“This has got to be some kind of joke,” Morales said as he leaned against the back wall of the head Marshal’s office. The head Marshal of the New Orleans District was a well-groomed man, hair trimmed nicely, with a square jaw that had actually seen combat which many in the office quietly appreciated.  The Marshal sat solidly behind his desk as he stared in a bit of disbelief, watching the footage replay in grisly reality.

Titus Morgan was quiet.

Out of the three men, Titus knew he was the only one in the spacious office that had dealt with anything remotely as large as what they were staring at. Like Morales, he was standing while looking over the footage on the flat screen replay, picking it apart. “It’s not a joke,” the Marshal said after a moment. The reason Morales was in the office was because he followed Titus in by accident. Morales and Morgan were partners when it came to the everyday business of the Federal Marshal’s. Morales assumed, wrongly, that this had something to do with their everyday hum drum kind of work. This was far from it.

“How long ago was this footage taken,” Titus said letting out a chill in the room that gave Morales a slight shudder. His power slipped out making the room cool to Titus and uneasy to the rest.

The Marshal looked towards Titus, not tipping that the sudden drop in temperature in the room was noticeable. “It was taken yesterday, just outside of Oxford in Northern Mississippi.” The Marshal was well into his fifties but seemed to have much more life in him behind those chocolate eyes.

“Missis…” Titus cut himself off as he stared at the footage once more. He let out a wan little laugh because he wasn’t sure what he needed to do. The laugh was nervous, used when you were out of expressions. “That’s a long way from the Appalachian Mountain Range, sir. I find it hard to believe this guy got all the way to Mississippi without anyone noticing. Besides Marshal, they aren’t supposed to exist anymore.”

“I know Deputy Marshal,” the man said and then made motion to the flat screen again, “but there it is in all it’s glory.”

A troll.

The footage was from a routine traffic stop on a highway that Titus couldn’t readily recognize. A state trooper had pulled over to the side of the road from what looked like a single vehicle accident. There was no audio to the footage.  Most dash cam footage was silent. It wasn’t until the microphone on the trooper was synced that sound came to these videos.

The state trooper was bent over and helping a lady out of the car, the car had rolled and sat shaking on the side. Thankfully, the roof had yet to cave in leaving plenty of room for them to escape. This went on for just shy of a minute as the trooper worked diligently to get the two occupants to the sedan loose from the wreckage. The camera that recorded it all had excellent detail, even showing the swaying trees on the side of the road and the small flash of lightning bugs in the breeze.

What happened next was something nightmares were made of.

The officer immediately pulled his side arm and fired towards the woods. It was odd watching it without sound, but Titus could almost hear the quick cracks of small arms fire coming from the flare of the weapon. A leg almost as tall as the trooper entered into view, crushing down on one of the occupants of the car. Once more there was no sound, but Titus imagined the crunch of a head being crushed under the weight of an elephant. A clawed and calloused hand swept wide and back handed the trooper to his own vehicle, hitting the windshield, cracking the glass but the camera continued to roll. The creature then began to roll the vehicle towards the woods in violent and obscene movements. Titus could visibly see the second occupant flailing about inside the car, trying, begging to be released all in silent horror. Then the footage started back to the trooper pulling the first occupant out.

“Did the trooper make it out of there alive?” Morgan said as he turned towards the head Marshal. His only answer was a grave stare.

“What can you tell me Deputy Marshal?” Titus was pulled back to the real world and turned towards the Marshal. The man stood his ground but looked a bit shaken. Once more, this was a man that had seen combat, but hadn’t seen a fight with the other worldly. This was Titus’s world.

Clearing his throat, Titus began to point out a few things. “From what I learned in the textbooks, trolls were territorial and stuck to mountain ranges due to the numerous places to hide.” He threw his hands up in a bit of frustration as he looked at the footage. “Which I guess we throw out the window seeing as how this is the deep south and the nearest mountain range is more than four hundred miles away.” Titus hooked his nose with his index finger, covering his mouth, watching the footage and finally paused on something he hadn’t seen before. “There, in the trees. Those two fireflies right there? It’s the troll, the damn thing this is sitting there watching them. I think it’s stalking them. I am guessing this car hit it crossing the road. It dipped into the woods to lick wounds then came back for the kill.”

“I thought these things only had an animal intelligence.” Morales said, finally piping in. He looked a little paler than his normal Columbian complexion.

“They were thought to have high primate intelligence. Some of the old reports suggested they had a rudimentary language and could even plan.” Titus said continuing to watch. He was taxing his knowledge centers, staring at this thing. It was like looking at video footage of a Dodo in someone’s backyard.  Titus turned back towards the head Marshal with a snap. “Have you contacted the executioner in Mississippi?”

The Marshal took a step back, he masked it by looking at a paper on his desk, but Titus caught the flinch for less than a second. “The executioner in Mississippi was a grandfather, old man based out of Tupelo. He resigned a few months ago and they have yet to find a replacement for him. We’re the closest to the site and also with the best trained executioners in the country.” It was a compliment but Titus couldn’t quite tell to which one the Marshal was referring.

Titus Morgan had never gone up against anything like this, ever. He’d fought vampires, lycanthropes of every flavor, a few fae, and enough humans and servants to populate a small town. Nothing ever came close to this. “You know, my grandfather used to tell me stories about these things when I was growing up. They’d come at night, grab livestock if they could, but mostly they wanted human flesh. Bone marrow was like a t-bone steak to these creatures.

“Warn the nearest towns around this site and tell them to be on the lookout. Small arms won’t hurt them and they are known for a healthy regenerative property. We’re dealing with a rogue probably. Most trolls were communal and lived in groups. Judging by the separation of a mountain range, this guy is spooked, pissed and real hungry with plenty to eat running around him. Also get one of the interns to look up missing person reports from as far up as the Carolinas and all the way to Oxford.  They’ll be looking for a pattern. People alone, in the wilderness, things like that. Trolls can’t go four hundred some odd miles and not get a craving for their favorite snack. I’ll need to get some heavy arms to go at this thing.

“I don’t think I can do it alone Marshal,” he finally said. It spoke volumes about how tough this thing was in his mind. Titus never asked for help during an execution, never. Morales stood up, ready to stand by him, but Titus put a hand up to him. “Not you Morales, you’ve got heart in spades but I need a professional, another executioner.”

The head Marshal looked over Titus and finally spoke, “I can try to see if Redfern will assist but last I checked he’s got a full plate.”

Titus just gave a shrug, “See what you can dig up, I’ll draw up what I need for the kill. Will I need a warrant for this?”

The head Marshal gave a slight nod. “They’re drafting the paperwork now.”

“Wow, a goddamn troll.” Morales finally spoke and swore a little more in Spanish.

“What’s the matter Morales? “ Titus turned giving him a smile that was more smirk, “You jealous?”