The Complex

Wordless emotions entered Angel's head as he looked up at his captor. He worried that the stones were whispering his name and calling him a traitor. The woman in front of him was calling him that too. "What you did to my people, that was unforgivable, I trusted you to protect them and you massacred them all."

Alora's eyes were filled with tears as she looked at Angel's semi-conscious form. She had trusted him to escort her clan to their new settlement under the sewers in Los Angeles. For centuries the Cthala clan had been forced into becoming a nomadic race. They were hated by other demons from their dimension because they were sympathetic towards cows. Or in Earthly terms, humans.

Alora herself was the product of both a cow and a Cthala demon. She had the shape of a female human, but her hands were slightly scaled, her large brown horns were obvious to the naked eye and she couldn't buy shoes from Wal-Mart on account of the claw like nails on her feet. At least her hair was a short and manageable mass of Afro-Carabbean curls.

After fleeing from yet another angry mob, in yet another rural village in the Gothkok dimension, Lesca, the leader of the Cthala clan decided at the weekly tribal meeting that it was impossible for the clan to continue to exist in their current dimension. He began his lecture promptly.

"After 20 generations, our way of life cannot continue in the Gothkok dimension. For the sake of our children, we cannot allow them to be slaughtered by the other demon clans who cannot accept our rules, gentle nature and moral code. Therefore, I propose to the elders that we move our entire settlement to Los Angeles."

A young member of the audience rudely interrupted him and asked "Where is Los Angeles? That does not sound very heavenly to me." One of the older members of the congregation bonked him on the noggin and slapped him on his horns. "Show some respect young man and let Lesca speak" He muttered angrily.

"I will answer" Lesca continued his speech.

"Los Angeles is in the human dimension. My friend Lorne, resides there and he assures me that it is safe. There are many other demons there that share our views, and the complex sewer system they have fulfils our need for dark spaces for a quick getaway should something go wrong. There is an ample supply of fresh trash daily for us to scavenge for building materials"

"What about food?" The young Cthala asked, interrupting yet again. He got another whack around the horns for his trouble.

Lesca coughed and concluded his sermon. "Well, young man, there are these things called rats that are very tasty and full of poisons to keep us healthy. Lorne was also saying something about this thing called Mcdonalds, but I'm not sure if we'll be loving it."

"Are there going to be girls there?"

The youngster was ejected from his seat by 5 large Cthalas who were of pension age by his horns and they tore off half of one of them in the process.

"Not so horny now, are you, you cheekly little brat" One of them said. "Right Lesca, why in the hells are we going to this craphole?"

Lesca replied that Los Angeles was a safe place and that Lorne had a contact with a private security company called Angel Investigations, who would ensure that they would reach the hideout that Lorne had sourced for them in a secret area under the sewers near his Nightclub, Caritas. The leader said that his daughter Alora was already in LA and negotiating the terms of the deal with Angel, the leader of the security firm. He emphasised that there was a large human population to breed with and plenty of other demonic refugees in the area. He finished by saying "Ok that is all I have to say on the matter, now let us proceed to the vote."

The voting box was passed around and after counting the votes it was decided that a life of constant rat binging was better than a life of constant fleeing. Just like an angry gamer who swapped servers after he had been thrown out of his guild in World of Warcraft, they transferred to the other dimension without much consideration and after 2 magic words were spoken by Lesca, they arrived in the sewers of Los Angeles blind.

Alora didn't see what happened next. She had only heard of the tragic fate of the group. They had gotten as far as Caritas, when they were ambushed by a vampire called Angel and in the process he had slit her father's throat.