Who. Violet Ward and Eugene Bishop What. A long overdue introduction Where. The Bishop Family Funeral Home in Albany, New York When. Sunday night, July 24 2011 Warnings. Quite possibly every warning there is? We'll seeee
There was nothing special about tonight, at least as far as Violet could tell. The funeral home was closed on Sundays but there was still always work to be done. The dead never rested here and neither did their keepers, so for the better part of six hours Violet had spend her time hunched over her desk filling out paper work and making arrangements for the unlucky deceased. But after six hours of that bullshit Violet always started to get a little antsy so around dinner time she'd said to hell with it and went out to put in some time on the tread mill at the gym before heading back to finish the rest of her busy work.
Unlike most people, Violet didn't work out for the endorphins. She didn't even work out because she liked it, she worked out because it made her stronger. Physical exercise was nowhere near the sort of activity that she actually craved, but she pushed herself physically to curb that hunger. It only worked about as well as a nicotine patch. Half the time. After an hour or so of that she'd showered, cleaned up her drabby apartment a little and grabbed an orange before heading back to the office, intent on finishing her work and then going to see if Eugene was still up. He usually was. After months and months of working for him Violet was pretty sure the man never slept, but it wasn't something she minded. She had a hard time sleeping at night too. Her nightmares were always far too close to the truth.
As soon as she walked into the funeral home she noticed that something was off. She couldn't put her finger on it, but it was a feeling in the air that immediately put her on edge. That, and all the lights were off, when she was positive she'd taken the time to leave a few of them on before she'd left for the gym.
"Hello?" She called out, expecting to hear Eugene's adorable little stammer in answer but when she didn't, she frowned. A frown that only deepened when she heard a very distinctive 'clanking' noise coming from the lab in the basement.
After a few seconds of indecision she decided to follow the sound, pulling out a butterfly knife from her coat pocket and making the conscious decision not to turn any of the lights on as she went. If they were getting robbed, mother fucker was gonna get a big ass surprise when she got down there. But when Violet finally did, walking slowly into the room and seeing who was in there, her eyes widened. "... What the hell are you doing?"