Phantom Wing

Chapter One

A church sat in the middle of a dusty landscape, its walls threatening to buckle at any moment from its years of damage and wear. Inside, a man was tied down to a chair next to the podium, his wings sticking out holes in the back, unable to close comfortably. His eyes flickered open and his heartbeat picked up as he realized he had no idea where he was.
The front door to the church flew open and another man wearing a crude devil mask with pitch black wings entered, followed by a group in emotionless masks. The pack walked through the decrepit pews, stopping just before the man in the chair.
"W-what's going on? Who-who are you people?" He asked, eyes struggling to find any human qualities among the people in front of him standing unnervingly still.
"Get the saw and prepare for the ripping." The man in the devil mask muttered to one of the many faceless members of his group who nodded and left at a swift pace, his
wide smile on his mask mocking the one in the chair. "W-what do you people want from me?"
"What do we want?" The masked man chuckled darkly. "Well nothing really, but those wings of yours look quite nice."
"M-my wings?" The others face contorted in pain at the thought. "Please no, I'll-I'll do anything just let me go, I promise I won't say a thing!" He pleaded.
"Oh we know you won't, I'm going to make sure of that."
The next day the now wingless man laid face down in an alleyway. A young girl found him on her way to work and called the cops, within a few hours the alley way was roped off and police flooded the scene. One stood out however, she was a young dark skinned, curly haired woman with bright blue eyes and the wings of a mourning dove. She ducked under the bright police tape, showing the officers guarding the scene her badge and approaching the body. She knelt down and noticed the stumps where the mans wings had been then let out a long sigh and stood back up. She pulled out her phone and went to a contact labeled 'drunken douchebag', she then called it and waited for someone to pick up.
"Yeah, uh... Hello?" A groggy voice responded.
"You know you have work today right?" She asked.
"Oh crap."
"Yeah oh crap's right, get your butt down to eve avenue or the chief'll hear about it." And with that she hung up.
Across the city in a musty old motel, a young man with tanned skin and ruffled hair let out a sigh and sat up from the nest of sweat soaked blankets and pillows he woke up in on the floor. His head was killing him and the scars on his back hurt so much it felt like his wings had gotten torn off for the second time. He eventually got over the pain and stood with a stumble, maneuvering by empty beer bottles and mysterious stains to the bathroom.
He stared into his almost dead looking dark brown eyes as he stood in front of the mirror and tried not to puke his guts out into the sink. After gagging a few times he attempted to tame his wild black hair but eventually gave up and put on his dirty suit he found in pieces on the floor.
A few minutes later he finally stepped in front of eve avenue, the curly haired woman waiting as patiently as she could on the other side of the police tape.
"Took ya long enough," She paused, adding "jerk off" under her breath.
"Yeah well at least I got here." He paused, adding "A-hole" under his breath. "So what's the situation?"
"Well there's another wingless man face down in an alley, I'm sure you can figure it out, Joshua." She rolled her eyes.
"Oh for- you might as well stop calling me in, Michelle." Joshua sighed.
"And give you more time to get drunk and pass out in random motels? Get real." Michelle shook her head. "Speaking of which, you took too long fixing your hangover so forensics already took the body."
"Damn, why didn't you stop them?" Joshua asked in an annoyed tone.
"Because its not my case Josh, hell, you're lucky I even responded to the call and I can't baby sit you much longer." Michelle responded, sounding just as annoyed
"Alright, alright, yeesh..." Joshua put up his hands in defense, his eyebrows going up nearly as high as he rolled his eyes.
"Now come on, they might have taken the body but we can still see if there was any evidence left at the scene." Michelle nudged him, he nodded and they walked off to where the body was found.