Chapter Four: Operations

"Why did I agree to this?" Garfield asked aloud of himself. He looked at himself in mirror when he finished getting ready. He wore a purple and black shirt with dark denim jeans. The man stared at his reflection in the mirror. Garfield was unable to sleep last night since memories of last night's event replayed over and over again in his head. He took a deep breath and exited the bathroom.

He descended to the refrigerator and took out the carton of soymilk. Instead of pouring it into a glass, he drank straight from the carton. After taking a drink, he placed it back into the refrigerator and shut it. He looked over to clock and saw it was nearly noon. Garfield picked up his keys and left the apartment. He disembarked down the stairs and stood in the doorway. The woman said she would pick him up at noon and it was a few minutes until twelve. She didn't say what car she would be picking him up in or if he would have to walk with her. The man assumed she left on foot when she left his apartment last night.

Lost in his thoughts, he did not see the black Porsche Carrera approaching the apartments entrance. It parked in front the doors and honked. Garfield jumped in surprise and discovered the parked car. He walked out of the apartment doors and stared at the car for moments.

"Are you getting in or not?" Raven said through the open window. Garfield nodded and walked toward the car. He opened the passenger door and sat in. He buckled his seat belt and looked at the woman. She wore a black tank top and dark jean shorts. The man noticed that she had purple streaks in her hair. Somehow, they didn't look like highlights, but they looked natural. Whoever was her hairstylist did a great job. Garfield also noticed that she had pale skin that twinkled in the light. The sun was bright and she wore black sunglasses. Raven drove the car and they were silent until Garfield spoke.

"Nice car you have here." he said breaking the silence.

"Thanks. The job pays well." Raven said with her eyes on traffic.

"Wait! You get paid for this job?" she nodded "So do I get something in return when I join?"

She gave him a soft smile." Yes, you get your life."

"Dude! That's so not fair!" Garfield whined.

"Not to mention a commission for every demon head you get."

"How much would that be?"

"On most occasions, about five grand for each head."

"Sweet!" Garfield shouted

"Don't get too cocky there Mr. Logan. We have to get you through training first before we send you in."

"What do I have to do for training?" he asked.

"Oh you'll see." she grinned.

I don't like the sound of thatGarfield thought to himself.

Soon she parked in front of a large building. He lived in the city since he was five, and sixteen years later, never considered this building as the Messor headquarters. Frequently, he passed the building when he would intern at the local zoo. The building appeared to be a normal, white-collar business building. There was no sign in front of the building either. He exited the car and she locked the car door.

Garfield followed Raven to the building door. She held out a card and passed it in front of the scanner. The light blinked green and the door unlocked. She opened the door and he followed behind the woman. He expected there to be plenty of people around with guns, but instead, the building appeared empty. The only sounds heard were their footsteps. They proceeded to the elevator and she entered a six-digit pin number on the keypad. Once the elevator opened, they entered the elevator. Surprisingly, the elevator had no numbers to press. Immediately, the doors closed and proceeded upwards.

"Now, we are going to the twelfth floor of the building. We will meet the others you will be working with. Do not speak unless you are spoken to or addressed." she commanded. The elevator binged and the doors opened. Raven proceeded away from the elevator and Garfield followed. The walls were dark blue and there were newspaper articles framed on the walls. They were mainly about mysterious animal attacks in the local area. He assumed those weren't animal attacks, but demon attacks.

They reached the door at the end of the hallway and she opened it. He stepped inside with her and Garfield saw people sitting on couches facing towards them. They were all men with the exception of two women. One woman had jet-black hair and thick eyeliner. She was quite young, and appeared to be younger than Garfield. The last woman appeared to be in her late thirties with light brown hair with pink highlights.

The other men ranged from Garfield's age to what looked like to be men in their early forties. The men were all a range of races with different hair colors. One man had an eye patch and another man had a prosthetic arm. Few men had soul patches, goatees, and other facial hair on their faces. The men had intimidating appearances. Not to mention many of the men had tattoos on their bodies. To his surprise, Garfield was expecting them to have sharp canines similar to Raven's, but their teeth appeared to be average. They were all conversing and ignored when Raven and the guest walked in. Raven whistled to get their attention but they didn't hear her call. She frowned and took out her gun. The woman shot once to the ceiling and everyone fell silent. Garfield jumped in surprise. They all looked over at Raven and the mysterious guest.

"Yo! Commander! I just fixed the other holes in the ceiling. At least wait a few weeks to do that." A man with a goatee stated.

"Well if you all would listen or when I whistle to you like dogs, you better pay attention. Next time I'll shoot somewhere else or someone" Raven spoke. "Anyway, you all are aware that our team member, Marshall, was recently murdered last night. We have found a replacement for him. Everyone, this is Mr. Logan."

The crowd nodded in unison and a few people greeted him by saying, "Welcome Logan." Garfield smiled and sheepishly waved at everyone.

"Okay, Mr. Logan, this is the Messor team in which you will work with." Raven gestured to the crowd of people. She began to name off names. The agents nodded when they were introduced.

"Now that that business has been taken care of, we can begin with training." Raven said.

"Now? That was fast." Garfield said. Raven motioned for the group to follow and Garfield followed closely behind her. He was so close that he could smell her shampoo. He inhaled her scent identifying a mixture of lavender and jasmine. He savored the smell until she stopped. Garfield bumped into her and she turned around to face him. Raven was in front of a red door.

"Mr. Logan, watch where you're going." she frowned "behind this door is our training faculty. We will begin training soon."

He nodded. "Um can you call me Garfield?" he asked.

She turned around and unlocked the door. "Whatever Mr. Logan." She opened the door revealing the training room. Garfield took a step inside and gawked. The training room was huge! It was about the size of a small arena. It was dark, but he was able to see. He proceeded into the training ground and the rest of the team followed. A man quickly walked to the other side of Raven. He spoke in her ear and she whispered back. He nodded and ran to the opposite direction. There were several places to sit above and the rest of the team descended to those stairs. Garfield followed behind Raven as she guided him to the middle of the training room. It was almost like a stadium, but it had earth-like elements in it and appeared to be dark and gloomy.

Raven stopped and turned around. She held out a gun and dagger for Garfield to take it. Hesitantly, he took the dagger and gun. He gave her a questionable look.

"We will begin momentarily. I will not be there to help you. You can only defend yourself. I cannot aid you in anyway. Even if you are close to death, I cannot help you." she looked into his eyes and he could see how serious she was. "You are in the fight of your life. That is how it is going to be as a Messor."

Garfield was stunned. He was nearly helpless and he knew nothing of the impending challenge. There was only one thing he knew: He could die. Garfield gulped and frowned. Raven stepped closer to him and smiled revealing her sharp, lily-white teeth. Raven was inches away from his face and he could feel her warm breath against his face. His heart began to race and his eyes grew wide. She moved towards his ear, and lightly brushed her lips against it.

"Be careful" she whispered in his ear. Then she moved away from him. Garfield was motionless and she advanced away from him. He watched her hourglass figure walk slowly to the group. Raven's hips and curves swayed side to side, and she reached the seats.

A loud growl was heard from the other side of the arena. Garfield jerked around to find the sound. Appearing form the darkness was the man that whispered in Raven's ear earlier. He held a leash in hand with some resistance at the other end. Appearing from the darkness next was a dark silhouette. The figure had blood red eyes and sharp pearly-white canines. The figure growled, howled, and shook to and fro. Once the figure reached the light, Garfield was able to make-out its appearance. The creature looked to be an average man around Garfield's age. His skin was pale and he had dark circles under his red eyes. Garfield recognized what creature was in front of him. It was a demon.

Garfield was surprised to discover that the creature was in a form of a human. He saw the figures from last night, but he was unable to decrypt the body structure. He held out his gun in his right hand and placed the dagger onto his belt. The man that was holding the demon grabbed it by the hair. He turned his attention to the group. Garfield looked back and saw Raven motioning a nod. He looked back to find the man nodding as well.

"Your task Garfield." she addressed. "Kill this demon before it kills you."

Garfield looked towards the demon and found that the man was nowhere to be found. There was no longer a leash on the demon and it crouched down waiting to pounce on its prey. Garfield began to shake. Then, the demon charged towards the man.