And i am back! Sorry it took me so long to update... really underestimated how long it would take me to finish these chapters. Also i have been getting some good jobs and i have been busy.

But i haven't forgotten about this fic! Nor about you guys that read it. It means a lot to me that you guys take time to read this. I know it's not perfect, but it was made with love!

And we are ALMOST at the end! JUST TWO MORE CHAPTERS AFTER THIS ONE!

Stay tuned!

Tom gave a few small slaps to the guy's face. The man moved in dreams, but didn't wake up. Tom slapped him again, stronger this time.

"Ugh… that… that shit isn't mine officer…"

Finally, Tom punched him with enough strength to send him to the floor again. The man sat upright like a spring.

"Sonofa-"the man looked around in confusion. He saw Tom standing in front of him and grinning and turned pale.

He tried to get up and run, only to realize he had been tied up with his own tunic. "Please d-don't hurt me! I didn't- I mean I didn't want… This was their idea man! This is just a job for me!"

"A job?" said Jackie, as she came out of the shadows of the corner, "Is that what my life is to you?"

Cat went from the fear to the surprise and right back into mind numbing anger.

"You again?! You bitch!" he tried to stand up once again and only could squirm in his place.

Tom kicked him in the shoulder and Cat went stopped moving, but it didn't made him less rabid. "Come on, do what you want with me! I won't talk!"

Tom put his clawed hand next to Cat's face, which suddenly turned very pale.

"But I guess I-I could listen."

Jackie laughed. Tom really knew how to get people to do what he wanted. Normally, that would be worrisome. Right now, it was exactly what they needed.

She walked until she was next to Tom, right in front of Cat. "Don't worry, we won't ask you questions. And we are not going to hurt you."

"Much," added Tom.

"What we want," Jackie proceeded, "It's your help."

Cat opened his mouth to laugh, but all he got was a dry, humorless scoff. "Oh, you want my help now? This is gonna be good."

"Yep. We need you… we want you to escort us to the exit," Jackie said, and didn't waited for Cat to complain, "Once you get us out, I will go to the police, they will get here, and rescue all prisoners. And imprison everyone else."

"And I will go home, get healed, and recover my powers," said Tom, while testing the weight of the chains on his arms, "And once I do, I will chase every one of you, and kill you all."

Jackie gave him and stern look.

"Fine. Maybe I'll just beat you all to a pulp and let you rot."

"Heh, yeah," said Jackie, "Now, you can escape of all of that if you get us out."

Cat realized that they were not kidding; that was their plan. He considered what he heard and weighted his options.

"That's a good idea. And I think it's super cute that you guys are chummy with each other. But guess what blondie; It's not gonna work."

"Don't call me blondie… It's weird."

"Whatever. It's impossible! Have you looked around you? This place if ridden with guards. And even if we could evade them all, there are even more in the upper level. They will see us, put you two on lock down again, and I will go on my merry way," Cat reconsidered what he just said, "on second thought, maybe we should try that."

"Alright, I am gonna cut him open now," Tom took a step forward and Cat made himself smaller against the wall.

Jackie held the demon by his arm. "It's ok Tom. Maybe he is right."

"I am?" asked Cat.

"Yeah, I don't think he will be of any help," she said, ignoring Cat question, "Maybe we should head out on our own."

Tom looked at her and then at their prisoner. Finally, he retracted his claws and took a step back. "Yeah, maybe you are right. We should leave him alone."

"Yep, definitely. We should leave him here."

Cat tried to get a clue of what was going on. He got nothing. "So, can I go then?"

"I didn't say that, I said we will leave you here. In this cleaning closet. We will try to escape and we will surely get captured. They will drag us down and trap us again. Or worse," she took a moment to recover her composure, "But before they do, we will tell them everything about what happened here."

It took a moment for her words to fall into Cat's brain, but when they did, I was like a hammer on an anvil.

"Oh…"

"Exactly," Jackie approached Cat and walked circles around him like… well, like a cat to a rat. "We will tell them about how you let me escape, how I let him escape, and how we kidnapped you and trapped you in a stinky closet."

She stopped in front of Cat. He was covered in sweat.

"Now, would it be my call, I would forgive you. Everybody makes mistakes. But your boss doesn't seem to take failures very well."

Tom appeared over Jackie's shoulder, showing his thousands teeth smile. "He does not. Trust me."

"The way I see it, either we survive and escape and you face the police. Or we don't, and you face… him," said Jackie, as she knelt to be face to face with Cat, her blue eyes piercing into his brown ones. "Unless you help us, in which case you go free. I think you can see it's a good deal. You seem smart."

The worst part of it all, the part that made Cat shake like a little flower, was not the speech. It was the smile she was giving him. Cold and full of truth.

"W-who the hell are you?!"

Jackie thought for a moment what the best answer would be. "I am Jackie Lynn Thomas, the girl you tried to kill," her voice went deathly cold as her smile disappeared, "Guess you failed."

That's what did it. That's what finally broke Cat, and with all reason. Hell, even Jackie was scared of what she had said! She internally thanked her dad for letting her watch all those James Bond movies. Who would have thought her Bond Villain imitation would help her someday? The only person that wasn't shaken was Tom, who had covered his mouth to muffle his laughter.

Cat stayed silent for a few seconds, while he considered, for real this time, what he had heard.

"No, this is crazy!" he yelled, "Look, I explained to you, It-It's impossible to escape! W-what do you want to do? Walk right in front of the guards as you head to the door?"

Jackie and Tom exchanged a complicit smile.

"Exactly," said Jackie.

Cat tried to look calm and confident as he headed to the upper levels. It was good he was wearing the mask, because he could feel his face was swamp levels of wet. And he only sweated more when he saw Ape at the end of the corridor. With other two acolytes.

"Buddy!" squealed Cat, and then cleared his throat and spoke normally, "I mean, hi partner-uh boss… chief? Sir! Uh… how is it going?"

Ape took out the cigarette out of his mouth. The other guards were smoking too.

"How is it… are you stupid or what?"

Cat didn't know how to answer so he didn't.

"What is the thing I told you to do? Go to the Mess Hall once you are done. Instead, I find you here with… who are they now?"

Cat had hoped he wouldn't notice the other two persons dressed as acolytes that were following him. Now he was hoping he won't notice the clawed hand that was pressed against his back.

"They are… Initiates! Yeah, that's right. And I was, you know, showing them the base and everything."

In a movement that was weird for the lazy Ape, he put his cigarette down and took a good look at the two 'acolytes'. One of them was wearing a Dragon mask. The other, a Snake one.

"Never seen these two before," said Ape, "Also, when did we accept new Initiates? You were in the last bunch."

Cat tried to speak, but he found his tongue was in a knot. "Yeah I… you see, I will tell you what happened…"

"Hold it. I think I know that idiot," yelled an acolyte with a Donkey Mask. He was pointing at Snake.

"You do?" said both Ape and Cat.

"Yeah, you are Johnson, right?"

Snake turned hard as a statue, and then nodded vigorously.

"Ha! Knew it! You see we were in orientation together, he and me," said Donkey to Ape, "He was always babbling how he wanted a Snake mask, or a Reptile or some shit like that." He tapped his mask, thinking. "Weird, I thought they haven't picked you for Initiate..."

"They didn't!" Cat interceded. He could fell the claws dig a little on the flesh over his kidney. "B-but there was another recruitment, right? The one where they picked me. And they choose him too! That's where we became bros… right bro?" He held his fist up and Snake fist pumped him. "But they had him as an outside guard so he-he came inside with the turn shift to see the place, and then this other guy showed up so we were like... Let's make a tour!"

Cat could have sword he saw Ape raise his eyebrow behind the mask.

"A tour? Kid, this isn't a tree house club, alright? It's a job," said Ape.

"Oh, it's a job now?!" said Cat, no longer caring to hide his frustration, "Well that's what I believe too. It's a job. Man, I would like to have a damn job like the one you guys have, were I can lazy around in the hallway, smoke a joint, not go to the mess hall as I am supposed too... Yeah, I would love that job."

Cat wanted to throw himself down a train. That was the kind of shit that, had someone else said it, Cat would have punched him in the face! And by the look of it, the other acolytes were thinking about it.

But then Ape breathed a ring of smoke in Cat face and said: "Just go to the mess hall when you are done. No need to be so whiny."

Ape walked past him, with the other acolytes behind. Donkey stopped next to Snake.

"Yo Johnson. You still owe me fifty, you recall?"

Snake showed his empty hands, in a worldwide known gesture.

"Yeah, that's what you said last time. You'll see. Poker. Double or quits at the mess hall. And don't you 'forget your wallet' again you dipshit," he gave a light smack at Snake's mask.

When they had disappeared down the hallway, Cat let himself fall on the floor. "That was so fucking close!"

A small giggle was heard in the hallway, and slowly evolved into a roaring laughter. Cat's companions removed their mask, showing their bright smiles. Tom wore the Dragon Mask and Jackie the Snake one.

"That was awesome!" shouted Tom between giggles.

"No it wasn't," Cat rebuked.

"It was so cool!" Jackie said.

"No it wasn't!"

"I thought I was going to die!" said Jackie.

"Me too!" said Tom.

"My hands are still shaking!"

"I was this close to jump at them. And when that guy 'recognized' you-"

"Oh God, I almost fainted. That was so crazy!"

"Yeah, but then you made that 'I got nothing' thing. You are genius!"

For a moment they had forgotten the situation they were in, and were laughing and hopping like the kids they were.

And to think these two kidnapped me, thought Cat.

"Seriously, I don't know how stayed so calm back there," said Tom

"I didn't!" said Jackie with honesty, but she didn't lose her mood. "I am still in a state of total panic! I managed to block it but I can feel it. In here," she pointed at her chest. "All that fear and rage is still here, trapped. Right now, I am in shock, but I know I am gonna loose it any moment now. And when that happens I will be reduced to a crying puddle in the floor. I mean, we were this close to be discovered and killed, and it's the second time for me in 24 hours! That is fucking terrifying!"

She said all of this in a fit of laughter. When she was done, the glimmer has disappeared from Tom's eyes. Even Cat has taken his mask off and was staring at her.

"But I am holding it in… You know, for the team! Don't worry about me."

Tom laughed again, but it was a sad ironic one this time.

"Well, you are doing great so far. You are pretty though you know?" Tom put a hand on Jackie's shoulder. It was a small gesture, but a difficult one for the demon. Not exactly a physical person. "Just hold it a little more. We are almost outside. Right Cat?"

"Yeah, yeah," Cat stood up with a buff and led the way. "Gotta be kidnapped by a buncha teens. Good job me..."

They didn't have any unfortunate encounter like that again. The few people they found -most of them Initiates like Cat- didn't mind them at all. The tunics had disguised Jackie and Tom perfectly, which she was thankful for. They were easy to find: the barracks had newly washed tunics and spare masks all around. Of course Jackie didn't knew this when she thought this plan, she has just been very lucky and she was cautiously happy about it.

Jackie and Tom took the chance to submit Cat to an interrogation. Unfortunately, he didn't know anything useful to them, or anything they didn't knew already. He did reveal the cult's name. The Red Hand. Apparently, this was a regular Saturday night for them; kidnapping of children and dealing with demons was in their weekly schedule. The topic of Tom's curse (or 'restraining spell' as he called it) came out, but Cat knew even less about it than them. The conversation drifted until it became small talk. Tom and Cat did most of the chat, and Jackie listened. For what she had gathered, Cat didn't sound like a bad person. In fact, by his looks alone, Jackie couldn't have believed he was member of an evil demon-summoning sect. But again, a few hours ago he had a knife at Jackie's back and was ready to end her.

The subject of Sage came out, and Jackie couldn't resist asking questions. She was shocked to hear that Sage used to work for Tom. In retrospective, it was obvious judging by the talk she had heard them have. Tom explained that Sage had made a deal with him, not unlike the one Jackie had made with Tom, but with higher stakes: Sage's soul, with the promise that Tom would bring him back to life after his death.

"Wait, hold on… You can, like, revive people? Anyone? For real?" she asked, her curiosity sparked.

"Sure thing! It's one of the perks of being Prince of the Underworld," said Tom, "Not 'anyone' though. If I try to bring someone to life right now, t-they would come back as a zombie. I need to make a deal beforehand. Sage knew he was going to die because he was old and sick, so I cut him a deal. His soul and the rest of his life on servitude and he could came back."

Jackie tried to wrap her mind about what she just heard, even if the conclusion was distressing. "So, he gets a new life but he had to spend it working for you?"

"Exactly!" yelled Tom, and then he realized what he just said, "I mean It-It's more complicated than that. Even if I don't ask him to do anything for me, his soul is condemned. It will stay trapped in the Underworld, without chance of reincarnation."

He turned to look at Jackie, his red eyes shining behind the Dragon Mask, "Nothing is free. In this life or the next one."

They all went quiet after that. Jackie had to admit: what Tom said did made sense, in a twisted, weird, pragmatic way. He was a demon after all. However, hearing him talk about human lives as mere currency made her blood froze.

"What was the problem then?" she asked.

"The problem was that Sage's an idiot!" Tom stopped in place, "I carried out my terms of the deal. Hell I-I gave him more of what we agreed! He wanted to work for me, so I figured 'hey, he-he could be useful', 'let's let him do a living!'" Jackie saw a faint trail of smoke coming out of the Dragon Mask during Tom's rant. "And turns out it wasn't good enough for him!"

"What do you mean 'not good enough for him'? What did you made him do?"

"Nothing!" Tom pulled his mask out, as if he could show the truth on his face, "I mean nothing bad per se. I just… I think he thought working for a demon would be more like… 'DEAD, BLOOD, DEPRAVITY, THE FORCES OF EVIL UNLEASHED!'"

A pyre of smoke and darkness surrounded Tom, and then banished as fast as it appeared

"And I just… man, I just wanted someone to do my laundry."

"HA!" added Cat, and was ignored.

"Guess he t-thought working for me made him deserving of demon influenced superpowers."

Jackie took out her own mask. It was just right, given the circumstances. "And couldn't you just, you know, give him powers?"

Tom crossed his arms around his chest. He looked like an offended child.

"Oh, right. Everything has price."

"Bingo," he spitted, voice filled with poison, "But then It-It turned against me cause, guess what? Turns out he is a wizard! I mean not a p-powerful one, but strong enough to-to disappear from my sight. And to call me whenever he wants," tiredness seemed to overcome him more and more as he spoke, until he was talking in whispers. "You know this is actually the third time he summons me?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. But he has never..."

He tried to find the words to explain the mess in his brain, and when he couldn't, he pointed at Jackie. "This. This whole… kidnapping and murdering, it's… It's new. It's my fault."

Jackie fought the need to give him the reason. What Tom said had a bit of truth. But if she thought about it for more than two seconds, it was a whole load of crap.

"Hey, listen to me," she patted Tom's shoulder, "this isn't your fault, ok? You did your part, right? You couldn't have known Sage was a psychopath."

Tom stopped looking like a kicked puppy and stared a Jackie's eyes.

A shadow of a smile crept on his face. "Thanks. You are just being nice, but thanks-Ouch!"

He rubbed the shoulder Jackie had hit him in.

"Cheer up, dude," said Jackie with a laugh.

"I could if I weren't so hurt," he said.

"Don't be a baby."

They both felt the laugh returning to them, to the exasperation of Cat. "Jesus, get a room you to-OUCH!"

Tom kicked Cat, shutting him up for good.

After that, and with the air lighter than ever, they kept walking. Tom had the sudden notion that everything will turn out just fine. Jackie on the other hand couldn't shake away the fear that has plagued her since she woke up. However, a sense of strange confidence has awoken in her. She knew that as long as they were together, they will be fine.

When they reached a big staircase, Cat informed them they were about to leave the Catacombs and ascend to the Upper levels, which was gonna be even more crowded with acolytes and guards. Once upstairs, Jackie noticed the hallways were wider and more illuminated, and the crossways were fewer in number; it simply felt like it was easier to find your way around here than down there. No wonder it was so difficult to navigate the lower levels: whole place was a goddamned labyrinth! If the 'cattle' ever escaped, they couldn't move two steps without crashing with a wall or getting lost in a hallway.

Jackie realized how far she had come and how lucky she had been.

They reached a pair of big wooden doors, behind which was a door bursting with cultists. Ironically, they looked like they were simply hanging out: sitting at tables, eating late night snacks, chatting with each other or playing cards… They almost looked like regular people, if you ignored the deformed masks and blood covered tunics.

Cat looked inside the room, but didn't make a move to enter.

"Alright listen up, this is important," he said, "See that door at the end of the Hall? It leads to the exit. And there is no way to reach it without passing through here. So we need to-we need to stay calm and fool everyone here AND the guards at the exit, and if we don't… well you don't want to know what they will do to us. I mean it. You don't want to know. I do, and I wish I didn't… it's just wrong, man."

Jackie felt it was her place to put some confidence in who, for a lack of a better word, were her partners.

"Don't worry man. If we came this far, nothing will stop us now. The worst is already over," she said.

"Yeah, don't be a wimp," Tom added, getting a small smile out of Jackie.

Cat buffed and nodded. "You two are either very brave or very stupid. And I am with you guys so it's probably the second."

They advanced through the room with their heads down; whenever someone tried to approach them or talk to them, Cat said 'we are busy' or any similar excuse. Jackie looked around and recognized a few masks amongst the crowd. There had to be around forty people or so. She saw Tom looking at a group reunited in a circle, in a corner of the room. They were the Council, sitting at a table. Sage was at the head. She put a hand on Tom's shoulder and rushed him to the exit.

Once outside Jackie unclenched her teeth and Tom untangled his tail, and they all breathed out. They walked the long hallway until they reached a hexagonal room. It was not a big as the Mess Hall, but probably big enough to fit the whole cult in it.

"The Fathers' room," Cat had called it, and it was easy to see why.

There was a hallway in each one of the sides of the hexagon, and next to each hallway there was a big portrait. That made it six hallways, including the one they came from and the one leading to the exit, and six portraits, one for each corridor. Each portrait showed a man, usually very old, wearing a fancy tunic. In their hands there was a human mask with a mocking grin. They all were leaders of the Red Hand, the ones that came before Sage. But that answers just opened the door to a terrifying question.

"How long has these guys been in Echo Creek?" Jackie said in a whisper. Cat didn't hear her or just choose not to answer.

There was a portrait of Sage too, but this was different. It was not done yet, with half of it in plain, lightless colors. And there was someone else there too. Jackie was not surprised to see that the man next to Sage was Ed. He was dressed all fancy; his hair was laid back like he was a tiny lawyer.

After the Fathers' room, they reached a big staircase, same as the one on the basement. Two gigantic guards covered in red metal armor were standing at its sides. They carried very old looking axes, big enough to cut a man's head of his body like an orange.

That's it. If they wanted to get out of that madhouse, they would have to fool them.

Cat gulped so hard the kids could hear it. He approached the guards, with Tom behind him and Jackie closely behind Tom, grabbing his tunic.

"Greetings, my fellow cultists!" Cat mumbled.

Up close the guards were even more intimidating; they didn't wear animals mask -their heads were covered by burlap sacks with holes for eyes. Jackie turned away her gaze. She noticed there was an intercom on the wall to the left. They were this close to being caught… or beheaded.

"What do you want?" said one of the guards.

"I… came to hand over these two traitors."

The kids were shocked at Cat's words.

It was Jackie who spoke first. "But-but I thought-"

"You can't do this to us!" Tom yelled with such a poison it startled the presents.

Cat broke free of Tom's grasp and grabbed them both by the shoulder, pushing them close to him. "You better shut up, you traitors!"

"But I thought you were on our side," said Jackie.

"I thought we had a deal!" said Tom.

"I said shut up!"

"Silence, all three of you!" the guard stepped down, "What in Void's name is going on here?"

"I found these two sneaking in the storage room to steal our treasures," said Cat.

At hearing this Jackie stopped struggling, and Tom stopped yelling. Cat surely could not have been planning this from the beginning...

"And the Big Man… the Boss asked me to-to take them out."

There was a miles deep silence in the hallway. Even with the sacks on their faces, Jackie knew the guards were not buying it.

She broke free of Cat's grasp and pointed a finger at Tom. "He made me do it!"

Tom picked immediately what was happening. "Me?! You are a fucking liar!"

"I would never steal from our organization sir!"

Tom broke free of Cat grasp too, and started a finger pointing contest with Jackie.

"It was your idea! You planned it all!"

"But it was you that opened the door."

"Yeah, and you came in first and got your pockets filled with gold."

"That's just not true!"

"Sure it is! And you stole a golden watch too."

"I found it!"

"Just as you found those silver coins? Saw you hiding them in your mouth. Take out their teeth officer!"

"Not my teeth please!"

"Silence!" roared the other guard, and then they realized he was a she.

She and her partner exchanged a few words for what seemed days, and when they were over they got close to them.

"If what you say is true, we must interrogate them," said the Male Guard, "Let's head to the Torture Chamber-"

"No!" Cat yelled, all the while keeping the kids a foot away from the guards, "I mean- The leader, the-the big man the-the guy… he asked me to… take them outside? So they can-uh-clean the mess of the party? You know, as punishment?"

The guards stepped forward. They were so tall they were casting shadows on them.

"That's not what the protocol says," said the Woman Guard, in a challenging voice.

Cat was already debating whenever it would be smart to run away. Tom was very close to jump at the throat of the nearest one, in a probably futile attack. Jackie, however, was determined to go big and go home.

"The leader is my uncle," she said.

The guards looked at each other, probably debating internally if what she had said was true. The three of them jumped when the Male Guard stomped the ground with the pommel of the axe.

"Well that just great! I work myself out every day, and these Neophytes get it however they want"

"Dude, keep it down!" said the Woman Guard. Somehow, Jackie knew that behind the sack on her head, she was smiling despite herself.

The two giants moved to the side, opening a hole for Cat to pass. He did so and dragged his 'prisoners' to their 'punishment'. Tom gave Jackie small thumbs up. They had walked a few stair steps when the Male guard yelled.

"Wait!" the three of them froze in place, "Let me check this one. Gotta see if he got anything in his pockets."

He walked straight to Tom. Cat got between the guard and him. "That-that won't be necessary."

"Sure it will," the Male Guard pushed Cat out of his way with ease, "It'll be just a sec."

He held Tom in place by his shoulder and searched the pockets of the tunic.

"Hey what are you-Hey your hands are freezing! Get off me!" Tom tried to squirm away of the Guard's grasp, but he simply couldn't.

"Stay quiet, I think I found something-"

The guard grabbed onto something and then pulled. Tom's howls were strong enough to make the walls tremble. Jackie didn't understand what has happened until her gaze went from Tom to the Guard. In his hands he had the end of Tom's long red tail. And he was tugging it hard.

The awkward silence didn't last long.

"He is the Son of the Blight!" yelled the Male Guard before Tom kicked him in the stomach, pushing him away.

The Male Guard recovered his poise quickly and counter attacked. He pushed Tom against the wall with a punch, and held him by the neck against the wall, using the handle of the axe to keep him in place.

"Run!" Tom shouted between gasps.

Jackie didn't had time to debate whenever to escape or not, because the Woman Guard was already heading to her like a bull. Jackie turned around and ran, skipping two steps at the time. But the Woman Guard was faster and held her by the ankle when she was in the air. Jackie felt to the so hard she heard the crack her nose made when it broke.

Her stomach turned around when the Woman Guard lifted her like she was weightless. She dropped Jackie unceremoniously on the floor, right at the base of the stairs. She took Jackie's mask away, revealing her blood soaked face to the world. The pain was unbearable, and it was almost impossible to breath. Jackie saw to her left with tearful eyes and saw Tom, unmasked and kneeling on the floor. And axe was held at the back of his neck.

"Uff! That was close!" said the Male Guard, "They almost got away with it. Imagine if the Son of the Blight had escaped."

"Hey check out this one. Pretty sure it's the blondie that got away," said the Woman Guard, holding an axe to Jackie's neck in the same way as his partner. "We hit the jackpot, dude! After this, we will be made the Leader's Royal Guard."

"Fuckin'A we will!"

The Male Guard held his hand in the air and his partner gave him five.

This is ridiculous, they love this! Jackie thought.

"You, Initiate!" said the Woman Guard while pointing at Cat, who until this point has been hiding in corner playing dumb (or smart, depending of the perspective).

"Who, me?"

"Use the intercom. Say we have the demon at the entrance, we need reinforces."

Cat ran to the intercom on the wall. He stared at the machine, as if asking it for answer. His gaze searched the room and stopped in the kids' faces.

Tom shook his head in a pleading gesture. "Don't do this."

Jackie was broken enough she didn't dare to speak.

Cat pressed the button of the intercom.

"May I have your attention please? Goodnight everyone… How you all doing tonight? What a weather, uh? Dry as fuck… " said Cat to the machine, his voice reverberating with static through the rooms. "Thing is… we have a runaway. One of the Cattle escaped… well, you guys knew that already. But you don't know that I… I found her."

That was it. The burden of reality felt on the kids' shoulders. Jackie felt the need to cry, but didn't had the strength. Tom wanted to fight, but didn't had the will.

"And she-the prisoner I mean. She is…" Cat stopped. He looked once again at the kids'. Jackie could only stare back, hoping it would do the trick.

When Cat spoke again, he did so fast it was almost unintelligible: "TheprisonerisintheCatacombssheistryingtoreleasethedemonallunitstotheCatacombsNOW!"

He let go of the button and the speakers went quiet. The guards growled once they understood what happened.

"You miserable dog!" roared the Male Guard and ran to Cat.

"Don't move you fool!" said the Woman Guard but it was too late.

As soon as the axe left Tom's neck, he dashed towards the Woman Guard. His fury reborn, he threw a punch at her, impacting her stomach. Once she hunched over he took advantage of his position and shoved her into the nearest wall. The Guard hit her head against the corner and went numb; her axe discarded on the floor.

Jackie rushed to his side, her own pain ignored for a moment. "Good job Tom! That'll teach her!"

She lost her excitement when a thin scream was heard. Cat was playing cat and mouse with the other Guard. He kept running in circles, ducking away the axe attacks.

Jackie's instinct took over, awaken by the sudden euphoria. She lent a hand to her partner. "Tom, let's knock this jerk over."

Tom understood perfectly what she meant: he grabbed her left arm with his right one, just by the elbow. Tom whistled to get Cat's attention, which immediately turned over and ran towards them. It was a chronometrical situation; they waited until Cat was right in front of them and the Guard has raised his axe to the side for the final strike.

"Duck!" yelled Jackie and Cat throw himself to the ground.

The kids ran forward. Their joined arms hit the guard in the chest. She could felt Tom's famous super strength; it was almost as if it were amplifying her own. It was enough to throw the Guard of balance, making him fall like an anvil. He tried to get up but was pushed down by Tom's foot. In his face. One time and another until he knew for sure he would not stand up.

He lived, mind you. But he was most definitely mangled behind that sack-mask.

The three were breathing heavily, trying to calm their drumming hearts. Jackie looked around. Two gigantic guards lay unconscious on the floor. Their weapons were discarded and forgotten. And the rest of the cult, misguided as they were, now knew the truth: that they had escaped. And surely they will be looking for them in full scale now.

"Well," said Jackie in a tired voice, "That could have been worse."

The speakers made a buzzing noise and then went silent. The Mess Hall didn't take long to fall into panic. Every acolyte and guard was asking the same questions. 'Is it truth the demon escaped?', 'How is it possible?' And more importantly 'Whose fault is it?'

The Council knew it was just matter of time before they start to blame them. After the short argument they had, the four members had decided to reunite with their subordinates on the Mess Hall. They had intended to transmit the Cult some peace and calm about the 'procedure' they had performed tonight. But they had failed and now a state of dread was slowly taking over them all. The Council could only point at each other masks, passing the blame on the others.

All of them except Sage, who was watching the scene before him in silent reflection. There was something just not right, and it had to do with that message. He kept to himself until he felt a hand on his shoulder. The Neophyte looked at him and pleaded for him to do something. Sage could feel his anxiety even behind the mask. With good reason, for no other Neophyte could dream of ever being this close to their Leader. But well, he was special.

Sage gave his orders to the Council. The veteran members had to mobilize the Cult to the lower levels. If the demon truly had escaped, they needed all the members to subdue him again. And if he had abandoned the building already… well they would need to perform the Escape Protocol. Worst came to the worst, they can always begin again.

This eased the Council, and they went to give orders to the Lieutenants. When the Neophyte tried to leave, Sage stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

He got close to him and spoke in a complicit voice. "I have a Job for you."

Back again at the entrance, Jackie stared at the knocked out bodies of the guards, still in disbelief that they had survived that encounter. Tom was next to her, cleaning her bloodied face with a piece of cloth.

"Ouch! That hurts," she said and tried to move, but Tom kept her in place.

"Stop squirming then! Your nose is in fucking pieces," he said with sadness in his tone, "It's my fault. I'm sorry. The spell must have weakened me more than I thought."

"It's ok. I'm fin-Ouch!"

"Sorry."

Meanwhile, Cat was walking back at forth, seemingly with the intention to make a hole into the ground. He had taken the mask off, and he looked soul-shaking miserable.

"We are dead," he said, matter-of-factly, "We are fucking dead! Why the fuck did I do that?! I don't care about your asses! And now they are coming after MY ass!"

"Calm down!" Tom shouted, "By the time they get up here we gonna be far gone."

"So what?! These two gonna wake up someday, and they'll tell what happened!" he stopped walking when a dreadful realization took him over, "Oh God, they have registries. They-they have my real name. They know where I live! They are gonna come looking for me and… I need to escape. I need to-to pack my shit and run to fucking Argentina or some!

"Even more reason to leave now," said Jackie; her face was still a bit red, but the bleeding has stopped. Tom had made an improvised bandage around her nose with a piece of his tunic. "I think I have spent enough time underground for the rest of my life."

Cat had to give her the reason, but he was used to it by this point. He picked a big key holder from the Male Guard and they all headed upstairs at fast speed. Slowly, they felt into small chat, sharing what each of them would do once out. Cat was gonna move out, simply as that. He would grab all his stuff, hop on the closest long distance bus, and 'get the fuck away'. Out of the State if possible. Jackie suggested him Oregon. Tom will call his dad to pick him up and bring him back to the Underworld. There, they would dispel the curse completely and he could start to heal. Once he is whole, he will go for Sage. As for Jackie, she had simpler ideas. She wanted to get out, catch a sniff of fresh air, give a big bear hug to her dad, and call the police so they could come and rescue the imprisoned kids.

"That won't do any good. They must be packing everything already," said Cat, with solemnity, "And disposing of the Cattle."

Jackie froze. "Disposing?"

"Well, yeah," said Cat. "I mean, some of them will survive for sure. The cult always keeps a few alive. Probably they will be caged in an abandoned warehouse for a few days, but they will live. But the rest of them…"

The picture of the kids being cut in half by masked acolytes was still fresh in Jackie's mind. It brought the horror back, as if it has never left.

"They are going to kill them all?! Just like that?"

"Well… not all of them, but-"

"We have to do something!"

"I am sorry Jackie, there is nothing to do," said Tom, giving his back to her and heading to the exit, "We have to get out and send word to the cops."

"Are you-Didn't you hear what he said? By the time they came here they'll have to clean up the bodies, and the Cult will be gone! We-we need to go back for them."

She gave a few steps downstairs when Tom's furious voice made her halt.

"If you go down, you will never get out! After all the trouble we went for getting this far, now you want to go back?"

"That doesn't matter, I have to. If we hurry, we might save them-

"Sure! And worse came to the worse they'll just catch you, kill you, kill everyone else and trap me in a stinky basement again as the cherry on top. Nothing to w-worry about!"

Tom's voice came out of an angry place, but it was also hurt in a personal way. Jackie understood, because she was feeling the same.

She walked a few stairs up, just enough to get at eye level with him. "I can't believe you. These kids were kidnapped, just like you. Are you gonna let them die?"

Tom grunted and scratched his hair, which by this point was completely out of shape.

"Look. You want to help them? We have to leave. I'll call my dad. He-He will dispel this stupid spell so I can chase the cult and turn them into ashes."

"What good will that do?"

"The good is that you don't die like an idiot! Which is what will happen if you come back now try to save these people that –in case you forgot- you didn't even cared for until today! We went through all of that just to escape and now you want to play the hero?! That's just nuts!"

Jackie was speechless. The truth on Tom's words weighted on her. If she went back, she may as well die. It was almost certain. She looked closely at the Demon's face, exhaling smoke from his nose; his eyes a scorching fire that could consume everything.

Her eyes went wide as a powerful realization felt on her shoulders. "You don't really care about these people. You never did."

Tom breathed out a cloud of smoke. It surrounded him like a shadow.

"Do you dare to talk to me like that?" Tom spoke with a voice that felt like a thousand ones. "You don't know me."

The red glow of the chains intensified, bathing the staircase. He was in obvious pain, but he couldn't stop now.

"These maniacs sacrificed those people because of me. It's my fault, Jackie! These people are in the Underworld because of me!"

"And they are going to kill even more," said Jackie in a glacial voice.

"I have to get my powers back! THEY HAVE TO PAY!"

"Then it's not really for them, is it? This is all for you."

The smoke went quiet as silence felt on the two kids. Jackie saw a shadow of a doubt in Tom's face, but it quickly disappeared as the demon lunged forward and held her by the arm.

"I gave my promise I would get you out. We had a deal!" Tom raised his right hand, showing the red-bright cross on his palm.

Jackie's tongue twisted in a knot. In Tom's eyes she could see… nothing. No trace of the boy was left. Only shapeless shadows and burning fire. She screeched as pain took over her. Tom let go of her. When she examined her arm, she saw the mark of Tom's fingers burned in her flesh. All the anger ran away from Tom's face; the demon had yielded and an anxious ridden teen has taken its place.

"Jackie I-I am sorry, are you-" Tom moved to touch her, but Jackie pushed him back.

She didn't have the patience to deal with him. Nor the will. And definitely not the time. She cut a piece of the tunic and bandaged her burned arm.

"You are right," she said, eyes fixed only in the work at hand, "We had a deal and you did your part. You brought me to the exit. Now leave. Go to your dad and get fixed up.

"And once you are healed you can come back and burn these assholes to the ground if you want."

She finished the bandage. It was a rough handiwork, but it would have to do. She was so tired.

"But I can't leave those kids alone. I am the only thing they have."

She spoke in an accusatory voice; the weight of her frustration falling on her words, in a way that could freeze you to death. It certainly felt that way to Tom.

The boy took a step forward, but she took one back.

"You are going to die there, with them!"

From somewhere inside her, Jackie brought forward a smile. "At least I'll know I tried."

Considering the conversation done, she turned around.

"Wait!" Cat shouted, reminding the kids he was there. He took a big iron key out of the key holder. He kept the key holder in his pocket and threw the key at Jackie.
"Go to the Fathers' room and turn left at the first hallway. The prisoner's room it's the last door at the end, you can't miss it. And I…" Cat lowered his head, "I am sorry."

Jackie stared at the key, but didn't know what to say. Or maybe she just didn't have anything to say to him.

"Thanks."

She made a few steps down when she heard Tom calling her name.

"Jackie wait!" he yelled in panic. "I-I did what I said. I brought you to the exit. It's right here! I didn't promise anything else, I-I just…"

He couldn't look at Jackie's face; his words lowing in tone until he was silent.

Jackie decided, because of everything that had happened that day, to spoke one last time to the boy.

"Goodbye Tom."

This said she gave her back to them and started to run. Away from the Tom, from the exit. From the light. And into the darkness again.