The Nightwatcher

Chapter ONE

Copyright © 2015 by Jacob Ward

All rights reserved.

This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover images created using heromachine.com

ISBN-13: 978-1519715258

ISBN-10: 1519715250

CHAPTER ONE

Wade Riley saw his city and knew her spirit was broken. She would no longer smile on a sunny day, or feel the subtle calm and sereneness of a rainy day. Her body showed signs of scarring and bruising. When she shined her light, the world thought she was just fine, but Riley saw the true darkness underneath. Poisoned and wicked men had their way with her. Corrupted her. Took a once bright, energetic star and decayed it into a pile of apathy and shame.

Sterling City was her name.

The place Riley called home for so long.

The home he didn't know anymore.

He dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out the cold, golden weight that was a Sterling City Police Department badge. It was a bag of stones in his hand, the weight increasing day after day. He stared deeply into it. The badge had a relief of an eagle over an American flag, and around the flag, inscribed onto the badge, was the motto of the SCPD.

Fiat justitia ruat caelum.

"Let justice be done should the sky fall."

For a long time now, the sky had fallen deep onto Sterling City. Once known as "The Sterling Example of Greatness," it was now nothing more than a rotting cesspool for the wicked and the cruel. "Justice" had become a long-forgotten antiquity of the past. Riley's fellow cops didn't care about justice or maintaining a safe environment. They only cared about their selfish desires, and would take any means they wanted to acquire those desires. Riley was an old-fashioned cop in a department that didn't give a damn about the old-fashioned ways of the world. His "brothers in blue" didn't serve Sterling City. They served their master.

The Dark.

He was like some omnipresent figure, always hanging about, always watching and listening in, the god the corrupt worshiped. And he had many devout followers. For five years, he had been the puppet master of Sterling City, putting on his own personal show. He played chess with all of his pawns, scoring the check-mate every time.

The Dark.

The seed that sprouted the weeds of corruption and vice all over the city.

Not too many people had ever seen The Dark or had any communication with him at all. His was the language of fear. The deep, cold-hearted fear that keeps a person awake at night. The fear that creates panic. The fear that causes a person to do anything and everything.

The fear that kills if not noticed.

For a year, this all weighed down hard on Riley. He was watching his home self-destruct from within, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. Not a damn thing anyone would do about it. So day after day, month after month, Riley traded in another part of his soul. He told himself, and even convinced himself, that he would never give in. Never become corrupt.