Twilight of the Arcane

Chapter 1

         I stood quietly as the rain beat down heavily onto the blood-soaked pavement. Battered and broken with patches of flesh missing and torn, the body was naked, but anything that might have provided a clue to its sex was completely unrecognizable in the carnage. With its one good eye, it stared directly at me; my eyes riveted to the bloody scene.
            A sudden sharp, slapping noise broke through the monotone drumming of raindrops, causing me to jump. Collecting myself, I realized that it was just the garbage bag I had been holding slipping out of my clammy fingers. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. When I opened them again, and the corpse was still there, I removed my glasses and wiped them on my shirt underneath my coat. Despite every effort I made, the body was still there; the smell of blood did not dissipate. I sighed.
            It wasn't that I had never seen a dead body before; on the contrary as a police officer I had seen a lot of things that I wished to un-see. I just didn't want to deal with the reality of the violence painted across the back alley of my shop at nine in the morning. With another melancholy sigh, I reached into my drenched coat pocket and retrieved my cell phone. Only then did I find the device completely dead and refusing to respond to any button presses I furtively made. I was sure that exposing the phone to the current elements were dampening my chances to call 911 or possibly anyone else again. I could see how the day was going to go.
            Shaking my head, I scooped up the abandoned bag of garbage and skirted the corpse, depositing the bag into the gaping maw of the dumpster. With the tension I felt in the air, I half expected the killer to pop out and dismember me as well. I didn't waste any time hop scotching back across the alley back to the comfort of my store.
           
         Unceremoniously, I slammed the door behind me, and then made a beeline to the front counter. A phone, I thought frantically, I needed a phone. Leaning over the counter I reached for the telephone sitting there. As I picked up the receiver I heard a soft moan emanating from behind the counter. I froze.
         "Hello?" I asked. "Is anyone there?"
Another moan answered me and I quietly edged around the counter, holding the receiver defensively as one might hold a club. When I caught my first glance of platinum blonde hair, I tensed. When I made it around to the side of the counter and saw a pair of blue eyes through coke bottle glasses blinking sleepily up at me, I felt my muscles relax in relief.
         "Good morning, Mr. O'Reilly." A goth girl with smudged makeup and skewed glasses looked up with tired eyes from the floor. She appeared to have been sleeping.
         "Good morning, Alice. I trust you had a good sleep?" I sarcastically asked her, and then attempted a grin to show I was kidding. She shyly returned my smile.
         "Yes, sir."
         Ignoring the fact one of my workers was sleeping behind the counter of my store, I turned my attention back to the matter at hand and frantically dialed 911. Alice looked like she was going to say something, but noticing the expression on my face, the words died in her mouth.
         The operator answered the phone sounding quite bored. I took it in stride and explained my predicament as best as I could and tried to ignore the alarmed expression on Alice’s face as I went over what I had found. After I gave her the details, the operator sounded a little more enthused and promised that help would be on the way shortly. I thanked them and the line went dead soon after.
         “There’s a body behind the store?” Alice had picked herself off the floor and dusted herself off as calmly as she could, but I could still tell she was disturbed. To anyone else, I would have made a biting, sarcastic retort, but I didn’t have the heart to tease the poor girl when she had just woken up. Random bouts of sleeping aside; Alice was a dedicated worker and all around sweet girl and I appreciated having her around. I’m sure it also helped that I had a huge soft spot for her, but with her shyness and the amount we talked, I wasn’t even sure of her age. The whole ‘being-her-boss’ thing didn’t help either.
         “Yeah…” I trailed off, my mind drifting back to the carnage in the alley. I really didn’t want to dwell on the image, however I knew it would haunt me no matter how much I attempted to push it out of my mind. The body had looked like a large rabid animal had ravaged it and I didn’t even want to consider something loose in the city that could cause that type of damage.
         “Sir? What is it? Well I mean, apart from the obvious…”
         I let out a sigh and looked at the girl. Should I tell her? I really didn’t want to alarm her further.
         “It was… pretty bad,” I answered lamely. Hands on her hips, her eyes were accusing.
         “If you’re not going to tell me, I’m going to look.” With that, she spun on her heel and attempted to stomp past me with all the elegance of a gothic drama queen. Defeated, I put out my hand.
         “Please, don’t go outside,” I pleaded. She stopped and turned to me expectantly. Irritated at her cheeky insubordination, I adjusted my glasses and crossed my arms. Even when I was a cop, people never listened to what was best and I probably should have expected it. I had thought Alice, usually quiet towards me, would have been easy to reign in when it came to issues like mortal danger, but she had proven me wrong once again.
         “Pray tell, sir, why?”
         I fumbled for the correct wording. “Well… It’s very unnatural.”
         She shook her head. “Not good enough. Please don’t take this wrong. I just… If it scares you that badly…” The concerned look on her face faded into the shyness I was used to.
         “It was really messy. I mean, I’ve never seen anything like it. It looked like a wild animal got to him. Her. It. I’m not even sure; I couldn’t tell.”
         Alice’s brow furrowed as she took this information in. “Can I-?”
         “No!”
         “…Like a big or small wild animal, sir?” She asked. I thought back and tried to recall the image I had been attempting to forget.
         “I’m pretty sure it was large. I mean, if I remember correctly, they were… Large jaw marks. Like a huge dog or something.”
         Her jaw dropped. “A werewolf!? Oh my god, sir! There’s a werewolf loose!”
         “A werewolf is the first thing you think of?” I asked skeptically, though I shouldn’t have been so surprised. Alice was always sort of in her own world, possibly due to her eclectic sleeping patterns. The thing about Alice was that she was a huge horror buff yet she didn’t handle horror very well, causing her to stay awake at night. Since she never slept properly she was prone to dozing off randomly, which accounted for her constant dreamlike state. She seemed quite intelligent but, between the sleep deprivation and caffeine, it was hard to pin down anything about her.
         “Well, sir, I mean you believe in ghosts don’t you? How much of a jump is it to believe in werewolves?”
         I was about to argue spirits versus actual physical beings, but decided against it. I mean, she kind of had a point, really. I was always a believer in the supernatural, but in my adult years I attempted to sober up and accept reality as it was no matter how much my inner child kicked and screamed. The very idea of an actual werewolf made me giddy and I felt I had to quash that idea before reality slapped me in the face again. This was a serious murder in the alley, not a hypothetical discussion on mythical creatures. Still…
Inwardly I bitterly laughed at myself. Here I was trying to get involved in something I had chosen to remove myself from, only this time I was willing to embellish it with disgusting flights of fancy. Was I really that bored that I’d wish something like that on the world?
         I decided to change the subject. “So what have you been up to that causes you to fall asleep on the floor at work?”
         Alice flushed and refused to meet my gaze. “I’m so sorry! I promise I finished working before I fell asleep. The last thing I remember is Alex finishing up closing.”
         I couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s alright, I’m used to it. At least it wasn’t during work this time.”
         Alice sighed. “I really am sorry. I don’t mean to be such a bother. Maybe I should see a doctor or something.” She looked up at me for my opinion, but I just shrugged.
         “It’s up to you. I mean, all things aside, you work harder than everyone else here even with your napping.” Yeah, I could have told her that she had to get help right away or I’d fire her, but for the most part she only dozed off during breaks and when she wasn’t technically on duty. I know most everyone at some point is guilty for doing it and frankly it hadn’t been too much of a bother. Besides, it was my nature to leave everyone to their own devices for the most part. God knows that was probably the only thing I still retained from my youth for better or worse.
         “I was reading a book,” Alice said suddenly. I looked at her confused and she waved it off. “You asked what had been keeping me up. I was reading a scary book.”
         “Do you read anything that isn’t scary?”
         Alice just giggled. “You like that stuff too don’t you, Mr. O’Reilly?”
         “Alice, please just call me Kael. You make me feel like I’m 40 when you say that. I’m not that much older than you, am I?” In response she giggled again then yawned, reminding me that she had only woken up a short time ago. Her sleepy demeanor put me at ease and I was able to derail all thoughts about the mess outside while having an actual casual conversation with her. She was fairly shy and about the only time I got anything out of her was when she was half asleep and her defenses were lowered. The poor girl seemed to be about as guarded as I was for whatever reason and I wasn’t going to dig. I just silently celebrated the fact that I was actually talking to her other than a couple words here and there about work. Everything I had seen about her made her seem so mysterious and interesting; I was dying to have a conversation with her. Appearances aside, we both seemed to have a lot in common. About the only time she had managed to overcome her shyness was when she caught me in my office reading a book on hauntings. She had spoken so passionately on the subject when she finally realized who she was talking to she apologized profusely for her outburst and assured me she wouldn’t bother me again. Before I was able to say anything else, she had bolted out of the room. I, only a shade of whom I used to be socially, had let her go. With her private manner I wasn’t going to force her to talk to me, but I did attempt to make an effort now and again. It didn’t help that she had an affinity for lace, corsets and silk ribbons which rendered me completely tongue-tied. I think I would have pursued further if I wasn’t still hurting from the messy divorce proceedings I had gone through a year ago causing my biggest instinct to be safer than sorry at this point, but goddamn, what I would give to be the happy social butterfly I was instead of the cynical ex-cop I became. Oh well. There was no telling that she even felt anything other than a platonic work friendship anyway. Alice was extremely hard to read.
         “Sorry, I just-.” Alice was cut off by a knock on the door. That interruption flipped a switch in my brain and I was rudely jarred back into the nasty situation I had come across this morning. Still, I couldn’t just sit around and pretend it didn’t happen. The last thing I needed was something like that coming down on my head. Reluctantly, I approached the door and lifted the curtain.
         Sure enough, two police officers stood on the other side; one I had known for my whole policing career, the other one I had never seen before. I let them in.
         “Kael, you Irish bastard, it’s been a while! How have you been? Oh good lord. You’re a bit scruffy now, aren’t you? But I see it doesn’t keep the ladies away. Good thing, I thought you’d gone all queer on us. The ponytail doesn’t help.” The large dark haired man shook my hand with all the enthusiasm he could muster, clapping me on the back with his other hand. Barry and I had gone way back before I had been promoted to detective and it was a relief to see him, though I realized how much I missed my old job. Sure Barry was crude, but he was a good guy.
         “It’s good to see you too. I’m alright. This is Alice, one of my employees.” I emphasized the last part, hoping that Barry wouldn’t turn this into anything it didn’t have to be. He just chuckled.
         “Work relationships are no good, kid. No good.”
         I just shook my head. “Whatever.” I noticed Alice had a slightly shocked expression and I waved it off. First impressions sure as hell weren’t Barry’s forte. Of course, Barry wasn’t one to be ignored.
         “So, it was the accent wasn’t it? This lucky bastard just has to open his mouth and he gets all the p-“
         “Ok, that’s enough.” I cut the man off and he just smiled good-naturedly at me. “It’s good to see you and I’m sure Alice is just thrilled to meet you too, but aren’t you here for a reason?” I asked gruffly, adjusting my glasses out of embarrassment. From out the corner of my eye, Alice looked like she wanted to sink through the floor just to avoid Barry’s gaze.
         “Right, right, right. Of course. You were always the one who got down to business first. Anyway, so I hear you have a stiff resting behind your store.”
         “Eloquent. Anyway, yeah, I was throwing out some garbage in the dumpster and that’s when I found it,” I explained. Barry’s face lost its mirth as he nodded.
         “Alright then Kael, my boy. Lead on.”
         Barry opened the door and held it for his partner and me, but before he could close it, Alice darted out the door into the pouring rain with the rest of us.
         “Get back inside, you’re not even dressed for this,” I said exasperated. Stubbornly she shook her head, hair already soaked. She wasn’t even wearing a jacket, just a short dress that went from dry to sopping in less time than it took me to tell her to get back inside.
         “I want… I want to see too,” she said faintly, her fists clenched in defiance. Even with her body language showing steely resolve, her voice wavered a bit. I didn’t blame her. It wasn’t easy the first time I went to a crime scene and she wasn’t trained to handle it. I started to argue, but Barry interrupted me.
         “If that’s what you want, you can. Now Kael, there’s no sense protecting the girl, she’s an adult too. Right?”
         “I didn’t realize it was policy for civilians to be invited onto crime scenes,” I shot back. Frowning Barry shook his head at me, then shrugged at Alice.
         “You seem like the type of woman that the only way I could stop you is if I bodily restrained you.”
         “I… wouldn’t really like that,” she said quietly, taking a step back and bowing her head.
         “Of course not,” Barry agreed. “So let’s not and make an exception for once.”
         Sighing, I shook my head in defeat. “Alright, let’s just go.”
         Alice perked up and before I could stop her, she ran off behind the store with Barry and his partner following. I went after them at a walking pace, in no hurry to get there and I braced myself for the reaction. To my surprise, I certainly didn’t get the one I was expecting.