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Vanishing Act

I had turned up to work to find a relatively fat folder dumped on my table.

I snorted as I sat down and placed my coffee off to one side. The folder bore the logos of the local police department, which was unusual. As I flipped open the folder itself one of the corporals poked his head into the office. "Ah. You got the folder, captain. You might want to turn your computer on. There's a live feed as well."

I nodded and waved my hand, dismissing the scruffy-looking grey wolf. At least he didn't smell bad. The ones with the grey markings seemed to be the worst too. "Thanks."

I flipped the folder open and pulled out the files. Slipped into the stack seemed to be another stack of papers with the stamp of the Intelligence Division - the division I worked for. I hadn't even managed to read the documents and this was already intriguing.

There had been a recent string of disappearances which was not the newest of news. I had seen it all over the newspapers. Command seemed to suspect a link between the disappearance of two colonels and a general to the civilian cases and I had been ordered to insert myself into the investigation.

It was a strange case indeed. The civilian victims had a habit of resurfacing in random spots, completely and utterly delirious, muttering the name of someone called 'Renzyl'. Well, it could also be a drug for all I knew, but there was so little information that I couldn't even come to a conclusion. The victims also tended to turn up in midnight black latex goo, which was highly irregular. Didn't help that some of them were found while they were masturbating, or outright having sex with others.

If this guy was a serial killer, he was pretty bad at it. No one was dead.

I dug up the head detective's profile and put the rest of the papers aside. I also paused to turn my computer on. Even he was an interesting character. He had been in the force for a good thirty years now and had been cited on many occasions for having 'attitude issues', described as him being 'not motivated enough', or 'rude', which was amusing. The poor dragon was just tired of everyone's shit, something I could relate to all too well. I didn't blame him for it, but that, on the other hand, was probably why he hadn't been promoted in half a decade. His photo revealed him to be a blue-scaled dragon, with a bit of a glowering look. He did, however, have a nice bowtie.

I sighed, as the computer chimed as the boot up was done. A quick glance at the screen showed a live feed from what probably was the detective's office, as well as the offices outside. He seemed pretty busy, bustling to and fro with papers, and the mic, although shitty, picked enough to have me hear him demanding further information from his underlings, but to no avail. It seemed that we both had no leads.

"Could be worse." I muttered, as I got up, adjusting my uniform, and putting my jockey cap on. I stuffed the papers into my bag, only to find that my laptop wouldn't fit. I ended up leaving it in the drawer, and swearing.

I barely remembered to grab my coffee off the table, as I pulled up the maps application on my phone, and got myself a route to the precinct. I was offered an official vehicle, but I declined, preferring to drive my own car.

It took a while, as I fought my way through traffic, and spent a further half an hour to find parking, since the security guard refused to let me in. A minor annoyance, but I eventually managed to park, and made my way to the building on foot.

The building itself was the personification of depression. It was this brutalist slab of concrete that happened to have windows in it. On the roof sat antennas and aerials, but other than that, the building was a concrete rectangle of crushed dreams and lost ambition. Not too different to where I worked, honestly.

Included in my folder were a set of orders authorising me to have full authority within this investigation, and it took me a year to find the ridiculously small envelope in my sling bag. I could feel my wings twitch in annoyance as I finally handed it to the receptionist, who complained about the small font. I told her to shut up, because it was not my fault.

She shot me a dirty look, but I was waved in eventually, taking a very smelly lift to the relevant floor. The room that I was directed to wasn't large. There were maybe six tables, give or take, with uniformed staff coming and going. Off to one side was the office of the chief, in front of which two people were already arguing.

Draggo wasn't hard to find. He was busy yelling at another dragon, who seemed to be his superior, as the insignia identified him as the chief. The moment I exited the lift, the chief glanced round at me, and made eye contact as I walked over.

The chief himself was a black-scaled dragon, like me, but his scales had a strange sheen to them, but who was I to judge other peoples' choice of polish.

I walked over just in time to have Draggo insist, "Would be a strange name for a drug if it were to be called that, I am more convinced this is an individual - or perhaps a group of individuals of some sort."

I coughed, and both turned to face me. "I am Captain Tano'rath, from the local garrison. Our colonel has recently disappeared, and command suspects a link to this case."

I received stares from the both of them, as I continued. "Therefore, I hereby take command over this investigation. You will turn over any and all documentation and information you have."

The chief gave me a strange smile, almost baring his fangs at me as he replied, "Hmmm, sure thing...."

I couldn't help but shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right with this chief. Most of them didn't like the army taking over, while this idiot was smiling at me. Meanwhile, the Detective simply walked away, with nigh a peep. Perhaps he was frustrated with his superior? I half wanted to ask, but he had walked out of the room before I could even open my mouth.

I sighed, and turned my attention back to the chief. "Talk to me. What do you have, who do you suspect, and where are we looking?"

The chief, meanwhile, rummaged within a rusty filing cabinet, and pulled out a hopefully deceptively thin folder. He handed it to me, and as I flipped through, he spoke, his voice strangely smooth and alluring. "Here you go, all case documents we have on hand. Don't mind that it's a little sparse..."

"Understatement of the year. My toilet roll has more information than this fucking thing." I snapped, flipping through the folder. Inside was nothing that I didn't already know. "Anything else you can tell me?"

The chief paused to rub his chin for a moment, before adding on. "All we have is a name, currently. "Renzyl Drakis" is the main lead right now. Suspect? Yet to find one. Where to look? Probably the Great Dragon Libraries, under the mythological section."

I ended up having to pull my trusty pen and notebook out, and taking notes. "Any previous convictions on this Renzyl person? Or are we looking at a newcomer? What do we want to find in that section of the library?"

"A newcomer. No records on this name - we have yet to find out if it's an individual or a group of actors. However a search reveals that this name is prominent through some dragon mythology books. We've yet to take a look at them." The chief continued, pausing occasionally to let me scribble down whatever he said.

I nodded, flipping the page in the notebook. It seemed strange that the chief had so much information, yet the good detective had nothing. Was the Detective really that bad at his job? "I see. Any consistent trends between the disappearances? Any stuff left behind?"

This was when Detective Draggo decided to turn up again, while holding a large mug of coffee and a bagel. How stereotypical. He had simply barged into the conversation, neither bothering to introduce himself, nor announcing his presence.. "Why are we resorting to books about mythology, they are called myths for a reason; they are not real"

The chief, however, was unfazed. "Some candles, a black liquid, and a magic circle." He replied with a devious grin, "Not too different from the one in these books about a certain ritual."

I couldn't help but glance at the Detective, mildly annoyed at his sudden reappearance. I suspected that some of my emotion leaked into my tone, but I had already begun talking by the time I realised, so I didn't bother to correct it. "Within rumours, there is a crystal of truth, Detective, the same can be said for mythology at times. It is therefore logical to pursue any available avenue."

I didn't bother to wait for the detective to reply either, since I doubted if he would have anything nice, or constructive to say. If a ritual was at fault, then it was at fault. Could have been poisons or some kind of aphrodisiac within the components of the ritual that caused this. It wasn't unheard of. Hence, I turned my attention back to the chief. "A black liquid, you say. Of what nature and composition?"

"It's quite shiny and viscous. Something you might use to paint. Latex, perhaps?" The chief replied, rubbing his chin. The Detective, meanwhile, glowered at the both of us. I half wondered if someone spat in his coffee this morning or something.

I needed confirmation, either way, so I pressed further. "What of the scent?"

"R-r..!" The chief stuttered, his red eyes darting around the room for a moment before his gaze snapped back to me. "I'm... I'm not quite sure!"

"You are joking, you cannot seriously be using a book about mythology as grounds for an investigative case!" The Detective spluttered, with his arms akimbo, glaring at the both of us, as if we were the suspects.

I didn't bother to rise to the detective's challenge, instead focusing my attention on the chief. "You're not paid to not be sure." I spat, glaring at him, then finally turning to address the Detective proper. "Yessir, I am, because there is no other avenue." I snapped, figuring that being less tactful wouldn't matter, since he hadn't actually been the most polite person in the world either.

Detective Draggo glared back at me, holding my gaze evenly. "I am a detective, not a fortune teller - This is ridiculous!"

With that, he stormed out, and since the chief seemed to have taken the opportunity to slip away, I took my copy of the case files and left. I couldn't ask much more anyway, since I hadn't read the files proper.

As I walked to my car, I called the department, and had the chief's office bugged at once, and had Detective Grump placed under full surveillance. This whole case stank. I didn't like it.

Perhaps if he had been less grumpy, things would have been easier, but alas, it was not to be.

I ended up driving back to my office in the base, and reading through the case files while sipping a mug of coffee. I pulled up the surveillance feed from Draggo and the chief's office. Seems like everything had already been bugged. All they needed to do was to give me access.

The Chief seemed to have vanished from the building, but Draggo himself had this huge mess of papers on his desk, as he went through what he probably thought was lead after lead. The camera was too shitty for me to read any of the titles, but I could see some photographs scattered all over his table, which seemed vaguely similar to those within the case file that I had, but there was no way to know for sure, since the image resolution was too low.

The biggest victim within this case seemed to be one Negadrake, known as Nega to his friends. While most of the other dragons had reappeared in some form or other, he still remained missing. Our people were still missing too, so perhaps solving the Nega case would be the key to finding our own personnel.

However, the details about the victims were all there, but the circumstances surrounding their disappearances, reappearances, and subsequent mental damage were all unclear. Most of them were muttering the name of one 'Renzyl', whoever, or indeed, whatever that was.

I didn't want to know.

But it's my job to know.

I began to slowly understand why the Detective was so grouchy about all this. There were no leads. The one and only consistency across the disappearances was the fact that the victims had all tried some form of summoning ritual. Although I had never been a religious person, I had always seen dabbling in strange rituals as a very stupid thing to do, and this only served to reinforce that. I ended up scribbling down a quick report, and sending a copy to the boss.

Either way, the bell rang, signifying the end of the day, so I locked the documents away in the safe, and went home to sleep.

I woke to a short text from my superior. I was told to go directly to the precinct. I stuffed my notes from the evening before, and my one page report into a briefcase before tossing it into the backseat of the car. I stopped over at the drive through to grab a quick coffee and burger for breakfast. Normally, I would just eat at the garrison canteen, since it was free, but orders were orders.

I had an argument with the security guard, who was a particularly stubborn white wolf with grey markings. A large amount of growling and barking happened. However, when I finally got impatient and roared in his face, he finally opened the gate for me to park. It wasn't as if I had no paperwork either. He was just being stubborn.

Stubborn and grumpy. Seemed to be the general theme of this entire police garrison.

Speaking of grumpy, I walked in on the chief and Draggo arguing yet again.

"I refuse to believe this summoning ritual rabble, as far as I am concerned, this could just be as part of an act to complicate my investigation!" Draggo insisted, slamming a fist down on a table.

I sighed, shaking my head as I walked over. "A strange case, this is. Good morning."

The chief nodded. He seemed to be the only one in here that wasn't either grumpy or angry in some way. As he turned to look over at me, I could have sworn that his crimson eyes had a faint glow to them. "So, it seems you must have some questions lurking within your minds. Perhaps I might be able to give you two some direction."

Draggo said nothing, but flicked his tail as he gritted his teeth. This was perhaps what they had been arguing about.

I nodded, and fished my notebook and pen out of my pocket again. Hopefully he wouldn't go on about the myths and legends again. "Captain, have you been monitoring the bunks within your garrison? Perhaps we could pinpoint a time when they vanished, or maybe see how it happened."

"Well, there are cameras in the hallways, but not in the bunks. Privacy and all that." I replied, rubbing my chin, "And budget cuts," I admitted."However, what I can say is that there has been nothing unusual, else I would have been informed."

The chief nodded, and seemed to pause to think. Again, I saw a slight glow in his eyes. Strange. "Have you investigated the office where we found the candle, the magic circle, and the liquid latex?"

"It's currently cordoned off. Haven't had a chance to go and see for myself at this point in time. The orders came in out of nowhere yesterday, so yeah." I added, shrugging.

The chief nodded. "Well, in that case, we don't quite know exactly what 'Renzyl Drakis' looks like, do we?"

I glanced over at Draggo. "Do you know, Detective?"

The Detective glowered for a moment, before he basically exploded. The table was slammed, as he glared at us both, his eyes shooting daggers at both the chief and I. "I conduct investigations, not pretend to make sense of superstitions!"

I waited a moment, just to ensure that the Detective was done with his outburst, during which I pocketed the notebook. I had dealt with difficult people before, but he was proving to be quite the challenge. "The thing is that the ritual is the common denominator. I don't believe in magic either, detective, but perhaps something within the ritual might have caused it. A drug, perhaps, to instigate wanderlust."

The detective himself raised his hand for a second, and I braced myself for another outburst. Thankfully, it never came. He instead glared at me for a moment before sighing and nodding. "Fine."

Well, at least he accepted my logic.

All this while, everyone went about their business, unfazed by Draggo's bombastic temper. It must be a regular occurrence here.

The chief simply fished around in his pocket, and held up a scrap of parchment, which depicted a dragon, with glowing red eyes, and ridges that ran along his back. Only the head and parts of the wings were depicted. "I found this just the other day on my desk, perhaps it may be of help to you...right?"

I dug my phone out of my pocket, and snapped a photo of the scrap of paper as the chief kept talking. I took a few photos, and flicked through them as I listened. "Did you ever replicate your observations, detective? Ever looked at the eye colour of the dragons in your wards upon showing them latex or rubber, or even mentioning it to them?"

Meanwhile, the Detective peered at the photo wordlessly.

On my phone screen, the chief's eyes glowed, not unlike the glowing eyes in the picture. This was worrying.

Meanwhile, Draggo inspected the chief. "What is your name? I have not caught it yet. You suddenly take over the previous chief and without being involved in this case, you somehow seem to offer a lot of articles of interest. Who are you?"

"The name's Renzyl Drakophantom." He replied, cocking his head at us. "What of it?"

I could already see Draggo's hand inch towards the grip of his revolver. However, I had to be sure still. "Renzyl, you say?"

The chief nodded. I paused to consider things for a moment. The chief had indeed been here all the time; not directly involved in the investigation. How had he managed to get his hands on so much information, and evidence? Nothing added up. He knew way more than he should... Not to mentioning the weird glowing eyes, and his odd demeanour. I too felt my hand inch towards my sidearm, a M9.

Draggo kept quiet, but he was already well and truly holding onto his weapon, although he hadn't drawn it. All around, the once bustling office fell silent, as people watched, or tried to leave before things escalated. I guessed that the people here were mostly administrative, since no one drew a weapon of any sort.

The chief himself noticed our actions, of course, and backed away a step, his smooth demeanour finally cracking. "Now, now. There's no need for that. Let's just... talk, shall we? That's not too much to ask, is it?"

I shifted, so that I might cover Draggo, who had begun advancing, from the rear, as I roared my challenge. As the detective advanced, I drew and cocked my weapon. "Hands, tail and wings where I can see them! Now!"

"Show me your papers, I want to see city records and the letter of your acceptance into office from the city mayor!" Draggo snapped, as he approached, holding a hand out, while I kept my pistol trained on the so-called chief.

The 'chief' handed over a stack of papers, all of which didn't look like paper. The documents were black and shiny, even his ID card, which was supposed to be blue. Draggo took them, and frowned. "Negadrake? This dragon was reported missing!"

"Oh, please excuse me. It seems that those are the wrong papers." The 'chief' retorted, trying to snatch the papers back. Draggo backpedalled a bit, but the 'chief' persisted.

He persisted until he heard a loud click, as I disengaged the safety. "You mean they are stolen papers," and since Draggo was closer now, I could see that even the documents weren't made of paper. They had a strange sheen to them, and the material was stained black. "Detective, those papers do not seem to be of standard material!"

"I am placing you under arrest under authority of the city. You are being charged under suspicion of conspiracy and premeditated intent of the kidnap and disappearances of both civilian and military personnel!" Draggo snapped, as he tossed the papers, or whatever they were, onto the table, "Cuff him and take him to the slammer!"

I had barely even reached for my cuffs when the false chief's snout warped into a sinister grin. "Unfortunately, I can't let you do that, Captain." He then clicked a claw, "Tano'rath, it is time to show your true colours, don't you think?"

Draggo stared at me for a moment, confused, while I glared at the chief for a moment, before I was shoved from behind.

With a loud warble, I found myself propelled forward, and barely had enough time to redirect myself off to one side, with my tail, so that I wouldn't be sent into the 'chief's' arms.

"Ciao!" The false chief added, almost cheerfully, as he ripped some sort of tear in the very fabric of reality, and casually walked into it. He paused to glance back at us. "Renzyl shall return another day, for there are still clues to find! Farewell!"

I growled, as the portal vanished, finding myself glaring up at the culprit who had shoved me. We had all been played.

As I attempted to pick myself off the ground, Draggo vaulted a table in a vain attempt to pursue, but was quickly thwarted when the portal vanished. I swore. I also heard a voice behind me pipe up, something about being left behind by Renzyl, again.

I settled for walking up to the small-sized dragon that had pushed me. In the fray, I had lost my handcuffs, but that didn't matter. I snatched a roll of tape off one of the tables, and glowered down at the culprit. "You're under arrest."

"What? Why? I didn't do nothing, I was pushed into you!" The little dragon protested, flaring his wings in agitation.

I began taping his arms together. "You assaulted an officer, and also complained that Renzyl 'left you behind', no?"

"I mean, I'm j-just... a fan! Oops, I...I mean I'm f-filming a documentary! He doesn't quite seem to like me, I think!" he protested, trying to wiggle his arms free. That only prompted me to apply more force, so that he would not escape. Did he think I was that incompetent?

He seemed to want to protest more, but I held up an arm as I cut the tape and tossed the roll back onto the table. "Anything you say can and will be used within a military court. You have the right to remain silent."

With that, he clammed up, and I sat him down on a chair, while dialing in the number for the military police.

Meanwhile, Draggo looked around at the scattered papers, and the one overturned desk that I had smacked against earlier before abruptly leaving the office. "I'll be back."

I ended up dragging my captive downstairs, giving a statement, and having the MPs take him away. I ended up having dinner out, before going home to rest. I did a bit of reading about this 'Renzyl' person, and then went to bed.

However, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched, and for the life of me, I couldn't sleep. I half expected something or someone to step out of the shadows and jump me, and I ended up having to drink myself to sleep. Even then, I tossed and turned nonstop, woke frequently, and had nightmares where this 'Renzyl' person, in the form of the bogus chief, would jump me and envelope me in the liquid latex that he kept going on about.

Within the depths of my dreams, I felt the darkness. I felt the whispers to submit. They even promised to let me have my good night's sleep. They promised me the promotion to colonel that I had been working oh so hard for, and they promised to make me better, stronger, with visions of might and power...

"All of it could be yours, Captain. You just have utter 'Yes, Renzyl,'. You just have to submit."

I couldn't sleep.

I was too busy fighting it.

I ended up oversleeping, and because I received no orders, I made my way to the base for breakfast.

I ended up having five coffees before I could even realise what was going on around me. Perhaps it was also because the coffee on base was quite shit, but then again, we always had this joke: it was ground yesterday.

I had two sandwiches for lunch, and took another two for later.

By the time I reached my office, there was already a corporal inside pacing. He had a scrap of paper in one hand too.

"What is it?" I snapped, not being in the mood for unwelcome surprises. I hastily returned his salute too, so that he could talk.

The corporal's head snapped round at the sound of my voice, and his tail twitched. "Sir, he's not at the precinct."

"Who? What?" I demanded, as I placed my lunchbox with the sandwiches on the table and sat down.

"The Detective. He isn't there, but the audio suggests that he is! It makes no sense!" He replied, as I opened the laptop.

I raised an eyeridge as the fossil that they passed off as a computer booted up. "The fuck are you on about?"

The corporal paused to glance at a scrap of paper that he was holding. "He is down the road."

With that, as if on cue, the laptop reopened the stream automatically, to have the detective's voice blare through the dilapidated speakers. "What are you playing at? You're a Civilian, get out of this office!"

I heard a faint click, and then silence, the hallmark of Draggo's catchphrases, or lack thereof.

"This is no office, detective. That was simply a trick of the eye." I could have sworn that I recognised the other voice. "Do take a seat, these obsidian chairs are quite comfortable if I do say so myself"

I heard Draggo take a step back, his voice rich with disbelief. "What the?! Where are we, and what have you done with the department office?"

"We're in my room, not too close from the department actually." The voice continued. I was sure I had heard it the day before. "What you were seeing was merely a hallucination, not too similar from the ones you've been experiencing the past few weeks."

Finally, I broke through the fatigue, and glared up at the corporal, whom I had forgotten to dismiss. It was the same bogus chief from the day before!

"Get me vehicle, with siren! Double! Wait at vehicle." I snapped, as I turned to unlock my gun safe. "Move!"

I heard the door slam shut, as the trooper skittered off to execute my orders, while I flung open the safe, snatched my pistol and ammo out, then slammed it shut.

I bolted out of my office, not bothering to shut the door, as I ran to the nearest window, and jumped out, snapping my wings open, and gliding down towards the corporal, who stood in front of our quick response cars. I landed harder than I should, and nearly ploughed into him, then snatched the keys out of his hand. "Dismissed!"

The corporal nodded, as he made himself scarce. I fumbled with the key for a moment, then unlocked the doors, and drove off, putting the siren on as I went.

I yelled orders to my department to monitor the situation over the radio, as I sped down the road.

The problem with working in an army unit is that army camps tend to be out of the way, and far from the city. The camp that I had been stationed in was no exception. Even with the sirens on, and my foot to the floor, it would be a while before I got anywhere.

There was a burst of static. "Sir! Sir! Respond!"

I snatched the radio mic off the holder. "Tano'rath responding! Sitrep!"

"Weapons drawn, weapons drawn!" The radio blared into my earpiece. "They've mentioned Renzyl! Situation escalating!"

I growled. "Override the speed limiter. NOW!"

The voice on the other end changed, to that of Colonel Hector, my immediate superior. "Authorised. Hurry up, captain. You must capture him, he might be our only source!"

"Acknowledged." I snapped, and the car beeped, indicating that the electronic speed limiter had been disabled.

The vehicle, finally free from its shackles, finally letting loose a roar, as the transmission changed gears, and the engine began revving hard and fast. I felt the acceleration as the vehicle surged, and the engine hit the powerband.

The radio crackled. "Shots fired!"

"I'm going as fast as this fucking turd will go!" I roared, as I careened down the road, and through traffic, as the sirens granted me right of way.

I locked the brakes when I reached the GPS coordinates of the detective's location, parked the car half on the sidewalk, and bolted into the building. The coordinates showed that he was on the third floor, and the lifts were broken, so I had to run up the stairs.

I ended up kicking the door down, the tracker on my phone having brought me to the correct apartment, only to find Draggo inside, coated in gradually spreading black latex, with a dragon matching the description of Negadrake, the supposedly missing dragon, sitting in front of him, watching and sipping lemonade. Negadrake glanced up with an oddly familiar smile, as I sent the door crashing down "Truly a fascinating right, Tano'rath?"

"What manner of nonsense is this?!" I demanded. I had never met this dragon before. How did he know my name?

Meanwhile, Draggo struggled vainly against the latex, only serving to spread the material onto his arms. The black rubber seemed to be alive too, and with a mission. It was making considerable progress in the endeavour of coating the Detective, spreading swiftly along those scales of his.

Well, there was not much else I could do, so for the second time in the week, I was forced to draw my pistol, and pointed it at the dragon that I assumed to be Negadrake. "Release him. That's an order. I will open fire if you do not comply."

"Stop!... the gun is-" Draggo protested weakly, writhing on the ground, trying to fight the midnight black, glistening material...

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Tano'rath." The other dragon remarked, almost casually.

Draggo finally choked out the last word from his sentence, as the latex began creeping across his chest. "Rigged....."

"Different gun. Besides..." I drew my combat knife, and let the serrated edges do the rest of the talking.

"This is out of my control now, Captain. That dragon left me quite recently, unfortunately." The other dragon quipped, as I looked down at the detective for a moment. I half wondered if the alcohol from the first aid kit would help, but I was sure it wouldn't.

Instead, I found a bottle of latex solvent on the table, snatched it and emptied it onto the flailing detective.

Negadrake scoffed. "Tsk, you think a bottle of solvent would win against a demon? Such foolishness."

I ignored him, as I tried to encourage the detective, which was the least I could do. "So, I read up a bit. You still have to gather your willpower and fight, Detective."

"...What does it look like?" The detective protested weakly, as I glared at Negadrake. I half wished that he would just shut his mouth.

"Renzyl! Renzyl! Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeenzzzyyyyl!" Negadrake cheered, grinning from ear to ear whilst his crimson eyes emitted a low glow.

"No. Not like this..... Can't resist.... Get out of my head!" The detective roared, fighting his own battle, as I glared at Negadrake.

"Do not comply." I snapped, trying to egg Draggo on, as Negadrake tried to cheer on....this Renzyl person.

"Enough... is enough..." I watched as the detective began clawing his way out of his cocoon of latex, "Can not. Will not. Do not..."

"Oho? Has the detective won? Or has Renzyl? That is the question. Your time's running out, Detective!" Negadrake cooed, even going so far as to lean forward and watch. He was really getting on my nerves.

"Keep going. Good man" I added, recalling from my brief research session that I couldn't help him, else I would risk corruption too.

Negadrake grinned yet again. "What unnaturally shiny claws you have there, Detective."

As the detective had said earlier, enough was enough. I flicked the safety off my pistol and once again levelled it at Negadrake. "Shut the fuck up, unless you want to be shot!" I spat, glaring down the sights.

Negadrake threw his arms up in mock surrender, sneering at me as he did. "Ooooh, no! I'm so scared!" He grinned again, as if he were about to laugh. "So, so veeeeery very scared!"

Meanwhile, the detective was making decent progress in freeing himself. "Get this...thing...off me!"

I felt a growl rise in my throat, as I discharged a round over Negadrake's shoulder as a warning shot. "Dance."

Negadrake himself uttered a small, high pitched noise, and jumped out of the way.

"Scared now, aren't ya?" I spat, glaring.

Negadrake finally stopped with the taunts, his wings sagging in defeat. "P-perhaps... But not for long..."

"Yeah so stop cheering on the other side, cunt." I snapped, "Besides, there's already a cell with your name on it."

With that, Draggo grabbed onto the desk and tried to pry his legs out of the grip of the cocoon. He demanded help, but I knew that I couldn't. If the books were accurate, and they had been up to this point, then helping him would have me subjected to the same ordeal, and in my sleep-deprived state, that would not be the best of ideas.

All I could do was to give encouragement, and put Negadrake in cuffs.

However, the next thing I knew, I had been shoved out of the way, and freed Detective Draggo had Negadrake pinned onto the floor. As much as I found that almost poetic after the events earlier, I yelled at both of them to disengage. The good detective was obviously emotionally distressed, while Negadrake was not helping his own cause by being the antagonist. I subsequently put the knife away.

It reached a point where Draggo got agitated enough to attempt to choke Negadrake, but after a large amount of yelling, and some physical force, I managed to separate the two.

As I yelled at both of them to stop fighting and to stay apart, I hastily called for backup, and the two were whisked away. The detective, professing a desire to resign, was sent to the hospital, while Negadrake was taken straight to the precinct and tossed into a cell.

I ended up having to follow up with the case, and had to interrogate Negadrake. However, other than symptoms consistent with certain hallucinogenic drug cocktails, such as delusion, visions, voices in his head and above all, a strange obsession with latex, both liquid and solid, there was no real cause to convict him for the disappearances.

Draggo resigned the moment he was discharged from hospital, and I quietly slipped him the case files, so that he would be able to get to the bottom of this whole Renzyl fiasco. None of the missing military personnel were found, and I did eventually get my promotion. I made sure to keep in contact with the now Private Eye Draggo, who kept looking into the case, however, the case seemed to have gone cold.....

Meanwhile, Negadrake was released due to a lack of evidence. Weeks later, he vanished once again.

[FIN]