...Of Dark Places, (open to all)

[Isaac Hazard]

This wasn't his usual gig.

Staked out on a street corner waiting for his client to call wasn't part of his usual method. As the moon began to rise and the city slowly but surely turned into a darker and more forbidden place then it was during the day, Isaac gave a last drag on the stubby cigar and tossed it into a nearby bin. He'd sworn off smoking when he'd gotten married...fat lot of good that did him.

The street light above buzzed, threatened to come on then sparked and fizzled, leaving the space near Hazard dark and still colder then when he'd found it. A cop car pulled by, using it’s spot light on the private eye, then moving on to the rest of it’s beat. He felt a tinge of remorse for not staying with the police, but he’d more usefulness outside traditional law enforcement, here he could do more then flash a badge and arrest miscreants.

The client had called, begging him to help. His daughter had run away, and the police wouldn’t or couldn’t do much to help. He’d promise to meet with Hazard for more details…Yet here he sat, at the designated spot, with only the cold breeze and the quiet city as his companions. A bum with stained fingers, and blood shot eyes staggered past, eyeing the P.I. coolly, and then moving on, not wanting to start trouble. Hazard quickly surmised that the bench was the old man’s sleeping spot, and stood to give him the spot back.

“It’s all yours old man, guess my dates not comin’.” He mused aloud, turning to head back for his car.

He had taken a dozen paces or so, wondering about the whereabouts of the man who’d called him so urgently, when he came upon an unusual spot of liquid staining the ground in front of him. It was unusual, mostly because blood was typically found inside a person, not sprawled on the street. He knelt, following the path of the fresh blood with his eyes into the alleyway beyond. Shadows lay in the direction of the back alley giving Isaac pause.

He stood and sighed, calculating in his mind what the profit was from going after bleeding things in the dark. The last time he’d done it, there was a body, paperwork, and hours of time uncompensated.

With gun drawn, he began the slow venture down the alleyway. He turned on his flashlight a second later, scaring away a stray cat, who hissed and jumped onto a nearby landing. Isaac took a deep breath, carefully continuing on, following the drips of blood.

[Eleanor Rolf]

Eleanor blinked slightly as blood dripped down onto her face. She could hear the vampire clambering up the fire escape, victim in tow.

“Fucker,” she muttered wiping the blood as best she could from her face. It was Sonny. This was the first time she ever spoke to the boogeyman and for some reason, she let him slip away. He thought he was so damn clever, stalling her until the vic died in his clutches. There was no reason for her to attack then, right? The man was dead and couldn’t be saved.

In all honesty. Eleanor could care less if the man died or not. One life for the greater good, right? She had gotten a nose full of Sonny; she felt a flutter in her stomach as her adrenaline picked up. Now she could track him. She’d wait till morning. Rumors were, he wasn’t seen out and about as much as he usually was. The festering infection she smelled would more than likely be the cause.

Taking a step back she could see him on the roof now, peering down at her. He was more than likely curious as to why she didn’t give chase. Was he luring her after him? Eleanor wasn’t that stupid. Yeah, in the woods, in her element, she’d crush the sick bastard. But this was the city, this was his playground. Lord knows what sort of traps he has hidden here and there.

That wasn’t why she was in the city anyway. She was tracking another on the Pack’s most wanted list. Tennessee Everett. That mongrel really did find his way to Aldenville, and he was squatting, and taking his time. If Frederick wasn’t going to look for him, she would. She didn’t need any orders. She was the scout, right? She dared the alpha to reprimand her…

Movement at the other end of the alley caught her attention. It was a man, and he was following a trail of blood right to her. Wasn’t that lovely? All that blood and no body to show for it, that’d raise an eyebrow or two. Unless he was a vampire, looking to share a meal. Stepping in his direction she caught his scent. Human. A sharp sting to her nose let her know he had a gun.

Pulling her hands from her jacket she stepped toward him. Only then did she realize how much she looked out of place. Downtown Aldenville, in the middle of the night? She stuck out like a sore thumb. The attire for stalking vampires into dark alleys wasn’t exactly business casual.

“Don’t shoot,” she said softly, raising her hands slightly. Now she could make out his face. She’d seen it on the news before. Had he not been connected to something public and supernatural, she wouldn’t even remember. John Alden had come to Frederick shitting bricks about the whole thing. Yeah, this was that S.W.A.T. guy. That was pretty much all she knew about him. A supernatural blip on her radar here and there would seem coincidentally close to him, like now but nothing caught her attention enough to investigate.

[Isaac Hazard]

"Don't shoot..."

The words themselves hit Isaac's ears as strange sounding. Especially when he considered the attire of the woman he now confronted. This was no back alley hooker on a bender, no crack addicted fiend staggering in the dark. This woman would have fit in at any high powered law office in the greater Aldenville area. He didn't know what she was, but he was sure she wasn't quite what she seemed.

"Don't want to," Isaac said as he scanned the scene for a moment, and continued his approach. She had been looking up when he spotted her in the glare of the flashlight, and now the red liquid trickled down her face as if she'd been in a macabre shower. He kept the M1911 trained on her, coming within about 10 meters then halting. He held the flash light keeping it's light trained upon her, but just out of her eyes, no need to blind her...yet.

"Let me see, you tripped and fell into a dark alley where there just happened to be a blood trail, no wounds on you, and no body to be found?" Isaac said as he tried to figure the score. "Or maybe you were feeding and your partner is up there with the body...waiting to pounce on me." He said keeping his eyes fixed on her.

"How about you put your hands where I can see them, then maybe we talk? Don't worry I'm not the police...well...not anymore." Isaac said plainly with a dead pan glare that showed he meant business.

[Eleanor Rolf]

”Shit,” she thought inwardly. He might as well have shot her. She felt like he’d taken a lead pipe to her gut. Frederick was going to have her ass. Not only was she doing unauthorized scouting downtown, she’d happened to get caught, red-faced, tracking a vampire.

There weren’t any moments for hesitation. She had to think of a back story, quick, without fucking it up. The blood on her face? Easily explained… hopefully. But now she had to act. Her face screwed up into confusion and her eyes squinted against the flash light.

”Uh… nosebleed actually,” she started, her brain reeling with calculations. How fast could she run? Would he remember her face? Could she get away without getting shot? ”Some bastard sucker punched me and ran off into the alley.” She didn’t know if he was buying it. She couldn’t really see him behind the flashlight’s glare. She could only see his form, and he wasn’t letting that gun down any. If she had to convince him, she needed to believe her story. She had to believe she was this person she was making up.

”They don’t really teach those situations in self-defense classes,” she said, allowing her voice to be slightly amused. Yeah, she had to pretend she wasn’t scared. She had no reason to be, right? ”Especially when the guy disappears into thin air,” letting her words hang she let her hand brush blood from her face, then tenderly down the bridge of her nose. After her lying and acting she raised her hands even higher.

This guy meant business.

”Now I’m being held at gunpoint by some yahoo…” she muttered, loud enough for him to hear, but obviously to herself. Oh Lord, she was going to get shot. And he was telling her not to worry. Pftt.

[Isaac Hazard]

"Nose bleed huh? You know most muggers usually take something when they sucker punch you. Then sometimes they just shoot you and let the morgue settle the rest." He said with a sigh. He didn't believe her story, but it was obvious he wasn't gonna get the truth with a gun at least not from her.

"Alright you can drop your hands. I apologize if I was being a rude, it isn't smart to be downtown after dark without being armed, specially on certain nights." He said lowering the gun but not holstering it. "Come to think of it isn't exactly a smart to run after 'some guy' who just punched you either."

"Names Hazard, Isaac Hazard. I was supposed to meet a client back on 33rd, then I saw the blood on the sidewalk back there and being an upstanding citizen and all..." He said as he lowered the flash light some. "So you' have a name Ms. 'Wrong Place Wrong Time?', then maybe you could explain whats really happening here?", He asked as He allowed her eyes to adjust to the lower light level.

She was pretty, way to pretty to be out alone, without even as much as a friend or date. In fact she reminded him a little of his ex-wife, but then so did any woman in a back alley acting strange. In a city like this one, people like her didn't hang out in dark places without a real reason.

[Eleanor Rolf]

”Well, I mean, he did take my purse,” Eleanor said as if it were completely obvious. Though, a roll of her eyes showed him a hint of her defeat. Was she caught, or did she need to do more convincing? She was losing her touch. Her being robbed should’ve been the first thing out of her mouth.

She lowered her hands, but the fact that he kept his gun at the ready didn’t ease her fear completely.

”Ms.Rolf,” she answered. ”Eleanor Rolf.” A fake name wouldn’t do. Names were her pitfall. He’d check it out and no flags would be raised. There really wasn’t a reason for her to make one up. To get out of this situation, she was going to have to talk. Eyeing the gun she wondered how manipulative she could get with her words before it went off.

”What do you want to know?” she asked, her voice sounding more businesslike than out-of-place-yuppie. Now that the light was lower she could see him properly. Now she could read him, or attempt to. She could feel curiosity creeping up on her. He was supposed to be meeting a… client. He carries a gun. He also accused her of being a vampire.

Eleanor hit the jack pot. Wrong place, wrong time didn’t even begin to describe her situation.

[Isaac Hazard]

"Well for starters Ms. Rolf, I'd like to know the truth, as plain as you can make it." He took a step forward. "I'm trying to decide if your a bad liar, or something a lot worse." He said sarcastically. Isaac gave her a quick glance then holstered his gun. She was lying, but she wasn't 'a liar'. She knew something.

"Listen, I don't know what your doing, but I'm guessing it ain't your cover story, it needs more work. You wanna run around dark alleys be my guest." He said dismissively as he turned to leave. There was an odd sense to this one, like an animal that had been cornered...he was sure there was more to her and her story.

"I'm about five minutes from drinking some midnight coffee..." He said as he turned off the flashlight, "and I don't make it habit to hold up strange ladies in dark alleys. So you go about whatever it is your doing." He turned back for just a second. He withdrew a small white business card from his pocket, and placed it on the ground. "Oh, In case you change your mind, my numbers on the back. There's a lot of weird things happening in this city, I'm just trying to connect the dots. You feel like giving me your little piece of the puzzle...call."

He turned back again only to hear another loud noise coming from a nearby roof top. This one was almost a growl, a low guttural tone that curdled the blood. Something was still nearby, and Isaac could tell that it wasn't happy.

[Eleanor Rolf]

A bad liar or worse? Eleanor quirked an eyebrow. He’d be surprised. Or maybe he wouldn’t be. Not just anyone follows a supposed vampire into the darkness. The fact that he pinned her as a vampire nearly made her giggle. Only then did she realize that it wasn’t uncommon for the rogues of Aldenville to chomp on a human or two. Inwardly she frowned. Damn she hated the city.

She also hated the fact that she was too shocked, scared, and out of practice to fool the investigator. It had been a while since she lied so blatantly. Even then it was usually to some horny rogue in some bumfuck town that really didn’t care what she really had to say. Polygraphs were one thing, and actual police officer was something different entirely.

But he wasn’t a cop… Not anymore.

“Private Investigator,” she read the card quietly to herself. The hairs on her neck calmed and she made a move to leave the alley, in the opposite direction. A low growl, however put a pause on her movement. Normally she’d leave, backtrack and stalk whatever decided to stalk the man. A tussle and a snap of the neck would end that problem quickly. Only an inexperienced vampire would alert them of their position. She was sure they’d be able to tell what Ele was. Maybe that was the cause of the growl. Her mind was racing far too much to pay attention.

Her Pack instincts told her to protect the man from whatever pissed creature that laid eyes upon them. Leading the beast away, if its attentions were on her, wasn’t really guaranteeing that Mr. Hazzard was safe.

”Actually,” she said, her eyes alert and waiting. Walking toward him she stole a glance upward. Nothing. She couldn’t see anything. ”I wouldn’t mind an armed escort to somewhere safer.”

Placing her hands in her pockets once more she hesitated, unsure if he would take the bait.

”If you don’t mind, that is.”

[Isaac Hazard]

Isaac turned back to the woman, who seemed to be more aware of what was out there then he was. He had more then half a mind to continue on his own, and have her go her own way. He wasn't responsible for her safety, and for all he knew it was a setup, something that she'd planned. It wasn't a sense of honor or duty that made him nod and say, "My car is this way." It was something else something unsaid, and unfamiliar.

He kept the woman close, or was it that she kept him close? Either way he never removed his hand completely from the gun, and kept one step in front of the other, counting the steps back to the sidewalk. He kept wanting to speak, but there was something in this woman's eyes that kept him from saying anything other than "Over there..." when he spotted his ride. He was almost convinced that something was above them in the roof tops. Once he almost thought he heard a muffled sniff, but it could have been his foot grazing sand, or any of a thousand strange sounds in a back alleyway.

His car was a reflection of himself, a dented 75' Ford Torino, as the exterior was a burnt red with numerous nicks and scars. The interior was plush, original leather with new fixtures, complete with an off market police scanner. He unlocked the other door, batted away an empty chinese food box, along with a case list a mile long onto the floor and turned to place the key in the ignition. The car began with a low groan, and Isaac leaned over to invite her in.

"It's not a exactly a chariot, but it's away from here." He said with forced grin. He wasn't sure how comfortable a woman dressed like she was would be in a beater. Then again this was a woman who seemed at ease with the traces of blood still on her cheek, and who than came up with seamless lies to cover herself.

As she sat down, and Isaac pulled away from the curb, he felt eyes following him. "So how long have you lived in Aldenville? I mean you don't seem like your new in town." He said as he pulled to a stop near a blinking red light.

[Eleanor Rolf]

”Gets you from point A to point B, right?,” Eleanor shrugged as she slid into the passenger seat and closed the door behind her. A stiff sneeze shook her as her nose readjusted to the smells of his car. God, did he live in the thing? It was rare that Ele went in any type of cramped quarters that didn’t belong to her. Her car was clean, and devoid of foreign scents. Issac’s car? It had… character, and it said plenty about him.

”I’m not,” she said stealing a glance upward now that they were stopped. Straightening her posture and ending her lean toward the window she looked at Issac. ”I was born and raised in Aldenville,” she continued.

Eleanor needed a plan. She had no idea where he would take her, or drop her off. Hell, she didn’t even know if he would drop her off. Maybe he’d try to interrogate her, kill her… She wouldn’t fret over that. Not yet at least. She was faster, and more alert. If he drove with his gun in hand or on the dash, however, she’d be a little more on edge.

”Not much of a city girl though,” she said, her tone obviously one reserved for chitchat. Her hand idly folded his business card in between her fingers. Was he an investigator and vigilante on the side? She felt stupid for letting him slip by her. She should’ve known who he was, and his entire life story. He accused her of feeding on someone for crying out loud.

She wished she could read him. But it was so hard when she was on the verge of panicking. She also had to wonder if being in his company would kill him or save him. She needed to know. She needed to know what he knew before she could make an educated decision. Was Frederick the only one who could invite vigilantes into their own little world of supernatural enlightenment?

She could very easily make an ally or something incredibly worse. The intense stare she found herself giving him was broken and she leaned to the window again to scout the area. It wasn’t polite to stare, and he could perceive it as aggression. The last thing she needed him to think was that she was plotting against him. If anything crazy happened, she’d be able to break the door off if she had to.

”So,” she cautiously prompted, ”why would you accuse me of something like that? That whole feeding and partner ready to pounce thing?” Yeesh, she sounded like a teenager. Her father would cringe if he heard the sequence of words that just spewed from her mouth.

[Isaac Hazard]

As Isaac drove he could feel the woman's mind running a mile a minute yet she wasn't saying much. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she was pensive about something...worried more likely. Truth was Isaac was struggling with his own troubling questions. Why had he allowed this person into his car? He had no way of knowing if she was one of... 'them', and yet here he was...a total sap to her request for an escort.

As he turned the corner of 1st Avenue and Elm, her words caught him mentally unprepared.

"I was born and raised in Aldenville."

"No kidding?" He said with plain poker face. "I had you pegged as a home-towner, something about the accent." He said realizing how totally inane his reasoning sounded a moment after he said it. Aldenville had about as much in the way of accents as it did opera houses...precisely none.

As she began an awkward stare Isaac had the sensation of being sized up like a packed lunch. Any moment he expect claws and gore and him powerless to stop it. He looked over to where he'd placed his gun...just underneath the center counsel...a minute distance that now seemed like a mile given his possible passenger if what he'd read in those books were true-

”So,” she cautiously prompted, ”why would you accuse me of something like that? That whole feeding and partner ready to pounce thing?”

His heart almost audibly skipped a beat. He played out a scenario in his head where he told her what he thought she was, and what he believed was really going in the City.

Reaction #1- Raucous laughter and a joke about his sanity...

Reaction #2- A serious silence, then she eviscerated him for finding her out...

Reaction #3- Stone silence, and her asking him to let her off at the next light, followed by men in white coats showing up at his office.

Reaction #4.....

"Screw it..." he said deciding to just be honest. He had to tell someone, and she was as likely to never see him again after the car ride anyways. What would it matter if she thought he was insane.

"I thought you might have been a vampire...or something else...something worse." He said plainly. "I know...it sounds insane. That's what my lawyers been saying for a while now. 'Work related mental break' he called it." He said dismissively.

"I've seen things...things in my investigations...injuries, cuts, gashes. The kind of thing the department and the police cover up when things go bad. No one would believe me, but every day I get calls from people who find thier loved ones missing, or little Johnny shows up with bite marks that no one saw before. Last week this thing...attacked a baglady in the park. I shouted, gave it a warning, than fired...the thing took all 9 bullets and turned around and ran off. It looked like a man...but his face-" He said relating just a small part of one of his cases as the car rounded another bend closer to it's destination.

"Then there is this...", He grabbed a small photo from the side pocket of the car, and handed it to the lady. It was a fairly clear picture of a man looking less like a man and more like a bear...there was hair coming from his eyebrows and his entire body, and his shirt had been in the process of splitting open in the photograph. "Took it while on stakeout for a man who was sneaking off at night from his wife. She hired me to follow him, and he gets to this spot where I can't see him, so I take the photo just as the lightning flashed and scram before he sees me...does that look like a man out for a fling to you?" He asked almost jokingly.

"There is something happening in this place, and the cops know it...either they're too scared to do anything, or they're part of it-" He looked over at the woman wondering if she thought him to be a complete loon. "Well...you asked why." He said stoically.

[Eleanor Rolf]

Her eyes focused on him as he prepared to spill his guts. She kept her face impartial, not willing to give herself away.

“Work related mental break, huh?” Eleanor said quietly as she faced the window. When he handed her a photograph her brow knitted and her stomach flipped. It was someone well within the throes of a transformation. She had to admit, this Hazard guy had balls. This whole situation was throwing Ele deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole. Now she had to decide whether she’d pull this investigator in with her.

“Not my kind of fling,” she muttered, forcing herself to keep conversation going in the car. Silence would only make her think more. A small voice way in the dark recesses of her mind told her to kill. It said, “kill this man, right now.” That’s what her father would’ve done. Her brother would’ve definitely done it. It’s not like anyone would know right? Frederick wouldn’t even suspect.

“I did ask why,” she agreed with a slight nod. No… she couldn’t kill him. The guilt would be the end of her. But if he continued on the path he was going, he was going to find a gruesome end sooner or later.

”This kind of makes me wonder how good you are at keeping a secret…” letting her eyes slide away from the photograph she looked back to Isaac. ”Especially when your job is to tell them.” It’s obvious that she wants to tell him something, but the infinite resulting possibilities are something to be afraid of.

[Isaac Hazard]

"We'll for starters it depends on the secret," He said trying answer as succintly as he could. He wasn't sure where to begin with her answer, did that mean she was going to share a secret? Or that she was going to have to silence him for even talking about the taboo subject. "It's not as if I could walk into a local news office and shout...'I've seen the wolfman!'. Not only does that scenario end up with me in a quiet little cell, but won't exactly keep customers at my door if I come off sounding like a lunatic."

He said flippantly as they pulled into a parking space near a small quiet area in near the office district. "This is it...Calahan's, best cup of coffee-" He paused realizing that everyone said that. "-in two blocks." He ended simply. The shop adjacent was a run down coffee shop with only an old man behind the counter visible from the street. He waved as he saw Isaac pull up. the sign above the door said "Calahan's Brew" with a sword and shield emblem above it.

"You know for someone who doesn't know what I'm talking about you sure seem pretty non-chalant. I mean someone might say you know more then you're letting on." He said as he shut the car down, grabbed the holster, and got out without hesitation. He shut his door, and opened hers, carefully making sure that there were no observers. It was possible he was being tailed, but if 'they' were out there, 'they' weren't giving themselves away...if there even was a 'they'.

The door to the old joint swung open with ease, making a bell above the door chime. The place was quiet accept for the old man behind the counter smiled as he recognized Hazard wasn't alone. "Ah Isaac, you bring people into my store...grazi! Bless you!" The man said with a strong italian accent. Hazard smiled back, "Bruno meet Eleanor, she's a...just someone I met." He said trying hard not to say what he suspected. "Can we get two coffee's...and I'll just take a table in the back." He announced and the man nodded greatfully.

"Comin' up." the old man said gave the woman an curious second glance and then hurried about to pour them cups. The coffee shop was small but quaint, with accent's direct from Bruno's home country. There were paintings of old scene's from across the Mediterranean. Here and there a large clove of garlic hung from the ceiling. Hazard took a seat at the table and welcomed the woman to sit next to him. "I saved Bruno's life a while back, since then he's always welcomed me and offers me free coffee. I try not to take advantage, mostly cause the coffee leaves a bit to be desired." He said with a smile as the old man came to the table.

"Two coffee's...I leave you to talk eh?" The old man said and then walked to the back of the old shop, leaving the two in privacy.

Hazard took a sip, and then spoke up tired of all the dancing around. "Well, do you think I'm crazy?" He asked half heartedly as if he expected a straight answer.

[Eleanor Rolf]

“Well,” Eleanor stalled, thinking about her words carefully. Her eyes stared into the steam rising from her coffee. ”Yeah, I think you’re crazy. But what you told me… that’s not crazy at all.”

Her olive eyes traveled all over the table in front of them as she weighed her options and the consequences. Her mind was so heavy that she couldn’t even giggle at the fact that garlic cloves hung from the ceiling.

”I’m having a hard time deciding if I can trust you,” she admitted looking over at him. ”Which shouldn’t be that much of a surprise, considering you were pointing a gun at me.” Would he try to kill her if she told him what she was? Could she keep that a secret, and spill the rest of the beans? Would he be suspicious anyways? Her life was a virtual guessing game. In any other town with any other guy, Ele would’ve made a swift decision. Now she was cautious, being so close to home. The danger was real now.

”I’m not even sure how to start,” she muttered, raising her arm to rest her chin in her palm. She drummed her fingers alongside the coffee cup, wondering if it was drugged, poisoned, or something equally as annoying. You never know with paranoid, trigger happy, people. Ele was sure they both had reasons to be paranoid. It seemed that they had close calls with the supernatural world. Letting her eyes flicker into the direction Bruno retreated, she couldn’t help but envision him stroking a shot gun, waiting for her to fuck up.

”Let’s start out with… If I were in your shoes… If I had seen you coming at me in a dark alley, and I had a feeling you were a vampire, I would’ve killed you. Plain and simple. Lucky for me you don’t have a shoot first ask later, policy, right?” This was taking a painfully long time. Ele wanted to blurt out everything and then gauge his reaction. But when the reaction is a slug to the back of the head, you’ve got to take extra precautions. How could Eleanor tell him that she was willing to let him in on the big secret, without setting off a red flag by threatening to kill him if he did decide to respond with ignorance?

”I told you before that I’ve lived in Aldenville all of my life. I know everything about this city,” the hard gaze she sent him as she emphasized her words was cut off when she let her eyes travel back to her steam trail.

[Isaac Hazard]

”Let’s start out with… If I were in your shoes… If I had seen you coming at me in a dark alley, and I had a feeling you were a vampire, I would’ve killed you. Plain and simple. Lucky for me you don’t have a shoot first ask later, policy, right?”

Isaac had to keep from chuckling, but he did smile at the picture she painted. She obviously didn't know him very well. "First thing they teach you in swat, is to know what your shooting at. If I had shot you back there, we wouldn't be having this conversation, lucky for you I keep my head when confronted by something I don't understand." He said as he casually took a sip of coffee.

”I told you before that I’ve lived in Aldenville all of my life. I know everything about this city,”

"Really...then you know..." Isaac started dramatically. He looked around pensively.

"You know about my parking tickets? Cause' I swear that meter outside my office is broken." He said jokingly. He placed the coffee cup back down, a folded his arms.

"Trust takes time. You don't trust me right now, and I don't trust you because I'm not sure your...totally human." He said as he grabbed his napkin balled it up nervously.

"I'm thinkin' that you're not a vampire, because well the garlic, plus the massive cross your sitting on without knowing it." Isaac attracted her attention downwards, and their below her on the ground was a massive wooden mosaic of a cross that spanned the entire floor. "Unless of course every stereotype I've heard is dead wrong, in which case you'll proceed to slaughter me where I sit. Frankly I don't care. I learned a long time ago that life is short, and cruel, and if you don't take it head on there's no use living it."

His mind thought of the absolute hell his life had been after the Lopez trial and the loss of his wife. Death now wasn't much of a threat anymore, not after how close he came to taking his own life. "So what are you, a zombie...cause that would be a new one."

"You're either gonna make the leap and hope that I catch you, or you'll clam up, and leave me to wander these streets taking cases and looking for things that will someday get me killed. So whats it going to be?"