Chapter 4 Angelica slipped through her bedroom door and quickly shut it behind her. Sliding the lock in place, she leaned her forehead against the thick wood wishing it was made of something stronger… titanium maybe. Releasing a heavy sigh, she frowned and stepped away from the door, staring at the lock like it was her only hope. In a way it was. That little lock was the only thing between her and the craving she had to see Syn now that he wasn't here watching her… stalking her. Lifting her hand, she rubbed her right temple in furious little circles trying to piece together the fact that she had just ran away from the man… or whatever he was, only to now miss him so much that her chest was actually aching. “I don’t need anyone,” Angelica reminded herself but her fingers paused in mid circle. She jerked her hand down from her temple tasting the lie within the words. Considering she felt the withdrawal symptoms, she might as well label him as what he was… an addiction. Slo
Chapter 5 Kriss stood in front of the huge picture window of their penthouse with a bottle of Kat’s famous Heat in one hand and an oversized wineglass in the other. He wanted to get drunk but his annoyingly swift metabolism wouldn’t allow him to gain the release he craved for more than a few moments at a time. Becoming frustrated, his hand tightened around the glass, accidently shattering it in his palm as he remembered seeing Vincent’s face for the first time in countless years. Granted, Vincent wouldn’t remember the encounter since Storm had turned time around… but Kriss would never forget that expression of hatred Vincent had directed at him. In rejection of that hatred, he rebelliously looked back on memories of his childhood, to the time when Vincent had felt the exact opposite for him. He hadn’t been in this world long when Dean had taken off to stop a horde of demons that were headed right in their direction. He’d waited, alone, hiding among the huge rocks at the bas
Chapter 6 Zeke sat with his legs dangling off a huge wooden crate that had been deposited just inside the shadowy area near the dock doors in the back of the Wal-Mart. Those same legs swung lazily back and forth at random, as he watched the humans unload the transfer truck. He grinned at the two men who were a bit nervous but doing a good job of acting like they weren’t. One of them was named Hank, and the other was named Dude, as far as he could tell because that’s what Hank kept calling him. He had been playing with them for the last couple hours… blowing up balloons and popping them to make loud booms or moving smaller boxes around, so the adults would trip over them and accuse each other of doing it. The two idiots were almost convinced the store was haunted. The game had started out as a lot of fun but now he was bored. To anyone that caught a glimpse of him, Zeke appeared to be nothing more than a normal child around eight years of age. His dark hair was always messy,
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 k
Chapter 8 Michael recalled thinking, not so long ago, that this big house seemed lonely. He was actually glad his family thought he needed a babysitter while Aurora was off visiting Skye. He didn’t have a craving for demon blood at the moment but they didn’t need to know that. Kane slammed his hand down on the table and flipped over his cards, laughing wickedly with his green visor glinting in the light. “I win!” “Damn it!” Damon growled and threw his cards at him. “Why do I always lose to you?” “Because I’m just that good,” Kane bragged and pulled all the money that was in the middle of the table toward him. He knew reading his brother’s mind was a form of cheating but he liked the theory that it’s only cheating if you get caught. “Um, excuse me,” Alicia muttered, “but I don’t know if my hand is any good or not.” Kane paused and slowly turned his face toward her. “Well, what do you have?” “Ohm,” Alicia began with a small voice, “I got a bunch of hearts… a ten, Jac
Chapter 9 Shinbe’s trench coat fluttered out around him in the updraft, as he landed on the roof of the Wal-Mart building. He had felt the newly awakened power of the crystal’s talisman and the locator spell he’d just performed had led him to this location. The guardian closed his amethyst eyes when he sensed the seductive aura of not one but two talismans within the walls below him. A frown settled on his face as he became aware of the number of souls surrounding the two sacred pieces of crystal… so many humans and a good deal of them children. That was a problem since the whole building was now crawling with evil entities. “This is not a safe place to battle demons,” Shinbe mused and looked down at the parking area full of vehicles. He arched an eyebrow at the group of non-humans that were suddenly standing there in front of the store. Among them were the Sun Gods. Good, they would be able to handle the demons and PIT would probably be close behind to help them evacuate t
Chapter 10 “We should make like Scooby-Doo and split up,” Micah advised, after a few minutes of chasing nothing but shadows and sounds through the endless aisles. Chad had already sent out the command to all of the cops, letting them know they were to avoid the rug rats, since the children were not their intended target. They were on a demon hunt pure and simple. “Good idea,” Chad agreed. “I’ll take Vincent with me, and you can do a sweep around the store since you can move a lot faster than us mere humans.” He smiled to let his friend know he really didn’t hold the speed advantage against him. The cougar nodded at him and took off towards the produce section… probably hoping to catch sight of Kane thrashing a few mini-monsters. He shook his head and sighed heavily. “There has got to be a better way of doing this,” Chad remarked, as he and Vincent kept walking. “So far we’ve accomplished nothing.” “How long have you been a cop,” Vincent asked, now that they were finally
Chapter 11 Kane growled at the adolescent when the girl tried to stab him with a kabob skewer. He reached out and grabbed her by the wrist to keep the makeshift weapon at a safe distance. From what he’d noticed so far, it looked like the shadow demons were picking on anyone under the age of twelve and that worried him. He racked his brain mentally, checking off what types of demons were known for picking on children. There were many actually, and all of them tended to have different personalities anyway, so the type probably didn’t even matter. This child was among the odd ones though. She had something most of the others he’d encountered didn’t… she had a pet. It seemed the ones with snakes wrapped around them weren’t interested in playing anymore, unless you counted games like operation… and he wasn't talking about the board game. Kane reached his other hand out so the snake would attempt to bite him. As soon as it struck, he grabbed at it, missing when its body turned to