Chapter One:

The clatter of dishes married with the scream of sizzling food was just one of the many signs that it was bound to be a busy day in the kitchen. Holly stood in the woman's change room yawning largely, she had been feeling run down lately and working constantly wasn't helping her feel better. Sighing, she pushed back her hair to tie it in a bun,then pulled on the hair net and slowly made her way towards the door. New York life had been on her mind lately, but why? Probably because someone in passing once said that Kamloops was becoming the size of New York City-Ha! That was laughable-obviously whoever had said this had never actually 'been' to New York. Oh well, the price of one's soul to expand the small city to that size was none of her business and didn't really know why she'd care anyways,she hated this city and everyone in it (aside from her friends and family that is).Stepping out of the small room, Holly tugged on her cheif's coat once and straightened her appearance, not that once she stepped online that it would matter.Briskly waltzing through the staff room she managed to make it to her post online with minutes to spare, as always. She wasted no time in setting up her section,she had to be done around Eleven Am for the Lunch rush,but sometimes a new waitress would order something and she would have to go out of her way to accomidate for them,or risk having them pissy at her the rest of the day, this always slowed her down,but luckily it hadn't happened in several months. She scanned her area to see exactly what she had to do and was pleased to see that the manager who was head grill this day had done most of her set up for her,she thanked him as that always helped her along when they were due for a busy day.

'Hey, Holly-you going to the movies tonight?'

Called one of the servers as they dashed from the other end of the kitchen out front,he was a good guy but could be a little spacey at times and apparently had some how expected Holly to answer him when he was serving hungery costumers in the dinning room,while she was stuck in the kitchen...And thus her shift of madness began already...

It had been a rather slow day,despite the early morning rush, now Holly felt over heated and tired-she had only fifteen minutes to go and then she could go home and enjoy the rest of the day in her underground pool. Not saying much as useual,she carefully carried an over loaded armful of plates through the kitchen,she wasn't sappoused to carry that much but it saved her an extra trip or two. Brian,one of her friends and another grill cook laughed at her as she passed him and Kenny who was head grill under the management. Slowing just enough,Holly shot her friends a strange look,she wanted to know what was so funny but expected Brian to attack her with his uber poke-which always got her to scream like she had been murdered.

'Don tells me that Spiderman's in our neck of the woods'

'Yea? He's a little far from home. I hope he doesn't come here for lunch-I'm not about to make fly soup'

Brian joked in his normal deminor where one coulnd't often tell if he were joking or was being serious.He glanced to Holly as she nearly dropped the plates on the stainless steal counter and shot them another look-he too had been to New York,but it was after Holly had left and for more depressing reasons that neither of them really seemed to want to bring up.

'And what does Holly think?'

He asked loudly, hoping her answer would explain her expression and maybe distract Kenny enough for him to slip away and go home as well,he was off over half an hour ago. Forcing a smile,Holly had to keep her true thoughts hidden,she quickly hopped over to the two guys and giggled a little,and nearly slipped on her ass like she did at least once a week.

'I don't know, I think we should be more concerned as to 'Why' Spiderman's here...I mean...shouldn't Captain Canuck be the one in charge of our area? Why would some web slinger from down there need to come up here?'

'Captain...Canuck...?'

Kenny obviously had never heard of this hero,where as Holly had and was slightly disappointed that Kenny hadn't,she had expected more from him after all he was the one who spoke loudly of many super heroes that he'd love to meet or at least see.

'Yea...but he might be like over a hundred now, I think he was around in the early ninteen hundreds. I don't remember, I don't keep up with them all...I like...'

Holly's comment was cut off by her own thoughts,if she continued to ramble on then she would probably say something that wouldn't seem suspecious to most but Brian would know that there was something else,he always seemed to know when she was hiding something. She then began to look to the ceiling,deciding to act air headed and forget what she was saying would hopefully distract the two from pressing her to continue,it was an act she often did when she had to keep herself from saying too much. But...was it true? Was Peter really around town? Why? surely if he were on vacation or something other then business he wouldn't attract attention to himself as Spiderman. Another concern hit her, he was one of the few from her past that knew she had moved back here, was it possible he was trying to catch her attention in hopes that she would go looking for him? But, he knew why she had left...or well...he knew 'a' reason why she had left,but not the trueth...no one really did...not even Chris...the one person who'd known her through all this and her entire life. And didn't he know that if he was being so obvious about it, that she would probably go into hiding rather then meet with him? After all their last encounter...wasn't the best...concidering she had tried to kill him.

"Holly?"

'Sorry Kenny...I was just watching the evil hair growing from our ceiling,its creepy'

Well it was,her eyes lingered on the patch for just a moment,really someone should get that looked at,it coulnd't be healthy for any of them.

'Anyways, I think Holly was daydreaming about Spiderman"

"No...deffinatly Carnage":

Brian corrected with a wink, he knew Holly better then Kenny and knew that she had an unnatural interest in murderous people,she often told people that Jack the Ripper was her idol. Holly,though smiling was cursing the very idea of her liking Carnage,and snickered inwardly,if only Brian and Kenny knew the truth they woulnd't be saying such things...but then again...she probably wouldn't be there if they did.

'Brian...I hate Ca..."

'Holly,there's a man out front to see you"

"um...is it my dad?'

'I don't think so'

The waitress shook her head,they knew her family and all her friends by first name now and for this waitress to say something like that after what Holly had just found out,only caused her to feel quesy and less then inclined to go out to see who it was.

'Well...maybe Devon,Aaron,maybe even Chris...'

'Wait...he said his name was...Edward'

The woman was called out to the dinning room again,before she could see the expression that fell across Holly's face. Remaining frozen,not even Brian poking her seemed to phase her at the moment-her mind was racing and with thoughts she cared not to have. She only knew one Edward,and he hardly went around by that name,this was bad...or it could be...but it probably was. Well,it could be worse,it could be Cassidy looking for her and Edward could be not waiting patiently out in the public...but how had he found her...that was silly,growling loudly,Holly knew how he'd found her and cursed darkly for not taking more precautions. Now,her friends and co-workers were in danger,and there was nothing she could do to tell them without explaining her past.

''Kill Them''

Came the familiar feminine voice in Holly's mind,flinching she growled again-

'Go away and stay away'

she mentally warned the intruder to her thoughts,but knew it was useless,it was always useless. En (short for Entity) had woken from her dormancy last weekend but Holly had chose to ignore her and that seemed like a bad idea now. Had she been more wise,she might have listened to the voice and she might not be caught off guard in this position now. Her lack of reactions was enough reason for Kenny to move to her side and place a hand on her shoulder,he looked worried about her and had figured that the man was probably an ex-boyfriend of some sort.

'Is everything alright?'

Slowly Holly raised her eyes to look up at her friends,there was something different about them...about her,her eyes seemed to reveal a small glimpse into her mind and it was dark. Blinking quickly the strange dark liquidness that had shone in her eyes was gone but now her chocolate eyes stared harshly into Kenny's.

'No'

Spinning,she called out the waitress' name in hopes to stop her from interacting with Edward again, but it was already too late and knew that she was probably gone to lead him to the back. Depending on his mood, would determine the outcome of this, people could die, her friends could die. That...was not an option here,Holly sighed,it would be a delicate situation to handle...She needed to get everyone out without causing a scene. She was never any good at dealing with these kind of situations...that was always left up to the others. Kenny glanced to the grill and moved away from his friend, he wanted to help her but he didn't want to lose his job and burn down the restaraunt all in the same day.

'Kenny...we need to...'

'Holly,Amber's here'

Kenny tried to inform her friend in a chipper tone. Great...someone else to worry about. It was a good thing she had no orders to deal with or her food might be burning away in the fryers. Food...why on the creators blue Earth was she thinking of food at a time like this!? Growling even more,Holly sprinted offline and aroun past the prep station. Nearly skidding onto her rump as she tried to come to a quick stop by the back doors. Thankfully the fridge stopped her and she bounced backwards a few paces and managed to keep herself on her feet. Damn that had hurt more then expected but she didn't care and only for show placed her right hand over her left shoulder.The throbbing pain was the least of her concerns at the moment and would easily be forgotten in moments.

'Stop running...Lets have some fun...'

En whispered but her suggestion was also ignored by Holly, which was beginning to annoy her...stupid human. but then again,she was used to being ignored by her host now,though if only Holly would give in all this stress would go away,En would deal with it...

'Amber,what are you doing here?'

Holly glanced back towards the front of the kitchen,her mind still on Eddie,how long would he wait before he got frusterated or suspected something was up? He could be trying his best to be patient,but it wasn't busy and that would grind away his nerves,seeing that Eddie wasn't really a patient man to start...this could get ugly really fast if Holly didn't hurry up.

'We're sappoused to go for Bubbletea,remember?'

Amber chuckled the way she did when she found Holly's 'forgetfullness' amusing. Cursing under her breath,she moved closer to Amber and hissed darkly to her friend.

'We've got to get everyone out of here'

'Why?'

'Just...we do...but I don't know how without...'

Holly moved back as she saw movement in the corner of her eye,but it was only Brian who was still trying to get out of the kitchen to go home. Amber watched her friend with a growing grin-well,Holly had always been a paranoid conspiracist but this behavior was odd even for her.

'Why?'

Holly's eyes locked back onto Amber for a few moments,silently debating how to deal with her friend. She didn't have time for Games,and Amber had a wonderful way to stall people just long enough...

Kenny was talking to a waitress who was asking where Holly was, and he pointed to the back door before the waitress disappeared again. Eddie was probably on to her now,dammit,Holly had wasted too much time trying to act normal and talking to her friends.

'Holly?'

What could she do now...and how to do it without drawing attention to herself?

'Holly?'

Drowning out the world while weighing her options,Holly didn't hear Amber trying to ask more questions. Getting a devious grin on her face,Amber innocently moved towards one of the walls.

'Hello, You must be Edward?'

Kenny asked loudly and pleasantly,always amused to meet more of Holly's friends. Apparently one of the waitresses had led the man to the back,probably under the assumption Holly was waiting for him there. Kenny's first impression of the man was mixed, he didn't seem to be a horrible monster like he had imagined from Holly's reaction but at the same time,there was something just not right about this man.

'Holly-your boyfriend's here!'

Kenny yelled from his place by the grill,he kept an eye on the strange man but remained smiling as he went back to working on several burgers,he wanted to ask him some questions. Holly shifted slightly,did Kenny know more then he was letting on? No,it was impossible. But then again...Holly didn't know what Kenny knew, there was still alot about the firey red head that she didn't know herself...She had just assumed he was crazy just like all her other friends but he was taking all this rather...well...but that was Kenny for you. Eddie was just out of sight of Holly but if he took a step back he would be able to spot her. She knew he was waiting for her,but wouldn't be long before he...

'BBBRRRIIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGG!!!!'

Flinching,Holly's head whipped around to face Amber-a large grin on her face. Amber had pulled the fire alarm that sat on the wall-no one had paid any attention to her and that was the fastest way to empty the restaurant. It was almost instanltly that the bell did more then irritate Holly's ears,she doubled over in severe pain and knew full well that Eddie was doing the same thing.

'Grah...What the Hell Amber!'

Holly yelled through gritted teeth,pain twisted her face as she tried to block the sound from her ears but it was in vain. Damn,this was no good,the noise was torturing En who's pain only doubled Holly's own.

'You said you wanted everyone out'

Amber laughed before her face dropped as she saw that her friend wasn't goofing around about being in that much pain.

'AMBER!!!'

Brian yelled, stepping out of the walk in freezer,his attention however was quickly diverted as he saw the stranger freaking out, he was doubled over and holding his head like it might pop off.

'GRAAAHH!'

Eddie yelled as he tried to escape the noise-Kenny's eyes widened as he caught the strange ripple in the man's shirt...and the black ooze that seeped around his arms. piecing two and two together,Kenny realized what he was starring at...that this man...the man Holly knew...was non other then Venom...

And now...he was Pissed...