S1 E11: Death Inc. Pt. 4

Officer Harvey Steves (Present Day) 

I grinned in triumph on the sidelines as I watched the notorious criminal, Silver Heart, get his mugshot. With every bright flash of the camera, he flinched and a flicker of red hit his eyes. The rumors about his Scopophobia seemed to hold water, and it gave me so much pleasure to watch. His dried, bloody face and scrapped, blood-stained knuckles gave me immense comfort, bordering on glee. He had injured an agent of the law, a noble L.E.O. and not only had the universe inflicted an equal injury but gave him more as penance. His public arrest with a boat load of witnesses was the icing on the Karmic cake. 

I would even get the bliss-filled joy of escorting him to his shared cell once they were done processing him. He was my prize. My trophy after a frustrating hunt. This was my right to see the case through. The night had started off rough with the injury to my nose and got worse when my informant couldn't bring me what I had paid for, but good things can happen if you listen to your gut; praise be to the Dark One. Just like the time I listened to my gut about whom to bribe for a private office. Though it wasn’t big, it did help me keep my other life private. I smiled at myself as I strolled to my dimly lit, closet-like office.

“That homeless network is so useless, it works to my benefit. Marcus, the fucking alcoholic idiot, may have lost the kid during his poorly planned and executed coup--still shocked it worked--, but fate and the guiding will of our glorious Dark Creator, had Silver walk right into my eager hands,” I chuckled as I closed and locked my office door behind me, quickly. 

Everything would work out fine. The kid doesn't seem to know how to use his blood based off the case files and my personal experience, but I should tilt the scales in my favor. It’s better to be over-prepared than to be ‘caught with your pants down’. I could use his soon-to-be cellmates to fulfill my grand plans. 

Going over to my beat-up, second-hand desk, I opened my junk drawer and started rummaging around inside, looking for some scrap paper. Something small and easy to hide. I pushed aside accumulated trash and work-related receipts that I had yet to turn in for reimbursement, to reveal some useful department-issued sticky notes.

“Too bad my partner went home sick earlier today. He should have listened when I told him not to touch that sketchy chinese in a place without a visible health score. He would've loved seeing this scummy criminal finally brought into the station,” I sadly sighed to myself while pulling out the desired red pen and yellow sticky notes from the junk drawer. I paused for a moment and looked at the outline of my phone in my pants pocket.

Should I text my partner and tell him the good news, as well as my plan? No, I don’t want anything traced back to me. Could I call him? No, he might be with his new girlfriend, and I don’t know if she’s trustworthy yet. I’ll have to eventually put her through the ringer to test her if they get serious, but for now she can enjoy her blissful ignorance.

Ending my rather pointless train of thought, I quickly wrote out the bribe to the other cellmates to weaken my prey, Mr. Heart.

If you rough up the new guy, I'll put in a good word for you.

Maybe drop it to a misdemeanor, instead of a felony.

You have 'till midnight. 

-H.S.

The bribe wouldn't be enough to secure the wild beast for the higher ups. I mean we only caught him because he allowed it. For years, we've been trying to track him and catch him on both the Hunter and Police sides of things. To ensure my victory, and catch this elusive prey, I would need to use my blood, my dark given right from our savior, to ensure this prize went down easily. I used the pen tip to pierce my pointer finger and painted a small sacred emblem on the back of the note. The dumb criminals probably wouldn't notice or, even if they did, they wouldn't have the proper knowledge to care.

“This seal should keep the cell soundproof and make Silver powerless if he’s within fifty feet. Good thing that the cell is only thirty feet,” I smiled, even more giddy at the thought of my impending success. “They’ll finally accept my bloodline as a line of noble hunters. I won’t be labeled as Low Blood and my partner will get his reward as a helpful human. He would be honored and hold a rank once hunters control things.” 

I folded up the sticky note as tiny as I could, so it would be easy to hide and destroy. I slid it into my pocket and slid my cell phone out of my other one. I had to let a transport team know something was about to go down, but I didn't want to give them too much info before I had the present wrapped up for them. A short text to hunter dispatch would suffice. 

Poss Target

Give U all info 4 pickup

After midnight

Glory 2 drk1

Pausing for a moment, I debated about deleting my sent text history.

Sure, I have a code to lock my phone and I always have it on me, but could someone find this? No, not likely. I’ll keep the text until I give them the information at midnight. After everything is set up, I’ll get rid of the evidence.

Putting my phone away, I unlocked my office to exit and stepped out, before quickly locking it behind me. There were a lot of snoopy cops employed here who loved to find gossip to share at the water cooler or during mutual smoke breaks. I might just be paranoid, but one can never be too careful with humans, especially those that can be corrupted with just a bit of green. I mean I should know, I'd bribed many of them myself when I found them useful…

I made my way towards the relatively small holding cell. I couldn't help but grin at my napping prize. He should enjoy this little break because the next few hours will be hell. I double-checked the wall clock for the time. For my plan to work, I needed to make sure the guard in the holding cell was on his “break” or, should I say, his unscheduled time, that he would sneak away for a cigarette. The analog clock presented the correct time and a quick peek around the corner confirmed the guard's anticipated absence.  

I walked with purpose towards the door to the cell. If I acted like I was doing official business, no one would notice. They would be too wrapped up in their shift change paperwork. I was careful to avoid the cameras and stay in their blind spots just in case anything went south after my intervention. I entered the holding cell room carefully, standing in a tiny blind spot from the camera's view, and handed the note to one of the criminals through the bars. I knew their type; they wouldn't ask questions, would follow orders, and destroy the evidence. All they ever need is a little treat, a tiny crumb of leniency, to encourage them to act out, even if there was a high chance it was a lie.

Manipulating low-brow criminals, like these pea-brained nitwits, to follow their base nature, was always so easy. As easy as breathing. I’d swear that I’d made an art out of it by now.