The towering structure of the Delorian street cathedral had long since fallen into such disrepair that it had been all but abandoned and left to rot years ago. All that remained was a small, barely operational place of worship on the ground floor leaving the other ten floors deserted. Damp, cold and dark, it seemed a perfect place for him to seek shelter, how odd a vampire named Chapel seeking shelter, in of all places; a semi deserted church. He came in much the same way he’d left, through the bell tower. And almost immediately he could feel his presence, a much smaller male, a deviant, much younger too, he slowly raised his nose and sniffed, it was a rouge named Sipe. He was short, skinny, thin wiry build, long stringy brown hair and carried with him the obvious stench of death, he’d left behind him any semblance of humanity years ago. He was there in the shadows squatting over something.. What?… A… Body? He moved towards him, faint flickers of moonlight filtered through the holes in the rooftop and illuminated him enough for Chapel to see that he was feeding.
Sipe stopped, and slowly raised his head to look up at him, thin streams of crimson slowly drifted down along the sides of his mouth, his lips were drawn tight and were thin and black, his eyes a brilliant hue of red, his was smiling at Chapel. He began making shrill giggling noises, his voice resonated in his ears in a high pitch that sounded very much like a witches cackle, it annoyed him terribly.
“Why… helllooo Chapel.. Nice.. To see you again.” He held his smile, slowly wiping away the traces of blood along his chin with his sleeve.
“What have you done now Sipe?” Chapel began to circle him, the impatience growing more evident in his voice.
“What?… This?” he slowly curled his long black finger nails, his eyes drifting back down towards the human remains. “oh… this?.. oh.. This is just a snack Chapel.” he giggled.
With stunning speed he was on top of him, his strong hands clenched tightly around Sipe’s throat, he hurled him into the air sending him crashing into the brick wall some twenty five feet away. Sipe landed with a thud, stunned he tried to struggle to his knees as an angry Chapel drew closer.
He slowly backed up against the wall his eyes carefully studying Chapels demeanor, looking him up and down nervously, any traces of the wicked humor that he displayed moments earlier had now disappeared, now he became fearful. His thin black lips began to quiver.
“What?… Chapel?..” he looked back at the body and then back up at him. “He isn’t Gonna turnnnn.. I took too much of him.” he pointed towards the remains. “why… he’s just a shell now… Chapel..”
“You walking sack of Puss.. You would dare feed on an innocent in MY den? I should remove your filthy head!”
Sipe silently stared at the body, his thin boney finger carefully waving small circles in the air in its direction before slowly withdrawing, his fingernails curled up into a ball as his gaze slowly returned to meet Chapels angry stare.
“Innocent… who?… Him?.. Well.. If you say so.”
His hands once again found their way around Sipe’s throat. He slowly pulled him up into the air his eyes never leaving him.
“So tell me.. How long have you been in Kings Harbor Sipe?” He asked.
He slowly tucked his chin up against his chest, his red eyes began to wander aimlessly.
“Ummmm.. Days… Nights.. Weeks?” he shrugged. “Time? I don’t do time.. Chapel.. Been here awhile I suppose.” he said.
His free hand moved into his coat pocket and produced the picture of Cassandra Dawkins, he held it up in front of Sipe’s eyes.
“I want you to think really hard now Sipe. Have you ever seen this girl before?”
His eyes slowly squinted as he leaned closer to the picture of Cassandra Dawkins. He began to lick his lips but then stopped, his eyes quickly returning to Chapels angry stare. He looked back at the picture.
“Very nice Chapel.. Yours?..” He didn’t answer. “well she’s a little… too clean… for me anyways.. You know I likes them… A bit more…. Rancid.”
He released his grip on him and allowed him to fall to the floor, and slowly walked back to the opening of the bell tower and silently stared out into the falling snow. Behind him he could hear Sipe beginning to stir again. Cautiously he approached from behind him carefully studying his demeanor. Sipe turned to look out at the snow and then up at Chapel.
“Ahhhh.. Girls.. What?.. A friend of your is she?”
He didn’t answer.
“Ahhhh poor Chapel.. Still clinging to that last little drop of humanity that you think still lives inside of you somewhere.. Well sorry to be the one to break it to you Chapel.. But you ain’t been human in over four hundred years… you?… me? We’re nothing but fucking animals Chapel.. Predators to the prey.. Hunters.. Gatherers.. There’s no humanity left in the world Chapel.. It’s lost now.. even to them.” he slowly moved up beside of him.
His voice fell into a husky whisper as he stared down at the snow covered landscape. “why.. Just look at the way they live.. Look at the way they treat each other.. Half of them have to live inside of a bottle just to make life bearable..“ he looked up at him again. “So what about this girl?”
He looked down at Sipe.
“She was murdered last night.. Left to rot on top of a building.”
“Ahhhh… Murdered ay?.” his voice changed slightly. Now he gently took the picture from Chapels fingers and studied it more closely. “ohhhh yeah.. I’ve seen this one before.. She was passing out flyers for some homeless shelter over on Burke Street I think. Last time I saw she was talking to one of them Cops.” he looked up at Chapel who now had his back turned to him and was putting a flask of some sort in his pocket.
He cocked his head to one side and studied him.
“Still think drinking that synthetic shit is going to save what’s left of your undead soul Chapel?”
“Wait… what Cop?”
“Yeeeeaaah.. Tall blond guy.. He’s gotta scar travelin along his chin.. He almost caught me once.. I had to give up on this delicious little morsel that I was following… because he was poking around all nervous like. Came out of an alley down by Deweys bar.. Couple of hours after closing.” Sipe turned and stared out into the falling snow with Chapel. “Ohhh.. This is about the Bettenhurst Slasher.. He’s the one that got your girl.. Well, Bettenhurst district IS a slum…. Aawwww.. Poor Chapel… still denying what you are.. Still trying to care.. You’re a vampire Chapel.. A killer.. A fucking beast.. Yet still.. you try to save the world from itself.”
He climbed up onto the ledge of the Bell tower and crouched, staring out into the cold dark night.
“The age of innocence is over Chapel.. There are no more Innocent’s left in the world.. There’s only the Haves, the have not’s, and then there’s us.. So what are ya gonna do? What you might want to really ask yourself is once you’ve saved the world from devouring itself whole.. Who’s gonna save the world… from the true you?”
He turned to face Sipe but he’d already disappeared into the dark snowy night.
“I’ll be back for the rest of my dinner.. Night… Chapel.”
Dewey’s bar was just off of the beaten path of the Bettenhurst districts main boulevard on Mills street, he entered Cranston’s all night liquor store and bought a newspaper, sprawled across the headlines read the words; “Bettenhurst Slasher Claims 6th Victim.” he gently folded the paper and began to search for the best vantage point to observe Dewey’s Bar from. The roof of the liquor store seemed the most likely. If what Sipe said were true, what he would be watching for is a police car. He rounded the corner into the alley and scaled the side of the wall effortlessly. He sat under the flickering street light reading the paper. Reading about the Bettenhurst Slasher. It was almost 3:00 AM when he saw the police car slowly drift to a stop in the alley across from Cranston's.
Mill Street was empty, he watched carefully as the headlights of the police car went dimmer as it moved almost silently, farther back into the alley finally stopping at what they thought would be a safe distance. The lights went out and Chapel could see a large dark figure emerge from the drivers door, and walk around to the passengers side. They were pulling something from the passengers seat. Something that looked like a body.. He slowly rose to his feet, he could feel the rage building up inside of him, his canines slowly pushed free and emerged from his jaws. He pushed himself forward and leapt from the edge of the building and landed in the middle of the street and in one smooth motion stood and walked almost calmly into the alley approaching the back of the police car. He moved past it and followed the dark figure as it carried the body into the depths of the alleyway.
As he lay it down and began to undress it, he turned at the last second looking up and back at him, he could see the face clearly in the moonlight now. It was a cop. Chapel came up behind him and with brutal rage lashed out and sent him sprawling through the air. The intended victim began to stir and as he looked back at her it gave him great surprise to see the face of Annie Carelli. Chapels eyes widened.
“Dearest Annie..” he said.. “Run from this place.”
“Y..Y..You?”
He turned to face her. almost smiling now.
“Run child.. Run.. Leave him to me.. He will not kill another.”
~Scratch.. A.B.T. Copyright © 2010 ~
Excellent Read, Scratch
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