Detective Jeremy Kyle pulled up into his driveway. The house had been his parent's until they both died in a car crash almost a decade ago. They had left the house behind, and rather than sell the house, Kyle only packed all the stuff and placed it in a self-storage unit.
Getting out of his car, Kyle grabbed his mail before going into his house. Inside, he went straight to the kitchen and dropped the mail on the counter. He took off his windbreaker and unholstered his gun before placing them on the counter, followed by his badge.
He then dived into his fridge, grabbed the milk bottle, and placed it on the counter before reaching for a glass.
This was the second night after his run-in with Raymond. So far, the events of that night left nothing but a black hole of information. Even now, the events that happened on that night kept playing inside is ahead, but nothing made sense.
When Kyle woke up, Raymond was gone but what was strange was that his gun badge and phone had been neatly placed on the table beside there the bed. He was, however unharmed and had gone straight home before going back to work like nothing had happened.
Since then, Kyle had tried to bury himself in his work. But every time he was free like tonight, then everything about that night comes back. The events keep playing inside his head, and Kyle couldn't make any sense of it.
He had just taken a sip when suddenly the power went off. That was strange. Kyle walked to the nearest window and peeked outside. There were still lights coming from the neighbors.
Kyle shrugged and turned to go back to the kitchen counter when a glint caught his eyes. He immediately reached for his gun on the counter and opened one of the drawers to grab a flashlight. He switched the safety and swept around his kitchen, but he found no one.
'Kitchen clear.'
His gun firmly in his grip, Kyle moved into his living room. Keeping a close eye on every still shadow while expanding the scope of his peripheral to look for any slight movements. The dark room slowly became more illuminated by moonlight as his eyes finally adjusted to the sudden darkness. Kyle began to rely on his sight more than memory to navigate around his living room.
The Detective went to check on his front door. It was locked as he had left it earlier. Turning around, he went back across the living room and into the guest room.
'Check.'
Bathroom.
'Check.'
Even the closet turned out empty. That left three more rooms upstairs. Kyle turned back to the living room; everything was eerily quiet apart from his pounding heart. Slowly but resolutely, he made his way past the living room heading for the staircase.
On his way there, something caught his sight again. Another quick silvery glint reflected off one of the vases near the wall, forcing all the hair on his back to stand.
Instinctively, Kyle ducked forward, followed by a roll on the floor. He felt a slight cold draft hit the back of his exposed neck, making him grimace and inwardly curse throughout his improvised forward roll.
His roll ended and Kyle immediately repositioned his aim towards where the attack came from, only to realize he was too slow as his attack had already recovered their miss and was advancing on him. His aim was interrupted by a kick that Kyle could swear the intruder cracked several of his fingers. What was even worse, Kyle lost his balance, and the gun was also sent flying across the room.
Kyle staggered backward to gain some distance, but his attacker had anticipated this move and followed through by raising both of their arms. That brief moment gave him the time to appraise his attacker. He was wearing black and was almost the same height as him though a lot slimmer and his attacker's movements reminded Kyle of an Olympic level gymnast.
That brief moment also allowed him to see the black mask the attacker was wearing that completely concealed their face, but Kyle could still make out his eyes which were emotionless and were sharply trained at him. In his attacker's grip, there was a long shining sword that radiated a cold aura. Kyle didn't think and dashed forward while still wobbling on his feet to tackle the intruder.
Kyle heard his attacker gasp when he connected with their midriff as his attacker was caught off-guard by the sudden move. Once Kyle connected, he planted both his feet firmly on the floor before driving up and into his attacker with his right shoulder, lifting them. Kyle then smashed the attacker into his coffee table, creating a loud crash.
Kyle didn't wait to give his attacker the opportunity to recover and immediately reached for their sword with his broken hands. A cold numbing pain followed as Kyle saw another blade go through his forearm, forcing him to groan out in pain.
'Hidden dagger! Of course, he has a hidden dagger.'
The renewed pain on his already battered hands made Kyle hesitate subconsciously, and the intruder capitalized on it. Kyle felt himself being lifted and thrown over his assailants' body. His body sprawled on one of the couches at an odd angle. Luckily the impact was all cushioned.
Stifling down his pain, Kyle reoriented himself only to feel something hard smash into his jaw, eliciting a barely audible crunch and blurring his vision. Kyle once again felt his head hit the floor without anything to lessen the impact. He tried to get up and make a run for it but his head spun so fast he ended up kneeling with his battered hands grabbing the rug as he forced himself not to throw up.
It was all Kyle could do without passing out from all the pain he felt. Time seemed to slow down and his vision slowly cleared only for Kyle to see the dark clothed figure stand in front of his kneeling position.
Kyle was once again drawn to those lifeless eyes that seem to give the impression that his attacker had been doing this for a very long time and everything Kyle did was just delaying the inevitable.
Kyle's attacker didn't waste any time and swiftly raised his sword and went straight for the killing blow. Kyle Flinched and inwardly cursed at his misfortune. Never did he imagine this was the way he would go down. As the sword came down, Kyle closed his eyes and flinched.
There were three rapid phut sounds followed by a warm spray that hit Kyle's face.
Opening his eyes, Kyle stared into the bewildered eyes of his attackers and saw a look of shock, disbelieve, and finally anger before his assailant dropped his sword and fell next to him.
Several heavily armed black cladded figures swiftly walked into Kyle's living room and quickly passed him. They swept every corner before going from room to room and finally some went upstairs.
Almost half a minute passed before all the darkly clothed men gathered in his living room, each took a position either near a window or the stairs while the rest covered all the doors. Two other figures entered; these ones were not masked.
Kyle could recognize one of them while the other was a complete stranger.
"It seems I came right on time, Detective."
"I told you to stop following me," Kyle gritted. If he was expecting a thank you, then he went looking for it from the wrong person.
"Why would I? You're my best lead yet." The figure completely ignored Kyle and sat on one of his couches. "You don't look so good."
Kyle stared at himself. He was a mess. Between the bleeding arm, the freshly sprayed blood all over his face and chest to the stinging pain he felt from his broken hands and the bump on his head.
Kyle just sighed and leaned back into one of the seats while still on the floor. "I have been in worse shapes than this." He then tilted his head and pointed with his chin at the corpse currently bleeding all over his rug. "Is he one of those you are looking for?"
John frowned and switched his attention to the body lying in a pool of blood. "What makes you say that?"
Kyle's answer was to raise his shattered hand. "All it took was a single kick."
John moved next to the body and removed the mask. A pretty face greeted his sight making John's frown deepen before he looked back at Kyle's battered hand.
"We need to leave, now!" John said firmly to no one in particular before raising to his feet. "Grab the body. Detective, you're coming with me."
Kyle understood his urgency but it didn't mean he would just follow John blindly. "Right now, what I need is a hospital and calling it in, not tagging along with your supernatural hunting group."
"And tell them what exactly? That you were attacked by a supernatural being and was saved by a secret government organization that no one has heard of before?" John snorted as he left without looking back.
"Besides, I happen to have a doctor and some of the answers you're looking for, which, judging by tonight's altercation, someone clearly has their sights on you and doesn't seem to like you snooping around. I'm your best option right now." With that, John walked out of the house, leaving Kyle still seated on the floor, inwardly cursing at his misfortune.
The remaining men quickly started rolling the body together with the rug while others grabbed the broken pieces. A few were even scrubbing off some of the splattered blood and anything else that was visible under their portable UV lights. In less than a minute, they were all done and leaving.
Other than the missing coffee table and rug, no one could tell that just a few minutes ago, there was a life and death struggle. Kyle grunted as he forced his wobbly body up and followed the last of them.