Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Deep underground, beneath the brick and mortar of the 24-hour Wal-Mart that Zeke had claimed as his playground, another pair of wicked eyes slid open and widened with anticipation. Thick black slits elongated within yellowed irises, to gaze upwards towards the low dirt ceiling of the small den the creature shared with a multitude of serpents.

Lilith’s long forked tongue flicked out to taste the air and caught the flavor of the crystal’s power flowing down into the forgotten mine shaft that she’d chosen to sleep in.

The coveted crystal was a power the demon was very familiar with because she already had a slice of it in her possession. She had used the strange crystalline power to beat back or kill other demons that had tried to control her. Because of that crystal’s power, she was no longer an underling… now she was a master demon with a small army of shadow beasts to call her own.

Regardless of the heightened abilities the crystal gave her… it was not enough to keep her safe from the sudden invasion of demonic predators and their supernatural enemies above. This new war had made it to where she was once again counted among the weak as they were very powerful beings.

The piece of crystal she had in her possession was but a small sliver of light. However, she had heard distant whispers of demons finding more than one piece of crystal and combining the power. Power of that caliber was what she needed and it was somewhere up there in the human’s overcrowded cave… she could taste its flavor.

If she was cunning enough to kill the demon holding it, then she could take the sliver of crystal for herself… adding it with what she already possessed and be a part of ruling the city instead of hiding beneath it.

Lifting a withered hand, Lilith watched the shadow of her arm elongate and morph into the form of a snake with its tail still attached to her shadow. Some masters controlled shadow demons but she preferred shadow beasts. They were the deadlier of the two and would never commit mutiny for a stronger master, like the traitorous shadow demons were known to do.

The shadow beast twisted its body and lifted its head before turning to look at her with dark red eyes. Lilith hissed once at it, her long forked tongue slipping out again before allowing the beastie to separate from her being and slither away, up through the dirt to the world above to investigate the demon that had the crystal she desired.

Her snake den hadn’t been disturbed and the recent construction of the large concrete ‘cave’ above had only fortified her nest. She had been careful to keep her presence unnoticed when the rift opened, allowing demons to swarm over the land.

Her underlings had kept her informed of their war while she had simply laid in wait for them to kill each other off, as swarms of demons were known to do. So far she had survived by hiding, but now… oh now she could feel the power of another piece of that wonderful crystal. That kind of power was too much for her to resist.

For the chance of becoming stronger, she would risk exposing herself for a little while. Once she had the crystal in her grasp, she would consume several humans along with their souls for nourishment, before slithering back into hiding to wait for the demon war to take its toll.

Sharp reptilian fangs gleamed in the darkness as Lilith’s eyes changed to opaque and her vision took in her shadow serpent’s point of view. The beast had reached the surface and was currently staring into the building above. She issued a silent command and the shadow beast began slithering through the store, avoiding the humans as it zeroed in on the demonic aura.

Its form became heavy and corporal, then shifted back into shadow, which was something a lowly shadow demon could never do without possessing another’s body to host it.

Her beastie took its time and stalked several of the shadow demons to see what they were up to, and who they were obeying. When she witnessed their possession of children, she was almost impressed… until she realized blood was not being spilled.

Lilith cackled maliciously at what she saw through the eyes of her evil pet. These children were not being killed… nor were they harmed other than the simple possession. This demon master was no threat… he was no more than a child using the crystal’s power on a childish whim.

This demon had no clue of the true power at his disposal and she would eat his soul as a reward for his naivety.

She could feel other demons beginning to close in on the area and knew they were being drawn towards the same power that she was after. She would have to hurry before one of them beat her to her prize. That or the foolish demon would be killed by the hunters who would never think to look for such power in the hands of a weakling child. It would be lost to her.

“Come,” Lilith screeched into the darkness around her and extended both of her arms.

The shadows of her long fingered hands began to slither outwards in the form of shadow beasts that began crawling up the walls, digging their diamond shaped heads through the dirt and stone in their journey to the surface. The yellow of her eyes glowed a wicked green and she hissed. It was time to use her stolen power to steal even more.

Able to shapeshift into the form of her animal counterpart, Lilith coiled her snakelike body beneath her and used the powerful muscles to push herself through the first layer of dirt in a long dig to the surface. Dirt, dead roots, and rocks rained down around her but they didn’t slow her ascent. Her long, serpentine body easily cut through the earth until she came into contact with something flat and hard.

The patches of scales that were scattered across her molting skin had begun to shiver in the cold dirt, already missing the warmth of the tiny snake den she’d abandoned in her quest. Using her long claws, she slithered along the bottom of the flat surface feeling for an opening.

Not finding one, Lilith screamed in rage but it was not sound that exploded from her mouth. A swarm of dark slithering beasts were vomited up from her black soul causing the dirt to become overcrowded. The mass of withering bodies heaved against the concrete until it cracked.

***** Hank leaned back against one of the large poles that held up the roof of the warehouse and slid down to the floor for his break. This was his favorite spot to hide and luckily no one had found it yet.

The only things that ever came back here were spiders and the occasional rodent. The section had been set aside for broken machinery and dead lawn and garden plants that didn’t sell in time. It was the perfect place for what he had in mind and by God he was going to enjoy it.

This had turned out to be a really crappy day. First, he had been late due to the massive hangover from his brother’s bachelor party the night before. Of course, because he’d overslept, he’d missed the sunrise wedding on the beach along with the pissed off phone call from his brother. His bro hadn’t been happy, but having a best man that was too drunk to get out of bed wasn’t exactly something to be happy about.

Karma was a vengeful bitch since he’d shown up at work only to have to deal with that damn kid and his pranks. To top the wonderful day off, Dude had up and quit, leaving Hank to finish unloading the trucks all by himself.

After a long winded rant and several smashed boxes of high priced merchandise, he’d finally convinced himself that seeing the kid vanish into thin air had just been a flash back from the drugs and alcohol he’d consumed the night before. He’d then tried calling up front to ask management to send him someone to help in the shipping department, but they’d brushed him off with some lame excuse about parents who couldn’t keep up with their children.

“What a pain in the ass,” Hank grumbled and took a pack of cigarettes out of his shirt pocket. He grinned as he opened it and pulled out a rolled up sandwich baggie along with a packet of rolling papers. “But I know how to make it all better.”

He didn’t bother looking to make sure no one was around and was going to enjoy his break if it killed him. The way he saw it, he deserved this after everything he’d been through today. Besides, the smell in this area of the warehouse was so bad no one would ever notice. And if they did, he’d just say he saw a skunk run across the warehouse and vanish into the jumble of plants and machinery.

Hank smirked as he looked at the weed in the clear plastic bag and realized he wouldn’t be lying because he was staring at some awesome skunk right now.

Making sure not to spill any, he finished rolling the joint and stuck the end of it between his lips. This was definitely the first step in the right direction toward making the rest of his shift a lot more pleasant. Fishing out his lighter, Hank lit the end of the joint and inhaled deeply before leaning back against the post and exhaling in bliss.

Within minutes he felt more relaxed and really couldn’t care less that his day had sucked.

He suffered a delayed flinch when he heard grinding followed by a snapping noise coming from somewhere nearby. He quietly rubbed the end of the half smoked joint out on the concrete beside him and crammed the remains back into the cigarette pack before slowly standing up. He sighed, seriously hoping he hadn’t just been busted.

Hearing another popping noise coming from the same direction, Hank frowned wondering what the hell it could be. Sliding the cigarette pack into his pocket, he weaved his way through the maze of broken merchandise and rotting foliage in search of the strange sound. He stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed an area of the concrete floor that had become warped and cracked.

“Well, that’s new,” he muttered to himself and scratched the back of his neck as he frowned down at the damaged floor. “Maintenance is gonna love this.”

The thick concrete had bowed upward like something was trying to push its way up through it. Hank shook his head remembering that this was California and weird stuff like this was the norm. On top of that, there had been quite a few local earthquakes recently, so it wasn’t anything to really worry about.

Deciding to dismiss it, he shrugged it off and headed back toward his favorite spot so he could finish his break.

His footsteps faltered when he heard the concrete grind and crack again. Hank spun around just in time to see the floor bow up even more. The concrete seemed to relax back down before suddenly rising up with another loud crack.

Narrowing his eyes, he thought he saw something in the crack move and took a step closer only to stumble backwards when a bunch of black snakes started slithering out of the crack like a scene from a horror movie. He felt a warning chill creep up his spine and stab at the nape of his neck when the snakes spread out, mingling with the shadows of the shelves.

He turned full circle watching them almost vanish from view in the darkness except for the quick blurs of movement when they hit the lighted areas.

“Damn,” Hank whispered, wondering what the hell his roommate had put in that weed he’d just smoked. Whatever it was, he was definitely gonna get more because he hadn’t had this wild of a trip since his senior year of high school. Seriously… if any of this was real he would be covered in snake bites by now.

Walking back to the hole in the floor, he fearlessly leaned over trying to see into the darkness below. Seeing nothing but blackness, he kneeled down next to it placing his palms near the jagged rim and lowered his face near the opening.

Hank almost lost his balance when the floor gave way under his right palm causing the cigarette pack to fall out of his pocket, spilling out the half a joint he’d just smoked along with a couple of cigarettes.

“Damn it,” Hank complained wishing he had a flash light so he could tell how deep the hole was. He needed to get that out of there before calling maintenance.

Placing a hand on both sides of the opening, he leaned further over the hole in an attempt to see where the joint had landed. His lips parted in a silent scream when a hideous, long fingered hand reached up from the darkness and gripped him by the hair of his head. He clawed at the hand and tried to franticly pry it out of his hair but fell forward when it tugged hard.

Hank’s terrified scream was abruptly cut off and silence once again reigned across the warehouse.

***** Deciding to bypass the daytime hours for his friend’s sake, Storm brought Vincent out of the time warp and rematerialized them in the police department parking lot around sundown. Saving Vincent from Ren was a habit he never grew tired of.

Vincent looked around the parking lot noticing there were more black SUVs with police lights attached to them than there were traditional cop cars. He frowned when he also noticed the lengthening shadows and glanced up.

“I think your clock is a bit off mate,” Vincent pointed out helpfully.

Storm smirked. He had always been a fan of Vincent’s sense of humor. “I normally don’t cheat people out of their precious time on earth but I figured you wouldn’t mind the fast forward seeing as how time doesn’t mean the same to you or I. Besides, most of the action happens tonight and if you had been awake all day, you wouldn’t be as alert as you are right now. You’re just as human as Chad is, and he went home to sleep most of the day away.”

“Point taken and you’re quite right… I don’t mind skipping it at all.” Vincent gave Storm a quick smile before noticing the Time Walker wasn't heading toward the doors to introduce him to anyone. Once a person lived long enough, they couldn’t help but become an expert at reading other people and Storm was stalling for a reason. “What’s on your mind?”

“I need to ask a favor.” Storm raised an eyebrow, knowing he needed to stop this one small disaster before it happened. “I know you don’t normally come right out and tell people you can’t die due to the fact that they may just kill you to see if it’s true.” He smirked, knowing he was right. “But as far as Chad goes, you might feel the need to let him in on your little secret since he cheated death recently… don’t.”

“I take it I already did in some future that will now never happen?” Vincent mused out loud, rubbing his chin and pondering on what it would be like to tell the future like that. “You do realize you could make a killing… right?”

Storm fought the urge to rub his temple. He had forgotten just how quick Vincent was on the uptake. The truth was… he knew something bad was going to happen tonight but he could only catch small glimpses of it. He hadn’t put the pieces together until he’d tried to teleport a very nasty demon out of Wal-Mart and it hadn’t worked, just like it hadn’t worked when he’d tried to teleport Tasuki.

His suspicion was that this had something to do with the guardians and the crystal they were searching for. If he wasn't allowed to help, then the best he could do was gather others together that could.

“I am forbidden from telling spoilers and tend to bleed when I forget that painful rule,” Storm shrugged. “In this case, I am just giving you advice. Chad doesn’t need to know and you already outrank him and a lot of the other people in PIT. Don’t tell anyone your secret… if they need to know, then they will be aware of it.”

“So, PIT has a ranking system,” Vincent raised an eyebrow, mentally comparing the similarities between the demons and the good guys. “What makes me so high up in the ranks, when I’ve been a part of PIT for less than an hour?”

“As far as the cops go, you were one of the first cops on record… a knight. And, you’ve spent a long time going after demons, either killing them or being killed by them.” Storm tried not to laugh as he watched Vincent slowly lean back against the car behind him. “You’re also a lot older than most of the people at PIT, and with that kind of age comes knowledge.”

“He has a nice ass for someone that old,” Evey purred making Vincent nearly jump out of his skin and spin around.

“What the hell,” Vincent demanded and looked inside the beautiful vehicle he’d been leaning against, not seeing anyone.

“Vincent, this is Evey,” Storm informed him, patting the hood of the car. “She’s going to be accompanying you and Chad when you go out on calls. You can think of her as your chauffeur and a very helpful partner.”

Vincent smiled at the car with the sexy voice. He had seen several episodes of Knight Rider back in the eighties and wondered what KITT would think of her.

“Nice to meet you,” he brushed his fingers over the hood when he spoke, his smile widening when she purred and he felt the vibration of it under his fingertips.

“Oh, you are a bad one,” Evey said. “You cheat.”

“Of course I do love,” Vincent responded, then glanced toward Storm wondering if the Time Walker had teleported the car back from the future.

“You still haven’t found Trevor,” Evey accused softly, sounding very disappointed.

Storm ran a hand soothingly over her smooth hood, knowing she liked to be touched, as did all forms of life. “Not yet sweetie… but don’t worry, we’re still working on it.”

“So, is Vincent going to be Chad’s permanent partner,” Evey asked curiously.

“No,” Storm reassured her. “Trevor won’t hide forever. Give him a little more time. He hasn’t abandoned you. Until then, I need both of you to watch after Chad in Trevor's place.”

“I love Chad and his Sexton special. He knows how to treat a girl,” Evey said and the low volume of a song started playing from her speakers… Rick Springfield - Human Touch.

“So when do I get to meet Chad,” Vincent asked, actually liking the idea of a car being a female with a wicked since of humor.

“Right now,” Storm answered and headed for the door of the building.

Vincent fell in step behind Storm, running his fingers over Evey’s hood one last time as he did so.

“Ooh, I can’t wait to take you for a ride in my back seat,” Evey said, loud enough for them to hear her, causing Vincent to laugh.

Inside the police department, Chad was busy at his desk looking over one of the reports he’d grabbed out of the ‘what the fuck’ pile. He had to admit there were some very strange things going on in and around the city.

The file in his hand was a report on a couple of imps less than a foot tall crawling in through a little girl’s open window and stealing everything from inside the child’s doll house before giggling and diving back out the window. Talk about weird. They would have chalked it up as a child’s imagination but the mother had been the witness… not the child.

The imps were the least of their worries though. He was more focused on the calls that had come in from the few honest people living in the slums, about witnessing homeless people being dragged into the sewers. Those types of files had ended up on his desk, and the stack was getting bigger by the day.

Ordinarily, this dangerous brand of weird would have been given to Trevor… but the PIT detective was nowhere to be found. With a deep sigh, he closed the file deciding the imps should be handled by the already overworked wolf pack. At least they could sniff out the trail and find where the little buggers were setting up house.

“Hey Chad,” a voice called out.

Chad glanced up and smiled at Micah as the Werecougar approached. “What’s up,” he asked thinking the detective looked like he couldn’t decide whether to start laughing or take something seriously. He knew the feeling well.

“Have you been paying attention to the 911 dispatch calls coming in,” Micah asked with a shake of his head.

“Can’t say that I have,” Chad answered honestly and massaged his temple knowing he probably wasn't going to like the answer to this question. “Why do you ask?”

“We’re suddenly getting a bunch of calls from the Super Wal-Mart just a few miles from your old apartment. It looks like we may have demons with a shopping fetish,” Micah raised one eyebrow, wishing it was as funny as it sounded.

Chad’s expression darkened and he stood up. “Anyone hurt?”

“Not yet… but the callers are saying that a group of small children, some of them wearing Halloween masks, are wreaking havoc on the store, employees, and customers,” Micah informed him. “Some of the callers even claim that the children are possessed and that one of them can fly.”

“Demons,” Chad asked, making a face at his own visual.

Micah shrugged, “For all we know, it’s just a bunch of kids that have had way too much Halloween candy and adults that have had way too much alcohol. Wanna take a ride and see what’s going on?”

Chad nodded and stood up, taking out his cell phone as he rounded the desk. “Yeah, let me call Kane since Love Bites is closer and he can get there quicker to scope it out.”

“Hold up you two,” Boris said from his office door. “I’m sending a few cars out to back you up, just in case.”

“How does he always know,” Chad asked in a whisper.

“Wolf ears,” Boris said with a cheeky smile, which just looked creepy on his normally scowling face. “We hear everything.”

Chad couldn’t control the crazy grin that spread across his lips when he suddenly pictured Boris with a giant set of wolf ears on top of his head.

Boris pointed a finger at him and his scowl returned full force, “No!”

The office door slammed shut and Micah snorted with laughter, “You pictured it too… didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Chad agreed, scrubbing at his eyes to try and rid himself of the goofy image.

“Ah, Chad… just the person I needed to see!”

Chad glanced over his shoulder finding Storm standing there with someone he didn’t recognize. “What’s up Storm, we’re getting ready to…”

“…make a Wal-Mart run,” Micah finished for him, earning him an elbow in the side.

Storm nodded, “I know, so I’m making this short and sweet. Chad meet Vincent. Since Trevor’s vanished on us, Vincent is going to be your temporary partner.”

Chad paused with a slight frown. “I assumed Evey was my partner for now.”

“I’ve had the pleasure of already meeting Evey out in the parking lot,” Vincent informed him with an arched eyebrow. “She mentioned something about liking your Sexton special.”

“She’s Trevor’s car but I’ve been driving her since Trevor has chosen to neglect her.” Chad smiled, remembering just how much Evey had enjoyed his shirtless carwash. “I’m glad Ren built her… Evey makes being stuck in traffic bearable.”

“Ren built her,” Vincent asked, wondering if this was the same Ren that was acting so possessive of Lacey and in his opinion… an all-around jerk. “Well, she likes my ass and wouldn’t mind me riding her.” No one would realize those words were a double bladed barb directed toward Ren but he could have sworn Storm's eyebrows had just raised a notch.

“She must like you then,” Chad said with a grin. “She’s still trying to talk Storm into riding in her back seat.”

“Takes advantage of her sexy voice does she?” Vincent waggled his eyebrows.

“You have no idea,” Chad answered, with a defeated shake of his head. He refused to tell anyone that she’d already conned him into taking a nap in that very back seat while she tinted her windows and drove him around playing soothing music.

Micah had already lost interest in their conversation and took off ahead of them to call his favorite partner in crime… Titus.

Across the road at the detective department, Titus had Jade pinned against the wall of the interrogation room when Micah’s call came in. What had started out as an argument had turned into a sexually charged glaring contest that was now being interrupted.

Not wanting to bother with putting the phone to his ear and inadvertently giving Jade a way to escape the argument, they were in the middle of… he put the phone on speaker.

“What do you want Micah,” Titus asked, recognizing the caller ID.

Jade rolled her eyes at Titus’ oh so sweet phone manners. She had been trying to convince him that Storm's prophecy had already happened, so he could lay off the babysitting excuse. She had been fidgeting all day with her pumped up sex drive and she seriously needed a break from him, before she lost her battle of wills and jumped his bones like last time.

“We just got a barrage of calls from the Super Wal-Mart with reports of little monsters running loose,” Micah said, wondering what had crawled up the alpha’s ass, and then he cocked an eyebrow realizing Titus was probably still with Jade. “Sounds like the demons have decided to go shopping, so we’re going to go check it out.”

“I’ll meet you there,” Titus said curtly and hung up, not taking his eyes off of Jade.

She had been trying to get away from him all day and he wasn't going to allow it for many reasons, two of them outweighing the others. Either she was attempting to take off on her own to try and rescue Sonia from a supposedly demon possessed mobster, or the she-wolf was going hunting for someone to have sex with.

“What’s it going to be Jade? Are you coming as my back up or do I need to throw you in a jail cell until I get back,” Titus taunted, even as he was thinking of a third option. “Or I could just handcuff you to me for your own safety.”

“Oh no stud,” Jade said, as she shoved him out of her personal space. “I am not missing demons running around Wal-Mart just because you think I’m all hot and bothered. It seems like you’re the one with all of the kinky thoughts. Handcuffs… really?”

She slipped past him and had already made it to the door before she heard him growl. Jade smirked as she pushed the door open, knowing he would follow.

Well… that answered his question on what she’d had planned. Titus growled as he stormed out of the building behind her.