In a recent discovery from around the world, scientists are now corroborating on the horrifying truth: the threat of demons are still out there, and they are living among us. Your neighbor, your coworker, or even your family members could be demons posing as human beings.
It wasn’t long until there was an international crisis. Family accusing family, friends accusing friends, and the usual neighbors accusing neighbors. At best, people trusted their eyes a little less. At worst, people were burned alive.
New Changan wasn’t immune to this panic. In less than a week, 30% of all traffic disappeared from the streets. It was projected that in a month, that would become 50%.
But Andrew knew that this was temporary. Just like with the Transformations, people would learn to live with chaos. That was why the CDRs exist. Or at least why they existed.
“Color guard! Atten-hut!”
Uniformed soldiers stood in the city cemetery with rifles in hand. Their uniforms were a clean blue, without so much as a speck of dust in respect of the dead. Their faces were stoic, even when members of the crowd screamed in sobs.
“Load!”
The crying got even louder. The graves of each CDR member were aligned with their unit. A row for CDR-1, a row for CDR-2, one for CDR-3, and the final one for CDR-4. It was missing only Sergeant Yang and former-officer Andrew Cheng.
“Fire!”
Gunshots. Recock.
“Fire!”
Gunshots. Recock.
“Fire!”
The last gunshots. The last cases of brass fell into the grass. Jessica Yang held her salute, as did the new CDR officers standing to her right and left. While their faces were full of anxiety and fear, her own face was straight with quiet fury.
Andrew was there too.
Standing in the rear with a face-mask and coat, he wished he could join their salutes. He wished he could fall right there and sob every tear in his body, but that would draw unnecessary attention. For all he knew, there were Pentagramists among the crowd—some of them still in police uniforms.
Andrew remained standing there even as family members finished placing flowers at the graves. He saw Gutierrez’s family, including that chubby son he loved. That boy didn’t cry a single time—a brave kid.
Even Smith’s grave was visited. Park was pounding her fist on the stone and sobbing. “You idiot! Why the hell couldn’t you just live?!” she screamed. “You goddamned idiot!”
Andrew stayed there long enough until all the cars drove off, and until there was only one other person: Sergeant Jessica Yang. She looked like a professional, wearing her dark overcoat and cloth cover. It didn’t take long for her to walk over to Andrew with a cigar between her lips.
“They were good people,” Andrew muttered to her.
“Yeah. They were,” Jessica replied. Smoke exhaled from her lips as she said, “Singh’s parents didn’t show up. They never approved of her joining the CDRs, but I hope they’ll eventually forgive her.”
They shared a moment of silence as the rain started to fall. Thunder boomed in the distance; it was like the world was crying. “So what now?” Andrew asked. “CDRs are changing, I heard.”
“They are. It wasn’t my idea.” Jessica blinked as she looked to her right. There were a couple new graves being dug for the newer CDR officers. “A bunch of untrained idiots were sent to that asylum. I didn’t even get to learn their names before they got themselves killed.”
“New structure?”
“A stupid structure,” she answered. “You remember those new suits we wore. Lighter and resilient against cyberattacks, but without the same protection as our old suits. Not what I had in mind when I suggested a team remodeling.”
Andrew sighed. “I’m sorry. For everything.”
“Don’t be.” Sergeant Yang’s cigar smothered in the rain. It wasn’t like she was really smoking it anyway, more like chewing at the end and wishing it could give just an ounce of smoke. “That fucked up Pentagramist raid wasn’t your fault. I was given a shady mission and didn’t question it. A couple good men and women died as a result.”
“But I could’ve–”
“Could’ve what? Could’ve told me that you were a demon this whole time? That you were having some problems that you didn’t think we could solve? Or that we’d have ratted you to some higher up?” she scoffed. “None of it matters, because nothing would’ve changed. The forest is burned. All we have now are the ashes.”
Andrew looked at the graves. There were so many of them. But as much as he wanted to sob right there, he knew that she was right. The tears would only water the grass on top of their caskets.
“So, what now?”
Jessica nodded. “Yeah. What now…” she muttered.
A structure of CDRs that were rotten to the core, newfound knowledge that went public too fast, and more of the Beasts still running around in New Changan. Maybe there was a chance when CDR-4 was around. Back when there were six.
Down to two. One as a wanted demon, and the other as a lost sergeant.
“Maybe you could join me,” Andrew said. “Your leadership was what pulled us through so many missions, you know. If it wasn’t for you, I would’ve been in the ground a long time ago.”
Jessica dryly chuckled. She wasn’t smiling. “Two ex-CDRs against the whole world. Novel,” she said. “But you don’t have the time, the money, or the manpower to transform the impossible. You have heart, but I’ll pass.”
Andrew sighed. “You know the CDRs are corrupt. You know that there are demons in their ranks. You know that they’d throw your life away in a heartbeat. Why would you side with them?”
She shook her head. “You’re wasting your time.”
“Can you just think about it and–”
“Quit talking.”
“But–”
“Quit fucking talking, you goddamned brat!”
If it wasn’t for the rain, her voice would’ve echoed into the streets. Her face was grimaced with anger. “Do you know how many people I’ve lost all these years? How many letters I’ve had to write, families I’ve had to console, funerals I’ve had to attend?”
Her face didn’t change for a second. “I am here, because everyone who has died. I thought that all the nightmares, the guilt, and the shame would end when I got here. For a while, I really thought it did. But then a CDR officer died, then another, and another. Before you know it, I’m standing on a pile of unfamiliar corpses.”
Jessica paused. She took a deep breath, fixed her cover, and brushed the rain off her uniform. “You want me to fight for the right thing, but I’ve done that all my life and lost every single time. What I need is to fight. I need to keep fighting until my normal limbs don’t work. Then until my prosthetic limbs don’t work. And then maybe, if my teeth are fucking dulled by that point, I’ll finally be graced by the death I’ve been waiting for. Maybe then, it’ll all be over.”
Andrew didn’t know what to say. He tried opening his mouth, but nothing came out. He just stared at her, those hurt eyes, and realized that there was no use in talking. If this was a discussion, it would just be to discuss the terms of war.
“I better not see you again,” Jessica warned. “I let you go last time. I can’t say the same for the next.”
Andrew nodded. “I’ll try not to kill more of your friends. Pentagramists deserve death, but not the CDRs,” he said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t convince you to join me. Just make sure to take care of yourself.”
The two walked in the opposite ways for a moment, trading glances only one last time for Jessica to say one thing. “Kylo says hi.” Andrew had almost forgotten all about that stupid cat.
***
In a recent discovery from around the world, scientists are now corroborating on the horrifying truth: the threat of demons are still out there, and they are living among us. Your neighbor, your coworker, or even your family members could be demons posing as human beings.
That television broadcast was enough to spark every conversation around the topic of demons and possessions. With every social media site circulating with horrifying pictures and videos of the New Changan Mental Institute, the entire world was held in deep suspense. It was like someone turned the time back to 2030.
Even Dragon’s Den was circulating with those conversations. Beneath the loud music, the drinks, and the moving bodies, whispers went all around. “You heard about that asylum stuff from a month ago, right? They say a bunch of those demons escaped and are hiding in town”
But Andrew paid them no mind. Walking inside with a face mask and dark coat, he took a seat at the bar. Nobody paid him any mind; he was just here on business.
“Well, well, well,” the bartender whistled. “It’s been a while.”
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She wore that same red silk and cunning smile. Her lips had the sharpness of a beautiful blade, since a mere touch could slice your skin. In both dream and reality, she was always stunning.
“Let’s talk,” Andrew said.
The woman giggled. “Are you sure? My boss would kill me.”
“Bullshit.” Andrew made sure to look around; he wasn’t being followed. “I know how to dig. Nobody knows the real owner of Dragon’s Den, because they know how to keep their name hidden. In other words, that’d be you.”
She giggled. “Smart boy.” It was seamless, how she could engage in this conversation while still providing premium drinks. Feline motions, her every movement was both smooth and seductive. “Let’s wait until we close.”
***
Andrew waited every minute. He avoided a flirt, where a girl handed him a napkin with her number. Then he avoided a fight, where her boyfriend wasn’t happy with that. Crumpling the napkin and tossing it to the side was enough to defuse it all.
By closing time, most of the crowd was gone. The stragglers were usually people drunk or high off their mind. Security escorted them out, leaving Andrew alone with the bartender.
She pushed a shot of lychee soju his way. “I’m surprised you made it this far. Doctor Myers served his part, though it seems to have a dead end, now that you’re past the walls of the mental institute. And your confrontation with your old Sergeant? Absolutely beautiful.”
Andrew didn’t forget that she could read his mind. Allowing him to speak was more of a formality. “You never told me your name,” he said.
“You said the boss of the Dragon’s Den was good at hiding their name.”
“And I thought that I was going to be a pawn in your big game,” Andrew replied. He downed the soju in one shot—it tasted bitter. “I have my objectives. You have yours. Let me help you, since you can help me.”
She shot him a look. Bit her lip a little. “Smart boy,” she sang as she wiped the counter. “Fine. You can call me Lust.”
“Beast of Lust?”
“Beast of Lust,” she teased. “My, you’re getting quite courageous. Coming here all by yourself, leaving Gwen and Hannah in your little hideout on the outskirts of town. Say, have you tried just skipping town?”
Of course, Andrew knew that Lust already knew the answer. He just had to say it out loud to end the joke already. “Envy won’t let me leave,” he said. “The Seven Beasts are drawn to this place like rats to cheese. Even the idea of taking a flight out gives me a headache. Not that it matters, since I’m meant to be here.”
“Oh really?” Lust asked. “Has the pretty boy decided to become a superhero?”
“No. I want to get rid of the Pentagramists and get justice for all the people they’ve killed.” Andrew handed her back the shotglass. “I know you couldn’t give a damn about that, so I just have some questions for you, Lust.”
“And what would that be?”
Andrew was getting a little annoyed at the games Lust wanted to play. If he could make this discussion a whole lot more direct, he would. “What do you want and why did you put your attention on the mental institute?”
Lust stopped. Lust giggled. Her laugh was like listening to sodapop bubbles rise to the surface. “You figured that I was the person who anonymously called the CDRs over a long time ago? And who may or may not have opened every cell like Pandora’s box?”
Andrew stared.
“Oh, don’t act like it was hard,” she scoffed. “You were able to get easy access to their generator and short it for a second. I just did the same thing on a larger scale with a few friends here and there.”
“Why?”
“Maybe because I was bored. Maybe because those poor demons wanted some fresh air. Or…” Lust moved another bottle back into a cabinet. “Maybe because there’s things far bigger than you, me, or the Pentagramists.”
“Tell me.”
“Why should I tell you?” Lust laughed. “That’d spoil the whole fun.” She waved the bodyguards and staff off, letting them go home without so much as a goodbye. “But, if you insist, I suppose I can tell you that the Seven Beasts are just part of the picture. He who controls the beasts controls the world.”
Lust kept talking as she filed more bottles away. “People have always wondered when, how, and if the end of the world is coming. Some believe in an Antichrist, others believe in an evil AI, and a couple believe in a sudden meteor. A prophecy here or there says that they’ll come in the form of the Seven Beasts put into the wrong hands.”
Andrew stood up. His hands formed fists as his eyes looked up from his masked face.
“Funny boy,” Lust sighed. “Are you trying to threaten me? Act like you’re gonna beat me to a pulp before consuming the Beast of Lust into your body? Add it to your thirty or so powers you have?”
Andrew scoffed. “You know I’m not trying to do that; you can read my mind.”
She smiled. “But you’re so fun to play with, funny boy.”
“Just tell me where I can find these beasts. Names, locations, groups,” Andrew demanded. “As I said earlier, we can work a deal. I help you and you help me, since this end of the world business sounds like something you are about.”
Lust sighed. Then she reached into her pocket and brought out a pouch of white powder—pure cocaine. If Andrew didn’t know any better, he’d think she was trying to offer him some. “Follow the trail. See where it leads.”
At times like this, Andrew was completely tired of playing word games with her. “Let me guess, one of the Seven Beasts is in a local cartel?”
She nodded. “Follow the trail. See where it leads. If you’re too slow, maybe the Pentagramists will get there first.”
***
“I never took you for a fan of coke.”
Gwen sat in the driver’s seat while Andrew sat shotgun. He was inspecting the little baggie without opening it, let alone putting his face near it. “I’ve never been a fan of drugs, but Lust decided to hand this to me.”
They made a right. “Her name’s Lust?”
Their hideout, if someone could call it that, was a converted garage on the developing side of town. With police stretched out with replacing CDRs, maintaining metro safety, and keeping New Changan from falling apart, they hardly sent a patrol car around these parts.
Hannah was still manning her computer as Andrew tossed the bag in front of her. “Wow,” she whistled. “Is this a gift?”
“It’s from Lust, the Beast of Lust.”
Her eyes widened. “Woah, you never told me you were visiting the Beast of Lust. You just said you were visiting a friend that was gonna help us out.”
Andrew shrugged. “I wouldn’t say she’s a friend, but I’d say she has a few ideas that align with ours.” He sat himself on the wrinkled couch they had found on some slum scrapyard. “What would you have me do?”
“Oh, I don’t know, use your weird soul powers to make them no longer a problem?” Hannah argued. “As it stands, we’re only tracking on Envy and Lust. For all we know, the Pentagramists could have the rest of them in their posse.”
“The coke says otherwise,” Andrew replied. “Apparently, some of the beasts are in the drug game.”
“Cocaine doesn’t speak English! It’s a pile of fucking powder!”
“Then investigate it or something,” Andrew sighed.
“Do you hear yourself? I can’t use MK Ultra torture tactics on a plastic bag!”
Gwen got them to simmer down as she placed herself in between them. “Let’s think straight right now. Andrew, Hannah’s right about being skeptical on this Lust girl. Even I wasn’t told that she was the Beast of Lust. But at the same time, Hannah, we don’t have much to work with. You’ve been scrolling the internet for hours and you’ve found baseless articles and cat videos.”
“They’re cute videos…”
Gwen picked the bag back up and placed it on a sterile table. “Andrew, I’ll focus on checking on the composition. I might not have the tech or specific expertise, but I can see what I can learn.”
“Sounds good.”
Meanwhile, Hannah was pouting like an annoyed kitten. Wearing a hoodie instead of a labcoat, she looked more like an internet geek than a scientific genius. “If you have something you need to tell us, you have to tell us. Got it?”
“But–”
“But what? But we’d think you’re crazy?” Hannah scoffed. “We went from living in luxury apartments to a shitty garage on the edge of an artificial island. If you’re crazy, then we’re all insane. We were in an asylum a month ago.”
Andrew shrugged. Fair point. So much and so little had happened since that raid to break Hannah out. Obviously, the world was changing by the day as neighbors started getting more suspicious of one another; Andrew had even seen some places do demon inspection to search for signs or traits. It was as accurate as a blind bitch shooting a gun.
“In some countries, there’s even been vigilante groups going around for demons,” Hannah sighed. “Obviously, the public thinks that every person possessed by a demon is a ravenous animal, even when people like you still have enough of their humanity to control it to a degree. I guess that’s the result, when their only impression is when demons were able to overpower the minds of their hosts.”
Even now that they were in hiding, it seemed that everything was just getting hotter and hotter. Those days in the CDRs wondering about conspiracy felt like peaceful bliss, compared to the current scramble. Even their new objective seemed impossible: to take control of all Seven Beasts to stop the Pentagramists.
Hannah’s stomach grumbled. She frowned. “All of our bank accounts must’ve been seized or tapped by now. It really sucks, since I had so much saved up, but I think I have an idea.”
“What’s the idea?”
She turned her computer over, revealing what looked like a website complete with a homepage and contact number. “Well, since the new CDRs are horrible at their job, plenty of people have been trying to deal with demons by themselves. It hasn’t been going well for them, since they’re ordinary humans, but I think we have a place in this little market.”
Andrew didn’t need her to spell it out. “You want me to become an anti-demon mercenary. Is that what you’re asking?”
Hannah raised her hand, about to say something, but she had nothing. To be honest, Andrew had hit the nail on the head. “We can give a nicer name, like an exorcist. But yeah, I’m asking you to do that for some extra cash, information, and maybe some community. I’m sure people would appreciate it if an ex-CDR member decided to help them out.”
“So that’s how we’re marketing this,” Andrew chuckled. “Ex-CDR member who survived in a massacre everyone else died from? I sound more like a coward.”
“You sound like a survivor,” Hannah corrected. “Both Gwen and I think so, at least. While the old CDRs had some controversy, they seem like paragons compared to now. I’m sure you could rekindle some of that hope, don’t you think?”
Andrew was still on the fence. While it was definitely a bold move to return to the community this way, while getting some extra cash, it would mean rearing their head into an ever-volatile world. It was only thanks to the NCAPD’s overstretched responsibilities that they haven’t been caught yet.
“You know,” Gwen called, “I always looked up to the CDRs. Not just the towering armor, the big machineguns, or the raw action. I really admired how you guys could save lives from the jaws of genuine demons.”
Cleaning her rifle, Gwen said her piece. “It’d do people some good.”
Suddenly, Hannah’s screen lit up. Her eyes widened as she opened up a new message. “Well, like it or not, someone actually hit the website up with a commission,” she giggled. “Wow! I didn’t expect it to be that fast!”
“You put the website up without asking me?”
Hannah ignored his protest. “Woah! The messages are flowing like wildfire! People really need your professional expertise!” She seemed a little too excited to have this much busywork. “Check this one out: ten-thousand if we clear this rampaging demon in a northeastern apartment complex.”
Gwen tossed Andrew a rifle. “I’ll get the car.”