“Here we are, in three…..two…. and one.” Cooper turned into Jackie, they pressed their lips together, holding it there as the medley of: amber, yellow and red of the setting sun was swallowed up by the navy blue of the encroaching night. Cooper caught Jackie off guard, as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pushed her into the wooden fence, the couple where located at their front porch. This was one of their many rituals; something that you do when you are madly in love with that special someone, their union was fresh into its fifth year.
“Okay, down boy.” Jackie chuckled, slapping her slender hand on Cooper’s pectorals, trying to push herself off of him. She smiled and gave him one final kiss. Cooper pulled her back, he tightened his hold on her and they let the time tick on for a bit.
“So what is on the schedule?” Cooper asked, trying to cool down, he studied Jackie, she was a slender framed African American girl, topping out at 5’4. In contrast, Cooper was around 6’1, Caucasian and a strong build. They are the prototypical couple.
“Well…” Jackie adjusted, the wheels turning, as she gathered her thoughts “I was going to start off with a quick jog and grab us something to eat, then I thought we can catch up on True Blood.” Jackie finished with a smirk; Cooper rolled his eyes at the proposal. “We’ll find something else. “ Jackie nudged into her husband, they exchanged playful smiles.
Just then a low buzz, echoed out from Cooper’s pocket, he fished out his smart phone and checked the screen, giving off a frustrated and anxious grunt through his teeth. “Captain Bradley.” Jackie gave Cooper a little space. Cooper pressed on the pulsing red phone icon. “Agent Drake, yes Chief?” “Alright, I’ll be there in fifteen.” He clicked off the phone and slid it back into his pocket. “Sorry, they need me, a situation at the...” Cooper was unable to finish, he suddenly felt a silky soft hand caress his stubbly facial hair, looking down, and it was Jackie. They stared at each other, with blue eyes, a trait they both had in common, giving a quick reassuring kiss.
Moments pass, Cooper was at the helm of his metallic gray sports car. He was making his way towards the outskirts of the eastern part of Santa Fe, the heartbeat of New Mexico itself. A sleek, modern little square of a building came into view. The building was Santa Fe’s First, the local bank, in front of it was a collection of police, reporters and a few on lookers. Pulling off to the side and parking, Cooper exited his car and zipped up his silver track top over his tactical vest and under shirt. Spending a few seconds to get adjusted, checking his side arm, to see if it was all good. He locked his car down and draped his necklace that held his badge over himself and joined the fray.
He quickly found Captain Bradley, who was at the epicenter, coordinating with officers and forensic workers and trying to make a cushion of comfort between them and the hounding press. Bradley’s jolly natured synced perfectly with his outer appearance. He was round and stocky. Gray at his temples, wrapped up in a brown overcoat. Bradley caught Cooper as he ended his approach.
“Special Agent Drake, Sorry to call you out here, but I need every available person on this.” Bradley opened with, they shook hands.
“It’s fine captain, what’s the situation?” Cooper asked, studying the outside of the Bank as best as he could, He watched the control commotion as it carried out.
“Seven dead, four unaccounted for.” Bradley stated.
“How many gallons did they make off with?” Cooper asked as he turned to look back at Bradley with full attention. The Captain gave a short sigh and then shook his head.
“None.”
Cooper gave him a perplexed looked, coupled with a raised eyebrow. The Captain carried on with the debriefing. “As far as we can tell, theft was not the goal….well not in the obvious sense.” The two men made their way into Santa Fe’s first, walking through the entrance lobby past the large mechanized vault doors, into the vault. It wasn’t a vault in a traditional sense; it was more like a laboratory. Extremely clinical, sterile, the walls and floor, nothing but white. A couple work stations in the front, several carts, filled to the brim with vials. In the corner, two medium sized vats, something near the size of stoves, were still running, churning large amounts of blood, synthetic blood. Huddled in the middle, a pile of corpses, freshly dead, but the smell was already getting to Cooper, his nose twitched a little. He tried to shake it off and put his focus at the scene at hand.
“The techs and the human guards were quickly dispatched, large puncture wounds in the chest cavities, the blades were serrated, and they rammed deep enough to make sure they weren’t getting back up. The vampiric guards on the other hand…”
“Missing.” Copper finished the captain’s statement. Cooper took a tour around the area, taking stock of every detail he could spot. The blood splatters in different locations; the personnel were killed elsewhere and displayed in the middle. A few shells on the ground, the guards got off a couple shots, didn’t help and their weapons are gone. “Has any Anti Unification group claimed responsibility yet?” Cooper turned to Bradley.
“No, besides this is too damn fancy for them anyway. Not a single hint of a clue, no clear motive, yet they wanted us to know something. “The captain motioned to the body pile with his head. Cooper turned his gaze back at the pile, folding is arms across his chest, dozens of thoughts raced about in his head as he dug his tooth into his lip.
At the same moment, miles away, rests a cave that is hidden deep in a rocky crevasse. Going further down the cave, rests a strange, unnatural metal wall. Suddenly the wall shot up, phasing slowly into existence a hulking humanoid creature stepped inside. The wall slid back into place, lights started flickering on, revealing the cave had been converted into a make shift lair. Various machines of alien design were embedded in the rock. The creature stood still for a few seconds, making sure everything had a chance to turn on, faint gurgling and clicking could be heard under its mask. Its skin was a mixture of pale beige and dingy grayish black, very reptilian like; it’s almost bare body was reinforced by a couple pieces of armor. Long hair like appendages hung from its head. Using its clawed fingers, the creature clicked on a few buttons on the wall and another door opened. This new room was close to something like a trophy room, one side, a row of ornate pedestals, holding the skeletal remains of severed heads on them, running across the opposite wall hung a few bladed and spear like weapons and situated right in the middle a large cage, that held captive, the subdued vampire security officers. The door closed behind the creature.
Log in to comment