2. Azryel

When Fang awoke he was lying in a bed. The room he was in was dark. Sitting up he took a more careful look. He was in a bedroom, black furniture, well decorated, like one of those old houses that vampires lived in. Complete with paintings. Fang spotted his savior. He was at a desk typing away on a laptop computer.

“What time is it?” The young man asked. One of the wolves, the black one, was sitting next to his bed, wagging its tail wildly.

“Nine.” The young man said.

Fang gasped and sat up. He then growled as pain ripped through his shoulder.

                “Careful, you’ll tear your stiches.”

                “Stiches?” Fang looked at his shoulder. Sure enough it was stitched as if done professionally by a doctor.

                “We’ll…I’ll be.”

The young man continued to type.

                “Didn’t really peg you as a computer geek.” Fang said with a smile, as to let him know that he meant no insult.

                “So many things are accessible through the computer now a days. The internet is a haven of information.” The young man explained never looking from the screen.

                “Are you a hacker?”

                “No…well…not really.”

Suddenly the young man stopped typing and tilted his head to the side. He held the position, as if listening to something. After a few moments he looked to Fang.

                “Are you hungry Lucien?” he asked

                “”Whoa…what the hell? How do you know my name?”

                “Don’t worry too much about that. Well…are you?”

                “Well I’d rather be called"”

                “Fang.”

                “Now you’re starting to creep me out.”

The young man let a small smile play on his face as he typed again.

 Fang looked to the black wolf. The creature moved over to the white one and whined as if begging. The white one snapped at his muzzle as it lay comfortably on the floor.

                “Chaos…do your own hunting. Leave Yuki alone.” The young man scolded

The black wolf whined again.

                “So…uh…who are you?” Fang asked

                “I’m Azryel…Azryel Blades.”

Fang had heard that name somewhere before, or did he read it.

                “So…you live here alone?”

                “I’m not alone. I have Chaos and Yuki.”

                “The wolves?”

Another smile played on Azryel’s features.

                “You’re the first to not call them dogs.” He said

                “Kinda obvious their not dogs, their huge and have large paws.”

Azryel nodded, and then stood. Moving over to a nearby dresser he grabbed a pill bottle from the top and unscrewed the cap. Taking a transparent red pill from the bottle he dry swallowed it before replacing the bottle.

                “I’ll get you some grub.” He said. Fang nodded as the young man disappeared through the door. After a few minutes he returned with a plate that held a large cheese burger and French fries.

                “You like these?” Azryel asked

                “Yeeeeeesssssssss” Fang sighed in hunger. Azryel handed food to the teen, who tore into it without mercy.

Amusement once again lit up in the young man’s eyes as he waited for his visitor to finish.

                “Full?” He asked once Fang was done.

                “Oh yeah.” Fang breathed as he wrapped himself in the blankets

                “Good, get some rest. I’ll take you home once I’m sure you won’t pass out or die of blood loss.”

Just then there was a sound of ringing. Chaos ran over and hopped into the chair that was near the computer. He placed a paw on the desktop phone.

                “Blades.” Azryel answered pacing the room.

                “Where the hell are you?” A voice with a heavy Latin accent asked over the phone.

                “I’m at home, is there somewhere else I’m supposed to be?”

                “You didn’t get my message?”

Chaos lowered his head so that he was out of sight.

Azryel sighed. “I think it may have been deleted. What’s up?”

                “We got a murder on the peer. Coroner can’t find anything on the body, it’s bizarre.”

                “With all due respect Sargent, anything other than a stabbing or shooting is bizarre for you.”

                “You’ll understand when you see it. It’s…it’s just sick. When can you get here?”

                “On my way.”

Chaos hit the button with his paw, then returned to “hiding”

                “Chaos…you don’t touch the answering machine anymore.” Azryel told the wolf.

                “Wait, so…they’re trained to take calls and messages.”

                “Roughly.” Azryel said gathering his keys. He stopped short and tilted his head again.

                “Why do you keep doing that?” Fang asked with a yawn.

Azryel nodded to himself than looked to the teen.

                “Another time.” He said headed for the door. “Be back soon.”

 

It was cold as Azryel made his way to where the body was being held at the station. He was greeted halfway by Sargent Lopez of the Rosung Police department.

“Glad you could come, Sorry about the demanding tone, but this is the third victim we’ve found like this and it’s getting a little scary.” Lopez was a short Hispanic man with short brown hair and eyes. Always sporting a Hawaiian shirt he was dedicated to his job in homicide.

                “I’m hoping your gift can help us out here.”

Azryel nodded as they entered the lab. There was a body with a white sheet draped halfway over it. There were two other detectives there as Azryel paced around the corpse. A woman and a man. Azryel knew them by their last names, Morgan and Carter. The young man saw why Lopez was so shaken up, the corpse of a man that lay on the table was ripped open and some of the internal organs missing.

                “Is it really good to have a visitor running around homicide like he owns the place?” Carter asked rolling his eyes.

                “It’s unreal but…He has a gift you gotta admit Carter”, Morgan defended

                “White Male.” Azryel started as he continued to look at the body, Carter was best ignored. Since they both knew that Carter didn’t like the young man.

                “Aged Sixty. Hearts gone, lungs, spleen, liver and right kidney. He was dead before those were removed though.” Azryel pointed to a large bruise on the head. “Blunt force, someone hit with a bat, maybe a beam of wood. He’s been dead for about ten hours.”

                “Ten hours? We just got the call two hours ago.” Morgan said

                “Looks like someone tried to make this look like a serial killing or an animal attack. Look at the ribs there, see how their bent. Someone tried to perform CPR and failed obviously. The other two victims like this?” Azryel asked.

                “Isn’t that classified?” Carter but in.

                “Shaddup Carter, unless you have some leads on this case, 'cause I sure as hell don’t.” Lopez reprimanded. The Sargent then handed Azryel a file folder. The young man opened it and looked at the pictures inside. The first was a woman, sliced open organs missing, the second of a younger man, same thing.

                “These two people have the same organs missing, the heart, lungs, and liver. The wrists are burned, indicating they were tied up and definitely died of the organ removal.” Azryel pointed to the body on the table.

                “Whoever did that…didn’t do these. So the person who killed this gentleman knows about these guys, so I would check with the victims’ families of one of these two you have this folder. Probably a cry for help, can’t deal with the loss so wants to make someone else feel it.”

                “Get on it.” Lopez ordered Morgan

                “All over it.”

Azryel handed the folder back.

                “Come on…tell be how you do it.” The Latino man said with a smile

                “A true magician never reveals his secrets.” Azryel grinned “Like you said, this is my gift, or my curse. Death is the only thing that’s been constant in my life, we’re decent friends. Now if you’ll excuse me.” Azryel gave Lopez a nod as he brushed past Carter. The tall blonde cursed under his breath as the young man made his way out of the station. Looking at the clock it was going on eleven. Fang was most likely out cold by now so there was no need to hurry home yet. Perhaps he should catch up on his patrols.

 

                Azryel made his way up to the house that rested above the beach. A flight of metal stairs helped him gain access as he took cover in the shadows. The whispers from the darkness gave him the name of Thomas Myers. A drug mixer…and murderer. Azryel crotched low, hidden in the shadows as he watched a man, obviously guarding the old beach house wander around smoking a cigarette.  The young man lifted the blade of his katana. He had two, but for now he just needed this one, pointing it at the smoking man, he watched the blade carefully. After a few seconds a streak of black light went across the steel, then another. This man was guilty.  Swiftly Azryel closed the distance between himself and the patrolman and jabbed the sword into his left leg. When he hit the ground Azryel covered his mouth to silence his screams.

                “How many are in inside?” Azryel asked lifting his hand. “Keep in mind; yelling will earn you a stabbing in a non-lethal but painful place until you answer me.”

                “Son of a-”

Azryel tsked and drove his blade through the man’s hand. The man bit back a scream as he glared angrily at Azryel.

                “How many?” he asked again

                “Eight.” The man spat out. “You’re a dead man.”

                “I think you’ve got it backwards.”

In one swift motion Azryel broke the man’s neck. Closing his eyes, Azryel placed a hand on the ground; mentally he surfed through the old house. Through the front door was the living room, two thugs played video games on an old twenty inch television, turning left was the kitchen and dining room, two men and a woman played cards while eating frozen waffles. Making a right was a room with nothing but an old desktop computer, a man sat on the computer for surfing competitions. Another right revealed a laundry room, a space behind the dryer revealed hidden funds, over five thousand dollars. Continuing through a locked door was a small drug lab; Thomas was there on the phone. A final right brought Azryel back into the living room. Quickly Azryel dragged the body with him as he crept to the back of the house, after stashing it in the bushes, the young man walked up to the breaker and shut off the lights.

                “Ah man, what the hell!?” Someone yelled from inside as Azryel crept back to the bushes.

                “Well, someone go flip the breaker or something.” The woman demanded.

                “Let’s go together sweetness.” Another man insisted in a perverted tone.

Azryel sat in wait. Eventually a man and the woman emerged from around the corner. Before reaching the breaker he grabbed her by the shoulders and flung her to the ground.

                “What do ya say? Here and now?” He asked straddling her

                “I’m game.”

Azryel rolled his eyes. Some people had sex anywhere. Like he did before, Azryel pointed the blade in their direction. The blade glowed black for a few seconds, then returned to normal, definitely guilty. The young man crept along the shadows until he was behind them. The woman moaned in delight as her lover kissed her neck and began to peel off her clothes. Perched on the roof, Azryel pulled one of his favorite weapons from the shadows, a black longbow and an arrow. Carefully he aimed.

                “Psst.”

The two turned their attention to the young man just as he let the arrow fly. The shaft sliced through the air through the man’s head and continued through his lovers.

                “Stuck together in love. Not too cliché” Azryel muttered. He continued on. Moving to the back on the house he went through the fence to the back door. According to what he saw, this led to the laundry room. Azryel removed his lock pick from his pocket and quickly undid the lock, slipping inside. The man that had been on the computer was no longer there as Azryel crept around the house. He saw that the web surfer was now in the dining room, playing cards with the remaining man and one of the video gamers by candle light. Azryel scanned them with his katana. The blade glowed black once again for all of them. With a nod, the young man pulled his other katana from nowhere. The blades of which disappeared into the hilt and he screwed them together. The rod extended into a staff like magic and from the end, a shiny silver blade emerged. His weapon was now a scythe. Standing Azryel smacked the bottom of his weapon against the floor. The noise scaring the three.

                “What the hell was that?” One gasped removing a gun from his slacks.

Azryel entered the room.

                “Hello.” He greeted.

The thugs jumped from their chairs, guns ready. Azryel slid backwards, vanishing in the darkness.

                “What the-” The first thugs words were cut short as his body split in half down the middle, blood staining the floor.

                “What is this!?” The second yelled before his head went flying off.

The third cowered in the corner, gun pointing forward as Azryel approached him.

                The young man only looked at him. He then smacked the bottom of the scythe against the ground. Two seconds later the man collapsed to the ground clutching his chest. Shaking his head Azryel left him to his fear induced heart attack. The young man stopped short when the last thug was staring at him from the living room shaking in fear, casually the young man lifted the blade of his scythe, pointing it in the thug’s direction, this one was younger than the others, probably no older than Fang. The blade of the scythe glowed white, causing Azryel to sigh. This one was innocent, so what the hell was he doing in a place like this?

Azryel dashed forward and vanished. Reappearing behind the boy he delivered a fist to the back of his head, knocking him out instantly. Azryel caught him and laid him on the couch.  A second later the young man ducked as a bullet went flying over his head.

                “Who…who are you?” Thomas shuddered from the door of his lab.

                “I’m the judge of your crimes.” Azryel said bluntly. “And I find you guilty.”

Thomas fired his gun again, the bullet missed entirely. He was so nervous that he couldn’t hold his weapon.

                “I aint the only drug pusher in this city. I’m sure people have committed worse crimes.”

                “I’m sure as well, and I’ll most likely be the judge of them too, if not one of my “siblings” But today Thomas, today I am your judge. And today I send you to hell.”

Azryel spun his scythe and the blade began to glow black.

                “By order of the Guardian, I find you guilty, and I banish you from the world of the living.” With that Azryel charged forward and slashed. The blade sliced Thomas in half like a hot knife through butter and the body exploded into bright red flames. The body then turned to ash, leaving behind a black orb. Dismissing his weapon Azryel collected the small sphere and tucked in in his pocket. He then moved towards the money stash and collected a small form of payment before returning and grabbing the teenager he knocked unconscious. Time to go.