we been hearing about."
"I don't know. That could be one of the reasons, but I think we are missing something even bigger" Martine replied.
After a little while, they both made their way out of the building after they had spoken with the forensics team and the other cops. The building itself was pretty rundown and the few residents that remained were hardly the talkative sort. The rest of the building was used by various smaller gangs to run their operations. Most of those had disappeared after the shootout.
Fusco had instructed the cops to take statements of any of the residents that were willing to talk. He knew it was an exercise in futility but it had to be done. You never know what information one might get.
Just as they exited the building, Martine noticed that Harold Finch and a tall man in a suit were waiting for them by their car. The tall man looked vaguely familiar but she couldn't quite place him.
Harold limped forward and greeted them both as the detectives approached them.
"Detective Rousseau, a pleasure to meet you, I wish we were meeting under less violent circumstances."
Martine shook his outstretched hand and smiled in return.
"What are you doing down here Finch. Shouldn't you be upstairs taking photos and notes?" Fusco inquired.
"I wish I could" Harold smiled and pointed towards his leg. "I'll send my associate up later. By the way allow me to introduce Mr. John Reese. He's my new assistant. He's been helping me out with the library and the blog." Harold said as he pointed towards his partner.
The tall man stepped forward and smiled shyly as if he wasn't used to human company. Martine and Fusco politely smiled in return.
At Harold stepped in a little closer and spoke softly, "But that's not why I'm here, Detectives. I think I might finally know the reason for all this gang violence that the city's been witnessing off late."
They both looked at him with a sudden rise in interest.
"But not here, let's go some place where there aren't so many police officers."
"Why, do you suspect anyone?" Fusco asked.
"No one in particular but I would like to give this information to you two alone. Then you can decide if you want to share it with your superiors and other colleagues." Harold answered.
"Fair enough, you drive and we'll follow."
They all got in their respective cars and a little while later were having coffee in a local diner.
"Alright, so what do you know, Finch?" Fusco continued the conversation they had started at the crime scene.
Harold sat there for a while in silence, staring at his tea. He was trying to figure out exactly where to start.
"I don't know where it all begins but I think I know the tipping point."
Everyone kept staring at him in silence waiting for him to continue.
"About a month back, maybe a little more, two people disappeared. One of those you both know, Peter Yogorov, Weapons dealer and gun runner for the Russian mob. He ran their entire weapons trade for the east coast."
"Yeah, I knew him, been trying to nail that son of a bitch for years." Fusco interjected.
Harold smiled a little and continued.
"The other was a mid-level enforcer for The Brotherhood named Mini and that's where the trouble starts."
"Why? Why would anyone be bothered about some glorified thug?" asked Martine.
"Because, and this took a lot of digging to find out, Mini wasn't just an enforcer for the brotherhood. He was a lot more. In fact he was the leader."
The Detectives kept staring at him as if he had lost his mind. Harold took out a piece of paper and began to write on it. The detectives leaned across the table to see what he was writing. He wrote the words MINI and then started to add letters before and after it. He added "DO" to the start and "C" at the end.
"Mini was the hidden leader of the Brotherhood. Mini was Dominic."
There was pin drop silence at the table. Martine and Fusco had no idea how to react. This was way more than anything that they had expected.
"So you're saying that someone took out Dominic and this is what, retaliation." Fusco asked Harold.
Harold remained quiet for a while before he answered.
"I don't think so."
"Then what?" asked Lionel curiously.
"I am assuming that you are aware of the other disappearances within the various gang territories, right?"
Martine nodded her head.
"Yes, but we just assumed it was to do with the gangs going at each other." Martine expressed her views on the matter.
"I don't think so. I think there might be more to it than that. I haven't found a lot to go on because no one has seen anything. But maybe you the two of you might have more success than me."
"You think they are connected." Martine said.
"I think they are, I just don't know how. But I think it didn't start with Peter Yogorov and Dominic. It probably started much before that. I think there's somebody out there, someone who's targeting criminals."
"You mean, like a vigilante." Fusco commented.
"Maybe, I'm not entirely sure, Detective Fusco. But I think you two should definitely start looking into this." Harold suggested.
The Detectives knew that Harold was on to something. It lined up with what Martine had suspected that all the disappearances were somehow connected. They just had no idea how far back it all went and how Dominic tied into it. But maybe it was time to find out.
Most investigations into unsolved cases are slow going. One day can roll into another which can turn into weeks and there might be nothing to show for it. Lionel and Martine had managed to convince their captain to give them some amount of breathing room on the matter but even they were finding it hard to be motivated. Add to that the fact that no one was actually willing to talk about the missing given their chosen professions made their jobs even more difficult.
In the meantime, Root had come down with a bad case of cough and cold. All those days spent in damp and cold warehouses had finally started to have its effect. Root had decided to take some time off and just be on her own, while at the same time, the detectives slowly and painstakingly tried to paint the big picture.
And after weeks of toiling on a seemingly fruitless mission the big picture finally started to emerge for the detectives and it wasn't pretty. They had close to a dozen missing if not more. They were mostly low level drug dealers, pimps and other assorted criminals. The detectives agreed that whoever had painted this picture was really smart. The person had picked targets that no one would ever report missing which had made their job even more difficult.
"I think we are still missing something here." Fusco remarked.
Martine looked up from her desk. It was late and night and they were both tired but they were finally close to making sense of this.
"What makes you say that?"
"I don't know. It's these gaps we have between the cases. Like after every three or four we get a month or two of nothing, why?" Fusco asked. It was a question that had been bothering them both.
Martine's eyes suddenly lit up. Lionel realized that she probably had a theory.
"What if our hunter is moving to other cities? He kills a few here and then to not raise any suspicion decides to move to another city and then hunt there. It could explain the gaps. What do you think?" Martine asked looking at him.
Lionel thought about it for a while and agreed with her. The thought seemed plausible, but they didn't have the authority or the jurisdiction to check out other cities, but He knew someone who did. He checked his watch. It was close to ten at night, he decided that it wasn't too late to call and dialed the number. Martine looked on curiously.
"Who are you calling?"
"A friend, someone who could get us the information we need." Lionel smiled and replied.
On the other end the phone was ringing. Lionel waited patiently for someone to answer. He checked his watch again as it rang. Maybe they had gone out, he began to think when the phone was answered.
"Yes?" asked a slightly tired voice.
"Hey Joss, it's Lionel" Fusco answered cheerfully. It was good to hear her voice.
"Lionel, hi. Sorry I didn't check the name on the phone before answering it. How are you, it's been a while."
"The same, nothing really changes in the city. How is your training going on?"
"It's almost over. I am going to give my exams soon and then I will find out where I'm going to get assigned, So, why the late phone call?" Carter inquired.
Lionel explained the entire situation to her.
"Ok, I'll ask Agent Donnelly to check and see if there are any such reports. I will get back to you in a few days."
"Thanks Joss, so how are things otherwise. How's Taylor?." Lionel inquired.
"Taylor's great. He's made quite a few friends at his new school and Paul's been visiting him often now that he's better." Joss sounded truly happy. Lionel was glad that she was finally getting the success and happiness that she deserved.
"And how's Cal?" Fusco asked with a grin on his face. For a second there was nothing but silence on the line.
"He's fine", Joss replied in slightly shy tone, "He drops by whenever he can. Taylor likes him too. He said once I get my transfer orders, he'll put in for his as well."
"I figured as much. He's spoken to the captain about it. You two seem to getting pretty serious."
"Well, I like him but I'm taking it one step at a time. We'll see how it goes."
"You know what Carter, I'm really happy for you. But it's getting late and I don't want to bother you for too long. Good night." Fusco said.
"Good night Lionel. It was really nice talking to you and I'll call you back when I have that information you need."
Root was feeling much better and had also picked up some Korean food for Sameen. It had been almost a month since her fight with Death. She was hoping that she would be able to make it up to her this time. In the past month she had only made the trip to check in on the cargo. To make sure that they were all asleep and that their other needs were taken care off. Her system was quite self sustaining so she didn't have to do too much. But now she was back and she had pulled one of them out of his deep slumber and tied him to a chair.
She contemplated as to how to kill him but just decided to make it quick, since that was what she had promised Death. So she did her thing and waited.
Nothing happened for almost a minute. She looked around; it was unlike Death to be late. The man's soul had started to wander and then she heard a strange sound like something rushing by her. The wind blew her hair and she saw a black blur move towards the soul. It touched the soul and then disappeared.
Root just stood there stunned. She couldn't believe what had happened. Did Sameen just completely ignore her?
"Sameen. Sameen?" she called out. Her voice echoed through the warehouse but there was no reply. She didn't know what to do. She called out again.
"Sameen, I'm sorry about last time. Please come back." She screamed in desperation. But once again there was no reply. Then she got angry. She knew what to do. She knew exactly how to get her back.
Root stormed into the truck and pulled out another body. She dumped him on a wheelchair and pulled him out of the trailer. Even in her anger she knew better than to ruin her truck.
She dragged him out and slit his throat. Blood poured out of his opened neck and turned the man's clothes red. He never regained consciousness and she slowly felt him deflate as the life slipped out of him.
Root waited tensely for Death to show and once again the same thing happened. The black wind just roared past her, collected the soul and disappeared.
"Sameen" Root shouted. She was now furious.
She did it a third time. Another man died but Death never slowed down. Root knew Death wasn't coming back. She broke down and fell to the ground, next to the dead body, sobbing uncontrollably. She just wanted to see her love and she felt like she had lost her and she didn't understand why.
Everything she had done over the past eight months had just been for her. She had done terrible things just so that she could be with the woman she loved. How could Sameen not see that?
After she was all cried out she picked herself up and sat at the edge of the container looking over the ones that still remained. She didn't know what she would do with them if Death wasn't going to return. She felt hollow inside. She sat there and stared into the distance blankly. It was as if she had completely lost the will to live.
Soon the Shadows started to swarm around her. They liked her and considered her a friend and a compatriot. They could sense her despair and wanted to help her. She spoke with them for a while, it made her feel better. They promised they would find a way to help her win Death back. But they still had their hunger to feed and there were three bodies lying there and they couldn't resist the temptation. They asked if they could take them.
"Yeah, sure, whatever. Take them, they're all yours." Root replied. She didn't really care at that moment. In hindsight maybe she should have. But it made the shadows happy and she figured that at least someone should be happy at that moment.
Root cleaned up a little and finally went back home. She had never felt that alone in her entire life.
"I think I have something." Martine walked up to Fusco's desk and told him excitedly.
"What?"
"I think I found that witness we were looking for."
"Which witness?" Fusco was trying to recollect whatever it is that Martine was talking about.
"Don't you remember that junkie we spoke with downtown? What was his name? The jittery one." Now it was Martine turn to struggle with her memories, but at that moment Lionel caught on to what Martine was referring to.
"You mean Zeke. Yeah, I remember talking to him. How can I forget? The man was going on and on about demons and monsters with sharp claws and teeth. Oh and monsters that were made of shadows. Yeah, he was very reliable." Fusco rolled his eyes.
"Yes, I agree that he wasn't all there but maybe there was some truth to what he was saying. He definitely saw something but in his doped out mind he just added a lot of stuff to it. But he did mention that the demon that he saw was a woman and he also said that his friend Kenny saw it too." Martine emphasized on Kenny.
"So what, you think that Zeke was right?"
"Not entirely, but we can always ask Kenny?" Martine smiled.
"You found him. You found Kenny." Fusco stood up from his seat. His eyes lit up. This could be the big break they were looking for.
"Yes, I did. He's at Laketown Hospital. He had some kind of a mental breakdown. He's been there for nearly two months for psychiatric treatment after, according to him, his friend Jacob was taken by shadow monsters. And guess what, Jacob was a member of the Brotherhood so he definitely fits the pattern" Martine explained with a satisfied look on her face. She had put in a lot of work looking for Kenny and it just might pay off.
A couple of days later they got some time off from their regular cases and decided to visit Kenny.
The psychiatric wing of the hospital wasn't a pleasant place to be. It looked like the rest of the hospital except that the some of the doors and windows were barred to prevent the patients from escaping. Fusco also caught glimpses of patients restrained to their beds to avoid them from harming themselves and others. Fusco felt bad for these people. It was a terrible thing to lose one's mind. To not know who you are. He couldn't imagine a worse fate than that.
The Doctor had been very helpful and took them to Kenny's room. It was stark white room with no furniture and Kenny sat in the furthest corner from the door.
"On most days he's quite normal and easy to talk to as long as you can handle the rambling. Just don't approach him, otherwise he will start to get hysterical. The thing is, it's not you that he's afraid of, it's your shadow. He believes that there are monsters hidden with it and they are just waiting to kill him. SO you can ask him anything you want as long as you keep your distance." The doctor explained Kenny's situation and the ground rules.
Fusco and Martine entered the room and stood near the wall so as to avoid scaring him.
Kenny was at the far end of the room facing the white cushioned walls. The room was a brightly lit as possible without everyone going blind, but it was still too bright. Both the detectives took a little bit of time to adjust to the light levels.
"Kenny, I'm Detective Fusco and this is Detective Martine we had a few questions for you."
After what seemed like an eternity Kenny finally turned around. Fusco saw that he was just a young man, barely in his twenties, but he was ravaged by his fears. It seemed like he had barely slept in weeks and looked nothing like his mug shot. He was less than a half of his former weight. In his eyes Fusco could see the paranoia that had eaten away at this man as his eyes darted around looking for those imaginary monsters that according to him lurked in the shadows. After a bit his eyes finally settled on them.
"Hi, I didn't see you two standing there." He eyes darted around again. He had a manic energy to him, like he was a man trying to escape his own shadow.
"Kenny, Kenny." Martine spoke a little louder to get his attention back.
Kenny's eyes snapped back to them.
"Kenny we need to ask you about Jacob. Can you tell us what happened?" Martine's voice softened again.
"Hmm, Jacob. I liked Jacob. He was so nice to me. He was always there for me and then they took him. Those things took him." Kenny's voice was shaking as he spoke.
"What things?"
"Those things, they are right behind you. They are hiding in the shadows." He said pointing at them.
Fusco and Martine knew that there wasn't much of a point talking to Kenny. They probably wouldn't get anything of importance from him. They began to turn to leave when Kenny spoke again.
"And she was with them."
Fusco and Martine stopped turning and looked back at Kenny who by now was busy rambling to himself.
"She? Who's she?" Lionel asked gently. He didn't want to scare Kenny now that they were finally onto something useful.
"She was. She was with the shadows and and… I was about to scream and she told me not to, so I didn't and the shadows they wanted me too but she stopped them. But she took Jacob and then she smiled at me, she had nice smile. Why did she take Jacob? He was nice." Kenny turned and looked towards them and then shuffled up to them, "Could you bring him back. I really miss him and if you find her can you tell her that I won't tell anyone about the shadows. I'll keep my mouth shut just ask her to tell them to leave me alone. Please." Kenny had grabbed on to Lionel by now as was desperately pleading with him.
Lionel felt bad for the young man. Even though Kenny was a criminal, Lionel wouldn't wish this fate anyone. He wanted to help him but he just didn't know how.
"I will Kenny. I'll find Jacob and when I find the woman I'll ask her to talk the shadows, OK" Lionel tried to console the young man.
Kenny's eyes lit up.
"You will. Thank you. Tell her she can trust me. I won't tell anyone about them. Just tell them to leave me alone. Just leave me alone. I know how to keep my mouth shut. That's what Jacob always said to me. Don't be a rat. I'm not a rat. No sir, I'm not."
Kenny had gone back to his rambling. Lionel and Martine took it as a cue to leave.
"So what, we go on the word of a junkie and a mental patient that our perp might be a woman?" Lionel asked as they stepped out of the room.
"That's better than nothing and at least it gives us a direction."
Lionel knew Martine was right. Something was better than nothing.
They thanked the doctor and left the hospital.
On their way out Lionel got a phone call. They made their way out and stood by the car while Fusco finished the call.
"Thanks a lot, Joss. I owe you one."
Lionel pocketed the phone and looked at Martine and smiled.
"What?" Martine looked at him expectantly.
"Let's drive, I'll tell you on the way back."
They got back on the road and Martine wasn't quite able to control herself.
"Are you going to tell me or do I have to shoot you?"
Lionel grinned, "We might have some news, just don't get your hopes up too high."
"Yeah fine, just tell me already." Martine was beginning to get frustrated.
"Joss had Agent Donnelly check up and see if there were any criminals missing in the neighboring cities. Even though they have very few actually reported missing there are a too many rumors to dismiss it completely. By their count they have at least another eight or ten missing. They don't have an exact number but then neither do we."
Martine was happy with the news. It filled in the gap in their findings.
"Anything about a woman, any witnesses?"
"Sorry, nothing and since it's all majorly rumors, the FBI can't even officially launch an investigation. So it seems that it's just the two of us." Lionel shrugged.
Martine smiled back and they drove off towards the precinct. They were just happy with the fact that at least they had a potential suspect or that they probably knew the gender of the suspect.
And that wasn't a bad start.
"Well, fuck you. I don't need your project either." Root slammed the phone down.
She had been a bad mood all week, ever since Death had seemingly abandoned her. She had tried to pick up some freelance work to keep herself occupied but in her current mood she was hardly in any state to finish a project. She almost contemplated killing that irritating client but decided to let it pass.
She only had the shadows to keep her company and they weren't really good at lifting up her mood. But she was grateful for the company nonetheless.
They had brought her good news though. They knew of a way by which they could capture Death, well not exactly capture but it would definitely make Death stop for awhile.
"So, this will work."
Root stood in the middle of the room surrounded by her sharp clawed friends who all nodded in unison.
"OK, so I can tie down a soul to the body even after it's dead and so when Death comes to collect it then it won't be able to and then I'll get to talk to her."
They shadows nodded again.
This seemed like a workable plan. The shadows had given her a list of things to buy for the spell and none of them were hard to acquire. She got ready, picked up her backpack, put on her hoodie and stepped out into the corridor and it was then that she started to hear the commotion.
It was her next door neighbor, her ex-boyfriend was back to trouble her. On most days Root wouldn't have cared but today the arguments seemed to be getting really loud. Root stood by her door and kept watching as the man kept verbally abusing the woman.
The woman was starting to get scared and she was struggling to take out her phone to probably call the police. The man saw this and grabbed the phone from her hand and threw it against the wall. After that he began to move towards her.
"What do think you are going to do, bitch? You going to call the cops on me." He shouted at her and raised his hand. That was as far as Root was going to let it go.
The next moment man found himself flying through the air as he slammed into the opposite wall. There was a very loud crunch sound and it seemed like the man probably broke something. He was still lying on the floor trying to pick himself up, still dazed as to what exactly happened when a woman crouched next to him and she didn't look happy at all.
"That was me being gentle. If you ever come near her again I will rip you shreds, understand." Root growled at him.
Now it was the man's turn to be terrified. He could see that the woman was definitely insane and he knew enough to get out of there. He just nodded and scrambled out of there.
Root stood up and watched him leave. When she turned around she saw her neighbor still looking at her in amazement. Then she immediately rushed forward and hugged her. Root had no idea as to how to react to that. She wasn't one to give into physical displays of affection and no one had hugged her in a very long time. She realized that she liked the feeling and let the woman hug her.
The woman finally stepped back and Root saw that she was crying.
"I'm sorry, it's just that I was so scared. I thought he would have really hurt me this time. If you wouldn't have been there I don't know what he would have done."
Root just smiled back. There was bit of an awkward silence between them.
"I'm Hannah. Hannah Frey." The dark haired woman introduced herself with a smile. At that moment a little girl's head peaked shyly from behind Hannah.
"And this is Gen. My daughter." said Hannah as Gen kept holding on to her, like she was afraid to let go.
"Hi, Gen, I'm Samantha Groves. You can call me Sam." Root smiled back.
Gen smiled in return and once again disappeared behind her mother.
"Thank you very much, Sam. I don't know how to repay you. You want to come in for a while. I have some coffee." Hannah offered.
Root was tempted to go in. Hannah seemed nice and Root felt a strange kind of kinship with her even though she had met her just a few minutes ago, but Root had other pressing matters.
"Maybe next time. I have some errands to run."
"OK. Drop by whenever you feel like."
Root walked a little distance and then stopped and turned.
"Hannah, let me know if that idiot ever comes back."
Hannah smiled and nodded.
Two days later Root was back in the warehouse. She had already killed two guys and failed in pinning down the soul. She was starting to get frustrated and was also beginning to lose hope. She just had a two more bodies left to get this right.
She had the third one tied and prepped. She hoped she had everything in place this time. The symbols had been carved and she had tied the silver thread to his arm, which according to her friends would prevent the soul from being collected. She took a deep breath and plunged the knife through the man's sternum. He took a while to bleed out and die as Root waited around impatiently. She had asked the shadows if she could kill him in any other way but they had been specific about the method.
But he did die eventually and the black wind appeared again. It grabbed the soul which was standing next to the body and tried to leave but the soul wouldn't budge from its place.
Root had stepped back and was hiding in the shadows to see what was going to happen. She heaved a sigh of relief at the outcome. It had taken her three tries but it had finally worked.
Meanwhile the black smoke kept trying it's best to move the soul but without any success. Eventually it stopped and finally took shape. Root waited for Sameen to appear from the smoke but instead a man appeared. This was completely unexpected.
The man started to inspect the body and saw the symbols carved on the man's chest and the knife driven in the centre of it and then he noticed the thread.
"Haha, very funny. Whoever is here, this isn't amusing. I have a schedule to keep you know."
Root finally stepped out of the shadows.
"Who are you? You're not Death." She looked at him questioningly.
"Of course I am."
"No you're not. You're not Sameen and I've seen all her forms you're not one of those either. So who are you?"
The man seemed genuinely surprised.
"Wait, you know Death and you know her real name. How?"
Root was about to answer when the man spoke again.
"Are you Root? She's mentioned you"
Now it was Root's turn to be surprised.
"She talks about me?" Root couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Oh yeah, she talks about you all the time. She says you're nuts but she also says you have good taste in food. If I was to guess I could go so far as saying that she likes you. But you know her she doesn't like to share her feelings but I've known her long enough to know how she feels about someone even if she won't talk about it." The man smiled.
"Wait, who are you?" Now Root was completely confused. She wasn't expecting this at all.
"Oh, silly me. I'm Cole. I work for her from time to time." Cole stepped forward with an outstretched arm. Root shook his hand.
"Sameen never mentioned she had an assistant."
"Well, I'm sort of in training. She just calls me in when the load is heavy."
"In training?" Root asked.
"Yeah, Someday when another species becomes sentient, I'll get to be their Death." Cole replied, "But those things don't happen very often so I could be here for quite some time." Cole shrugged.
Root finally started to understand, but she still wanted to see Sameen.
"Will she be coming back?" She asked tentatively.
"I don't know. She's sorta busy with those wars that your people keep fighting. At times like these I get called in to take care of the peaceful territories."
"But I miss her." Root almost broke down but somehow managed to hold herself together. Still a single tear managed to escape and roll down her cheek.
Cole didn't know how to respond. He had never been very good at understanding women even when he was alive but he felt like he should help. He could see that Root was clearly insane but she was also very much in love with his boss and from the way his boss spoke about her it was likely that the feeling was mutual and who was he to question love.
"Don't cry. I won't be able to handle that. But maybe I can help you."
Root looked at him, her eyes full of hope, wondering what the man might suggest.
"I could tell her to take the day off from the wars and look after the peaceful regions. I could tell her that I need the experience. I have been assisting her for nearly two thousand years, I could actually use the experience." Cole suggested.
"You could do that." Root asked her eyes lighting up.
"Sure."
"When."
Cole thought about it for a while.
"How about day after tomorrow, would that be fine? I'll make sure she's free that entire day."
Root rushed up to him and kissed him on the cheek.
"Thank you."
Cole blushed a little.
"You're welcome. Now could you let him go? I'm on a schedule." Cole pointed towards the dead man.
Root untied the thread on the man and Cole disappeared. She was happy that it had worked out better than she had expected and also that her fears were unfounded. Sameen wasn't mad at her, she was just busy.
The next two days passed by excruciatingly slowly but they did pass and Root was finally back in warehouse. She was praying that Cole would keep his word and that this time Sameen would show because if she didn't show up then she would have just wasted her final kill that she had in store. Then she would have to go out and try and pick someone else up and even she knew how risky that was going to be.
But her worries were baseless because Sameen did show up and she looked a little grumpy.
"Hey Sameen." Root stepped forward smiling.
"Hi Root." Sameen replied, still grumpy.
"What's wrong?"
Sameen was collecting the soul but she looked extremely distracted.
"What, oh it's nothing. It's my assistant."
"You mean Cole?" Root added.
"Yeah, him. He offered to take over the war zones and I couldn't refuse him after two thousand years. But it's just that I keep thinking I should drop by and see how he's doing but it might seem rude." Sameen explained.
"Yeah, it might. Besides he seemed quite competent" replied Root.
Sameen nodded her head but then she stopped.
"Wait, you know Cole. How?"
"Well we spoke the other night." Root replied nonchalantly.
Sameen kept staring at Root for a while but she finally understood that she just been played.
"So that's what this was about. This was the plan all along. You somehow managed to convince Cole didn't you. I'm going to kill him the next time I see him." Sameen seemed furious.
"It's not really his fault you know. I said I missed you and He was just trying to help."
Sameen looked up at Root's sad smiling face and realized that maybe she had been unknowingly a little bit cruel to Root. She should have told her that she was probably going to be busy. She could see in Root's eyes that the time spent apart had been rough for her. So she finally decided to confess a little bit of how she felt as well.
"I missed you too."
Root immediately rushed forward to hug her and barely caught herself in time. She knew that Sameen wasn't particularly fond of physical affection.
Sameen stared at her for a second and finally gave in.
"Oh fine, you can hug me, but just this one time."
And the Maiden hugged Death.
A little while later, they both were sitting next to the truck. Root had gotten steaks, which was Sameen's favorite.
"You know, I thought you were mad at me for all of this." Root pointed towards the truck, "and when you didn't show up I thought you'd left me." Root was almost about to cry again.
Sameen stopped eating her steak and looked at Root.
"To be honest I was a little mad but I can't stay mad at you forever." Sameen smiled at Root.
Root grinned widely.
"But you can't keep doing this, sooner or later you're going to get caught."
"It's been nearly a year, no one's caught me yet. Besides I always knew I wouldn't have a very long life span in this line of work and if I die then I can be with you. So it's a win win, right?"
Sameen could see that Root really didn't care about dying but strangely Death wasn't in a hurry to collect her soul.
"Well maybe you should take a break for a while, just for my sake."
"But if I take a break how would I meet you." Root was sounding worried again.
Sameen thought about it for a while.
"Tell you what. If you promise to stop then I'll come and see you every other day, how about that?"
Root's eyes lit up.
"Seriously, you would do that."
"Yeah, why not, I'm sure Cole would love the extra work, as long as you keep your side of the bargain."
Root didn't even need to think about it.
"Deal" and smiling she went back to finishing her steak.
And Death was a being of its word. Sameen showed up every other day to meet her and Root had never been happier in her life. But through all the time they spent together, they both somehow felt that this happiness wouldn't last for long and they were right.
The shadow world is a strange place. It's always interested about the real world and it often picks up things from the physical realm out of sheer curiosity. But nothing of any substance can remain permanently in the shadow realm. Sooner or later once the denizens of the shadow world got bored of their current toy they would drop it back into the real world and that is exactly what they did with the bodies that they had picked up from Root.
They dropped two of the bodies in very remote parts of the globe but by some strange coincidence they dropped the third one right back in the city near a garbage dump.
Lionel got a call about it the next day after one of the workers of the sanitation department found the body.
It was early morning when Lionel and Martine reached the crime scene. They were both intrigued and horrified upon seeing the state of the deceased. It was like nothing they had ever seen. The body had deep gashes on it but it seemed to be completely drained of blood. Also the brain was missing. But even though the body had been through a lot they were able to pull prints of it.
Once the body was in the morgue, the cause of death turned out to be a simple puncture to the back of the neck. All the other damage had been done post mortem. But even the M.E. couldn't explain the gashes at all. He couldn't even identify what type of animal it could have been.
Martine and Lionel were getting nowhere with the case. They decided to wait till the prints came back which was going to take a couple days due to the backlog. But when the report did come in it almost felt like Christmas had come early.
Lionel rushed towards his desk with the report to tell give Martine the good news.
"You're not going to believe this."
"What?" Martine stopped filling in her report and looked up at Fusco.
"I just got the prints back. It's Jacob Calloway."
Martine got up off the chair.
"Kenny's Jacob?" Martine almost shouted in her excitement.
"Yeah, we just got our first real lead, Martine." Fusco sounded equally excited.
After nearly two months of toiling away at a case that seemingly led nowhere they had finally lucked out. Now they actually had a chance of catching this mystery woman.