Chapter 1 The Newbie

Thick drops of blood stained the cold street ground of St. Valen. Iris’ nose scrunched in disgust when the metallic smell went up through her nose. The trees danced along with the wind, their gentle rustles were the only sound lingering on the dark empty alley which is a few blocks away to the police station.

Whistling while watching a man struggle to run away from her—blood oozing from his shoulder covered with his hand like it can make any difference about it—her rosy thin lips curled a menacing smile while she hides herself in the shadows against the bright moonlight. The man fell to the ground, whimpering like a dog with his shaking eyes trying to see from the dark.

“Come on, get up. The police station is almost there, you can do it,” she teases him. A low chuckle escaped her mouth as she watch the vehement fear compel him to lift himself up but his knees stood like bags of water.

“P-please! Don’t kill me!” the man pleaded, his whole body quivering and all numb from the pain and the cold. He picked the piece of glass he found from the ground and with his shaking hand waved it in the air, trying to defend himself like a fool.

Iris' smirk faded as she bore her eyes on him. A hot, stirring force scurried in her veins like a thousand rats inside her body trapped in a heating boiler. Travelling fast from her chest, it reached the end of her fingertips—slowly, she unleashed the force from afar letting it find its way towards the man.

She heard a bone cracked from his wrist whilst his fingers snapped backwards, losing his grip of the glass. The tranquil silence of the alley broke from a loud piercing scream that tore free from his mouth.

“Aghhh! Stop! Please!” he cried out, clutching his injured hand.

“Oh, unfortunately that’s not my part. My job is just to catch you but too bad, I kinda need an entertainment right now.” Iris bent down on him when she finally reached on where he sits. She put her hand over his head, patting it like a puppy.

“You have done a terrible job, and you know it costs your life, right?”

“I-I don’t want to be a part of this anymore! I don’t want to go to jail!” he screamed, his eyes burning with a mix of fear and anger.

“Jail is so much better, you idiot.” Iris grabbed him by the collar and him yanked him up. She dragged him back to her car not minding his screams and thousand cusses.

She threw him inside the compartment, tied his hands and feet with a rope that was thick as a finger, and covered his mouth with a duck tape.

“You poor little thing, you should have never went against him, you can never outrun him as long as he has me.” She winked at him and slammed the compartment door shut.

The devil’s on the loose

Catching sinners and the fools

Lurking in the shadows

Hiding bodies in the burrows

Iris hums to the song playing as she drives the way to their hideout. She combs her brown wavy hair with her fingers when the wind from the car window ruffled through it. A small triumphant smile sprung on her lips, feeling the excitement that makes her heart flutter. She looked at her rear mirror when she heard loud aggressive thumps from her compartment.

“Don’t break my car or else I will tear you to pieces!” she hissed angrily.

They arrived at an abandoned hospital in the middle of nowhere, kilometers away from the main road of the city. Coos of the birds nested from the tall old Oak trees made the dark forest even more terrifying. The place was infamous because of the crazy stories about ghosts haunting people who dared to come there. Hence, a perfect location for their business.

She dragged the man out of her compartment and entered the three-floored building covered in moss and dirt with not a single bulb flickering around. They walked over pieces of broken window glasses scattered on the floor as they entered, and the man's sobs and pleas muffled through the walls of the hospital filled with words written in red and black graffitis. Their footsteps sounded like drums, enough to make their presence known as they went up to the second floor.

Iris threw the man on the floor of a dark and empty ward. The moonlight casts through the tall windows creating silhouettes of about six men in the room, guarding like grim reapers. She sighs out of exhaustion from dragging the man all the way up here. Several members of the gang walked near and surrounded the man, one reached him to pull the tape off of his mouth.

“Please! L-let me go! I will do e-everything you want!” the man pleaded, crying like a baby. Iris was actually surprised that he can still talk after losing so much blood from the gunshot she planted on him.

“Can I rest now?” she asks their leader, William, who was puffing a smoke with his face hidden in the dark, looking at their prey for tonight.

“Don’t you want to do the honor?” His deep cold voice sent chills down the spine of the man.

“I have a work tomorrow, remember?” Iris rolled her eyes. She handed the man’s phone and wallet to one of their members. 

“Besides, I already had my fun.” She bent down to meet the man’s eyes and ruffled his hair.

“Don’t make him scream too much, people around here might think the ghosts are fooling themselves.” She laughed heartily once more and made her way out.

She hopped back on her car and start the engine. As she lifts her foot to step on the pedal, a loud scream echoed through the entire building—cut off midway and then followed by a complete silence.

Iris woke up at exactly 6:00 in the morning, she feels energetic today more than all the days of her life. Today marks the first day of her work, a real work, as a detective at St. Valen’s crime unit. Being a hunter for the Nightcrawlers for eight dreading years, William finally had the heart to let her live a life with some spice but of course, still working for him. She has to report every single thing that the police have against them, she must lure them away from their hideouts and prevent anyone on their gang from being caught.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy. The work thrilled her. She felt like she is an undercover agent, but for the bad men.

Smiling at her reflection on her full-length mirror, she is enthralled seeing herself wearing a white slim-fit, button down shirt neatly tucked in her black fitted slacks—an outfit she even prepared one week ago. She partnered it with three-inch black ankle boots giving emphasis to her long legs. She tied her wavy dark brown hair into a bun and put on some nude lipstick to finish her look.

I look pretty decent with casual clothes. She nodded with approval as she spins around one last time to check her body that felt strange after being clad off with her usual fitted black suit.

She went out from her new apartment. William was the one who picked the location of her new place, he picked a unit from the fifth floor, with a parallel view to one of their hideouts located at a motel across her building. Iris went berserk when she found out about that but William insisted it was for her safety.

Safety my ass, I could kill everyone in here without getting my hands dirty. Those perverts just want a show from me.

She drove over to the station of the crime unit which is just a few blocks away from her apartment building. A wide smile immediately sprung on her face the moment she saw the capital letters of ST. VALEN POLICE DEPARTMENT at the facade of a three-storey building painted in navy and white alternatively in every floor.

When she got inside the building, all she can see are men and women on police uniforms, passing by each other and carrying cuffed people that she bet half of them were innocents. Her stomach churned in in abhorrence watching them pretend like busy bees trying to help and save people. She rolled her eyes and proceeded to the front desk with a woman at her 40’s digging her grave on her seat facing her computer.

“Excuse me,” Iris tried hard to sound sweet and polite. The woman looked at her through the glass panel. Iris immediately plastered a smile.

“Hi! I am the newbie from the crime unit department,” she said, her voice beaming with unnecessary enthusiasm. The woman just kept on looking at her, waiting for her to say more.

“Uhm.. Where can I find our office?” The woman finally moved and tear a piece of paper from her notepad and wrote something, she then slipped it through the window to Iris.

“Thank you.” Iris once more smiled so sweetly, which was left unreciprocated. Iris slapped her face lightly when a thought of breaking the woman’s neck passed by on her mind. With a critical mission on her hands, she must stay low and never divert any attention to her as much as possible.

She got on the elevator and pushed the button going up to the third floor just like what the old woman wrote on the piece of paper. Tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, she gasped in shock when a hand slipped through the door just before the elevator closes.

“Whoops! Nice,” said an upbeat manly voice.

Iris found herself staring at the man who just entered. Dressed in a grey fitted shirt lying loose over his denim pants with a badge stuck at the side of his waist, his warm little smile welcomed her as he walked past behind. He was breathtakingly charming, but his get-up and the way he was hugging piled-up papers on his arms like his life depended on it, Iris distinguished him as an office-person who lacks romance in his life and just spending his time being licked by a dog while enjoying a warm chocolate milk in his house.

Iris grimaced by the thought.

Boring.

Her mind tried to recollect a glimpse of his face, barely remembering the other features because the amber eyes under his hooded eyelids captured her attention more. Tilting her head sidewards, peering from her peripheral vision to steal a glance, the man raised his head to look at her. She quickly turned her head in front all flustered, her feet froze above the metal surface and the elevator suddenly felt really small with just the two of them.

She cleared her throat and gulped, collecting her composure back before she starts drooling.

What in the hell’s happening to me? Stop Iris! She tried to get herself together. Reminding herself not to lose focus on her main agenda. The elevator rang and the doors parted, she inhaled back the the air that was stolen from her lungs.

When they got off the elevator, the crime unit office welcomed her with warmth—in a literal sense upon seeing the countless desks lined up in three columns and four rows filling the whole spacious room. Each had unkempt papers piled up and stuck in colorful clips of red, blue and yellow. Deafening continuous telephone rings flew from left and right, and busy people in polo shirts with coffees in their hand mostly looking dishelved overwhelmed Iris. Horrid was an understatement. She looked behind her and saw the guy march his way to one of the tables in this messy office.

“Oh! You must be the new recruit!” A podgy man in his 50’s with balding head and goatee beard approached her. His father-like smile looked refreshing amidst the chaos he was in that was their office. She smiled at him and offered a handshake with a hint of hesitation.

“I am Danillo Hermosa, kinda like the Chief in here,” he said, introducing himself. Iris was about to introduce herself as well when he quickly shushed her and dragged her in front of the busy people who seemed like they do not care what’s happening around them.

“Attention! Everyone, attention please!” the Chief yelled at the top of his lungs, miraculously, the people actually heard him and spared him a glance.

Iris stood beside the Chief, wearing her most sweetest smile.

“We’ve got a new kid, name is..?”

“Iris, Iris Dane Anderson.”

“Oh right, this is Detective Anderson, she will be joining the Nightcrawlers case,” the Chief clapped his hands and the people started to clapped too. Iris glanced around, some looked delighted, mostly looked forced.

“Welcome to our team.” Iris was startled when the guy from the elevator approached her from the side, offering his hand for a handshake.

“I’m Detective Maximus Carter, Max is fine,” he said, smiling. Iris who almost lost control back in the elevator finally had the chance to stare at his face. His clean cut hair was neatly slicked back with a few strands cascading over his forehead. She found herself mesmerized with the cute little folds on his cheeks when he smiled like that of a cat which overshadowed his virile features. Suddenly, she cannot contain her excitement knowing they belong to the same team.

This is so much fun than I thought.

Iris gladly accepted the handshake, “Iris Dane Anderson, just Iris but both are fine,”

“Iris..” he muttered her name tearing off the handshake.

“Welcome to the hell of Nightcrawlers.”

Oh hell yeah it is.