Hunter

Erik's got a new job, but it's bound to put his friends in terrible danger.

Erik sat at the table in the living room, staring down at the wooden patterns, his mind far away.

No dreams, he thought to himself. I guess they were him after all...

"Erik?"

Erik snapped back to the real world, looking up at Mark, sitting across from him with his eyebrow raised.

"You're moodier than usual," he continued, eating his breakfast between sentences. "You sure you're okay?"

Erik hesitated. He thought about saying something, explaining the situation...

"Yeah," he finally answered. Mark narrowed his eyes.

"Are the dreams getting worse?"

"No, they've... stopped, actually."

"Oh, there you go," Mark said, smiling. "So they WERE nothing!"

"Apparently," Erik replied, looking back down at the table. "Nothing to worry about."

"That's good," Sam said from the couch, not taking his eyes off the television. "I was getting worried, like he'd turn up in the store or something."

"Oh man," Mark laughed, "can you imagine? Customers screaming and runnin' out the door because of something OTHER than Erik?"

"Eliza staring him down," Sam continued, "arms folded, Dennis trying to kick him out and getting set on fire-"

"I'm almost inclined to find him and ask him to," Erik said, smiling. "That all sounds like a fun change from the usual tedium."

Erik continued smiling. He was glad things hadn't changed, that they were still joking around over breakfast and cartoons. Telling them would only complicate things, he decided. Whatever happens, I'll deal with it myself.

Anything to keep this all from falling apart.

Hours later, the three were back in the store, wasting their time as unprofessionally as ever. Only when the bell by the door rang and Angie walked in did Erik turn down the volume on the music player connected to the store's speakers.

"Aw," Mark complained, "that was getting good!"

"Hi, guys," Angie laughed. "Are you messing around, or do you ACTUALLY dance like that?"

"You're just jealous," Mark said, holding his arms in the air and making a ridiculous body movement. Angie covered her face to obscure just how much she was laughing.

"Eliza not with you?" Sam asked, sitting down.

"Not today," she answered, leaning over the counter to hug Erik. "She's got work."

"So's Merideth," Erik added, returning the hug. "She might turn up later, but we're not sure."

"What do you mean 'be careful'?" Angie whispered into Erik's ear.

"I'll tell you in a minute," he answered, his voice low. Apparently not low enough, though.

"They're whispering!" Sam announced, pointing at them as they separated. "They're conspiring!"

"Quick!" Mark called, raising his hands in mock alarm. "Lock the doors! Hide the merchendise! Get the hose!"

"What?" Angie laughed.

Erik rolled his eyes. "I don't know," he said.

"Dennis' out too, by the way" Mark informed. "Not that anyone cares."

"That's been happening a lot, hasn't it?" Angie asked. "You guys keep saying Dennis isn't here when he apparently should be."

"He used to be around in the back room all day," Mark answered, "but I guess he realized it was kinda pointless since nothing really happens around here."

"Except for things like Sam getting set on fire," Erik said. "But even then he manages to ignore us."

"Hey!" Sam said, "that was an accident!"

"Wait," Angie asked, breaking apart from Erik. "So where's he been the past week or two?"

Mark rolled his eyes. "Goddammit, if he died and we didn't notice I'm gonna be SO pissed."

"Same," Sam agreed. "It'd mean we haven't been getting paid."

"If that's the case," Erik answered, "I'm robbing his corpse. Then EATING it."

"Gross."

"Your face is gross. Now you two go do something for a bit, we gotta talk."

"And let the conspiracy thicken?" Mark asked. "Fine, but don't expect us to lie down and take the power shift!"

Sam followed a still-speaking Mark away from the counter, unsure of whether to let him continue or make him quit while he was ahead. Well, while he wasn't in last place.

"Now what's going on," Angie asked, not whispering but still keeping her voice down. "Your text scared me, is something-"

"Red appeared yesterday," Erik said. Angie's eyes widened and she had to stop herself from gasping loudly.

"Th-the Demon? What did he want!?"

"It was mostly just bullshit," Erik explained, trying to make the whole thing sound a lot less dangerous and scary than it probably was, "but he said he got a new job or something."

"His JOB?" Angie asked. "Demons have JOBS?"

"Can you stop calling him that?" Erik asked. "He's not a DEMON, he's an ANGEL."

"A DARK Angel," Angie replied. "That's what you told me."

"Their powers don't make them Demons, they just-"

"Oh, okay," Angie said, rolling her eyes. "I get it. Sorry."

Erik rolled his eyes back before continuing. "I don't know what his new job is, but he's still doing his old one: being in change of the dead."

"Red's the Grim Reaper?"

"One of them. There are a lot of Angels working in that field, each one taking care of a different kind of spirit, each one getting a different part of the world. This city and a few other suburbs is Red's territory."

"What kind of spirit does he take care of?"

"The worst: Tainted Souls. People who corrupted their spirit while they were alive and died without fixing them. Except that's not the end, for them. With most other spirits, they'd just hang around until they were collected, but Tainted Souls are different. They don't move on without a fight."

"A fight?"

"Corrupted souls don't stay human. They become Lesser Demons."

"... so Red's a demon fighter?"

"Not with his power," Erik answered, shaking his head. "For him it's like sweeping up dust."

"What does any of this mean to you?" Angie asked.

Erik took a breath. He hadn't done that in so long, he almost choked.

"He said... with his new job, he's going to be less careful with his first one. He wants me to take care of all the slip-ups."

Angie stared for a few moments before speaking again.

"... Red's going to let Demons loose on the city?"

"And he wants ME to take care of them."

"Red wants you to... fight demons for him?"

Erik considered slamming his head into the counter. And the wall. And the cash register.

Instead he just squeezed his eyes shut and groaned.

"IT'S SO STUPID," he moaned. "Of ALL the things to happen, why does THIS?"

"Okay, well that's not a sentence," Angie said, trying to alleviate the situation. "But I've got to say you're taking this better than I would. Aren't you worried about... well, demons? Getting hurt, getting-"

"That's not the POINT," Erik said. "The point is that after three years of this THING not being a problem, after three boring, NORMAL years, everything's gone all cliche?"

"... is that seriously your take on this?"

"Isn't yours?"

"Erik," Angie said, snapping her fingers in front of his face, forcing him to open his eyes. "Don't be THAT GUY. Don't get pissy at the world because a STEREOTYPE is filled."

Erik grumbled, but let the issue drop. Truth be told, he WASN'T that annoyed about that aspect of the situation, he just needed something to complain about that didn't make him sound weak. Oh no, fighting! I don't want to fight things, I'll graze my knee! How stupid would that sound?

"Now how do you know when they'll even show up," Angie asked. "Or where they even are?"

"No idea," Erik said. "I guess I'll wing it."

"That's a pretty crappy deal. If he doesn't even let you know when they show up, how are you supposed to deal with them?"

"He's RED. He probably gets off on watching me flail around."

"He'd have to let you know SOMEHOW," Angie continued, thinking harder. "This is all about entertaining himself, right? Then there's no point in letting something loose if you don't notice, there'd be no fight. No fun to watch at all."

"I don't know," Erik said. "It happens in every horror movie ever, and they still make money."

"This isn't a horror movie, Erik. This is HAPPENING. Deal with it or get trampled."

"I know, I know..."

The two sat in silence for a moment or two.

"... do they know?" Angie asked.

"Who, Sam and Mark? No. And they're not GONNA know."

"What?" Angie asked, shocked. "Why not?"

"Because Red only mentioned YOU," Erik said.

"So? They're your friends, too! More than me!"

"Angie, he only mentioned YOU. YOU'RE the one he's thinking of messing with. I'm not letting them get involved in something like this if they don't have to be."

"That's not fair on them," Angie continued, "they've got a right to know when their best friend is in danger. It's theyr job to help you out, to have your back!"

"Angie, don't do this. The closer they are to it, the more danger they're in. I'm keeping them away from it to keep them safe. You, on the other hand, are already in, so I'm informing you to keep you safe."

"This isn't the right way to deal with it, Erik."

"I don't CARE. It's how I'm GOING to deal with it."

Their argument was suddenly interrupted by a loud crashing sound from the back of the store.

"AAGH," Sam's voice came from the same location.

"Hey, Erik?" Mark's voice asked.

Erik and Angie shared a glance, silently deciding to pick up the discussion later, before running to the source of the commotion.

"What the HELL," Angie exclaimed. An entire shelf had been toppled over, CDs and DVDs strewn all over the aisle.

"How the F**K did this happen?" Erik asked.

"The box had to go up top," Sam's voice came from under the overturned shelf, "so we tried pushing it and I kinda just-"

"You know what? Forget it. I'd rather NOT know how s**t like this keeps happening."

"KEEPS happening?" Angie asked.

Erik and Mark stood on one side of the shelf and pushed, lifting it back into a standing position. Sam crawled out from under it and through the small mound of Comedy DVDs.

"Ugh... thanks, Erik," he said, massaging a point on his back. "Sorry about that."

"No problem," Erik replied. "You can reflect in the glow of my forgiveness while you put everything back."

"Aw!"

"You too, Mark," Erik said. Mark double-took.

"What!?" he whined. "Come on, it was HIS fault!" 

"It was NOT," Sam said.

"If you hadn't tried getting on the other side like that, you would've been able to help me hold it steady!"

"You TOLD me to get to the other side like that!"

"Lades," Erik said, holding up his hands, "shut the f**k up. Pick all this up and put it back where it was, or I'll drink from you both."

"Ew," Sam said, kneeling to pick up some DVDs.

"Bull," Mark contended. "There's no way you'd-"

Erik lunged, his teeth bared and his eyes glowing. Mark yelped and tripped backwards over Sam, who also toppled sideways.

"Oh my GOD," Sam cried, "get OFF ME!"

While Mark tried to swing himself sideways off of Sam's back, Erik and Angie went back to the front counter.

"That was a bit harsh," Angie said.

"Maybe," Erik replied. "I'm not in the mood for their bullshit right now."

Angie remained silent for a few moments, contemplating whether to continue their previous conversation.

"Would you tell them?" she finally asked. "Eventually?"

"Maybe," Erik answered. "Only if I had to. Until then, they're staying in the dark."

"What happens if the time comes out of nowhere?"

"What?"

"I think it's a bit irrational, leaving them completely unprepared like this."

Erik sighed. "Look, I've told you my reasons, I'm only asking you to respect them and take care of yourself."

"I'm just scared for them," Angie said, looking over at Mark and Sam arguing over the DVD pile. "You don't know for sure if they'll be left alone, and god knows you'll need help with this."

"How can they help? I'm an Immortalis, you're a Witch, they're just two normal humans."

"You're human, too, Erik. Partially, at the very least."

Erik said nothing, staring at the counter with a frown on his face.

"Promise me, then," Angie said, placing her hand on his arm. "If there's any sign of them even possibly being in danger... that you'll tell them."

Erik shifted his gaze to Angie's hand near his own. Of course he would tell them if they were in danger, it was just a matter of how little the danger had to be for that to happen. He didn't want to involve them unless he was certain they would be harmed otherwise. Angie was asking him to do so even if it wasn't certain, even if it was only a mild possibility. That was asking for a lot more than he was willing.

But still, he thought. If it's what she wants, if she's really being this insistent about it...

"Fine," he finally replied. "I promise."

"Thank you," Angie said. She leant over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Erik looked over at Mark and Sam again. Now they were arguing over which artist was better, the pile almost no smaller than when they had begun their chore.

Damme, guys, Erik though to himself. You'd better stay the f**k away from this.

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

The day progressed faster than usual for Erik, possibly aided by Angie's prescence in the store with them. For the others, it still dragged on, but the addition of somebody other than their roommates made it a little more bearable. The next day, however, Angie was at work, leaving the three of them just as bored and apathetic as they always had been.

Mere minutes had passed since they had opened up the store, which they'd been informed to do so earlier than usual. Something of interest was brought up when Sam realized something, something he was sure they should have noticed, or at the very least given some more thought to sooner.

"Y'know," he began, shifting his weight from behind the counter, "I've been thinking."

"Worrying," Mark replied, from lying on it, "but safer than when I do."

"It's about what Angie said about Dennis."

"What, how he's been gone for a while?" Erik asked, poking his head out from a nearby aisle, an armful of CD cases.

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "Quite a while, actually."

"So?"

"Well, it's that, and I haven't been paid this week."

"You too?" Mark asked, sitting up straight. "I saw my account yesterday, nothing's changed!"

"Do you think something happened to him?"

"It's possible," Erik said, dumping the CDs on a randomly selected shelf and reaching for his pocket. "Doubtful, though. He's probably just being overly lazy this week."

Erik pulled out his phone and dialled Dennis' number.

"Ugh," Mark complained, lying back down. "If he's just vegging on the couch or something, I'm gonna be pissed."

"You're not now?" Sam asked. "I remember the last time you didn't get paid on time, you nearly had a fit."

"I've done a lot of growing since then," Mark retorted with mock superiority.

Erik re-pocketed his phone. "No answer, it's just ringing out."

"Wow," Sam commented. "What do we do?"

Erik thought for a moment. He nodded, having come to a conclusion, then made for the door.

"Wait, you're just gonna go there?" Sam asked. "We only just got here! And do you even know where he lives?"

"Nope," Erik answered, holding the door open, "but there's no way in hell I'm staying here unless I'm getting paid for it."

"Wooh, hookey!" Mark announced, sliding himself off the counter and bounding through the door. Sam rolled his eyes and grabbed the store keys, flipping the 'Closed' sign on his way out.

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

The three approached an apartment building, several blocks from the store. They'd read a local directory and found Dennis' name after about seven tries at spelling his last name.

"Number Seven," Erik confirmed. He pushed the button beside the door marked 'Dennis M'. In the more or less silence of the mid-morning, they could hear the faint buzzing of the call module in one of the apartments. They waited for a minute or so, but heard nothing from the speaker next to it.

"Maybe he's asleep?" Sam offered. Erik pushed the button again. Again, they heard a buzzing, but no response.

"YO DENNIS," Erik yelled, "WAKE UP, YOU PIECE OF S**T!"

Mark laughed loudly while Sam gasped and looked wildly around.

"What are you DOING?" he asked. "Are you trying to piss off the whole building?"

"If I do," Erik answered, pressing the call button repeatedly, "they can wake him up for us."

"HEY DENNIS," Mark yelled from the sidewalk, cupping his hands and yelling up at the building's windows. "GET UP! YOUR EMPLOYEES ARE DISSATISFIED!"

"Got an air horn?" Erik asked. Sam rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, leaning against the wall. Inside Dennis' apartment, the module near the door buzzed, signalling Erik's pressing of the call button.

The minutes passed, and each of the three became tired. Erik was getting tired of pushing a button repeatedly, Mark was getting tired of yelling at windows, and Sam was getting tired of the both of them.

"You've been at it for like ten minutes," he finally said, "I'm surprised nobody's come out and kicked us off the property yet."

"Maybe he's out?" Mark offerred.

"If he is," Erik said, letting go of the button, "the so's everybody else, which is VERY unlikely. Sam's right, somebody should've heard us by now."

"They might just be really shy or something," Mark said.

"Or something's wrong," Erik frowned.

The atmosphere shifted a little from annoyance to worry.

"... what are you saying?" Sam asked. Erik didn't answer, staring at the front door with a thoughtful expression.

It couldn't be, he thought to himself.

He lifted his hand and held it over the lock above the handle. The surrounding area grew dark and the muscles in his hand were stressed. A moment later a scraping click was heard and the shadows vanished.

"Stay here," Erik said, opening the newly unlocked door.

"What?" Mark asked. "Why?"

"Look," Erik said, turning back to face his friends, "if something's up-"

"Then we wanna see!" Mark turned to Sam. "Right, Sam?"

"Wait," Sam asked, "why do you want us to stay here? Is something going on?"

"I don't know," Erik answered, "but if there is-"

"Why would there be?"

"I don't know!"

"Dude, what's going on?" Mark asked.

"Oh my GOD," Erik groaned, opening the door for them. "FINE."

They stepped towards the threshold, but Erik held out his hand to stop them. He stared at them with intense, focussed eyes. "But if I tell you to get out," he said slowly, "you do. Agreed?"

Sam and Mark looked at each other, a little confused.

"You SURE nothing's going on?" Sam asked.

"Agreed?" Erik asked again, sounding less and less patient.

"Okay, okay," Mark agreed. Sam nodded, too.

Erik dropped his hand and let them pass. He cursed himself for speaking like that to them. Now they were sure to think something was going on. Still, they have to go in knowing what to do should anything be the matter. He hoped as hard as he could that nothing was the matter.

"Man, what's gotten into him," Mark whispered to Sam.

"Nothing," Erik answered, rolling his eyes at Mark's terrible volume judgement. "Now come on, find number seven."

They walked down the darkened hallway, checking each room number as they passed. They could hear muffled sounds from all around them, but no sounds of actual life. No footsteps, no people talking, just a dull, generic noise coming from every angle.

"'S like a ghost town," Mark muttered.

"Ghost BUILDING, more like," Sam replied.

"Hah, haunted house," Mark chuckled.

"I'll make you both ghosts if you don't shut up," Erik grumbled.

The other two groaned. "Dude," Mark said, "that was TERRIBLE."

"Would you guys just pay attention to what's around you?" Erik asked.

"Pay attention to what?" Mark asked. "Nobody's here!"

"Listen for a minute," Erik instructed, pointing upwards. The other two complied, listening to the muffled noise.

"Hear that?"

"Yeah," Sam answered. "People have their TVs on."

"So there ARE people here?" Mark deduced.

"And they didn't come out to yell at us," Erik nodded.

"Should we be worried?" Sam asked.

Erik frowned a little harder. "Let's try upstairs," he said, ignoring Sam's question.

They headed towards the stairs at the end of the hall and made their way up. Sam counted the number of doors on the first floor and looked out onto the second.

"Seven'll be at the end of the hall," he informed. Erik lead them straight ahead, towards the room with a gold '7' nailed to the door.

He knocked a few times. "Dennis?" he called. "It's us, your workers. You haven't turned up in over a week and you're not answering your phone.

"Also you haven't paid us," Mark added. "Actually this is mainly about the not paying us, what gives."

"I thought you said you'd grown?" Sam asked.

"I'm relapsing," Mark retorted. "We passed that bike shop on the way here and my empty bank account started to cry."

"Why would you want a BIKE when we live in the city?"

"It had a cool helmet!"

"A 'cool helmet'?"

"Would you two STOP?" Erik demanded.

Sam and Mark looked away like scolded schoolboys. "I can hear his TV," Sam added.

"Yeah, so can I," Erik said, knocking again.

"Maybe everybody left them on," Mark suggested. "There could be something happening in town."

"Nah, we'd know about something like that. Pretty much everything that happens ends up getting advertised out the front of the store."

"I never understood how Dennis was always so up to date with current events," Mark mused.

"So he's probably here, but he's not answering the door," Sam summarized. "What do we do, then?"

"We go in," Erik answered, raising his hand to the handle.

"Wait!" Mark yelped. Erik froze, looking back to face him.

"Really?" he asked. "You've got no problem yelling in front of and breaking into our boss's bulding for ten minutes, but his room specifically is a warning flag?"

"No..." Mark said sheepishly. Erik saw his eyes dart between Erik's hand, the door, and the floor.

The penny dropped.

"Oh," Erik said, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, sure. Go for it."

"Yesss!"

Inside the apartment, the only sound that could be heard was the television, which had been running for quite some time. The curtains had been drawn and all other lights extinguished, the only source of light, the television, casting shadows of furniture across the walls.

The atmosphere was shattered as the door was blasted open, splintering the doorframe around the handle and part of the door itself. In the slightly damaged doorway stood a frowning Erik, a shocked Sam, and an excited-looking Mark lowering his foot from a kicking position.

"Hah!" he laughed. "That was AWESOME!"

"That was RIDICULOUS," Sam corrected. "He's gonna want you to pay for that, you know."

"We could be saving his life," Mark said, "or finding him dead. Either way, I think he'll let it slide."

"Still no reactions from the other rooms," Erik noted, looking around the hallway and listening for any sounds of shock or footsteps coming to inspect the situation.

"Something must REALLY be up," Sam thought aloud.

Mark stepped tentatively into the apartment. He could see the television facing the door, a lone couch seperating the two. "Dennis?" he asked. "Hello?"

A strange sound came from ahead of them.

"What was that?" Sam asked, quietly.

"Something f****n' weird, is what," Mark answered. He stepped closer, his eyes on the back of the couch. "Dennis?" he repeated.

"What do you think, Erik?" Sam asked. Erik said nothing. "Erik?"

Erik's eyes were wide open. He felt his hands begin to quiver in fear, his teeth gritting tightly. He could feel something, something terrible, something close.

"Erik?" Sam repeated, noticing Erik's state. "Are you-"

"Get out," he muttered. "Run."

"What?"

"Shut up. Get out. Both of you, NOW."

"What's he saying?" Mark asked, from only a few steps away from the couch.

"You said you'd listen," Erik said, the fear in his voice suddenly audible, "now GET OUT!"

"Dude, it's just Dennis!" Mark laughed, stepping even closer to the couch, the top of Dennis' head visible from his perspective.

"MARK, NO!" Erik yelled. He felt it, whatever it was, it was so close now, it was near Mark, just out of sight but it was THERE.

"Holy S**T!" Mark gasped. He was between the television and the couch, and he'd found Dennis. He was sitting on the couch, but just barely. He had slid down so far he was nearly falling off. His shirt was wrinkled and stained with grease and sauce, as if he'd forgotten how to eat properly. His face was unshaven and similarly stained with food, and the area around his neck and chest was damp with a recently spilled drink. He looked up at Mark with half-closed eyes, looking like an invalid who'd lost his carer, an embodiment of apathy.

"Dennis, what HAPPENED?" he cried, not sure whether to get closer to help or to run away in disgust.

"MARK GET OUT OF THERE!" Erik yelled, holding his arm across Sam's path, but Sam had no intention of running. He was looking straight ahead at what Erik was looking at, a petrified look upon his face.

"Erik, what's your PROBLEM?" Mark demanded, facing him. "Dennis needs help! Look at him, he's..."

He noticed Sam's expression and paused. "Wh-what?"

Sam raised a finger and pointed past him. "T-T-TV," he managed to squeak.

Mark turned around to look at the television and shrieked, falling backwards onto the ground.

From within the television, a huge, blood-red arm and hand had pushed its way through the screen as if it were the surface of a river it was trying to climb out of, and clutched the side as if it were the edge. It wasn't a fully corporeal thing, it was transparent and seemed to smoke slightly. The arm pulled and another one emerged, grabbing the other side and pulling even harder.

From the center of the television, a bald head burst through, looking straight up at the three. It was a grotesque combination of a man's face and that of a pig, a horrible snout taking the place of its nose and the eyes and mouth horribly combined. The creature opened its horrible mouth and sounded an angry roar, the sound of which could just barely be comprehended by the three as sound.

"WHAT THE F**K IS THAT!?" Mark screamed, still frozen in place with fear.

"It's a Belphian!" Erik choked, as the creatute pulled itself further out of the screen. "A demon of sloth!"

"A DEMON?" Sam cried.

"LESSER Demon!"

"What the HELL's it doing HERE!?" Mark demanded.

"I-It doesn't matter!" Erik answered. "We just have to get rid of it!"

"How?"

"I don't know!"

The Belphian started to pull out a large, flabby body, and reached out with its meaty hand towards Mark.

"AAGH!"

He stumbled, still on the ground, and scrambled backwards to Sam and Erik, where he stopped at their feet and stood back up on Erik's other side.

"Do something, then!" he yelled.

Erik held out his hand and twisted his wrist a little. Darkness started to swirl around in his palm, rapidly forming a ball of black fire. He stepped forward and threw it at the demon.

The fire collided with the creature and was suddenly extinguished. The creature showed next to no signs of even noticing it had been hit, let alone being affected in any way.

"Was THAT your master plan?" Mark asked, sarcastically.

"Oh, sorry, did YOU know what to do?" Erik asked, returning the sass. "Please, enlighten me!"

"Why didn't it work?" Sam asked.

"Demons are creatures of Darkness," Erik explained. "I guess Darkness doesn't work on itself."

"What if we turned off the TV?" Mark asked. "If it's coming from it, maybe it'll go away if we shut if off!"

"Not likely," Erik continued, watching the Demon reach out further to them, the lower half of its body still stretching between the TV and the rest of it. "I think it's in the whole building's TV network. We shut this one off, it's still got a whole building's worth of others."

"It's using the TV network?"

"It must be exerting its power on everyone through their TV sets."

"What IS its power?" Sam asked.

"It's Sloth, laziness, apathy. My guess is nobody in this place has left their couches since this thing shacked up in the system."

"So we're dealing with a 'Star Trek' marathon?" Mark joked nervously.

"Mark, I appreciate the effort, but this is so f*****g far from the time and place."

The demon lowered its hand and balanced itself on the ground. It snarled loudly, still sounding like it was just barely on the same oral plane as them. Its eyes narrowed and its red form started to glow with a higher intensity.

"W-why isn't it attacking us?" Sam asked, his voice wobbling.

"I... don't know," Erik answered. "It reached out for Mark, but now it's... just staring at us?"

"Can't it reach us?"

Erik tried to think. Darkness doesn't work. It can't get very far from the TV. So it's not just connected, it's limited, trapped in the network of TVs. Connected by what? Cable, or whatever the building used. Trapped. Limited.

"Uh... Erik?" Sam muttered.

"What?" Erik asked impatiently, turning to face him.

Sam was leaning against the wall, looking tired. "I... uh..."

"Sam?"

Sam slid down the wall and sat down, his eyes half-closed and his body limp. His eyes rolled around to settle on the TV, past the demon's glowing red form.

"Sam? Sam, no!"

Erik looked around to Mark, but saw Mark already on the floor, too, staring at the TV just like his friend.

"No, no, no!" Erik gasped, kneeling down to Mark's level. He held his arms out, wanting to do something, but completely clueless on what he should do. He finally decided on slapping his friend across the face in an attempt to snap him out of it, but the results were minimal.

"D****t!" he hissed, standing back up to look at the beast. It smirked cruelly, its eyes on him.

"Okay," he thought aloud. "You're in the TV system. But you're not just in there, you're STUCK in there. You're in all the TVs in the building because it's the only places you can go..."

His expression changed. "Ha!" he cried, triumphantly, and ran out of the room.

He flew down the stairs and searched for a door to the basement, or storage area, even a secret room behind the kitchen. He found a locked door (which didn't stay as such) leading downstairs into a dark basement and pulled on a lightswitch, revealing a cluttered mess on the floor and a metal box on the wall. Erik pulled the metal open, snapping the padlock attached to it, and pulled on a large red lever at the top.

The light died, as did the power in the whole building. Every television in every room switched off, including the one in Dennis' apartment.

The creature was sucked back into the television faster than it could even comprehend moving as the screen flickered and died. Mark, Sam and Dennis blinked for a moment before realizing where they were and what had happened. Sam and Mark rushed to stand while Dennis looked down at himself, aghast.

"What the hell?" Mark asked. "Where's Erik?"

"I don't know!" Sam answered.

"Muh?" Dennis asked from his couch. "Who-who's there?"

Mark and Sam watched Dennis struggle to pull himself to his feet, scattering crumbs all over the floor. He looked like he was in great pain, like he hadn't moved in days and his joints were stiff. He clutched his stomach, too, having not eaten for several days, either.

"How... how long-"

"Sit back down," Sam said, stepping back out the door, "everything's under control!"

Sam disappeared, running through the hallway in search of Erik. Mark quickly followed him, but hesitated and poked his head back into the doorway one last time.

"Get your checkbook ready, or something," he said, before vanishing. Dennis looked at the doorway, completely stunned.

Sam hurried down the stairs just as Erik stepped out of the basement.

"Erik!" he called, hurrying down to meet him. "That was great! You did it!"

"Hero of the day!" Mark yelled, sliding down the banister in celebration.

"I didn't 'do' it," Erik corrected them, "it's still in the system."

"Oh, what?" Mark whined as Erik approached the nearest apartment door and started knocking.

"The TVs in this place all get their signal from the same node, the cable satellite or whatever the hell this place uses. A real lazy guy must've died here a week or two ago, turned into a Belphian and got stuck in the network."

"What the f**k?" Mark asked, getting off the banister. "Somebody DIED?"

The door Erik was knocking opened up, answered by a tired-looking woman only a few years older than they were. She had the same 'been-sitting-on-the-couch-for-a-week' look about her as Dennis did.

"H-hello?" she said, weakly.

"Hi," Erik said. "I need your TV."

"... who are you?"

"Aw, f**k it."

Erik snapped his fingers in front of the girl's face. Her face suddenly went completely blank and small square, dark, fuzzy things emerged from her forehead and started clustering around her head, leaving her standing limply as her head was surrounded in a cloud of memories.

Erik walked past her and headed straight for the TV.

"Uh," Mark began, following him, "what did you do to her?"

"That cloud around her head is every memory she ever had," Erik explained, reaching the television. "In this state she's too preoccupied to form new ones, so she's not gonna be complaining."

"Invasive," Sam commented, stepping past the stunned tenant, "but useful."

"Thanks," Erik replied.

He turned around and addressed his two friends. "Right. Mark, go to every room and tell people to unplug their TVs. If they say no, tell them there's a test or some bullshit until they buy it."

"R-right!" Mark agreed, nodding. He turned around and left the apartment, pausing to shift the tenant just one step further away from blocking the doorway.

"Erik, what's going on?" Sam asked.

"The Demon is trapped in the network. He can posess any TV in the building-"

"No, I mean, WHY is this happening?"

Erik paused, suddenly lost for words.

"I mean, why is there a demon here suddenly?" Sam continued. "Did Red say anything about this?"

"I... uh-"

"And you KNEW it was here, didn't you."

"What? Of course not!"

"Well you knew it COULD be here! 

"Sam, there are bigger things happening right now!" Erik cried, throwing up his hands in frustration.

"Okay!" Sam agreed, "okay! So what do we do?"

Erik took a deep breath and continued explaining. "Right now it's just circulating, since nothing in the network is on. If we only have one TV going it'll be stuck in one place instead of running amok through the building."

"Nowhere to go," Sam nodded. "Brilliant. Then what?"

Erik didn't answer, but kept his eyes on Sam's.

"... Erik?"

"Oh come on, as if anybody comes up with a full plan under pressure. Just go downstairs and when I give the signal, flip the power on."

"Got it."

With that, Sam exited, hurrying towards the door he'd seen Erik come out of. He used the light of his phone screen to navigate through the dark.

Erik started to pace through the room, trying to think. He'd made two full laps before Mark rushed back inside.

"Okay," he said, a little out of breath, "they're all off. They didn't give much of a fight, half of them don't even know what day it is."

"Good," Erik said. "About the TVs, not the brain damage or whatever. All we have to do now is flip the power back on and we've got that thing trapped in this set."

"Great! Then what do we do?"

"Why is everyone so obsessed with what happens after that?"

"Oh my GOD, dude."

"Come on, I'm thinking."

"What if we left the set in the basement?"

"Temporary solution, even if we did convince this girl to let us take her TV."

"Then THINK, dude!"

"I AM, give me a minute!"

Erik stepped away, trying to calm himself down. They had plenty of time, the creature wasn't going anywhere. Unless somebody tried to turn on their set before they figured things out, they were fine.

"Got it," he said after a few moments. "Take out your phone."

"Ah s**t," Mark groaned, taking his phone out of his pocket. "This'll end badly."

"Turn Bluetooth on," Erik instructed, turning towards the television. He scanned along the side of the television, searching for something. "Come on," he muttered, "be a consumer w***e..."

He found a line of stickers and rested his finger on a small blue one. "Excellent," he said. "Thank God for the upper class."

"Pssh," Mark snorted, messing with the phone buttons, "if she's upper class then why's she living in this dump? Bluetooth on."

"Awesome," Erik said. He walked over to the table in front of the couch and picked up what looked to be the television remote. "Finger on the power button, Mark."

"What?"

"SAM, NOW!"

Downstairs, Sam heard Erik's signal. He pulled the lever and the light above him flicked to life.

In the woman's apartment, the television screen started to glow.

"Here we go," Erik muttered. "Loading, loading, loading..."

The television brand symbol displayed for a moment or two before cutting away not to a regular television channel, but the snarling face of the Belphian. Its unreal roar blared from the speakers as it started to claw its way out through the screen.

"No," Erik stated, and pressed the red button at the top of the remote.

The screen flickered out and the demon vanished. Mark looked from the television to his phone.

"Dude," he said, "I got a request. Is that him?"

"Yeah, accept it."

Mark tapped a button and the Belphian suddenly showed up on his screen.

"Woah," he whispered. It reached out towards him, about to break through the screen. "F**k that," he muttered, and pressed the power button.

The screen faded to black.

Mark and Erik were silent for a few moments.

"... is... is that it?" Mark asked.

"Kinda," Erik answered. "I mean, there's a demon in your phone, but as long as it's off, we're pretty much off the hook."

"Did it work?" Sam asked, appearing in the doorway. "I mean, whatever you did?"

"Like a charm," Mark answered sarcastically. "It's in my phone."

"Your phone," Sam clarified. Mark nodded.

"Okay then," Erik said, ending the back-and-forth. "You guys tell this floor they can plug in their TVs again, I'll take the top one."

Mark and Sam walked out of the room, tired and confused, Erik in tow. He closed the door behind them, snapping his fingers. The tenant's memories rushed back into her head and she stumbled, blinking several times before remembering that people had to breathe.

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

The three stepped out of the building, having alerted the tenants and ensured Dennis wasn't going to die on them any time soon.

"So," Sam began. "What-"

"What the HELL just happened?" Mark finished.

"Easy," Erik answered. "We limited the network to just the TV and Mark's phone and killed the TV, so now our Belphian is trapped in the phone. Which is now off."

"That's brilliant!" Sam exclaimed.

"Wait a minute," Mark said, "I mean yeah, that's cool and all, but what the hell is a Belfan doing in Dennis' apartment in the first place!"

"'Belphian'," Erik corrected. "Also, you can't turn that on again until we know what to do with it."

"What? When'll THAT be?"

"Not long at all," Erik answered holding his hand out, silently asking for the phone.

Around them, the shadows started to bend and twist, curling around towards them.

"Oh boy," Sam muttered. "Haven't gone there in a while."

Mark passed his phone to Erik, eying the darkness. The shadows grew darker and left the ground, reaching up and covering the scene around them. Erik had taken them to his world of shadows.

"Uh, why are we here?" Mark asked, uneasy. "This place is creepy, I always feel like there's something out there watching me."

"There probably is," Erik muttered.

He held the phone up high. "Red!" he called. "I know you can hear me! Get the f**k over here!"

"Wha-RED?" Sam choked. "Are you CRAZY?"

"What are you doing!?" Mark whined, spinning around in the darkness. "What if he's there! What if he's-"

Mark turned around and came face-to-face with the long, pale face of Red.

"AAGH!" Mark shrieked, jumping backwards and nearly falling over. Sam and Erik spun around, Sam gasping and stepping backwards.

"My, MY, Erik," Red drawled as Mark stumbled backwards until he was hiding behind Erik with Sam. "Where ARE your manners, calling me so rudely?"

"It's..." Mark struggled to squeak, "It's-"

"Red," Sam whimpered. "Holy s**t, it's actually him."

"I got the Belphian," Erik said, holding out the phone. "What do I do with it? How do I make it move on?"

Red pulled back, bringing his hand to his mouth in the most mocking act of shock Erik had had the displeasure of witnessing. "Erik," Red gasped, his voice dripping with patronizing sarcasm. "Don't tell me you don't know how to do your job!"

"This is your JOB?" Sam asked, incredulously. Erik ignored him, but felt a stab of regret.

"You didn't tell me what I had to do with them," Erik said. "Or how to do it. What do YOU do with them?"

"Me?" Red asked. "Oh, I-"

"And cut the f*****g sarcasm."

Red paused, then let the mocking act fade, to be replaced by a cruel smirk. "Fine," he said. "What an Angel does with them is to their own discretion. The default option is to just give them passage into the Realm of Death and have the Judges deal with them."

"Great," Erik said. "How do I do that?"

"You can't. Passing between Realms is strictly Angel-only. Well, Angel and above only. You're just a human. Well, human and above."

"Then YOU give them passage," Erik said, offerring the phone again.

"I'm afraid I can't," Red answered, holding his hands up, away from the phone. "Once a demon is engaged in this Realm by someone lower than an Angel, it's their problem. Me taking it off your hands would be escalating the case, quite a big no-no."

"Angels have rules?" Mark asked, looking like he wished he couldn't.

"You'd be surprised at how many," Red answered him, giving him a particularly fear-inducing look. "And how strict they can be."

"Whatever," Erik complained, "what CAN I do?"

"You can take the other path," Red smiled. "Just point... and make a wish."

"Drop it."

"Fine. Here."

Red lifted a finger and pointed to Erik's forehead. He twirled it in the air and a fuzzy memory square suddenly congealed into existence in front of him. With a flick, the square shot into Erik's head, causing him to gasp and a fuzzy shockwave to spread out from where it made contact.

"Now try THAT on your little Ghostbusters cage."

Erik looked at the phone and gingerly raised his other hand over it.

"Wait!" Sam said, stepping forward. "What just happened? What did he do?"

"He added a memory," Erik answered, not taking his eyes off the phone. "Knowledge of how to use the power he's talking about."

"Wow," Mark said. "Can you do that?"

"Oh yeah," Erik smiled. "You have no idea how many times you leaving a room was just me getting sick of you."

"... oh."

"One more thing," Red said. "Hold out the hand."

Erik obliged, passing the phone to his left hand and holding up his right.

"What's going on now?" Mark asked.

"Contract," Erik said. "An ammendment."

"A legality," Red explained. He tapped Erik's palm and a symbol flashed bright red in the flesh, an intricate pattern of circles, lines, dots and other strange symbols. Several new markings appeared on the symbol before the whole thing vanished again. Erik took his hand back and held it over the phone again.

"So the higher-ups won't penalize me for giving such power to a... human and above," Red finished.

"What power?" Sam asked.

Erik looked up at Red for clarification, who shrugged. "It's your other option," he answered.

Erik's eyes narrowed. Something was wrong, here.

He lowered his hand and made a short sweeping motion. Red smoke curled out of the phone and briefly took the shape of a small version of the Belphian's face, looking quite angry. Erik looked down at it, not sure what to expect. Suddenly, the Belphian's rage turned into confusion. Then worry. Finally, fear. It looked around, seeing the smoke that composed it start to fade. Erik's eyes widened and his mouth fell open as he realized what was happening. The Belphian's smoky body dissipated more and more, until all that was left was a single eye, looking up at Erik in terror, before that vanished too.

"No," Erik said. "No, no, no..."

"What?" Red asked, annoyed. "You have an option, be happy it's not sacraficing your phone."

"Erik?" Mark asked, worried. "Is that it? Is it gone?"

"Of course it's gone," Red answered. "And thank you SO much to the three of you for dealing with it for me, you really are a bunch of dears, even if I DID have to come out and clean up for you."

"You call THIS 'cleaning up'!?" Erik bellowed, dropping the phone and stepping towards Red.

"Hey!" Mark complained, picking it up before Erik could step on it. Sam watched Erik's face, seeing the rage and fear filling his eyes.

"That's not an option!" he yelled. "That's not what you do! That's not what should happen!"

"For you it is," Red stated. "It's the best I can do."

"Then do BETTER!"

"If this is all you're going to do for the rest of this session, then our time is SO up."

Red spun around and his coat billowed out behind him, scattering the darkness like smoke. He walked through it in a similar manner, disappearing from view.

"NO!" Erik yelled, running after him, but he didn't vanish. The world continued on for a lot longer than it did for Red. "GET BACK HERE," he continued. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO HIM!"

"Erik!" Sam yelled. "What did he do? What happened to the demon?"

Erik stopped his yelling and looked down to the ground. The darkness above them peeled away to reveal the bright sky of the real world. The shadows fell away until they were left standing on the sidewalk, just as they had before Erik had taken them.

Erik had his face in his hands. Mark and Sam glanced at each other before jogging over to him, stopping on either side of him.

"Erik," Mark asked. "What did you do to it?"

Erik let his hands fall away.

"... I erased it."

The pair were confused. "Erased?"

"It was trapped, so it was susceptible enough for me to... to..."

"Dude, calm down," Mark said. "It's gone, right? Wasn't that the point of all this?"

"No!" Erik said, apalled, turning around to face his friends. "You don't understand what I did! I didn't just get rid of it, I ERASED it! I DESTROYED ITS SOUL, guys! I erased an entire PERSON from existence! Whoever that guy was, before he became a Belphian, he doesn't get Heaven or Hell or reincarnated or whatever bullshit he believed in, he's just... NOT! He's NOT anymore, he's NOWHERE! NOTHING!"

"Erik," Sam said, trying to calm him down, "you didn't know, okay? Red didn't tell you what it would do, did he. It's just one person, and it's not your fault, right?"

"What, am I supposed to just ignore it? Having this sort of power? Nobody should be able to do this, Sam, not even the Angels."

"What do you want us to say, Erik?" Mark asked. "Look, it's over! We're done! What are the odds of another DEMON showing up, right?"

Erik's gaze drifted. High, he thought. Very high. This is just the beginning, and it's going to get SO much worse. And here you two are, right off the bat, already a part of it.

"No," he muttered.

"Not exactly a grammatically correct answer," Mark said, "but it'll do."

"No," Erik continued, "no as in NO. I'm not doing this. You weren't meant to be involved."

"What?" Sam asked. "What do you mean?"

"You were both affected by the Belphian's influence. I'm safe from all that, but you're not."

"I don't know what you're on about," Mark said, "but if we weren't there you'd have been SCREWED, dude."

"All you did was talk to some people and flip a switch. I would've been FINE on my own."

"Dude, what the hell?" Sam demanded. "What's WRONG with you? What are you even saying, here?"

"Yeah!" Mark agreed. "I don't know WHAT you're trying to save us from, but you-"

"But NOTHING!" Erik cried, lifting his hand and pressing his palms against each of their foreheads. Square memories flew out of their heads, leaving them both with blank looks on their faces. Erik looked to the ground, his face screwed up in a mixture of anger and sadness.

The memories he'd removed from their minds fragmented and disappeared into nothing.

Author's Note

words spelt in capitals are meant to be in italics. this was written in notepad so no text has been styled.