""=talking
''=Thinking
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Chapter 1: First Day Open And It's Already Crazy.
RINGRINGRINGRING
RINGRINGRINGRING
RI-CLICK
"Devil May Cry."
"Uh huh, you said blue figures? Address? Hell's Kitchen? Alright, be there in 30."
"Heh, first day open and already getting calls. Guess putting up those posters wasn't for nothing. Time to get ready for the job."
Checklist time.Metal bat strapped to the back — check.Ebony & Ivory on my sides — check.Badass red coat — check.Phone and headphones — check.Slice of pizza for the road — check.
"Alright, time to hit the road."
Hopping on my bike, I start my music and begin pedaling toward Hell's Kitchen, weaving between cars and alleyways.
20 Minutes Later ——
Mentally going over the notes: Apparently, people in the apartment complex have been going missing. Weird cuts are showing up inside and outside the building. Always at night. Other tenants swear they've seen something that looks like a "Plasma."
From what I remember in simulation training, a Plasma is a shape-shifting lesser demon formed from electricity. They can mimic the shape — and sometimes the abilities — of whatever they fight.
Except... this one doesn't match the usual behavior. At least, not from what the client said.
Flashback ———————————————
A nasally, out-of-breath voice crackled through the phone.
"H-Cough-Hello? I got a flyer here says you do 'Devil Hunting, Odd Jobs, Problem Solving, and Exorcisms.' Is that correct?"
"Uh-huh."
"Sniff O-Okay, good. 'Cause I—I got a bit of a situation here. Something's been... Cough cough... clawing at my apartment complex walls at night. And some people are go-going missing. Tenants are complaining. Some of them say they've seen blue figures at night — right around the time someone disappears."
"You said blue figures?"
"Y-Yeah! Like—like tall, kinda see-through, with one glowing red eye? One guy said it looked like a cop. Another swore it was a bat. But translucent blue, and huge. Every time someone sees one, it's right after an attack. A tenant in 4B saw one last night. Now the guy in 4C? Gone. Poof."
A moment of silence.
"Address?"
"Cough Hell's Kitchen. Fourth Street. Giant puke green apartment building. You can't miss it."
"Alright. Be there in 30."
End Of Flash Back----------------------------------
Plasmasare aggressive. They don't stalk prey—they attack from a distance and hit hard. This felt more like a group... or maybe a territory fight.
Didn't matter. I just had to work my magic and get paid.
I looked up from my handlebars.
'Alright, should be around here somewhere. He said 'puke green'... oh, never mind. I see it.'
There it was—standing out like a neon sign in the dark. Surprisingly, it looked better than the rest of the street. Still ugly, but at least it had character.
I rolled to a stop in front of the building and kicked the stand down.
"Time to meet the man and collect that easy money."
I paused.
"…Wait. We never discussed the pay."
I shook my head, muttering under my breath. Guess I'll figure that out later.
I walked inside, the door creaking as I pushed it open. The hallway smelled stale, like old food and forgotten laundry. The light overhead flickered slowly dying as I made my way to the end of the hall.
The landlord's office was tucked at the end of the hall. I could hear the faint hum of a fan and the rustle of papers as I made my way toward it. As I got closer, I knocked on the door.
Knock knock
"Yeah?" A rough voice called out.
I opened the door to find a man in his late forties, dressed in a worn-out button-up shirt and cargo pants. He had the look of someone who spent more time fixing problems than solving them, with a permanent frown and dark circles under his eyes.
"You the one who called?" I asked, crossing my arms.
He squinted up at me from behind a cluttered desk. "No, that was one of the tenants who called, You're the guy from the flyer?"
"Yes. I'm here about the problem you got, and to discuss the pay. So, where's the guy?"
His gaze darted over my shoulder, like he expected someone else to show up. After a tense moment, he waved me in, glancing nervously at the door. "Right. Come in, come in. He's in the back. I'll let him explain the situation."
I stepped in, glancing around at the dim, cluttered office. Paperwork, half-empty coffee mugs, empty beer bottles, and a couple of old filing cabinets that looked like they hadn't been touched in years.
The landlord stood up with a grunt, walking toward the back of the room. He seemed more relieved than anything. I followed him to a narrow door that led to a small, dingy room. Inside, a man sat hunched over, scribbling notes on a pad of paper. He looked as frazzled as the landlord, but there was something off about him.
'Guy looks like a scared animal, seems he's about the jump off the chair he's on any second.'
"This is the guy from the flyer you called tell him," the landlord said with a half-hearted gesture. "You can explain it better than me."
The man didn't look up from his notes. His voice was low, almost mechanical. "You must be the demon hunter." He paused, looked around and slightly jumped when he heard himself drop the pen he was holding and took a second to try and calm himself then added, "I guess I'll just get to it."
He sighed, picking up his pen and putting it down on the table next to him and finally meeting my eyes. "Name's Lucas. I'm one of the tenants here. Or, I was, until everything went to hell." He glanced around the room, as if the walls themselves were listening. "People are disappearing. I've seen it. People vanishing in the middle of the night. Tenants—good people—just... gone."
Lucas lurched forward, his voice dropping to a near whisper. "Every night, around midnight, there's always this big loud clash of blades and electricity, followed by this eerie blue light. Like something's... fighting, but it's not just a fight. It's a slaughter. And every time it happens, someone else disappears and weird deep claw like marks appear."
'I'd dealt with my fair share of demons, but the way Lucas spoke about it—the fear in his eyes—it sounded different. This wasn't just some rogue demon wreaking havoc; this felt... orchestrated.'
rubbing my head "You said 'blue light.' You mean the same figures the tenants have seen?"
Lucas nodded quickly, his hands trembling slightly. "Yeah, those figures. Tall, One Red Glowing Eye, some translucent, like they're... not really here, but they are. It's always the same—right before someone vanishes, they see it. "Sometimes it's a bat and sometimes it's them, or someone close to them.
Nodding my head "Hmm yeah I've experienced something like this before not there usual M.O but I got it handled."
with a smirk on my face and grabbing a near by office chair "Now let's talk about payment"
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TADAH A FULLY FINISHED CHAPTER AND SOMETHING I CAN WORK OFF OF YAY AND THIS TIME THE BOOK IS MOSTLY PLANNED OUT ATLEAST ON THE DMC SIDE OF THINGS INFO WILL BE POSTED LATER BEFORE THE SECOND CHAPTER BE ON THE LOOK OUT HOMIES PEACE ALSO SEND ME THEM STONES AND TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT FROM THE STORY I NEED TO KNOW AND IT MOTIVATES ME