The Demon's Eye

Chapter 1

Into the night

I saw the dark in a mirror today,

I saw my eyes begin to fade,

Will the darkness take my place?

Will I even miss my face?

September 1999

San Francisco

When the double doors slammed open allowing the night breeze to whirl through,

the entire precinct fell silent. I felt a moment of amusement at the way each and every

officer suddenly felt the need to look anywhere but my direction. I couldn't be certain,

but I think they found me scary. Either that or I had suddenly become invisible.

Even in San Francisco I am considered an oddity. Not many women are six feet tall.

My unusual height combined with my strange looks made a case for my uniqueness. I

can honestly see why some find me unnerving. I look like something wild, out of

control.

My hair helps with the illusion, hanging to my waist in wild unmanageable, pitch

black curls. Sometimes I put it up in a ponytail, but even that is often too much trouble.

I’m not exactly the fashion conscious type. Jeans, tee-shirts and hiking boots are my

favorite attire. Occasionally I’ll dress up and put on a pair of leather pants rather than

jeans. What can I say? I like comfort more than being in style.

The strangest feature I have though, are my eyes. Have you ever seen the eyes of a

husky? If you have, then you’ve seen my eyes. I’ve been told once or twice that I’m

pretty, but the general consensus is that I am scary. I’ve learned to live with it, live with

it and enjoy it. That has become my motto in life. I’ll let you know how it works out.

It’s never a good thing for me to have to come down to the station. I tend to lose my

temper every time I’m here. It’s nothing personal, the Chief just really pisses me off. I

sometimes think that he was born to irritate me. Deity has a funny sense of humor.

Apparently I’m a cosmic joke.

The sigh of relief as I made my way to the Chief’s door was almost palatable. If I

hadn’t been pissed off, I’d have laughed. I’ve always had the urge to turn around and

yell “Boo” at the poor officers. So far I’ve managed to resist the urge. Some day though,

I’ll have to be childish and give in, just to see what they would do.

The man in question was currently trying to hide his massive bulk behind the desk

with the small brass plate which proclaimed him to be Chief James O’Rielly. Frankly, I

had other names for him. Asshole, jerk, all around bastard. Yeah those names described

him better. Like I said, he pisses me off. We’ve pretty much hated each other from day

one.

“Why Talia! What brings you here?” He asked in a sickeningly polite tone, it made

me want to gag.

Like he didn’t know why I was here. I was so not in the mood for games tonight. I

glared at his pasty white face. The reddened eyes and the broken blood vessels around

his nose were clues that the chief had a big problem with booze. Whether it’s past or

present I neither know nor have any desire to know.

“Cut the shit, you know exactly why I’m here,” I replied bluntly. People who say that

you attract more flies with honey than vinegar have never had to deal with a true

dislike, if not flat out hatred.

O'Rielly started to sweat, filling the already sour air with yet another foul odor to

assault my nose. This place was completely disgusting.

“Give me a break, Talia. I can’t release them this time. They were out in the North

Cemetery with all those damned guns, right in front of citizens! Your team has to obey

the laws too. I can’t let you guys go around firing left and right in front of civilians,” he

said, his eyes flickering between the door and my face. His nervousness alone sent my

adrenaline pumping.

Not for the first time, I found myself aching to explain to him that the scent of fear

could drive a werewolf into a rage. Luckily for him, I have better control than that. Had

he been showing this much fear, in front of a less controlled werewolf or a vamp for that

matter, he'd be killed. Or worse.

Sitting myself on the edge of his desk I glanced around. Most desks have pictures

and such on them. Not his though, all that the desk held was a small crystal dragon

paperweight which I picked up. It really was a lovely piece.

“Very nice, is this new?” I asked, like I didn’t know damn well that it was new.

“Yes it is, and I’m rather attached to it,” he snapped. No doubt worried that I would

throw it at him.

I laughed and sat it down; the last time I was here I had destroyed his office. Come

to think of it, that could be why there’s nothing on the desk. Or maybe he just decided

that personal effects cluttered up his office. Either way, the office looked rather sad, sort

of like the man himself. In spite of my anger, I couldn't help but notice that O'Rielly

looked tired. He was still his normal immaculate self, but his eyes showed just how tired

he really was.

I stood and started to pace, I can never seem to keep my temper in check around

this man. If it wouldn’t be a violation of my vow to protect human life, I’d just choke the

hell out of him. It would certainly save me a lot of trouble in the long run and it would

be oh so satisfying.

“I want you to know that I don’t like fighting with you. It’s a waste of time as we’re

both on the same side. The criminals you capture can be kept behind bars, but the

nightmares that I go after cannot. It would be like you thinking you could keep me

behind bars…I think you recall how well that worked out.” I paused and took a deep

breath, for someone who rarely strung five sentences together, I was on a roll.

“I will not play games with you, James. I want my men back. We do a service for

you, one that you can‘t do yourself. If we stop, the body count will pile higher and

higher. Is that what you want to happen?” I asked.

His face turned an interesting shade of purple; he looked as if he were going to pop

a blood vessel.

“Of course not, damn it! I want my city back to normal, no more vampires, ghouls

and whatever the hell else you’ve been killing,” he shouted, “Too many bodies pile up

with you around, Talia, and those are just the ones I know about. I’d be willing to bet

that you don’t even know what your true kill count is.”

I’d like to see him remember a kill count spanning over nine hundred years. So

maybe he had a point, that didn’t mean I had to like it or be graceful about it.

I nodded and sat back down on his desk swinging my leg, why couldn’t he see that I

was not the enemy here? It should have been obvious to him that I was on his side.

“You’re right, O'Rielly. I don’t know how many kills I have, but I can say that I have

not one single human kill to my credit. And if you mean what you said about getting this

town back to normal, well then we have the same goal. This is what we are working

towards, but I can’t do my job if you keep trying to arrest us. Those bodies you are

talking about had been responsible for the deaths of humans. You just aren’t equipped

to deal with these creatures,” I said patiently.

He glared at me and snapped, “Don’t feed me that bullshit, Talia. You’re one of

them, whatever ‘them’ are. Look at what happened the last time you were here. No

human has that kind of strength. I know you aren’t human, you are something else. I

just don’t know what that is yet.”

There comes a time when even the patience of a saint wears out, and I am no saint.

I lunged at him grabbing him by the throat.

“You listen to me, you pathetic, sorry, excuse for a man. I am not like them! I never

said I was human, but I’m not like the ones I kill. I seek to protect human life. If I

wanted you dead, you’d already be dead.

“Haven’t you figured out yet that you really couldn’t stop me if I was set on killing

you?” I asked.

I slowly released him then leaned close enough to kiss him, had I been out of my

mind and so inclined.

“Now, turn my team loose so we can continue to save your sorry ass,” I spat, leaving

no doubt that it was an order, not a request.

His eyes locked onto mine, deep in the gray depths I could see fear and a tiredness

that seemed to run to his very bones. A twinge of guilt eased through me. Never before

had I considered just how rough things were on this man. Not just him, but all humans.

When we became legal citizens they'd gone from the top of the food chain to sheep.

Clearing my throat uneasily, I wondered how to handle the knowledge. It wasn't like

it was my fault that all this had happened. I was doing my best to protect them from

creatures like me. I frowned; things would be easier if I didn't have to acknowledge that

maybe just maybe he had things worse than me.

“Look,” I said, “I don't mean to be so hard on you. I really don't. My team and I are

out there every night, risking our lives to keep mankind safe. It puts me on edge when

we keep getting arrested for trying to save you. I'm not human, I never have been, but

that doesn't mean that I think of humans as expendable.”

A frown creased his face, finally he sighed and lifted the receiver on his phone and

then paused. “When I was a kid I always thought the monsters only lived in fairy tales,

you know?”

“I know, Chief,” I whispered.

“Now that they aren’t in books anymore, it’s just too much. I’m 46 years old and I

look under my bed before going to sleep for Christ’s sake. The dark terrifies me more

now than it did when I was a kid” he muttered.

I sighed. “Everyone in this town is afraid of the dark these days, except my crew and

me.”

“Why aren’t you afraid? How can you not be afraid of these monsters when you face

them more often than we do? My God, there’s only five of you yet you take on monsters

that would have the rest of us crying for our mommies. How can you not fear them?” He

asked. He looked strangely vulnerable, making it hard for me to hold on to my anger.

“Because” I muttered,” We are the darkness, and the darkness fears nothing.”

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