The next day Emma was at work later than usual. Mrs. White had left as soon as Emma got there and had given Emma a long list of tasks that needed to be completed that night. Normally it wouldn’t have been much of a problem but her headaches had been so bad that day that it was taking her much longer than it should have to get everything done. It was almost eleven when Emma finally locked up and started walking to her car.
Her car was parked a couple of stores down because of how full the parking lot had been that afternoon so she walked along the sidewalk in front of the stores, hurrying a little bit in the cold night air. All the other stores had long since been closed, the owners had gone home to be with their families. Emma saw a light on in the coffee shop even though it had closed a few hours ago. Someone must be doing inventory or something like that. She hoped it wasn’t Mark who was stuck working late.
The night was darker than usual. There was no moon out to see by and the few stars that could be seen were obscured by stray clouds. The only source of light was the evenly spaced lampposts along the street on the other side of the dark parking lot. A light breeze blew through the parking lot, catching dry leaves and skittering them across the pavement.
Emma tugged her coat tighter around her and shrugged her shoulders up around her ears. The haunting sound of a wind chime drifted on the breeze and somewhere a loose windowpane clacked against a building. Emma’s senses stretched to their limit, alert for any noise or movement out of the ordinary as her feeling of unease grew.
Each of the stores had a narrow alley between them that led to a back access road behind the stores. On a night like tonight those alleys turned to dark holes of nothingness where anything could be lurking. It was impossible to see more than a few feet into the alleys because of the impenetrable blackness. Emma had no idea what might be lurking in the darkness as she passed by one of the alleys but her overactive imagination was throwing out plenty of ideas.
Emma was just passing the alleyway between the coffee shop and the old antique shop next to it when she thought she heard something strange coming from the darkness. She froze, ears straining to hear what it might have been. The noise came again, a scuffle followed by a thud and a groan of pain. The murmur of voices drifted down the alley but she couldn’t hear what they were saying.
Emma glanced over at her car just thirty feet away. The safest, and probably smartest, thing to do would be to run to her car and drive away as fast as possible. Emma heard another groan of pain and before she realized what she was doing she was creeping down the alley, following some mysterious impulse.
Luckily the shopping district Emma worked in was a nice one, the alleyways between stores were kept clean and clear so she didn’t have to worry about giving away her presence by running into anything in the darkness. The further she crept into the alley the darker the inky blackness grew until she could hardly see anything in front of her, even after her eyes adjusted to the darkness.
Emma's pulse pounded in her ears, her adrenaline causing her heart to race in fear or anticipation, she didn’t know which. The soft-soled shoes she was wearing hardly made any noise as she walked back through the alley and Emma had the random thought that she was glad she hadn’t worn the high heels she had planned on wearing that day.
Emma could see light glowing from the road behind the stores as she gradually made her way closer. Each store had a light above its back door so the owners could see what they were doing when they took the trash out to the dumpsters behind their shops. When Emma reached the end of the alley she crouched just inside of the entrance, carefully scanning the area around her.
Off to the left she heard the murmur of men’s voices but her view was blocked by a dumpster. Emma hesitated, torn between the urge to find out what was happening and the urge to get out of there as quickly as possible. In the end her curiosity won out and she crept forward, using the dumpster to hide behind as she peered around it.
Three men stood in a loose semi circle around a crumpled body. One of them was an absolute giant, Emma had never seen anyone so big in her life. He had a wicked looking scar from just above his right eye all the way down his face and through the right side of his mouth. The scar distorted his lips, making him seem like he was always snarling. He had long shaggy blonde hair that was a combination of dreadlocks and thick braids. He resembled what Emma imagined a cave man must have looked like. The giant motioned at the body, whispering something to the man next to him who was the obvious leader. That was when Emma noticed his hands. Bigger than they should have been even for a man of his size, what caught Emma’s attention were the claws that were on the end of his fingers where fingernails should have been. Black as night and wickedly sharp, they could easily tear someone to shreds. When the giant spoke Emma saw a flash of fangs and barely choked back a whimper. Whatever that man was, he wasn’t human.
Emma looked at the man closest to her. He was small and slender, petite next to the giant. His hair was jet black and slicked back out of his face. There was no hint of emotion on his face, his expression was cold and distant. In his hands he held two knives that he whirled around and around, so fast they were a blur but the man showed no sign of exerting himself. Suddenly the daggers stopped whirling and before Emma could blink they were gone. She hadn’t even seen him move his hands to sheath them, they were just in his hands one moment and gone the next.
In between the giant and the knife fighter stood a third man who was the obvious leader of the group. He was dressed impeccably in a dark grey suit, his light brown hair perfectly cut and styled, his hands encased in expensive looking black leather gloves. The man looked like he should be in a Fortune 500 company boardroom instead of in a back alley of a small town-shopping district. There was something about the man that gave Emma the creeps though. His eyes were black pits in his face, no hint of emotion touched them, just cold ruthlessness. With a jolt Emma realized that she recognized him. He was the man from the nightmare she had a few weeks ago.
“This is getting us nowhere, Greco.” The knife fighter hissed.
The man in the suit, Greco, nodded at the giant next to him who leaned down and grabbed the body on the ground, easily lifting it into the air. A groan came from the body, whoever it was he was still alive.
“Tell me where the journal is.” Greco commanded. His voice gave Emma the chills. It was so cold and empty of emotion. This man would have no problem killing anyone who got in his way.
When the man didn’t respond the giant shook him roughly. He made a noise, somewhere between a laugh and a hacking cough. When he lifted his head Emma got a clear look at his face. It was the man from the coffee shop!
Emma bit back a gasp, tears pricking at her eyes. Tyler’s curly brown hair was matted with filth, or blood, and his square jaw was mottled with bruises.
“You’re never going to find it.” Tyler said, his voice hoarse and tired. “Kill me if you want but there is no way I’m telling you where it is.”
“Oh, I’m not going to kill you.” Greco said calmly, slowly taking off his gloves. “There’s a reason I am sent when someone needs to be persuaded to talk.” He nodded at the giant again who ripped the front of the Tyler’s shirt open, leaving his chest bare to the cold night air.
“Do you know what it feels like to have every nerve ending in your body screaming in pain?” He asked softly, removing his coat and carefully folding it before handing it to the knife wielder along with his gloves. “All it takes is one touch of my hand and you’ll find out for yourself. I’ve heard it feels like being burned from the inside out. Don’t worry, no physical damage is actually done so you won’t die. At least not until I want you to.” He said.
Greco slowly began rolling up the sleeves of his expensive shirt, continuing to talk.
“Some people have gone mad from the pain, but I’m not too worried about that. Mad people can still talk after all, and sometimes they say more than those who are sane. Of course, you could skip all of that pain if you told me where the jou
rnal was. Ethan could just snap your neck and it would all be over, a quick and painless death.”
Tyler just shook his head tiredly. “Go to hell.”
“You should have gone with the quick death.” Greco replied coldly, placing his hand on Tyler’s chest. The skin where his hand touched turned a bright red and Tyler screamed, the sound so full of pain it was unearthly. His face contorted in agony and the screaming went on and on as he thrashed about. Ethan gripped Tyler more securely, restraining his movements as the torture continued.
Tears streamed down Emma’s face at the sound of it, she had never heard anything so horrible in her entire life. Greco lifted his hand from Tyler’s chest and Tyler’s head dropped in exhaustion.
“Do you feel like telling me where the journal is now, Tyler?” He asked, his voice calm as if he hadn’t just caused another human so much pain.
“Never.” Tyler rasped. His voice shredded from his screaming. He didn’t even have the strength to hold his own head up anymore. Emma couldn’t handle seeing someone in so much pain, she had to help him.
“Obviously I haven’t convinced you enough, let’s try this again.” Greco said, reaching his hand forward.
“Stop!” Emma yelled, leaping out from her hiding place. “You’re killing him!”
The men all stared at her in surprise, caught off guard by her appearance. Emma was a little surprised by her sudden appearance as well. Tyler lifted his head to see who had stopped his tormentors. When he saw her the blood drained out of his face like he had seen a ghost.
“Alexandra?” He rasped. When the other three men got over their surprise they looked at each other, clearly recognizing the name. They shifted in her direction, clearly intending on going after her. Tyler’s expression changed to panic.
“Run!” He yelled. “You know where the journal is, don’t let them get it!”
“Get her!” Greco snapped at the knife wielder. Tyler continued yelling at Emma to run, thrashing around in Ethan’s grip. “Ethan shut him up!”
The giant hit Tyler on the side of the head, knocking him out and cutting off Tyler’s yell in mid scream.
Emma watched everything like it was happening in slow motion. Tyler’s body falling to the floor, the small man sprinting towards her as a knife reappeared in his hand. A small voice somewhere in Emma’s head yelled at her to run away but it was lost under the wave of panic that filled Emma at the sight of Tyler lying on the ground, his shirt torn and blood and dirt smeared on his face. Emma was frozen, her fear paralyzing her. She just kept looking at Tyler’s body, unable to process what had just happened.
She saw the small man running towards her, a knife in his hands and a look of deadly intent on his face. She knew she should run but she couldn’t move. She just watched as he came closer. As he ran the man threw a knife at her, aiming at her leg to cripple her from running.
Emma flinched, waiting for the impact, to feel the pain of the knife slicing into her leg but nothing happened. She looked down at herself in disbelief but there was no dagger to be seen. Looking up she saw the small man stumble, covering his leg with his hand. Between his fingers lodged into his leg was the dagger that he had thrown at her. Gripping the dagger the man pulled it out of his leg in one quick movement. Blood poured from the wound, leaving a dark stain that spread down his leg.
Emma thought she was going to be sick but the man didn’t seem to notice his injury. He ran towards her again, this time when he got near he launched himself at her, trying to tackle Emma to the ground. Just like the dagger though he was caught in midair and thrown backwards before he could touch her. He slammed into the wall of the coffee shop and dropped to the ground unconscious.
The sound of footsteps pounding towards her caught Emma’s attention and she looked back to see the giant Ethan sprinting towards her. His face was twisted into a snarl and the claws on his hands curled as he reached them towards her, as if he wanted to rip her to shreds. In that moment Emma knew she was going to die.
“Emma!”
Emma jerked around at the sound of her name but she didn’t see anything. A rush of air reminded her of Ethan’s charge and she whipped back around instinctively throwing her hands up to guard her face. Ethan slammed straight into the same shield the knife wielder had hit and was flung backwards from the impact. Emma heard a sound behind her again and she turned, ready for another attack. Emma barely registered Mark’s face looming above hers before the world went black.