Five days after the Battle of the Happy Warehouse; evening.

  On a trail near the river, a runner fell near a bush and was dragged behind it. In an apartment, a couple, tangled in the throes, collapsed, one having strangled the other. On the opposite side of town, a woman shrieked as she helplessly chased a baby stroller down a hill. And the demon Smog emerged, his yellowing teeth glinting in the moonlight, as he smiled and melted into the shadows.

  ------------------------------------

  Six days after the Battle of the Happy Warehouse; Morning.

  “I don’t care about your failure!” Smog shouted. “And I don’t care about your idiot brother. I want to know why.”

  “I don’t know,” Trench responded, cowering under Smog’s gaze, his mandibles clacking nervously. “He went into the bar before I did. He was going to flush the human out. But when I got there, and after I dealt with the human, Sepsis was just gone.”

  “Then we go to the humans,” Smog growled.

  “A rescue, then,” Trench hissed through a chuckle.

  “Fuck that ball of puss!” Smog spat, whipping around and glaring at Trench. “I don’t care about him. I don’t care about you! No one steals from me.”

  ------------------------------------

  Six days after the Battle of the Happy Warehouse; Afternoon.

  The door to Madam Wong’s swung open, its knob clacking against the brick wall well before Aury could knock.

  “You have something for me?” Madam Wong said, her voice tinted by a smile.

  Aury held the card up between his fore and middle fingers. Her smile widened to show her canines but turned to a scowl when Aury retracted the card and stuffed it in his pocket.

  “Yes yes. Come come,” she ordered, turning and walking into the kitchen.

  Inside, ladles scraped woks against the sound of burners shaped like jet engines. Madam Wong and Aury took a seat at the prep table. Magically, refreshments appeared before Aury could notice the kitchen hand who delivered them scurrying back into the dish station.

  “What you want, boy?”

  “I have what you asked for. I’m here for your Black Lotus.”

  Madam Wong chuckled, snapping a dumpling out of a bamboo steamer with her chopsticks. “Silly boy. Black Lotus worth more than just one card.”

  “I’m not here to haggle. I can take Karkov his Pikachu. I’m sure he’d like it back.”

  “Okay okay,” she said. “I see. I see. I give you my card, but I want favor.”

  “We didn’t discuss favors, Wong.”

  “Come come, sweet boy; smart boy. Is for old friend.”

  Aury rolled his eyes so hard he had to adjust on his stool. “What do you need?” he sighed.

  Madam Wong hopped off her stool and circled on Aury. She looked him up and down as she approached, like she was somehow taller than him. She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a crisp Black Lotus card in a hard plastic case. She slapped it on the table but didn’t lift her hand.

  “Is small thing; little thing. Nothing, really.”

  Aury furrowed his brow.

  “Tiny thing.”

  “Spill it,” Aury said.

  “My grandson, Jiehong. I want him to learn what you do.”

  Aury could stop the smile that pulled across his face. “I’ll give you the Regent’s email address,” he chuckled, reaching for the card. She pressed more firmly.

  “Not from them,” she said. “I want him to learn from you.”

  “I don’t do apprentices.”

  “You can do this one thing for Wong, good boy; smart boy,” Madam Wong cooed.

  Aury placed a finger on the card case, lightly tugging. Wong pressed harder and smiled. Aury snarled.

  “We had a deal and I held my end. And I don’t do apprentices. So, if I agree to this, you’re going to need to come up with something extra,” he said, his face still scrunched.

  Madam Wong smiled dismissively, releasing the card from the table. She chuckled, walking back on her stool.

  “Fine, boy. Fine. You do this and Madam Wong owe you one favor.”

  “A big one.”

  “Fine yes,” she snapped. “One big favor.”

  “Whenever I want it.”

  “You want favor or not?”

  “I don’t want to take your grandson, is what I don’t want.”

  She snarled and hopped off the stool. “You take card; you get favor. Jiehong!”

  A young man sauntered through the flapping, double doors. He whipped his raven-black hair away from his face. Lip and eyebrow piercings glistened briefly before his hood pushed his hair back down.

  Madam Wong angrily waved the boy over, growling in mandarin.

  “I’m Jay.”

  “Are you even old enough to drink?”

  “I like vodka.”

  A slurry of mandarin spilled from Madam Wong and seemed to make a physical impact on the young man, like an invisible boxing glove sprang from a trap door and whacked him in his chest, Looney Tunes style.

  “Okay,” Jiehong lamented, turning to Aury. “She says I’m supposed to go with you.”

  “Bruce is gonna kill me when he comes home…”

  ------------------------------------

  Six days after the Battle of the Happy Warehouse; Afternoon.

  Zer0 flicked her wrist, clapping the Polly Pocket case shut. Sepsis jumped.

  “Is that necessary?” Sepsis blubbered.

  “I just want you to remember your end of the bargain,” she said, tucking the plastic heart into her hoody pocket. “The Regent promised your life but he never said I couldn’t make it miserable.”

  Sepsis pointed a palm in her direction. “Talk to the hand, human.”

  “The bargain was struck, demon,” the Regent said, trying to speak over Zer0’s snarl. “You’ll be safe here, so long as you abide by our terms.”

  “It doesn’t matter anyway,” Sepsis said. “Even with all the information I gave you, you’re still gonna fail.”

  The blob monster turned and sloshed into the darkness of the dump, disappearing into the mounds of trash, happily humming The Macarena.

  Pepper harumphed.

  “I don’t trust it,” he said, folding his neon arms across his chest.

  “We don’t have a choice,” Zer0 added. “We had nothing before it gave us the information it did. At least now we have a plan.”

  “Heading back to that creepy warehouse and taking it by force sounds like a cherry of a time and all, but I don’t think I’d call it a plan, love. More like a goal. And what of our other partner?”

  “Aury will come back when he’s ready.”

  “Ain’t we gonna need ‘im if we’re gonna pull this this one off? He was the only one out there actually knockin’ heads. Well, him and porkpie, but he ain’t exactly floatin’ easily on the surface right now, if ya dig my meanin’.”

  “We don’t have time. You heard that… That thing,” Zer0 said, the word “thing” contorting her face so much it made her spittle a bit. “The Cauldron is a staging point for a new entrance. It won’t be as guarded and they’re not expecting us there. The longer we wait the lower our chances.”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “We lost three hunters, love. I don’t…”

  “We don’t have time, Pepper!” Zer0 practically shouted. She turned on a heel and stood towering over the bear, snarling down on him. Pepper stopped so abruptly he had to take a step backwards. “We don’t have a choice. We have to act now if we’re gonna keep demons from flooding the city.” She closed her eyes and pressed on the bridge of her nose. “Sorry. I just… We need to work fast.”

  “I know, love,” Pepper rasped. He put a green paw on Zer0’s ankle. “I’m worried about ‘em too. Both of ‘em.”

  Zer0 blinked toward the distance. The sun was setting over the city dump and the early summer warmth rippled over the heaps of garbage.

  She pressed her lips into a thin line. She cleared her throat, swooped down, lifted the bear onto her shoulders, and continued on.

  “So. Uh. Can I ask you somthin’?”

  “Sure.”

  “What do gummy bears taste like and why are the packages so loud?”

  ------------------------------------

  Six days after the Battle of the Happy Warehouse; Evening.

  Back at the barrow, Pepper turned to the side and shuffled between the cracked doors of the forge.

  “And you tested it?” Bruce asked.

  “Of course,” Alice answered. “On the slime monster.”

  Pepper watched Bruce narrow his eyes and press his palms into the worn work bench, wincing through the pain in his ribs as he inspected the lamp.

  “Through normal matter?”

  Pepper’s head bounced back and forth as the two spoke, like he was watching a tennis match.

  “Enchanted. The Polly Pocket in which he was locked.”

  “Righteous grammar.”

  “Thank you,” Alice responded, cheerily.

  Bruce stood, rubbing his beard, an increasingly gruff look on his face.

  “If it passed your tests then we should use it,” he grumbled. “Those fuckers got the drop on us last time. This may be what we need to turn the tide.”

  “Coffee?”

  Bruce turned to meet Alces’s smiling face and a steaming mug.

  “Uhhh. I. Yeah. Um. Yes. Sorry. Yes, please,” Bruce stammered.

  “I take mine black. Hope that’s okay.”

  Bruce looked down at the inky black ripples and smiled. He met her eyes and took a sip.

  “It’s perfect,” he said through a smile.

  Pepper’s beaded eyes lowered to the ground as he cracked a smile at the side of his face. He turned and quietly slipped back into the foyer.

  ------------------------------------

  Six days after the Battle of the Happy Warehouse; Evening.

  “Don’t touch that.”

  Jay pulled his hand back from the rubber WWJD bracelet dangling on the gear shift.

  “Isn’t that a Jesus thing?” he asked.

  “Supposed to be,” Aury grumbled.

  “You into that?”

  “Are you asking if I’m a priest?”

  “I thought all of you guys were.”

  “I’m not a priest,” Aury stated. “So, no. We’re not all into that. Demons have been around a lot longer than the Catholic church. They just tried to cash in on the enterprise early.” The car stuttered to a halt in front of a brick building with bars on the windows. “Wait here.”

  “A pawn shop?” Jay asked. “Business that hard up?”

  Aury slammed the door before the kid could spout off at the mouth any further.

  Jay rolled his eyes and proceeded to swipe his thumb across his phone as Aury yanked the first door of the building open.

  The door slammed behind him as the second door, an equally aged, wooden door fitted with a pane of wired glass, opened. A man shaped like the building, brown and dirty and almost as wide as he was tall, stood in front of the entrance, stopping Aury from proceeding. Aury paused and pursed his lips.

  The man reached into his coat and revealed a small wooden box shaped like a pirate’s chest. He held it in his palm and extended his hand toward Aury.

  Aury rolled his eyes, pulled out his lighter. The flame poofed into existence, warbling in the breeze that crept in through the poorly fitted front door. He waved his hand around the lighter a few times before clapping it shut and stuffing it back in his pocket.

  “Three,” Aury stated as he started to move around the man. The man took a quarter step to his right, placing himself back in Aury’s path.

  Aury rolled his eyes. He angrily reached into his pocket and pulled out his lighter, repeating the movements.

  “It’s got three trapped inside it,” he said, clapping the lighter shut and crossing his arms. “An elemental spirit and two standard poltergeists.”

  The man replaced the box and stepped aside. He climbed onto a stool that screamed as he settled.

  “Well, if it isn’t Aurelius.”

  Aury turned toward the gnarled voice. A man in a button-down shirt, suspenders and a battered top hat flashed a gapped smile. His sharp mouth was framed with a pencil-thin mustache and his deep smile lines made him look permanently sunbaked, exaggerating his expression.

  “Evander,” Aury said.

  “I’ve not seen the likes of you for—how long’s it been, Bruno?” Evander asked the man on the stool. “Well, must be damn near two years now. So, tell me, my friend. What deliciously terrible turn of fate has caused my lowly little market stop to be blessed with your presence?”

  “I’m here to trade.”

  “Oh, bless my stars. Ya hear there, Bruno? Our young Aurelius has come to try his hand with that most subtle of languages: the bargain. And what do you have to barter?”

  “I want the Digitz.”

  Evander’s head kicked back as he cackled. Aury could see all the gold teeth his thin lips were hiding.

  “Young man, young man,” Evander said, tisking his teeth. “One does not simply barge into my abode and demand things, exspecially not something so precious. First you tell me what you have, then I tell you what I’m willing to give you. Or have you never been on this end of the discussion before. The good lord knows someone of your,” he cut himself off to gesture Aury head to toe, “makings doesn’t find themselves wanting as often as my other clientele.”

  “I said I want the pager.”

  Evander started chuckling but stopped when Aury set Madam Wong’s Black Lotus card on the polished counter with a clack.

  “Well well. I see you’ve come to bargain indeed. Bruno. Lock the door. I think we’ll be needing a touch of privacy.”

  In the car, Jay locked his phone screen and slapped it down on his thigh. He stretched his neck, looking all around the car.

  He got out, pulled his hood further down on his head, tucked his hands in his hoodie pocket, and hurried to the wall of the building. He peered in through the bars unable make out anything more than a few shadows through the decades of grime caked on the glass.

  He walked to the alley between the pawn shop and the next building, glanced around again, and made his way to the back door. After tugging on the handle a few times, he spotted a casement window that had been cranked open and left unattended.

  He lightly climbed a trashcan and pulled himself up. He stifled a gag as the smell hit him in the face. After reaffirming himself, he reached through the crack, his rail-thin arms squeezing through easily. He cranked the window further.

  Jay grunted as he squeezed through, dangled on the wall a moment, then landed daintily on the floor of the bathroom. He covered his face with his hoodie, waving at the smell in vain until he spotted the source. He flushed the toilet with his foot and gagged again.

  Jay shuddered and opened the door. Suddenly he felt himself grabbed and lifted off the ground.

  “Hey!” he shouted. “Hey! Let me down!”

  “Shame shame, Aurelius. I thought we had a better relationship than this.”

  “Really, Jay? You flushed?” Aury accused.

  “You should have smelled it in there! It was unbearable.”

  “I’m willing to grant the boy a touch of grace on that one,” Evander added. “Bruno doesn’t do anything sans passion.”

  “It smelled like he sold his asshole to Satan.”

  “Shut up,” Aury ordered. “Drop him,” he said to Bruno.

  Bruno looked to Evander who offered a subtle nod. The giant man released his grip dropping Jay gracelessly to the ground.

  Aury turned back and met eyes with Evander. He reached for the Motorola Digitz Pager but was too late. Evander snatched it from the countertop with dizzying speed and was weighing it in his left hand as he inspected the Lotus in the other.

  “I’d argue that this little interruption complicates things.”

  “There’s no complication,” Aury said. “You got the card. Give me the pager and we’ll be on our way.”

  “Aurelius,” Evander cooed. “You know—better than anyone—that my establishment operates under a strict code.” Aury crossed his arms. “That’s right,” Evander continued. “A gentleman’s code. Our interactions are private, our discussions are exclusive, and our handshakes are binding. I mean, where would we be without our code?” he added in a chuckle.

  “He’s a kid. He didn’t know what he was doing.”

  “Then you won’t mind Bruno introducing him to our world. Bruno.”

  Bruno started advancing on Jay, unbuttoning the cuffs of his shirt. He stretched his neck. A crack from his collar bone sounded out like firecrackers in the distance.

  Aury stepped in front of the man, his gaze lowered.

  “He’s a kid, Evander.”

  “I can handle myself,” Jay announced.

  Aury sucked his teeth and glared at the kid. He looked at the human shipping crate, shrugged, and stepped aside.

  Bruno grunted through a grin and continued his stalking.

  Jay lowered his chin and perched his weight on the balls of his feet.

  Bruno reached out to snatch the kid by the shirt but turned up empty. He caught Jay in the corner of his eye and whipped around only to lose him again as Jay swiftly ducked behind him.

  Bruno growled and swung wildly looking like an inflatable tube man as Jay ducked, dodged, and side stepped the monstrous human. Evander and Aury furrowed their respective brows, caught each other’s eyes, and turned their heads back to the impromptu match.

  Bruno finally shouted and took two steps backwards, moving his stubby arms and legs as fast as they’d let him. He turned on his heel and caught the kid unawares.

  Bruno grabbed Jay by the collar and smiled an evil grin. His teeth were shaped like him too, like a row of cigar-smoke-stained boxes in his mouth.

  Jay closed a fist and pounded on the man’s forearm to no avail. He tried to jump, adding extra downward force to his technique. Nothing.

  Bruno chuckled and pushed forward, driving the kid toward the wall.

  In a motion almost too fast to comprehend, Jay placed his foot on the wall behind him, took two quick steps upward, and pounced forward, breaking the man’s grip and ending up behind him again.

  Jay leaped and spun, bringing his heal across the man’s jaw and with whirlwind speed. Evander and Aury watched the huge man turn with the force of Jay’s foot and continue to spin as he toppled with a thud.

  “Well color me impressed,” Evander rasped.

  “Huh…” Aury intoned. He turned back to the display.

  “I believe this is yours, sir.” Evander said, sliding the pager across the glossy counter.

  Aury scooped the pager and stuffed it in his hoodie, turning toward the door. He stopped, turned back, and extended his hand to Evander. Evander smiled slyly, touching his nose. He shook Aury’s hand once and watch as Aury left, wordlessly, with Jay in tow.

  “What the shit was that?” Aury asked through a puff of cigar smoke.

  “Do you honestly thing Mama Wong would let me leave without knowing how to defend myself?”

  Aury blinked and took another puff.

  “Besides, she’s into all that Chinese stuff.”

  “You’re Chinese,” Aury said.

  “I’m Chinese but not like Mama Wong is Chinese. I couldn’t leave the house without knowing all the holidays, rewriting the Xiaojing, and cleaning the altar. We only speak Mandarin at home, only eat food from the restaurant, and I had to train with a master three times a week from the time I was eight.”

  “Well, it seems to come in handy.”

  Yeah,” Jay grunted. “So you gonna tell me what we’re gonna do with that old-ass pager?”

  “You don’t come in that handy yet.”

  ------------------------------------

  Six days after the Battle of the Happy Warehouse; Evening.

  CRT screens flickered randomly, images on analog monitors flashing from one scene to the next, black and blue static buffering each change. A single stocker in the candy aisle of a convenience store; a top-down view of a parking lot, the lights flickering in the dark; a battered couch on the curb.

  The Cryptic snarled. One hand gripped the leather of the arm as the other mashed the space bar of the keyboard on the other side of the chair, the mechanical clack resounding louder with every strike.

  Their hand stopped. They let it hover over the keyboard, menacingly. Their eyes narrowed on one screen as their hand nimbly navigated the buttons. Another screen changed to match the one that had their gaze. Then another, and another.

  The Cryptic edged to the front of their seat, resting their elbows on their knees as a grin slowly pulled itself across their teeth.

  Then swiftly typed on the keyboard and watched the scene replay on a loop.

  They sat back, easing into the chair, listening to the leather breathe a sigh of relief. They chuckled, deep and rumbling in their chest. On the monitor, a black cat padded across an alley, stopped and looked directly into the camera, then bolted out of sight.