The Los Angeles Wraith, Part 1

*Las Vegas, 9:10 PM*

I turned the corner at the mall. 'I need to get away from here,' I thought. The radio blared a song I'd never heard before, and I started to ignore it. The tune was easily likeable, but also very annoying. The Porsche I had recently aquired, freshly tanked, roared as I broke eighty, the horses galloping exciting my senses. The pants I wore caught the wind and my long dark hair, tied behind me as is usual, whipped about my neck and shoulders. My bare tanned chest, cooled by the wind, glistened in the moonlight and my shirt lie in the seat next to me. I was on the hunt. For humans. Maybe companions.

Suddenly, a news bulletin hit the air waves. "This just in," the announcer said, "a crazed inmate, number 002-458 has escaped. This man believes himself to be a vampire. If you have se-".

I turned the radio off, thinking 'what garbage'.
"That was fun while it lasted, but I'm not making it up, honestly," I said, putting fake innocence into the last part. "This has become serious bullshit. Looks like we've got work to do Gene".

I turned west and headed to the military compound.
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*Los Angeles, 9:30 PM*

My tophat still fit my head amazingly well, but I hadn't worn it in ages. I still threw off the impression of a gentleman. Or so I thought. I turned.

"Well?" I asked the man sitting in the chair across from me.

"Well what?" he shot back at me.

"Darling, don't play...Do I look like a gentleman?" I insisted. I wanted him to say it.

"You always do. Except...well, every day," he said laughing at his own wit.

I pushed his chair over, turning my attention to the bunch in my coat tails. I surveyed myself in the mirror trying to unbunch my coat. Michael took it in his gentle hands, and unbunched it for me, kissing my neck gently.

"Of course you look like a gentleman. Now let's get you back out of it," he said, smiling mischieviously. He reached around and started to unbutton my shirt, but was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Well, at least stay here for me," he said affectionately.

"I will," I promised as he went to the front of the apartment. I could tell something was about to go wrong with our night, and fixed my gaze on the flowe pot outside. There was a little bit of shouting, and after a few more minutes, the door slammed. Michael came back looking broken and harassed. My heart instantly sank. "What's wrong?" I asked. His look concerned me further.

"The military intelligence needs me back," he said downtrodden.

"For what?" I asked fearing the answer.

"Do you remember Project Fang? It was in 98. Well anyway, the experiment escaped and all personell is dead. Since I was one of the people who worked on it, they need me to see if they can't contain it."

"Why do you have to go tonight though? Can't you go in the morning?" He paused getting his fatigues on and his look concerned me. "Why do they need you back?"

"I....the project was successful. They wanted a weapon and they got it. And now it's loose."

"And they want you to hunt it down and kill it don't they?" I finished for him.

"Yeah. But it won't take that long. I promise it won't take too long. Maybe we can go see the show later this week?" His voice was filled with uncertainty.

"Fine, whatever. Go play army boy. I don't even care," I said spitefully.

"I'll be home back before Friday I promise," he said as he grabbed his coat. He kissed my cheek and left. After sitting around for a few more minutes, I rebuttoned my shirt and grabbed my coat from my closet. I retrieved my ticket from the nightstand, and headed out for the theatre.

"I wonder if he even remembered tomorrow is my birthday?"
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*Downtown L.A, 10:10 PM*

I had been standing in line for three hours, and was two people from the ticket booth when I heard him shout "Oi!! Les!!!" It was none other than Richard. He ran right up to me on the other side of the rope and I threw my arms around him. "How are you doing?" He asked after I was finished.

"Just fine how are you?" I inquired.

"Fantastic. There was something I was supposed to tell you, but it musn't of been that important. So, you're gonna go to the Count's concert tomorrow night?"

"Why else would i be in line for last minute tickets?"

"May I help you miss?" The lady at the ticket booth asked finally. I started to hand her the money for the tickets when Richard grabbed me and pulled me out of line.

"What the hell are you doing?" I screamed.

"I remember what it was now...I got three tickets to the concert yesterday!!"

"And you couldn't bother calling and telling me?" I raged. "I've been in line for hours!!"

"Hey look, sorry. But at least you didn't buy the tickets yet," he said smiling.

"That doesn't make it any better," I said angrily. I started to head to the bus stop.

"Les, look I'm really sorry." I turned and glared at him.

"You said you only had three tickets. What are Michael and his boyfriend gonna do? We can only give one of them a ticket."

"I've already figured that out," he said looking very pleased. "We're gonna....wait....did you say BOYfriend?"

"Yeah Richard. Don't tell me you've been his friend all this time and you never knew he was gay?"

"No one ever told me. Anyway, that doesn't matter. Michael left earlier."

"How do you know this?" I asked suspiciously.

"I called his house and his butler or something said he'd been called away on military business." I began to laugh.

"The butler," I said as tears welled up in my eyes, "was his boyfriend."

"He's dating the butler?" He asked incredulously. "That's flat out scandalous!"

"No," I said laughing even harder. "They don't have a butler. That was Dhani, and he'd kill you if he ever heard you called him that."
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*L.A. city limits, 10:13 PM*

The poor humans never saw it coming. Never knew what was happening. Never knew as I took everything they owned, leaving them cold in the dirt. It was almost funny how I could swoop on my victims, and they never knew any better. My clothes were changed and fitting of the installation I was about to infiltrate. I straightened out my fatigues and headed to the front desk.

Unfortunately, many things were plaguing my mind. Why was I created? So humans could play God and then see what happens? The 'emergency broadcast' on the radio was the personell warning for the project. They knew who I was. What I looked like. What I was capable of. They knew about Project Fang. They knew I had escaped.

It was the first time anything like this had happened. But who's counting right?

I could sense, as the personell saw me, what went through their minds. The same two words every time. 'Sargeant D'Avour'. Maybe I would meet him? That would be thrilling. Then I saw one man who seemed to stand away from everyone else. Engulfed in the crowd of flesh, but shining above the rest. That one star in the sea of the galaxy.

He wasn't the Sargeant. But he was someone I knew.

He caught site of me and his mind flashed on word.

Gene.
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*The Insallation, 10:14 PM*

I knew he could read my mind, but he was here. On the compound. I had to give it to him. He could pass for human. If he remembered who I was, that I was his maker, he showed no signs of recognition. He had an excellent memory, tests have proven that, but I don't know if he knows that I was the one who breathed life into him and the others. That I was there when they spoke their first words. But what was he looking for? Does he remember why he was created?_________________________________________________

*L.A., uptown, 10:20 PM*

"How many times do I have to tell you he is NOT at home?" I shouted as I slammed the phone down for the fifteenth time. When the phone rang again, I casually threw it out the window. Then a knock came at the door.
I recognized Les before I could say anything mean. The guy next to her I believe was Richard, one of Michael's friends. I let them in. Les casually pushed Richard out of the way and hugged me. I returned the favor.

"Hey, Dhani, we were going to the Count's concert tomorrow and we were wondering if you wanted to go, so you wouldn't have to spend the time alone."

"I don't know when Michael will be home," I said unhurriedly. Richard shot a glance in my direction. When he did it again I couldn't help but retort. "Look, I'm not going to rape you or anything, so quit giving me the eye!"

"Excuse him," Les said. "He doesn't hang around many gay guys, so he's a little nervous."

"But he's Michael's friend isn't he?" I questioned.

"HEY!! No one EVER told me and I guess that thing that tells you who's gay and who's straight----" he said.

"A gaydar?" Les substituted.

"Yeah!! That thingie. Well, I guess mine's broke."

"Ahh. I see now. Well, you aren't my type, so you have no need to be worried. What's the attire?" I asked Les.
"For what?" Richard asked.

"The concert. Duh," Les retorted. "It's mainly gothic attire, but come in what you want. I would reccommend a nice goth outfit though. He IS the Count after all. We can go shopping tomorrow if we have to."

"I'll go," I said, giving in to my better judgement.

"Awesome," Les squeaked in a pitch only dogs could hear. "We'll pick you up at six, is that cool?"

"That's fine," I said. "You two take care," I said as I showed them out.
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*L.A. City Limits, Military Installation, 11:45 PM*

He tossed a grenade up and down in his hand as his other finger stroked the trigger on his gun. I couldn't help but smile. This guy had lost his mind. Did he REALLY think his toys and gadgets would harm me?

"Well, Project 002...Can I call you 2 for short?" He asked, laughing at his own wit. Or at least what he thought was wit. "It's so good to see you again. And it's nice to see you are still looking so....alive?" He laughed again.

I continued walking towards him, my naked torso exposed to the moonlight. Suddenly, he stopped laughing, pulled the pin on his grenade, and jumped behind the embankment as he threw it at me. I grabbed the grenade casually and threw it in the air, catching it when it came back down. I crushed it with no effort. The fire felt strangely good against my skin.

I emerged from the fireball as the Seargant came over the embankment laughing. He suddenly stopped.

"Come come now dear Sargeant," I said grinning. "You made me better than that. Don't you remember George? Well, I do..."

With that I was on top of him. And finally, there was meaning.
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*Installation, 11:58 PM*

As the explosions continued around me, I hid under an embankment, ears covered and eyes shut. I could hear the Sargeant's screams even above the rest of the war that was going on in the very installation I used to work at. 'That....thing,' I thought. My project had come in and destroyed an entire military base. None of our soldiers had even left a scratch on him. What had gone wrong with the programming? Surely it was flawless? We'd never had this problem with him before. Did we create a monster?

"Did you make me, just to kill?" A silky voice asked me.

I looked up into the fierce blue eyes I had only seen once before. They took him away. None of this would have happened if they had listened to me. Let me take him, nurture him. And yet, here he was again standing in front of me.

But with this position, I had no escape.

"Or do I actually have a higher purpose?" He continued. He looked so distraught. They treated him like an experiment. That's what went wrong. He was tested on, not taught to love. Not taught basic human emotions.

"What did they do to you?" I asked in disgust.

"They?" He asked a smirk on his face. "Don't you mean 'we'? You were part of the force that created me as well. So you tell me, Doctor." He grabbed the back of my hair. "You tell me what you did to me."

Then there was nothing. Just emptiness. I was being drained. The only thing that I could think about was Dhani. 'Farethewell, my love. My darling, know that I loved you more than life itself,' I wished as I began to slip from reality.
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*Uptown L.A., 12:00 AM*

There was no phone call, no messenger, nothing. But I knew what had happened. Michael wouldn't be coming home tomorrow. He'd never return to me. He was gone....forever.

I began to cry. There was no other way to keep it in. I couldn't hold it. The weight he put on me was unbearable. Entrusting me with confidential military files, telling me where the secret installations were, their top secret projects, like Project Fang. And now there was no one I could talk to. I was all alone. And empty.

I pulled my robe closer around my shoulders, the room suddenly chilly. The small apartment seemed ten times larger all of a sudden. Empty and foreboding. I looked at one of Michael's c.d.s. I flipped it over and looked at the front cover of the overnight hit sensation, The Count.

The silver white hair fell over the golden-yellow eyes. That was all anyone could see from the cover, aside from a red tattoo of the numbers 666 on his forehead.

"The Devil's beast," I said aloud, attempting to fill the house with music and my voice.

The soothing medieval rock feel comforted me in a strange way, but the Count's voice itself unnerved me. It seemed like he was calling out to me. Wanting me to come to him. But I didn't want to. In a sudden fit of rage I unplugged the stereo and went to bed. But one of the lyrics plagued me. 'I was created to kill, I'm no longer your monster, but I will....' I knew this line somehow, but I couldn't place it.
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