Bad Company

Chapter 3: Bad Company.

Part 1: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.

Sam and Kane arrive at Osaka, after a long couple of days of hunting. Watching the snowfall and people celebrating in the streets.

"Hey Sam, it’s almost Christmas, you sure you don’t wanna take tomorrow off?”
Kane says leaning back in his seat, as he calmly drives through the town.
“We’ve never celebrated it before, why now?”
“Well, you have been overworking yourself a lot lately.”
“I’m fine Kane, I’ve worked a lot worse before.”

As they drive through an urban neighborhood, they drive past a house with a yellow 1985 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z28 and a black 1970 Pontiac GTO Judge. Kane looks at Sam while driving past it.
“Wanna go say hello?”
“No-no-no-no, drive-drive-drive!!!”
Kane quickly speeds away from the house.

Finally, they pull into a business street, with tall buildings on either side of the street, covering the view of the city. People look at them as they drive through the street. They stop in front of a three-story building with a purple neon sign above the two front doors that read “Reaper Hunting Co.” Sam gets out of the car while Kane drives it into the garage on the side of the building. He reaches for the door handle but stops when he hears the voices of a woman and a man speaking inside.

“Do you think they’ll be home soon?” The woman says with slight concern in her voice.

“They’ve been gone longer before, Annah. I’m sure whatever’s keeping them busy is just another Tuesday for them.” The man responds to her in a reassuring tone.

Sam pauses for a minute, smiles to himself, and takes it away again as he opens the door to greet them. “I’m home!”

The first-floor room is decorated with monster skulls and trophies all along the walls and on the TV cupboard. On the left-hand side is the couch, sitting in front of the TV. On the right is a desk in a messy state, papers, and pens lying all over it, fixed over the desk on the wall is the skull of a gigantic monster with two horns and a crack on its forehead. Next to the desk is a trapdoor leading to the cellar. At the back of the room in the left corner is a flight of stairs leading to the hallway on the second floor, with other rooms. In front of the stairs is a door leading to the kitchen.

“Oh, Sam you’re back.” A silver-haired woman runs to greet Sam as he walks in, she goes in for a hug but pulls her arms back at the last second when she smells Sam and closes her nose.
“Yeah, I made a stop at a ghoul nest before getting here, Annah.”
“You could’ve at least taken a bath!”
“Meh, it’ll go away in a few minutes.”

Annah looks at Sam’s left arm. “How’s the arm?”
Sam rolls his sleeves, revealing his arm covered in scratches, revealing a shiny cyan color underneath his skin. “It’s still fine, hell if it can stop the bite of a monster, then it’s still perfect.”

Sam throws his bag on the desk and sits down on the chair behind it. “Where’s Solomon?
”Sam hears a muffled voice coming from inside the desk cabinet “Ah same place as always Samuel!”
He reaches into the cabinet and pulls out a small straw doll from inside it. “Solomon.” The doll speaks back to him, his words emanating from the doll. Speaking without a mouth. “That’s King Solomon to you!”
“Name one kingdom you rule.” Sam looks dead straight at the doll, holding him in the air with a small chain.
Solomon stays quiet as Sam lowers him back into the cabinet. “Thought so.”

Annah walks over to Sam’s desk and places a few letters on it. “These came in the mail today.”
Sam rubs his forehead. “Thanks, Annah.”
Annah leaves going up the stairs, as Sam sorts through the letters.
“All expensed paid vacation to Sarogiri village-pfft- as if.” Sam throws the letter into the cabinet.
“Tax and loan inspection due on-nope.” Sam rolls up the letter and throws it in the trash.
“Gasoline expenses for the year of 2003.” He passes Kane the letter as he walks past him, beer in hand. Kane opens the letter and nearly spits out his drink while walking up the stairs.

“Ah, here we go. Monthly payment, nothing quite as good as a paycheck.” Sam opens the letter and takes out the money inside, then reads off the text inside. “Hello Samuel, as expected, I bring you your pay. The bit inside is just a small taste of the entire treat that I deposited into your bank account. Good work on that Werewolf and Yokai hunt this is why you are my favorite Reaper. Signed, Michael. PS: I’ll be dropping off a little gift for you sometime tomorrow, so be sure to be home for that. You’ll love it!”

Sam tosses the letter aside. “It better be that bonus he promised me.” He puts both his legs on his desk and crosses his arms together. He closes his eyes and tries to sleep, still stinking of ghoul blood and guts.

Just as he fades away, he hears a phone ringing and vibrating in the bottom-most cabinet. He searches through all the phones labeled different things, ”F.B.I.” “P.S.I.A.” “J.S.D.F.” “Forest Safety.” He finds the ringing one labeled “Work.” and picks it up.

“Reaper Hunting Co. Samuel speaking.” Sam listens to the man on the other side, puts his legs back down, and leans forward. “The hell you mean ‘they’re back?’” Sam listens to what the man says and rubs his eyes. “Ugh fine, I’ll stop by in a second, just keep it in that room.” Sam throws down the phone in the cabinet and kicks it closed.

He walks over to the stairs and shouts up it. “Hey, I’m going to town, you all need anything?!” Nobody replies from upstairs. “They’re all taking a nap.” He looks at his watch. “At one in the afternoon.” He walks over to the coat hanger next to the next and takes off a bandolier from it. The bandolier has a built-in sheath for a Scythe on the back of it.

He steps outside and holds his hand out, from one of the windows on the second floor comes flying a scythe, different from the one he used previously, this one is much bigger and longer. The snath is 110cm long, with no grip, but with a black cloth wrapped around the redheart-colored snath. The blade is also built directly into the snath and is roughly the same size as the other one, colored silver, with black engravings of a flower field, with a large tree in the center. Similarly made of obsidian around the edges.

He puts the scythe into the sheath, the sheath opens and wraps around the blade like a liquid over it, it hardens and covers it in leather protection. Sam walks around to the right side of the building from the front door, where the garage is. He opens the gate to it, inside is parked Kane’s car, next to a white 2000 Ford Transit with the windows paneled, and next to the van is a blue and silver 1996 Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird. He walks the bike out of the garage, closing the gate behind him. He climbs on the bike and puts on the helmet slung over it. He speeds off from Reaper Hunting Co. leaving behind a trail of smoke.

Sam arrives at a restaurant, parking his bike next to the sidewalk. He slowly turns off the engine and takes off his helmet, watching as people run out of the building, pushing, and screaming, dropping their valuables, and falling over each other. He tries to peer inside the restaurant. “Is that all-“ He gets interrupted by a man jumping out of a window. He points at the door with an open palm. “The door is…” he pauses for a second, “r-right there.” He quickly gets off the bike, “Okay I better stop this before they punch through walls.”

Inside the restaurant is in absolute disarray, food strewn over the walls, plates broken, tables and chairs thrown over the floor. But nothing is complete without corpses still sitting in their seats, small bites taken out of their necks. Sam slowly moves towards the kitchen, one step at a time, as he steps past the counter his leg gets grabbed by a man, bleeding all over his body, small chunks missing from his body, they were bitten off roughly. “Don’t go.” The man struggles to utter his final words, grasping Sam with all his strength. “The devilll…” The man’s words fade into stillness as the life fades from him and Sam forces his leg free.

Sam pushes the kitchen doors open, to see it in nearly the same state if not worse than the dining area. “Hey, Daisuke?! I told you to stop serving that sushi to the kids! Too much sugar! Daisuke?!”

“Uh, who are you?!”

Sam looks behind him in the corner of the room to see a young man cowering in fear. “Health department seems you have a little rat infestation going on here. You the kitchen assistant?”

The man screams. “IT’S NOT A RAT!”

Sam sighs and turns around again. “Ya don’t say. Where’s Daisuke?”

The kitchen assistant points to the freezer room, his hand trembling. “He went to lock that THING in there! Hasn’t come out since!!!”

Sam readies his gun while moving towards the freezer, pointing it inside as he slowly creeps the door open, he finds the mutilated corpse of Daisuke lying on his stomach, his back torn open by small bites like those in the restaurant, the monster feasted on his insides.

Sam cautiously takes a step inside, his weapon at the ready, kicking him over on his back. “You poor old miserable bastard.” In an instant Sam turns around and fires his gun at the wall above the door, the gunshot is followed by a screech, Sam looks around him to see the creature, but only sees a black shape darting around his head, like a fly circling a plate of food. He tries catching it in his hands but keeps missing, the creature flies past the right side of his face and slices open his cheek, narrowly missing his eye.

“You should be lucky that missed my eye you punk! This isn’t the same thing I killed before. That was an Ahool, I have no idea what this thing is.”

Sam runs for the door and manages to slip through it before the monster follows him out, slamming it shut in front of it, he still hears the thing trying to knock open the door by flying itself against it, and then… silence.

The kitchen assistant stands up. “Did it knock itself out?”

“Yeah, if only it was that easy.” Sam whispers to himself.

He hears rattling and the fluttering of wings in the vents overhead. “Oh, come on!” Sam screams as he aims at the vents around the room trying to figure out which one it’s going to exit from.

The monster bursts from the vent behind the kitchen assistant and before Sam can react it slices open the back of the assistant’s head, leaving two long sliced wounds. It flies straight toward Sam; he dodges at the last second and observes as it nearly flies into the wall but stops itself at the last moment. Sam holsters his gun and starts hopping around, taunting it. “Come on then! Put those wings to use!”

The monster flies at Sam and he once again manages to dodge it. “Too soon!” He says to himself as the creature once again course corrects itself and avoids the wall. He stands in front of a metal pantry cabinet, observing the creature as it flies in circles around the room, ready to dodge at the last second, it sets its focus on Sam once again and flies straight towards his face, Sam ready on his feet. With the bat mere inches away from his face, Sam ducks down sending the bat headfirst into the metal behind him, even leaving a dent before falling on the floor, knocked clean out.

Sam carefully picks up the bat, observing it. “Pale skin, no sign of hair or feathers. The legs are small, although the feet take a claw-like shape, like those of an eagle.” He holds it by the wings. “About 25cm wingspan, the skin on it is thin too.” He holds it by the neck. “No eyes all covered by skin, large ears.” He pries open the bat’s mouth and sticks his right index finger inside. “Two fanned teeth, several rows of the teeth covering the inside of the mouth.”

As he starts pulling his finger out, the bat creature wakes up again and bites on his finger, holding onto it. “AH YOU BASTAR-!!!” The bat refuses to let go even with Sam pulling on it. He waves his hand around in the air and slams it into a table, all to get it off. “LET. ME. GO!!!” Sam screams each time he slams onto the table. The bat eventually lets go and he grabs it using his left hand, the bat moving and trying its best to get free. “You know what just for that.” Sam says annoyed and hiding the pain.

He walks over to a deep fryer with the oil still inside and turns it on, the bat screeching and trying to pry itself free. With the oil boiling Sam holds the bat by the head and slowly dunks it into the fryer as it screeches and cries in pain. He finally drops the entire bat in and watches as it wreathes and tries to flap its wings. “What’s a Hell Bat doing all the way up here?” Sam remarks out of breath.

He inspects the condition of the kitchen assistant, checking for a pulse. Standing up, he wipes off his gloves. “Can’t save ‘em all.” The distant noise of sirens draws closer to the restaurant. “And that’s my cue to leave.”

Sam runs out the backdoor and sneaks around the corner of the building towards the entrance and his bike. The police cars park in front of the entrance, Sam standing right around the corner observing them. A man in a brown coat gets out of one of the cars, gun at the ready. “Well, hello there Agent Masayoshi…” Sam whispers to himself. “I want all entrances covered, no one gets out of here without my knowledge. I’ve been hunting these guys for months and I’m not slowing until I find them!”

“You need your license revoked detective.” Sam responds to himself. He waits for Masayoshi to be inside the restaurant and then casually strolls up to his bike, not minding the two cops guarding the entrance. Whistling while slowly creeping onto his bike and tries to turn the engine on as inconspicuously as possible.

“IDENTIFY YOURSELF.”
“Damn…” Sam says under his breath, squinting his eyes. “Uhh… Kevin Cronin!”
One of the police officers moves towards him, readying his taser when he sees the Scythe on Sam’s back. “Kevin Cronin, huh?”
“Yup.” Sam casually responds, sitting back on his bike.
“What’s with the uhh.” He points at the Scythe.
“Um.” Sam swallows his pride. “Cosplay.”
“Ohkaayy… w-what’s your business here?”
Sam shrugs. “Parked my bike here.”
The cop stands right next to Sam. “Let me see your license.”
Sam reaches for his pocket.
“…slowly.”

Sam takes out his wallet and hands it to the police officer as he sifts through Sam’s numerous IDs and Credit and Debit cards. “Mr.… Lars Ulrich... Kurt Cobain… Buck Dharma… David Draiman… and Alex Kapranos.”
Sam slowly nods his head while looking at the ground.
“Let’s not forget PSIA Agent Brian Johnson…”
Sam turns to face the officer. “Hey if it’s consolidation it was my brother’s idea to name us after song artists.”
“You know how many charges of identity fraud I got you for here?”

Sam counts for a second. “Six?”
“Do you think this a joke?”
Sam reaches for the ignition and wheezes. “Yeah, you got me there.”

Agent Masayoshi steps out of the building and when he sees Sam he immediately reaches for his gun. “Arrest him!”

Sam starts his bike and looks at the officer next to him. “See ya!” He punches the officer in the gut and grabs his wallet, then speeds off dodging and weaving through all the gunfire, disappearing over the hill in mere seconds.

Agent Masayoshi throws his gun on the ground. “DAMNIT!!!”
One of the officers walks up to him. “Should we pursue?”
“Leave it. He’s too fast.” He picks up his gun again and walks back inside.
The officers look at the mess of the restaurant. “How could one man do all this?”
Masayoshi shakes his head. “Whoever did this is no man.”

Sam arrives back at Reaper Hunting Co., and he just sits outside it, taking it all in for a couple of seconds, smirking and nodding. He drives into the garage, opening and shutting it behind him. But he doesn’t get off yet, sits there, focused on nothing and drifting away. He looks at Kane’s car, at Annabelle. Then drifts back to nothingness. He hears the crashing of pots and pans in the kitchen and gets brought back to reality. Finally getting off his bike and walking into the kitchen. The kitchen is small, with a dining area with a round table in front of a window with three chairs around it. The kitchen area itself is more of a small hallway, on the right side are cabinets and a sink. The left side has a stove, a table with a microwave and spices, and a fridge in the corner, it also has an opening in the wall. And in the center of the room is Annah, on the floor, covered in pots and pans.

Sam walks over to her. “You alright there Annah?”
Annah just lies there, out of breath. “I was trying to get my favorite pan… and I forgot I keep this cabinet closed for a reason.”
“Okay then.” Sam throws the pans and pots off her and helps her up.
Annah brushes her back off. “I apologize for the mess.”
“Don’t worry, this is only the 2nd messiest kitchen I’ve been in the whole day.”
She watches as Sam walks away, grabbing a soda from the fridge. “How bad was the other one?!”
“You DON’T wanna know.”

Sam takes off the scythe and throws himself down on the couch next to Kane watching TV.
“Where were you?” Kane says eyes focused on the show he’s watching.
“Went to Daisuke’s” Sam also not looking at Kane.
“What you eat?”
“Meat Loaf.”

“Nice.”
Sam and Kane both crack their drinks open simultaneously and clink their drinks, just watching TV together.

Sometime later, both Sam and Kane are asleep on the couch, the TV still blaring. Annah stands behind them and taps their shoulders, both jumping awake. They stare at her for waking them up.

“Food’s ready.”
They stare at her confused.
“What? I can’t eat everything myself.”
Kane stretches a bit and gets up.
Sam rubs his and cracks his neck. “Gimme a second.”
He walks over to his desk and takes out Solomon from the cabinet. “You remembered me!” Solomon says with joy in his voice.
“Couldn’t leave you stuck in the darkness forever.”
“Eh, I’m used to it.”

Sam sits down at the dinner table, putting Solomon on it.
Kane points at Solomon. “Hey! No toys at the table!”
“Who let this fool out of the cage, Sam? He’s a danger to everyone!” Solomon retorts.
“That doll of yours has a nasty tongue!”
“At least I know how to use mine properly.”
Sam holds his laugh back.
“At least I’m not the size of a chew toy.”
“…you win this time, Kane.” Solomon sounds defeated.

Annah puts down the food in front of everyone. The half-baked egg and burnt sausage. “Enjoy fellas.”
Sam dangles the sausage in the air. “Is the stove not working today or-… working too well?”
“Don’t insult the woman’s cooking Sam.” Kane says taking a bite out of the sausage, genuinely struggling to swallow it, he covers his mouth and puts it in his mouth.
Sam catches on “Eat it!”
Kane puts it back in and finally swallows it, smiling to hide his disgust. “Not bad, my-“ he punches his chest. “My thanks to the chef.”

Annah looks at Sam. “Not like your cooking is much better Sam.”
Sam puts his hands in the air. “I ain’t even gonna defend myself.”
“She’s got a point, Sam, are you trying to make a meal or kill a ghost with all the salt you throw on.” Kane points at Sam with a fork.
“Well, maybe I’d know how to make good food if a certain someday didn’t make us eat at diners and junk food places for most of my life.” Sam points back at Kane.
“I can make a mean pie!”
Sam laughs. “Last time you made a mean pie it was a sheet of dough with a steak thrown in between.”
“You still ate it.”
“I was twelve! It was either that or starve!”
Annah buds in. “No wonder his growth was so stunted. You didn’t feed him right, that’s why he’s so short.”
Sam feels embarrassed. “I’m- I’m not short… I’m average height.”
Kane opens his drink. “Average for a Smurf, you’re even blue.”
The whole table erupts into laughter at Sam’s expense as he hides embarrassment under his stoicism.

After they finish eating and watching TV, Sam takes off his coat and sits at his desk, reading through logs and client reports.
“You gonna go to sleep early tonight?” Sam looks up at Kane standing in front of his desk.
“I’ll try to, I just have to sort through all this paperwork, probably going to take a while.” Sam turns the pages and notes things down.
“Well, don’t work yourself to death.” He pats Sam on the shoulder. “Good night.”
“Good night, Kane.” Sam throws the first of many books down on the floor and looks at the stacks on top of his desk.

Later that night around two in the morning, Kane slowly and sneakily creeps down the stairs towards the kitchen for a midnight snack, he is successful in his mission, but as he leaves the kitchen, he sees Sam asleep at his desk, lying back in the desk, the paperwork finally finished. “What did I tell you, Sam?” Kane whispers and takes the blanket from the couch and throws it over Sam.

Chapter 3: End.