CHAPTER 1: 22:00.

Outside of a somewhat upmarket bar, a small group of professional looking men had gathered in front of a yellow cab. They were a racially diverse group, and were all significantly tipsy, with some past the point of being able to be called that. In the centre of the group was a fairly tall, statuesque black male. He was handsome and well-built enough to get attention when dressed normally, but in this instance, he was dressed in a pure white three-piece suit. Everything he had on was white, and it all made his hands and head to appear to be darker than they actually were – something his companions had been pointing out the entire day, and every other time he had worn the outfit. The conversation the group was having was an extension of the one they were having inside the bar, and had been dragging on for quite some time if the cab drivers face was anything to by. He looked to be running out of patience, and this was made worse by the act that none of these guys had noticed it.

“Look guys, I’ve really got to get outta here.” The man said, trying to force his way into the cab.

“Yeah, yeah. You’ve been saying that for over an hour, Theo!” One of his inebriated friends boomed.

“I know!” Theo replied in faux anger, before looking over at the cab driver. “Yeah, even the driver is pissed. Fuck you guys, I’m getting out of here.”

“What? Come onnn! It’s barely even past 10:00 PM!”

“Yeah, well I’ve got a wife and kids at my house, and unlike some of you, I actually like to tuck my kids in to bed.”

“Pussy!”

“Right back atcha!”

“Okay, okay, leave the guy alone.” Said another friend. “Theo is a devoted family man, with a gorgeous wife and some cute kids; it’s no wonder he wants to get back home. If he was going home to what you do every night Matt, he’d probably be reluctant to go home as well!”

“What?! Fuck you!” Matt, who was by far the most intoxicated of the group, boomed in protest.

The conversation was accompanied with some thunderous and drunken laughter, before the lot exchanged farewell handshakes and hugs, before Theo climbed into the back of the cab. He gave the cabbie an apologetic look before giving him an address. He looked back to see his friends all waving at him – an act that he reciprocated before fishing in his pockets, looking for his phone. After some digging, he pulled it out, and dialed his wife’s phone. The phone rang and rang until it reached her voicemail, and despite looking somewhat puzzled, Theo left a message.

“Hey babe, I just got in a cab, and am headed home right now. I know I’m late, but I’ll be home soon to apologise properly… I’m in your favourite suit, after all. Anyway, I’ll see you soon. I love you.”

Theo hung up, and placed the phone in his lap. He sat in silence for a few minutes as he looked out the window, clearly troubled by something.

‘It’s not like Jessica to miss my calls.’ He thought to himself, before being interrupted by the sound of the snickering cabbie.

“I’m sorry, did I say something funny?”

“Forgive me, I don’t mean to laugh but… THAT is your wife’s favourite outfit?”

“Fuck me, what is everybody’s problem with this damn suit? You know what, it doesn’t even matter. My wife loves this suit, and that’s all that counts. Now drive… I’ve been feeling restless all day, and I just want to get home.”

The cabbie just nodded and gave a small salute as he put his foot down, driving a little faster. The bar wasn’t all that far from Theo’s house, so it was never a particularly long journey to make in either direction.

“So how long have you been married?” The driver asked Theo.

“We’re going on five years, man.”

“Five years? You’re practically still a newly wed.” He said, chuckling somewhat.

“Yeah, agreed. That said, we’ve been together for almost seven.”

“Kids?”

“Yeah, we have three; a boy, and twin girls. How about yourself?”

“Oh? I’m married, and have more kids than I have any right to have.” The cabbie said with a sigh and a shake of his head, which prompted Theo to chuckle under his breath.

The conversation between the two men continued in this vein until they reached Theo’s house, which was located in a rather nice, somewhat upmarket suburb. The conversation from Theo’s side suddenly stopped when he noticed from a distance how the lights at his house were all off.

“…that’s odd.”

“Hmm? What is?”

“It’s not so late that she would be asleep.”

“Huh?”

Theo looked at his phone to verify that he had not received a call from his wife, and then looked back at his house, which the car was now rapidly approaching. A few moments later, and the cab pulled up to the house, parking on the street.

“It’s all dark…” Theo said as he slowly searched for his wallet.

He was completely distracted by the state of his house, and this resulted in the search taking quite a bit longer than it should have, but he eventually found it.

“H-How much do I owe you?” Theo asked as he opened his wallet.

“Let’s just call it an even twenty, sir.”

The exchange of money was brief, as Theo wanted to get out of the car and into his house as quickly as possible. After paying and leaving the cab, Theo did his best to collect and compose himself. He was buzzing slightly, but not so much that his faculties were severely affected. He quickly approached the front door, keys in hand and just as he was about to open the door, he noticed that it appeared to be slightly ajar.

‘What the fuck?’ He thought to himself as he pushed the door open.

Usually a calm and calculating customer, Theo suddenly got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach which coupled with his buzz, made him act out of character as he barged into the house. The thought of his family being in any kind of danger affected his ability to remain rational and his sense of urgency shot through the roof. After entering, he immediately went to a light switch, flicking it to test if the lights worked. They didn’t.

‘What the?” He thought to himself as he started becoming more and more concerned.

“Jess? Jess, I’m home… Jess?”

Theo called out to his wife as he started moving further into the house, with the first destination he had had in mind being the children’s bedroom.

“Jessica, what’s going on? Where are y –”

Theo suddenly quieted down and stood perfectly still. His instincts told him that he wasn’t alone in the house, and that whoever else was in there, was not friendly.

“I don’t know who the fuck you people are, but I’d advise that you leave before you get hurt.”

Despite the menacing sounding warning, Theo suddenly found himself being approached by multiple people and then without warning, lunged at from behind. He slid to his left in a bid to avoid the attack, before spinning and turning to face whoever had just attacked him, He then threw a right hook which was evaded but pushed off from where he was standing and tackled whoever it was that was in front of him. As both men hit the ground, Theo quickly got to work, letting off a flurry of blows aimed around where he guessed the head would be. His aim was a little off, but he connected with face down below quite a few times, feeling a nose crunch beneath his fist. As he was doing this, two hands suddenly grabbed him from behind and hoisted him up. The hands then slid beneath his underarms and attempted to get him in some sort of hold, but Theo wasn’t having it. He quickly jabbed his head backwards twice, head-butting the one trying to restrain him in the face with the back of his head, before letting out something of a roar and forcing his arms down, breaking the hold. He quickly turned around and unleashed two hard shots to his foes body, and then followed them up with two punches to the face. The body was particularly hard, but having done some damage to the guy’s face just moments before helped take the guy out. Just as the guy went down, a blow connected with Theo’s right cheek, forcing his face to violently jerk to the left. The blow was hard and heavy, and caused Theo to stumble slightly to his left. Another blow caught his other cheek, before a stern kick to the gut sent Theo reeling and forced him to crash into a wall. The guy who connected with his blows was immediately on Theo, throwing straights and hooks at his head. Despite everybody being in the dark, they weren’t having any trouble locating each other, with Theo slipping and avoiding all the punches, before landing a ferocious kick on the guy’s kidney. He then unleashed a four punch combination to the body and head, before grabbing said head in his palms and thrusting his own head forward, crashing his forehead into his opponent’s forehead. As the guy crumbled into a heap on the floor, Theo took a deep breath and tried to gather himself.

“I don’t know who you fuckers are, but you picked the wrong house and the wrong family to fuck with.”

As Theo said this, he stepped over the body on the floor and started striding forwards when the lights suddenly switched on, and Theo was confronted by the sight of four people - three men and a woman – standing next to each other. One of the men was tall – taller than Theo, who was rather tall at 6’5. He was a large, muscular bald man who wore what looked like a blacked out prison guard uniform. Another was shorter and almost alarmingly slim, with his clothes appearing to hang off of him. They were also black, and his face was mostly hidden by a hood. The woman was dressed in tight fitting leather attire, and had a heavily made up face. She was around 6’0, and surprisingly well-built. The third man, who appeared to be the leader of sorts was around 6’2, well-built and was dressed in what appeared to be blacked out military combat gear, and a trench coat. He had a full face mask with some red goggles that seemed to be backlit. All the men were armed with various weapons, and Theo eyed them all with a stone faced expression. The leader of the men stepped forward and approached Theo, who had stopped moving by now, and continued looking at the dangerous looking men in his house.

“On the contrary, we’ve picked the right house and precisely the right family, Theo… or should I say, Othello.”

“How do you know that name? Who are you?!” Theo asked, his voice hinting at him being surprised and slightly annoyed at having been called by that name.

“My name isn’t important… and as to how I know your real name? Well, you’ll find that out soon enough.”

Theo’s mind was now in overdrive as he tried to think of a way out of this situation. If these people knew who he was, then surely they weren’t regular burglars or home invaders. He was definitely at a disadvantage, and he had to act quickly.

“Who hired you? Who’s your target? Are you here for me alone?”

Just as Theo asked thee questions, a few more men in the vein of those he had just fought emerged from deeper within the house, and Theo’s thoughts immediately went back to his wife and his children. The expression on his face changed to one of concern, and then of anger as he looked the group. As if something switched inside him, Theo suddenly adopted a far more threatening stance.

“Where are my wife and kids?” He asked, his voice quiet, but also threatening.

There was no answer from anybody in the room, and this caused Theo to leap off from where he was standing, displaying more speed and agility than he had in the prior exchanges. He closed the distance between him and the group quickly; however the goons who had emerged from deeper within his house were the ones to retaliate – all of them leaping at him at the same time. Theo was seemingly not in the mood to play around, or had thrown caution to the wind as he raised his right hand and palmed one of the men in the face, the sound of contact between hand and face was surprisingly cloud, as was the groan that could heard coming from the goon’s face, and the force with which he flew backwards and crashed into the wall behind him. As he slumped to the floor, Theo was already attacking another of the men who had tried going low. He raised his knee and crashed it right into the guy’s face, causing said guy to actually flip over and complete a revolution before landing face down on the floor. Theo then avoided a few punches aimed at his face, before reaching out and grabbing the guy who was attacking with his left hand and pulling him violently towards time, before extending his right arm and forcing his bicep into the guy’s throat – giving him a sort of wrestling clothesline and making him spin and twist before crashing into a glass table that shattered as he went through it. Theo then turned to face the stronger looking group, which had been standing perfectly still and observing this second round of sorts. He was just about to charge them when he noticed that the female of the group was missing.

‘Where the fuck did she go?’ Theo asked himself as he looked around with his eyes.

“You know… I really do admire you, Othello.” The leader of the group said.

“What was that?” Theo said as he looked at the yet to be named leader.

“I said I admire you. Coming from the family you do, which has strong links to a powerful clan from the Netherworld, yet you are this strong after having been denied the opportunity of signing a Contract.”

“…how do you know all that? Who the fuck are y—”

Theo couldn’t finish his question as the female of the group returned, with Theo’s family in tow. They were bound at the wrists, had gags in their mouths, and appeared to have signs of light abuse on their tear stricken faces. The woman looked at Theo and smirked at him.

“JESS!”

The sight of his family shackled up like that seemed to set something off inside of him – something of volcanic proportions. The group leader noticed this, and quickly reached behind his back and pulled out a massive rifle, before handing it to the tall bald man. He then removed a fairly savage looking bladed weapon from his waist and handed it to the other man.

“I’ll take care of Othello.”

“Understood, Boss.” The tall one said.

“Othello!” The leader boomed. “Face me. If you win, you and your family will be left alone. To make things fair, my guys won’t interfere, and I will not use any of my weapons.”

Theo – or Othello – was absolutely fuming by this point. His fists were clenched and shaking pretty violently, and he looked as though he was about to explode.

“I’ll kill you… I’LL KILL YOU!!”

Theo suddenly dashed towards the leader, closing the distance almost instantly and without standing on ceremony, unleashed a series of punches. They were fast, sharp and hard, yet they were all missing the target. Whether by ducking, swiveling or parrying, the mask wearing leader was avoiding all of the punches with ease, without even raising his fists to maintain some sort of a guard. To his credit, Theo not only kept swinging, but increased the speed of his strikes, varying the types of punches he threw, and even tried to get a few kicks in. Despite increasing the speed and ferocity of his attacks, Theo wasn’t having any luck whatsoever, and before he even knew what happened, he felt what could be described as a small wrecking ball crashing into his stomach and knocking all the wind out of him, and that was followed by a particularly hard punch to the face that launched Theo off of his feet and crashing into a wall. He actually recovered from this fairly quickly as he landed on his feet and looked up to see his opponent right in front of him once more. His instincts screamed at him to duck as quickly as possible, despite no evidence of a punch or a kick incoming. Theo was always one to listen to his instincts though, and he ducked and moved to his right as quickly as he could, which turned out to be a smart move as a lightning quick two punch combination not only ripped through the air, but the wall as well, leaving a cross-shaped gash in it.

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‘Holy shit! Don’t tell me this guy…’

Theo barely had enough time to formulate coherent sentences in his mind as he was on the move again, dashing away from the masked leader before quickly charging him once more, trying to get him from behind. He threw a one-two combo which was easily slipped, before bending his arm and throwing his elbow back. His elbow strike was blocked, and his exposed side was hit with a flurry of blows so rapid, he couldn’t even count how many punches were in the barrage. He heard a voice cry out in pain, and it took a few moments to realise that it was actually his voice. What he did know instantly however, was that his side hurt immensely, and that at least one rib had been broken. He lowered his elbow and attempted to throw a left hook, but it was easily evaded, and he then felt a fist connect with the left side of his chin, buckling his legs somewhat before a short uppercut connected flush with his chin, and dropped Theo to his knees. There was a slight ringing in his ears as blood poured from his mouth and his breathing was ragged.

“Wow, I’m impressed, Othello. You really are gifted. You're strong, fast, and pretty skilled… but at the end of the day, you're just a gifted human… “

The leader said all this as his goggles glowed bright red, and Theo looked up to see what looked like a pair of slanted red eyes glowing above the leader’s head.

“Your gifts may be enough for you to take out low level Contracted like the boys here… but for those like myself… taking care of you is child’s play.”

‘Just as I thought… this fucker has signed a Contract with an Entity…’

Just then, Theo felt immense pain for an instant, before everything faded to black, and he was knocked unconscious.

It didn’t take long for Theo to regain consciousness. He was seated in a chair, and attempts at standing up soon revealed that he had been restrained. He slowly started looking around, trying to ascertain whether or not he was still in his house. He was, and was seated in his living room. Seated across from him were his wife Jess, twin daughters Zama and Thandi, and son, Ethan. They too were all restrained, but they were also gagged. Theo tried calling out to them, but found that he was also gagged. He thrashed around a bit as he tried to free himself, but it was to no avail as these weren’t ordinary ropes, they seemed to be sentient –  slithering and tightening with each attempt Theo made to escape. After giving up on breaking his bonds, Theo suddenly noticed that there was a strange red haze in the living room. Despite it being lit and everything being visible, it was unusually dark, and very hazy.

‘This is very bad… think, Theo! Think of a way out of this! THINK!!!’

He looked over at his terrified family, and tried to reassure them with his eyes. He tried to project a sort of calm demeanor, and he held eye contact with them all individually for extended periods of time. His children were still young, with Ethan approaching kindergarten age, and the twins a year younger than him. The tears streaming down their cheeks broke his heart, and made him struggle to free himself once more, however much like the first time, Theo’s attempts were futile. Jess on the other hand was looking very calm. It was as if she had resigned herself to whatever fate awaited her and her family, and sort of shrugged bitterly when Theo looked at her. After a few excruciating minutes of waiting, the entire group walked into the living room, previously unconscious goons included. Everybody except the leader was chewing and holding sandwiches in their hands.

‘You’ve GOT to be kidding me! These bastards are eating my food as well!?’ Theo thought to himself.

“Oh, you’re awake.” The leader said as he looked at Theo.

He looked around for a chair, and once he found one, he dragged it behind him as he walked and then set it down in front of Theo. He then sat down in the chair, and crossed one leg over the over before taking a deep breath and speaking.

“Theo Burrows, or should I say, Othello Barausse; illegitimate child of Frankie Barausse – head of the Barausse family, one of the biggest crime families on the East Coast.” After saying all this, the leader leaned in closer and virtually whispered. “Do your wife and kids know about this? I mean technically, you aren’t actually black, man. You’re mixed.”

Theo scowled intensely at this man, who was casually revealing secrets he had been keeping for a very long time.

“Anyway, I just wanted to have a bit of a chat before getting on with business. You see, I genuinely admire you, Othello. I know all about you, man. I know that your mother was a hooker, I know that you went to live with your father at a young age, but things didn’t go so well – especially when you displayed levels of competence that were superior to the rest of the youngsters in your generation. You were smarter, stronger more charming and likable than the rest of them; even winning the affections of Tia – the princess of the Bolzano family. However, for some reason, whether the shade of your skin and texture of your hair, or maybe because of the fact that your mother was a prostitute, either way, you weren’t very well liked or accepted, and when the murmurs of you being the heir to Moon Contract surfaced, well…”

“Uh, sorry Boss, but weren’t you saying how you wanted to get this all over with before midnight? Going over this guy’s long ass personal history won’t make that a realistic objective.”

The leader looked back at his muscular subordinate and chuckled somewhat heartily, before shaking his head and looking at Theo.

“Sorry about that, I just really like this guy.” He then took another breath before addressing Theo once more. “Othello, I just want to let you know that none of what is about to happen is personal. I have been… employed to carry out a certain and extremely detailed task.”

The man then stood up slowly and held his hand out. One of the low level henchmen hobbled into view with a large duffel bag in his hands. He gave to his boss, and walked off. The bag was then set on the recently vacated chair, slowly opened. Theo looked around the room, only to see the faces of virtually the entire group, all smiling sadistically at him. The sounds that came from within the bag as the boss rummaged through it were making Theo a worried man, and after a while, the boss stopped his search and looked up.

“Considering what is about to happen, I should at least tell you my name… in certain circles, I go by the Phantom.”

Theo was barely even paying attention to what was being said at this point, because as the Phantom revealed who he was, he started pulling out all manner of tools that could be used as torture devices. As he laid them out neatly on the floor, he looked towards the woman in his crew.

“Widow, have you completed the sound-proofing?”

“Yes, Sir. We could have a convert in here, and nobody outside would hear a peep.”

“Good…”

The Phantom then picked up a small blade, a pair of pliers and a hammer, and walked right up to Theo, who was mentally steeling himself for what he assumed, would be a long and painful night. He could see his kids shaking in terror and fresh tears making their way down their respective faces.

“So, here’s the thing, Othello… you aren’t my target. Well, you eventually are, but…  everything that’s in the duffel bag, as well as in my hands right now is to be used… on them.”

The Phantom gestured with his head that the target was Theo’s family.

‘What? No! You son of a bitch! Don’t you dare touch them! DON’T TOUCH THEM!! DON’T TOUCH THEM!!!’

Theo was going absolutely nuts, shaking violently as he tried to get loose. His eyes and face were filled with absolute desperation, and he was screaming. He was trying to talk, but due to the gag, all he could do was make noise. The Phantom turned around and made his way over to Jess and the children, who had started screaming once more.

“It’s a shame this has to go down, but we’ve already been paid. Sorry about this.”

Over the course of what felt like an eternity, Theo was forced to sit and watch atrocities that no living creature should be subjected to being carried out on his wife and children by the Phantom. The sound of their blood curdling screams rang in Theo’s ears, and coupled with his own screams, filled the entire room, as did the heavy scent of blood. The amount of blood that was on the floor, as well as appendages after a while was the stuff of nightmares. Theo did not stop screaming or thrashing about the entire time. Watching this man commit such horrible acts on his family was only made worse by the fact that Phantom would stop in the middle of torturing one of Theo’s loved ones and turn to look at him, offering compliments like “Wow, these girls are absolutely beautiful. They would have made gorgeous brides” or “Wow, Ethan looks just like you, Othello! You must have been so proud when he was born”.  During the early parts of the ordeal, before anything had been severed, removed or the like, Theo found himself making all kinds of mental demands.

‘Hey! You Moon Clan fuckers, I know you can hear me! I need help! Help me!’ He boomed with his mind.

“…”

‘I need power! My family needs me! Give me power!’

“…”

‘It’s The – I mean, Othello Barausse! You have an alliance with my family! Send some demons to help! PLEASE!’

“…”

No matter how much Theo pleaded, all he received in response was rotten silence. He didn’t stop however, and he continued demanding help. As time went on however, he found himself altering the demand from needing power to save his family, to needing the strength to put them out of their misery. The tone also changed, as he went from virtually ordering a Moon Clan demon to help, to begging. The silence he got in return was doing a number on him. His throat was hoarse from all the screaming, and fresh blood from said throat had stained the gag. His eyes were blood red, tears flowing from them. He aggravated and even exacerbated the injuries he received from the Phantom earlier in the night, and more than his physical state, watching and hearing his children crying and screaming his name, pleading with him to help, had come close to completely breaking him. Phantom had been going about his business without a shred of hesitation or remorse – something a few of his people failed to do. Some couldn’t watch, while others who had been watching had vomited a few times; their stomachs unable to handle what they were witnessing. One by one, Theo watched his children succumb to their wounds, and each death would destroy a portion of his soul. Time dragged on slowly, and at around midnight, Theo, whose eyes had glazed over, watched as Phantom turned around and walked over to the duffel bag. What remained in the chairs behind him were bodies in such poor condition that they could no longer be referred to as corpses. Jess, who held out the longest, had finally joined her children in the afterlife. The man who called himself Phantom looked at Theo and shook his head slightly as he pulled a cloth out from the bag and began wiping all his instruments of torture clean.

“You know Othello; I genuinely did not enjoy doing any of that. But you know, a job is a job.”

By now, Theo was sitting limp in the chair. His head was hanging low, and it was as if Phantom’s words were not registering. That didn’t stop him from talking though.

“I wonder what it is you did to anger those who paid me… because this was an unbelievably cruel thing to make a man go through.” He then held up a tool he used for eye gouging and started wiping it fiercely. “I mean, your kids were so young and cute, man. Your wife, she was so beautiful… I might even say she was prettier than Tia!”

Phantom chuckled and nudged at the air in Theo’s direction. He was speaking as if he had nothing to do with what just happened, let alone being directly responsible for it all. He continued talking as he cleaned his tools as best he could, before finishing up and closing the duffel bag. He looked at Theo once more and walked up to him, raising his head by pushing his chin up and looked at the man’s unfocused, almost lifeless looking eyes.

“Othello? Earth to Othello?”

Phantom even waved his open hand across Theo’s face, and when he got no response, he sighed.

“Such a shame…”

He walked off and went back to the duffel bag, opening it up and after a brief search, pulled out a handgun.

“I’m supposed to leave him alive, but what’s the point?”

“Wait Boss, you’re actually going to kill him?” The muscular subordinate asked.

“Yeah? Didn’t the client say he must be kept alive?” The woman previously referred to as Widow chimed in.

“That certainly is true, however it was only said to keep Othello alive to watch his family tortured to death. Nothing was said about what should be done afterwards.” Phantom held the gun up and cocked it. “I’m taking him out.”

“Seriously? Why?”

“Like I told him a million times, I like this guy.”

Before anybody could talk back, the Phantom pointed the gun at Theo, who despite all appearances, was present and could hear everything.

‘Fuck this guy… acting all friendly after making me watch all that. Fuck all his crew; I hope they burn in Hell. Fuck the Moon Clan… I don’t know what I was expecting asking them for help, but they didn’t even respond, despite my using the correct channel.’

Theo started crying once more, a fresh stream of tears making their way down his cheeks from his eyes. The Phantom noticed this, but all it served to do was make him nod, as if he was doing Theo a favour.

‘I’m so sorry, Jessica… Ethan, Thandi, Zama… forgive me for being weak and not protecting you…’

Just then, everything in the room went dark, causing Theo to actually look around with his eyes.

‘What happened? Why’s it all dark? Am I dead?’ Theo asked himself all these questions as if he was going to answer them himself. He closed his eyes, and succumbed to what he thought was death

“Your voice reached me, Othello…”

Theo’s eyes suddenly shot open, and a bright white light illuminated the room. The light burned and crackled likpe the purest, most beautiful flames, and Theo couldn’t focus on it for too long without his eyes hurting. Everybody appeared to be frozen in place as time seemed to have stood still. Theo, who still wasn’t sure if he was alive or dead looked at Phantom, behind whom the light had formed. It then started to take shape, forming into a silhouette of some sort of humanoid figure, and where the eyes were meant to be appeared two eye slits which emitted a black glow.

“I must be dead…” Theo said, having suddenly regained his ability to speak, despite his being gagged.

“You are not dead, Othello. Not yet.”

The being spoke with a raspy, almost wet sounding voice, which fluctuated from a whisper, to deep, grotesque  tone; something completely at odds with the being’s appearance.

“W… Who are you?” Theo asked, still in a state of shock.

“You have not time for such questions. I have slowed down time enough for us to come to an understanding.”

“What kind of understanding? What the fuck is going on here?!”

“Do you desire the power to kill those who killed your family?”

That question alone made every single thought about whether or not he was dead and what was going on seem absolutely trivial. In that moment, all Theo yearned for was the strength to heinously kill everybody who was present in his house, and avenge his family. Their severely mutilated corpses in clear view as if to enrage him even more. The resignation and acceptance of his fate that Theo had felt just moments prior had been blown away, and replaced with wrath. He looked this white, flaming entity in the eyes and answered.

“More than ANYTHING.”

“I have the ability to share my power with you, for a period of time.”

All of a sudden, a stone tablet marked with something written in a language Theo had never seen before appeared in front of him.

“This is a contract. Sign it with your blood, Othello.”

Theo looked at the tablet, trying to see if he could decipher even the slightest bit of the writing. He was interrupted however, as this entity suddenly screamed.

“STOP DAWDLING AND SIGN THE CONTRACT, OTHELLO!!!!”

Theo was suddenly jarred into action as he spat onto the tablet with as much force as he could. The wad of spit was red and hit the tablet with a rather loud splat. As soon as the spit hit the stone, the writing glowed white and the tablet disappeared. The entity looked at Theo and he could swear he saw it smile and nod in approval.

“Well done, Othello… I am known as the Fallen. I shall see you soon.”

No sooner had this being called the Fallen introduced itself did it disappear in a bright flash. Everything in the living room then went back to normal, and almost instantly, the sound of the repeated gunshots filled the entire house. The Phantom stood with the smoking gun still pointed directly at the pulpy remains of Theo’s head.

“Hmm…”

“What is it, Boss?” The muscular subordinate asked.

“Nothing, really… it’s just I could have sworn that at the last moment, Othello’s dead eyes were filled with… wrath, hope… I don’t know. Anyway, it’s just after midnight. Let’s get out of here.” He then looked at the goons. “You lot; you handle the cleanup.”

“What should we do, Sir?” One of them asked.

“Burn the house. A bunch of you all vomited or bled in here, so eliminate all evidence of our presence with fire.”

“Understood.”

“Black Widow, Krazy Native, Mike D, you’re all dismissed for the night. I’ll contact you when next we have a job.”

“Understood, Boss.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“…”

Phantom retrieved his weapons from his subordinates, slung the bag’s strap over his shoulder, nodded at everybody, and was suddenly enveloped by some sort of black aura, before disappearing with a flash of light. Native looked at everybody who remained, and spoke.

“Alright, you all heard what the boss said. Widow, you can take down your webs, now. We all know how strong they are, and all they would do is hinder our effort to burn this place to the ground.”

“Agreed.”  Black Widow said with something of a sneer.

“The rest of you will take care of –”

Native was interrupted by Mike D leaving the house. He raised his open hand, aimed it at the wall and after his palm glowed bright green, a skull shaped ball of similarly coloured… something flew from his palm and hit the wall, with the resulting explosion creating a big enough hole for him to walk out of. He didn’t even say anything as he lowered his hand and made his way out from the smoking hole, disappearing into the sky with a green flash.

“Fucking weirdo…” Native muttered under his breath with a shake of his head.

He then walked out of the hole himself, crouched down, and then suddenly leapt up into the sky. He didn’t fly away, he jumped away. Black Widow raised her hands with her palms open, and proceeded to suck all of the webbing that was in the house into her palms. Despite how much webbing there was, it all disappeared fairly quickly and once it was all gone, she looked at the remaining grunts and exited from the hole as well, before disappearing into the night.

“…n-none of those weirdoes used the damn door.” One of the grunts stated.

“When have they ever?” Another replied.

“We don’t have time for this. Let’s get this place burned up, and get the fuck outta here.”

“Hear, hear.”

They all got to work, walking through the house, looking for and finding highly flammable materials before setting them up in strategic locations in the house.

“Man, tonight was BRUTAL.” One of the goons declared.

“Yeah man, I don’t think that this line of work is for me. This anything-goes type shit is too much for me to handle.”

“Watching those kids get torn apart by Phantom while the other bosses watched on as if they were enjoying the show? Fuck, I couldn’t take that.”

“I got kids that age at home… I don’t even want to imagine how that Theo, Othello, whatever his fucking name is; I don’t want to imagine what he was feeling.”

“Man, fuck that guy. He might have gotten his ass kicked, but he went to town on us. Fuck him hard.”

The discussion continued amongst the grunts as they set everything up. One of the men, who wasn’t in the room due to having been too squeamish, was now in the kill room, looking at the multiple corpses and blood all over the place. He looked at the children and sighed, offering up a small prayer for them, before looking over at Theo’s corpse. His pure white suit had been stained with a few drops of blood that had come from his mouth when he suffered a beating, and he was still restrained by the strange rope. The goon’s eyes rose up to look at Theo’s head, and while he was expecting to see brains, blood and head goop after all the bullets Phantom put into Theo’s head, what he found was a perfectly intact head. In fact, there was absolutely no evidence of there having been anything violent done to the head.

“Wait… what? Is this for real? Didn’t that creepy guy shoot this guy’s head to shit?” The goon then took a few steps towards Theo, before calling out. “Hey guys, how was this guy here killed?!”

“What do you mean? Phantom blew his head apart like a ripe watermelon! Why?”

“…because right now, this guy’s head looks like a perfect watermelon that hasn’t exploded or anything!”

“What? Bullshit!”

It didn’t take all that long for the goons to all gather in front of Theo, and they all stared at him, completely confused.

“I don’t get it… I fuckin’ saw this cat’s head pop! How is this possible?!”

“The only possible answer I can think of is that he is one of the Contracted…”

“But if he was linked to a fucking Spirit or Demon or SOMETHING, he would have tried to save his family, wouldn’t he? Like, the fuss he was kicking up, that was legit!”

“How can you be so sure?! What if he was faking it?”

“Is that blood from his fucked up throat fake? Either way, if he is linked with a Spirit, we gotta get this place in flames before he wakes up!”

Despite having come to this conclusion, the guys seemed to have taken too much time as immediately agreeing on hurrying up, Theo’s eyes opened. They were completely white, and glowed with a bright, pulsing light that wafted ever so gently out from both eyes. The guys all took a few steps back, as they looked at each other with slightly panic stricken faces.

“You there… you all shall serve as the sustenance I need!”

The guys suddenly staggered somewhat as they went from panicking, to shitting their pants. Immediately after the voice spoke, Theo’s body started shaking and glowing, and moments later, Theo started screaming. His throat had been healed, so it wasn’t a painful sounding scream, but rather, he was screaming in pain. After a few moments of screaming, three… things burst out from Theo’s upper back; two above each shoulder, and the third from just below his neck. The two above the shoulders were serpent like in shape, and were white in colour. They snaked their way into the air, forming their faces as they did and then let out an ear piercing screech. They were rather grotesque, featuring a mouth full of more sharp, jagged teeth than any mouth had any right to have, two small holes for nostrils, and round, beady eyes that were black and glowed. The growth below Theo’s neck was quite a bit thicker than the two on his shoulders, and while it had a similar face, it had jagged tusk like growths on the side of what could only be described as cheeks, as well as a large, curved horns on its forehead and chin. The major discerning feature however, was the pair of white wings further down its body. They unfurled and stretched themselves before the creature let out a booming roar of its own. Theo had also changed a bit, as his afro was now loose and curly, as well as bright luminescent white, glowing along with his eyes. His forehead, both sides of his head and area around his eyes were all subject to vasodilation, and his canines had extended and become longer. The goons had completely lost it as some had literally pissed themselves.

“What the hell is that?!” One screamed.

“OHHHH FUUUUUUCK!!” Another boomed.

“DIE!!!” The Fallen screamed in its terrifying voice.

The other two serpent creatures, as if following orders, suddenly shot towards one of the men. One wrapped itself around one of his ankles and hoisted him high into the air. He screamed as he hung upside down, and before he could do much else, the other creature slashed horizontally across his stomach. A red line trailed across the length of his stomach, before opening up and depositing his entrails all over his chest, face and then the floor. His blood gurgled screams were quickly brought to an end as he was then smashed against the floor, the crunching of his bones against the hard tiles made the others freeze in terror.

“R-Ruuuuuun!!!”

The goon who shouted this was quickly taken out, as one of the creatures pierced his stomach and went straight through, before turning around and repeating the act, twisting around and piercing the torso as if it was a needle and thread until eventually slithering and bursting out from the mouth of the now dead goon. The other creature was making light work of a few other goons, whipping its head at them and cleaving them in two. The Fallen watched on, as Theo sat in absolute silence. He was in shock was as he witnessed these appendages rip through those who were complicit in what he and his deceased family just went through.

“…heheheheheh.”

The Fallen’s blood chilling laugh was gentle like a whisper, yet still clear and audible, despite the pained death screams of Phantom’s goons. The massacre didn’t last all that long, but it was brutal. There were body parts and organs all over the walls of the room, heads, limbs, scattered all over the place if a decorator had decided that the theme of the house was death. Once done with the killing, the creatures went back to their normal length, hovering slightly ahead of Theo’s face, slithering slowly as their blood covered mouths and faces were almost too close for his liking. Theo looked up at the slithering, horned and tusked winged thing that was the Fallen in slight disbelief.

“…what the fuck just happened here?”