Cinemas.

Ever since the creation of cinemas, they have been a place for people to relax. They were designed so that all of its audience, no matter who they were or what was on their mind, could find relief in mostly fictional stories. Students in high schools and retired elderly alike could step into the dark halls of cinemas, purchase a few tickets, and then head to their seats in front of big iMax screens. For a few short hours, they could forget everything wrong with their lives and dive straight into the tales of other people.

Essentially, movie theatres were just one of the many ways for people in the modern age to let go of their stress. To have some fun in observing events that had nothing to do with themselves.

This particular cinema wasn’t any different. Sure, its movies included living, breathing human beings and not actors and actresses, and its audiences were far from human, but the main ideas remained. The audience paid for the tickets to this movie. They were the customers. The clients. They were here to have fun and relax in the blood and screams of innocent victims.

This was why when nearly a hundred movie-goers watched as two movie characters leaped out of the big screen, the last thing these movie-goers wanted to do was fight and possibly die.

The stand-off in the auditorium continued for a few seconds. Gadreel didn't move, and the audience members didn't dare to move for fear of being targeted. In the end, it was Katie who made the first move.

As the Angel stood there with his eyes blazing in golden light and his stance menacing, Katie approached him from the side and gently poked his shoulder.

“Uh...so what are we doing here? I mean...I don’t care if we’re gonna try to kill them all or if we’re gonna let them go, but maybe make a decision soon? I still want to go after the culprit of this whole mess.”

Gadreel turned and glanced at Katie, his expression next to impossible to understand. At this moment, as celestial power filled his body, the Angel no longer had any resemblance to the drunk, sorry loser that Katie talked to back in the Sunny Apartment Complex. No...at this moment, Gadreel looked terrifying. That was why none of the movie-goers moved. They didn't know if Gadreel could kill all of them, but if he wanted, he could definitely take out the first of them that made a move.

Of course, as always, Katie didn't give a damn. For better or for worse, there were very few things that could scare her.

Right beside her, Gadreel was stuck in a dilemma as well, hence why he did nothing. These movie-goers were definitely far from innocent, and if it was twenty years ago, maybe he would feel inclined to purge them from their sorry existence. But times have changed, and just because Gadreel was infuriated by the insults hurled at him by the cinema owner didn't mean he had to kill everyone here.

“Go.” He finally turned back to the movie-goers and ordered, his voice hollow and emotionless. “Leave this place and never come back.”

The movie-goers looked at each other and nodded, more than happy to oblige. They didn't need to be reminded by Gadreel to know to steer clear of this place in the near future. It was one thing to watch, say, Transformers, and it was another to watch Transformers when, any second, Megatron could say ‘fuck it’ and come out to the real world and kill everyone.

Some of these beings’ eyes flickered as they turned to leave. They recognized Gadreel as...an Angel? How interesting. Was he just an innocent Angel kidnapped by the cinema, or did the Angelic forces finally decide to move in and avenge their fallen brothers and sisters? Either way...it was best to run before it became too late.

Just as they were about to leave, Katie suddenly clapped her hands loudly, an otherwise innocent action that spooked at least half a dozen supernatural beings. As the crisp clapper rang out, a werewolf who was just transforming back into human form snapped around to see what was up. As he did so, his feet tripped on the stairs, and before he knew it, he was collapsing right onto a woman in the front.

The man was able to catch himself before it was too late with impressive reflexes, but the woman in the front, thinking she was under attack, snapped around and hissed at the werewolf. Fangs grew out of her mouth. Thankfully, the others were able to pull the two apart before blood could be spilled.

As the dust settled, the movie-goers turned back to the source of the clappers and this chaos. The girl. Odd...despite what Gadreel said about her in the movie, she looked no different than an ordinary human being. And...judging from her inability to die in the movie, she likely had some healing powers. Did she suddenly decide to go against the Angel’s decision and make a move on them?

But...why? There was literally no reason to do that! Anyone with some resemblance of logic could see there was no reason to fight here!

Slowly, Katie reached into her pocket and pulled out something. As soon as she did that, Gadreel found himself looking to the side in embarrassment. Oh...is it too late to tell everyone I don’t know her?

In Katie’s hand was a stack of business cards. When Katie made the decision to start leaving trails behind so people could track her down, she wasn’t joking. Of course, there were cases where some blood was enough, and then there were times where she had to be more...professional.

Thus, came the business cards.

These cards were of average size, with Katie’s ‘Lockwood’ symbol in the center, right above the word ‘Lockwood’, in case someone failed to recognize the meaning. This was then followed by a series of jobs Katie promised to carry out if needed, such as ‘detective’, ‘mercenary’, and ‘hitwoman’. The last finishing touch with Katie’s own phone number.

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She almost forgot about that part. Thankfully, Gadreel happened to be there when she worked on these cards and reminded her.

Of course, if these things weren’t written by hand with a pen, maybe it was possible to take the card seriously.

Either way, Katie proceeded to start shoving these business cards into the movie-goers’ hands and pockets while introducing herself to these confused monsters. “Hi, my name is Katie Lockwood. Nice to meet you. So...I’m new in town and looking for contracts, including anything from contract killing to mercenary work to...contract torture? Is that a thing? Either way...here’s my business card! Call me if you need my service!”

In the end, most of these guests hesitantly accepted the business cards, although most of them had no idea what the hell was going on or what was wrong with Katie. Gadreel, on the side, was already leaning against the wall, speechless. Even the golden power that radiated from his eyes was a little dimmer.

Everything was going so well! He broke free, forced the audiences to leave, and then would proceed on to rain down his wrath upon the culprit with the element of surprise! So...why was he suddenly in the middle of a business fair?

He didn't know exactly what Katie’s powers were except rapid healing, but he did know that among Katie’s abilities, one was the power to turn any situation from serious to awkward in moments.

As Gadreel let his mind wander, Katie turned to another woman and gave her the whole pitch. The woman gave her a gentle nod and received the business card. She was the one who first replied to Luke. “Lockwood…” She whispered, looking back up at Katie who had already moved onto someone else. A mildly surprised look popped up on her face.

Interesting.

Finally, after a few minutes of socializing that made everyone in the room extremely uncomfortable, Katie was finally done. This time, the movie-goers were allowed to run, and run they did. In fact, many of them moved even quicker than before with Katie’s business cards in their hands or pockets.

Katie was mysterious, which wasn’t the problem. What was the problem was her complete unpredictability. If she could suddenly step in at the middle of this tense situation and start marketing herself to potential enemies, then what was preventing her from attacking them even when there was no motive for that?

As the field was cleared, Katie turned back to Gadreel.

“You done?” The Angel asked in frustration.

“Yep.” Katie nodded. “Well...I did run out of cards, but...anyway, what were we gonna do again? Oh right...yeah, kill the culprit and avenge the poor souls back there. So...what are you still waiting for?”

She turned and hopped out of the auditorium, looking more like she was a little kid going to the playground than someone who was about to partake in a fight to the death against an enemy of unknown power.

Gadreel let out a deep sigh before following her.

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The cinema that Katie and Gadreel entered was known as Crypt Entertainment. Ever since its creation, it was never meant for human beings. It was a movie theatre for monsters, and the only humans that entered were the unsuspecting actors and actresses of the horror films.

The Crypt Entertainment had three floors. The first floor was where all the action was. All the auditoriums were on the first floor. The second floor was mainly empty, at least in appearance, aside from a set of stairs. The third floor, on the other hand, was modified into an office room, with a set of tables put together. A line of monitors was sitting on top of the tables, making this place look like anything but the lair of a supernatural monster.

Almost at the same time as Katie and Gadreel burst out of the movie and found their way to their original bodies, on the third floor of the cinema, a figure slowly sat down in his seat. He was a man in his forties with dark skin and a pair of glasses. At a first glance, he looked like a construction worker, with his dirty blue jacket and old jeans. But if anyone underestimated him for that, they would be painstakingly wrong.

He was the owner of Crypt Entertainment, and he was one of the most powerful beings in Los Angeles. After all, hundreds of supernatural beings come to his cinema every day, and the movie tickets were hardly free. Plus, this was his home turf, and in this cinema, he was the absolute master. The number of traps and surveillance he has set up across the halls of this building...an army could come in here and it wouldn’t last an hour.

As soon as the Owner sat down, the dark screens lit up and started showing what was going on inside the auditorium Katie and Gadreel were in. The interesting thing was that the man had psychic connections to all his eyes and ears, but instead of using that, he decided to have the intel gathered play out on computer screens. Perhaps...perhaps that was the only way he could make things resemble the old days.

On the screen, Katie and Gadreel confronted the audience members. This brought a small frown onto the Owner’s face. If a fight broke out, it would be really bad for business. No one would go watch movies at the risk of their own lives. Just as he was about to intervene, Gadreel told the movie-goers to get lost.

Fair enough...that made total sense. The Owner nodded to himself. This Angel didn't want to waste his power on such meaningless fights. Ok...that was what he would’ve done in the Angel’s position. Now, the Angel and this girl should be making their way up to his position as quickly as possible. Maybe they would try to catch him by surprise? Tactically speaking, that was the best strategy.

Now, how should he take care of the two? He could no longer drag them into movies. The whole idea of dragging people into movies was catching them by surprise and extracting their souls from their bodies. A deadly strike for mortals, but for supernatural beings, it was only possible when catching them off guard. When the Owner first abducted Katie and Gadreel, he had to put in a lot of effort. This was now impossible with the two of them aware of his presence.

However, the two of them were indeed in a hurry, so maybe he could use that to his advantage? Maybe they didn't know they were under surveillance and would try to catch him by surprise, so maybe he could put up a show? Pretend to be tricked and then lure them into a trap?

Good idea!

The Owner quickly started psychically deploying his units and setting up his traps. Finally, all that was left was the arrival of his enemies. The sooner they arrived, the more they would believe the element of surprise was on their side, and the more the Owner could abuse that. Just as he finished and turned back to the screen...wait, the girl, what is she doing? Is she...handing out cards to the audiences? Business cards? But...why? Does she think she can get them to turn against him? That’s impossible!

As Katie started doing her networking on the computer screen, the Owner felt like either she was an idiot, or he was the idiot. What about a lightning strike? What about taking him by surprise? This is not a damn business fair! And what’s up with the Angel? Why is he just standing there and doing nothing? Even if the girl is a fool, the millennial-old Angel should understand the importance of speed in combat!

The Owner didn't know Gadreel had given up already. He knew he couldn’t change Katie’s mind, so why bother?

As minutes passed and Katie continued to go from one monster to another, introducing herself and offering to do jobs for them, the Owner really wanted to slap himself. Time for a new plan...