Just so you know, kids, I sort of edit the creatures that I use. For example, I don't think the Boo Hag drips smoke, but I figured just in case someone looked up the creature I should still be able to suprise you guys! But with this next case, I'll pretty much just be using the general points of this creature, since he's pretty rare...

Also, I'm sorry about the absence earlier. I'm pretty sure I'm back to updating daily now, until this Wednesday.

{January 8, 20XX}

Hanna and Johnny had decided, under much scrutiny from Worth and even Lamont (who happened to be there for the New Year's party) that they should take a vacation. It was a joint decision to take the doctor and Lamont's advice, even though both of them were thoroughly drunk at the time. People would still drop by the apartment, but Hanna would only offer them advice and sometimes even something he had laying around that would at least help them with their problem. Johnny kept a tally, and all in all, Hanna had given away a necklace to help with pixies, chocolate to get rid of goblins, along with a CD, a small bag of candy, and a box of old pancake mix to help with several other problems. Johnny had since stopped taking his nighttime walks because Worth told him that Hanna wasn't looking to good, and needed to be kept under surveillance for a week.

After a week came and went, with only a few nightmares, a collapse, and a nosebleed, Worth deemed Hanna 'un-vacationized' and the two had the doctor's go-ahead to take cases. They started out small, under Johnny's request, with things such as Spiderlings and lesser hags. As Hanna's sleep gradually became less and less disturbed, Johnny began to slowly take longer and longer walks, relieved to find Hanna exactly as he had left him. Johnny tried to come back early, to feed their pet roach Luce, to get breakfast started early enough so that Hanna could get to work and he could go with him. After the Gargoyle incident, Hanna didn't seem to happy to be walking around town on his own, even in daylight. While Johnny had no problem walking with Hanna, he couldn't help but wonder how many close calls there'd been before, and how he possibly got over them with just Worth and Lamont to help him.

Hanna had to work the night shift on January seventh, however, which would be a lot more complicated than walking him to work in solid afternoon daylight. Although their trek wouldn't even be in the direction of the house the gargoyle lived in, it certainly made the hair on both their necks stand up whenever a car sped past or a crow shrieked in the darkness. Johnny kept his hand on Hanna's shoulder, because whenever he let it slide off, Hanna would pick it back up and silently put it back over his shoulder. Several blocks later, when they had to wait for the light to change at a particularly busy part of the city, Hanna shouted out when he claimed something grabbed his ankle. Johnny looked all over, but found nothing just as the little white walking man appeared on the black box across the street. When finally the two found themselves in front of Target, Hanna seemed to be at ease, for the time being.

"You'll come at seven to walk home with me, won't you, Seamus?"

"Of course Hanna. We'll stop at Ihop."

As Hanna turned to the automatic doors to Target with a huge grin on his face, Seamus couldn't help but wonder if that was how a parent might have felt before watching a child go to school for the first time. As he walked back alone through the cold city, Seamus stopped at the corner at which Hanna had felt something, or someone, attack his ankle. Since he had nothing better to do, Seamus couldn't help but look around a little...He tried standing where Hanna had, and now that he didn't have to keep his hand on his friend's shoulder, he could reach for a flashlight and better inspect the area. Nothing in the curb, nothing behind the newspaper stands, nothing. Was it just Hanna's imagination? No sooner had that though come to Seamus's mind than something out of the corner of his eye darted from one shadow to another in the nearby alley.

Cautiously, Seamus let the spotlight slowly cover over each shadow, until it finally came to rest on a curled up young man shivering on the side of a building, his back to the fence, obviously too weak to climb over and escape the light. When it was obvious that a young child couldn't hurt him, Seamus flicked off the flashlight and cautiously took a step forward. Although Seamus could only see an outline, he could tell whoever it was protested his being close, so Seamus stayed where he was. He just decided to be blunt about it.

"Did you attack Hanna?"

"I didn't attack him...I need his help..."

"I can help you."

There was a moment of silence, and Seamus figured that this was the young man sizing him up. "Meet me in the cemetery at noon, don't be late, and don't tell Hanna."

Before Seamus could so much as respond, the creaking of a door in the alley assured him that the young man had fled, conveniently, just as a police car pulled up to the curb. An older officer stepped out, his black hair speckled with gray. He looked Seamus up and down, who silently wondered if his green skin was hidden by the darkness of an alleyway.

"We had a call about a shout in this area about twenty minutes ago...Did you have anything to do with it, sir?"

"I didn't."

"Right...What are you doing out at this time of night, anyway? What did you say your name was?"

"I was minding my own business...And it's Seamus."

"Well, Seamus," The officer said in a tone the zombie didn't quite appreciate while he wrote on a clipboard, "I think you should mind your business elsewhere."

Ohohoho, cliffhanger.

I hope you guys had a Happy New Years!

Review!