Disclaimer: The characters within are used without permission for the sheer non profit enjoyment of fans of the Gabriel Knight genre. Part 6
Gabriel pushed himself up to a squatting position in the bed and blinked away the sleep in his eyes, scanning the room through a blurry daze. The clock read seven thirty and by the darkening sky outside, he realized that he had been immersed in rest for just under thirteen hours. With a heavy sigh, he threw his feet over the side of the bed and stretched his arms before pulling on his jeans and walking into the living room.
Grace's apartment was sparse but decorated accordingly to her scholarly nature. The aesthetics weren't lost to Gabriel but he paid them no attention as he found his way into the kitchen to begin brewing a pot of coffee. Running both hands through his hair, he let out another sigh and smacked his lips glancing at the phone.
He had made his way to Grace's after the incident at Mosely's apartment. He was surprised that his dreams were so serene after what he'd seen. It happened so fast... the door was opened, a moment of silence. The strange gurgling. Mosely took a step in... the explosion from the pistol. That scream.
Gabriel shuddered. When it died it had thrashed about, splattering it's own gore about the room, saturating everything within twenty feet. Mosely even received a few black drips on his pale cheeks. But despite all of that, nothing could prepare them for the body.
They both entered cautiously, eyes wide and alert. The silence was deafening after the horrid roars of the creature moments before. Surprisingly, no one came out to investigate the shots but the sirens blaring on some far away street indicated that they hadn't gone ignored.
The apartment was a wreck. Papers were strewn across the room, furniture was torn up and destroyed. Lamps were in pieces, glass and decorations shattered on the hard wood kitchen floor. Mosely got the first sight of the thing and a gasp confirmed that it was something and not someone.
Gabriel glanced around Mosely, taking a few steps to get a better look. The thing had probably stood at around six and a half feet tall though a hump in its back indicated it probably stooped. Long arms ended in serrated claws. Its skin was course and black, gleaming wetly in the dim light filtering through the shades. Several holes in the torso oozed black blood. The head lay crooked to the left shoulder, blood pouring from its gaping mouth. The eyes were widely spaced and burned amber even in death. Two small horns protruded from the skull above pointed ears.
But perhaps the most repulsive part was the smell. Stagnant, almost visible from the wounds and body, like rotting meat festered under a noon day sun. Gabriel echoed Mosely's look as they found their way to the door for a breath of air, both trembling from the shock but too tired to become ill.
When the police arrived, Mosely covered up the issue and had two of his subordinates take statements from them both to file. They were far from the truth and when the coroner came, he took away the body but Mosely sent a man along with to be certain that no one touched the body until he and Gabriel were present.
And that would be soon.
He groaned and poured the finished coffee into a white mug, reluctant to call Mosely for the trip to the coroner's office. Well, the life of a Shattenjäger... A job never finished a task never complete. His mind drifted back to the old man who had died and the ring.... Everything was swirling about and each fact was too elusive to maintain for long enough to discern what it meant. His other cases at least seemed normal.
Soft skin-- cold. Definitely a finger... a hand brushing against his forehead, running along his temple to cup his cheek. The clear voice piercing his sub conscious, rousing him from slumber. "Wake up..." He heard again, his eyes fluttering against the assault of sleep to gaze up into the most gorgeous green eyes he'd ever seen in his life. For a long moment, he was lost in them as though he was still dreaming but as she smiled and drew away he began to realize where he was.
He was lying beneath a huge oak tree, limbs dancing above him in a gentle breeze. He pushed himself up on his elbows and stared at the woman crouched before the fire. He didn't remember setting camp. He didn't remember lying down to rest. Fact of the matter, he barely remembered the night before at all. Just entering the inn, the four men, the fight. Fleeing. All a haze. Some distant memory fleeting as if with age...
He took his feet and joined her by the fire, wrapping his cloak about his shoulders. He wondered if he wasn't sick as her own cloak was hung on a nearby tree, her body only protected by the thin silk of her shirt and vest as she tended something cooking over the fire. "I don't think that I thanked you last night." He said, his voice low, still sleepy.
"You did." She smiled at him and set the spit down to lean back on her palms. "You slept well."
He shrugged. "I suppose so. Can't say that I remember falling asleep however." He regarded her curiously.
"Aren't you going to ask who I am?" Her voice took a playful tone.
"I thought about it." He chuckled looking into the fire. "My name is Kail."
"And my name is Alia."
"Gorgeous name." His eyes drifted from the flames to rest upon her, trying again desperately to catch her gaze in his own. "From where do you hail?"
She frowned. "Far away." Her voice was distant, almost sad. "Too far to recount."
"Allow me to thank you again for helping me back there...." He thought for a moment. "What happened last night? What happened when we got here? I don't remember a thing about setting up camp."
She pursed her lips and shrugged. You leaned against the tree for a rest and before I knew it you were sound asleep." She leaned forward and rotated the spit and looked at him. "I helped you to lie down and bundled you up."
Something was wrong and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what. She seemed genuine. Her sincerity was blatant. Still, there was something within him that cried out 'caution'. It was an unwelcome feeling to be sure, especially as he liked this woman a great deal.
"Unfortunately, I need to go." He stood up stiffly and stretched. "I have much to do."
"I hope that it doesn't involve going back into town." She glanced up at him lazily. "They're up in arms right now and with the four dead men, they'll be especially cautious. At least until they realize that the brigands deserved what happened to them."
He sighed and sat back down, looking up at the slowly dawning sky. "Perhaps I should head back." He muttered to himself but she tilted her head to look at him curiously.
"Back to where?"
"My home in Rittersburgh." He motioned off. "Quite a days march that way."
"What brings you so far from your home if I may ask?"
"I'm--" He paused a moment, wondering if he could trust her with what he was up to. After all, his instincts were trying to tell him something. But perhaps she had information that he could use.... "I'm investigating something... a murder."
"Oh?" She arched a brow. "Someone you know I take it?"
"Perceptive." He nodded still wondering about her trust. "He was my uncle."
"I see." She frowned and looked down. "So it's vengeance you seek."
"I seek to find the murderers and have them brought to justice for their crimes."
"Ah." She gracefully took her feet and looked down at him. "Perhaps the justice you seek has already been issued." She turned and started off through the woods at a rapid pace.
"Christ Knight! What the hell was that thing?" Mosely's face was wrinkled almost humorously as they both emerged from the operating room where the autopsy on the creature was performed. It took a good two and a half hours and under the surveillance of three of Mosely's most trusted detectives, it had been performed by a mutual friend named Lawrence Markus.
Markus had always been a conservative type but they had always been able to count on his trust and reliability. They were hardly in touch anymore but on occasion they did find a moment to recount past glories (though Gabriel had most of the claim to any glory since he chose a more 'social life' than the others.) When they called him, he agreed happily to help old friends. When he saw what he would be operating on, he almost turned and walked away. His face was grave most of the time that he worked and when he finally finished he informed them that it would be a while before results were back from the labs... A fact that Gabriel was almost grateful for.
He didn't really want to know what the creature was, the longer he was forced to look upon it. Just being in the same vicinity with it made him uneasy and ill.... The scent of its blood certainly didn't help that at all and the visage was disturbing. Like something out of a Geiger piece of art with its twisting innards coiling about like bio-machinery-- brought frighteningly to life in person. He shrugged to Mosely's question.
"I have no idea, man." His voice was unusually drawn. "I just hope that we get what we need from this.... Though I don't know what we need."
"You can say that again." Mosely shook his head and took a seat on a hard plastic chair. "What the hell was it looking for in my apartment?"
"I'm sure it was looking for the ring, Mose." Gabriel ran a hand through his hair and joined his friend in sitting. "We have to find out how to destroy this thing."
"What if we banish it? What then? Won't they just bring it back?"
"That's a point and until recently, I had hoped to use it as bait to lure them into a trap that we might get em all.... But now I'm afraid that my plan may not work. Not if they can summon help like that-- thing in there."
"Yeah..." They sat in silence for a time before Mosely looked up. "So what should we do?"
"I think that our best bet will be to keep the ring and guard it." He sighed. "But the problem here is that they seem to have stepped up their agenda. They need the Maliphrae and they need it now. I wonder why...." Gabriel pondered for a long while. "We need to get one of them... to question him til we find out what we need to know."
"How do you propose we do that? Put an ad in the paper?"
Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Your typical sarcasm lacks even the shallowest wit today, Mose." Before his friend could reply, he continued. "My thought is that they really want me.... Let's give them me."
"What the hell are you talking about? They don't want you alive, Knight." Mosely shook his head.
"But if that were true, then why did they tie me and the old man up in that hotel room? Why not just kill me right then?"
"Good point. Perhaps they needed to question you."
"To find out where the ring is. So we need to hide this thing and then I need to find one of them."
"This sounds ridiculous." Mosely shook his head. "It's just dangerous and I don't like the sound of it. Ridiculous."
"Not nearly as ridiculous as what I just found." Markus' voice forced them both to look up, his expression chilling their blood as they started to rise to hear what he had to say...