Dark Harvest (#Wattys2018)

Chapter 1

I awoke gasping, my body heaving unable to gather air.  I had bolted out of my sleep, awakened by something, but thankful for it.  My mind flashed with images of the people that had been slaughtered while my eyes tried to focus on the darkness in my room.  I breathed in slowly, adrenaline coursing through my veins, my body bent deep over my knees.  My ears picked up on the sound of my phone chirping in its case, the savior that had woken me from remembering the torture he inflicted with that barbed tongue.  At the thought of my child hood tormenter, I shivered.  My skin was covered in a mist of cold sweat, the dark cotton sheets sticking to my body.  I wrapped my arms around my shoulders and tried to calm myself.

This can't be happening.  It had been years since I had had those dreams.  Unfortunately, whether I hadn't had the dream in nearly five years or not, my mind still remembered each detail of the demon - his barbed tongue touching her jawline leaving those bloody punctures on her pale skin. Elise's scream still sounded in my mind.  I had forgotten so much about her, but never her last scream.  

My phone chirped again and I grabbed it.  Illuminating my room, I blinked at the screen to see who the hell had the balls to call me at this hour.

"Someone better be dead," I growled as I squinted my eyes. It felt like the light was boring a whole into my brain and I swore as my eyes desperately tried to adjust A red unknown number blinked back at me.  

It was two a.m.  I had barely been asleep for an hour and a half and though I didn't recognize the number I still answered it.

"Vincent," I mumbled sleepily into the phone, running my hand across my mouth in an attempt to wipe any remaining drool from my lips.  

"Good Evening, Vincent," answered a cold male voice on the other line. I didn't recognize the voice and even though I had earned a bad reputation for causing trouble in high school, it was only my second week back in Boston. Not nearly long enough for random people to be calling my cell phone, and I had an unlisted number.

I propped myself up on my knees, suddenly more awake, the nightmare beginning to fade into the back of my mind.  "Now.. Now.. How did you get this number."

The voice on the line laughed, soft and slightly accented. I couldn't quiet place the accent though. Definitely European...

"I have a job for you."

Wonderful.  

"I am out of that business," I growled, hanging up.  I dropped the phone onto the sheets and massaged my temples.  How the hell had someone found me so quickly?

The plan had been to stay out of trouble this time.  I had even promised my sister to get a nice retail job till I figured out what I wanted to do with my life.

I had left Boston when I was sixteen. Well, left Boston wasn't accurate. I had been sent away to live with my grandfather in Arizona after I had nearly gotten myself killed. After I had gone off the grid with my partner, Avery, and had tried to kill the demon who had tortured me as a child. I swallowed down the lump of misery and self-loathing that haunted my memories. It had been eight years. I had changed. I wasn't a silly dhamphri trying to prove to the world that I could make a difference. And after nearly dying and losing my best friend, well, someone else could deal with the monsters.

And it was the BSU's job anyways. The BSU was, quite simply, the Boston Supernatural Unit, which protected the city and it's suburbs. It was comprised of both supernatural creatures and human detectives trained to deal with all the things that went bump in the night. But since the things that went bum in the night were U.S. Citizens, you couldn't go play Buffy and kill them all. Even the monsters had rights.  But since a normal police force wouldn't be able to take on the monsters, the BSU was formed. Using forensics and behavioral mapping, they policed the rogue supernaturals but instead of locking them up, they were authorized to kill. There were no second chances. That was the agreement that was made between the Supernatural Counsels and the Human Government.