Three Days in the Life of Connor Angel-Reilly
Freshman Dorm Common Room, Loyola University
There was something rather strange about watching a Vampire, in full game face no less, munching on a bag of Doritos. Connor wasn't certain, but he thought that the Demon had actually forgotten it had gone into Vamp face. If it had noticed to begin with.
"Are you a vegetarian?" the Vampire asked him.
"No."
"Do you hate cows?"
"Uh, no."
"See, I don't hate people."
"But you eat them. Or, drink their blood."
"It amounts to the same thing." The Vampire shrugged. "The blood satisfies the nutritional needs that food does. But like, if you could eat beef, without killing the cow the meat came from, would you do it?"
"Uhm..."
"Exactly! I mean, sure I drink blood, human blood. But I don't kill anybody. I've never killed anyone. Hell the chicks I drink from love it! They come to me man. And the next day, they're fine. Nacho?"
"No thanks. So, you were talking about the soul?"
"I was?"
Connor sighed. Somehow, the Vampire was stoned. He had to be. "Yes."
"Oh yeah right. So like, my soul was what made me, me right? What gave me a choice between good and evil. Now it's gone, but like, I'm still me. And I'm all 'evil by nature' right? Except, I don't think I am."
"Evil?"
The Vampire nodded. "Yeah man. Evil, really evil? That requires a conscious choice. If it's in a things nature to do something, that's not real evil. Humans now, they're evil. Well not all of 'em. And not all the time. Cause of that whole soul thing, which gives y'all the ability to go against your natures. Which makes me wonder, I become a Vampire, (and let me tell you dude, not breathing anymore? That takes some getting used to.) my soul goes of to Valhalla or where ever right, and a Demon comes and takes over."
"That's how it works as I understand it." Connor nodded.
"So, what's this Demon? Where does it come from? Where's it go when a Vamp gets dusted? Does it have a personality of it's own? Probably not since I kept mine."
Connor listened, interested in spite of himself. An Undead Philosophy major. Who knew?
Morning
Despite it being King's birthday, Connor still had a history lecture to attend. His professor insisted that Dr. King would not want to be honored by students not going to class.
"Contrary to many popular theories, Rasputin was not a Vampire. What conventional history won't tell you is that they tried staking him as well. And no, he is not still alive. He survived the assassination attempt and went on to become Hitler's adviser during World War Two."
"So what was he then?" a green skinned Demon wearing glasses asked.
"A very skilled alchemist. But the war deprived him of the supplies he needed to maintain his life, and he passed away shortly before D-Day."
Midnight
She ran, stumbled rather through the dark streets. Where were the late night revelers when you needed them? The untrained eye would not be able to tell that she was female. The hart carapace shell that covered her body looked almost identical to the male form of her species. Her multi-faceted eyes began to coat themselves with a crystaline substance in her grief. What had started out as a romantic evening out for two young Demons, had turned into a nightmare.
"Where you going ugly?" a voice quipped behind her. "Not so tough now that the shoe's on the other foot huh?"
"No!" the Demon screamed. "Leave me alone! Please!"
"Begging?" her assailant smirked. "That's new."
The Demon's screams echoed through the alley, almost drowning out the loud crunch as her shell was crushed by a mighty blow.
Jack was twirling his wand absently, staring at the corpse of the demon before them. "Sarloc." he said simply.
"Never heard of that species." Connor said.
"Not her species." Jack's partner said, giving Connor a sour look. "That was her name. Sarloc."
"Sorry." Connor said defensively. Jack's partner was a pale, corpse like Sluagh.
"Tell you one thing," the Sluagh said. "No normal person could have done this. Fralian Demons can take a direct hit from a speeding car and be fine. You need some real extra special oomph to even crack their shells." Again, he gave Connor a look, that he was probably supposed to miss. He didn't.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Connor said.
"It's just a clue." Jack said, trying to forestall any unpleasantness. His partner had once upon a time been hunted by religious zealots, so he was a bit on edge.
Lane was pale. "I heard about Sarloc. She worked with child services."
The Sluagh nodded. "Fralian Demons are pretty benevolent. Specially towards kids of any species. Why the fuck anyone would want to kill one is beyond me." There was heavy bitterness in his voice.
"We'll find them." Lane said fervently.
"Humph. Sure is taking you two long enough." a coroner's assistant grunted. "You all seem to find the Demon Baddie's pretty damn quick, but someone starts killing demons and you're suddenly baffled."
"Enough!" Jack pointed his wand at the man. "Just do your job and let us do ours."
[Open actually! That last part is anyway. It's early Wednesday Morning.]