The store manager was preparing to lock up for the night. It had been a busy day with many customers. He was locking up the cash register when he heard a noise. It was like a low growling sound which was accompanied by a hiss. Curiously he walked slowly up to the front of his shop.
“Hello?” he called out, “We’re closed. You’ll have to come back tomorrow.”
The growling and hissing sound became louder. The manager felt a chill go up the back of his spine as he paces became a lot more cautious.
“If you don’t go now I’m going to call the police!” he yelled
The front window smashed open. Two demons leaped in and landed five feet away from the manager. A look of sheer terror crossed the mans face as he saw the creatures. One was tall and thin with green scales, piercing yellow eyes and sharp talons on he hands. The other was brown with huge muscles and a ferocious Hyena type face. The manager turned and bolted down the isle. The two demons charged after him knocking over shelves of merchandise as they went.
The manager made it to the back of the store and fumbled with his key. He was just about to put it in the lock when the huge brown demon grabbed him and dragged him away from the door. He lifted the terrified man up and sniffed at him lightly. A moment later he was thrown against the back wall. The green demon leaped high into the air and landed on to of the manager. He extended his talons ready to make the first strike.
Just then a small bird flew in and landed on the manager’s head. It tilted it head innocently as it looked at the two monsters in front of it. The green demon looked at the small bird with interest and raised its hand to clasp it. An arrow flew through the store and pierced straight through the demons hand and pinned it to the back wall. It howled in pain as both demons tuned to see Nighthawk standing in the window staring at both of them seriously.
“Opening hours are nine till five,” she said in a serious tone, “can’t you read the sign?”
Both demons screamed at her. The green demon yanked the arrow out of his hand and they both charged at Nighthawk. Nighthawk collapsed her bow and drew her sword, extending its blade. Holding it ready she waited for her moment. The brown hairy demon swung out with its claws. Nighthawk dodged the first two but was hit by the second. She was thrown violently across the room, through a few of the shelves, and into the wall. As she was trying to recover from that attack the green demon leaped into the air landing on top of her. It hissed viciously as Nighthawk tried to get back onto the front foot. Twisting sharply she knocked the demon off its feet and with a flash of steel cut its head off.
Nighthawk looked up to see the brown demon charging at her. Instead of running away from it she ran towards the demon and full speed. Inches away from being hit Nighthawk ran up the demons body, flipped over the top, swung her sword around and stabbed it deep in the back piercing its heart. The brown demon gave out one last howl before it hit the ground hard. The store manager, still shaken by his first attack, walked up to Nighthawk slowly.
“Oh god thank you so much . . . Ah . . . Leather Girl.” he said
“Nighthawk,” Nighthawk replied, “and it was no problem.”
“What are those things?”
Nighthawk gazed in a caring way through her mask.
“You don’t want to know.”
“Will there be anymore?”
“Probably not,” Nighthawk replied cleaning her blade and putting it away, “I think you’re safe now.”
The manager breathed a sigh of relief and bent down to pick up some of his dropped merchandise. When he looked up Nighthawk was gone and so were the demons.
The next morning the place was swarming with police and reporters. They were all asking the man questions about what happened and he was more then willing to tell the story. The only man not asking questions was standing to the rear of the crowd. He was tall, with dark styled hair and was wearing a light gray suit. After the main crowd dispersed he approached the manager and looked at the damage. He removed his sunglasses and surveyed the damage.
“Such a shame,” he said to the manager, “This store showed great promise.”
“I know. I was planning on taking it national. I had offers from very interested investors but now . . .”
“What you need is security.”
From his jacket pocket the man drew a business card and handed it to the manager. The manager read the card with interest. It said only one thing.
‘The Chamber’
“We’re a conglomerate,” the man explained, “We’re a multi facet organization willing to support local business.”
“I think it’s a little late for security.” The manager replied
From his other pocket the man produced a cheque and handed it to the manager. He read the amount and nearly fainted. Suspicious by the generous offer he looked up at the man curiously.
“What’s the catch?”
“You let us handle you stores security after you rebuild.”
“That’s it?”
From the man’s briefcase he handed him a contract. The manager read over it completely and sure enough that was exactly what it said. The Chamber handles the security and offers money for the rebuild.
“This is very generous,” the manager said as he signed
“The chamber believes in sharing the wealth.”
“I’m lucky to have what I have left,” the manager commented, “If it wasn’t for that woman who killed those animals I . . .”
The man turned and looked at the manager curiously
“What Woman?”
“The one in the mask, the purple outfit and she had a bird with her,” the manager replied, “I think she said her name was Nighthawk.”
“Thank you for informing me of this.”
The manager handed over the contract and went in to asses the damage. The man looked down at the contract and tapped it a couple of times. The text glowed for a few seconds while it shifted to reveal what the contract really was. The manager had just signed over his entire business unknowingly. The man walked away quickly as he did so he pulled out his cell and dialed a number.
“Rorgia, It’s me . . . yes I managed to get acquire the store, sir, we have a problem. There was a Nighthawk sighting at the demon attack you organized.”
Penny smirked as Jarrod stepped out of the tent in a full clown costume.
“How do I look?” he asked in a very dejected tone
“It’s . . . nice.” Penny said hiding behind her organizer trying to cover up her laughter.
Jarrod rolled his eyes.
“Let’s just get this over with.” He said as he wandered over to his mark
Still smirking Penny walked over to Deke, their camera man. Deke looked at Jarrod and shook his head
“Man!” he said, “sucks to be him.”
“Oh come on Deke I think he looks adorable.” Penny replied
“Yeah but adorable don't get you anchor.”
“’Scuse me are you two done?” Jarrod snapped, “We got news to shoot.”
Penny and Deke shared a look. As Jarrod started his report on the arrival of the carnival in town Deke leaned over to Penny.
“I’m surprised to came back to work so quickly.” He whispered
“I don’t really like hanging around at home,” Penny replied calmly, “Besides who else can put up with Jarrod’s neediness.”
Deke shot her a sideways glance.
“You were kidnapped Pen you could have at least taken a month to recover.”
Penny looked at the camera man and smiled.
“I’m okay, really. I don’t need the time,” Penny replied
She kissed him lightly on the cheek in a friendly manner.
“Thanks for caring though.” She continued
“Anytime.”
Penny’s cell rang. She stepped away from the filming and answered it.
“Hello?” she asked
“Pen its Megan,” Megan said on the other end of the line, “I’ve been looking up those two demons you described to be last night.”
“What have you got?”
“Are you sure those were the demons you saw?”
“Yeah I’m sure,” Penny replied, “I got pictures remember?”
“I know it’s just there’s no way it could be those two demons.”
Penny frowned in confusion
“Why not?” she asked
“Well the brown hairy demon you described is a Locases Demon and the green guy is a Galduri Demon.” Megan replied
“So?”
“The Locases and Galduri have been mortal enemies for centuries;” Megan replied insistently, “The Locases actually hunts the Galduri for sport.”
Penny thought about this. Suddenly the picture didn’t fit any more and she didn’t like that.
“Then why are the both of them showing up at a local store in downtown Phoenix?”
“I don’t know,” Megan replied, “What ever the reason was it has big bad written all over it. Listen, I gotta go, I have class in five minutes. Talk to you later?”
“Yeah Okay.” Penny replied before she hung up the phone
Rorgia stood in front of a giant map of Phoenix. On it were various colored pins. Next to him stood Thallon one of the other demons on the board.
“That appliance store put us up to one hundred and twenty business,” Thallon said calmly, “We are one step closer to our goal.”
“This is indeed good news but something still troubles me,” Rorgia, “This Nighthawk who keeps disrupting our operations who is she?”
“We’re looking into that Rorgia. All we can ascertain is that she has incredible speed and strength for a human.”
Rorgia turned and looked at Thallon
“Do you think it’s possible she is one of the surviving slayers?”
“All evidence is pointing in that direction but there are a few discrepancies.”
“How so?”
Thallon pointed one of his long spidery fingers at the map.
“She stopped a vampire attack here,” he explained, “Then travel to the other side of the city in under two minutes to defeat the Chaos Demon we were working with. That type of speed is impossible even for a slayer.”
“Well now this is a twist,” Rorgia replied stroking his chin, “Have some of our fastest scout’s combs the city I want to speak to this Nighthawk.”
“I don’t get the problem Pen,” Brett said at his terminal back at WNHK studios, “two demons were fighting in the same store so what?”
“The problem is they weren’t fighting each other.” Penny replied
“So?”
“So they should have been.”
Brett folded his arms and looked at Penny curiously
“Have you been thinking about this all day?” he asked
Penny looked around the room awkwardly.
“Not all day. Just, you know, most of it.”
“Oh my god,” Brett exclaimed, “you have got to get out and meet real people.”
Penny put her hands on her hips and glared at Brett.
“I know real people!” she snapped
“I mean real human people, I mean, when was the last time you went on a date huh?”
Penny didn’t answer she stood there awkwardly while she tried to think of a comeback unfortunately none came. Brett rolled his eyes.
“Alright, that’s it; I’m taking you out tonight.”
“Can’t, I have to patrol tonight gotta find out why those demons attacked.”
“Skip it,” Brett replied, “you have a serious party deficiency Miss Whitfield and the doctor is going to give you your prescription.”
When he said the word doctor he pointed at himself with both of his thumbs. Penny looked at him strangely.
“The doctor? You don’t actually call yourself that in public do you?”
“You’re one to talk bird girl. Lucky for you the doctor is immune to your snide remarks I recommend one night of intense fun then call me in the morning.”
Penny rolled her eyes and walked out the door
Megan stepped out of the classroom hurriedly scribbling notes. She was so distracted with trying to work out why two moral enemies where teaming up to attack an appliance store she missed half the lecture and had to catch up in a hurry. As she said goodbye to some of her class mates she headed over to the campus book store to replace some of her texts. She wandered inside. Behind the counter stood Dave. Dave was in one of her classes so they new each other pretty well. He looked up from his magazine and smiled at the brunette
“Hey Meg.” He said warmly
“Hey,” Megan replied as she scouted the bookshelves, “been busy?”
“Oh yeah we’re a regular WalMart in here.”
Megan smirked. She found the book she was looking and brought it up to the counter. She noticed that he was holding a business card.
“Whose is that?” Megan asked
Dave handed Megan the card.
“Some suit from downtown gave it to me to give to Rob. The idiot was actually trying to sell us security.”
“Isn’t that covered by the campus?”
“That’s what I tried to explain to this jerk but he kept saying that the store could be raided by anybody. What a loser huh.”
“Yeah.” Megan replied as she looked at the card that read ‘the chamber’
Just then the room began to shake. Both Dave and Megan looked around curiously.
“An Earthquake?” Dave asked
Megan looked out the window and frowned.
“I don’t think so,” She replied, “this place is the only one shaking.”
Suddenly the front door exploded open. A man in a long robe stepped inside. His face was covered in runes and his eyes were glowing a bright gold. Dave had no idea what was going on but Megan knew all to well what that man was. But why was he attacking a small book store?
He started to say some Latin phrases. The books caught alight and started to burn viciously. He caught sight of the two people standing at the counter and his eyes narrowed. He put one hand over another and said a few more phrases in Latin. An energy ball formed in his hand and he tossed it at the two of them. Thinking quickly Megan stretched her arms out and chanted her spell. A barrier field appeared about both her and Dave moments before the energy ball hit. The strike rippled the barrier causing it to collapse. Megan’s magic wasn’t as strong as a Witches but it gets the job done.
She readied herself for the next attack but the man had vanished. Megan looked around in confusion as Dave slowly climbed up from behind the counter.
“What the hell was that?” he asked nervously
“A warlock,” Megan replied in a confused tone.
“That’s it, screw Rob, I’m calling this place right now.”
Megan looked at the carnage closely. Something wasn’t right about this attack. She turned back to Dave who was dialing the number on the card. She looked at the card closely.
“Wait.” She said as she hung up the phone
Dave looks at her annoyed.
“What are you doing?” he asked
“Think about it Dave. A guy shows up offering security then all of a sudden you are attacked. Don’t you think that’s a little convenient?”
“Maybe.” Dave replied
Megan snatched the card from Dave’s hand. As she made her way to her car she studied it closely.
‘The chamber’
These guys are worth looking into.
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