Chapter 3: Inner Demons

Part 1 of 2: The Monster Who Sought Hate

October 11th, 2015

"I said, get on the ground! You're completely surrounded!" shouted Police Sargent McCoy, who had his gun trained on his enemy. There was not much of a police force in his town, but they had funneled all they could into catching the target. And what a target he was. A mass murderer, who had been on an unstoppable killing spree for the past week, was finally in their sights, just an hour before midnight. Every time they got close, he had always managed to slip away just before they found him. This man had also been responsible for the deaths of five cops, who McCoy had happened to know rather well. But now, police cars surrounded the man on every side, blocking of his escape, and roughly 20 cops had their guns pointed at him. The man, however, didn't try to run. Instead, he stood calmly in the center of the cops, none of which dared to approach him. McCoy took a long look at the man who was causing the town so much difficulty. He wore dark clothing, which included a long black trench coat, coming to a stop just above his feet. His goatee neatly was neatly groomed, and his black hair was combed into place. He almost looked charming for a homicidal maniac, and if a bystander were to pass by, they would think nothing wrong of him. Unless, of course, they were to look at what he was holding. In his hand was a long, black sword, extravagantly detailed with Japanese characters, which proved the sword of its worth.

"What are you waiting for?" the man called out to McCoy, who tightened his grip on his weapon. His voice wasn't wavering, and it was almost as if he was prompting the cops to shoot at him.

"Why should we waste our bullets on someone like you?" McCoy taunted. The man simply smiled back at him, and chuckled to himself.

"You shouldn't be underestimating me, Sargent," said the man, with confidence in his voice. "If you were wise, you'd take me down now, before something bad happens." McCoy smiled back at him.

"You're surrounded," he stated. "Besides, I'd much rather see you rot in a cell for the rest of your life." Then he called out to the cop standing next to him. "Bucky, cuff him already."

But Bucky looked incredibly nervous about moving towards. "But… what if he attacks me?"

"We've got our sights trained on him," assured McCoy. "He aint moving unless we want him to."

Nervously, Bucky stepped out from behind the cover of the car, and slowly walked towards the murderer. As he approached, he slowly took out his handcuffs, and gestured towards the man.

"P-put your h-hands in the a-air," Bucky said, unable to hide the fear in his voice. Bucky knew full well that this man had managed to take out five cops and kill twelve innocent civilians. There was no telling what he could do. The man sighed to himself, and then, much to Bucky's relief, put his hands in the air, despite actually never releasing the sword. His hands were held high above his head, and Bucky felt a sigh of relief, and a burst of confidence. Maybe, he realized, this man wasn't so much of a threat. Or maybe he was, but the cool, confident, charmingly handsome Bucky managed to put the man in handcuffs, and drag him to the big house. Then, Bucky felt the strangest feeling. He saw the man smile at him, before he felt as if something had passed through him, like a ghost.

That's a funny feeling, Bucky thought to himself.

Then everything turned black, as his head rolled off his shoulders, and fell to the ground with a thud.

"FIRE!"

The police immediately opened fire onto the man, except he was no longer there. Where what once stood a confident swordsman with eighteen murders hanging over him, was now a cloud of black smoke. McCoy looked around for any signs of the man. Then he heard screaming, as a black puff of smoke appeared behind a cop, and a sword immediately sliced through his body. The cops opened fire again, but now more screams of panic echoed around them, as more bodies fell to the ground. McCoy looked around him trying to keep up with the screams and gunshots, but all he could see was smoke. He would occasionally see the man cutting through a cop, before instantly vanishing in more smoke. The screams grew more, and panic spread, before it was suddenly and instantly silenced. Everything stopped around McCoy, and he nervously looked around. He saw bodies all around him, limbs tossed about the ground, and with a startling realization, he knew that everyone was dead.

Everyone, except for him.

"What the…."he stuttered, seeing all of the violence around him. He was very much afraid for his life. He spoke to himself, "How the fuck did he do that?"

"How indeed…" came a voice from behind him. He spun around to face the man, and was immediately greeted with a sword through his chest. Blood started to pour from his mouth, and he realized what had happened to him. He had never even heard the man coming from behind him. He noticed the strange black smoke that was dissipating around the man. McCoy looked at the man's face. He was grinning with pride, as he examined his work. His eyes were strange, as a deep, orange hue seemed to emanate from them, casting a small glow over his face. There was emptiness to them, and McCoy could feel the hate pouring off of this man. The sword itself was now glowing too, the characters cast in the same orange hue, now that they had been drenched in blood. McCoy looked deep into the man's eyes as he struggled for his final breaths.

"You're… you're the fucking devil, aren't you," he managed to breathe out as he felt his consciousness fading. The man chuckled at the comment.

"Oh, Sargent," he said with a smile. "I thought I told you not to underestimate me."

__________

October 12th, 2015

Fiona awoke in a cold sweat. She looked around her, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness. She was in her sleeping quarters, with the rest of her teammates. Their beds were built into the walls, in two stacks of three, and Fiona had the unlucky fortune of being stuck in the middle of her column. She was constantly greeted with sounds from Dash snoring beneath her, and Rachel talking in her sleep above her. But it wasn't so terrible, as she had the privilege to be across from her best friend, who, at this time, was in a deep sleep. At the very least, it gave her a direct line of contact with Tara, but she couldn't take advantage of it now that the other girl was sleeping. She also saw AJ, who had now taken residence with the other girls in order to better improve their relationships. Each of them made their own unusual sleeping sound. But, out of all of the sounds that these girls unknowingly made during their slumber, none of them had woken her up. The actual cause was a rather troublesome nightmare that she had been dealing with.

It must be that time of year again, Fiona thought, somberly.

How long had it been? Five, maybe six years? She had lost count, and she opted not to think of it. She knew that she could not go back to sleep, as her dreams would stalk her there, and never seem to leave her alone. Instead, she decided to think of the week's events and what was to come, in order to soothe her thoughts.

The past seven days had shown remarkable improvement for the entire team. Everyone had begun to properly pick up the tools of the trade, and under Tara's strong, intelligent leadership, everybody learned much faster. Fiona had still refused to use a gun, but in turn, her hand-to-hand combat improved drastically. She was a quick learner, and she actually felt like she was accomplishing something. Of course, the other team members were picking up new talents as well, most notably being Tara's swordsmanship abilities. It was almost unfortunate, then, that crime had dropped rapidly. Due to the takedown of Discord's major operation, his gang activities had practically ceased. In order to keep in practice, Wilson had decided to send the girls off investigating murders and robberies around the cities, all of which were missions that had been met with great success. The girls' moral boosted dramatically, and they started to become more comfortable with each other's presence. Dash had complained less, AJ began acting more like a normal girl of her own age, and Rachel had ceased trying to give Fiona a makeover. The only dramatic change that had not truly occurred in was Pinky, which Fiona assumed was because of her supposed drug problem. In truth, the weeks ahead looked to much less chaotic, and this thought calmed Fiona a great deal. She shut he eyes again, and started to feel a mesmerizing twilight as she felt herself drifting away from consicousness.

Maybe I actually will get some sleep for once, Fiona thought happily, as her thoughts faded away.

WAAAAAAAH WAAAAAAAH WAAAAAAAH WAAAAAAAH WAAAAAAAH

Fiona's eyes shot open, as the alarms blared in the room, signaling for the girls to start the day. Fiona groaned, and shoved her head into her pillow.

Or maybe not, Fiona thought with discontent, as the other girls stirred around her. Tara nudged her shy friend.

"Come on, Fiona," Tara said. "Time to get up. We got a busy day of training ahead of us." Fiona begrudgingly got out of her bunk, changed into her exercise clothes with the rest of the girls, and headed out to the training area.

"Damn," moaned AJ. "I don't remember those alarms being so loud."

"Oh, I asked if the volume could be increased on the alarms," said Tara happily. Dash was quite upset with this, even more than AJ was.

"What the fuck, Spark," Dash said, annoyed. Tara shrugged.

"It helps to get you moving faster," Tara stated factually, and then added, "And don't call me Spark. I'm the leader, and you could try to treat me with a little more respect."

"I could have called you a stubborn bitch," said Dash under her breath. Tara heard this remark, and soon, a sharp battle of tongues occurred between the girls, which lasted throughout the training session. By ten o'clock, after seven hours of nonstop arguments, Fiona had heard enough of the banter, and honestly just wanted the day to end. But soon, Wilson and Celestia called the girls for a mission assignment. As they changed into more proper street attire, Fiona became secretly glad that Celestia let them borrow some money for clothes shopping. It allowed Fiona to get some hoodies once again, and she was very glad for this, as she felt naked with her face being exposed for all to see. In all honesty, she believed that the less attention she received, the better.

After a long wait for Rachel to get changed (she took nearly forty minutes to pick out an outfit, before Dash tackled her to the ground, and forced Rachel into some clothes, much to the discontent of the violet-haired girl), the girls arrived in the Briefing Room, with all of its computers and data storage.

"P.O.N.Y's," Wilson said with some chipper in his voice. "You're all going on a field trip." The girls were slightly confused with this news, except for Pinky, who happily hopped up and down.

"YAAAAAAAAAY!" she shouted with ecstatic glee. "Where are we going? Disney World? The Bahamas? CANADA?!"

"West Virginia," said Celestia, unenthused. "You're going to be investigating a series of murders occurring west of Charleston. It is of the highest importance."

"If I may ask," said AJ. "What's so important about these crimes that they need us? I don't mean no disrespect, but there are plenty of cases we could be covering here. Can't these guys just use the local police?"

"The police are mostly dead," responded Celestia, grimly. "Over thirty of them have been killed by this assailant. And they've all been killed in the same way: chopped to pieces by a sword. No firearms were involved."

"Not to mention that several witnesses reported seeing things of supernatural origin," added the General. "And according to some stories, he survived a police ambush all by himself, using just a blade. I very much doubt that these reports are true, but still, it's worth looking into, just to see who could be behind these murders."

"Not to mention, this could have something to do with Discord's boss," Tara sharply added.

"Correct," said Celestia. "So, your mission is to travel to Haddonfield, and discover the cause of these criminal acts. Transportation has been provi-"

"Wait," came a small voice from the back of the group. They turned to look at Fiona, who looked shocked. She didn't even notice that the others were staring at her, as she was trying to make sure she heard Celestia correctly. "Did… did you just say… 'Haddonfield'?"

"Yes, yes I did," confirmed Celestia. Fiona seemed to grow more fearful with this confirmation. Tara, concerned for her friend, tried to comfort find out what was troubling her.

"What's wrong, Fiona?" asked Tara. Fiona gulped.

"It's…it's just that," Fiona had trouble saying what she wanted to. To be honest, she even had difficulty knowing what should be said. "I… I grew up in Haddonfield."

Tara was immediately calmed by this. She figured that Fiona was simply shocked that such a series of horrible events were happening in her hometown. In due time, Tara was quite sure that her friend would be alright.

"Oh, well that's perfect, then," Tara said cheerily, trying to lighten Fiona's mood. "You can show us around. It it'll be much easier that way."

"Well, actually…" Fiona started to argue, but was cut off by General Wilson.

"Time to get a move on, girls," he stated. It's a long drive, so you'll have to find a place to rest. We've already packed your bags, and your transportation is waiting out front. Good luck." With that, the girls proceeded above ground, heading through the Chinese restaurant to see what vehicle they had been given to take the seven hour drive.

"What do you think it'll be?" asked Rachel, excitedly. "Maybe a limousine, or a luxurious cab, of sort."

"I just hope it's fast," said Dash under her breath. So, of course, the girls showed complete enthusiasm when they walked outside, and saw a large white van parked outside, which, despite being large enough to hold all of them, was not in any way spectacular in appearance or performance. The girls' mood deflated, as Dash begrudgingly accepted responsibility for driving the car. But Tara instantly refused.

"I've seen your driving, Dash," Tara stated. "I don't think you should be behind the wheel."

"That was a fucking high speed pursuit, Spark," Dash said. "My driving was completely acceptable."

"But you almost got Fiona and Pinky killed," Tara stated factually. Dash groaned.

"Fine, you drive," Dash said. "Have fun for the next the seven hours." Tara climbed in the front seat, Fiona sat next to her, and the rest of the girls piling into the back. They then headed off on their long drive, as they thought of the danger ahead, and, more importantly, ways to pass the time.

Luckily for them, Pinky seemed to have no trouble with this, spending the next four hours telling stories about her life, the lives of her family members, the lives of other people she briefly met at parties, the parties that she met other people at, her likes, her dislikes, things she half-liked, things she liked to eat, candies she liked to eat, drinks she liked to drink, her immense drug problem, the theory of the multiverse, and the probability that they all actually lived in a computer simulation. Of course, by the time Pinky had reached those final three topics, Dash had tuned out all of the details into a long drone that was completely impossible to comprehend, and Dash had no idea what Pinky was actually saying. But Pinky didn't seem to notice, and she continued to talk in an endless loop. In the front of the car, however, Tara attempted to start a conversation with Fiona.

"So, I was thinking," started Tara. "If we are going to your hometown, why don't we stay your place?"

"No," Fiona said, a little too quickly. Tara was confused by the response.

"But," Tara asked. "Don't you want to see your family?" Fiona turned away from Tara, thinking of what to say.

"Well…no… it's just… I mean… we can't. Okay?" she stated, trying to hide her face. "I… I just don't want to talk about it now. But we have to stay somewhere else."

"Um…okay," stated Tara, very confused by Fiona's behavior. "I guess if you feel that strongly about it."

Tara didn't understand Fiona's wishes. After all,Tara would kill to see her family again. It had only been just over a month, but she missed her parents a great deal. She also desperately wanted to see her brother again. She hadn't seen him in three years, except on video chats, but even then, he was halfway around the world. Ever since he was shipped off to the Middle East, she felt almost as if a wedge had been driven between her family. The pain of separation was great, and it was a feeling she wouldn't wish on anyone.

And that was when she realized what was wrong with Fiona. She could see it in her eyes. Fiona was afraid of telling her family about what had happened, what she was currently doing, and who she was doing it with. She noticed how relaxed Fiona became when she found out she wasn't seeing her family. She had even said, 'I don't want to talk about it now'. And Tara was positive that she had solved this behavior predicament quite nicely. But she had to be one hundred percent sure.

"Fiona," Tara said softly. "I'm sure your family would be proud of what you are."

Fiona said nothing to this. She simply stared into an empty spot in space, as if she were thinking about it. Then, she turned away from Tara, and looked out the window.

"Can we please not talk about this now?" Fiona pleaded, not looking away from the window. Tara simply nodded, and focused on the road ahead of her. She knew Fiona would eventually feel brave enough to discuss everything with her. It was only a matter of time. And now, they continued on their long drive, as storm clouds loomed over the horizon.

__________

When they finally arrived in Haddonfield, it was nearly nine o'clock. Fiona had alerted them to the presence of a motel near the center of town. As Tara drove through the streets, she noticed the lack of people walking around, leaving an eerie stillness in the air. When they did finally arrive at the small motel, they realized there was a small problem: they would have to share rooms. It wasn't a large issue, as they had been sleeping in the same vicinity for a while now, but they did need to find roommates they were comfortable with. It didn't take long, however for the girls to bunk up with each other.

And almost immediately, AJ regretted pairing up with Rachel. Fiona and Tara had already gotten a room, so she assumed that Rachel would be the most courteous, least bothersome roommate. Unfortunately for her, she had no idea about Rachel's extensive "before-sleep ritual".

And what a ritual it was.

"How can I possibly sleep in these conditions?" Rachel complained while looking around the room. The rooms were quite simple, having a large bed placed against the center of the wall, and a small bathroom and closet located on the far end of the room. It was nothing spectacular, and that was Rachel's problem. AJ moaned as Rachel lied on the bed, and tried to get comfortable.

"This mattress is hard as bricks," Rachel said as she tossed and turned. AJ lied down on the floor at the foot of the bed, and started to drift into slumber, ignoring Rachel's complaints. Sometimes it helped to be trained to sleep anywhere, and through anything. And at this time, she was very happy for this ability.

Meanwhile, Pinky was running into a similar problem with the bed's consistency. She was attempting to jump up and down on the bed, but she was very disappointed with her bounce quality. Dash stood idly by, watching as Pinky tried different bouncing techniques to get the optimum performance. But alas, it was a futile effort, and she laid down on the bed, defeated.

"Man, this sucks," Pinky said, as Dash flopped on the bed besides her.

"Well, it's no problem for me," Dash said with a smirk. "I'm used to lying down on hard things." Pinky simply stared at her, completely missing the joke. Dash sighed.

"Sex," Dash said simply. "It's a sex joke."

"Ohhhhhhhh," Pinky nodded. Then she paused. "I still don't get it."

"Forget it," said Dash, who now shut her eyes to try to get to sleep.

Meanwhile, things were much calmer in Tara's room, however. This was primarily due to the fact that she understood her roommate. But despite this, they were currently arguing about a very trivial subject.

"You should have the bed," Fiona reasoned. Tara rolled her eyes, as she tried to get her point across for the fifth time.

"Fiona, I wouldn't feel right letting you sleep on the floor," Tara said.

"But you're the leader," Fiona argued, or at least the closest thing she could do to actually arguing. "You should be more comfortable than the rest of us."

"Being a leader means putting others before yourself," Tara stated factually. "So that means that you should sleep in dang bed. Besides, it's your town; you should at least be comfortable in it."

"But-"

"Just get in the bed already, Fiona," Tara said stubbornly. "That's an order." Fiona sighed and crawled into the bed, as Tara tried to make herself comfortable on the floor. Luckily for her, Fiona had given her the pillows and one of the blankets, making Tara much more comfortable. "Jeez, Fiona, sometimes your too nice for your own good."

"Sorry," Fiona said softly. "Anyway, good night, Tara."

"Good night," came the response from the floor. Fiona smiled at to herself at the laziness of Tara's words, and drifted off into sleep.

__________

As Malcom Witcherson's upper body hit the floor, while his lower body continued to stand very much in place, his wife, Danielle, screamed. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the corpse of the man she used to love so much. But now he was dead, cut down by a shimmering black sword. The man with the orange eyes sighed.

"I thought he was a former boxer," he said with discontent. "That was supposed to be much harder."

Danielle didn't understand his words, as the hate was flowing through her with such strength that everything became white noise. She looked around the kitchen for something, anything she could use to defend herself. Her luck came in the form of a pot she had left on the stove from the night's dinner. Without hesitation, she picked up the pot and threw it at the man. But before it struck him, a cloud of black smoke appeared, and he was gone. The pot sailed through the smoke and landed on the floor behind it. Danielle didn't understand what had happened. She looked at the black smoke, trying to see what happened to the man. Suddenly, an arm wrapped around her head from behind, and a blade was brought up to her throat.

"I told you not to fight back," said the man, disappointment in his voice. He sounded as if he didn't want to do hurt her, but had no other choice. "Now, I guess I'm going to have to kill you too. Just in case."

And with that, he dragged the blade across her jugular, sending her blood splattering across her once beautiful home.

__________

Fiona's eyes shot open. There was a knocking at the door. Noticing that Tara was not awake, she got up, and, silently walking across the room cautiously opened the door. She was greeted by the sight of an average looking man, with an average looking face.

"Sorry to bother you ma'am," he said somberly. "I know it's late, but this rather important."

"Uh… yes?" Fiona nervously asked him.

"It's just that there's been another set of murders around here," he said. "Myself and the other members of the neighborhood watch are on the lookout for any more signs of trouble. Have you seen any suspicious activity around here, ma'am?"

"Sorry, I haven't seen anything," said Fiona softly, trying not to wake her friend. "We've just been sleeping this whole time." The man peeked in the room and noticed another girl was lying down on the floor, sleeping through their conversation. He sighed.

"Well, I'm terribly sorry to have bothered you two ladies. If you see anything, though, make sure to report it to the neighborhood watch, ASAP," he stated. "Make sure to stay indoors, too. There's a lot of trouble around town recently."

"Um…thank you," said Fiona, unsure of how to respond to the man's advice. He took off, and she shut the door. She quietly tiptoed back into her bed, and stared at the ceiling. She was actually secretly thankful that the man showed up when he did. She had only gotten two hours of sleep, and she knew that she wouldn't get any more. She was having the same nightmare again. It always haunted her, never leaving her alone when she wanted to. And it didn't help that she was back in Haddonfield. Out of all of the crime in the world, she had to be here. She didn't get it. This was the one place she never wanted to see again. But somehow, Wilson decided to send her back here, to this hellhole of a town. Had he not known what this place had done to her? He obviously had to know, right? She knew there was no way that he knew nothing about it, so then why did he send her back? It was just a mess that she didn't want to be involved in. And then, there was Tara, trying to reason with something she didn't understand. Tara was her best friend, but there were some things that she shouldn't know. Tara didn't know about it, right? How could she have known? Unless Wilson told her. But why would he do that?

Fiona sat in the dark, endless questions cycling through her mind. All she wanted was to stop this killer, and get out of this town as fast as possible. She almost jumped out of the door to catch this criminal in the act, do anything just to leave. But she knew that this investigation might take some time, and the longer she stayed in Haddonfield, the longer she felt like she would lose her mind.

__________

October 13th, 2015

When the team regrouped in the morning, Tara noticed that her friends looked very tired. Dash yawned, AJ stretched her back, Rachel rubbed her eyes, and Fiona stumbled about lazily.

"Am I the only one to get a decent night's sleep?" Tara wondered aloud.

"You try sleeping in a bed that does not follow standard chiropractic comfort standards," snapped Rachel, incredibly tired. AJ rolled her eyes.

"And y'all try sleeping in the same room as someone who sleeps on that bed," AJ moaned.

"Well, maybe I wouldn't be so bad if someone didn't tear the room apart looking for their precious little hat," Rachel snapped back. Tara managed to stop the fighting, and get the girls back on track.

"Okay, calm down," Tara ordered, and Rachel and AJ started their bickering. "Alright then, according to Fiona, apparently there were more murders last night, which means that the killer is still at large. I think our best course of action on this would be to split up and search for clues. Investigate all around town and see what we can find. We'll split up into three teams. Fiona and I will search around the north part of town. AJ and Rachel-"

"NO!" shouted both girls, simultaneously. It became quite clear to Tara that these girls might not get along so well, and she made a slight alteration to her plan.

"Okay then," she stated. "AJ, go with Dash and investigate the south end of town. Rachel and Pinky, you take the west side. We all have each other's cell phone numbers, in case something comes up. We'll report back here at two. Everybody cool with that?" She was met with nods and small words of agreement. With that, she gave the order to move out, and the team started their mission.

__________

As Fiona walked around the town, she noticed how little everything had changed. The central hub of stores was filed with people casually trolling around. A large lake was in the center of the town, with a fountain spewing water out back into the central water area. Memories came flooding back to her, every sight bringing back thoughts of older times. So Fiona looked away, keeping her eyes trained on her feet as she trudged forward. Tara was enjoying the view of the town, however, and she couldn't understand why Fiona seemed so hesitant to look around her.

"Man, this place is beautiful," Tara said, trying to press Fiona into looking up.

"I hate this place," Fiona muttered under her breath. It was a simple side comment regarding her own thoughts, something meant to be unheard by anyone else. Unfortunately for her, Tara's sharp ears managed to pick up the comment, and the girl seemed quite surprised by what she heard.

"You hate this place?" Tara questioned. Fiona's eyes went wide, as she realized her thoughts had been made public. "What's wrong about it?"

Fiona tried not to answer the question, as she turned away from Tara's questioning gaze.

"Nothing," Fiona said, trying to pass off the question. "Just forget it."

"You said you hated this place," Tara pressed on. "Why?" Fiona sighed, and gave a half-answer in response.

"Look," Fiona said shyly. "I didn't have the best time growing up here. I had some really good times here, but most of the time, it wasn't happy. I have some bad memories of this place. Let's leave it at that."

"But if you talk about it…" Tara started to argue. Fiona suddenly turned to face her, and spoke with a sense of anger that Tara had never heard before.

"Can we not talk about this now?" Fiona insisted. "Let's just find the murderer so we can le-" Fiona was cut off as she walked directly into someone. Her anger turned to guilt, and her depression turned to embarrassment, as the person turned around to face her. He was a boy roughly her age, with a dark sweater on and jet black hair that was protruding from his head at an odd angle. He looked angry that he was knocked into, as it made him spill some of his coffee, which was just freshly made. Fiona immediately began apologizing for her actions, as the boy reprimanded her.

"Hey, watch your going, you almost-" he started to yell, but then paused. He looked at Fiona for a long moment, studying her. Then, as if a buzzer went off in his head, a small smile broke out on his face, as he recognized hers. "…Fiona? Is that you?" Fiona was confused.

"Um…" Fiona started to say, but that was all the confirmation the boy needed, before he broke out into a huge grin and trapped Fiona in a crushing hug. Fiona blushed profusely at the sign of physical affection, as Tara started to giggle at the stunned look on her friend's face. Meanwhile, the boy was incredibly happy, and it showed in his hug.

"Fiona! Oh shit, I haven't seen you in years!" He released her from the hug, and held her shoulders. "It's me, Jacob Tarvis!" A cord of familiarity struck through Fiona. She examined his face, and found the similarities in it with someone she used to know long ago. And once her brain made such a connection, Fiona finally realized who she was talking to.

"Oh! Jacob!" she said with stark realization, and a nervous smile crept on her face. "It's good to see you again." He finally released his grip on her, allowing her to shake off the shock from physical contact.

"No shit!" he said happily. "Man, I haven't seen you since, like, the 7th Grade. How ya been?"

"Oh…fine, I guess," she replied nervously. It felt strange talking to Jacob again, especially after all of these years. It brought her a strange sense of nostalgia.

"Man, we've got to, like, catch up or something," he said happily. "Do you have a phone or something? I could give you my number, and maybe we could, like, set something up." Tara briefly interrupted, knowing that she could be of assistance.

"Just tell it to me," Tara said confidently to Jacob. "I'll remember it."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Alright, you say so," Jacob said as he shrugged. "Its 555-0278. Remember, 555-0278. Man, I gotta go, but's been great seeing you Fiona." He started to run away from the girls, but turned and called back. "Hope to see you again, girl!"

"Same here," Fiona said softly. She knew that he hadn't heard her, but she didn't mind. In truth, it was actually somewhat pleasant to see Jacob again, even if it did bring up a rather unpleasant memory.

"Who was that?" asked Tara happily, glad to see Fiona become a little more comfortable. Fiona wasn't quite sure how to respond, as she had many thoughts and opinions of Jacob, and she had to think of how best to describe him.

"You know how I said I had some 'good times' in this town?" Fiona said nervously. Tara nodded. "Well, I guess you say that he was one of them." A sly smile grew on Tara's face.

"So, were you two ever… you know…" Tara started to suggest. Fiona realized what Tara was trying to insinuate, and quickly waved away the thought.

"Oh no, nothing like that," Fiona said, quickly. Tara's smile didn't waver, though, and Fiona felt the need to elaborate. "It was just…well… he was one of the only real friends I've ever had. He was always there to help me out when I needed it. He was just a really good kid. That's all."

Fiona smiled at the memories from her childhood, and readjusted her hood to hide her face from Tara's smug grin. And yet, despite Fiona's hood and long pink hair blocking her view, Tara was almost positive that she saw Fiona blush.

__________

"And so I said, 'I'm used to lying down on hard things.' That's funny, right?" Dash attempted to explain her problem to AJ. AJ snickered, not so much at Dash's horrible sexual innuendo, but rather at her reaction to it. To see Dash, someone who took great pride in her clever jokes, being shut down by someone who didn't even understand what it meant to be an adult, was rather funny. It served Dash well to get some humility, in any way which it was delivered. AJ shrugged in response to Dash, causing the rainbow-haired girl to sigh.

"What do you know, anyway?" Dash said.

"Let's just focus on the mission," AJ stated. "I'll teach you something about humor later." Dash groaned, and then looked around. They were passing by a junior high school, which was blocked off by a large field and a chain-link fence. Next to the school was an old library, which seemed to be slowly cracking apart, and then the senior high school. AJ took notice off several of the kids running around the field, part of a physical education exercise. Dash laughed at the sight.

"Man, I remember doing that shit," Dash said, thinking of her times in high school; all of the times she dominated the competition in her athletics. She was the queen bee of her school in the sports department, and it wasn't really a bad time. But compared to what she was doing now, stopping terrorists, while being able to perform extreme acts of violence with the government's consent, school seemed like a prison. Suddenly, AJ interrupted Dash's idea with a thought of her own.

"Sometimes I wish I could know what it's like," AJ said sorrowfully. "Ya know, to be one of those kids." Dash laughed at this, finding it extremely funny.

"Trust me, you're not missing much," Dash said truthfully. As they walked by the church, they passed a local priest standing outside, talking to a group of concerned people.

"I have spoken to our Lord, God," he spoke calmly. "He says the demons that haunt us now will soon pass over us. There is nothing to fear."

"How can you say that, Father?" spoke one man of the group. "The Witcherson's are dead! And they were good Christian people! What kind of cruel punishment is this?" Other members of the crowd began to speak as well, fear ever growing amongst the group.

"What if he comes for my little Billy?"

"How can God let something like this happen?"

"I fear the Devil's work, here! This killer's from Hell, I tell you!"

"What should we do, Father?"

"Yeah, what do we do?!"

"Please help us, Father!"

"Calm down, everyone. Calm down!" he said, trying to get control of the group. "Now, I know there is a lot of fear amongst us. I know it might seem frightening. But I do truly believe that if you fully accept Jesus in your heart, and pray strongly to God, then we will get through this. Haddonfield has survived many tragedies. When this town was covered with eight feet of snow in the blizzards of '96, we survived. When the town was faced with a great drought, we survived. And we will survive this. We have to." And with that, the crowd dissipated. As they left, many whispers were still flying around, and fear was still evident.

"I think someone's been doing some devil worship. That's the only explanation."

"I heard the killer has horns, and drinks the blood from his foes."

"What if he's right here, listening to all of this? Is he gonna come for us?"

The people passed by AJ, who had been listening to the entire session from afar, and she turned to Dash.

"What do ya think about that," AJ asked, thinking about the meeting. "Do ya really think there's some sorta ancient evil at work here."

"Nah," Dash said, nonchalantly. "These guys are just a bunch of religious freaks trying to find answers in a shitty book."

"Yeah," confirmed AJ, albeit quite quietly. "But then, what in Hell's name could it be?"

__________

"What do you know about the murders?!"

Pinky was bouncing around the busy street, asking people the exact same question over and over again. Rachel was watching, in astonishment, the speed at which Pinky moved, taking mere seconds to ask her question, and then move on to the next person. And since they were standing in front of the movie theater, there were plenty of subjects for Pinky's words.

"Tell me everything you know! What were you doing at 11:35 last night?! I need your name, phone number, and bank account now! Don't look at me like that! I've got eyes everywhere!"

As Pinky quickly moved from person to person, people started to avoid her. When she asked a question, they were usually so startled, that they didn't have time to answer before Pinky moved on to someone else. And when they did answer, the information was completely useless. Pinky's questioning became more aggressive, and soon, the entire crowd had left, leaving Pinky and Rachel standing by themselves in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Man, that was pointless," Pinky said, disappointed. "How are we going to find out anything about the murders?"

"You guys want to know something about the murders?" came a voice from behind. They turned around and saw a young girl, slightly younger than them, holding a cup of coffee. She just happened to be walking by when she heard them talking of the recent events, and decided to help.

"You know something about the homicides?" asked Rachel with enthusiasm.

"Well, I don't," the girl said. Rachel's mood sank a little, before the girl added, "But Mr. Ruiz knows a lot. He even saw one of the killings take place." Rachel's mood immediately chirped up with this knowledge, and she began to think that she might actually get something done.

"Great! Where is he?" Rachel asked happily. The girl pointed across the street to the opposite sidewalk.

"He's right over there," the girl stated. Pinky and Rachel turned around, and saw that a Brazilian man was sitting down on the sidewalk, enjoying a nice cup of coffee as he watched the occasional car drive by.

"That's fantastic," Rachel declared. "Let's go speak to him."

"But he doesn't speak English," the girl admitted. Rachel paused for a moment, and then her smile slowly disappeared. She turned to Pinky.

"Well, that was a waste," she said somberly. "Now what are w-… Pinky? Pinky, where are you?" Rachel looked around for her hyper friend, but found her nowhere. At last, she saw her friend, halfway across the street with Mr. Ruiz.

"…e ele tinha esses olhos horríveis. Os olhos do diabo," Mr. Ruiz said fearfully, as he explained his story.

"Os olhos do diabo?" Pinky replied to him.

"Sim, era muito horrível. Eu estava com tanto medo na minha vida," he continued.

"O que aconteceu depois?"

"Mais duas pessoas tentaram assassiná-lo, mas ele matou-os também. Eu estava com muito medo de se mover. Ele me olhou bem nos olhos, mas ele sorriu, e depois à esquerda na fumaça mais preta."

"Ele acabou de sair no meio da fumaça?"

"Sim. Sim. Ele só me deixou sozinho." Pinky thought deeply about the story, before thanking the man, and walking back over to Rachel. Rachel was quite shocked at Pinky's performance, and was wondering a great many things. But the only thing she could ask was:

"When did you learn to speak Portuguese?"

Pinky smiled at her, as if it were the most basic knowledge in the world. "Duh," Pinky said. "I'm like, one-sixteenth Portuguese. Anyway, I think I know what we are dealing with."

"Well, what is it?" asked Rachel, desperately wanting to know.

"Well, if I heard correctly," Pinky said, making sure she understood what Mr. Ruiz was saying. "Then I think we're fighting a magician."

__________

"He teleported?" said Tara, in great confusion. It was two o'clock, and the gang had regrouped in Rachel and AJ's motel room, as they discussed what information they had learned. For the most part, no one had gathered any real information, except for Pinky's eye witness testimony from Mr. Ruiz. But even then, Tara had a great deal of trouble accepting the information that Pinky was handing out. Pinky ferociously nodded her head again.

"That's what Mr. Ruiz said," Pinky said as she tried to prove her point once again.

"Maybe you just mistranslated him, darling," Rachel said with support.

"No way. I know what he said," Pinky reaffirmed. "This guy was standing there for one second, then there was a puff of smoke, and then POOF! He was gone."

"Pinky, let's be realistic here," stated Tara. "You're saying that a mass murderer has the ability to teleport around in a puff of smoke, and he just let one of his victims live for no reason, when he's been known to kill anything that gets in his way. And apparently, he's also Satan. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." Pinky felt almost angry that they weren't listening, but she wasn't very used to feeling angry. Instead, she hung her head, disappointed that the others refused to believe her.

"But… I know that's what he said," Pinky said, softly.

"Pinky, what's more likely?" asked Dash. "The Devil is running around, teleporting and killing everything in his sight, but apparently refuses to kill foreigners? Or, that the white stuff is getting to your head, and you're not as good as speaking fucking Portuguese as you remember?" Pinky lied back on the bed, covering her face with her hands, as she stared at the ceiling.

"I…I don't know," Pinky admitted. Tara stood up, and started to walk towards the door, disappointed in the information that they found today. Normally, she was very good at learning things in a short amount of time, but this case eluded her. She had only learned three things today: Pinky could speak another language, the town thinks that Lucifer is destroying the populace, and Fiona has an old friend named Jacob, that she was fairly certain meant a lot more to Fiona than she was letting on. Other than that, the day had been a complete waste.

"Well, I guess we should go back and start searching again," Tara said, as she opened up the door. She was almost instantly greeted with a flash of lightning, followed swiftly by the booming sound of thunder. Rain was pouring down upon the streets, and Tara realized that the girls would be going nowhere for the rest of the day. She sighed, as she closed the door. "…or not."

Dash let out a moan, before pulling up a search engine on her phone, and typed in their current address.

"So… anyone want Chinese for dinner?"

__________

It was now six-thirty, and the storm clouds were finally starting to clear. As the grey skies slowly started to turn black, Tara considered her next course of action. She and Fiona had returned to their room, after a lengthy meal of mediocre Moo Shu Pork. Tara had many things to consider, and for that she requested time alone. In compliance, (since there was really no place else to go) Fiona was lying on the bed, staring at no particular spot on the ceiling. Tara had several options that she could take, although none of them sounded promising.

Her first option was to call the investigation off for the evening. It did serve its benefits. For starters, it allowed them to start a fresh search in the morning, once they were well rested. Finding information about the cases would be much easier if there were actual people they could talk to, instead of wondering around the streets. Plus, there was the moral of the team that she had to consider. From what she could gather at the meeting, no one seemed particularly interested in continuing the case for the night. It was still stormy out, and it presented the idea that Tara would have to wait until the weather fully cleared before searching again. Plus, staying in would allow Tara to talk to Fiona some more. There were many things that Tara wished to ask her about, including her hatred of Haddonfield and her probable romantic relationship with Jacob. And, if Tara proved to be correct with her belief, it would add a small boost of self-confidence, knowing she was able to read people easily. However, she also knew that Fiona was desperately trying to get back home as soon as possible, and would not appreciate a delay in the search. And the most notable problem with this plan of action would be that for every day they waited, more people could die. And although Tara did not want to upset her team, the innocent lives meant so much more to her than petty morality.

The second option was to leave immediately in search for the murderer. It wasted the least amount of time, and they could continue the search instantly, without the possibility of costing more lives. But, the weather did not seem to fully permit this course of action, as storm clouds still loomed over the horizon, threatening to strike down with rain and thunder, crippling the investigation. There was also the somewhat terrifying notion that all of the killings had occurred at night. If the team were to leave the relative safety of the motel, they could become the targets of the next homicides. Of course, they still did not know why each victim was targeted in the first place, or how the killer had managed to execute his enemies with such skill and precision. Perhaps, it was this stark lack of knowledge that made this option so terrifying. They had no idea what this man could do and perhaps, it was best to wait before attempting to bring the criminal down.

The third option was more or less a combination of the former two choices. She could send a small team to continue investigating while the others monitored their progress. It would limit the amount of people put in harm's way, while allowing for strategic thinking to be made from a safe location. They could continue to learn more about the murders throughout the night, and in the morning, a second team could research among the town's people. It was the best way to manage their resources, and they could prevent any crime in progress they came across. But unfortunately, she came across similar problems. Without full knowledge of what the assailant could do, she could be sending her own friends into a death trap. And if they did get into trouble, it would take far too long for Tara to send backup.

Tara paced around the room, all three plans of action buzzing around her head. She was having a great deal of trouble thinking of anything, and this greatly bothered her. Normally, she was very good at making decisions. She had come up with the plan to attack Discord's base in thirteen minutes, but she had been deep in thought for the past two hours, and she was unable to come up with a solution. It seemed like no matter what choice she made, people were going to die as consequence, and this burden fell on her heavily. She groaned.

"Man, I just don't know what to do," Tara spoke to Fiona. "I really don't know. It's like, no matter what I do, someone is going to have the pay the price for it. All I'm trying to do is stop a murderer, nut for whatever reason, I feel like I'm going end up hurting people."

"Don't worry, Tara," said Fiona softly, still looking up at the ceiling. She smiled. "You'll think of the right thing. You always do." Tara smiled at the words of encouragement.

"Thanks, Fiona," Tara said in response. It was then that Tara realized Fiona seemed to be rather upset about something. Her normally bright, angelic face was somber, and her body language showed that she was deep in thought about something. "Are you alright, Fiona?"

Fiona realized that Tara had noticed her rather dark mood, and she felt a little embarrassed by it.

"Uh, no," Fiona lied. "Everything's alright." Tara rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Fiona. I know something's troubling you," said Tara. Fiona took a deep sigh, got up, and sat at the edge of the bed. Tara took a seat next to her, and put her hands on her lap, listening closely.

"Well," started Fiona. "It's just that, ever since I came back here, I've been thinking about a lot of things. Things I have now and… things that I left behind." Tara nodded, as Fiona took another deep breath before continuing.

"The thing is…" Fiona paused, unsure of what to say. It felt very bizarre saying this directly to Tara, but it was something that she felt she had to get off of her chest. And in her opinion, there was no better set of ears to tell this to. "Have you ever liked someone, but you were unsure if they liked you back?"

Oh, thought Tara. So that's what this is about.

Tara knew exactly what Fiona was thinking, but she didn't wish to undermine her friend's confession. So, she simply put on her best confused look, and shook her head. Fiona took another breath.

"Well…" Fiona started to say. "Let's say, hypothetically, that I liked this… person." Fiona spoke nervously, while Tara faked a shocked expression.

"Yes…" Tara said, pretending that she didn't understand what Fiona meant.

"And, well," Fiona started to stumble over her own words, as she grew more embarrassed with each passing moment. She hid her face underneath the hood of her jacket. "I wanted to know if this…person...liked me back. Would you, by any chance, not that you would of course, um… know how to see if they felt the same way?" Tara couldn't help but smile at Fiona's attempt at a love confession. Of course, Tara knew exactly who the "person" was, and she was already pretty confident that Fiona's romantic interest returned similar feelings. She had seen it from the moment they met. But still, Fiona wanted advice, and being the very helpful best friend that she was, Tara would tell Fiona everything she needed to know.

"Well, lucky for you, Fiona, I have read my fair share of romantic tales in my lifetime, and I would be happy to help you," spoke Tara gladly. Fiona perked up a bit at the news, but was still rather embarrassed to say much.

"So, uh," Fiona managed to get out. "What would you say to d-do? Hypothetically, o-of course."

"Well," Tara considered, thinking over the various romantic tales that she had read through. Although she always considered it light reading, she made a mental note of many of the techniques used by the heroines to seduce the men. "You could get to know the person over a long period of time, get to know a lot about them before trying anything, you know, different."

"Okay," Fiona responded to the not-so-helpful advice. "Anything else?"

"You could try to invite the person to a semi-romantic date, see how they feel about you," Tara suggested. Fiona nodded. "You could try to sexually seduce them, although something tells me you're not the kind of person for that. You could learn about that person through their friends, discover things about them. Wear different things, try new makeup…" Tara continued to rattle off different tips, which Fiona gradually took in. But yet, nothing truly seemed to be able to help her.

"Anything else you know of?" asked Fiona hopefully. Tara thought hard about anything else that could help Fiona. There was one other thing that she thought of. A particularly off-the-wall method she had not seen being used often in literature. But she recalled it being rather successful in the novel, which she had borrowed from one of her acquaintances in her freshman year of high school. It wasn't the most widely spread solution, but perhaps Fiona needed something a little different to help her with Jacob.

"Well, you could try to be spontaneous," Tara suggested. Fiona stopped and took a glance at her friend.

"Spontaneous?" Fiona asked, making sure she heard Tara's suggestion correctly. Tara nodded.

"Yeah. It worked in The Memories of Velma Verano, so I suppose it's as good of an idea as any," Tara said. Fiona seemed to perk up, as she thought about the idea, cycling through her head.

"What do you mean?" Fiona asked. Tara looked up at the ceiling, as she tried to think of more details.

"Like, do something out of the blue," Tara thought out loud. "Like, invite the person on a date from out of nowhere, or just buy them presents because you care. People tend to think most clearly in the heat of the moment. Or maybe, you could-"

But Tara never got to finish her words, as Fiona quickly grabbed on to her, and pressed their lips together.

To Be Continued…