BH, sounds like you could use a good slap upside the head.
Doc and Padre: I was sorry to hear about the RCMP officers in Alberta. I hope there wasn't anybody you knew involved in that. The dude sounds pretty out there, was there any indication that the other side of reality was in on this or was it just a sensless bit of human misery?
Just so you know, even though I am riding you hard about your choice to let that creature live to maybe kill again, I do respect the police and their work. I do my best to do favours for the police when i can.
I for one, am always checking my moral compass in my investigations. On the one side, my time in the Rangers compels me with the "shoot first" ideal that avoids massive bloodshed down the road, but I have run into enough of the possession-type situations that it becomes more difficult every day. A man I met months ago, a man by the name of Creed Jensen, claimed to possess abilities normally attributed to vampires of legend. While I never saw evidence of said abilities ( he claimed they only worked at night ) he also traveled constantly trying to hunt down "vampires"and working activlely to save innocents. Two weeks ago several killings were occurring in the seattle area and he went to investigate. I recieved a broken message from him to find him there, 'cause he had a major problem and only trusted me to come help him. I went, but could not locate him by normal channels, so I followed the next logical path...tracking the same killer he came to investigate. I found trails leading to a Francois Jessup, a covert member of a society known as the "Cult of Night" or some such. Apparently he and Creed were old adversaries, and this was just the latest dance. Before I could follow the leads further, I heard on a police scanner that they had a suspect in the killings cornered in the warehouse district near puget sound, and I went immediately to scour the area. Finding trace amounts of blood in an out of the way area away from the searching police I moved on and ran into...Creed. Cradeling what seemed to be his latest victim. Covering him with my gun, I told him he had one chance to convince me not to shoot him right then and there. He said he had been captured by Jessup and IV fed human blood. After that, he couldn't control himself, and the worst part was that he liked it. He had been led into a trap and made into that which he hunted. But he told me "I'm glad it was you who found me.." I put 2 silver rounds in his head and alerted the police, then just walked away...I sometimes wake up at night with a vivid image of the moment even today, but I would do the same thing again if confronted, but I have to wonder, if he had a partner, or anyone else with him at the time would things have been different. I would like to think so.
The science of any sufficiently advanced society would appear as magic to those less developed...
That was the right call. You put him and a lot of innocent people out of their misery by doing that. I myself hope I get the same mercy if its ever needed. It's a danger most of us solo artists need to face.
Unfortunately, most of the time we don't have the benefit of knowing what we're up against until we can look at the remains. You have to not second guess yourself too much later. if knowing what you did at the time, you felt comfortable pulling that trigger - then you did the best you could under the circumstances.
I don't have nightmares about the guy I killed by mistake. I have nightmares because the thing that made the mistake happen got away.
Actually, Hotep, I sleep better because of my morals. I know, despite the hardships that I am doing the right thing. Sympathy for others is not to be looked down upon, but antipathy, or active cooperation...THAT is another thing altogether....
The science of any sufficiently advanced society would appear as magic to those less developed...