A BAT IN STORYBROOKE:

Chapter 20

It was a nightmare in the streets of Storybrooke. Demonic creatures of various nightmarish colors with the same red eyes were swarming the town like a giant herd of hornets attracted by smoke. When the group of adults got out of pawnshop (after barely dodging one demon who flew over their heads), they were all equally horrified by the sight of these demons breaking windows, chasing the citizens of Storybrooke like cats and mice, and throwing cars the same way babies would throw teddy bears.

"Bloody hell…" Killian gasped.

"What on Earth are those?" Belle exclaimed.

"Batrishan demons," Anubis said, looking angrier than ever. "Their souls belong to those of ancient, deceased Batrishans who failed to live up to their traditional expectations. Fitzgerald Denada Cortés is quite a trickster: not only did he managed to manipulate his way away from death, but he managed to manipulate the dead of his own people to do his binding."

"Can you control them?" Emma asked. "I mean, you are a death god."

Anubis rolled if eyes as if he'd heard that a thousand times.

"Okay, first off, I'm a god of mummification and funerals. My job was to ferry the souls of the deceased to the afterlife, not rule them eternally. Second, I deal with Egyptian death, not Batrishan death. Third, I can't deal with the souls of a monotheist culture while I'm part of a polytheist culture."

"In other words, due to godly rules, you can't keep these demons under control," Belle said simply in order to sum it up. "So how do we stop them?"

"Well, I am detecting a magical aura from those demons that originates from a certain magical container. If we destroy it…"

"We obliterate those demons. Excuse me for one quick second."

Anubis made one big jump and nearly gave everyone a heart attack as he transformed into a car-sized jackal with a golden Egyptian necklace and razor-sharp fangs and bit a passing demon on the neck. He bit the demon so hard on the skin that it exploded into smoke.

"What was that for?" Emma asked as the god turned back into his human appearance.

"Aside from my nose, I can also use blood to track down things," Anubis explained. "I now know the location of where to defeat the demons. Follow me!"

He turned back into a jackal and ran through the streets and alleys, followed by Belle, Rumple, Killian, Emma, and the three hounds, who stuck with their masters like a pack of wolves in the middle of a hunt. The group was reaching the docks until Anubis suddenly stopped and shifted back to his human appearance. The others were confused by his sudden action until they saw him pull out a phone ringing with Ancient Egyptian music and answer it.

"Marion? What on Earth is going on, honey? Wait…what?! You found him there? What about Rosie? OK, listen, I have to deal with an urgent emergency involving flying demons, and yes, it involves the person who kidnapped Rosie. I'll bring her back, I promise, my love." He hung up the phone and turned to face the humans.

"My wife found your son, Emma Swan," he said.

"Where is he? Is he alright?" Emma asked desperately, grabbing the god by the collar.

"Emma, calm down!" Killian said as he and Rumple tried to restrain Emma from nearly strangling the god. "How did your wife find Henry, Lord Anubis?"

"She said that while she went to search for our daughter through the woods with a couple hounds, my eldest one, Ared, picked up a scent, but it didn't belong to Rosetta. It belonged to Henry. Marion and the rest of the hounds followed Ared until they reached a ravine, where they found an unconscious and bleeding Henry at the bottom."

"No," Emma sobbed and fell down on her knees. Belle comforted her with a hug.

"Is my grandson alright?" Rumple asked.

"He's alive, Rumplestiltskin. My wife immediately took him to the hospital. Henry got a few broken ribs and a twisted ankle, but he'll heal. But while we're at it, Henry did manage to give good information."

"What kind of information?" Killian asked.

"Let's focus on the essential that Henry said: Fitzgerald was the one who unleashed the demons, he's holding my daughter captive, and he's trying to get his revenge on you."

"I'm going to kill him," Emma muttered as she got up. "For what he did to Henry, I swear I'll…"

"Emma, let's worry about that later," Rumple told her. "For now, we have a thousand demons to stop before they destroy the town and a demigod to save."

"The crocodile's right," Killian said. "Besides, I need to have a discussion with Fidget. I…I just can't bear it anymore, living up to the accusation of me ruining his happiness and him suffering the consequences. We've both lost loved ones. Why are we any different. Plus, I miss him a lot."

"How on earth can you miss him, Killian?!" Emma said in disbelief.

"He was my friend, Emma! We were the best of friends and one misunderstanding caused a rift between our friendship and an irrational hatred to root him for nearly 3 centuries."

"How sweet," a sarcastic, raspy voice said. "Tender lies before a cold, delicious taste of revenge!"

The group turned towards the direction that the voice came from. A dark, bat-like man with long, dark hair dressed in a vampirish purple-and-black outfit stood on one of the catwalks. Despite his right peg leg, he had no problem standing up straight in a perfect manner. His wings were spread open, making the sunrays shine on the metallic wires that gave the missing part of his right wing a mechanical, nightmarish appearance. His left hand held on to a long, black scabbard that held a sword with twisted, bat wing designs as its grip. His death glare coming from those golden eyes with bloody red irises stared at Killian specifically.

"Hello, codfish," Fidget the Bat said as he unsheathed his sword from the scabbard, revealing a dangerously sharp, silver blade. "Did you want to see me as much as I wanted to see you die in pain and agony as I kill your loved ones the same way you did it to mine?"