Michael pulled his car onto the driveway outside his house and silenced the engine. Night had fallen. He sat in the darkness for a short time, thinking about Jenna. He had been in this line of work for seven years now, and with each case he had to wonder how the public could be so oblivious to the creatures that lived amongst them. Demons were a pain in the ass. They had been granted permission to stay with the humans if they managed to escape hell, Michael didn't know why or by whom and that wasn't information that the government were prepared to share with him. He was no more than a foot soldier to them.
What he did know was that back in the sixties, the human world had seen an influx of demons, possibly a mass break out, and someone, somewhere, had agreed that they could stay providing they didn't cause any trouble. This was an agreement that the detective found laughable, asking demons not to cause trouble is like asking a lion not to eat meat! It's natural instinct to them, it's what they do best. Some of them do try, he had to admit that. He thought it was likely that Chloe had tried to behave, but deep down she was still a horrible, destructive creature and no matter how hard she tried, clearly the opportunity for a little home wrecking had just been all too tempting. She had paid for her sin with her life and this time there would be no coming back. Chloe's soul would be sent to the deepest, darkest pits of hell and locked up so thouroughly that Lucifer himself couldn't pull her out if he wanted to.
Truth be told, Micheal didn't care about Chloe. He cared about what had killed her. There was only one creature besides humans that hunted demons and it was always trouble when one of them showed up. He had only ever encountered one, in June of two thousand and nine, when he was working a case in which a demon called Sophie had been murdered. It had been a particularly gruesome death but then, Sophie was a particularly gruesome demon. She had delighted in causing suffering and pain. Every sin she comitted had been born from her selfish personality, but she was also stupid. She failed to cover her tracks and pissed off so many people that when her killer came looking for her, even her own kind pointed him to her with little or no persuasion. He killed Sophie within twenty four hours of his arrival in the human world. His last act was to scatter her body parts on the pier. This was his warning to the rest of the demons, a clear indication of what would happen to them if they didn't play ball. It was then that Michael discovered demons couldn't tolerate water. Until that time, everyone had believed that only holy water was effective against demons, of course it is effective but mostly just because it's water. The blessing only makes it slightly more acidic to them. The giveaway, was that no matter how hated one of them is, when they die in this world, the rest collect the body and bury it. With Sophie, they couldn't.
Michael closed his eyes remembering the incident with startling clarity.
He had arrived at the pier at six a.m and knew there were demons standing amongst the onlookers that huddled together, watching the scene play out before them. The police had already set up tents around the body parts to shield them from the crowd. He flashed his badge at the officer standing guard and ducked under the police tape.
When he stepped inside the first tent. He was suprised by what he saw. A woman, in jeans and a leather jacket, leaning over the severed head of Sophie.
"Should you be in here?" He asked
The woman turned her face to him and he recognised her immediately as Avery Silver. She was known to the government as a 'lone wolf'. Avery had, for whatever reason, started hunting demons years ago. The government had tried to recruit her when some of their agents encountered her during an investigation, but she had declined their offer. Now and then, she would appear on crime scenes if she thought a demon was involved, fake I.D in hand and a look of steely determination on her face.
Michael's employers tolerated her since she occassionally helped their agents with investigations.
"Hey" she greeted the detective
"Sorry, didn't recognise you at first" Michael replied "Good colour" he added, nodding to her hair.
Avery constantly changed her hair colour, her latest creation, purple and white.
"Thanks" She smiled
"So, why are you checking out a demon corpse?" the detective quizzed "You kill them, I don't usually see you looking at the ones that are already dead"
"The death isn't right, this thing wasn't killed by a human"
Michael frowned "Another demon then?" he asked
Avery shook her head "No, I don't think so. The body was hacked up with a special kind of blade."
"How special?"
"You know, not-from-the-human-world special"
"Do we have the blade?"
"No. The attacker must still have it"
"Then what makes you think it's special?"
She bent down and pointed to the neck of the demon
"See where it's cut? No blood flow."
"I'm not suprised, thing's been dead for ages!" Michael stated
"Yeah, and the cut has been there for ages too. There should be some blood. Plus, look at the skin, right around the edge of the slice. Doesn't something seem off to you?"
The detective leant in closer and examined the skin. Avery was right, something was off about it. There was a faint shine to it and it appeared stretched.
"It looks like a burn"
"Got there in the end eh Sherlock?" Avery sighed, she rummaged in her pocket until she found what she was looking for, then she produced a cigarette and lit it quickly
"You know you're not supposed to smoke in here right?"
"I'm not supposed to be in here at all, may as well add a smoke to the charge" she shrugged "Besides, it's only a demon"
Michael shook his head but didn't comment
"So you think the blade was heated up before it was used?" he eventually said
"Nope. I think the blade burns demons, I think it's toxic to them"
"Like holy water?"
Avery nodded "Like water in general. Didn't you notice the freaks in the crowd back there?"
"Yeah, I did wonder why they hadn't moved the body.... parts"
"They can't come on the pier. Too afraid. Water burns them like acid burns us"
"I thought only holy water worked"
"You thought wrong. Holy water is stronger, that's all."
"How did you find out?"
"One of the demons I was hunting trailed me home. It attacked me and I threw a glass of water in its face, I was hoping it would give me time to get a gun or something. Turns out I didn't need a gun, damn thing started melting, screamed the place down."
"Holy shit"
Avery took a final draw from her cigarette "Yeah" she smiled
The detective and the woman stepped out of the tent.
"So who do you think the killer is?" Michael asked
She shrugged again "I think it's someone we need to stop before this gets worse"
She flicked the cigarette over the side of the pier
"Hang on, a demon killer strolls into town and you want to stop it?"
"Of course I do! Look around you detective. See the crowd? Most of those people are human and right now they think some crazy arse killer is on the loose, they're shit scared. The world is bad enough without the supernatural adding a whole new level of horror to it! Think about it, chopping the body up and spreading it where the demons can't retrieve it, whatever did this, it wanted to cause a scene. It won't just screw with demon's minds believe me. I know this is bad news, I can feel it. I mean why hasn't it destroyed the evidence?"
Michael had tried to reply to Avery but they never did manage to finish the conversation.
At that moment, all hell broke loose. A creature of some sort soared down past them and beneath the pier
"What was that!?" Michael called in alarm
Avery didn't get chance to respond as a series of loud cracking noises filled the air and the floor shook violently.
It was only a split second before the pier began to collapse, that Michael realised the cracking noises were actually the wooden supports beneath the pier being torn apart.
"RUN" Avery shouted
They had tried to run, they just weren't quick enough. As the pier fell apart beneath their feet, they plunged into the cold water below.
Michael's panic was instantaneous. The water engulfed him. He instinctively tried to draw breath and instead, pulled a large amount of water into his lungs. His arms and legs flailed in vain.
Michael Layford had never learnt to swim...
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