Bad Moon Rising - A Winters Tale

Prologue

September 2014

Forrest City

Alex Winters slowly opened his eyes as he came to. He tried to get a feel for where he was and his situation. Alex was handcuffed to a wooden chair seated in the middle of a dimly lit room. The only illumination came from a single lightbulb that was swinging above him. As he looked at the light it felt like he was looking at the sun. That and the fact his head was killing him was all the evidence he needed to know he had a slight concussion.

He shook his dark brown hair out of his brown eyes and tried to focus on the room. A video camera was placed a few feet from him and dozens of monitors adorned the wall across from him. Whatever was happening it was nothing good, but then it was somewhat part of the plan.

He was currently in Forrest City, Pennsylvania tracking down a nest of vampires that were kidnapping people and selling them on the dark web to the highest bidder.

His investigation led to an underground club where he was jumped by two of them. The fuzziness was slowly starting to fade until he was hit with bright lights coming off the wall opposite him.

Alex winced at the lights, “Okay. That stings a little. Wanna put those things on a dimmer switch?”

The three vampires walked towards him. One was average height and wore horn-rimmed glasses and a brown business suit. The other was in a dark blue suit, black button up shirt underneath with no tie. The last one was clearly the muscle of the three. He was a little taller than Alex who was six foot three. He wore dark blue jeans and black t-shirt that was a few sizes too small.

“Good, you’re finally up,” the leader and man in the blue suit said as he grabbed Alex’s face. “I’m Luke and I was beginning to think you’d be sleeping all night. I had so hoped to get this done before sunrise. Heard you were in town trying to take down my operation.” He let out a small growl as his fangs appeared and his eyes went from green to yellow. “Now you get to participate, isn't that great?” He turned to his lackeys and nodded. “Are the clients in place?”

The one with glasses stood nearby with an iPad and pressed a few buttons and nodded. “High rollers are in and waiting for us to begin.”

Luke smiled at Alex and let go of his face. “Showtime,” he whispered to Alex. He slapped Alex’s cheek a few times.

“Do it.” The tech vampire hit some buttons and all the screens came to life. Different types of creatures were on each screen. A couple vampires.

Shapeshifters and various types of hideous monsters and demons. One screen on the right had a man in the shadows who was sitting in the dark just watching.

The light on the camera turned red and they were on. Luke turned around and let out his inner showman. “Ladies, gentlemen, and creatures of all kinds welcome to our exclusive VIP event. Tonight, you get the chance to bid on the man who is laying waste to all of our kind for nearly a decade. The man who has killed our families. Your brethren. I present to you, Alex Winters: Monster Killer.”

The creatures on screen hissed and roared and growled. “Think you might have upset some of them before,” Luke said, turning back towards Alex before punching the handcuffed man in the stomach. Alex grunted in pain.

“Whoever wins tonight’s auction can have The Monster Killer. You want him dead? We'll kill him here and now just for you! You want him alive? Even better! Torture him. Make it slow. Make it fast. Break him in every way possible. Starting bid...50,000 dollars!”

The auction began and the bids kept rising fast. “200 going once! 200 thousand going twice!...”

Alex began laughing. “That’s it? Am I too vain thinking I’d be worth more? I mean, a half million at least. Come on! I’m facing and killing your kind.” He looked at a man sitting in front of an altar. “Warlock...You know how many witches and warlocks I’ve stopped? Broke their power center and had them locked up like an ordinary criminal.” He turned to a demon. It was red with horns and beady eyes. “And your kind Big Red? I’ve lost count of how many demons I’ve killed or sent back to the gates of Hell. You insult me with 200 thousand.”

Luke laughed. “I like his spirit,” he told the crowd. He nodded to his enforcer. He walked to Alex and punched him in the face. “Shut up, meat,” he told the man. Alex groaned as he went back to his place.

A werewolf, who was currently in his human form, raised the bid. “350 for the chew toy,” he growled.

Over the next few minutes, the bids began to increase by the thousands until the highest bid was 450 thousand dollars. “Going once...going twice…” Luke turned to Alex. “Any other comments you’d like to make before we sell you off?”

The enforcer hit him again and the crowd chuckled. Alex winced lifted his head slowly looking directly at Luke. “Yeah. I’m going to get out of this chair. Slam it into you so hard it’s going to break. With that broken piece I’m gonna stake Undead Screech over there.” He turned as he looked at the tech guy in glasses then back to Luke. “That’s when things get a little dicier for me. Big Guy over there is going to attack while you try to get back up. Won’t be as easy for him this time around to knock me out. But I’ll win the fight and take both him and you out and save the lives of the other people you’re holding in those cells down that stairwell.”

“Strong words,” Luke said. “And just how do you plan on getting out of a chair you’re handcuffed to?”

A smirk appeared on his face. He was so hoping to be asked that question. He held out his hands and dropped the cuffs to the ground. “Abracadabra, you son of a bitch.” Alex moved fast and did exactly what he said. In one swift move, he stood up and grabbed the chair, slamming it as hard as he could into Luke. The force knocked him to hit the ground. As a piece of the chair started to fall after the break, Alex reached for it with his heightened reflexes. He grabbed it and staked the first vampire who screamed as he burst into flames and crumbled to dust. As Luke started to get up, the big one ran towards him like a linebacker.

Alex jumped up, grabbing a pipe that ran across the ceiling and kicked him back a few steps. He dodged and blocked a few punches and landed a couple that didn’t seem to do anything but make him angrier. Alex took a few blows that sent him to the ground. The large vampire pulled out a dagger and growled as he prepared to drive the dagger down. Alex moved under his legs and flipped him. Before the vampire could recover, he drove the wooden leg into its back.

As it turned to dust, Alex stood up and turned around to see Luke trying to sneak out the room. He picked up the dagger and hurled it at the door frame, stopping Luke in his tracks. During the fight a few of the watchers exited their chat video, now only a handful remained. When Alex reached Luke, he slammed him against the wall.

“I have money. Lots of it. Bank accounts all over the world,” Luke pleaded. “Spare me and one of them could be yours. Hero gig can’t pay much, can it?”

Alex just stared coldly at him. “You sold people. Like they were just cattle. I know vampires are soulless, but that...that’s a different level of scum.”

“I’m a businessman,” he said, trying to plead for his life. “Maybe we can negotiate…”

He gripped the piece of wood in his hand pointed at him. “You don’t get to negotiate your way out of this. Your operation is done.” Alex touched his ear and turned his head slightly as if talking to someone. “We good, Ash?”

His best friend and confidant Ashley Landry came onto the comms. “About time, we were worried about you.” He heard some typing and Ashley mumbling as she went.

“What…” Luke asked confused as to what was going on.

“Shh....Ashley,” Alex asked.

“And done. Managed to hack into their systems and we now have the locations of all the creatures, plus found his accounts and secret accounts. All being sent now to worthwhile charities...now.” She finished with a hit of the enter key.

Alex tossed Luke to the ground next to the iPad that fell in the fight. “Might want to check on those accounts.” Luke did and saw that each one he pulled up was empty.

“...How?!”

He just smiled back. “My friend...she’s really really good at what she does.” Alex kicked Luke in the face. “Hero gig might pay crap, but what we do matters. We stop things like you.” He walked and turned to the screens. “All of you. Until the day I die.”

Luke fanged up and growled. “That’s today.” He ran towards Alex and leaped at him. Alex held and braced the broken piece of the chair as he landed right on it.

“Shi-” Luke tried to say as he turned to dust.

Alex threw the makeshift stake on the ground and looked at the ones that remained on the monitors. “Just so you know, we have your coordinates to where you are right now. Run if you want, but we will find you. And we will kill you. I promise you that,” Alex said in a confident voice.

Each monitor slowly went black until only one remained. The man in the shadows puffed his cigar, just staring Alex down. He couldn’t see the man’s face, but Alex sure felt it. The man leaned forward, his body still in shadow, and pressed a button that altered his voice.

“You put on a brave facade, but the truth is you fear all of us. Because in your big speech you forgot something. You might have your bravado, but we just need one thing Alexander...One. Good. Day. And that day is coming. Sooner than you realize. It’s coming Alexander. And you won't be able to stop it. Darkness and blood will cover your world. And you, its Champion...will fall and the world will end.”

With the press of a button, the screen turned off. Alex turned off the camera and went into the other room to release the people that had been auctioned off just before him. They thanked him after he led them out of that storage basement in an abandoned factory.

He took them to the hospital to get checked out and on the way came up with a cover story for all of them to use. The details would mostly stay the same, human traffickers that got away would be easier to explain away than vampire human traffickers.

Alex left the hospital and got into his car, a black 67 Mustang convertible and checked out of his hotel before hitting the road again. He pulled out his phone and called his team before leaving, recounting everything the mystery man said.

“That sounded ominous,” Jamal Michaels, Alex’s other friend and partner said.

“Think we have something big headed our way?”

“We might. Who knows if he was bluffing or not. Something could be coming in the horizon though. Get Hunter to check his books for any portends to the end of the world that may help. See you in a couple days. Heading back tonight.”

“You sure you don’t want to take the night to get some rest? You had a busy night,” Ashley told her friend.

“No, I’m good. Kinda wired from all of that stuff anyway. I promise if I get tired, I’ll be sure to pull off at a rest stop.”

“You better,” she responded. “See you when you get back.”

“Night guys,” Alex said as he fired up the car and headed home.