Ghoul Omens

Chapter 1

Adam sighed. He stretched, leaving the CCG office after a long day of mostly paperwork. Well, he also got a new assignment, but that wasn't really important. After all, he and the rest of the Them were supposed to keep an eye on the coffee shop/book store that he always went to! Adam knew there was no way the kind men running those stores were ghouls. No, Mr. Fell and Mr. Crowley definitely weren't ghouls. After all, ghouls were heartless monsters, right? Adam sighed as he pushed open the door to the book store, smiling as the smell of books and coffee hit his nose. He headed to the back, waving at Mr. Fell as he passed by. He smiled as he saw Mr. Crowley, who grinned back and immediately started making his usual order, coffee with 2 milk and 3 sugars. Adam walked up to the counter, leaning on it with a sigh.

"Hard day at work?" Mr. Crowley asked as he made Adam's coffee.

"Well, not so much a hard day, more so a boring day. All paperwork." Adam complained. Mr. Crowley let out a noise that sounded like a mix of disgust and amusement.

"Yea. I bloody hate paperwork." Mr. Crowley said.

"You work at a coffee shop, how much paperwork do you get." Adam questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"I meant at my old job, before I started working here." Mr. Crowley said, waving a hand dismissively.

"Ah, that makes more sense." Adam nodded. A noise from behind Mr. Crowley startled him, causing both Mr. Crowley and Adam to look at the perpetrator of the noise. A young man, most likely the same age as Adam, with chin length brown hair came down from the apartment above the two stores. The other man noticed Adam with surprise.

"Da- Mr. Crowley, you didn't tell me there was customers!" The stranger said, pulling his hair back into a ponytail and throwing on an apron.

"Warlock how many times do I have to tell you, don't call me Mr. Crowley, it makes me feel old!" Mr. Crowley growled. Warlock rolled his eyes.

"You are old Crowley. Why can't I just call you by your first name then?" Warlock grumbled.

"Only Azra gets to call me my first name." Mr. Crowley said.

"Wow! Mr. Crowley,"

"Don't call me Mr."

"I didn't expect you to hire anyone else to work here. I thought it'd just be you and Mr. Fell running the place!" Adam said, holding out his hand for Warlock to shake.

"I'm Adam Young, I'm a regular here. I work for the CCG so you guys never have to worry about ghouls coming and hurting you." He said, grinning. Warlock took his hand, shooting a strange look at Crowley, yet he shook Adam's hand anyway.

"I'm Warlock Dowling." Warlock said, releasing Adam's hand. Crowley pushed Adam's coffee over to him before pulling Warlock to the side to talk about something. Probably coffee. Adam couldn't hear them, and he didn't try to because he knew that eavesdropping was rude. He took a sip of his coffee, smiling. Broken Halo always had the best coffee, and it was great to come into A. Z. Fell and Co. Book Store to buy a book then sit down with an amazing cup of coffee. Crowley walked back along with Warlock, who started washing used mugs. Adam finished his coffee and handed Crowley the exact right amount, as he always did, before saying a polite goodbye to both Crowley and Warlock. He waved goodbye to Mr. Fell before leaving the store. He had only walked a few seconds before he came face to face with a ghoul.

"Oh perfect, he'z right here, all ready for uz" The masked ghoul said with a strange buzz to their words. Adam's eyes widened, and he went to click the button to summon his quinque when he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head everything suddenly went dark.