INT. DOWNTOWN EVENING. OCTOBER 31, 2025, 7:30 P.M.
Nadia stared grumpily up at the sky, her arms crossed, unhappy with the dark clouds looming overhead. Gabriel noticed Nadia's actions outside his windshield and decided not to dwell on it; honestly, he couldn't help but feel the same way. Thankfully they were getting paid overtime for willingly patrolling the Halloween fair this year, granted it's less them patrolling and more of them waiting for this attack on Blake to happen.
On Wednesday, after Blake left the kitchen, Gabriel ended up taking notes on everything he had learned, including the details of his abilities. He spent the majority of the day doing that and quizzing Blake on everything with what Gabriel dubbed the supernatural (term pending). Everything can be broken down into three categories, though Gabriel made a fourth category strictly for vampires.
The First Category was Demons, Demons are anything from the underworld (also known as Hell), per what Blake explained. Demons can be born through demons having intercourse, or from humans by multiple different ways. One way is by going to Hell, another is by willingly becoming a servant of a demon and getting blessed by a Demon gaining abilities, the biggest way which happens the most is by becoming a vessel. Demons that got banished and lost their original bodies will have to take on a new form from a recently dead body or a human willingly giving their body over. Humans can also steal the essence of demons through a ritual, or tournament, as in the case of the 7 deadly sins that have changed from the original 7 over the years. Officially killing a demon (which means they can't come back) is through the use of Holy Magic, which at the moment only three people alive can use which doesn't include Holy Relics, which have only enough magic to defeat demons but not kill. Exorcisms can send them back to Hell for a time, and a true believer of the Bible is able to do so as well.
Gabriel let out a loud sigh as he closed his notebook, not really wanting to read the other information, thinking it would be irrelevant for today. Truthfully he still had more questions that needed answers, but with the crowning of the new Pope, the Catholic Church that handled most cases like this is busy trying to fix the corruption that has popped up inside of it. Blake did his best to answer questions, but he and the church had a falling out over a case, leading to the revocation of Blake's right to information and assistance about ten years back. In the entire city besides Gabriel, there are Nadia, Blake, Captain Drake, a lawyer that Blake has worked with named Ron, and the Police Commissioner who has an inkling of the supernatural world. There are probably more criminals that know, but everyone knows it's better not to mention it, lest they be hunted down. Though, with the age of the internet, you'd think there'd be more pictures or something floating around to show how well the church does its job at covering up everything.
Gabriel leaned his head against the window, watching out the windshield as more cars pulled into the parking lot. Various people were getting out of cars, most in costumes, some with children, groups of teens, even some couples all laughing and going inside the fair. It's called the Freight Night Fair, an event hosted the last Friday/Saturday of October. Usually they shut down the roads around downtown, near where the park is, and they have various games, rides, foods, etc. After eleven they usually usher the kids out, and turn into a place for drinking for those twenty-one and older. Gabriel heard the passenger door open, and Nadia mumbled complaining as she entered the car. He reached forward and turned the car on, allowing Nadia to warm herself up with the heat. It was around 55 degrees tonight, and with the slight breeze it felt colder, still warm enough to enjoy the night and not be too terribly cold when they finally went on patrol.
"Ugh, I wish we could also dress up for the night," Nadia whined, leaning forward in her seat.
Gabriel turned his head to look at her, and noticed a longing in her eye as she stared at the multiple people moving around. "I was never really one for dressing up, even as a kid. I preferred studying or exercising."
Nadia turned her head to look at him in horror. "Did you just say you never dressed up for Halloween?" she asked, her voice growing louder.
Gabriel nodded. "That's right, I never went trick-or-treating either. I thought it was childish, now that I think about it I still find it childish.
Nadia began shaking Gabriel's shoulders, tears welling in her eyes. "THE Humanity! The lack of childhood! We have to make up for it! Have you at least been to the Freight Fair?"
"Hmm, once many years ago, unless you count when I was on night shift and had to work in this area," Gabriel responded, gently removing Nadia's hands from his shoulders.
Nadia's eyes still had tears threatening to spill, her lips quivering at his reply. "Ugh Gabs, that sounds so sad and boring!
Gabriel raised an eyebrow at that nickname. "Gabs,really you can just use my name"
"Ugh, the fun with those nicknames is how you connect with someone," Nadia refuted.
Gabriel once again nodded in response to what she said. "Do what you do. I suppose anything is better than being called Grumpy Pants all the time."
Nadia sat back, closing her eyes, her lips forming a small smirk . "I knew you'd come over to my side Gabs, as the resident fun expert I won't leave wanting for fun."
"Can you hear me? Over!" a woman's voice interrupted, slightly static.
Gabriel grabbed his police radio out of the cupholder in the center between the two seats. "Loud and clear, Alex. The West Side and entrance of the event have plenty coming in now. How does the East side look, Blake, over?"
"It's going, pretty boring, seeing I'm at the back of the fair. I saw a couple of punks trying to sneak through a gap and I stopped them," came Blake's unsavory response, his tone dry and annoyed.
"Keep up the work, you two, and keep us informed of any suspicious activity," Gabriel finished before putting his radio back down.
"Yeah, yeah Mom we got it", came Blake's snarky reply before the line went quiet. Gabriel just shook his, Blake always having something sarcastic to say.
Time flew by quickly as Gabriel and Nadia sat in the parking lot. Around eight-thirty is when they're supposed to be doing foot patrols which consist of them walking around the fair and making sure nothing is amiss. Gabriel glanced at the clock and saw it was eight twenty-five not too much longer till they had to get out. Gabriel is dressed in plain clothes for once, not wearing a suit. He's wearing black boots, black cargo pants, a white undershirt, and a black fleece hoodie with white fur inside. Nothing fancy, but not so casual that he didn't look like a cop. He still has his badge, and a new gun he got yesterday when he went up to the station looking for people to help watch the fair today. He took a note from Blake and used a shoulder holster, with his badge on a lanyard, easily concealed. As for the help, he got a couple of beat cops, including a young woman named Alex, and two young men going by Eddie and Devon. Also, three older cops named Barbara, Eddie, and Levi are also walking around helping. The nine of them were the ones assigned to watch over everything, not including the security the fair had on hand and the night shift on the police force. To Gabriel, it feels kind of disingenuous not being able to tell the others what to look out for. He couldn't help but let out a loud sigh, disappointed with having to keep secrets. Granted, Gabriel isn't the most outgoing, but leading people without being able to explain everything sucks.
The radio began to crackle as a voice began to speak on it. "Did you see that really hot babe with her friends?" Gabriel identified this as Devon's voice, always sounding cocky and annoying.
"The ones dressed as sexy nuns and nurses?" Eddie replied, his voice just as annoying to Gabriel.
"Yeah!" Devon replied, his voice turning low, almost sexual. "Don't those babies have a nice rack."
"I think they're as—," Eddie rebutted.
Nadia angrily grabbed Gabriel's radio from the cupholder. "Can you two dumbasses not say weird shit over the radio? Better yet, next time I hear some perverted shit I will come find you and kick your asses myself!"
"Ugh, what the fuck crawled up your ass and died?" Devon snarkily stated.
"Want to come over here and repeat that?" Nadia argued.
"Ladies, ladies, get back to work," Blake told them, his voice strict. "This radio is for emergencies pertaining to the case Gabriel and I are working on. If you can't handle that, leave. I don't have time for useless officers."
"Yes, sir, sorry, sir," came Devon's voice, followed by Eddie's.
Nadia glared at the radio, waiting for anyone else to say anything, but the line stayed quiet. Gabriel watched all of this, but wisely decided to stay out of it. Spending the past week with Nadia taught him it's better not to get too involved, lest she turn her anger onto you. Gabriel looked at the clock on the dashboard and saw it was 8:30 so he cut the car off before opening up the door. The slight chill of the night air made me shiver slightly. "Time to go, Nadia," He started, not waiting for a reply as he got out of the car, shutting the door behind him.
Gabriel heard some grumbling from behind him as the door shut, but he ignored it, heading for the gate. With Nadia on his heels, they made their way to the front of Fright Night Fair Grounds. The entrance itself was a giant pumpkin with moving skeleton arms around it. Below it were metal gates with a booth, and a turnstile to the right of it. Gabriel's eyes were still on the entrance. He had an ominous feeling coming from it; maybe it was a trick of the light, but sometimes the eyes would glow red on the pumpkin. "What are you looking at?" Nadia asked, breaking Gabriel from his trance.
"Nothing, just excited to go inside," replied Gabriel, looking down at Nadia.
"Hell yeah! Stick with me, and I promise you'll have a great time."
Gabriel let out a sigh, "Yeah, yeah, Sensei, let's go grab our tickets so we can head inside."
"YES! LET'S GO!" Nadia cheered, roughly grabbing Gabriel's arm and dragging him to the entrance gates. She jumped around impatiently as they waited in line. Gabriel and Nadia were supposed to be undercover, which is why they were buying tickets instead of just walking in by flashing their badges. Thankfully for Gabriel, the line wasn't that long, only taking less than a few minutes before reaching the front. He doesn't think that he would be able to last with Nadia if the line was any longer. "Two tickets, my good sir!" Nadia shouted as soon as they reached the booth.
"That'll be twenty dollars," the girl, who looked around her late teens, behind the booth replied, leaning lazily against the counter.
Gabriel didn't say anything as he handed the girl twenty dollars, taking the two wristbands and handing one of them to Nadia. The girl didn't say anything else as the duo walked into the park. Gabriel quickly put his wristband on, looking around at the inside of the Fair, seeing all of the people walking around. "Ugh, this stupid thing is so hard to put on," Nadia muttered to herself. Gabriel, who overheard it, let out a sigh. He grabbed her hand, still surprised at how soft it was, and put the wristband on for her. "Thanks," she mumbled as she shyly looked away, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
"No problem," Gabriel replied, though if you looked closely you could see his aura around his hands turn slightly pink for a moment. Doing his best not to look at her, he looked around the Fair. There were multiple food stands, stands for games, and a few rides littered around. So many people dressed in outfits like Spider-Man, Superman, nurses, nuns; someone was even dressed as Ash from Evil Dead. Actually, now that he thinks of it, isn't his life similar to Ash's at this point? "Hopefully I don't lose a hand like he does",Gabriel thought to himself, a shivering going down his spring.
Nadia, not paying attention, lightly took Gabriel's hand once again, dragging him to a big booth with giant stuffed animals. "I refuse to leave this park or do anything until I win one of those elephants," she declared, pointing at a big elephant wearing a witch outfit.
Gabriel let out a small sigh but allowed himself to be dragged, he did look around to see if anything suspicious was going on. Besides what looked like some teens pouring something into a cup they were drinking (Gabriel will keep an eye out in case they start showing signs of being drunk), nothing out of the ordinary was going on. The booth was surrounded by only a couple of people when they finally reached it. The booth itself was decorated in purple and black with various fake spider webs, bats, and pumpkins. "Gather around, gather around! The name of this game is Coin Toss. The only goal is to flick a twenty-five cent piece into one of the holes. If you make it in, you pick a prize simple, right? If you need quarters, simply ask me and I'll give them to you, free in exchange for a dollar of exchange, you see," A young man rhymed, speaking into a microphone that's connected to an earpiece.
"Wait in this spot," Nadia ordered Gabriel pointing to a corner not having anyone around it, before running off, presumably to get quarters.
Gabriel gripped his nose in annoyance. "Wait here, she says? Not like we have a case or anything to work on," he muttered to himself walking over to the spot, and starting waiting for him. While waiting he did take a glance, partially visible. Blake never looked into the moon phase angle he was working on, maybe because he was still waiting for his contacts in the church. Gabriel would rather be wrong than a world wide phenomenon happening because they didn't figure it out in time.
Without the sun out, Gabriel could admit he didn't feel as energetic as usual. It's not like he feels drained, he just doesn't feel like he just drank coffee or some energy. It didn't help that he still had a really bad feeling as he looked around at everyone laughing, having fun, enjoying themselves at the fair. His aura turned a green before going back to white as he admitted to himself that he felt a little jealous of others being able to express themselves so freely. Nadia finally came back, allowing Gabriel to move from his thoughts, watching as she failed over and over to get the quarters in the hole. Yeah, yeah, it's going to be a long night for everyone.