Brew city: Urban Fantasy

by Mr. Aanonymous

Most people walk through life with no direction. Lord knows I do. Our best guide is our interests. They make us who we are. But there's a fine line between interest and obsession. When you can't see that line, people get hurt. Always. The only questions are how many, how bad, and who will stop it. Before this is over, I think i'll find those answers.

2. Tinderbox

Brew city: Urban Fantasy

Chapter 2- Tinderbox

"Welcome to the Tinderbox."

"Tinderbox?" Devin asked, looking at the neon yellow sign hanging off the side of the bar Justin was pointing at. It was a two story building made of fresh brown bricks, a 20ft section of the wall facing the street was made of mesh glass security door that rolled up into the ceiling, allowing people eat at the fenced off tables outside. "Its not the worst name for a bar I've ever heard."

"Well I'm curious."

"The place." Devin eyed Justin. "Ohhhhhh."

"Didn't even try." Justin shook his head. "My worst, the money shot! And yeah, they had the exclamation point in there."

"H-ha. Knew this place, old hole in the wall down by 3rd. They had the best ranch in town." Devin stopped, adding suspense. "Good &*%$."

"That joint must've really wanted shock laughs. It worked. Good on them. Swarma my Kabobs." Devin could only eye Justin again before the personal trainer shrugged. "It was the only one I could think of."

"Its cool." Devin shrugged back. "Bourbon and bucket."

"Damn." Justin cursed. "That is better."

"Tinderbox is right up there. I can only guess how the bar got its name." Devin smiled, pointing up at the glowing sign. "If you're here to meet someone I'm not going to be your chauffeur."

"Not like that." Justin answered. "Its lumberjack themed, they still haul the stuff down the lakes and rivers."

"You took us to a lumberjack bar?"

"Nah-ah. I only go to places where people actually shower. No." Justin shook his head as he walked inside. "But its got great BBQ, Karaoke, and cheap meters... but yeah. People do hook up here on the app."

The inside wasn't all that different from the exterior. Matching exposed brick, rows of booths decorated to look like they were built out of logs with beige cushions, TV's at opposite ends of the bar. The place was filled with people who look like they just hit the age to drink. At the far end of it all was a short stage, an empty piano on one side and a Karaoke machine on the other. There was a skinny guy in an old lord of the rings T-shirt on the stage. His singing was so bad Devin couldn't tell what song was playing, even as the lyrics scrolled down the screen. Interestingly the guy actually had a crowd.

After getting to the actual bar and making their orders, Justin... Look, its been on TV for years now. That one wacky character in sitcoms that when they go into bars they immediately try picking up girls. Hit or miss, the results are always funny. But its one thing to see it on a screen and other to see it in real life. Once you know what you're looking at, its all kinds of hilarious. The antics are about as effective as you'd think. Some girls just stood there, some walked away, some actually gave him their numbers for the sheer novelty of his antics. He was confident throughout all of it and all of it was funny. Having a perfect tan and a personal trainer's body probably didn't hurt.

Justin tried to have Devin included in his hijinks but he quickly talked his way out of it to sit back and watch the shenanigans for the sheer entertainment. Which was better than anything they were showing on the TV's. Funny enough, neither roommate paid for a single drink the whole night. Devin was pretty sure Justin would find a way to stick him as the driver anyway, so he steered clear. As for Justin himself, well his latest stunt spoke for itself.

"I swear man, you're a much better showman than I'll ever be.". Devin joked, eating some of his nachos as Justin walked over to him. His shirt practically soaked from the latest drink dumped on him. Though Devin guessed half the reason she did it was to get Justin's shirt wet. "So, you think they'll finally kick you out of the wet T-shirt contest?"

"Meh." Justin shrugged. "The only time I was kicked out of a bar was when I pissed off a jealous girlfriend. Girl knew kickboxing, I shit you not."

"I would'ah loved to see that." Devin nodded as he ate another nacho. As he did, Justin pulled out another matching olive V-neck from his fanny pack and changed right there at the bar. Which got the personal trainer a number of looks from the girls, and a few of the guys. Justin himself just ignored them as he slipped the wet shirt into the fanny pack. "That's your whole shtick isn't it. The walking cat-nip thing."

"Ha. Hey, I'll take some nacho's too man." Justin said to the bartender, who nodded and hung up an order. "The 'class clown' act? Its about getting a good feel for the girls. For me its the best way to spot red flags. You wanna shuffle out the clingy or mean types."

"The girls last night were a wee bit clingy."

"Y-yeah." Justin nodded reluctantly. "You saw those two right? I thought it was worth it."

"Well, thanks for the free dinner and show." Devin raised up his glass of coke. "I didn't think tonight would be this fun."

Just as Justin was about to raise his beer for Devin's toast the bartender slid a drink between them both and nodded to the girl a few booth's down. Turing over to the seat- Devin had to stop himself from doing a double take. She had beautifully shiny blond hair rolling straight down her back. She had a healthy tan that complimented her smooth skin. The girl wore a bright red shirt that showed off her considerable chest along with a bright orange skirt that did nothing to cover her long curvy legs. Oh, and a pair of brown cowboy boots. The girl waved a hand at them as she held her own drink in the other. The girl looked like she belonged on the nose of a world war two bomber.

"So," Justin asked. "who do you think she gave the drink to? The bartender didn't say."

"Just go talk to her, walking catnip." Devin leaned back on the bar. "Uber money first though."

"I'm flattered," Justin jokingly laid a hand over his chest. "I don't know what's gonna happen. Her place. Mine. Maybe nothing. Who knows."

"Uh-huh." Devin looked back at the girl on the booth who winked at them. "Have fun man."

"Later dude." Justin smiled, handing Devin the cash.

"Any red flags. You think she's a screamer, go to her place." Devin smiled, pocketing the cash. Justin barked out a laugh, eating one of Devin's nacho's as he walked over to the booth. "You're a character man."

Turning back around to the bar Devin back to his nacho's he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. Pulling it out, Devin saw the familiar wavy blond hair, cute button nose, and warm green eyes in the picture through the text on his phone.

"I miss you." Devin read aloud. He sighed as he texted back. "I miss you too."

Looking for any kind of distraction, Devin looked around the bar and spotted the karaoke guy. Still on the stand where he last saw him, but he looked like he was done singing as he shut off the machine, shoved a handful of his own chips in his mouth before sliding his backpack on. Almost looked like he was in a hurry. Though he noticed that the guy was eyeing something behind Devin hard.

Turning back to the booth, Devin could see Justin talking to the girl, both of them were smiling as a waiter delivered Justin's nacho's. It was no surprise what the guy was eyeing now. Devin had to stop himself from looking down at the girl's chest when she laughed. Turning back again to the bar, Devin started feeling weird. Maybe it was that he turned into a third wheel. Maybe because someone was now singing 'California girls' at the Karaoke and was somehow worse than the lord of the rings guy... maybe it was the now soggy nachos.

It was because he was alone. Devin hated being alone.

Sighing, Devin paid for the nachos and headed for the door. Texting Justin that he was definitely taking the girl back to her place. Standing on the corner next to a hydrant, Devin pulled out his carton from his back pocket as he hit the uber app on his phone. Just as Devin did, he saw both Justin and the girl walk out of the bar behind him. Justin gave Devin a nod as he walked on toward the van. Devin nodded back shaking his head.

Just as Devin pulled out a cigarette, he spotted the karaoke guy practically jump out of the bar, clearly giggling with a weird look on his face. The karaoke guy shuffled off his backpack as he ran off into the dark alley on the bar's side and out of sight. Tilting his head at this, Devin heard the door to the van close just a bit down the street. Turning over for a look, Devin could see the smiling girl drag a confused Justin away before she whispered into his ear. She must've said something very nice, because Justin grew an eagerly goofy smile on his face as well as she lead him into the same dark alley.

"Nothing weird. Nothing weird about a giggling weirdo crawling over to lurk into a dark alley." Devin said, lighting up his cigarette and taking a puff, Devin shifted his gaze from the bar to the van and then the alley. Letting out the intake with a sigh, the smoke trailed out his nose as Devin shook his head. "Where a nice young couple unwittingly stumbled into. Sounds like an opening of a bad horror story. Wait, was the girl in the couple a pretty white blond with a big chest. Yes, yes she was... why am I still talking?"

Devin shut his mouth as he turned toward the alley, taking another hit as he waved off his uber when he saw it coming down the road. The second Devin was close enough to peak around the side the alley was exactly what anyone would expect, Justin making out with the girl. A few half full garbage cans on one side and a brick wall on the other. His uber gone and hiding in the shadows watching a couple about to get it on...Devin felt like a paranoid stupid creep. There was nothing to worry about. Devin quietly took another inhale of his cig as he pulled out his phone.

"Can you show me your fire trick?" The girl asked.

"O-oh, yeah." Justin answered back. "You're gonna love it."

Curious himself, Devin looked up from his phone and saw Justin pull out a small bottle from his fanny pack along with a lighter. Justin popped off the cork and dumped the contents in his mouth before spitting it out over the flame of his lighter. The arc of bright yellow flame burned about an arms length in the air down into the alley. Devin wasn't even in the front row seat and was impressed. But in that brief moment of light exposed the karaoke guy standing just a few feet beyond the couple in the shadows. Staring hard at the couple with the same grimacing smile on his face, showing his teeth. The couple were clearly too distracted to see him. Putting his phone away, Devin walked into the alley.

"Cool! That as so awesome Jerry." The girl cheered, a big smile on her face as she grabbed her bandanna. "Time for my trick."

That's when things just got weird.

The impossibly beautiful girl that belonged on the nose of the Enola Gay disappeared, and in her place stood a monster that would give the clown from IT nightmares. Gone was the perfectly tan skin of a valley girl as it was replaced with the sickly gray green hide. Her formerly long golden locks fell off her head, leaving only a crusty scalp with a few matted silver wisps. An eye was missing, leaving only a dark hole of nothingness. Even her clothes had changed. Instead of looking fresh off the rack, they appeared as if they were fished out of an abandoned sewer. Matted and torn, dark gray with blotches of brown with only hints of color remaining.

Devin couldn't see Justin's face, but he knew that the personal trainer was paralyzed with fear. Devin himself wasn't far behind him. The only movement between them both was when Devin dropped his cigarette.

"Do you like my trick?" The girl asked, her voice raspy with a ravenously hungry yet teasing tone.

"T-trick? O-oh, its a trick." Justin breathed, clear relief in his voice. "Of course its a trick. A-are you some kind of illugauhst- um, Illusionist?"

"Hmm." The girl rolled her one eye away in a somehow thoughtful motion before looking back at Justin with a smile, what few teeth she had were black, yellow, and green. "I guess."

"W-w-well, I'm impressed." Justin stammered, nodding nervously. "I know you 'performer' types don't tell, but wholly crap. You went form gorgeous to an extra on one of those zombie shows. How'd you do it?"

"Oh, my super cute BFF handles that." The girl answered, her voice as raspy as dead leafs but she was as giddy as ever. "Its not as much work as you think Joey."

"R-really?" Justin tilted his head to one side then back again, clearly shifting his gaze from a milky pussball to an empty hole. "Well you've got some make-up gal. You really had me going there. I mean... the smell."

"Awwwwwe, thanks." The girl winked at Justin, or just blinked. Devin couldn't tell. "It tottes took a lot for me to get like that. The girl at the mall gave me all this stuff to smell like cherries."

"Uh," Justin stepped back, holding a hand over his face, probably his nose. "I meant the horrible rotten stench."

"Okay, that's enough." Devin said, walking up to the couple. "Sorry for interrupting man."

"Dude, what are you doing?" Just asked.

"No, no, no." The girl shot off excitedly, her voice so raspy it was hard for either of them to hear. "Let him join in."

"Huh?" Justin asked, Devin raised an eyebrow at the dead looking girl. "What?"

"I'm hungry." The girl answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "More the merrier."

"Wow," Devin blinked as the girl's crusted beef jerky like tongue slided out of her mouth and licked her cracked leathery lips. Okay, licked was the wrong word. It was more like scraped. "she is really committed to the bit. But I'm not here to get involved in, whatever this is. I'm here for this."

Devin stepped past Justin and the girl as he set his phone to flashlight mode and lit up the alley behind them. As it turns out, it wasn't what Devin was expecting. It was even stranger. Devin expected the murder scene in batman begins, where the desperate criminal kills a young couple in an alley. Instead Devin was seeing the 'no good deed' scene in Logan where Deadpool spends the whole scene trying to squeeze into his costume while inside of a phone booth. It was the same lord of the rings guy from the bar, or at least Devin thought as his face was partly covered, though he could see enough of the golden ring design on the T-shirt. The guy was trying to slip on what appeared to be a moss green robe, but it somehow got bunched up halfway down his abdomen, as he was hunched over trying to pull it down. Next to him on the floor appeared to be a long wooden stick and a book.

It wasn't exactly like the scene with Deadpool, but it was close enough.

"In the hell?" Justin asked, clearly surprised.

"What are you doing here?" Devin asked, shining the light of his phone onto him.

"Hey Lenny." The girl said, the sound of her cowboy boots clicking against the concrete floor behind Devin. The guy, or 'lenny' stopped shifting as his eyes grew wide as they gazed in the girl's direction before he turned away and heaved. Given her appearance in the bar, and how tight her shirt was both then and now, Devin could only guess where Lenny was looking as the girl bounced. "Hi."

"C-come on." Lenny said, pulling at his bunched up robe before tripping over himself and falling down. "Damn it."

"What's he doing?" Justin asked. "Whats going on?"

"Oh," Devin looked back, the girl shifting her single eyed gaze between him and Justin. "Lenny likes making big enterences."

"Entrances." Justin corrected. "Why?"

"I dunno." The girl shrugged, smiling at the both of them. "Lenny's got this thing for pretty boys. Like you two... or he hates them. Kinda hard to tell with Lenny."

"What do you get out of this..." Devin asked, gesturing between the girl and Lenny as squirmed on the floor, still trying to pull down his robe which he somehow got down to his knees but still couldn't move. "Thing?"

"Oh, its super fun." The girl answered, winking at Devin. That or she just blinked again, Devin still couldn't tell. "Plus free meals."

"Ooookay." Devin said, shifting his gaze from the one eyed girl to Justin, who's blank stare shifted to an eager nod. Devin nodded back as he slowly backed up and toward the front of the alley. Never breaking eye contact with the girl, as her smile and gaze never waved from him. "Well, this sounds like a great show. But me and Justin are gonna skedaddle."

"Ah-ha! Success." Lenny said, hopping to his feet. Falling right back over as he did. The only difference was that he was on his other side. Standing up slowly now, leaning heavily on the stick with one hand as he held a book in the other. "Th-there will be no leaving, you braggabobus barbarians."

"Braging pompous?" Justin asked, looking at Devin before shifting back at Lenny. "Brack and Colus? Those aren't our names."

"I think he meant braggadocios." Devin raised his eyebrow at the guy who was clearly taking his lord of the rings cosplay way too far.

"Yeah," The girl nodded, her voice so raspy and low Devin could barely make out the word. "Lenny likes big silly words. I don't know what they mean a lotta the time, but they sound funny."

"Enough!" Lenny shouted, pointing his stick at them though still leaning on it. "I only needed one sacrifice, but the other has learned too much and must parish as well."

"Turning away from you, not engaging." Devin said, pointing at the guy in a robe holding a stick to the one eyed dead looking girl and spoke as softly and nonthreatening as he could. "I know you and Lenny are really into...whatever this is, but me and Justin aren't. Sorry. I hope you two do find someone who is interested in this."

"Fools! There is no escape." Lenny said, opening the book. "I am not Lenny. I am Ser Leonard the green. Warlock of the wicked water. Dresden of the dread darkness. Wizard of wallop willow- Dagnabbit."

At the end of his little speech Devin turned off the light from his phone and shoved it in his pocket. Leaving only the light from the street corner shine in for visibility. There was barely enough light for Devin, Justin, and the girl to see each other and at best Devin could only see Lenny's outline. There was no possible way Lenny could read that far into the shadows. Tilting his head, Devin could see that same outline pat around himself before hiking up his robe on the right side and pull something out of his hip area. Probably his pocket. Then suddenly clear white light erupted from a square at Lenny's mouth as he looked down at his book, his phone most likely, before he tried to mumble something and dropped it.

"Curses."

"This is just sad. We're out of here." Justin shook his head turning toward the street, but as he did the girl reached for his arm. Justin just barely pulled away in time before she touched him. "Hey."

"Wait. I really want you both to stay." The girl said, her raspy voice clinched in a higher whine, sticking out her chest as he brushed her arms against the sides of her breasts. Normally, that'd probably be enough for Justin. Hell, even Devin if the girl still looked like she did back in the bar. But now in the dark alley, she was a one eyed monstrosity who's skin looked more like bad salami than anything else. So when she tried that trick, all she did was make the boys cringe. "Its gonna get really fun."

"Its always the crazy ones." Justin cringed, looking anywhere but at the girl as he backed away.

"Lenny they're leaving."

"W-what?" Leonard asked in the darkness, clear confusion in his voice. Almost sounding as if he forgot they were there. That changed quickly as the confusion was swapped out by embarrassed anger. "N-no! Stop them."

"Ohhh, fun." The girl cooed, reaching out for Justin's right arm.

Only for the personal trainer to effortlessly back up his talk of tai chi by redirecting the dead looking girl's grasping arms with barely a few touches. Devin himself added to this, grabbing a nearby trash can and rolling it into Lindsay's path. Tripping the undead looking girl and landing on her face. Worried, Devin pulled out his phone and shined its light on her only to see that the zombie show extra barely seemed to notice her landing and with no hint of pain as she sat back up before turning to them... At which point Devin could see that her one remaining eye had popped out, both of her eye sockets now just pools of empty all consuming darkens- which the bright white light from Devin's phone did nothing to change. Almost as if the artificial illumination was being absorbed or canceled out. Just staring at those bottomless black voids made Devin feel like he was staring into an open grave, a grave he knew belonged to him and was waiting. Thankfully Devin was quickly pulled out of his trance when the girl popped the milky white puss ball she had for an eye back into its socket, staring right at Devin and then to Justin.

"Rude."

"Oh. My. God." Justin said, his voice a blended mix between sheer reality denying disbelief and mind crushing fear. Devin was right there with him. Every fiber of his being was telling Devin to run away screaming, but for some reason his legs- his whole body wouldn't move. "This can't be real."

"NO!" Leonard shouted in the darkness behind them. While there was plenty of outrage and anger, his outburst sounded more like a kid who had his favorite Christmas present taken away after finding the right batteries to make it work than anything else. "No. No. No. This isn't how this night was supposed to go!"

Unfortunately the urban cosplayer's whiny tantrum was more than enough of a distraction, as even though Devin's body couldn't move, his gaze could. Shifting from a light bathed horror to a darkness cloaked comedy act. So when his back slammed hard against the cold hard floor of the dark alley, the only clue how Devin got there was the crippling pain of a vice grip around his right ankle. Tilting his head up, Devin could see the undead girl happily moving her head toward his right thigh. Panicking, Devin sat up and slugged the petite former supermodel looking girl across the face under her empty eye as hard as he could... and it did nothing.

That wasn't true, it gave the girl the perfect low hanging fruit. The undead girl tried biting into his wrist and surly would have if Devin's fist wasn't in her blind spot. Giving Devin just enough to pull away from her jaw's crunch, but unfortunately not her arm's reach. Just like before, the same crushing agony that had pulled Devin to the ground was doing the same to his wrist, worse because he didn't have the same layer of muscle for some kind of padding. On pure instinct to get away from the torment, Devin tried pulling away. Unfortunately, either the adrenaline gave Devin enough strength or the undead girl was still light enough to pull herself across his body and into his shoulder. Knocking both back on the floor. Fortunately the girl was either too surprised or too slow to catch on and Devin pushed her off without giving her an opportunity and caught her other free wrist when she made another grab at him.

With the both of them on their sides, Devin did everything he could to keep the girl away while she did everything she could to close the gap, of which she had a distinct advantage. Her absurd grip. Through the pain Devin could feel the bones in his wrist actually bending to Lindsay's unnatural strength. More than that, when Devin fell his phone dropped out of his grasp and landed right next to him. Its light was enough to show Devin exactly what he was looking at more than ever before in the dark alley.

Before, Devin believed that Lindsay's undead appearance was just a trick. Good make up with some Hollywood special effects. Something. Even during the brief moment Devin saw the girl pop back in her eyeball, he could still lie to himself into believing it was all fake. That wasn't possible now. Because now Devin was up close and personal to her mouth, he could see inside it. Even if there was some fake teeth or other prosthetic, more than that there was no faking the smell. It was exactly what you'd expect if all the teeth were rotten and black, the gums little more than shriveled jerky, the only fluids anyone could see were puss and grease. There was no lying or faking any of that.

The pain. The fear. It was all too much.

Devin screamed.

"Holy Shit!"

Justin yelled dashing next to them, pulling out some small red tube from his fanny pack and through the light of his phone Devin saw a mist spray out of its tip and into the girl's face... and it did nothing. That wasn't true. A moment after Devin's eyes started watering, it became hard to breath and he started coughing uncontrollably. Suddenly the same vice like clamp dug into his shoulder... and that's when the pain really started.

Now Devin had gotten hurt before, but no more than an average kid growing up. He'd had broken bones, gotten into some accidents, taken a few scrapes. This was nothing like that. It reminded Devin of biting into an apple- no, an onion. Where the first bite where the teeth went down layer after layer and when you pulled back there might've been some resistance but ultimately it was broken off. Only now wasn't a vegetable, it was him. It was too painful to scream and if Devin hadn't been crying before he was now as he did everything he could push the gril off of him, but if anything it just made the pain worse and easier for her to rip a chunk out of his shoulder.

"Yesss!" Leonard gloated. "Yes, this is your fate. Let it happen. Let death, your mistress, consume you. It is for a greater cause."

"Screw that!" Justin bellowed, more fear than bravado in his voice.

Devin himself couldn't see what was going on, his vision had disappeared shortly after the pain in his shoulder arrived, but his hearing was still there. Devin heard a loud padding sound not far from his face, near where the hurt in his shoulder was. It didn't effect his pain, that part was now gone, mercifully. But what Devin did feel was inside of his shoulder, near or on top of some kind of boney tubes Devin could feel inside himself but couldn't think on what they were, digging in and ripping apart something more and more with each new round of the padding sound. Right up until he hard a snap. Then the pressure on his shoulder was gone fallowed by another thud under him.

Blinking rapidly as his vision returned, Devin could see the back alley from the ground up. Devin tried to tilt his head to see better but his neck, his whole body refused to move. Peaking best he could, Devin could see the undead girl was also on her side like he was, but she could move. A fear Devin couldn't understand flared up inside him, every fiber of his being told him to run, but like before his body refused to move. Now facing them Devin could see that Lindsay's face was even more decrepit than before, her lower jaw had been snapped off. Leaving only decayed pieces of leathery skin behind and the bones exposed.

"Gah-gruhh, ge-glahh." The beef jerkly like tongue rattled inside of what remained of the girl's mouth, bouncing between her teeth, the top of her mouth and wiggling as it searched for the bottom. A black and milky white substance started dribbling out of the open hole as the tongue slithered. Lindsay's eye darted between Devin and Justin before rolling around the bottom of the alley, as if she was searching for something. "Ahh, gogreblew."

"Not fair! Not fair!" Lenny whined, stomping on the ground. "You're breaking the rules."

Once again Leonard's tantrum was what broke the trance that kept the other's paralyzed, even freeing Devin's body from its paralysis. Though, just because Devin was now free to move didn't mean he could do it well. Devin found himself too dizzy to do more than get to his knees and lean against a nearby wall with his good arm. The same fear gripped Devin again as he saw Lindsay reach for him yet another time. Luckily Justin did not hesitate and using the same trash can that Devin had slammed it into the undead girl's decaying face knocking her a good few feet back.

"No! No more cheating."

Leonard whined yet again, but this time fallowed by a brilliant golden glow. Its surprise- no. Sheer presence forced Devin to turns his gaze back at the urban cosplayer. Lenny had finally found the book from earlier and holding it open in front of him. The pages themselves where shooting out a yellow beam of light like a watch tower. Devin could barely turn away even though it was hurting his eyes, even though he wanted to, even though he knew he should. But he couldn't. He couldn't so much as think of anything else. Not where he was, why he was there, or even his own name. Only the enchanting ethereal glow from the book.

Then there was sound that matched the light, but it was anything but enchanting. It was the scraping of a chalk board, the snap of broken bones, the screech of an injured of a dying animal. It was all in the form of something close to a laugh, but never could be. Breaking his bound gaze to the golden light, Devin looked up to see Leonard's face... it made the cackling sound like a church bell. Leonard's eyes were a solid shade of a color Devin didn't know. A color he couldn't know. A color he knew he shouldn't know. Leonard's teeth were a solid bone white, as if everything on them over the years had been scrapped away, leaving only the skeleton behind. The veins in his face were shining through his skin with the same unnatural color as his eyes which only appeared to be pulsating at his heart rate. All this was with a smile. A smile that was too long, too wide, to angular to ever belong to a man. But this wasn't a man. It was a monster that should never have been allowed to walk the earth wearing one's skin.

"Y-yes. Yes!" Leonard wheezed, as if he couldn't quite catch his breath as he waved out his hand. "F-fools. Let go of your f-fear. B-be proud. Y-you will ach-achieve more this ni-night... oh- This night than you ever wo-would in your worthless lives."

Leonard looked down from Devin and Justin to his book, his lips moved and short mumbling sounds fallowed as the book's glow strengthened. But then something happened. Leonard's face shifted from maddened glee to surprise before he was thrown back into the alley fallowed by a chilling gust of wind hurled Devin out and into the street, the brilliant light gone.

"Devin!"

Devin heard his name but he didn't know where it came from. Looking to the side, Devin could see a young man in a green shirt racing to him. He looked scared. Devin didn't know why. The young man looked like he was trying to say something, but Devin couldn't hear anything anymore. Devin didn't know why. Then everything became fuzzier and out of focus before everything faded to darkness.