In the shadow of a full moon, the center of the city of Aegon had been woefully quiet, but the most important conversation that night could be heard through the window of a shabby apartment, two men were arguing.
"So we're going to that party, aren't we?" said the first man.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," responded his timid friend.
"It's our only lead in months!"
"Yes, but it could be another fake lead."
"Following a fake lead is better than sitting here feeling sorry for yourself."
"You, of all people, should know that is not what is going through my mind right now."
"I understand, but hemight be there, Marco."
Marco leaned forward and placed his hands on his knees, there was no way out of it.
"Fine. But, let me do the talking, people don't like you coming out and talking. You're an arrogant bastard and you will blow our cover."
"If I think of something, I'll say it!"
"Whatever, let's get dressed and go to this damned party."
"Vengeance will be ours, Marco. I will take him down no matter what."
Marco nodded.
8 weeks earlier…
God, I am exhausted. I can't believe El Capitan sidelined me again, thought Marco De Luca to himself as he was walking back home from work. Marco was a police officer at the Aegon Police Unit. That stupid Loko is promoted to detective above me. I taught him the science of Rigor Mortis in the academy for God's sake!
Frustration had been his unfortunate friend tonight as it had been all of his life. Ever since he was a child, he was simply unlucky. Some said he was cursed. Others said he was born this way. They sometimes check his head for horns.
He was the kind of man you're not surprised when a bird shits on him three times in three days. That's just the way of the world he told himself. But now seeing Loko, the brute, be promoted ahead of him. It was infuriating. Marco's lifelong dream was to become a detective solving crimes but he simply was not built for it and life made sure he knew it at every turn.
He walked that night in the rain to his apartment in Central Aegon City. It was a wonder he could afford it on his salary. But of course, he did not live alone. The person living with him was the one victory he had achieved all his life. His wife, Fara. Though he dredges through the mud of his day to day life and is submerged in filth, Fara was always there to pull him out of the dirt so he could emerge a better man.
Marco unlocked the door of his small apartment and to his extreme joy, there she was standing, waiting for him to arrive. The smell of hearty stew on the oven and her bright smile greeted him.
It's worth it. All of the suffering that I have gone through and will continue to go through, if it is payment to have Fara by my side then I will pay that suffering tenfold.
His clothes were still wet from the rain, but it was no matter, she embraced him anyway, "How was work today? Did you finally get promoted?"
He looked down in disappointment and she immediately knew what that meant. He had failed, again.
"They promoted Loko instead."
She held his cold hands, "It's okay, my love, you'll get through next time. I believe in you. You will be the best detective in Aegon—no, the world."
Marco gave her a faint smile. She still believed in him and that kept him going. It would fuel him and flame the fire of motivation within him. But nothing would fuel his desire to become a detective more than solving her murder.
On a snowy winter night, Marco had attended the ceremony held to award exceptional detectives. Tens of people were at the event but they all came to a halt and silence when a well-dressed middle-aged gentleman walked in.
Someone in the crowd said, "Is that…? No way."
Another muttered, "Could it be?"
One man coughed a round of dry coughs.
El Capitan sniffed and went to shake the man's hand eagerly, "El Capitan Rynus at your service, Mr Baronne Fenzi! It is such a pleasure to meet you!"
Marco had never seen the captain act this way, but he didn't question it. The man that had just graced them with his presence was none other than, the world's greatest detective, Baronne Fenzi.
In his deep but playful voice, he responded to the captain, "Pleasure to meet you, El Capitan. How's your wife? Does she still have the Hare's flu?"
The captain's jaw dropped, "But how—how could you know? I've never met you in my life, sir!"
"The yellow grains of powdered medicine on your sleeve, you must have been spoon feeding her the medicine yourself, what a thoughtful husband!"
"But how did you know she had the flu?"
"When I walked in, one of your men coughed very dry coughs, consistent with the symptoms of the Hare's Flu."
"So?"
Baronne looked almost frustrated as if it were obvious to everyone, "Well, look at yourself! Your nose, it's red and you keep sniffing every half second! You don't exhibit any other signs of the flu meaning you dealt with it very recently. And seeing as how a member of your team also has it, it is safe to say that it has been passing around your team and it wouldn't be outrageous to presume that your wife had caught it from you. It's simple really."
"You deduced all that since you walked in the room?"
"God no. I deduced more than that, but we don't have the time to discuss all that."
Everyone was floored. None more than the hopeful future detective, Marco De Luca. So this is the greatest detective in the world? Holy hells!
Baronne whispered something to the captain, to which the captain responded, "Yes, sir! The director is in his office!"
The crowd was muttering to one another about how amazing Baronne was, but Marco stood in silence in the corner of the room, his white shirt stained with coffee from a spill. He was dejected, distraught, utterly hopeless. If that's the best, then how can I possibly rise to that level? Can I? I don't know if I can, Fara.
Marco returned home that night devoid of any hope that his dream would become a reality. At least Fara was still there for him and that is what kept him going. He walked up the stairs until he reached his apartment, with each step disdaining himself and his abilities. He finally reached the hall and walked towards the apartment door.
He noticed something very strange, the door was wide open and light was seeping into the hallway. It was very unlike Fara to leave the door ajar, that was something Marco would do. He started worrying and hastily reached the door, "Fara! Are you okay?"
Nothing.
He walked in panicked, "Fara! Where are you?"
Yet again he was met with silence.
Then he walked closer to the kitchen but not before looking down and seeing the puddle of blood leaking from the kitchen into the living room. No, no, no!
Marco ran towards the kitchen door and behind it, Fara was there, lying on the ground and covered in a pool of her own blood. "No! Fara!"
He fell to the ground and held her, shook her, to no avail she was unconscious. She lost a lot of blood. Who did this!?
Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone moving behind the window and on the balcony. It was a man in a yellow striped suit. His face was obscured by the night but his suit was brighter than the moon itself.
Marco gently placed his wife down then ran after the murderer on the balcony, "You! Come back here!"
But the man jumped and then seemingly vanished into thin air. Marco ran after him but found nothing but the curtains rustling from the wind. He went back to his wife's side, "Fara, please wake up."
Tears now streamed down his face, "Please, you are the only thing good in this miserable existence. Please wake up."
Alas she did not wake up. He stayed by her side and cried profusely for hours.
Two days later…
When Fara was buried, Marco's will to live was entombed with her. But one thing dragged his will from the grave, the Man in The Yellow Suit. He stood over her grave while tears ran down his face, I will bring him to justice, no matter what! I promise you, Fara! Then after that I can join you in the next life.
That same day he made his way to work. Captain Rynus told him to stand down and go home, but Marco wouldn't have it. His normally verdant eyes had turned red with fury. He walked past the captain and barged into the director's office.
The director was startled, "Officer Marco? Do you care to explain yourself?"
"Sir, I would like to know the whereabouts of Baronne Fenzi!"
The director sighed, "He won't take your case on, son. Do you know how many cases he receives in a day? Hundreds."
"That's not for you to decide, sir. His address, please."
"If you insist," the director took a slip of paper and wrote down the address. Marco grabbed it and turned around to leave.
"Be careful, son."
Marco nodded and then left.
The address on the piece of paper was:
1299 Via de Firenze, Aegon City
Marco arrived at the address. It was a large townhouse. He knocked on the door. No one answered. He tried a hundred more times but no one received him. Marco stayed there for hours past midnight. He received no response.
Sitting down on the ground, disheartened but patient, finally he heard something, a loud scream coming from the house.
Marco climbed the fence and broke into the house through the front door. The screams still echoed. It was a man. Upstairs.
He ran up the stairs and then arrived outside the room the noise was coming from. The door was open. He walked in and saw Baronne Fenzi bleeding on a bed and writhing in agony, "You, help!"
Marco ran over to him and put pressure on his wound, it looked like the same one his wife had received from the man in the yellow suit, a slash wound across the torso. His blood has turned the bed crimson. Marco put pressure on the wound but the blood loss, it was too much.
"Listen to me! You will have to save my life, there's no chance of any help arriving in time," he said while in agony, "Get a knife from the drawer and cut your palm, once the blood starts flowing, cup some of my blood, mix the two and drink!"
"What the hell are you talking about!?"
"Just do it, you moron! Now!"
Marco did as he asked. He grabbed the dagger and cut himself then cupped some of Baronne's blood which wasn't hard considering he was bleeding buckets.
"How do I mix it?"
"You idiot! Mix it in your mouth!"
His cupped hands were now full with his and Fenzi's blood, he took a deep breath in then proceeded to take the blood and gurgle it in his mouth, then he swallowed it.
Baronne then ripped some of his hair off his head and handed it to Marco, "Now eat this."
"Wha—"
"JUST DO IT!"
"Fine!"
Marco obliged and swallowed the strands of grey hair.
Baronne yelled, "I summon thee, thou who rulest the darkness and the light; save me from my plight."
The large glass door leading to the balcony burst open from a strong gust of wind. Suddenly a shadowy figure appeared as if from behind a cloud and leaped onto the balcony. His features were almost intentionally obscured by the darkness, "Are you sure you want to do this?" He grinned.
"Yes, yes, get on with it!" Baronne responded.
The shadowy figure laughed and turned toward Marco, "And you?"
Marco was less sure but he nodded, "Yes."
The figure could not contain his laughter, "This is going to be an interesting era."
What does that even mean?
The weird figure pulled out a ladle and scooped out the light from the moon and it transformed into a glowing juice. What in God and Hell's names?
"Drink," he said.
Baronne and Marco obliged and drank from the ladle. They both lost consciousness to the sound of that weird creature's laughter.
"Wha…" Marco woke up on the floor of Baronne's bedroom, his vision was blurred. "What the hell just happened?"
He stood up and saw that Baronne's body had disappeared, even the blood on his bed had vanished.
Was that some sick dream? How am I still here? He thought to himself.
Then out of nowhere, he heard a response, "No, that was not a dream."
What the? Did I speak that out loud? He turned around and didn't see anyone behind him.
"No, you didn't but I can hear your thoughts, moron!"
How? Where are you anyway?
"Inside your head. The ritual we did last night, it transferred my soul and consciousness to your body, that is why I can do this," Marco's right hand raised a middle finger.
That is insane! Have I gone insane?
"You blithering fool, if it weren't real you wouldn't still be in my house, would you?"
Marco didn't even know how to respond.
"Which reminds me, we have to get out of here."
Why? This is your house.
Baronne somehow sighed without any air, "Exactly. It's my house. And you are a stranger."
Right. Let's get out of here. I have some things I have to tell you.
Marco made his way out of Baronne's house and into the street. They were headed to his apartment.
"I know, I've seen it. The Man in The Yellow Suit. I've been chasing him for years, but he is just simply too cautious, I'm surprised he even let you see him."
Did he murder you too?
"One, I'm clearly still alive, you clown. Two, I suspect so. I didn't see my attacker but it would not be a terrible assumption to think he did it."
So I guess we have a common goal then.
"And now he thinks I'm dead. For the first time in years I'm a step ahead. I will catch him and put an end to him."
You mean we will catch him?
Baronne laughed.