Merry Christmas, everyone. I've been working on this chapter for a while now, though I'm honestly not sure if it's very good. It seems alright to me, but I know that a few of you might be wanting more action from all of this. There will be more action later on, but it will take a while to get there. I would like to say that I'm sorry for how few chapters that I've posted this year. This chapter is a little shorter, but it's mostly set up for the next few ones. I'm sorry if the Lucifer scene in this chapter feels somewhat lacking. He's a pretty difficult character for me to write since I have near to no charm whatsoever in my body.

Note: If any of you notice any spelling or writing errors, I would deeply appreciate it if you message me about them. Thank you.

Disclaimer- I don't own Until Dawn, Lucifer, the characters within these two or any other franchise/characters that may appear in this story. I also don't own Every Little Thing Is Gonna Be Alright. They all belong to their rightful owners.

The Demons That Haunt Me Ch. 4

Sam held the bottle in her hands with a tight grip, taking a long drink from it as she kept dancing to the music. She heard the elevator open, but she paid it no mind, keeping her eyes closed while she swallowed the last of the whiskey in her mouth. About half a dozen feet away, Lucifer looked over the room with a critical eye while he could hear Linda groan on the other side of the call "Please tell me she hasn't drunk from it yet."

Lucifer glanced back at the bottle in her hands "Wish I could, but you know me. Looks like she's halfway through the bottle. Pretty expensive stuff too."

"Okay, just keep her there. I'm only a few minutes away."

He heard Linda curse just before she hung up on him, the club owner looking at the phone with an odd look before he set it down. Lucifer vaguely recognized the song playing from the speakers, shrugging it off to focus on Sam, the girl slowly dancing to match the rhythm in the music. He grimaced when she took a quick swallow straight from the bottle before he grabbed the remote off the counter and stopped the music. Startled, she spun around and spoke with a slight slur "Hey, that's my song!"

He immediately shot back "Well, they're my speakers, that's my alcohol, and this is my penthouse that you've bungled yourself into. Now, why don't you go relax on the couch-"

The club owner tried to reach for the bottle, but the girl quickly backed away, practically coddling the bottle to her chest "Fuck off you... James Bond wannabe!"

Scoffing, Lucifer pursued her as she tried to move away from him "I beg your pardon. If anything, Bond is a wannabe of me! Now, come, hand over the bottle!"

Her only response was to try to take another swig from the bottle, a smile on her lips as she gripped it tight, only for it to disappear when he grabbed it and quickly pulled it out of her hands. Growling in slight annoyance as he used one arm to hold her back, he set it down behind the counter of the bar and moved to grab the stopper, but stopped himself when he realized that he would probably have to clean the bottle off. Turning back to the girl, he ducked just as a glass came flying at his head "Bloody hell. Do you have no concept of personal property?"

"Do you have any concept of just having fun for fun's sake?"

"Clearly, you have no idea who you're talking to-"

"Nope, I do. And yet, still, not a single shit was given."

Lucifer gave a light hum of annoyance as he moved behind the bar, muttering behind the bar about family members. Sam just groaned as she paced around before she asked "I'm- hic- guessing that my Aunty told you who I am."

Lucifer gave a small nod "She gave me a call on my way up here."

"Yeah. Explains why you're-hic- not calling the cops right now. Or hitting on me."

He chuckled "Yes, well, I would rather not have the good doctor trying to kill me. Not that it would work, but it would be incredibly annoying.

Lucifer watched as she wandered to the couch, sitting down with a huff before she looked up to him and continued "Playboy of L.A. ratting me out to my aunt? What a let-down."

The club owner could practically feel her tugging at the line with that piece of bait, refusing to rise to it and simply pour in a glass for himself. Taking a swallow from it, Lucifer closed his eyes and let the flavor soak in his mouth for a moment. Once he had calmed, he turned to her once more and asked "So... you know who I am?"

She rolled her eyes from where she laid down, crossing her legs and smirking when she saw him grimace out of the corner of her eye "Yeah, I do. What's it to you?"

Rolling his eyes at the brushoff, Lucifer finished off his drink and moved back to his bar, pouring another serving for himself. A few more minutes passed in silence, Lucifer glancing at his phone for a few moments for any messages that Linda might've sent, but didn't see anything new on the screen. Looking to where Sam was, Lucifer pulled a small bottle from underneath the counter, knowing that she would probably need a sizable drink after her binge. Grabbing another glass from the cupboard, he set it down beside his own glass with a sigh, watching the water spill out of the bottle for a few moments until it was about half full. Grabbing his own glass again, he raised to his lips and started to take a long swallow when she heard Sam talking again.

"You could've saved them."

Glancing over again with a confused look on his face, he looked over to her only to see that she wasn't speaking to him, her gaze focused solely on the table in front of her. Moving from the bar, Lucifer finally caught sight of an open book on the table in front of her, the pages covered in writing surrounded by drawings that he couldn't quite make out. She must've noticed his gaze because her eyes rose to meet his, raising her hand to flip him off before it came down to shut the book closed "Haven't you ever heard of privacy, hotshot?"

Chuckling as he walked over to the girl with the two glasses in hand while he said "Don't you think you forfeited all of that the second that you stepped into my home?"

"You don't want someone coming in to drink your liquor? Put some actual security on that elevator. A keypad maybe? I mean, a gym locker has more security than this place does."

"For good reason. And I have been meaning to upgrade the security for a while now." He offered the glass of water to the girl and she reluctantly took it, just as the doors of the elevator opened, revealing Linda dressed hurriedly in a jacket. Her eyes darted across the entire room under her glasses before Lucifer motioned to the girl in front of him while he took a swallow from his glass, the doctor moving further into the room and moving to her nieces' side. Sam's eyes glanced to her aunt as she took a few quick swallows, setting down the glass before she managed "You look just about how I feel."

Linda pressed her palm against her niece's cheek, looking over the girl with worried eyes while she asked "Sam, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine. I'm not made out of china; I can take care of myself."

"Sam-"

The girl stood up from where she sat, grabbing the journal from the table with a scowl set on her face, speaking in a flat tone "I'll just see myself out. No need to drag me out by the ear."

Linda watched the girl walk to the elevator while she pushed the journal back into her jacket, the doctor wanting nothing more than to fire a million angry words at the girl as she walked into the elevator, but she fell flat as the doors closed completely. Most of everything she would've said probably would've been forgotten before tomorrow even started. Instead, she turned her gaze back to Lucifer, walking over to the bar and gave a huff "Lucifer, I... I'm so sorry about all of this. I had no idea that she would do something like this."

"It's not a problem, doctor. Is your niece always so much fun?"

Linda shook her head, rubbing her brow before she said "I... she wasn't always like this, but that's not my story to tell. But her mother hasn't seen her do anything like this. I promise, Lucifer, I will talk to her about this. Right now, I just need to worry about getting her home."

Lucifer gave her a small smirk and motioned to the elevator "Well, I wish you luck with that, seeing as she just walked out. Slightly drunk. Alone. To the-"

Linda cut him off "I got it, Lucifer. Thank you again."

She started moving to the elevator and almost hit the button before she turned back towards him "Um, Lucifer, I know that it's a lot to ask, but-"

"Don't worry, doctor, not a word to... well, anyone about this. Just between the three of us."

With the threat of a lawsuit or her niece getting arrested off of her back, Linda let out a large breath of relief, nodding her thanks to Lucifer again before she turned and hit the elevator button with the bell ringing a couple of seconds later.

Sam groaned as she blinked her eyes open, rubbing her eyes before she realized that she was on the couch, the strong smell of coffee hitting her nose just before her aunt stepped into view. If looks could kill, Sam was sure that there would be nothing but a skull on top of a pile of ashes. Linda didn't speak, only handing her niece the cup just before sitting across from Sam. The events of the previous night slowly came back to her and Sam groaned as realization flashed across her face. Linda finally spoke up "Do you have any idea what you did?"

She only received a nod in return and the doctor's anger was starting to bubble over as she began "You used my name to get into Lux and then you went into my friend's home. You... I could practically call what you did breaking and entering. Then with... you are underage, Sam!"

"Barely."

"I am not done! Do you have any idea how worried I was? You weren't answering your phone and I had no idea where you were! I had been looking for nearly an hour before I thought to call Lucifer! You could've been dead or-or kidnapped!"

Shaking her head as she took another deep breath, Linda managed to continue "You are very lucky that Lucifer is perhaps one of the most easy-going people that I know and that we're friends. Otherwise, you would probably be looking at a pretty hefty fine or perhaps even going to jail. Not even 48 hours and you could've gotten arrested."

Sam finished another swallow of her coffee before she spoke up "What do you care? You gave up on everyone back home once. Should be easy to just send me back home with a recommendation for the psyche ward."

Linda was struck silent, scoffing after having a moment to understand what Sam had said, walking a few steps from her niece before she turned back to her "You really think I don't care? That I just give up on anyone? You know exactly why I moved here. If I didn't care about you or anybody back home, do you really think you would be sitting here?"

Sam looked her aunt in the eyes for a moment before turning them back down to her coffee, finally fully awake with a heavy ache in her head. She knew her aunt was right, but she couldn't help the anger that the words were stirring up inside of her while a cold feeling spread along the back of her neck. Rubbing the back of her neck for a moment, she withdrew her arm only to wince as her hand brushed against the scar on her cheek. Looking at her hand curiously for a moment, she pressed her finger against the spot again, but the pain was gone this time. Shaking her head, Sam got up and started to move away when Linda spoke up "Where are you going?"

Turning back, the blonde asked "Oh, is there something else that you need to say? Because I was so sure that you were done berating me."

"Sam-"

"No! You can't pretend that you care. The only reason you and I are even in the same state is that you and Mom can't leave well enough alone, can't just let me deal with my own shit. I know what I did last night was unacceptable. That is plenty clear already without you yelling in my face about how horrible I am. But I can't just pretend that everything in my life is fine. Or that this 'free-trial' therapy will help me because it won't."

"Sam, it can help you if you let it. If you commit to it."

Scoffing, Sam walked closer to her aunt until there was a mere foot between them "NO, IT WON'T! Talking about it... is a waste of time. It just reminds me of why everything in life just exists to screw me over. There is nothing you can say or write or give me that will make any of that go away. Nothing that will make it-"

She was about to go further, but Sam stopped herself before taking a breath, looking into Linda's eyes before she spoke "Look, I'm just going to try to clean myself up. I'll go and apologize to your patient and tell him that I'm just a stupid kid doing stupid shit for attention. Okay? Good. There's a real breakthrough."

Sam started to walk away, but Linda grabbed ahold of Sam's wrist... just before Sam's turned the tables by slipping her arm out of the grip and wrapping her fingers around Linda's wrist in a vice-like grip. Spinning around with a smoldering gaze, she pushed her aunt into the wall with her grip tightening even further while speaking in a low tone "Don't... do that. Ever. Again."

Linda's heart was pounding in her chest as she looked into her niece's eyes, the look so intense that it felt like it would set her on fire, a deep ache settling in the doctor's stomach. Before it got any worse, Sam seemed to come back while her eyes widened when she realized what she was doing, letting go of her aunt immediately and backing away. Breathing heavily, Sam managed "I'm sorry" before she darted to the guest bedroom, slamming the door behind her while her aunt tried to recover. Sam sank to the floor, cursing as she hit the door with the back of her head while she tried not to think of the look in her aunt's eyes. Tears brimmed in her eyes as her breathing panicked, but she wiped them away, her eyes burning as she held her emotions back. Her hand pulling her zipper down, she reached into her jacket and grabbed hold of the journal, throwing it across the room before her hands reached up to cradle her head.

Pounding her palm against her skull, Sam let out a keening whine as she fell to lay on her side, feeling the weight of everything pressing in on her. Looking across the room to where the journal had come to rest by the dresser, her fingers clawed into the carpet as her thoughts continued to torture her with a vengeance. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she constantly thought of what had happened... and what could've been.

Panicked breathing echoed in the pitch-black room, a man strapped down in a chair only having woken a few minutes before. He pulled at the restraints, but they wouldn't budge no matter how hard he tried, the gag in his mouth keeping him from screaming out for help. Just as he started to try again, music started flowing into the room all around him, the man's eyes darting up in recognition of the beat.

Don't worry about a thing,

'Cause every little thing

gonna be all right.

Don't worry about a thing,

Every little thing is gonna be alright.

The man screamed against the gag as he struggled, only stopping when a door behind him opened wide. Turning around, his pupils dilated in horror as he watched someone approaching, a surgical blade in hand. Shaking his head, his screaming renewed as the figure fixed his chair to make him lie down. The figure breathed out before he put a device over his own mouth, pressing the button before it spoke in an altered voice "Don't worry. Everything is going to be alright. It will not last long."

Setting the device aside, the figure reached and grabbed his shirt, tearing it open with a harsh tug. Just as they did, the man's head turned to the side, still yelling for help when he saw it. Illuminated by the light outside of the door, corpses were piled atop of one another with dried blood spilling over their bodies, flies buzzing around them with ravenous hunger. His eyes darting back up to the figure, he was horrified to see the scalpel being lowered to his chest, his heart pounding as the blade started cutting into him with red liquid starting to spill out onto his skin. The Bob Marley song was still playing, drowning out his screams as the figure hummed along, the screams stopping when a loud crack sounded out in the empty room against the upbeat music.

Combat boots moved quietly over the cracked and dusty floor, the soldier's back to the wall as he adjusted his grip on his rifle, his breathing shallow. Turning the corner, he pulled up his rifle with the light shining out into the corridor, his hands shaking as he tried to shake off the feeling that the walls were closing in on him. With a slight adjustment to his baseball cap, Jason moved further up, the soldier blocking out the screams echoing out through the catacombs. At this point, he had no idea which were human and which belong to those... things. He could hear them moving around in the dark, but he kept himself calm even as it felt like his nerves were on fire. Just as he took another step, he heard the rapid clicking echo in the dark, rattling throughout his entire being. Taking a deep breath, Jason slowly turned his head with the light from his cap glaring out ahead of him. Seconds that felt like hours passed by when he finally caught movement in the shadows, the clicking beginning again just as he managed to see some of its figure, turning and sprinting down the hallway with the unholy creature's shriek following him soon after.

The wind bellowed around Jason as the soldier tried to keep ahead of the creature, his heart pounding through his chest as more shrieks joined the one chasing him. Running through the broken doorways, he darted to the right, jumping over one of the rocks before he turned around with his rifle erupting in gunfire. The creatures shrieked with fury as bullets ripped through them, the marine yelling as he fired in bursts to drive them back. He swiveled his head back, his eyes widening when he saw one of them charging. He swung his rifle around, but nothing could stop it from ramming into him, the impact throwing him from the ledge and into the abyss below. For a few moments, it was honestly like nothing else existed but that... weightlessness. He was so sure that in any second, everything was going to go black with a sudden burst of pain, and that would be that. He would be gone and his body long forgotten in the godforsaken pit. He certainly didn't expect to see red, the taste of old copper flooding into his mouth as his body fell into a river of blood. Shooting up to the surface as fast as he could, he coughed and spat out the blood as much as he could, pulling himself up onto the shore. Resting himself with a few breaths, Jason allowed himself to open his eyes, only to stumble back when he realized what he was resting on. Covered in burn marks and blood, Nick Kay lay motionless among the other decomposing corpses lining the edges of the pit. Lunging forward, Jason grabbed Nick's shoulders, shaking him slightly "Nicky! Nick, wake up!"

Jason watched in horror as Nick's head rolled back, no sign of life seen in his body, a curse leaving him as he laid his friend back down. Wiping the blood from his face, he turned away only to see the rest of them among the corpses. Rachel with her throat torn out, one of her arms torn from its socket. Colonel King's body lay completely broken a few feet away from his wife, the wedding ring around his neck caked in blood. Jason stumbled back from them all, nearly tripping back under the red river when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, turning his head to see Salim climbing from the river and onto the other bodies.

"Salim."

"Jason." Salim's voice was weak and he barely managed to turn himself over, looking down as his friend climbed up to him. Settling his foot on a rock, Jason's hand grasped onto Salim's as he managed to speak "The others... they're gone. They're dead."

"I know. I saw their bodies. I'm... I'm sorry, Jason."

Pushing down the ache in his chest, Jason tried to stand up "Come on. We gotta get out of here. Just one easy climb, come on."

Chuckling, Salim spoke again "I... I don't think that I'm going anywhere, my friend."

Looking down, Jason was about to ask what he meant when he saw a darker spot along the man's uniform, leaning down to see a jagged wound going deep into the soldier's chest. Struck with terror, Jason immediately kneeled down and put his hands onto the wound, trying to put pressure on it "No. No, no, no!"

"It's okay, Jason."

"No, damn it! It's not okay! You're not going anywhere, you monologuing son of a bitch."

"Jason, listen to me." Salim grasped the soldier's arm, holding him tightly as he could as blood dripped from his wound into the river. Taking a breath, he looked into his friend's eyes and managed "Jason, you have to get to the surface. You have to make sure that none of them escape."

"We, damn it! We are going to get out of here together. The sword and the shield, remember?"

"Jason-"

"I said no." The soldier shook his head as he pulled at his shirt, ripping the bottom of it when Salim interrupted him "Jason, I need you to tell Zain... to tell my son that I love him. That I always loved him and that I wished that I could have had more time with him."

Kolcheck watched as Salim's eyes dimmed and his head fell back, choking on a sob as he pulled his hands away... just before a pair of hands wrapped around his shoulders from behind, throwing him from the bodies into the blood as a hoarse shriek echoed through the cave. Before he could surface, whatever it was jumped into the river with him, clawing at his skin like a rabid animal. Kicking it away with as much force as he could muster, Jason pushed himself to the surface and moved to the shore, hearing the creature moving right behind him. Grabbing onto a bloody bone while a fire blazed overhead, he turned and swung it into the creature's ribs, but it grabbed hold of the bone. Tossing it away, the human-like shape surged onto him, growling as it tried to reach his throat. Holding it back with his hands, he barely managed to keep his grip on it when it pushed forward again, knocking him down again and into the light. Jason's eyes widened in recognition as Clarisse's dead eyes stared back at him, the two massive teeth bared as blood dripped from her hat. Jason could feel his body losing its strength, the exhaustion and constant fighting finally starting to take its toll, Clarisse's mouth getting closer to his throat... just before it all went black.

With a sharp gasp, Jason shot up from where he lay in his bed with a sheen of sweat covering his body, cursing himself as he brushed strands of his hair out of his face. Standing up from the bed, he walked to his bathroom and turned on the light, taking a good look at himself in the mirror. He had let his hair grow out longer since his service in the military had ended, along with a light stubble along his jawline. He still maintained a healthy figure with an intense regimen, but he could see some faint gray hairs appearing in his head of hair. Turning on the sink, he cupped his hands underneath the stream and washed his face, letting out an exhausted sigh when it finally felt like his skin could breathe "Fucking hell. Get ahold of yourself, Kolcheck."

Turning off the light, he walked out of his bedroom and to his kitchen, opening the fridge to grab a bottle of water. Twisting the cap open, he tipped it and took a few deep swallows before he set it down, taking a deep breath before he moved to his living room. Sitting down in his favorite chair, he grabbed the remote from the table and turned on the TV, taking a sip as he tuned in to the morning cartoons to try and forget the nightmare.

Feedback is deeply appreciated and I hope that all of you enjoyed this new chapter.

I hope that you all like my decision to include Jason into the story. I was going to introduce him later, but I thought that he deserved a larger role in the story. If any of you haven't played House of Ashes, I will warn you that there are going to be some spoilers in here, but not many as of now.

Note: I'm not entirely sure how long Jason and Nick knew Rachel, Merwin, and Joey in canon. They seemed pretty familiar with one another from the way that they talked.