Ratt

Sean Thomas answered his phone after it rang a couple of times, the caller ID only registered the number as unknown, which was common when you always used a burner phone anyways so he thought nothing of it. "Hello, Sean Thomas here." He had no problem sharing his name, it was a burner phone so he could always get a new one.

"Sean, it's me Ratt. You told me to tell you if I heard anything, there was a report of shots fired at Spokes and Spurs, that bar you told me about. There has also been a lot of biker activity on the surveillance cameras I have access to as well, not sure if its related but you did say you would pay for good info on bikers. I got something your gonna want."

"Meet me in the parking lot of the old Super Grocery on the east edge of town, I'll be in a black pickup." Sean said and then immediately hung up the phone and drove across town to the run down grocery store, he always preferred to talk with Ratt in person. He was squirmy so it was best to have him within arm's reach, he had always kept his nose "almost clean" and had never made it onto his list. He was a sinner but he wasn't wicked to be cleansed, not only had he managed to remain in the world of the living but he was also quite useful. Being a shady, drug-dealing hacker he knew about many things that went on in the network of towns that his connections were spread across. He would help Sean on occasion, if the price was right or if he was persuaded to.

Sean knew he could break him with a stare after what Ratt had witnessed him do and had practiced on him. His darkeye was terrifying to behold but an even more horrifying thing to experience. After probing his mind Sean had deemed him to be innocent, or at least somewhat innocent and useful enough to spare. Ratt had been his unwilling informant for years, not to say he wasn't paid for his information. Sean Thomas always paid his debts, but what Ratt wanted and what he had already bet on his morality were two different things. If he was calling Sean then he either had a really good find or he was really desperate. Both would work in Sean's favor, he knew that, Ratt knew that.

Sean arrived at his destination just a few minutes later and parked near the edge of the parking lot with a street light positioned behind his vehicle so the rear of his truck was lit. Him and Tiberius then slipped out of the truck and into the night, waiting on the lesser evil to arrive. Both seemed to become invisible as they moved away from the street light and deeper into the shadow of the abandoned grocery store.

About ten minutes later two black SUVs pulled up to the front and back of Sean's truck, blocking it in. That's unexpected Sean thought to himself, Ratt knows better than to double cross me.

ok Ratt got out of the rear vehicle, he was smoking a blunt and had a solemn expression on his face. He was close to five foot ten inches, long shaggy dark hair, obviously unwashed for awhile. He had a long pointed nose and a small chin with a long goatee covering it and most of his neck and he wore a cross earing in his left ear. Sean had once ripped it out, Ratt must have been afraid of a similar fate happening there tonight so he had brought company. Each SUV had carried four men who all waited for Ratt to give them the signal to assist him.

Sean took everything in at a glance and called out from the shadows with a booming voice that echoed on the empty city streets "What's wrong Ratt? Did you have to bring your security blanket this time? They look like amateurs, lazing about. Or maybe they are cowards hiding. If you stand against me you will die!" Sean was furious that Ratt had broken their unspoken rule and brought a group of mercenaries. But he was also thrilled at the idea of cleansing more wicked souls, just the thought brought out his more fanatical side. He gloated in his head, thinking of how they are surely hired guns. Anyone willing to kill for money goes on the list by default, as his thoughts became more morbid by the second the darkness became denser like a fog.

All the men jumped out, revealing the assault rifles they carried and proceeded to assume a defensive formation around the vehicles, putting Ratt in the center. They were obviously professionals but Sean's voice seemed to come from everywhere and was confusing them. Tiberius had also began to circle them and bark from the darkness with loud booming barks which also echoed off the walls of the nearby buildings further confusing the men and causing them to panic. From their point of view the darkness seemed to be closing in and would advance closer at each bark and at each syllable of the booming voice. Sean and Tiberius had advanced closer, they appeared to be shadows constantly circling one another leaving a trail of darkness in their wake.

"I fucking told you this would happen but you wouldn't fucking listen to me!" Ratt cowered in the center of the feebly while the mercenaries attempted to stand firm but they kept backing up. One of them fired their weapon in panic and a shadow leapt towards him with an inhuman growl and drug him into the darkness before throwing back his mangled corpse covering in blood and and deep gashes resembling claw marks but as large as a bears. It was like something from a horror film and made the mercenaries flinch.

The Dead Steel mercenary group were not amateurs or green, they had a reputation of being ruthless and efficient and all were professional killers with confirmed kill counts in the double digits. They were all ex special forces or foreign mercenaries, highly trained and disiplined but much more richly rewarded than your average soldier. Most of them had deserted their countries for the wealth promised by Dead Steel. Making them very motivated and even more expensive to hire, Ratt had recently taken up residence with them, hacking and bringing in drugs to earn his keep.

When they heard that Ratt had private business they had insisted to come along in order to exert their dominance over this outside force that wanted to use what they seen as their asset. Ratt had told them they would all die if they forced their way into the deal, that his client would see them as a threat and act accordingly. They had replied with ridicule, telling him they were professionals and calling him a coward. They would bring this other asset to heel and expand their influence and with it their profits. Two birds with one stone, or so the had thought. They were having second thoughts now.

"What the fuck is going on here!? What the fuck happened to Connor!?" The commander who pulled rank was panicking, he had never seen anything like that before. Seeing a man die, even badly hadn't bothered him in a very long time. But everyone was afraid of the unknown and whatever was going on was beyond the realm of what his conscious mind could explain. With their commander panicking more of the mercenaries began to give in to their fears, one of them broke ranks and ran into the darkness where his screams could be heard echoing in the distance and when he returned into the ring of light he had been disembowled. His intestines drug across the ground as his body slid to a stop, his eyes wide open and staring at his comrades. The booming shouts had stopped by this time and all that could be heard was the snarling barks from the darkness and heavy breathing as Sean drew closer.

The mercenary commander tensed up seeing the gruesome scene unfolding in front of him and knew he had to do something, things were spiraling out of control. Two men had died in fewer minutes so some unknown force while they had all just stood there and watched, Ratt could be seen cowering on the ground, dry heaving in a puddle of vomit. His remaining men weren't in a much better state, if he didn't give the order now there wouldn't be anything left of their minds. The living nightmare around them was pushing them all towards oblivion and continued to inch closer.

"Okay boys, time to snap out of it and end this shit! Authorize Omega Red Thirteen! I repeat, Omega Red Thirteen!" The commander had just given them the all or nothing order, abandon the mission and kill anything that moves.

The orders snapped them out of their stupor and sent them into a frenzy, they all opened fire in turns, alternating their attack patterns in a seemingly random way to force the enemy to go on the defensive.

The sudden change caught Sean by surprise and forced him close the gap immediately, he had brought his gun as well but the only way for him to interrupt their attack pattern was to break their formation so he charged directly into their ranks and went for the commander first. This approach had caused him to take a few stray shots but if he had waited any longer they would have lost their advantage. Sean grunted as the bullets entered his body, it was in no way a new experience for him and he wouldn't allow it to slow him down.

His hand flashed in an overhead strike that came down on the commander's dominant arm, cutting it off at the elbow and revealing the large hunting knife he had used to butcher the man that had attempted to run away. The tiny break in the rhythm of their attack was all that Tiberius needed to jump in among their ranks unscathed, he immediately ripped out the man's throat that stood opposite the commander.

The remaining mercenaries continued firing as the two demons turned from their allies and attacked the two of the last three of them and literally tore them apart. Leaving only one remaining which Sean advanced on immediately while he gave Tiberius a command, "Watch him boy!" He pointed at Ratt and Tiberius turned on him and backed him up against one of the vehicles, growling with his maw covered in fresh blood and he still looked hungry.

Ratt had never seen Tiberius before and began to piss himself while stuttering and attempting to crawl backwards even though he was against the car door already.

While Tiberius kept Ratt from running Sean continued to the last remaining mercenary who was attempting to reload his gun with shaking hands, unable to believe what he had just witnessed and unable to turn away. Sean tore the weapon from his hands and then struck him with it in a backhand swing, snapping his head to the side and knocking him onto the ground.

The mercenary tried to roll and get his feet under him but Sean was relentless and had already climbed on top of him, sitting on his chest and effectively pinning him down while delivering another blow to his head. The sight on his rifle had already torn a large gash in the mercenaries right eyebrow that was bleeding heavily, the left hand punch had landed nearly in the same place, splattering blood and aggravating the injury. The mercenary cried out in pain and Sean laughed savagely as he attempted to to struggle out of Sean's grip. He continued hammering blows down on top of him with both hands, beating him into a bloody mess as he worked himself into a frenzy and the mercenary quit screaming and began to gurgle on his own blood. The mercenaries were dying all around them and Sean enjoyed the sight in front of his eyes and spoke out loud, "More wicked to be cleansed, more blood.

Sean climbed off the dying man who was now at his feet and turned to look at the mercenaries, the commander was still alive but in shock. He was crawling away on the ground. "I sentence you all to death, your sentence will be executed without delay. Tiberius!"

The wolf looked up from Ratt and turned towards his master expectantly, "Kill the rest, start with the closest to death so the others may relish the sound of their comrades being torn apart."

Sean then turned towards Ratt who was literally pissing his pants as he had just seen a man's face turned into what looked like a bowl of chunky chili with flaps of skin hanging off of it.

Seeing what he believed was soon going to be his own fate he began to blabber, "Please don't kill me Sean, I told them not to come. I didn't have anything to do with this, I didn't even get a chance to warn you because they were tapping my phone and you immediately hung up. I swear to you that I didn't plan this. Please you have to believe me man. I'm not stupid enough to cross you man. Please man."

Sean's right foot lashed out into Ratt's face as he groveled at his feet and grabbed at his pant leg.

"Shut up worm! You have information I want, you will speak when spoken to. Your life is literally hanging by a thread, the only reason you lived after we first met is because I knew you could be useful. Now your becoming a liability, the only reason your still alive now is because you have information I want on Bones and because now I have a bone to pick with whoever these mercenaries were and you know who they are." He turned his head towards him with a mischievous look on his face, the sounds of the remaining mercenaries being torn apart while the begged for mercy created a symphony in the background of their conversation.

It created a chilling scene, the darkness had began to dissipate showing the carnage around them. The seven men dead or dying lied in a heap on the ground, the commander still slowly crawled away but he hadn't made it far. He had climbed the the eviscerated man and gotten his remaining arm tangled into the intesines and had slipped on the mushy substance, falling on the corpe and getting excrement and gore all over him. Tiberius had just turned to him, everyone else was dead and Tiberius was covered with blood and chunks of flesh. It dripped from his fangs as he pounced onto the commander's back and tore into the tender flesh of his shoulders.

Sean turned back towards Ratt, a savage light in his eyes and feral grin on his face. "Now, where were we?"...