*Knock Knock*
“Come in!” Lena and Sarah’s voices echoed in unison.
Andras opened the door, letting himself and Amber in. They were greeted by the sight of Sarah at the desk on her laptop and Lena on her bed, her laptop on her lap. “There you guys are,” Lena said, looking up from her screen. “I just got off the phone with Kiera. She’s coming back from dinner, so she won’t be here for a while.”
Andras quickly shut the door behind them, minimizing the chance of being overheard. “Where are they?” he asked, getting straight to the point.
“A small apartment building with four lofts above a nightclub. We can’t differentiate between the apartments, so we’re working on identifying the tenants to figure out who might be behind the messages,” Sarah replied without looking away from her laptop.
“What nightclub? I might know it.” Bianca asked the Daemon, to which he echoed.
“Legends.” Lena answered, “It’s on Dolores Avenue.”
“I know that place, kinda seedy to be honest. Only went there once but it didn’t seem particularly suspicious.” Bianca commented.
“What can we do?” Amber asked the pair, sitting down on Sarah’s bed, ready to help.
“Help us track down the potential tenants, we’re googling the addresses to see if we can find anything.” Sarah says without breaking her intense clicking and typing.
“Alright, there are four of us and four apartments. Hopefully, by the time Kiera gets here, we’ll have something we can act on,” Andras said, sitting down.
“Sarah’s got apartment 1A, I’ve got 2A, Andras, take 1B, and Amber, you’ve got 2B,” Lena instructed, and they all settled in to investigate.
*Knock Knock*
“Come in!” Lena called, assuming it was Kiera.
Sure enough, Kiera walked in, looking a bit disheveled. Her face was flushed, and her hair frazzled, evidence of her rush to return.
“What did I miss?” she asked, closing the door behind her.
Sarah spun around in her chair with a smoothness that might have made them think of a Bond villain—if she hadn’t overshot her turn. Andras smirked as she readjusted before explaining.
“We’ve identified the tenants and have some clues that will help us decide who’s who. We’re just about to start piecing it together,” Sarah said, opening her summary document. Kiera sat next to Andras, who gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.
“Apartment 1A is Ron Vanedgemond,” Sarah began. “He’s a 62-year-old hermit with an active Facebook profile. He spends most of his time reposting distasteful memes. No mention of the island from what I can tell, and I had to sift through a lot of garbage.”
“Yikes, well at least he isn’t a demon.” Keira replied light-heartedly.
“Mm, that’s what I kept telling myself.” Sarah replied almost dismissively.
Andras had seen some of what Sarah was scrolling through. Despite witnessing plenty of human nonsense this year, he still couldn’t wrap his head around hating people for no reason.
“You know… we will be going that way anyway.” Bianca began mischievously. “It would be a shame that, in the course of our scouting, a certain paint job on a seemingly very precious car got… damaged.”
That was another thing, the only thing on his profile other than memes sharing the most horrendous world-views were pictures of his car. An old mustang that had been extremely well kept.
“We need to keep a low profile, vandalism doesn’t exactly fit into that Bianca.” The daemon chided her. The inkling of plotting that he was feeling from her at the moment told him that his own eagerness to somehow teach this guy a lesson had leaked over to her.
Bianca’s anger was most understandable as he’d had a lot of things to say about people of Bianca’s persuasion. Andras had actually met her mother, an absolutely precious Korean lady who doted on her as much as her daughter would let her. So while the Daemon wouldn’t openly encourage recklessness on Bianca’s part, he wouldn’t pass on the opportunity to put him in his place if it presented itself.
“I had apartment 2A, this one belongs to Dani Jones. Not a lot on her, from what I can tell she doesn’t have a very active online presence aside from the occasional life update. She is a body builder and until recently worked as a coach to help other people to do the same.” Lena spoke up, cutting through the rather mean silence.
“Any reason for the career change?” Amber enquired, to which the Daemon was also curious. They suspected that whoever was behind these posts was probably possessed so any recent major changes to lifestyle needed to be put under the microscope.
“According to her most recent update, she got a job as head of security at Legends. Presumably putting those muscles to good use.” Lena explained with a hint of admiration that Andras suspected only he and maybe Sarah caught.
The redhead had very much been enjoying her new-found strength over the past few months. Apparently a few weeks ago, on a girls night out, some drunk idiot had grabbed Bianca from behind but the fast reacting redhead had twisted his hand and made him squeal.
“Mm nothing too interesting there but maybe worth keeping an eye on.” Amber commented, “What about you Andras?”
“Apartment 1B, Mr Phan. A divorced math tutor who, as Bianca put it, seems to fancy himself a bit of a player. In his vague description he claims that the divorce, which happened early last year, was a mutual separation as they wanted different things.” Andras narrated, feeling Bianca’s rather annoyed energy transition to one of amusement as she remembered going through his post history.
“The divorce doesn’t line up with spooky island being open, do you think he’s clear?” Kiera asked him.
“I think so, he’s too…” Andras trailed off, seemingly unsure of the right word to express what he thought of the guy, “Cringe! Thanks Bianca.”
Laughter echoed throughout the room for the first time that night, “Oh brother, I’d have happily taken him off your hands. I’ll go for cringe over racist any time of the day.” Sarah interjected jokingly.
“Alright, lucky number four?” Sarah said, turning to Amber.
The nurse-in-training beamed, eagerly flipping around a photo of a stunning blonde, seemingly in her late 20’s. “Meet Ms Stephanie Brown of apartment 2B. Ms Stephanie is a wannabe influencer whose sole goal was to quit her job and become a digital nomad, traveling the world.” Amber narrated, eyebrows raising to hint at a reveal.
“Was?” Lena finally asked when she wouldn’t continue.
“That’s right!” Amber cheerily replied before flicking to the next photo on her phone. “Earlier this year she just suddenly stopped posting the usual bikini photos and cute cafe breakfasts. Now it’s just the occasional selfie with friends.”
Aside from the difference in dress, which could be explained away by the difference in setting, it was pretty clear Stephanie’s demeanor had changed too. There was a forced brightness to her smiles in her more recent photos, even her body language was more rigid.
“Pretty clear cut personality change, the timing fits nicely too.” Sarah says, folding her arms and sitting back in her chair, “Are you sure though? It’s not abnormal for people to give up trying to be influencers when it’s not working out.”
A glint in Amber’s eye told them that she’d been waiting for that question.
“She’s loving this. After wading through months of our concern, she’s taking her victory lap.” Bianca mused as they waited for Amber to reveal what she’d been holding back.
“I thought the same thing but I think you’ll find this pretty compelling.” Amber said, flicking to the last photo, “Ta daa!” She announced.
The photo was of Stephanie in a pink bikini, posing on the beach as the sun began to set in the distance. Andras knew immediately what she was getting at and, sure enough, his suspicions were confirmed when he looked at the background of the photo and saw a familiar peer with monster tusks accenting it.
The photo was captioned with, “First night at #SpookyIsland! The weather has been perfect, be sure to check out my you-”
“Ms Stephanie was a guest at everyone’s least favorite hotel and hasn’t been the same since.” Amber proudly announced.
“We found our girl.” Andras stated affirmingly.
Amber smiled proudly, “We found our girl.”
“Alright what do we do from here? Confront her?” Keira asked no one in particular.
Sarah sat up in her chair, turning back around to her laptop, “No we should probably scout her out first. She works at a cafe that’s just across the road from her building. I think if we go for an inconspicuous morning breakfast, we can gauge what we’re dealing with first.” She said while scrolling through the cafe’s website.
“What if she is possessed and makes us?” Lena asked the master planner.
“Early morning foot traffic should be low, especially next to a nightclub. If a confrontation happens that’s not on our terms, we should be able to handle it without too much drama” Sarah assures them, tilting her head towards the two powerhouses that were Andras and Lena.
“Alright, well we have our plan. Let’s all get a good night’s rest and we’ll head over to the cafe in the morning.” Sarah says, closing her laptop.
Bianca began to complain to the Daemon about having to get up early, “Yes Bianca, that means you too.” Andras finished out loud, putting his friend on blast.
“Tell Bianca she can either show up tomorrow or pay for breakfast if she wants to sleep in so bad.” Amber teased. The Daemon didn’t get words in response but he could feel genuine temptation from the girl before her mood soured when she added up the cost of paying for four people.
“Mm she didn’t like that suggestion, I think you’ll see us bright eyed and bushy tailed right on time” Andras commented as he, Keira and Amber made their way to the door.
“Night guys.” Andras said to the remaining pair who replied in turn. Andras flashed Lena a confident smile, his best attempt to assure her that ‘you and I will protect them’.
His other half seemed to get the message as she nodded in acknowledgement, a grateful smile on her face. By the time Andras had shut the door, Amber was already halfway down the hallway.
The only one left was Keira who was waiting patiently to say goodnight. Turning to face her, she quickly embraced him in a hug.
The Daemon wrapped his arms around her, gently enveloping his girlfriend. From the contact he didn’t think she was particularly scared or nervous, just eager for a bit of physical assurance. After a few moments a sarcastic “Ahem” came from within, as that was Bianca’s way of reminding him that she needed her beauty sleep.
Andras carefully broke off the contact and patted her back saying, “Sleep well yeah? Big day tomorrow.”
“Sure, you too. Don’t let that miscreant bother you too much.” Keira said cheekily. Andras saw a conjured image of Bianca blowing Keira a raspberry, prompting the Daemon to roll his eyes.
“Bianca says goodnight.” He answered before making a move to follow Amber.
“I’m sure she did.” Keira said knowingly.
========================================================================
“Ooooh they do really cool looking crazy shakes!” Bianca announced with glee, looking up from her phone for the first time since they all got in the car.
“It’s funny how quickly she changed her tune… just because of some food.” Keira commented from within the Daemon.
“Bianca, we aren’t here to eat.” Sarah reminded the suddenly eager girl.
“Right, I know that! But we do need to order some food to pretend like we’re just out for breakfast, it may as well be a good breakfast.” Bianca said with what Andras was sure was a cocky smile, that he would have turned to look in the back seat of Sarah’s car.
However the Daemon was laser focused on keeping an eye out for Stephanie or any other staff member as the cafe was due to open sometime soon. Andras’ watchful gaze was joined by Lena and Sarah who were helping make sure their angles were covered by taking turns with the Daemon.
When they parked across the street they figured it would look incredibly strange having 5 people stare in the same direction so they began alternating. Andras finally shifted in his seat to look in the back to see a very gleeful Bianca still scrolling through the cafe’s menu.
His favorite miscreant preempted anything he might have been tempted to say by shoving her phone in his face with a very delectable looking photo of a burger, “Andrasssss they have really awesome looking breakfast burgers. Come on, I know you want it. It’s written all over your face!” She teased.
Amber looked up from her phone, “His face just dropped like you wouldn’t believe.” the blonde chimed in, joining in on the chuckles before going back to her device. Unlike Bianca, who was definitely not doing anything helpful, Amber was looking further into the people that lived in the building.
The Daemon had found her doing that when he got back to the room after saying goodnight to Keira. Bianca and Andras had only a moment to themselves that night when she went to shower. Still, with her finding a lead like this after all of this time, he wasn’t going to question her.
“We’ve got activity.” Lena said, drawing all of their attention to the cafe, “Not all at once!” she admonished them, causing several heads to turn back down.
Andras caught a peek at two middle aged men in white uniforms coming around the corner of the intersection sidewalk, bags over their shoulders. One had a little gray in his beard and was a bit wider whilst the other had very dark stubble and was quite lean. The pair seemed to be chatting amongst themselves and definitely didn’t look too pleased.
“Hah, chefs never are.” Keira remarked, something which Andras could agree with. Everyone bar Bianca had been in a hospitality job at some point before coming to University, each of them had shared their horror stories of terrible customers and angry chefs.
The skinnier one of the pair produced a set of keys from his pocket and began removing the locks from the front door while the slightly older chef smoked the last of his cigarette. Eyes closing as he savored the last of the cancer-stick, before it found itself being squashed underneath his shoe.
With a huff the chef followed his colleague into the now open door. “Chefs are here, servers won’t be far behind.” Sarah remarked before returning to survey the area.
Andras took a moment to stretch Keira’s taut body. He couldn’t count the amount of times he’d told her she needed to stretch more, taking a short break from animating to stretch would do her wonders.
“Don’t even start.” She warned him slyly.
Andras felt the corner of his lips curve into a smile as he gently craned her neck. The early morning cool had elicited many complaints from them initially but the five of them piled into the car had generated a nice warm atmosphere that the Daemon relished.
Winter had been brutal for Andras, the island had only ever been hot and hotter so he had difficulty acclimatizing to winter’s icy grip. Relishing in the thought of the warmer months ahead, the daemon settled in and continued watching for activity. Seldom had a car passed but as the morning had stretched on, it was getting livelier.
Luckily enough, only a few minutes went by before a middle aged woman emerged from the same corner the chefs had come from. The woman had long brown hair tied into a neat ponytail and was wearing a plain black shirt with black jeans, “That’s Katherine, the owner operator of Soul Oasis Cafe” Bianca narrated to the car, drawing a few questioning glances from the rest of them.
“What? I’m not just checking out their menu on their website. There is an ‘about us’ section too.” She explained.
Katherine strutted confidently into the building, ensuring to turn around and flip the closed sign so it now displayed ‘open’ before disappearing further into the cafe.
“Alright, this is probably the best time to go in. Being already seated whenever she arrives will probably draw less attention.” Sarah explained, taking the keys out of the ignition and opening her door.
“Woooo, thank god. I’m starving.” Bianca said, expressing her relief as they all piled out of the car.
Andras didn’t voice it but the breakfast burger Bianca had shown him had really spiked his hunger, he too was glad to be going in. Guaranteed freshness was something that excited the daemon as well.
“What are you going to get Amber?” Bianca asked while they crossed the road.
“You know their egg and bacon bagels looked pretty delicious, what about you Lena?” Amber said, continuing the chain.
“Definitely the lamb benedict for me, the photo of it I saw looks like it’s going to melt in my mouth. First things first though, I think we all need a strong cup of coffee.” Lena said, ending the round of questioning early as they crossed the threshold into the cafe.
The Soul Oasis Cafe didn’t really live up to the name when it came to its choice of interior decor. In fact it looked like any generic modern cafe will have generic wooden tables and chairs broken up only by a couple hanging plants haphazardly strewn about the place.
“Hi guys! Have a seat, I’ll be right with you.” A clearly unprepared Katherine announced from behind the counter as she was preparing the coffee machine.
“Sure, thanks!” Sarah said politely, leading them over to a booth seat by the window. Andras noted that this would give them an optimal vantage point of being able to monitor outside and inside of the restaurant while leaving them close to the door.
“That’s Sarah for you, always on top of things.” Keira noted, “One potential Daemon shouldn’t cause too much trouble right? We’ve got you and Lena.”
Andras allowed Bianca and Amber to slide into the booth so he could sit on the outside, whilst Lena did the same for Sarah.
“Right, one probably wouldn’t be a problem but if they’ve managed to survive they’re at least as intelligent as me so we can’t let our guard down.” The daemon explained, grabbing one of the menus from the holder and taking a look.
Keira’s stomach began to grumble at the thought of the various menu items, “Ooooh do you think they have redbull?” Keira queried him.
Andras took a moment to use his free hand to give Keira’s arm a solid flick.
“Ow! What was that for?” She complained.
“I told you, no more energy drinks.” Andras admonished her, flipping over to the drink side of the menu and eyeing up their options of smoothies and coffees.
“But fast juice…” Keira whined pointlessly.
The Daemon decided not to acknowledge the topic any further. He was the one driving so he’d be the one choosing what was on the menu. Flipping back over to the food side, Andras inspected the rest of the menu as if he hadn’t already made up his mind.
In his peripheral vision, Andras caught the sight of Katherine making her way to the table, armed with a notepad and sporting an apron.
“Morning girls, early start to the morning?” She queried in a jovial tone with a hint of southern drawl.
“Yeah you could say that, big day ahead of us so we thought we’d start the day off right.” Bianca replied, returning some of the charm Katherine was giving them.
“Well you came to the right place.” Katherine announced with a cocky but warm smile, “Can I get you all started with some drinks or are you ready to order?”
Each of them exchanged looks around the table, assessing their readiness. When none of them reached for their menus, Bianca felt confident enough to say, “Actually I think we’re ready, I’ll have the…”
Katherine eagerly took their orders, nodding along as she scribbled everything down.
“Alright so I’ve got 2 cappuccinos, one iced latte, one mocha and one chocolate crazy shake as well as two pancakes, the bircher muesli, lamb benedict and the breakfast burger. Is that everything?” She repeated back to them.
“Yeah that sounds about right.” Sarah replied, closing her menu.
“Alrighty then.” Katherine said, packing her notepad away in the pocket of her apron before reaching toward the table, “I’ll just get these out of your way and get to work on that. Shouldn’t be too long.” She explains, gathering up the menus with the assistance of Lena who took the initiative to grab Amber and Bianca’s.
“Aren’t you a darlin? Thanks honey.” Katherine said, moving to turn around before something outside the window caught her eye.
“Oh and look at that, your server has just arrived. She’ll bring you your drinks shortly.” Katherine said, moving her head to look at the entrance. Tilting his head, Andras caught sight of a disheveled blonde woman rushing in the front door, bag strung over her shoulder.
The woman flashed Katherine an apologetic smile before her gaze shifted to the five of them sat in the booth. A slight lag took place on the woman’s face before it shifted to a typical customer service smile, “Be with you in a moment guys!” Stephanie announced before hurrying behind the counter, presumably to get ready for her shift.
Andras turned to look back at the group, who did the same to him. The daemon shrugged, if she is possessed, she might not know who they are. He nodded subtly to his friends and they began conversing again whilst Andras kept a watchful eye on their scurrying server.
