Dark Hearts

Part I (Chapters 3 & 4)

The Templar

"You didn't have to send Sweepers for him" Sarah said as she got in her partner's black Charger, she changed from nothing to the Templars' attire, a black suit with a white shirt and a red tie "he didn't see anything" she smiled as she adjusted herself in the black leather seat "unless you call those babies, monsters" she gave a naughty look to her breasts, the comment made George uncomfortable as she intended to, she loves it when she makes her partner blush.

"He saw your gun" George said without looking at her. His face was already turning red, much to Sarah's amusement "I don't suppose you told him that you are a cop or something. Besides, once they mind-wipe him they will fix your door, win win for you, don't you think?"

"I guess so" she replied, "so what does Catherine Foul-mouth have for us?"

Catherine Foul-mouth was the name the Templars call the Crusader behind her back, although George never did, he knew Catherine curses a lot, most of the time but he still respected her enough to not call her names behind her back, Sarah however did not share his ways.

"She will brief us herself" George started the engine and drove towards the Templars HQ in New York.

Being a Templar was not an ordinary job to say the least, it's like being a police officer or a soldier, but instead of arresting killers, thieves or fighting terrorism, you were fighting something else; you were fighting monsters underneath your bed, monsters from bad bedtime stories, horror movies, novels and video games, Templars called them the Creatures of the Night, for they came to this world in the darkest night Earth had ever seen, made by Lucifer himself when he bestowed three gifts (at least that's what the Creatures call them, to the Templars they were curses) on three humans, Vampirism, Lycanthropy and the Living Dead, creating the Alphas, the fathers or mothers of all Creatures of the Night. George viewed this story as a mere myth, for no Alpha was ever spotted or mentioned in any of the books the Templars had and although those monsters seemed more dangerous than thieves and killers, the Templars never get the credit, they never get the trophies or the gunshots fired at their funerals, they fight them in shadows for this is their world, the Hidden World, George often pondered on this many a night, usually when he is called upon in the middle of the night like tonight, why does he keep doing this? Why does he risk his body and soul every day against monsters and evil while he could have just been an ordinary man, unaware of the Hidden World, oblivious to the fact that monsters do exist? George's answer was always simple, yet satisfactory to his misgivings.

Someone has to do it.

The Templars were inconspicuous in everything they did except for their headquarters, they either resided in huge buildings ranging from a ten floors block to towering skyscrapers or museums, In smaller towns or the country sides however the Templars preferred hidden bunkers, those places had more Creatures presence (at least more berserk than their somehow more civilized counterparts in the cities) New York was not different, the main HQ in New York was a towering skyscraper, the building was a monumental tower of white with white stone and many large windows; the building did not have the infamous Templars flag however, the red cross with the white background, the lower longer end of the crucifix was as sharp as that of a sword and the red cross itself was encircled with a faint reddish hue. George flashed his ID as he entered the parking lot underneath the building, he parked his car in his spot and went with Sarah towards the elevator, once they stepped in the elevator, the operator pressed the button and they all stood there in silence for a couple of seconds with nothing but elevator music.

The elevator rang, they disembarked and walked in the seemingly infinite white corridor, towards the red door at the end, two men were standing in front of the door in black suites with red ties and the Templars' pins on their chests, one of them informed the Crusader of George's and Sarah's arrival through the radio hidden in his sleeve and opened the door as he received the order to let them in. The Crusader's chambers were far from humble, it had this huge glass window that she could oversee the city from, large bookshelves hid the walls on the right with hundreds of books ranging from religious to historical to the Creatures of the Night's lore and of course the Templar's. There was a couch and two cozy chairs just a few steps away from the massive library, to the left there was a large glass room with a table for meetings and conference calls, the center of the room was empty with only the Templar's symbol carved on the floor, few feet away from the upper end of the cross were two steps that led to the Crusader desk, where she was sitting in her chair signing some papers for a young Templar who was handing her reports. Catherine glanced at the two Templars and signaled them to approach, once they climbed the steps she told them to sit in the two chairs at her desk and told the young Templar in the black suit to leave, the young Templar fumbled with the reports and left the room in quick paces.