The Chimera (Legends of the Dark Creatures Book 2)
Chapter Four: Stowaway From Hell

It was almost a quarter past eight in the morning. Over two hours had passed since Robert had woken up and throughout that time he just lay on his bed, staring at the wooden ceiling. His brother must have already gone to work. Both his parents were out of town.

Robert sighed exhaustively and tried closing his eyes again. The past weeks had been crazy he thought. In less than a month, Robert had encountered a Vampire, a Fire Demon, Hunters, a Blood Seeker, and a Mermaid.

His eyes slowly opened when an image of Ashley formed behind his eyelids. Of all the girls he knew, Robert just had to fall for the one girl he shouldn’t have. His best friend’s girl... God what a cliché he was, he thought. Growing up, Robert only ever saw Ashley as a friend; a friend whose beauty blossomed as time went by, and without realizing it, Robert had already developed feelings for her.

He always knew that Ashley was extraordinary but wow... he had no idea just how much. A Water Element Master is what she called herself. She was able to manipulate water just like a pianist would the sound of his instrument. He always felt she was always out of his league but now... perhaps it was safe to say that she was already out of this world; out of his world.

With another sigh, one packed with frustration, Robert got up and sat at the edge of his bed. He remembered that moment when Sebastian, the Earth Element Master, had taken Ashley. Robert was helpless. He couldn’t even speak his mind when Adrian had ordered him and the rest of the 'non-hunters' to remain behind while he swooped in to save the day.

Get a hold of yourself, man, Robert reprimanded himself. He stood up and went out of his room. The bathroom was right next to his room.

In less than twenty minutes, Robert had already taken a bath and had decided to wear his favorite jeans and top. He thought about dying his hair but wasn’t in the mood that day.

Robert walked to his desk and booted up his laptop. After logging in, he searched through his hidden folder and opened his web browser; a browser he used when accessing the dark web. A message popped up on the screen:

Good day, RedRaven13, please enter your secret password:

Robert typed in his password and immediately, a message popped up.

It read:

RedRaven13,

Your skills have been recognized by the Midnight Owls.

The package you helped deliver is now safe in the hands of a very happy client.

If you are as good as you say you are then you’ve already heard about us.

Give us a response within three days and we will arrange a meeting.

Robert’s heart was vigorously hitting his chest and he almost couldn’t speak. The Midnight Owls wanted him. The clandestine organization known to recruit only the best hackers in the world had finally noticed his talents. Everyone in the hacking business thought they were a myth but Robert knew better. Actually, his brother worked for the cyber division in the Salem PD and had been chasing the Midnight Owls for almost a year now. It wasn’t that the Midnight Owls were bad people; they just did things outside the law; good things. It was said that Midnight Owls were responsible for exposing many corrupt officials and that also help avert many disastrous cyber attacks.

Robert never shared this extracurricular activity with anyone; not Adrian, not Ashley, and definitely not his brother, Harry. This was probably his greatest secret. At school, Robert made sure to just do well enough to be considered an average-performing student but in all truth; he was a prodigy.

He ran his hand through his hair.

Ashley had told all her friends about an even greater secret that she kept. She trusted her friends... she trusted him as well.

Robert was still lost in thought when he saw another message icon pop up on his screen.

However, before he could even click on the message, Robert heard something. It came from underneath his bed. At first, it was low but as the sound grew louder Robert could clearly hear it now; breathing. Something was under his bed.

Robert stood from his chair and slowly walked away from the bed. He reached for his wardrobe. After quietly searching, he found a pipe in the large toolbox that his father had left. The pipe was long enough to act as a weapon; all he had to do was reach for the door.

That breathing wasn’t human. It was too deep and way too loud. At least, from the sound of it; the thing was asleep.

Why does it have to be me? He thought. His shaking fingers curled around the pipe and he gathered what strength he had and began to walk towards the door.

A shiver crawled its way up Robert’s spine as he heard the growl that came from the bed. His body froze and he couldn’t move.

He swallowed and tried to move but stopped again when another growl came out.

Oh crap, it knows I’m on to it, Robert thought.

He took in one deep breath, dropped the pipe, and quickly bolted towards the door. The door wouldn’t open when Robert held the handle and tried to pull it open. It was as if something was pushing it back whenever he tried pulling.

Robert let go of the handle. The growl from underneath the bed had stopped and everything in the room was quiet and still.

The Window.

Robert began to run towards the window but fell when he bumped into something hard. He slowly opened his eyes but couldn’t see what it was.

Suddenly, he felt something step on his chest. He tried to scream but something else covered his mouth. It felt warm and scaly but Robert couldn’t see what it was... until it revealed itself.

Like a chameleon dropping its camouflage, the creature appeared right before Robert’s eyes. The creature was large, had a reptilian head, and had four large feet, one of which was on Robert’s chest and another covered his mouth. It had three large yellow eyes; two in the ‘normal’ position and one on its forehead.

The creature opened its mouth slightly, revealing its razor-sharp teeth, and slowly brought its head near Robert’s.

This was the end Robert thought. Whatever this creature was, it was going to make dinner out of him. Tears were flowing out of Robert’s eyes. His life was going to be remembered as a short one. He never once had a real girlfriend. Never told the girl he liked how he truly felt. He wasn’t even going to join the Midnight Owls. If only he would be given a second chance by whoever was in charge of such things, then he would turn his life around and...

The creature’s reptilian tongue came out and Robert closed his eyes. He then felt the creature’s slimy organ licking his face; but not in the You-Are-About-To-Be-My-Lunch kind of way.

Robert opened one of his eyes and stared at the monster. It slowly removed its leg from his mouth and stepped off his chest.

The two of them just stared at each other.

“Please, tell me you’re not one of those creatures in horror movies that suddenly rip off the head of the guy as he begins talking,” Robert quickly said, shutting his eyes and lifting his hands to cover his face.

Nothing painfully gruesome happened.

Robert opened his eyes again. The creature had tilted its head and was staring at him curiously.

“Okay, I am still alive,” Robert exclaimed.

The creature suddenly turned to its left when Robert’s phone rang from the bed. Robert slowly got up and kept his eyes on the creature as he walked towards the bed. He picked up the phone. It was Ashley calling.

“Hey Ash,” Robert exclaimed. “What’s up?”

“Why does your voice sound like a nine-year-old?” Ashley asked over the phone.

Robert coughed and maybe it was his mind playing a trick on him but he was sure he saw the creature smile.

“I had a rough night yesterday,” Robert said. The creature then started playing around the room.

“No don’t touch that... Listen Ashley now’s not a very good time. Can you call in a few minutes?”

“What was that?” Ashley asked when the creature bumped into Robert’s desk, which fell together with his laptop and made a loud crashing sound.

Robert’s heart was still beating rapidly.

“Nothing, nothing,” Robert said. “Oh wait Ashley, before leaving us yesterday; you said something about you guys and the Hunters fighting demons in the woods.”

“Yes,” Ashley replied.

“And just out of curiosity; how did they look?”

“Well,” Ashley said. “They varied. All of them looked like reptiles and had thick scales.”

Robert looked at his scaly intruder as it walked over to his bed, staring at him happily.

“Uh-huh... anything else?” he asked.

“Some could sprout wings and fly.”

Robert had to dodge when two large wings came out of the crea... the demon’s back.

“Interesting... And were any of them friendly?” he finally asked.

“Is that a trick question Robert? They were demons Robert; of course, they weren’t friendly. Why the sudden interest in them?”

“I just thought that, since one of my friends is a ‘weird-creature magnet’, it wouldn’t hurt to gain some knowledge on them.”

“Cool,” Ashley replied, her voice as sweet as ever. “And speaking of gaining knowledge... the gang and I are actually outside your place. We need your help.”

“Right, I will just be... What?! Outside.”

Robert run to his window and opened the curtain slightly. He could see Ashley, Richard, Samantha, Luke, Claire, and Sara. He closed the curtain and stared at the demon. He didn’t have time to explain it to Ashley and he was sure Richard would scorch the demon immediately he saw it.

“Hello? Robert?”

“Hey, over here,” Robert said, gesturing his hand at the demon.

Like a pet, the demon walked to him and stood in front of him. This thing was huge, he thought. But how did it fit underneath his bed?

“Look I don’t know if you’re a good demon or a bad one or if the words good and demon can even be used in the same,” Robert said. “If my friends replace you, you’re dead and for some reason, I can't have that on my conscious. So if you can just...”

Robert couldn’t believe his eyes. A cloud of smoke appeared around the demon and the once large creature was now the size of a small puppy and it was flying.

“Wow, okay hide inside the bed.”

The demon instead flew and sat on Robert’s shoulder.

“No, no, no, in the bed now,” Robert demanded.

The demon yawned.

“Aww... no, no,”

“Robert, are you alright?”

Robert almost leaped into the air when he heard Ashley’s voice behind him.

“Ashley, guys, how are you doing?” Robert squirmed as he turned towards his friends. “I can explain.”

“Yes you have a lot of explaining to do,” Ashley said. “What happened to your room?”

Robert turned to Ashley’s direction. Granted, his room looked like an earthquake had hit it but that wasn’t the problem. Robert looked around but couldn’t see the demon. Perhaps it was camouflaging itself like it probably had done when it snuck into Robert’s room.

Ashley sighed and said, “Anyway, I felt a strange aura in the room, which is why we rushed in.”

“You alright man,” Luke asked. “You look a bit pale; like you’re just from seeing a ghost.”

I saw worse, Robert thought.

“Um... Wh- Where’s the Fire Dragon?” he asked.

“Fire Demon, Robert,” Ashley corrected. “And he’s is outside; waiting for you to invite him in so come on.”

Ashley held Robert’s hand and started dragging him out of the room.

“Ashley,” Robert said, in a low voice.

Ashley stopped and looked at him.

“Last night, you said that when the Demon Gates closed all the demons disappeared right?”

“Yeah, they just vanished after Sebastian, their summoned died.”

“And could any have made it into the town?”

“Not likely,” Ashley replied. “The Hunters had surrounded the woods and even if some did they would have disappeared the moment Sebastian died. Why do you seem so interested in them, Robert?”

Ashley’s beautiful brown eyes stared right into Robert’s. He wanted to tell her the truth but something was stopping him.

“I told you... research,” Robert said cheerfully. “Alright then, let’s go invite your fiery friend in.”

Robert received a nudge in the gut from Ashley and together left the room.

As he left the room, Robert’s eyes kept staring inside. He truly wondered what he was going to do about his little stowaway from hell.

***

As all hell breaks loose, it seems Robert will be facing his demons someday; literal demons in his case.

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.