Whispers in the Dark

Kyle Seals Chronicles

Part Two: Whisper in the Dark

Danielle rubbed her eyes and yawned. The multiple computer screens sitting in front of her were becoming more blurry with each passing hour. She had been up all night, hacking her way into different government files and programs, trying to find more information on a Mr. Blair, who Kyle had encountered two nights ago. She looked at the watch on her hand to see that it was now nine o’clock in the morning. She reached for her cup of coffee and took a sip, only to find it empty. Danielle groaned and sat back in her chair. She took off her small framed glasses and sat them down on the desk. After a minute, Danielle got up and walked into the kitchen with her cup. She found that the coffee pot was empty as well, so she started to make more.

As Danielle was rummaging around the kitchen, Bliss emerged from her bedroom. Bliss was dressed in baggy pants with athletic shoes on, a black tank with a red fishnet shirt on over it. The strings of her pink thong were plainly visible, and she wore two leather bracelets with metal studs on each wrist. She was pulling her black hair up onto her head, putting it into a bun.

“Good morning,” Bliss said smiling to Danielle as she walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Danielle just smiled back, too tired to verbally reply.

“Long night?” Bliss asked as she pulled out the orange juice and shut the refrigerator. Danielle yawned and nodded in acknowledgment, standing next to the coffee pot, still waiting for it to brew. Bliss took a glass out of the cupboard and poured some orange juice into it, and then put it back into the fridge. Bliss drank about half of her orange juice and then glanced around the penthouse.

“So, um . . . is Kyle here?” Bliss asked of Danielle.

“No, he left early this morning,” Danielle told her as her coffee finally finished, “he said he had something to take care of.” Bliss nodded and took another drink of her orange juice, looking off into space, obviously thinking about something.
***
Across town Kyle Seals drove his black bullet bike up to an old apartment building. He stopped in front and took his sunglasses off, looking up at the old worn down building. He was wearing his usual wear, a white buttoned shirt, baggy jeans, and his black leather coat with tribal designs on the sleeves. He had on a black hat that he wore backwards, and his face was shaved except for his sideburns and the beard that was on his chin with no mustache. Kyle saw that the building was overrun by gang members and homeless people. The area was obviously a bad neighborhood.

“Figures,” Kyle said to himself smiling and pulled forward into the parking lot. He drove slowly into the lot and parked his bike. He put the kick stand down and turned off the engine. He got off the bike and headed for the entrance, pulling out a cigar and lighting it. The apartment he was looking for was on the third floor but the elevator was out of order. The stairs were dirty and they creaked as he jogged up the three flights. He figured that they would break on him any second.

He reached the third floor, taking the cigar from his mouth and looked down the multiple halls. Seeing the numbers on the doors, Kyle followed them trying to find the correct room. There were old pictures of poor quality hanging on the walls and the numbers on the doors were beginning to peel off. Graffiti could be seen written all over, and there was an odd stench. Finally he came to the room that he was looking for. He took in one last drag from his cigar before putting it out on a wall and flicking it out an open window. Kyle turned the doorknob and opened the door.

***

Danielle poured herself a cup of coffee, and put creamer into it. After it was done mixing, Danielle took a sip and leaned on the counter.

“Are you alright?” Danielle asked seeing Bliss thinking to herself. Bliss looked back at Danielle, coming out of her daze.

“I’m fine,” Bliss assured her and walked over to the pantry looking for something to eat, “why do you ask?”

“You’ve just seemed preoccupied lately.” Danielle told her and took another sip of her coffee. Bliss found a box of pop tarts and took one out.

“It’s really nothing,” Bliss told her and began to nibble on the pop tart, “we’ve just all been working hard the last couple of days.” Danielle blew on her coffee and sipped on it again. Then she realized something.

“You made a move on Kyle, didn’t you?” Danielle asked smiling, and Bliss looked away, slightly embarrassed. Bliss did not know how to reply and thought about her answer, but Danielle knew that she had. “Oh my god, you did.” Bliss finally gave in and nodded a yes buy still not saying anything.

“I knew it,” Danielle said, still smiling, “I can always tell with you and him. You always seem to be smiling when he’s around or whenever someone is talking about him.”

“You mean like the same thing you do whenever Damion is talking to you?” Bliss quickly countered and looked at her pop tart before tossing it in the garbage, “this tastes like shit.”

“Oh, that is totally different,” Danielle explained, “that is just a physical attraction. But there’s something more with you and Kyle.”

“Yeah I guess you’re right.”

“So what’s the problem?” Danielle asked, “Did he reject you or something?”

“Well, no, not at first,” Bliss told her, “We kissed and then things started to go from there. But we were interrupted and had to deal with the whole Blair witch project thing.”

“Ooooh yeah.”

“And after that . . . Kyle just has seemed so distant,” Bliss continued, “like he wants to keep going but something’s holding him back. Like he’s afraid of something or he doesn’t want to hurt me. I think he found out something that is really worrying him.”

“It’ll be alright,” Danielle said to her, “Kyle always seems to know what to do. As soon as we’re able to find out more about Blair, Kyle will take care of everything and then it will all be alright between you two.”

“How’s the search going by the way?” Bliss asked and pointed to Danielle’s computers.

“Not so good,” Danielle said with a sigh and walked over to her work station, with Bliss following, “I’ve been up all night, hacking my way into the FBI and CIA mainframes. But there is still no available information on a Mr. Blair. It’s like the man doesn’t exist.” Danielle sat down and Bliss leaned on the desk, eyeing the multiple computer screens, not recognizing any of the information.

“What’s all this?” Bliss asked.

“I found a small file in the CIA database,” Danielle explained, “it looks like a small program that someone might have put into the mainframe, from the outside.”

“Wait, what do you mean? Someone hacked their way into a CIA computer and put IN, a program?” Bliss asked confused, “Why would someone do that?”

“I'm not sure. They must have found a back door into the mainframe and hid it very deep in small and useless programs that the CIA doesn’t use anymore. I somehow stumbled onto it when I was running a search on Blair. But it’s triple encrypted and I’ve been trying to decipher the code. I put in a decoding program that I designed myself to see if it would open the file. Now I’m just waiting for it to run it’s course.”

As if in response, the file suddenly opened and Danielle’s main computer screen had a message displayed. Bliss and Danielle leaned close, looking at the screen. It said only one word.
‘Congratulations’.

Not two seconds after the message appeared, the phone suddenly rang. The two women jumped at the sound. They stared at the phone as it kept ringing and ringing then looked at each other.

“Should we answer it?” Danielle asked and Bliss bit her bottom lip, trying to think of what to do. Bliss walked over to the phone, and nervously picked up the receiver. The ringing stopped and Bliss slowly put it up to her ear.

“You’ve done well,” a voice said, obviously disguised, “if you want more information about Mr. Blair, come to the Moore building on 37th Street.”

“Who is this?” Bliss asked the strange voice.

“All your questions will be answered there. Come tomorrow, 21st. Floor, during regular business hours.” There was a long silence and Bliss was about to hang up. “And also, prepare yourselves. They are almost there.” The phone hung up and Bliss only heard the dial tone. She put the receiver back down, still staring at the phone.

“What’s wrong?” Danielle asked and Bliss looked up at her.

“I think we have problems.”

***

Kyle walked into the room without knocking and shut the door. The room was dark but sunlight was pushing through the blinds, almost as if the sun wanted to enter the room. There was a man sitting on a torn up chair facing the window, but it was closed, blocking the sunlight. In the corner was a young girl, naked and curled up into a ball, crying her eyes out. Kyle knew that she was just a desperate girl trying to make some money by being a hooker. Kyle put his elbow onto a dresser next to the door and leaned on it, looking at the man sitting in the chair.

“Dude, seriously, you need help.” Kyle said to the man and the girl looked up at Kyle with a gleam of hope in her eyes.

“Get dressed.” Kyle said to the girl and she quickly rounded up her clothes and put them on. Kyle motioned for her to come over to him and she did, keeping as much distance as possible from the man in the chair. Kyle reached in his pocket and pulled out a wad of a hundred dollar bills. The girl eyed the money like it was food. Kyle peeled out three of the bills and handed them to the girl.

“Take this money and clean yourself up,” he told her and she nodded, wiping the makeup soaked tears running from her face. “You hear me? Use this to make a better life for yourself. Go back to your family and watch 7th. Heaven or some shit. That brings families together I think.” Kyle peeled three more hundred dollar bills out and held them up to her. “Anyways, if you don’t, if I find you doing this again, I’ll send this guy back for you. And trust me, you don’t want that. You understand?” The girl looked at the man again in fear before nodding to Kyle. “Good, now get out of here.” The girl snatched the money from his hand and ran out the door.

Kyle shut the door behind her and walked to the window. The man still sat motionlessly in the dark, not saying a word. Kyle opened the blinds slightly and peered through, looking at the city.

“You know, I’m real tired of having to come bail your sorry ass out all the time,” Kyle said, slightly angered. He then pulled on the cord of the blinds causing it to fly up, letting in the sun. The sunlight hit the man square in the face and he recoiled as though it hurt him. Kyle turned around and faced him. The man had pale skin and long dark hair. He was clean shaven and had piercing eyes. He wore an old style of clothes that resembled the early 1800's.

“Thank you for coming,” the man said in a gritty voice, hiding his head in the shade but keeping his body in the sun, “I wasn’t sure I would be able to hold out this time.” Kyle leaned back onto the window sill and folded his arms.

“What would you have done if I hadn’t been here?” Kyle asked but the man said nothing. Kyle just laughed to himself and looked back out the window, but kept his body facing the man.
“You said you had some information for me.” Kyle said.

“I assume you have heard about the bounty that has been put on your head?”

“Yeah I did,” Kyle told him, “I even met one of the asshole’s who was hired to kill me. But he said that there were more people hired than just him.”

“That is correct,” the dark man said, and the sunlight hitting him seemed to be pushing into his flesh, “Victor Slate has hired three primary people to eliminate you. You have already met Mr. Blair. One other is a woman. Very mysterious, but very dangerous. The last is a tortured soul, who practices in the dark arts.”

“Great.”

“Have a care,” the man continued, “these individuals are not ordinary people. There is very little information about them other than that they have dealt with supernatural forces themselves. You must be on your guard.”

“I’ll try to remember that,” Kyle said to him and reached into his pocket and took out a small plastic bag filled with red liquid. Kyle tossed it onto the man’s lap. “But why do I get the feeling you’re not telling me everything you know.” The man said nothing for a brief period but then leaned forward, his face hitting the sun.

“The woman you work with is the key.” He told Kyle, his eyes cold and emotionless. His skin began to smoke from the sunlight.

“Bliss?”

***

The lights began to flicker on and off back at the HQ as Bliss and Danielle looked around. Bliss heard a faint hissing sound coming from the windows. Before she could say or do anything, the windows exploded sending thousands of tiny pieces of glass flying at the two women. Danielle let out a scream as the force of the blast knocked them both into the air and they landed hard onto the ground.

Bliss pushed herself up onto her hands and knees and her hair had come out and now fell to the floor. Danielle was stirring as well so Bliss knew that she was alive. Bliss held her neck in pain and looked up groggily to see several men come swinging into the penthouse. They were strapped onto cables that were obviously connected from the roof. The men were dressed in head to toe with military gear. They had masks and helmets on and were armed with small machine guns.

“Where’s Damion at?” Bliss asked Danielle, who had multiple small cuts from the flying glass and was clearly frightened.

“I... I’m not sure,” Danielle told her, “I think he might be downstairs still sleeping.” Bliss forced herself to her feet, helping Danielle up as she went. The men surrounded them both and Danielle clung to Bliss’ arm in fear. Bliss looked around the large apartment for an escape route or weapons, anything that would help them out.

She saw the weapons room but it was too far away. Bliss could handle herself, but she was worried about protecting Danielle. The weapons room is also a panic room. If she could get Danielle into it, then she would be safe. There is no way the men would be able to break into that room. But it was too far away for them to make a break for it. Danielle would be gunned down in seconds. Bliss knew she had to do something

***

“I am connected to all who are, or was, a creature of the night,” the man explained, “I know their dark souls and can see their past. But hers... is clouded. I cannot tell when her life truly began. Someone has tampered with her body and mind since birth. I am not sure she can be entirely trusted.” The smoke coming off the man swirled around Kyle’s face and the man sat back in his chair, and the smoking stopped.

Kyle didn’t know what to say. He trusted Bliss with his life, but her past has always been a mystery. Kyle walked past the dark man and opened the door. But he stopped himself before he left. He turned back to the man.

“What do you think I should do?” He asked, and the man turned his head to the side, still not looking at Kyle.

“That is a question I feel only you can answer. Whether you know it or not, the two of you are linked together in spirit.” Kyle stood in silence for several long moments. He thought about Bliss and everything he was just told. Kyle didn’t know exactly how to take all the information.

“You should return to your dwelling soon though.” The dark man said and Kyle looked back at him. “She is in danger.” Kyle paused for a moment.

“You never tell me anything I want to hear, you know?” Kyle said as he took out his cell phone and dialed Bliss’ number. It rang several times before it finally picked up, but no one answered. Instead he heard a lot of background noise and many different voices.

“Bliss? Are you there?” He asked but there was still no reply. Then the phone finally went dead. Kyle looked to the dark man. “What’s going on over there? I need more answers.”

“You are going to face many trials in the coming days,” the man told him, “they will use the people you care about against you. Especially the woman. If you care for her, you will find out more about her past. But you should leave now if you hope to save them.” Kyle grabbed the edge of the chair and turned it around and stared into the mans piercing eyes.

“When this is over, you and I are going to have a long talk.” Kyle then spun him back around and stormed out the door.

***

“Who are you? What do you want?” Bliss asked the soldiers and very discreetly unbuckled her belt. Bliss could feel Danielle’s tight grip on her arm, and Bliss knew that she was very afraid. Danielle is strictly technical support for the team and is in no way a fighter of any kind. She has rarely been in any real danger, not like this anyways.

“Be quiet!” One of the soldier’s told Bliss and then motioned to one of his men. “Grab the girl.” The soldier moved in and grabbed Danielle by the arm, pulling her away from Bliss.

“Let her go!” Bliss yelled and tried to hold onto Danielle but one of the soldier’s stepped in front of her and aimed his gun at her face. Bliss cursed to herself and backed off. Danielle had now began to cry and was trying in vain to free herself from the soldier’s grasp. Bliss felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and knew that it was Kyle trying to call her. Unaware to the soldier’s, she was able to press the ‘talk’ key to answer the phone. Hopefully Kyle would hear what’s going on and come to help them. The soldier holding onto Danielle began to back away.

“Kill her,” the leader said to one of his men pointing at Bliss and three of the soldier’s surrounded her their guns aimed and ready to fire.

“NO!” Danielle screamed out but the soldier holding her covered her mouth. Bliss knew she had to make her move now.

“We’re being attacked out here, send back up!” A voice yelled from one of the soldier’s communicators and Bliss knew that Damion was taking care of business down stairs. Every one of the soldier’s attention was momentarily diverted and for a split second they took their eyes off of Bliss. That was all she needed.

One floor down, Damion was awakened by a loud noise coming from upstairs. He crawled out of bed, trying not to awaken the two young girls sleeping next to him. He listened closely and could hear several footsteps stomping around on the floor above him. He immediately knew something was wrong, so he pulled out a lab top computer and opened it. Damion accessed the surveillance cameras from upstairs and the image appeared. It showed several armed men upstairs surrounding Bliss and Danielle, all with guns aimed and ready to fire at them.

“Ah shit,” Damion said to himself and quickly threw on a pair of pants, not worrying about a shirt. The two girls sleeping were awakened by Damion as he dressed himself.

“What’s going on?” One of them asked as she held the sheets closely to her body, clinging to her friend.

“Stay here,” Damion told them, “don’t come out of this room no matter what.” He had no weapons in his room but ran to his door anyway. He cracked the door open slightly and looked down the hall to see three men guarding the elevator, wearing the same gear as the ones upstairs. Damion waited for his moment, and when the men weren’t looking in his general direction, he burst out of his room.

The three soldiers were caught unaware and saw only a tall muscular man charging towards them like a bull, an intense look in his red eyes. Damion crashed into the first soldier, sending him flying into the other two. Damion quickly grabbed one of the soldiers and lifted him up off his feet, slamming his head through the ceiling and then tossed him down a flight of stairs.

***

Bliss grabbed the arm of the soldier closest to her and twisted it around, forcing him to drop his gun. Immediately after that, she kicked the weapon away from another soldier as she pulled out her belt from the loops on her pants. Using the belt as a weapon, she swung it around and smashed the steel buckle across the face of one soldier and then whipped it around another’s hand. She yanked on the belt, pulling the soldier to her and quickly wrapped the belt around his neck. She squeezed tightly and then quickly snapped his neck and he fell to the floor.

Two other soldiers’ came at Bliss, one in front, the other from behind. In one swift movement, Bliss kicked in front, then back, then in front again, hitting both soldiers, never putting her foot on the ground. The soldier in front was bending over holding his stomach, so Bliss spun around giving him a round house kick across the face. Bliss turned her head, whipping her black hair around her face and saw another soldier picking up his weapon. Bliss jumped in the air and scissored her legs around the soldiers neck. Using her momentum, she swung her body around and sent the soldier flying through the air.

Bliss quickly stood up and the soldier holding onto Danielle shoved her into Bliss. The two women collided but Bliss quickly pulled Danielle to the side and put her on the floor. The soldier raised his gun and fired but Bliss ducked under and then jumped over the soldiers head, twisting her body in the air and landing behind him. She put her arms around his neck putting him into a sleeper hold. Very soon after, the soldier dropped to the floor unconscious.

***

“We’re being attacked out here, send back up!” One of the soldiers yelled through his intercom, as the other soldier raised his gun at Damion. Damion quickly grabbed the gun from his hand and punched him in the face three times in a row. Damion then brought his knee up into the soldiers gut.. He dropped the soldier to the ground and headed for the other one who was trying to ready his weapon.. Damion grabbed the soldiers hand and put the head of the soldier under his arm, holding him there tightly. Damion dropped to his back suddenly, bringing the soldiers head smashing into the floor. Almost instantly, Damion kicked his legs into the air, and used the momentum to fling himself back onto his feet.

Damion heard footsteps coming up the stairs so he picked up an unconscious soldier, using him as a human shield. Two more of the soldiers appeared, guns ready. Damion used the small machine gun hanging from the soldiers body and fired it down the hall, hitting both of the oncoming soldiers. He let go of the soldier he was holding and looked to the elevator. Damion ran towards it and hit the button. After a minute, the doors opened. Seeing that the elevator was empty, he jumped inside and pressed the button for the top floor.

***

Danielle saw two of the soldiers climb to their feet and Danielle grabbed a gun lying on the floor. Bliss noticed Danielle stand up holding a gun. Bliss quickly snatched the gun away from Danielle, not wanting her to have to kill anybody. Bliss pulled Danielle behind the desk and they both hid as the two soldiers opened fire at them. Bullets bounced off the desk and flew past them as Danielle held her head down screaming.

The gunfire stopped and there was a long silence. Bliss poked her head around the desk to see the two soldiers creeping towards them. As soon as she did, the soldiers opened a volley of gunfire at them again. Bliss checked the gun she had grabbed from Danielle and saw the amount of bullets in it. She aimed the gun over the desk, pointing towards the ceiling, not looking where she was aiming. She fired off several rounds of bullets and the two soldiers ducked behind a couch.

“Wait here,” Bliss said to Danielle intently.

“Where are you going?!” Danielle screamed but Bliss did not answer her. Instead she stood up, firing her gun. She then ran towards the kitchen and the two soldiers fired at her. With a trail of bullets quickly following her, Bliss launched herself into the air and landed hard onto the floor, sliding into the wall.

Bliss composed herself and pulled out the clip from her gun again, and found that it was all out of bullets. She checked out her surroundings for weapons, because she knew they were coming for her. She stood up and looked through the drawers of the kitchen. Finding nothing in the drawers she looked on the cupboards and saw several large butcher knives hanging from a magnet. She took the largest one and ducked down near the wall, readying herself for the two soldiers.

“She’s trapped,” one soldier said to the other, “let’s finish her off.” The two soldiers began to move but stopped when they heard the ring from the arrival of the elevator and the sound of the door opening. They turned to see who was in it, hoping for it to be backup. But instead, much to their horror, they saw Damion walk confidently out of the elevator. Damion quickly looked around, seeing the carnage and bodies on the ground then looked up at the two remaining soldiers. They aimed their weapons and pulled the triggers but they found that their clips were empty.

Bliss looked out of the kitchen and saw Damion storm towards them. He grabbed one of them by the collar and with all his might, tossed the soldier into the wall head first. The soldier fell to the floor leaving a large blood stain on the wall where his head hit. Damion then turned to the last remaining soldier, who was looking around to see if any of his comrades where with him.

“I am going to fuck you up,” Damion said to the soldier as Bliss and Danielle came out of hiding, walking over next to him. The soldier threw his weapon to the floor and dropped to his knees. Damion walked to him and picked him up by the collar.

“Wait Damion,” Bliss told him, putting a hand on his arm. She then looked to the soldier.

“Who are you and why did you attack us?”

“Who we are is not important,” the soldier said, “we are servants of Death. And he is coming for you!” He then ripped open his jacket revealing a bomb attached to him with a timer slowly counting down to zero.

“Oh, fuck.”

***

Kyle was racing on his motorcycle towards the building where he knew that Bliss and Damion was there. As he got closer and closer he could see the windows of his penthouse broken and lines of cable connected from the roof inside. He swerved his bike in and out of traffic, avoiding all the other cars. He was almost to the building when the top floor suddenly exploded. Kyle looked up, seeing the flying debris, but he couldn’t really tell if the explosion came from his penthouse. An image of Bliss popped into his head and he suddenly became even worried.

Then suddenly, something shot into the front tire on his bike multiple times. The sudden disruption sent his motorcycle flying into the air, end over end. Kyle was jerked from his bike as he landed on the hard pavement and skidded along the road. His motorcycle crashed into an oncoming car, which in turn caused the car to swerve into another, causing a multiple car pile-up.

Pedestrians and motorists all stopped and were looking at the sudden crash. Kyle regained consciousness and pushed himself to his knees. He slowly stood up and looked around. Something or someone had shot out his tire. He had several bruises and was bleeding from his head and mouth. He spit out the blood and stumbled over to his motorcycle. Kyle looked down and noticed something on his chest. A small red dot, moving along his body. It was a laser sight.

Kyle twisted his body, but he heard the sound of a gunshot and felt the familiar touch of a bullet tear into his back. The force of the shot sent him flying forward and he fell face first onto the ground. He tried to raise his head, to see if he could see his attacker. But the pain overwhelmed him and his eyes rolled up as he finally blacked out..

To Be Continued...