• Andretti Estate
    December 18
    2352 hours

    "Damn rain," Tony said as he did his rounds on the balcony of his boss' huge mansion.
    "Shut up Tony," said his partner Dino. He was worried, it was too cold out to be raining, it was at least twenty seven degrees, past the freezing point. No, it should have been snowing. This was completely unnatural.
    It had been clear skies until a few hours ago. Then suddenly dark clouds just rolled in and began to pour and hadn't let up since. It had been hard to see when there was still light out, but now it was almost one in the morning and he could barely see the ground one story below.
    He was a little nervous. Last night the Boss' main guy had been gunned down in the middle of the street and from the looks of him, they hit him with a big frakking hand cannon. Dino was pretty sure that whoever had done it wouldn't be able to get onto the estate without them hearing it first, the alarm would definitely go off, but the unnatural rain would make seeing them on the cameras impossible.
    Dino looked over at Tony, who was whistling, he didn't seem too concerned with the crap that was going on. He was leaning over the railing, the rain falling off the roof and missing his head by mere inches. Dino turned away from his partner and looked around. He really didn't like this.
    Creak...
    Crack...
    "What the..." Dino thought as he turned and found that he was alone on the balcony. "Uh...Tony?"
    He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out his .45, holding it up just over his flashlight as he began to slowly inch forward, "Tony?" But he received no response.
    He made his way to the corner, "Tony?"
    "What?" Tony said as he came around the corner. Dino jumped and aimed the gun at him, then lowered it.
    "Dammit Tony!" He said too him as he replaced his gun in its shoulder holster under his jacket.
    "What? Did you think the Jersey Devil got me?"
    He began to laugh, then suddenly he jerked forward and his smile vanished.
    "Tony?" Dino asked.
    Tony opened his mouth too speak but all the came out was blood, it dribbled down his chin and onto his suit. Dino looked down to see the long blade sticking out of his dead partner's chest. It slid back into his body and his lifeless corpse fell to the floor. Dino stood in shock as he stared at the figure that stood behind where Tony had been standing. Suddenly its hand shot forward and grabbed Dino by the face; lifted him a few inches off the ground and slammed him against the wall of the house. Dino's eyes widened and he tried to yell out, but with the figure's hand covering his mouth all that came out was a muffled squeak.
    The long bladed dagger that it had used to kill Tony came up quick and went straight for his eye.
    His flashlight fell from his nerveless hand and clattered to the ground, then flickered and went out...

    "Damn lights," Thought Frankie as he walked through the down the hallway so he could get one of the boys to go down to the basement to check and see if they could get the generator and hopefully get the damned power back on.
    He leaned over the banister and yelled down into the darkness of the first floor.
    “Yo Vinny!"
    "Yeah Boss?"
    “Send one of the boys down and get the generator running. Boss wants his lights!"
    "Sure thing!"
    Frankie turned and began walking back down the hallway to the boss' room when suddenly the window he was walking beside exploded and something came flying in at him. He dove to the side, pulled his gun, and fired two rounds into it. It hit the wall and then fell to the carpeted floor and lay motionless.
    "What was that?"
    "It came from upstairs!"
    "Go check it out you morons!"
    Frankie moved slowly over to the mass as he aimed his pistol at it and gave it a closer look; it was a body and even in the dark and with the gaping hole in its face he could tell it was Dino
    He turned quickly and brought his pistol up to bear at the shattered window, moving cautiously towards it. He tried to penetrate the darkness outside the window, but couldn’t; behind him he heard the men from downstairs running down the hallway towards him.
    “Everyone on alert! There’s been a breach! Dino’s been killed, but there’s no sign of Tony. I want everyone to search the grounds for intruders and somebody find Tony!”
    Frankie watched them all leave then turned and looked down at the body once more, in the excitement he had forgotten to have someone move it before the boss started to complain.
    Suddenly he was seized from behind and a hand covered his mouth as he was pulled out into the darkness.

    The garage was pretty creepy when there were no lights; that’s what Giovanni thought as he swept the beam of his flashlight over the many cars that filled the building. He squinted as one of the other guy’s light went into his eyes.
    “Hey! Watch it!” He yelled at the man.
    “Sorry about that.”
    “Whatever. Did any of you find anything?”
    “No, we’re the only ones here.”
    “Alright, let’s get out of here and get back to the house.”
    They moved towards the door and Giovanni grabbed the handle.
    CLANG
    The noise echoed through the dark room.
    He turned and looked back at the men behind him.
    “What was that?” he whispered.
    “Sounded like something metal hitting the floor.”
    “Was it one of you?”
    “No, everyone’s right here.”
    “It came from over by the workbenches.”
    They all turned and brought their guns up.
    Giovanni made a signal with his hand for everyone to spread out and to move towards where the noise had come from.
    They began to inch forward, moving slowly between the cars, everyone shining their lights in each vehicle they passed. The going was slow and the garage was big.
    They converged on the workbenches almost as one, bringing their firearms up and sweeping about with their flashlights.
    “It’s only a wrench.” One of the men said aloud, making the others jump.
    Everyone turned and saw a beam of light resting on a wrench that lay on the cement floor of the garage.
    “But how did it fall?” another asked.
    The flashlights flickered.
    “My batteries must be dying,” said one man.
    “All of our batteries can’t be bad.”
    “I just put new ones in mine.”
    The lights in the garage flickered a bit then went dark once more.
    They all turned and put their backs to one another, making a circle.
    The flashlights flickered once more and then went out.
    Screams…
    Grunts…
    Gunshots…
    Glass breaking…
    Moans of pain…
    Silence…

    “What is going on in my house!” Gino Andretti, the head of the Andretti crime family, screamed into a radio. But it was dead; it had gone dead about twenty minutes after the electricity had gone out. Every now and then it would flicker with life and he would get small transmissions. Growls, screams, gunshots, whimpers, pleads for mercy. But then it would die again, leaving him with nothing but static.
    He had been isolated in his room for the last two hours and it was maddening. There was something out there that was slowly killing his men and he knew he was next. But what was it?
    There was a scratching on the door. Not loud, but soft, like a kitten scratching at the carpet.
    Gino moved over to his desk and pulled a pistol out of one of the drawers and pointed it at the door, but made no move towards it.
    The scratching stopped; then started again, more urgently this time. Fear clutched at Gino’s chest as he watched the door.
    The sound grew louder and louder until it no longer like a kitten, but more like a lion stripping the bark from a tree.
    The sound ground and ground at Gino’s nerves and he gritted his teeth until he could take no more and he slowly moved towards the door. He brought his hand up to unlock the knob, but as soon as he touched it the scratching stopped.
    Gino moved back away from the door and stared at it for several minutes, and nothing happened.
    Scratch…
    Silence…
    Scratch…
    Silence…
    BOOM…
    Something pounded on the door making Gino jump.
    BOOM.
    BOOM.
    BOOM.
    He could take no more and fired several shots into the door, which was completely pointless because the door was two inch thick oak.
    Silence for a moment.
    BOOM!
    The door flew inward, pivoting on its hinges and smacking hard into the wall then swung back a bit and hung awkwardly on its hinges.
    Gino stared at the thing that strolled into his room. It was tall and it’s face was hidden in the shadows of the hood that was attached to the long dark coat that it wore.
    “I bring a message Gino Andretti,” it said in a barely audible voice.
    “What?” Gino said incredulously
    “I bring a message from my father.”
    “You kill my men and nearly give me a heart attack to bring me a message?”
    “It is a message for this city.”
    “What is it?”
    “You, Gino Andretti.”
    Gino’s eyes widened and he brought his gun up and fired, unloading the last of his rounds into the things torso.
    It fell to the ground in a heap and lie still.
    Gino breathed hard for a few moments, then he smiled and began to laugh. He turned and walked to his desk, turning back once he reached it, only to find himself face to face with the shadows of that dark hood.
    “You can’t kill me Gino Andretti.” It said to him, it’s voice still a whisper, but more labored, he could hear the thing breathing heavily.
    A clawed hand grasped him by the neck and bent him backwards over his desk. It then reached into its coat and pulled out a long blade.
    “Everyone must know the consequences of dealing with the Inquisition.”