Hecate Files: Blood Advent (UPDATED 6/5)

[Lord Solcia]

(( Greetings all. It has been a long while since I have contributed anything to the short-stories section of the B&C. With some inspiration, I decided to have a go, with school getting out and all that. So, here you are, and I hope you enjoy. ))

 

 

~Hecate Files: Blood Advent~

 

"May the God Emperor preserve us who blaspheme against him, for him, amen."

-Inquisitor Sophia Kunigrande Hecate

 

 

Prologue

 

As a member of the local police force of Chidas, Deputy Gathesmane Branwyn had seen what she had thought was the worse his planet could offer. Theft, drugs, corruption, beat, homicide, Branwyn had been on all of these and more, and it always tugged at Branwyn's heartstrings that her beloved world, the simple agri-world of Chidas, could produce such scum and villainy that always seemed to outdo itself from the last time. She was nowhere near the senior officer at the precinct, but she had seen and acted in things that many civilians could only have nightmares about. However, Deputy Gathesmane Branwyn had never seen the populace of an entire town; even if this one, Verdot, which was so small, simply vanish what was reported as overnight. It seemed that the teams they had sent in before Branwyn's had also mysteriously disappeared in the same fashion. As of now, the only ones left in Verdot was Branwyn, and her two squad-mates, Batto and Lenni, as far as she knew. And in the back of her head, as she peered around dark corners and alleyways with her allies, Branwyn hoped that they were truly alone. And then Branwyn jumped, swinging her pistol to a leaning portion of fence on a barn-wall.

 

"What's wrong, kitten?" Lenni called out, immediately coming up behind her, with the slightly-more-portly Batto trailing behind. Kitten. She hated that nickname.

 

"There's something moving behind there!" Branwyn said, her shoulders tense as she aimed down the pistol's sights, not budging a hair's worth. The eerie isolation of Branwyn's surrounding were getting to her, and gnawing away at her nerves.

 

As the three local police deputies slowly approached the piece of leaning fence, guns trained and wits on high-alert, a small dog erupted from behind the fence. Lenni and Batto let a few shots fly, the bullets finding their way in the dog, which let out a whimpering yelp as it did a few rolls on the dusty ground. Blood from the animal leaked onto the gravel, and the two officers who had taken down the target swore and changed clips.

 

"Hey, good eye, kitten. I suppose our nerves got the best of us, right Batto?" asked Lenni.

 

"Yup! Emperor have mercy on any other dogs we see." Batto joked, the creeping tension from before gone now that their were friendly words in the air.

 

"Er, yeah." Branwyn said, lowering her autopistol, as the three continued along the dusty trail which led through the small farm-town. Branwyn still shook slightly.

 

Truth be told, a sharp eye had nothing to do at all with her inactivity when the dog emerged. Branwyn had simply forgotten to turn the safety off on her weapon. And while she was relieved that it was only a poor old dog that they had encountered, there was also the nagging voice in the back of her head letting her know that if that dog had been something more menacing, then she very well could have died without a fight. She really was the squad's 'kitten'. Branwyn found that she was so meek and absent-minded at times, that she often wondered why she had chosen to become part of the police force.