Title: "The Cover of Darkness"

Author: Alliegirl4life

Summary: Sequel to "The Terrible Discovery." Degeneration X is still together and holding strong, but new problems are about to emerge. As Shawn and Hunter soon discover, there is another serial killer on the loose; only this time, it's the whole company that is in danger. With the much needed help of Detective Michael Hitchcock, Shawn and Hunter once again try to stop the killer before he strikes again. However, there may be more at stake than Shawn and Hunter realize. Please read and review.

Characters: Shawn Michaels, Hunter, Vince McMahon, Detective Michael Hitchcock, Nikki Styles as well as many others.

Characters I own: Michael Hitchcock and Nikki Styles

Warning: Slash, mentions of violence, rape, and character death.

Pairing: Shawn/Hunter

Genre: Mystery/Suspense

Disclaimers: I don't claim to know them or own the characters associated with the WWE, and I'm not making any money off of this work of fiction.

Enjoy!

Prologue:

It is only a matter of time before she awakens-she will learn her fate soon enough. I think to myself as I toss the heavy shovel aside. That damn slut had it coming to her; that's for sure. With a grin on my face, I place the headphones into my ears and glimpse down at my watch-12:35am. Just perfect, I tell myself. Soon enough that bitch will wake up, and start screaming for someone to help her. Who the hell would want to help that sleazy whore is beyond me. After all, look at who she works for: that damned Vince McMahon! He'll get what's coming to him soon enough. But for now, eliminating his sluts one by one will have to do. Suddenly, I begin to hear sounds coming through my headphones and smile; that's it, wake up! Look at where you've ended up, you stupid bitch! That's when I hear it-the wonderful, horrified screams coming from inside the coffin. Yes! Yes! That's it! Scream like the whore that you are! This is something I should have done a long time ago, I remind myself. After everything she has done, after everything I've been forced to endure-this bitch is finally getting what she so rightfully deserves.

And that is the most rewarding concept of all.

I continue to listen to her scream and plead for her life as I remain hidden behind a pile of bushes just a few feet away from the grave site; and just to think that this night couldn't have turned out any more perfect.

-----

She slowly opened her eyes and saw nothing but the darkness that surrounded her. Where was she? Was this some kind of dream? She tried to move, but found she could not. Obviously, if this was a dream, it felt real. And that smell-the smell alone was enough to make her gag. She then tried to take in a fresh breath of air -which she found to be nearly impossible. God, her lungs burned! In fact, they felt as though they were on fire! Regardless of how much air she took in-she still couldn't breathe. Frightened, she attempted to sit up, and hit her head on something hard.

Bang!

Ouch! She fell back down and felt the soft, yet solid surface beneath her give way-as if it had moved slightly. She removed her hand from where it lay on her chest and felt around; all she could feel was the four solid walls that were enclosed around her. Then she felt something else, something she could only hope was not real.

A body?

Oh my God! It just couldn't be real! She had to be dreaming. There was no way she was laying on top of a dead body!

But then where was that horrid stench coming from? She let her hand graze over the over-sized mass that lie beneath her and felt what she thought to be bones and cloth; and that was when she realized she was not dreaming.

This was indeed very real.

She began to scream, but then stopped herself. She told herself to calm down and to think of a logical way to escape. She knew she had to get out of there, but how? Carefully, she lifted her head up in order to look down at where her feet would be; but found she could see nothing but pitch black darkness, which was more frightening to her than anything else she had experienced previously; and that is when she realized she was lying inside a coffin.

She had been buried alive.

Suddenly panicked, she began to scream and cry out for help. She needed to get out of there. Someone had to be there, somebody had to hear her, just had to! She began scratching and clawing the roof of the coffin, but to no avail; and that was when she knew:

There was no escape.

Feeling defeated, she let out a loud scream, hoping somebody, anybody, would be able to hear her. But unknowing to her, the only other soul that could hear her screams was none other than the killer himself. She let out one last cry for help before falling silent once and for all; and that was when the killer knew: he was about to get his ultimate revenge.

---

Greenwich, Connecticut: 9:35am

She skimmed through the newspaper articles until she found what she was looking for; the article that had been written by her brother, Joey Styles. How long had it been since he had an article published?

Five months? Six months?

Like it mattered anyway. Her brother had accomplished his goal, and that's what mattered.

As she began skimming through the details of his story, however, the phone rang. Hesitantly, she put down the newspaper and picked up the receiver.

"Hello?" She waited a few seconds until she heard the familiar voice on the other end. "Hello Joey. Yes…I got the paper. Yea, I like it too. However, I was curious as to why they haven't published any of your other articles?" She waited for her brother to respond.

"I really don't know. Listen, Nikki, I don't have much time to talk; Vince is expecting to meet me within the hour." So typical of him, she thought to herself diligently. "I just called to see what you thought of my work."

Nikki ran her fingers through her blonde, curly hair before responding. The last thing she needed to do was coheres an argument. "It's, uh, it's rather interesting, I must say." However, to her, nothing could have been further from the truth. She knew how hard her brother had worked to get the article in on time, but as she continued to read it, however, she had to admit that her brother's work was not very interesting at all; but rather dull, if she could say so herself.

"That's great. Well, listen; I'm about one mile away from Headquarters now, so I'll talk to you sometime later this afternoon, alright?" Although it had been one whole month since she had heard from him, here he was trying to cut their long-awaited conversation short; Nikki couldn't believe it.

"Alright, okay. Talk to you later. See you." She disconnected the phone call before her brother could respond. She loved her brother to death, but sometimes it appeared as though his job meant more to him than his own family-including her; and that is what bothered her the most. Feeling suddenly frustrated, she crumpled up the newspaper in her left hand and threw it into the nearest trash can she could find; but as she let it fall in, however, she noticed what appeared to be a snapshot of a wrestling arena covering what she assumed to be the front page. Thinking it was only her imagination; she picked up the newspaper one last time and unraveled it, only to find her suspicions were correct. It was a wrestling arena, but which one she could not be sure. What was this?

She pressed the crumpled corners of the paper and read the bold headline to herself.

"MYSTERY DISAPPEARENCE OF DIVA BAFFLES WWE."

That was when she finally knew the reason why her brother's article hadn't hit the front page after all. A diva had gone missing. Nikki scratched her temple as she thought for a moment. As everyone in the general area of Greenwich knew, the WWE had the some of the best security guards in the country; and most of them were being hired as personal escorts for the female divas that were competing in that Diva Search contest. There was no way anybody could get past those security guards.

Or was there?

----

Shawn had heard enough, Hunter just didn't understand his point of view anymore, did he?

"I'm telling you, Shawn, the company won't mind us being together. Hell, they accepted some other tag teams that were considered more than just 'friends'. I don't see what you have to worry about." Shawn scratched his jaw and glared at Hunter. How could he possibly explain his point of view to somebody who was defiantly stubborn when it came to compromise?

"Hunter, look, we both know Vince very well-we both know what he's capable of. Yea, he accepted some of those so-called 'tag teams,' but look at where they ended up. They certainly don't work for the WWE anymore, that's for sure."

Though Hunter didn't want to admit it, Shawn did have a very good point. "Yea, that's true; but look at us! Hell, we have been with this company for how long?" Shawn rolled his eyes.

"A long time, Hunter."

"Exactly! We both want this to work out, so I say-to hell with them. If Vince has a problem with it, then we just have two words for him!" Shawn didn't know what to tell him anymore. For the past three months, they had managed to keep their engagement a closely guarded secret. However, as time went on, more people had become curious as to how close he and Hunter really were. It was frustrating, especially for him. He was growing tired of all the questions, and of all the rumors that were now circulating on the Internet. He had wanted to spread the news for a while, but the fear of getting fired had prevented him from doing so.

"Yea, I know. Hunter, I really don't have a problem with that, but it's just Vince. I don't want to get fired; you know what I'm saying?" Hunter wrapped his strong, muscular arms around him and held him close. God, how Shawn loved it when he did that!

"Shawn, I understand, really. You just have to realize, though, that sooner or later, people are going to find out about us. We'll have to tell them eventually." That was the most dreadful fact of all. The fact that fans around the world wanted to know as much about the duo as possible was something the two of them couldn't ignore. Hunter was right; they would have to confess eventually; but not yet.

Just as Hunter was about to let Shawn go, his cell phone rang. Hesitantly, he answered.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Hunter?" Hunter pulled the phone away from his ear for a brief moment to look at the Caller I.D. He couldn't believe it, the person on the other end was none other than Vince McMahon. What on earth could he possibly want at this time of day?

"Vince? Yea, this is Hunter, is there a problem?" He and Shawn exchanged curious glances, giving Hunter the notion that neither of them was expecting a phone call from the boss himself.

"Yea, there is. You know about the Diva Search that we are having, right?" How the hell could he not know about that? The Diva Search competition was only the second most popular thing on television, aside from movies being featured on other televised networks, of course.

"Yea, I know about that. Why are you asking?"

"Well, because there was an incident early this morning, and as it turns out, we can't hold the competition tonight. Now I know that both you and Shawn have the night off, but I was wondering if perhaps you would be able to make it to the show." Hunter remained silent for a few seconds as he considered his options. He could always tell his boss that he wasn't available tonight; after all, he and Shawn had some unfinished business to take care of. However, he knew that Vince wouldn't be so favorable to him taking that option, so only one remained. He let out a sigh of frustration as he gave the boss his answer.

"I suppose that can be arranged. I just have one question for you, though."

"Okay," he said.

"Have you tried getting a hold of Shawn, yet?" He asked, waiting for an answer.

"I've tried calling his room number, but nobody answered. I then called the hotel back and the clerk told me she had no idea where he could be. So, I was thinking maybe YOU could try reaching him."

"Sure, not a problem," Hunter exclaimed with a smile on his face, "I'll let him know. What time should I be there?"

"Say around….5:30pm. I'll make sure to keep the arena doors unlocked for you."

"Alright, see you then. Bye." He disconnected the call and placed his cell phone back into his pocket. He then looked at Shawn and told him the news.

"What does he mean by 'incident'? What tragic 'incident' would cause the team to cancel the 'ever important Diva Search'?" Hunter looked down at his watch and ran his fingers through his hair; if only he could give him an answer.

"I have no idea, Shawn; but I do know one thing: its four now, if we're to make it to the arena by 5:30pm, we better get going." Shawn, realizing that their date may not be happening after all, grabbed his jacket and his gym bag. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought this was history repeating itself.

Unknowing to the both of them, it was.

To Be Continued?

A/N: This is only the prologue to this story, so should I continue? Please leave a review and tell me what you think, thanks!