Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own the darkness.

We made our way out of the subway as we made our way to China Town. I led Jackie to the back of Jenny's new apartment building as she poked her head out from her window.

"Jackie, Jayden," She hollered from above. "Hey, up here!"

"Shh," Jackie shushed. "People are sleeping Jenny."

He was actually worried about luring any of Paulie's men to us. Jenny covered her mouth embarrassed as she looked down at us and whispered.

"Sorry, anyways come on up its apartment 11." She said.

I led Jackie up to her apartment and rang the bell. We heard a fumbling before the door burst opened and Jenny dragged me in. Jackie followed us in quickly as Jenny and I stood in her kitchen with a birthday cake on the table.

"Surprise, cake," She said as Jackie gave a small smile. "You won't believe this Giancarlo spelled your name wrong again!" She chuckled as I looked down at the cake to see 'Jacky' spelled on the cake.

"Yeah, Jenny made me pick it up early this morning." I said sheepishly.

"What's wrong, aren't you going to blow out the candles?" She asked.

Jackie shook his head as he blew out his candles.

"Happy birthday rat-face you're finally legal." She said as Jackie still had that look on his face. I knew what was going through his mind.

(Flashback)

Jackie had just gotten off the phone with Jenny and had walked over to me. His face looked so worried and sad it started to make me depressed.

"What's wrong," I asked. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, it's just…what do I do?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean, what do I do about Jenny? Tonight I had just killed a shit load of people, I'm being hunted left and right by Paulie's men and not to mention that thing from earlier. What do I do?"

I honestly didn't have an answer. How would one even come close to explaining the most fucked up night of our life? Not to mention being possessed by a demon. We still need to figure out what the hell that was and that little demon minion thing.

"Jackie," I said with concern. "We have to tell her the truth."

He looked up at me with the look of shock on his face.

"What, are you fucking crazy!" He gasped as he grabbed me by the shoulders. "Jenny, she, she'll never forgive me. If I tell her the truth I'll lose her forever I can't live like that not without her!"

"Jackie, we are being hunted by Paulie and all of New York," I stated bluntly. "Paulie is a lunatic but he isn't dumb he knows that Jenny is your only weakness if we don't warn her it could get really bad."

"I…I know," He sighed. "But what if she doesn't understand?"

"She'll understand she has to she's our friend well my friend your girlfriend. We'll tell her together." I said.

He nodded as we both left the subway.

(Flashback end)

"Is something wrong?" Jenny asked. "You guys are being kind of quiet."

We were both broken from our thought as Jackie took a deep breath.

"I gotta real problem Jenny," He started I then gave him a tap on his shoulder and nodded towards her. "We got a real problem. Something happened today with my Uncle Paulie and it's a real bad situation."

"Paulie, what kind of situation?" She asked.

"Okay, see…here's the thing. We were supposed to collect some money for my Uncle Paulie downtown," He started. "Only the money wasn't there and now Uncle Paulie's kind of pissed at us."

"I'm sure it's gonna be okay." She reassured.

'Ugh, poor girl if only you knew.' I thought.

She thinks this is like making a small mistake like with Giancarlo, but she doesn't know a damn thing about Paulie or what he's capable of.

"It's been 9 years since he adopted you from the orphanage and he gave Jayden a job. He likes you guys…doesn't he?"

"Jenny," Jackie sighed. "Baby, you don't get it. Uncle Paulie isn't a teddy bear he's a fucking psychopath and he's gonna kill us."

"Kill you?" she asked in shock. "What are you talking about, what exactly do you two do for your Uncle Paulie anyway?"

Jackie looked a little ashamed and I don't blame him. I really liked Jenny to and I didn't want to lose her as a friend she next to Jackie was the only person I cared about.

"Jenny, we're contract killers," I admitted as Jackie looked away. "We kill people for the Franchetti Crime Family. That day when you found me a few years ago and Paulie gave me a job. It was to kill a group of crack dealers and it didn't end there."

"I'm sorry, I meant to tell ya…I just didn't know how baby." Jackie said in a really sad tone.

"What, are you nuts?" Jenny chuckled. "This is just like you Jackie. There's something else wrong and you just had Jayden tell me this story he just made up."

Is she serious?

"Hey, c'mon," She said taking Jackie's hand. "It's your birthday and I got a new apartment. Let's take one day off from fucked up."

She gave us each a piece of cake as she walked into the living room.

"Your friend Butcher came by today, he said to give him a call when you get a chance." Jenny said as she handed Jackie a note.

"SHE REEKS OF INNOCENCE!" The darkness snarled.

I looked at Jackie and he let out a shiver. He gave me a look and I nodded at him. Whatever this thing was it did not like anything that was even close to being good. Unlucky for it Jenny was the nicest person to come by.

Jackie and Jenny sat down on the couch as I took a seat on the recliner. We all just sat there watching T.V. and eating cake as To Kill A Mocking Bird came on. After a half an hour of watching my eyes started to feel heavy as I slowly drifted off to sleep. The last thing I saw was Jackie and Jenny sharing a passionate kiss.

I suddenly felt something shacking me as awoke to see Jackie rocking me awake. I looked over to see Jenny asleep on the couch as I looked up at Jackie.

"C'mon, we have to go," He whispered. "Butcher says he can help us with our problem."

I let out a yawn as I got up to follow him. We walked out the door after locking it and made our way out of the building. I felt really cold as I was still trying to wake up.

"Hey where are we going anyways?" I asked.

"Butcher said to meet him around the back of the Olive Grove restaurant." Jackie explained. "He said he could lend a hand with our little problem."

Butcher Joyce, he was one of the untouchables in this business. I had met him a few times when Paulie asked me to get rid of some people. You kill someone Butcher makes all the evidence disappear no questions asked. He knows peoples business but doesn't get involved personally. He didn't choose sides and he didn't make deals he was completely neutral.

Too bad there's a war brewing.

We went around the restaurant and saw Butcher's van parked in the back. Jackie and I drew our guns and slowly made our way in. Inside the kitchen Butcher was wearing a bloody apron and yellow dish gloves as three body bags took up the kitchen floor.

"I heard you boys coming from a block away boys," He grumbled as he dropped a dead body onto the floor. "Those expensive Italian shoes make you two sound a fucking bull elephant. Fucking new generation."

"Well you're in a good mood Butch," Jackie said sarcastically. "What's the matter?"

"Every cop for half a mile around probably knows you're here. Fucking cops all I need now, huh?" He asked as he picked up a couple of bodies. "Do me a favor, grab that body would you?"

"Sure," I said as Jackie and I lifted the body up and took it to Butcher's van. Butcher bitched at us about interrupting his dinner and how we should make our hits at a reasonable time. Wish he do less bitching and more helping. We dumped the bodies in the trunk as we turned to Butcher. "Okay, we helped you now you help us."

"Well what exactly happened tonight?" He asked. "I heard you two really pissed off Paulie tonight."

"We don't know we were wondering if you would," Jackie said. "You know a lot about Paulie why the hell would he just want us dead?" At this Butcher chuckled.

"You two are the best contract guys they have. You're young and ambitious. They don't like that." He explained.

"So what, he's gonna kill us because he's old and we're young? That's a real stupid reason to kill someone."

"It's Paulie has he ever had a smart reason to kill someone?" Jackie said.

"Good point."

"I want you boys to listen carefully you need to take down Paulie before he takes you two down." Butcher warned. "Put a big enough dent in his business and the Chicago people will see to it that he has an accident."

"So we just need to rattle the cage and the other families will see that Paulie has finally lost his game?" I asked.

"Yes, if you're really want to start somewhere start with Dutch Oven Harry and put some holes in him." He suggested.

Jackie and I looked at each other as I shrugged my shoulders.

"Who is Dutch Oven Harry?" Jackie asked.

"Harry's Paulie's biggest dealer of illicit medicine. He works out of a building in Hunterspoint. Go through the old billiard club at Whitefish Alley there's a backdoor leading to his workshop. If I were you I'd go there and destroy his supplies."

"Okay, let's get going." Jackie said.

Just then the police sirens that sounded so distant earlier were now loud as hell. Butcher let out an annoyed grunt.

"Ah fuck-the cops!" He yelled. "This is why I don't get involved. Both of you back inside and hide. I'll take care of the bodies."

We both nodded as we ran back inside the kitchen and turned off all the lights. I ran into the restaurant and turned off the light just before the cops got here. Jackie and I drew our guns as a few cop cars drove up into the parking lot. The cops created a blockade and hid behind the cars as the cops pulled out they're hand guns and pointed them at the restaurant. In one car an old man in his late fifties came out and held up a mega phone.

"Jackie Estacado and Jayden Warney," He shouted. "This is Captain Edward Shrote New York Police Department. We know you're in there. Come on out with your hands up and nobody gets hurt…Well nobody anyone gives a shit about."

"They're not coming out. Cap!" A random cop yelled.

"We're gonna call it resisting arrest," He grumbled. "Take him out boys."

"Um, Jackie you know that thing you did back in the cemetery?" I asked. "You think you can do it again?"

"I don't know if I should?" He said.

"Well monkey you might want to take his advice." The Darkling said as it just appeared out of nowhere. "Because they got a big freaking truck coming our way!"

"Jackie!" I pleaded.

Just then an armored truck backed into the building. The doors opened and a SWAT team armed with shotguns stormed in. I unloaded my guns at them as they opened fired at us. I loaded my glocks as I turned to the Darkling.

"Hey you know how to use a gun?" I asked.

"Course I do, I come from Jackie's mind after all." He said as I handed him a gun.

He let out a chuckle as he took my other gun and ran out at the SWAT team. He fired both guns at them blindly as the team cried out at the sight of him. He took out a few of them before one guy blew him away.

"Well that went well!" I shouted as I pulled out a Beretta. "Jackie I could use some…help." I trailed off as two demon heads lurked over his shoulders and his eyes glowed yellow.

He grinned as two of his demon tentacles shot out and stabbed a guy in his chest. He swung him around and threw him out the window. Then his demon head slithered over and ripped out the hearts and throats of the dirty cops.

He let out a dark chuckle as he ripped the doors of the restaurant off and walked out with his darkling crawling after him. Before he could move further his demon heads hissed in pain before disappearing.

"What the hell just happened?" He yelled.

"It's the light monkey," The Darkling yelled. "The Darkness can't stand it. You got to take those lamps out if you want to continue slaughtering these pigs."

We pointed our guns at the street light and destroyed them one by one. The cops were confused as I took out the last light. Jackie's face broke out an evil grin as his demon heads came back out. The cops started freaking out as they took shots at Jackie. They weren't really hitting him as his tentacle decapitated a man's head and a demon head ripped through another's chest.

I looked over at the lot to see a dozen bodies mutilated bodies and Jackie in the center of it all. He looked like the damn devil.

"You are the bringer of death." The Darkness whispered.

"Yeah…I guess I am." Jackie sighed.

"Um Jackie, are you alright?" I asked.

"Hmm?" He said as he looked at me. "Oh yeah Jayden I feel great. You know I really don't know what this is and I really don't care. All I know is that Paulie picked the wrong night to fuck with me!" He snarled.

Just then more cop cars appeared as Jackie started to chuckle.

"YES…TEAR THEM APART AND FEED ME THEY'RE HEARTS!" The Darkness ordered.

"Yeah, we'll make them wish they were never born." He chuckled.

He then ran off and proceeded to tear them all apart. I was starting to worry about him he was losing himself.

"He's enjoying himself," Darkling said.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked.

"The Darkness manipulates its host and once you get a taste of the Darkness you can't stop. Then eventually he loses his mind and completely obeys the Darkness."

"This is bad." I whispered as I ran after Jackie.

(Dark Corridor)

"When I first saw Jackie use the Darkness I've never seen him look more vicious." I said. "He was slicing, stabbing, disemboweling and all sorts of gruesome shit. He didn't even look human anymore. I'm not gonna lie I think he couldn't wait till he found Paulie and tear his fat ass apart. I could see all the pain and torment he was gonna do to him in his eyes. The Darkness was manipulating Jackie turning him into a vicious monster that's how it always happened. So why would the Darkness keep a worthless nothing like me alive, because I would soon become another one of its puppets."