Who's to judge?

Chapter VI

The new day started with very aggressive knocking at my door. I opened and had the devil in front of me. He looked tense, more than usual, and angrier than usual. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little intimidated.

"Get ready, you guys have a case."

I looked at him confused and didn't move from the spot, which was a mistake. He grabbed me rudely by the arm and yanked me out of my cell. He dragged me behind him and we went to Kalma's cell. There he was pounding just as aggressively. Kalma opened the door and looked irritated, his eyes were red as if he had been crying. But when his eyes met mine, I shook my head slightly, and he immediately calmed down.

"A case for both of you." Said the devil to him and Kalma nodded dutifully. Kalma understood the situation faster than I did and followed the devil without protest. He stopped in front of his office and went in to get something. At that moment Kalma turned to me and looked at me questioningly, but I could only shrug my shoulders. He then came back out with his shoulder holster, with a gun in it. I looked at him with wide eyes, but he walked past us and we followed.

"This case is a little trickier. I usually let the other vampire handle cases like this, but unfortunately he's no longer with us, so you'll have to take it."

On the way out, he held the door open for us and said, "And I will come with you."

I didn't know if I didn't like that idea, or if I just hated it. One of the things I never wanted to do in my life was to have to take care of a case with the devil himself. But I couldn't complain, I was just the hound dog. He led us to a black car that was a little bigger than the patrol cars.

He opened the side door and growled, "Get in." We got in and I had to hold my nose. It smelled terrible in there. I smelled old blood, lots of sweat, but also fear, way too much fear. I also smelled what happened when someone was too scared. We sat in silence and waited for the car to take us wherever we needed to go. We were completely separated from the driver and enveloped in darkness. I sat back, when I heard the purr of the engine, I sighed loudly.

"Good morning." Whispered Kalma beside me and I turned around. He smiled sweetly and seemed to really mean the greeting. "Morning." I grumbled back. "Did you sleep well?" He inquired and I shook my head. "I haven't slept well in a long time, and with everything that's happened, even worse." I confessed to him.

"I'm sorry about that." he whispered. "What about you?" I asked him. His eyes got all big. He seemed taken aback that I would ask such a thing. Then he pulled himself together and answered, "Well, I've been brooding. I've been thinking about Derrick. There's something not right about all this. There were no signs of a struggle on his body, which is funny, because Derrick would do anything for a good fight. But what's even weirder is that he seems to have died peacefully." He said thoughtfully. "Do you think it was someone who knew him?" I asked him, but he shrugged. "I don't know, but it was certainly someone who Derrick didn't see as a threat." He then leaned back and pondered for a while.

"You've probably known him longer than I have, right?" He nodded. "We knew each other before the precinct." He replied, sounding very sad. He almost looked like he was about to cry. Maybe I needed to change the subject. The car stopped, and shortly after, the door opened. The devil stood there and ordered us to get out. We were in front of an abandoned building, probably an old school. The paint on the walls had peeled off years ago and the door was no longer there. The devil checked his gun as he explained the situation to us, "There has been a report of a vampire that appears to have attacked someone. Some police officers were sent ahead of us, but they couldn't do anything because he supposedly has a hostage. He was last seen running into this building. This is where you guys come in. You guys need to go in, track him down and nullify him, I'll take care of the hostage. Are we clear?" We nodded and went in first.