Reptile

Prelude

“It’s Saturday. Let me guess; there’s another Wet Willie murder,” Special Agent Sid Douglas spoke before the messenger boy of a beat cop could.
“Yes sir. Here’s the report,” the young man followed Sid down the hall while holding out a yellow folder.
“This is really starting to piss me off,” Sid stopped suddenly and turned, and the officer skidded to a halt before slamming into him, “Gimme that.” He snatched the folder away and scowled.
“Hah! You just beat me here!” Special Agent Jerry Holland called to his partner from down the hall, jogging to catch up, “Got another one, did she? What’s that make this, 2,000?”
“1,299, Jerry. Next week, I’ll have been on this case 5 years. She’s killed a man every night without fail,” he continued on as they walked to their office, “Completely random men. Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Asians, she doesn’t discriminate. From kids as young as 13 to fogies as old as 90. Found in random places. They could be in their home, in their car, in their camper, even in the fuckin’ restroom at Wal*Mart! All found naked or nearly so with vaginal fluid all over their piece and claw marks on their backs but no prints anywhere. All drown. Drown! With no fuckin’ water around!”
“What about the guy found in his fishing boat? And it’s not completely random places. She does stay in North America as far as we know.”
“Don’t push me, Holland,” Sid slumped down into his chair, “Ever since all these freaks started showing up, every day is like a fuckin’ tabloid. Vampires, Ghosts, Mummies, Were-creatures, and all sorts of magical fuckers are all over the place like being human is goin’ out of style. No offence, Jerry.”
“None taken. You didn’t mention mutants. Besides, the DNA profile says she is human,”
“Whatever she is, she’s good. Not a clue. All these years. Not a single fuckin’ scrap of evidence. Not even witnesses.”
“Don’t tell me you’re about to give up?”
“No chance in hell. She has to be getting bored with this. Then she’ll get sloppy. They all want to get caught. Deep down inside, they still know it’s wrong.”
“Detective Douglas, there’s a man here to see you. He says it’s about your case.” The officer from before came in without knocking. “He says he won’t talk to anyone but you.”
The two agents looked at each other, then scrambled out the door. The man was short and chubby, wearing thick glasses, a wife-beater and dirty blue jeans, but otherwise well groomed.
“You look like you could use a break,” the man said nonchalantly as he shoved his hands into his pockets.
“Who are you and what do you know about the murders?” Jerry spoke before Sid could.
“The information I have is for Agent Douglas, only.”
“I’m his partner. Whatever you tell him, he’s going to tell me anyway, so you might as well tell both of us.”
“I’ll speak only with Agent Douglas or not at all.”
“Then we’ll just have to arrest you for withholding evidence.”
“Then you’ll never find her.”
“Just let me talk to him already, Jerry,” he put his hand on his partner’s shoulder, “Take him to the interrogation room. I’ll be there in a minute.”
A while later, Sid entered the room with his note pad and a recording device hidden in his pocket. The man sat comfortably in his chair with a smug look on his face.
“First of all, what’s your name?” Sid pulled out a chair and sat across the table from him.
“Kade,” he sighed, then yawned and stretched as though he were just waking up.
“I’ll need your full name, sir.”
The man sat up in his chair and took a deep breath. As he spoke his name, he also seemed to emit the sound of thunder. “Kaderatosthenishahidottakar.” Sid’s jaw was slack as the color drained away from his face. “I tell you my True Name so you may call upon me for help if you ever encounter her. She is my mate. She is looking for me. She is confused and doesn’t know how to find me. She doesn’t respond when I call her name. If only I knew her True Name, this wouldn’t be happening.”
“I’ve heard of your kind. You’re a Fallen Angel: a Demon. So that’s what she is, too. I figured as much,” Sid crossed his arms to try hide the fact that he was shaking, “You seem like you know what you’re doing, so why don’t you go find her?”
“I wish it were that simple,” he yawned again and adjusted his glasses, “Someone must be controlling her, or tried to and failed, because I can’t sense her. Every night, I reach out with my awareness, to see if I can feel her using her powers, but I never do. I know I have my limits, but after almost 5 years, you’d think I’d stumble upon something.”
“Does she have a name?”
“Nahasha,” he called her name like she was in the room and he was trying to get her attention, “That’s only her Celestial Name. I haven’t even met her, in her human form, that is, so I don’t even know what to look for.”
“Why have you decided to finally come forward with all this information?”
“The other supernaturals are getting angry. She’s killed several thralls, ghouls, kin, even other metaphysical beings. They’re all hunting her, but they have had no more luck than I. You have more information than I do about who she’s killed. I need you to help me find her before they do. I’m sure she doesn’t know what she’s doing, so she can’t be held responsible for her actions.”
“Are you kidding me?” Sid slammed his hands down on the table and stood up, “She’s killed 1,299 men! No one person has ever killed so many. That bitch is gonna fry!”
Kade stood as well, and as he did, he changed. Thinning as he stretched three feet taller, his body became covered in a thick, gray hide that crackled with ball lightning.
“You have no idea of the torment we’ve had to endure!” his voice rumbled like thunder, and Sid fell to his knees and cringed. When all was quiet again, he looked up over the table to see Kade as he was before, relaxing in his chair. “As soon as we find her, we’ll be able to find who did this to her. You can hold them accountable.”
Sid climbed back into his chair and asked the next question as if he were afraid of the answer, “You said she’s your mate. Aren’t you angry at her for sleeping with all those other guys.”
“I only say mate because that’s the closest term that you humans use for what we are to each other,” sighing, Kade removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes, “Plus, I told you, she doesn’t understands what’s happening. She might not even realize she’s a Demon inside. She could be leading a normal life, but every night, something makes her do these things.”

Jim locked the door behind him and set his bag on the floor. When he went to flip the light on, nothing happened.
“Shit. Lisa? Are you home yet?” he called out, feeling blindly in the darkness. “Oh! What the…why are you just standing in the dark like that? Is the electricity out?” He felt hands undoing his pants, “Mmm, I see what you’re up to.” He finished stripping himself and took her in the dark on the floor.
“Are you the Defiler I seek?” she whispered.
“Honey, I’m whatever you want me to be tonight.”
“I’ve been disappointed for so long. Don’t disappoint me again.”
“We’ve only been trying for a month. Give me a break. Unh, here it comes.”
“No!” she let lose a shrill scream when he collapsed after releasing his lode.
“What?! Jesus, Lisa. I mean, come on! That was right in my ear.” He had started to get off of her when she grabbed his shoulders.
“You do not bear the seed of the Defiler!” Jim stared in horror as his wife’s body glowed and transformed into some otherworldly figure. As she raked her claws down his back, he tried to scream, but only a gurgle rose from his throat. She tossed him aside, his body convulsing as he clutched his throat and sputtered. Standing, she glanced at her latest victim, then dissipated into a cloud of mist.