Rain tumbled across the windshield of the police cruiser. It pelted the roof as though a thousand fists were knocking. The Cruiser sped through the city of Chicago in a mad fury, its sirens blasting as it moved. "Richards, please keep us on the road..." Agent Callum complained from the back seat, all as the vehicle roared.

"This Research facility, St. Helenas, why would an incident happen there?" Detective Zoey asked quietly, glancing at the Agent, then to her partner.

The Federal Agent pressed his fingers to his chin, as if in deep thought. "I have my suspicions... Nothing much to go." He grumbled, "remember the three of you are backup, so don't touch anything once we're inside." At that remark, the two Veteran cops in the front exchanged a glance with one another.

"Whatever you say..." Adrian muttered softly, grinning at his colleague across from him.

Richards just shrugged, ignoring the comment from ths backseat driver. Anything to get him out of the mojntain of papers on his desk. Even something strange as this trip. "You really can't expect us to sit idly by ahile shit goes down in our own jurisdiction, you know that, right?"

The Agent was young, almost as young as Zoey. He was green and everyone knew it. Yet the FBI had sent him to the Police Department to oversee the transition of several key Officers on the force... Put simply, the FBI were concerned about corruption, and everyone knew it. "I expect you to do your job, and let me do mine." Callum told the man confidently.

"With all due respect, we have no idea what we're going to find, I suggest we stick together and take it slow." Detective Marshall told the young Agent, sounding on the verge of sincere.

Richards rolled his eyes a bit, but focused om the road as the rain increased in intensity. He was a veteran of the force, seen it all, done it all. Or so he thought. That why he'd been pulled to drive the Agents to their destination. He was an excellent driver in the traffic and bad weather, and could make record time getting anywhere.

After a few minutes passed of silence, the vehicle found its way to the highway, taking the four straight out of the city, and west. Saint Helena's Research Facility was a renown institute for the development of matter transmutation, a brand new science. A simply ingot of iron could be mutated into a block of solid gold within seconds, and that was apparently just the tip of the iceberg. So it was strange that such a place would be the site of another one of these strange portals opening up.

The vehicle began to slow as it emerged out of the suburbs, the tall building stood alone among a valley of green. It was almost a beautiful sight, if not for the fact it was down pouring outside. Adrian sighed, "Paul, make sure you radio this in to the station, if we need backup, that radio is it." He nodded, before glancing back at his partner, who gave him a subtle thumbs up.

Richards just grunted softly, reaching for the radio as he pulled up in front of the building, glancinf with over with a bit of a frown. "You sure this is the place? It doesn't look messed up."

"We have so little to go from the other incidents, this sort of phenomena is likely unpredictable. We just don't have all the facts, not yet..." Callum told the man as he sifted through the reports he had on his handheld tablet. "We'll know more once we're inside. The staff has been evacuated from the building, so it'll just be us until the team arrives in from New York."

Zoey shifted uncomfortably as she sat near the Agent, she knew he was keeping something from them. She hated being in the dark on things, which was most often, yet she loved the thrill of the hunt, at least she told herself that.

Richards scowled a bit. "That's not a good recipe there, Agent. Not knowing what you're getting into is a good way to get dead." He growled, the radio dropping slightly in his hand, hesitating to make that call, bring his people into this insanity.

"He's right.... We should've brought more men, going in blind would feel a lot safer with a SWAT team going in first." Adrian told the Agent, yet the man wouldn't have it.

"We'll be fine, if there's any danger we'll just move back outside and wait for the backup unit." Callum insisted, shaking his head at the Detective. Just then the vehicle pulled up to the front gate, which had been forced open from the inside. "Keep going, Richards, all the way to the door."

"You can walk. I'm not screwing my life for your haphazard clumsiness." Richards shook his head, throwing the cruiser into park, crossing his arms as he turned in his seat to look at the other man. "I happen to enjoy living."

"It's alright Richards." Detective Adrian nodded, before motioning for the others to follow him. Callum looked as though he was about to protest, yet left the vehicle quietly.

Richards didn't leave, watching the trio from the car, radioing in his location and a standby order to dispatch, arms returning to their crossed position as he watched, head turning as he glimpsed a flash of something to the right of the car. "Damn lightning messin with my eyes." He muttered.

The three quietly made their way through the parking lot and the courtyard, reaching the old wooden double doors that led inside the building.

"Aguh what's that stench...?" Agent Callum grumbled as he covered his nose. He wasn't wrong, the air was filled with the thick sent of blood and gasoline, an odd combination as the smell came from inside the building.

Adrian sighed, "It's blood..." He muttered quietly, watching as the Agent instantly went for his pistol. "Let's just take this slow... Alright?"

Callum nodded cautiously, listening for once. He was the first through the doors, entering with his handgun level. Instantly two bodies could be seen only three feet from them. Their bodies were covered in a black haze that made it impossible to see their features, yet they were definitely human.

"Who or what did that to them?" Zoey asked, quietly reaching for her own handgun.

"Whatever it was, it didn't stick around..." The veteran detective spoke in a hush, moving beside the Agent, yet not arming himself just yet.

Richards turned his attention back in time to see something cross through the shadow in the doorway, a person, maybe? The man shifted uneasily, torn between going to help the others or just staying put and waiting for things to go south.

The lights began to flicker, and shadows seemed to move. Then everything went black inside the reception area. "Fuck, Zoey go back to the car!" Adrian told her as he drew his flashlight and handgun. "Agent Callum I advise we leave..."

"We aren't leaving, come on!" The Agent ordered and began pressing deeper into the facility. Several other bodies could be seen splattered upon the floor. Blood painted the walls and flooring textiles. There was again, the odor of gasoline and blood.

"Adrian don't do anything stupid!" Zoey told her partner as she turned and ran back to the car. The heavy rain patted her back as she moved to the vehicle, and stepped inside. "We got bodies inside." She told Paul as she held her pistol tightly.

"There's somethin moving." Richards said quietly, seeing it again, just a blur as it passed a window. "Someone, something else is in there."

"Shit... Where's our backup?!" She scoffed anxiously as she watched the windows of the old building before them.


Callum ghasped suddenly, which made Adrian jump. "Fucking rats!? Are you kidding me?!" The Young Agent shouted as he moved away from the herd scampering about.

"Hey Callum..." The Detective's voice was quiet and gentle.

"Yeah?"

"Shut the fuck up..." Adrian whispered, pulling the man beside him to move them along.

"I'm not bringing any of my boys into this shit show." Richards shook his head, checking his belt for his handgun. "Come on, we gotta at least warn them." The man sighed a bit, feeling strongly that he was about to stroll to his doom.

"Alright." She nodded, then fumbled around her pack for a spare flashlight. "Here, take this too, it's dark in there." The woman then stepped outside into the rain, and began moving towards the facility.

Adrian heard a woman's voice, for only an instant, something faint, yet so familiar. He turned round, and saw nothing unusual, except for the blood, that is. His own flashlight began to flick in that instant, just as they entered the hallway. it too went out and left them both in complete darkness. "Hey Adrian, I think we should head back..." The Agent spoke in a hesitant tone.

"We're fine..." He whispered, then lit his lighter, revealing a wall of that black haze only a foot away. "This that portal your reports speak of?" The man asked as he inspected it. the mass blocked them from proceeding any deeper into the facility, and it was radiating a cold that one might feel during the winter.

"Not even close..."

Richards shivered a bit as they neared the place, drawing his gun and holding it with the flashlight as he did a sweep of the entry way. "Anyone in here?" His voice didn't carry, not wanting to alert the other men, or anything else for that matter. He glanced at the female detective, then moved farther into the building, hardly taking a second glance at the bodies. His light swept the diameter of the room, and then snapped back to another hall, the stairway to the next floor in fact. "Did you see that? There was a woman, I think."

A soft voice spoke to Adrian's right. "touch it, I dare you." The succubus whispered, still hidden by the shadows near the wall.

"Yeah..." She whispered back, cautiously moving deeper into the building.


Adrian spun, his lighter showing nothing but empty space. Callum's expression was questionable, yet obviously nervous. He sighed, "we'll go around and find another way." The Detective then started back the way he came, only to find another wall blocking their retreat into the reception area. "Fuck..." He shook his head, turning to see that they were trapped.

"It trapped us... It's sentient, it's being controlled." The Agent uttered astonished, reaching for the wall of black.

Instantly Adrian grabbed his arm and tore it away. "You told me not to touch anything!" Callum shook his head, almost in anger and walked right through the wall, disappearing in an instant. "What the fuck!" He sounded in anger, yet no response came...

"Ohhh, Naughty naughty. What are you going to do now, Detective?" The voice laughed at him, moving around to his other side, and a hand brushed his arm before vanishing again.

"I don't know what you are, but I've got no intention to play your games. So tell me, what do you want?" He told the voice, his tone angry and afraid.

"This." The woman's voice chuckled. "You pissing your pants from fear, entirely helpless. Just like when they found Her, right Adrian? Your pretty little wifey." She crooned, stepping into the flame's glow, a perfect clone of his diseased wife.

His eyes widened to the sight, tears finding their place at the rims of his eyelids. "... No." He shook his head angrily, "you're not real!" He shouted, as he aimed the handgun at her head. Yet he did not pull the trigger, for he could see the same eyes that he once loved in the vile creature. "Don't do this..."

The succubus's shrieking laugh echoed through the halls of the destroyed building as her form wavered and changed, into the alluring beauty of a demonic temptress, complete with horns and long flowing hair. "Better sweety?" She crooned, pointed teeth flashing. "That little piece of metal won't do a damn thing and you know it."

The sight of her took him back for a moment, but he forced himself to stay focused. "Fine..." He muttered angrily as he lowered his weapon, "What happened here?" The man asked the creature, pushing the fear out of his mind.

"I'm not telling you." She snorted, looking him over with a touch of disgust. "You wouldn't understand anyway." The woman turned away from him, bored already, and walked through the blackness, back towards his companions, since it was only an illusion she'd trapped him with, her graceful form melding once again into the shadows as she perused for her next, and possibly more satisfying victim.

Zoey stepped inside out of the rain, moving alongside the man with her handgun level. She scanned the room, taking a note of the various blackened bodies that were sprawled about. "Do you smell that? It's like gasoline?" She asked the man as she covered her nose for a moment.

"Yeah." He grunted, looking back towards the hallway the other two had dissapeared down. "You hear that? Someone laughing or something?"

The woman cocked her head towards the man, "I can't hear anything..." She told him as she went over to the man. "Are you alright?" Zoey asked, her flashlight shinning off into the distance.

Richards shook his head, as if to clear it, and then recoiled, almost hitting the ground as the succubus appeared before him, with fangs and bloody eyes glistening, seeming to lunge for the man before vanishing again. "The fuck was that?!"

This time she knew what he was talking about... "Get up!" She commanded, helping the man to his feet before she scanned again, ready for a fight. "You can head back to the cruiser, I'm going after Adrian." She told him confidently, taking a few more steps towards the black wall that had been erected.

"No way." He grabbed her arm, steadying himself mentally at the same time. "Stick together. Whatever that thing is, we're better off not being alone against it."

Zoey stared into his eyes for only a moment, before nodding. She went to wall and pressed her hand through cautiously. Suddenly she felt a cold hand grab it from the other end, and she was yanked through. When she opened her eyes, Adrian was right in front of her with a lit lighter. "It's an Illusion..." He uttered, before taking the two of them back through it, regrouping with the cop. "Paul, Callum's that way, we should radio in some backup, some kinda psycho's running around her."

"Uh yeah. Met her. Nice lady." He grunted, voice cracking a bit with his continued unease. "I'm gonna have a heart attack. Come on." Paul turned back towards the entrance to the place, only to stop in his tracks. "Fuck." He groaned, flashlight illuminating another figure in the doorway to the place. But this one was different, she had an almost serene expression, just watching the trio calmly.

Adrian and Zoey raised their handguns at the same time, moving together towards the figure. "Chicago PD!" Detective Marshall called out, firearm trained.

The woman hardly flinched, looking them over calmly. "I'm not the one trying to hurt you. Save your ammunition." She spoke as they approached, tone somehow soothing while being stern at the same time. Like a mother gently scolding a small child.

As the woman closed in, Zoey was the first to lower her weapon, watching the beautiful woman carefully. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" She asked in a soft tone, before blinking and seeing that Adrian still had his pistol raised. Zoey then hesitantly lowered his arm, motioning for him that she had this under control.

"The same reason you are here. To rid this world of those portals, and what comes through them." She replied, glancing the man over before returning her attention to his partner. "My name, you cannot understand. The closest I can translate to is Akira."

"My name's Zoey, this is Adrian, and that's Paul." The woman smiled lightly, before glancing back at her partner.

"... There's a woman here... Some kind of demon, she was... Someone that died, then became something else entirely..." Adrian told the woman, just as Zoey glanced up at him, worried for her partner. "We also have a colleague missing somewhere in the building."

"A succubus. What I am after, actually. She can imitate the form of whatever she sees fit to, I'm rather surprised you haven't gone insane." The angel spoke honestly. "Come, you shouldn't be inside. I will take care of this and bring your companion to you."

"We can't leave yet, people need answers to whats going on here. Why these portals keep opening." The man shook his head, "We'll help you." He concluded with a nod, knowing that his partner was watching him carefully.

"Your intentions are noted, and I will be happy to explain ahat I know and find in this place when my task is finished. But you will all be dead in a moments time if you remain." She shook her head slightly, bluntly honest.

"Mham, with all due respect, I'm not leaving... Paul, Zoey, you two go to the cruiser and wait." The man told his comrades, before checking his pistol's ammunition and starting back towards the wall of black.

Zoey grunted, "You bastard." She shook her head and went after him, not at all intending to do as he told her.

Akira aighed softly, and in a moment was beside them. "Fine. It will be interesting to watch her kill you." The angel spoke dryly, moving ahead of them, the sword at her waist emitting a glow that cut through the inky darkness, the light being produced by a gem set into the blade's pommel.

"They don't have guns where you come from?" Zoey asked, finding herself beside the strange woman.

"They are typically ineffective against what I hunt. Its a hassel to find proper amunition." Akira said, glancing at the woman. "But yes, we do have guns. Just not like you've ever seen." She added, head turning slightly to listen as laughter sounded distantly ahead of them. "It sounds as though she's found your friend."

Zoey nodded, eyes finding Adrian in that moment. "We should stick together this time." She grumbled, before starting after the origin of the laughter.

Adrian only shook his head as he leveled the pistol, moving in sync with his partner, and the mysterious hunter.

"If you must shoot her, know it may only stun her for a moment and she will be angry. So try to avoid that." Akira spoke more quietly than before, moving absolutely silent across the floor, practically gliding.