FLASH! FLASH!

  The bright lights of the crime scene analysts illuminated the now fully lit and sedate scene of bloodshed, as police wandered through the crimson seas of terror. They sloshed through with delicate trepidation. It was an unnatural sight, not only the desecration of what remained, but seeing Denaux's once lively and raucous club, a place of personality and character, destroyed, turned base, into something foul and wretched...a morgue.

  “Christ,” one officer remarked, at the entrance to the club, his words resonating throughout the borderline silent venue. He peered inside, wide-eyed, before sinking back before the entryway. “Who'd these people piss off?”

  “Poor bastards,” another officer said, his eyes rolling to categorize all the horrific elements that lingered, their images burned into his retinas for a lifetime...and possibly more, as I'd learned just recently. “I can't imagine.”

  “Ya don't need to imagine,” the other shot back, “we're seein' it right here.”

  “Hell, I've seen enough.” His partner responded, as they both eyed the scene for a moment longer, silence building between them for a brief moment as they held back tears, before turning back to the door. They both shuffled outside and lit up cigarettes. Puffs of smoke silhouetting their bodies against the lights blasting from inside. “I've seen some shit...” They trailed off. The gist was familiar. The sights...were not.

  Other crime scene analysts combed through the oceans of flesh and blood, wearing high quality masks and suits to protect from the bio-hazards present. One gagged presently and repeatedly, before he stood and ran out of the building. The sounds of gagging and wrenching in uncontrolled vomit, held no further bearing on the putrid scent and pit of horrors that he’d stumbled into. He'd presumably made it this far in his career, wondering if the income was worth the admission. Today, he learned that it was a price to be paid.

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  As I listened to the officers from parts unseen, I heard them discussing this incident. The words “unnatural” and “ain’t right” cropped up frequently. “Otherworldly” was another. Still, the lead detective stated the toughest fact to swallow. “Just regular gang warfare,” he said. “Mark it down. That’s what it is, end of story.”

  He was right, it was warfare, but nothing ‘normal’ about it. They couldn’t begin to comprehend the horrors that lingered in this world. Unless...I wondered, there were some on Perrault’s payroll already? It seemed likely. I'm sure there weren't many not on his payroll in this town? Would they still be...had they known what was coming? What plans he had in store for them?

  I continued to watch on from the side, keeping to the shadows, to avoid being forced to interview. Things were crazy enough as is. The police wouldn’t understand the situation of my life...and death...and life again. If I had to run, I would. This was a different world. A new life. I was a mystery now and preferred it kept that way.

  The bigger mystery, however, was where Denaux was. Taniya, who was currently talking to paper and pen clad investigators, notching down every word, was in a borderline catatonic state earlier. She only mentioned that he was gone. No...taken.

  Hugo Perrault had been at war with the Brimstones for generations...but now...there wasn’t just a family feud taking place. Others were drawn into the line of fire. More innocents.

  Denaux and Perrault had their own battles, but this was a massacre. Still, I could feel that Denaux was still alive. He was bait. Bait that I would take.

  One thing was for sure. Perrault knew I’d come.

  Isaac appeared by the open doors out back. Standing quietly in a dark leather jacket. He acknowledged me with a firm head nod and a grim face.

  I nodded back, my eyes fierce.

  I wasn’t coming alone.