Lili Dean's Story

KJ

Carefully and steadily he moved, each slowly-watched swing, turn, muscle use was cataloged away in his mind to go over afterward. KJ knew how to test himself and during the day, he likened to the basement to practice. Today his practice revealed good results. Since he began his self-training of martial arts and yoga, he had found a center within himself, a serene ballad song humming within his core like a vibrating war chant. He had taken residence here at the townhouse two weeks ago. This had been his only accomplishment since then. KJ didn't complain. As long as he was left to his own devices, he was certainly...

DING DONG!

Shoulders slumping and expression slackening into disappointed sadness, he recalled the interview. Yesterday the Asian had told them to be ready to meet the potential new addition to their crew. KJ refused to think the silly name of their so-called organization. Grabbing his blue towel, he wiped at the light sheet of sweat building on his forehead and groaned when one of his short red horns caught the fabric. Tearing the towels away before it was torn to shreds, he adjusted the black beater sticking to his muscles torso and sighed, wondering if he could speed up the process of defining the muscles he already had.

The stairs creaked as he started up, already expecting the twins' reaction to his BO. Part of him enjoyed messing with the two vain twerps. Mostly because they were too involved with their own looks as if their faces would solve every ailment in the world.

He tugged on his beanie that sat on the kitchen counter, his two horns poking through the holes already there. The door was already answered, voices coming from the front room. Giving a sigh, and wiping once more at his nose, he leaned in the doorway and folded his arms lazily, waiting to see the new recruit. The Asian wanted a human, for obvious reasons. KJ expected some charismatic guy in a suit, maybe a lawyer, someone to give a trustworthy face to the group so humans wouldn't run away at the sight of one of the "freaks" at the door.

"Thanks," she said, voice enthusiastic.

KJ raised an eyebrow.


Monica

At the door, she found a normal, and very nice, Asian elderly man. She smiled to him, thoughts whirring too much for her to really hear what he was saying. She said Thank You, hoping it made sense with what he said, and glanced inside. On the phone, the man, Shen, Chan? She couldn't remember, which she rolled her eyes at. He had said three others worked with him.

Her thumbs looped into her pockets as she found all three. The boy and girl, both with red in their hair, were closer and more up for greetings. Monica was frozen at the sight of...tail...f-feet? She lowered her eyes, mouth open, words non-existent. What...what had she signed up for exactly?

Brown eyes lifting, she caught the eye of the third, a red-skinned man with piercing eyes and...horns? She half-expected him to have a tail too.

Turning, she faced Fan, Cho, Mushu? Her mouth went dry. "I think...there's a mistake...I..."

Shen

Shen was nearly bouncing with excitement. A human! So soon, too! He had put up the ad just a few days ago, and already an answer!

He didn't even notice her faltering words, so caught up was he in his own thoughts and plans. "No no no," he said, smiling widely, "No mistake. You are in the right place. Come! Come sit!" He waved at Lili and Sam irritatedly. "Ya! You move! Make room for her!" He turned back to the girl, smile back, as the twins groaned but obliged, "Here? You sit here, yes?" he continued in his thick Asian accent, pulling out a chair and practically shoving her into it.

"Okay, all set!" he said dramatically. He scurried around to his desk and plucked out a single sheet out of a meticulously organized filing cabinet and attached it to a clipboard. He set his glasses and read, "So...you are....Monaca Price? Is that right?" he asked, grinning again at her as he shuffled back, "I speak with you on phone yesterday but allow me introduce myself formally," he bowed deeply. "I am Shen, and I am honor you accept my humble request for help," he said, unbending until he was straight again. "They will introduce later," he said, waving his hands at the others, "Now! For the interview!" He pulled up his own chair quite close to Monica and sat cross-legged onto it, pulling out a pencil from behind his ear. Leaning forward, smiling toothily, as always, he asked "So, Monaca...what is your experience with the supernatural?"

Monica

She was put in a chair, Shen's accent coated the insides of her ears until she could barely hear. Only when he sat right before her and looked her straight in the eye did she register his words and she had no response at first. The tail...and...the horns...

"Not much," she admitted, hoping this was some kind of Halloween joke. It wasn't far off after all. "Like...what do you mean exactly?"

Sure, she'd heard the rumors, seen some things, especially since arriving in this neck of the country...but it wasn't real...right? She remembered that at one of the shelters she had stayed at a week ago had a curfew. It seemed odd. Which was only emphasized by the bars on the windows and the crucifixes on the walls. At the time, Monica didn't question it, needing a place to sleep.

"Like...Like that guy on the news? The..." Her eyes shifted to the one with the tail, her brown eyes captivated by the slight twitching. "Lizard Man?"

Sam

"Lizard Man??" Sam blurted out, "Is that what they're callin' me? Christ, what a stupid name!"

"No, you idiot," Lili snapped, backhanding him, "She's not referring to you! Don't you remember that guy we saw on the TV the other day? He's like an actual lizard man, not some pretty boy with a tail! He was the one who tore up the W in the Hollywood sign."

"Well, she was lookin' at my tail, so I just assumed that she was referrin' to me!" Sam said defensively.

Lili just rolled her eyes. "Not everything's about you, Sam," she said, "Sheesus. You're not even on the same caliber as the Lizard Man."

Sam stuck his tongue out, a very normal one at that. So, maybe he wasn't the lizard man Monica was referring to. Maybe there was another guy. But he had only seem him once on the television. And it was on a News station. Who watches the news anymore? Who was this chick? Already Sam wasn't sure about her. He swished his tail suddenly, coiling and uncoiling it, just to freak her out. She seemed to be quite unaccustomed to people like themselves.

Shen

At the mention of the news, Shen slouched a bit, smile fading. Even if the Lizard Man Monica was referring to probably wasn't Sam, they still had bad publicity. The past week they had made the news for the sheer amount of property damage they had inflicted while trying to get rid of a possessed raccoon.

"How you know is not Sam??" Shen demanded Lili, "Have you seen news? The local one? It have photograph of everyone all over, with tail and feet and horn and everything! Could be she talking about Sam! You too reckless! Too much damage! Not enough money! How I supposed to pay for everything if you keep breaking all the houses we try to help? You think money grow on tree??" He took a breath to calm himself before turning back to Monica. "This why we need human," he said in a much gentler tone than he had just been using, "We need...gentle, mortal touch. How is your knowledge of legal affair?"

Monica

Needing a job, she pressed on, attempting to ignore those around her.

"Legals affairs...uh...I watch Law and Order. A lot." The one in the back, the horned one, snorted. Her brown eyes swiveled over and narrowed. "It's a good show."

He held up his hands, chuckling to himself.

"Look," she sighed, facing Shen again and making sure not to make eye contact with the boy and girl or their...parts. "What am I going to be doing exactly? I can be a secretary...I know numbers, I can answer phones..." Then she glanced around, realizing they probably operated out of this place. Did they all live here? How did they have a spare bed to put on the ad? Townhouses weren't exactly large, and she figured even here in the city, they couldn't afford the nice stuff. "Why do I need to know legal affairs? What do you guys...do exactly?"


KJ

Shaking his head, still a bit amused by the scene, KJ sighed and debated heading back downstairs. His two hearts were still beating rather fast. He could keep it going easy. But then the Asian would be annoying.

The human asked, "What do you guys...do exactly?" and KJ smiled.

"Kill things," he answered, her eyes once again darting to him. Smiling toothily at the discomfort she showed, he continued, "That Lizard Man? We kill stuff like him. All day, all night, all the time. Kill, kill, kill..."

She visibly swallowed back a shaky comment. He smirked.

"Why...do you need a human...I don't quite...understand."

"So someone can actually answer the door."

Knock, Knock.

KJ straightened up, amusement dissolving from his face in an instant. The others seemed tense too, especially Monica. Her questioning eyes switched from the door to him and he shrugged. "I didn't do it."

Lili

At the knocking, Shen had popped up from the interview and scurried to the door. He was the only one who had a normal enough form to do so, at the moment. Unless they got this human....Lili sniffed as she examined her. Not terrible, but definitely no match for her.

"Who do you think it is?" Sam whispered, "A lawyer? The police? Didn't Shen say he was an illegal?"

Lili rolled her eyes, "Please! As if they'd come for us over that! Didn't you just hear the little man? They're probably coming for you, after what you did to that family's car."

"The demon had run into it! What else was I supposed to do? Shooting it was the only option. Besides, you weren't exactly careful when you rescued that baby! Didn't you drop it?"

The two bickered until KJ shot them a threatening look. The shut up in time to see exactly who had knocked on the door...

It was another Asian man. This one undeniably human and much older-looking than all of them. He was gripping a telephone in one hand and waving the other one hysterically. Most of his pants looked like they had been ripped, shredded, or burned off, and his hair stuck up on end as if he had been electrocuted. There were minor burn marks along his arms and face, and one fingertip was black. He was screaming incoherently, though that may have been because he was speaking in another language. Shen seemed to understand him, though, and they both began talking to each other.

"Hey...isn't that the old Asian guy who owns that appliance store?" Sam asked, "The one with all the rice cookers?"

He did look awfully familiar, "I think so," Lili replied, "He gave me a free coupon once."

"Aren't all coupons free?" Sam asked, but the discussion was interrupted by even louder shouting, this time from Shen. He ran towards them, the other man still in the doorway, waving his arms. "We have case! We have case!" he said, jumping up and down. He began speaking in Chinese again, to the other man, as he motioned towards everyone else. At the sight of K.J., the older man fainted, which caused Lili and Sam to laugh at once.

"Hush up!" Shen snapped, "We have important case on our hand! Immediate attention! Hurry up! Go, go!"

Lili and Sam rolled their eyes simultaneously. "But my feet..." Lili complained, "I need to pick out my shoes...."

But Shen wasn't listening. He was too busy smiling at Monica. "Now you see what we do," he said, "You come, watch, stay reasonable distance away, and then you see. Afterward, we finish up application process, all right?"

KJ

Night had yet to fall. KJ climbed into the trunk space of the SUV, laying on the car's floor and letting out a sight as he pulled the rim of the beanie down over his eyes. The others crowded into the seats in the front. Now the free seat they usually had was taken by Monica. She said little. The Asian's excitement nearly had KJ hurling, but they were on their way to a case, potential skull bashing in the near future. KJ smiled a bit at the thought.

The client continued to explain his predicament, but KJ didn't care to listen. His thoughts wandered a bit, as they always did, to his training and then the house of ABNI. The twins had woken him up early that morning, early as in 2 in the afternoon. KJ usually spent the nights getting a feel for the city under neon lights instead of the revealing light of the sun. He dabbled a bit in casinos, he even saw a few shows the city of Las Vegas had to offer, which was a lot.

Then he thought about Monica. The Asian's idea for a human initially worried him. Still did, but he understood it better now. It would help, definitely. But her? Lifting the edge of his beanie, he opened one yellow eye to see the back of Monica's chocolate hair in the middle seat between the twins. They were talking animatedly. She didn't respond. If she truly was so skittish, perhaps she wouldn't do. They needed someone to talk to authorities and the press. She didn't seem like the type to talk much at all, let alone to intimidating figures.

They arrived at their location faster than he expected. Uncurling from the back and sliding quickly under the cover of the shop's roof, he finally tuned into what was happening, only to find a different language greet his ears. He didn't have the patience to try and decipher the noises, his skills with other languages better translated on writing rather than speech. He slipped passed the group, lightly pushing Monica out of the way, as he tuned his senses to the scene.

A presence definitely settled over the entire place, a frequency shaking in his ears unlike anything he had encountered. He knew of something similar though. Eyeing one of the appliances, his yellow eyes became slits and he leaned down to face the toaster head on. It was unassuming, as toasters usually were, though he knew a deeper evil existed here. Toasters usually burned toast, which was evil enough, but something else kept his gaze trained and hard, as if an entity stared back, as if the metal and wires had an identity outside the world of bread and bagels...

"Are you the toaster whisperer?"

KJ nearly spun around to defend himself. He was so concentrated on the toaster that he hadn't heard her approach. Sighing and straightening up, he looked down to Monica with a frown. "What if I am?"

"Dumbest power any superhero could have," she replied.

"Superhero?" he questioned, smiling a little. "We're not superheroes."

She only shrugged and tentatively glanced to the toaster. "So...is it a monster? Like you guys?"

KJ felt his horns ache a bit at the comment. It was only when someone pointed out his abnormalities that he remembered precisely what he was in this world. A freak. A red-skinned, red haired, red horned freak. "No," he answered. "It's a toaster."

Her brown eyes narrowed, lips frowning. It nearly made him laugh. "What's wrong with this place then?"

"Well..." KJ started, placing his hand on the counter. He never got to finish though. A zap of electricity connected with all five fingertips and he yelped, jolting backwards involuntarily and tumbling to the ground shaking and seizing as his two hearts tried to deal with pulse of energy. When his eyes opened, body normalizing only slightly, he saw Monica coming toward him but he shouted, "Don't touch me! I'm still...ah!" His muscles flinched and clenched hard. Then his eyes darted behind her. "Look out!"

Wires rose up like a wave in the ocean, plugs crowning in the air and black lines twisting and reeling against each other from every appliance on the wall. Monica turned and screamed as she hurried backwards only to trip over KJ. Thankfully he wasn't electrified any longer and he caught her easily, making sure his face didn't collide with his horns.

"Kids! We got a problem!" he called to the front room.

Monica

Day 1 on the job: life-threatening.

She rolled from KJ and curled into a corner, trapped in the back room. Both entrances were blocked either with wires, machines or members of ABNI. KJ jumped to his feet and raised his hands, curled into claws and yellow eyes livid with...wait, claws? He full on Wolverine'd! Monica was trembling, trying to figure stuff out. She just HAD to follow KJ to investigate. She was curious, she'd admit it. But now she was going to die. Well, the saying did say curiosity killed the cat...but she wasn't a cat. In fact, KJ looked more like one than she ever would.

The boy with the tail found a solution, a loud one. He shot at the machinery repeatedly which seemed to be working. Monica slid along the wall to try and make it through the door and out of the shop.

The dragon from before? Yeah she was trying to block that out, but once she caught a glance of the sky outside, the gray swirling above against the day's weather forecast...she couldn't help but remember.

Making it out, she took in a deep breath and covered her face. It was hot, like a fever.

The a wire shot out, without her realizing. A slinky little black wire curled around her ankle and tugged her back into the fight.

Lili

"FFFFFFFFFFFFAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCK!" Lili shrieked as the demon Dyson tried to suck her up. The suction was pretty strong, and she couldn't deny that she was panicking a little. Fortunately, Sam seemed to have noticed her predicament. Better yet, he engaged.

Within a matter of seconds, the vacuum monster had been riddled with quite a number of holes. Stubbornly, it continued to stay on, but the suction was far less powerful than before, and Lili could easily wrestle her way out of it. With one powerful stiletto kick, the vacuum went crashing into the wall, nuts and bolts and European engineering flying everywhere.

Lili got to her feet in a huff. Her skirt and leggings were practically rags now. The bastard! Ripping her clothes...

Wait...her clothes...

If there was one thing that Lili had learned about spirits and ghosts, it was that more likely than not, they tended to fall for certain mortal temptations. One of which Lili was more than well equipped with.

She heard a shout and turned to see Sam being waved in the air by a few of the wires. They had foolishly grasped onto his tail, which quickly disengaged from the rest of his body, causing the man to fall to the ground. As he reloaded, Lili strut towards the wires. "I think you're going about this too rough," Lili said with a smirk, "Clearly, you lack the feminine touch..." And with that, Lili stripped off her clothes down to a thin pair of lace panties and, of course, her heels, and posed defiantly, and quite naked, in front of the looming mass of rubber and copper.

It didn't take long for her body to take effect. Several of the wires started short-circuiting at once, collapsing limply around her. Others fought to control themselves, but eventually a good half of the wave was decimated, the rest easily mowed down by the combined efforts of Sam and K.J.

Lili tossed her head proudly. It took a lot to resist a body like hers. A stray wire with Monica attached to it tried to make a quick getaway, but Lili caught it with her stiletto'd foot, wrapped it a few times around her ankle, and yanked backwards. The force snapped the wire away from Monica, dragging the girl along somewhat with its momentum before whipping around Lili's own foot. Thinking the wire was out of power, Lili was about to walk towards the human to help her up when it tugged hard and started dragging her along the floor towards an ominous back room.

"Oh no you don't!" Lili shouted, and she stopped her path with a foot on either side of the doorway. Straining, she pushed against the wall, hoping to Jesus that it wouldn't give way under the pressure. Her hair began to stand on end, and she cursed. She needed to get out of there fast. They all did.

KJ

He saw Lili's display and rolled his yellow eyes in exasperation. Of course she would try to influence the spirits with needs of the flesh, that's all she thought about. Herself. Which included nearly exclusively her body. He wasn't going to lie. She was hot. Smoking hot. and honestly they shared lustful thoughts. A few nights, with the help of alcohol, they nearly had a demon on halfling bedroom session. He didn't have feelings for her though, which bothered him and helped keep his lusts in control.

He was a man, well, demon, with morals. It was nearly an oxymoron, especially with his family. And one of the morals was that sex meant something, something big. It wasn't as if he never did it with anyone, never had the one night stands, ignored flirtatious airheads or sexy dancing vixens. Girls who thought that doing with a demon would be fun caught his eye also. Though mostly he scared them away. It was for their own good. Experimenting with girl on girl or guy on guy was one thing. Not human on demon. That could end up very bad indeed. He tried to help the populous in any little way he could.

Right now though, Lili looked...delicious. Her brilliant red hair accented her reddened face perfectly and he laughed as he jogged over casually to help her out. But not before having fun. While she struggled in the doorway, he crossed his arms and smirked. "Having trouble my little pet?"


Monica

More action took place in those two minutes than in any movie she had ever seen. Scrambling to the door of the shop, she shook her head and blinked away the reality before her. The sidewalk offered a cool surface that she collapsed upon, pressing her forehead down onto its surface. She was almost killed...by a toaster?

Glancing inside, she saw Sam continuing to pull triggers while Lili struggled with static-y hair and angry eyes up to KJ who was laughing at her predicament. They were...strange. So, so very strange. Even putting the demon stuff aside, they were strange.

Straightening up, she wondered if she wanted this job. But now that she knew exactly what was out in the world, how could she not try to...help?

Right. She should help!

The spirit seemed to using electricity, so she figured, pull the plug. Trouble was, she wasn't sure where the power supply for the building came from. There most likely was a fuse box somewhere in the building. That would be a good start. But would it be enough? Diving back in, she figured she would figure that part out later.

Sam nearly collided with her and she dodged out of the way to scan the walls. Nothing, no metal box...nothing she could see...There was probably one in the back room, but Lili blocked the door, and going into that room was suicide. Wires whirled and gears turned and vacuums sucked. Monica had little choice in her next actions. At least, that's what she told herself.

Running up to Sam, she tugged a gun from him and ignored his voice while hurrying to Lili, barrel pointed forward. The redhead screamed, KJ about ready to move, but he stood back, a weird trust in his yellow eyes. Monica took note of it, quickly and picked her target over Lili's head within the back room. Just as thunder rumbled across the city, she shot at the fuse box, sparks flying, lights flickering then dying out and metal crashing to the floor amongst feet upon feet of wires. She smiled in the dark and dropped the gun at once, which happened to be on top of Lili's head, but Monica was too relieved to care about the girl's grumblings.

Pressing her back to the wall, she closed her eyes and slid down the wall. "Whoa..."

Shen

The storm was brewing. Lightning flickered between the clouds, and the dragon grinned, an eerie sight. Excellent he thought. Although he couldn't exactly control the weather, especially these strange western clouds, he had a lot of influence. And influence was all you really needed.

The dark cumulonimbi rumbled threateningly, heavy with rain just waiting to fall, and as thunder began to crescendo, the dragon started his own descent, too focused to check whether the others had left the store or not.

Sam

For once, he didn't laugh at Lili's screech of pain. He was a bit preoccupied with gaping at Monica and trying to wrap his mind about what just happened.

"She...you....took my gun....and then....with that....did....what...how??" he stammered stupidly, jaw suddenly useless and dangling. Was it possible that this human had really defeated whatever spirits were wreaking havoc on the store? The same spirits that were giving him, Lili and KJ trouble? What? HOW?!?

Eventually he managed to collect himself, if only his pride. Bottom-lip sticking out, he grabbed his gun and crossed his arms. Lili had vanished from view, though he wasn't sure if it was because it was so dark or if she had actually made herself invisible. Moments later he felt her breathing next to him, still completely exposed, minus her underwear and heels. Thankfully, neither of them were sexually attracted to each other. The two of them had tried a lot of things, but incest had never even been thought of. To be honest, Sam didn't even see his sister as that attractive. He knew she was. The number of heads she turned was proof enough. But she wasn't his type. And he was sure he wasn't hers.

It seemed she was K.J.'s type though. Or at least fell into the category. He had seen the way the demon had looked at Lili, just now and in the past two weeks they had known him. Clearly the demon wasn't above mortal longings.

A boom of thunder shook Sam back into the present, and he felt Lili grip his shoulder, startled.

"Scared?" he sneered.

"As if," Lili shot back, "Though...now that the fuse box is gone....do you think that the lightning will still...you know...electrocute everything?"

"Beats me," Sam said with a shrug, but started towards the door, "But I don't want to find out!"

Two steps away from the exit, though, Sam felt something sharp stab him in the shoulder. "SHIT!" he shouted, staggering backwards, "What the hell??"

A glowing red blocked the exit. Squinting, Sam tried to see what had attacked him. It had felt like a thick needle, or a thin knife....something metallic. He held the gun out in front of him, searching frantically with his eyes. He felt Lili searching through his pockets, and soon after, the unmistakable glow of an iPhone illuminated the space in front of them.

It...looked like several horribly deformed toasters. The wire grilling from the inside had been forced outside and twisted into sharp, dangerous barbed-wire like teeth. But the toasters weren't separate. They had formed together, stacked and mashed upon each other to create something that didn't resemble any appliance known to man. In fact....it looked scarily similar to K.J. A demon. It had taken on a demon form.

Blood dripped from a tail-looking appendage made up of plugs and inner toaster grills. It didn't take a genius to realize that was what had stabbed Sam. The tail waved ominously, slicing the air.

And then the demon began to speak. A terrible, groaning, electrical grating sound made up of multiple other voices. "Fools! You think you have defeated us? We have only just begun! The electricity here is delicious, as is the fear and panic we cause! Not to mention the weather..." An incoherent babbling filled the room as the many spirits appeared to have delved into a conversation on sunny Nevada. Sam began backing away.

"Got any great escape plans?" he asked the group. His hair was almost completely on end, and the floor was beginning to vibrate, "Lili? K.J.? Human?"

KJ

This definitely wouldn't be solved by a simple fuse box target practice. Growling, he pulled Monica to her feet and rounded on the twins. "Out the back!"

By out the back, he meant "We're taking the sewer entrance I saw in the back room." He knew neither twin would enjoy hearing that though so decided he would allow them to figure it out the hard way. Tugging on the metal grate, he pulled Monica forward and made sure she was down the ladder first. "Run!" he instructed, pulling both reluctant twins forward. "We don't have time!"

He hoped the Asian was working some sort of mojo. The whole street's electricity had to be taken out and the fastest way to do that would be to strike directly with lightning. The demon toaster monster thing lunged at them, but only the wires could reach into the back room with such a large form taken. KJ smiled at his success and dropped down without the ladder to land between the twins. Grinning, he nodded the direction Monica had taken off. "Keep up with her. We don't know if any appliances are breathing down here."

Lili

Lili shrieked at the sight of the sewer, and continued doing so until she was splashed completely by the dirty water as K.J. jumped in next to her.

Dirty, poopy, disgusting water. All over her. And she was naked. Or, close to it. With this shit-infested stuff on her. GROSS!! She was paralyzed by how disgusted she was. This would not do! This couldn't do! And they'd see her like this! Ah!

Without another thought, she disappeared into the shadows, invisible. She was far too proud to be seen like this. "I'm going to kill you, K.J.!" she screamed as she ran after Monica. The appliances were the last thing on her mind, now. "I'm going to kill you!"

Judging by the frown on his face, Sam wasn't exactly pleased either. "Yeah," he agreed, "And after that we're going to use up all the hot water getting this shit off. You really couldn't think of a better plan, K.J.?"

Shen

The dragon was travelling at enormous speeds, now. Lightning sparkled around him, and he narrowed his eyes. A direct hit. He'd need a direct hit.

At the last second, when it seemed he would fly straight into the ground, he pulled up. The lightning, which had been following his trail ever so closely, continued forward, and a tremendous streak of white light smashed into the store, followed by the loudest thunderclap one could imagine. Rain began pouring close after, and the building sizzled, the point of impact almost entirely black and so severe that it had burned a hole straight through the roof. A near puddle of melting--and certainly defunct--toasters was the streak's target, and as Shen hovered safely above the ground, he heard its final words.

"Won't....stop......not.....end.....grgrrrlbrrzzzzzzzt!"

Well, that wasn't very articulate. And they said his English was bad? He shook his now human head as he sat on a nearby bush and looked around for the others, as if suddenly remembering they also existed.

Monica

A tremendous earthquake seemed to shake the underground tunnels. Monica had had her mouth and nose covered, eyes squinting in the dark, feet sliding on who knows what gunk. Then the ground vibrated without cause, the thunderous ruckus punctured through her eardrums and she screamed as she slipped on to the ground.

What was she doing here? How was any of this possible?

Footsteps came charging forward moments later, KJ's red form appearing above her. "I think the Asian's done his part. We can head back."

Monica hesitantly took his offered hand and allowed him to pull her up. The darkness proved impenetrable to her eyes, yet...she could see two yellow circles...like cat eyes. Shivering, she pulled away from him at once. The boy with the tail was there too. Monica closed her eyes whispering, "Which way?"

Sam

He sighed exasperatingly, at everyone really. Lili, Monica, K.J., Shen, them being in the tunnel. Impatient, he slid in a different type of bullet into his gun and aimed up, pulling the trigger.

The explosive bullet ripped a hole through the tunnel, and then some. He shot once more, causing rubble to fall in, splashing everyone with more shit. Rain poured in, and after a third shot, they had a nice stream of light filtering in.

"This way," he said, and started climbing out.

"Sam! Property damage!" Lili shouted after him, slowly resuming visibility as the shadows left her. She pulled his shirt off, though, and had it on by the time she regained full visibility, covering much of the slimy crap.

"Oh, shut up, prude," Sam snapped.

"Prude!?"

Sam felt a swift kick to where his tail would have been. Spinning around, he aimed his gun at Lili, but she kicked it out of his hand before he could shoot. Within seconds, the two were upon each other, kicking, fighting, and slinging insults everywhere.

Shen

The gunshot drew his attention.

The fighting that ensued shortly afterwards helped him find them.

He groaned when he saw the destroyed pipe. "Property damage?!" he shouted, "What I tell you this morning?? Who pay for this?!?" He saw Monica and his tone shifted almost immediately. Smiling, he asked, "So! How you like? You good for job?"

KJ

Back at the house, the twins were still bickering, though not trying to pull limbs out of sockets or hair from the roots anymore. The Asian was fussing over money, trying to get Monica to help him figure out a way to apologize to the media and authorities about the mess. KJ was surprised the human girl decided to stay. Her face read only horror to her surroundings, yet she stuck it through with stiff lips and a forcibly held up chin. Watching the Asian and the human try and sort out property damage costs, KJ's eyebrows rose at what he heard.

"That's 2,000," she answered the Asian's question about the split cost between insurance and what the town should pay for by default. "So we owe 1,964."

Calculator in hand, the Asian's eyes widened, as much as they could, at the girl. He hadn't even pressed a single button yet and she was claiming to have the calculations already done in her head. KJ chuckled a little at the door. "Wow," he commented. "Impressive, human."

"Don't call me that," she shot back, not looking his way. He wondered if she simply couldn't stand the sight of his...redness. It wasn't fair but hell, she was sticking around. He would give her time.

"I mean no offense," he jibed though, backing out of the room and heading for the basement door. The twins' voices irritatingly bit into his ears. Even his horns cringed. Stomping over, he revealed his claws and shoved the two apart, leaving scratches on their arms. "Cut it out. Or I'll cut you out."

His yellow eyes switched between them several times, daring them to move, before he sauntered away to the basement.

Lili

Lili glared daggers at K.J.'s back, the scratches stinging as much as her pride. "Hey!" she shouted after he disappeared, "I have work tonight!"

"Psh," Sam said, "You call that work?"

"At least I do work," Lili snapped, "What do you do? Sleep? Sit around like the sack of shit you are?"

"Oh, shut up and go make me a sandwich," Sam said dismissively.

Lili stomped up the stairs and slammed the door to the bathroom as hard as she could. She continued stomping as she prepped up for her shower, doing everything as loudly as she could. She thought she heard a vague "Shut up!" from downstairs, which only caused her to stomp harder. The hot water gushed on, and she flicked on the radio they kept in the bathroom on full blast. Generic pop music exploded past the tiled walls, and it wasn't long until she heard angry knocking and her brother's voice. Good thing she had locked the door. She ignored him as she stepped into the shower....

~~

Transparent eyes watched with disinterest as the red demon man started his workout. The muffled sound of very annoying music drifted downwards, even here, and the already half-lidded eyes glinted slightly with disapproval.

The ghost spoke before revealing herself. "Rough day? I hear Shen has recruited a human..."

KJ

Slow movements began his routine. He focused on his core and abdominal, each leg lift shaping his muscles here and there is if a sculptor gently rubbed away the cares of the day. KJ gently allowed his eye lids to fall. Soft music fell down from upstairs though, which KJ had to glare up to.

"Rough day? I hear Shen has recruited a human..."

Even with his sensitive senses, KJ still had a hard time at times when the she-ghost popped up. Jolting forward and losing concentration, the day's cares wracked at his brain again as he whirled around the face the open air. Soon enough, she showed herself and he narrowed his yellow eyes. "It's rude to interrupt, Casper."

Her eyes lolled a bit into view, her body following with it. So young. "That name is wearing down on me, demon."

"Stop calling me demon then," he countered.

"Stop calling me Casper."

KJ smirked a little, still annoyed, but glad she at least could defend herself properly. "What do you want?"

"The human..." Her eyes drifted upwards as her translucent body drifted to the side. "What's her story?"

"She's human. A girl. Good with numbers and..."

"Pretty?" the ghost teased.

KJ frowned. "Don't start anything."

"What?" she asked innocently. "Me? Cause a ruckus? Never."

Since moving in, KJ had the terrible pleasure of sharing his space with the ghost. She liked the basement, the cold he figured, and enjoyed tickling his nerves to no end. It wasn't as if he could do anything about it. She wasn't stuck here, as far as he could tell. Her only purpose here was to drive the tenants mad. He resented her. The entire persona she had taken on reflected nothing but more annoyances that came from the original group that the Asian put together. but ignoring her was futile. And she knew it.

"Go mess with Lili or something," he sighed, batting his hand through her head. She pouted a little, but lazily shifted backwards.

"I thought that was your job," she sneered, then vanished from sight.

Monica

While Shen left, rather abruptly, Monica still sat in her chair, chewing gummy worms and pondering about this company. Sam sat on the couch, his tail peeking out between his legs. Her eyes watched it carefully, absently, wondering how it had grown back to fast...

Shaking out of her thoughts, she sighed and stuffed the plastic bag into her pocket before standing in the doorway with her arms crossed. She wasn't sure what to do now. Actually, what surprised her was how calm everyone was after such an ordeal. She was still shaking, remembering those wires and the electricity flying through the air. Yet Sam was perfectly comfy. Lili in the shower. KJ...wherever.

Sitting in a chair beside Sam, a much comfier one, she asked, "So...now what?"

Lili

Ahhhh, the water felt so nice! Hot and steamy, that was how she liked it!

"Shine bright, like a diamond!" she sang along to the radio. Rihanna was probably one of her favorite artists, along with several others that everyone else seemed to think were talentless and/or obnoxious. Especially Sam. Not like Lili cared, though. Besides, she'd heard Sam humming some of her beloved pop songs a few times.

She had been in the shower for a good twenty minutes, now, and had very little intention of getting out. She still felt gross, just remembering the sewer enough to make her shudder. Typically, she spent about half an hour washing herself, but today looked like it would take 45 minutes to an hour. Not like she cared. Her skin never got pruny.

Just as she was about to wash her hair a fifth time, the water changed drastically to a shocking cold. Lili shrieked--she had been doing that a lot today--at the temperature change and fumbled for the shower knob. Turning it didn't do anything, though, and to make matters worse, her radio had suddenly gone static.

Wait...static?

Lili groaned loudly with realization. "GHOST!" she shouted, avoiding the cold water, "I know you're there!"

The radio station changed to classical music, and Lili shouted again, even louder: "GHOST!! Show yourself, you little twat!"

"Tch tch tch," the younger female voice said, "Such language. Quite unbecoming of a lady. Though I suppose you aren't exactly a lady."

"You haven't even seen language!" Lili snapped, "Now turn the water back on, brat! And give me back my music!"

"Well, since you asked so nicely..."

The voice faded away, the station reverting to loud pop. Lili tested the waters. Still cold! "GHOST!" she shouted, but by then the water had also resumed its original temperature, and Lili continued her shower upon realizing this.

Sam

Hearing some shouting from his sister upstairs, Sam grinned. Most likely, the ghost had something to do with it.

"Now?" he said, and shrugged, "Meh. Shen's always ranting about things like this. I usually just ignore him. Though, it's funny to see him get really riled up. The results are pretty fucking hilarious." Images of the Asian suddenly turning into a clam popped up in his head, and he grinned. Downing the rest of his beer, he turned to Monica, tossing it into the trash, "So....what exactly made you want to work with a bunch of freaks? Because, honestly, you look like the last person who would want to."