Chapter 1 “Evil Laughter”

Chapter 1 “Evil Laughter”

Normally the movie, ‘Evil Dead 2’, scared the hell out of her. But thankfully, Kyoko was so sleepy she could hardly even see the TV screen, and that was saying a lot since it was a 73-inch surround sound theater system. She blinked a couple of times then jerked awake, lifting her head up to glance at the digital clock on the front of the DVD player.

Three in the morning! That last blink had been her downfall. She’d been asleep over an hour.

She had a habit of staying awake till she knew everyone had made it home safely, so she quickly started counting heads. She tried to sit up but realized she was sandwiched between the back of the sofa and Toya.

Looking down, her cheeks went up in flames. His face was buried against her lower stomach and one arm was thrown across her hip. How was it that she could fall asleep with him clear across the room, and then wake up in the strangest positions with him? It was completely unnerving. If he weren’t sound asleep, she would have shoved him in the floor.

Kyoko rolled her eyes knowing she had thought the same thing many times, and so far… he had never hit the floor.

Her expression softened seeing his dark hair and all the silver highlights spread out around him. He always looked so sweet when he was asleep… it really was a shame they couldn’t keep him asleep at all times. She smirked at her own mental joke. But what the heck, it was true. Toya, as sweet and loving as he secretly was, would be the first one to start a fight with her.

Pulling herself up and over the back of the sofa so she didn’t have to crawl across him, she got her footing and looked around.

Kyoko shook her head, wondering why so many of them had made it a habit to sleep in this huge living room, almost every night, when they all had their own rooms with king sized beds. Quickly glancing around, she noted everyone she had been waiting on was accounted for, except Kyou, which was normal, and Tasuki, whom she knew had the night shift this week.

With Kyou being their boss, she guessed it was too much to ask for him to hang out with the cops, private detectives, and psychics that worked for him.

A very wickedly funny thought slipped into her head and she smiled. Had anyone been awake to see it, they would have run in fright. These guys had been teasing her so much lately that Kyoko believed it was time for payback… ten-fold.

She silently walked over to Shinbe, who was asleep on the loveseat. Carefully, she extracted the TV remote control that had somehow ended up lying across his lap. Kyoko froze when Shinbe shifted and muttered something about rabbit fur and chocolate syrup in his sleep.

Shaking her head, Kyoko got the remote away from him and muted the television.

Adrenaline rushed through her body, giving her a lightheaded feeling. A very tiny part of her started to feel bad, but she viciously jumped up and down on it, until that part of her conscience was beaten into silence. After Kotaro’s underwear incident, and Toya’s sudden urge to streak the halls and into her bedroom… they so deserved this.

Besides, they thought of her as the baby of the group. She always had to fight with them to get to do any of the hardcore paranormal jobs.

Her only real power was the fact that sometimes when she touched something, or someone, she would get flashes of the past that would help them solve the cases. It didn’t always work though. It wasn’t like she could just walk up to a demon and touch it to see if it was going around killing people.

Maybe by getting the jump on all of them at once, she would be proving to them that she could hold her own. Plus… revenge was sweet.

With the television still muted, Kyoko cranked the volume all the way up. There was one part in this movie that made her cringe every time she heard it. So, she rewound to that part… the part where everything in the room started laughing at the main character in the most demented of voices.

Sneaking over to the door, she opened it and took a single step out into the hallway before turning and smiling at the peaceful scene. Hitting the mute button one more time, Kyoko tossed the remote in the general direction of the sofa and ran like hell.

The loud noise startled everyone into action, and therefore creating a domino effect that would have everyone not involved laughing for weeks.

Kotaro was the first to react. He’d been sitting in one of the recliners, dreaming about a certain auburn-haired angel, when the loud creepy laughing surrounded him. He bolted to his feet, pulling his Beretta at the same time and shot the television. Being an officer with the local police force, it was instinct that made him react so quickly.

Yohji, Kotaro’s partner at the precinct, was sitting in another chair. The noise caused him to jump, which in turn made the recliner flip over backwards. He was up in less than a second, using the fallen recliner for cover and pointing his gun at the remnants of the television.

Shinbe jumped to his feet yelling something about abandoning ship, Kyoko’s and perverts first. He blinked, coming out of his dream and into what might be a nightmare. He tilted his head looking at the TV.

Because of Toya’s precarious position on the sofa, he’d fallen off the edge, landing on top of a napping Kamui, who had stretched out on the floor with a laptop open in front of him. Kamui’s face went into the keyboard and Toya’s foot went into the screen, effectively destroying the device.

“What the hell, Kotaro?” Toya demanded.

“Get your face out of my ass!” Kamui screeched and jumped up, dumping Toya on the floor.

Shinbe rubbed the back of his neck, thanking any god listening that no one had heard him.

Yohji slowly stood up and holstered his PPK while frowning at the smoldering television. “You shot the television again,” he muttered. “Isn’t that the second one this year?” He glared at the TV as he added, “And I think it’s laughing at you.”

Kotaro, for his part, was staring at the broken television that was still blaring the evil laughter, even though the screen was wrecked. The expression on his face was one of utter surprise and he looked down at the Beretta in his hand before very slowly holstering it. He noticed flickering lights and looked behind him to see Suki snapping pictures from her cell phone.

“Three guesses who just did that,” Toya exclaimed and made a mad dash for the door.

“Don’t kill her!” Kamui yelled running out after him. “I get first dibs.”

Kotaro didn’t move as he was still looking at the television. Shinbe ran out after Toya and Kamui with all intent to ‘rescue’ Kyoko from Toya’s revenge.

“Fear not Kyoko, I shall protect you!” Shinbe exclaimed as he ran down the hall.

Yuuhi, a small albino boy, removed the earplugs from his ears. “Told you,” he whispered in an emotionless voice that held its own creep factor.

Amni, who was sitting next to the small boy on the same loveseat Shinbe had just vacated, grinned after he removed his earplugs as well. The two of them were the psychics of the group and had foreseen this coming for a few days now. They hadn’t bothered warning anyone because… what would be the fun in that?

“At least the security cameras Kyou installed will catch everything,” Amni stated. “Instant replay is the best thing since sliced bread.”

“What did I miss?” Tasuki asked as he calmly walked through the door, glad to finally be off work for the night.

“Toya just left to kill Kyoko,” Amni said in an ominous voice, as if he were seeing a horrible vision. He then busted out laughing when Tasuki ran out of the room so fast he caused a breeze.

Kotaro cocked an eyebrow at Amni, “Did anyone ever tell you that you had an evil streak?”

Amni shrugged, “I didn’t want him to feel left out.”

***** Darious leaned against the brick wall, getting a feel for the city. The sounds and smells from so many humans were distorted with demonic echoes that no one else noticed. He could even sense shadows that didn’t belong within the daylight, but he remained calm to keep his powers concealed for a while.

He had learned a long time ago that his moods had an effect on the weather and so far today, the sky was clear and the temperature was perfection. It was midday and he wanted sunlight more than solitude. He seemed to be getting both.

Darious smirked as he watched the humans. They were staying so close to the other edge of the wide sidewalk that one misstep would land them in heavy traffic.

He was used to people cutting a wide ark around him and he no longer cared… not that he had ever really cared. He could have done them all a favor and just remained invisible, but being the same thing as a ghost 24/7 was getting on his nerves. The only reason he was now in the middle of such dense population was because he had followed the scent of many demons to this area.

He was still trying to figure out why this place had become the center of demonic interest. It was so crowded, noisy, and dirty that he almost understood why the demons would choose this place, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. He’d avoided populated areas as much as possible because he had learned a long time ago that it was places like this that bred the worst type of humans. Some of them were almost as evil as the demons he tracked.

Over the millennia, he’d killed countless demons… but the strongest and the fastest demons had scattered and hid while he was busy killing the weaker ones. All those cold trails seem to converge here… on this city.

His thoughts darkened, knowing the master demons where now conspiring together, mistakenly thinking their army, mixed within so many humans, could defeat him. Hiding among the humans would not help them. Their auras stood out like beacons to him, looking more like distorted shadows rather than actual living beings.

Darious’s eyes darkened at the thought. If he had to destroy this city and all the humans in it, then so be it. He owed the mortals nothing. Besides, they knew about the demons and just chose to ignore that fact. All the horror movies were proof, even though they called them fiction. They had ignorantly forgotten that every human legend was based on a small amount of fact.

Tonight was demon night… the humans called it Halloween. This was the one night where the people would ignore what was right in front of them. He supposed that was one of the reasons humans dressed up like monsters once a year… so the real things wouldn’t recognize them. How ignorant the human race had become.

With his keen eyesight, Darious looked across the busy road into the glass window of the tall buildings and noticed his own reflection. His eyes narrowed wondering what everyone else saw when they looked at him that made them drag their children to the other side of the street.

Did they see their own lack of knowledge, fear, or perhaps he was a challenge to their known ignorance. They wanted to remain unaware of the true dangers of the world. He was here to save them and yet they treated him like he was a demon. Only the innocent ever caught and held his gaze… children, as their parents pulled them away.

***** Kyoko stood in the front office, glad Suki was the only one there. She laughed to herself nervously as she made her first cup of coffee. She knew the guys would get her back for what she had done to them last night. She swallowed, remembering the whole floor thumping because it had been so loud, and her running down the hallway trying to make it to her room before they caught up with her.

She’d heard Toya running after her, yelling every obscenity in the book. They both knew that if he’d actually caught up with her, he wouldn’t have hurt her.

In her headlong race for sanctuary, she’d turned the corner and seen Kyou standing in his doorway. He had been wearing black silk night pants that were riding dangerously low on his hips, his long silver hair perfect, even in the middle of the night. It was his eyes that had almost made her turn and flee back in the other direction. They were molten gold, smoldering, and fixed directly on her as she ran past him and into her room.

Kyoko turned in the doorway and shrieked when she saw Toya barreling down the hall toward her. Just as she slammed the door shut, she could have sworn she saw Kyou stick his foot out a few inches, causing Toya to trip and fall on his face.

She could smile about it now.

She trusted Kyou with her life and he seemed to take care of everyone who lived and worked within the building. She hardly knew anything about him, but at the same time she felt like she knew him so intimately that it often made her blush.

The only facts she did have were that he seemed to have more money than god and he made sure everyone had more than everything they needed. He also had an uncanny way of knowing just what paranormal cases to send them out on and what weapons they would need. He was the oldest brother of several of the people who worked here… although she’d never quite figured out their ages.

Toya was the second oldest, with ebony hair that had silver streaks in it the same color as Kyou’s. Just like all the brothers, he had a body that should have been used for underwear ads. You know… the kind that makes a girl stop and stare.

Almost every assignment she went out on, it would be Toya who was her partner and she had come to love him dearly for it. How could she not when he had saved her too many times to count, from the monsters normal people had no clue even existed? In many ways, Toya was the closest thing she had to a hero.

The next brother in line was Shinbe, with long midnight blue hair and amethyst eyes. He seemed to be the enigma of the group, always acting like a pervert and his sense of humor often had her rolling on the floor. But there were times when he would become deadly serious. It was those times that no one in the group took him for granted.

The fourth brother, Kotaro, was a detective for the police force and in charge of the cases that baffled the local law enforcement. He had long ebony hair and ice blue eyes that could take your breath away. While the rest of the cops were running around looking for a human suspect, it was Kotaro’s small group that would bring it to the attention of the paranormal agency and help track down the demons.

Surprisingly, once the case was solved the city officials never asked too many questions about it. It was almost as though they didn’t want to know.

Tasuki and Yohji were two guys that worked under Kotaro at the station. Kyou had invited them to live here, since they worked here more than at the police department. They had also stolen the secretary from the police office and now she worked here. Her name was Suki, and Kyoko loved her like a best friend. Also, Kotaro talked Kyou into inviting two brothers who were psychic… Amni and Yuuhi. They were a lot of help.

The youngest of the brothers, although she wasn’t quite sure of the age since they all looked to be between the ages of nineteen and twenty-seven, was Kamui. His hair was many colors with the most amazing amethyst highlights. She knew for a fact that his eyes changed colors more than a teenager changed clothes… and that was really saying something.

He was the computer wiz of the group, and could break into any databank in the world to get them the info they needed. More than once, he’d broken into high government agencies just to mess with their heads.

Turning with her cup of coffee so she could focus on what Suki had been chatting about for the last couple of minutes; Kyoko almost burnt herself when her gaze landed on Kyou.

He was once again leaning against the door jam, watching her from the doorway of his office with that same look he’d been wearing the night before. When she met his gaze, it sent a raw, sensual shiver through her very core.

One of these days, Kyoko was determined to find out exactly how he did that. She’d actually seen women fall over themselves whenever Kyou would, on rare occasion, leave the sanctuary of the office and walk through the streets of the city.

“I take it you slept well?” Kyou asked stoically, though Kyoko could see just the slightest hint of amusement in his eyes.

“Yes, actually I did,” Kyoko stated with a smile.

“Hmm, I would think it rather difficult, with four males taking it upon themselves to stand outside your room all night arguing over who was, and wasn’t, going to break your door down.”

Quickly turning away from him to hide her blush, Kyoko gazed out the large window that overlooked the busy city street. Sometimes living in this building could be really hard on a girl’s heart… not to mention her hormones.

Feeling chills going up the back of her neck, she knew she couldn’t run away so she tried to just let her mind roam. She looked across the street toward the row of buildings facing this one… wishing she were in one of them instead… at least until last night's teen-angst blew over.

Her lips parted as she noticed a man directly across the road from her. It seemed like he was looking straight at her, but she knew that couldn’t be because of the tint used on the glass… you could see out but not in. Kyoko stepped closer to the window and placed one hand against the tinted glass just beside her vision of him.

The man embodied stillness, while everything around him moved in a hurried pace. There was a calm serenity to him that was both beguiling and frightening. Somewhere deep inside her mind, she knew it was a lie… he was the one moving and everything else was standing still in his presence.

He was wearing dark sunglasses, with a long black trench coat that was open enough that she could see the sheer tight shirt underneath. He had the body of a Greek God and his face was flawless, even though his long dark hair was shadowing most of it. Something about him screamed danger and sex all at the same time. He looked like he belonged somewhere in the dark ages with the dragons and wizards.

An abrupt vision of him kneeling nude and bloody, with chains around his wrists, ankles, and neck… in some long forgotten underground cavern, burst forward in her mind, making her want to cry out in anguish. Kyoko could feel herself crawling through rivers of blood toward him… wanting to save him. Literally felt it sliding against her skin and weighing down her clothing.

Frowning as the feelings and image faded, Kyoko leaned closer to the glass and had the distinct impression that she was actually trying to get closer to him instead.

Darious felt something invading his space and narrowed his gaze past his own reflection in the mirrored glass, seeing the girl watching him. Usually humans would look away as soon as they noticed him, unless they were innocent… children. He had never understood it, but children never feared him. His dark eyes caressed the girl curiously, knowing she was not a child.

She had long, beautiful auburn hair that was neither straight nor curly, but had a life of its own. As he sharpened his vision, he could see glittering emerald eyes surrounded by sinfully dark lashes. The way she was watching him in morbid fascination made his blood heat up and that confused him.

He growled when the sun suddenly disappeared behind dark clouds. Humans had never interested him… just demons, and then only long enough for him to track them down and kill them. The instant she turned from the window, Darious wrapped himself in power, making himself invisible.

“Kyoko, have you heard a word I have been saying?” Suki asked well aware she’d just spent the last few minutes talking to herself.

Kyoko flinched and turned to look at her best friend behind the desk. “Oh… Umm… Huh?” She blinked, “What was the question?” Seeing a shadow to her right, she glanced at Kyou’s office door and relaxed seeing he had once again vanished.

Suki shook her head, “I said we have the morning meeting upstairs in five minutes.” She picked up a stack of papers and came around the desk as Kyoko turned back to the window. “What were you looking at so hard anyway?” she asked.

Kyoko’s shoulders slumped seeing the stranger was no longer there. She bit her bottom lip wondering at the disappointment. “I’m looking for a taxi so I can escape the meeting.” She winked at Suki.

“Yeah well, if I didn’t love you, I would have killed you when the mother of all fuck bombs rattled the windows last night. Besides, it really gave me some good pictures to post on the internet. You should have seen the look on Kotaro’s face when he realized he’d shot the TV… I’ll show you later.”

Seeing Kyoko’s attention wander across the street again, she placed her hands on Kyoko’s shoulders and turned her toward the elevator. “Come on… it’s time to face up to your terrorism.”

“Terrorism?” Kyoko defended guiltily. “What do you call what they constantly do to me… civilized?”

Suki giggled and pushed Kyoko into the elevator. “Get up there, and if there’s any screaming… make sure it’s them doing it.”

Darious glanced up at the name printed on the glass above where the girl had been standing… ‘Paranormal Investigations.’ He closed his eyes, feeling his way through the building and clenched his teeth as his power came across old souls. He inhaled as he found hers nearing the top floor of the building. She was headed directly into the grouping of souls that were tainted with things not human… nor where they demon.

He opened his ebony eyes just as the rain started, the sidewalk becoming wet, except for were his invisible body was standing.

Was that why she was watching him with such interest, because she was linked to all things paranormal? He let his power ride her soul one more time as he searched for demonic presence within her aura. For several heartbeats, his power surrounded her and he could feel her life force rise up and look directly at him.

That’s when he heard it… an echo of soft crying he could barely remember hearing over the sound of his own tortured screams. The only time he had ever heard that sound was the moment the chains of eternity had broken. He had left the sound behind as he’d fought his way out of the pit and it had tugged on his memory many times. The closer he’d come to this city… the more the memory had begun haunting him.

What was it about this cry that made his chest tighten now and not centuries before when it would have mattered? Why did it suddenly matter now? Darious shook his head becoming annoyed. He couldn’t change the past, so why dwell on it?

Just as Kyoko opened the door to the room where everyone was waiting, she felt like someone put their arms around her and she drew in a sharp breath. Turning to her right, she looked up into darkness. Within that darkness was the same face she had seen across the street… this time without sunglasses. It was his eyes that held her in fascination… they were the strangest color of swirling silver with a hint of icy blue highlights.

Kyou turned toward the door, feeling Kyoko’s approach but the strange look on her face forced him into action. He rushed forward and caught her before she fell. Sensing something uninvited touching her besides him, it was his warning growl that dispersed the supernatural power from around her.

It left her in an angry wave just as thunder rattled the windows from the oncoming storm. Kyou narrowed his golden eyes as he swept her up possessively in his arms and laid her gently on the sofa with everyone looking on. As they all surged forward, he held his hand up, commanding them to stay back.

Darious withdrew and opened his eyes, looking up at the top floor of the building. He could still feel the heat of her soul and it was the first time he had been warm as far back as he could remember. It had also been a long time since he had been shoved by another’s power.

He gave a cold and wicked smile as he vanished. The dry spot on the pavement turned darker as the sky opened up in a downpour.