It's Your Life: The Sleeping Demon

Halloween

A few more months passed since the imp's disappearance. In fact, it was shaping up to be an entire year since Light had first joined Blake's life as a shoulder angel. Blake, unlike Light, had forgotten all about it and was now stoked for the next big thing.

"Halloween!" The toddler jumped out of his room, spooking his father with his vampire costume.

"Blake! Nearly scared my head off." Roger exclaimed, catching his breath. Blake grinned at him, clearly proud of his jump scaring tactic.

He cackled "Luckily for you, this vamp is only looking to bite into sweets!"

Roger scooped up the boy in his arms and carried him downstairs. That's when someone else joined them, floating behind Roger's back.

"We shall get plenty of sweets with THIS fabulous costume!" Tobias cheered, swaying his velvet cape around.

"Tobias, we can't BOTH be vampires. Tell him dad!" Blake whined.

Roger sat Blake in the sitting room and stood back himself "I don't-"

"Oh please kid, don't get dramatic because you can't pull off this." Tobias gloated and he showed off his fake fangs and strutted in the lace corset.

"Toby, go back upstairs and change NOW." Blake demanded.

"No."

"Toby-"

"I wear it better anyway."

"You do not!"

"Do so!"

"Blake, Blake." Roger came over and sat in his son's place, putting the boy on his lap instead. "I'm sure Toby only copied your costume because he felt inspired."

"Inspired?" Blake repeated.

"Inspired?" Toby echoed "I took the costume because it looked better on me!"

"What does 'inspired' mean?" Blake asked as his sisters, Mariam and Hailey, jumped on the brown sofa beside their dad.

"I got this one, Dad." The older one said "Inspired means to look up to something or someone and show a great deal of respect for it. So much respect you incorporate elements of their work in yours."

Blake rolled his eye. Yes, what Mariam said was very helpful. But he wasn't gonna praise her for it as she's always looking for a chance to show off her unnatural smartness. Roger ruffled her hair "Good job, Mari!"

"I don't care if Tobias was inspired or not. He stole my costume." the toddler complained.

The older blonde raised her eyebrow in judgement "Tobias? He's STILL here?" The name rang familiar with the whole house as Tobias had been Blake's friend longer than Light had.

"Yes he's still here!" The raccoon blew a raspberry at the girl "And he's not changing his costume."

The boy turned his attention back to his rodent friend "Oh yes you are! There is nothing worse than a Halloween with two vampires dressed the exact same."

Suddenly an angel popped out of nowhere on to Blake's shoulder. She had her chocolate hair into a bun and pride shone in her emerald eyes "Guys! This vampire costume just appeared in my closet. Cool huh?"

Tobias wore a face of disgust and Blake face-palmed "I stand corrected."

"Can we go now Dad?" Mariam was getting tired of watching her brother's bit and wanted to start trick-or-treating with the whole family.

"We have to wait for your mother, remember?" Roger reminded the child of their mother sorting out the sweets in the kitchen. "Annie, are you ready?"

A pale green woman with shredded skin and dull eyes stepped into the sitting room. Her regular work clothes were in shreds and the top of her head was lopped off, revealing her pink, mushy brains. She spoke with slurred speech "Who's Annie? I am Zomdrea, here to finally feast on the finest of brains!"

The kid squealed in both amusement and horror as Zomdrea went for their father first. "Run while you still can!" he warned as the woman pressed her teeth on his bald head. The kids laughed and ran around the house, splitting up into different rooms. Mariam took a slightly distressed Hailey upstairs as Blake ran for the laundry room. He buried himself in a wicker basket of clothes he hadn't seen since he was a baby, and excitedly waited for Zomdrea to eat his brains.

"Well, I wasn't expecting an apocalypse tonight." Tobias said, shrunk down to Light-sized as he wandered around the little free space of the basket. The boy reached up and closed the lid of the wicker basket just as Zomdrea walked in. She grunted and limped with her arms out before stopping suddenly in front of the basket. "Ugh, Roger. I thought I said we put this away for CHARITY. Not regular laundry work!" 

"Zomdrea does charity?" Tobias whispered. Blake shrugged but didn't make a sound as the undead woman lifted the basket and carried it toward the spooky room.

Before the boy could put two and two together he was already tossed in the dark like before. Zomdrea closed the door with that familiar clicking sound behind it. Tobias was the first to crawl out of the basket, followed by Blake and Light on his shoulder. "Did she just throw us in the spooky room?" Light asked, bewildered. Blake ran up to the door and banged on it, yelling "GUYS, I'M IN HERE. HELLO? DAD, MOM? MARIAM? ANYONE?"

Light shaped her halo as a key and begun her classic picking work. It was brought to an immediate halt when she realized "The key is still on the other side of the door. I can't pick this lock when something's stuck in it already."

"Oh come on!" Tobias transformed into a blue megaphone and handed himself to Blake "Scream with all your lungs, kid."

"MUUUUUUUUUUUM!" Blake shrieked like a banshee, the yell only more amplified through Tobias' megaphone. But when he finished his call, he pressed his ear against the door to hear the depressing sound of the front door being locked, followed by silence.

"NO!" Blake whined, slumping down against the door. "Halloween's ruined!"

"They couldn't have left that easily." Light said

"I heard them. They just locked the front door."

"OH COME ON!" Tobias groaned, morphing into his original state. "I was so excited to show everyone my costume!"

"You mean MY costume." Blake corrected with a hint of bitterness

"Yeah, YOUR costume. But I made it MINE." Tobias said.

"Can't it be our costume," Light suggested "We all look good!"

Blake and Tobias exchanged looks before snickering. "What?" the angel asked

"Light, I think we can all agree you wear it the worst." Tobias said, doubling over in giggles. Blake followed suit. After a few moments of clarity from laughing at Light, the raccoon got up and sighed "What do we do now?"

"I spy?" Blake suggested.

"I'll go first," Light announced. "I spy with my little eye - something burning?!"

The center of their little circle suddenly erupted in flames as a red ring appeared in the ground. The bright blood colors lit up the entire basement as Blake and Tobias split up into different ends of the room. Blake hid behind an old junk pile of his father's old college stuff and watched anxiously as the red circle shrunk. The fire burnt a circle on the stone floor. Blake was now far back in the corner behind the pile, shaking. "What is that?" He whimpered. Light sighed on his shoulder "I think I have a clue, don't worry though. Just stay still."

Blake obliged and stiffened up. It was bad enough being stuck in the spooky room but now some fire thing interrupted I spy. The flames died out and was replaced by two dragon wings, which unfolded and revealed a demon. Like, a REAL demon in Blake's basement. He stood straight up and looked around with distaste before spotting Blake's peeking eyes in the corner.

He was wearing a copper red, leather vest over a white shirt. He wore trousers and boots of the same dark colors. And similar to the sleeping demon, he had a long, coyly tail and sharp horns spiking from the sides of his head. His blood like dragon wings were bigger than his muscular body; and when he saw Blake his red eyes shone with distorted glee as his face stretched out to a terrifying smile.

"Hello Blake," He greeted "It is an honor to finally meet you. Now, will you help me with something important?"

Tobias watched from the other side of the room, completely paralyzed in shock. Blake met his eyes and signaled for help but the rodent didn't move a muscle. The toddler met the stranger's eyes again and tried to brave. But this demon was so much bigger than the last one sleeping on his shoulder. This was a full adult looking at him, looking as if he was going to kill the child any minute now.

"I have a friend..." he stammered. Mayhem raised an eyebrow. "I have a friend that's going to...beat you." the boy continued, looking over at Tobias.

The demon followed the boy's gaze to where Tobias was. The raccoon seemed to be standing in a puddle of...his own...fluids...

If he saw Tobias at all, the intruder didn't let on, he walked right where Blake was and crouched down to him so they were face to face. "He was YOUR shoulder demon. Maybe you know where he went."

"What?" Blake was trying really hard not to copy what Tobias had done moments ago.

"I'm not above hitting a child. So spare yourself and start talking." He revealed his trident and prepared to strike Blake with a burning sensation until Light finally intervened.

"Mayhem no! Leave Blake out of this!"

"I searched all of hell to find him, Light. He wasn't there. The last source I can trust for his whereabouts is this little s**t right here." Mayhem grabbed at Blake's face and began squeezing his jaw "And he better start talking."

Blake let out a wail of pain and Light had finally had enough. She shouted "Blessed here!" in her most commanding voice. A blue and golden light flashed and a life-sized angel appeared across from Mayhem. The demon let go of the child and turned to face her. Blake stared at her for a few seconds before everything went black. "AAARGH!" He yelled "I've gone blind!"

"Sorry," Blessed said "I have that affect on humans."

"Stay calm Blake, it'll wear off." Light promised.

Blessed and Mayhem had a staring contest. "Blessed." Mayhem hissed

"Mayhem. It has indeed been a while."