667 Issue 6

667
Children of the
Beast
Issue #6
“What Dreams May Come”
E.M. Moon
Copyright © 2016 E.M. Moon
All Rights Reserved
ISBN: 1533666466
ISBN-13: 9781533666468
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there,
wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no
mortal ever dared to dream before.
Edgar Allan Poe

Contents
1. June 16th 2016: Naomi Star 1
2. Subject #001: Violet Eve 5
3. Subject Name: Adam Baudin 12
7. Subject Name: Naomi Star 48

10. June 18th 2016: Adam Baudin 62
13. Subject Name: Salome Vexx 90


Issue #6
June 16th, 2016
Subject Name:
Naomi Star
Things were different now.

I felt like I had been asleep for months and
hadn’t woken once. I was stuck in this endless loop
of dreams and nightmares…and most of them
weren’t even mine.
Most were people in my apartment complex,
some were patrons of the shop I worked in, and
others just seemed ancient…almost Biblical.
I just floated around inside people’s heads
like a damn ghost, watching the strangest things play
out in front of me.
It went on like that for days.
I finally got so frustrated that I changed the
focus of a dream I was in. A man was running,
terrified of some sort of unknown force; a dream that
had played out in front of me for the thousandth
time.
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667: Children of the Beast
“Why can’t you just wake up!? Pretend like

you’re running from something funny, for Christ’s
sake! Always with the nightmare shit.” I cussed
aloud and watched the man dash by me being
chased by…a giant hot dog with all the fixings.
The man turned to see what was chasing him
like he always did, but this time it was a hot dog in a
bun with little cartoon arms and legs rushing behind
him.
Instead of continuing to run like a maniac, as
he always did, he laughed. He laughed so hard that
the hot dog stopped and looked around itself to see
what was so damn funny.
The more he laughed, the more the hot dog
became confused and I watched as it dissolved in
front of us.
I sat bolt upright in my bed, wide awake. It

was the first time I had been awake since right
before my birthday.
Peering around, I noticed that my room
didn’t look anything like it had when I had fallen
asleep. Call me Rip Van Winkle, because it looked
as if I had been asleep for decades.
My room was coated in cobwebs, obscuring
my furniture and anything else that lay about.
“What the?” I exclaimed as I slid out of bed

and wandered around my room, pushing through the
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Issue #6
webbing as I made a trail out to my kitchen and got a

drink of water from the tap.
My living room and everything else looked
just as it had when I had come home from a long
night of partying for my 30th birthday; a big
difference from how my bedroom looked.
I was at a loss for words, but figured maybe a
bit of TV would calm my nerves. I filled my cup up
with more water and sat on the sofa, flicking the
television on.
“In other news, a mass suicide that occurred

on the evening of June 5th is still under investigation.
Police have no leads and are currently trying to
obtain some sort of guest list to see if anyone was
missing. Over fifty bodies were found in the
cemetery just outside of New Orleans.” A news
reporter spoke before shifting to video footage of the
crime scene.
I almost spit my water out as the video
showed the same cobwebs that were in my room,
draped all over the cemetery headstones and
mausoleums. This webbing didn’t look like your
typical cobwebs, though. It was almost tinted blue; a
color that was practically lost to the average eye.
“The Police are currently looking for Jeremy
Beaumont who inherited the cemetery from his
family, but his whereabouts are unknown at this
time.” The reporter finished as they moved on to a
new segment.
3
There was a connection there. A connection

between why I had been asleep for well over a week
and a cemetery party in the Deep South; New
Orleans was a city that I knew quite well.
I was probably going to be fired for this in
the morning…
Subject #001:
Violet Eve
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Issue #6
Missy was gone. In a way, I felt relief, but

also intense grief that the only person left from my
childhood was now dead. The only thing I had left to
remember her by now was the bumble bee key and
the sheets of flesh from her palms…gruesome.
I spent the week after her death holed up in
my room again. I had my stuff back and was taking
my time unpacking and organizing it in my new
bedroom, trying to keep my mind off the scenario in
which I had to take them back.
Cassandra had asked if Adam, Henri, and I
had wanted to move in since the shop was destroyed.
She had also allowed Khaine and Salome to stay for
as long as they needed to, which was surprising,
considering she didn’t even know them…
But I needed them to stay.
The more of us there were together, the better
off we all would be. We could keep each other safe
and fight this, but there was still so much that we
didn’t know.
I had taken to spending long stints in front of
the dresser mirror, examining my skin in different
outfits, trying to play down my white hair, and trying
to make that damn third eye less creepy looking.
I was a mess inside and out; not comfortable
in my own skin and not comfortable with the chaos
that was going on around me.
5
“Makeup just isn’t helping.” I chucked my

compact at the dresser and dusted off the caked on
powder. I was wearing my favorite purple outfit:
high waisted shorts and a Cheshire cat top.
But the outfit just clashed with my skin too
much!
It all used to look so perfect with my pale
complexion and fiery red hair, but now I looked as if
I had just eaten a Gobstopper.
“Why can’t I just fucking fix this?” I cursed,
kicking at one of my bags. I page slid out of my
portfolio that was propped on top. I was a writer first
and an amateur artist second, as I liked to try and
sketch my characters to give me visual inspiration.
And this particular sketch did not disappoint.
I had totally forgotten about this illustration
in particular. When I had come up with the character
idea for Violaceous, I had imagined her in two
different ways. One was how I looked now, whether
that was foresight on my part, I’m not sure; the other
was of a more natural, but still vaguely threatening
character.
Instead of the lavender skin, she was as pale
as I was with ultraviolet hair. The eyes were still just
as dead as mine, milky white orbs set in pale pink
flesh, but the third eye was nothing but a tattoo. It
still saw everything, however, despite it not looking
like a normal eye.
“This could work,” I mumbled to myself. If I
could alter everything else, if I could heal myself
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Issue #6
from being mortally wounded, I was sure I could

change my physical appearance.
Somewhere in an alternate universe existed a
version of me that probably looked just like this.
“Alright, Vi. Work your magic.” I closed my
eyes and rubbed my hands together as I let myself
recall the colored pencil sketch that I had just been
looking at.
I just wanted some sort of semblance of my
former self, even if it was without the red hair and
green eyes. We had to find a way to make ourselves
at least look somewhat normal so we didn’t have to
stay confined to the house.
There were four of us now, and walking
around out in the open looking like Halloween in
June just wasn’t going to work.
I opened my eyes and stopped holding my

breath. The image that shone back at me was exactly
what I wanted.
My once white hair was now a violent shade
of purple, thick and heavy around my shoulders as it
cascaded down my back in waves. The eyes were
still a hazy cloud of white, but the third one was now
a simple tattoo in purple and black ink.
My skin was back too, though I felt like it
still had a slight purple tint to it.
“Now that’s much better.” I sighed.
7
I felt vain, though. The others still very much

looked like something straight out of a fantasy film,
and here I was looking somewhat normal.
Maybe I could change them too…if they
were as concerned as I was about their appearance.
“Shameful.” I scolded myself, pinching at the
pinky flesh of my arm.
Knock, Knock.
“Violet?”
It was Salome. I had let her into my inner

sanctum but had been keeping everyone else at arm’s
length.
“Come in, but shut the door quick,” I
instructed her, smoothing out some wild hairs atop
my head.
Salome entered and breathed, “Holy fuck.
How did you do that?” She walked up to me and ran
her fingers through my bright purple hair.
“It was something I drew.” I handed her the
sketch and watched her compare and contrast
between me and the illustration.
“When did you draw this?” She asked,
seemingly quite impressed by the artwork.
“Same time I drew this one.” I handed her
another sketch; a drawing I had done years ago of a
purple skinned, white haired woman with three eyes.
“I did these back in 2014.”
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Issue #6
“You mean you became your art?” Salome

seemed to think it was rather incredible.
“A character. That’s Violaceous. She was this
sort of superhero concept I had been toying with. I
never really did anything with her, but I just loved
the idea.” I explained, putting on a little eyeshadow.
“Can you change me too?” Salome asked
after thinking about it for a moment.
“I figured you’d ask. I can try, but I can’t
promise anything.” I warned her. I was getting better,
but I had never altered the way anyone looked before
now.
“I don’t care. I can’t possibly look any worse
than I do right now.” She shrugged, waiting for me
to doll her up.
“Close your eyes then,” I commanded her. I’d
rather her eyes be closed…just in case something
went wrong.
I set up a sketch in my mind, pulled ideas
from far away realms and then focused all of those
concepts onto Salome.
After a few moments, I was rather satisfied
with my results and told Salome that it was ok to
finally take a look at herself in the mirror.
“Violet.” Salome turned and grinned at me as

she messed with her new hair.
I had taken the green tint of her skin down a
few shades, shrunk her antlers till they were almost
invisible, replaced her swampy hair with thin twists
9
and braids, but had left the pointy ears and black
eyes.
“Just the right amount of freak.” She smiled
at me before giving me a big hug.
“I’m glad you like it. You think the guys will
want me to make them over too?” I wasn’t sure if
they were as concerned about their appearance as
Salome and I had been.
“I think Khaine likes his claws and sharp
teeth—as do I—but I am not sure how Adam feels.
He’s been pretty quiet the last few days. He’ll go
smoke with Khaine, but has hardly spoken to anyone
else; I think he’s taken Nate’s death pretty hard.”
Salome informed me.
Not only was I vain, but I was selfish. I
hadn’t even considered how fucked up he must have
felt after discovering the badly mangled body of his
best friend.
“Maybe I should talk to him.” I bit at my
lower lip, turning myself away from the mirror. I
didn’t care what I looked like at this point; I just
wanted Adam to know that I was here for him,
despite my disappearing act.
“I’m going to go talk to him.” I nodded at
Salome before she replied.
“Do that, but the real reason I came up here
was Josiah. He requested that we all meet on the
front porch, but I have no idea why.”
Salome followed me out the bedroom door,
but instead of following her down the stairs, I
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Issue #6
knocked on Adam’s door. I could hear music blaring

from his room, and waited for him to answer.
Subject Name:
Adam Baudin
I didn’t hear Violet knock the first time. My

music was up so loud that it drowned everyone out
and I liked it that way.
She must have knocked a few more times
before I finally heard it, turned down the volume,
and answered the door.
What I found was an entirely new version of
her.
That porcelain skin was back, but the red hair
was now purple and the third eye had melted into
nothing but a tattoo on her forehead.
“Can I come in?” She asked quietly. I thought
for a second I could detect the former green of her
eyes beneath those cataracts.
11
“Yeah. I don’t really want company, but I’ll

make an exception for you.” I gave her a half smile
and opened the door wider for her to come inside.
I had tried to make the room feel like home
with the few things that Henri had saved from the
shop before the Police took over for their
investigation.
“You like Led Zeppelin?” Violet smiled
dreamily as she looked at the poster for Mothership.
“I do. One of my favorites, but I lean more
towards Pink Floyd.” This was the first time we had
had any sort of idle chit-chat since our
transformations.
“Pink Floyd is good too. All classic rock is
good…especially the Brits.” Violet sat herself down
on the edge of my bed while I went to clear away all
the vinyls that were littering the top of the
bedspread.
“So, what’s up?” I sat on top of my mini amp
and waited for her to speak.
“Just—wondering how you were holding
up.” She arched a purple brow at me. I knew she was
talking about Nate, but I didn’t want to talk about
him.
“I’m good. No big deal.” I drew my mouth
into a thin line and tried to make Violet believe my
words, but she clearly didn’t.
“Salome said you were taking it pretty hard,
as you should. I just wanted to make sure that you
were alright.” Violet’s gaze connected with mine for
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Issue #6
a moment and I really wished I could see those green

eyes of hers that I had become fond of when we first
met; I could get lost in them right now with how I
felt.
“Why didn’t you fix your eyes?” I blurted in
response, a reply that was ruder than I had meant it
to come off.
“Because these are how the character’s eyes
look.” Violet shot back, her lips pursing after she
spoke.
“What do you mean?” I wasn’t sure I
understood.
“The other look, this look…both are
character concepts I drew up a few years ago. I had
to explain the same thing to Salome.” She shrugged,
now looking a little self-conscious.
“There’s nothing wrong with it, I just figured
you’d want your original eyes back. They were such
a beautiful color.” I couldn’t help myself. Even
though I wasn’t looking for any sort of relationship
or even a casual romp…I couldn’t help but be
Casanova.
Violet blushed lilac and averted her gaze
from mine, a slight smile creeping across her lips.
“I just figured the white eyes still gave me a
vaguely threatening appearance without looking like
I stepped out of an acid trip.” Violet blinked, but
when she opened her eyes, they were that gorgeous
emerald green that I loved so much.
13
“Well, I like them both ways.” I smiled back,

momentarily forgetting about Nate.
“Thank you.” She replied, and I assumed I
had derailed her immediate concern for me.
Then a thought struck me, “I meant to tell
you something the other day—Josiah told me what
they found at the cemetery.”
“He did? I would say that was surprising, but
he seems to have changed his tone about us a bit.”
Violet had noticed that too.
I was just going to give her the run down
when another knock sounded on my door and Henri
cracked it open.
“Josiah wants us down on the front porch. He

said he has something he needs to discuss with
everyone.” Henri caught sight of Violet and wiggled
his eyebrows at me while mouthing something about
her current appearance.
“Of course he does,” I replied as Violet got
up and let Henri direct the two of us to the front
porch.
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Issue #6
“Everyone accounted for?” Josiah was set up

in an antique rocker, a large electronic tablet in his
lap. Everyone else was already out there, including
the entirety of their little council, with Salome and
Khaine to make it complete.
“I meant to go over with all of you what we
discovered at Beaumont cemetery, but unexpected
events have delayed that.” Josiah turned the tablet on
and began swiping away through pictures before he
found the one that he wanted.
“These are pictures from the cemetery, taken
by myself on the 6th.” He turned the device around so
everyone could see what he was talking about. It was
a shot of the Beaumont mausoleum covered in what I
had originally thought to be a thick shroud of spider
webs.
“Cobwebs?” Khaine didn’t seem to think that
cobwebs in a cemetery were that big of a deal.
Salome, on the other hand, had her inky eyes
narrowed in on the screen.
“Not cobwebs. We had a sample tested and
the mess seems to be some sort of mitogen in a solid
state. These cobwebs were once that fog that
transformed the four of you.” Josiah pointed at each
of us individually.
“You’re taking the piss,” Violet exclaimed.
She was just as shocked as I had been.
“I don’t know what that means, but I can
assure you that I am not. This mitogen was used, we
think, to activate something in your bodies that
15
triggered your transformation. We have no idea how

it was able to go from a gaseous state to a solid of
sorts, but that is neither here nor there. This mitogen
also killed any human that was exposed to it, but not
you four. You’re different, not entirely human, and
we want to have your blood tested to see what the
difference is.” Josiah passed the tablet around so
everyone could get a good look at the pictures. It
had just gotten to me when a bar popped up across
the screen with a news alert.
The title read:
Mysterious Webbing Appears All Over the World.
I knew I was supposed to just be looking at
the pictures, but the headline had caught my eye. I
clicked on it and a news article popped up, complete
with video footage.
“Uh, Josiah.” I turned the screen around so
he could see what I was seeing. He grimaced, an
expression that told me this wasn’t news to him.
“What is it?” Violet craned her head to get a
look at the screen and saw the headline for herself.
I didn’t bother waiting for Josiah’s approval
before I clicked the play button on the video and
waited for it to load.
“Mysterious spider-like webbing is popping

up all over the world and it seems to be a
phenomenon that has baffled the general populace
and scientists alike. About a week ago, witnesses all
16
Issue #6
over the globe in over thirty-eight countries have

taken pictures and video of the sticky, web-like
substance. There seems to be no sort of arachnid or
insect that has created them and upon further
inspection, they appear to be nothing more than just
cobwebs. The strange thing is that all of these
sightings seemed to crop up around the same time:
all after June 6th 2016. Let’s see what actual
eyewitnesses have to say about it.” A familiar face
was covering the story as she switched to eyewitness
video accounts.
“We can’t explain it. Started driving to work
on Monday and the highway was just covered in
these webs. Looked like Spider Man had a blast!” A
man from California chuckled as they showed video
shots of the old Pasadena Highway.
“All over my fields. I woke up to find my
crops completely covered in it and it seems like my
corn just doubled in size overnight. It truly was a
miracle for us, but the CDC wouldn’t let us take any
of it home, let alone consume it.” Another woman
attested about her farm out in the Midwest.
“It’s the End Times, I tell ya’. Jesus ain’t
happy with the heathens and liberals running around
out there letting everyone and their brother do
whatever the hell they want. We’re being punished.”
A man in Georgia stood in front of a church that was
just doused in the webbing.
“And this phenomenon is not restricted to
just the United States. There have been reports as far
17
as Japan and Australia where people are

experiencing the same mysterious substance. Stay
tuned as we receive further information on the
webbing that is taking the world by surprise. I’m
Jessica Blanchard with WWL-TV.” The anchor
signed off before the video ended.
“There have to be dozens of us.” Salome’s
inky black eyes were wide in awe.
“Hundreds.” Violet disagreed.
“Most likely; I’m sure there are a lot more of
your kind out there. Adam filled me in on what
Violet discovered regarding L. Cipher Labs and we
are currently trying to get ahold of anyone who may
have worked with them.” Josiah put the tablet down
and lit a cigar.
“So, what do we do? Are we going to try and
find more of us, or just sit here and wait for them to
find us instead?” I questioned. After what happened
a few nights ago, I wasn’t sure Josiah was going to
let us leave anymore.
“The issue with that is finding them. We
could head to one of the many locations that the
webbing was spotted at, but that doesn’t mean we’ll
find anyone afflicted. They could be long gone…or
dead even. We just have to sit tight and try to work
on shedding some more light on the situation.”
Josiah offered me a cigar and I took it before lighting
his with my finger.
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Issue #6
“Wonderful. More waiting.” Violet scooted

closer to me on the steps and took my unlit cigar. I lit
it for her and she thanked me before puffing away.
“There is one thing we could take a look at,
however, but it would be a long ride and I don’t
think we have the ability to send all of us up there.”
Josiah took a puff off of his own cigar and addressed
Violet.
“And that would be?” Salome asked for
Violet instead.
“We have a business acquaintance up in
Salem. She called Cassandra this morning and said
that she had just woken up from a week and a half
long sleep. Her room was covered in cobwebs and
she has seen the news…wanted Cassandra to give
her some advice.” Josiah arched a brow and a grin
spread across Violet’s face.
“You think she’s one of us?” She asked
eagerly. I was just as hopeful as she was.
“Yes. She said that she spent well over a
week walking in and out of people’s dreams and it
wasn’t until she got fed up with it, that she realized
she could apparently manipulate the dreams she was
in. This woke her up somehow, but she is now afraid
to go back to sleep. I plan on staying behind with
Leo and Franklin, Medusa and Jackie have to work,
but Cassandra offered to accompany you.” Josiah
finished half of his cigar and snubbed it out in a
crystal ashtray.
19
“When do we leave?” Violet perked up from

the stairs and looked as if she was ready to drive to
Salem all by herself.
“We will leave this evening. That should give
you all time to pack and get things in order.”
Cassandra finally took her turn to speak.
“And maybe you can make these other two
look a bit more human like? The lot of you will get
burned at the stake walking into Salem like that.”
Josiah was rather amused at his own joke.
“Speaking of which, how did you manage
that one?” Medusa pointed at Violet’s long purple
hair.
“The same way I do everything else.” Violet
shrugged, finally picking her jittery self up off the
stairs.
“Go on then. Get yourselves prepared to
leave this evening. Leo is letting you all use his
crossover so at least the trip is comfortable, but his
only stipulation is that you let him take a blood
sample first.” Josiah clapped his hands on his thigh
and stood up from his rocking chair.
Violet nodded and was gone in a flash as
Salome quickly followed. Khaine waited for me
before entering the house to pack our things.
“I’m glad Salome has found herself a friend.

She doesn’t play well with most people.” Khaine
confided in me as we climbed the front stairs.
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Issue #6
“I think Violet needs the companionship right

now, especially after what happened to Missy.” I still
felt bad for trying to kill her friend.
“I think she understands that what happened
wasn’t anyone’s fault but Missy’s. She made her
choice.” Khaine interjected to comfort me.
“It seems that way, but I still don’t
understand why Angels, or whatever Jeremy actually
is, would be after us.” Just saying the words made
my brain hurt.
“Maybe we really are some sort of demonic
hybrid. Only time will tell.” Khaine broke off from
me as he entered his own room and I went to mine.
Things were starting to get heavy and I
wasn’t sure what we were going to find in Salem.
21
June 17th, 2016
Subject Name:
Naomi Star
“You should be fired, but we were able to get

someone in to cover your shifts. We understand that
you were sick and you are one of our best
practitioners, so I’m giving you a Get Out of Jail
Free card. Next time, try to find a way to call in and
let us know.” Allison mildly scolded me as I entered
work two evenings after my rude awakening.
“I really do apologize. My phone was off and
the flu can be a real ass kicker.” I felt a little
embarrassed that I had to lie, but no one was any the
wiser.
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Issue #6
“Evening shift should be a cake walk tonight

for you because of the Salem Pub Crawl this
weekend. You may get a lot of people wanting
readings though, so you should tip out really nice.
Oh! And we got these really cute souvenirs from the
pub down the street. They asked if we would wear
them as advertisement; I agreed only if they would
do the same for us.” Allison finished the paperwork
from the earlier shift and handed me the stack before
sliding a little wooden medallion on a chord over the
counter.
“I’ve got it handled.” I smiled as I tucked a
stray lock of hair behind my ear and reluctantly
looped the talisman with a cauldron burned on it
around my neck.
“Call if you need anything!” She waved me
off as she exited the shop and I got ready to wait for
customers to possibly pour in.
Allison had been right…it had been a slow

evening. Only a few people came in to buy a couple
crystals and some incense. They were only mildly
inebriated and I kind of wished I had a glass of wine
myself after the week I had.
23
The chimes above the front door sounded and

I looked up from the novel I was reading to see an
incredibly attractive woman enter, with long jet
black hair and blood red lips.
“Welcome to Brighid’s Dawn. Can I help you
with anything?” I greeted her as she sauntered over
to the glass counter and started looking at the
crystals inside the display.
“Just looking for right now.” She responded
in a thick accent that was unfamiliar to me.
“Well, my name is Naomi. If you need
anything just let me know.” I smiled at her weakly as
she sashayed over to another display that held the
Dream Crystals. She picked up a small charm set
with moldavite and dream quartz and began rotating
it in her fingers as she closed her eyes. I assumed she
was trying to feel its energy as she set it back down
and picked up a large hunk of Lemurian crystal,
repeating the same ritual.
There was something off about her;
something I didn’t quite like, but since she wasn’t
harming anything there was nothing I could do. I just
had to wait till she found what she wanted, paid for
it, and left.
She now had a handful of assorted crystals
and came back over to the front counter to set them
down.
“Can I ask you a question, Naomi?” She had
caught my attention, her deep brown eyes almost
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Issue #6
glowing under the glittering of the Aura quartz in the

case below.
“Of course. I’m here to help.” I forced
another feeble smile out of pure discomfort, but I
had to be polite to the patrons, regardless of how
they made me feel.
“What do you know about this new pub that
they just built a few doors down? It seemed to go up
overnight.” She leaned in over the counter to thumb
the medallion around my neck and I could smell the
scent of forest rain on her skin.
“Well, most of our community isn’t so keen
on it since it is kind of a mockery to the Salem Witch
Trials in a sense…but I heard that the opening
tomorrow night is going to be huge. Half off drinks
and appetizers if you come in wearing a witch’s hat.”
I explained, though I wasn’t happy about the pub
myself.
It was called The Witch’s Brew, which was
fine in and of itself, but they had erected a makeshift
pyre in front of the establishment with a sign that
read “Try Our Pyre Fire Cocktail”. I assumed it was
probably loaded with Fireball.
“It does seem a bit tasteless, doesn’t it? I saw
that pyre…what are they planning on doing with it?”
She was now running her hands over the glass top of
the counter as she spoke.
“I heard that they were going to light it as
some sort of gimmick to get more customers. They
had everything cleared with the Salem Fire
25
Department to keep the blaze contained, but I find it

very distasteful.” Even though she made me
uncomfortable, her way of thinking seemed to be
aligned with most of the witchcraft community here
in Salem.
“And where did they get the pole for the
center of the pyre? I noticed that the wood looked
ancient.” This woman was just full of questions, but
another couple had come in and was waiting
patiently behind her to ask their own.
“That I don’t know. There was a rumor that it
was one of the trees that were in the wooded area off
of Boston Street, but I can’t confirm that.” I nodded
at the couple behind the woman to let them know I
would be with them shortly.
“Ah, I see. Thank you, Naomi. You were very
helpful.” She smiled and tapped the pile of crystals
in front of her. I took that as she was ready for me to
ring her up and made haste with finishing her
purchase so she could finally leave and I could help
the next people in line.
“My name is Gabi, by the way. I’ll probably
be back very soon; I’m in need of a good tarot
reading.” She smiled at me, showing two rows of
sparkly white teeth before finally making her leave
from the shop.
“We look forward to seeing you next time.” I
lied. I just wanted her to leave so I could help these
customers and then cleanse the shit out of the shop.
26
Issue #6
Something was just off about the woman and

I couldn’t quite pinpoint it, but I hoped she wouldn’t
come back…
27
Subject #001:
Violet Eve
I had been passed out in the far backseat of

the crossover, my head on Salome’s shoulder, when
we finally entered Salem. She shook me awake to
point out the window at all the crazy shops and
people milling about on the streets.
It seemed like there was some sort of
celebration going on and by the looks of it, everyone
was knackered as hell.
“What’s going on? Everyone looks sloshed.”

I heard Henri ask from the seat in front of me where
he and Khaine were now looking out the windows.
“I saw a sign when we entered the city saying
something about a Pub Crawl,” Cassandra replied as
she turned down a side street.
“I see the crawling alright.” Adam laughed as
we watched a man stumble, trip over his own feet,
and begin crawling his way towards something that
could prop him back up.
28
Issue #6
Cassandra parked the car in front of a

beautiful shop whose windows were full of dragon
statuary, large crystal points, and wind chimes. The
sign above read Brighid’s Dawn in bright blue
letters. She killed the engine and we all began to pile
out of the car.
I had made the altered men in our company
look a bit more human, but there was only so much I
could do. Adam’s horns had been diminished to the
point that his hair would cover them and the scales
looked more like scarring around his eyes, but there
wasn’t much I could do for his flaming hands and
arms. He had to just control his fire so he didn’t
torch the long sleeves he had donned to cover them
up.
Khaine had been much easier to do since his
affliction wasn’t as obvious, but his hulking size still
made him a bit intimidating to behold.
“Have I ever met this woman?” Henri asked
as we made our way into the shop.
“You’ve spoken with her before over the
phone, but that’s it. I had her order the Vodou
products that she carries here from your shop. Her
name is Naomi and you aren’t allowed to try and bed
her, Henri.” Cassandra scolded him as we opened the
front door to the sweet melody of wind chimes and
stepped inside.
“Welcome to Brighid’s Dawn—” A woman
with strawberry blonde hair was carefully hanging
29
up bags of herbs behind the counter as she turned to

see all of us standing there.
“Cassandra! I’m so glad that you’re here.”
She rushed from behind the counter and embraced
the tall woman in white.
“How are you holding up?” Cassandra asked,
studying her face. The woman’s eyes looked a bit
dark like she hadn’t slept in a few days.
“I haven’t slept since I called you; I’m afraid
to.” Naomi lamented, now glancing to see the rest of
us standing by awkwardly.
“You brought company?” Naomi instantly
looked addled as she shifted her attention down the
line from one of us to the next.
“They’re here to help. This is Khaine, Adam,
Salome, Violet, and Henri who you’ve spoken with
before. He’s the proprietor of The Crescent City
Shaman in New Orleans.” Cassandra introduced us
all before Naomi interjected.
“Your herbal candies are a big hit here;
everyone loves them.” She complimented Henri who
just grinned widely at her. Cassandra might have told
him no but he was already smitten with the woman.
“Is there a place we could all sit and talk?”
Cassandra asked gently as Naomi kept glancing at
the door.
“I’m getting ready to close up shop and then
maybe we could all go get a drink and talk about it,”
Naomi suggested as she went to finish counting
down the drawer.
30
Issue #6
In less than fifteen minutes she had finished

her closing duties and had locked up shop as we
headed up the street to one of the many pubs lining
the city.
We stopped at the first one we came to, a pub
titled The Witch’s Brew.
“This one isn’t open yet.” Naomi screwed her

face up in disgust at the prop they had erected in
front of the bar. A sign that read Try our Pyre Fire
Cocktail was tacked to the post of a makeshift
burning stake like the ones used to kill witches so
long ago.
“That’s bloody offensive.” I breathed, taking
in the sight in front of me.
“That’s what I said, but it is Salem after all;
anything for a buck.” Naomi sounded bitter.
“What’s the best place to get a drink around
here?” Salome asked as Naomi still focused her
attention on the unlit pyre.
“Down this way. I’ll take you all to my
favorite dive.” Naomi snapped her attention back to
the group and waved her hand for us to follow.
It took us a minute to get a seat at Naomi’s

usual bar, but we requested one out on the back
patio, hoping there would be fewer people to
31
overhear our conversation. Everyone ordered their

drinks, except Khaine who we discovered had been
sober for months now, and began our talk once
everything had gotten to the table.
Naomi informed us of her long sleep, waking
to the cobwebs, and seeing the news report about
similar incidents all over the globe.
“I just don’t understand it. What is going

on?” Naomi had downed her second glass of white
wine and was starting on her third.
“We still aren’t totally sure. There are some
forces at work here that we are quite unfamiliar with
in this sense, but from what we know—” Cassandra
paused, trying to find the right combination of words
that wouldn’t send the woman running for the hills—
so I stepped in.
“We aren’t normal, Naomi. None of us are.” I
gestured from myself down the line to Salome,
leaving Henri and Cassandra out of the group, “We
were all conceived using a method of IVF that left
us…like this.” I let myself shift momentarily to my
prior form and back again.
Naomi blinked a few times, rubbed at her
tired eyes, and came in close to get a better look at
me.
“I’m still dreaming, right?” She cocked her
head at me and finished off her third glass of wine.
32
Issue #6
“No, you’re very much awake. There is

something inside of us that was altered by a mitogen
in the form of this fog. When it settles after
activation it turns into the webbing that you saw in
your room and on the tele. There are obviously quite
a lot of us that have been affected by this. It changed
us on a molecular level, on a spiritual level. We have
been calling ourselves mutants or Demons, but I
don’t necessarily think either of those is the correct
term.” I shook my head at her.
“I don’t think I was conceived any other way
than natural, though. My mom and dad struggled
with pregnancy, yes, but I never knew anything
about IVF.” Naomi shook her head back at me.
“I had no idea either, but that is exactly how I
came to be. All of us were conceived that way,” I
glanced at Salome. She had been as well, even
though we hadn’t been sure until a few days ago.
It turned out that her mother and father had
gone to the clinic for a trial as a couple, but had been
none the wiser when her mother had been
impregnated with an embryo that had no relation to
her father.
“This is insane.” Naomi began to laugh as
she reached out and plucked Henri’s beer from the
table and downed it. Even though he was now
beerless, he was impressed by her ability to hold so
much liquor.
“We all pretty much said the same thing, but
with what we have been through, we can’t deny it.”
33
Adam tried to make her understand as he educated

her, “We all have special abilities here. I am
basically a big ball of fire, Violet can alter the world
around her, Khaine can summon and control
Hellhounds, and Salome has the power of decay.
From what we were told, your dream walking seems
to be yours.”
Naomi paused mid drink and thought about it
for a second, “I didn’t think about that. But I look
rather—normal—compared to the rest of you.”
Naomi tried not to offend, but at this point, none of
us were hardly offended by that.
“We actually don’t even look like this—you
saw a brief glimpse of my true form. The rest of us
are kind of on the same page, but not all of us
changed physically.” I thought back to Missy.
Appearance wise, she looked the same as she
always had, but her soul was the part that had turned
into a terrifying monster.
“Why though? Why us? Why make us this
way?” Naomi shot off with a barrage of questions.
“We’re still in the process of figuring that
out; the more of you we encounter, the more we
seem to know. I can go into more detail later, but not
here. Too many prying eyes and listening ears.”
Cassandra spoke and I noticed that quite a few
people on the patio were staring at us. My
camouflage was not up to most people’s standards,
apparently.
34
Issue #6
“Then let’s get the fuck out of here because I

have to know what is going on; I need to be able to
get some sleep.” Naomi rose from her seat after
emptying another glass of wine and stumbled
slightly before Henri helped her steady herself.
Cassandra tossed some cash on the table for a
tip and the lot of us made our way out the back gate
of the patio and to our cars.
Naomi’s flat was smaller than the one Henri

and Adam had occupied, but it was immaculate and
richly decorated like a hippie’s dream. She
immediately lit some sage and cleansed everyone as
they came through the door.
“Just in case.” As she put it.
She graciously offered us a drink as we sat in
her living room and she ran to the kitchen to grab a
bottle of wine.
“I swear I am not an alcoholic…this is just a
lot to swallow.” Naomi defended her copious
amounts of wine drinking tonight, but I didn’t blame
her one bit.
“Trust us; we know how traumatic it can be,”
Adam assured her. I thought back to my
35
transformation in the cemetery; it made me begin to

wonder about Naomi.
“I just thought of something,” I burst into the
conversation, “All of us had extremely painful
experiences when we transformed, but you didn’t
mention anything about that.”
“I was asleep…I don’t remember anything
except coming home from partying for my birthday
and then I woke up a few nights ago.” Naomi sipped
at her wine and kicked off her sandals.
“And what about your dreams; tell us a bit
more about that.” Cassandra derailed my question
from further thought and went on.
“They started out as my own, but I have been
lucid dreaming for years so I thought I’d be able to
wake myself up. Instead, I ended up in my
neighbor’s dreams and just kept going on from there
till I figured out I could change the outcome of this
one dude’s dream and I woke up.” Naomi shrugged
as a black and white cat slunk out from behind an
ottoman and crawled into her lap.
“Dream walking is a pretty awesome power
to have.” It was the first word Henri had spoken
since we sat down. He was already infatuated with
Naomi and he had hardly known her an hour.
“Maybe, but with not being able to sleep it
seems like more of a curse.” Naomi sighed as she
sunk into the sofa. “I just don’t understand it.”
“None of us did at first, but we figured it out.
We all have the same birthdays, we were all IVF
36
Issue #6
babies, and we all have special powers and abilities

that are beyond regular human capabilities. It’s scary,
but we have a choice on how we use them and what
we do with our lives.” I chimed in to comfort her
some more.
“It’s getting late and we still haven’t checked
into the hotel.” Cassandra glanced at her watch.
“You—you’re leaving already?” Naomi’s
expression was one of dismay. I could tell that she
didn’t want to be alone.
“We drove all day and I am sure all of us
want to get some rest. We can work on things
tomorrow.” Cassandra responded.
I wasn’t very happy with the way she was
treating Naomi considering they were friends.
“Ok. That sounds good.” Naomi didn’t argue,
but I could see that she was dreading sleeping alone
as everyone stood to leave.
We were all saying our goodbyes and when
the lot of us had exited the apartment, I silently
pulled Naomi aside.
“I know you don’t want to be alone because

you are afraid to sleep. I know how that is; I’ve had
night terrors for years and with these new abilities
my dreams have taken me clear across your
country...literally. We may not have the same gifts,
but I think they are similar and I just wanted to give
you some advice—not that I am an authority or
37
anything.” I rambled, avoiding looking at Naomi.

She slightly intimidated me for some reason.
“I’ll take that advice; anything is better than
nothing at this point.” Naomi looked so damn tired.
“You said you lucid dream; take advantage of
that. Know that you are the one in control of these
dreams, not the dreams in control of you; you can do
whatever it is that you want. If you want to wake up,
then wake up. If you can’t—just call out to me. I’m
sure I’ll hear you.” I patted her on the shoulder and
she pulled me into a big hug before she said anything
in return.
“Thank you. You’re right; I’m strong enough
to control this.” Naomi took a deep breath and
opened the door for me. I waved at her silently as I
slipped down the hall and left her alone to finally get
some rest…hopefully.
38
Issue #6
Subject Name:
Adam Baudin
“Thank you so much.” Cassandra thanked the

woman at the front desk of the Hawthorne Hotel and
came to bring us our keys.
“We could only afford two deluxe suites, so
Violet, Khaine, and Salome will be in one room and
then me, Henri, and Adam in the other.” She handed
a key card to me and the rest of the group before
Violet spoke.
“Wouldn’t it make more sense to put us three
in one room and the blokes in the other?” Violet
waved her key card between her, Salome, and
Cassandra.
“I just figured since you and Salome are so
close and she and Khaine are an item that it would
just work out better that way. Plus, Henri and Adam
are brothers and they can share a bed.” Cassandra
smiled at me.
“I guess that makes sense,” Violet muttered,
but she looked like the notion bothered her for some
reason.
39
“Right. We are in room 418 and you all are in

room—418.” Cassandra was looking at the receipt in
her hand.
“I thought you said there were two rooms?” I
shot up a brow.
“Excuse me,” Cassandra called out to the
woman at the desk, “I requested two deluxe rooms,
but this says that we are all in room 418?”
“Yes, ma’am. Room 418 is a deluxe room
with two Queen beds and a sitting area with a sofa
bed. That was all we had left when the room was
booked.” The woman shook her head.
“Thanks for telling me, Josiah. Ok—we can
make this work.” Cassandra looked rather irritated
but headed off towards the elevator any way.
“This isn’t so bad,” I exclaimed as we all

settled into the room and got our things situated.
“Yeah, but now we have to figure out
sleeping arrangements with only three beds.” Khaine
tossed his bag on the sofa, but Cassandra picked it up
and took it into the bedroom.
“Khaine and Salome in one bed and then I
guess myself and Violet in another and you boys get
40
Issue #6
the third.” Cassandra threw her bag onto the other

Queen bed, leaving the sofa for me and Henri.
Violet looked like she didn’t want to sleep in
the bed with Cassandra, but what was she going to
do?
I helped Henri pull the sofa bed out and
immediately plopped myself down on the mattress
and kicked back.
“What are our plans exactly?” Violet was
settled on the edge of her bed with her shoes already
off; barefoot as usual.
“I want to help Naomi with her abilities. She
is a bit more than just an acquaintance to me and I
want to make sure she is safe and comfortable with
her new powers before we head back to New
Orleans.” Cassandra slipped into the bathroom and
came back out wearing the slinkiest negligée I had
ever seen.
I watched as Henri’s eyes went wide and he
buried himself in the pillows next to me.
“We aren’t going to try and stick around to,
you know—maybe try and find the clinic that was
located here?” Violet was pushing Cassandra and
oddly combative about her plans.
“Josiah did show me the website you and
Adam stumbled upon. I guess we could try to find it
and see if anything comes up, but let’s get some rest
for right now because I am exhausted after that last
quarter of that drive.” Cassandra agreed and slipped
in to her side of the bed.
41
I was tired myself but wired for sound for

some reason. Henri was tossing and turning next to
me on the sofa as Khaine and Salome changed into
their pajamas and climbed into the other bed.
Violet was still sitting on the edge of hers,
just staring at the floor with her tiny feet tucked
underneath her.
“Not tired?” I asked her, pulling off my
heavy boots before the long sleeved shirt that I had
been wearing; it was starting to make me hot, if that
was even possible.
“I am, but I just keep thinking about Naomi.
She was really scared and I don’t blame her…
dreams have always been a terrifying thing for me.”
Violet pulled her purple hair away from her face and
I could see the tattoo of the third eye waiver in its
reality as she thought.
“Did you talk to her?” I asked as she got up
from the bed and came to sit closer to me.
“I did. I suggested that she trust herself, take
control and that I would be here if she needed to find
me.” Violet insinuated that Naomi could find her in
her dreams.
“Then maybe you should get some sleep in
case she comes looking.” I threw an old band shirt
over my head and sat back down on the bed.
“I’m just not comfortable with this sleeping
situation,” Violet replied as she turned to see
Cassandra all curled up under the fuzzy blankets,
asleep.
42
Issue #6
“Cassandra won’t bite,” I assured her, but she

just shook her head.
“That isn’t it. I don’t like the way she treated
her so-called friend. Naomi was clearly fearful of
being alone and Cassandra didn’t even offer to stay
with her or bring her here; she just waved it off.”
Violet seemed agitated.
“I don’t think she meant anything by it.” I
found myself defending Cassandra’s decision.
“Regardless…maybe I should have stayed
instead.” Violet got up from the end of the sofa bed
and meandered back to her own.
“She’ll be ok, Vi. Just get some rest.” I
whispered at her in the darkness as she clicked off
the bedside lamp.
“Sure.” She mumbled as she rolled over and
went to sleep.
43
Subject Name:
Naomi Star
I was afraid to sleep, but I knew that if I

didn’t, I would be useless at work the next evening
and even more useless in finding out more about
what I was now.
The other four were ahead of me in this;
mostly because I had slept away my first week and a
half with this new power.
44
Issue #6
I could manipulate my dreams, I could

control what went on and wake myself up if I needed
to, but it didn’t make me any less scared…those
things were harder now.
As I climbed into bed, Druid pounced onto

the bed next to me, purring the whole way. I was
thankful I had gotten him one of those auto feeding
bowls or he would have starved while I had taken
my long cat nap. Why hadn’t anyone come to check
on me either? Maybe they had— I still hadn’t taken
the time to charge my phone up.
Even though I wanted to fight sleep, it
overcame me and I was tossed into a dream that I
definitely didn’t want to be in…
I was in the middle of town, or at least it

looked that way. It definitely wasn’t modern day,
though…
I was standing in front of Proctor’s Ledge,
the famed spot where nineteen witches were hanged
in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.
This was not a place I wanted to be right
now, but I guess my mind had brought me here
because of how much that new pub pissed me off. I
thought it was wrong to use the deaths of innocent
people, possibly my kind, to profit from instead of
remembering why those were terrible times.
45
If I was in the Salem of 1692, I would

eventually see the hangings…I was now definitely
ready to wake up.
But the hangings were not what I saw at all.
I saw a man walk up to the knot of trees with
a shovel and began digging a hole. He then planted
a strange looking tree into the ground and packed
the dirt around it. When he was finished, he
scampered away into the darkness.
From a regular vantage point on the hill, you
couldn’t see the tree amidst the other, older ones,
but when you came closer…there it was.
My dream sped up like someone had pressed
the fast forward button, and the tree grew taller, but
not as tall as the others.
And then they were hanging people from the
limbs around it—but that tree sat untouched. People
lost their lives in its midst as it stood tall and proud
while the hangings went on.
I covered my eyes at the sight and when I
removed my hands from my face, I seemed to be
back in the present day; modern structures and all.
There were people there again, but instead of
stringing figures up in the trees, they had a saw and
a rope and were hacking down that tree that had
been planted so long ago. They trimmed it of its
limbs and then fell it to the ground, the earth
shuddering around me as it collided with the mossy
earth.
46
Issue #6
“This will be perfect.” I heard a man

mention as they gave it one last tug to free it from
the ground.
And then I screamed; I was sure that it was
audible even in the waking world.
I watched this giant blob of a creature leap
from inside the tree and come crashing down behind
where it had fallen… before casting its eyes on me.
The men were gone before the figure began
to plod towards me, arms outstretched to snatch me
from atop the hill.
I kept screaming as I turned heel and ran
down the street, all the while listening to the
slurping sound the creature made as it slid its fat
body down the road after me.
“Wake up, Naomi!” I screamed out loud as
the thing was starting to gain speed behind me.
But I wasn’t waking up. I was still running as
fast as my bare feet would take me.
“Come the fuck on! Wake up!” I wailed as
the blob slurped up behind me and waved a pudgy
arm at my back, trying to latch on.
“No! No, no, no! Wake up, Naomi! Violet!!
Wake me up!” I let out one last plea as I felt the
thing grab me around the middle and tug me into
another place entirely.
47
Subject #001:
Violet Eve
“Fuck!” I sat up in the bed next to Cassandra

with a start. Surprisingly, everyone around me was
in a dead sleep.
I scrambled out of the bed in a panic and
came running over to Adam’s side of the pullout
sofa.
“Adam—Adam!” I shook his arm firmly,
“Wake up!”
He groaned, rolled over, and threw a heavy
arm over my shoulders, pulling me down.
“Goddammit, Adam.” I cursed under my
breath, writhing against his heavy frame.
Adam was going to smother me if I didn’t get
him off, and I wasn’t going to be able to wake him
without waking up everyone.
So I handled it the Violet way.
48
Issue #6
In the blink of an eye, Adam and I both were

sitting in the parking lot of the Hawthorne Hotel.
“What in the ever loving—” Adam flailed

about, but I reached out to calm him.
“Naomi is in trouble.” I huffed, pulling his
arms down by his sides.
“What happened?” He sputtered, focusing his
now hazel eyes on me.
“Something attacked her. I couldn’t see what
it was, but she called out to me in her dream. Then
she was just… gone.” I wasn’t sure what it was we
were going to do. Naomi was asleep, so her body
may have been at her flat, but her spirit sure wasn’t.
How was I even going to help her?
“Attacked her in her sleep? Go wake her up
then!” Adam looked more alarmed than I expected,
but I figured it was due to his abrupt awakening.
“I don’t think it’s that easy. Your spirit can
leave its body, like astral projection; if she is able to
cross into other people’s dreams and get into their
head—I could almost assure you that her spirit is
leaving its body.” I got up from the curb and began
padding across the parking lot.
“What are you going to do then?” Adam tried
to catch up with me, but I shooed him back towards
the hotel.
“You have to go wake the others. I’m going
to head to her flat and at least sit with the body until
we can figure out a way to save her.” I took off
49
running in the direction I knew Naomi would be. In

seconds I was at her flat and already inside.
I cracked the door to Naomi’s bedroom and

was greeted by her cat. He was meowing loudly and
pacing back and forth in front of the door before he
jumped up on the bed and planted himself in the
middle of Naomi’s chest.
“I know you’re trying to help.” I gently
pushed his fuzzy body off of her and leaned in to see
if she was breathing.
She was.
“Good. Your body is still doing its job.” I
nodded to myself and crossed over to the other side
of her bed.
“Listen to me, Naomi. I hope you can hear
me. I don’t know where you are, so I am not sure
how to help; I can’t dream walk, but maybe I can
find you somehow. You just have to tell me where to
go.” I sat next to her on the bed and just stared out
the window. The moon was high in the sky and
shining directly through the open pane.
I turned over my shoulder to look at her, but
she was just as still as she had been when I entered.
There was no movement behind me, save for the cat
who was now circling the bed.
“Naomi, please. I don’t really know how all
of this works, but you have to give me some sort of
sign.” I was becoming impatient. Too much time had
50
Issue #6
lapsed since I woke from my own dream. Maybe I

should have stayed asleep and tried to go after her…
“Sleep. I’ll just go back to sleep.” There was
a novel idea.
I laid myself down on the bed and curled up
into a little ball…but sleep just wasn’t happening.
My brain was too addled after the last nap and I
wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to fall asleep
again tonight.
Sleep…I just thought about the word. I had to
stop panicking and just trust myself.
Sleep…sleep.
My brain had fallen into a mantra, and no
sooner had I started to repeat the words…I had found
it.
51
Subject Name:
Naomi Star
I was sliding backward down a dark hole, an

endless tunnel that sloped further and further into a
black abyss.
There was cackling beneath me, then next to
me, then all around. I wasn’t falling; something was
pulling me down.
“Listen to me, Naomi.” A familiar voice

echoed inside the tunnel. I heard the cackling voice
begin to growl below me.
“I know you can hear me. I don’t know
where you are, so I am not sure how to help; I can’t
dream walk, but maybe I can find you somehow. You
just have to tell me where to go.” Violet’s voice
reverberated in the darkness, bouncing off the
confines around me.
“Violet!” I called out, but I began to descend
even quicker.
“Naomi, please. I don’t really know how all
of this works, but you have to give me some sort of
sign.” Violet called out to me again after what had
felt like ages of tumbling deeper and deeper into the
darkness below.
52
Issue #6
“Just go back to sleep! I’ll find you…” I

called out again and heard the voice below me
bellow in a language that was entirely foreign to me.
“Pagganti!” It screamed as I finally hit the
bottom of the pit. Had I not been in a dream, I would
have surely died, but I might still die anyway…
The blob-like woman, now that I could see it
was a she in the phosphorescent glow of the cavern,
leapt atop my chest and wrapped her pudgy little
hands around my neck.
“Pagganti.” She whispered as I began to
struggle for breath. She wasn’t strangling me, but
the weight of her bulbous body would surely crush
the life out of my own.
“Vi—violet.” I choked out as the hollow
sockets in the woman’s skull burned a hole right
through me, “He-eelp.”
I wondered what my body was doing on the
earthly plane; surely it was dying. If Violet made it
here, she would probably meet a similar fate.
Shit! I couldn’t let her come after me now.
I had to think of something…
The tree.
This hag fell from the tree. Had she pulled
me through the hollow stump and deep within the
Earth? Or had she taken me to the tree itself and
pulled me back inside where she had been dwelling?
There was no time to make a mistake and
choose the wrong place…Violet would never find me
53
and I would never get to warn her about what might

happen if she encountered this thing.
So I just screamed…or sort of screamed. It
wasn’t a very loud sound, but I made it as loud as I
could. I fought, I kicked, I choked out noises that
sounded like a dying animal, but I’d be damned if
this thing was going to take me out just by sitting on
me.
It tried to keep me quiet, but I fought tooth
and nail. Flailing about like my life depended on it—
my life did depend on it.
“Katahimikan!” The hag bellowed in my
face, exposing a hideously gummy mouth in the glow
of the cave.
I assumed she was telling me to shut the hell
up, but no one told me to be quiet— so I kept on
making as much noise as I could.
“Naomi” I heard Violet’s voice somewhere

high above me, echoing down the rabbit hole that I
had fallen through.
“Vi—violet!” I was able to get out one good
call as I shoved the hag with otherworldly strength.
“I can’t get down to you! The hole in the
stump is too small!” Violet responded. She sounded
terrified.
How in the hell did I get down here then? At
least I knew I was still in Proctor’s Ledge…but that
didn’t matter at the moment.
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Issue #6
“Help!” I yelled again, now able to fight

with the woman who was, again, trying to crush me.
I wanted to tell Violet to run, but I was too afraid to
fight on my own.
“I can’t, but you can. You control your
dreams, Naomi. This is just like any other. You
decide what happens and you decide when you wake
up!” Violet’s response didn’t seem helpful at first—
until I really thought about it.
I did turn that man’s invisible nightmare
monster into a giant hot dog, for Christ’s sake. Even
though it hadn’t worked for me earlier as I was
running my ass off down the street, Violet’s faith in
me seemed to give me more strength.
I shoved the hag from my body one last time
and watched her roll down an adjacent tunnel as I
made myself as small as I could and clawed my way
up the roots of the tree.
“We need to get out of here. Wake yourself

up!” Violet gripped me by the shoulders as soon as I
poked out from the stump.
“I tried earlier and I couldn’t!” I was
panicking, which wasn’t good because so was
Violet.
“Try it again! What do you usually do to
wake yourself from a nightmare?” Violet pulled me
back from the stump as we heard frantic scratching
from its hollow center.
55
“I usually just—just pinch myself.” For a

second I couldn’t even remember what it was that I
did to take myself out of a nightmare.
I began frantically pinching at myself like a
lunatic as Violet started to run, tugging me behind
her.
“It isn’t fucking working!” I shouted as the
hag closed in behind us; I felt like I was having déjà
vu.
“Keep trying! Sometimes I have to close my
eyes really hard and then open them again to will
myself out of a dream.” Violet huffed as she pushed
me in front of her and kept running.
That was it. That’s what I always did.
I would just blink and then I’d be out of the
dream and back in my own bed.
Violet guided me as I squeezed my eyes shut
and opened them again.
We were still running through the nightmare
streets of Salem and that damn blob of a woman was
creeping up close behind us.
It hadn’t fucking worked.
“Go, go! Just keep running!” Violet urged
me as I closed and opened my eyes a few more
times, but nothing seemed to be happening.
If I could control my dreams, why wasn’t
anything working the way I wanted it to? Why were
we still in this nightmarish hellhole?
56
Issue #6
Violet shoved me—hard. I was trying to think

when she pushed me with such a force that I veered
off course while she turned to battle the hag.
“Violet!” I called out to her, blinking one
last time.
Then everything went black.
June 18th, 2016
Subject Name:
Adam Baudin
57
Naomi shot up in the bed, sputtering and

screaming like she was in the midst of an exorcism.
I had been trying to wake Violet while
Cassandra tried to rouse Naomi, but she had been the
only one to wake up.
“It’s got her. It’s fucking got her!” Naomi’s

eyes were panning wildly around the room as she
held a death grip on Cassandra’s bare arms.
“Calm down; just breathe. What is going
on?” Cassandra seemed oddly cool given the
circumstances.
I was more worried about Violet at this point,
who was still curled up in a ball, fast asleep next to
where Naomi was trying not to have a panic attack.
“There was this thing—it came out of one of
the trees at Proctor’s Ledge. It attacked me, but—but
Violet came to save me. She’s still in there!” Naomi
sprung out of the bed and began fumbling for her
sandals on the floor.
“Calm down, Naomi. I don’t understand.”
Cassandra was still eerily calm herself as she tried to
get Naomi to settle.
I turned to Naomi, who seemed like she
would have a better answer than Cassandra, “What
isn’t there to understand? Violet is stuck in
dreamland with something incredibly dangerous by
the sound of it. How do we get her out?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know how all of this
shit works now!” Naomi dropped her arms at her
58
Issue #6
sides heavily and just paced back and forth in the

room.
“The thing is—you do. Only you know how
it really works because it’s your power. You’re
going to have to go back in there and get her.” I tried
to make her understand that she was the only one
that could save Violet now.
“Don’t put this on her, Adam! Can’t you see
that she is upset?” Suddenly Cassandra was showing
some sort of urgency.
“What the hell is wrong with you? You’ve
been weird ever since we got here…Naomi is the
only one that can go back in there and get Violet
out.” I was about to blow my top. Cassandra was
behaving quite unlike herself.
“Violet went in there, didn’t she? So it has to
be simpler than we think.” Cassandra defended her
stance on Naomi.
“Violet was able to assist me because of her
own powers; she can alter reality and I can alter
dreams, but now she’s stuck. I woke myself up, but I
left her behind!” Naomi knelt on the bed and started
shaking Violet’s lifeless body.
“Stop, Naomi…stop!” I grabbed her by the
wrists and commanded her to look at me, “That isn’t
going to bring her back. What is this thing you saw?
Maybe we can lure it out and have it release Violet if
you don’t think you can go back in there.” I tried to
make her think.
59
“I don’t know. It was this fat old lady…nasty

bitch that looked like Jabba the Hut. When I fell
asleep I ended up on Proctor’s Ledge, many years
before the Witch Trials. I watched a man plant a tree,
saw it grow, witnessed the trials, and then these men
cut the tree down for some reason. This creature
leapt from the branches and I screamed—it saw me
and gave chase. It was going to kill me, Adam…
dragged me under the ground and tried to suffocate
me, but somehow Violet found me. I couldn’t wake
us up though—I couldn’t wake us both and she
shoved me out of the way so that bitch wouldn’t take
me again.” Naomi prattled on, now shaking with
rattled nerves as the gravity of the situation settled
in.
“Do you think it could have been a Demon?”
I turned to Cassandra.
“Demon? What the hell are you talking
about?” Naomi looked as if she had been socked in
the stomach.
“Demons.” I reiterated; I wasn’t quite sure
what type of question that was.
“DEMONS?” Naomi’s arms were up in the
air again, her face screwed up, “Nobody said
anything about Demons!”
“Violet did mention that we thought that’s
what we were at first…” I thought we had made this
clear earlier, but apparently, we hadn’t given enough
detail.
60
Issue #6
“Stay calm, Naomi. We aren’t completely

sure about anything, but we think that there is a
Biblical twist to this somehow. We have encountered
Demons and Angels alike since your birthdays, and
it doesn’t seem to be stopping.” Now even Cassandra
looked alarmed.
“Well, fuck…fuck.” Naomi started pacing
again as she was deep in thought, “I guess that thing
could have been a Demon, but it was nothing I had
ever read about before.”
Violet was still silent, completely motionless
in the bed. Thankfully her chest was still rising and
falling, so at least she was alive.
“Is there anything specific that you remember
about this hag? Any details that might give us a leg
up?” I took the reins and tried to get down to the
bottom of our dilemma.
“She was HUGE—and blobby, for lack of a
better word. She was old and sweaty and just…
disgusting.” Naomi thought about the description of
the possible Demon, “But she did speak to me. It
was in a different language though, so I don’t know
what she said.”
“Write it down. I’ll call Henri and see if
maybe he can translate it; he has a knack for
languages.” I suggested as Naomi took a notebook
from the bedside table, scribbled something on a
page, and then tore it out before handing it to me.
“Pagganti… Katahim—katahimikan. Well,
Henri will have fun with this. Excuse me.” I took the
61
piece of paper and stepped out into the living room

to call my brother.
“Are they alright?” Henri was getting in the

habit of answering the phone with a question.
“Naomi is, but Violet— not so much.” I
didn’t know another way to put it.
“Adam—” Henri began, but I didn’t let him
finish.
“I need you to translate some words for me. I
don’t really have time to explain, but we think this
may involve another Demon.” I was as succinct as I
could be.
“Give me the words,” Henri demanded.
“I don’t really know if I am saying this
correctly, but the first one is Pagganti and then Kata
—kata—himikan or something. I don’t have any
clue what language this is.” I read off the sheet of
paper that Naomi had given me.
“That’s Tagalog, Adam.” Henri recognized it
right away.
“Tag along?” I wasn’t sure if I heard him
correctly.
“No, Adam…Tag-alog.” He reiterated. The
word was still just as foreign to me.
“It’s Filipino!” Henri raised his voice.
“Oh. Well, can you translate it?” I figured if
he knew what the language was that he probably
could.
62
Issue #6
“Yes. It shouldn’t take me long. What do you

want the rest of us to do?” I knew he didn’t like
playing the waiting game.
“Just stay put for now. We may have to bring
Violet back to the hotel, but I am not sure what we
are doing yet.” I kept thinking back to her— lost in a
nightmare.
“Keep me updated, ok? I don’t want anything
to happen to her.” Henri was on the same page as I
was.
“Neither do I.” I nodded to myself, “I’ll give
you a call in a bit.”
I hung up and went back into the bedroom.
“Henri says the words are Tagalog—Filipino.
He’s going to translate it and get back to us.” I
spoke, noting that Naomi was sitting next to Violet
on the bed and just fretting.
“Filipino? A Filipino Demon?” Cassandra
asked.
“There is actually quite a bit of Demon
folklore in the Philippines. I don’t know too much
about the subject, but I am sure we could do an
internet search for them.” Naomi clearly knew more
on the topic than Cassandra did.
“In the meantime, what are we going to do
about Violet? We can’t just leave her in there. She
seems ok now, but who knows how long that will
last.” I wondered what she was doing on the other
side. Clearly, she was safe for the time being as her
body was still alive and kicking.
63
“I have to go back in after her,” Naomi spoke

to me, but her eyes were on Violet.
“But maybe you should wait until Henri calls
us back. I don’t want you going in there without
knowing what you are up against.” There Cassandra
went again; obviously more concerned with Naomi’s
safety than Violet’s. Naomi was in control of this
situation, whether Cassandra wanted to see that or
not.
I had had enough and couldn’t keep my
mouth shut any longer.
“You know, Cassandra…you’ve been pretty

flippant about certain things since we got here.
Seems like you are more worried about Naomi now
instead of being equally concerned about the two of
them.” I narrowed my eyes at her.
“I have done no such thing. I just want
Naomi to get her head on straight so she doesn’t get
hurt—” Cassandra cast a sidelong glance at the
freckled women still worrying over Violet’s vacant
body.
“But what about Violet? She went in there
without any regard for her own safety to save a
woman she barely knows…and you don’t seem to
even care. Though, earlier your concern for Naomi
seemed to be a bit lacking when you left her here by
herself.” I spoke for not only myself now, but for
Violet.
64
Issue #6
“Can you just stop dissecting my behavior,

Adam!? This is a very difficult situation for me.”
Cassandra barked, pinching the bridge of her nose.
What was so difficult about giving equal
attention to all parties involved? Naomi had merely
been an acquaintance from what Josiah had said.
“Adam, I know you’re upset and you want
Violet back safely, but I couldn’t imagine how
difficult it was for Cassandra to get a phone call
from me, let alone even agree to come and help.”
Naomi began, standing from the bed before walking
over to Cassandra.
They weren’t just acquaintances…there was
something deeper between them.
“We were lovers, Adam; more than lovers. It
may have been brief, but it was a whirlwind
relationship that left a sour taste in both our mouths.”
Cassandra finally revealed why she had been acting
so strange.
Well…that explained it.
“But it was never Naomi’s fault.” Cassandra
continued to defend the woman, “I messed up. Our
relationship had become long distance and we didn’t
get to see each other as much—and then I let myself
slip with Henri.”
So, she hadn’t been single either; they both
had been unfaithful in their relationships.
“This explains a lot.” It finally clicked in my
head.
65
“I was—embarrassed, a little bitter. I didn’t

want to get wrapped back up in a relationship that
we both knew wasn’t going anywhere, but we loved
each other. Even after my infidelity, I still cared
about her. I never even fathomed that she would be a
part of this somehow.” Cassandra turned to Naomi,
her eyes puffy as if she were fighting back tears.
“I forgive you—I forgave you. Don’t let it
continue to fester inside you like this, ok? We have
bigger things to work on right now and our
relationship has passed, but we haven’t. You can’t let
it hold you back.” The words of wisdom from
Naomi’s mouth struck a chord with me. I had been
letting my past hold me back too…
“Thank you. I think I just needed to hear it
again. I never wanted to lose you as a friend.”
Cassandra threw her arms around Naomi.
“And you won’t, but let’s try and get Violet
out of the fucking hellhole that I created.” Naomi
snapped out of her mushy monologue and went
straight into fight mode.
As if her words were a cue, my phone rang
and I answered it quickly.
“I was right; it’s Tagalog. The first word,

Pagganti, basically means ‘revenge’ and that second
word.” Henri paused as he read, “Means ‘silence.’ I
don’t know if any of that is useful.”
66
Issue #6
I cupped my hand over the receiver, “The

first word meant revenge and the second one was
silence.” I whispered at Naomi.
“She kept screaming that first word at me as
she pulled me down into the tree stump and the
second was said to me while I called out for help—
she was going to kill me.” Naomi had her hand over
her mouth as she thought.
“Did she say something about a tree stump?
Can you explain to me what happened?” Henri had
overheard our exchange. I relayed to him what I
could remember from what Naomi told us and heard
my brother let out a loud breath.
“I took it upon myself to be preemptive and
did a little research on Filipino Demons. Based on
what you just told me, that thing sounds like a
Batibat.” Violet would have been proud of Henri’s
researching skills.
“And that is?” I waited for him to elaborate
as all parties in the room stared at me.
“A vengeful Demon in Ilocano folklore. They
usually come in contact with humans when the trees
they reside in are cut down and used to support other
structures; this causes them to migrate into holes
found in the tree trunk. They exist in the form of a
fat old woman that forbids humans to sleep near their
post. They usually kill by suffocation.” I had put the
phone on speaker so everyone could hear.
“That has to be what I saw, but a Filipino
Demon in Salem? The tree that was planted was put
67
here well before the Witch Trials; this isn’t exactly

where a lot of Filipino’s settled around that time.”
Naomi was hearing the words, but she didn’t seem to
believe them.
“Can we kill it?” I asked. That’s the answer
we really needed.
“It doesn’t say; this is just folklore after all.”
Henri was right. A lot of these had been stories…or
so we thought. Biblical Demons, Filipino Demons—
were there more? This situation just got a whole lot
bigger…
“I’m going to go get Violet regardless if we
can kill this thing or not. I can’t just leave her in
there.” Naomi crawled back in the bed and laid her
head on the pillow.
“Please, be careful.” Henri’s voice buzzed
through the phone.
“I’ll be fine; this is my thing.” Naomi took a
deep breath and closed her eyes.
There was a good possibility we were going
to need all of us somehow, even if we were just here
for moral support while Naomi went on her rescue
mission.
“You should probably head down here,
Henri. Bring Khaine and Salome; we need everyone
present for this.” I took the phone off of speaker and
spoke to my brother directly.
“Will do. I think I can remember how to get
back to her apartment. Just don’t let anything happen
68
Issue #6
to either of them.” Henri hung up the phone as I

glanced back at Naomi.
Cassandra looked at me with doubt in her
eyes, “She’s out. Let’s hope that she can find
Violet.”
STOP READING HERE

i
Subject #001:
69
Violet Eve
I had managed to get away and took up

hiding inside Brighid’s Dawn. In a dream there are
no locked doors, so I was able to sneak in and
squirrel myself away in one of the back rooms of the
shop.
As glad as I was that Naomi made it out of
this nightmare, I had sadly been left behind and had
no idea whatsoever on how to escape.
I could hear the hag sloppily scooting
around the streets looking for me, but I had
managed to stay hidden for what seemed like hours.
I tried not to breathe too heavily, I tried not to move
at all; if she found me again I was done for.
Even though I could easily manipulate the
world around me, I guess that was sort of limited to
the waking world; in the dream world, I was merely
nothing but a pawn in Naomi’s nightmare.
Why on earth was she dreaming about any of
this to begin with? She knew about as much as I did
in regards to what was going on; so who, or what,
had brought her here?
The slurping noise sounded again just

outside the front of the shop; I was surprised she
hadn’t come this close before. The bulbous hag was
going to open those doors and slither around like a
70
Issue #6
slug till she found my hiding place in one of the

Tarot rooms.
I wasn’t going to be able to fight her off—I
wasn’t going to be able to do much of anything
considering her size and the fact that this dream
state had left me all but powerless.
Then I heard the wind chimes above the front
door of the shop, followed by the slimy sound of the
hag slithering her way inside.
I had the urge to scream, but I clamped my
hand hard over my mouth to keep myself quiet.
“You’ll do, little Demon…even if you aren’t
the one I’m after.” The hag spoke as I could hear
her ambling about the shelves in the shop as she
hunted for me.
I was no Demon, at least not in her sense of
the word, and I wasn’t going to let her take me by
surprise.
I could now hear her on the far end of the
store and took that as my cue to look for a back exit.
I scuttled about on the floor, feeling my way through
the dark for some sort of handle or knob to the
outside.
“They shouldn’t have done it. They shouldn’t
have felled my tree. Had they just left well enough
alone, this wouldn’t have happened.” The hag
echoed through the vacant shop as I finally found
the door I was looking for.
With a quickness I turned the knob and
shoved the door outward, fleeing as the gelatinous
71
creature finally found me. She grasped at me with

pudgy fingers, but even in the dream world, I was
too fast for her.
Where was I going to hide now, though?
How far could I run in this dream? There was a
possibility I could leave the city, the state even.
I ran the length of the shops till I found an
alleyway and brought myself out to the main street
where the Witch’s Brew stood, its mockery of the
Burning Times still standing proudly.
But the pyre was in the street now, right in
the middle instead of being on the sidewalk.
“I wonder what they are going to do with
this,” I spoke aloud but tried not to waste too much
time lest the hag finally discover me.
“There you are!” Something gurgled behind

me and I spun around to see the creature standing in
the middle of the street.
I was frozen and not able to decide which
direction I should go.
But before I even had a chance to, Naomi
appeared between us, her back to me.
“Take a fucking hike, Batibat. You look like

you could use it.” She cursed at the hag.
The Batibat opened her toothless mouth and
wailed like a banshee into the night as her body was
pushed far away from us.
72
Issue #6
“Close your eyes, Violet. It’s time to wake

up.” Naomi spun around to face me, pulled me in
close, and wrapped her arms around my shoulders.
I squished my eyes shut and held my breath
as I waited for myself to be back in her bed, awake
and unscathed. I held her tightly, making sure that
both of us would get out this time.
The Batibat snarled a second time in the
distance, but the screeching was cut short…
I opened my eyes to a pillow in my face.

Brushing it aside, I let go of Naomi as the two of us
sat up in the bed and I immediately decided to stand.
“Thank God!” Cassandra heaved a sigh of
relief and pulled Naomi to her to make sure she was
alright.
The only other person in the room was Adam
and when our eyes met, he yanked me to him,
cradling my head against his chest.
“Please, please, try not to do that again. I
know you want to help everyone, but you have had
way too many close calls for my liking.” He stroked
my hair as he spoke.
I was so relieved to be out of there that I
returned the gesture and gripped him tight, trying to
anchor myself to the waking world.
Salome, Khaine, and Henri rushed into the
room then, glad to finally see that we were all awake
and in good condition.
73
“Was it a Batibat?” Henri asked, coming over

to check on Naomi himself.
“I guess so, but I didn’t ask.” Naomi pursed
her lips and I swore I saw Henri blush.
“What is a Batibat?” I questioned. It seemed
like I was the only one who didn’t know what they
were talking about.
“It’s a Filipino Demon. That’s what we think
attacked you both.” Adam looked down at me with
those eyes, and I swallowed hard.
“Great. We have now stepped outside the
bounds of monotheism.” I replied sarcastically. But
what the hell was a Filipino Demon doing in Salem?
“I know what you’re thinking and we have
no idea why a Demon like that is roaming around the
Northeast.” Adam had read my mind.
Salome was now by my side, scanning me up
and down like my mum did when I fell out of the
trees I loved to climb as a child. I assured her that I
was fine, but she pulled me away from Adam to get
a better look.
“We have to get rid of this thing; it’s
connected to me somehow. Though, I just don’t
understand why it came after me or why I had a
dream about it in the first place.” Naomi sat down in
a chair and began to think.
“These powers are unpredictable; it may be
that you have a sensitivity to these sorts of things.
74
Issue #6
The Batibat is technically a dream Demon.” Henri

explained to her.
“Maybe. But I’m exhausted and don’t want
to talk about it anymore tonight…nor do I want to go
back to sleep.” Naomi still looked like she hadn’t
slept in weeks.
“Come back to the hotel with us. At least that
way we can all keep an eye on you.” Cassandra
invited her into the already crowded room that we
were occupying at the Hawthorne Hotel.
“I wouldn’t want to impose.” Naomi threw
her a wistful glance and I could have sworn that
there was more said silently than aloud.
“No imposition at all. You can even bring
Druid.” Cassandra slipped in next to Naomi and
stroked her hair softly.
I must have been making a funny face
because Adam leaned into me and whispered, “They
were an item once.”
Things started to make sense. I didn’t know
the details, but I wasn’t going to ask at the moment. I
was afraid to go to sleep myself at this point, but
there was no way I was going to be able to stay
awake.
As Naomi packed herself a bag and lured her
cat, Druid, into a carrier, Adam led me out into the
living room while everyone else followed.
I just wanted this day to be over, but I hadn’t
realized that the sun would be up in less than an
hour.
75
Adam threw his arm around my shoulder and

led me out of the apartment before speaking.
“Don’t worry; I won’t let you fall asleep if
you don’t want to.”
“I don’t want to, but if we are going to get rid
of this Batibat, I am going to need some rest.” I hung
my head and propped myself against Adam’s broad
frame.
“Then I’ll stay with you if it makes it easier.”
He responded.
It would. It would definitely make it easier…
I didn’t want to sleep in a bed next to Cassandra
anyway.
76
Issue #6
Subject Name:
Adam Baudin
I stayed up as long as I could, watching

Violet sleep, curled up next to me. Henri had
grumpily taken the far side of the bed with me
smushed in between them. I wasn’t going to let her
slip into a nightmare again for fear that we wouldn’t
be able to get her out next time.
I finally passed out just as the sun was
peeking up from the horizon and woke a few hours
later to an empty room, save for Violet.
She was sitting between the beds, her laptop
out and headphones in, typing away on the keyboard.
I tried to be as casual as I could when I
climbed out of bed and gave her slight
acknowledgement as I wandered to the bathroom to
77
get myself a shower and try to wipe the rest of the

sleep from my eyes.
“It’s like a fucking sauna in here.” Violet had

one earbud popped out of her ear when I stepped out
of the shower, only a towel draped around my
bottom half to leave a little to the imagination.
“Ever doused a campfire with cold water?
It’s something like that.” I shook the last bit of
moisture from my forearms and went to get some
fresh clothing from my duffle bag.
“Makes sense.” Violet was watching me as I
threw a shirt over my head and I wiggled my finger
for her to turn around so she didn’t have to see me
put my pants on.
“Where is everyone?” I spoke to the back of
her head as I slid my pants over my legs and quickly
laced on my boots.
“They went back to Brighid’s Dawn with
Naomi; she had to work and they didn’t want her to
be alone. I think Henri sent Salome and Khaine on a
mission to see if they could find out more about the
trees in Proctor’s Ledge while he tried to figure out
who cut down that tree and why.” Violet went back
to typing on the computer.
“And what are you doing?” I sat on the bed
next to her and tried to see what was on her screen.
“I am trying to find out where the clinic for
L. Cipher Labs was located here in Salem. It is
literally like it fell off the face of the Earth; they all
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Issue #6
did.” Violet spoke, clicking on a link to a local

paranormal forum.
“Nobody wants us to know. Whoever created
us doesn’t want us to know.” That’s the way it
seemed to me at least.
“I’ll find it. They may have tried to erase
their existence, but people do talk on the internet.
Somewhere, someone knows something…” Violet
slowed her speech, “Look at this.”
She turned the computer screen around so I
could see the forum page. Violet tapped on a specific
post and I read it aloud.
“For those of you asking about the old
fertility clinic…it isn’t haunted. I know there are
stories about illegal medical testing and human
experimentation, but that is all bull crap. The clinic
was never used for anything but what they stated:
reproductive biology and fertility. Many people went
to them for help and achieved success. The clinic
still stands, but it is now a tattoo shop on Boston
Street. That’s why no one can find it because the
stories say that it was located just outside of the city.
It is indeed right there in the heart of Salem, but it is
just a building housing a different business. For
those of you that already know this and continue to
call the business and harass them…shame on you.”
“We know where the clinic is now.” A sly
smile crept across Violet’s face.
79
“But what good does that do us since it is

now a tattoo shop?” I saw where she was going, but
it looked like just another dead end.
“Maybe there was something left behind.
Sometimes when businesses just up and leave or
facilities close down, they leave everything behind
because there is no time to take it with them. I’ve
read articles about abandoned psychiatric facilities
that had to be shut down and all the patient’s medical
files were just left in the building along with
personal items, medications, hospital equipment. It’s
actually quite eerie.” Violet pointed out.
Good point, Vi.
“You want to go check it out, don’t you?” I
knew where this was headed.
“Actually I was thinking of getting a new
tattoo…of course I want to go check it out!” Violet
looked at me as if I was stupid.
“You can’t expect me to help you if you can’t
say anything nice.” I joked with her, letting her
dangle a bit.
“It’s called sarcasm and this is me being
nice.” Violet stood up and faced me; we were both
about the same height with me sitting down and I
had to fight back the laughter.
“Let’s go see what everyone else is doing
first and then we can make an excuse to detour from
the group and go explore.” I now stood up myself so
Violet had to look up at me.
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Issue #6
“Fine.” Violet pouted, but I could tell that she

found it just as amusing.
I would rather be doing this instead of letting
Violet get wrapped up in another dangerous
situation.
“Look who’s awake!” Cassandra greeted us

as we walked through the door of Brighid’s Dawn.
“Awake and ready to get to work.” I tried to
sound eager.
“Henri just called a little bit ago and said he
was up at the police station, asking about the tree; he
assumed that someone would have reported a tree
being cut down from a protected historical site. He
was waiting to speak with someone when Salome
beeped through and told me they were at the library,
asking about the trees that grow at Proctor’s Ledge.”
Cassandra gave us the run-down of the day’s
activities as Violet went to speak with Naomi.
“I like that necklace.” Violet pointed at the

wooden medallion that dangled from Naomi’s neck
as Cassandra filled me in on the day so far.
“I would like it more if it didn’t represent
what it does.” Naomi thumbed it before looping it
over her head for Violet to get a better look.
81
“What does it represent?” I asked, coming

over to look at it myself. I had no idea why she
would be wearing something she didn’t agree with.
“It’s a token from that bar down the street. I
guess they had them made to advertise for the pub
and its grand opening. They must have been passing
them around and my boss left me a pile to give out. I
like the aesthetic of it, but not the message the pub
gives out; we are not a mockery.” Naomi seemed
really disgruntled over the whole thing.
“You’re right; things like that shouldn’t be a
joke, but sadly it makes money. Want me to take the
rest of these and we can just pretend that you handed
them out?” I threw her a sly grin and she scooted the
box of identical necklaces over to me.
Violet snagged one from the container and
stuffed it in her bag before I emptied the rest into the
pocket of my cargo jacket.
“Khaine and Salome had to take one because
my boss was watching when they came in and I had
to look like I was doing my job, but that is twenty-
five less of those things floating around out there.”
Naomi sighed as the wind chime tinkled above the
door and a group of women entered, all dressed in
black.
I took this as our opportunity to get out of
here and went to speak with Cassandra as Violet
wandered around somewhere over near the tarot
cards.
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Issue #6
“You mind if Violet and I go out and maybe

see what we can find? I figured her information
gathering skills might be useful and I promise to
keep an eye on her.” I presented the idea to
Cassandra.
“That’s not a bad idea since things are rather
lax right now. Keep your phone on in case I need to
call; we can’t have anything happen to you either.”
Cassandra’s eyes flitted to mine for a second and she
smiled.
“Not a problem.” I shrugged off the awkward
eye contact and went to retrieve Violet from the light
reading she was doing over in the book section.
“I got us the green light. Let’s get over to that
tattoo parlor and see what we can find.” I whispered
to her, plucking the book from her hands.
“Don’t ever take a book from someone who
is reading it.” She glared at me, nudging me with her
elbow before leading us both out of the shop.
83
Subject Name:
Salome Vexx
“Can I help you?” An elderly woman asked

as Khaine and I stood by the front desk of the
library.
“Um, yes. This may seem like a strange
question, but we were wondering if someone could
tell us anything about the trees that are in Procter’s
Ledge. My girlfriend has a travel blog and she loves
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Issue #6
to write about the flora and fauna of the locations we

go to, so…” Khaine was sweet to ask for me, but he
was starting to ramble.
“I have always had an intense interest in the
Salem Witch Trials and I figured it would be cool to
write a piece on them and the trees at the site.
Everything has history, including the flora around
us.” I elaborated for the woman. I made sure to keep
my sunglasses on so I didn’t give the poor woman a
heart attack.
“We do have an excellent Arborist who just
moved here a few months back. He came in a couple
of weeks ago doing research on the plant life here in
Salem and I think he mentioned the hanged site as
one of the places he was interested in. Such morbid
curiosity about that place…” The old woman trailed
off, tapping her chin.
“Yeah, well—could you possibly point us in
his direction?” I asked, hoping I could lure her back
to the conversation.
“Oh, his name is Aamon Wright. You can
usually find him at the coffee shop down the street.”
The old lady pointed in the direction of the coffee
house.
“Thank you so much, ma’am. Have a good
day.” I looped my arm in Khaine’s and steered him
towards the exit of the library.
85
Khaine wanted a coffee something awful, so

as he ordered the biggest one that the shop would
allow, I asked another barista about this Aamon
Wright.
“That’s him over there in the corner. He’s a

bit of an eccentric type, but he seems nice enough.”
She pointed him out, hidden behind a large laptop in
the corner of the shop.
I thanked her and waited patiently for Khaine
to get his coffee before going over to question the
man.
“Excuse me.” I mustered up the courage to
speak while Khaine had his bearded face buried in
his coffee cup.
The man looked up from his laptop at me; he
was not what I expected at all.
I expected weird—glasses, messy hair,
pocket protector…but that wasn’t even close.
He looked like he wasn’t a day over thirty-
five with slick chocolate hair, yellow eyes, and a
rather defined nose.
“Can I help you with something?” He eyed
me suspiciously as I stood there at a loss for words.
“Are you Aamon Wright?” I asked, making
sure to keep my hands to myself lest I rot the table
down to wood pulp.
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Issue #6
“That’s me. And you are?” Aamon seemed

intrigued by my asking for him by name and waited
for me to go on.
“My name is Salome and I was wondering if
maybe you could help me out with something.” I slid
into the seat in front of him, not giving him a chance
to get rid of me easily, “I am a blogger and wannabe
botanist and love writing about the local foliage of
the places I travel to and I was told that you are the
man to talk to about trees.”
I really hoped he’d buy that.
“Oh, well…I am a little busy, but I guess I
could take a break to talk to another fellow tree
enthusiast.” He closed his laptop and laced his hands
in front of him.
“Great!” I patted the chair next to me for
Khaine to sit down, “I just wanted to know if you
knew anything about the trees on Proctor’s Ledge? I
have always been interested in the history of Salem
and I figured that would be a great focal point for my
next post.”
“Ah, Proctor’s Ledge has some beautiful
trees, despite what they were used for so many years
ago. The area was mostly comprised of hardwoods
and in 1747, many locust trees were planted as a
memorial to those who died, though they were cut
down some time ago.” Aamon took a photograph out
of a manila envelope and let me take a look at it.
I remembered what I had been told. There
was a tree that wasn’t nearly as old or as large as the
87
others in the area and that was the one I was looking
for.
I could see the oaks, a few hickories, and
smack dab in the middle was a tree that could have
been the one that Naomi saw.
“What kind of tree is this?” I pointed at the
smaller one in the midst of the larger trees.
“That is an Acacia Mangium.” He tapped on
the photo.
“It looks as if it hasn’t been there as long as
the others…” I tried to lead our way into more
information on that particular tree.
“It was still rather young compared to the
others. Sadly, someone cut it down, but I was able to
decipher an age on it—about 435 years old.” Aamon
informed me.
This was definitely our tree.
“But why would someone cut it down?” I
feigned disbelief.
“That’s what the police here in Salem are
trying to investigate. That is a historically protected
site and whoever did this is going to go to jail for a
long time.” Aamon seemed mildly outraged at the
cutting of such an old tree.
“As they should.” I took out my phone and
typed a few things in my notes, “Thank you so much
for talking to me about this.”
“It was my pleasure. If you need anything
else you can either find me here or at the big
celebration down in the square this evening. There
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Issue #6
will be drinks.” He winked at me and I thought I

heard Khaine growl in return.
“Thank you so much again. Maybe we will
bump into each other tonight.” I gave him a quick
smile and cued Khaine to finish his coffee so we
could get back to Brighid’s Dawn and let Cassandra
know what we found out.
89
Subject Name:
Naomi Star
“That was Salome. They found a local

arborist who gave them some information on the
trees at Proctor’s Ledge. She didn’t want to go into
detail on the phone, however.” Cassandra spoke to
me after two patrons left with a bag full of herbs.
“Anything from Henri?” I asked, slipping
cash into the register drawer.
“He just texted me and said that the police
are investigating the cutting of the tree, but they
don’t have any leads or witnesses yet.” It seemed
like he had no leads either, but hopefully, Salome
had something useful.
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Issue #6
“Where did Violet and Adam go?” I

wondered out loud. It had been over an hour since I
had seen them.
“Violet is going to use some writer’s
sleuthing to see what she can find. Adam is
confident that she may be able to get us something
useful.” Cassandra returned. Adam may have been
confident, but Cassandra didn’t seem to think much
of it from the tone of her voice.
The chimes rang above the door, and the tall,
dark woman from the other evening came sidling in.
“Naomi.” She gave me a lilting smile and I
returned it reluctantly, “I just loved the crystals I
bought from you yesterday and just had to come
back for a reading. Are you available?”
I technically was, even though I was the only
one working. Allison set up a table in the reading
nook for me to do live readings, but I hated putting
on a show. Things were slow, though, as the Pub
Crawl was just getting going for the day, so I had to
oblige.
“I am.” I tossed Cassandra a look that I
hoped she would understand. She just nodded and
came over to stand by the front counter while I led
Gabi over to the table.
“Please, take a seat. My rate is $20 for the
first thirty minutes, and then $30 for every half an
hour after that. Sometimes readings can take a
while.” I hoped that this would be a quick one,
however.
91
Gabi sat in the seat across from me and

tucked her expensive purse under the table.
“Is that your girlfriend?” She asked, nodding
her head in Cassandra’s direction.
“Um, no. Just a friend hanging out for the
day.” I fudged the answer on purpose. Why would
she even ask me that?
I took my deck out of its silk cloth and began
shuffling the cards as I asked the woman, “Do you
have a specific question? Or do you just want a
general reading?”
“Just general. I need a little insight.” Gabi
had her fingers laced under her chin, just staring at
me as she spoke.
“Right. Celtic Cross spread?” I usually gave
my patrons more of an option, but I didn’t want to sit
here all day.
She nodded and I handed her the deck so she
could cut it. I shuffled once more and began laying
out cards in front of us.
The first one I set on the table was the Devil.
Normally this wouldn’t have made me bat an eye,
but with the situation at hand…
I finished laying out the rest of the spread and
went on to elaborate on the cards for her, all the
while that Devil card looming in front of me.
“You’re very insightful, Naomi. Your third

eye is wide open. Would you like to have drinks with
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Issue #6
me tonight?” That was a question I was not

expecting.
“Uh...I—I think I have plans.” Sure, I liked
girls just as much as the next person, but as beautiful
as Gabi was—she made me feel off just by being in
her presence.
“Aw, well…if things change, I will be at the
big pyre burning tonight. Maybe we will run into one
another.” She set a fifty dollar bill down on the table
and slipped out of her seat, not saying another word
as she left the shop.
I jumped from my chair with the money in
hand and ran over to Cassandra.
“Does she give you the willies too?”
“She’s a beautiful woman, but I feel it too—
something isn’t right about her.” I couldn’t tell if
Cassandra actually agreed with me, or if there was a
slight tinge of jealousy in her voice.
“Then I will try my hardest to avoid her.” I
nodded as Salome and Khaine entered the shop,
followed closely by Henri.
“What did you find?” Cassandra turned her
attention to the others.
“Well, it seems that the tree you saw being
cut down was a type of Acacia, called Acacia
Mangium. That was really all he could tell us, though
he did confirm that the tree wasn’t as old as the
others, maybe 435 years or so. He said we were
more than welcome to seek him out tonight if we
needed to talk more.” Salome explained.
93
“He just wanted to see you again so you

could talk about stamens and pistils or whatever,”
Khaine grunted.
“That’s flowers, not trees, and he was being
polite.” Salome bit back.
It seemed like jealousy was a bit of a thing
right now.
“And you, Henri? Anything else?” Cassandra
questioned him next.
“Nothing. The police said it looked like
someone just took an ax to it and drug it off, but
there wasn’t enough of a trail to follow. No leads
really.” Henri seemed disappointed that he hadn’t
gotten much from his trip to the police station.
I already had my phone out and was
researching the type of tree that Salome had given us
the name of.
“That type of Acacia is native to Australia,
Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia; it is commonly
found in the Philippines too. I think we are definitely
dealing with a Batibat.” I didn’t want to admit it, but
all signs pointed to “yes.”
“Why would someone just randomly plant a
non-native tree in the middle of Northeast USA?
And so long ago for that matter, especially since
Filipino immigration didn’t really start booming till
the later 1700’s.” Henri knew quite a bit about his
cultural history…more than I had expected.
“That is the question of the hour.” I huffed,
putting away my phone.
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Issue #6
“Maybe someone planted it here on purpose.

They could have known it housed a Demon.” Khaine
interjected.
“Then that would mean that it wasn’t planted
by any human…” Salome had a point too.
“We still haven’t figured out why the tree
was cut or where it went.” Cassandra was just
bringing up more questions and we were no closer to
the answers than we had been before.
Maybe Adam and Violet would find
something useful…
95
Subject #001:
Violet Eve
“This is the place.” Adam pointed at a quaint

little shop at the end of the street with the word
TATTOO blazing back at us from a neon sign.
It didn’t look like it had been a clinic ever,
but it had probably been many things before that.
We entered the shop to the whirring of a
tattoo machine and the sound of metal music. Adam
seemed right at home as he bobbed his head along to
the song that was playing.
“What’s up, guys. How can I help you?” A fit

man wearing a beanie greeted us as he was finishing
up a tattoo of a tiger on a younger guy with green
hair.
“I want to get a tattoo.” Adam blurted.
That wasn’t the plan…I mean, we had no
plan, but that wasn’t what I had in mind either.
“Sure. I’m just finishing up here and then I
can take you. What are you thinking of?” The artist
asked, giving the man in the chair a much-needed
break by the looks of it.
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Issue #6
“I was thinking of—of— Like something,

right on my—” Adam paused to think; he didn’t
have a lot of exposed skin that he could get tattooed
at this point, “On my chest.”
“You have anything drawn up, or do you
want me to free hand something?” The guy eyed
Adam as if he knew that we were entirely
unprepared.
“I have some ideas, but we can discuss it
when you finish with this guy.” Adam pointed at the
man in the seat who was starting to turn the same
color as his hair.
The artist nodded and went back to his
shading as Adam sat me down in the waiting room.
“What the hell are you doing?” I whispered

harshly at him as he took a piece of paper from a pad
on the table and stole a pen from the cup at the
register.
“Buying you some time to look around and
see what you can find.” He hissed back,
concentrating hard on not melting the pen he was
holding.
“I could have just asked him and see if he
knew anything about the clinic. We’re not even sure
how long this place was vacant before the tattoo
shop went in.” I leaned in close to Adam, trying to
get a good look at what he was drawing.
“I can still ask those questions when we have
our small talk that always goes down when getting
97
tattooed. Meanwhile, you can excuse yourself to the

bathroom and get to looking. He seems like the only
one working right now.” Adam leaned away from
me and continued to scribble on the page.
The man in the chair had finished with his
session and was talking with the tattoo artist before
he paid and left.
“You’re next, man. I’m Seven by the way.”

The artist reached out to shake Adam’s hand, but I
offered mine instead.
“I’m Violet and this is Adam… he’s a bit of a
germaphobe.” I spoke behind my hand so the man
wasn’t offended by Adam not returning the
handshake.
“Ah, well—have a seat over there while I get
everything prepared; this is a very sterile
environment by the way. Can I take a look at what
you drew up?” Seven asked as Adam handed him the
piece of note paper.
“Good work, dude. You just drew this?”
Seven asked, quite impressed by Adam’s art.
“Yeah.” Adam had a one-word response for
him.
“Have a seat and I will be with you in a
minute.” Seven turned around to clean up his station
and I took that as my time to act.
“Would it be possible for me to use your
toilet? I’ve been walking around all day, looking at
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Issue #6
the sights and I just really have to wee.” I crossed

my legs for added effect.
“Yeah, sure. Go back through that door and it
is the fourth room on your right.” He nodded at me
and I sprinted past him, leaving Adam alone to try
and find out what this guy knew about L. Cipher
while I snooped around for anything else.
Subject Name:
Adam Baudin
“You from around here?” Seven asked me as

he set up black and purple ink on his tray and readied
his machine for a new tattoo.
99
“No, New Orleans. Just up here on vacation

with my girl.” I made up a little back story in my
head, just in case he asked me personal questions.
“Salem is awesome. Great scenery, rich
history, some of the best pubs in the state if you ask
me.” Seven donned a fresh pair of gloves and I
exposed the top half of my chest for him to clean and
shave for the tattoo.
“This Pub Crawl seems pretty interesting. We
had a few drinks last night, but we plan on doing
more crawling tonight.” I laughed as Seven prepared
the template for transfer onto my skin.
“I plan on getting out of here early so I can
do some bar hopping myself.” Seven positioned the
template on my chest and then handed me a mirror
so I could approve.
It was perfect.
Even though I hadn’t planned on a tattoo, it
was worth it so that Violet could do some prying
about.
Seven laid me back in the chair and
positioned himself over me to start inking my skin.
“Where you from?” I started my
interrogation casually as the machine began to buzz.
“Originally from Cambridge, but me and a
few buddies moved out here months ago on some
business ventures.” He put the needle to my flesh
and started tattooing. I couldn’t even feel the needles
pulsing in and out of my skin.
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Issue #6
“This place looks old, what was it before you

guys moved in?” I continued with the questions,
hoping to get some good answers.
“You know, I wondered that myself.
Apparently, it used to be a fertility clinic in the 80’s,
but it was vacant when we rented it out. Sat here
with nothing in it for like twenty-five years. It was a
mess too; we had to clean everything out.” Seven
spoke as he started on a new line of the tattoo.
“Really? Like medical supplies and stuff?” I
pushed even further as he continued to ink my skin.
“Mostly old file cabinets and furniture, but
we cleared everything out and dumped it.” He
nodded, going back over another line with a different
color.
Dammit. Maybe there wouldn’t be anything
for Violet to find after all…
101
Subject #001:
Violet Eve
Finding the bathroom wasn’t a problem, but I

checked every other door on the way to it.
I obviously didn’t have to pee, but the
thought crossed my mind as I passed the bathroom
and kept walking down the hall.
I could see how the place had once housed
exam rooms and if there were exam rooms—there
had to be a place where doctors took samples to the
lab. I figured that no one would have left any files
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behind; they had done such a good job making sure

that everything else about L. Cipher Labs had been
obliterated.
I came to the end of the hall where I met a
door marked Restricted and figured that whatever
was behind it may have been what I was looking for.
I tried the knob, but it was locked.
However, locks were no longer a problem for
me as I was instantly on the other side of the door
and had to catch myself before I tumbled down a
flight of stairs.
I wanted the lights on, and they flashed above
me as I made my way down the stairs into a
darkened basement that looked like it hadn’t been
seen by living eyes in years.
The room at the bottom opened up and I
could see old 80’s style computers, accompanied by
test tubes and centrifuges at every station. There was
other ancient medical equipment that I didn’t
recognize, but I was looking for something that
could give me more evidence.
There were no file cabinets, however. All the
metal shelving had been cleared of any sort of
paperwork that would have given me an idea about
what we were dealing with. The only things down
there that could hold any sort of patient information
were the computers, but they were long dead at this
point.
But that didn’t mean I couldn’t access them
somehow…
103
I could alter reality, but would I be able to

boot these ancient monsters up just because I wanted
to? Was there a parallel universe where we still used
these outdated machines and they functioned
properly?
It was worth a shot.
I sat down in front of one of the computers

and ran my fingers across the dusty keys, imagining
what it would have been like to work in the lab so
long ago.
Information wasn’t kept on hard drives then,
that much I knew, so I was going to have to find
some sort of storage device to even get what I
wanted…if I could get this monster up and running
first.
Surprisingly, all the computers were still
plugged into an old electrical strip, so I tried turning
it on first, hoping that I didn’t set the place on fire in
doing so.
I had not expected the computer to even turn
on, but there it was—a blue screen— as DOS booted
up on the monitor.
“Holy shit—was not expecting that,” I

exclaimed to myself as I looked around for a floppy
disk. I may not get what I wanted if I found one, but
something was better than nothing.
I hunted around the room for any sort of
storage container or box that could hold one of these
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Issue #6
antique record keepers, but I wasn’t finding

anything.
“Of course they left the computers, but took
all the files with them. Why would they leave that
behind, Violet?” I asked myself harshly as I opened
up an empty metal cabinet.
There was nothing.
Then a lightbulb went off in my head…
“This I can do,” I spoke aloud to myself
again as I stuck my hands inside the vacant cabinet.
Somewhere out there was the floppy disks, or
whatever, that housed all the patient information
from this particular lab…and possibly more. If not
here, they had to still be present in a different
existence.
I still had my hands inside the cabinet and
when I pulled them out I was holding a container
filled with at least fifteen floppy discs.
“Huzzah!” I cried, but quickly silenced
myself as I carried them back to the booted computer
and slipped the first one into the drive.
I had no idea how to use this thing, but I
pretended that I did, and soon I had access to the
information on the first disk.
There were dozens of files on there, all
marked as Subject with a number assigned to it.
These files were numbered in the hundreds
and I randomly picked one that was titled Subject
#102.
105
What I saw caused a knot to form in my

stomach.
“Subject Number 102: Melissa Carrington.

Mother: Katrina Carrington. Father: n/a.” I
whispered to myself as I read through Missy’s
profile. Her mother had undergone in vitro
fertilization at the Clinic in Dublin. It detailed that
she and her husband had been trying to conceive for
over ten years when they finally came to the labs for
help.
I read all the way to the bottom before
closing out of the file and checking on a few others.
They all had names; they all had birthdays the same
as mine.
I popped the disk from the machine and rifled
through the storage box for another. Each disk was
labeled with a set of Subject numbers from 1 to 667.
“I thought the mark of the Beast was 666.” I
scoffed, coming to the disk marked Subject #001-
#045.
I was Subject #001.
The disk was shaking in my hand as I
inserted it into the computer and opened up the file
for Subject #001.
Subject #001: Violet Eve Quirke.
Mother: Rhaine Eden Quirke.
Father: n/a.
It was reading pretty much like Missy’s
profile.
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Issue #6
I scanned down a little further and realized

that this file was my first; the one I had found on the
blog site was more recent.
Nationality: Irish/American.
Irish/American? I was Irish…born in Belfast.
But this was telling me something else entirely.
Hometown: Newcastle, County Down, North
Ireland. Formerly New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
What in the ever loving fuck?
I scrolled past all the details about myself
that I already knew until I came to the notes.
Subject #001 is the resulting offspring of
Patient 0.
Rhaine Eden Quirke was living in New
Orleans, Louisiana at the time of conception, due to
fleeing her home country of Ireland after an abusive
relationship. She procured the job through an
affiliate in Ireland and was transferred to the United
States for three years before undergoing treatment.
Quirke was essentially the test subject for
our inhibitor serum and it proved a success. The
child resulting from this implantation was the first
efficaciously contained embryo, proving that the
serum could effectively suppress the fabricated DNA
of Dr. Cipher’s design.
The mother suffered no ill effects; if anything
she showed no signs of the typical symptoms of
pregnancy.
Officially, this subject marked the success of
“667”. Profiles of the other 666 subjects to follow.
107
I swallowed hard.
I had been the first…the first of 667 children
to be altered and successfully implanted into a
human host.
Lucinda Cipher had been the one to
orchestrate all of this; why I hadn’t done a search for
her name was beyond me, but that could come later.
My mother had been a first also…and my
being born had caused her to eventually lose her life.
I had dug up too much. I wasn’t even slightly
prepared for what I had just read.
I heard footsteps above me then; someone
was probably looking for me.
There was no way for me to print off 667
files, so I ejected the disk from the computer, slid it
back into its case, and jammed the whole thing
inside my sling bag.
In a moment I would walk out of the
bathroom and no one would have even known I was
down here…
No one, but me and Adam.
Subject Name:
Adam Baudin
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Issue #6
Seven had finished my tattoo before he

realized that Violet had never come back from the
bathroom.
I didn’t have any idea what was taking her so
long; the tattoo had taken over an hour to finish.
“Your girlfriend ok, man? She’s been in the

bathroom a long time.” Seven asked as he covered
my tattoo to keep it moist.
“We had some clam chowder before we got
here; seafood tends to not sit well with her, but she
insisted. While in Rome!” I tried not to laugh
nervously as I got up from my seat and gestured
towards the back of the shop.
“You don’t mind paying first, do you? Don’t
need anyone running out without paying.” Seven
eyeballed me as I extracted my wallet from my
pocket.
“How much?”
“$120.” Seven held out his hand and I
counted out quite a few twenty dollar bills for him
before going through the door into the back.
I found the bathroom pretty quickly and
hesitated before I knocked.
The door flung open and Violet was standing
there, her eyes ringed in red.
“Are you ready to go?” I asked as Seven
appeared down the hall. I guess he didn’t trust us.
109
“Yeah.” She nodded, looping her arm

through mine as I led her back to the front of the
shop.
“How’s your stomach?” Seven asked her as
we passed by.
I cleared my throat casually as Violet
responded, “Better.”
I was glad that she didn’t elaborate on that
response.
“Come back and see us, guys. Maybe next
time your girl can get a matching tattoo of her
liking.” Seven held the front door open for us as we
stepped out into the street and headed back down the
road.
“Did you find anything?” I asked as she still

clung tightly to my arm.
“Yes.” She breathed, clutching her bag at her
hip.
“Thank fucking God, because I didn’t get
much from ole’ Seven back there.” I jerked my
thumb behind me.
Violet abruptly stopped; I had to keep myself
from stumbling as she took me by the arms and
ordered me to face her.
“What is it, Violet? What did you find?” I
knew something wasn’t right, but she seemed
downright messed up over whatever it was that she
had uncovered.
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Issue #6
“A room full of old computers that somehow

still worked. I sort of summoned these,” Violet
extracted a plastic box from her bag and handed it to
me, “These are the patient files of all of us…all 667
of us.”
“667! There are 667 of us?” I knew my
expression must have looked fucked up—I felt
fucked up after that tidbit of information.
“One more than the Biblical mark of the
Beast.” She noted and went on, “I read my own file.”
“What did it say?” I was eager to know more
about us.
“It talked about the inhibitor serum. It also
said that my mum was Patient Zero, the first
successful human host for one of our kind. I was
their initial success, Adam.” Violet’s hands began to
shudder as she still held on to my arms.
“What about the other files? Did you find
mine?” I wondered what it said if she had.
“I didn’t get that far, but we have all the files
now,” Violet responded, still visibly shaken.
“But how are we going to read any of them
on these ancient floppy disks?” I had opened up the
case to see that what was inside was essentially
useless.
“We just have to find a working computer
from the 80’s.”
Easier said than done, Violet.
“We’ll figure it out, but I got a call from
Cassandra while you were off playing Nancy Drew
111
and she wanted us to get back as soon as possible.

Naomi is ending her shift and she wants to go to the
square and discuss things; I guess they are having
some sort of celebration tonight in regards to the Pub
Crawl weekend.” I took her hand and began walking
back down the street.
“Ok.” She responded, flexing her hand in
mine. “You know…you never did show me the
tattoo you got.” Violet smirked as I paused again in
my step.
“Want to see it?” I smiled slightly, not sure
how she would take it.
Violet nodded at me and I pulled down the
collar of my shirt and peeled the bandage back.
She drew in a sharp breath when her eyes fell
upon the tattoo, inked on my chest in purple and
black. It looked just like the one she had on her
forehead, save for a few more details that I added to
make it my own. It had been the first thing that I
thought about when Seven had asked me what tattoo
I was going to get.
“Adam.” Violet flushed lilac and averted her
eyes from me for a second, “I don’t know what to
say…let’s just hope that we never stop being friends
or that eye is going to haunt you forever.”
She was right, but I had a good feeling that
neither of us was going anywhere anytime soon.
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Issue #6
Subject Name:
Naomi Star
“Where are they?” Cassandra checked her

watch as the five of us walked into the middle of
Derby Square.
“I just texted Adam and he said that they
were almost here; calm down.” Henri seemed
annoyed by Cassandra’s impatience.
People were piling into the streets and
crowding around one specific area. There were
already those who were several drinks in, stumbling
113
around, as the others mingled about with beers in

their hands.
“I see Violet.” Salome was standing on her
tip toes as she pointed up the street. You could see
Violet’s hair, even with her small stature, poking out
above the sea of naturally coifed heads.
I waved my hand high to get their attention,
and soon we were all reunited.
“Anything?” Cassandra asked immediately as
the two rejoined our group.
“Nothing,” Adam responded, as Violet still
clung to his side. She had this look on her face that
told me something had happened, whether they were
talking about it or not.
“Ladies and gentleman!” A voice boomed

over a megaphone as people turned their attention to
the spot that was shrouded by so many onlookers.
We were going to have to push our way
through if we were going to see anything and I took
it upon myself to lead the way.
“Gather round, gather round. My name is
Victor and I am the owner and proprietor of a chain
of popular pubs and bars all over the Northeast. The
lovely city of Salem has allowed me to host a special
event to highlight this year’s Pub Crawl, and I am
proud to say that it is going to be HOT.” The voice
rang out and the crowd began to cheer as we finally
made it close to the mass of people.
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Issue #6
The pyre was set up in front of a raised

platform where Victor was standing, a microphone
in hand. He was wearing a witch’s mask, complete
with green skin and a wart on the nose.
“Tonight is the grand opening of the Witch’s
Brew pub and we are going to set the city ablaze!”
The crowd cheered again and I groaned in return.
The rest of my company seemed interested in
what he was going to do, as I had forgotten to
mention that to them, but I knew they weren’t going
to like it any more than I did.
“So, how many of you received a wooden
medallion with our Cauldron logo on it?” Victor
asked and a bunch of people waved their hands in
the air.
“Good! Those of you with a medallion get a
free Fire Pyre Cocktail and half off an entree at the
Witch’s Brew!” He hollered and even more people
applauded in response.
“Awesome. Free cocktail.” That shit better be
good, because I was pissed.
“And once night falls, be sure to stay tuned
as we light this puppy ablaze in honor of our opening
night in Salem!” Victor waved out at the crowd as
people began to clap and slowly started to disperse,
figuring out which bar or pub to hit first.
“So these get us free drinks? I have, like—

twenty-five free drinks.” Adam laughed, patting the
pocket of his jacket.
115
“Good thing because I am going to need to be

fucking wasted when they light that thing up
tonight.” I shook my head and followed the others as
we started our run at a bar on the other side of the
street. I was going to need to pre-game it tonight…
We all drank a bit at a few different bars

before ending up at the Witch’s Brew around nine
o’clock. Apparently, they weren’t lighting the pyre
till midnight, so we still had a few hours to get some
more drinks in us.
“I’m going to start with a glass of wine and

work my way up to that free cocktail.” I sat us all
down at a round table near the doors of the pub; I
wanted to be able to see the pyre from the front
window.
We ordered a few and began to talk about
what little we knew from the day’s earlier
investigations.
“So, it was an Acacia tree from the
Philippines?” Violet asked as she sipped on her beer.
“Yup. Seems like someone deliberately
planted it here, knowing that a Demon resided inside
of it. She was completely harmless up until someone
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Issue #6
decided to chop the damn tree down. I’m sure they

knew this would happen…” I was already three
drinks in with no signs of stopping.
“The person that cut it down could have been
the same person that planted it…if that person was a
Demon.” Adam chimed in, taking a shot of vodka.
“It wasn’t. Two different guys—well, there
were multiple men cutting the tree down in my
dream.” I leaned back in my seat and watched person
after person ordering drinks at the bar.
They had made an announcement that those
with medallions could start getting their “free”
cocktails at around eleven thirty; I guess it was easier
to make the free transactions all at once.
“I’m really curious about what those Fire
Pyre Cocktails taste like.” Henri was sitting next to
me, drinking a dark lager.
“Like cinnamon ass.” Khaine retorted.
Apparently, he was not a fan of Fireball.
“Oh, here’s a medallion if you want to get
one for free.” Adam pulled one from his pocket and
passed it over to Henri.
Cassandra had declined on the free cocktail
and was trying to stay sober so that she was able to
keep an eye on the rest of us.
“I think I need some air.” Violet was looking

a bit anxious as her eyes darted around the room at
all the people.
117
“You alright?” I scooted close to her and

casually rubbed her back.
“I’m not a big fan of huge crowds and this
place is jam packed.” She winced as a man
drunkenly backed into her chair, scooting it in closer
to the table.
“You want to go for a walk?” I asked her; I
was a bit over it myself.
“That sounds good.” Violet nodded and
scooted her chair back into the man that had just
stumbled into her.
“’Scuse you, bitch.” He snarled drunkenly
and I watched as all three men at our table stood at
once. Henri wasn’t as tall, but the stature of the other
two made the man weak at the knees.
“You want to try that again, asshole?” I could
have sworn I saw flames spit from Adam’s mouth.
“My bad.” The guy quickly apologized and
scampered off before he got his ass kicked.
“Do you want one of us to go with you two
so that shit doesn’t happen again?” Khaine was
fuming almost as much as Adam.
“We’ve got it handled; no one is going to
fuck with us.” I winked.
It was true. My dream abilities may not have
been an active power, but I had discovered that I was
surprisingly stronger than I was before my 30th
birthday.
We excused ourselves from the table and
exited the pub, arm in arm.
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Issue #6
“Sorry about that. I have just a slight social

anxiety problem.” Violet apologized to me as she
puffed away on a cigarette.
“No worries; I know how it can be for some.”
I patted her on the back again as we wandered out
into the street for a stroll.
There weren’t as many people out, now that
it was dark; most were either getting drunk in the
pub or at home avoiding the wasted people that were
roaming the streets like beer drowned zombies.
We found ourselves over by the pyre as
Violet leaned in to get a better look.
“How disrespectful can you be to cut down a
living tree just to use it as a mockery and burn it to
ash?” Violet asked rhetorically, but I responded
anyway.
“Pretty fucking disrespectful.” I leaned into
the pyre to get a better look myself. I reached out to
touch the trunk, accidentally flaking the bark from
the tree to reveal a medallion shaped hole.
“Do you see this?” I pointed at the cut out in
the trunk and Violet came to look for herself.
119
“That is about the same size as these.” Violet

held up the medallion that was hung around her
neck.
“Yeah, but I had to remove the bark from the
tree before I even saw the hole.” I threw up a brow
before checking around me for prying eyes and then
peeled back more bark from another section. This
revealed two more medallion shaped holes of about
the same size.
“How is that even possible?” Violet was
puzzled as she scraped away more bark, exposing
even more holes.
I thumbed my own medallion, wondering
myself how it was even possible to cut perfect
circular pieces out of a tree trunk and still leave the
bark intact.
“This tree is hollow, Naomi.” Violet bravely
stuck her finger into one of the holes and wiggled it
around.
Then it clicked.
Many holes in a hollow wooden post.
I knew my woods well enough by smell and
lifted my medallion to my nose to take a whiff.
“This is Acacia, Violet. I’d know that smell
anywhere.” Of course, I would; we used it in a lot of
incense for protection.
“You don’t think…” Violet didn’t want to
believe it.
“Henri told us that the Batibat would retreat
into holes in the post to evade humans. She would
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Issue #6
kill anyone sleeping next to her post…” My brain

was still going a hundred miles a minute.
“This has to be the work of another Demon,
then. Something purposefully planted this tree and
waited to cut it down so they could do what?” Violet
was working with me to finally get to the bottom of
this.
It finally hit me as I was rubbing my thumb
over the medallion repeatedly.
“The medallion. I think the medallion is the
reason I encountered the Batibat in the first place. I
was wearing it when I went to sleep.” I burst.
Essentially I was sleeping by the Batibat’s
post and she took offense to that.
Violet’s eyes went wide.
“What time is it?” She asked, frantically
glancing towards the doors of the Witch’s Brew.
I took my phone out and checked the time,
“It’s close to midnight. I bet everyone is getting their
free drinks right now.”
“Everyone who is wearing a medallion gets a
free Fire Pyre Cocktail.” Violet’s voice came out
almost winded, “We need to get back to the pub.”
Violet breezed past me as I called out to her,
“What is it, Vi? What did you figure out?”
But she was already to the front doors and I
was struggling to catch up.
121
Subject #001:
Violet Eve
122
Issue #6
I burst through the doors of the pub to find

exactly what I had hoped I wouldn’t.
Everyone inside was fast asleep.
There were people slumped over the bar, laid
out on top of tables, and others who looked like they
had flipped over backward off their bar stools.
“What the hell is going on?” Naomi was

breathing hard as she finally caught up to me.
“They laced the cocktails.” I breathed
quietly. Each and every person in that bar had a
bright red Fire Pyre Cocktail near their person. They
littered the bar top, some glasses were smashed on
the floor with crimson liquid pooling on the floors—
even our table had one for each person sitting there.
Except Salome and Cassandra were missing
from our group.
“I thought Khaine didn’t drink?” Naomi was
going from person to person at the table, checking
everyone for signs of life…but all parties were in a
deep slumber.
I rounded my giant friend and took the glass
that was sitting in front of him. It was red and
sparkling with a little cherry floating among the ice.
I held the glass to my nose and sniffed.
“He was drinking a virgin Shirley Temple.” I
used to love those when I was a kid. “It isn’t the
drinks specifically, but what they put in them. I
guarantee you they used Phenobarbital.”
123
“That’s a sedative, right?” Naomi leaned in

and placed her fingers against Henri’s neck to check
for a pulse.
“Yes. The elixir version is usually a clear red
liquid. They never saw it coming.” I slammed the
glass down on the table and began making my way
through the sea of bodies that littered the pub floor.
“Where are you going now?” Naomi hurried
up beside me as I made my way to the toilets.
“I don’t see Salome or Cassandra; maybe
they are still awake and can tell us exactly what
happened.” I slowly cracked the door open and
began peering into the stalls; all were vacant…all
except the last that one which was locked.
“Salome?” I whispered, trying to wrench the
door open.
Groaning could be heard from behind the
door as I dropped to the floor and peered underneath.
There was Salome, an arm slung haphazardly
over the toilet; her eyes partially opened as she
struggled to speak.
“I’ve got you, I’ve got you.” I crawled
underneath and took her by the shoulders, carefully
dragging her out into the open bathroom.
“What happened, Sal? Who did this?” I
asked, cradling her head in my lap.
“I don’t—I don’t know.” She grunted, her
head lolling to the side as I desperately tried to keep
her conscious, “I was talking with Aamon, the
arborist, when everyone started getting their free
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Issue #6
drinks. I drank about half of mine before I felt like I

was going to puke. People just—they just started
dropping like flies as I ran to the bathroom. I should
have checked on Khaine.” Tears were welling in her
inky black eyes.
“He’s ok, Sal. We need to get everyone out
of here; can you stand?” I asked, but she was already
gone. Her head drooped forward in my lap—she was
out like a light.
Naomi was crouched in front of me, holding
on to Salome’s hand as her body went limp in my
arms.
“Help me get her out of here; we still have to
find Cassandra.” I hoisted Salome up over my
shoulder as Naomi grabbed her legs and assisted me
in carrying her back out to the bar.
We placed her in her chair next to Khaine

before going back out amongst the people in search
of Cassandra. There was a possibility that she had
drank one of the cocktails too, or something like it,
and could have been unconscious somewhere inside
the tavern.
I picked my way across bodies that were
piled up on the floor, looking for any sign of
Cassandra’s usual white garb, and checking each and
every person I came across to make sure they were
still alive.
125
I was just checking a woman who was

doubled over in a rather uncomfortable looking
position when a hand shot out and grabbed my ankle.
Stifling a yelp, I spun around to face a
handsome man with dark hair, gripping tightly to my
leg as if it would anchor him to the waking world.
I knelt down in front of him and took his
hand as I asked, “What’s your name?”
“Aamon—Aamon Wright.” He choked out,
his yellow eyes bleary as he peered up at me.
“Don’t worry, Aamon. Everything is going to
be alright. Did you drink anything?” I figured that he
must have had the cocktail too.
“That—that free drink was a doozy.” His
voice was hoarse as I helped him roll over and tried
to sit him up.
Naomi was behind the bar now, checking on
the bartender as I carried on a punctuated
conversation with the arborist.
“I found someone who is awake, Naomi!” I
called out to her, “Can you come keep an eye on Mr.
Wright while I go find Cassandra.”
Naomi had disappeared behind the bar and
didn’t respond to my question, so I called out again.
“Violet.” I heard her voice come from the
other side, “Come here.”
“Just sit tight, Aamon. Try and keep yourself
awake; I’ll be right back.” I propped him up against
a bar stool and circled around to see what it was that
Naomi needed.
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Issue #6
She was crouched down in front of an older

man, possibly in his forties, but this man wasn’t
asleep like the rest of them. Still dangling from his
face was the witch mask he had been wearing earlier
—Victor: the proprietor of the pub.
“He’s dead.” My voice caught in my throat.
It was already happening…
“He is—and this is the man I saw in my
dream chopping down the Acacia tree.” Naomi’s
amber colored eyes shot to mine.
“This man is no Demon.” That much was
clear. He was completely human and completely
deceased.
“Then who is doing all of this?” Naomi asked
me, closing the man’s wide open eyes.
“Maybe the man you saw planting the tree.” I
didn’t have any more answers.
The people around us were all probably
thrust into a nightmare world where the Batibat was
beginning to hunt them down, one by one, to
smother them with her bulbous body. We were
running out of time.
“Am I going to have to go in there and save
these people?” Naomi whispered to herself. She
didn’t seem like she was prepared for that, but the
weight was already on her shoulders.
“I found someone who is awake; the arborist
that Salome met with earlier. Maybe he saw
something, but we need to get back to him before he
127
loses consciousness too.” I left Victor’s side and

came back to Aamon.
To my amazement, he was still awake,
clutching the bar stool for support.
“I need you to tell me what you saw.” I knew
that he had probably seen more than Salome had
before she made a mad dash for the toilet.
“I saw—” He began to recollect the events
prior when Naomi appeared from behind the bar and
took a breath so audible that it caused me to turn and
look at her.
“Get away from him, Violet.” Her eyes were

ablaze as she stood there, her fists clenched at her
sides.
I wasn’t going to argue and slowly stood,
backing myself up to Naomi.
“That’s the bastard who planted the tree.”
Naomi’s finger shot out as she pointed directly at
Aamon.
“Ah, for fuck’s sake. Sometimes you humans
are just too damn smart.” Aamon began to clap as he
blinked his eyes a few times and pulled himself up
from the ground.
Aamon was a Demon—a Demon
masquerading as an arborist.
“Why aren’t you two asleep like the others? I
know we didn’t run out of those lovely Fire Pyre
Cocktails.” He wrung his hands, taking a step closer
to me and Naomi.
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Issue #6
“We were outside taking a break from all the

chaos when we figured out your little plan.” Naomi
hissed. We weren’t exactly sure why he was doing it
—but did Demons really need a reason why?
“Figured out my little—who the hell are
you?” Aamon narrowed his eyes at the two of us as
we began to back ourselves towards the door.
“Not human, that’s for sure.” I huffed, ready
to fight if I had to.
I felt myself shift as I lost all ability to hold
my altered appearance. My hair drained of color as
my third eye popped open and I looked down at my
arms to see that they were that dusty lilac color that I
had despised so much.
Aamon’s eyes flashed red and a smile crept
across his face as he began to clap his hands again.
“You’re one of them!” He exclaimed, turning
his attention from me to Naomi, “And you too?” He
pointed between us.
Naomi didn’t respond. I could hear that her
breathing had become ragged as the adrenaline
began to course through her body.
“Amazing! Two of you in one place!”
Aamon cackled, throwing his head back in delight.
There were more than two of us, but I wasn’t
going to give him the pleasure of knowing three
more of us were already right where he wanted them
to be.
129
“I don’t understand.” Naomi finally spoke.

She must have been asking herself a million
questions as to why all of this was happening.
“It’s really quite simple, but I won’t bore you
with all the details. This was hundreds of years in the
making. I have been waiting for this promotion for
centuries!” Aamon’s face had twisted into something
hideous as fangs sprouted from his mouth; not unlike
the ones that Khaine possessed.
“Go ahead, gloat. You deserve it.” I urged
him; trying to buy us some time.
“Well, two less souls for the time being
won’t hurt anything, I guess.” Aamon laughed at
himself as he reached behind the bar for a bottle of
scotch and lounged back atop a stool, “I brought that
pretty little Acacia tree clear across the ocean and
planted it amidst the trees of what would be known
as Proctor’s Ledge. It needed time to grow, needed
time for the Demon inside of it to settle and feel
more at home before I executed my plan. Believe
me, it was a pain in the ass waiting that long and I
had no idea how ruthless you humans could be…
murdering your own kind because maybe—just
maybe, they were involved with the Devils’
witchcraft.” Aamon laughed again, knocking back
half a bottle of liquor.
“I wasn’t going to be the one to eventually
incur the wrath of the Batibat; Filipino Demons are
no laughing business, so I worked on fostering
friendships in faraway lands until I had found myself
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Issue #6
the perfect scapegoat in Victor Redding. He was

trying to make a name for himself, building all these
bars and pubs and making money off your sad little
addictions. I suggested opening up an establishment
here in Salem with a kitschy theme to draw in the big
bucks and he took the bait—hook, line, and sinker.
Granted, it was illegal to cut down a tree in a
protected historical site, but Victor was such a
greedy bastard that it didn’t matter. Cue my idea
about the pyre and the medallion promotion—Victor
just ran with it.
I had so, so many souls all lined up for free
drinks wearing their necklaces made from the wood
of the Batibat’s tree. Toss in some spiked cocktails,
and I had the perfect formula: stupid humans wear
medallion to get free drink, free drink knocks them
out cold, Batibat goes after each and every one of
them in dreamland for ‘sleeping near her post’, and I
get to collect all the souls from their lifeless bodies
when she is done with them.
I mean, it took a lot of planning and a lot of
waiting, but more or less I didn’t have to lift a
fucking finger! The orchestration was fucking
beautiful!” Aamon finished his scotch just in time
for me to come up with a plan.
While he had been distracted with his
gloating, I had decided what it was I needed to do.
Aamon didn’t need that stool he was sitting
on.
131
The chair disappeared from beneath him and

he came crashing down hard to the ground as I
snatched Naomi by the hand and burst through the
front doors of the pub.
“You’re going to have to go find those

people and save them from the Batibat.” I huffed as
we ran back down the street into Derby Square.
“I can’t do that! That is a shit ton of people to
save!” Naomi denied that she would be able to save
anyone.
“No, you can do this; you’re the only one that
can do this. You have the ability to change the
outcome of dreams, you can control what goes on
around you, and you can defeat the Batibat and wake
everyone up.” I pushed her to do the right thing.
We had just come to the pyre in the middle of
the square when I stopped dead in my tracks.
“Cassandra.” I exhaled as my eyes fell upon
the makeshift burning stake.
She was tethered to it with thick ropes bound
at her ankles, midsection, and shoulders; a bandana
stuffed in her mouth to keep her from screaming.
“You thought you were smart, didn’t you?”
Aamon came from out of nowhere and began
walking towards us, “But I’m smarter…and much
quicker.” He grinned at me with a mouth full of
jagged teeth.
“You have to go now.” I nudged Naomi with
my elbow as I prepared myself for a fight.
132
Issue #6
Aamon threw his arms into the air and looked

up towards the sky as he cried out, “Really, what are
you going to do? You can’t save all of them if they
are asleep; there are just two of you. And this will be
the finale. Once the Batibat has killed all of the
people here tonight, I will set this pyre ablaze with
one last sacrifice, ensuring that I collect all the souls
that she has procured for me. Going out in a blaze of
glory!”
“Now, Naomi. Run. Run far away from here
and get into that dream. You have the medallion…
now go.” I pushed her.
The sudden movement caused Aamon to look
back at me and I barreled into him as Naomi took off
fleeing in the opposite direction.
I just hoped that I had the skills to hold him
off long enough for her to bring everyone back.
133
June 19th, 2016
Subject Name:
Naomi Star
I had to find myself a quiet place to gather

my thoughts before I proceeded with the dream. I
knew that time was running out for both friends and
strangers, but I had to prepare myself before I just
dived in there.
I started gathering protective crystals from
the shelves of Brighid’s Dawn and made a circle on
the floor in the book section. I sprinkled a ring of salt
and tossed out herbs that would assist me in my
134
Issue #6
dream walking, though I probably didn’t need any of

that.
The dreams were under my control.
I laid myself out inside the ring and gripped
the wooden medallion tight in my hands as I willed
myself into the dream world that the talisman was
connected to…
I was back in the same dream world I had

been in the night before. Modern Salem, but with a
gloomy and sinister twist.
The sky was dark, but the sun was up; a
smoldering blood red glow high in the sky. All the
trees around me were bare and the streets were
littered with debris as the structures around me had
begun crumbling to dust.
I heard screams in the distance; people
pleading for their lives.
There was no way I was going to let anyone
die after what I had witnessed in my dreams before,
and I pumped my legs as fast as they would go in the
direction of those cries.
They led me straight to Proctor’s Ledge.
People were packed into old wooden carts

like cattle, roped in threes, as the wagons drove
themselves down to the knot of trees where the
hangings had taken place in 1692.
135
I frantically scanned about for someone

familiar, and finally spotted Henri, tethered to two
other men as he was being driven to the thicket by…
Gabi.
I knew there was a reason she fucking
bothered me so much!
She was the goddamned Batibat!
Sadly, several bodies already hung from the
trees, their feet dangling above the rocky ground
below.
“Get the fuck off of me!” I heard Adam

bellow as Gabi withdrew him, Khaine, and another
man from the next cart and lined them up next to
Henri.
“No one sleeps near my post! How dare you
humans desecrate my home and proceed to wear it
around as if it were your own!” Gabi roared,
slapping Adam across the face.
He spit blood on the ground and I watched
as his form shifted: curled horns wound from his
head, scales sprouted around his eyes, and his arms
burned with the fire of a thousand suns.
Gabi hissed like some threatened animal and
backed herself into a tree, almost dislodging one of
the hanging bodies above her.
Then I saw poor Salome under a far tree,
arms bound behind her as a rope slithered from the
limbs above and wound its way around her neck.
136
Issue #6
I couldn’t wait any longer to act and hurdled

down the hill before taking flight on invisible wings.
Salome was being hoisted up into the tree and I
heard Khaine roar like some angered beast as she
struggled to free her arms.
I plucked a long ritual blade from thin air
and slashed through the rope before dropping to the
ground and catching Salome in my arms.
“You!” Gabi cackled, “I never expected you

to be a part of this; participating in the desecration
of my home. I had been watching you for weeks,
thinking you were one of the good ones, but you bear
the same medallion as the rest of them.” Gabi came
at me, pointing a long jeweled finger right at my
face.
I lashed out with lightning speed as my fist
connected with her beautiful face. I watched as she
went down hard, head over heels, and tumbled
further down the embankment.
“Help the others,” I instructed as I quickly
untied Khaine, but Adam had already burned
through his bindings and was making quick work of
Henri and Salome’s ropes.
Khaine began cutting the few people from the
tree that had already been hanged as I slid down to
where Gabi was trying to get her bearings again.
137
“They have to pay for their trespassing!”

Gabi pulled herself from the dirt, her stiletto heels
sinking into the moist earth under us.
“You don’t have to do this, Gabi.” I pleaded
with her, but I knew that her death would be
inevitable…if I could figure out how to kill her.
“You humans cut down my home! Took it
and mutilated the beautiful tree that housed me for
centuries and then used it to make money off of a
tragedy.” She morphed back into a gelatinous blob
and came slithering at me at top speed.
I leapt up so high in the air that she slid right
underneath my feet before I came back down to
Earth.
“We didn’t do this to your home! Yes,
humans can be terrible creatures, but it was another
Demon that orchestrated all of this!”
A part of me was starting to feel sorry for the
woman—Demon—but I couldn’t let her kill a bunch
of people based on her misconceptions of what was
actually going on.
“You’re lying.” Gabi turned back around
and had now doubled in size as she rolled her
bulbous body towards me like a bowling ball.
“How do you think you got here? You were
brought across the ocean by a Demon named Aamon
as a way to collect souls.” I huffed, swatting her
with a giant croquet mallet that I had materialized
as she passed me by.
138
Issue #6
It knocked her back up the hill and I watched

as Khaine flung Salome out of the way before Gabi
came rolling back down.
She stopped herself and changed
appearances one more time, back to the beautiful
ebony haired woman.
“You’re LYING!” She screamed, her eyes
swirling with fury and disbelief.
“No. You should be going after Aamon, not
these innocent people.” I was actually reasoning
with a damn Demon.
I watched as Gabi’s face softened and she
raised her hand in the air. She snapped her fingers
as everyone piled up on Proctor’s Ledge screamed
in unison.
139
Subject #001:
Violet Eve
“You little bitch!” Aamon wailed as I sent his

body crashing into the base of the pyre. The Acacia
pole rocked in its foundation and Cassandra let out a
muffled shriek as it teetered on an angle.
“I am already so sick and tired of this
bullshit!” I grit my teeth as I raced up to him and
cracked him in the jaw with such a force that several
sharp teeth went flying from his mouth.
“You know—I have to give her credit. She
created some of the best of us, but your kind is
ruthless.” Aamon rubbed at his jaw, popping it back
into place where I had dislocated it.
Was he talking about Lucinda Cipher?
“Enough chit chat, ok? I know how much
your kind loves to talk and I’m not here to make
friends.” I went to strike him again when he caught
me by the wrist and slung me into a street lamp.
“What time is it?” Aamon asked aloud,
checking the pocket watch that he pulled from his
trousers, “Well, I missed my deadline, but the
witching hour will do quite nicely for a bonfire.”
140
Issue #6
He was waiting for the 13th Hour when

Demons caused the most chaos.
At least he was going to wait, giving Naomi
enough time to make sure that everyone made it out
of the dream alive.
And it would give me enough time to get
Cassandra down from the pyre.
“Since I am such a good host, would you like

to join your friend on the pyre? It’ll be the best seat
in the house for the show.” Aamon grinned wildly at
me as I picked myself up from the street and stood
my ground.
“How generous of you,” I responded as he
inched closer and the street lamp behind me groaned
as it came crashing down on top of him.
I hoped that it would have squashed him like
a bug, but all it did was give me enough time to rush
to Cassandra and try to untie her as he struggled
beneath the wooden pole.
“Are you alright?” I panted as I pulled the
bandana from Cassandra’s mouth.
“I’ve been better.” She responded, sounding
relieved while I fumbled with the knots of her
bindings.
“I don’t think so.” Aamon’s words were right
in my ear as he gripped me by my hair and flung me
from the pyre. He stuffed the bandana back in
Cassandra’s mouth as she began to writhe under the
ropes.
141
“You are a real nuisance, you know that? Is

all of your kind this way?” He jumped from the Pyre
and planted his foot right in the middle of my chest.
I wheezed as I fought to take a breath. I had
begun to tire out; after all, I hadn’t slept well the
night before.
“Do you give up?” Aamon sneered, digging
his foot deeper into my sternum.
“Wa—wait.” I huffed, waving my hands in
defeat, “I—I need to say something.”
Aamon relieved a bit of the pressure on my
chest and bent over to hear me better, “Are you
going to plead for your life like your mother did?”
My third eye felt like it was vibrating in my
skull.
Aamon recognized me now. He knew that I
was one of the 667; he knew that I was Subject #001
and my mother was Patient Zero…
Had he been the one that killed her?
“I was—I was just going to ask,” I had to

keep myself from becoming enraged and botching
the whole thing up, “Can you continue to do this
with a broken ankle?”
“What?” He didn’t understand the question at
first, but with a sickening crack, his ankle shattered
and he fell headlong right over me.
He shrieked in agony as I flipped myself over
and willed the other ankle to snap into a million
pieces
142
Issue #6
“You won’t be able to do much if you can’t

walk, can you?” I was ready to blow him to pieces
like I had that first Angel, my third eye beginning to
twitch as I felt the energy inside it begin to surge.
“You…you fucking—.” Aamon gasped,
gripping at both of his ankles as I stood before him,
ready to break the rest of the bones in his body.
“Are you done now?” I cocked my head to
the side, looming over the Demon with my third eye
wide.
“It isn’t—that—easy!” Aamon snapped his
ankles back into place, “Gosh… look at the time.”
In an instant, he was on his feet. He shoved
me out of the way and snapped his fingers towards
the pyre.
A roaring sound erupted and I watched as the
base of the pyre was lit ablaze.
“No!” I screamed, trying to run for Cassandra
as I heard her muffled cries, the flames beginning to
lick at her bare feet.
“The Batibat should have taken all your
friends by now; doesn’t usually take one long to
suffocate a room full of people with the nauseating
weight of that body.” Aamon had me around the
throat now and was dragging me towards the blaze
when I heard it.
Pop!
A cracking sound from the pub shook the
foundation of the city. Naomi came rushing up the
143
street as Adam and the rest of the group exited the

bar.
“Drop her, Aamon!” Naomi commanded, but

he practically laughed in her face.
“You have no authority here, witch! You’re
only useful in dream land.”
“I may not be able to stop you, but she can.”
Naomi stepped aside as a beautiful woman with jet
black hair came forward.
“And you would be?” Aamon looked
nonplussed, still gripping me tightly by the neck as
the flames leapt higher around Cassandra.
Henri ran to take her down, but I watched as
the fire jumped even higher, belching smoke in
Henri’s face with such a force that he had to shield
himself.
“Gabi. And you let them destroy my home.” I
watched as Gabi’s beautiful form grew in size until
the hag—the Batibat—was towering in front of us.
Aamon immediately released his hold on me,
and I was able to scramble away just as the Batibat
brought down her fist like a club.
The ground shook as my friends fought to
stay on their feet and I crawled my way over to the
pyre. I blinked and the fire was doused, a billowing
cloud of black smoke pluming into the air.
“Get her down!” I barked at Henri, who
quickly climbed the side of the pole and cut
Cassandra free.
144
Issue #6
Her body was limp; the fire may not have

gotten to her yet, but the smoke had.
“She isn’t breathing!” He cried, carrying her
over to the sidewalk.
But I didn’t have time to help him.
The Batibat had flung Aamon into the air and

his body collided with mine, sending us both clear
across the street.
My ears were ringing from the blow and the
wind had been knocked out me as I tried to pull
myself to my feet.
“Pagganti!” I heard Gabi scream, a blob of a
body rolling towards us like a boulder.
Aamon tossed me out of the way and held out
his hands to brace for the blow, his feet digging a
trench in the road as the Batibat pushed him down
the pavement.
“It’s—rather embarrassing that you call
yourself a Demon.” Aamon insulted her as he fought
back at least a megaton of rolling flesh.
“I’m embarrassed to be lumped in with your
kind.” She hissed. As if to add insult to injury, the
Batibat melted back into the beautiful Gabi and
backhanded Aamon across the face.
The force sent him sailing right into the pyre,
tiny sparks still smoldering inside the kindling
whirling about in the air with his landing.
Before he had a chance to come back for
more, Gabi was already on him.
145
“All I wanted was to live my life out in peace

and you’ve ruined it!” Gabi picked him up by his
busted ankle and slung him up against the pole,
before looking for something that could tether him to
it.
She didn’t even have to ask for help.
I reformed the ropes that had been binding
Cassandra and assisted with winding them around
his body as Gabi pinned him to the pyre upside
down.
“I won’t let you take the souls of those
people. I may have killed a few, but I reconsidered
the rest, thanks to Naomi.” Gabi jabbed a pointy nail
in between Aamon’s ribs, “The only soul going to
Hell is yours.”
I hadn’t realized that Naomi had gone to help
Henri and the rest revive Cassandra…but Adam had
come back.
Gabi turned her attention towards him and
nodded her head as he walked over to the pyre and
placed his hand in the kindling at the bottom.
The fire erupted immediately and I heard the
hissing sound of Aamon’s flesh as he shrieked in
agony.
Cassandra’s coughing caught my attention,
and I turned my head to see Henri cradling her in his
arms as Naomi dashed back out into the street.
146
Issue #6
“No! You promised me you wouldn’t do

this!” Naomi screamed at Gabi as she stood by
watching Aamon be devoured by the flames.
“I can’t rest knowing that my home has been
destroyed; I have gotten my revenge and would
spend the rest of eternity wandering this Earth with
guilt. It’s time.” Gabi reached out and ran a
bejeweled nail down Naomi’s cheek.
As she pulled her hand back, I watched
Gabi’s form waver in the curling smoke and her
body disintegrated to ash and swirled away on the
wind.
There was nothing left of Aamon either.
The pole was charred, but his body was
nonexistent; there was absolutely no evidence that he
had ever been there.
Adam helped me up from the street and took
me over to Naomi, who was silently watching the
fire in tears.
“She had to do this.” I wrapped my arm
around her as she buried her face on my shoulder.
“She promised me she wouldn’t, but I think
deep down…I knew.” Naomi wiped tears from her
flushed cheeks and went back to watching the fire.
“Guess we should get rid of these while
we’re at it.” Adam pulled a handful of medallions
from his pocket and tossed them into the bonfire.
I looped mine from around my neck and
threw it in at the same time as Naomi.
147
“Were you able to save everyone?” I asked

Naomi, watching the orange of the fire swallow the
wooden talismans whole.
“Most; she had killed a few before I got
there. I know she was a Demon, but I just feel—bad
for her.” Naomi waved Khaine and Salome over as
she instructed them to toss their own medallions into
the fire pit, along with the rest of the ones they had
collected from the other bar patrons.
“And everyone else?” I still hadn’t seen any
of the other people from the pub.
“They’re still inside the Witch’s Brew; I
don’t know how we are going to explain this to the
cops.” Naomi shook her head as Khaine tossed
necklace after necklace into the smoldering embers
of the fire.
“Then let’s not. We were never here.” Adam
replied, his body so close to mine I could feel the
heat.
“How are the police not already here,
though?” I wondered aloud.
There was no way that the sounds of a street
fight, a blazing fire in the square at one AM, and a
mega-monster stomping through the center of Salem
hadn’t alerted anyone…
“That’s because I put the rest of the city to

sleep; can’t have such a messy situation going on
while I’m around.” A lilting voice rang out behind
us.
148
Issue #6
“Who the fuck are you?” Khaine was ready

for battle now and came lumbering forward at the
smartly dressed woman standing under the brightest
lamp on the street.
“Not important, just know that I helped save
your asses from jail.” She smirked, pulling her dark
red hair back from her face; the woman was
absolutely stunning.
“Thank you?” My gratitude came out more
like a question.
“You’re welcome, Violet. Keep up the good
work.” She winked at me and then vanished, taking
the light from the lamp with her. At least someone
was looking out for us…
“Can we go home now?” I leaned into Adam,
ready to be done with our little trip to Salem.
“Are we not going to talk about the woman
that just disappeared before our very eyes?” Adam
steered me up the street as the rest of the group
gathered behind to follow.
“Not tonight…not tonight.”
I didn’t want to talk about anything right
now. This trip had really taken the wind out of me
and I had too much to think about already.
Things would have to be discussed
eventually: the files I found at the old lab, the words
spoken to me by Aamon—but that could wait till we
were safe and sound back in New Orleans…
My hometown.
149
667
Children of the
Beast
Issue #6
“What Dreams May Come”
Next Issue:
#7 Part I
“Seven”
150

667 Issue 6

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Edgar Allan Poe

1. June 16th 2016: Naomi Star 1

2. Subject #001: Violet Eve 5

3. Subject Name: Adam Baudin 12

4. June 17th 2016: Naomi Star 24

5. Subject #001: Violet Eve 30

6. Subject Name: Adam Baudin 42

7. Subject Name: Naomi Star 48

9. Subject Name: Naomi Star 56

10. June 18th 2016: Adam Baudin 62

11. Subject #001: Violet Eve 75

12. Subject Name: Adam Baudin 83

13. Subject Name: Salome Vexx 90

14. Subject Name: Naomi Star 96

15. Subject #001: Violet Eve 102

17. Subject #001: Violet Eve 109

18. Subject Name: Adam Baudin 116

19. Subject Name: Naomi Star 121

20. Subject #001: Violet Eve 131

21. June 19th 2016: Naomi Star 144

22. Subject #001: Violet Eve 150

June 16th, 2016

Things were different now.

“Why can’t you just wake up!? Pretend like

I sat bolt upright in my bed, wide awake. It

“What the?” I exclaimed as I slid out of bed

webbing as I made a trail out to my kitchen and got a

“In other news, a mass suicide that occurred

There was a connection there. A connection

Missy was gone. In a way, I felt relief, but

“Makeup just isn’t helping.” I chucked my

from being mortally wounded, I was sure I could

I opened my eyes and stopped holding my

I felt vain, though. The others still very much

It was Salome. I had let her into my inner

“You mean you became your art?” Salome

“Violet.” Salome turned and grinned at me as

knocked on Adam’s door. I could hear music blaring

I didn’t hear Violet knock the first time. My

“Yeah. I don’t really want company, but I’ll

a moment and I really wished I could see those green

“Well, I like them both ways.” I smiled back,

“Josiah wants us down on the front porch. He

“Everyone accounted for?” Josiah was set up

triggered your transformation. We have no idea how

“Mysterious spider-like webbing is popping

over the globe in over thirty-eight countries have

as Japan and Australia where people are

“Wonderful. More waiting.” Violet scooted

“When do we leave?” Violet perked up from

“I’m glad Salome has found herself a friend.

“I think Violet needs the companionship right

June 17th, 2016

“You should be fired, but we were able to get

“Evening shift should be a cake walk tonight

Allison had been right…it had been a slow

The chimes above the front door sounded and

glowing under the glittering of the Aura quartz in the

Department to keep the blaze contained, but I find it

Something was just off about the woman and

I had been passed out in the far backseat of