Dream Symphony

Whoo! Welcome to the first chapter of “Dream Symphony”! I’m hoping this story goes over well also. I have many idea’s to make it very enjoyable, but we’ll just see what happens. I plan on making these chapters a bit shorter than “Reality is Insanity” because doing long chapters like that for both of them would probably kill me. So, as always, before we get to the actual story I have a few reviews to answer.

Yami Akurei: Heh I’m glad the beginning caught your interest. Nothing like grizzly murder to catch your eye, huh? I’m also happy you find nothing wrong with loving villains because this guy has just got me wrapped around his little pinky ^-^ Yeah, about the computer, I already have like three of those damn programs installed in my computer, not doing much are they? And heh funny you should mention the other stories. I will continue them…someday, but just not at the moment. I’ll get back to them and, hopefully, finish them. Thanks for the review!

Aisha: Awwe I feel the love. I’m glad to be back too *huggles*

ZexysBard: Hehe good, I’m glad it was creepy, he’s a very creepy person and yes the song has been tainted for me forever too XD Hope this chapter will be worth it for you. I’m trying something a bit new with my writing style. And I love you reading my writing so ^-^

Okay, not much more to talk about. Get on out there and enjoy this chapter.

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“Damn it, not another one,” Detective Theodore Meloni grumbled as he looked down at the body on the bed. This one was a young woman, most likely in her twenties.

If the detective didn’t know better, he would have thought that she was simply sleeping. Her eyes were closed and a peaceful look graced her features. Long brown hair was spread out on the bed and a few strands lay across the body’s pale skin. The woman only wore a thin, red nighty, an appropriate color to match the blood that was trickling from her mouth and pooling around her head.

“This is the third one this week alone,” Theodore said, shaking his head.

“I know, this is really getting out of hand. Excuse me, Theodore,” the coroner, Meg Thompson, said and the detective stepped out of her way.

He watched as she began to process the body, getting any details possible before they had to bag the corpse and take it to headquarters. There it would be looked over more thoroughly.

“Hey, you never know, Teddy. Maybe this isn’t the same guy,” came the optimistic voice of the detective’s partner.

Theodore turned slightly to watch Percy Gribben walk up and stand beside him. A man of lean and delicate build, allowing him to be quick and agile, an oval faced framed by soft, brown hair and hazel eyes were covered by thin framed glasses.

“Yeah, whatever you say, Percy,” he muttered. He wished what the other man had said was be true, but those would be foolish hopes. “And for the last time don’t call me Teddy,” the detective added irritably.

Percy simply chuckled and patted the taller, more muscular man on the shoulder.

“You know you love it,” he teased and only succeeded in earning himself a glare. “All right, all right, no more Teddy,” Percy said. The man then looked over at the bed and sighed. “So you really think it’s the same perp, Theo?” he asked.

Theodore nodded before flicking his dark chocolate bangs out of his face.

“It has to be. Just look around. The apartment is undisturbed, no signs of a struggle or break in, and the victim looks like she didn’t resist. Most likely she died in her sleep. It has to be him,” the detective told his partner.

Percy was silent as he processed Theodore’s words, glancing around the room and at the body once more.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he finally concluded with a sigh. “Third one this week, tenth one this month. Whoever this is, he likes to work fast,” Percy said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

“You’re telling me, all these deaths and not a single lead. This guy is running circles around us. He’s probably laughing at us right now,” Theodore said, grinding his teeth slightly.

“We’ll get him, Theo. This guy will go down,” Percy assured his partner. Both of their attentions were then turned to the coroner as she stood up.

“First impressions, Meg?” Theodore was quick to ask.

Meg sighed and shook her head, scanning over the dead woman once more for anything she missed.

“Not a scratch on her. No bruising, no cuts, no anything. It doesn’t make any sense,” she told the two men.

“So no clue on how she died?” Percy inquired.

“Now I didn’t say that,” Meg said, crossing her arms. “Internal bleeding is what did her in,” she replied.

Theodore’s brows drew together.

“Internal bleeding? Are you sure?” he asked.

Meg nodded as she leaned over the body and gently pried open the woman’s mouth, showing the two men the inside.

“There are no cuts or wounds I can see inside her mouth, so the blood must be coming from somewhere else in her body. Conclusion, internal bleeding,” Meg repeated.

“So, do you think her assailant pummeled her until one of her organs ruptured?” Percy suggested, trying to make sense of it.

“Like I said, I found no bruising. So I don’t believe that’s how it happened,” the coroner answered. “And I believe your perp is the culprit,” Meg said.

“How do you know?” Theodore immediately questioned, already feeling his heart quicken its pace at her words.

“Besides the bizarre death, this is a good guess. Look at this,” Meg told them and the two men drew closer. The coroner rested her hand on the woman’s forehead and used her thumb to lift one of the eyelids.

The body’s eye was glazed over and glassy looking. But what caught the detectives’ attention was that the iris to the eye was gone. The only thing left besides the whiteness was the pupil that had turned a grayish color.

“Same as the other victims,” Meg told them.

“Damn, no matter how many times I see that it still creeps me out,” Percy muttered, stepping back a bit and taking his glasses off to clean them. “These deaths are getting more and more outrageous and unexplainable,” he then said, resting his glasses back over his eyes.

“And we have to stop them. If this is allowed to continue there could be a nation wide panic,” Theodore said as he also stepped back, giving Meg room. He began to chew on his bottom lip as he thought about it. A habit he had developed over the years and had failed to overcome.

“In my opinion, I’m surprised there already isn’t one,” Meg said, standing up then signaling to some of her men to start bagging the body.

“It’s getting there. With the media in such a frenzy they’re getting everyone worked up,” Percy grumbled, watching the men move the dead woman.

“Well, then you two better get crackin’ and figure out whose behind this, for all of our sakes,” Meg told them and tossed her straight, hay colored ponytail over her shoulder as she walked out of the room.

“I wish it was as easy as she makes it sound,” Percy grumbled, running his fingers through his hair.

“Don’t we all?” Theodore mumbled. “Come on Percy, we better go around and see if any of the neighbors heard or saw anything while the others process the room.” He walked out of the bedroom with his partner trailing his heels.

“And you know what they’re going to say? ‘Nope, I didn’t see anything’ ‘No, nothing seemed wrong’ and all that other bullshit.”

“I know, I know, but it has to be done. If there’s even a sliver of a chance someone has any information, we have to try,” Theodore told him.

“Yeah, yeah, doesn’t make it any less annoying,” Percy quipped as the two men left the apartment and went on the daunting task of questioning the neighbors.

***************

“What did I tell ya? Absolute nothing to go on. You owe me twenty bucks,” Percy said as he and Theodore walked down the stairs to the ground floor.

“I don’t owe you anything. You just said ‘I bet you’ and assumed I agreed,” Theodore said, shaking his head. He was weary from going door to door; asking people questions and most had been uncooperative. “This can’t keep going on like this. Whoever this murderer is has to be stopped,” the detective grumbled.

“Yeah, but there’s only so much we can do, Theo,” Percy said, sitting on the railing and sliding the rest of the way to the floor. “This guy is like a freaking phantom. He’s causing deaths that can’t be explained by any smarty pants scientist and leaves no traces. How are we supposed to find him?” the younger man asked as he waited for Theodore to reach him.

“I…don’t know,” the detective admitted as his feet touched the ground. The man sighed and ruffled his own hair. “But we’re going to, Percy. We’re going to find this bastard and make him pay for what he’s done.” The statement was more to convince himself than his partner.

“Heh, no doubt of that, Theo. We always get our man,” Percy said with a wide grin as the two men walked to the entranceway to the apartment complex.

“Oh, boy. We’ve got a sea of press this time,” the younger detective said as they reached the door.

“Terrific,” Theodore murmured.

Outside, the street was filled with reporters and news crews. It looked like the police were barely able to keep them contained outside the barriers.

“Good thing you parked around the block or else we’d be boxed in,” Percy said as the other man grabbed hold of the handle.

“Let’s just hope they don’t eat us alive before we get there,” Theodore muttered as he pushed the door open.

A wave of excited voices and shouts almost plowed the detectives’ over. Camera flashes blinded them and reporters tried to bypass the police to get to the two men.

Theodore and Percy made their way down the stoop and did a beeline down the sidewalk.

“Are you guys sure you don’t want an escort out of here? These guys mean business. Meg almost didn’t make it out of here when they took away the body,” a police officer told them.

“No, we’ll be fine, Eddie,” Theodore said with a confirming nod.

“Yeah, a bunch of lousy rat reporters don’t scare us,” Percy assured the officer with a confident grin.

“All right, suit yourselves,” Eddie said with a shrug.

The detectives’ continued on their way and they could practically feel a ripple of excitement go through the crowd at their presence.

“Remember, Percy, don’t stop for a second. If you get caught I’m not coming back for you,” Theodore told his partner softly.

“Yeah, yeah, I know and thanks for the love man,” Percy said with a roll of his eyes.

The second the two were past the barricades the reporters closed in on them like a school of piranhas. Flashes went off one after the other and the detectives’ were bombarded with questions as microphones were shoved in their faces.

“Detective Meloni, is this murder the work of the Bedtime Killer?”

“How did the woman die?”

“We heard it was also a sexual assault.”

Theodore grunted and tried his best not to lash out at the reporters. He made sure to keep a hand on Percy’s elbow so they didn’t get separated as they pressed through the crowd.

“It has not yet been confirmed if the murder is related to the others and there was no assault of the sexual kind on the victim,” Theodore answered crisply, not even bothering to look at the people around them. His eyes dead set ahead of him.

“So there’s a chance the murder is related?”

“Are you close to identifying the killer?”

“Can the city be expecting an arrest soon?”

“We’re doing everything possible to capture the culprit,” was all Theodore was willing to say.

“Heh well your everything must not be much with this great a death toll,” a sniding voice said within the crowd.

“Hey! Don’t you even-” Percy was about to whirl on the guy and chew him out, but Theodore’s grip on his elbow tightened and kept him walking. Percy relented reluctantly and kept stride with the older detective.

As the men continued down the street, the press soon lost interest and started breaking away. The detectives’ refusal to answer anymore questions dampening their information bloodlust.

By the time Theodore and Percy rounded the corner they were alone and the flock of vultures went back to the crime scene to gather what juice scraps they could.

“God, those assholes piss me off to no end!” Percy snarled as he glanced back to make sure they weren’t being followed.

“I know, Percy, but you just have to learn to deal with them. No good comes from trying to pick a fight with the ones going for low blows. That’ll just get your face plastered on the 6 ‘o clock news,” Theodore told him sagely.

“Yeah, I know that,” Percy grumbled, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his coat. “But for them to assume that we’re not even trying to catch this guy just-just makes me want to go ballistic and put them in their damn place!” he exclaimed.

“And a part of me would really like to let you,” Theodore chuckled, the first smile he had cracked all day, “but then we’d both get chewed out for it.” The detective got out his car keys as they approached his vehicle. “Let’s just get back and wait for Meg to do the autopsy so we know exactly how the victim…” Detective Meloni trailed off and stopped in his tracks when he looked up.

“Hey, what’s the matter, Theo?” Percy asked as he almost ran into his partner. The younger man looked to where Theodore was staring and saw a woman leaning against the older man’s car.

She was very attractive. Her face was round and her features soft. She was slender and had long legs that any man would love to trail to see how far up they went. Chestnut hair was made up into a messy bun with two black pens keeping it in place.
Smoldering green eyes looked out from a pair of slender glasses.

Percy was awestruck and had to blink several times. What left him bewildered was what a gorgeous creature like that was doing leaning against his partner’s car. That’s when Detective Gribben noticed the woman holding a tape recorder and a nametag with one of the local newspapers logos on it was clipped to the breast of her maroon vest.

“Wonderful, another reporter,” Percy growled. “Let’s just send her off, Theo,” he said and turned to his partner. To his surprise he found his partner was gazing at the woman with amusement dancing in his dark brown eyes and a warm smile on his face.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Ms. Nichol?” Theodore said as he approached, to the great surprise of Percy. “So they decided that the little fish weren’t enough and sent out the shark, huh?” he asked.

The woman laughed as she pushed herself up to stand.

“A high profile case like this? It was only a matter of time before they sent me back to my journalist roots,” she told the detective, waving her recorder a little.

The two stared at each other a moment before laughing and stepping forward to embrace each other.

“It’s been awhile, Abby. It’s good to see you,” Theodore said affectionately, giving her a light squeeze before pulling away enough to get a good look at her.

“Same here. It been far too long since I’ve seen my Teddy Weddy,” the woman said in a cutesy voice as she patted Theodore’s cheek, his unshaven stubble feeling rough against her fingertips. “You’re looking good, considering what’s been going on,” she then praised him with a soft smile.

“Whoa whoa whoa, okay, what the hell is going on?” Percy suddenly spoke up, popping up beside them and breaking their little reunion. “Abby? Teddy Weddy? I don’t even get to call him Teddy! Who are you? Why are you two being so chummy?” the man babbled.

The other two stared at Percy like he had gone insane. The woman then laughed and looked back over to Theodore.

“I see they gave you another hyperactive partner,” she snickered.

“Yes, I’m always just that lucky,” Theodore told her with a roll of his eyes.

“Isn’t making himself a pest, is he?” the woman asked. “I know how you hate pests.”

“I like to think of him more as an overenthusiastic puppy,” the detective chuckled.

“Hey! Stop talking about me like I’m not here!” Percy demanded.

The duo simply laughed at his outrage and pulled apart to face him.

“Percy, this is Abigail Nichol, an old friend of mine. Abby this is Percy Gribben, my partner,” Theodore introduced them.

“Nice to meet you,” Abigail said with a smile and held out her hand to the other detective.

Percy looked from the hand up to her face, seemingly distrustful. Slowly he took the offered hand and shook it.

“Likewise,” he said as he let go. Percy then leaned over to his partner. “You do realize she’s a reporter, right? She’s the enemy,” he said in a low voice.

Theodore laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.

“Yes, I do realize that, but she’s one of the more decent ones. Nothing to be afraid of…though be careful, she has been known to bite,” the older man told his partner.

Percy blinked and looked over at Abigail, who smirked and snapped her teeth.

“No wonder you called her a shark,” he said, inching away a bit.

Theodore chuckled and shook his head before turning to Abigail.

“So, what brings you here? Have they really sent you out to try and get a story?” Detective Meloni asked her.

“I’m afraid so. Most of our reporters nowadays are so wet behind the ears they couldn’t bring back a story if it was tapped to their backs,” Abigail huffed. “So they decided to bring out the big guns,” she said, pointing at herself.

Theodore nodded and all merriment left his face and it turned stone cold as when he got the call about the recent murder.

“Even if we are friends, Abby, you know I can’t tell you anything,” he told her.

The woman nodded, not looking put out by that.

“I know, I told them they wouldn’t be able to use my close connection with you to get the scoop, but they sent me out anyways,” she said. “But I do have one question,” Abigail told him, her poker face also showing. “Was this done by the Bedtime Killer? That’s all I want to know.”

“He already told you we’re not talking,” Percy snapped irritably. He blinked in surprise when Theodore raised his hand to signal Percy to be quiet.

“Are you asking this for your paper, or for yourself?” the detective asked.

“Theo!” Percy exclaimed, but was ignored.

Abigail and Detective Meloni stared at each other, several moments ticking by. Suddenly Abigail lifted her tape recorder and opened it. She slid the tape out of the compartment then set it and the recorder on top of Theodore’s car. Abigail then took off her name tag and set it beside the other items.

“I’m asking this as a worried civilian,” she said as she reached behind her and pulled the pens out of her hair, letting the locks fall to her shoulder blades. “And also a frightened mother,” Abigail added as she took off her glasses and looked up at Theodore. “I’m talking to you as me, Teddy, not as a reporter,” she told him.

“There have been far too many deaths and what’s worse is that there seems to be nothing that links them except for their murderer. There’s a fear that I could go to sleep and never wake up again or that I’ll lose my son,” Abigail said, putting everything out on the table. “You know how much I love my son; he’s almost all that I have. If I were to lose him to this-this freak I don’t know what I’d-” Abigail was cut off as Theodore placed his hands on her shoulders.

Brown eyes stared into green and Theodore could tell that her fear was genuine. The possibility that she or her son could be the next victim made the detective’s insides churn and knot. Detective Meloni’s deepest fear was losing someone he cared about to this madman, or any killer he had ever run across.

“Abby, lock your house up tight at night. Don’t open the door for anyone you don’t know or hardly know and protect your son as best as a mother can. That’s all I have to say,” Theodore told her.

Abigail stared at the detective for a long while before smiling and nodding.

“Thanks, Teddy. I know it’s not much comfort, but at least I know to still be wary of him,” she said as she gathered her stuff back up.

“Yes, I think that’s all any of us can do,” Theodore told her. He reached up and gave a gentle squeeze to Abigail’s arm before stepping past her to get to his car door.

“Theodore, wait,” Abigail said, now grabbing onto his arm.

The detective glanced at her curiously, wondering what she wanted now.

The woman simply smiled at his perplexed look and leaned in. Abigail placed a soft kiss on the man’s cheek, lingering a little longer than needed before pulling away.

“Don’t be such a stranger, Teddy. Call me, we’ll have coffee sometime,” she told him. “For old time’s sake,” Abigail added with a dazzling smile before releasing the detective’s arm.

Theodore chuckled and shook his head as he opened his door.

“We’ll see, Abby, we’ll see,” is all he said as he slipped into the car and shut the door.

Abigail nodded and gave a slight wave. When she turned to head off she came face to face with a flabbergasted Percy.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot you were there,” Abigail apologized, trying not to laugh at the younger detectives expression.

“Uh-wha…who the hell are you? I’ve never seen anyone get Theo to admit anything or be able to get close enough to-”

“Percy, get in the car already before I drive off without you,” Theodore called to the other man, rolling down his window just a crack.

“You better hurry,” Abigail said as she slipped her glasses back on. “Teddy hates waiting.” The woman smiled as she then walked off.

Percy stared after her, just as perplexed as before. A horn blasting quickly brought him back and made him almost jump out of his skin. He ran to the other side of the car and got in as fast as he could.

“Okay, okay, sheesh, don’t need to scare me to death,” Detective Gribben grumbled as he pulled his seatbelt on with a click.

“Don’t take so long then,” Theodore told him as he started up the car. As he let it warm he looked into the rearview mirror and could still see Abigail walking away.

“So, what the hell was all that? You let her call you Teddy, hugged her, she kissed you, you actually gave her informat-”

“She’s just on old friend,” the detective cut his partner off. “And I trust her to not use what I said for her job.”

Percy was silent as he also looked through the hanging mirror to watch the woman.

“So, did anything ever, you know, happen between you guys? She seemed a little too friendly with you,” he asked.

Theodore sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Yes, we were together for a little while, but it didn’t quite work out,” he muttered.

“Why not?”

“None of your business, that’s why not?” Theodore snapped and shot a glare to his partner.

“All right, all right, jeeze, don’t bite my head off,” Percy quickly said, raising his hands in surrender.

There was silence as Theodore put the car into drive and turned the car into the street to join the morning traffic.

“I just can’t believe you were able to snag a hottie like that,” Percy said, breaking the silence as he looked into the rearview mirror again.

“What’s that supposed to mean!?”

***************

When Abigail was about to round the corner she stopped and turned to watch Theodore’s car drive away.

“They don’t make men like him anymore,” she sighed as she pocketed her recorder and put her hair back up.

A happy little jingle suddenly began to play from inside her other pocket. Abigail reached in a pulled out her cell phone, looking at the number to see who it was.

“I really need to get Alex to change this ring for me. It gets annoying after awhile,” she muttered as she flipped the phone open.

“What’s up, Greg?” Abigail asked as she placed the phone to her ear.

“Hopefully a story. Were you able to talk to that detective friend of yours?” asked Abigail’s senior editor, Gregory Fallot.

“Yes, actually I’m watching him drive away right now,” the woman answered.

“Great! Fantastic! So, were you able to get anything from them? Was it the Bedtime Killer behind this murder too?” Gregory questioned.

Abigail went quiet as she thought about what Theodore had said. In his own, subtle way the detective gave her the answer she had been looking for; the Bedtime Killer had struck again. She smiled as she watched through the back window as the older man hit his partner upside the head.

“Nope, sorry Greg, his lips were zipped up tight. Just like I told you they would be,” Abigail told him.

“Really? Damn…well, it was worth a shot,” Gregory sighed. “All right, just stick around there and get as much information as you can then,” he instructed, his good mood now turned sour.

“I will, Greg, you can count on me,” Abigail told him before snapping her cell phone shut, cutting off the conversation.

Once she put the phone back where it belonged, Abigail looked up just in time to see the detective’s car turn the corner and go out of her line of vision.

“You better catch this guy, Teddy. I really don’t want to be on the front page of my own newspaper,” the woman muttered.

After gazing a bit more Abigail Nichol walked briskly to the scene of the murder, her heels clicking against the concrete with each step. It was going to be a long morning.

===================Ch. 1 End

So, how was that for you guys? Yes, I know het innuendos boo hiss. But never fear for there will be yaoi further into it. It’s funny none of the characters you just met are even the main characters. Their important side characters, but not really the main ones. They do have important roles to play in this story though…well, I’m not too sure of Abby, but the detectives’ definitely. In the next chapter is when we’ll start meeting the main characters, so be prepared for that ^-^ So, please, tell me what you think of this story, I’m all ears to hear how it’s turning out so far. Until next time!