Megan placed the drink down next to Brett’s keyboard
“Anything?” she asked as she scanned the details on the screen
Brett leaned back on his chair and sighed.
“Nothing out of the ordinary so far,” he replied
Megan sat down next to Brett and looked at the screen.
“There has to be a reason why this company showed up before the attack on the book store.”
“Yeah, well, if there is one it’s not recorded,” Brett replied, “I’ve gone through every location I can think of and they all tell me the same thing.”
“What?”
“That this chamber is your standard, run of the mill, conglomerate with more business then you can count.”
Brett yawned and rubbed his eyes. Megan placed a caring hand on his shoulder.
“You’ve been working at this for three hours,” Megan replied, “Why don’t you take a break?”
“Not a bad idea. Another few minutes and I think I would have started to talk in binary.”
Brett closed the window he was working on and started to climb out of his chair. He got about half way when something caught his attention. On the screen was a news article he forgot he was looking at before. The photo that accompanied the article was of a kindly looking man shaking hands with the mayor of phoenix. Brett read the name of the man and frowned curiously.
“Wait this is weird.” he commented
Megan joined him at looking at the article.
“What is it?” she asked
“It says in this article that Jonathan Bowman is the CEO of the chamber consortium.”
“Who’s Jonathan Bowman?”
“He’s this big exec from out west they say he could rival Microsoft one day.”
Megan looked from the article to Brett confused.
“So why is this weird?”
“It’s weird because Jonathan Bowman died a year and a half ago,” Brett explained, “and this article was in the day before yesterday’s paper.”
“Maybe he wasn’t as dead as most people think.”
“Oh no he was definitely dead. There’s this whole big mystery about it to, they just found his body lying in his apartment.”
Megan folded her arms and looked at Brett curiously.
“How do you know all this?”
“Got bored one day and took a stroll through some corporate servers. There was this massive memo sent out through his companies about his death and how they are to keep it quiet until they figured out what happened.”
Megan looked at the photo seriously. Somebody is going to great efforts to make this place look normal and that usually spells trouble.
Nighthawk walked slowly around the dance floor of the empty night club. The whole vamp attack bothered her and she wanted to see if there was anything left behind that could tell her why the vamps didn’t feed. She heard footsteps coming up from behind her followed by the sound of a gun being cocked.
“No sudden movement’s missy,” the voice said angrily, “I have a gun pointed straight at your head.”
Nighthawk stopped. She turned slowly and faced the owner of the club. Realizing who it was he lowered he gun and smiled at her.
“Oh it you,” he continued in relief, “Sorry about that but after what happened I wanted make sure I was safe.”
“It’s alright I’m just trying to figure out what happened. Do you know why that vampire went straight for you?”
“No idea. Usually the vamps go for my better looking patrons other then me but this time.”
“You didn’t make any sought of pact or deal with that old vampire?”
“Hey that was the first time I saw him.” the owner replied defensively
As Nighthawk walked around further the owner looked her up and down.
“Nice outfit by the way,” he continued, “Do you do private shows or is it just large clubs?”
Nighthawk shot the owner a disturbed look.
“I’ll be around if that vampire decides to return.” Nighthawk replied
Nighthawk turned and headed for the door.
“I wouldn’t worry about coming back I’ve got better security coming now.”
Nighthawk stopped and turned.
“Better security?” she asked
“Yeah, it was so lucky, this guy from this large firm shows up after you leave and says that his company was willing to pay for repairs and offer security.”
Nighthawk walked back up to the club owner and folds her arms.
“So this guy just shows up out of nowhere and offers exactly what you need there and then?”
“And they say there are no good Samaritans in this city.”
“Did he leave anything behind?”
The owner though about this for a second then rummages around in his pocket. He pulls out a card and hands it to Nighthawk. She took it and read the name frowning.
“He said that they were a conglomerate or something like that.”
“Thanks.” Nighthawk said as she handed back the card
“Anytime,” the owner said, “and, hey, frees entry for you and your male friend alright as long as it get to see you in that outfit again.”
Nighthawk shot him a look before leaving. Outside she pulled out her cell and dialed.
“Hello?” Megan said at the other end of the line
“It’s me,” Nighthawk replied, “wanna hear something strange?”
“Alright”
“The guy who owns the nightclub got the same card as your friend in the book store.”
“So we’re thinking these attacks are linked?” Megan asked
“Looks like,” Nighthawk replied, “for some reason this chamber wants to muscle in on many of the local business.”
“But why use demons and vampires and stuff like that? There’s a lot less messy ways of getting someone’s store.”
“That’s what I need you to find out,” Nighthawk replied, “You guys got anything yet?”
“So far all we have is a dead CEO who’s still running the company.”
Nighthawk stopped.
“What?”
“Yeah this guy's been dead for over a year but the paper says he in charge.”
“Vampire?”
“Don’t know yet we’re still searching,” Megan replied
“Right, keep my posted.”
“Will do Night.” Megan replied hanging up her phone.
She looked at the article again frowning. There was something wrong with the photo but she couldn’t pick up what it was. From the computer room Brett walked in.
“I think I’ve just been around the internet twice and there’s nothing.” he commented, “God, I hope The Wanderer is having more luck then we are.”
“I know,” Megan replied as she put down the article then placed her glass on top of it, “I think my eyes are going blurry from staring at the photo for so long.”
Brett sat down next to Megan and leaned heavily against the table.
“The whole thing doesn’t feel right,” Brett commented, “I’ve been doing this sought of thing for a while and I can tell you that no company is this squeaky clean.”
Megan nodded. She’s had a similar feeling ever since the book store. She went to pick up her glass when she saw something. She opened her eyes wide
“Whoa,” she said, “What is that?”
The Wanderer walked slowly into the bar. The contact he just spoke to pointed him in the direction of a Ranth demon named Benny. The Wanderer wondered why a demon had a very un-demony sounding name but when he laid his eyes on the green lizard like demon he understood. The wanderer sat across from Benny in the booth and watched as he ate his disgusting looking meal. Benny looked up.
“You Benny?” The Wanderer asked
“Maybe,” Benny replied, “Who the hell are you?”
“They call me The Wanderer.”
Benny stopped eating and looked over at the old man.
“Nice,’ he replied, “I bet your progressive folk band does really well.”
“I mutual friend sent me here. He told me to tell you that if you help me he won’t have to send someone over to your place to get the money for the bar tab you haven’t paid in two decades.”
This caught Benny’s attention. He sat up straight and straightened his leather jacket.
“What do you want to know?” Benny asked a little more nervous then he liked
“Do you know anything about this big evil that’s spawning in this city?”
“Know it?” Benny replied, “I can feel it man! All of us can. Ever since those lawyers got dead things haven been the same.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know the usual. A lot of in fighting, murders, a few eyes being poked, you know, the usual. Then all of a sudden there was this weird call goes out to the community sayn’ that this new place is looking for anybody willing to fight.”
“Who put the call out?”
“Don’t know his name all I know is that he has some uber mojo. Got demons working together that shouldn’t be, hell, I almost went for the job myself.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Benny scoffed
“Ad lose this sweet deal I have goin’ at the moment,” he replied pushing the plate of disgusting food in front of The Wanderer, “Nacho?”
“No I’m fine. So who ever put out this call has some major pull behind him?”
“The majorist, got so many heads spun they don’t know whether it day or night.”
The Wanderer thought about this.
“Thanks.” The Wanderer replied
“Hey any time pal,” Benny replied, “always fun to talk to folk singers.”
The Wanderer stood and left the bar. After the coast was clear Benny pulled out his cell and dialed.
“Hey, it’s Benny, you we’re right somebody came around asking questions,” Benny said, “No it wasn’t a woman it was some old guy . . . alright I keep an eye on him.”
Outside The Wanderer started to walk down the street. Benny was definitely hiding something from him but decided not to push it in their first meeting. Just then hope flew down and landed in front she started to chirp wildly which worried the old man.
“No I don’t know where penny is,” The Wanderer replied
Hope chirped again and a look of shock crossed The Wanderer face.
“Oh god, are you sure?”
Again hope chirped.
“We have to get back to the mansion now!”
Brett enlarged the photo where Megan had indicated. Megan pointed to the strange marking on Jonathan’s hand.
“There, you see it.” Megan said
Brett looked at the intricate looking mark
“It just looks like a scar to me. What makes you think it means something?” Brett replied’
“Because I’ve seen that mark before.”
Megan opened her laptop and began to search through the Techno-Pagan demon database. She came across the symbol she was looking for and showed it to Brett. Brett looked from the scar to the symbol they matched perfectly.
“What is it?” he asked
“It’s the symbol of a very powerful demon,” Megan explained, “I’ve seen this symbol a few times on some of the demons me and my old coven used to trap.”
Brett looked up at Megan seriously
“So what is it?” he asked more insistently
“The mark of Rorgia.”
Just then The Wanderer burst into the room. The look of panic on his face made the other two nervous.
“Do either of you know where Nighthawk is?”
“I got a call about half an hour ago,” Megan replied, “she went back to the club to search for clues.”
“Get her back here now!”
“Why? What’s going on?” Brett asked
The Wanderer looked at the hacker with severe seriousness.
“Nighthawk is about to be ripped to shreds.”
Nighthawk stood on the rooftop of one of the buildings. As she gazed down at the street she heard her cell ring. Pulling it out from under her jacket she answered it.
“Hello?”
“Nighthawk where are you?” Megan said in a panicked tone
“Still down town I should be back . . .”
“Get out of there now!”
Nighthawk looked curiously at the area.
“Why?” she asked
“There’s been an attack ordered on you.”
“By who?”
Just then three demons materialized out of thin air behind Nighthawk. She slinked up slowly trying not to raise any alarms.
Back at the mansion Megan paced anxiously backwards and forwards.
“I think the order is from a demon named Rorgia the corruptor he’s very powerful and I think he might be behind this whole chamber thing. I’ll explain everything when you get back.”
“Ok I’ll be there in . . .”
Just then the sounds of a struggled could be heard at the other end of the phone. Megan stopped pacing.
“Nighthawk? Hello?”
Suddenly the line went dead. She looked up at the other two.
“Oh my god.” She said covering her mouth in shock
“What happened?” Brett asked
Megan looked over to Brett
“I think the chamber just got her.”
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