Baron was staying late at work again which wasn't unusual. Sure on paper he had scheduled hours, but as a mortician these things changed a lot. He only had one body in his care today, but he had felt weirdly drawn to the John Doe. A man who had been hit by a train, yet he was still intact. It made no sense.
"Hello?" A female voice called.
Baron looked up. He hadn't heard the bell from the door, and he had been sure the door was locked anyway. It was close to midnight, and no one should come here at this hour.
"Coming!" He called back.
He walked out to find a tall woman with bluish black hair and bright green eyes. He seemed to lose his ability to speak in her presence. It was the same weird feeling he had with her, like he had with John Doe, but with her it felt less scary.
"I hear you have my father here," she said.
"Oh," he found his voice. "Wow, I didn't expect the police to work this fast. So they figured out who he is. That's good. Come this way."
He escorted her out in the back where John Doe was still on the table, waiting for a light makeup job in case he had family that wanted an open casket. He studied her, and her bright green eyes stared at the body.
"You don't look too sad," he said.
He was way out of line for saying something like that, and in all his years of running this business, it was the first time he had messed up like that.
"I just wanna make sure he's dead," she said. "Can I have a moment alone with him?"
"Sure," he said.
He walked back to his office with an unsettling feeling inside. He knew not all families were happy, but for a daughter to show up this late only to make sure her father was actually dead, that was a new one.
He looked at his computer screen and maximized the image from the camera in that room. She had her back towards the camera. Against his own rules and better judgement, he turned on the sound.
"This time I found you before you could rise again, you son of a bitch. I'll make damn sure it won't happen again," she said.
This was far beyond an angry daughter. She was delusional. A dead man wouldn't rise again. To his horror, she pulled out a large knife and raised it.
"I, Windy, daughter of light, condemn you Kane, son of darkness!" She spoke loudly.
Baron flew out of his office. It wasn't the safest idea to run into a room with a strange woman holding a knife of that size, but he couldn't let her desecrate the body. She didn't hear him coming. He ran up to her, and yanked the knife out of her hand. She looked at him, and he dropped the knife in shock. Her bright green eyes were gone, and instead they were all white.
"What the hell?" He whispered.
"No!" She yelled. "It has to be done before midnight!"
He looked at his wrist watch, watching the second hand jump the final second to midnight.
"So I guess that's bad?" He asked.
A hand locked around his wrist, but it wasn't hers. It was John Doe who he now knew was named Kane. The man's eyes were black, and he was growling in anger as he sat up straight.
"Leave him out of this, Kane. He's just a mortal. You don't wanna leave a trail," she said.
"Windy," Kane smirked. "You came close this time."
"I'll fucking kill you!" She sneered.
Kane raised his hands, and Windy and Baron flew into a wall each. Baron could hardly breathe, but through tearfilled eyes he watched as she crawled towards the knife as fast as she could. Her fingers closed around it, and she jumped up only to see that Kane was gone.
"Fuck!" She yelled.
She walked over to Baron and held out her hand. He looked from her hand and up to her eyes that had turned bright green again.
"Breathe," she said. "He's gone, and you're fine."
"Who are you?" He asked.
"I'm the one trying to help you up, but you seem too proud to take my hand," she answered. "Also, I'm the one who just saved your life, so swallow that pride."
He grabbed her hand, and she yanked him up to stand with a strength that no human should possess.
"What are you?" He changed his question.
"I'm the closest thing to what you humans call angels. Kane is the closest thing to a demon. We are what your legends and stories ended up becoming, and we've never felt the need to change them. Better you don't know the whole truth," she said.
"So you're living among us?" He asked.
"No, occasionally we wander too far. I'm not here to get him back. I'm here to kill him. I've been chasing him for a long time, so he decided to try and hide among you humans," she said.
"So you're from the same place? So that means no heaven and no hell. Where are you from then?" He asked.
"Lemuria," she answered.
His mind quickly ran through what little he could remember from that word. Lemuria and Atlantis had similar stories, but Atlantis was the most famous one.
"The lost land?" He asked.
"It's not lost. We made sure you can't see it. It's always been a battlezone between the children of light and the children of darkness. Too many humans got caught up, so we made it vanish from your eyes," she explained.
"And Atlantis?" He had to ask.
"Different land, different people. They're happy under sea," she said.
It was a lot to take in. His entire world had been turned upside down within the last 15 minutes. He had seen Kane rise from the dead with his own eyes. He had been slammed into the wall by an invisible force. He knew she wasn't lying.
"This is fucking weird," he said.
"Says the human. You have shows like 'Keeping Up With The Kardashians', and you call my world weird?" She cracked a sideways smile.
"Ah, you got humour in your world too, I see," he smiled back.
He relaxed again. This little touch of humour made her more normal in his eyes. In the end he'd rather deal with her than the demon thing that rose from the dead.
"So what's the plan?" He asked.
"To kill him," she answered.
"We already know that doesn't work. He was dead when he arrived her," he said.
"Because I chased him out in front of a train. Death doesn't work on us like it works on you. First we kill him, but he's only skin dead. Then we have until midnight to actually kill him, and that can only be done by a child of light," she said.
"Great. So I'm useless," he said.
"Actually not. I could use your help," she said.
He started feeling scared again. He didn't wanna deal with Kane again. That slam into the wall had been painful, and he had only left it at that because she had warned Kane about not leaving a trail.
"What do you need from me?" He asked.
"A blood sacrifice," she answered.
"You wanna kill me?" He asked.
"Over dramatic. Classic human trade," she said. "Of course not. A bit of blood and a promise of your soul in return of something else. You've seen the movies, right?"
"I can do that," he said.
"No, you can't. He already knows your scent, and if you put your blood out there, he'll run the other way. You're gonna have to bring me someone I can trust, and you better do it fucking fast because Kane is running around in your world, and honestly, he doesn't give a shit about leaving a trail. He spared you to keep me here because he knew I would stay behind and help you," she said.
"Okay," he nodded. "I think I know someone."