Revenge, Photos and Covenants

Chapter 3: Vessel

Freezing rain pelted down on Chuck's Roadhouse, the neon sign reflected on the wet street outside. Inside, John sat across from Dean Ray of the University of Waterloo, he tapped at the table nervously. They were discussing his possible return to the football team after his disappearance.

"Look, John," Dean Ray said, swirling the ice cubes in his glass. "The team found someone else when you vanished. It wouldn't be fair to just remove them from the team now, maybe you can stay on as a reserve, and focus more on getting back into the swing of things after such a traumatic experience."

John's jaw tightened, and anger bubbled up inside him. He didn't understand why the dean would have called him out here if he was just going to say no anyway, he had wasted his time thinking he could just slide right back into his life before he was kidnapped. With his emotions high, he struggled to keep control of his newfound vessel abilities. His grip on his lemonade shattered the glass into pieces, shards flying like daggers across the table. One sliced into the Dean's cheek; another embedded itself in John's hand.

"Damn it!" John cursed, staring at his bleeding hand. He pulled the small shard of glass from his hand and as he freed it from his skin the wound began to close on its own. John watched himself heal in shock but he wasn't the only one, Ray watched with his mouth a gape.

"Wha- What are you?" the dean stammered, blood trickling down his cheek. Unable to pull his gaze from John's hand, which now looked as if nothing had ever happened.

"I uh, I have to go" John muttered, pushing back his chair and sprinting out of the roadhouse. The freezing rain quickly soaked him to the bone, but he didn't care. He needed to escape, to get back to Ethel before anyone came after him for this.

"John! Wait!" Dean Ray called out, stumbling after him into the downpour. But John had already vanished into the darkness. Frustration and confusion settling in, the dean still couldn't believe what he had witnessed. His mind replayed John's hand healing itself instantly and he thought about the scientific advances the University could make with this discovery.

A rustle from the dumpster nearby caught his attention, and he approached cautiously. "John, is that you?" he asked hesitantly. A sudden force gripped him, dragging him behind a dumpster. The last thing he heard was the sound of his scream as his invisible attacker sunk its fangs into him.

-----

Meanwhile, in Deb's dorm room, Zack and Deb cozied up in her bed, preparing to watch a movie. The clandestine meeting felt like something out of a classic Shakespeare play, the rain adding an element of drama to their whispered conversation. They had stolen away from Jessica and Father Bill, who were attending a parish prayer night.

As Zack leaned in for a kiss, his elbow pressed into the remote. The TV sprung to life with the news coming it view. The sudden noise caused both Deb and Zack to jump, before laughing at the events. Deb reached for the remote and aimed at the TV, but stopped short of changing the channel.

"The dean is dead." Deb mouthed, her voice barely audible over the rainfall. She was watching the story unfold on the news coverage.

Zack's attention turned to the new anchor, who was standing in the freezing rain while police roamed the scene. "What? How?"

"Judging by the amount of police officers, it wasn't natural causes," Deb replied, adjusting her glasses that flashed with the colors of the TV. "Just what we need, another murder. Jessica will probably use her connections at the morgue to see the body and make sure the supernatural wasn't involved."

Zack frowned, piecing together the information in his mind. "I haven't sensed anything off around campus, I doubt it has anything to do with the supernatural. Though it could have been one of Gluttony's vessels, we have no idea how many are still out there or who they are."