Agrippa2

I know! I am! I've been really busy lately though, but don't worry, I am working on the rest. So just keep an eye out for the upcoming week. I promise!

Now we're getting somewhere. I'm glad you're enjoying it. Here's some more. Enjoy!

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Starke penitentiary was lifeless. The night had given way to the day, and now the sun was shining brightly on the grounds. The mangled wreckage of the get away car was still resting near Gate C, though no one was in it, nor was anyone around it. The sky was dead, as if all the birds had migrated at once to the North, leaving behind a stillness usually reserved for the death chamber.

I opened my eyes to find myself in a large yard. I was still dazed from the crash, though my eyes were clear from the blood and dirt. I tried to move but found that my arms were bound to a large wooden plank above my head; I realized that it was the only reason I was still standing. My legs were weak and lifeless, as if they were simply attached by stitching. I decided to save my energy by not attempting to free myself, though I wasn't ready to accept defeat. That is, until I looked up. Before me stood countless individuals, staring blankly at my battered body. There must have been thousands, though I couldn't see them all.

There were women and children, as well as men, all looking as though they had just been woken up. As I stared at them, a few things became clear to me: there were prisoners amongst them, as well as men dressed as guards, but what stood out the most was the fact that they looked as if they had come from the city. I then started struggling with my confines, my eyes beginning to come in to focus.

The people gathered before me hadn't moved once. As I scanned their faces, I realized that they all had one thing in common: a sickly gray color, akin to that which you'd find in a morgue. Many of the people had wounds on their heads that looked like puncture holes, complete with oozing liquids. I gagged and turned my eyes away from them. They were all dead. The entire city of Starke stood before me, victims of a mass genocide.

I was weak; my arms were already getting tired and my shoulders were sore. I wasn't going to break free from whatever held me, so I stopped and sighed heavily. Looking around, I didn't notice anyone else besides me in the circle. Will was no where to be seen. I began to wonder if he even survived the accident.

Suddenly from the back of the crowd I could sense movement. People were moving to the sides, forming a pathway for someone, or some thing. As the path began to get closer, I narrowed my eyes, awaiting my tormentor to come forth. My anger swelled up inside of me, though I knew I couldn't do anything about it. If I threw insults at Marley, she'd probably laugh, though it would probably release some of my tension. The front row parted and I could see a long stretch of emptiness, leading all the way back to the entrance to the prison, the same one through which Will and I had entered when we met John.

I had expected to see Marley, or perhaps even Faruk coming down the aisle to greet me. However, I saw nothing. An empty stretch of land filled my view. Past a basketball court and a chain link fence, which had been strewn apart and hurled about, was nothing.

"Marley I know you're here." I said, though my voice sounded hoarse. I must have been deprived of water for some time; my mouth was completely dry. My lips were severely chapped, which only added to the pain I was feeling throughout my entire body. I looked down and noticed that my knees were bloody and bruised, as if I had been dragged through the parking lot. My clothes were ripped and torn, no doubt from the glass of the windshield, though now I felt completely naked and a bit self conscious.

"You don't know anything." A voice came from behind me, female. "In fact, you only know what I want you to know." Suddenly Marley appeared before me. Not as if she had jumped down from a building, or had come up from the ground. She appeared; became visible. For a moment I could see through her, but now she was completely solid. She was wearing the suit from my nightmares; the same white and black attire, magical symbols in white down her legs, and the bones wrapped around her calves and feet. She wasn't wearing her mask.

"Let me go, or so help me God.." Tears formed in my eyes as I stared at her. I wanted nothing more than to introduce my fist to her face, though in my current state, it'd no doubt be like a marshmallow hitting a brick wall.

"God?" she asked. "Help you? You?" She laughed loudly, her hands on her sides. "God's away, Jade. You're only salvation is through me. So, I suggest you listen carefully." She looked over her shoulder as Faruk and five others approached down the pathway. I immediately recognized Adam Tally with them, and came to the conclusion that they must be the others who disappeared from the morgue. "Chris, Victoria, welcome!"

Two of the five parted ways from them to stand on Marley's right side. They weren't like Adam and the rest; they were alive. I stared at them for a moment, trying to contemplate how they stood here, breathing.

"Jade, you probably know these two as Victoria Wicklas and Chris Cooper." She moved behind them, placing her hands on their shoulders. Victoria was a few inches shorter than her, with bright red hair and a very pale complexion. She wore a pentagram around her neck, and a low cut top. She must have been a regular in the New Age section of the Barnes and Noble. Chris Cooper on the other hand was very clean cut, wearing a tank top and jeans. His brown hair matched his eyes, which were staring directly at me, stern and serious. "They took my warning to heart, and joined us early. Their gifts have been very useful." She smiled at Victoria, who approached me with an outstretched hand. I turned my head away from her and she grabbed my chin; suddenly I was overcome with thoughts of death and the grave. My mind was filled with fear that I couldn't escape. I wanted to scream, but I was completely motionless as I stared forward in to this living nightmare. She let go and I gasped, shaking my head to rid myself of the demons.

"She's the reason you're such a coward." Marley said, smiling at me. I knew then that they had been using her to affect my dreams; she was the one behind my paranoia and depression. She was an emotional vampire; her powers no doubt given to her by some sick Sorcerer. "Chris brought these three to me." She motioned to Adam Tally, Derek Nolan, and Masahari Nehembra. I realized then that the force needed to drive a knife through Adam Tally's back was no doubt in Chris's hands. I shuddered at the thought of having to face him. "And now we're one big happy family!"

Faruk laughed a bit. The dead men surrounding him, as well as the thousands behind him, were all under his command. I began to wonder how powerful one has to be to control this many bodies.

"But alas, there's sadness amongst us." She frowned. Her dramatics were beginning to annoy me. She was obviously an attention freak, as outlined by her theatrics. She walked to Faruk and patted his bald head, then tugged on his beard. Faruk frowned. "We're not complete. Though we are far stronger than most, we are not as strong as we could be." She looked down and covered her face, pretending to sob.

"That make's us real sad." Faruk said, though he wasn't pretending to cry. He simply stared at me, a sort of hatred in his eyes. I scanned the three, realizing that Derek Nolan must have been the man who stopped us the night before. He was huge; not to say he was obese, but he was made of something that made him immovable. I noticed that his neck was contorted in a strange way, as if it had been snapped. Chris Cooper became a bit scarier to me then. Masahari, while a lot smaller than the other two, was no push over. As far as I could tell, it looked as though his spine had been broken in several places. They must have put some sort of splint on him to keep him standing.

Marley looked up at me with a look of complete seriousness.

"You are the reason we're incomplete, Jade." She moved closer to me and put her hand on my chest. "We were supposed to go together."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said.

"Of course you don't. But that's why you're here, to learn the things that Will has kept from you." She patted me on the cheek.

"Were is Will?" I asked. Marley gritted her teeth and looked at me, annoyed.

"Never mind him. You won't even want to know where he is in a moment. Victoria?" She turned to her, motioning for her to come closer. Victoria put her hand on Marley's shoulder. "Now Jade, this might hurt a bit. In fact, I hope it does." She reached out and put the palm of her hand on to my forehead, and suddenly everything was black.

My mom's house wasn't very large. It was a one bedroom, one bathroom, and one living room box home. Gerald Ford couldn't have created a simpler place, though it fit our needs well. Now I stood in my living room, wondering if I was having a dream. I reached out and touched the walls, feeling the smooth texture of the wall paper. The green carpet was warm and fuzzy on my bare feet. As I looked down, I realized I wasn't bleeding from my knees. In fact, I looked at least ten years younger. A mirror hung from the wall adjacent to me, so I headed to it and peered in. Looking back at me was myself, younger, without a scratch.

"Jade?" A voice came from the other room. I immediately recognized it as my mother. "Jade is that you? What are you doing home?"

I couldn't open my mouth; I was in a state of shock. This was my home. Had what I been experiencing been real or was it just another fabrication? My mom entered the room, carrying a vase with a few flowers in it. She didn't look at me at first; instead she walked in to the kitchen and sat the vase down.

"Why aren't you at school?" She asked.

"I had things to do." I said, yet it wasn't me who spoke. I realized then that I had lost control of my body; I was being guided by someone else.

"That's no reason to skip school. I'm taking you back." She grabbed her keys from the wall and put them in her purse. She was obviously angry with me, though I wasn't paying attention. Someone knocked on the door. "Dammit. You, sit!" She told me as she headed to the door and opened it. I sat on the big gray couch, the back of my legs rubbing against the rough material. Looking to the door, I saw my mom speaking to someone, then inviting him in. My eyes must have been playing tricks on me; I couldn't reach up to rub them as I watched as Will walked in, though much younger. He had a full head of hair and didn't wear glasses, though he still wore an annoyingly tacky brown suit.

"I came by to get my keys. I had to take a taxi to get here, I'm glad I caught you." He looked around the room and spotted me. His eyes went wide and he smiled. "Jade! Why aren't you in school?"

"I didn't want to be there." I replied. There was a calendar on the kitchen wall that I could make out from where I was that read 'September 1995' at the top. I must be sixteen years old, though I had no recollection of being here. All of this seemed new to me.

"That's not a good reason." He frowned. "Anyways, I'd love to stay and talk, but I gotta go." He moved to the table near the couch and grabbed the keys that were laying there. "See ya later." He headed out the door and said goodbye to my mom. She shut the door behind him.

"He's so forgetful. He's always been that way, though." She reached for her purse. "Come on, we're taking you back to school."

"I'm not going." I said, my voice deeper. "Will is your brother; he’s going to feel real bad knowing that he left before the fun started.”

"What?" She said, looking at me strangely. "Come on. I'm not going to tell you twice." Suddenly the door came crashing down, sending wood across the room. I covered my face. When I opened my eyes once again, Faruk was standing there, huge as he was before his stay at the prison. My mom screamed and darted to the kitchen, but before she could get there I stuck my leg out, tripping her. She landed hard on her face. I heard a loud popping noise; she must have broken her nose. Faruk moved across the room and lifted her by the back of her neck. She struggled, but his hand nearly engulfed her entire head.

"Mother." I said, as I stood up. "You've been a thorn in my side from day one." I tried to stop myself; I couldn't control my body. It was as if I was a robot, with the scientist on the other side of the wall, controlling me by remote. I walked across the room to a box that had been sitting in the corner. As I opened it and looked in, I recognized the very same claws that Marley had on her belt the day I saw her outside of the station.

"No!" I screamed, this time I could hear it. My body stopped for a moment, trembling. "This isn't happening!"

"Marley, you ok?" Faruk asked, looking over his shoulder. Mom had stopped moving.

"I'm fine!" The voice came from me. "Put her on the wall!"

I reached in to the box and grabbed the weapons, then secured them on to my hands. "Stop it Marley! Stop it!" My body trembled again. "Stop struggling, Jade! We're in this together! There's no turning back!" Suddenly I felt weak, but my body continued. I was unable to stop myself.

I heard a thumping noise, as if someone was nailing something to the wall. I realized then that my mom was pinned to the wall via metal spikes through her wrists and ankles. What began was something out of a botched surgery, with the patient's welfare in the far back of my mind. Blood had covered my body, and my hair was matted to my face. I was laughing hysterically.

Faruk left, leaving just me there. When I was done with the body, I took the claws off and reached in to the cavity and pulled out the heart. Using it almost as if it were a crayon, I began drawing strange symbols and circles around her. As I did, the body began to glow a faint golden color. I was crying, yet I couldn't see or feel the tears. Marley had control of my body.

Finally, when she was done painting, she dropped the heart on to the floor and walked back over to the mirror. My heart stopped. It was me. The same dark hair now covered in blood; the same pale complexion, sunken eyes and everything, as if I was perpetually tired. My slender frame made me look as though I was a ghost, covered in the essence of my mother. The golden glow became brighter in the corner of my eye and I rushed back in front of the body.

Something was about to occur, but there was no time. Someone else walked in through the door. A neighbor, no doubt intrigued by the noises coming from inside, had come to check on us. He was horrified by what he saw, but had no time to escape before he was screaming in pain, with my claws through his torso. I flayed him the way I did my mother, side by side. Now that there were two bodies, the spell would be even more powerful. I could hear Marley's thoughts.

"Jade! I'm so happy we did this together. Think of the power we're going to obtain!" She said to me.

"No, Marley.. Marley I can't believe.." I stuttered.

"Shhh. I told you I wouldn't let anything happen to you. You’re my sister."

The voice in my head was my own, only deeper. Now, as I looked back on this massacre, did I realize that we were one in the same. I was sick to my stomach, though I couldn't vomit. The golden glow was brighter now, and suddenly I was floating through nothingness. Darkness fell on either side of me, with no walls or stars in sight. Marley and I were both scared; we had no idea where we were.

Suddenly a bright light hit us, as if we were the target of someone's flood light. A golden hand reached out towards us. Marley spoke.

"No! No! Stay away!" She screamed, flailing my arms at the hand. But it was to no avail. The hand grabbed us and pulled us in to the throbbing light. Marley was screaming, as if she was in pain. I was completely silent; my mind was still reeling from what I had seen, and what I was seeing now.

I had control over my body suddenly. As I looked to the side, I saw spiders crawling down my arm. I began to shake it vigorously, sending the tiny terrors in to the open space. As they floated away, I realized that they were coming from me. From my nose and my ears. I opened my mouth to scream and more came through, trailing off down my chest and off in to the empty space. They seemed to be being sucked in to a hole of sorts, which looked much like a drain. I realized then that the golden hand was still holding me. Soon the spiders stopped coming, and I watched as the last one followed the rest.

I wasn't in my body anymore; instead I was following the spiders down the drain, the walls of which seemed to be made of bone. As I fell, I realized that I was a spider, my legs kicking and flailing, trying to grasp on to any surface. But the bone was as smooth as marble; there was no stopping the fall. What felt like hours passed. I latched on to another spider. We began to form a large ball, all of us spiders rolling down the drain.

Then we hit the ground with a splat. For a moment we were spread out, before reforming in to a large pile. Then, as if we were commanded by something greater, we began to form a human shape. Now a faux human, naked as sin, we stood on rock, overlooking a vast field of fire.

"What... is this place?" I asked, though like before, I had no control over this body. I was merely a spectator.

"Welcome to hell, Marley." Someone was standing to the right of me. "Though you can't stay. You have no soul."

"What? No soul? But the spell!" Marley said, her hands on her head.

"There is no spell that will replace a soul. You're on your own now." I scanned the man who was saying it, realizing he had no face, only a skeleton. He wore a large black robe, his boney fingers peeking through the ends of his sleeves. Raising his hand, he pointed at a large doorway. "Go, or forever be in purgatory."

I could sense the absolute anger and frustration in Marley's head as she walked, naked, to the door.

"This isn't over. I will be back, and I will claim what is mine." She said to Death.

"We will see." He replied, then Marley exited, and suddenly was back in the living room.

She was alone now and still naked, though covered in blood. Standing up slowly, she stood still for a moment, trying to control her trembling. When she had control over her legs, she walked groggily to the mirror and stared in to it. Jade was no longer there; it was simply Marley. Dark hair, dark skin, soulless eyes.

"Though I walked through the valley of the shadow of Death," she said to herself. “I have no soul.” She laughed weakly, staring at herself in disbelief.

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Also, if you have any questions, please ask. When the story is completed, i'm going to have a few notes on continuity and what not. When I'm done with the entire thing, I'll go back and fix a lot of errors I've made and work things out once again so they fit nicely. Until then, if you spot something that either doesn't make sense or doesn't fit the time line, please send me a message about it. I've probably already noticed it, but maybe I haven't.

Thanks!

Heh, thanks guys. I like Masterminds, but I feel that the Zombies in the game aren't scary enough. I wish they did spew spiders when they died. I wish there was a way to form your zombies or creatures anyway you chose.

Anyway, as the story progresses.. and it will... we'll learn more. This is far from being over, in fact, it's just beginning!

Stay tuned.

Wow, thanks Altoholic. I probably don't deserve that much credit. heh. But thank you, you made my day.

Anoher part.. I've been writing today. I found some spare time, surprisingly, so I sat down with the lap top and got to work. We're finally getting to the good stuff.

Enjoy.

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The road to Starke was quiet and miserable. I spent most of the ride on my cell phone, speaking with the Warden of the prison, whom I had talked to previously back at the station. John seemed like he was nice, and even went out of his way to set up a visit with Faruk for us. We were to enter through Gate C and meet him in the parking lot, then he would take us directly to Faruk, who has been shut off from the rest of the prison since he arrived. I spoke to Will mid-trip. I needed to know why he was keeping things from me.

"Will, you knew about Jade, didn't you?" I didn't look at him from the passenger seat. Instead, I continued looking out the window at the open fields that seemed to go on forever, something you didn't see in Southern California.

"Erm. Well.." He sighed. "Yes, Nerva, I did."

"Why didn't you tell me there was another involved?" I turned to Will, angry. Just thinking about this upset me, but confronting Will made it harder to control my temper.

"Nerva.. I didn't think it was important. We knew it was Marley, so why even go down that route?"

I stared at him in disbelief. In all of my years of knowing Will, he was never the one to take a short cut. Needless to say, I found it hard to swallow. However, in order to get to the bottom of things, I played along.

"I suppose. So who was Jade?" I took my focus off of Will and looked out the window once again.

"Jade... " he paused for a moment, then continued, as if he was practicing what he would say before he said it. "Jade was Marley's best friend, at least that's what the reports said. After Marley killed her parents, Jade disappeared."

"What about Jade's parents?" I asked.

"No one knew who they were. Jade was sort of a mystery." He swallowed. I sighed. The day felt long enough as it was, there was no need for this merry-go-round interrogation.

"So, do you know what those symbols they found at the murder scene were? It said in the report that they were around the bodies." I pulled out the file and flipped to the page that described the strange archaic lettering. Will looked over and took a quick look before focusing on the road. He took a quite a while before responding.

"Most of the symbols I didn't recognize. However, a few of them.. " he reached in to his coat pocket and pulled out a few pictures and handed them to me. They were of the area surrounding the bodies. The symbols were vivid, as if they were living. ".. were the same found when we discovered Adam Tally's body."

I stared at Will for a moment, then looked at the pictures. What I thought was one set, was actually two. A few pictures from Marley's massacre, and a few others from Adam Tally's murder. Will had told me that Adam was killed during a raid on the Family's headquarters, though in these pictures it looked like he was killed in his home. The symbols were the same as those found in the other pictures. I took a deep breath.

"You're telling me that not only did you lie to me about Jade, but you lied to me about Adam Tally's death too? What about the others? Were they found like this?"

"Yes. Except for Victoria Wicklas and Chris Cooper. They... died separately from all of this."

I threw the file on to the floor board in frustration.

"Will.. How can I trust you now? Why would you do this to me?" I couldn't control myself any longer. My anger was very obvious, and my voice was more than a few decibels louder. I wanted to hit him with something, but I didn't go that far. Instead, I took the higher road. "What do you think you're doing here?"

Will looked at me as we pulled up to the gate of the prison. His eyes were filled with a deep sadness that I had never seen before. I immediately lost my anger and stared at him, confused. He reached over and touched my shoulder.

"This is bigger than you know, Nerva. I promise... when we get out of here, I'll explain everything." For a moment I wanted to cry. He knew things I didn't know, and now more than ever I felt as though we were walking in to a trap. Will knew something important and he wasn't telling me, but it was too late to talk about it now. A prison guard approached our car and leaned down as Will lowered the window.

"Evening..." It was around seven by the time we had arrived. The sky was dark, and thick clouds covered the sky. "You're Will and Nerva, correct?"

"Yes sir. Here to see the Warden."

"John? Yes. He's expecting you. Go ahead."

As he walked back to his post and in to the light, I could see that he was a bit dirty. His shirt was covered in a dark material that resembled mud. He wore a hat, but his hair fell out around his ears, making it look like he was wearing a wig. He had no discernable smell that I was aware of, though I knew that if I were to get close to him I would be able to pick up something earthy. As the gate rose for us to enter, he looked at us and smiled an uncomfortable smile.

The parking lot was empty, save for a few cars near the back of the lot. They looked as though they had been there for a while. It was dark; darker than it should have been, considering the amount of lights in the lot.

"Will, I don't like this."

"Keep your eyes open." He said as we pulled up along the side of the building. I could see a figure standing in the shadows of the wall, but couldn't make it out. Will turned towards him and put him in direct view of our head lights. An older man, wearing an older suit which very much resembled Will's brown work attire, covered his eyes with his arm and waved at us. Will parked the car and shut off the engine.

"Stay here." Will got out of the vehicle. The man approached, lowering his arm. He was batting his eye lids, trying to see. We must have blinded him with the brights. He approached Will with his arm outstretched. They took hands and shook, and Will motioned for me to come out.

"It's John. The Warden." Will said to me, shutting the driver's door. I got out of the car and looked around. My gun was still unclipped and was ready if I needed it. I finally looked towards John and nodded.

"Why hello. Nerva, right? Sorry this place seems a little spooky. We've had a few storms today, the power has been actin' up." I walked around the car and shook his hand, my nerves were a bit calmer. He had a light southern accent, which soothed me a bit. His eyes were those of a man who had a family; warm and welcoming. "Come inside, it's a bit windy out here." Since I'd gotten out of the car, the wind had picked up. On the way here, however, it'd been rather calm.

We entered through a large steel door and in to a hallway. The place reminded me more of a hospital than a prison, with it's white linoleum flooring and matching walls. The lighting was much brighter here than outside, leaving no shadow. Every step we took resonated throughout the hall, making it sound as though a large army was on it's way to battle. It didn't help that I was wearing heels, which thinking about it now, was probably a bad idea.

Following John in to his office, we were both offered seats as he went behind his desk and in to a large filing cabinet. Out came a folder with a few papers in it. He put it in front of us and slid it our way.

"Go on. It's Faruk's information. That's what you're here for, right?" He sat down in large leather chair and reclined. I took the file and opened it up. Will on the other hand studied a few trinkets John had around the office; he seemed to be particularly interested in a portrait near the door.

In the file were two papers total. One of which gave Faruk's statistics in 1999. He stood 9'6" and weighed nearly five hundred pounds. Amazing, I thought. It was probably a wise decision to keep him in solitary confinement. The next page came as a complete surprise. This was dated 2002, listing his current statistics. He now stood 5'4" and weighed a measly one hundred and two, about four pounds lighter than me.

"Wait, are there two Faruk McAdam's here?" I held up both sheets and compared them side by side, thinking that perhaps I had missed something.

"Nope. Just the one."

"Then how.." I trailed off, and John explained.

"He came to us the brute you no doubt saw in his mug shots. He was huge, took a load of tranquilizers to get him to calm down. The guards were afraid of him, and hell, so was I. But in '02, he disappeared for a week, and when we found him, he was lookin' how he is today." John seemed completely at ease with this. He must have told this story several times before.

"Wait, how did it happen? How do you know that's the real Faruk?"

"We don't know how it happened. Know where we found him? In his cell. That's how we know it's the real Faruk. There ain't no way out of there."

I looked to Will and realized that he had gotten up to get a closer look at the painting. John took notice of him.

"That's Mr. Duncan. He was the prison's first Warden." He said.

"Oh. It's nicely done."

I looked between the both of them, feeling a bit odd, before I stood and closed the file.

"Can we see him now?" I said, moving to Will, who gave me a strange look.

"Sure.. " John stood. "Right this way." He smiled, looking at Will. He passed us through the door, Will followed. I stopped for a moment to look at the portrait and noticed immediately a familiar symbol on the breast of the Mr. Duncan's jacket. I caught up with Will, who was a few steps behind John.

"I saw that symbol, it was one of the same things found at Marley's crime scenes."

Will looked at me and nodded and swallowed. He was obviously worried, which in turn got me to worry. We came to two large doors, bolted from the inside, with wire over the windows. John unbolted one of them and swung it open. Before us was a very long, bare hall. The lighting here was much darker than in other parts of the prison. I could make out what resembled a door at the end of the hall, but just barely. It must have been the length of a football field.

"The guards 'round here call it Psycho-path." John said, laughing. He patted Will on the back and ushered us in, closing the door behind us. I jumped a bit when I heard the loud clank of the door locking behind us. John noticed and grinned. "Don't worry Ma'am, you're safe here." Somehow I doubted it.

As we walked down the hall, my feet clicking away on the linoleum, I began to wonder what time the prison shut down for the night. I hadn't seen any other people in the offices, nor did I see another guard besides the one at the front gate. I looked to Will, who seemed emotionless, as if he was preparing himself, in some manner.

"Is that a visitor I hear?" A very deep, raspy voice, tinged with a very prominent Louisiana accent, boomed down the hall. We stopped for a moment and John snickered, putting his hands on our back.

"Faruk can get a bit funny some times.." John whispered to us. I didn't find it very funny. We arrived at the door, which was made of a very thick translucent material. The cell was rather small and dark, though I could make out the form of a man sitting in the corner. He had no hair atop of his head, though he had a long beard. He was very thin, as if he was malnourished. He wore a long gray shirt, as well as matching sweat pants.

"Faruk! You have some visitors." John knocked on the cell door. Faruk didn't move.

"I heard 'em.. I smelled 'em.. I know they're here. Do they know they're here?" He snickered a bit.

"Faruk McAdam, I'm Nerva, this is my partner Will. We're here to talk to you about the murders in 1997, that you an-"

"Marley. That why you here? I already knew that." He got up and stretched. His arms went above his head. He resembled a praying Mantis almost as he seemed to slither across the cell, cracking every bone in his body, as if he hadn't moved for a week. "There is nothin' you can hide from me." He now stood about a foot away from the door. Though I knew it was reinforced, I felt uncomfortably close to him.

"Mr. McAdam.." I said, keeping a professional voice, trying not to let on my weakness. "We have reason to believe that you know where Marley is."

"Marley is dead, right? She was executed on a cold, dark night back when." He smiled, scratching his chin through his beard. "You knew that though."

"We .. have reason to believe she's still alive."

"Oh? Alive?" He turned for a moment and moved to the center of the cell. "It depends on what your definition of 'alive' is, Nerrrrr-vuh." He drew out my name, pronouncing each letter separately, as if he was amused by it.

"What do you mean?" I asked as I pulled out my note pad and pen.

"Put that away, you're not gonna need it." He hadn't seen me do it, but he knew I had it. I put it away. "You'll remember what I'm gonna tell ya." He turned back around with a sinister grin on his face as he slowly moved towards the door. John stepped back. I looked back at him for a moment, though I couldn't make out an emotion from the way he stared blankly ahead. Will hadn't moved, I was beginning to worry.

"Nerrrrva. Nerva. What a pretty name. I like it." He moved closer to the cell door and put the palms of his hands flat on to it. I could see dirt under his finger nails and encrusted in to his skin, though there was no sign of open ground in his cell; it was completely covered by cement.

"Mr. McAdam, tell me what you know. Who is Jade?" I brought out my firm, demanding voice that I reserved for interrogations. Some times it worked. Some times. Faruk laughed.

"Oh that's a funny question." Faruk scoffed, then he looked completely serious. "You're not ready to know who Jade is."

"I can assure you I am." I looked at Will, who had his had near his weapon. He was paler than usual.

"I loved Marley and Jade.. I loved them both with all my heart. Marley was the only one who kept her promise, though, which is why I testified against her." He pressed his chest against the cell door, then his forehead. He stared directly in to my eyes; I could have sworn I saw a faint reddish glow in his pupils. I couldn't break my gaze. "She wanted to die, so I helped her along. She told me she'd be back for me... and I believed her." He laughed a bit, and tears started to form in his eyes. "I believed her.. " his fond smile slowly turned in to a menacing grimace. "I believed her and she kept to her promise. She came back, Nerva. She came back and she took me away from here."

"Where did she take you?" I asked.

He hit his fist against the door, sending a loud echo down the hall. "She took me to hell with her, Nerva."

"Mr. McAdam.."

"I lost my soul. I lost everythin'... but I gained... " His eyes began to burn with fire and he took on a demented expression, "I gained more than anyone could have imagined.."

"What.." I swallowed. "What did Jade promise you?"

"Jade promised me what Marley delivered."

"What did she promise you?" I asked again.

He tilted his head to the side, closing his eyes. His body trembled a bit, as if he was cold.

"Mmm, she promised me the dead, Nerva."

I heard a shuffling behind me and turned quickly to see John convulsing, standing upright, foaming at the mouth. He began to turn pale, faster than humanly possible, and he fell to the floor.

"Nerva," his voice was deep now, inhuman. "Nerva, Marley came back, in God's name. She's here now, back for salvation. Both mine, and yours. You better pray." He began to laugh loudly. I noticed John had stopped convulsing, but he was now getting to his feet. "You better pray to God that she keeps her promises! You better pray to God that you won't be left behind! Get on your knees and pray!" Faruk was yelling now, sending spittle against the glass. I grabbed Will by the arm and turned away from Faruk, snapping Will out of his daze. John was up on his feet, directly in front of us. His eyes were open, but his pupils were missing. Endlessly deep white. I pulled out my beretta and fired, hitting him square in the chest. Faruk's laughter behind me continued to grow louder, but I still heard the noise that came from John's chest. No blood poured from the wounds; instead a funnel of spiders began to shoot forth, landing at our feet.

"You better believe you're in the shadow of Death, Nerrrrrvaaaa! Pray! PRAY! THE MALEBRANCHE ARE COMING! Pray to God that salvation will find you!"

"Come on!" Will grabbed my arm and jerked me to the side, running straight at John, he slammed him to the floor with his shoulder as we ran past. Faruk's laughter was now louder than ever, and I heard a crashing noise as if glass had been shattered. I looked back to see Faruk on his knees, outside of his cell. He looked up and made eye contact with me, his face had become distorted, much sharper. His bones seemed to want to jump from his skin.

We made it to the end of the tunnel and Will quickly unlocked the door. We moved through quickly and shut it behind us, locking it tightly. I looked through the window, but Faruk wasn't in the hall anymore.

"What's going on here, Will?!" I asked, breathing heavily, terrified.

"It's Marley, Nerva. It's always been Marley, but it's different now. The Malebranche isn't just Marley and Faruk anymore. Come on." He grabbed my arm and we ran through the corridors, passing empty offices and barren hallways, until we reached the Warden's office. In front of us were at least twenty men, both prisoners and guards alike, each was covered in mud and dirt; each had the same soulless eyes. We backtracked and went down another hall. My heels had come off, having been broken on the initial sprint down the hallway leading to Faruk's cell, and now were adequate running shoes.

Will, as old as he was, ran as fast as anyone would have with out slowing down. We quickly turned a corner and, as my feet slipped out from under me and I fell to the floor, a fist the size of a cinder block came inches from my nose and slammed in to the wall, sending pieces of cement and dust particles in to the air. I looked up, wiping away pieces of the wall and dust from my face, and saw Adam Tally.

"Will!" Adam lifted his large foot to no doubt stomp on me, but a barrage of bullets from Will stopped him. The bullets, though they didn't penetrate his skin, were enough to stun him for a moment. Just enough time for us to slip by him and continue running. From behind us we could hear someone screaming. I looked over my shoulder to see Faruk standing there, pointing at us as his minions fell in line and began to run after us.

We came to a hall way that had a large, green 'Exit' sign above a door at the end. We wasted no time and began running towards it. Will was behind me, but not by far. He turned around and fired a few rounds at the creatures chasing us. Though I didn't look, I could hear the spiders hitting the floor and scurrying off. We hit the door running and it slammed open, hitting the outside wall, nearly shattering the glass. Our car was in front of us, though about fifty yards away. We ran to it.

Will fumbled with the keys for a moment, as I watched Faruk's creations come pouring out of the building. Finally he managed to unlock the doors. We got in and screeched away towards the gate, as I watched over the back seat watching the monster attempt to catch up with us, but thankfully, they were too slow.

We approached the gate going roughly sixty when a very large man stepped in front of us, leaving no time for Will to swerve. As the car hit him, I had a sudden realization of why seat belts were necessary, though I wasn't wearing one at the time. The windshield gave way to me, sending shattered glass across the hood and out on to the road in front of the guard's quarters, along with my body, like a limp doll.

The sound of the car's horn blaring was the only thing I could hear, and I couldn't see much. My vision was blurred, but I could make out a man standing about a foot in to the car's engine; the car wrapped around him, as if it had hit a tree. I attempted to pull myself up, but I couldn't move. Something wet was running from my forehead and in to my eyes. I touched my fingers to my skin and pulled away blood. Dragging myself a foot or two a head, I lost my grip and my face collapsed on to the asphalt.

"Nerva..." I heard, or thought I heard. My ears were ringing. "Jade... " My eyes were closing. I was losing the fight to stay awake. I saw feet walking towards me, though it almost appeared as if they were gliding. I could make out the form of bone on the shins. "Jade, I found you." I was rolled over on to my back. I looked up and saw a woman standing over me. She kneeled down and looked in to my face, covered in blood and dirt. "I'll never let you go again." My thoughts became silence, and I fell in to darkness.

Thanks! Wow, best compliment ever. I'm actually going to be majoring in Creative writing, so I hope people like my stuff.

I'm thinking of using this story in the creative writing class I'm in now. At least get some critiques from my professor.

I'm really enjoying writing this, and I even creeped myself out a few times. Heh heh.

Confrontation, ladies and gentlemen, co-creator of The Malebranche, and right now basically it's leader since I haven't had a lot of time to play. If you see him on, do talk to him.

And thanks of course.

Now, for the next installment. More backstory, and we're getting to a new locale. I didn't get to where I wanted to, but I'd rather take my time and give you the full story then rush it and give you the bare bones. I think most of you agree.

So, enjoy!

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My bag was ready within an hour of arriving home, so I had a few to kill. Much to my surprise, I found a copy of the file on The Malebranche in my briefcase. Will must have slipped it in there, knowing I would be restless until our departure. He knew me better than most, perhaps even better than I knew myself. When we met, I was here alone, without a cause or a reason. I guess I sort of fell in to my position. Some people are meant for certain things, maybe he and I were meant to be working together.

It's sort of funny, but I don't really remember how my mom reacted to me moving across the country. Whether she was sad or happy to see me go, I couldn't say. I only recall saying good-bye, to an extent. Never the less, our conversations were mostly brief, so it wouldn't surprise me, seven years later, that I don't remember. My entire life with her seemed to be a blur, consisting of abuse and neglect. Perhaps it's better if it's just that.

I do, however, remember one particular time before as a child. I had a friend who I was particularly close to who cared for me in much the same way. One day we were planning on going out when my mother called us aside and gave us both twenty dollars. I was so surprised and happy that I didn't question where the money came from, and I'm glad I didn't. The look on my mom's face, as she saw how happy we both were, was priceless. It was one of the few times I ever saw her truly happy. That was, however, a long time ago. My friend's name escapes me now, lost in the cob webs of my mind. My life now was dedicated to these mysteries; riddles left by thugs and psychopaths alike.

My apartment resembled a hotel room. My bed, while very large, was dead in the center, while my work desk rested near the window, over looking a nice garden. I didn't need a large place to live; I was only one person. Besides, most of my time was spent in the office. The department paid my rent, so I should have gone for a luxurious pent house with a view of eternity. Instead, I chose modestly. I was very priveledged and lucky to have received my position. The benefits were amazing, and of course others in the department were jealous, though they had no reason to be. I wasn't the one to take hand outs, but before I started here I needed it. This just happened to be convenient for me, very convenient.

I moved to my desk with the file in hand and stopped for a moment, staring at myself in the mirror. Either this case has taken a lot out of me, or I'd aged considerably in the span of a week. My eyes were a bit sunken and I was paler than usual; my hair was a bit of a mess, thanks to the winds and lack of a brush. I've definitely been stressed. I hadn't showered in a few days, either. Marley was on my mind at all times; it felt like I never had a moment alone. Now that we were finally getting somewhere, I would have to cancel all of my self-indulging plans.

I opened the file and went back over the information from Dante's Inferno. The call I had received earlier from Marley was written verbatim here in the notes.

"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. Good advice." I sighed and flipped through the pages to information regarding Marley's killing spree. Eye witnesses reported seeing her at the crime scene, walking out of the house covered in blood. The neighbors were so frightened by what they saw, they didn't call the police for a few hours. I don't blame them; seeing a woman fresh from a greusome kill walking down your street would be enough to drive anyone insane. But then again, why, if she had been a professional assasin, would she let herself be seen?

I turned the page to a transcript of an interview between her and the district attorney. It was only a page long. Strange, considering most of them are the size of a novel.

"Why did you do it?" The DA asked Marley. Her name was written on the top of the page, no last name given. I realized then that I hadn't seen it anywhere before.
"Why didn't I do it?" She replied.
"There was no relation between these two people. You didn't know them, they didn't know you."
"True."
"So, why did you kill them?"
"Some people just need killing." A note was written on the side that read, She then laughed.
"Is it true that this was part of a Satanic ritual?"
"No! It was part of a Marley and Jade ritual."
Jade had never been mentioned before, and was never written about any where else. I took note of it.
"Do you know where Jade is?"
"Do you? I'd love to know."

I was confused; no mention of an accomplice, besides Faruk, had been mentioned before. I grabbed my cell phone from my bag and dialed Will.

"Hello Nerva. Why aren't you resting?" He said, obviously having been woken up.

"Was there another person with Marley when she killed those two people?"

There was a pause for a moment, then a sigh and a yawn. "I don't think so."

"In this interview transcript, Marley mentions a person named Jade. Did you find any information on a Jade?"

"Um, no. I didn't. Everything you have in that file is what I found."

For a second I thought Will was lying to me, then I brushed it off. Will was the most honest man I knew. If I couldn't trust him, I could trust no one.

"What was Marley's last name? I can't find it anywhere in the paperwork."

"Um.. " He paused again. "I think it was Santos. Strange that it's not in there.." He trailed off a bit, then yawned loudly. "Listen, I'm going to get some sleep. I'll probably sleep on the plane too. Um, call me if you need anything else." He hung up abruptly. I looked strangely at my phone for a moment before dialing the station's records department.

An elderly lady, whom I recognized as Maria, a very dedicated woman who had been working there for what seemed like eons, answered the phone.

"Hi Maria, it's Nerva. I need some information on a Marley Santos, if you don't mind..."

"Oh of course. Want me to send it to your email?"

"Please. Thank you, Maria." I hung up and ran my fingers through my hair. Most of the time, when I was working late hours, Maria would email me information I requested. She was really good at that, being there when you needed her. Who knows if she'd find anything this time, though.

On my notepad I wrote down the name Marley Santos. If Marley had an accomplice, why was there no information on her? These questions began to weigh heavy on my mind, so I took a shower that lasted well over an hour. I let the water run over my head and shoulders, as payment for putting them through so much. As I washed, I realized that I had lost a bit of weight. My ribs were visible and my stomach was a bit flatter than usual. I still couldn't shake the image of those claws poking through my flesh. Every time I moved my hand down my stomach, I expected to be greeted by cold steel, or worse, bone.

After drying my hair a bit, I went back to my desk wearing a towel and checked my mail. Maria came through quickly as usual. Facing me was a very large file which I immediately opened up. Most of the information was already in the file Will had given me. I decided to quickly scan the documents pertaining to the actual murder and couldn't believe my eyes. Pages upon pages of the DA's interview, as well as paragraphs describing the murder scene, which wasn't included in Will's report, were staring me right in the face. As I read, things became clearer. Marley did know these people; they were her parents.

Around the bodies were strange symbols written in blood. An Archaic language was used, with lettering and what appeared to be images portrayed in the circles. No information as to their translation was in the report, however, though this did confirm that these were ritualistic killings. DNA reports concluded that the blood of three people was found at the scene; both the parents, and one unconfirmed, though they assumed it was Marley's.

I quickly grabbed the file and pulled out the transcript which stated she had no relation to the family. It too was in the file Maria sent me, but it was incomplete. The next page described how Marley would not admit that these were her parents; instead she acted as if she didn't know them. The DA, after struggling through an hour's worth of interrogation, decided to play her game and pretend as well.

"My God." I began to question if Will knew about this, or if he simply didn't include it because he didn't find it important. I couldn't believe that he would leave this information out on purpose, though I had to force myself to believe he did.

I realized then that I had two hours before my flight departed, so I got ready quickly as I printed the information.

I arrived at the airport, much to my surprise, on time. Will was already there, drinking a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. He wore a brown jacket and matching pants; his work attire. He looked up from his place as I approached and smiled. I smiled back, though I didn't want to. Will was lying to me. Until I found out why, I wouldn't mention the new details. Lying to cover a lie seemed to be a bit unprofessional, but I couldn't help myself. If Will wasn't going to be straight with me, I would have to bypass him.

We would be flying in to Jacksonville, Florida, and renting a car to get to Starke, where the criminals deemed too dangerous to be kept with others were incarcerated, and the location of Marley's execution. I got on the plane behind Will, not having spoken much to him before hand. We sat in the same row, side by side.

"Are you alright?" He asked me. I put on a fake smile and nodded.

"Just tired." I replied as I placed my bags below my feet.

"Get some sleep. It's a long flight." The stewardess came by and I took a pillow from her, reclined, and promptly fell asleep.

Sleeping seemed foreign to me. What little I got was usually in my office after I'd had enough and passed out. Now, however, I felt comfortable, which paved the way for what happened next. It came again, the same street with no people. I was standing outside of my mother's house in Paragon, staring at the door. I knew what was behind it this time, but I couldn't stop myself from going in.

The door opened and I stepped inside with my eyes closed. There was no smell of decaying flesh. I slowly opened my eyes and saw my mom, standing in the living room, alive. I ran to her and took her in my arms, hugging her tighter than ever before. She hugged me in return, and I felt relieved, as if someone had lifted all of my burdens from my shoulders and I was finally free.

"Don't get too comfortable." She said, but I couldn't let go. "You're witnessing God's will." Her voice seemed a bit deeper now, and I felt uneasy. I let her go to see a woman with no face. Where my mom's welcoming eyes had taken me, there was nothing. A flat flesh wall was sitting on her neck. I couldn't take my eyes away.

"Who are you?!" I yelled, but got no answer. Instead, I witnessed as lines began to appear in her body and she broke apart in to pieces. They fell to the floor and turned to sand, leaving only a large mound. As I stared, confused and frightened, I began to notice the walls changing; the pictures and wallpaper warped and mutated repeatedly; the people in the portraits came to life. Though they once were scenes of fields and sporting events, the people now were murdering each other, and the fields were on fire. Blood began to pour from the frames and in to the living room until it was up to my ankles. I couldn't move, I couldn't run from it.

I then heard what can only be described as insects wading through water. From the hallway to my right millions of spiders began to come through the blood towards me. I wanted to scream but couldn't control myself. The arachnids moved to the center of the room and began to crawl on to each other, as if they were mocking tiny pieces of garbage. The mound began to take human form in a grotesque orgy of movement. I was bearing witness to the birth of a demon, and soon before me was the woman of my nightmare. Her features began to form; I recognized the same mask, scarred with white horizontally. Her eyes were the same, endlessly deep white. She walked towards me, and the thought of her touching me made me want to vomit. Her hands were normal this time, covered in the same material that covered her face.

"Nerva, you'll be here soon. I can't wait to see you in person." Her voice was misleading. This time, it almost sounded caring and hopeful. For the first time I noticed a slight accent. "You've been the focus of my thoughts for a while now... I'm sure you've been thinking of me, too." She moved closer. Her face was inches from mine. I could smell death on her; the smell of rotting corpses and burned flesh. The same sickly sweet smell one finds while investigating a murder scene permeated the air. She reached up and touched my cheek with her fingers and I felt like I was on fire. I wanted to scream again, but it was futile. The pain trickled from my cheek down my entire body; the flames were internalized. She removed her hand and with it the burning, and then removed her mask. It was Marley, which came as no surprise to me.

"I have a lot planned for you, Nerva." She moved close to me, her face inches away from mine. I wanted desperately to move, to get that monster away, but I couldn't. I was feeble in her presence. "You'll learn to love me." I could feel her breath on my cheek, hot as burning coal and almost as thick, then suddenly she opened her mouth and out came a tongue, not of flesh, but of spiders. As it touched my cheek I screamed, this time in reality. The crowd on the plane was as surprised as I was, as well as Will. I looked around, disoriented and afraid.

"Nerva! Jesus, Nerva calm down. You're going to rile everyone up."

Everyone was shooting glares in my direction. It was late. We were almost in Jacksonville. I excused myself from Will and went to the lavatory, where I immediately threw up. I could still feel the spiders on my body, I wanted to get out of my clothes and shower. I wanted to scrub myself down until I rid myself of my skin and grew it anew. I would never feel the same again. Moving to the sink, I washed my mouth out and then stared in to the mirror. I was pale and sweaty, and my hair was a mess. I was no better than I was earlier in the day. Now more than ever, I wished my mother was here. I wished I could go home.

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Next installment probably next week.

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm definitely taking my time with this story. All day today, work and school, I was thinking of this story. I've completed another large chunk of it, but it needs to be revised and what not before it's ready. It's becoming longer than I thought, which isn't a bad thing. This is definitely an undertaking.

Expect an update from me soon. Just have to work the kinks out. Maybe I'll send you all Malebranche key chains or something.

Yeah, the teaser at the end was only for my amusement. I thought it was sort of funny. :P

It'll probably be a few days before the next part is put up, so I might have more time to work on it. This is the first time i've actually written a story like this, so when I write it, I get excited and want to share it as quickly as possible, heh.

The next part I expect to be a bit longer than the previous posts... also, you'll get more information on a lot of things that haven't been explained yet.

The only real continuity mistake I think i've made was the "knife wound to the chest" of Adam Tally, then explain it as a knife wound in the back later on. That was my careless mistake. I hope to avoid those in the future.

Anyways, thanks for being my loyal readers! You can't understand how happy it makes me.

Thanks for the comments guys. You're right, I should take my time, because I notice errors when I do. Last night I was just excited to have the second part done, you know how it is. Anyway, here's the third part, hopefully minus any errors, because I did do some proof reading.

Enjoy!

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January rolled by and the dream was still on my mind. The smell and sight of my Mom's house seemed real enough that I called her every day, much to her annoyance. If she knew what I had been through, she wouldn't be so hostile. Instead, she thought that I had concluded that she was becoming senile and couldn't take care of herself. Of course, to a woman like that, who has spent much of her life fighting her way through poverty and abusive husbands, it was an insult. She couldn't have been further from the truth, however, and I could care less if she thought that way.

Will came to me in the afternoon of February 2nd, just as I was about to leave. He dropped a file on to my desk and stared at me, perhaps expecting me to be surprised. Nothing Will does is a surprise to me anymore.

"The Malebranche. You actually found information about it?" I said as I read the name on the file, then I opened it to see a few pages full of text.

"Yes. I had to jump through a few hoops to get the... deeper information." He pulled up a chair and sat down, letting out a sigh of relief as he did so, as if it had taken all his strength just to walk from his office to mine.

"So, what did you find?"

"Well, The Malebranche is a term created by Dante, in his book Inferno. They were demons who guarded the pit where sinners and the like were tortured." He adjusted his glasses.

"Sounds lovely."

"Oh yes. Dante, you know, always lifts my spirits."

I began to flip through the file, seeing page after page full jargon. Most of which seemed to be about Dante's Inferno, and mythology related to hell. Finally, as I began to reach the end, Will let out another audible sigh.

"Here comes the good stuff." He said, just as I turned the page to see a mug shot of a woman whom I immediately recognized as Marley.

"That's her! So we know where she lives?" I said, excited. A month had gone by and we hadn't heard a word about her. The day we saw her enter that limousine with her new friends was the last time her name came up. After doing a search on the license plate number, which came back empty, we lost track of it entirely, as if it vanished in to thin air. With nothing else to run on, the entire investigation was at a stand still.

"Yes. Well, we did. She was in prison in Florida for murder."

The picture of Marley was almost an exact portrait of what I had seen that day. Her pitch black hair was pulled in to a pony tail, while a few of her bangs fell to the side of her face. Her dark complexion and facial features definitely placed her as being of Hispanic decent, yet she almost had the sense of being ageless, though, as her information read at the bottom of the page, she as only twenty three.

"Was? Where is she now?" I asked, studying the picture.

"Dead. She was executed in 1997." I looked at Will, who kept the same stern expression he always had. Nothing seemed to surprise him either. However, I couldn't quite grasp the insinuation.

"Dead? She was executed? You and I both saw her here a
month ago."

"There's the rub. How could a dead woman be standing in our lobby? Also, how could a dead woman ride away in a limo?"

I put the mug shot aside and saw another of a man I didn't recognize. He was much taller than Marley, standing well over nine feet tall. If I hadn't known better, I would think that he was wearing stilts. However, he had the body to match his height. Nothing but muscle on his arms and neck. He was as wide as my office.

"Jesus, this guy is huge. Who is he?"

"That is Faruk McAdam. He's her buddy. Her enforcer." The man also had a dark complexion, but it seemed as though it was from the sun rather than from heritage. He was definitely Caucasian.

"Is he dead too?"

"No. He's still in prison in Florida."

"Can you tell me how these two are connected to The Malebranche?"

"Easy. They are The Malebranche. At least that's what they called themselves. They were assassins in Miami from about 1990 to 1995, until they were caught during a sting operation. Three officers were killed trying to bring these two down."

"So she was only sixteen when they started their little business? How was she executed then?"

"They charged her as an adult. Turn the page."

I flipped the mug shot to the side only to be greeted by crime scene photos. What looked like a modern art portrayal of tuna fish sprayed by air cannon against a wall was actually a person, sex indistinguishable, flayed and pinned by his or her wrists. The torso was completely missing, instead replaced by what appeared to be minced meat. Nothing on the person told me that it was actually a human before. The brutality of this murder had been the worst I'd ever seen, and I thanked God that I wasn't there in person. I turned to the next photo to see a much similar scene, only this time the head was missing, and the torso was in tact. There were words etched in to the skin that I had to lean in to see.

"The Malebranche." I read, and then I shut the file. My skin was crawling. I wasn't prepared for this.

"She did 'em both. Faruk simply set the scene, which is why he wasn't executed. He's in for twenty years... the state plea bargained with him if he would testify against her in court."

I took a moment and closed my eyes, letting my fingers rub my temples. What I had on my hands was the strangest case I had ever seen, and I didn't know if I could handle it. I got up and moved towards the window and looked out over the lobby. My thoughts went back to my dream and how I saw my Mom's house, covered in blood.

"We have to go to Florida, Will."

"I already have the plane tickets."

I nodded and turned back to my desk, where I took the mug shot of Marley and took a look at it once more. In my dream, the woman was wearing a mask; there were no discernable features present. Though I couldn't see her face, I knew this was the woman in my dreams. Placing the photo back in to the file, I closed it and returned it to Will.

"How was she executed?"

"Lethal injection. They pretty much rushed her through the system since she plead guilty and refused her appeals. It's as if she wanted to die." Will took his files and opened the door to leave, then he turned and smiled, "Plane leaves at ten. Get some rest."

"I'll see you in a few hours." He left, shutting the door behind him.

I, too, let out an exasperated sigh. Now I knew how Will was feeling. It was almost a since of defeat, yet for me, the game hadn't even begun and I was down by infinity.

The phone rang immediately. I reached over and answered.

"Nerva."

"Through me you enter the city of woes, through me you
enter in to eternal pain." The eerily familiar voice spoke, almost seductively.

"Marley. I know this is you."

"Through me you enter the population of loss."

"I'm going to catch up to you, Marley."

"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." Dial tone.

I quickly hung up and dialed the Station's operator. I interrupted her greeting.

"I need you to tell me where my most recent call came from."

"Ok.. One moment." As I waited I wrote down what she said on to a pad I had beside me. "Oh. It says here you haven't received a call since this morning."

"What? Check it again."

"Sorry, we don't have any records of any incoming calls."

I hung up, put my arms and head on the desk, and rested there for a moment before I grabbed my things and headed home, keeping my hand near my weapon the entire way.

I've noticed a few errors I've made already. Just ignore them, and if something doesn't make sense.. it was hyper time. Also, I'll be working on the next few parts some time this week and they will be posted. I do have a busy schedule however. It will be completed!

I appreciate all who have actually read it!

One more update for today, then the rest will come throughout the week. Thanks for liking it! I hope you enjoy the rest.

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The station, located in beautiful down town Los Angeles, was as dreary as usual. This, as compared to the surrounding area, came as no surprise to anyone who happened to be there. The steps were worn and cracked, as were the pillars on the patio. Several stains of unknown origin were visible in every direction, and trash littered the sidewalk. One might think that the city had given up on this district, and frankly, it was very close to doing so. The crime rate was sky rocketing, with no sign of ever stopping, while the police force seemed to be losing hope. The only people who worked as if they knew they could do something about the problems were the few people I trusted: Myself and Will.

As I approached the automatic doors, though they too seemed to be on their last leg, I took a look at myself in the mirror. I looked alright, considering the circumstances. My dark hair wasn't a mess, and my gray suit fit the occassion. I began to lose focus on my image when suddenly I saw those claws through my torso again. I jumped a bit and moved my hand to my stomach, only to find the buttons of my jacket were still in place. The nightmare was beginning to get on my nerves. Messing with my psyche was an easy way to get on my bad side. I took my attention away from myself and entered the building, wanting to go home more than ever.

"Nerva! Thank god, you won't believe what's been going down." Will approached me like a mad man. His hair was wild and his glasses were on side ways. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought that I was a bit actor in a Mel Brooks film. "There are five bodies missing from the morgue. Three of them are super-powered people, two are unconfirmed."

"What? I thought you said that Adam walked out? You didn't mention the other four!"

"Well, like I said, a lot of things have been going down. Come with me."

As I followed Adam to his office I took notice of a woman talking to an officer near the front of the building. She had black hair, almost the color of pitch, yet her skin was much lighter. She seemed to be Peurto Rican, it was hard for me to tell from this distance. Her slim figure was very much appreciated by her outfit, a slender shirt and a mid-thigh length skirt. She also wore very high boots which went to her knees, and were definitely her most unusual feature. They had what appeared to be bone running down the middle, with ribs wrapped around to her calf. I couldn't tell if it was real or not, but she gave the impression that she would prefer nothing less. She took notice of me and we locked eyes for a short second, and chills went up my spine. Something about her made me feel uneasy, so I walked quicker in to Will's office and shut the door behind us, sending a gust of wind in to the room that let loose a flurry of paperwork in to the air.

"Ah for crying out loud." Will reached futily for the papers, then gave up and turned back to his desk, where he opened a folder. "Adam Tally, Derek Nolan, Chris Cooper, Victoria Wicklas, and ... " he moved his finger quickly down the page, "Massahari Nehembra. Any of these names ring a bell?"

"Of course Adam Tally..." I placed my hand on my hip and sighed, "The rest of them, no."

"Derek Nolan, AKA The Hamburger King, another SPP. Massahari Nehembra, AKA Dark Resistance, also an SPP." Will ran his hand through his white hair, or what was left of it, and sat back in his rolling chair. The light gave away his age, showing every wrinkle. He looked much older than he was, then again this job will take a lot out of a person, especially one who works as hard as Will. "They're gone as well, along with Victoria Wicklas and Chris Cooper, both of whom are not SPP's, as far as we know."

"Was there any surveillance footage taken at the morgue?"

"We're working on it, but we already have a witness who saw Adam walking out of the place. He says, and I quote, "I saw a huge man whom I recognized as Adam Tally walking towards the front door. I said to him, "Hey! Where do you think you're going?" and got no response. He then broke down the door and left. What could I have done?""

I took the file away from Will and looked it over, then put it back on his desk.

"Let's head over there, shall we?"
"Good idea." Will turned to grab his jacket, and the door opened suddenly. A man wearing a neatly trimmed officer's uniform came in holding a VHS tape, whistling.

"Here's the surveillance tape from the morgue, Will." He handed it to Will and left as casually as he came in. I looked at Will who, naturally, moved to the VCR and put it in. The TV came to life and the video began to play.

The time stamp read 1/11/04 8:37 AM. No one was on the tape except for the security guard, who was reclined in his chair, reading a magazine. Will reached over and hit fast forward. As the minutes rolled by, nothing happened save for the guard turning the pages and, on occassion, scratching himself. The view of the door and the guard was unhampered, until approximately 9:55 AM came up. A large figure lurched on to the screen, dressed in a large hospital gown, the back untied as to allow the gown to barely hang from his broad shoulders. Will quickly pressed play.

"It's him." I said as I watched Adam slowly, painfully slowly, lurch towards the door. He wasn't walking like a normal person would. His feet moved as if he was only alive on enough energy to get him to move forward. As he moved closer to the door, the guard took notice and began to talk to him. The frustration was apparent on the guards face as Adam continued to ignore his demands. He picked up the phone on the desk, no doubt to call us. No sooner had the phone call been made when Adam reached back and slammed his fist in to the door, sending it flying. The guard took cover under his desk and let the phone fall to the floor. We watched as The Wrench walked out of the building and out of view of the camera.

"Did you see that?" Will asked me as he hit rewind. "The knife wound." He paused it as Adam was mid-punch. The knife wound was large, as if he had been stabbed by a machete. No one could have survived that kind of puncture, though The Wrench was supposedly able to fend it off. The angle of the wound portrayed a scene in which Adam was stabbed by someone much taller than himself. Adam was no short man, he stood well over seven feet tall. With this said, the assailant must have been at least eight feet tall.

"Fast forward it to right after he knocks the door down." Will nodded and did so, then paused when the door was completely out of the frame. The knife wound was still visible, this time it seemed to be a bit open. No blood came out, however, though it should have. Either his blood was dry or he had none at all. My eyes glanced upwards towards the corner of the door frame, there I spooted a pair of legs, standing outside on the sidewalk, wearing tall boots. Upon closer inspection I could make out the form of bone, much like boots the woman was wearing in the lobby. My eyes widened a bit and I ran to the door and swung it open, searching the lobby for the dark haired woman. Unfortunately, she was no where to be seen. The officer she was conversing with, however, was still near the door.

Will followed me as I trekked across the lobby and confronted the officer.
"Excuse me? Who was that woman you were talking to earlier?" I asked, probably a bit too harshly.
"Um, which one?" He replied, his light red hair gave him the Opie quality that makes it hard for a person to be harsh with him. No doubt he used that to his advantage when writing traffic tickets.
"The one wearing the boots that had the bone on them."
"Oh! Her! She was very strange." He nodded. "But, you know, without them she'd be top notch." He winked at Will, who continued looking at us, confused. It was as if Harry Carry was standing beside me. Despite my strange hunches and uncanny ability to lead us on wild goose chases, Will had stuck by me throughout the years, and was an assett to have around.
"What was her name? Do you know where she went?"
"Um, well, her name.. I think it was Marley. Yeah, Marley. She said she was going to get lunch." I nodded to him, blurted a thank you of some sort, and headed to the front of the building.

"Where are we going? Who are you looking for?" Will asked these questions he deserved to know the answer to, but I was too busy. I knew this Marley had something to do with this. Call it a gut feeling, but it had to be resolved. The sidewalk was busy for this time of day, mostly with homeless. A few business people walked rather quickly here and there, trying to get to their offices as quickly as possible. I looked down the street from either direction, trying to look over the tall and around the taller, when I saw her at the end of the block. She was leaning against a stop sign casually. Something hung from her side, attached to a belt I hadn't noticed before.

"Come with me, I think that woman has something to do with this." Will followed as I ran down the block, pushing a few people out of my way. As I got closer, a limousine pulled up in front of Marley and the back door opened. She removed the objects, as it were, from her belt and handed them to someone inside. I got a glimpse of what she was holding. The best I could make of it were gloves, but with long attachments that resembled knives.

"HEY! Marley! Stop!" I screamed, trying to get her attention, but she ignored me and got in. Before she shut the door she looked at me and smiled, and I could see sitting beside her was Adam with a dull expression on his face. I saw legs, some without shoes, but didn't see the faces of the other occupants. She shut the door and the limousine sped off.

"Will! Get the plate number!" Will was two steps ahead of me, jotting down the number and other details of the limousine. We were both short of breath. I put my hands on my hips and looked down, closing my eyes for a second, questioning myself on how I could have let her go, and more importantly, who she was.

"I think.. she has something to do with it." Will said, exasperated. I nodded. "Adam was in there."
"I know.. I.." I opened my eyes and saw the cement near the stop sign. Something was strange about it. Kneeling down to get a closer look, I couldn't believe my eyes. Three holes had been punctured in the cement, about a half an inch down.

"Will.. do you have a camera?"
"Always." He said as he pulled his camera from his coat pocket.

"Take a look at this." As Will leaned down to look at the holes in the cement, I got a strange sense of deja vu. I put my hand on my head and felt a bit faint.

"What do you think it is?" He asked, snapping away with his camera.

"I don't know." I turned to him, he must have noticed the confusion and slight fear in my eyes. "If I gave you a name, could you run it through your files and see what comes up?"

"I can. What is it?" He pulled out his pad and pen once again.

"The Malebranche." Will looked at me strangely, but I didn't even notice. I turned my eyes back to the holes, and began to wonder to whom those bones on her boots belonged.

This is an origin story in two ways! First, we have the origin of my character, In God's Name. Second, this is the story of The Malebranche, my villain group on the Infinity server. This will probably be a 4 or 5 part story, so look for updates, though they won't all be posted today. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy it! If you're interested in being a part of The Malebranche, please feel free to send me a tell or email me on In God's Name whenever you see me on.

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It was a cold day in January when I was forced to go home. Mom called earlier, leaving a rather disturbing message on my machine: "Nerva, I need you. Please come home." This, while not strange alone, is, when considering that my mother wasn't one to ask for help, ever. I packed a few necessities and caught a flight to Paragon City.

I didn't consider the possibility that something terrible had happened. My mind was drowned in the thoughts of domestic abuse, or perhaps money problems. After all, my family has had its trouble, and my mom wasn't known for choosing the most righteous of men. Countless nights as a child I kept long hours trying to ignore the argument in the other room. I'd given up on ever attempting to interfere, after the time I did and received a swollen eye. Now, as I headed back to that dreary home, I could only believe that my mother had once again involved herself in the shady underworld of Paragon, or, worse yet, brought another man home from the bar. I wish I was right.

The sight as I opened the door to that tainted memory was one of gore and confusion. At first, I couldn't tell if an animal had been slaughtered there or if someone had taken a can of red paint and sloshed it around the house. The smell quickly dismissed the idea of paint. I moved from room to room, my hand over my mouth and nose, fighting back tears as I searched for any signs of life, only to be greeted by more death, more blood, and that sickly smell of rotting flesh. I couldn't breathe, so I headed outside quickly, where I fell to my knees on the hard cement. I realized then that I had seen no one on my way in. No one on the streets, or anyone in a car. The streets were empty, devoid of any life, as if everyone had been erased from existence.

That's when I noticed her. On top of the roof, a figure clad in black and white, she looked like something out of a nightmare. While her body seemed, as best as I could tell, more or less human, her hands were not. Instead, there were claws, faux fingers, protruding outwards in a curve. From where I was, I could tell they were sharp, and my assertion was confirmed when she leapt from the building straight towards me.

I rolled out of the way quickly, and her strange weapons dug deep in to the cement. She looked at me; her eyes were soulless and cold. Her face, covered by a hood, tight as the rest of her outfit, was lined with slash marks, colored white. The only flesh I could perceive were the eyes, pupils absent. A demon had appeared before me, and now she was trying to kill me. I quickly took the opportunity to scramble to my feet and run. Where I was going I had no clue, but it didn't matter. Before I reached the street she was in front of me, her demonic appendages aimed directly at my eyes.

I looked at the claws, then to her, breathing heavily, as she stared directly in to my eyes, unrealistically silent.
"The Malebranche are coming." She said, her voice feminine, yet deep, and provocative. "You'll either join us, or die."
"Who.. are you?" I managed to utter, my voice quivering.
"I come in God's name.. " As she said this, I could tell she was grinning. I stumbled backwards and looked over my shoulder, thinking that if I could get to the house, I could lock the doors and go from there. "You will tell your friends. You will tell your enemies. A new reign is close at hand." She began to walk towards me as I turned to run, but found that my legs weren't moving. As I looked down, I could see those dreaded metallic claws forced through my stomach, and knew that she had me.

"The Malebranche are coming, are you prepared?" She whispered in to my ear, then...

I was at home, in bed. Sweat poured down my face and I was soaked to the core, trembling. If it had been a dream, it was the most realistic vision I'd ever had. I immediately picked up the phone and dialed my Mom, who answered and now, no doubt, is worried for me. I must've sounded terrified.

I took a deep breath and calmed my nerves, then reached over and grabbed a pen and my note pad from the night stand. Being the kind of person who didn’t let any clue go unnoticed, I quickly jotted down the name she had given me, The Malebranche. Perhaps this information will come in handy, though I seriously hoped it wouldn’t.

Ten o'clock rolled by and I finally managed to get out of bed. I'd shaken off the weird visions and now had a full day ahead of me. I had a meeting with Will over lunch in a little over an hour and I hadn't even gotten the papers he needed ready. Will and I, both detectives, had been working on a case involving a super-powered person, namely one Adam Tally, AKA The Wrench. Living in the city of Los Angeles can take its toll on anyone, but when you have pseudo-heroes getting themselves killed on a daily basis, it begins to wear thin. Adam had decided he would take on LA's largest crime family alone, with no back-up or means of escape. Instead, he had decided to run head long in to the crime syndicate's base of operations and beat anything that came in to his path. What he didn't account for were the super-powered people working for the family, whom quickly disposed of Mr. Tally.

The Wrench wasn't the smartest tool in the shed, pardon the pun, but he was definitely well liked in the community. The reason Will and I are working on the case isn't just because he was killed, but because of the way he was killed. Adam, though a fool to think he could take on the entire syndicate alone, was no push over. In fact, he was known for being invulnerable to most everything. Cause of death? Knife to the chest.

The phone rang, startling me a bit. Perhaps I wasn't completely over the nightmare.
"Will, if this is you, I'm hanging up because I'm heading over there right now." I said as I slipped my socks on.
"Adam is gone." Will, sounding a bit unnerved, said a bit too loudly.
"What? Who took him?"
"No one took him, he walked out. Meet me at the station in fifteen minutes."
He hung up, and I, having gotten half way decent for lunch, knew I wouldn't be eating for some time.

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Update probably coming tomorrow!