"The Redeemer: Episode One"

The Night screams for a release from its pain.  And who could blame it?  I have spent many nights lying alone, trying to find a release from the pain I feel deep inside myself.  Often I wonder what the hell was I put on this earth for?  To mate? To feed? To kill?
            The alarm clock in my room goes off.  I’m lying on the floor, it’s 8 p.m.  I have a really bad headache; probably from all the beer I drank this morning.  I’m more of a night person: sleep during the day and do my business at night.
            Empty beer bottles scatter around my apartment floor.  On a small table near me, I’m surprised to see I didn’t use up my entire stash of heroine.  Must have been a good morning, since I usually do all that I have in one night.
            Ah, breakfast hath arrived.  A small roach is crawling on the floor near me.  I quickly grab him up and eat him.  Mmmm, crunchy, just the way I like them.  Disgusting, no?  It’s a bad habit, I know.  But it was really fun at high school to freak people out like that.  Yeah, I was every woman’s dream date…tall, dark, and completely abnormal.
            I get up from my place on the floor and look at my laptop computer.  It’s flipped upside down in a chair.  I pick it up, flip it over, and turn it on.  When the system quickly boots up, I check my e-mail.  No messages, no surprise there.  I’m only called when needed…besides, it was Sunday night, and they know I hate to work on Sundays.
            I live in/own a crappy apartment complex on the bad side of town.  It’s basically a safe house for pimps, whores, drug dealers, and some of the awesome psycho’s in the Atlanta area.  I don’t really do anything here but sleep, read, and collect rent money.  There’s a guy named Jack who lives on the bottom floor who takes care of all the technical stuff for me.  Hey, I pay him good for doing all the work.
            Out the window I can see it’s going to be another miserable night.  Before I went to bed this morning, some dark clouds were rolling in from the East.  Now the streets were wet, but there wasn’t a cloud in sight.  For once, I would actually like to see all the stars in the sky.  Even on a cloudless night like this, you can’t see any stars because the city lights are so bright at night.  Hey that rhymed, cool.
            I took off my old clothes and threw them on the floor with the rest of my stuff.  In my closet I found a black and white KoRn t-shirt, red pants, and I always wear these large combat boots.  I have a large wallet chain that hangs down a couple of inches below my right knee.
            In my dresser with the broken mirror, I found some more white bandages, I use them to wrap around my arms from my elbow to my palms.  Cover up the scars I have from all those times I took sharp objects and made a vain attempt at torment.
            I also wear a large silver ring on my right hand, and a large gold ring on my left hand.  The silver ring has an emblem of a dragon on it.  The gold ring is just an ordinary gold ring.  Both of them are very old, probably worth a lot, but their worth a lot more to me.
            Around my neck I wear a spiked dog collar.  Quite the conversational piece if you ever around a bunch of stuck up snobs who act like personal expression is a sin.  My nails are painted black and purple: black for my dark mood, and purple is the color of Insanity.  Fits me well, I guess.
            So here I am, dressed and ready for another night.  On my way down the stairs (we don’t have an elevator), I meet up with Jack.  He’s in his late 30’s, just as much of an alcoholic like me.  He lost his wife ten years ago to cancer, and he’s never been much of a human being since.  But like I said, I pay him well for all the work he does.
            He tells me some little things about what’s going on in the apartment complex.  Nothing that I could really give a damn about, but I guess I have no choice but to listen.  Or maybe I could be real mean and blow him off, tell him I don’t care about this place or him.  Yeah, that would be the way to go.  Then he would quit and leave me with all the work of this damned place.
            “Hey man, I’ve got a very important meeting shortly.  Why don’t you write this up for me in a letter and I’ll get back to you, okay?” I said.  He smiled, nodded, and said, “Sure, Boss.”  I hate extra work.  I also hate it when he calls me “Boss”, but why ruin the mood.
            Locked in a very expensive personal garage in the back is my bike.  It’s a large three-wheeler that I pumped up with power.  To tell you the truth, I think my garage and bike is worth more than the apartment complex (probably worth more than all the people living in it, too).
            Out I was, riding on the streets of Atlanta, GA.  I’ve been living here for about three years, but I do travel a lot.  As I ride to the office, I begin to think of all the places I’ve been to in the last year or so.  Paris, London, Rome, Italy, Russia, New York City, and LA.
            The streets are still crowded from the day.  Most people are kind of like me, I guess.  Sleep by day, live by night.  Go out and party, get drunk, get laid, and do it all over again the next.  Must be nice to have a life that fits into a perfect little cycle.
            I drive to one of my favorite hangouts, a cemetery.  I park my bike around back and jump over the fence.  I walk among the wet trees and on the damp grass.  The cool air breezes by me, giving me a brief thrill of the night.  I lean up against one of the older trees, putting my face against it’s wet bark.  I whisper “Tell me your secrets, tell me you love me.”
            “Hey, over here!” a girl yells out.  A group of two girls and two guys have wondered into the cemetery.  “Look at this grave, it looks really cool!”  “A grave cool?  What are you Shannon, a vampire?” one of the guys says.  Shannon leans over on the guy and gently bites his neck.  “Baby, I kind of like that,” the guy mumbles out.  “Maybe later I suck on something else,” she says to the guy, and of course, he smiles with excitement.
            The other girl is carrying a book bag.  She sits on one of the tombstones and puts the book bag on the ground.  The other guy opens the bag up and pulls out wine coolers.  Just more underage teenagers getting drunk.  Whatever happened to studying on Monday nights?  Jesus, who am I kidding, I spent almost every day getting high when I was in school.
            “So what are we suppose to do?  Tell ghost stories?” the other girl says.  “Or maybe we could channel the dead?” Shannon says.  She reaches over into the book bag and pulls out a Quija Board.  Oh this just keeps getting better and better.
            She sits it down on the ground and says, “Come on.”  “What the hell?!  You really are a vampire, aren’t you?” one of the guys says.  Shannon says, “Shut up damnit!  This is my sister’s.  She’s into all that gothic stuff, and she says this thing really works.”
            After a few more wine coolers, they gather around Shannon with the Quija board.  “Oh spirits of the night, I call out to you!” she says.  The other three in the group start laughing.  Shannon yells, “Shut up and be serious!”  They stop laughing and she continues.
            “Oh spirits, come to us!” Shannon says.  “Shannon, this crap aint never going to work!” the other girl says.  “Maybe if you would shut up, then it would work!” she yelled.  Shannon asks the board, “Am I going to pass the eleventh grade?”
            To their surprise, the board begins to move.  “Holy mother of God! It’s working!” the other girl says.  “What’s it spelling?” one of the guys asks.  “Y-O-U-R-A-L-L-G-O-I-N-G-T-O-D-I-E”.  They were silent for a few seconds, then Shannon yelled out “Your all going to die???  Oh man!”
            The air shifts, a certain uncomfortable feeling drifts in the night air.  Shannon looks up from the board and sees me standing between two trees.  My eyes are glowing a purple color, like a black light.  “Boo said Casper,” I said.
            “Who is that?” the other girl says.  “My name is Mary, and I’ve seemed to have lost my sheep, do you know where they are?” I said.  By now, they are all standing up, trying their best to make sense out of life, but their too drunk.  “He’s a wimp,” one of the guys said.
            “What you see is what you be.  Know not what you do, because your soul is through.” I said.  The other girl says, “I’m getting the hell out of here!”  They all follow her and start running for the exit.  When they reach the front gate, it closes shut before them.  “You called out for the dead, now it’s on your head!” I yelled.
            “I don’t know who or what you are, but will you just leave us alone!” Shannon said.  I laughed and said, “I’m in a gloomy mood, very depressive I stood, so just leave me alone, but I break your bones.”  The gates open up again and they all run to their car.
            Teenagers, go figure.  Maybe on some nights I would have had more fun with a group of girls like that, but I’m really not in the mood for it tonight.  In fact, I’m already bored of being in this home of the dead.  I hope on my bike and begin riding again.
            Time for work.  There’s a club on the south side of town called Miserable Delay.  Very popular among head bangers, Goths, and freaks. The bouncer at the front door already knows me, so he lets me in.  The music is playing so hard and loud I can barely hear myself think, which is a good thing.
            In the back, there is a locked door that says “Employees Only”.  I take out a key and unlock the door, which leads to an elevator.  The elevator has a special key slot, and I use my key again.  The elevator goes two levels down, and opens up to a hallway.
            I knock on the door that has a symbol of a skull with crossbones on it.  From inside the room, Stephanie yells out “I’m busy, go away!”  I laugh real loud and yell back “I’ve lost my sheep, can you help me find them, baby deep?”
            The door unlocks and opens.  “My god, you’re still alive after Sunday?” she says.  I grin and respond, “That sarcasm will get you no where.”  She grabs me by my dog collar and yanks me into the room.  She shuts the door behind us and says, “What the is wrong with you?”
            “Where should I begin?  My childhood was messed up, high school sucked, dropped out of college, I’m addicted to heroine and alcohol, and…” she interrupts me by saying, “Damnit Ezekiel, you know what I mean.  Last Thursday, the job with the priest.”
            A priest was raping a 14 year old girl after ever Wednesday night service.  His reason: He told her he had to knock the demons out of her.  Told her that if she said anything, Satan would have her soul and she would burn in Hell forever.  It was my job to show him some…reason…
            “You were supposed to scare the evil out of him, make him realize the error in his ways.  But noooo, you just had to carve ‘I abuse kids’ all over his body.”  “He looked pretty scared to me.” I responded.
            “Geezuss, I don’t even know why we put up with your crap,” she said.  I smiled and said, “Because I’m the best, unlike all the rest, I have the power, to tower, over the evil, and beat their devils.”  Stephanie sits down in her chair behind her desk and sighs.
            Stephanie “Cosmo” Blinks is a 25-year-old woman who has the body of Playboy Playmate.  She not only runs this club, but two others across Atlanta.  And if that wasn’t enough, she’s also my contact.  She gives me the information I need to get my job done.
            Something very bad happened to her in her past, but she has of yet to inform me of it.  She has a dark mood, almost like mine, but she’s more anger driven.  I work from insanity, not anger.  The obvious reason that comes to my mind is that her parents abused her.  But for some reason, I get the impression that it’s something more twisted than that.
            “What is with you and those idiotic rhymes?  They don’t even make sense,” she asks.  “Maybe I’m just the hopeless romantic type.  Maybe because I took literature and arts in college.  Maybe I just like to voice my mind in rhymes.  I guess we’ll never know.”
            “Just die” she says sarcastically.  I always respond, “When and where, baby?”  And like always, she rolls her eyes with disgust.  What can I say; I have that effect on women.
            “So what’s up next, honey?” I say with a sadistic grin.  She answers, “You’re free until Wednesday.  Be here at noon for discussion on your next assignment.”  “Noon?!  I’ll be wasted by then!” I said.  She laughs and says, “I know, but orders are orders.  Now stop wasting my time and get the hell out.”
            Before I leave, I look back at her and blow her a kiss.  “Love you.” I said.  She sticks out her tongue and flips me off.  I always leave her office with a smile.
            Well, this is a semi-good thing.  I have the rest of tonight and the next day off.  Yummy.  Maybe I should pay my dealer a visit…or maybe not.  I think he overdosed last night, too bad.  He was smart, if you can call a drug dealer smart.  His sins may have finally caught up with him.
            On the road again, I head to his house.  His name is Charlie Brown (Yeah I know, the comic strip guy.  Trust me, they have nothing else in common, although he did name his dog Snoopy).  When I pull up, I can see his stepsister looking out the window.  Before I can knock, she already has the door open.
            “Is he still alive?” I asked.  She said, “I think so, it’s kind of hard to tell.  His eyes are all yellow and stuff, and he keeps coughing up blood.”  I walk to his room and find him crouched up in the corner.  “Hey Charlie, what’s up?” I ask.
            His body is shaking and trembling very badly, he’s probably in shock.  I look around his room and find a small medical bottle and some needles.  When I said he was smart, I meant that because he has a diploma in Chemistry.  I met him in college.  He’s always trying to find the new “perfect” drug.  Guess maybe he failed.
            I pick him up off the floor and lay him down on his bed.  “Come on man, speak.  What the hell did you take?” I ask.  He just continued to shake and tremble, I couldn’t even tell if he knew where he was.  His eyes had a shade of yellow in them, and bloodstains were around his mouth and chest.
            His stepsister, Loren, stepped into the room and asked, “Is he going to be alright?”  “I’ve seen Charlie in worse states than this,” was the only response I could think of.  Truth is I wasn’t sure if he was going to pull out of this one alive.
            After about thirty minutes, his body began to calm down.  He eventually closed his eyes and went to sleep.  He was going to leave, and he was going to have one hell of a hangover whenever he woke up.
            I went into the kitchen and got a beer.  Loren sat down at the kitchen table and said, “There’s some left over Mexican in the fridge if you want some.”  I shook my head and said, “I don’t eat anymore.  The drugs, sex, and rock n’ roll keep me fed.”  She smiled as if I was joking, but truth was, I really couldn’t remember when the last time I ate…besides the occasional roach.
            “You’ve still never told me what you do for a living.  I know you have money, I’ve seen the type of stuff you get from Charlie,” she said.  I sat down across from her and answered, “Ever think that maybe I don’t want you to know?”  Again, she smiled as if I were joking around.  I wasn’t.
            “Well?  Are you going to tell me?” she said with part of that smile still on her face.  “I’m a supernatural person with twisted personalities who works for the government by handling matters of the paranormal.”  She laughed really loud and hard.  “Damn man, I knew you had an imagination, being a poet an’ all.”
            I smiled, stupid girl.  “You know, I think having an imagination and creativity is sexy,” she said.  I grinned and said, “I bet you say that to all your brother’s clients.”  As if on cue, we started hearing Charlie cough.  He called out for Loren, and I said, “Go on, and check on him.”  She got up from her seat at the table and went to go see her brother.  I’ll be gone by the time she gets back.
            Damn this awful weather.  Rains like hell for a couple of hours, then it gets all hot.  I’m beginning to think that God has lost his grip or something.  So, what’s next on my to do list for the night?  Ah yes, I think one of the whores living in my apartment owes me a favor.

            The Music bangs really loud, the sound bounces off the walls with hard force.  Her nails dig into my flesh, but I love the pain.  She moans and screams, and I just grin and laugh.  I’m Teri on the floor of her apartment.  Music from the band SLIPKNOT is playing.  It’s almost completely dark in the room, except for some candles that she always lights.
            We finish after two hours.  God blessed me with stamina for pain and pleasure.  Maybe the only thing I think God for.  She’s lying on her couch, still naked, and smoking a joint.  I’m doing push ups in the center of the floor.
            “Damn baby, aren’t you worked out enough?” she says.  I laugh real insanely and respond, “No, not yet.”  The aggressive sounds of SLIPKNOT have stopped playing.  Teri says, “Hey, did you know DOMAIN is coming to town?”  When she said that, I stopped doing my push ups and just sat there on the floor.  I said, “No, I didn’t know…”
            Domain is a killer rock band, maybe one of the loudest and heaviest.  I even know the lead singer for the band, Michael Zilch.  We’ve crossed paths on several occasions, never on good terms.  Funny thing is, I can’t remember when I first met him, or why I have this uncertain anger towards him.  I use to think it was because of my job, and him being a bloodsucking vampire.  But something seems amiss.
            I give Teri a goodnight kiss and leave.  The wind blows through my hair and face as I ride my bike downtown.  I enjoy riding, gives me time to think about things.  I would say I’ve had a pretty good night all in all.
            As I get half way downtown, my pager starts to go off.  It’s Stephanie at the club.  I stop at a fast food restaurant and use one of their parking lot pay phones.  When I call, Stephanie picks up, but doesn’t say anything.  “I just love the way you say hello.” I said.
            “I thought I would warn you, there’s a guy coming in tomorrow morning to evaluate you,” she said, ignoring my joke.  “Because of my encounter with the priest?” I asked.  She said, “What do you think?”  “Just let him know I’m not much of a morning person.”
            “He already knows…he was hanging around the club for a minute, then he left.  Stayed just long enough to talk to me and pick up a hooker,” she responded.  “Ah, the pleasures of the flesh.  By the way, when was the last time you had…?”  She hung up the phone.  She just loves me, I know.
There wasn’t really anything left for me to do.  But I really didn’t feel like going back to my place.  I stopped back by the cemetery, but there were no more drunk annoying teenagers to pick on.  I thought about going to some club, but I really wasn’t in the mood.
So, I decided to go out and look for trouble.  Let the beast inside of me out.  I parked my bike in an alley and began to wander around the streets, looking for victims.  The hunt has always brought a sense of peaceful torture to my wrecked soul.
            I witnessed a pimp drag one of his whores behind a hotel.  A few seconds later, I heard a crashing noise and her scream.  He had broken open a beer bottle and was now attacking her with it.  I hid in the shadows like a disease waiting to be infected.            
            My growl came from shadows, which caused the pimp to stop his assault for a brief moment.  The whore lay on the ground, crying and bleeding.  “You have no hope of survival in my dark and twisted carnival.” I said.  I stepped out of the shadows, my eyes glowing yellow, my hands in the form of three sharp claws instead of fingers, and my teeth sharp like a vampire.
            “This isn’t Halloween, man,” the pimp said.  I laughed and responded, “To me, every day is Halloween.  Places I’ve been, horrors I’ve seen.”  The pimp rushed over towards me and tried to stab the broken beer bottle into me.  I grabbed him by his throat and slung him to the ground.  He got right back up and attempted to attack me again.
            When he came at me this time, I grabbed each of his arms and popped them out of their sockets.  He screamed with incredible pain.  I put took hold of his jaw and ripped it from his face.  He made a loud gurgling noise before he fell to the ground unconscious.  Was he dead?  I really didn’t care.
            The whore was hiding behind a trashcan, crying and watching with horror.  I quickly kicked the can away and picked her up.  I slung her against the hotel back wall and tore off most of her clothing.  I rapped her then and there.  She didn’t enjoy it, but I did.  Her body was covered and smeared with blood from her pimp’s attack.  Right before I came, she passed out.  I left both of them behind the hotel.
            Once I calmed down and the adrenaline stopped, my body returned to its “normal” form.  I returned to my apartment and shot up the rest of my heroine.  I fell asleep lying in the same spot I woke up in.  Life lost all meaning to me a long time ago; there was nothing for me to look forward to the next day, nothing to wake up to.

The Next Day
            There came a rapping, as if someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.  The knocking woke me from my slumber, which really pissed me off.  I stumbled up and made my way to the door.  I yelled, “If you want money, you can kiss my butt!”
            “Let me in, Ezekiel!” Stephanie yells from the other side.  I unlock the door and let her step inside.  “What the hell are you doing here?” I asked.  “Late last night there was a threat left at one of my clubs, a threat from Domain.  A threat from Michael Zilch,” she said.
            “What kind of threat?” I asked.  She reached under her long black coat and handed me a bloody piece of paper.  “It’s rat blood; the note was stabbed into a dead rat,” she said.  The bloody note said, “I’m coming for you, Ezekiel Leon.  I’m coming for you and your government.  I’m coming for you all.”  It was signed by Michael Zilch.
            I handed her the note back and said, “You call that a threat?  It’s practically nothing.”  Stephanie rolled her eyes and said, “You know anything that comes out of Zilch’s mouth is to be considered a threat.  You should know that of all people.”
            I lay back down on my spot on the floor where I was sleeping.  “If Michael wants to start something, let him.  I can handle anything he throws my way.  Until he makes a move, just don’t worry about it.  Let me take care of this.” I said.  “Go away, Ezekiel.  You’re just a drug addict who’s pissed off at the world.  You can’t handle a damn thing,” was her response.
            “Glad to know somebody in this world cares about me.  Don’t forget to lock the door on your way out.” I said.  She left, but didn’t bother to lock the door.  She just wanted me to get back up.  Michael Zilch didn’t threaten me.  He was just a messed up vampire, a leech upon society.  If push came to shove, I’m confident I could take him down.
            Night came, and with it, heavy rain.  For two hours I just stood at my apartment window looking out at the dreary city.  I thought about my plans for the night, but I had none.  It was going to be another boring night, except for the fact I was suppose to be evaluated on my performance with the priest.

Story of the Fallen Priesthood
            I could already tell that this night was going to be loads of fun.  The Church of United Way was a very big church.  A few years ago it was just a small gothic looking church, but then someone donated money to the church, and it was completely rebuilt.
            The priest of the church was Joseph Kane.  In the view of society’s blinded eyes, Joseph Kane was a perfect citizen.  He was a priest, helped out at charity functions, and helped with raising money for a newer and safer playground for the children.  But beyond his veil of goodness, lay a monster beyond any of their imaginations.
            One of his many believers and followers was a 14 -year old girl named Jessica.  She was a model Christian, even at her age.  She didn’t smoke, didn’t drink, didn’t have premarital relations, made straight A’s in school.  Yup, everything was good in her life.  Except for her high gullibility, especially from an overpowering priest like Joseph Kane.
            At first, it was just touching and feeling.  But it quickly moved onto something else.  Father Joseph Kane told the girl that he had to check her for demons, and that he could feel them in her flesh.  And the only way to get rid of demons in the flesh?  Push them out.
            Usually, the good priest did his unholy duty on Wednesday nights.  But Jessica had skipped her session with Joseph Kane.  Being the good man that he is, he went to Jessica’s house to check in on her.  She told him that she wasn’t feeling, that she was feeling sick to her stomach.
            Now was my time to interrupt.  I had been watching this case for the last two weeks.  And now I knew something, that Jessica was pregnant by the raping priest.  I also knew that when he found out, he wasn’t going to let his little secret get out into the public.  He would have killed her if he had the chance.
            Father Joseph Kane took Jessica up to her bedroom (her parents weren’t home).  He was planning on raping her again, no matter how sick she was feeling.  He laid her down on her bed and began to unbutton her shirt.
            Suddenly, the bed began to shake and rumble violently.  The priest jumped back and Jessica screamed.  The tried to leave, but the door was jammed shut.  I was under the bed, hiding like a diseased rat.  I tipped the bed over on its side, causing Jessica to roll over on the floor.
            I was in my beast form.  The adrenaline in my system had caused me to change over.  I had lost all my sense of reality and reason; I only thirsted for misery and pain.  I stood up and said, “The demons have come to reap your unholy soul, sir!”
            The priest reached into his pocket and pulled out a crucifix.  “May the light of God compel you!” he yelled.  I laughed, grabbed his hand, and broke every bone in it with my grip.  He screamed and fell to his knees.  “Such a pitiful man, you are Father.  I expected more from a child rapist.”
            He spit in my face, which only enraged me more.  I picked him up and dragged him over to Jessica.  “I want you to tell her the truth!  Tell her what you do is wrong!” I said.  He looked straight into Jessica’s eyes and said, “Do you not see the demon that laid within you!”  He was calling me a demon…how thoughtful of him.
            I tossed him through her bedroom window (her room was on the second floor).  I could hear some of his bones break when he hit the ground.  I leapt out of the window and landed near him, but I was unharmed by the fall.  I reached under my shirt and pulled out a large knife.
            “Damn you to Hell, demon!” the priest yelled.  I said, “What?  You’re calling me the demon?  You’re the one who’s a poor innocent child!  I am nothing more than your redeemer!”  “Redemption always comes at a price, bastard!” Father Joseph Kane yelled back.  I jumped on top of him and put the tip of my blade at his nose.  I laughed and said, “You are so very right!”
            I spent the next few minutes carving “I ABUSE KIDS” all over his body.  From the window above, I could see Jessica watching.  She was crying and holding on tight to a teddy bear.  Father Kane struggled under me, but I knocked him out to keep him from screaming so much.  I left right as the police pulled up.  They never saw me.
            When I came home that night, I used that same bloody knife to cut open my arms.  Somewhat of a ritual after my missions.  I cut deep enough to leave vicious scars, but I never die.  I’ll bleed all over the floor, but I never die.  Why?  I do not know…God’s little joke I guess.

            Stephanie’s club was booming tonight.  I changed clothes before I came, into a black ADIDAS shirt and black ADIDAS pants to match.  I still had white bandages wrapped around my arms, and the spiked dog collar is always a must.
            Down in the secret area of the club, I met up with Stephanie.  She was looking beautiful as ever.  “Mr. Evens is waiting for you in my office,” she told me.  I shrugged and walked to her office door.  I asked, “Are you joining us?”  “Normally I wouldn’t give a damn about you, but it’s required that I sit in on these little meetings,” she responded.
            I opened her office door and saw a tall skinny white guy sitting behind Stephanie’s desk.  “Sit down, Mr. Leon” he said.  He called me by my last name. I hate it when people call me by my last name.  I sat down and said, “I bet you had a good time last night, after picking up that hooker and all.”
            “We just talked,” he defensively responded.  I laughed and said, “Yeah, sure ya did.”  “We are not here tonight to discuss my behavior, we’re here to discuss your behavior,” he said.  “Which behavior?” I grinned.  I just now noticed that Stephanie was standing in the corner.
            Mr. Evans picked up a folder from the desk and opened it.  “Ezekiel Leon, age 23, born in New York City.  You are classified as a Doppelganger Level 2.  You are wanted for murder in the city of New York, for killing your own wife and daughter.”
            I didn’t say anything.  That brief memory of that moment flashed into my head.  Their blood on my hands and their screams still ring in my ears.  In the corner of my eye I could see Stephanie staring at me.  Maybe she expected me to burst into a sudden rush of rage and kill Mr. Evens.  That thought did cross my mind, but I restrained.
            “You were accepted into this organization after you took out a house of vampires.  Tell me about that, Mr. Leon,” he said.  I shook away the memory of my family and proceeded to answer him.  “A little over a year ago, I witnessed a vampire kill a little girl at a shopping mall.  My other form surfaced and I followed the vampire back to its house.  The house was three stories tall, a moment to darkness within itself.  The whole house was filled with a ‘family’ of vampires.  I took them all out.”
            “You’re a very dangerous creature, Mr. Leon,” he said.  I responded, “Yeah, and you’re really starting to piss me off by calling me ‘Mr. Leon’.  You don’t want to see me when I get angry.”  “I wouldn’t recommend threatening a higher officer,” he said.
            “Look in that damn little folder, I’m sure somewhere it will tell you that I don’t give a damn about this organization.  I’m only in this for the money and the fact I have nothing left to do.  So, if you give me a reason, I will rip off your head.  Make sense?” I said with red glowing eyes.
            “Let’s talk about your performance with the priest last week,” he moved on to a different subject.  Smart man.  “What about it?” I asked.  He said, “Your orders were to go to him and just threaten some sense into him, to make him see the light about his actions.”
            “Oh trust me, he’s seen the light now.  I doubt he’ll ever want to sleep with a minor again.” I said.  Stephanie looked down at the floor, something was wrong, I could tell.  “That priest went back and killed that girl,” he said.  Those words hit me like a sword through my stomach.  Was it because of my actions that the priest became enraged and killed her???
            I didn’t say anything.  I just sat there, looking down at the floor.  A roach crawled by my feet and I squashed it.  “You have new orders now, Ezekiel.  You are to find the priest, wherever he may be, and terminate him for his actions.”
            “You want me to kill a priest?  I thought that was against company rules?” I said.  “It is.  But as of yesterday, Mr. Joseph Kane was kicked out of the Priesthood.”  I smiled and said, “Goodie.”
            “I just have one more question, then you can go.  Do you think you can redeem yourself?” he said.  I looked straight into his eyes.  He was asking me if I was trying to redeem myself for my family’s murder.  I stood up and said, “Ashes Ashes, we al fall down.”  I left without saying anything else.
            Back upstairs in the club, Stephanie caught up with me.  “Where are you going?” she asked.  I said, “I have orders.  Why didn’t you tell me that the Joseph Kane killed little Jessica?”  “I didn’t think that you would care,” she responded.  I looked at her for a moment, but then I just left the club.
            I roared my bike down the streets.  Inside, I am filled with anger and misery.  I couldn’t get that question out of my head, was it because of me that Joseph Kane murdered Jessica?  Whatever the reason, I was going to find Joseph Kane and rip his lungs out.
         
            Late at night, there is a single bus heading out of town.  There are only two people on this bus, the driver and ex-priest Joseph Kane.  He has packed up and is leaving for a small town in Florida.  He is unaware of the vehicle that follows behind them.
            Loud music plays from the vehicle behind the bus.  A loud heavy music, so loud it causes the bus to vibrate a little bit.  Joseph Kane has always hated those punk kids who play their music so loud you can’t even hear yourself think.  He turns and looks out the back window.
            “Oh no,” he mumbles to himself when he sees me riding right behind them.  I grin at him, allowing my other form to take control of my body.  The monster in me has surfaced.  I leap from my bike and grab onto the back of the bus.  The driver slams onto the brakes and pulls over onto the side of the road.  I rip off the emergency exit door from the back and enter into the bus.
            “You again, demon!” Joseph Kane yells.  The bus driver reaches under the dash and pulls out a hidden gun.  “Why did you kill her?” I ask.  “She was going to tell everybody about what I did!” he yelled.  I grab him by his throat and lift him up off his feet.  “You’re an infection that needs to be cured, Joseph,” I said.
            The bus driver starts shooting me.  The force of the bullets causes me to drop Joseph Kane and stumble backwards a couple of steps.  Blood runs down the wounds.  I grab Joseph Kane again and rush out the emergency exit door, with the bus driver continuing to shoot at me.  Only one bullet manages to hit me this time, in the back of my right shoulder.
            I quickly run over to my bike, dragging Joseph Kane along with me.  I get on my bike and take off.  Down the road, I keep dragging Joseph Kane.  He screams and begs for me to stop as the cement scrapes his skin off.  He had used makeup to cover up my carvings, but now his blood and sweat was washing the make up off.
            I take a quick turn and sling him away.  He flies through the air and slams into a building wall.  I turn my bike around and charge it towards him.  As he stumbles back up to his feet, I hit him full force.  He blow knocks him into the air, where he does a couple of flips before landing back down on the ground.  I get off my back and walk over to his body.
            “I can still hear your breathing.” I said.  He rolls over, his entire body covered with blood.  I kneel down next to him and say, “Was it redemption that drove you to kill Jessica, or fear?”  “Redemption…?” he asked very softly.  A large piece of glass was stabbed into the side of his throat.  “Yes, Redemption.  Did you feel you had to justify your sins by killing her?  Try to erase what you did,” I said.  He mumbled out, “…Fe…ar…fear…”
            “But of course.  Fear that drives you to kill, to destroy, to conquer your demons, to run away from your sins.  I’m going to let you die now.” I said.  I use that piece of glass sticking his throat to completely slash open his neck.  He chokes to death on his own blood.
            Back at my apartment, I stumble through the door and collapse onto my couch.  I take off my shirt and look at the 4 bullet wounds in my body, plus one in the back of my right shoulder.  I slowly walk into my bathroom and find my pliers.  I use them to dig into the wound and pull out each of the bullets.  I do not scream from my pain, I wouldn’t want to wake the neighbors at this hour.
            After I’ve pulled out each of the bullets, I clean and bandage the wounds up.  I walk back into the living room and fall down onto the floor.  On a small table that sits near my couch, I can see my heroine.  I crawl over to it and smile to myself.  A brief relief from the misery, my escape.  I shoot up the heroine and daze off into Never-Never Land.
             
            I don’t wake up until two days later.  I stumble around my apartment, still dazed and confused from the drugs.  I check my e-mail and find a message from Mr. Evans congratulating me on my mission.  After every mission I complete, Stephanie is given $1000 in cash as pay for my service.  I smiled at the thought of payday.
            For the first time in a while, I actually took a shower.  I tried to wash away all the disease and filth from my body, but nothing could wash away my sins.  Not even God could help me now.  I got dressed, in normal black clothes, wrapped more bandages on my arms, and I went out onto the streets.
            I didn’t get on my bike, today I decided to walk.  I always feel kind of strange after I’ve killed someone.  When I say I, I mean this body.  I have no control over what the beast inside of me does.  I can only sit back and enjoy the show.  My supernatural strength and speed comes from that dark creature buried within my body, mind, and soul.
            Once again I find myself in Stephanie’s office, staring at her body, wanting the flesh that hides beneath her clothes.  She hands me a yellow envelope, inside it is $1000 cash, in hundred and twenty dollar bills.  “When is Jessica’s funeral?” I asked her.  I knew that she knew.  She knows everything in cases like this.
            “Tomorrow at three o’clock.  It will be at you’re favorite cemetery,” she said.  “The one near that old gothic church?  Cool,” I replied.  I stood up from my seat in her office and proceeded out the door, but right before I left, she said, “Try not to cause any trouble.”  I gave her the finger and left.

            Later that night, I happen to be near Clown’s Arcade.  It’s a popular hangout for freak teenagers.  I go in and play a few of the games, beating everybody who challenges me at any of the games.  I spend hours in this place, watching life flourish, watching teenagers go on about their lives.
            I step out back and light up a cigarette.  A few seconds later, I hear a girl scream from inside.  “What now?” I said.  I didn’t put out my cigarette, but kept it in as I went back inside to see what was wrong.  In the center of the arcade, the crowd seemed to be backing away.
            Michael Zilch was holding onto a girl, biting down into her neck and feeding.  He looked up, his eyes glowing green and his mouth smeared with blood, and he said, “Welcome to the party, pal.”  I rushed towards him with rage and anger.  Before I could attack, he revealed that he was holding a blade up to the girl’s neck.
            I stopped and said, “Do you really think I care about the life of some stupid girl?”  He laughed and said, “If you didn’t, then why did you stop?”  I lowered my head and let the beast inside of me surface.  My powers came with a sadistic rush; my body shifted and changes into the monstrosity that is my inner workings.
            Michael began stepping backwards to the door.  “What are you, chicken?” I asked.  He said, “No, not at all.  But I have bigger plans for you.”  He then started running with the girl still within his arms.  I raced after them, out of the arcade and into the streets.
            The girl screamed, trying to free herself from Michael’s grip.  I pursued them into an alley.  Michael stopped and said, “What if I just kill her?”  I replied, “Then I will rip you limb from limb.”  He laughed and threw her into a garbage dumpster.  I charged right into him.  We both went flying through the air until we slammed into a brick wall behind us.
            He laughed as I held onto him.  “Is that all you have, little demon?” he said.  I picked him up and slammed him down onto the ground.  I attempted to stomp on his head, but he grabbed my leg and slung me away.  He quickly got back up to his feet and was on top of me before I could do anything.  He stabbed his blade into my rib cage.
            I roared with anger and wrapped my hands around his neck.  With all my might I tried to choke him to death.  He mumbled out, “What are you doing? I’m already dead, I don’t need to breathe!”  He stabbed me again in my rib cage, but this time I couldn’t ignore the pain.  I let him go and back away from him.
            “Come on, I know you can do better than this!” he yelled.  I growled and said, “Go to Hell!”  I was bleeding very badly, but Michael was just standing there laughing.  I decided to make one more attack at him, to rip out his heart.  When I charged at him, he countered by slicing open my neck with his blade.
            I held my bloody hands around my own neck as I fell to my knees.  Suddenly, a light shined down the alley and a cop yelled “Stop it right there!”  Someone at the Arcade must have called the cops.  Michael ran straight for the cops.  They told him to stop again, but when he didn’t, they began shooting.  The bullets didn’t even stun Michael; he just jumped over their police cars and kept on running.
            An office came running up to me, he asked, “Hey man, are you alright?”  I looked up at him with my yellow glowing eyes and said, “Do I look alright?”  The office yelled, “Hey, call an ambulance! Quick!”  While he was looking away, I reached over and took his gun from its holster.  I shot him twice, a bullet in each leg.  He screamed and collapsed to the ground.  I got back up to my feet and started running for the brick wall.
            Bullets were shooting all around me from the cops.  I leapt up onto the tall brick wall and jumped over.  I ran through a few more alleys until I was finally back on the streets.  Somehow I managed to find my way home.  There was a party going on somewhere in the apartment building.  I made it to my apartment and collapsed on the floor, not really sure if I would still be alive when I awoke.