I ran back to my car so fast, I almost flew. Skidding to a halt as I reached it, I yanked open the driver's side door, slammed the key in the ignition, and peeled out of the sleepy neighborhood like a bat out of hell.
She was alive... My insides were buzzing.
All my fears and self doubts vanished in the face of one pervasive fact; I needed to find Annabell. Now.
The problem was, try though I might, I wasn't seeing an Aether trail. I couldn't track her.
With no bearing in mind, I headed toward downtown out of instinct. I held her pony drawing against the steering wheel as I drove, shifting my eyes between it and the road, willing it to give me a clue to her whereabouts.
“Leo, where the hell is she?” I barked at the back seat, presuming he was there.
“If I could tell you that, I wouldn’t need a Vessel now would I?” He retorted. “Slow down and park somewhere, you need to calm yourself.”
I slammed my palm on the wheel, “She prayed dammit! I heard her! Isn’t that how this works?”
I’d come to the edge of downtown, driving through the dense city’s narrow, grid pattern roads. In the backseat, Leo watched as I swerved through lanes of traffic at nerve racking speeds.
“You're too worked up, pull over.” Leo repeated.
I turned around in my seat, “Show me the girl!” I screamed.
“John!”
Whipping around to face the road, I slammed on my breaks, stopping inches before the bumper of another car. Blood was pounding in my ears and I was breathing fast.
“You can’t help her this way,” Leo said calmly. “Pull over, and wait.”
I gnashed my teeth, but did as Leo asked, and pulled off to a small side street.
“Remember to breathe,” Leo coaxed, “You're angry, and scared. Put it aside, what does she feel?”
Closing my eyes, I tried to focus on her, my chest warming under the hum of the talisman. I still felt her pain, but it was nothing new, nothing that helped me find her.
Shifting restlessly in my seat, I reached out into the Aether, sifting through the ocean of emotions around me. I found pain, fear, excitement... but none of it her’s. They were the feelings of other strangers.
From a nearby bus stop, a homeless man's despair washed over me like a tidal wave. It passed, followed by the manic high of an intoxicated meth addict under the bridge near the freeway. Again it shifted, now I felt the sexual tension of a couple on a tinder date four blocks over.
My psychic senses were dialed to eleven, and the sensory input was too high. I felt everyone, but not the girl.
“Dammit!” I punched the dash and jumped out of the car, pacing anxiously in the alley. “It’s too damn loud!”
I lifted my face to the sky in frustration, hands on my hips trying to slow my breathing when the outline of a towering glass building caught my eye. About five blocks from me was the Emerald tower, the tallest structure in the city.
That was it.
Peering back down the busy roads, the evening traffic was already congesting. No time for that... I Inhaled deeply, and took off at a sprint down the street.
I blew past cars, bikes and pedestrians with alarming speed, my limbs coursing with Aether charged lightning. I wove through people, and lamp posts like water rushing through rocks. In no time I stood at the base of the Emerald tower, looking straight up its thirty stories.
Leo manifested nearby, scanning the streets behind me, “Is this wise?” he cautioned as passersby stopped, pointing their phones in my direction.
I didn’t care. I crouched low, coiling my limbs, “I need to find her,” I growled.
Focusing my inner eye on the girl, I poured my determination and will into the talisman. The ground beneath my feet vibrated and the air around my legs distorted with invisible energy.
Converting all my thoughts into action, I exploded upward in a mighty leap, hearing the sidewalk crack beneath me. I launched up five stories in a flash.
When my momentum slowed, I reached out and punched my hands into the concrete wall between green glass panels, piecing it like cardboard. Using the makeshift handholds, I pulled up, flinging myself another two stories before grabbing hold again. Moving swiftly, I punched into the building, scaling it like a wild cat up a tree.
In less than a minute I ascended the entire building, crawled onto the rooftop ledge and turned to face the city’s skyline.
The view was astounding.
Sacred River, the waterway that served as the city’s namesake, lay to my left, it's dark waters reflecting back the orange and white glow of the city's lights. The regal city hall building stood opposite on my right, marking the center of downtown. Below, passing cars and pedestrians skittered about like ants winding through streets and sidewalks. Under any other circumstance the scene would have been amazing to see. But none of it mattered now.
I closed my eyes again, reaching out into the Aether in all directions, calling for the girl. I still felt the tumultuous whirl of chaos below, but sitting above the world buffered me from the worst of it and let me focus.
After several minutes I still had nothing, and was starting to feel desperate.
“Come on Annabell... I’m here kid.”
Something pulsed in my chest, tugging me due northeast, and my eyes fluttered open. It was indiscernible, I couldn’t be sure it was her, but it stood out. It was familiar. I picked up the location, six streets over.
“John, something feels off.”
Leo appeared behind me again, standing near a roof access door. Glancing past him, I caught sight of my reflection in a glass panel fitted in the door.
My eyes were glowing blue.
Shaking off that eerie sight, I turned back to the city. “Yeah,” I said, “I’m looking for fucking pedophiles. The whole damn thing feel’s off.”
“No, John wait-”
Ignoring Leo, I pounced from the ledge, hurling myself across the road to a neighboring building ten stories down. On landing, I rolled along the roof trying to dissipate the force and stop myself from punching through the ceiling by accident. Without pausing I jumped up and lept to the next building.
Over and over I bounced until the talisman zeroed in on the Aether I had sensed. It brought me to an old junk yard behind a tall concrete fence topped with barbed wire.
On my approach, I slowed, jumping lightly into the yard behind a row of wrecked and rusted cars. Ducking low I honed in on the emotions; distress, fear, pain... But whose?
As I rounded the end of the parked vehicles into a clearing in the yard, I found the source of the disturbance. Three hooded men stood in a huddle, beating a fourth figure, curled up on the ground.
The victim was larger, not a young child... Not Annabell. Damnit! I pushed my frustration aside, stopping myself from leaving then and there. Whoever it was, they still needed help.
From my cover, I pulled out the nightstick and hurled it across the yard. It spun like a disc, striking the three attackers and knocking them down like bowling pins.
I walked into the opening, holding my hand out to catch the baton as it boomeranged back.
“I don’t have time for this,” I said loudly to the thugs as I approached the victim. I kneeled down to examine him, and as I touched his shoulders, a flash crossed my consciousness.
I was hawking stolen TV’s out the back of my buddies car when someone came up behind me. They threw a bag over my head and hurled me into a van. I tried to fight, but they beat me.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
They held me for hours... It was so long before they finally pulled me out of the van and threw me in the dirt. They tore the bag off my head, untied me and started beating me with a stick.
“Pray for help,” one of the men said.
I curled up in the dirt as they pummeled me. I did as they said, I prayed to god for help... the pain overwhelmed, I couldn’t think. My head filled with fog and my vision faded to darkness.
Startled, I stood up and stumbled away from the body. He was just a teen... He had been beaten so badly his skull was caved in, his face unrecognizable. His limbs were snapped, and his body swollen. The vision had been his last moments... he was gone.
My confusion and his pain mingled together, disorienting me.
“Put your hands up, and step away from the body! You're under arrest!”
Startled, I turned to see a man wearing a tactical vest, pointing a gun at me. He had a body camera on his chest, the center glowing red, and on the ground by his feet was a discarded black hooded jacket.
I recognized him, Ryan Hall, one of the three everyone called “the trio”. Behind him Waylon and Chase dropped their hoods as well, Chase holding an old antique and bloodied nightstick.
I racked my brain, trying to separate what I was seeing from this kids’ death echoes.
His memory hit me again, “Pray for help...” They told him to pray? Oh god... They told him to call me.
Leo appeared behind the trio. “Run John!”
Gun still raised, Ryan yelled into his camera, “He’s reaching for something!”
My eyes widened as I comprehended what was happening, and I just barely got out of the way as he opened fire.
By the grace of the talisman alone I dodged most of the rounds, but for one that grazed my calf. I yelped as the round burned my flesh, but didn’t stop moving. I jumped over several cars to find cover.
Waylon swore loudly, “You missed, idiot!”
The sound of a gun slide racking rends the air, “Well next time you do it!” Ryan snapped, “How the hell did he move so fast?”
I heard their feet crossing the yard to my hiding spot. Somehow I had walked into a trap. Mind racing, I had to put aside the question of how, and focus on what was next.
They had caught me by surprise, and my hesitation nearly got me killed. But I knew the score now, so the way forward seemed pretty simple.
I shot up and threw the baton like a dart straight at Waylon’s face.
... And he caught it.
Fuck.
Stunned, I stepped back, reached through the Aether, summoning the stick back, but Waylon held on, somehow able to keep it from me. In the stand off, Ryan took aim again.
Maintaining my concentration on the nightstick, I rolled behind another car as several more rounds cracked off. I landed with a thud, and could make out Chase's voice putting out radio traffic in the background.
“-armed and dangerous, approach with caution, suspect is wanted for murder.”
I held my position behind a busted toyota, still struggling to get my baton back when Leo showed up next to me.
“What the hell is happening?” I shouted.
“They are cloaked in the Aether somehow,” Leo said, “but I can see Watchers deep in their shadows. We aren’t ready for this. Don’t engage them, the mission now is to retreat, understand?”
Head reeling, I focused on Leo’s commands. The mission, retreat, got it.
I honed in on the baton feeling Waylon’s grip as he pulled it back from me. Abruptly, I changed direction, pushed through the Aether and knocked the stick against his face. From my cover, I heard him howl and felt his grip loosen.
The baton shot out of his hands and struck Ryan across the back of his head, then spun and aimed at Chase who only just ducked in time.
Jumping over the roof of the car, I landed in front of Ryan, swept his legs from under him, and reached up, catching the baton as it flew overhead.
I turned to run for the junkyard fence when someone tackled me from behind with enough force to send us both flying several yards. The stick flew out of my hands again and the breath was knocked out of me as we slammed into the ground. I rolled over as Chace climbed on top, reaching out and grabbing hold of my neck.
I choked as he squeezed my throat. His steel grip competed with my own as I struggled to peel his thumbs back.
His face strained with the effort to hold on, and as it did, I saw his eyes glow a sickly green, his cheeks bulge, and his teeth lengthen and sharpen. His features were overlaid with that of a monster’s.
“Your Malakh will not save you,” Chase growled, his voice a distant alien echo.
Gasping, I let go of Chase's hands, clenched my first and the nightstick flew across the yard, catching him in the ribs. It hit him like a wrecking ball, and sent him crunching into the side of a nearby car.
The force of that hit would have killed a normal person, but Chase was already shaking it off.
I sucked in a breath, recalled the stick and ran for the fence line. Hurtling over it, I landed on the sidewalk and turned to run, but found myself facing a wall of patrol car spotlights and rifle barrels amid strobing amber-blues and whooping sirens.
“Knightstick, lay down your weapons and put your hands up!” An officer called out over a vehicle’s P.A system.
Slowly, I dropped the baton with a clack and raised my hands over my head.
“Turn around and interlock your fingers behind your head!” the officer instructed.
I did as he said and waited. Leo stood against the fence watching me closely.
“It’ll be tight,” Leo said, reading my posture.
“I know,” I whispered, trying to stay calm.
Someone came up from behind and grabbed my hands, holding them atop my head. “Spread your feet!” he shouted.
He was young, a scared rookie, I could hear it in his voice. His Aether scent was innocent. He had no idea what was going on, he thought he was bringing in the bad guy. I would need to go easy on him.
As he tightened his grip and unsnapped his handcuffs, I tilted my head back slightly, “Sorry man.”
I twisted my hands beneath his, got hold of his fingers trapping his arms, then spun around and hammer-tossed his body back against the line of cover officers.
Not waiting for their reactions, I followed the rookie's sailing body at a sprint, hurdling over the black and white’s in a single bound.
Men shouted, and someone took a shot, but I had cleared the line and was gone before they knew what happened.
I ran several blocks and felt fatigue starting to kick in. It seemed even the Talisman had its limits. This was bad, I needed to lose patrol quickly. Those had only been the first officers on scene, SWAT and K9 were up next...
The whistle of wind behind me hearkened the arrival of my nightstick as it tore through the air trying to catch up. Spinning on my heel, I caught it and flipped it into my baton ring as I turned down another alley without breaking stride.
Moving at an angle, I jumped up, landing on one alley wall, and bounced off of it to the one across. Ping Ponging my way up the building, I climbed out of the alley, landing on yet another rooftop.
I took a moment to catch my breath, assessing which way I’d go next, when I heard the whump of a chopper propeller.
Panting heavily I looked up as the helicopter lit me up with a spotlight.
I knew I could avoid officers on the ground, move between buildings in ways they could not and avoid their bullets and dogs. But the odds of escaping the chopper were next to zero. It would be able to keep tabs on me until I was too worn out, then they would close in and it would be game over.
Down below, the growing sirens told me the perimeter was adjusting. My world was about to get real small.
“Don’t just stand there, get moving!” Leo shouted.
I pulled out the nightstick again. “I’m not outrunning that bird,” I told him.
I tried to remember the last time I had been inside that helicopter. Tried to recall the layout of everything, and tried to imagine exactly where its infrared cameras were located. I focused on the talisman, the baton began to vibrate in my hand.
“This is the Sacred River Police Department,” The helicopter announced, “Lay on the roof with your hands on your head.”
I couldn’t see the helicopter, blinded as I was by their spotlight. So, instead I tried to feel my way through the Aether space.
“Here goes nothing.” I murmured.
Winding back my arm I hurled the stick at the chopper as hard as I could, guiding it to my target. I heard a loud chunk and the spotlight went out. The chopper wobbled precariously and started to pull away.
Inside I felt the surprise and shock of the pilots as their electronic eyes went dead. It worked. I watched them fly away in the direction I knew their hanger would be.
On the nightsticks return, I ran the opposite direction and leaped to a neighboring roof, clearing the perimeter below before they had a chance to box me in.
That had been way too close.
***
Several hours later, the search for me was still on. I didn't risk going back to my car. Instead I hunkered down in an old storm drain outlet near the river's edge. The tunnel was wide enough for me to sit in, and it faced the water instead of the roads. Even so, I still saw the occasional spotlight sweep across the water as squad cars drove past.
“How did that happen?” I asked, turning to Leo who sat deeper inside the tunnel.
Leo shook his head, “They know,” he mumbled to his own feet.
I snapped my fingers, “Earth to Leo,” I called, waving my hand to get his attention. “They know what?”
He sighed, “There are some among your kind who are aware of Watchers. But rather than avoid them, they embrace them. Make deals with them to indulge their vices to the utmost. Those three are not just shadowed by Watchers... They are fully possessed, and they did it on purpose.”
I pulled down my gaiter mask, “what? That's crazy! Well, how the hell do they know about me?”
Leo shifted uncomfortable in the muck, “I have a bit of a checkered past with Watchers. They may have recognized my hand in your dealings.”
I swore loudly, “meaning they knew to make an innocent person pray for help, god dammit Leo...”
I took off my hat and rubbed my tired face. I thought of the wicked Watcher and its razor-sharp claws, of the Shadow Watcher and its terrifying speed. Now I had three dirty cops capable of that kind of horror on top of their own brand of bad.
“So they can match my strength, and hide their Aether from me?”
Leo nodded again, “Taking on all three alone would not be wise.”
I threw up my hands in frustration, “how am I supposed to find the girl then?”
“By using your head.” Leo offered. “Might I advise a strategy of divide and conquer?”
I let out an exasperated sigh, “Ok,” I said thinking through it, “then I'll need help.”
“You’re uncle perhaps?” Leo asked.
Clearing my face of sweat, I re-masked and flipped the hat back in place.
“Not exactly.”