The police car stoped in front of it's destination. It was a small house painted in pale blue, and althought it was old and shabby it didn't look uninviting. The lawn wasn't too tall, and the fence surrounding it was a bit dirty, but not damaged anywhere visible. There was a bunch of toys spread on the lawn, mostly old action figures and toy soldiers. There was several bitemarks on these toys, but this was a detail none of the two officers leaving the police car cared to notice.

Officer Thomas Jenkins, and officer Douglas McKenny are here responding to a wellfare check on Aaron Ramirez, a young man on his 20's that works on software development and is a hobbyist DJ in his free time. In fact, the "is a hobyist DJ" part is the reason officer Jenkins and officer McKenny are here.

For the last week Gray River's police department got several calls a day from Amanda Denvers, a 53 years old widow who lives next door to Mr Ramirez. In the calls Mrs Denver complains that since the "Mexican boy" moved in next door, she wasn't able to find a momment of rest in her afternoons. Mrs Denvers swears that the young puerto rican is desacrating country music just to piss her off, something she said(several times) she can't stand it anymore.

The problem lies with the fact that Mr Ramirez haven't been listening to loud music late into the night, and the volume of his self made music is withing what is allowed in that neighborhood. There's nothing the police department can do for Mrs Denvers, nor they should, but after several days of receiving calls from Mrs Denvers officer McKenny from the department contacted her and told her that next time she is having this problem she should call the department and say she is worried for her neighboor's safety, officer McKenny and Jenkins would then be dispatched to check on him, and use that as an excuse to give the young man a scare.

Officer Jenkins was the first to knock at the door.

"This is Gray River Police Department, I'm Officer Thomas Jenkins we'd like to talk with Mr Aaron Ramirez."

He held back slightly when knocking the door, and made sure to not announce himself too loudly, but it wouldn't matter even if he did since the music was loud enough for his calls to go unnoticed.

"Jesus Christ Doug, do you hear this shit?" Jenkins said with a frown.

"To be honest after talking with Mrs Denvers I thought it would be way worse." Said McKenny with a chuckle.

"Worse than this?"

"Come on, it isn't that bad. You are only like this because you are a country music purist."

This time officer McKenny knocked on the door and announced himself just like officer Jenkins did.

"Well, since this was your idea I expected you to be just as outraged as I'm."

"I'm outraged, just not with the music. Check the door see if it's unlocked." He said with a faint smile. Jenkins shook his head and openned the door.

What greeted them was a messy living room. Resting on top of a small table in the middle was a couple of empty pizza boxes, an empty bag of chips and 3 to 4 cans of soda. The TV sitting in front of the window by the door was playing the movie T*y Sto*y with nobody watching it, but the old set of sofas still had a couple of blankets laying on it.

The living room led to a small corridor with two doors followed by the kitchen which doubled as dinning room. It was a small home.

The Officers took in the scenario and stepped inside just in time to see a small dark figure dash in their direction from the second door.

"Shit!"

Officer Douglas McKenny was always a fast shooter, so when the rotweiler dashed in their direction he was the first to have his gun at ready.

Two shots followed and the one year old pup crashed on the floor before he could reach halfway throught the living room, flaying his legs erratically on the floor.

The music was loud, but not loud enough to disguise the sound of gunshots. Ramirez left the first door, his room, and was shocked to see two cops in his living room with their guns drawn.

"What the fuck is going on here?!"

"Gray River P.D, hands in the air. NOW!"

Aaron Ramirez put his hands above his head and saw his pup named Cash, bleeding in the floor. An old Ranger Blue was sitting in front of his muzzle, a lot of drool and a few bloodstains dirtying it.

"Did you... Did you just fucking kill my dog?!

He stared his dead puppy increaduosly and while officer McKenny kept his gun aimed at him, officer Jenkins went forward to handcuff his wrists.

"Are you fucking insane?! Why did you kill my dog?! Why are you handcuffing me?! Why are you motherfuckers even here?!"

"Calm Down! We are here answering to a wellfare check. We called you but you didn't answer the door, so we decided to come in to check up on you, that's when your dog rushed at us. The handcuffs are just standard procedure."

Officer Jenkins didn't fire his gun, and because of that he was calmer than his partner, he was also nervous since this whole thing wasn't going as they had planned, but his cooler head made him more capable to contend with Ramirez's questions. Still to Ramirez all this was just too ridiculous.

"The hell is a 'wellfare check'?! I didn't ask for you! I don't need a goddamn thing from you! And rush you?! Cash wouldn't bite anybody, not even you assholes! He was just a puppy!"

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Jenkins was starting to feel annoyed by the young man, even more since his music was still playing on the background. He wanted to go his bedroom to turn the damn thing off before calling the central when he felt McKenny pat his shoulder and point at the door.

"What is that thing?"

Jenkins turned around and was shocked by what he saw, at this point even Ramirez had to halt his barrage because of what he saw.

A couple feet inside the house, right in front of the the still open front door, a green flame hovered in the air, it was just there, pulsing eerily.

"Hey boy, what is that?"

"Who the fuck is "boy"? And how the hell should I know?" He said with indignation clear in his face.

"It's your house." Said McKenny already raising his gun at the flame for some reason.

"I've been living here for a little more than a week, and there was no creepy flying flames before you killed my dog." He glanced at McKenny's gun and continued fuming. "Also that's not how you put down any fire."

Jenkins gave McKenny a pat in the back and said: "How about you fetch some water in the kitchen, I'm going to turn down this fucking music, then we can see if we can deal with whatever kind of fire that is. And you, you are coming with me."

McKenny stared as both of them left for Ramirez's bedroom, where the sound system was located. He gave a last glance to the fire, still pulsing gently, and turned to the kitchen.

As soon as they turned their backs two figures jumped off the flames. Completely red and three feet tall, they looked like monkeys, hairless from the waist up with a goat's hoves for feet, an ox tail at their lower backs and a pair of stubby horns sprouting from their foreheads. They came in stumbling upon each other, unnoticed by the three people in the house.

The monkey-like creatures looked around with eyes full of amazement until they saw the fading flames, at momment their faces twisted into a mean smile that no monkey in this world should have.

Officer Jenkins pulled off the sound system's cable from the socket and ended his own suffering.

"You really should find a better way to spend your time."

Hearing this remark Ramirez just stared at him. With the absence of the music they could hear the sound of something being filled with water in the kitchen but also some pit-patter in the living room, followed by sounds of something being ripped apart.

"Do you have another dog?"

Ramirez expression showed he was just as confused.

It was a small home, and soon a small figure stepped in front of the door of the bedroom. It had bloodstains all around its mouth, and it held in front of him one of the hind legs of a large black dog.

"What in the holy..."

"Is... is that..."

Jenkins and Ramirez said simultaneously in disbelief. The creature dashed for them with a mean grin on it's face, and behind it on the corridor another one went running towards the kitchen.

"Doug! Watch out!"

Officer Jenkins didn't have the time to pull his gun, he took a step forward and aimed a soccer kick at the critter. The creature easily side stepped the attack, and from the kicthen the sound of curses and things being knocked over could be heard.

Jenkins was about to follow up with a stomp when something unnexpect happened. A gush of fire come out from his little foe's mouth and hit him straight in the chest, setting his vest on fire.

"Shit!"

He rolled on the floor to put it out, and Ramirez watched with an open mouth as the monkey-like creature roared with laughter at the officer's predicament.

Jenkins didn't wait until the fire was completely out before pulling his gun and taking aim at the critter. He shot while lying awkwardly on his side, but from this distance his 3 shots hit the mark. The little sadist was caught off-guard and slumped on the ground with bulging eyes. Jenkins didn't wait until the little thing drew his last breath and rushed to the kitchen where the sound of fighting could still be heard.

"Doug! Throw it off! I need a clear shot!"

"I'm trying!"

Ramirez heard as he stared at the enlarging pool of blue blood beneath the red critter. It was at death's door, but no fear could be seen in his eyes, it touched it's own blood with trembling hands and stared at it with amazed eyes and a silly smile on its face.

Two shots were finally heard in the kitchen, a few more curses followed. Ramirez was sitting on his bed with the hands still on handcuffs behind his back. Right now he should be thinking about how to explain to his uncle, the landlord, that he got his carpet stained with a dog and a little demon's blood, worse yet, it hasn't been even a month since he moved here.

But in the end all he could think of was: "Demons, man... It can only be demons. The tail, the hairy legs with hoved feet, the yellow eyes, the red skin and black little horns. If not demons then what else could these things be?"

Both officers came back to the bedroom, McKenny looked in pretty bad shape, his pants was burnt in some places, and claw marks were all over his body, including on his blonde head. It looked like he fought a pack of rabid racoons. Ramirez was too distracted to laugh at him.

"Hey, the flame in the living room is gone." Jenkins said with a frown. McKenny got close to Ramirez while talking.

"We need to call the central and somehow explain this. And you. If you have something to say about this, now is the time."

Ramirez didn't answer him, he was looking at the floor where a green flame brighter than the one in the living room appeared.

"Oh, fuck me!" Jenkins said with a groan. McKenny clicked his tongue with a mix of annoyance and anger showing on his face.

He pulled his gun and changed the magazine that still had a couple bullets in it for a full one.

"Get ready Tom."

"Wait, do you think..."

"We don't know, that's why you better get you ass ready."

Jenkins said no more, he readied his gun and stood in the corridor pointing it at the green flame, but he also kept alert in case the critters came running from somewhere else.

It wasn't long before three critters jumped from the flames, but as soon as they did they were blasted with a dozen of gunshots. This time the little invaders were taken care without trouble.

"They really did pop out from the flames..."

"Call the central now. Tom, we are past the time to know what is going on."

"The kitchen." Ramirez said faintly while Jenkins talked with the operator.

"What?"

"See if there's green fire in the kitchen."

McKenny looked at him with suspicion, but decided to check out.

"You better not move until I'm back."

He left. "Goddamit" was heard from the kitchen, and soon another four shots were heard.

McKenny came back fuming, he pointed his gun at Ramirez smoke still coming out of it, and demanded: "Explain! Now!"

"I don't think he has anything to do with this." Jenkins came back to the room saying.

"I've heard from central that it has been happening everywhere. it's particularly bad at Rose Street. Like hundreds of them."

Ramirez chuckled.

"What now?"

McKenny thought he had to deal with enough shit already. He wouldn't stand more provocations from this young man. While he was thinking about what kind of lesson he would give him, Ramirez said:

"The shooting range is at Rose Street."

Both officers were confused for a while, but realization soon dawned them. In front of their very eyes, two particularly bright flames apparead, one on the doorway to the corridor, and the other close to the single bed Ramirez was sitting.

"How many shots have you two fired here?"

The two officers paled. They looked at each other and bolted in the direction of the police car.

"Hey assholes! Uncuff me!"

Ramirez chased after them.