Note: References to 'United by Fate' appear in this chapter.
Chapter Eight
Distracting Thoughts
The following day, Angela was at her shift at Subway as usual, yet her mind was elsewhere as she thought about what happened last night.
She couldn't get what she had seen out of her head, there was no doubt what she saw, and who had grabbed that mugger who attacked her.
"It was real, what I saw." She thought "But who or rather what was it?"
She thought back to the news and about the recent attacks on the Neo Nazi's and how it had been believed to have been costumed vigilantes, and one of them had been believed to be a large black bird.
"From what I saw." She mused "It looked like a cross between Batman and the Crow."
"No way." She thought "Could it have been…?"
"You alright honey?"
Angela almost jumped out of her skin as the voice of her supervisor entered her train of thought, and she looked up at Penny.
"What? Oh, yes, of course, why shouldn't I be?" she replied quickly.
"You sure dear?" Penny asked, "You seem rather distracted, and a little pale too," she then looked at the table Angela had been cleaning "And I think that tables been cleaned enough." She chuckled "I can practically see my face in it!"
Angela blushed and was about to speak when the doors of the Deli opened and both Penny and Angela turned to see Tamsin run in holding a newspaper and looking rather shocked.
"What are you doing here Tamsin?" Penny asked, "It's your day off!"
"I know." Tamsin said "I was running some errands and I just saw the front-page news! You gotta see this!"
Penny and Angela stared in question and Tamsin's voice alerted the other employees who came around to the front to see what all the fuss was about.
Holding up the Newspaper it said in big letters:
ATTACK ON RACIST NAZI FAMILY, OLDER SON FOUND HANGING FROM A TREE BATTERED AND IN A DELIRIOUS STATE.
Tamsin handed Penny the Newspaper and she opened it to read the article.
"Jesus Christ, another attack?" Penny asked then began to read the article out loud.
"It seems that Racist, Hate Crime, and Controversial Religious families and groups are being targeted by so-called vigilantes, in just a matter of days since one attack on a whole family, another took place not long afterwards, this time, the eldest son of the infamous Neo Nazi Henderson family, Neil Henderson was found hung by his ankles from a tree not far from his home surrounded by crows and foxes.
He was dressed in only his black boxers and was cut to ribbons along with some bloody words carved into his skin, and he had even had some of his flesh on his back and stomach sliced off and it was being eaten by foxes and crows."
"Yikes!" Tamsin gulped.
Angela felt sick.
"Jesus!" Wilson said, "Someone really fucked him over!"
"Can't say he didn't deserve it though!" Tamsin said, "He and his family are cruel and have done all sorts of nasty things!"
"Karmas a bitch yeah!" Wilson agreed.
Penny looked at the newspaper and continued to read.
"Neil was discovered at 5am this morning by a dog walker who instantly called the police and paramedics, so far, Neil is being supervised in hospital and the police are trying to investigate into the attack. The Henderson Family had called the police the night before to try and find their son when he didn't return from going out to feed their dog, but the police hadn't had any luck in finding him, until he was found this morning. Another disturbing thing was that the family was sent a note written in blood just before Neil was found, saying only two words. You're Next!"
"Wow…" Angela breathed, and Wilson turned to the television in the corner of the deli, and he saw a news report.
"Guys!" he pointed to the television, and he turned up the volume so they could hear the report.
"….so far the police are not sure who or what caused the attack on Neil Henderson, but they believe it to be connected to another attack on a Neo Nazi family only a few days ago, who claimed that the ones responsible were people dressed in animal costumes which sound similar to the famous Straight Truths Baptist church attack in Chicago."
As Angela listened to the news report, she thought again about that mysterious figure that saved her from the Mugger and she thought again about the recent attacks and how many of them claimed to have been attacked or seen what looked like a large black bird.
The more she listened to the news and the more she thought about what she saw last night, she couldn't help but wonder.
"No way…" she thought and swallowed hard.
Meanwhile, back in the basement of the abandoned house, Diablo smirked to himself as he looked through some photos of the Henderson Family he had swiped from his and his Disciples's victim last night.
After they had captured him, they had spent hours torturing him and Diablo had stolen his wallet where he found a wad of cash as well as some keep sake photos and a couple of keys to the house where his family lived.
He looked over to the Disciples, most of them like Regan, Lamia and Chastity were asleep on their sleeping bags, yet Samson, Rex and Ravage were still awake.
"Still hyped from last night?" Diablo asked.
Ravage nodded.
"What a rush man…" he said, "The way that little piggy squealed as we played with him." He bared his sharp teeth.
"The way his family disrespect blacks, it was wonderful to give him his just desserts!" Samson commented.
"And how he spoke of soldiers when we did what we could to protect the country he loves so much!" Rex snarled "He'll sing a different tune now!"
"Oh he'll be babbling for a while." Diablo smirked "After what we did to him, and seeing the crows and foxes come out to feast on his flesh, Regan wasn't the only one who got a treat that night!"
So saying he looked at the sleeping vampire bat who was curled up on her sleeping bag and cuddling her teddy bear close.
Rex knelt and stroked Regan's golden curls, the little bat purred but she didn't wake up.
"A sweet little angel, but a dangerous predator." He spoke.
"And she'll get her chance to hunt again." Diablo said "And that family of that pig, they have no chance of escaping, after that note we put through their letter box…" he sneered dangerously "At soon as the sun sets, we attack them in their house! And we shall do more than just attack."
"What do you mean chief?" asked Ravage.
Diablo licked his beak.
"I propose that we film the attack and we let the world see what we will do to all those who sin in the world!" Diablo replied.
"Film the attack?" Samson asked as he cocked his head on one side.
"You sure that's wise?" Rex questioned.
"Oh, I won't film us." Diablo said, "Only our victims as they're tortured."
Yet as he spoke about the idea, he thought about maybe filming himself, so people got a glance of him, so far, all people had an idea about him, and his Disciples was that they were humans in rather good animal costumes.
"Maybe we should talk to the girls about it?" Ravage asked, "Once they're awake of course."
'Of course." Diablo replied, "In the meantime, we wait until sundown, hopefully, the stupid family will be too deluded to think about running away from the house, in fact they may stay hidden and not leave in fear of us, but they're not safe, no matter what!" he held up the keys and smirked.
"I can't wait!" Ravage hissed "My claws and teeth are ready!"
Samson and Rex nodded in agreement.
"Likewise." Diablo said, "But right now, we must rest, save our energy, then once the sun sets, we attack!"
The Locust, Panther and Doberman agreed, and they settled in their sleeping spots hoping to get some shut eye yet after an exciting night, they weren't sure if they could.
Diablo settled back in the worn leather armchair as he looked at the photographs of his victim's family and he stabbed a hole in the face of the photograph.
"Each and every one of you will pay for your sins!" he smirked "There is no escape!"
He placed the photo down then looked at the ceiling as the thoughts of Angela came back to him.
He had wanted to find out more about her, and learn about her, but he knew his duties came first and he had to think about his followers.
"Once I have dealt with these Neo Nazi's, then I will see what I can find out about Angela," he thought "After what I heard, we do have something in common when it comes to having lost an older sibling."
He sighed and rested back.
He knew he couldn't go and find out now, as the sun had risen and he had to lay low to avoid detection, both for his safety and the safety of his Disciples.
"Patience Raven." He said softly "Patience."
So Angela has learnt about the Dsisciples Attack and she's starting to put two and two together!
Also Diablo as well as planning the next attack is still curious about Angela.