The P.O.E. & a Gateway in the Basement

Chapter Two

Balthazar (a master demon), lurks through Jacob's apartment, unlocks, opens and then exits through the open doorway. Once outside he begins to sniff, trying to tell which apartment has the most people inside. He figures the door right next to Jacob's is a good of place as any to start. So he uses his massive strength and bashes down the door with one hard punch with his right hand. The door itself gets knocked off its own hinges and falls with a clatter upon the plush carpet. He walks through the open doorway gazing at an older couple watching television like they are pieces of meat. They do not notice him until he is standing next to the television. At first they sit in their seats staring at him, not moving or running for their lives. Not until he unsheathes his sword; do they decide to move, but only their facial expressions- to fear. Balthazar takes his blade and launches it towards the older man. He quickly grasps his wife's hand as if it will be the last time he gets to do it as he watches the sword quickly move through the air and into his stomach.

"I love you sweetie." Looking upon his wife he mutters in his last breath with tears dripping down his face and blood and mucus being coughed out of his lungs afterwards.

"I... love... you... too." She cries knowing that she will be with her husband very soon either if she wants to or not.

Balthazar takes his right hand and extends his fingernails to the size of knives. He jumps onto the woman's lap with a hideous smile. She closes her eyes hoping it will be as painless as possible. He takes his right hand and slices through the skin of her tissue muscle. He stands up and yanks his sword out of the male's abdomen. Both of their souls float up towards the ceiling and lingers. So knowing that there are more humans to kill Balthazar moves on, lurking through the hallway, sensing that there are three more humans for him to viciously kill. The first door he goes through is the bedroom at the end of the hallway. Once inside he sees a young boy sitting upon the carpet, in front of a television set, playing a video game. At first he stands there quietly and motionless, waiting for the boy to notice his presence. Once he gets his attention and a gigantic look of fear. He very quickly runs towards the boy who is too frightened to move. He takes one swing with his mighty sword and the boy's body gets cut in half. His head and shoulders go flying towards one side of the room, while his torso, legs and feet just fall over where they stand. Balthazar places his sword back into its sheath, walks out of that bedroom and into the hallway. He senses the young boy's soul enter the living room and gets stuck in the Ghostly Plane waiting on a Reaper to show up to take him to his afterlife, along with his parents. Knowing that he has two more people he must kill. He quietly enters the last bedroom which is mostly darkness, besides a small lamp that is still on, right next to the bed. Once he realizes that the two people in the room are too busy at the moment in ecstasy to notice he is amongst them. He sits down for a moment upon a chair that is sitting next to a white make-up desk. It has been a long time since he has been in the presence of Lust, and he misses the sound, the smell, everything about that Sin. But business is business and he does what he must. So he unsheathes his sword once more and quickly and forcefully jams it into the girls back as both of them hit their climax. Once the teenage girl bumps her head upon the side of the bed as she takes her last breath; the teenage boy screams out in horror as he gets soaked in her blood.

"Please mister... I don't want to die!" The teenage boy cries. But that does not affect Balthazar any. As he knows that he needs each and every soul he can collect. So he yanks his sword out of the teenage girl's back. Then without any hesitation he swings it like an ax and chops off the teenage boy's head with one swipe. The boy's head lands upon the floor and then rolls slowly towards the door with his eyes still glazed with fright. So knowing that there is nobody else for him to kill, Balthazar places his sword back into its sheath. He lurks back out into the living room so he can collect the five souls of the people that he just butchered which are still floating around the living room... waiting in The Ghostly Plane for a Reaper to take them to the afterlife. So once he is in the middle of the room he stops in his tracks and begins meditating. All five souls start to go quickly around in circles above Balthazar's head. All five souls moan and scream in fear of not knowing what is happening. The longer he meditates the faster the souls fly around his head and the louder their screams and moans become. Until finally they go into his mouth and nose as into his supernatural demonic force. Immediately he feels stronger and more refreshed. He finally walks back into Jacob's apartment and disappears into the living room's ventilation duct, exactly where he came in. As soon as he enters his very own personal Hell where he is King, he is quickly surrounded by his minions.

"What shall we do with the two humans we kidnapped?" One of his minions announces. As he points over towards Jacob's mother and Britney's father who are tied to the flesh-endorsed wall by human intestines.

"Leave them be for the time being." Balthazar walks through the crowd of his own minions. Past his throne and opens a closet that is right behind his throne. Immediately afterwards he grabs the crystal orb which is in the middle of a very small closet. After he pulls the orb outside he spits all five souls, one at a time into the orb. The orb itself begins to glow as it knows that it is full for the time being. It actually begins to sigh as if it feels better like a human being would do after a big meal.

"What are you going to do?" Ms. Whitmore struggles to get free from her bind. But the human intestines are bound across her ankles and wrists way too tight to get loose.

"I'm not going to do anything to neither of you... yet. But I will show you what will happen to you later if the field agents of the Protectors of Earth give me any trouble." He places the orb back into the closet where it belongs, closes the closet door and then looks upon Ms. Whitmore and Mr. Green with frustration.

"Wait a second... I have heard of the Protectors of Earth but that was a very long time ago." She closes her eyes deep in thought as she tries to remember.

"You should your ex-husband use to be an agent for them."

"So that was the big secret he couldn't tell me! How the Hell do you know about it?" Tears begin to drip down both of her cheeks.

"Let's just say I hear things. Even demons like to talk." He grabs a sharp pair of scissors off of a small table to the left of his throne. He walks over towards Mr. Green with bad intentions on his mind.

"Excuse me master. What is your next move? Legion demands to know that you are doing what you are told."

"You tell Legion that I need more souls because I am not powerful enough to go against the Protectors of Earth, yet. But for now I have got humans to kill. So if you do not mind?" He turns back around and quickly snips off Mr. Green's left index finger. He automatically wakes up screaming in pain. Then, once his eyes adjust to the light he begins fearing about where he might be. "What's going on?"

"You'll will know soon enough. I just needed you to be awake so you can get a glimpse into your future." Two class-B demons walk out of the darkness. They are carrying an alive white male who looks like he is twenty-five years old. They place him down kneeling upon the moist floor.

"Just kill me all ready..." the guy cries. Obviously Balthazar tortured this guy for his own amusement.

"Now what would be the fun in that? I have something better in mind for all three of you." He looks upon Ms. Whitmore & Mr. Green. "Throw him in."

"Yes master." Both class-B demons say in unison. So they pick the guy up onto his feet, grabbing onto both of his shoulders. Then they walk him towards a boiling pool of blood that is right in the middle of the room.

"What are you doing?" The prisoner has no idea why Balthazar wants to throw him in- besides the fact that he will be roasted alive. Both of the class-B demons pitch him in. As soon as he lands into the pool his skin begins to bubble and melt. He screams in terrorizing agony as he flails his arms back and forth for his final moments. Then his body sinks to the bottom of the pool. For a couple of minutes Ms. Whitmore & Mr. Green both wonder when his corpse is going to resurface. When he finally does he becomes a mindless and very strong zombie. His only allegiance is to Balthazar and his appetite and hunger for human flesh is unshakable.

"Now you two know what I plan to do with you in the near future. You and every other human being I catch. All of you are going into this pool and become my slaves... while I get to devour your souls." He laughs hysterically. There is only one group that stands in his way; the Protectors of Earth and their very talented field agents.