I'm a night owl.
I knew this from the first time I witnessed a rape and stood there, transfixed. I could see the flecks of spittle on the lips of the man, the ripped buttons on the girl's blouse. The twilight was advancing rapidly, and I stood under the protective umbrella of a streetlight's glow. I remember the smell of autumn leaves, the feel of the wind biting into me, the sound of a scream cut short.
It couldn't have been more than three minutes, but it felt like forever. How I wasn't seen I don't know. Why I didn't scream out, when she couldn't, I don't know. It haunts me to this day. It will never happen again. I've found my voice, and I've harnessed my rage.
I hooted to Lucas, my great horned, and sent him off patrolling. I followed suit with Xerxes, my barn, and Othello, my snowy. They flew each in a different direction to begin the sweep. I took the fourth quadrant, running from rooftop to rooftop, gliding when I couldn't make the jump, silent as an owl.
Having crippled a mugger and branded him with my crest, I felt the night was off to a good start. Hopefully a slow night, I rationalized in my head, but the pounding of my heart and tension in my shoulders told a different story. I'd had too many slow nights lately, scared too many bad men. I needed to find a bad man, and do something worse.
Xerxes and Lucas both came back alright, reporting the all-clear. Othello, damn him his name, had taken to wandering. I paced on a rooftop with pent-up energy, telling myself Othello was alright, that I should get back to the patrol. But I felt something amiss, and I didn't know what till too late.
Othello winged in drunkenly, and could barely land. I cradled him to my breast and found he'd been shot through the wing. He warbled the location where he was hit in a delirious sing-song. I took my emergency first-aid kit out from my pack and stitched him up as well I could. I placed an emergency blanket under him and left a piece of meat near his head. God willing, he would make it til I could come back. But I knew I couldn't wait any longer.
I leapt into the night, a demon stirring within me the likes of which I hadn't seen since I was a boy. Leering and frothing. Cackling and mad with rage. I was a point past revenge, and several past justice.
