Demon Rising

Chapter 8: Dogma Unleashed

Chapter 8: Dogma Unleashed
Authors note: If you find any spelling mistakes, please let me know. I couldn't spot any, but there still might be a few. Also, if you can make it through this chapter, you will be greatly rewarded. I know, it's long, that's just what happened


The ride home from downtown Tokyo was an uneasy event.

Walking on to the train, it still showed the tell-tail signs of Jinkara’s awakening. The window was shattered, and the floor was still stained a horrible red.

None of the friends spoke much, except to find out the time or find out how many stops were left until their stop, and Vaugn couldn’t blame them.

They had watched Vaugn transform into a drooling, snarling, violent monster. They had watched Vaugn’s body not only run amuk in Tokyo, but watched as the creature that was sharing Vaugn’s soul almost get out. Had Jinkara escaped…well, Vaugn didn’t like to think about that.

Vaugn was staring out the window, watching the tunnel wall pass. Every now and then he’d feel the eyes of one of his friends looking at him, but that didn’t matter to him right now. Instead, he was thinking about what Lucifor had told him.

Because Vaugn was weak, and Jinkara had managed to control his body, 40 of the most powerful demons were now on the loose trying to destroy Vaugn.

But that wasn’t all. Confusingly, the demons that had escaped, the ones that call themselves the Feral Forty, were now out to kill Vaugn, and consequently Jinkara, because Vaugn defied Jinkara and stopped him from escaping his body.

Lucifor told Vaugn that now that the prophecy has been broken, the world is in grave danger. He also told Vaugn that he, Vaugn, and Jinkara must work together to destroy the Feral Forty. As a reward for detroying them, Lucifor would free Vaugn from Jinkara’s curse.

The only problem with the plan was that Vaugn and Jinkara hate eachother. How were they supposed to work together to stop these demons when each would rather have the other dead? Or in Jinkara’s case, purified.

The thought of Vaugn fighting demons who were out to destroy him and their former master, was so assinine, that for some reason, Vaugn couldn’t help but believe it.

Maybe it was the shock of what has happened to him in the past 4 hours, but hearing that 40 demons were now out to destroy him made sence after having his body mutated and taken over by a demon named Jinkara.

"Vaugn? We’re at our stop.", someone said, shaking him slightly

Vaugn snapped back to his sences and looked around.

His friends were standing and looking at him, Nikkai’s hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, thanks Nikkai. Let’s go guys.", Vaugn replied, standing up and following his friends out the door.

Walking up the stairs from the subway and onto the street above yielded a dark strip mall, devoid of life. All the stores were dark, their signs turned off, their windows black as the night sky.

Walking down the street in silence, the friends heard everything of the night. The crickets chirping, the gentle rustle of the leaves and grass with a gentle breeze, the gentle patter of their feet on the pavement, and the gentle hum of the street lamps above their heads. Occcasionally a car could be heard in some far off neighbourhood, but other then that, all was dead, all was silent.

Walking home, the friends passed the house of the murdered old man that the news had reported about. The man who had placed Jinkara on Vaugn, and bound him to Vaugn’s soul.

Vaugn found himself feeling a drop of joy at the thought of the murdered man. But it wasn’t Jinkara rearing his presence, but rather Vaugn’s own thought. After all, this old man cast Vaugn down a dangerous path, one full of monsterous creatures and true evil.

Walking up the driveway, and silently opening the door, the group walked into the dark coat room, and took off their shoes.

"You guys hungry?", Asuke asked the others. They had been running all over the city looking for Vaugn and Asuke was starving.

"Yeah, I could do with some food.", Shentin replied, nodding his head.

"Me too.", Imari said as her stomach gave an audible growl.

Walking down the hall to the dining room, Asuke slid open the door and she and her friends saw a large plate of lemon squares and a pot of tea waiting for them on the table.

"Thank you Coonai!", Nikkai said in a hugely grateful tone as he sat down turning on the TV and grabbing a lemon square, started to eat as if it were his first bite to eat in weeks.

Vaugn and the others followed suit, and soon they were all enjoying the lemon squares and tea. Vaugn didn’t feel hungry, but yet he ate anyway to keep himself busy.

As the clock hit 11 o’clock, the evening news came on. Their top story, as expected, were the strange goings on that had erupted in the city.

Not only did they show the scene from ontop of the Kojuni office building, complete with roars from Jinkara, they showed Jinkara emerging from Vaugn’s body, but also disappearing in a rush of black flames. As if to emphasise how strange the events were, they showed film not only of Vaugn’s body jumping from building to building, but also crushing a car,destroying a semi and destroying a police helicopter.Though Vaugn had lived all of this, he found it a little strange watching it on TV.

"Hey Vaugn?", Nikkai asked, pulling his eyes away from the TV and looking at Vaugn who was now taking a drink of tea.

"Yeah?", Vaugn replied, taking a gulp of his tea.

"When you were passed out, after that monster disappeared, you were quietly talking to yourself. I was just curious what was going on? Was it a dream you were having?", Nikkai asked curiously, and all of Vaugn’s friends turned away from the TV, now looking at him.

Vaugn lowered his cup and looked around at his friends, who looked at Vaugn as if he were a very interesting TV show. Placing his elbows on the table and resting on them, Vaugn told his friends everything that had happened while he was passed out.

He told his friends about meeting Lucifor;He told them about the prophecy that had been made about him 1000 years ago; He told them that it was Vaugn who was destined to hold Jinkara in his soul for the rest of his life; He told them that because Jinkara had managed to control his body he had broken the prophecy, and because of it, he put the world in grave danger; Finally, he told his friends that 40 of the most powerful demons were now out to kill Vaugn and try to control the world.

All through his story, Vaugn’s friends listened in rapt attention, their eyes wide with shock, their mouths hanging open. Vaugn did have to admit that they were a good audience, the girls gasping in all the right places, the guys watching him like he was a movie star.

When Vaugn had finished his story, there was complete silence from the 6 friends. The only sound came from the TV, which was still reporting the strange happenings of the night. Kihari was the first to recover.

"The world’s in danger? Just because that demon took over your body?", Kihari asked, and Vaugn was glad to hear that she sounded somewhat skeptical. Atleast he wasn’t the only one who had some reservations about this.

"Yeah. Lucifor said that 40 demons that follwed Jinkara during the Wars of Hell have broken out of the Western Prison of Hell. Appearntly they’re out to kill me and Jinkara because not only did I prevent their master from regaining his body, but also because Jinkara allowed himself to be beaten by a human.", Vaugn replied in a somewhat casual voice.

"Do you believe that it’s true?", Shentin asked Vaugn, and Vaugn again was glad to see that someone was looking somewhat skeptical.

"Well, the way I see it, it could be true. I mean, you all saw what happened tonight. A demon taking over my body, running amok in downtown Tokyo, then almost escaping my body. For all we know and have seen tonight,it could be true.", Vaugn replied thoughtfully.

"Aren’t you scared Vaugn?", Asuke asked in a worried voice.

"Not really. After being taken over by Jinkara, I feel that the worst is over. Lucifor said that Jinkara will help me when the time comes, so I’ll probably beable to handle the Feral Forty, aslong as he helps me that is.", Vaugn replied casually.

"What did you say?", a voice spoke. It wasn’t Vaugn or any of his friends. Rather, it seemed that the voice was coming from the very room itself. The voice was calm, yet cold, and full of hate and evil.

"Ah, Jinkara. I was wondering when we’d hear from you.", Vaugn said conversationally, while his friends looked around scared.

"Did you say that the Feral Forty had escaped the Western Prison?", Jinkara asked, a note of glee in his voice.

"That’s what Lucifor said, yes.", Vaugn spoke out loud to the room.

"Excellent. My followers have escaped. Now we can take over the surface world, and wipe out man kind.", Jinkara said, his voice now shaking with excitement.

All of Vaugn’s friends looked terrified. They were looking at one another, their eyes wide and fearful, their breathing seemingly stopped, their voices lost in their throat. When they looked at Vaugn, they were even more shocked to see that he was smiling.

"Sorry Jinkara. But your followers aren’t just out to destroy me. They want to destroy you aswell.", Vaugn said, still smiling.

"What do you mean?", Jinkara asked slowly.

"Accroding to Lucifor, they no longer see you as their leader. They’re furious with you Jinkara because not only did you keep them imprisoned for 1000 years, but you also failed to escape the body of a mere human. You, the most powerful demon ever, failing to escape the body of a human. They’re furious Jinkara, and they want you destroyed just as much as they want me destroyed.", Vaugn said out loud, and he could feel Jinkara’s anger growing inside of him.

There was a long pause, in which none of the friends or Jinkara spoke. When the silence was broken, Jinkara was the one to break it.

"You lie ape. My followers are loyal to me. They would never turn against me.", Jinkara said in a confident voice striped with anger.

"We’ll see Jinkara, we’ll see.", Vaugn finished, and Jinkara went silent after that, though occasionally Vaugn would capture a thought or two from Jinkara, cleary thinking about what Vaugn had told him.

"Well guys, it’s late. We should probably be getting to bed. You all can stay the night. I’m sure Coonai won’t mind making an extra big breakfast in the morning.", Asuke said, stretching and yawning.

"Yeah, it’s been a busy night. We should get some sleep.", Nikkai agreed with her.

10 minutes later, Vaugn and Asuke were walking up the stairs to their rooms, their friends making use of the pillows in the dining room and blankettes from the laundryroom.

"Hey Vaugn?", Asuke asked as she and Vaugn were saying their good nights in the dark hall.

"Yeah Asuke?", Vaugn replied, looking at her in the dark hallway.

"Can you honestly say that you’re not scared about these Feral Forty demons?", she asked, and even though it was dark in the hall, Vaugn could tell she had a concerned expression on her face.

"Honestly Asuke…I can’t say what I am right now. I’m not sure if I’m scared or not. But I’ll tell you as soon as I know for sure.", Vaugn replied with a smile, and with that, he pushed open the door to his bedroom, walked in and closed the door.

Getting undressed and crawling into bed, Vaugn knew he should be more scared, yet for some reason, he wasn’t. Maybe it was because of Jinkara being so confident that the Feral Forty wouldn’t attack him, but he wasn’t scared at all.

Quite the contrary, he felt a little excited about it. He couldn’t explain why, but he just did.

And with that thought, he rolled onto his side and fell asleep imediately, not thinking of anything even remotely related to demons.



***



In a dark, grassy field outside of Tokyo, a stray dog could be found rumaging for something to eat.

The field was large, and it had trees all around it. It was more of a clearing in a forest then an odinary field.

Owls could be heard hooting, and the occasional rustle of grass or leaves as small animals tried to find something to eat. Wind was gently rustling the very tops of the trees, the moon was shining brightly, and the stars twinkling gently.

In the very center of the field, the dog was searching for food, when the ground started to gently rumble. The dog stopped it’s search and looked around caustiously, sniffing the air.

The ground gave a huge rumble that shook the trees around the clearing, causing several birds to take flight and search for a quieter tree.

In the center of the clearing, a plot of ground the size of a large swimming pool was gently rising up, as if a giant balloon was being filled under it, the dog approaching it cautiously.

The mound of earth continued to rise until it was ten feet high. The small dog stared at the hill, not moving.

Slowly, the ground started to crack, and moments later, a large, clawed hand stared to rise out the mound. The hand was connected to an arm that was strangely thin and bony and covered in fur, just like a dogs leg. When the arm was completely out, it bent down and sunk it’s hand into the ground, just as another hand and arm were emerging. This arm, when fully free of the ground, also bent down and planted it’s clawed hand into the ground.

The arms strained, and slowly, the mound of earth got higher and higher, cracking more and more. When the mound was 16 feet tall, a head started to emerge from the ground, the soil falling off of it as if it were water.

The head was that of a dogs, only larger. It had long fangs that were visible around the edge of it’s large jaws. It’s ears were perched ontop of it’s head, standing straight up, twitching at the sounds that were now new to it, it’s nose twitching at the smells that were new. It’s eyes though, were black with red slits for pupils.

Pushing it’s body out of the ground, it had the body of a dog, though there was definetly a hint of a human chest and stomach under it’s fur.

Stepping out of the whole it had now emerged from, it had thin, bony legs and stood on the balls of it’s feet, exactly like a dog.

The creature raised it’s head to the sky, it’s nose twitching, and let out a loud, cold howl that echoed around it.

Snarling, drool dripping from it’s fangs, the creature spoke.

"This is where Jinkara is hiding? To think…he was overcome by a mere mortal! And we used to call him master! I’ll kill him and that mortal for what they have done to us.", the creature growled, clenching it’s clawed fist, snarling even more.

All was silent around him. The wind itself seemed to be silent for this creature.

As the creature stood there, it’s fist clenched, a barking could be heard. Looking down, the creature saw a small dog barking and growling at the it.

The large creature took 3 steps towards the dog, all the while the little dog stood it’s ground, not moving.

The creature, now a mere 7 feet from the dog, stared at the little form that was barking at him.

The dog seemed to realise something was wrong, as it stopped barking, and slowly started to back up.

No sooner had the dog stared to back away, then the large creature raised one of it’s large clawed hands, and slashed downwards.

The air was rent with the sudden sound of a dog howling in pain, and then, silence.

There the creature stood for several seconds, before slowly walking away into the forest, the ground and trees shaking slightly with each step.

In a dark, grassy field outside of Tokyo, a small stray dog, once searching for food, could now be found laying motionless on the ground, it’s blood slowly oozing out of it’s now lifeless body.



***



When Vaugn woke up, the sun had risen and was shining happily in the blue, cloudless sky. Stretching and swinging his feet out of bed, Vaugn got up,slipped on his slippers, and walked to the window.

It was hard to believe, Vaugn thought, that some 12 hours ago Vaugn,or Vaugn’s body anyway, was rampaging through the city, destroying cars and helicopters. It’s even harder to believe that 12 hours ago, a demon named Jinkara had tried to escape Vaugn’s body so it could take over the world.

Though Vaugn had lived all of this, he still found it to be something like a very vivid dream. He knew it was real, but it was so fantiful that he couldn’t help thinking that it was, in someway, a dream.

Pulling on a shirt and leaving the room, the hall was silent and empty.

"Morning Asuke.", Vaugn yawned, as Asuke emerged from her room, her hair rather messy.

"Morning Vaugn. Sleep well?", Asuke replied, stifling a huge yawn.

"Aswell as expected.", Vaugn answered as they walked down the stairs and down the hall to the dining room.

Pushing open the doors, they found their friends and family all sitting around the table, having their breakfast tea and watching TV, Mr. Miasoto reading the Sunday paper.

"Morning you two.", Mr. Miasoto greeted Asuke and Vaugn, "Have a good sleep?"

"As good as expected.", Vaugn replied, sitting down at the table and pouring himself some tea.

"You all got home late last night. Did you have a good time at the movies?", He asked, folding the paper and watching TV with the others.

The friends shot weary glances at eachother, before Kihari spoke, "We didn’t see the movie. All sold out when we got their. So we went to the arcade instead.", she finished in a matter-of-fact tone.

"That’s too bad. You were all looking forward to seeing that movie.", Mr. Miasoto said as the Sunday News began.

Staring down at the folded news paper front page, Vaugn saw a picture of the Kojuni office building, with a huge dark figure ontop of it. This figure,though the picture was taken from the street, had large hands with sharp looking claws, musclely arms, a head like a dogs,and glowing red eyes.

"Damn…Jinkara looks fat in that picture.", Vaugn thought, grinning to himself.

"Watch it ape.", a voice spoke out in his mind, a voice that sounded angry.

"Oh, did you hear that?", Vaugn thought to himself, still grinning.

"Yes I did. And I was just starting to enjoy the silence.", Jinkara replied coldly.

"Well get used to it. We’re stuck together remember?", Vaugn thought again.

Despite the fact that both Vaugn and Jinkara hate eachother to no end, today was different. Vaugn felt a little more comfortable with Jinkara now. Lucifor said that Vaugn and Jinkara may hate eachother now but that would change. Whether Lucifor was right or not, given the recent events, anything could happen and Jinkara and Vaugn liking eachother wasn’t exactly out of the question.

Turning to the TV, a report was airing about a farmer who had half of his livestock heard killed.

"A Local farmer today woke up to a grissly site when he looked out his window. Half of his live stock heard, some 150 heads of cattle were found butchered.", the achorwoman read out before cuttng to a scene of the incident.

From what Vaugn and the others could see on TV, many of the cattle seemed to have had their throats ripped out, yet some of them seemed to have had their sides ripped out by something huge and with claws, there bodies split open for all to see. The field that they were showing was stained red, and littered with the dead carcases of the animals.

"Today, investigators and insurers are investugating the slaughter of 150 heads of cattle at a farm outside of Tokyo. The area that the farm resides in is known for having packs of stray dogs, but these packs usually will go after the sheep farmers in the area, and will kill one of two sheep every six or so months, but this is the first case of animals as large as cattle being killed. It is thought that these packs may have been responsible for one or two deaths of cattle, but could not be responsible for all of them. Stranger still is the odd slash marks that some of dead animals have on their sides. Police are saying that this is not something to be afraid of, as these wild dogs live in the forest, and no where near the towns.", the reporter finished, now moving on to the big story of the day: The strange apperition on top of the Kojuni office building.

Vaugn rolled his eyes, pulled the paper towards him and scanned through it, looking for articles he could use for his Social Studies class. Having lived the strange occurance on top of the Kojuni office building, he had no desire to hear what other people had to say about it.

Sunday morning passed with nothing exciting happening. Not only was it a cool day, so the friends went for a walk through the park, but it was breezy aswell, so they took sometime to watch the kids flying their kites. While they were watching the kites, relaxing on a couple park benches,Vaugn told his friends that he could talk to Jinkara through his thoughts.

"Are you serious?", asked Nikkai, as they watched one kite swoop down and glide inches above the ground before it shot back into the sky.

"Yep, I am. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing though.", Vaugn replied as they watched two kite flyers get into a fight as the strings of their kites got tangled with eachother, each kite flyer blaming the other, and getting into a slight scuffle.

"It could come in handy in certain situations…very convoluded situations, but situations none the less.", Asuke said, as she and the others got up and kept walking through the park.

Walking a short distance, they entered a dog park. Here, ever owner of a dog would bring their dogs to the giant open field, and let their dogs play. Vaugn was a dog lover, and he always wanted a dog back in Canada, but his parents never let him have one, but Vaugn never understood why.

In the park however, Vaugn could see quite clearly why his parents never let him have a dog.

Every owner that was in the park, and there was about 100 of them, seemed to be fighting very hard to control their dogs. Many of the dogs were biting their leashes and shaking them violently, as if trying to break them. Some of the larger dogs were dragging their owners around on the stomachs, trying to break the grip the owner had on the leash. The rest of the dogs were fighting one another, their teeth and claws, biting and slashing the other dogs, causing very serious wounds to be inflicted on eacother, their blood seeping into their fur, matting their fur and stainging it red. And some owners had their dogs muzeled, their arms bleeding from what looked like teeth marks and claw marks.

The friends stared at the seen before them. None of the friends had ever seen dogs act like this, and clearly, neither had the owners. The owners were straing to control their dogs, trying to stop their dogs from killing eachother,looks of shock and surprise on their faces.

"What the…what’s going on?", Imari asked, looking out over the field and the battle raging in the dog park.

"It looks like the dogs are trying to escape or kill eachother.", Kihari replied, "But why would they want to do that?", she asked, looking at her friends in a very confused way.

"I don’t know. It doesn’t make sence.", Nikkai replied slowly, "Maybe they have a disease or something."

Just then, a strange feeling over took Vaugn.

As he was looking out over the scene, the very scene before his eyes shot suddenly away from him, but then just as quickly back to him.But it was in that split second when the scene shot back at at Vaugn that he could comphrehend what he had seen. The scene that had shot back before him, though a copy of the real scene of fighting and chaos, was some how see through. It was like it was a hologram of the origanul. But the scene quickly faded away. It was as if the scene he was witnessing had created an echo. When the echo started, Vaugn heard his heart beat, suddenly amplified. A single lub-dub to accompany the echo.

When the echo started, Vaugn had a sudden feeling as if something demonic was near by.

Vaugn started to look around desperately. He looked behind him, he looked to the rooves of the houses, he looked everywhere he could think of, but yet saw nothing.

"Vaugn, is everything okay?", Shentin asked, looking at Vaugn in a concerned way.

"I just got this feeling that something evil…something demonic, was near by.", Vaugn replied in a serious tone, his voice with a slight edge to it.

"What do you mean? You mean a demon is near by?", asked Asuke, looking startled.

"No…but there is something of great evil around, I know that.", Vaugn replied quietly, his voice still with an edge.

No sooner had the words left Vaugn’s mouth, then a loud, evil, dog like howl rang out across the city.

The friends looked around for what was making the howling sound, but they saw nothing. It seemed to be coming from the very trees, houses and buildings of Tokyo.

The friends looked back down at the field, and saw that the dogs had stopped the chaos, their ears standing straight up, and they were all looking at the same invisble point behind Vaugn and his friends.

Suddenly, the leashes that had been holding the dogs back glowed an erie red glow, then suddenly tore in half, as if an invisble hand had grasped the leash and pulled it apart.

The dogs stood rooted on spot for several moments, but quite suddenly, growls of anger could be heard, and without warning the dogs started to sprint at Vaugn and his friends, barking all the while.

"Watch it guys!", Vaugn shouted as he pushed Nikkai to his right, and pulled Asuke and Kihari out of the way of the stampeding dogs.

The dogs though, didn’t seem to be going for Vaugn and his friends. Instead, they seemed to be drawn by some invisible lure, as they ran right past Vaugn and his friends, and kept running until they were out of sight.

"Okay…that was…I want to say a little strange, but that would be an understatement.", Shentin said, as he and his friends stared after the dogs.

"Come on guys, I have a feeling that these aren’t the only dogs that are acting strange.", Vaugn said sounding serious, walking to the sidewalk and down the street..

As the friends walked down the street, they could easily see that Vaugn was right. Every dog in the neighbourhood had seemed to run away, but the ones that hadn’t escaped where fighting tooth and nail to escape.

In one house, a dog who had been kept inside all day was now struggling to escape. He was barking and snarling at the glass, his breath fogging the window, it’s spit running down and he had left long, visible claw marks where he had been slashing at the window. In another yard, a dog, who must have been chained outside after that loud evil howl, was now straining to break it’s dog chain that had been tied to a metal clothes line pole. It was straing so hard against it’s chain it was bending the pole.

What really shocked the friends, was a dog that was in a car outside a grocery store, the owner unable to get near the car without the dog trying to attack him through the glass.

Getting closer to the car, they saw a dog about the size of a husky, going insane. It was pacing around the back seat of the car, and everytime the owner got close, it would rush to the window, and start snarling and slashing at the owner through the window, leaving long claw marks in the glass. When Vaugn and the others drew level with the owner, the dog stopped immediately.

It stared at Vaugn. It’s pupils started to slowly contract, and it started to snarl, it’s snarls getting louder and louder, it's fangs being bared more and more with every snarl. Finally, it lunged at Vaugn through the glass, ramming it’s head into the window and shaking the whole car. The friends and owner backed away, shocked,as the dog lunged at Vaugn again, this time cracking the glass when it hit the car window, aswell as opening a cut on it’s forehead. The dog staggered slightly, and then refocused on Vaugn. With one final lunge, it hit the glass with enough force to punch a small hole out of the glass, but opened the cut on it’s head all the way, smearing blood all over the glass, and falling limpy onto the car seat, blood running down it’s forehead out of it's wound, staining the seat.

The friends and the owner stared, shocked at what they had seen. The friends watched the animal breathing slowly, before Vaugn turned to his friends,nodded to them, and they continued walking.

"Okay, now that was strange. What’s happening?", Shentin said as they kept walking.

"I don’t know. It’s strange though that all the dogs in the area would start acting insane. Guys, I think we should get home now.", Vaugn said slowly, with a sudden feeling that something would explain it all at home.

The others nodded, and they hurried home. After 20 minutes of walking, and getting barked and snarled at by dogs chained in their yard, they walked into the house and straight to the dining room.

Meeting only Coonai ("Oh hello everyone. Have a good walk", she asked happily), Vaugn grabbed the remote off the table and turned on the TV.

Just as Vaugn had thought, the afternoon news report was reporting on the strange behaviour of the city’s dogs.

"Today, dog owners were shocked and terrifed as their beloved pets suddenly turned vicous. Many dogs today were reported fighting one another, while others still attacked their owners and tried to escape their yards or houses. One dog reportedly used it’s body to shatter a window on the second floor of it’s home and leaping to the ground. Many resident dog owners say that their dogs seemed to literally change over night. While the dogs seemed to to be fighting and mauling everything and everyone they could reach, a loud dog like howl echoed around the city and the dogs seemed to be unified as they escaped their owners. And as if to add to the mystery of the strange occurances, a large paw print, about 4 feet in length, was found outside of the city, the grass around it brunt black. Owners are adviced to keep their dogs safely chained in their yard, or in a cage until the strange behaviour stops.", the reporter finished, turning it over to the weather man now.

"Oh my. How strange.", Coonai said causually, "I better go and get dinner started.", she finished, standing up and walking through the sliding kitchen door.

The friends all turned to Vaugn, who was looking quite serious now.

"Vaugn, do you know something about this?", Nikkai asked, as he and the others all looked at Vaugn, as if he had the answers.

"If I did…you’d all be the first to know.", Vaugn said slowly, but with a look of deep thought on his face.

He did have to admit that it was strange that he got the feeling that something evil was near by, and that the dogs were all acting very violent, and to top it all off, a giant foot print was found. It was looking as if something un-worldly had set foot upon the world and was changing it before their very eyes.

Though the friends were still thinking of the odd behaviour of the dogs in the city, they had put it to the back of their minds not thinking about it until around 8:30 the night.

While drinking their evening tea and watching TV, the family and friends heard a very strange sound outside.

At first, it was a distant sound that wasn’t easily identifiable. But as it got closer and closer, it was the sound of 1000’s upon 1000’s of paws, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of barking.

Walking curiously out of the dining room,the family walked down the hall, out of the front door, and to the street. There they saw what they had expected: 1000’s upon 1000’s of barking dogs, their tonuges hanging out, their tails wagging happily, running down the street. Some of them turned down side streets while other kept running straight. Clearly they were looking for their houses.

As Vaugn watched this with the others, the scene suddenly shot away from him and back towards him, creating the same echo scene as before in the park. Just as before in the park, Vaugn had the feeling of something evil was near by. The sence of something evil was stronger then in the park, as if it was near by. Looking around, Vaugn searched quickly for what could give off the evil aura, but to no avail. Vaugn’s friends noticed none of this as they were all watching the dogs run by. When the last dog scampered by, Vaugn and the others went back inside to finish watching TV, Vaugn thinking all the while.

"That’s twice today that I’ve had the sence of something evil near by, but yet couldn’t see it. What does it mean.", Vaugn thought to himself seriously.

"It means a demon has escaped Hell, and has set foot on this world.", a voice spoke out in Vaugn’s mind, a voice that was happy.

"Jinkara?", Vaugn thought to himself while watching TV.

"That’s right. And if I’m not mistaken, one of my followers has risen to earth and has planted his feet upon it’s soil.", Jinkara said, Vaugn feeling Jinkara’s pleasure.

"So one of those Feral Forty demons is here?", Vaugn thought quickly, finally understanding what was going on.

"Correct. It will be good to have my followers at my command again.", Jinkara said with a happy growl.

"What kind of demon is it Jinkara?", Vaugn asked in his mind, excitement from his understanding coursing through him.

But there was no responce. All was silent in Vaugn’s mind.

"Jinkara? Jinkara!", Vaugn thought again, but nothing, "Damn.", Vaugn whispered to himself, none of his friends hearing.

For the rest of the evening, Vaugn was deep in thought, though Jinkara never answered him.

So the strange behaviour of the dogs was because of a demon. Vaugn was glad he knew what was happening, but found it hard to understand how a demon could cause all the dogs in a city as large as Tokyo to act so violent.

But then a memory flashed through his mind, like a firework exploding in the darkness

"They called themselves the Feral Forty. They are forty demons that, for one reason or another, adopted animal instincts and behaviours."

But what does this mean? Did this mean that the demon that had escaped was a dog demon? Or that it had the ability to control dogs? Or did it mean that it simply acted like a dog?

Vaugn wasn’t sure why this particular memory flashed through his mind, but he was happy that he was starting to understand more and more with every passing moment.

After the TV show had finished, Coonai left to start the dishes, Uni went up stairs to chat with some friends on the phone, and Mr. Miasoto left for the study to do some work, leaving Vaugn and his friends in the dining room.

Vaugn was so deep in thought that he hardly noticed Asuke trying to get his attention.

"Vaugn? Vaugn!"

Vaugn shook his head slightly, looked up and saw that his friends were all looking at him.

"Vaugn, is everything okay?", Asuke asked, looking at him slightly worried.

"What? Oh yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking.", Vaugn replied as casually as he could.

"Okay, then think about this: Will you be able to go out Thursday for my birthday? Me and my family are going out Friday, but I wanted to invite my friends the day before.", Kihari asked.

"Thursday? Yeah of course I come.", Vaugn replied, again trying to sound casual.

"Well that’s great. So stop looking so serious and enjoy the evening.", Nikkai said, clapping Vaugn on the shoulder and smiling.

"Sorry about that,", Vaugn replied, smiling at his friends, "Sometimes I stop to think and forget to start again.", Vaugn finished as Shentin and Imari laughed.

The rest of the night passed in a very happy mood. Vaugn and his friends watched TV, joked around, and had a good time planning Kihari’s birthday.

While Vaugn was putting up a very strong front, acting happy and enjoying the night, he was secretly thinking of what he had learned.

A demon had escaped hell and was now on the loose, though Vaugn did think it was strange that the demon hadn’t tried to kill Vaugn yet, like Lucifor had said.

If Lucifor was right, then the demon would surely want to kill Vaugn as quickly as possible. Yet all it had done-if it really was the work of the demon- was cause the city dogs to act insane run away, and then run back home.

Maybe he was putting to much thought into it. But Vaugn had a feeling that with the arrival of this demon, life in Tokyo would change forever soon enough.



***



In the morning, when Vaugn woke up and joined the family in the dining room, the news was on TV and Mr. Miasoto was reading his news paper. Both medias seemed to have the same headline for the day: The mysterious running away and return of the dogs.

The news reporter was showing footage of some 800 dogs running down the main street of Tokyo, stopping traffic and pedestrians, and running away from the city as if being lured away by a giant squeaky toy.

The paper was showing several pictures of happy owners and their newly returned home dogs. Admitedly, the dogs looked quite normal in the paper, not the angry, snarling, drooling animals they were in the park.

Staring at one of the dogs on the front page of the newspaper, Vaugn thought that it looked strange. Though dogs all pretty much look the same in the eye, this one seemed to have an emptiness to it, as if someone or something was using it’s eyes like a window, and staring out at the world through the dogs eyes.

Twenty minutes later, Vaugn and Asuke were on their way to school, joined shortly afterwards by Imari, Kihari, Shentin and Nikkai.

The walk to school was uneventful to say the most. Despite the strange behaviour of the dogs the day before, every dog they saw was acting normal: Sniffing trees, fire hydrants, barking at passing cars and acting friendly around strangers.

After seeing the dogs acting normal, Vaugn was sure he had been imagining the evil aura he felt when the dogs had ran off, and when they had returned. Vaugn thought that all the dogs seemed to be staring at him, but this too just might have been his imagination.

Vaugn noticed the strange occurances starting to happen after arriving at school.

Sitting in homeroom, the friends were talking about Thursday, when they’d be be going out for Kihari’s birthday.

"The big 1-7 Kihari! So what do you have planned?", Nikkai asked, as they sat around their desks, chatting merrily.

"Well, I have reservations at the Rawuri Resturant. They have the best food there!", Kihari replied, beaming with excitement at the thought of her birthday.

"Oh yeah? What kind of food?", Vaugn asked, sitting on his desk, and putting his feet on his chair.

"Well, they have a huge selection of sushi there. Everything from hot and spicy, to sweet and sour, and all the different kind of fish and seafood you could imagine. They have like, 60 noodle dishes that you get to choose your own meat and vegetables for, and finally, they have like, 35 different kinds of Okinomiyaki.", Kihari said, as they others had looks of sheer delight on their faces.

"Okinomi-wha?", Vaugn asked with a raised eye brow.

"It’s sort of like an omelette, Vaugn,", Shentin elaborated, "They have an egg batter, they cook it on a large griddle right infront of your eyes, and choose your toppings and sauce, and all the good stuff.", Shentin replied, as the others kept fanitising about all the food.

The friends were just starting to talk about the rest of Kihari’s birthday plans when a shout filled the air.

"Moki! What happened to you?"

The friends turned to look at the door, where a girl with long light brown hair and skinny face with pointed chin and nose walked in. Her arm was very heavily bandaged, stretching from her wrist to her elbow, and there were red, finger tip sized drops of blood that had soaked through, giving it the impression of being poka-dotted.

Several girls rushed over to her, and even through the ensuing worrying and chaos, Vaugn heard her clearly.

"My dog atacked me! He bit me 5 times all over my arm!", the girl named Moki wailed to her friends, wincing as her friends poked her arm.

Vaugn sat straight up on his desk, like a dog hearing a high-pitched whistle.

Vaugn’s friends, who had been watching the group of girls fawn over their injured friend, now turned to Vaugn, who was still sitting straight on his desk, a look of serious thought on his face.

"Vaugn, is everything okay?", Asuke asked him.

Vaugn looked at his friends, and they were all looking at him like he had was with holding information.

"No Asuke,", Vaugn breathed, "Everything is not okay, and it’s only going to get worse.", he finished, to shocked looks from his friends.

Five minutes later, as the friends walked to class, the friends could start to see what Vaugn meant.It seemed that every person in the school who had a dog had been attacked. Many students, like Moki, had their whole forearms bandaged, all of them spotted with their own blood that had soaked through. Some were limping, clearly their dogs had bitten their legs, while others merely had their hands bandaged. The worst case the friends saw was a boy who had his entire arm bandaged, clearly his dog was more liberal with the bites then the others.

Walking into class, and sitting down, about half of the students in Vaugn’s class had their arms bandaged, a sign of just how bad this was. Many of the injured students were sharing stories about how it happened. From what Vaugn had heard, all the stories sounded the same: The dogs were all acting normal this morning until suddenly, and without warning, they lunged at their owners and bit them several times. Though after the attack, the dogs acted normally, wagging their tails and acting friendly.

After five minutes of listening to the stories of the sudden attacks, their teacher Mr. Kucaiko walked in, his right arm heavily bandaged.

"Good morning class.", Mr. Kucaiko welcomed the class cheerily, surprising Vaugn at how cheery he was given the state he was in, "I see I’m not the only one who had a little misunderstanding with their dogs. Well, regardless of what you and your pets faught about, we shall press on, undetered.", he finished, smiling at the class.

"Is this guy all there?", Nikkai whispered to his friends as Mr. Kucaiko opened his briefcase and withdrew his notes.

"I dunno, but whether he is or not, you have to admire his spirit.", Imari replied, as they watched Mr. Kucaiko wince as he started to write the day’s lesson on the chalkboard.

Clearly, despite being in high spirits, Mr. Kucaiko was not immune to the pain he was feeling.



***



Vaugn was sure he was imagining the strange, evil aura he had felt when he was watching the dogs fight in the park, and then again when he felt it as they returned. But after Monday, and the stories he had heard, all of them strangely similar, Vaugn was sure that he hadn’t imagined it. He was now seriously believing that a demon had escaped hell and was now firmly planted on earth, just like Jinkara said.

Tuesday dawned, and with it, news of the attacks breaking. It seemed that every dog that ran away, according to the news, attacked it’s owner. All the owners who reported the attacks seemd to tell the same story as the kids at school: One minute, the dogs were acting normal, the next, the were attacking their master, and the next, acting normal again.

Today though, it seemed the dogs of Tokyo had turned their anger from the humans they once loved, to the animals around them.

Vaugn and his friends had the unfortunate pleasure of witnessing one such act of violence and hatred.

On the walk to school, the friends decided to walk through the park that they passed by, for a change of scenerary.

It was a large, square park that had a gently curving path that ran through it. It had large open fields on either side of the path, and at the edges of the park, small forests full of trees. In the forests, the cherry blossoms were starting to blow off the cherry trees, while the rest of the trees were calages of red, brown, orange and gold.

The friends had decided to ask Vaugn if he knew anything about the strange ways the dogs had acted. Vaugn, finally deciding he should fill in his friends about what he knew, was telling his friends everything he discovered so far.

"Well…yes, I am thinking that a demon is involved. On two occasions now I’ve felt an evil aura around. Once, before the dogs ran away and we heard that howl, and once again when the dogs were running back into the city. I don’t know…but I think this has to do with the Feral Forty. Jinkara certainly seems to think so. I guess it’d take a demon to know a demon.", Vaugn said as they were walking through the park.

"So this demon is a dog demon then?", asked Shentin, clearly thinking along the lines Vaugn had.

"I think so. Lucifor said the Forty adopted animal instinct and behaviours. Whether this means he can control dogs, I don’t know, but atleast I have some idea as to what’s causing it.", Vaugn replied, running his fingers through his hair.

The friends were silent in thought, when from behind them, they heard barks and snarls of anger, and the hissing of an animal trying to escape.

They turned, and from out of a row of trees, they saw an orange and white tabby cat sprint out of the trees, across the grassy field,across the sidewalk, and into the other field, a large German Shepard in hot pursuit.

The cat was diving, swerving and jumping out of the dogs way, clearly scared for it’s life. The dog was in hot pursuit, it’s long jaws snapping and snarling, spit flying from it’s jaws and teeth ,clearly trying to sink it’s fangs into the cat.

The friends watched as the cat lept and bounded around, twisting in mid air, while the dog clumsily tried to keep up with it’s squirming target

The cat, after circling the attacking dog some 3 times, making the dog dizzy, sprinted off towards the trees on the opposite side of the park.

When it was feet from the trees, safety clearly insight, another German shepard, larger then the first, suddenly sprinted out of the darkness, heading on a collision course with the cat.

As if in slow motion, the friends watched the dog open it’s jaws, as the cat tried to skid to a hault,and when the dog was close enough,clamp down around the middle of the cat, it’s fangs sinking into the cats stomach and back, and scoop the cat up into the air.

Imari buried her face into Shentin shoulder, and covered her face, Asuke buried her face into Vaugn’s shoulder covering her eyes aswell, while Kihari covered her eyes with her hands. None of them, however, could block out what they heard.

The cat was crying out in pain, it’s legs flailing helplessly. The boys saw the dogs jaws clamp down on the cat even harder, squeezing what motion the cat had left in it’s body out, it’s blood starting to drip out of the dogs mouth. As the boys stared, horrifed at what had just happened, the dog started to violently shake the limp cat back and forth several times, specks of blood flying every where.

The dog stopped shaking the now dead cat, the cats blood dripping from it’s dead body. Then the dog unexplainably turned it’s head to Vaugn, and stared him in the eye.

Vaugn saw that the dog had black eyes, with red slits for pupils.

As if congradulating Vaugn for this discovery, the dog snarled at him, baring it’s bloodied fangs, before the dog tossed it’s head back and threw the lifeless cat high into the air, blood flying out of the cat ,as the dogs partner ran and jumped into the air, catching the lifeless cat as if it was a frisbee.

Lightly landing on it’s feet, the dog shook the cat even more violently then the first, blood splashing the grass and the roots of the trees.

After what seemed like a life time of watching the dog shake the cat like a chew toy, the dog stopped, and dropped the cat’s body at it’s feet, a pool of blood forming around the cat,as the dog turned and walked away.

It was not pretty. The poor cat had large slashes in it’s body. Blood was soaking it’s fur, staining it a horrible orange and red. Worst of all, the cats stomach seemed to have been torn open as most of the blood was seeping from it’s wound, and some of the cats ribs had been broken and were sticking through the skin.

The larger dog continued to stare at Vaugn before it roared, not barked, at Vaugn, blood flying from it’s mouth and fangs. Slowly it turned and walked away, joining it’s partner at the park entrance of the park before the two walked down the street and out of site.

The friends stood there, transfixed at what they had seen. The boys were shocked, their faces white and their breathing fast. The girls were crying, Imari and Asuke soaking the boy’s shoulders.

Vaugn looked at Shentin and Nikkai, and nodded at them. Slowly they turned, and continued to walk to school, in a horrifed kind of trance.

They had just witnessed two dogs almost tear a cat to shreds. It was like watching a nature film when wolves attack a deer, the way they worked as a team, then swooped in for the kill. These dogs seemed to have done the very same, but on a much smaller scale. The dogs were the hunters and the cat, their unfortunate prey.

The walk to school was anything but enjoyable. The boys were shocked at what they saw. They never thought that’d see something like that. The girls seemed better at dislaying their dismay. They were crying for most of the walk, sniffling as they walked into class.

Sitting down at their desk- the girls’ eyes red and puffy, the boys white and shocked- none of the friends spoke immediately. That was until several students showed up to class, all them telling their friends what they had seen. Horribly, the stories seemed to match up exactly to Vaugn’s expeirence. Their classmate Doko seemed to have had it the worse. According to his story that he told everyone, a cat was killed by a pack of dogs, a mere 6 feet from him, it’s throat ripped out and left to bleed to death on the sidewalk. It must have been horrible, as Doko’s shoes were covered in blood.

The rest of the day at school was more subdued then Vaugn had ever seen. It seemed that the school was shocked at the behaviour of the dogs. The students with dogs were probably more worried then anybody else, scared to come home and find their pet covered in the blood of some poor animal.

But the day passed, and those fearful students had to return home. The group of friends walked home, a more subdued group then usual. They were all still a little in shock at what they had witnessed, and when they walked through the park, the ground was still stained red where the poor cat had layed in a pool of it’s own blood.

Walking into Asuke’s house 10 minutes later, they found Uni and Coonai in the dining room, watching the news, which again, was reporting on the strange behaviour of the dogs. The news was reporting how 100’s of cats were brutally killed by the dogs of the cities and there bodies left out in the open for all to see. But what Vaugn wasn’t expecting was the report that followed immediately afterwards.

"Tonight, 52 people, 43 of which are women,are recovering in hospital after all of them were savagely mauled by a pack of 3 or more dogs. The attacks all happened around the same time today, around 12:30 pm. Many of the victums are in serious condition after being biten and slashed over 80% of their bodies. The others are in critical condition after they had large portions of their flesh removed by the dogs, in what one doctor said looked like ‘an attempt to eat the victums.’. Several of the dogs have been rounded up, but Animal Control officials believe as many as 20 could still be at large. City residents are advised not to approach any dog they see, and report any dog that is acting strangely to the appropriate authorities.", the news reporter finished.

"Dear God…", Shentin breathed, and he and Nikkai shot a sideways glance at Vaugn, who was deep in thought.

So it’s happened now. Dogs have started to vicously attack humans as if they were just a piece of meat. And they tried to eat some of the victums? This demon was keeping a low key, but it’s presence was clear. The dogs of the cities attacking humans, killing cats, and now vicously mauling humans. And attempting to eat them? This demon was clearly using the dogs for something, but what ever it was, Vaugn didn’t know.

From what Vaugn had seen on the news tonight, there was only one thing left for the dogs to do, and as it stood, Vaugn was powerless to stop it.



***



When Wednesday dawned, it was with some apprehension that Vaugn walked to school with the others. Though Vaugn had no idea when, or if, the next set of attacks would take place, he still didn’t like the thought of walking down the street as if nothing was happening. Yes, Vaugn was a little scared for himself, as the demon would surely be coming after him soon, but as it was, Vaugn was sure that it was a safe bet that it wouldn’t come bursting down the street after him. Better to be on guard then on the edge, Vaugn thought.

The friends didn’t speak much as they walked. Vaugn could tell they were all thinking about last night’s news. Occasionally, Vaugn would feel a set of eyes on him, clearly trying to see into his mind and see what he was thinking.

Vaugn was thinking of when the next round of attacks would happen, and who would be the victum. Would one of Vaugn’s friends be the victum, or just a faceless soul that Vaugn didn’t know until it was already to late? All Vaugn could do was wait and see how it played out, no matter how many innocent people were killed or harmed.

"Hey guys, I just remembered. The basketball team is playing tonight in the gym. Do you guys wanna go?", Nikkai asked, trying to lighten the mood slightly.

"Sure, that’d be great.", Imari replied as the others nodded, and with something cheerful to look forward to, the mood lightened slightly.

At school, it seemed that the only thing that anyone was talking about were the attacks on the citizens of Tokyo. It seemed that everywhere Vaugn and his friends went in the school, the students were worried that they’d be the next victum. Indeed, so many students were scared that they were travelling around in tightly knit groups, afraid that any found by themselves would be attacked.

Vaugn thought it rather pointless, as no dog had been seen anywhere near the school, let alone in the area. Yet, undetered, students still travelled around in packs.

At the end of the day, it was no different. For those who were going home, they left the school as quickly as possible, travelling in the biggest group as possible. For those who were staying for the game, they hurried quickly to the gym and took their seats.

Despite the clear and present fear that the crowd was expeirencing, it still couldn’t help but be in high spirits for a basketball game. Everyone, who moments ago had been scared and aggitated looking, were now smiling and in high spirits. Vaugn suspected it had less to do with the game, then it had to do with everyone being in a large crowd.

Regardless of the reasons, Vaugn and his friends aswell as the crowd had a great time cheering on their basketball team. Several players had their arms bandaged, but that didn’t stop them from putting on a great show. The game went on for 3 hours, with a presentation not only from the cheerleaders, but from the school jazz and marching band aswell. All in all, it was a great evening and really helped everyone relax.

As the crowd exited the gym and started off home, they were in much better moods then in the morning. Everyone was talking merrily, joking and laughing, Vaugn and his friends included. During the game, they realised it was silly to be worried like everyone else. What are the chances that they’d be the ones who’d be attacked next?

This clearly showed in how the friends were talking as they exited the gym and started to walk home.

"Now that’s what I call an early birthday present! A win for our home team, a great night out, and a perfectly normal day after all those attacks!", Kihari said, stretching her arms out and taking a long, deep breath of the cool night air.

The friends were walking along a path that lead them from the gym’s front doors, around the school and to the front yard of the school. The night was cool with a slight breeze to rustle the leaves. The moon was out, shining merily, and the stars were twinkling happily. It was a good way to end a day filled with so much worry.

Emerging into the front yard of the school and looking back, some of the classroom lights were on, meaning that a few teachers were still inside.

"Oh! That reminds me!I have to go and tell Mr. Kucaiko that I’ll have to leave class on Friday 45 minutes early. We’re getting together with family from all over the city for my birthday supper.", Kihari said, slapping herself on the forehead.

"Okay, we’ll come with you. I’m sure he’ll have to give you the assignment that he had planned then.", Asuke said, "You guys go on without us. I’ll meet you at home Vaugn."

"Okay, will do.", Vaugn replied, with a slight army like salute and smile as he, Nikkai, and Shentin turned and walked away, the girls dashing up to the front doors, opening them, and disappearing into the twilit hallway.

Vaugn, Shentin and Nikkai had just reached the gates to the school, when all of a sudden, the scene infront of him generated the same echo as in the park, and Vaugn felt the presence of a demonic aura.

Vaugn stopped cold in his tracks, his breathing fast, fear coursing through him. Nikkai and Shentin stopped some 6 feet infront of Vaugn, turned and looked at him in the low light, his face slightly hidden by shadow. Despite the darkness,they saw that his eyes were wide and fearful, and his mouth was open in shock.

"Vaugn? You okay?", Nikkai asked, looking at him quizically,

"It’s happened.", Vaugn breathed.

"What’s happened?", Shentin asked,with a confused look on his face

"They’ve killed someone.", Vaugn breathed again, his voice more and more fearful every second.

"Who’s killed?", Nikkai said, very confused by Vaugn’s declaration.

"The dogs! Who do you think? I’ve just had a feeling of an evil aura some place near by! The dogs have killed someone!", Vaugn finished, his voice with a slight note of anger, his eyes suddenly much brighter.

Nikkai and Shentin stared at Vaugn. Both Nikkai and Shentin were terrified at what they had heard. Through the darkness, Vaugn saw their eyes were wide, their mouths all the way open, their faces blanched the exact colour of paper.

"Are-are you sure?", Nikkai asked, his voice quivering with fear.

"I’m almost positive.", Vaugn replied quietly.

"Do you know where it happened?", Shentin asked, his voice also quivering with fear.

"It’s close by. That’s all I know.", Vaugn replied, and with out another word, he dashed out onto the sidewalk, looked around wildly, then sprinted to his right and out of site. Shentin and Nikkai looked at eachother, stunned, then followed suit.

Vaugn was running down the street, not knowing where he was going,looking down every possible street and alley way he could. Every house was lit up and giving off enough light to see down the side streets. The streets were lit by gently humming street lamps, yet these didn’t illuminate the scene Vaugn was dreading to find.

It finally happened, Vaugn thought to himself, the dogs had killed someone. Would they be the only one? Were more innocent people going to die, torn apart like the cat in the park?

All seemed calm. There was no sign of life and no sign of motion. The gentle breeze even seemed to stop blowing.

Vaugn had searched some 7 streets before he skidded to a halt, staring down a street to his let. Finally, Vaugn saw what he had been looking for.

In the middle of the road, from what Vaugn could see at his current position, was a giant mound of fur, that was gently moving. Taking a deep breath, he crossed the street, and cautiously started to walk down the side street. As Vaugn crept closer to the mound of fur, he saw what it was and knew his feeling was correct.

The mound of fur, as Vaugn had expected, was a pack of dogs, maybe 5 or 6. All the dogs seemed to be in a circle, as Vaugn only saw the backside of the 2 closet to him. The dogs all seemed to be pulling something, as the dogs to the left and right of the circle seemed to be moving back and forth, and jerking it’s head, just like a dog pulling on a toy. As Vaugn crept even closer, he noticed an odd tearing and cracking sound could be heard, all the while the dogs were standing in a very large pool of blood.

Vaugn watched as one the dog closest to him started to shake it’s head back and forth vicously, and heard a horrible cracking and gentle tearing, before watching as the dog threw it’s head back, and started to snap it’s jaws, as it chewed and swallowed a large chunk of meat. Two dogs on the other side if the circle started to fight over what seemed like a large bone that was still dripping with blood, and had strings of meat hanging off of it. One dog pulled it one way, the other pulled it another way. While the dogs were fighting, the circle broke enough, so Vaugn could see what was in the center.

What he saw almost made his heart stop out of shear horror.

Illuminated by the street lamps,laying in the center of the pool of blood was a dead man. His eyes were wide and terrified, and his mouth wide in a silent scream. Blood was gently dripping out of his neck, which seemed to have been torn away by one of the dogs. The mans arms, side of his torso, and his leg all seemed to have been knawed on, while one leg had been completely torn away and was now being faught over by the two dogs. His stomach had been torn wide open, his chest split apart,and his organs already eaten,while some of the mans ribs had been torn away, strewned around the mans body.

The scene was one straight out of someone’s worst nightmare, though this one was clearly real.

"Oh god…", Vaugn breathed, horrified at the site before him and he started to slowly back away.

If the dogs had heard Vaugn, or senced him, they stopped eating and fighting and slowly turned and looked at Vaugn,their eyes glowing slightly and blood dripping from their jaws, just as Nikkai and Shentin came skidding to a hault beside him.

They were out of breath, doubled over with their hands on their knees,but as soon as they caught sight of the mutilated body infront of them, all breath they had seemed to leave their body.

There the three friends stood, staring at the body and the pack of dogs staring at them, the sound of the dogs sniffing them audible.

"Vaugn…what happened?", Nikkai asked, every word he spoke quivering with shear terror.

"The dogs killed him. My feeling was right.", Vaugn answered, still staring at the scene before him, his breathing fast and shallow.

"What do we do? Do we call someone for help?", asked Shentin desperately.

"No! He’s already dead…there’s nothing we can do for him now.", Vaugn answered, as the dogs started to slowly walk towards the three friends, their fangs bared, dripping blood, growling slightly,their eyes starting to glow brighter,"Listen. Go back to the school, and find the girls. Take them the long way home. Keep them as far away from here as possible. Got it?", Vaugn finished looking sideways at Shentin and Nikkai.

"Why?", asked Nikkai, as he, Shentin and Vaugn started to slowly back away from the dogs that were advancing on them.

"The girls will be walking right past here going home. I don’t want them to see this or be anywhere near here. Got it?", replied Vaugn, quickly looking from dog to advancing dog.

"And what are you going to do?", asked Nikkai as he and his friends started to back away a little faster.

"Don’t know yet. Now go!", Vaugn finished with a furious look at Nikkai.

Without another word, and surrendering to Vaugn’s demands, Shentin and Nikkai quickly turned and sprinted down the street and ran back towards school.

Turning his head slightly and watching out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nikkai’s heals flash out of sight, and then turning his head back to the pack of the dogs advancing on him, he started to think.

"Okay. Great. Totally awesome. I have 6, blood thirsty, murderous dogs looking at me like I’m dessert. Now what?", Vaugn thought to himself.

"What indeed.", an evil voice purred. Not in Vaugn’s head, but as if the very houses around Vaugn were speaking.

The dogs suddenly stopped in their tracks. They looked at Vaugn, their heads slightly tilted to one side, then their pupils contracted and they started to advance on Vaugn faster, their growls getting louder and louder.

"Jinkara?", Vaugn asked out loud, and for once, he was relieved to hear Jinkara’s voice.

"Who else would it be?", Jinkara replied, with a note of amusement in his voice.

"Let’s cut the formalities…how do I get away without being killed?", Vaugn asked, now only starting to feel the fear that was rising inside of him. The dogs were looking more and more furious with every passing second.

Suddenly, before Jinkara could answer,the largest dog of the pack bent low, and with all the power of an Olympic high jumper, lept at Vaugn, roaring with fury. It’s mouth was open, revealing all of it’s yellow, bloody fangs, blood flying from it’s mouth, it’s front paws out stretched, it’s claw ready to sink into Vaugn’s flesh.

Vaugn suddenly felt a strange sensation, as if someone had grabbed him and pulled him to one side. He was suddenly watching what was happening as if from the sidelines.

Vaugn saw the dog flying towards him, it’s claws were inches away from Vaugn’s neck. Vaugn was ready to feel the claws sink into him, but they never came. Instead, Vaugn saw his own hand shoot out and wrap around the dogs neck and started to squeeze. It had claws, and they were sinking into the dogs flesh, blood starting to spurt from around his claws.

Vaugn held the dog at arms length, as it continued to slash and snarl at him. Then, without thinking to, Vaugn’s other hand was lifted above his head, and he braught it slashing down, not before seeing that his hand had become clawed aswell, cutting into the dogs neck and slashing down through the dogs chest, stomach, and finally slashed out somewhere near it’s groin.

Vaugn watched as the dogs body was split open, it’s blood pouring out of it’s wound, splashing his pants and his shoes,the dog howling in pain. Vaugn threw the dogs now limp body to the ground with a sickening thud, and suddenly, Vaugn snapped back to his usual sences.

Vaugn stood there, looking at the dead and motionless dog before him, and looking at his hand, saw that it was dripping blood. There was silence, even the dogs didn’t make a sound before Vaugn spoke.

"Gee, thanks Jinkara. Really appreciate it.", Vaugn said, shaking his hand trying shake the blood off of it.

"You’re alive aren’t you?", Jinkara replied coldly.

"For how long though?", Vaugn answered, finishing shaking off as much blood off of his hand as he could.

The other dogs stared, transfixed at what they had seen. The dogs, whether understanding what they had seen or not, were looking from the dead dog on the ground, to Vaugn standing before them, one of his hands covered in blood.

A brown and white dog recovered first, and it started to snarl and advance on Vaugn. Vaugn started to slowly back away, not wanting to have to fight 4 or 5 dogs like this. The dog closed in on him, forming a half circle around him. They were all preparing to lunge at Vaugn, bending down on their front legs,when a loud, echoing howl rang out across the city, but this time, it was accompanied with a voice.

"Come my children. Leave him be… for now. I will kill him myself. Now come.". This voice was not like Jinkara’s, though it was cold and evil, but it was more like a dog talking.

The dogs stayed frozen on their spot, not moving, barely breathing. Slowly, the dogs straightened up, and all stared at Vaugn. Vaugn looked all the dogs, one by one in the eye, and saw that their eyes were strangely hollow, as if they were merely windows, and something was looking out.

One by one, the dogs turned and walked past Vaugn down the street, disappearing around the corner. The last dog spent a much longer time looking into Vaugn’s eyes, and with an audible snort out of it’s nose, it walked past Vaugn, it’s tail brushing against his leg , and down the street, disappearing around the corner, Vaugn watching it the whole time to make sure it was really leaving.Vaugn stood there for a moment or two, looking at the spot where the dog disappeared around the corner, and turning his head back to the body infront of him, let out a long, loud sigh.

"That was way to close.", Vaugn said out loud, his heart racing, his breathing fast, and a light sweat dripping down his brow.

All around, Vaugn could hear people calling out to one another inside of their houses, wondering what was happening outside. Not wanting to be caught at a scene this horrible, Vaugn ran, lept over the pool of blood and the body, ran down the street and as far and fast away from the scene as possible.

When Vaugn was some 10 blocks from the scene, and hearing sirens screaming somewhere in the distance, Vaugn walked home, still lost in thought about his newest discoveries.

So that was the voice of the demon, Vaugn thought. Just as he suspected, it must be a dog demon. And what’s more, it seemed to be controlling the dogs of Tokyo. It must have been the one who ordered the dogs to attack the humans and animals, and eventually kill tonight. But why was it doing this? If Lucifor was right, then the demon should have come after Vaugn and try and kill him, just like the Feral Forty were planning to.

"What’s this demon playing at?", Vaugn thought, as he slowly pushed the door open and, checking that the coat room was clear, crept up stairs and to the washroom to wash the remaining blood off of his hands and his shoes, eventually tossing his pants into the washing machine.

Walking into his room, Vaugn pulled on new pair of pants and headed downstairs to join the rest of the household for supper.