Meanwhile back underneath the cemetery, Angel's trick had worked better than he expected it to. As he searched for the stairway from which they came from, each time a demon tried to make a grab for him, they were sent hissing and shrieking away in terror upon seeing the cross he had marked on his chest with blood. It almost made him lose his fear completely. Almost. When he finally located the stairway, he quickly ran up and tried to get the door open.
"Come on! Come on!" He struggled and strained to get the stone door to move. "Come on! I can't stay down here for the rest of my life! There's no conditioner down here! I can't live life with dull and lifeless hair!"
He heaved and hoed, pushed and pulled, even went as far as to dig his manicured nails deep into the stone in order to get a better grip. But it still wouldn't budge.
"Shit!" He cursed when he broke a nail. "This'll cost a fortune to fix!"
As he was trying to fix his nail and then continue with trying to open the door, he was completely unaware that something was ever so slowly coming up the stairway. A very large and hulking figure who could move very quietly despite his size and physique. He kept going up, one step after another one until he was right behind Angel and Angel didn't notice a thing until his nose picked up a very unusual smell.
"Phew! What is that? It smells like brimstone and rubbing alcohol!"
Suddenly he heard an insulted groan breathe roughly down his neck. Angel gulped and went stiff with fear as he realized that he wasn't alone. He slowly turned around and looked upward. Towering over him was a 7-foot-tall, hideously ugly creation, with translucent yellowish skin pulled so taut over the body that it barely disguised the workings of the arteries and muscles underneath. He had watery, glowing eyes, and greasy black hair, black lips, and prominent white teeth. A beastly and bulging bi-ped that had him shaking in his hot pink boots.
"Um...Hello." He squeaked.
The figure looked down upon him with those glassy eyes, appearing as if he was trying to study Angel. Find out who he was and what he wanted.
"Back off man!" Angel flashed his chest. "I'm warning you! I have the mark of Christ on my body!"
But the creature did not shriek in terror or run off in fear like the demons had. In fact he just laughed and picked Angel up by his shirt collar with one hand.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?! Put me down you stooge!"
"Toby!" Angel heard a woman's voice call. "Toby is that you? Where are you?"
Before the enormous being could react, the woman suddenly appeared at light speed and Angel recognized her to be Cherri.
"There you are!" She scolded the creature. "I've been looking all over for you! You know you're not supposed to be down here!"
"Lighten up Cherri, I was bored from being hidden away all day. And nobody noticed me."
"Well thanks to you I had cut my drink short and look around corners with bones, spider webs, and mud. Thanks a lot!"
"You!" Angel said pointing to Cherri.
"Oh no, not you again." She said recognizing him. "What are you doing here? I thought you would have gone home by now."
"Excuse me but what the hell is going on here?! Where am I?! Who are you?! And what is this...Thing that's got me."
"First of all it's not a thing, it's a person and he has a name. It's Toby. Put him down Toby."
Toby dropped Angel.
"Oof!"
"Now then, maybe you should go on back to wherever you came from?"
"No way!" Angel said standing up. "Not until I get some answers! You were there the other night when I got knocked out! Who did that? And why?"
"I don't know if I should answer that. Something tells me you're not a person who can handle the truth very well."
"Lady I have been knocked out, forced into a doctor's office, chased by a floating woman's head in a glass ball, slid into a swamp, was threatened by some kind of shadow monster, got trapped underground, and was nearly eaten alive! I don't think there's much I can't handle anymore!"
"Whoa, you have had a shitty time." She chuckled. "Okay, here's the deal. I was the one who knocked you out that night."
"Why?"
"To save your ass. You were about go running right into the clutches of a demon who would proceed to steal away your life energy which would either kill you or turn you into one of them."
"To save me from a who that would do what now?"
"Maybe I should explain this in a different way. Last time we met you were looking around the VHS shop. I'm guessing that means you like movies, are you a fan of the horror genre?"
"Are you kidding? It's my entire life! I have a whole store devoted to it!"
"Alright so I'm assuming you know about vampires, werewolves, zombies, ghosts, ect."
"Yes."
"Here's an interesting fact about Davenport, in this little town, they're all real. Well sort of. Vampires and werewolves aren't real, they were just made up by characteristics seen in demons. You know like killing people in order to live or being able to transform into a beast or having a long lifespan. Zombies are a little different here too, right Toby?"
Angel looked up at Toby with a scared look in his eye.
"He's a zombie?"
"He's a corpse brought to life by means of science and supernatural magic."
"So he's like a real live Frankenstein's monster?"
"Pretty much. Although a zombie and Frankenstein's monster are pretty much the same thing, they were just brought back in different ways."
"Oh no!" Angel cried getting scared. "He's not going to eat me, is he? I've seen it on every late show! First he's going to nibble on my innards, then he's going to eat my brain and leave my body for the buzzards!"
"That's disgusting!" Toby scoffed. "I don't eat human brains!"
"You don't?"
"No that's a myth." Cherri said. "Why would a zombie need to eat anyway? They're dead. But Toby here does need occasional shock therapy in order to move. Kind of like re-charging your phone. I ran into him a few years back as he was fleeing from his creator. Long story short, he couldn't go home and he had no where else to go, so he ended up living with me and my roommate."
"And you guys just let him move in?" Angel asked her skeptically.
"Sure. Why not? I'm a demon and he let me move in no problem."
"You're a demon!"
"Yep. I used to be human but then a demon seduced and turned me."
Angel screamed in horror and then exposed his chest to her. But just like with Toby, the mark of the cross did her no harm.
"You know you're awfully thin and flat. You ever consider joining a gym?" Cherri snarked.
"Do you not see what is on my chest?" Angel asked, both confused by her reaction and insulted by her words.
"I know I don't see any muscles on there."
"Okay first of all, you're mean! And second, this is a cross! Crosses hurt demons!...Don't they?"
"Only the ones that have no soul. When I was turned, I lost a lot of energy and my D.N.A was contaminated, but I managed to get away before he could drain me dry completely and take my soul. Because of that I was able to retain my original mind and free-will despite gaining a demon's body."
"So what does that mean?"
"It means I'm a demon now but my mind is not corrupted and I can't be controlled by the demon who turned me. Honestly it wouldn't be so bad if I didn't need the life energy of others to keep myself in one piece."
"Life energy? Is that like blood or something?"
"Not quite. Demons crave souls, not blood. Through mere touch they can suck out your entire life essence and that leaves you with two options. You either die or you come back as a demon who's completely under the control of the demon who attacked you. Or if you're lucky you could end up like me. You somehow escape before the bastard can get every last drop. I mean sure you'll still become a demon but at least no one will control you."
"You say you need life energy to stay alive. Does that mean you kill people?"
"Not really. My roommate found a way to give me nourishment from the energy of animals. He catches mice, birds, insects, small animals, that no one really cares for and then he injects them with a mixture of holy water and his own human blood. After that he gives them to me to feed on."
"Gross but kind of cool. Wait a minute how does a guy who owns a VHS store know how to do all that?"
"I don't know. He'd have to tell you."
"Does he know anymore about the freaky stuff happening around here."
"He probably knows more about it than anyone else in this whole town."
"Can you take me to him? I got a lot of questions?"
"Fine by me."
"Great, now can you tell me how- Oh holy crap! Charlie! I forgot about her! I gotta find her!"
"Is she human?"
"Yes."
"Then don't panic, she's not down here anymore."
"She's not?"
"Nope. I can sense when a human is near and so far you're the only one I'm sensing."
"If that's true, how did she get out of here?"
"You think that door is the only way in and out of this joint? There are hundreds of entrances and exits. You just have to know where to find them. She might have stumbled on one of the exits by mistake."
"Happens to me plenty of times." Toby said.
"Still, maybe I should go back to the manor just to make sure she made it out alright."
"Hang on, that wouldn't be Nightshade Manor would it?" Cherri asked, her tone suddenly becoming very serious. "The creepy one that sits in the bayou?"
"Yes."
A flash of terror appeared in Cherri's eyes and she dropped her snarky attitude immediately.
"Listen to me, for your own sake, you can't ever go back to the place!"
"What are you talking about? Why not?"
"Because that's where I was turned and where Toby was created. It's also where the most evil thing is this whole town is housed."
"How do you mean?" Angel asked, trying to remain calm.
Cherri sighed.
"My roommate can explain it better." She took Angel by the hand. "Hurry! Before he senses our presence!"
"Who?"
"I'll tell you later! For now, come with me if you want to live!"
It happened so fast. Angel was grabbed by both Cherri and Toby, and they pulled him out a secret door and through the trees toward the boardwalk like a freight train. He didn't even have time to catch his breath, but he had a feeling that he'd just lose it again once they stopped and he learned what was really going on.