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"Keep an eye out for your wife, okay? Keep her safe."

_ Keep her safe..._

_ _ Damien became light-headed and had to sit down.

_ _ "You're going to be a big brother, Damien..." said his father's voice. Damien shook his head.

"And I know from personal experience, you will do anything to keep the ones closest to you safe," said Micah during his speech at Damien's wedding.

"Don't leave me..." whispered Alice.

"Am I going insane?"

"I'm a wreck... just leave me... I understand..." said the dying Micah.

Stop at nothing...

_ _ The raccoon's sentence triggered something in Damien. He was short of breath. He didn't know what to think. Was it some kind of warning? Maybe he knows something. Why would Alice be in danger? Damien had no enemies, not that he knew of.

Alice...

Damien rushed out of the interrogation room. Walking quickly though the police department, Damien came across Clarence, who was busy talking with some other uniformed officers.

"Davis... a word?" asked Damien.

They walked away from the group of officers. Davis was confused, "What's going on, Damien?"

"I need the police cruiser."

"What? Why?"

"It's Alice. I think she may be in trouble."

"What? What makes you think that?"

Damien and Clarence were good friends, but even so, Clarence probably would not believe some criminal they just took off the street seemingly gave him a hint that his wife was in danger. 'She's fine, he was just fucking with you' Damien could hear Clarence saying. "I... just have a hunch she could really be in trouble right now."

That could have been more believable. Telling the truth would have probably been better. Clarence glared at Damien with a look of both suspicion and curiosity. If he denied him, Damien figured he could probably try to get the keys off him by force. Then again, causing a scene in the middle of the police department is not going to get himself home faster, so that may not be the best course of action. While Damien was going through different scenarios and responses in his head, Clarence said something Damien was not expecting, "Okay... but I'm coming with you."

Clarence held out the keys and Damien took them slowly in disbelief. He wondered if this was just a cruel joke. He thought Clarence would yank the keys away when he reached for them, but he didn't. "Really?"

"Hey, if I believed my wife was in trouble and I needed to get to her, you'd give me the keys."

Damien didn't give himself additional time to thank Clarence for his favor or to even ask why he wanted to tag along. Alice could be in trouble, and Damien has to make sure she's safe and sound.

He didn't know if driving was such a great idea given his episode he experience just a short time before, but he felt fine, and he just had to get to Alice... no matter what. Actually, driving helped him out a lot. He was able to clear his head and get a grip on the whole situation. Keep an eye out for your wife... Keep her safe. It still disturbed Damien that Seth even knew Damien had a wife. He never did get an answer from that raccoon in the short time span between entering the interrogation room and when the detective came back to take him away. But none of that really mattered at this moment. What really mattered was getting back home and making sure Alice was okay.

Images of different variations of gruesome detail flooded Damien's mind of what could possibly happen to his wife. What if he was too late? The thoughts made him loose track of the speed of his driving. He lifted his foot off of the gas petal, letting the momentum wear off. Damien expected Clarence to make a comment on Damien's driving using his trademarked smart-ass humor, but he didn't say anything. He didn't even ask for further explanation on Damien's vague and rash actions.

Pulling up to the house, Damien didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. He and Alice lived in a nice, peaceful neighborhood. The clean sidewalks were lined with trees. Often, the sounds of children playing echoed between the tightly packed, brick buildings. At this time of the night, nothing but the occasional car roamed these streets. Tonight was no different. However, an ominous fog flooded the street. The street lamps gave off a halo as the light made its way through the fog. Damien exited the car. Immediately, the cold air hits Damien, contrasting with the sweat he had on him, sending chills through his body. He walked towards his home. His townhome had the numbers 549 engraved in cement beside the front door. Climbing the few steps that lead to the door, Damien became light headed. The closer he got to the door, the more his vision narrowed, trapping him inside a tunnel that wasn't there. He had to pause to keep himself steady. Clarence was right behind Damien. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Damien answered. Looking back at Clarence, it was clear that he was concerned about Damien, even though he was skeptical about anything really going on. 'A waste of time' he probably was thinking. But Clarence understood Damien and respected him. If he had a suspicion something was wrong, Clarence wasn't going to try to suppress those feelings in Damien. Damien reached out for the door knob, turning it, and opening the door with no effort. This made Damien's heart skip a beat. Damien has always instructed Alice to always keep the door locked no matter what. Even in the middle of the day, even when Damien was at work or home, or even if she was expecting somebody. The door always stays locked, that's the deal. Alice followed this rule religiously. She understood, mostly because she's lived in the city longer than Damien has, that despite the virtual safety of a nice neighborhood, this was a dangerous place. Alice moved out to New York City right after high school graduation. She lived in a small house that she shared with some friends up until Damien came home from war. When they married, they moved into this townhome together. Alice has never had a violent crime committed against her. That's because, just like Damien, she is cautious. So when Damien finds the front door to their home unlocked, it concerns him.

The inside of the house was dark and quiet, as it usually is when Damien comes home after a long night on the job. Damien opens his mouth and attempts to say 'Alice?' but his voice fails him and nothing actually comes out. He clears his throat and tries again. "Alice?" This time, his voice comes through, ringing through the house. Damien begins to panic when there is no response.

"Maybe she's asleep?" says Clarence as he tries to discreetly assure Damien that nothing is wrong. But something is wrong. Even if she is asleep, Alice is a very light sleeper. Usually, when Damien comes home in the early hours of the morning, he tries his best to move through the house quietly to avoid waking her up. And just about every time, he fails. When there's no response to her name being called out, it's extremely unusual. Something is wrong, and Damien knows it.

"Alice!" he says again in a louder voice. Still, nothing. Damien goes for his gun, which is in his holster.

"What are you doing?" asks Clarence in a panicked tone. Damien moves further into his own home. Clarence, quietly cursing under his breath, follows.

The bedroom is up on the second story. On top of the stairs, Damien is frozen in his tracks when a squeal rings out, "Damien!" It's Alice. No doubt about it. Clarence is now convinced. He, too, pulls out his handgun, and both Damien and Clarence rush down the hallway leading to the bedroom. The corridor seems to extend before Damien's eyes as he runs towards the end of it. With each step, the hallway gets longer, and Damien is further away than he was previously. An open window with the light from a street lamp outside is on the far wall. From its light, a strange shadow appears. It doesn't look humanoid. But Damien can clearly see the handgun is it is raised, and the muzzle flash briefly reveals his worst nightmare. Somebody has Alice.

Damien was unaware of where the bullet that was fired went until he saw his partner drop to the floor. Clarence was hit. Blood was spattered on the wall and Clarence was lying on the floor, gripping his chest as his blue police uniform turned red. Damien flung himself out of the hallway into a bathroom on his right in anticipation for another shot. The gun in the shadow's hand was put away and was replaced with a knife. Damien saw as the light reflected off the cold steel. He ran down the hallway, gun at the ready, as the knife was lifted up to Alice's throat. Damien stopped, and so did the knife.

"You see how this works," said the shadow. It was clear now. This guy was dressed in all black, even his face obscured. This was a more hellish reliving on the standoff Damien found himself in earlier that night. Only this time, the shadow wasn't standing down at the sight of Damien.

"Who are you?" Damien demanded.

"It does not matter who I am."

"Why are you after Alice?"

"It's not your dear Alice I'm after."

"What do you want then?"

"You... out of the way!" screamed the shadow.

The knife made a quick movement, finding its way through Alice's throat.

"ALICE!" screamed Damien in horror, pulling the trigger on his gun. The shadow dropped Alice to the floor. He grabbed his arm where the bullet Damien shot hit him. He shouted in pain, cursed, but managed to throw himself out the open window behind him. A loud clank was heard when the shadow hit the garbage below. Damien ran towards the window, but only in time to see the shadow's tail turn the corner of the building next door. He was gone. Damien flung himself down on the floor next to his wife. Blood was gushing out of her neck wound. Damien lifted her up into his arms, trying hard to hold the wound close. Sirens was heard from down the street. Somebody undoubtedly heard the gunshot that took out Clarence and notified the police. At least Damien hoped so. Maybe they could help, maybe Alice would be okay. But deep down, he knew that was false hope.

"Damien..." Alice tried to speak, but her words were distorted by the blood in her mouth.

"Don't talk... don't talk, honey. Everything's... everything's going to be okay. I mean it." Damien could hardly speak himself.

"I'm... sorry." Whispered Alice.

"No... no! Don't say that, Alice. You're going to be fine." Alice was still able to speak so she must be able to breathe to a certain degree. None of that mattered though because Damien could not stop the bleeding. It was a stationary race against time. The sirens outside were getting closer, but not close enough. Damien held one hand under Alice's head, the other on her throat, covered in blood. Her deep, blue eyes were becoming grey. A pool of blood was forming underneath them.

"Damien..." her voice was weak, but still there.

"What is it, honey?"

"...Live... on..." she was choking on her word, but their meaning was clear. Damien held Alice as close as possible, sitting on the floor in her blood, covered with the red liquid, as she reluctantly accepted death.

Damien held the lifeless body of his wife, the one person he truly loved. The blood squirting from her neck seemed to subside, signifying that her heart has stopped. Damien gazed upon his wife's open, lifeless eyes in disbelief. "No...." That's all he could say. His blood-covered hand touched Alice's face, cold as ice. The deepest sleep Damien has ever seen her in. One she would never awake from. Sirens grew louder, but it no longer mattered. She was gone. With his free hand, shaking uncontrollably, Damien closed his wife's eyes. He could no longer look into what used to be bright blue eyes, full of life and optimism, full of plans.

"Let's grow old together," she would say. "We'll be like those couples who live their entire life together, holding hands, with grey hair, loving each other just as much as we do now. That's what I want, Damien...." And that's what Damien wanted too. More than anything. And after their life here on Earth was over, they would be buried, side by side, to spend the rest of time together. Together forever... in life and death. Forever together. But no more. Sitting in the light that shown through the window, Damien's dead wife in his arms and his dead partner down the hallway, life would never be the same.

Damien's handgun, which he dropped on the floor when he kneeled down next to his wife, reflected light in his eyes. Maybe... maybe they could still spend forever together... in the afterlife. 'We could haunt this house,' Damien thought. 'Two ghosts, side by side, until they tear down this place.' Their bodies would be found together, hand in hand. Buried together. Together forever, just like we wanted.

"Live on..." Alice's voice echoed in Damien's head. Alice knew Damien better than anyone. She knew that Damien might kill himself after she was gone. He would do anything for her. And he would do anything to stay with her, even if it meant leaving. Her last wishes were the only thing keep Damien from picking up the handgun.

_ Damien promised to stop at nothing to protect the ones he loved and do nothing to hurt them..._

"I'm sorry Alice..." tears fell from Damien's green eyes, washing away some of the blood where it landed, "I have failed."