The Paranormal Unit: The Gathering (Book One)

First Chapter. I have a Prologue with this that I'm having trouble with. I want to show the team in action and then go to the first several chapters which focuses on the formation of the team before going to the crime to solve. I'm wondering if the Prol

 

Part One

Chapter One

Two months earlier

            Almost five years ago a group of rogue vampires, those not binding themselves to the vampire counsel, decided that they were tired of living in the dark, fugitively speaking. They wanted fame, power, and most importantly to finally be able to live without fear.

They wanted the humans to be in fear.

So those vampires went public on national television and exposed all vampire kind. Governments tried to counter this display as a hoax but when the very public attacks on humans began there was no denying the truth.

            The vampire counsel tried to do strong public relations by showing to the world that their kind was not all evil. Whether this was true or not was not the point. Having humans openly fearful of them was bad for the vampire way of life. However, no matter how many good works the vampires committed; community service, saving lives,; the humans simply were not convinced.

Instead the police, the military and the vigilantes were all seeking out vampires and killing them. It was a world wide revisiting of the Salem witch trials or a vampire holocaust. Except this time the humans could prove vampirism. They would leave suspected vampires out in the sun to burn or burst into flames if they were really young, and sprinkle holy water or shine crosses on them.

            In addition to killing the captured vampires, usually those too young and out of control to be able to hide what they were, open experiments were done on them. Those in the government that already knew of their existence had already conducted vampire testing but now they could do so without secret.  

            The vampires, seeing that their efforts to put forward a good face were futile, decided that if they were going to suffer they weren’t going to do it alone. So, as the head of the supernatural food chain, they exposed all supernatural beings such as ghosts and the lesser known term but more appropriate, preternatural creatures such as werewolves.  

            Therefore, they “outed” the lycanthropes: werewolves, were panthers, were leopards etc, skin walkers, dragons (they were rare but still existed), and the faes (also known as fairies, gremlins and elves), trolls, witches and warlocks, zombies, ghouls and so forth. Just about anything formed to scare audiences and children came out to the forefront.

            And so a war began between the Paranormals and humans. Although the humans outnumbered these super entities, the creatures of the night had more strength. Crime took on a whole new form for the police. A whole new type of training had to be done.

            However the humans weren’t left to fight alone. While the vampires were exposed so were the hunters: super humans from across the globe that chose to fight against paranormal bad guys. They always existed and were, in resent years, financially backed by governments and well hidden by officials as they protected the world against the evil of the night.

They too had a hunter union formed from some of the top hunters all over the world. It was the hunters that were left in charge of training the police forces and military when it came to fighting the superbeings. Now exposed to protect the world, the hunters too received acknowledgement but it wasn’t always good. Sometimes their super strength, intelligence and agility got them confused with the other paranormal creatures and they also faced bashing.

            Forming another side to the battle were humans and paranormals who worked together to send out the message that not all supernatural and paranormal beings were evil.

There were also those in the hunter union who supported the mission of joining both sides, which was why Tyson Rollins and Nona Weinstein found themselves at the home of Alex Chan.

            The handsome chocolate brown man looked at Alex with calm dark eyes. He was muscular and wide with a well trimmed goatee framing his lips and chin. He wore a dark navy blue suit, powder blue shirt, matching tie and looked no older than 35 but Alex was sure he was much much older than that. He was a superhuman and they tended to age incredibly slowly, with an average life span of 300 years, the same lifespan of most vampires. Only a small percentage of vampires could preserve or protect themselves well enough to live beyond a couple hundred years.

“Do you know why we’re here Mr. Chan?” Tyson asked, sitting forward on the tan suede couch.

            Alex shrugged. “Dude, I have no idea why you‘re here. But when someone from the hunter union gives you a ring, you don’t ignore it either.”

            “Your kind isn’t exactly jumping at our calls, Alex,” said the smiling brunette with thick, frizzy curls. She had on a tan skirt suit, with a brown button down blouse and matching kitten heeled loafers. She was in her late twenties and was pretty, in a girl-next-door kind of way. She had a honey beige complexion and wore no make up and only a small gold locket around her neck. Her light brown eyes were calm but the way she chewed the corner of her bottom lip showed him she was uncomfortable or simply nervous. His kind was rare after all. 

            “Well I was curious, what can I say?” Alex replied, placing his arms behind his head as he leaned against the back of his brown leather arm chair. His lean yet muscular physique was covered in a green t-shirt with a white long sleeved shirt underneath and jeans. His almost shoulder length black hair was back in a ponytail.

            “Well then let’s get right to it,” Tyson stated. “A section of the hunter union has decided to begin a new type of paranormal hunting unit. They are opening a testing team here in Baltimore. The team’s goal is to look into any cases that are supernatural or paranormal related. The Baltimore/D.C./Northern Virginia area has one of the highest rates for these forms of crimes, even higher than New York, Las Vegas and New Orleans, and having a team that focuses solely on that area would be ideal.”

            Alex straightened up in his seat. “I don’t get it. You already have trained police to take care of that stuff.”

            Nona spoke up. “They aren’t equipped for this fight. Not to mention all the regular crime they have on their hands to deal with.”

            “What about the hunter team already in place here? Don’t you have hunter teams in every section of the world and like a billion in the states?”

            “There are 10 hunter forces in the United States. The closest team is located in D.C. and this unit would be an extension of that hunter team as well as the police force. Both could use the extra help and expertise,” Tyson explained.

            Alex frowned. “What are saying? You want me to join a hunter team?”

            “In a nutshell, yes.”

            “And in a larger shell?”

            Tyson smiled. “There are those of us who believe that this war on paranormal evil would be better fought if we had a team that encompassed many types of hunters. Was more diverse.”

            “Another take on equal employment opportunity. Very nice but I thought to you hunters, all paranormal guys were bad, why would you want me on the team?” Alex smiled back.

            “We know that’s not true. And it’s unfortunate that some of us and many humans seem to believe otherwise. Having a diverse team would be a good PR move. It would show to the world that not every superbeing is to be feared. That some are our friends.”

            “And what’s in it for you?” Alex smirked.

            Tyson sighed as he sat back, crossing an ankle over his knee. “Your power, expertise. Simply fighting fire with fire.”

            Alex lost his grin. “You want me to fight my own kind?”

            “No, we want you to fight the bad guys. The ones who are giving us a bad reputation,” Nona replied.

            Alex looked at her and frowned. “Us?”

            Nona nodded. “I’m a psychic.”

            “Oh, yeah? How much do you charge an hour?”

            She frowned, then got it and giggled. “No. Seriously, I can see the past by touching an object, communicate with ghost, get a certain feeling for things, like if someone‘s good or bad. “

            “Never failed an exam, huh? You’re like a psychic to the 10^th degree. “

            Nona shrugged modestly. “Yeah, and people are scared of me because of it. By joining a group like this we can also make it a focus not to just protect humans from super bad guys but the innocent paranormal community as well.”

            “Humans aren’t the only beings we have to fight against,” Alex added.

            “We’d investigate paranormal on paranormal crime as well,” Tyson responded. “If we build allies here we have a better shot at this fight and the paranormal community might get a better shot at getting more governmental protection and rights.”

            Alex nodded slowly. “So this group is a game of politics.”

            “We’d have a lot to prove here,” Nona nodded and folded her hands. “But it makes good sense. It would help those in congress and those in power all around the world who are trying to push for our acceptance and ability to be judged individually.”

            “We already got people like us doing good work all over already and it hasn’t done any good. What’s this going to do?” Alex asked, looking unmoved.

            “It has done some good. It’s against the law to murder paranormal creatures.”

            “Unless it’s self defense. And usually the human word is good against us.”

            Nona leaned towards him. “But if we investigate paranormal cases where even paranormals are the victims and get the official backing of the hunters, it would shine a whole new light to the world. This is just a test group. If we fail we disband, but if we do good work who knows how the world could change. What rights could come our way?”

            Alex shrugged. “So,” Alex looked to both of them, “Morpheus, Trinity, I guess the real question then is, why am I the one?”

            Nona stifled a giggle.

            Tyson cocked an eyebrow. “You come from an amazing family,” Tyson explained.

            “That’s my family, not me. They hate me enough as it is without me joining this group. Really, The Matrix, references aside, why do the box tops in hunter world think that I am a good candidate for this test group? My assumption is that they want the best of the best and in all honesty, you‘ve picked the wrong sibling in my family.” Alex leaned back in his chair, folding his hands.

            “Not true. We based our selection on many criteria: intelligence, full understanding of ones ability, acceptance with humanity, clean past, ability to quickly learn the skills needed for this job and adaptability.”

            “And I fit into that how?”

            Tyson leaned in. “You’re smart, you can’t have lived almost 200 years and not be, you come from a strong dragon family, the reds are the best dragon fighters, and I know they’ve trained you. You blend with humanity well. I mean, you’ve made a living as a technology expert with a respectable IT firm and seem comfortable in human form. Not much of your family would be eager to work with humans. And although there are some red dragons who are suspect, your immediate family has never done anything to raise our attention and in fact has a great history in China of being supreme warriors and supporters of the empire.”

            Alex nodded slowly. “Okay, I guess it makes sense. But why do you need a dragon?”

            Tyson sighed. “This could go on all night.”

            Alex looked away and nodded. “Yes, that’s possible. But what you’re asking me to do is big. I might be the enemy of all dragons with this.”

            “They could either hate you more or love you for changing the world’s attitude of dragons,” Nona stated.

            “Fine, we need members of the paranormal community that represent the four major groups, “Tyson began. “The magic society, which includes wiccas, witches, wizards, mages, guardians. The lycanthropes and skin walkers. The undead, such as the vampires, zombies, ghouls, goblins, incubus, ghosts and so forth. Needless to say that group is very limited on who we can pick from. And the mythics, such as the dragons, fairies, trolls, hobbits. You get the picture.”

            Alex scrunched his face and scratched his neck. “Yeah, yeah, not too sure I agree with how you guys lump these groups together but I’ll let it slide for now.”

            “Good, so are you in?”

            “I don’t know, man.”

            “The pay is great and so are the benefits and the vacation package,” Tyson added in a monotone voice.

            Alex looked unmoved.

            Tyson took out a card from his pocket and a pen and wrote down the starting salary. “And this doesn’t include bonuses.”

            Alex looked down at the paper.

            “Let me finish up some assignments and I’m all yours,” Alex replied with a straight face.

Reviews

[Rebecca Rogers]

A few suggestions:

>in resent years
Typo.

>no older than 35 but Alex
I would spell out "35."

>life span of 300 years,
Again with the spelling out of numbers.


I'm liking the idea of this--a war between the supernatural/paranormal/etc. This could have some great potential. Nothing majorly wrong stood out in this chapter. The dialogue was great (and you can ask my friends on here how anal I am about dialogue/grammar/punctuation).

Nice work! Can't wait to see more :)

[TKBickel]

I’m a person that doesn’t mind a big detail story setup at the beginning. It’s smooth and leads to Alex rather nicely. I love the story. So many potential twists, turns and surprises. Still spot on the visual and dialog.