chief marcus drennan

Role: Chief of Police, Silver City
Status: Alive, but under supernatural duress
Function in Narrative: The last moral holdout within law enforcement—until he learns just how deep the Black Doors go. Represents the cost of integrity in a city built on fear.

Chief Marcus Drennan came into office believing he could clean up Silver City. Freshly promoted after the mysterious death of the previous chief, he thought discipline, structure, and courage would be enough.

They weren’t.

Now, Marcus is a man at war with himself—trapped between upholding justice and surviving the unseen horrors that rule his city. He refuses to bow like Mayor Greaves but quickly learns resistance has a price. Eli visits him. The Death Circle watches him. His own officers whisper when he walks past.

And the Doors… they creak louder every night.

• Age: Early 40s
   
• Height: 6’2”
   
• Build: Solid, broad-shouldered—a fighter’s frame refined by academy discipline
   
• Hair: Black, cropped short, graying at the temples from sudden stress
   
• Eyes: Deep brown with a sharp edge—eyes that search for truth, but now twitch at shadows
   
• Style: Wears his uniform meticulously—clean, pressed, armed—but the bags under his eyes grow heavier by the day
   
• Distinguishing Feature: Vertical scar under his chin from a childhood fight—reminds him he’s always been a fighter
   

• Stubborn — Doesn’t back down, even when the system bends
   
• Loyal — Protects his people… even the ones who are already lost
   
• Skeptical but open-minded — Initially dismisses the supernatural, but evidence keeps stacking up
   
• Principled — Sees corruption as the enemy, until he realizes it’s woven into the city’s bones
   

• Rose through the ranks the right way—clean cases, commendations, street respect
   
• Wasn’t supposed to get the chief job—only received it after the last chief vanished
   
• His first week, a black envelope with his name on it was left on his desk. Inside: a mirror shard and a photo of his mother, asleep in her bed… with something watching from the closet
   

• Marcus represents honor in a doomed system
   
• The last cop who thinks rules still matter
   
• His arc becomes a warning: some doors should stay closed
   

• Chapter 19: Stares down Mayor Greaves, refuses to call the Hollow Bottle deaths “accidental overdoses”
   
• Chapter 23: Finds a Black Doors symbol etched into his squad car windshield—upside down
   
• Final Chapters: Begins documenting the strange events—recordings, witness statements—but one night the pages rearrange themselves and the ink bleeds