Melissa Mallory

Melissa Mallory was the daughter of Officer Mallory.

## Appearance

Melissa looked about eighteen years old, short, with brown hair and a ponytail in a braid. She wore a green shirt with a cute dog on it, blue pants and white sneakers. On her photo she also wore glasses, but given that the photo could have been several years old, it’s unclear whether she wore them at the time of her appearance in the story.

## History

Melissa’s mother died nine years before the start of the story.

Melissa was present during the attack on her father by Joseph Rofal’s men, and was also targeted by Joseph. She was taken into protective custody, and was sitting in waiting room of the hospital while her father underwent surgery and subsequently died on the operating table before he could receive a blood transfusion. The four officers assigned to her were intending to let Rofal’s goons to pass unobstructed, but Hector, alerted by Garovel, incapacitated the goons. That forced Colt to gun down three other officers, knife Hector in the brain and shoot Melissa in the head.

After Melissa died, Geoffrey acquired both of her hands (considering them nice souvenirs) and offered one to Colt as a gift, but was refused.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Mallory’s daughter was supposed to be in protective custody for the remainder of the night, and Garovel had initially wanted Hector to get some rest. But then the reaper heard some of the officers talking privately. Each of the four guards assigned to her expected Rofal’s men to come for her by night’s end, and only Officer Colt seemed to harbor any notion of standing in their way. And it hadn’t taken the other three long to talk him down.

Having no need of further direction, Hector waited until the man at the reception desk wasn’t looking and snuck past. He held his bag close at his side and tried not to make eye contact with any of the passing attendants.

Mallory had been taken to the rear wing of the hospital for surgery, and according to Garovel, his daughter sat in the waiting room. Hector peeked around the corner and saw the four officers standing at the other end of the hall.

‘*I see the room*,’ he thought. He took a seat out of the officers’ sightline.

‘*Good. I’m with the daughter.*’

‘*Learn anything new?*’

‘*Her name is Melissa. A bit on the short side, looks a couple years older than you, brown hair, ponytail in a braid, green shirt with a cute dog on it, blue pants, white sneakers--*’

‘*That--uh--that’s a lot of information...*’

‘*You may need to know what she looks like.*’

‘*Uh... yeah, okay. Thanks. I meant more, um... about the mother or about Rofal, maybe...*’

‘*The mother is not alive.*’

‘*Oh...*’

‘*The nurse asked Melissa about it. She said her mother died nine years ago. She didn't mention any other family.*’

‘*Geez... and now this...*’

‘*Yeah. Wait. Here comes the doctor. The surgery’s over already?*’

Hector held his breath.

‘*...They couldn’t give him a blood transfusion in time. He’s dead.*’

He exhaled and shut his eyes.

‘*Melissa’s a wreck.*’ - Excerpt from pages 34 and 35
2. ↑ ‘*He appears to have a daughter. Unlike him, she’s a brunette and wears glasses. She looks very young, though the photo on his desk could be several years old by now. No information on the mother, yet.*’ - Excerpt from page 31
3. ↑ ‘*I’m at the scene.*’

‘*What have you learned?*’

‘*Apparently, the daughter was upstairs the whole time.*’

‘*Holy shit...*’ Hector’s brow lowered, and he scratched his head. ‘*Sh-she... she heard the gunshots and everything...?*’

‘*I’m looking for her now. Word is, she saw a black male in a red shirt and a strange mask fleeing the crime scene.*’

‘*Of course...*’

There was a long pause. ‘*Shit.*’

‘*What’s the matter?*’

‘*I see her. She has the aura. Rofal put the hit on her, too.*’ - Excerpt from page 39
4. ↑ Hector didn’t have to wait much longer after that. He noticed the men as soon as they entered the intersecting hallway. He counted four, walking together, all wearing sunglasses at night and dark hats indoors. He donned his own mask and stood.

‘*They’re here*,’ he said.

‘*As am I.*’ Garovel emerged from the wall and grabbed Hector's shoulder. Hector was starting to get used to the pain. ‘*Wait until we’re a hundred percent sure it’s them*,’ Garovel said. ‘*It’d be awkward if you attacked a dance troupe or something.*’

Hector gave him a look.

‘*Hey, it’s possible. Maybe one of their members broke his leg during a routine, and they came to visit him in the hospital. You don’t know.*’

He waited until they approached the group of officers. When the uniforms started to make way for them, that was good enough confirmation for Hector. He bounded down the hallway. They turned at the sound of his footsteps, but it was far too late for the leftmost thug. Hector barreled into him. The man’s body punched through the thin wall, raining plaster into Melissa’s room. She shrieked.

“The fuck?!” The thugs drew their weapons, which made the cops draw theirs, but Hector had already grabbed his second thug by the arm. He flung him into the third like a rag doll, and they both stayed down. Hector turned to the fourth, took a bullet in the chest, and punched the man so hard that he felt the guy’s jaw break.

“Holy shit. Who the--” A gunshot cut the words short. - Excerpt from pages 42 and 43
5. ↑ He spun around in time to see Colt gun two other officers down, the third already on the ground. All in the back of the head, before they even knew what happened.

Colt looked at him. “Hey, you’re that kid, aren’t you? What’s with the mask?”

Hector was on him in a blink. He slapped the gun away and shoved him against the wall. “What are you doing?! Why did you kill them?!”

“What can I say? My boss is a family man.” Colt squirmed under Hector’s grip. “You know, you really should’ve *listened*--”

Hector felt the blade enter below his chin. Everything flashed and went dark.

This was a familiar feeling. Emptiness. A vague notion of being in a vacuum. No life, no breath, no light, nothing to sense or be conscious of.

And then he was back. He sat up, discovering he had been on the floor. He shook his head, blinking. “What happened...?”

‘*I’m sorry, Hector... I couldn’t revive you fast enough...*’

“Wh-what? I don’t--”

‘*Colt stabbed you. The knife pierced your brain. You still need your brain. I had to resurrect you.*’

He climbed to his feet. His mask had come off, but that wasn't his first concern. “Where’d he go?”

*‘I don’t know. I couldn’t follow him and revive you at the same time.*’ “Dammit...” Then it dawned on him, a sudden horror. What Garovel had just said. About being sorry. “Oh no...!” He barged into Melissa's room.

She was on the floor, shot in the head. - Excerpt from pages 43 and 44
6. ↑  Colt at once remembered why he loathed this person. “Whose hand is that?”

“Oh, do you want it? I was thinking about giving it to you, actually. I have the other one, as well.”

It was a small hand, thin fingers with long nails and pallid skin, preserved, likely taken from a corpse. “Who does it belong to?" he said, even less patient now.

“The girl you killed. Melissa Mallory.”

Colt ground his teeth and glowered. “Why do you have it?”

Geoffrey tilted his head, confused. “Because I wanted it, obviously. It makes a nice souvenir, don’t you think?” - Excerpt from page 69