Each week, I send out a story via my email newsletter. Each story is around 1000 words, sometimes less, sometimes more. The stories are in a variety of genres: supernatural, thriller, sci-fi, horror, and sometimes romance, and all of my stories typically feature a gay protagonist.
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This is story number 27 of the series. Enjoy!
Blood and Shadows
The city was a labyrinth of dark alleys and rain-slicked streets, but that’s where I did my best work. The name’s Jack Flannery, private eye. I specialized in cases the cops wouldn’t touch. Little did I know, my latest case would lead me into a world I never knew existed.
It started with a dame, as these things often do. She was a knockout with raven hair, ruby lips, and an air of mystery. Said her name was Vivian and her brother Damien had gone missing. The cops had no leads, so she came to me.
Thing was, I happened to know Damien. Not well, but well enough to remember him. He was quite a looker—tall, sharp-jawed, the kind of guy who turned heads without trying. I’d always had a little crush on him, not that he ever knew. So when Vivian slid that photo across my desk, something in my gut twisted.
I took the case, not knowing it would turn my world upside down.
I started my investigation at Damian’s apartment. The place was a mess – furniture overturned, mirrors shattered. And on the walls, strange symbols scrawled in what looked like blood. What the hell had Damian gotten himself mixed up in?
My mind churned with the possibilities as I headed to The Raven, a seedy dive bar where Damian sometimes hung out. The bartender, a scruffy guy named Lou, told me Damian had been hanging around with a strange crowd lately. Pale, nocturnal types.
“They gave me the creeps,” Lou muttered, wiping a dirty glass. “Like they weren’t quite…human, ya know?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Not human? Come on, Lou. You been hitting the sauce?”
He just shrugged. “Believe what you want, Flannery. But watch your back.”
I left the bar more puzzled than ever. As I walked down the alley, a figure suddenly lunged from the shadows, slamming me against the brick wall. A man with striking blue eyes and sharp features smirked at me, his lips curled in a predatory grin.
“Well, well, if it isn’t Jack Flannery,” he purred, his face inches from mine. “Stop sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
I struggled against his iron grip, my heart pounding. He was incredibly strong. “Who the hell are you?”
“Name’s Marcus. I’m a friend of Damian’s. And trust me, you don’t want to get mixed up in his business.”
“What business is that, exactly?”
Marcus leaned in closer, his breath cold on my neck. “The kind that’ll get you killed, detective. Or worse.”
With that, he released me and vanished into the night, moving with inhuman speed. I stood there gasping, my mind reeling. What the hell was going on?
Over the next few days, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched. Shadows seemed to flicker in the corners of my eye. A chill crawled up my spine. One night, after a few too many whiskeys, a crazy thought crept into my alcohol-addled brain: vampires. Was it possible?
Nah, I told myself. Just the booze talking. Vampires weren’t real. Right?
But the more I dug, the more the evidence pointed to the impossible. Damian’s strange new friends, the occult symbols, the inhuman strength and speed of Marcus. And when another body turned up drained of blood, two puncture wounds on the neck, I couldn’t deny it any longer.
My city was a playground for the undead. And somehow, Damian was caught in the middle of it.
I knew I was in over my head, but I couldn’t walk away. Not when Vivian was counting on me. I had to find Damian, even if it meant descending into the dark underworld of the supernatural.
My investigation led me to an abandoned warehouse by the docks, the lair of Marcus and his brood according to rumors. I crept through the dark, dank halls, stake in hand, my heart thudding in my ears. I rounded a corner and froze.
In a candlelit chamber, Marcus and his cronies were gathered around an altar where Damian lay bound and gagged, his eyes wide with terror. They were chanting in some ancient language, preparing for a ritual. I reached into my pocket and wrapped my fingers around the cold metal object I had stuffed in there earlier.
Anger surged through my veins. I burst into the room, stake raised in one hand, a crucifix in another. “Let him go, you bloodsucking freaks!”
Marcus whirled around, his eyes flashing crimson. “Flannery! Foolish mortal. You dare interrupt the Rite of Eternal Night?” He pointed directly at me. “Kill him you fools!”
And then all hell broke loose. The vampires attacked in a blur of fangs and claws. I fought like a man possessed, dodging their blows and striking with my stake and cross. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Damian break free of his bonds, grabbing a candelabra and swinging it like a club.
In the chaos, I lunged at Marcus, plunging my stake into his heart. He let out an unearthly shriek and crumbled to dust. The others scattered like cockroaches, fleeing into the night.
Damian and I stared at each other, both of us bruised and bloody but alive. “Jack, I…I don’t know how to thank you,” he rasped.
I clapped him on the shoulder. “Just tell me one thing. How the hell did you get mixed up with vampires in the first place?”
He gave me a sheepish grin. “Would you believe they have a killer underground poker game?”
I stared at him incredulously for a second before bursting out laughing. Damian joined in, and soon we were both howling, the tension draining away.
As we walked out into the cool night air, I draped an arm around his shoulders. “Come on, let’s get you home to your sister. And Damian?”
“Yeah?”
“Next time you’re looking for a thrill, maybe just try BASE jumping, huh?”
He chuckled. “No promises, Jack. No promises.”
I shook my head, a smile playing on my lips. Just another night in the cursed city I called home.
THE END