Rating: PG 13
Summary: Detective Maddox first adventure into the world of the supernatural.
Added: 09/09/07
Last Updated: 09/22/07
Status: In Progress
Title: ( Maddox Chronicles ::Case 1 Forester:: )

I sat in the dark, crouched behind the boxes with bryce. My heart was pounding and I could hear gunshots comming from outside the wearhouse. I just had to sit tight and wait for a chance to escape this cold hearted bitch. From the darkness a face suddenly appeared. I pulled out my gun on instinct. It was Rictor and I had to quickly stop myself. Now would not have been a good time, even though I would have loved nothing more then to pull the trigger and put an end to that smug expression. He just smiled at me and then as if I was not even a concern quickly turned his eyes on Bryce lovingly. I could see the book in his hand, small journal-like with a leather binding. He held it out to Bryce. They exchanged no more then glances and she took the book, and then he was gone just as quickly as he appeared. Bryce sat there a moment as if lost in thought. She then turned to me

“Shall we go?”
as she spoke the words I could feel her will threaten to overpower me. I wanted to get away from this nightmare so I took my chance. By sheer will I forced myself to run into the darkness of the warehouse.

Only a few seconds later I felt the pain in my arm as Bryce grabbed me, whirling me around to face her. Eyes burning with hunger, she pushed me to the ground. She straddled me, pinning me with unnatural strength.

Leaning down she whispered into my ear “time to take care of the sheep.”

When I felt a burning sensation on my neck I struggled, but Bryce was far too strong and my efforts only only made her bite that much harder.

Then it hit me, an almost euphoric sensation that spread throughout my whole body. No matter how much I might have wanted I couldn’t resist. Stripped of all control, I was powerless. My body tensed and trembled beneath her as I felt the warmth of my own blood flow down my neck.

‘not like this’ my mind screamed as a last thought before it too was succumbed to what is known as ‘the kiss’.

The evening came when Bryce and I were to go meet her friend, Rictor. I wasn’t very happy about the whole situation but I figured that moving outside would give me a better chance at escape then being locked in that room. The place was not run down like I expected. It appeared as though it was still being used, though there were no sign of dock workers at this hour. What I did see were two black limousines, which made me wonder who exactly Bryce was to have such friends. Bryce was dressed in a business suit, black with silver pinstripes and an Aqua shirt beneath. The darkness of the outfit made her complexion even paler. Her long brown hair curled slightly at the ends, which was the first I had seen her do something different with her hair. If I didn’t know her better I would say she looked respectable.
At the door there stood two guards, both dressed in black, with black ski hats and rather large guns. As Bryce walked closer she gave a half smile to them and they quickly stepped aside to let her pass. The look on their faces let me know that they were smart enough to know not to provoke her in any way, possibly from experience judging by the slight look of fear in their eyes.
Walking in it was clear to see that the warehouse was indeed in use. Wooden boxes were stacked in groups against the walls, and what looked like a recent shipment of boxes lay near the back entrance along with some dollies. What looked slightly out of place was the simple long table that was in the center of the storage floor hosting a well dressed man in a very nice black suit. His hair was slicked back and he eyed Bryce with an animalistic fascination. In front of him was a brown leather briefcase, the contents I could only assume were what we had come all this way for.

I looked around the room for something useful. I found clothes and some other accessories, but no phone. Not like I really expected to find it but never hurts to try.

"I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of having some clothes brought in for you." She smiled, "Your weapon will be given back to you when you start your new assignment."

"I'm not just going to start working for a killer,"

Bryce gave me a cold glare "Well if you do not work for me, then I have no use for you, I shall give you time to make your decision." she turned to walk out "Dinner will be shortly, I suggest you eat something." She closed the door and I heard the click of the lock. It seemed I had to play her game for now.

During the dinner, which Bryce was nice enough to force me to, she let me know about the job she wanted me to do. The dinning room was large with a grand wooden table, easily equipped to fit 12 or more people. It was elaborately carved in French style. There were glasses and plates set at each seat, though it was just me. The servant that had brought me a well portioned dinner, but came back with nothing but a glass of red liquid for Bryce. It was revealed to me that we were to go to a ware house in Québec.
"Quite simple, really" She said sipping from her glass, "you will be my personal guard. We shall be meeting a man named Rictor."
The way she said his name was like she was bringing up and old memory. There was only a momentary glimpse in her eyes that said he was more then just a business partner.
"Someone you know?"
She smiled at me "Let’s just say he's an old friend of the family."
I took another bite of the dish that was prepared. The meat was a little rare, so I couldn't stomach eating much. So we were in Quebec, meeting yet another one of Bryces acquaintances that she needed guarding from, just great. Well, I guess that explained the snow.

As I boarded the copter prepared for take off. The noise was loud making it hard to hear Bryce; who had gone to talk to the pilot. 'This was a bad situation' I thought to myself'. who knows where I'll end up.' I pulled out my cell again, preparing to call the department. The IVR prompted, but someone grabbed the phone out of my hands. As I turned Bryce was standing there; my phone in one hand a white cloth in the other. Putting my phone in her pocket she stated, "I'm so very sorry detective, but I can't let you do that." She put the cloth over my mouth and nose. I tried to push her away but she held my arms down. She backed me into one of the side seats and as I slipped into unconsciousness I felt her hand stroke my cheek.

"Be grateful I like you, Sheep."

I awoke in a bright room, it was white with ruffled curtains. The bed was queen size with an equally white comforter and ruffled bed skirt. It was very Victorian style and slightly creepy. As my eyes adjusted I noticed that the room was picking up the evening light as the sun set behind snow speckled landscape. Now that my eyes were adjusting it wasn't as bright as I had previously thought. I pulled down the comforter and realized my clothes had been changed. I was in a black silk night gown with spaghetti straps.

It took awhile for me to piece together everything that had happened the previous evening. 'My god, tell me this is some kind of bad dream.' I sat there for a moment, contemplating exactly what this meant. Everyone that had been on that train was most likely dead, which meant my work probably wrote me off as dead. No one, even if they knew I was alive, would even know where to look for me.

As the sun went down I heard the door click. I quickly got up expecting some sort of attack. It was Bryce. She strolled in, a pair of clothes in hand. She gave me a smile "I see you’re awake."

“Where am I?”

She set the clothes on the side of the bed.
“My place, of course; Its where most of my employees stay”

I shook my head
“Employees?”

“Oh Yes,” She said in a cheerful tone “and I’m sure you will find that you will find the pay under my employ more to your liking.”

“You can’t just pay people off and expect them to do what you want.”

She smiled, not a warm pleasant smile but cold and calculating.
“Oh, but I think you will find that I can.”
She pulled out a check from her pocket. It was made out to me in the amount of $75,000.

“I can’t”

Like she didn’t even hear me she continued. “Think of this as an advanced payment for your next assignment. I’ve already taken the liberty of depositing an equal amount into your personal checking account; lets call it a gesture of good faith.”

Even if I did manage to get away I would never be able to explain this. I was tied as an accomplice to Bryce, and the murders on the train.

It wasn't too long after I had talked to the police that my cell phone ran again, this time an unknown number.

"Maddox," I answered.

"Ummm, yeah, this is Adam... Foresters friend."

I had to fight the urge to throw my phone across the room. "and why are you calling me?"
"Forester said you wouldn't talk to him anymore and we just wanted to know if everything was okay."

Thinking back on all the things that happened tonight I couldn't help myself "Sure, just peachy"

"Anything odd going on?"

Looking back at the box a thousands of questions ran through my mind. Its true, I wanted answers but I couldn't believe that Forester, or his friend Adam could offer me anything but more questions. What made Bryce so special that all these people would be after her.

"Like I told Forester, I'm just fine and the two of you should be off the train or I'll report you." I hung up the phone again.

It was getting late and we had quite some time before the train would stop and the police could do their search of the train. It might have been the throbbing head but I sat down and it wasn't long before I feel asleep. A loud crash woke me up from my nap. The sound made me jump up so quickly, it made me slightly dizzy. I wasn't sure how long I had been asleep, had we gotten to the next station?

Bryce was staring at me from the box, eyes urgent
"We must go, NOW!"

I looked from her back to the hallway,
"What was that?"

"Believe me, detective, if you stay around to find out it will be the last thing you do."

Getting angry I snapped back "Is that a threat?"

"No, detective, its a fact" She sighed "now would you be so kind as to let me out."

I actually laughed, "You expect me to just let you out?"

"Well I know I do not wish to be around when they arrive."

'what,' I thought 'would be that bad as to scare a killer.' I hardly had the time to react when the door to the cart swung open; it was Forester and his friend.

"What are you still doing here?"

"No time for that, we need to get out of here, NOW!" He grabbed my hand and started pulling me out of the cart. Pulling my hand back I ran over to the box .

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Not having to be asked Bryce presented her hands to be cuffed.

"Just leave her." shouted Forester.

"I can't do that." Quickly I unlocked the box and put Bryce in front of me so I could keep an eye on her. Gun drawn I went into the hall way with Bryce, Forester and Adam. Before we were able to exit the car a loud howl came from the front passenger carts. As we got into the hallway I could hear the screaming. 'My god what was going on?'

It was then that the door to our cart was ripped off its hinges and a strong metallic smell of blood flooded the cart. We now stood across the room from a large bat like creature which looked like something from a horror movie. The blood dripped from its large black claws, the red carpet just turned a shade darker as it pooled beneath this demon.

It was amazing just how easily the creature threw aside the door; the screaming got even louder. 'My god,’ I thought, ‘those poor people were getting slaughtered.' Forester's hand on my shoulder brought me out of my shock.

"We need to get to the back storage compartment."

The priority right now was to make sure we got out of this alive; there was no way we could win against this thing in a fight. I fired my gun at the creature; it seemed to have almost no effect, it just looked very angry. Right before it went to lunge at us a large ball of what would best be described as lightning flew over my shoulder, hitting the creature in the chest, knocking it off guard.

I turned to see forester, hands extended still crackling with energy. 'Okay, this day was definitely on the weird side.' Forester stepped between me and the creature,

"Go on, we will hold him off."

A blur shot past me and with in a second’s time Adam had plunged a box cutter deep into the creature. In a swung but at the speed he was moving Adam easily dogged out of the way. Bryce and I quickly ran through the door into a large metal room filled with lots of boxes; taking cover behind one of the larger ones. Forester and Adam were trying to fend off the beast but it seemed to be a loosing battle. It swung at Forester leaving a large gash across his chest. From the shadows of the storage compartment emerged a person, previously hidden in the shadows. He leapt out at the creature, joining in the attack. 'What was he hiding for?’ Well, he was currently helping us, which made him an ally for the moment.

Adam with a rush of wind moved Forester out of harms way. Everything was happening so fast I didn't even realize that Bryce had broken free of her cuffs until it was too late. Her voice carried a deep almost enthralling quality to it as she pressed up against me.

"You’re with me, sheep."

She held me against her with more strength then anyone her size should ever have, as carried me out the side door of the cart and landed on the ground with ease. Above us I could hear the beast scream in anger at loosing its prey.

My phone rang "Maddox."

"Head north by northwest, and I suggest haste, detective."

As if hearing the call herself Bryce pulled me in that direction. Wanting to let someone know what had happened I quick dialed the last number in my phone. Adams' voice mail prompted. I told him of my situation and that we were going north by northwest for what good it did us. I didn't like the company but I didn't dare stop to think what might catch up to us if we stopped moving.

The night air was cold and a there was a small covering of snow on the ground. It was a mostly uphill travel, and I could feel my head start to pound as I pushed myself forward. The helicopter was waiting on the other side of a particularly large hill. Bryce boarded the copter. Going with Bryce was not my idea of a good plan, Hell it was pretty stupid, but As I looked up at our somewhat unusual form of transportation I couldn't think of any other options; Death by exposure at best, mauled to death by giant mutated bats at worse. Bryce held out her hand to me.

"Come, with me." She said as if talking to a pet.

Later that evening there was a knock on the door, I placed my hand on my gun just incase. “Who is it?”

A male voice responded “Security.”

Relaxing a bit I stepped outside to see what the man wanted. Flashing my badge to identify myself I asked “Detective Maddox with NPD, how can I help you.”

He shifted uncomfortably “I’m not supposed to share this information but since you are with the police I guess I can tell you. There were two bodies found dead on the train this evening, we are questioning passengers to see if they might have seen anything out of the ordinary.”

He went on to tell me that a couple was found murdered in their room. They had been drained of all their blood. They were trying to keep the situation quiet because they didn't want to cause a panic but they were going to be stopping at the next station in order for the police to do an investigation.

I explained to him why I was there and assured him that Bryce had not left the cart unsupervised. He seemed fine with the explination and went to resume his questioning.

I couldn’t help but get that sinking feeling in my gut that this was the start of something bad.

I turned to the box, "You wouldn't have anything to do with this, would you?"

"my dear detective, I don't know what you are talking about."

"I need to go to the restroom"

"Hold it". I grumbled, not wanting to deal with her.

Shuffling came from inside the box. "I can't"

Sighing I pulled the key ring out. It was a medium sized silver ring with three keys, one for each lock.

The slot for food was also a place to cuff the prisoner before they exited the box. Having her turn around I secured the prisoner.I was a little hesitant to let her out, even with the hand cuffs but if she had to go I didn't see any other humane options.

Taking her into the hall I lead her to the next area where the bathrooms were. There were openings that lead into the stall area. I stood watch outside so she could have some privacy.

The train was quiet at this early hour, and the silence was a little more then unsettling. I'm not sure exactly how long it was I waited in the hall but it seemed like quite awhile. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and I could almost swear I felt a breeze of something passing by me. When I looked there was nothing there. Finally Bryce came out of the bathroom. She seemed smug like the cat that swallowed the cannery.

I glared at her "Ready?"

"Yes, thank you detective."

Bryce broke the silence "Do you like what you do, Detective?"

I answered with out hesitation "yes"

"And why did you decide to become a Detective?"

I shook my head, this was becoming a little bit too personal "Not that its any of your business but its because I want to protect innocents from people like you."

"You do know that I will not be going to New York, they will be coming for me."

I knew that there were people out there that didn't like her and probably wanted her dead, but the question was what could Bryce have done to tick off her former associates. "Why do they want you dead?" There was a long pause like a little kid who has just been asked why they had their hands in the cookie jar.

"Let’s just say I have not been as discrete as some people may have liked. This current press has made them particularly upset."

As luck would have it my cell phone rang, giving me a break from this unsettling conversation. “Maddox,” I said trying not to sound too relieved. I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up because the voice on the other end dashed all chances of escape from this chaos.
“Maddox, its Forester.”

“Not again, Forester, what do you want this time?”

“Well we just wanted to know if everything was okay on the train.”

I stepped out of the room into the hall way of the car; the flickering lights did a strobe effect on the lush red carpet. I needed a bit of privacy for this conversation. It was then that I also noticed the background sounds coming from Foresters end of the line. They were the same sound of the train speeding along the tracks. “Tell me you did not follow me onto the train, Forester!”

"Ummmm... I didn't follow you on the train."

"I can't believe you did this, and who is the WE you are talking about?"

"My friend Adam, we were concerned about you."

I tried hard to keep my voice down but it still came across harsher then I would have liked. "Do you know how much trouble you could get in? You are interfearing in a police escort. And I don't even want to get into the other violations. I want you to get off at the next stop and go home, do you understand me?"

"But."

"no, Forester, no buts! We are not continueing this conversation." I closed my flip phone and shoved it in my pocket. looking at the sliding doors that were on either end of the cart connecting to the other areas of the train, I wondered if the people that Bryce was talking about would actually show up... and if they did would Forester be okay. "Damit" I cursed as I shoved open the swinging door to our compartment.

I sat on the bench trying to relax and keep my mind off my throbbing head ache. I half expected to be bothered by Bryce, or hear some kind of noise. As I sat there all that I heard was the train speeding its way over the tracks. It was unsettling not seeing the person you’re dealing with. I stood up to stretch my legs, looking at the sliding window used to talk to the prisoner. It was closed but part of me was curious. Thinking back it probably wasn't such a great idea but I blame it on the whack to the head I had taken earlier. I reached out and slit the view window open. As I did my vision went dark and I could feel warm liquid running from them. The metallic smell and taste of blood filled my nose and mouth. I stumbled back starting to feel dizzy. It finally stopped and despite the weakened strength I was in anger raged threw me, giving me more strength then I should have had. I pulled out my gun, aiming it at the view window. I couldn’t possibly hit anything threw that but in my mind it gave me a sense of control.
"Do that again and I will end you, orders or not!"
A soft voice came from inside the box. It sounded weak, hardly the voice you would expect from a cold blooded killer. "I'm very sorry," She said "I've been so hungry, I couldn't control myself."
I could hear moving from inside the box. I backed up and sat back down on the seat, suddenly feeling very tired.

"So, what is your name?"
I put my face in my palm, 'a killer that liked small talk.' I sighed,” Does it really matter?"

"no, but then again it is a long trip and you probably don't need to fall asleep." before I could ask she continued as if anticipating my question. "I heard the gun shots and noticed the nasty bump on your head."

"My name is Maddox."

"And do you have a first name ms. Maddox?"

"Katherine"
I could hear the smile in the way she spoke "Ah... and you are the lucky person who they sent to escort me."

"Yes, so you can be put on trial for your crimes."

This time she actually did laugh "Crimes? My dear woman, hardly."

I sneered and didn't bother to hide the disgust in my voice "you don't consider the murder of 40 men a crime?"

"Are you a vegetarian?"

"What does that have to do with this?"

"Well? You eat meat, yes?" I nodded to her odd question. "And do you feel sorry for your steak, ms, Maddox; guilty about its loss of life?"

"There is a difference between an animal being killed for food and the innocent murder of human beings."

"But that is my point, humans are like cattle. You are but mindless sheep that walk about your fields unaware of the truth of your existence or of beings such as myself."

"Your full of it aren't you, Bryce."

"You mean you don't know? They never told you about me?"

"I know that there are quite a few people out there that don't particularly care for you, that is why I'm here."

"You would presume to protect me, Sheep?"

"It's my job, not by choice."

An uncomfortable silence fell on the cart. After what Bryce had said I had to wonder just what kind of nut job I was protecting. She saw people as lesser beings, ready for disposal at her will. I have to admit that for a small moment I felt regret at having stopped the person earlier this evening. If he had gotten to her she wouldn’t be around to endanger the lives of more innocents; Would have saved me a good deal of head trauma too. ‘No’, I thought ‘You have a job to do Maddox and no matter how horrible this woman may be she needs to be brought to justice.'

I was at my apartment getting prepaired for that night. I was determined not to let some superstision get in my way. I put on my standerd kevlar vest and consealed weapon for protection. The strange thing about this case was the time of transport. Usually you would do an escort during the day but the prisioner tonight had 'special needs' looking at her profile again I read the description exsposure to the sun of any kind could result in cancers, ulcers, and blisters... to put simply, crispy toast. I headed down town to the train yard where I was to meet up with the truck and bored the train with the prisoner.

The truck pulled up to the scene at its scheduled time. That uneasy feeling grew as the guards opened the back of the truck. I didn't see a person but a big black box, obously locked with several pad locks and some chains. I knew that it was in part for her saftey but by the look of the box it seemed more on keeping her in. The image of hannibal lecter came to mind. That cold sensation crept up my spine again. 'come on maddox' I told myself, 'don't let them think you can't handel this'.

No sooner had they brought the box out then I felt a sharp pain of something hitting the back of my head. I fell to my knees, fighting back the blurry vision and darkness waiting to overwhelm me. I strained to focus on the truck behind me just in time to see a shadowy figure dive under it. I pulled my gun and fired 3 shots in the direction I saw him go. By the groan I could tell I had hit my mark. It seemed that I was able to fend him off but I was pretty bad, but not so bad that I couldn't finish the job, but also needed to stay awake just incase it was worse then I thought. As we put the box on the train and the guard handed me the keys he seemed to breath a sigh of relief as if ridding himself of a great burden. Once the guards had secured the carrage I closed the door to our room and sat back on the bench for the long haul.

Today I got a call from a man named Forester. He was a previous assignment of mind, someone I didn't exspect to hear from. Of all the days he would call me it would have to be before the night of a big assignment I answered my phone trying to keep the frustration out of my voice, "Maddox."

"Detective Maddox, It's Forester," He sounded concerned and a little hesitent. "I know this may sound strange, but I need you to listen to me."

I thought his case was closed, but perhaps something had come up."Is something wrong?"

"Well, I think something will be." I could almost invision his face, thoughtful, trying to think of how to word things "I told you this would sound strange," he said finally. "you see I had a dream."

"A.... Dream?"

"Well, more of a premonition," there was a long pause "It was very bad and it somehow involves you."

"is this some kind of joke, Forester, cause if your trying to spook me, its not working. All its doing is annoying me"

"What is your current assignment Detective?"

"I really don't feel comfortable talking about that with you." I could almost sense the satisfaction in his voice. he knew he had touched a nerve. To tell you the truth this conversation was starting to make me feel uneasy.

"Listen, I think you might be getting in over your head. And whatever your current assignment is probably is connected to my premonition." There was an uncomfortable pause before he continued "tell me, does your assignment have anything to do with a woman named 'Angelica Bryce'?"

My throat went dry and my skin went a shade whiter, if that is even possible. I mustered all the confidence I could, I'd be damed if I was going to show weakness. "even if it was, forester, I don't see how its any of your business." I hung up the phone before he could come back with any more of his witty replies. The truth was that bastard was probably right. I knew I was probably headed into trouble. I don't know how he knew about my current case but I couldn't let a simple dream interfere with my work. He said this case could be more than I could handle, maybe he was right but I couldn't rely on superstition to guide me. My father would never have backed down from a challenge. and after all, I am a Maddox

----CASE FILE----

Name: Angela Bryce
Age: 35
Sex: Female
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 120
Ethnicity: White

: Profile:

Angela Bryce suspect in a series of 40 murders. All victims were young attractive men between the ages 25-30. Suspect is extremely dangerous. All evidence at this time is circumstantial but she is the only connection between all murders making her the primary and only suspect. Ms. Bryce is to be escorted by train to NY where she will attend trial to be prosecuted for these crimes.

-----

As I read further is stated that I, Katherine Maddox, would be her escort for her protection as well as the protection as others. It also mentioned that the Suspect had an extreme skin condition called Xeroderma pigmentosum; an autosomal, recessive disorder. For Those of you who don't know, It results from a genetic defect in the body's ability to repair its own DNA. Individuals with this rare disease suffer from skin discoloration, ulcers, skin and muscle atrophy. These people are subject to premature development of skin cancers. In simple terms sun equals bad. Any exposure to sunlight could be fatal. Because of this condition suspect was being transported in light safe box.

It had been about a month since my assignment to Forester, and things had been going smoothly. Walking into the office that morning,however, I could feel the tension. Even the usual crowd at the water cooler eyed me as I walked by. I pushed the uneasy feeling from my mind, but not for long. As I approached the desk I saw a note "my office 11am" it was the chief, the note told me that he had a case to assign me. With a sinking feeling in my stomach I walked toward the chief’s office. I stopped briefly to make sure I looked more composed then I felt. "Never let them see your fear." my father used to tell me. My father, one of the best cops of his time. Now, in his old age was off the force and living in a community for retired officers. I saw my reflection; not bad, I nodded to myself. My face looked calm and my curled hair fell neatly around my shoulders. The chief was looking unkempt, like someone got more coffee then sleep. "Going for the insomnia look I see."

He gave me a half smirk, "I have a case for you." He tossed a case file on the table. I strolled over to pick up the cream envelope. "I warn you Maddox, this is a big one. The department needs this one to go smoothly"

I opened the folder, my fingers flipping through all the paper work "And you think I'm the one for the job?"

His face wrinkled with concern "actually you were requested for this one specifically."

I arched my eyebrows "why assign an investigator for, I read the assignment, 'guard duty.' surely they want someone more qualified."

He shook his head "I don't know why, but this one is yours Kathy"
I shook my head as I continued to read the persons profile. I Had a feeling that I was getting into something I might not be able to handle, but right now I really didn't have a choice in the matter.

The weeks of waiting finally came to an end; all charges on Forester were dropped. Turns out it takes more then someone just getting knocked off in your house to get charged with murder. Since there was an overwhelming lack of evidence Forester was free to go and resume his life as normal.
Only problem with everything that had happened was with all the press and media coverage of the murder even something as small as suspect of murder effected his position greatly. Seems like high end hospitals prefer to keep their noses clean and having a murder suspect on staff isn't the best way to draw in business. So Forester lost his position at the hospital. If his parents hadn’t left him an almost fortune I might have felt sorry for him. I suppose it still must have been hard on him having his reputation pretty much shot to hell even though he had been cleared of all charges. We kept in touch and to what I found out he decided to open up his own private practice. But like anyone with a record things didn't go so well, but given time I was sure things would turn around for him. As for me, I was just glad to be back in my nice little apartment.

mood: sympathetic

It was one of the final nights of my watch at Forester's and I was sitting in bed reading and enjoying the evening breeze from the open window when I was startled by a loud crashing noise that seemed to come from the neighbors. There was quite a bit of open field that separated the two houses so it had to be something pretty big to reach all the way to Foresters. I grabbed my gun and quickly ran down stairs. Forester was standing at attention in his study, obviously as disturbed by the crashing noise as I was.

"Just stay here and out of trouble, Forester, I'm going to check and make sure everything is okay."

Leaving Forester in the middle of a protest, I headed for the neighbors house. I used the tree line that bordered the two properties so I would have the upper hand in case there was anything wrong. Half way to the house I heard foot steps with me in the woods. I hid in the shadows of a large tree to find out who exactly was there with me, though I already had a pretty good Idea who it was.
"Forester," I said as he came into view "what the hell are you doing here?"

He gave me a shrug “trying to help?"

"More like trying to get my butt in trouble," I said glaring at him. ”Now go home... or does the meaning of 'House Arrest' escape you!"

He sighed at me and turned back toward his house. I watched until he was swallowed by the darkness of the forest; only then did I turn my attention toward the neighbors house. It was only a few minutes more before I could see the house I saw the couple surrounded by a pack of large dogs, or possibly wolfs. Also I could see the source of the loud sound. A tree from the back yard had crashed onto the house, damaging a good part of the back corner. A large African American man stood in the back yard fending off a large animal, a lot like the dog but based on the size must have been a large bear or something. The pack of dogs seemed to be attacking it as well; a small slender blonde woman was hiding behind the large man. Honestly everything after that blurred together. I fired off my gun in hopes to scare the dogs off. It worked and the man took the woman inside. I tried to question the man, whose name I found out was Moses, but he made it clear that he didn't want to discuss the issue any further he just simply stated that a large pack of wild dogs had decided to get into a fight in their back yard and he was trying to chase them off. He did not even offer an explanation as to how the tree even crashed. As if his rushing me off wasn't enough; after I had gone back to check on Forester he actually came to the house and threatened me. He told me that if I didn't leave something bad was going to happen. It isn't like a Maddox to back down or to show fear in a situation like that but I have to say that Moses just out right made me unsettled. You know that feeling you get when you just know something is wrong and you want to be anywhere but there? well as that 7ft man stood at Foresters door looking down at me that’s exactly how I felt.

"Leave or something bad is going to happen."

I mustered up all of my will to face him in eyes. "Are you threatening an officer sir?"

I actually think he growled at me for that comment. It was a low, dangerous growl that didn't sound human. Suddenly I found myself thinking that confronting him by myself might not have been the best of ideas; leave it to me and my big mouth. Either way it seemed that he got the desired effect he wanted because he gave me one last warning glare and turned to leave.

mood: uncomfortable

Staying with Forester was an eye opening experience. Since his house, which was more like a mansion, was out in the middle of no where I had to stay as a not so welcome guest. Most of my time was spent trying to feel out Foresters character. If he was guilty then I needed to know what I was getting myself into... but if he was innocent then he must know something. Call me an optimist but the more time I spent with him the more I had a feeling he was more of the kind of person that knew something he wasn't willing to tell the police, at least on record.

mood: curious

Well you already know my name but let me get the ever so popular 'about you' section taken care of. I am 29 years old and have always known that I wanted to be a cop; it’s a Maddox tradition. My father was a cop, as was his father before him. Since my mom didn't have a boy that left it up to me to carry on the Maddox tradition. I would like to say that I made my father proud. He never said so but I could tell by the way he acted.

I'm a sort of tom boy, with blond hair that curls slightly and blue eyes. I'm only 5'3" but don't let that fool you. I am a black belt in karate and have taken several self defense classes; I can hold my own.

The only thing else I can say is I'm good at what I do and I enjoyed being a cop, it almost killed me when I lost my job. How did that happen you ask? Well you will just have to read to find out more about that... can't give everything away all at once you know.

mood: good