Daywalker: Out on a Ledge

In the early morning hours, as people were coming to work at the building across the street from the old City Standard building, a small figure appeared perched on the rooftop ledge. The nine-story building was scheduled for demolition in the coming weeks and had been securely padlocked to prevent entry. Which made it all the more puzzling how the young woman pacing along the rooftop ledge got there. At first, no one noticed. But gradually, a crowd started to gather to watch her occasionally teeter on, but not fall from, the rooftop. By midday, the crowd of onlookers had filled the street below blocking traffic. This was the complaint that police officers Grey Walker and Lucas Marshall were responding to when they arrived on the scene.

Several other units had already responded to the call and were busy redirecting traffic around the area. Grey and Lucas had to park on a side street a block away from the crowd and walk in to where they had gathered. All of their faces were raised to the sky and many of them had their hands clasped as in prayer. "Are they waiting to be raptured?" Lucas joked.

Grey glanced up to see what they were looking at. "Dispatch, we need a fire rescue team and a Crisis Intervention officer at the old City Standard building. There's a woman on the roof ledge." Turning to Lucas, "we need to get this crowd out of the street. Any ideas?"

The arrival of the Fire Rescue truck was enough to move most of the crowd onto a sidewalk. Lucas and Grey started to herd the people standing on the City Standard side to the opposite sidewalk. Once the area was clear, the firefighters set up an air mattress in front of the building. The Crisis Intervention officer notified Grey that he would be delayed. The woman had been up there for several hours, and the crowd was reluctant to disperse.

"Lucas, I need you to hold the fort."

"What have you got planned, partner?"

"I'm going up there to talk her down."

Grey headed down an alley toward the back of the building. Every door and window at street level had been boarded up and padlocked. The lower portion of a fire escape had been removed making it out of reach for a normal person. But Grey wasn't a normal person. Lucas came running down the alley in time to see Grey leap into the air and grab the third-floor railing of the fire escape. "Seriously?" Lucas yelled up at Grey. "You couldn't wait to give me a boost?"

Grey pulled himself up and over the railing onto the landing. He looked down at Lucas and smiled. "Bring the car into the alley. I'll wait for you." Lucas stared for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and running off for the unit. True to his word, Grey had waited for Lucas to pull the car into the alley. Grey was hanging upside down from the third-floor deck of the fire escape. "Grab the emergency chain ladder and toss it up to me. I'll hook it on for you."

After climbing to the rooftop, the two officers separated with Lucas acting as a distraction trying to talk her down from the ledge while Grey crept up on her and pulled her to safety. At least that was the plan. Grey moved slowly at first being as quiet as possible while Lucas spoke to her. "Hello," he shouted. "My name is Lucas. What's your name?" She didn't answer, but she did turn to face him. "Oh, good. You can hear me." He took a step toward her. "What's your name?" he asked again. She turned her face back to the crowd below and extended her arms. Concerned that she was about to jump, Grey rushed toward her and grabbed and arm. As he attempted to pull her back onto the roof, she twisted her body. Grey was surprised by her sudden move and was pulled off the roof as she fell backward away from the building.

Several minutes later, Grey landed on the air cushion that fire rescue had deployed. The crowd that had gathered slowly dispersed. And Grey was being read the riot act for his "stunt". The young woman who had stood on the roof ledge had disappeared during the fall. No one at street level remembered her, despite having watched her a good part of the morning. Grey was afraid to ask Lucas about her, but it wasn't necessary. "It was weird," Lucas commented. "Halfway down the building she just disappeared, like she had never been there."

"You remember her?"

"There was something creepy about her, makes her hard to forget."

Daywalker: Inside the Freak House

Delivering a prisoner to Special Lockup always made Officer Grey Walker uncomfortable. Most Normals wouldn't enter the place. Officer Lucas Marshall opted to remain in the car while Grey took the prisoner inside. Grey signed in with his palm print before escorting the shifter to his holding cell. He unlocked the specialized handcuffs and shoved the man inside the virtually escape proof cell. The cell door latched shut as soon as Grey was clear. Grey stood for a moment to watch the prisoner test the confines of his cell. The prisoner could pull his disappearing act all he wanted. Grey made sure that the cell was marked as occupied. On the way out, he informed the office that he had just locked up a shapeshifter for attempted robbery.

Back inside the car, Lucas sighed with relief. "What was that for?" Grey asked.

"Oh, you know, I'm always afraid that you'll go in there and they won't let you leave." Lucas laughed nervously.

"Me, too, partner. Me, too," Grey muttered.

As they drove away, Grey remembered the one time that he had been locked up there. He had just turned sixteen and his schoolmates had managed to get their hands on a case of beer. It was his first time out drinking with his schoolmates and they cheerfully passed him a fresh can every time he finished the last one. When he needed to pee, he chose to relieve himself on a nearby car that was blocking the alley. It wouldn't have been so bad, except the police car was occupied at the time. He probably would have outrun the officer chasing him if he hadn't been certifiably drunk. The officer didn't know that Grey was a daywalker at the time. He took Grey to the Special Lockup with the intention of scaring him straight. It worked.

Grey shared a cell with other drunk Extranormals, one of which was a belligerent troll, who was half as broad as he was tall and covered with a thick coat of brown hair. The breath of a troll is bad enough, but when combined with alcohol, it becomes absolutely foul. Most of the other cellmates kept their distance from the troll. But the beast had cornered Grey and was looking for a fight. That was the day Grey discovered that he was more than a fast runner.

Deciding that he couldn't take any more of the troll's foul breath, Grey raised his feet off the floor and kicked the troll in the belly. The beast was sent sliding on his ass clear across the cell. The troll picked itself up off the floor and charged at Grey, who dodged the creature's fists as they hit the cell wall. Before the troll could gather its wits for the next attack, both it and Grey were tasered by the guards.

Grey woke up in a cell opposite that of the troll. Both had been sentenced to another night in Special Lockup because of their fight. The cells in which they were locked were secured with both self-latching and deadbolt lock mechanisms. The bars were barely two inches apart making it nearly impossible to pass an arm through. Instead of iron, still a standard in Normal jails, the bars securing the prisoners and the bed frame were made of heavy steel.

Grey and the troll stared at each other for several minutes before the troll broke out in laughter. "What's so funny?" Grey shouted at the troll.

"I got my ass kicked by a mere boy. That don't happen often," the troll smiled. "You got a name, boy?" he asked. "Mine's Duncan Riddle."

"I thought trolls didn't give out their names," Grey replied.

"You've been reading too many fairy tales, kid," Duncan laughed. "C'mon, I know you got a name."

"It's Grey," Grey replied. "Grey Walker."

"Well, Grey Walker, I'm pleased to meet you. What did you do to get in here, Grey Walker?" They talked for hours. It was the beginning of a long friendship and the only time that Grey was locked up in the Freak House.

As the two police officers pulled away from the Special Lockup, a call came through requesting their assistance at an abandoned building scheduled for demolition.

Daywalker: Down a Blind Alley

Officer Grey Walker chased the robbery suspect for six city blocks before finally cornering him in a blind alley. Or at least he thought so until he arrived at the dead end to discover that the suspect had mysteriously vanished. He could hear his partner arriving behind him, out of breath, and sweating profusely from the hard running he had done to finally catch up with Grey. 

Officer Lucas Marshall was in peak physical condition. He ran marathons in near record time and had been a sprinter in both high school and college. But he couldn't keep up with Grey, who was faster and stronger than any other man on the force. It annoyed him because Grey didn't work out. But Lucas knew that he was lucky to have him as a partner. Resting his hands on his knees, Lucas looked up at Grey. "How in the hell did you manage to lose him?"

"Good question," Grey replied looking up for any fire escapes that the suspect might have used. Turning around, he noticed that Lucas was standing on a metal grate. "Maybe he went down, as there is no way he could have gone up and there's nowhere to hide in the alley itself."

Lucas bent down and examined the grating. "I don't see how. This grate is bolted in place."

"Let me have a look at it," Grey said as he approached.

Lucas backed off the grating. "Knock yourself out, partner."

Grey worked his fingers around the iron grate and gave it a gentle tug. It didn't budge. When he pulled his hand out, he noticed a small coating of slime stuck to his fingers. He stood up and wiped it off on his pant leg. "Next time, Lucas, follow in the car. It's a long walk back to where we parked it."

Lucas shrugged. "Well, I expected you to have run him down sooner. Never expected him to get away from you." Both officers started the long walk back to their vehicle parked at the convenience store six blocks away.

As they turned the corner exiting the alley, Grey stopped and grabbed Lucas by the arm. "I'm going back down that alley. I want you to go get the car and come back with it. I have a hunch about where the suspect is hiding and if I'm right, we'll need the car to take him in." Lucas deliberated for a moment before agreeing, then took off at a light jog back to the car.

Grey stepped back into the middle of the alleyway and started a slow walk toward the dead-end. He closed his eyes and listened to the echoes of his footfalls. As he neared the end of the alley, he could hear the rapid heartbeat of a cornered animal. He sniffed at the air and encountered an unusual scent wafting off a nearby wall. Something or someone had tried to sneak past Grey. Before it could move further out of the alley, Grey reached out with his hand and grasped it firmly by its neck. When he opened his eyes, the nearly invisible captive struggled for a few minutes before finally conceding defeat. Grey lowered the boy to the ground and released his grip.

"The dude you were chasing," the boy stammered. "He just oozed down the sewer grate." Keeping his eyes to the ground, the boy asked, "What did the slimebag do?"

"Held up a convenience store, or at least he tried to before my partner and I showed up."

"What were you doing in the alley?" 

"Hanging out," the boy replied. 

Grey grabbed the kid by the chin and stared into his eyes. "Have you ever seen him before?"

"No," the kid answered without hesitation. "And you know I ain't lyin', 'cause I'd be a fool to lie to a vamp."

Grey smiled. "Relax, kid, I don't bite. Sounds like my partner just arrived with our ride."

"You takin' me in?"

"Of course, I am. You didn't think I was stupid enough to fall for that story about the grating, did you?" Grey grabbed the kid before he could run away, shoved him face first against the nearest wall and handcuffed him. Grey shoved the shapeshifter into the back of the vehicle. He took a seat next to his partner. "We're taking this one to special lockup."

"The Freak House?" Lucas asked as he glanced back at the passenger. "What's so special about this one?"

"He can't decide what to wear," Grey replied smiling.

Ambergris: A Firestorm at a Midnight Mass

The post-funeral condolences from visitors continued well past dinnertime. The guests gradually filtered out of the house as the evening wore on. Around ten o'clock, Grey and Amber made a show of leaving for the few remaining guests. Noticing that they were being followed, Grey continued on to the hotel. After pulling into the lot, their follower disappeared down a side road leading to Red Lake Hunting Lodge. Free of their tail, Grey left the motel lot and headed back toward the town. Out of sight of the house, he turned down a gravel road that led to a field behind the farmhouse. He parked the SUV and waited while Amber slipped back into the house.

The last of the guests to leave were the mayor and his wife, the sheriff and his wife, and the minister and his wife. The minister's wife hesitated at the door for a moment before begrudgingly saying goodbye. "I'll come by in the morning to check up on things," she yelled from the bottom of the porch steps. Then she slipped into the car next to her husband while the Lawrences waved goodbye. Once the house was clear of visitors, Amber let Grey know that it was safe to approach the house.

"Thank you for letting us stay with you," Grey said while nodding to David Lawrence.

"We could use the extra help," Lisa replied, "especially with Michael being so frightened of his gift."

"Your mother Isabel has been helping him accept that he is different," Amber stated.

"My mother has been dead for nearly ten years. She died around the time that Michael was born."

"Which is why she is tied to him," Amber explained.

The last six people to leave the Anderson house gathered at the church in the center of town. Five paths crossed the circular green forming a pentagram with the church located in the middle. The six people put on black robes and formed a circle at the altar. Candles had been lit to cast a glow within the church while the six started a chant that was barely a whisper but gradually rose in volume.

The house had settled in for the night with David and Lisa sleeping in the primary bedroom, Grey taking residence in the guest room, and both Isabel and Amber watching over Michael. A few hours later, the entire house was awakened by Michael screaming. Amber rushed to his bed and hugged the frightened child. Placing her hands on his cheeks, she looked into his eyes and watched the horror that had awakened him replay. "You will forget what you have seen. Go back to sleep. Children need their rest." Michael calmed down and did as he was told.

Lisa entered the room at the moment Amber wiped the vision from his mind. "What did you do?" she demanded.

Amber smiled, but Isabel answered for her. "She took away his horror so that he could rest. She will deal with whatever disturbed his rest." She turned to Amber. "Won't you, dear?" Amber nodded in reply.

Lisa's jaw dropped. "Mother?" she stammered.

"Stay with him until he falls back to sleep. I need to talk to David and Grey." Amber walked outside the room into the hall where the two men stood. "I need the two of you to thoroughly lock down the house. Every window, every door must be shut and locked if possible. Leave no way in. I'm going to deal with what the boy saw." And with that she faded away.

Amber arrived at the motel several minutes before midnight. With Fred's help, she was able to locate the center of the lot on which the motel was located. Standing on the heart of the property, she raised her hands above her head and started her own steady chant. Fred watched her slowly turn with each recitation as a shield formed around her and gradually expanded outward. By midnight, Amber's shield had expanded to cover the whole of the lot the motel stood upon and much of the surrounding woods. The recitation at the church of the Lord's Prayer had strengthened the protection around the village.

Across Red Lake stood Red Lake Lodge, a local hunting lodge, where a group of hunters had also been chanting. Two of the hunters had stayed at the motel the same night that Amber and Grey had been there. They had also attended the burial service and gone on to the house. As midnight approached, the hunters directed their chant against the motel. For a brief moment, a sudden flash of light surrounded the motel, then vanished as Amber's shield bounced the spell back to its source.

When Amber returned to the house, all eyes were pressed against the windows watching the flames lick at the night sky. The night sky lit up when the spell hit the lodge. The flames generated by the fire imp were massive. Volatile gasses exploded out of their tanks from the heat of the fire. The six in the church stopped their prayer chant when the concussions from the fire struck the church, rattling the stained-glass windows. The mayor and sheriff made calls to the volunteer firefighters in the village. It happened so quickly that the hunters inside the lodge were unable to escape the ensuing fire. By the time the firefighters from Red Lake Village were able to respond, there was nothing left of the lodge except smoldering ashes and thirteen charred bodies arranged in a circle.

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