The Midnight Murder Series: Pieces

Rufus screamed as he went flying across the room and crashing into a bookshelf.

“Rufus!” yelled Adán as he swung his scythe at Heqet. The goddess caught the weapon and thrown the vampire across the room as well. He crashed through the dining table in the adjacent room, causing Aaqil to jump out of his skin and paused the ritual.

“Oh, Allah,” Aziza panicked as she cowered behind Beyond, wrapping her arms around her baby bump. The goddess dawdled towards the women with a smirk on her face. The knight held up her hand to stop the lunacy woman. “You’re not taking my baby!”

Heqet rolled her golden eyes as the items from the living room flew in the air and surrounded her. She snapped her fingers, causing the decor to drop-dead. Beyond’s eyes widened as she stared at the green-haired woman in shock. “Oh, please. Your Allah didn’t exist when I was around,” she grasped the knight’s neck and lifted her up in the air. She choked her as the knight struggled to break free. “And you. What are you, a half-breed? Oh wait, I see now. You’re one of Thanatos’ kids. You remind me so much of your grandmother. What was that bitch’s name, again? Nyx? I can’t believe the all-powerful Zeus is afraid of her. She’s nothing. Your father’s daddy is her brother, his Uncle Erebus.”

“Heqet, you can fight the spell,” Beyond said, ignoring the insult about her grandmother. “Don’t let it control you.”

Heqet snickered at her comment. “Oh, sweet half-breed. You think I want to stop this. To be honest, I like this disease. I was always the one who breathed life into these filthy human wombs. So, why not take back what I created? Anyway, let’s get back to business. You would make a good slave for me.”

“Don’t,” Beyond flinched when Heqet reached out her hand and pressed her forehead with a fingertip. The knight gasped and convulsed before screaming bloody murder as the tip glowed green. It caused the veins in her body to stick out and turn green.

Rufus regained consciousness as a female scream echoed in his head. He leaned forward and looked up to see his teammate in the hold of the cursed goddess. He jumped up and gripped his scythe from the floor. “Beyond!” He ran across the room and transpierced Heqet in the side.

The goddess jerked and released the female from her grip. Beyond collapsed to the floor, coughing and gasping for air with a trickle of blood running from her nose. Heqet growled and spun around to glare at the werewolf. “You’re dead, you stupid werewolf. How dare you ruin my favorite dress!”

The werewolf pulled his scythe out of her, causing it to tear the wound and dress more. “Aaqil, hurry up with that ritual!”

“I need a pharaoh’s blood,” Aaqil called out from the other room. “Or someone related to a pharaoh’s bloodline!”

Rufus trembled before the wrathful goddess as her hair fuzzed up. He swallowed the lump in his throat as she raised a hand to his way.

“I’ll change you into a frog,” she snarled. “You foul were-” She didn’t get to finish her sentence when Beyond leaped on her back, wrapping her arms and legs around her body.

“Don’t hurt my boys!” she remarked as the seven-foot lady struggled to get the knight off of her. She sunk her teeth into the side of her neck, causing the goddess to cry out. The knight pulled back her head with blood staining her lips and chin. “Rufus, go help the others. I can handle her.”

Rufus nodded and raced by them to aid the pregnant Aziza. He picked her up and carried her to the other room.

“Get off of me,” Heqet began banging her back against the wall to get the half-breed off of her. “You, disgusting child.”

Beyond wrestled to get one of her gloves off, but it was impossible to do with a struggling goddess and trying to hold on. The only way for her to make her stay still was to woge as the banshee and scream in her ear. “Don’t make me woge,” she susurrated to her.

Heqet successfully reached behind her and cast the knight across the room into a glass door, shattering the glass. She smirked as she sauntered towards the bloodied young adult. “Go ahead,” she smirked while Beyond pulled herself up. “Woge into whatever your father mated with to have you. You, little petty thing.”

“Hey!” The goddess grinned and twirled to see the knights and couple holding a ruby-colored bowl in hands. Her eyes widened in terror as Aziza sliced her palm with a golden knife and hovered it over the dish, watching the blood drip onto the powder in the bowl. Heqet reached her hand out to stop them as a red light illuminated the four faces and screamed when a blast wave erupted from the bowl, exploding her and splattering everyone in the room with blood and body parts.

Silence fell in the air.

“My ancestor was Hatshepsut,” Aziza broke the silence with a smile.

Rufus’ ears twitched as an odd noise entered his eardrums. “Do you hear that?” Everyone nodded and scanned the room for the noise. “Is that a frog ribbiting?”

Aaqil took off his glasses to clean them with a clean cloth. His blurry vision caught a tiny green dot in the middle of the floor. “What is that?”

The knights wandered towards the middle of the floor and raised brows when they saw a frog in the spot where Heqet was standing.

Rufus bent over to pick up the frog. “Frog legs, anyone?” he smirked at his comrades and humans.

“Thank you so much,” Aaqil smiled while wrapping an arm around his wife, who was holding the frog. “Without you three saving my wife and baby, I wouldn’t know what to do.”

“It’s our honor to save people,” Adán nodded. “Do you have a name for your child?”

Aziza rubbed her bump with a free hand and smiled. “If it’s a girl, Hatshepsut. If it’s a boy, Rami.”

Aaqil dropped his jaw in amazement and turned his head towards her. “After Rami Malek?” She nodded, and he cheered.

“What are you going to do with the goddess?” Beyond pointed at the frog.

“Deep-fried frog legs?” smiled Rufus. “I know a great rec — Ow!” Rufus whimpered and glared at Adán, who hit him over the head.

Aziza giggled. “Your friend is funny. Is he a comedian? And we’ll keep her. She’s not bad. The curse made her bad.”

“No, he’s not a comedian,” Adán cleared his throat.

Aaqil passed the golden knife to Beyond, but she shook her head.

“Keep it, just in case of another one. We’re sorry about the mess,” Beyond apologized. “A team of fairies will come by to clean up the mess and pay you for the damage. Have a good shower.” She walked out the door with the others following her.

The bookstore was busy Wednesday afternoon. It was after four, and school was letting out, just in time for the new Jessika Ginter’s Who Am I launch book party. Oliver was behind the cash register, taking the money and thanking the customers for coming again, while the twins were reading their copies of the book with smiles.

“I can’t believe Jessika Ginter is still writing from the grave,” spoke Arvel to his twin as he leaned in his chair. “This autobiography of hers is so far smashing.”

Alvin smiled and nodded his head in agreement. “She had hyperthymesia, but why is her book now coming out? She has been dead for over two hundred years.”

“Maybe her books were lost in the post or Oliver forgot to put them out like always,” Arvel chuckled.

“Oi! I can hear you, gits,” Oliver spoke as he gave a young female teen her change. “Thank you for coming and enjoy your book, miss.”

“Whatever you say, Oli-boy. Anyway, I’m on page thirteen. How about you, Al?” Arvel smiled.

“Page four...” Alvin mumbled, then Arvel burst out laughing. Alvin growled at his twin. “Bugger off, mate. It’s not my fault that Oliver wanted me to mend things.”

“Oh yes, Alvin. It was so backbreaking to get more cups from the back room. Do you need some ice on your back?” Oliver sarcastically asked. “Or a doctor?”

Alvin groaned in pain as he rubbed his lower back with his right hand. “Oi, my achy back! I need a back rub if you don’t mind, Oli-boy,” he smiled.

Oliver rolled his eyes at his brother’s comment. “Not going to hap-” he paused in mid-sentence when he noticed three figures in red coming towards the store. The blonde blinked a few times while identifying them as Rufus, Adán, and Beyond. He watched as Beyond opened and held the door for her teammates to enter the store.

The noisy store went to a deafeningly silent as everyone turned to look at them. Some mothers’ mouths fell open and quickly covered their children’s eyes with their hands, while other people started whispering among themselves.

Oliver raced over to the creatures and chuckled nervously. “I’m sorry for this, people,” he announced. “My friends are working on a horror film and forgot to clean up.”

“What type of film?” asked a customer in the background.

Oliver’s right eye twitched at the question, “I just said horror.”

“What’s the film about?” asked another customer in the background.

“Uh,” Oliver thought for a moment.

“William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe,” spoke Beyond. “The Horror of Our Love is the title.”

The customers believed the lie and went back to their previously things.

Oliver turned to face the bloody Beyond and shot her a look. He noticed something hanging off the female’s shoulder and made a disgusting face when he realized it was a part of a gut. “Beyond,” he whispered while trying his best to hold down his lunch. “Why are you and the others covered in guts and blood?”

Beyond waved to Rufus and Adán to go ahead of her to clean up and took the British hunter’s hand to head towards the back room to talk alone.

“Arvel, cover for me,” spoke Oliver to the nosey twins.

“We were fighting this cursed goddess,” she explained as she shut the door behind him. “She blew up in our faces.”

Oliver blinked a few times in confusion. “Goddess? A real goddess, are you serious? Where’re your glasses?”

“Yeah, why? You never fought one before?” she asked as she turned to face him. “They’re in my pocket.”

“No, but I wish I did,” he replied while looking down at her. “You’re so bloody. Why didn’t you tell us about this case?” Oliver sat down on the sofa to relax for a minute after standing all day since nine.

Beyond ignored his question and pulled out her bloody cell phone from her cloak’s pocket. She scanned the room for a cloth or something to wipe the screen. She stopped her search at Oliver and hummed to herself.

Oliver raised a brow at the female’s sudden stare, then blushed when she came closer to him. He felt sweat trickling down his face, and his heart started to quicken when she bent forward over him. “Y-Y-Yes, B-B-Beyon-” his face went into shock as the female wiped the bloody screen on the ends of his shirt. “W-W-Wwwwhhhhyyyy??!?!?”

She turned on her phone and tapped the screen. She sighed as she read a text message from Thanatos. “That idiot,” she muttered.

“You know that this isn’t coming out,” he stood up and tried to get the blood out of his white t-shirt. “I’ve ruined over a hundred white shirts over the years from hunting. I thought to myself, Oliver, why not wear white again? You’re not hunting today, wear white again. Everything was smashing until you came along.”

She looked slightly over her shoulder towards him.

Oliver paused when he rethought his last sentence. “Beyond, I-I-I didn’t mean that,” he frowned as she turned to face him. “I’m just stressed out with the store, the apocalypse, and this girl that I like doesn’t know I’m even alive.”

Beyond hissed in pain. She dropped her phone on the carpet and grabbed the wall with one hand and her right side with the other. “Sonofabitch!”

Oliver raced towards her aid and placed a hand on her back. “Are you okay? Is it your stitches?”

She shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

He arched an eyebrow in question. “Are you sure about that? It must be something if you’re in pain.”

“I’m fine, Jonathan. The baby is doing fine. Go and see if the horses are in the barn. It looks like rain will come,” she inhaled a deep breath through her nose and exhaled slowly out her mouth.

Oliver blinked at her in confusion. “Jonathan? I’m not Jonathan. I’m Oliver, and what baby?”

Beyond turned her head and glared at him, her cheeks flushing. “Oh, right,” her face softened before frowning. “Sorry, Oliver.”

“Who’s this Jonathan, Beyond?” He removed his hand from her back. “You keep on calling me that name. And what baby? Are you pregnant?”

“No,” she turned her body towards him. “Forget about it,” she whispered the last part.

The British hunter shook his head in disagreement. “Please, tell me what’s wrong. You look troubled.”

“I’m tired,” she corrected. “And no, I’m not pregnant.”

“Then, you can borrow my bed after you shower,” he smiled.

“I don’t sleep,” she reached into her pocket and pulled out her glasses to put them on. “My kind doesn’t sleep.”

“That explains the dark circles under your eyes,” he murmured before clearing his throat. “Why don’t you tell me about your case that you finished?”

Beyond leaned against the wall while closing her eyes. “Egyptian goddess was attacking pharaohs’ descendants and taking their babies,” she lifted the side of her shirt with a bloodstained glove to show a broken bone sticking out of her skin. “Oliver, take this out.”

His eyes widened in trepidation. “H-H-How? I-I-Is that yours?”

“It’s the goddess’,” she stated. “I can heal myself. Just pull it out.”

He hesitated before dawdling towards her. He drew in a breath while staring down at her. “Are you sure?”

She rolled her eyes again before seizing his wrist and wrapping his fingers around the bone. “Yank it out, redcoat!”

“Please stop calling me that. Okay, on the count of three. One, two,” he wrested the bone out of her side. She screamed and shoved him away. He went hurtling across the room and crashing through the closed door, breaking it, and sliding across the floor. The customers shrieked in shock, and some moved out of the sliding hunter’s way. Oliver’s ride ended when his head hit the base of the counter. He coughed and held up the bone in the air. “Got it.”

The twins rushed over to their brother and helped him up.

Alvin turned to the customers. “Ladies and gentlemen, give him a round of applause. Our brother is auditioning for the part of Marlowe,” he lied. “Bravo, Oliver, bravo.”

The customers bought the lie. They gave a round of applause and cheered from the store owner’s performance.

Oliver turned his head towards the back room and saw the knight was gone. He went back to the crowd and smiled at them. “Thank you, thank you. Go back to your business.” they did so, and the hunter whispered to his brothers. “Any orders while I was gone?”

“I guess she gave you a boner, Oliver, huh?” joked Arvel while elbowing the blonde and taking the bone out of his hand.

Alvin nodded. “You have two children book orders for The Dog Went Around The World, three book orders for The Day The Music Dies, and six orders for Cry Me a River.”

Oliver rolled his eyes at Arvel’s pun and placed a hand on the spot on his head where he hit it. “Your pun sucks, Arvel. Thank you, Alvin, for covering me. Why is the room spinning?”

“She told me to yank it out, so I did,” Oliver explained as he and his brothers sat in the living room. He placed a hot water bottle on his head and groaned. “She’s strong.”

“Some witches do have super strength,” Alvin corrected as he googled head injury treatments on his phone. “Remember that witch from Ireland? That bitch threw a brick house at us. Anyway, do you want to go to the ER? It says you should if you’re feeling dizzy.”

The blonde groaned and looked down while shaking his head. “No, no, no.”

“So, what were you two doing behind closed doors?” Arvel grinned.

Oliver gave him the finger before getting up. He threw the hot water bottle on the sofa. “Screw consciousness. I need sleep,” he headed towards the hallway and bumped into Beyond. “Oh sorry, Beyond.” he blushed when he noticed she was wearing one of his blue robes, and her hair was wet.

She gave him a small smile. “It’s fine. How’s your head? I’m sorry about what happened earlier. I thought yanking it out would make it less painful.”

“My head?” he was perplexed. “How about it?”

“You hit it, remember?” called out Arvel from the living room.

“Oh,” Oliver shrugged and smiled. “My head is fine. I’ll get out of your way.” He quickly moved out of her way, but she stopped him by grabbing his arm. She tilted her head and reached up to tap his forehead with two gloved fingers. He blinked bewilderingly and headed towards the bathroom.

She watched him before going to the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee.

The twins grinned at each other and ogled at the female.

“Beyond,” began Alvin. “In the back room, were you and Oliver Netflix and chilling?”

His question dazed Beyond. “What’s a Netflix? No, I don’t like chili.”

“Oh, no. It’s not food,” Arvel added. “It’s another word for talking.”

Beyond believed the lie and nodded. “Oh yes, Oliver and I were Netflix and chilling. We weren’t eating chili, but Netflix and chilling. By the way, who’s watching the store?”

The twins looked at each other and simpered.

“Rufus and Adam,” Alvin replied. “We’re paying them.”

“Why do you want to read about Hitler?” Rufus, behind the cash register, asked a teen customer. “He killed my German people and others for nothing. He should have stayed with painting.”

“Yeah, but Hitler did nothing wrong,” spoke the male teen.

Rufus growled at him. “Gib mir das!” he grabbed the copy of Mein Kampf from the male’s hands and slammed it down on the counter, causing the customers to stop and stare at the scene. The German werewolf leaned over the counter and seized the male’s shirt. “He didn’t do anything wrong? You listen here and listen good, little shit. That man has destroyed my home country and people for power because an art buyer rejected him. Hitler brainwashed my people into thinking he would help Germany out of the Great Depression. His filthy hands slain eleven million people like pigs. His soldiers raped innocent women and shot their babies in the face. He did everything wrong. Verzieh dich!” he shoved the male away from him with force and snarled at him.

The teen bolted out of there, and the customers went back to their business.

“Arschgesicht,” he shook his head and turned his attention to Adán, who was staring at a small picture in his hand with his back against the wall. “Adán? Hello? Earth to Adán. You okay?”

The vampire blinked and fixed his eyes on the werewolf. “Huh? Oh, uh, yeah, I’m fine. What’s up?”

Rufus frowned at him. “Are you sure about that? You’ve been acting like a zombie since last week. Did something happen?”

Adán shook his head and carefully put the photo in his breast pocket before pushing himself off the wall. “Just the apocalypse.”

“Yeah, and what else?” Rufus questioned.

Adán shook his head and went to stand next to him when an older man in his late fifties with salt and pepper hair came up to the cash register.

“Excuse me,” he spoke with a smile. “Are the Crowdens here?”

“They’re busy at the moment,” replied Adán. “May I take a message?”

“Yeah,” the man cleared his throat. “Tell them that their father wants to see them, immediately.”

The knights stared at each other with wide eyes before turning back to one of the skillful hunters in the World of the Living known as Nye Crowden.