Shadows on the Wall
Chapter Six- Nocturnal Supremacy
All hope in eclipse
A thousand nights one succored me
In the shadow of miss-anne-thropy
Sat gargoyle-limbed amid my licking flame
A cruel tongue at work in her secret vaults
Sent rebellion's embers into revolt
The coming of extinction
Synched to whimpers of my name...
The moon is beautiful tonight. Most people stare at the night sky there entire lives and never truly come to appreciate its serene magnificence. I feel that I am the only who does. It can be said that the sun is the most important star in the sky, because it provides warmth and light, but that is a mistake. The moon provides light when mankind needs it the most, when darkness threatens to completely envelop the world. With the girl still unconscious, I am free to prowl the streets without having to worry about the girl waking up and attempting to escape. I do not think she will recover for a long while, although her wellbeing is not currently at the forefront of my thoughts, for I am on the hunt. About an hour ago in the downtown sector of Jump City, a woman was brutally raped and murdered. The scum who committed this atrocity managed to elude the JCPD, but no matter how far he runs, or how well he hides, he could not escape me. I have tracked him to a condemned residential building, intent on making him pay for his sins. A single locked door is the only thing that stands between us. I rear back and with a single kick I knock it from its hinges. The scum's bloody footprints are plainly visible on the dust covered floor. There is no denying that this is the building that he has attempted to find sanctuary in. I follow the trail through the filthy house, eventually making my way up the lone flight of stairs. In situations like this, I always question myself as to why these criminals forever feel that they can somehow circumvent fate and avoid the inevitable. They seem to think that as long as they stay on the run, they do not have to face the repercussions of their actions. Whether it is in life, or in death, every man, woman and child must ultimately face justice. From the top of the stairs, the footprints lead straight into an open room. In the center of the room, the man sits on the floor, slowly rocking back and forth. His back is too me, not that it matters if he saw me enter or not. I glide across the floor towards him, and place my hand upon his shoulder.
"Your time has come." I tell him. At the touch of my hand and the sound of my voice, the man screams at the top of his lungs and lunges into the far corner of the room. His eyes grow wide as saucers, and his breaths come short and fast. He clutches at his clothes with his hands, frantically clawing at himself in fear. Every person has a different reaction to fear. Some scream and bawl their eyes out, some get excited to the point of physical ecstasy, and still others become utterly silent. I must admit that one of the most intriguing aspects of my job is getting a chance to view how each individual human deals with their fear. This particular one's reaction is nothing special, common even.
"Who are you…what do you want?" In his emotional state, the man can barely speak. His words are barely more than stutters. The sweat from hours of running is still streaming down the sides of his face.
"I know what you have done, and I am here to make you suffer for it." The man shrinks down into a fetal position, his arms wrapped around his knees and his chin held tight against his chest. I can now hear the familiar sound of muffled crying coming from within his huddled form. It is almost comical that a person who so bravely assaulted a weak and defenseless woman degenerates to this pathetic state when the situation becomes reversed. Only the bravest of souls stand and face me as they should.
"I'm sorry!" The man croaks between sobs. "I'm sorry…so sorry. For the love of god, please forgive me." I quickly grow tired of his pitiful mewling.
"For what you have done there is no forgiveness, only retribution." I move closer so that I now tower directly over him.
"Stop this miserable display. Stand and face your fate like a man." At this point, the man has stopped speaking intelligently, repeating "oh my god" over and over again before the tears choked finally away all his words. I decide to put him out of his misery and at the same time rid the world of one more stain. The scythe forms in my hands, and I raise my arms above my head. I ready my strike as I bear my teeth in a grin. One strike is all it takes to finally silence his sobbing. For a few moments I stand over his body and stare at the singular carnage that I had wrought. With this job completed, I turn and quickly leave the same way I came in. There is no need for me to concern myself with the body, as the police will eventually pick up the trail and clean up the mess. My only concern now is returning to my own sanctuary and checking up on my unfortunate guest. Before long, I find myself standing at the familiar entrance, the first rays of the sun already licking at my back. The girl is still unconscious on my bed, and there's no evidence that she woke up at all during the night. I am very tired, so I take some old clothes, along with some tattered blankets and lay them on the ground as a makeshift bed. It's not very comfortable, but within minutes I am sound asleep.
---
"Raven, if you know something about this monster, you have to tell us." It was still very early in the morning, and none of the Titans had felt like going back to bed and trying to sleep after hearing about Raven's chilling nightmare.
"I really wish I could" Raven said. "I just have this bad feeling that we're dealing with something supernatural."
'What do you mean, "Supernatural?" asked Beast Boy. "You mean like a ghost or Bigfoot or something?" The changeling shivered in his pajamas.
"Exactly, but before I can be sure of anything, I'll have to do some serious research." There was already a huge stack of occult books from Raven's personal collection sitting on the table before the Titans. In the few scant hours since she had woken up, the young Goth had already pored over several of the tomes in search of any information that might be of even the littlest help.
"We'll do whatever we have to do to find Starfire." Robin said. "Raven, you stay here and find out anything you can about this Reaper, and the rest of us will continue sweeping the city for clues."
"Dude, what are we gonna do if we find whatever has Starfire and it does turn out to be the Grim Reaper. How do you plan on fighting the freaking Grim Reaper?"
"Calm down, BB." Cyborg interjected. "There's no way this thing is the actual personification of death."
"I don't care what this thing is." Robin slammed his fist into his palm. "All that matters is that we find it, show it what the Titans can do, and save Starfire."