Monsters Exist?

Paul came flying through the door. “Sorry, Dr-er Captain, about being late,” he gasped, sweat running down his face.

“Just shut up and sit down,” Captain Drake growled, his glare switching from Ian to Paul. He scrambled into the chair to Ian’s right.

Once he sat down, Captain Drake leaned back and took them both in. “You two knuckleheads have the media breathing down our necks right now.”

Paul opened his mouth to speak, but Drake held up a hand, making him shut it.

“Not only did they get videos of you two getting taken away in an ambulance, but they also caught sight of all the dead bodies,” he finished, tossing a paper onto Ian’s lap.

Ian picked up the newspaper, and the headline read “Fire, Bodies, and Death, Oh My.” The front-page picture was of multiple burned corpses that the coroner’s office had carried off.

“Sir, I’d like to admit going to the warehouse late was a bad call on my part—” Ian started.

“I’m not even about the warehouse burning. I’m mad at the fact that you, and I’m talking about you, Detective Gallagher, didn’t properly handle this situation.” Drake paused, looking around the room as Ian squirmed in his seat. “Gallagher, make sure to fill in Hayes on the situation, and this time make sure I’m kept in the loop, understood!”

“Yes, sir!” they both said at the same time.

“Dismissed!” Captain Drake waved them off, his attention turning towards the documents on his desk.

Paul quickly left the room. Ian hesitantly followed behind him, making sure to close the door behind him. When they got far enough away from the office, Ian spoke up.

“Hey, so are we going to talk about what happened back there, or are you just going to leave me out of the loop?” he asked.

Paul kept walking, ignoring the mutterings of the other officers as he headed toward any empty room in the back officers use for meetings and cases. He opened the door with Ian hot on his heels. Paul slammed the door behind them and slammed the door behind them and stared at the wall of notes he had set up just a few days prior.

“Seriously, what the hell is going on—” Ian started, his voice beginning to rise.

Paul held up a finger. “The warehouse.”

Ian stared at him. “What about it?”

“The thing that tried to attack us was a demon!”

“Demons exist, and that’s what tried to kill us.”

Ian’s words dried up quickly in his mouth. So that weird creature I saw before I woke up in the hospital was a demon.

His face went completely blank as he stared at Paul, almost like his brain had stopped working. For a few seconds, Ian couldn’t even figure out what he was supposed to say. He opened his mouth and closed it a couple of times.

“You—” Ian stopped, shaking his head.

Paul stood there patiently, a stormy look in his expression.

Ian looked away from Paul, glancing around the room as if trying to find some explanation. Yet the only thing that made sense was that demons were real. After a moment, he turned back to Paul.

“If demons exist, why the fuck didn’t anyone tell me!” he said, voice rising.

Paul had a serious look on his face as he stared Ian in the eyes. “Talking about supernatural stuff is a big no-no, and can cause you to get arrested.”

“Arrested? By who?”

“There is a separate, um, police force for those people.”

“A separate police force, right, okay.” Ian ran a shaky hand through his hair. His breathing had picked up, and his heart pounded heavily against his chest.

“Ian,” he stated calmly, making the younger man pause. “Monsters that are mentioned in stories, things that go creeping in at night, the monster under your bed. They’re real, every last one of them.”

Ian went to say something, but couldn’t find the words. He stared at Paul, waiting for him to laugh or crack a smile and admit this was some kind of joke. Paul didn’t.

If demons are real, it explains how that man shrugged off bullets. Ian swallowed hard as the memory came rushing back, and suddenly the strange things he’d seen didn’t feel quite so strange anymore. It felt strange to even think he could live in the same world that zombies and stuff did.

Ian felt a tap on his shoulder. He flinched and immediately looked toward Paul, his body tense.

“Hey, I know it’s a lot to take in amongst everything else going on, but I promise I’ll be there to help you,” Paul reassured Ian as he patted his shoulder.

Ian stared at the hand on his shoulder before looking back at Paul. “You say that like this is normal.”

Paul didn’t answer right away, and that somehow made Ian feel worse.

“Hey, I saw you guys come in earlier, and I thought…” Nadia’s voice trailed off from behind Ian. “Am I interrupting something? The air seems a little tense in here.”

Ian shrugged Paul’s hand off his shoulder and turned to Nadia. “No, everything is fine. Anyway, what did you want?”

Nadia stood between the two of them, her smile slowly fading as she noticed the looks on their faces. “Okay…” she said slowly. Definitely not fine.”

“No, it’s all good anyways. What did you want?”

Nadia shrugged in response. “I have nothing going on, so I thought I’d offer my help with your guys’ case.”

“You can’t just barge in and ask to join a case. Especially since you’re not even a detective in the first place.”

Paul cocked his head. “I don’t know, Rook; it could help to have a new set of eyes. Plus, I am her training officer.”

Nadia’s face broke into a huge smile as she stared at Ian, batting her eyes. “See, even the old man thinks me being around would be helpful.”

“Ouch,” Paul shouted, faking pain as he grabbed his heart.

Ian’s nose scrunched up; they willingly broke rules. “Why are you even her training officer in the first place?”

Nadia and Blake shared a look. “Does it matter?” they both said at the same time.

Idiots, I’m surrounded by a bunch of damn idiots.

“First off, we are talking about something important, so you joining the case can be discussed later.” He sighed, wondering if he was making the right decision.

“I love hearing about secrets! Oh, let me guess: Paul is cheating on his wife,” Nadia said, tapping her nose.

“Haha, very funny,” Paul scowled, crossing his arms in annoyance. “I’ll have you know we are divorced, and I didn’t cheat.”

Nadia nodded solemnly and stepped closer, tapping Paul on his shoulders. “There, there. I’m sorry that she cheated on you! I do hope the heartbreak eases up, and if needed, I’ll punch her in the face.” Tears appeared on her face as she tried her best to support him.

Paul’s face turned red as the words came out of Nadia’s mouth. “Nobody cheated, first off. Second, you can’t threaten to punch civilians in the face.”

“Now you care about rules,” Ian muttered under his breath.

Paul ignored Ian’s comment and continued glaring down at Nadia. “I thought you were a shy gal, but a hard worker. I didn’t realize you had such a smart mouth on ya.”

“In my defense, you are my superior officer, so I kinda have to be serious around you,” she replied, shooting Ian a glance. “Now when it comes to Ian, yeah I’ll shit talk him all day.”

Ian let out a heavy sigh and muttered under his breath.

A creepy grin appeared on Paul’s face. “What about you and the boy? Did you finally help to f—”

“Can you guys please stop goofing off?” Ian interrupted, his hand twitching, and a frown appeared on his face. “We all have actual work to do, and I’d like to get most of it done before something else happens.”

Nadia’s smile left her face as a frown replaced it. “Fine, Mr. Grumpy Pants, but eventually you’re going to need to loosen up a bit.” She went to a random table and sat at it, pouting like a child. Her legs kicked back and forth in the air.

Ian noticed Paul look at the watch on his wrist, which was weird on its own; he had never seen him wear one.

Paul checked it a couple of times before looking up at Ian. “So, I’m not trying to interrupt you kids flirting or whatever is going on here, but Rook, we need to get going before we lose our appointment for today.”

“I don’t remember us having an appointment for today.” He questioned Paul.

Paul’s face turned sinister as he looked to the ceiling. “We have an appointment with Mark! I, for one, am excited to see what he has to say.”

“What about finishing up the conversation we were just having? I’d like to finish that before doing anything else.” Ian gave Nadia a look that said, leave.

Nadia shrugged. “Just pretend that I’m not here.”

“See, let’s pretend as if she’s not here,” Paul argued.

Ian threw his arms up in the air, already over everything else going on. “Fine, whatever, let’s just go then. I guess Nadia can tag along for now.”

Nadia fist-pumped the air. “Yes, road trip!” she cheered.

“This isn’t for fun and games,” Ian muttered to himself, wondering if he had made a mistake in agreeing to her coming along.

“It’ll take about forty minutes for us to get there, but we should get there around the time Mark arrives.”

“I guess we gotta hurry then.”

“Yep, also, Rook, you’re the one driving.”

“Oh, I get to see Mr. Grumpy’s car, Nadia chimed in.

Ian raised one eyebrow, actually shocked to hear those words. “I’m driving? You being serious? Because you never let me drive.”

Paul nodded in return. “Yes, my car is in the shop with a broken window, so till it gets repaired, I’m out of a car.” He quickly started making his way out the door.

Stopping right before exiting the room, he turned back around, his hand still on the handle. “I forgot to mention, whoever busted my window stole all of the case notes. Okay, see you in the car.”

Ian’s head shot up quickly as the door began to close. “What do you mean, someone stole the case files!?” he shouted. He chased after Paul, who was hurrying down the hallway. “What about the conversation we need to finish about the warehouse?”

Nadia chuckled as she followed behind the duo.