I'm so happy with all the reviews I get! :D you really make my day!

This is not the last chapter (there will be 2 more), but I haven't even started on the next chapter yet, so you'll have to wait a bit longer :( I'm sorry (university is asking a lot of my time this week).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 5

That Monday morning, he walked towards his car, suddenly remembering the dream he'd had about a week before, the one with Portgas turning into fire. He stopped in his tracks, and gazed at his car for a moment, before looking at his watch. He was a little early to go to work.

Turning around, he walked back to his flat. A few days ago, he had checked Ace's exact address, well, the number of his apartment, so now he stood in front of the right door within no time. He just had to pay him a little visit, to make sure he hadn't run away yet.

Smoker had to wait a little while after ringing the bell, but then the door was opened and the blond he had seen before at Izo's place, greeted him, only half dressed and looking slightly annoyed.

"Oh, it's you, the police officer," Marco acknowledged him. "What do you want?"

Smoker was a bit distracted by the gigantic tattoo on the man's chest, but then he recovered himself. "I'm here to speak to Portgas," he answered, realizing a little too late that the two of them could be married and both carry the name Portgas.

However, this seemed not the case, or at least Marco knew whom he meant, as the blond turned around. "Ace, he wants to speak to you!"

"Who?" Portgas' voice came out of the depths of the apartment. When he entered the hallway, also bare chested – Smoker wondered if he'd interrupted something – a scowl set on his freckled face. "What do you want now?"

Marco left the two of them alone and Smoker glared at the raven head. "I just wanted to check if you got the letter about your trial."

"Yeah, it's in two weeks," Ace confirmed. "Are you going to be there as well?"

"Of course." Smoker wasn't going to miss the moment that smug smile fell off the kid's face.

Ace chuckled. "Oh man, that's gonna be so embarrassing… for you."

Smoker raised an eyebrow. "You still think you're gonna win this thing?"

"Yeah, I do," Ace smiled. "Did you know they gave my bike back? Some guys at the police are really nice and thoughtful!"

Smoker tried not to show his annoyance too much, but knew he was probably failing. "Yeah, I heard. Enjoy it while you still can." And with that, he wanted to walk away, not ready to get his day ruined so early in the morning.

But suddenly the freckled man grabbed his arm. "Smoker," he started, giving him a piercing look. "One more thing. If you hurt Izo, you're a dead man." Ace wore the most serious look Smoker had ever seen on his face. "Because if he doesn't kill you, I will."

Smoker looked unimpressed at him. "A kid like you shouldn't try to take the role of overly protective older brother. It doesn't suit you." He pulled his arm free from the boy's grip and walked away. Smoker might like Izo, but he was nowhere near to getting along with his relatives.

When he arrived at the station, about fifteen minutes later, they were immediately put on a new case. A short while before, someone had called about their neighbors. According to the woman, there had been a lot of shouting and she heard something crash against the wall. It also hadn't been the first time something of the sort had happened, so Smoker and Tashigi went over to the address they had been given.

"Still not sleeping well?" Tashigi asked on the way there. "If the circles under your eyes are anything to go by."

"Not really," Smoker answered a little annoyed. Did they always have to speak about his sleeping problem? He should have never told her, probably. "Though one night I almost got five hours of sleep, so that was a very good night," he said slightly sarcastic, though it really was one of his best nights, since he started having problems. But that had been a few nights ago already, so Smoker didn't see much prove that the doctor's advice worked yet. Maybe he should just give it some more time.

He saw Tashigi – who was driving this time – raise her eyebrows lightly. "Five hours is a good night? I don't think I've ever heard of someone with such an extreme form of insomnia.

"It's not that extreme." He yawned. "Anyway, I'm sure the doctor's advice will work after a week or so. If not, I've got a new appointment in two weeks."

"I sincerely hope it does, for your sake." She parked the car. "We're here."

They walked to the house and after a short wait, a girl around the age of thirteen opened the door. Her eyes were slightly red, as if she had been crying. She seemed a bit scared when she saw their uniforms.

"Hello there," Smoker began. "My name is Smoker and this is my colleague Tashigi. We're from the police, and we just came by to see if everything's okay here."

The girl nodded. "Yeah, everything is fine."

"Could we maybe come in for a moment?" Tashigi asked. "Are your parents at home?"

She looked with big eyes from the one to the other, but didn't dare to oppose them. "My father is home," she said quietly, while opening the door a bit more for them.

Tashigi stayed with the girl in the hallway for a bit, asking if she was really sure nothing was wrong, while Smoker walked on to the living room. Once inside, he saw a boy, probably nine or ten years old, sitting on the couch with headphones on his head, watching TV. Smoker slowly walked over to him, so that he wouldn't scare him, but before he could reach the boy, the father of the house came from the kitchen. "Who are you? What are you doing in my home?" he asked defensively.

"Easy sir, my name is Smoker, police." He flashed his badge. "We're here to ask you a few questions."

At that moment, Tashigi and the girl entered the living room as well, and her father immediately began to yell at his daughter. "See what you've done?! Now the police is here! Was that what you wanted?!"

The girl spontaneously burst into tears. "No! No, really, I'm sorry! Please, I might have gotten a little too angry, but please, don't take me away!"

"Ssshh." Tashigi placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, we're not going to take you anywhere, if you just tell us what happened."

The girl nodded, but her father crossed his arms. "Did the neighbors call you? Listen, it probably sounded more dramatic than it actually was."

"Shall we sit down for a minute?" Smoker asked. This would probably take a while.

The man told his son to sit at the side of the couch, so that the four of them all could sit. Smoker sat down next to the boy and cast a look on the TV. It had subtitles and Smoker thought it was some kind of documentary about supernatural creatures of some sort. He chuckled. If kids liked to believe in that kind of stuff…

"See," the father started and Smoker turned his attention towards him again. "She's reaching puberty and ever since a half year or so, she just goes against everything my wife and I say and doesn't want to listen to anything!"

"That's not true!" the girl said and her father send the two officers a look as if to say 'see what I mean?' "I might have overreacted a little, but you were totally unfair!"

"Could you tell us exactly what happened in your own words? Your father may not interrupt you, he can tell his story afterwards," Tashigi asked her.

The girl began to tell her story, not leaving any detail out, even if it was completely irrelevant for the police. The story got so long that Smoker's mind slowly started to drift off, his eyes gazing over the television again. He wasn't really watching, until he picked up the word 'nightmare' in the subtitles.

Smoker's attention was drawn and he started to follow the program for a bit. It was about a demon called a nightmare. They said its victims woke up at night, not able to move, but aware of an evil presence in their room. The stories told that the demon could enter through the smallest spaces, like key holes or the small space between a door and a floor, and once inside, sat on top of their victim to suffocate them. They were often depicted in art with a ghost like horse, which, Smoker thought, would probably explain the 'mare' part in the word.

The police officer didn't believe a thing of the whole story, but something still didn't sit well with him. The story did have some resemblance with his own problem, somewhere. He couldn't sleep well and he did have the feeling someone or something was watching him or moving around in his room, sometimes. He shook his head. What was he even thinking? Demons or anything of the sort didn't exist.

He turned back towards the girl, trying to focus on her story again. "… but I know I was wrong and I really didn't mean to harm him, or anyone, really! You have to believe me, I promise it won't happen again!"

Tashigi sighed. "I can see you're really sorry, so don't worry about it too much. Can I ask your dad his side of the story now?"

The girl nodded, but the father shrugged. "I don't have much to add. She explained it pretty well, except for her vision on the things I said of course, but I guess you don't really care about that."

"That's more a case of personal interpretation, indeed." Tashigi smiled. "It seems like it was just a parent-child fight and though you should never use violence in situations like that, I don't think you'll have to worry too much. However, we are obliged to call Social Services and they will come to talk with you as well. But they are there to help you fix this, not to separate you."

The two of them nodded, obviously not happy, but still accepting the situation.

"Good, I think our work is done here then." Tashigi stood up and looked at her colleague.

Smoker followed her example. "One more question though. Why are these two not at school?"

"I'm sick," the boy spoke for the first time.

"And I have the first two hours off," the girl answered. "The teacher had personal issues or something."

Satisfied with the answer, Smoker nodded and the two of them took off.

The two nights after that, however, Smoker couldn't get the idea of the nightmare demon out of his head. Every time he woke up, he seemed to feel a pressure on his chest and he became more aware of a presence in his room, every time. He didn't actually see a demon or a horse for that matter, but the feeling gnawed at him.

He didn't really believe in fairy tales. Or more accurate he really didn't believe in them, but on the other hand, he couldn't explain what was happening to him either. On Wednesday he decided it couldn't hurt just to look up some more about these nightmares.

As he dug into the information the internet gave him about this creatures, he found that there were different details known about it and that they didn't always match. On the one hand, this confirmed his thoughts of the non-existence of the demons, but on the other, it showed him more things that resembled his own situation. He did have a lot of bad dreams too, after all, and they were called nightmares as well.

He even found someone who could help people who were haunted by supernatural creatures, who named nightmares as an example of one of those. Smoker snorted. Were those people for real? They took their beliefs so far that they thought they could catch, exorcise or vanquish these creatures?

'Don't be afraid to walk in, we're open for help every day between sunrise and sunset,' it said. Smoker couldn't help to look at the address. It was somewhere in Logue Town, so it wasn't too far away.

That was when he remembered something. He searched for the website of the Gold and Silvers Plaza and saw to his relief that there were still a few tickets available for the show on Friday. Three, to be precise. It only took Smoker a minute to order one of them and then relaxed again. At least that was taken care of, he could go to Izo's performance.

But that only started at seven p.m. and he had a whole day left before that. Smoker shut down his computer. He'd just try to follow his therapist's advice for two more nights and see if it began to work. If not, he could always decide what to do next, on Friday.

He was slowly starting to go crazy.

Smoker was now at a point where he pretended to sleep, just to focus on any other senses than seeing. He had become more and more sure of the fact that there was something sneaking around in his bedroom while he tried to sleep, so now he was set on finding and catching it.

He focused on his hearing. It was completely silent for a long while, but then he thought he heard something, like a soft wind blowing through his room, or someone breathing. But he was sure his window was closed, so the first shouldn't be possible. Still, he heard something. Not opening his eyes, he tried to locate the sound. Was it on his left? Probably, but he was not sure, so that meant it couldn't be too close to him, right? Maybe near his foot end…

Smoker's heart jumped when he suddenly felt something touch his chest. He could only just in time remember to keep his eyes shut. There was a hand on his chest, he was fairly certain of that. Maybe something else than a hand, but it felt like a lot like a hand, a female one, if the soft touch was anything to go by. And the person – or thing – it belonged to, could probably feel his heart beating like he had just ran a marathon.

Smoker didn't wait any longer and without opening his eyes, grabbed the hand on his chest. Or that was the plan. He felt something in his hand, but it was soft and more like a bit of wind than flesh and bones, and it disappeared almost immediately.

He finally opened his eyes and looked at his chest. Nothing. A quick look around him didn't give him any information either. Did it hide? Smoker thought, breathing heavily and heart still beating as if it had to keep two people alive.

There had really been something on his chest! But where the hell was it now and what the fuck was it? Smoker started to panic. It had to be the demon, though he had no idea where it was hiding now. Besides, shouldn't he be paralyzed then? Or maybe that had been more a figure of speech; paralyzed by fear. Because fear was surely something he felt by now.

"Show yourself, you bastard," Smoker said as he sat up. "I know what you are! A nightmare can't scare me." Well, that was technically not true, but Smoker would die before he let anyone know he was scared. "Because you're a nightmare, right?"

Smoker could swear he heard a soft chuckle, but he couldn't locate its source, it seemed to come from everywhere. Or maybe it was only in his head.

He took a deep breath to calm himself down a bit. "Listen, if you leave me alone, I will leave you alone." He didn't even know why he said that. Like a demon would listen to that. If it could even understand human language. Smoker frowned at that thought. He probably meant: if there even was a demon.

He lay down again. He was absolutely going crazy. What the hell was he thinking about demons? Talking to them even?! Smoker shook his head. The loss of sleep was really getting to him now. Really getting to him. So much that he was losing his mind. He shouldn't go to a sleep doctor or some psychic, he should go to psychiatrist.

He closed his eyes and spend the next hour convincing himself that his mind was fucking with him and that demons, ghosts and whatever other creatures he could think of, didn't exist. He had always believed that for a hundred percent, so why was he starting to doubt that now?

After an hour, he got so tired of doubting the non-existence of supernatural creatures, however, that he wasn't able to keep his eyes open for any longer and miraculously, he drifted to sleep.

Smoker paced up and down the pavement. Was he really going to do this? He had made it here now, but he could still turn around. Last night had been horrible, but now that he had slept a few hours – even if it were way too few – he could think a bit clearer again. And because of that, he wasn't sure if he should really be here.

"You don't have to be shy," said a female voice behind him. "You can come in, don't worry, I was expecting you."

Smoker had turned around and looked suspiciously at her. The woman before him seemed pretty normal to him, though her make-up and clothing style was a bit on the dark side, matching her black hair. She smiled at him. "You can call me Madam Shyarly."

Smoker frowned. "I… don't think I'm at the right place."

"Yes you are," she said. "You want me to help you with a problem, don't you?"

Oh, to hell with it! "Yes, you're right. My name is Smoker." He shook her hand. "But you probably knew that already."

"That was one of the few things I didn't know," she said smiling and let him inside her house.

"So, uhm, can you read minds?" Smoker asked, a little nervous. This woman and this place gave him chills. He'd never trusted people who busied themselves with the occult very much, and that hadn't changed since he learned about nightmares. Once he entered her living room, the feeling only grew. There were various objects – was that a crystal ball? – that looked weird enough not to trust them and there was a suspicious scent as well, probably incense.

Madam Shyarly chuckled. "I cannot. Please sit down, you don't have to be afraid, I only get visions from time to time, or even just a feeling about something. Besides that, I'm mainly specialized in dealing with beings that go beyond normal human comprehension."

Smoker carefully sat down on the chair she pointed him towards. "So, do you know why I'm here?"

She sat down on the other side of the table and shook her head. "Only that you've got a problem and that you're not convinced that there is more between heaven and earth."

"I'm not even sure there's a heaven to begin with," he mumbled.

She kept smiling at him, which unnerved him a bit more. "So please, tell me your story."

Smoker started to tell about his sleeping problems, about what he experienced at night, especially the last nights, and about what he knew about nightmares, which he suspected it to be.

"So you think it's the nightmare demon?" she asked thoughtfully. "But you didn't actually see anything, am I right?"

"Well, I saw something, but it were more shadows or movements. A presence that could escape from my sight every time I was about to set eyes on it," Smoker explained, already feeling a little less awkward since she didn't show any signs of disbelieve or thinking that he was crazy.

"Hmm." She nodded slowly. "I don't think it's a nightmare. They usually aren't that good at hiding themselves." She drummed with her fingers on the table for a second, seeming to think about what else it could be. "I think you are haunted by a shadow person."

Smoker raised his eyebrows. "And that is…?"

"Shadow people are normal people at day, but merge with the darkness as soon as the night falls. That is to say, they turn into shadows. They sometimes are able to keep their human form – more or less – for a short time, after sunset, but it costs them a lot of energy. They visit their victims in their shadow form, entering rooms much the same way as nightmares do, through the smallest openings between doors or a keyhole, etcetera," Madam Shyarly explained. "It could explain the bad dreams you have, too. They feed on fear and are able to create it as well, mostly through dreams or just spooking around. The most obvious thing, why I think this is what you're dealing with, is that they always disappear the moment you try to look straight at them. Then they literally merge with the darkness inside your room."

Smoker let out a long yawn, covering his mouth with his hand. "I'm sorry," he apologized, but she smiled understandingly. "So what can I do about this? Is there a way to get rid of this shadow person or am I doomed to sleepless nights for the rest of my life?"

"Well, if you'd be stuck with him or her, you'd probably not live that long anyway. You'll literally die from fatigue, because it would probably become worse and cause you nights without any sleep," she told him. "Fortunately for you, you can catch the shadow person. The easiest thing would be to find out what they look like during the day, and catch them then. However, that's very difficult, since they could be literally anyone. You wouldn't recognize them if you passed them in the street. The other option is to set a trap and catch them at night." She stood up and walked over to one of her cabinets. She took a box from it and placed it on the table. Removing the cloth on top of the box, she began to explain again. "These five crystals are the key to their capture. You have to place them in such a way that you could draw a pentagram between them, a crystal at each end of it."

Smoker's knowledge about the occult went just far enough to know what a pentagram was, but he was really sceptic about this kind of ritual. "I… just place them on the floor?"

"Yes, but not visible, because these creatures are just as intelligent as humans. So if they see a crystal, they will immediately know what's up and avoid the trap," Madam Shyarly warned him. "So cover them up. When the shadow person enters the circle of crystals, a spiritual cage will catch them and they won't be able to leave until one of the crystals is removed. So don't do that. When you've succeeded, give me a call, I will come to vanquish it."

"I can't… vanquish it myself?" Smoker asked. He still wasn't convinced of all this supernatural stuff.

She chuckled. "No, I have a gift and years of experience. Do not try to do it yourself."

Eventually, Smoker agreed and left with the box of crystals. He guessed he could at least give it a try. The woman didn't ask him for any money yet, just that he'd pay her whatever he felt was right after the job was done.

~ Bonus ~

He looked into the mirror while his hair was done by his hairstylist in such a way that it looked as if it was cut short.

"Everything is sold out tonight, does that make you nervous?" Inazuma asked.

The black haired man smiled. "Not at all. Though I do have a feeling someone I know will be watching tonight."

The hairstylist chuckled. "Someone you know? And why do you have that feeling?"

"Okay, someone I like," the other confessed. "And I might have secretly checked his job schedule, when he wasn't looking. It was his day off today."

TBC.

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