The streets were bustling despite the cold weather. The movement of the city never stopped. People came and went, all lost in their own world, but inevitably continuing with their mundane and meaningless lives, filling all the gears of this machine and, to his misfortune, William had to be a part of it.
"Hey! I'm walking here!" he shouted annoyed at the taxi that nearly hit him. "Idiot," he yelled at the moving car, showing little class as he flipped them the bird.
It was approximately 10:30 in the morning, and William was heading to a small restaurant on the corner of 45th Street. Normally, at this time of the morning, he would be on his comfortable couch smoking a cigarette while finishing up the last jobs he had received since opening his office, but unfortunately, he had been called by someone he couldn't say no to. Luckily, the place wasn't too far from his office.
A cheap but familiar cigarette accompanied him in his mouth, its smoke filling his lungs. His tie and coat waved in the wind, adding a bit of drama to his walk and giving him an odd charisma.
As he entered the restaurant, the sound of the television and the aroma of hot food being served at the tables greeted him. "Yesterday, March 6th, at 11:45 p.m., an asteroid six times larger than the state of California was stopped and diverted thanks to the quick intervention of Superman and the Justice League, who in a new statement..." was the first thing he heard.
"William, Boy" an older man called out to William, whose black hair was speckled with white due to his age. He wore a well-groomed and clean priest's suit, and his face showed great calm and tranquility. But his amethyst-colored eyes betrayed his expression, being as hard and fierce as a lion stalking its prey.
"Father Arthur!" William called out with a forced smile on his face.
"It's good to see you, young man. How are you?" he said, giving him a handshake and a small tap on the arm.
"Well, I can't say it's good to see you, but I suppose I couldn't avoid it. By the way, I'm fine."
"I must say the feeling is mutual," he replied, and with his hand, he pointed to a table in the farthest part of the restaurant, next to a window. They sat across from each other.
"Excuse me, sir, but you can't smoke here," a waitress interrupted before the conversation began, pointing to a no smoking sign hanging on the wall.
William smiled at the woman mischievously, and in an impressive sleight of hand combined with a bit of basic magic, the cigarette disappeared. "Coffee, please, with two sugars," William requested.
"Black coffee for me, please," Father Arthur politely ordered. The waitress nodded and left, leaving the two men alone. Neither of them spoke at first, but Father Arthur was the first to break the tension.
"I met that boy, David? He's got a good head on his shoulders and quite some talent," Father Arthur spoke first, breaking the tension between the two. "I can see why you keep him close."
"Well, it was either keep him close or let a demon eat his soul, so I guess I didn't have many options," William replied, increasing the tension in the atmosphere.
"Here you go," the waitress said, leaving the two coffees on the table. "Thanks," William said, sending a wink to the waitress. "Thank you very much," Father Arthur said, receiving a nod from the waitress and leaving.
"I must imagine that I'm not here simply for coffee, am I?" William asked, taking a small sip of his coffee.
"Unfortunately, no," Father Arthur replied, pulling a gold medallion covered in symbols of a lost language from his pocket, leaving in the center a symbol, no, a mark.
"The mark of Cain?" William asked, giving a brief glance to the medallion. "I thought it would be something important when I received the letter, and now it turns out that I'm here to hunt myths?" William exclaimed.
"The Holy Trinity has had certain concerns," Father Arthur said calmly, ignoring William's outburst, putting the medallion back in his pocket. "There have been certain strange movements that have alerted us, and this symbol has appeared in each of the places where there has been activity."
"And they're afraid he's back," William affirmed with a playful smile on his face. "If they're worried he's back, why don't they ask for help from Andrew Bennett?" William asked, taking a sip of his coffee. "That guy has a bad habit of getting involved where he's not called, plus they say he already has a history with him. I'm sure he'll gladly help if you ask him."
"As you said, he has already been informed and was more than eager to help once he was told who it might be," Father Arthur commented, finishing his coffee.
"Excellent. Sounds great, but what does all of this have to do with me?" William asked with a furrowed brow. "I'm sure I wasn't called just to be told all of this, right?"
Father Arthur frowned, changing his expression for the first time to a more serious look. "Although we know very little about them, they call themselves 'The First Children'," Father Arthur said, approaching William and lowering his voice even more. "Thanks to an informant in the organization, we know that they are gathering many vampire clans in the most important cities in the world."
"Among these cities are London, Washington, Gotham, and... New York, which you are in charge of," William opened his eyes in surprise upon learning the gravity of the situation. If not even the Holy Trinity knew of their existence until now, how powerful are they? How long have they been doing this? And the most important question, what are they planning?
"This was found in an ancient hideout of the Noctis clan, of which, as you know, Elizabeth Bathory is the matriarch," Father Arthur informed William without taking his eyes off of him, paying careful attention to any reaction William might have. "We know how close you are to her, and we know that you have done some jobs for her since you left Gotham." William's eyes involuntarily contracted at Father Arthur's words, something the Father noticed.
"I won't interfere in your affairs. That stopped being my job the moment you left Gotham. But I need you to tell me if you knew anything about this," Father Arthur said. "You're a very smart person, I'm sure you've noticed. The clans are in control, and there are erratic movements in the underworld that are impossible to ignore."
Father Arthur stood up, straightened out the wrinkles in his shirt, and walked to stand next to William. "Take it as a warning of what's to come. A storm is coming that only God himself knows what it will bring us and the havoc it will cause."
"Keep your eyes wide open, young man. Maybe you can keep your neck intact for a little longer. It was good to see you, William. If you get any information that can help us, don't hesitate to contact headquarters," and he left, leaving ten dollars on the table and William alone with his thoughts.
"In other news..." the restaurant's television reached William's ears, making him look in its direction. "In the past few weeks, there have been multiple reports of people missing without a trace in different areas of London. The local police are investigating these cases as suspicious disappearances and have deployed considerable resources to find the missing people."
"The disappearances seem to have occurred without a specific pattern, with people disappearing at different times of the night and in different areas of the city. Some of the missing were last seen in public parks and other gathering places, while others simply disappeared from their homes without a trace," William's eyes widened as he saw the symbol he had previously ignored on a wall, painted in green. "The authorities are working tirelessly to find the missing people..."
Without paying any more attention to the news, he left the restaurant and with a simple movement, the cigarette he had saved appeared between his fingers, still lit and barely shrunken.
The smoke from the cigarette filled his lungs; the unpleasant sensation of the tobacco coming in and out gave him a false sense of comfort.
"I need a drink," William said, sighing with exhaustion.
----
Jackson tried to calm his niece with a soft and soothing voice: "Lara, relax. They told me at the station that you haven't stopped working for the past few days, you've been very tired and that could have influenced you," her uncle said calmly. But Lara, with a firm voice and not influenced by her uncle's words, replied:
"Don't come at me with that, Uncle Jack, I know what I saw."
Lara Reilly is an attractive woman of about 28 or 29 years old, with a fine face. Her eyes were electric blue, which reflected confidence and charm. Her hair was short and a reddish blonde color. Lara took a deep breath, trying to calm down. She knew that the worst thing she could do was lose her composure, but even if her uncle didn't believe her, she knew what she saw, and couldn't help but wonder what that thing was and who the person who saved her was.
"Anyway, this morning when I woke up, I called Dennis and explained everything to him. He has some contacts with the league, they will probably be more willing to take care of that matter," Lara spoke, leaving the topic aside for the moment.
Jackson sighed and grabbed the bridge of his nose. "Seriously, Dennis, that guy is a pain in the ass. Haven't they arrested him for tampering with evidence?" Jackson asked, looking at Lara seriously.
"Well... yes, but his contacts are real and he was just checking on some unimportant things. Anyway, the point is that more of those things could be out there and another innocent person could be the victim," Lara explained, trying to change the subject.
Jackson simply shook his head, picked up his hat from the table and headed for the door. "Alright, I'll talk to Stephen. For now, stay and rest for a few days outside the office. There's also a world outside those four walls, you know?" he commented with amusement in the last sentence.
"Impossible, I'm about to make a breakthrough in the Mitchell case," Lara replied, vehemently denying and receiving another sigh from Jackson. "If I stop now, I'll lose everything I've been working on for three months."
"Don't worry about that, Ortega can take care of it for a couple of days. You, on the other hand, go out and have fun with someone. You're still young, you should go dancing or something," he exclaimed cheerfully. "Seriously, rest or I'll tell your mother," warned Jackson, looking at Lara sternly.
"By the way, breaking into a police station and getting caught searching through archived evidence is tampering with evidence," Jackson asserted. "Take care," he said, closing the door behind him and leaving Lara alone with her thoughts.
"I'm sorry, Uncle Jack, but it's not time to relax," she murmured, looking at the door with a complicated expression on her face. "I need to find out what happened."
----
Gotham City 11:30 p.m.
In Somerset, deep within a small church located in The Bowery, a vast network of catacombs as old as Gotham itself lay hidden, covering the entirety of the island, only 30 or 40 meters below the city's sewer system, hidden from prying eyes.
Slow, rhythmic footsteps could be heard in the darkness, showing no signs of stopping, scaring away rats and any other creatures unaccustomed to the sounds in that place.
Accompanying these steps was an intimidating light from what appeared to be a candle lamp, illuminating the eerie place at least a little. Soon, the footsteps stopped, and the person making the noise lifted the lamp slightly, seeking a closer look at the strange wall in front of him. The lamp's light shone on his face, revealing Father Arthur. His kind expression was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a gaze so cold and distant that it seemed to penetrate the soul.
Father Arthur took the silver cross that always accompanied him from his neck and embedded it in the wall, causing it to tremble slightly and some rocks to fall. Suddenly, a deep and sinister voice was heard as a whisper in the air: "Fluctuans sicut nebula inter mundos, mysticus et obscurus, semper adsisto vitae ac mortis. Sum essentia omnis quod est, creator, salvator et dux." The candle in his lamp went out with a loud noise as the words arrived, but Father Arthur did not hesitate for a moment.
"Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus," Father Arthur responded, making the sign of the cross with his left hand.
The wall shook again, but this time more strongly. Cracks began to fill the wall, raising a cloud of dust and blocking Father Arthur's vision for a few seconds before disappearing, revealing that the previous wall had now become a passage filled with stairs that led only downwards.
At the moment Father Arthur touched the first step, thousands of torches were lit, illuminating the long stairs.
For over 4 hours he had been descending, until chants filled his ears indicating he was getting closer. As he descended further, the chants grew louder, until for the first time in over four hours, he touched the ground, causing the chants to suddenly stop.
Father Arthur continued walking a little further before stopping in front of a thin door made of the finest wood, carved by the most skilled artisan to ever exist. Without waiting any longer, Father Arthur entered the room, which was so dark that he couldn't even see the outline of his hands.
Father Arthur remained completely still in the darkness, as if he were waiting for something.
"What did William Black say?" Three voices sounded in the darkness, three voices so different from each other but so similar at the same time, disturbing the peace of the silence in the darkness.
"Not a thing," Father Arthur replied. His voice was so apathetic and lifeless that it would chill the blood of anyone who heard it. His intonation, the way the words came out of his mouth was so inhuman, it could even be said to be almost robotic.
"What do you think?" The three voices in one spoke again, as cold and robotic as Father Arthur's voice.
"This person is hiding something," he responded, leaving the words hanging in the air. The three voices remained silent for a couple of seconds, almost returning tranquility to the shadows, only for the sound to disturb it once again.
"I see... Remain vigilant, Our Lord will provide," the voice ordered and its appearance suddenly disappeared, as if nothing or no one had ever been in the place, except for the figure of Father Arthur standing firmly, who tapped his chest and elegantly and calmly walked towards the exit, before stopping and turning his back to the shadows. "Our Lord will provide."
----
Ready, that was the entire chapter. What do you think? Hahaha.
By the way, if you want, you can read the previous two chapters. Both were edited and corrected. I also rewrote some parts to improve certain aspects of the writing and fix some plot holes that were left in the previous chapters.
Once again, thank you for reading this story.