Open Season – Tracking the Stag
NEW JERSEY NEWS, CHANNEL TWELVE – LATE EDITION
Monica Larocca, Reporting Live from Jersey City
“Jersey City Police here are investigating the disappearance of a Pastor from Evangelismos Greek Orthodox Church on Montgomery Street.
Father Dimitrios Sourko took over as spiritual shepherd of the Parish from Father Nikkos Patros two years ago, after Father Patros unexpectedly died of a heart attack while celebrating the Orthodox Easter Liturgy.
Father Dimitrios was last seen celebrating Evening Vespers one full week ago – and has not been observed since at the Rectory or Church Residence facilities. Typically, Greek Orthodox Priests attend to a myriad of in-church and Rectory functions and rituals that require frequent, hands-on administering at their parishes.
Father Dimitrios is the only Priest at Evangelismos Church and parishioners are understandably concerned what happened to him. All religious activities there have since ground to a halt in his absence. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of New York and New Jersey have told New Jersey News Twelve that they are dispatching a temporary Priest to fill-in at Evangelismos parish pending the police investigation into Father Dimitrios’ disappearance.
Parishioners who attended the Evening Vespers Liturgy after which Father Dimitrios seemingly vanished reported to Jersey City Police Detectives that the Priest usually walked to Ristaurante Luvis on Essex Street after the evening ceremony. Ristaurante Luvis Owner and Manager, Yannis Giankopolos, told police that he never arrived that night. The Restaurant is a mere six block stroll from Evangelismos Church.
Jersey City Police Detectives are reviewing traffic camera footage from various locations on Montgomery Street and business CCTV monitors to determine what happened to the missing Priest.
Monica Larocca, Reporting – New Jersey News Twelve”
Broderick Meat Packaging, Ltd.
Exchange Place, Jersey City
The building is almost two hundred years old. Enormous cranes and gantries still line the iron girders of its ceiling. Crumbling, rotting wood pens and runways stand as now mute testimony to the thousands upon thousands of cattle that were slaughtered there before World War II to feed a hungry nation back when Jersey City was an industrial juggernaut on the United States Eastern seaboard.
It’s now a derelict, structurally questionable industrial hulk, one of hundreds of such buildings that appear on virtually every block of Jersey City, New Jersey. The building just patiently awaits its next incarnation – or demolition – hosting pigeons and homeless animals that use it as a free hotel.
But Broderick Meat Packaging, Ltd. is not deserted tonight.
Deep inside it’s filthy, crumbling and forgotten basement abattoir – the location where endless streams of poor animals were slaughtered en masse – candles burn and a very important interrogation is taking place.
A naked man hangs suspended from a ceiling brace on chains. His face is bruised and his mouth is bleeding from shattered teeth falling out of his gums. His legs are splayed outward – spread eagle – pulled by ropes tied to old, rusted rings that were cemented into the walls to restrain bulls before their brains were bashed out by hammers before they were butchered. His manhood dangles freely…for the time being.
Positioned beneath it is an absurdly ornate punch bowl with cups hanging off its sides. Its contextual incongruity is obvious – and intentionally terrifying.
Father Dimitrios Sourko is nearly starved and begging for water. His captors are not inclined to offer him any. Panic is etched into every crease of his face. Three tall, hooded Vampyres lurk in the shadows before him. Three strong thugs who confronted him outside of a dark alley on Essex Street and threw him into the open side door of a waiting van. Somehow, they knew he’d walk to dinner after the Vespers service – and waylaid him proper.
Father Dimitrios can see that the tall, hooded one who flashes his fangs when he talks is the leader. The head Vampyre calls himself Argos. The two others are unnamed beasts – musclemen hiding in the shadows who come when their master signals them to administer more torture.
They’ve been at him for twenty-four hours. Argos yells and screams his demands. Dimitrios is fading fast. He can barely speak through his broken front teeth and blood clotting inside his mouth. He tries to concentrate on the endless Hail Marys that silently issue through his battered lips.
ARGOS:
“I TIRE OF YOUR UGLINESS, PRIEST. I ASK YOU ONCE MORE – IS SIMON MAGUS ALIVE? ANSWER ME, DAMN YOU! IS HE ALIVE? IF SO – WHERE IS HE?”
Father Dimitrios can barely croak and whisper out his responses.
DIMITRIOS:
“Once I served with a Greek Orthodox Priest named Semyon…Semyon Thaumaturgus. I told you this, over and over. I swear it is true…why do you torment me so?”
ARGUS:
“DON’T LIE TO ME, PRIEST!
SEMYON THAUMATURGUS IS SIMON MAGUS! DO YOU THINK I AM STUPID? LIE TO ME AGAIN, PRIEST, AND I WILL CASTRATE YOU WHILE YOU WATCH!!!
NOW – WHO IS SIMON MAGUS’ SUCESSOR? WHO IS THE CONSECRATED VAMPYRE SLAYER NOW?
DIMITRIOS:
“Simon Magus is dead. Jesus has taken him home. I swear this on the Holy Cross. He nominated a friend as his successor – but that man failed. He was not consecrated. Another man – unknown to me – has been chosen. I don’t know his name…he is a Roman Catholic soldier in the Pope’s own Swiss Guard….I don’t know who he is. He is in Europe, NOT America. PLEASE BELIEVE ME!”
ARGUS:
“TO WHOM DID SIMON MAGUS LEAVE HIS GREAT WEALTH?”
DIMITRIOS:
“To a policeman named Heinlen. Heinlen later was horribly crippled in an accident…and retreated to a Monastery on Mt. Athos. Saint Panteleimon Monastery. He was later banished from there. He has since turned his back on the Orthodox Church. He is a Heretic.”
ARGUS:
“HEIN-LEN? DID YOU SAY HEIN-LEN? WHERE IS THIS HEIN-LEN? AND WHERE IS HIS WEALTH?”
DIMITRIOS:
“I don’t know where he or his wealth is…I know that he had a lawyer in Warren, New Jersey – a best friend that he trusted – I think his name is Xiang Li. That is all I know! Please! I’m just a simple Priest!”
ARGUS:
“REJOICE, SIMPLE PREIST! YOU’RE ABOUT TO BECOME A MARTYR!! TONIGHT YOU’LL BE WITH YOUR PRECIOUS LORD! FOR ME AND MY FRIENDS THIS IS COMMUNION TIME! AND YOU ARE OUR HOLY HOST!”
Argus signals his two companions to come closer and speaks quietly to them, flashing his malignant grin from ear to ear. He reaches inside his cloak and pulls out a leather patch with a branded outline of a Stag and a name burned below it: Hyne. It’s a memento from a Coven of slain brother Vampyres in the Pine Barrens.
Argus’ voice drips with vengeance. His message is venomous and implacable.
“Blind the priest – and then Castrate him! Core him out like a ripe apple until he dies! Bleed him into the punch bowl! We’ll fill our cups, drink his blood and leave him here as our homage to this renegade slayer, Hyne!
This night has been productive, indeed!”
When Jersey City Police finally discover the gruesome scene, the leather patch is floating in a punchbowl of congealed blood. They “bag it and tag it” as evidence in their investigation and duly share it with the New Jersey State Police Homicide Forensics Unit hoping to find a match or DNA connection to another crime.
The New Jersey State boys share it with all the Gold-Shield Detectives they have in all their database, active and retired. One such “Goldie” Detective they copy the email file to is named Leeds. Although she’s on “Long Term Leave” now, the message flashes red on her Laptop in Cyprus.
She reads it with alarm – and reaches out to her husband instantly with every ounce of her concentration.
Her words are so Telepathically intense, Hyne’s head feels like somebody hit it with a rock.
“WE GOTTA’ TALK – CODE RED!”
Cyprus – Limassol Airport
Hyne is last to board the Gulfstream back to Atlantic City Airport. His team is already seated and their equipment is stowed.
He’s embracing Lee outside the plane. His little boy Arkan is part of their family clutch – and his son can hear everything they are saying to each other Telepathically.
HYNE:
“Make your journey back to The Old Ones as soon as you get home. It’s daylight – and Spartan Security guys will protect you every minute. But it’s simply not safe for you both to be here.
I’m even sending Lacas and his sons back to their home in Tuscany for an extended period. They, too, will have a Spartan protection detail and return when I signal them the “all clear”.
If the Vampyre “Hit Squad” gets to Peter Xiang – li, they’ll learn about you – us – our new life – Cyprus – the whole picture. I can’t reach Peter anywhere – I’m hoping he’s in some Opium Den in Singapore or Hong Kong, wrecked out of his mind – but safe and sound.
Maybe he’s dead…but if he isn’t, he’s joining us in Cyprus immediately – at least until we can work all this out. Hopefully, his family can relocate to Singapore or Hong Kong.
I’ve got to get into his office and trigger the Worm Codes that “smoke” all our computer financial records and destroys access codes to the bunker blast doors in Elizabeth where our Gold is stored. I’ll still be able to get inside the vault. I’m the only person that has a manual override – believe it or not, it’s the original combination lock and dial numbers for the door Diebold Safe Company manufactured over one hundred years ago. Once I trigger Peter’s Worm Codes that destroy all our digital financial records and any reference to my affairs – I’m burning his office building to the ground.
Come back in six months – Earth time. I know our precious Arkan will be older – but we must protect him at all costs.
I love you.”
LEE:
“Even jumping into another dimension can’t diminish our feelings for one another and the bonds that tie us together. The Old Ones have ways of watching what is happening here – and responding. I will protect you as best I can. Our family spirit among The Old Ones is strong and they have much affection for you. Arkan and I will be safe there.
One final thing. Your present team is impressive – but I think our project requires even more bodies and talent. We need scale and infrastructure. Qualified individuals that comprise an army of a kind Vampyres will fear to their core. Not just one cadre of slayers – I’m talking about a unified command of assassins. Our own Brotherhood of Chivalric Knights – “Paladins” – devoted to exterminating Vampyres on Earth.
We can even adopt an ominous French name to solidify our esprit de corps. I suggest: “La Confrerie des Paladins” –
“The Paladin Brotherhood”
I will confer with The Old Ones about this concept and consider their advice. It is my hope I can enlist their unqualified support. I have my Mission – you have yours. Come back safe to me, My Love.
Arkan – kiss your Daddy goodbye.”
Hyne embraces Arkan and Lee one more time and boards the jet. As the plane taxis away from them, he watches Lee and Arkan waive before they jump in a black Land Rover that will speed them back to the beach house – and their journey back to The Old Ones.
Warren, New Jersey
ANNIES’ NAIL SALON & BOTOX TREATMENTS
331B Mountain Avenue – Rear Parking Lot Entrance
It’s 11:00PM and Peter Xiang – Li is sitting dejected in the shabby nail salon eating Ramen Noodles with his cousin Sin-Sha – who everybody calls “Annie”. His cousin is singularly unimpressed with his tale of woe and barks her reasons at full volume in Han Chinese dialect-flavored English, her chopsticks almost skewing his eyeballs in the process.
“She no like you! She think you not good enough for her! Leave her be! Why now all of sudden you want wife! You nuts! She break you phone?? She nuts!! You all nuts!!”
Sin-Sha scrapes the bottom of her noodle container for the last morsel of Ramen and continues hurling invective against her cousin. Their evening dinner sessions always end in yelling. But Sin-Sha is family. Her heart is in the right place.
“You spend too much time in office! Too much time travel on business!! I see you office from my side window here – you sleep in office!! What’s wrong with you! You carry on like baby over a whore!! Wah! Wah! Wah! Act like you got balls! Stop kissing slut girlfriend ass!!! You act like Pussy!! Get a good Chinese girl from good family!! Get a life!!”
Peter stares out the window at his parking pitch black parking lot, wondering. “Maybe she’s right…”
Then he spies something. Indistinct – then clearer. Shadows walking past his windows inside his second-floor office. He points it out to Sin-Sha. She immediately shuts all her lights to see better outside, and cracks open the side window ever so slightly to hear from that direction. It’s just across Mountain Boulevard – and traffic is light.
“Somebody in you office. Listen! Listen! They break things – you getting robbed – or maybe they look for something!! Keep you head down!! Don’t be Hero!! We stay here until they leave. We watch…”
Sure enough, Peter Xiang-Li can hear somebody breaking and tearing his office apart – and there are multiple shadows. Looks like three. If he had a phone he’d call the police – but the slutty Ukrainian girl he’s been chasing lately just slammed it against an Ironbound restaurant doorframe in Newark, cracking its face glass into a million pieces and scrambling whatever magic his microprocessor was at one time capable of.
Then he and Sin-Sha hear something that makes their blood curdle. A woman’s scream – loud and plaintive – then nothing. The shrieking is cut short – mid stream. Terminated. Xiang-Li quietly groans out loud her identity.
“Jesus…that’s Costanza, our cleaning lady. Whoever’s in there just killed her! Jesus Christ…Oh, my God!”
He reconsiders calling the police instantly. He’s being targeted – and Heinlen – Hyne – is the reason. He’s absolutely certain of that fact. And Hyne’s confidential files are too sensitive to have cops pawing through them. He’s got to handle this himself. He’s on his own. He’s grinding his teeth – biting down hard.
Xiang – Li quietly waits and peers out the window with his cousin Sin-Sha. Neither one of them can hear the other breathing. Both are frozen in place. Finally – after an hour – three tall, hooded figures round the back of the office building and they see the headlights of a black Mercedes-Benz sedan slowly exiting on to Mountain Boulevard. It turns right – towards Martinsville and Washington Valley Road. Unless Peter Xiang-Li’s intuition is severely handicapped – he’s betting these thugs are going to Hyne’s Vosseller Road ranch house to pay him a visit. Xiang-Li’s niece works as a housekeeper at Hyne’s Martinsville house – but she’s in Shanghai for the rest of the month. Thank God. Xiang-Li finally breathes a sigh of relief. The immediate danger has passed.
As the Mercedes-Benz taillights disappear down Mountain Boulevard, Peter quietly asks his cousin Sin-Sha one question, his voice trembling.
“Can I use your phone? Our lives depend on it.”
*NO PART OF THIS WORK PRODUCT IS AI*
Copyright, 2026, Jon & Jedediah Croft
www.bogironfoundry.com
Email: vlchek1@gmail.com
