C
Chris_Reaper
Guest
Original poster
Just another busy day on the beat, or so they say. The usual hustle and bustle of downtown Manhattan as the bystanders scurried about in their normal way I suppose. But that's when things deviate away...at least as far as the N.Y.P.D was concerned. I got out of my car and made my way over to the taped off scene. Oh of course, let's dispense with the pleasantries. My name is Darrain Dela Vega, I'm a homicide detective with the N.Y.P.D., been on the beat for a while now and not to brag, but I have quite the seasoned record. Sure I'm good at my job, but that's not why I have one of the best records on the force, at least as far as apprehending violent offenders. I have a unique aspect of my personality that puts me at a clear advantage. You see when catching a psychopath it kind if helps if your one yourself. Now don't get all weird on me, it's a known fact that over ninety percent of all psychopaths are non-violent law abiding citizens and I happen to fall into that statistic. I do more than just abide by the law, I enforce it...but I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Let's get back to the taped off crime scene, shall we?
It had been the third confirmed mutilated corpse found linked to the same killer. His calling card was splitting the skull down the middle and carving "Love You" into the upper torso. This body bore all of these signs. It was than no surprise that the media dubbed this guy the "Love You Slayer".
"Ok gents, what do we got?" I said as I surveyed the crime scene.
"Third confirmed victim detective. We definitely gotta serial on our hands." said an officer.
I lifted the sheet and analyzed the body. A young woman, looked between twenty and thirty. Naked, obviously sexually assaulted, raped...probably multiple times. Her head was split down the middle, done with a sawing type implement. The words "Love You" carved deeply into her stomach area. It was all to familiar and I'm not talking just because it linked up with two previous murders. It was obvious, almost painfully so...someone was definitely copy catting my old man. To say suspicious eyes fell on me, was nothing short of an understatement.
"Same lacerations, same post mortem arrangement of the body...even the cut marks seem to be at exactly the same depth. Alright, get her over to the morgue, we'll add one more to the list." I said.
"You know, there's an awful lot of implications going on down at the station Dela Vega. I mean two might be a coincidence, but this clinches it." said a voice from behind.
Ahhh, what would I do without my old friend Detective Ross Dillinger, and I do use the word friend very loosely. The guy was a good cop to be sure and he liked to joke around a lot. Me and him were partnered a few years ago and I gotta say, I was impressed by his deductive skills. He and I had come to respect each other, I guess you could say.
"Way ahead of you Dillinger, but I hope your not implying that this is guilt by association."
"Look I'm not saying that anyone suspects you, but if some wack job is emulating your pops... the media hounds are gonna put extra pressure on the precinct. " said Dillinger.
"Who more qualified to catch this son of a bitch than the son of the killer he's trying to be, huh, Dill?" I said with a chuckle.
"Hey man, are you ok? I mean, this shit would get way to personal for me. Why don't you just request to be taken off the case, let someone else handle it. I mean doesn't it bother you?"
"Dillinger how long have you known me? Nothing bothers me, nothing. Now the anniversary of my dear old dad's untimely demise comes up in three months. I think it can be surmised that this asshole is planning something big..." I said as I started to walk off.
"Hey where you going?"
"Compare the deceased with the other bodies, see if there's anything we missed." I said as I walked off back to my car.
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A short while later I was walking into the high rise of the city morgue and I have to admit, I had quite the ulterior motive. Yea I wanted to catch this guy, but this was more a less a social call. You see as detached from emotion and feelings as I was, that's not to say that to say that I was completely removed from the human species, physically anyway. Let's just say that women had my undivided attention. I loved em'...well their bodies anyway. Oh c'mon, don't tell me your surprised. Sex to me was never anything emotional, as I've stated, I'm quite incapable of those types of, whatever the hell you call them. But the physical effects of it all, the sensations, the aroma of a woman's body...pleasured me to no end, again, strictly in a physical sense, and I was quite good at giving as well receiving if you get my drift.
Well anyway, they say that psychopaths are good at playing the normal role and in this case, it was quite true. I had no compunction about talking to attractive women, mostly because, again, I have no emotional connection. The sexual game just came easy to me, what can I say. But this particular quarry was a little different. You remember when I said before that psychos are also quite adept at spotting others who are like them, again, guilty as charged. I glided up the long narrow building and into the autopsy rooms, where she was. By she, I mean one Dr. Alisha Caraquillo. Second only to the official medical examiner. From the moment I laid eyes on her, I knew I wanted her. About five eight, one hundred thirty pounds, early thirties. When most people picture a Latin goddess, this woman is what they probably see. But there was something more about Dr. Caraquillo, something that particularly endeared her to me. You see, Alisha Caraquillo was one of "us" as it were. When the first victim of the Love You Slayer was brought in, it was she who conducted the autopsy. Apart from her obvious beauty, something else caught my attention. The way she moved around the body, spoke about certain things...her eyes dancing over the corpse as if, almost entranced. I had a hunch, but I would need to prove it. So being the sneaky bastard that I was, I hid a small camera in one of the autopsy rooms...and you'll never guess what I found.
"Doctor, fancy meeting you here." I said in the most sarcastic manner possible.
"Detective Dela Vega, to what do I owe the honor this time?"
"Well we found another body today, was just wondering if you've had a chance to autopsy it yet."
"As a matter of fact I was on my way to do just that, so if you'll excuse me." she said in an abrupt tone.
"I don't suppose you'd be free tonight, perhaps we can discuss your findings further?" I said, a sly grin crossed my lips.
She turned around and responded with a weak smile of her own "Look I don't mean to be rude detective. But this is your third, possibly fourth time trying to ask me out. Now don't get me wrong, your cute, I dare even say handsome. Your intelligent and very charming, but your simply not my type."
"Because I'm alive..."
"I beg your pardon?" she asked.
I took out my cell phone and with a cocky gesture I handed the device to her "I want you to look at something for a minute."
Now you recall I said that I had a hunch about the beautiful doctor, but that I needed to prove it. Well there on the screen it showed the good doctor engaged in what can only be described as raunchy sex with the dead.
"Quite an interesting hobby you have Dr. Caraquillo, and the strap on really adds a nice touch." I said as I pulled back my phone and continued to view the disturbing footage...well disturbing to most anyway.
A look of dread seriousness washed over her features as she narrowed her eyes in an almost sinister fashion "How the hell did you get that video?"
"I'm a police officer, doctor...I have my ways."
"How much is this going to cost me?" she said in an almost growl like tone.
"Oh Alisha, you've got me all wrong. I don't want your money."
"What than..."
My eyes darted up in a playful manner "Pick ya up at eight?"
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Now to say my digs were lavish, wouldn't be quite accurate. They weren't shabby, but they weren't luxurious either. Let's just say I lived comfortably, making the best of New York cop's salary. I had what I needed, with some extra odds and ends sprinkled in. But there is another side to all this. One aspect that most people would find utterly terrifying...but for me, well, it was just another daily occurrence ever since the bastard was turned into Swiss cheese by law enforcement twenty years ago. You see I hear him all the time, always gnawing at the back of my ear, occasionally I even see him. Yea, I'm talking about my old man...now I know what your thinking, I've already admitted I was a psychopath, is it any stretch of the imagination that I would also be delusional. But delusions and figments of the imagination don't leave slash marks across your chest or small cuts on your fingertips whenever you wake up. Now I'm not saying it was a frequent occurrence but whenever the son of a bitch wanted to really get my attention, it did happen.
But at any rate, I had to get ready for my date with the sexy doctor. So I went to wash up. I was shaving when, boom...there he was, right behind me in the mirror.
"That's my boy, ya know we're much more alike than you would ever care to admit. I was a real ladies man myself ya know." the thing said.
Now here was the part where most people would freak out. I mean seeing a disembodied shadow with two sets of glowing green eyes in the mirror would be enough to send just about anybody to the nearest exorcist. But like I said, even though I knew the asshole was all to real...I had lived with this ever since I was twelve years old.
"Did you want something Casper?" I asked in a nonchalant and somewhat annoyed tone as I continued to shave.
"You could have been it, how many years did I spend trying to get you to become my Vessel...really do your old dad proud. Now I had to choose someone else and your not gonna catch him."
"Is that a fact?" I asked as I finished up shaving and walked down the hall to my special room.
"You know what I find funny, hilarious in fact. That even though you've refused my urgings, your gonna give in one of these days. You inherited my gift son, your not gonna be able to hold out much longer..."
"Except for the fact that I'm not like you, old man..."
"Oh don't try and play the human sentimentality bullshit card with me Darrian. We both know full well you couldn't care less for them or what goes on in their world, much like...nay, exactly like me."
I entered the hallway and opened the door to another room, with the phantom following close behind "I'm not talking about emotions, or feelings or morals or any like that. I'm talking about the law..." I said as I flipped on a light switch.
Now I think I should explain a few things. Even though I'm classified as non-violent psycho, it doesn't mean that I understand the normal social constructs of right and wrong. That's not to say that they don't apply to me, it's just that a sense of right and wrong usually stems from some kind of moral or emotional compass pointing towards what the supposed right thing to do is. My brain is strictly wired for pure logic as most psychos are...and this is where my beloved, as I call her, comes in. As a child, I was left orphaned, ergo no guidance. That's when I discovered...Nemesis.
The room was a small one and adorned with what can only be described as a shrine to the U.S. Justice system. A judge's wig and gavel, law books of every and all kinds, antique juror's robes of the seventeenth century, the courtroom scales... and in the center of it all, a moderate size figure of Nemesis, goddess of retribution and justice.
I walked around a bit with the wraith of ole' daddy still standing silent in the doorway. I dipped a silver chalice into a small water basin at the feet of the statue and drank from it, silently toasting the goddess. After a few moments, I walked back to the door and looked the shadow right in the eyes "You see pops, the law is all that holds it together. Nietzsche had it right when he said that the law was nature and nature is the law. What you did and who you were, never corresponded with the law...and the law is all I'm about. Now if you'll excuse me, my dearest nemesis, I have a date tonight."
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Now, I never was the sort to pop for an extravagant first date, for me the end all be all was the bedroom, however I could get them there...and that's not to say that this gal was any different. I mean she only agreed to this because I essentially blackmailed her into it. But this time, the sex was only part of the reason, I was genuinely curious about what this woman was all about, necrophilia and all.
This was about as high refined as I had ever gotten, a nice little bistro called "The Gala" on the Upper West Side. We sat facing each other on a balcony suite, slowly eating our appetizers. The conversation was sparse and I bet both of us wondered when the bartering would begin...as in when I started to name my terms so that I wouldn't turn over the footage I had of her fucking a corpse to her bosses. But I had a different conversation in mind.
"So how long has your creepy ass been stalking me?" she said in a rather stand off type of tone.
"How long have you been making whoopy with your dissection subjects?" I retorted.
"Fair enough..." she said, her eyes softening in their glare.
"Look, if all you wanted was a quickie, you could've bypassed all this date night nonsense." she said.
"This goes a little deeper than that. Now don't get me wrong, I'll admit that the first time I saw you...I really wanted you. But than there came something else. You see I'm really good at spotting others who share my unique personality traits...and it didn't take long to figure out that you, were one of us." I said smiling in between bites.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Look it's no secret who my father was...hell the bums on the stoop even know that I am the son of David Dela Vega, one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. But here's the part most people don't know. Tell me doctor, are you familiar with the notion of shared genetic psychopathy?"
"A little I guess..."
"Many behavorial scientists as well as prominent biologists think it's quite probable for psychopathy to be passed from parent to child. That if the mother or father is a psychopath or sociopath...than the probability is high for one or more of their offspring to develop the same type of abnormal tendencies...you ever see the Bad Seed, exact same principal here."
"So what are you saying, that since your father was a homicidal murderer, that you've turned out to be one as well? Can't say I'm really surprised, judging by your actions thus far." she said a chuckle in her voice.
"Not quite...I doubted it at first, but even before my dad was outed for being the deranged son of a bitch that he was, I was displaying some of the same behaviors as a child. But not in the exact same way mind you. Most psychopathic children show classic signs of sadistic behavior, torturing small animals for example. However things were a little different with me. I was never very interested in death or murder. It was all about survival of the fittest, the strong dominating the weak. Instead of killing small furry creatures, I pitted them against one another...to see which one was stronger. I drew stick figure people bowing down to god like figures as they were being dominated...and of course there was the empathy thing. I felt no pity or compassion for the weaker animals that got killed. If the weak got stomped than they were never meant to survive, but with that said, nature would be the one to snuff them out, not us. That was simply not our job. "
"Reminds me of a quote by Fred Nietzsche. That every species had their Ubermensch." said Alisha.
Now I really perked up "So your familiar with Nietzsche! A brilliant thinker ahead of his time. He really understood the Darwinian process of natural selection. That for every great leap in the evolutionary ladder, there was a spring board of a thousand dead bodies, all to weak to carry on a superior future." I took a mouthful of bread "Ya know, while we're on the subject of dead bodies."
She laughed, it was obvious that the lines of communication where opening up and I wondered just how much I could really find out "I didn't exactly grow up in a stable home. Both my parents were in Los Netas. My dad got busted for drug possession when I was six and I was shuttled between relatives for years after that. One of my father's homies, Carlos, promised to take care of me and my mom as a favor to my dad. He took care of us alright. When I was thirteen, a bunch of the The Netas were having a Halloween party in the apartment. I was asleep in my room and my mom, was passed out in the living room. Out of nowhere Carlos and three of his friends burst into my room, drunk and high off their asses. They were all dressed in zombie makeup for the party. Before I knew what was happening, they ran a train on me. Something happened to me that night, some wires got really fucked up as a result of the gang bang, I suppose.
A few years later, I was a ward of the state. I remember, I was in a girl's shelter and watching a report on the news about a car crash. It was pretty gruesome, the three passengers were laying all around the wreck. But that's when something unexpected happen, instead of being repulsed...I was being aroused. The sight of these dead bodies was actually turning me on. Nothing was ever the same after that. My urges continued on through the years, and I had been with normal guys who were, you know...alive and it was ok. But nothing seemed to satisfy me like the fantasy. So naturally I became a mortician and it was during my first year of internship that I finally got the chance to..."
"Fulfill the fantasy...how was it?" I asked with the corner of my mouth upturned into a sly grin.
"It was amazing and revolting at the same time. I felt pleasure and disgust all rushing in at once, I had never felt anything like it. Not to mention his thigh tasted pretty good too." Alisha said with slight flash of coy in her eyes.
"Just one more ingredient to add to the pot, huh." I responded slowly stirring my water with my finger.
Alisha leaned more inward, I could tell her comfort was rising "So tell me Mr. Psycho detective. What made you want to get into law enforcement? Surely not as penance for what your dad did."
"It's a bit more complicated than that. When the Feds. rang my front door the morning after dad had been gunned down by the police, it changed everything for the family. Me and my mother were constantly hounded by media wanting to get the inside scoop on what kind of a monster my father really was. But what they didn't know was we were just as much in the dark as everyone else. The memories I have of David Dela Vega was of a pretty much normal guy. He was a slightly aloof, kinda nerdy college professor...but other than that, he treated us as any ordinary upper middle class father would. We never suspected a thing. Even though I was curious of everything going on, I really had no feelings about much of anything. My mom couldn't understand why I seemed to have no ounce of grief, if only she'd known.
About a year or so after dad was killed, mom checked herself into a mental clinic, unable to cope with everything that had happened and I went to live with relatives. A few months later, she was found hanging in her room, suicide. That's when odd things began to happen."
"Odd things...like what?"
"The nightmares started in earnest. Now before all this, I didn't dream at all, let alone have nightmares. For a hundred and seven nights straight, I would have horrible night terrors in which every single one of my father's victims, chided and admonished me, telling me that I owed the world something for the crimes my father had committed. Sometimes I woke up with scratches, gashes across my back and bite marks on my neck. Oh they were angry alright, they made that part abundantly clear. I was admitted to a psychiatric hospital but the nightmares continued, they even tried on ten different occasions to have a priest exorcise me. Than on the hundred and eighth night, she came to me."
"Who did Darrian?"
"Well, I found myself in an empty field surrounded by tall grass at night. The mangled and mutilated corpses of all the people that I had dreamt of previously, came out of the shadows and surrounded me. For the first time I felt real fear, I thought to myself...this is it, these bastards are gonna tear me apart, when suddenly they stopped. They parted like the Red Sea and from the center I could see my mother walking towards me. The ligature mark still fresh around her neck, she drew a broad sword that hung around her waist and uttered a single word...Nemesis. She handed me the blade and the rest of the corpses retreated back into the shadows. That was when I had my epiphany so to speak."
"What did the dream mean?" she asked.
"I didn't find out till a few years later, but thankfully the nightmares stopped after that. When I was about fourteen or so I was thumbing through a book about Greek mythology when I came across the goddess of law and retribution and you'd never guess what her name was. "
"Of course, Nemesis..." said Alisha matter of factly.
"I started pouring over every law book I could find, I guess I became a little obsessed. But what I found was that justice, retribution and natural law all connected perfectly. Everything that had gone on while I was a child all manifested themselves here. Neitzschian theory, Darwinian selection, the laws of nature and retribution all came perfectly into sync and I finally knew what the nightmares were all about, what they all meant. My father had gone against nature, this wasn't about vengeance, it was about upholding the most important thing in the universe. Preserving order over chaos. I knew what I had to do...to become an enforcer of the law. I don't give a rats ass about protecting the innocent, I'm simply a preserver of the law."
"Wow deep...so let me ask you this. Would you consider me a violator of the law, I mean having sex with the dead isn't exactly natural."
"True, but it's not exactly against the law either, at least in this state. Besides, this was never about prosecuting you for a crime. I could spot others like me, I told you that. Others that share my unique kind of brain patterns."
"So let me get this straight, you were never gonan turn over that footage to the medical examiner's office?"
"Of course not, I just had to get you to agree to a sit down meeting."
"Why is that...?"
"Well I've already explained part of that. The other aspects of it are, you are a brilliant autopsy consultant who could have unique insights on catching this killer and, let's face it...you are smoking hot. I was thinking you could share some of your theories on the killer's techniques with me back at my place."
"Well gee, I don't know...you think you can compete with a dildo and a corpse?"
"Fucking try me..."
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This is pretty much how it goes down with just about every chick I set my sights on, we spend two, maybe three nights together bullshittin about this and that and she ends up spending the night. But with Alisha, I don't know, it was just different. We really didn't oblige with much of the small talk. We high tailed it out the bistro, made a B-Line back to my place and as soon as we set foot through my door, we were engaged in the tongue wrestle Olympics.
"So do the stiffs give mouth to mouth like this?" I managed to say between long winded kisses.
"You've yet to fully prove yourself, but it's a damn good start..." she pumped out before slipping her tongue back into my mouth.
Well after another good ten minutes of this, we finally decide to take the action to the bedroom. We stumble through the hallway when she suddenly stops at the bathroom "Get the bed sheets ready for me, nature calls."
"Nature ain't got shit on me tonight." I said as I entered my bedroom.
Now you should know by now that I'm not your run of the mill kinda guy. I do things way differently than your average Joe. So I guess it would come as no surprise that I didn't have a traditional light switch in my room. It may sound corny, but I had clapper lights. With exhilaration I clapped my hands twice, the lights came on and that's when I saw it. All gift wrapped on my bed, was another corpse. It had all the Love You Slayer's hallmarks. The skull split down the middle, the words carved into her chest...not to mention that massive pool of blood that was slowly leaking off the bed and onto the floor. I walked a little closer, my face now stone serious.
"Oh that's fucking cute..."
"You don't know the half of it..." said a voice that crackled from behind me.
I guess it was just the cop's instinct inside me, but I simultaneously drew my Beretta from behind my shirt and whirled around. There standing in the doorway was Alisha, being held from behind by a skinny and moldy looking bastard who looked like he could be the poster child for every heroine addict in America. The creep held a sizable butcher knife to her throat as I held my piece steadily trained on his head.
"How's my only boy doin tonight, huh? I gotta give you props, she is one hot little piece of ass, good job." said the vagrant in a ghostly disembodied voice.
It was than that it hit me, dear old dad had found another Vessel "Why am I not surprised. So you finally found a willing puppet. Where'd you pick this one up David...a half way house?"
"What the fuck is going on?" screamed Alisha as she squirmed in the man's grip.
"Oh me and the detective here go way back, chica. Trust me on that one. But, as with any growing boy, he's a bit stubborn. The twentieth anniversary of my death is approaching and the gate was open for me to return. I tried to get junior here to be my Vessel, since he got more from me than just my pointed ears and squared off chin, if you know what I mean. You missed out son, I had to find somebody before my window of opportunity closed."
"...and this was the best you could do?" I asked.
"You know what they say, beggars can't be choosers..." said Alisha before she dug one of her heels into the possessed man's foot, causing him to yelp and release his grip just enough for me to squeeze off a shot...the bullet grazed his shoulder.
I pulled my date beside me, while keeping my gun pointed firmly at the intruder. The man staggered back, but otherwise seemed to be unaffected by the bullet wound he'd just received. He stood there breathing heavily, his knife laying mere inches in front of him.
"One chance Linda Blair...on the ground, hands on your head." I said as I cocked the slide back on the Beretta.
As predictable as ever, he didn't comply. A moment later he lunged for the knife and I responded with the standard police protocol of two to the chest, one to the head "Yea, didn't think so." I went over to where he fell and slightly knelt down, I could see he was still breathing, albeit very shallow. Experience told me he only had moments left, but his eyes were hollow, empty "Better luck next time, aye old man."
"Oh yea...and trust me, there will be a next time, junior. You can count on it." he said as he took his last gasp of air.
Alisha stood behind me and as I raised back to my feet "That was one hell of a first date. You make every girl's first night this special?"
"Oh absolutely, ya know mutilated body on the bed, homicidal maniac loose in the house...I find it really sets the mood." we both took a moment before bursting out into laughter.
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Well the Love You Slayer was off the streets, at least for now. What the old man said had stayed with me though. I wasn't really all that well versed in matters of spiritual possession or the dead coming back to inhabit willing avatars, but I'll tell you one thing...Amazon is going to get hit up for every occult book they have. As for me, well I received a commendation from the department on bringing down the suspect, although they did find the circumstances a bit odd, to say the least. I'm going to pick up Alisha as we speak, I'm keen for our second date and she wants to give it another go with a live guy. We had at least a good half hour before the precinct cronies got to my apartment to pick up the two bodies and interview us, so we decided...what the hell. Can you believe I actually got complaints from the neighbors on how loud we were moaning, but not a single mention of the three gunshots just a few minutes prior. But that's New York for you.
I walked into one of the examining rooms, and what do I see? My radiant necrophiliac and slightly psychotic beauty all ready to dive into another stiff "Well doesn't he look familiar, you do remember we have a date tonight."
"I haven't forgotten, I'll be ready in time, I promise. Just gotta get this last autopsy done and I'm all yours." says Alisha.
I look at the corpse and tilt my head slightly "Funny, he looks different."
"Of course he does sweetie, he's dead. But your right, he's gotten a whole lot cuter since you shot him a few days ago. Death has a way of doing that to most guys."
"Just you behave with this one huh..." I said with a smirk.
"Sure, sure...now get outta here. We have a big night ahead of us." she says as she leaned in for a kiss, which I happily reciprocate.
"See you tonight." I say as I casually walk out into the hallway and down the corridor.
Alisha looks at the dead body on the table and licks her lips "I've got time for one quick one, I suppose." she says as her hands slowly begin to unbutton her blouse...
It had been the third confirmed mutilated corpse found linked to the same killer. His calling card was splitting the skull down the middle and carving "Love You" into the upper torso. This body bore all of these signs. It was than no surprise that the media dubbed this guy the "Love You Slayer".
"Ok gents, what do we got?" I said as I surveyed the crime scene.
"Third confirmed victim detective. We definitely gotta serial on our hands." said an officer.
I lifted the sheet and analyzed the body. A young woman, looked between twenty and thirty. Naked, obviously sexually assaulted, raped...probably multiple times. Her head was split down the middle, done with a sawing type implement. The words "Love You" carved deeply into her stomach area. It was all to familiar and I'm not talking just because it linked up with two previous murders. It was obvious, almost painfully so...someone was definitely copy catting my old man. To say suspicious eyes fell on me, was nothing short of an understatement.
"Same lacerations, same post mortem arrangement of the body...even the cut marks seem to be at exactly the same depth. Alright, get her over to the morgue, we'll add one more to the list." I said.
"You know, there's an awful lot of implications going on down at the station Dela Vega. I mean two might be a coincidence, but this clinches it." said a voice from behind.
Ahhh, what would I do without my old friend Detective Ross Dillinger, and I do use the word friend very loosely. The guy was a good cop to be sure and he liked to joke around a lot. Me and him were partnered a few years ago and I gotta say, I was impressed by his deductive skills. He and I had come to respect each other, I guess you could say.
"Way ahead of you Dillinger, but I hope your not implying that this is guilt by association."
"Look I'm not saying that anyone suspects you, but if some wack job is emulating your pops... the media hounds are gonna put extra pressure on the precinct. " said Dillinger.
"Who more qualified to catch this son of a bitch than the son of the killer he's trying to be, huh, Dill?" I said with a chuckle.
"Hey man, are you ok? I mean, this shit would get way to personal for me. Why don't you just request to be taken off the case, let someone else handle it. I mean doesn't it bother you?"
"Dillinger how long have you known me? Nothing bothers me, nothing. Now the anniversary of my dear old dad's untimely demise comes up in three months. I think it can be surmised that this asshole is planning something big..." I said as I started to walk off.
"Hey where you going?"
"Compare the deceased with the other bodies, see if there's anything we missed." I said as I walked off back to my car.
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A short while later I was walking into the high rise of the city morgue and I have to admit, I had quite the ulterior motive. Yea I wanted to catch this guy, but this was more a less a social call. You see as detached from emotion and feelings as I was, that's not to say that to say that I was completely removed from the human species, physically anyway. Let's just say that women had my undivided attention. I loved em'...well their bodies anyway. Oh c'mon, don't tell me your surprised. Sex to me was never anything emotional, as I've stated, I'm quite incapable of those types of, whatever the hell you call them. But the physical effects of it all, the sensations, the aroma of a woman's body...pleasured me to no end, again, strictly in a physical sense, and I was quite good at giving as well receiving if you get my drift.
Well anyway, they say that psychopaths are good at playing the normal role and in this case, it was quite true. I had no compunction about talking to attractive women, mostly because, again, I have no emotional connection. The sexual game just came easy to me, what can I say. But this particular quarry was a little different. You remember when I said before that psychos are also quite adept at spotting others who are like them, again, guilty as charged. I glided up the long narrow building and into the autopsy rooms, where she was. By she, I mean one Dr. Alisha Caraquillo. Second only to the official medical examiner. From the moment I laid eyes on her, I knew I wanted her. About five eight, one hundred thirty pounds, early thirties. When most people picture a Latin goddess, this woman is what they probably see. But there was something more about Dr. Caraquillo, something that particularly endeared her to me. You see, Alisha Caraquillo was one of "us" as it were. When the first victim of the Love You Slayer was brought in, it was she who conducted the autopsy. Apart from her obvious beauty, something else caught my attention. The way she moved around the body, spoke about certain things...her eyes dancing over the corpse as if, almost entranced. I had a hunch, but I would need to prove it. So being the sneaky bastard that I was, I hid a small camera in one of the autopsy rooms...and you'll never guess what I found.
"Doctor, fancy meeting you here." I said in the most sarcastic manner possible.
"Detective Dela Vega, to what do I owe the honor this time?"
"Well we found another body today, was just wondering if you've had a chance to autopsy it yet."
"As a matter of fact I was on my way to do just that, so if you'll excuse me." she said in an abrupt tone.
"I don't suppose you'd be free tonight, perhaps we can discuss your findings further?" I said, a sly grin crossed my lips.
She turned around and responded with a weak smile of her own "Look I don't mean to be rude detective. But this is your third, possibly fourth time trying to ask me out. Now don't get me wrong, your cute, I dare even say handsome. Your intelligent and very charming, but your simply not my type."
"Because I'm alive..."
"I beg your pardon?" she asked.
I took out my cell phone and with a cocky gesture I handed the device to her "I want you to look at something for a minute."
Now you recall I said that I had a hunch about the beautiful doctor, but that I needed to prove it. Well there on the screen it showed the good doctor engaged in what can only be described as raunchy sex with the dead.
"Quite an interesting hobby you have Dr. Caraquillo, and the strap on really adds a nice touch." I said as I pulled back my phone and continued to view the disturbing footage...well disturbing to most anyway.
A look of dread seriousness washed over her features as she narrowed her eyes in an almost sinister fashion "How the hell did you get that video?"
"I'm a police officer, doctor...I have my ways."
"How much is this going to cost me?" she said in an almost growl like tone.
"Oh Alisha, you've got me all wrong. I don't want your money."
"What than..."
My eyes darted up in a playful manner "Pick ya up at eight?"
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Now to say my digs were lavish, wouldn't be quite accurate. They weren't shabby, but they weren't luxurious either. Let's just say I lived comfortably, making the best of New York cop's salary. I had what I needed, with some extra odds and ends sprinkled in. But there is another side to all this. One aspect that most people would find utterly terrifying...but for me, well, it was just another daily occurrence ever since the bastard was turned into Swiss cheese by law enforcement twenty years ago. You see I hear him all the time, always gnawing at the back of my ear, occasionally I even see him. Yea, I'm talking about my old man...now I know what your thinking, I've already admitted I was a psychopath, is it any stretch of the imagination that I would also be delusional. But delusions and figments of the imagination don't leave slash marks across your chest or small cuts on your fingertips whenever you wake up. Now I'm not saying it was a frequent occurrence but whenever the son of a bitch wanted to really get my attention, it did happen.
But at any rate, I had to get ready for my date with the sexy doctor. So I went to wash up. I was shaving when, boom...there he was, right behind me in the mirror.
"That's my boy, ya know we're much more alike than you would ever care to admit. I was a real ladies man myself ya know." the thing said.
Now here was the part where most people would freak out. I mean seeing a disembodied shadow with two sets of glowing green eyes in the mirror would be enough to send just about anybody to the nearest exorcist. But like I said, even though I knew the asshole was all to real...I had lived with this ever since I was twelve years old.
"Did you want something Casper?" I asked in a nonchalant and somewhat annoyed tone as I continued to shave.
"You could have been it, how many years did I spend trying to get you to become my Vessel...really do your old dad proud. Now I had to choose someone else and your not gonna catch him."
"Is that a fact?" I asked as I finished up shaving and walked down the hall to my special room.
"You know what I find funny, hilarious in fact. That even though you've refused my urgings, your gonna give in one of these days. You inherited my gift son, your not gonna be able to hold out much longer..."
"Except for the fact that I'm not like you, old man..."
"Oh don't try and play the human sentimentality bullshit card with me Darrian. We both know full well you couldn't care less for them or what goes on in their world, much like...nay, exactly like me."
I entered the hallway and opened the door to another room, with the phantom following close behind "I'm not talking about emotions, or feelings or morals or any like that. I'm talking about the law..." I said as I flipped on a light switch.
Now I think I should explain a few things. Even though I'm classified as non-violent psycho, it doesn't mean that I understand the normal social constructs of right and wrong. That's not to say that they don't apply to me, it's just that a sense of right and wrong usually stems from some kind of moral or emotional compass pointing towards what the supposed right thing to do is. My brain is strictly wired for pure logic as most psychos are...and this is where my beloved, as I call her, comes in. As a child, I was left orphaned, ergo no guidance. That's when I discovered...Nemesis.
The room was a small one and adorned with what can only be described as a shrine to the U.S. Justice system. A judge's wig and gavel, law books of every and all kinds, antique juror's robes of the seventeenth century, the courtroom scales... and in the center of it all, a moderate size figure of Nemesis, goddess of retribution and justice.
I walked around a bit with the wraith of ole' daddy still standing silent in the doorway. I dipped a silver chalice into a small water basin at the feet of the statue and drank from it, silently toasting the goddess. After a few moments, I walked back to the door and looked the shadow right in the eyes "You see pops, the law is all that holds it together. Nietzsche had it right when he said that the law was nature and nature is the law. What you did and who you were, never corresponded with the law...and the law is all I'm about. Now if you'll excuse me, my dearest nemesis, I have a date tonight."
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Now, I never was the sort to pop for an extravagant first date, for me the end all be all was the bedroom, however I could get them there...and that's not to say that this gal was any different. I mean she only agreed to this because I essentially blackmailed her into it. But this time, the sex was only part of the reason, I was genuinely curious about what this woman was all about, necrophilia and all.
This was about as high refined as I had ever gotten, a nice little bistro called "The Gala" on the Upper West Side. We sat facing each other on a balcony suite, slowly eating our appetizers. The conversation was sparse and I bet both of us wondered when the bartering would begin...as in when I started to name my terms so that I wouldn't turn over the footage I had of her fucking a corpse to her bosses. But I had a different conversation in mind.
"So how long has your creepy ass been stalking me?" she said in a rather stand off type of tone.
"How long have you been making whoopy with your dissection subjects?" I retorted.
"Fair enough..." she said, her eyes softening in their glare.
"Look, if all you wanted was a quickie, you could've bypassed all this date night nonsense." she said.
"This goes a little deeper than that. Now don't get me wrong, I'll admit that the first time I saw you...I really wanted you. But than there came something else. You see I'm really good at spotting others who share my unique personality traits...and it didn't take long to figure out that you, were one of us." I said smiling in between bites.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Look it's no secret who my father was...hell the bums on the stoop even know that I am the son of David Dela Vega, one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. But here's the part most people don't know. Tell me doctor, are you familiar with the notion of shared genetic psychopathy?"
"A little I guess..."
"Many behavorial scientists as well as prominent biologists think it's quite probable for psychopathy to be passed from parent to child. That if the mother or father is a psychopath or sociopath...than the probability is high for one or more of their offspring to develop the same type of abnormal tendencies...you ever see the Bad Seed, exact same principal here."
"So what are you saying, that since your father was a homicidal murderer, that you've turned out to be one as well? Can't say I'm really surprised, judging by your actions thus far." she said a chuckle in her voice.
"Not quite...I doubted it at first, but even before my dad was outed for being the deranged son of a bitch that he was, I was displaying some of the same behaviors as a child. But not in the exact same way mind you. Most psychopathic children show classic signs of sadistic behavior, torturing small animals for example. However things were a little different with me. I was never very interested in death or murder. It was all about survival of the fittest, the strong dominating the weak. Instead of killing small furry creatures, I pitted them against one another...to see which one was stronger. I drew stick figure people bowing down to god like figures as they were being dominated...and of course there was the empathy thing. I felt no pity or compassion for the weaker animals that got killed. If the weak got stomped than they were never meant to survive, but with that said, nature would be the one to snuff them out, not us. That was simply not our job. "
"Reminds me of a quote by Fred Nietzsche. That every species had their Ubermensch." said Alisha.
Now I really perked up "So your familiar with Nietzsche! A brilliant thinker ahead of his time. He really understood the Darwinian process of natural selection. That for every great leap in the evolutionary ladder, there was a spring board of a thousand dead bodies, all to weak to carry on a superior future." I took a mouthful of bread "Ya know, while we're on the subject of dead bodies."
She laughed, it was obvious that the lines of communication where opening up and I wondered just how much I could really find out "I didn't exactly grow up in a stable home. Both my parents were in Los Netas. My dad got busted for drug possession when I was six and I was shuttled between relatives for years after that. One of my father's homies, Carlos, promised to take care of me and my mom as a favor to my dad. He took care of us alright. When I was thirteen, a bunch of the The Netas were having a Halloween party in the apartment. I was asleep in my room and my mom, was passed out in the living room. Out of nowhere Carlos and three of his friends burst into my room, drunk and high off their asses. They were all dressed in zombie makeup for the party. Before I knew what was happening, they ran a train on me. Something happened to me that night, some wires got really fucked up as a result of the gang bang, I suppose.
A few years later, I was a ward of the state. I remember, I was in a girl's shelter and watching a report on the news about a car crash. It was pretty gruesome, the three passengers were laying all around the wreck. But that's when something unexpected happen, instead of being repulsed...I was being aroused. The sight of these dead bodies was actually turning me on. Nothing was ever the same after that. My urges continued on through the years, and I had been with normal guys who were, you know...alive and it was ok. But nothing seemed to satisfy me like the fantasy. So naturally I became a mortician and it was during my first year of internship that I finally got the chance to..."
"Fulfill the fantasy...how was it?" I asked with the corner of my mouth upturned into a sly grin.
"It was amazing and revolting at the same time. I felt pleasure and disgust all rushing in at once, I had never felt anything like it. Not to mention his thigh tasted pretty good too." Alisha said with slight flash of coy in her eyes.
"Just one more ingredient to add to the pot, huh." I responded slowly stirring my water with my finger.
Alisha leaned more inward, I could tell her comfort was rising "So tell me Mr. Psycho detective. What made you want to get into law enforcement? Surely not as penance for what your dad did."
"It's a bit more complicated than that. When the Feds. rang my front door the morning after dad had been gunned down by the police, it changed everything for the family. Me and my mother were constantly hounded by media wanting to get the inside scoop on what kind of a monster my father really was. But what they didn't know was we were just as much in the dark as everyone else. The memories I have of David Dela Vega was of a pretty much normal guy. He was a slightly aloof, kinda nerdy college professor...but other than that, he treated us as any ordinary upper middle class father would. We never suspected a thing. Even though I was curious of everything going on, I really had no feelings about much of anything. My mom couldn't understand why I seemed to have no ounce of grief, if only she'd known.
About a year or so after dad was killed, mom checked herself into a mental clinic, unable to cope with everything that had happened and I went to live with relatives. A few months later, she was found hanging in her room, suicide. That's when odd things began to happen."
"Odd things...like what?"
"The nightmares started in earnest. Now before all this, I didn't dream at all, let alone have nightmares. For a hundred and seven nights straight, I would have horrible night terrors in which every single one of my father's victims, chided and admonished me, telling me that I owed the world something for the crimes my father had committed. Sometimes I woke up with scratches, gashes across my back and bite marks on my neck. Oh they were angry alright, they made that part abundantly clear. I was admitted to a psychiatric hospital but the nightmares continued, they even tried on ten different occasions to have a priest exorcise me. Than on the hundred and eighth night, she came to me."
"Who did Darrian?"
"Well, I found myself in an empty field surrounded by tall grass at night. The mangled and mutilated corpses of all the people that I had dreamt of previously, came out of the shadows and surrounded me. For the first time I felt real fear, I thought to myself...this is it, these bastards are gonna tear me apart, when suddenly they stopped. They parted like the Red Sea and from the center I could see my mother walking towards me. The ligature mark still fresh around her neck, she drew a broad sword that hung around her waist and uttered a single word...Nemesis. She handed me the blade and the rest of the corpses retreated back into the shadows. That was when I had my epiphany so to speak."
"What did the dream mean?" she asked.
"I didn't find out till a few years later, but thankfully the nightmares stopped after that. When I was about fourteen or so I was thumbing through a book about Greek mythology when I came across the goddess of law and retribution and you'd never guess what her name was. "
"Of course, Nemesis..." said Alisha matter of factly.
"I started pouring over every law book I could find, I guess I became a little obsessed. But what I found was that justice, retribution and natural law all connected perfectly. Everything that had gone on while I was a child all manifested themselves here. Neitzschian theory, Darwinian selection, the laws of nature and retribution all came perfectly into sync and I finally knew what the nightmares were all about, what they all meant. My father had gone against nature, this wasn't about vengeance, it was about upholding the most important thing in the universe. Preserving order over chaos. I knew what I had to do...to become an enforcer of the law. I don't give a rats ass about protecting the innocent, I'm simply a preserver of the law."
"Wow deep...so let me ask you this. Would you consider me a violator of the law, I mean having sex with the dead isn't exactly natural."
"True, but it's not exactly against the law either, at least in this state. Besides, this was never about prosecuting you for a crime. I could spot others like me, I told you that. Others that share my unique kind of brain patterns."
"So let me get this straight, you were never gonan turn over that footage to the medical examiner's office?"
"Of course not, I just had to get you to agree to a sit down meeting."
"Why is that...?"
"Well I've already explained part of that. The other aspects of it are, you are a brilliant autopsy consultant who could have unique insights on catching this killer and, let's face it...you are smoking hot. I was thinking you could share some of your theories on the killer's techniques with me back at my place."
"Well gee, I don't know...you think you can compete with a dildo and a corpse?"
"Fucking try me..."
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This is pretty much how it goes down with just about every chick I set my sights on, we spend two, maybe three nights together bullshittin about this and that and she ends up spending the night. But with Alisha, I don't know, it was just different. We really didn't oblige with much of the small talk. We high tailed it out the bistro, made a B-Line back to my place and as soon as we set foot through my door, we were engaged in the tongue wrestle Olympics.
"So do the stiffs give mouth to mouth like this?" I managed to say between long winded kisses.
"You've yet to fully prove yourself, but it's a damn good start..." she pumped out before slipping her tongue back into my mouth.
Well after another good ten minutes of this, we finally decide to take the action to the bedroom. We stumble through the hallway when she suddenly stops at the bathroom "Get the bed sheets ready for me, nature calls."
"Nature ain't got shit on me tonight." I said as I entered my bedroom.
Now you should know by now that I'm not your run of the mill kinda guy. I do things way differently than your average Joe. So I guess it would come as no surprise that I didn't have a traditional light switch in my room. It may sound corny, but I had clapper lights. With exhilaration I clapped my hands twice, the lights came on and that's when I saw it. All gift wrapped on my bed, was another corpse. It had all the Love You Slayer's hallmarks. The skull split down the middle, the words carved into her chest...not to mention that massive pool of blood that was slowly leaking off the bed and onto the floor. I walked a little closer, my face now stone serious.
"Oh that's fucking cute..."
"You don't know the half of it..." said a voice that crackled from behind me.
I guess it was just the cop's instinct inside me, but I simultaneously drew my Beretta from behind my shirt and whirled around. There standing in the doorway was Alisha, being held from behind by a skinny and moldy looking bastard who looked like he could be the poster child for every heroine addict in America. The creep held a sizable butcher knife to her throat as I held my piece steadily trained on his head.
"How's my only boy doin tonight, huh? I gotta give you props, she is one hot little piece of ass, good job." said the vagrant in a ghostly disembodied voice.
It was than that it hit me, dear old dad had found another Vessel "Why am I not surprised. So you finally found a willing puppet. Where'd you pick this one up David...a half way house?"
"What the fuck is going on?" screamed Alisha as she squirmed in the man's grip.
"Oh me and the detective here go way back, chica. Trust me on that one. But, as with any growing boy, he's a bit stubborn. The twentieth anniversary of my death is approaching and the gate was open for me to return. I tried to get junior here to be my Vessel, since he got more from me than just my pointed ears and squared off chin, if you know what I mean. You missed out son, I had to find somebody before my window of opportunity closed."
"...and this was the best you could do?" I asked.
"You know what they say, beggars can't be choosers..." said Alisha before she dug one of her heels into the possessed man's foot, causing him to yelp and release his grip just enough for me to squeeze off a shot...the bullet grazed his shoulder.
I pulled my date beside me, while keeping my gun pointed firmly at the intruder. The man staggered back, but otherwise seemed to be unaffected by the bullet wound he'd just received. He stood there breathing heavily, his knife laying mere inches in front of him.
"One chance Linda Blair...on the ground, hands on your head." I said as I cocked the slide back on the Beretta.
As predictable as ever, he didn't comply. A moment later he lunged for the knife and I responded with the standard police protocol of two to the chest, one to the head "Yea, didn't think so." I went over to where he fell and slightly knelt down, I could see he was still breathing, albeit very shallow. Experience told me he only had moments left, but his eyes were hollow, empty "Better luck next time, aye old man."
"Oh yea...and trust me, there will be a next time, junior. You can count on it." he said as he took his last gasp of air.
Alisha stood behind me and as I raised back to my feet "That was one hell of a first date. You make every girl's first night this special?"
"Oh absolutely, ya know mutilated body on the bed, homicidal maniac loose in the house...I find it really sets the mood." we both took a moment before bursting out into laughter.
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Well the Love You Slayer was off the streets, at least for now. What the old man said had stayed with me though. I wasn't really all that well versed in matters of spiritual possession or the dead coming back to inhabit willing avatars, but I'll tell you one thing...Amazon is going to get hit up for every occult book they have. As for me, well I received a commendation from the department on bringing down the suspect, although they did find the circumstances a bit odd, to say the least. I'm going to pick up Alisha as we speak, I'm keen for our second date and she wants to give it another go with a live guy. We had at least a good half hour before the precinct cronies got to my apartment to pick up the two bodies and interview us, so we decided...what the hell. Can you believe I actually got complaints from the neighbors on how loud we were moaning, but not a single mention of the three gunshots just a few minutes prior. But that's New York for you.
I walked into one of the examining rooms, and what do I see? My radiant necrophiliac and slightly psychotic beauty all ready to dive into another stiff "Well doesn't he look familiar, you do remember we have a date tonight."
"I haven't forgotten, I'll be ready in time, I promise. Just gotta get this last autopsy done and I'm all yours." says Alisha.
I look at the corpse and tilt my head slightly "Funny, he looks different."
"Of course he does sweetie, he's dead. But your right, he's gotten a whole lot cuter since you shot him a few days ago. Death has a way of doing that to most guys."
"Just you behave with this one huh..." I said with a smirk.
"Sure, sure...now get outta here. We have a big night ahead of us." she says as she leaned in for a kiss, which I happily reciprocate.
"See you tonight." I say as I casually walk out into the hallway and down the corridor.
Alisha looks at the dead body on the table and licks her lips "I've got time for one quick one, I suppose." she says as her hands slowly begin to unbutton her blouse...