Demoniac

A Hole in the Wall

Nightshift sifted in through the doorway of the Hole-in-the-Wall. The place was named after the hole-in-wall dump it represented. His sudden appearance made the residents jump in surprise, but they recovered quickly.

“Shift! You almost made me drop my lunch.” Said a particularly pale man, his stomach hanging just over his belt. He ran his hand over his bald head which was just beginning to stubble with hair again.

“I wouldn’t want that, Clif.” Nightshift said, stepping around the table and kicking some trash as he did. “I never know what you eat.” The others watched him wearily, afraid to move, even if just to set down the cards they were playing with. 

“What do you want?” Clif said. “We didn’t break any of your rules.”

“I know. Don’t you think I know? Because if you did…” Nightshift trailed off, raising his eyebrows at the portly man. 

“You’d know.” Clif finished for him. Nightshift gave him an exaggerated slow nod. 

“I keep you because you’re smart, Clif. That’s the only reason I keep you. If you ever stop being smart,” He made a click noise with his cheek. “I’m not gonna keep you.” Clif became rigid in his seat, watching Nightshift as he circled the table. “I need you to be smart today, Clif. I really need you to be.”

“W-What do you need?” Clif asked, tripping over his words. Nightshift wasn’t going to discourage his eagerness.

“I want to know about any strange killings lately. What do you know?”

“Nothing, Night. There hasn’t been-“

“Nah nah nah nah nah!” Nightshift shouted over him. “I don’t want to hear that. I just got done talking about how smart you are and then you begin by telling me what you don’t know. How smart does that make you sound?”

“Hey, I-“

“How smart…” Nightshift paused, waiting to finish the sentence until the silence burned.

Clif twitched “I just-“

“-Does that make you sound?” Nightshift said. Clif stammered and Nightshift turned, pointing his black cane at one of the other men sitting around the table. The wiry man with stringy black hair leaned back in his chair, as if any second the cane might fire. 

“You. Go.” Nightshift said. The man shakily stood up to leave. Nightshift dissipated into black mist and reformed again in front of him, a sickening sound popped in the air as he reformed. “Don’t leave. I just wanted to you to answer the question.” He said, rolling his eyes.

“How dumb does…?” The man began.

“Yes, that one.”

“Really dumb?” 

“Yes!” Nightshift shouted. “Absolutely stupid!” He dissipated again and reformed next to Clif who, for the second time, jumped back in his seat. His lower jaw shook like he was trying to say something but couldn’t quite find the words. Nightshift leaned closer. “So, I’ll ask you again. What do you know about these deaths? There would have been a mark carved into the right hand.”

Clif met his gaze and a bead of sweat began to trickle down his brow. “We don’t know anything.” He said. Nightshift hung his head and let out a heavy sigh.

“Clif!” He shouted as loud as he could. His voice echoed off the walls of the building and faded in distant shadows. “You have a day, one day. I need more information than that. Can you give me more information?” 

Clif nodded.

“Good. Now get up, we need to talk.” He said, walking past Clif. Clif got up from his chair and hurried after him. Nightshift passed among steel girders and behind an unfinished set of stairs before settling into a small room where he felt he was a safe enough distance away from the rest of the group to not be heard. He took a seat on an overturned bucket in the corner. Clif stepped in a minute later. He walked passed Nightshift and leaned against the far wall, crossing his and working at something in his teeth.

“Was that too much?” Nightshift asked.

“Nah. It was fine. Along as they fear you it takes a lot of the heat off of me.” Cliff said.

“Yeah, but I felt little harsh-“

“In the force, they put you under interrogation training before they send you undercover. Your snide jabs have done nothing to hurt my tender little heart. You did good.” Clif said. 

Nightshift smiled. “Okay. But I have to say, that was a nice touch with the sweating. You looked scared out there.”

“That’s what happens when you put a fat man in room with no air-conditioning.”

“Yeah, but you made it work. Your acting is what sold it.” Nightshift winked with a sarcastic smile.    

“Exactly.” Clif laughed. “About this corpse thing. What got you mixed up in that?” He said as his smile faded.

“I have a friend who witnessed it happen.”

“But it’s been a couple weeks. I figured you hadn’t pursued it because you weren’t interested.”

“Two weeks?” Nightshift said. “No, I’m talking like two hours.”

“Hours?” Clif asked, wrinkling his forehead and leaning forward.

“Yeah, this happened over at Clyde’s Club. One of his bodyguard’s died right after a fight.”

“Who?”

“Joey?.”

“Most of Clyde’s guys are scumbags but that one gave it a whole new meaning. He won’t be missed.”

“Still, the whole thing has my friend spooked. And he’s not unfamiliar with these things.” Nightshift said. Clif nodded, chewing on his lip and staring at the ground.

“Could it have been the fight that killed him?” He asked.

“No. This was definitely supernatural. Guy was out-cold, get’s dragged into the air and erupts fire like water from a hydrant.”

“That sounds different from ours.” Clif said. “The only case we have is this girl apparently getting real wacky, stumbles around for a little bit and falls dead.”

“And the hand?”

“It had a symbol marked into it. Like a triangle or arrow.”

“Marked?”

“Carved.” Clif corrected. “It made her hand a real mess. No one saw it happen, it was just there. But they’re all a bunch of stoners, how can you trust ‘em?” Clif shrugged.

“Where did this happen?”

“In the middle of downtown, along our regular route. There were some drugs being passed around at a street gathering. Our victim was a frequent visitor at those things. At first we thought maybe she OD’d but… this was different. Something weird.

“Hmm.” Nightshift grunted. He stood up from the bucket. “Let me know if you hear anything new?.”

“You got it.” Clif said, giving a curt nod. Nightshift stepped out of the room but hesitated and turned back.

“The only guy with a fair hand was the squirrelly one, by the way.” 

“Dark hair?” Clif said.

“No. Other side.” 

“Fil?” 

“Yeah, whatever. What did you have?”

“Pair of sixes and kings.”

“You’ll win. The other two had nothing.” Nightshift said. Clif smiled and nodded again

“Do you want me to send you pictures? Of the victim I mean.” 

Nightshift shook his head and pulled his hat on over his head. A black mask formed around his eyes as he look back up. “I’ll take some myself.” He burst into mist and rode the shadows out into the deepening night.