Chapter 3

Friday came in a flash, she was very excited. The plan was formed while Jessica and Mika dressed her and helped her get ready. Getting out of work was no easy feat. She had to beg and promise to make up time. Her boss reluctantly agreed.

The plan was that when she left, she would text Mika when she arrived, during the meeting, and after she got back in the car. Then she was supposed to do a group message to the band and let them know she got home. If she didn't, Mika and Ron would drive to the given address and man-handle her out of the building if they had too. Mika didn't trust the guy as far as she could throw him.

She was dressed in a white, strapless dress that tied in the back while wearing a light blue stone around her neck with her class ring on her right hand. She had pearls in her ears and white heels (thanks to Jessica). She had worked all day with them on her hair and make-up until she was satisfied. At 6 P.M. exactly, a car pulled up in front. It was a very nice black car, one that probably would take her five years of savings to even touch it. Jessica and Mika saw her off. She climbed inside with every bit of grace she had, which meant she had to reopen her door when she shut her dress up in it. She held onto her guitar nervously and had her little hand bag around her. She waved at her friends as they shook their heads, waving back.

When they pulled up she was sure she was in the wrong place. The building was almost touching the sky. As she got out of the car, she was too busy looking up to pay attention to the sidewalk but the chauffer caught her.

"Thanks" she smiled at him which he did not return which made her more nervous. The building was a luxury that she thought only existed in movies. Heading into the lobby made her breathless, it was beautiful. Everything looked like it was worth more than what she made in a year with all of its glittering gems and gold plated everything. She felt out of place, as she examined herself in the reflection on the floor.

She had to take a few minutes on the elevator up to adjust. The elevator even had a bench in it so that you could sit down. That was what she called fancy. The man that operated the elevator was silent except for the "Yes, Ma'am, No Ma'am" routine. When the doors opened, it was a lit hallway with some of the best artwork she had ever seen. No wonder this Mr. Yama could pay her that amount. She knocked on the door that he had told her on the phone and waited. An older man, dressed finely opened the door. He was balding slightly and had a bad comb over that she had to smile to suppress her chuckle. He led her to a room where there were four older gentlemen; the smell of cigar was bad, making her cover her nose. The one on the left stood.

"Ah, you must be Melody" he gave her a smile that made her want to slowly back out of the room but he had an envelope in his hand that made her stay on place.

"Yes, thank you for having me" she said quietly and politely being discreet when checking out the other gentlemen giving off the same uncanny smiles. He slipped her the envelope which she tucked back in her purse quickly. One of the men coughed and adjusted his glasses. Mr. Yama was a short man that had obviously been a smoker for years with his wrinkled skin and yellow teeth. The rest of them didn't look much better.

"Stand over here, I have told them of your beautiful voice and I know you will do me proud." He touched her waist to lead her to the center of a platform raised above the ground about three inches. She stood up straight and smiled sweeping her hair back.

"Thank you for having me tonight. I guess I'll just jump in." She was nervous and uncomfortable but as she was talking she failed to notice that the floor under her was slowly starting to glow. "My first song is- AHH!" she was falling into a bright light screaming. It wrapped around her and absorbed her down into it. "What is this?!"

As the light cleared up, she saw that she was falling from a sky. She was heading head first down even though she was just on her feet. The sky was red and dark unlike the landscape that was rushing to her. The landscape was an open plain, the dense forest looked like a blanket of green and it was only getting closer at an alarming rate. She screamed and tucked, preparing for an impact. She hit the top of the trees full force. She was crying and praying for a quick death if this was her way to go.

The trees she fell into had bounced her around more than a bouncy ball in the hands of a two-year-old. She had some blurry vision from a smack to the face with the last branch. Her dress was ripped everywhere and she was missing a shoe.

"Jessica's going to kill me" she whispered, as blood dripped onto the ground. She was on her knees, which were scrapped, and took account of her wounds. A fractured maybe broke rib, a busted lip, chipped tooth, a black eye from the feel of it, scraped up knees and elbows, a dislocated (possibly also broken) finger but everything else was OK. She was aching badly, but not to terrible. She looked around as her vision cleared but her head hummed with an oncoming headache.

"In some kind of forest… Umm… what did they teach me in girl scouts? Where does the sun set again...?" she was lost but finally catching her breath though it hurt to breath deep.

There was a rustling. She stood up holding her side.

"Hello?"

"Welcome to Demon World, Human" there were a few snickers and chuckles. She looked around not seeing anything. She was getting scared. Panic was flooding her. The sound of laughter was all over the place.

"You better run, we like exercise before a meal," the voice was deeper but chilled her. Before she knew what she was doing she was running. Adrenaline was pounding harder than her heart in her ribcage. She panted, holding her dress up so she wouldn't trip. She had no idea where she was going and the voices were only getting closer, laughing at her.

She tripped over a log but recovered losing the other shoe. She felt like one of those horror movie chicks the way she running. She stopped at a large tree, trying to catch her breath.

"That wasn't a long chase," a voice reverberated around her.

OK, that's how this was going down. If she was going to be killed and eaten in some stupid unknown place that she had no idea where she was or what was going on than she was going to give them a run for their money! She used a rip in the dress to just tear the rest so she could run easier. She picked up a rock holding it. With a deep breath she took off. As she took off she heard a crash and a tree fall.

"I don't want to know. That's the mistake they make in the movies!" she ran, resisting the urge to look back, until the voices had faded but it didn't stop her from running harder. A mountain was coming into view; it was grey and absolutely huge. It made her stop.

"I'm not a hiker. I'm not even a runner. I feel like a fat kid at a marathon." She panted, breathing through her mouth. She wiped her lip. The blood on the back of her hand made her realize that the bleeding from her lip was getting worse. She started to go around the mountain.

She didn't notice the trees, as she got further around the side, were tilted inward at the roots. She kept going until she was suddenly stopped. The force of her stop made her drop her rock and her feet and legs freeze in place.

"W…what the hell?!" She was sinking.

Quick Sand. She had run right into quick sand.

"Well that was easy"

"We didn't even have to chase her long."

The voices were back only this time she was looking right at them. They had to be at least 7 feet- no 8 feet and they were ugly looking, with long snouts and pale blue skin. They resembled trolls to her.

"Trolls?"

They barked out a laugh.

"No, but close enough," his friend next to him perked up.

"Sir, I sense a high power level" he looked up the mountain.

The boss sniffed. He started toward her. "It smells like an A-class, possibly S-Class demon, we need to get our meal and get out of here."

He started toward her.

"Dude, you need to go on somewhere," she barked at it as she tried to move away but was still stuck in place.

"Feisty human, makes the meat tastier" she looked up and saw one crawling on a tree branch above her. It had wings and a tail but other than that it looked like the others.

She started to laugh, and the demons probably thought she was crazy, maybe she was. Maybe she had a concussion.

"What is so funny human?" the one on the tree branch asked.

"You like Brooklyn from the Gargoyles" she laughed harder but sunk a little more down trying not move.

They all looked at her like she had grown three heads. She stopped laughing after a few moments as they growled.

"The human is mocking us!"

"That's brave for a human" they all turned to see a tall demon, he reminded her of a goat in a way but he had horns and six ears. His long black hair flowed down his training-clothes. He looked like he belonged in a palace, not the woods. He had his eyes closed but that didn't seem to impair his judgement. Was he…? "I came out here looking for my son. But instead I find four demons breaking the law. You know if you find a human, you have to help it back to the HRT" He was walking closer. The demons made a shuffling sound, she glanced over at them. She was already chest deep but she could tell they were scared of this guy. This demon made them as scared as they made her. Who was this guy?