Trying to wake up was difficult, like she'd had way too much sleep - or too little - and then came the annoying buzz sound that seemed to become louder each time a certain button was pressed. The time was 4:55 AM. The place was a modest, middle-class one bedroom apartment. The person was Eve N. Lizt. The situation was that she had an 80% chance of being late for work if the snooze button was hit one more time!

It was hard to drag out of sleep enough to open her eyes, let alone enough to understand what the annoying buzz, ear scraping buzz was. Eve groaned and rolled over, felt the palms of her hands press against her forehead. What a night. . . Wait. . . Was it? Everything was fuzzy now, and her head and eyelids felt entirely too heavy. Cracking an eye open, she glared at the red numbers displayed on the clock face before finally reaching over to shut it off - knocking it off the night stand in the process - and shoving herself up to look around. Something felt odd, but she couldn't quite get her head around the situation. Not yet.

Time seemed to settle back into place, the focus having a bit more clarity to it - save when any mirror was passed. A goose bump raising chill would slip down her spine then, and it had the feel of being in a horror movie, when the point of view suddenly zoomed in on a particular subject combined with nerve rattling music? Yeah, something like that. The music sounded like a run down version of a jack-in-a-box, underwater, playing backwards.

There was an unusual chill in the air this morning, hints of a harsh winter ahead. Even the skies were darker than normal; granted it was still very early in the morning, and the result of the annual time change. On the way to work, eyes were watching. The birds that sat perched upon the wires above. The neighbor down the street walking his dog. The newspaper delivery guy. Even a police patrol car seemed to slow down right as it passed her.

In another blink, all was normal. Wasn't it? It was going to be a bad day if the time of her watch read correctly.

More than once, she'd stopped and looked around, slowly, carefully. Something was *off,* but what? It nagged at the back of her mind, settled in lines of tension along her neck. More than once, she'd broken out in goose bumps, or outright shivered; at least she was on the way to work when it happened. Just the morning chill getting to her. . .right? Eve did well to keep her expression neutral, even though she had the feeling that she'd woken up to a nightmare of some kind. Tucking her hands deep into the pockets of her jacket, she'd quickened her steps, *really* wanting to get off the street.

"Hey! Watch it!" Spoken by a rather upset jogger that was trying to avoid the girl, and almost spilled his coffee. "What? You need all the sidewalk? Geez!"

)(-"Eve."-)(

It was like the wind whispered her name. It certainly wasn't the jogger. It must have been in the water, because it continued at the Coffee Shop.

She hadn't seen the jogger, and gasped lightly before almost running headlong into him. "Oh, sorry. I just - " Not that he was listening. She snapped her mouth shut and moved on before freezing and snapping her head back to look at the man. No. . .it hadn't been him. Maybe it was just the wind? Or maybe she was finally losing it really good? A frown creased her brow, and with an uncertain roll of her shoulders, she continued on to work.

This. . .this was going to make for a very creepy, upsetting day, wasn't it? Hearing her name was definitely hard to ignore, wind or not.

The weird music seemed to get louder. Was it playing from inside the shop?

Her friend and coworker was even moody this morning, though being pregnant might have something to do with it. She looked bigger than Eve might have remembered, as if she could pop at any moment. "What? Take a picture for crying out loud! Sleeping beauty finally dragged herself in!" Linny called out to the manager.

The odd music was playing hell with her mindset; Eve felt even more paranoid than usual, and that she was *missing* something. Even worse, she was having a hard time remembering things. It was a discordant note that kept running through her mind, muddling things up enough that it was difficult to think through it. "Yeah. Sorry. Bad night." Maybe. Probably.

)(-"Eve!"-)( The whisper made her snap around, holding her breath momentarily, listening. This. . .this was bad, wasn't it?

Linny muttered about how the manager was in quite the mood, and some even more nasty things were mentioned in great detail of what she wanted to do to him. That didn't sound like her friend, but then again it could have been her hormones talking. Couldn't it? Did her stomach just get *bigger?*

The music just wouldn't stop, and now seemed to have picked up an echoing effect. "Twelve O'clock, Eve. Beefcake alert."

It was Tohmaz. Anyone else feeling d?j? vu? Groundhog day?

Line's mood didn't sit very well with Eve, either; ordinarily, the woman was pretty even-tempered, and liked to joke around; Eve had always liked working with her for that reason. This...this was out of character, hormones or not, was she really *that* far along? Eve hadn't remembered her being *that* big!

She'd broken down and gotten a coffee herself, and was considering trying to beg off sick to go home early. She *felt* sick, alright; that music was getting worse, especially with the echoes that felt like they were rippling off it. That was what she'd been contemplating when Linny's words had pulled her out of her thoughts, and she'd looked right up at him. It clicked in her mind then, jogging names, events...but that fog remained. "Steele." Whispered as she'd glanced away to put her own cup down, wondering if he had a clue what was going on, or knew her at all -

In the mirror-shine of the napkin holder, she'd seen it. The Coffee Shop was empty. Desolate. Long abandoned. Just for an eye blink, long enough for her gasp and move to look up, but by then, everything was . . .right - except for the music. The air tasted bitter suddenly, and she could taste her pulse in the back of her throat.

"Hey sexy. Looking good today. What's good on the menu, besides you?" Smiling while wearing those mirrored shades, he leaned over the counter.

Well, that didn't do much for clarification. He could have been a huge flirt, or actually recognized her. Was he even talking to her? "Um. . . Colombian and a cookie?" Hazard a guess.

"Real cute, Eve. In your dreams." Tohmaz and Linny not only embraced, but were swapping spit like a pair of horny teenagers! "Mmm, I can't wait to knock you up again, baby."

"Ugh. Get a room." That was just. . .kinda gross, not even to mention the jealousy factor kicking in. Eve managed pretty well though, picking up her coffee to move away from the spit-swapers to another spot. She spent a moment looking out the front windows before turning back to the room. Not much in the way of customers yet, but the morning rush would start soon.

)(-On the mirror off to the side of the heavily groping pair were the words: "!lear ton s'tI" -)(

She really didn't like that sinking, sick feeling in the pit of her stomach though. Things had take an even more bizarre turn -

Her eyes lighted on the mirror, and she even moved toward it, wide-eyed, the cup she'd been holding lost somewhere along the way. It was. . .backwards. ". . .It's not real." Whispered, followed with a shudder and a second of squeezing her eyes shut before mouthing the words to herself, trying to will herself into waking up, breaking free, whatever she needed to do.

The manager was yelling for Eve to get with it, while the sounds of ripping clothing filled the shop. Linny and Steele. . . well. . .the noises were quickly followed by sound of . . .ripping flesh, as the pair were practically tearing at each other. Hunks of skin flew every which way, blood spurted from gaping wounds, and yet they kept going at it.

The yelling was bad enough, but the sounds made by Steele and Linny were even worse. The nauseated her, made her clench her teeth together, press her hands against her ears. Try to block out the sounds, to *concentrate.* "This is not real. This is not real. This is not real." It was like a mantra, but Eve found herself believing it. It was all too strange, *felt* too off, like the entire world had done some peculiar flip-flop and left shadows in the place of people.

)(-"EVE!"-)( The call of her name was the last straw. On the edge of insanity or not, Eve turned right around, facing anyone and everyone, and shouted, "Stop it!"

The manager was in shock. The few early morning patrons were screaming in horror. Linny was pinned against the wall by an unseen force, various utensils were lodged in the swell of her stomach. The person responsible stood there with pressed against her ears, yelling at her now dying friend, "Stop it!"

. . .That didn't make sense. Eve hadn't done that; she hadn't Felt herself do it, hadn't consciously *done* it. And. . .and. . .Linny and Steele had been ripping at one another like animals, flesh and blood alike. How had. . .?


"Call the police!" Someone shouted.

"You see what she did? That poor girl and her unborn baby!" Said another.

"*Monster!*" Screamed another.

"What's going on here?" Spoken by a male that stood at the door. It was Steele!

"She - she killed Linny!" Shouted the manager.

"Rico, we got a Daemon sighting here. Tag and bag 'em!" He pulled out a very big gun.

)( -There was pounding on the mirror where she'd Seen the words, more Felt than heard. It wasn't her own reflection there, but Evan!-)(

It was a good thing that she hadn't eaten anything, else she would have lost it then and there. "Oh, God." And she turned to break for the door, only to draw up short at the sight of Steele there. "How did you get. . .?" She was lost. Beyond lost. The world had started to spin around her, become a blur of sight and sound, and staggering a step or two back, her eyes rolled in a sweep of the room before finally locking on the mirror. The mirror. . .Eve broke for it instead, not even sure what she might do when she got there - short of breaking the glass. Could things *really* get so much worse?

"Hey! C'mon, girl Snap out of it!" Followed with a less than subtle slap to her left cheek, given in an effort shake the girl out of it. Colors were slowly reassembling themselves like a warped puzzle, and Evan was leaning over her. "C'mon, Eve, you're stronger than this!"

Behind him was Jara, and she had some sort of weapon trained on the hole Eve had made. "Pick her up or drag her arse, Lizt! We don't hav' time fer. . ." An inhuman wailing drowned out Jara's words. The Daemon Hounds were shedding their human skins, revealing their horrific true natures.

On one side of the wall it still looked like the Coffee Shop, while on the side she was now on, it was like the brief vision she had. The next sensation she'd feel was that of being lifted and carried, as Jara fired shots into the hole. "Move! Move! Move!"

The slaps helped, but so did the sight of Evan. And Jara! Friendly faces! The struggle began anew, but this time it was for Eve to hurry up and skitter through to join them. Not that she was much help; Eve had the feeling that though she was moving, her limbs didn't quite want to do what she asked them to, so Evan's help was much appreciated. Of course, she *was* able to throw her arms around his neck and hold on for dear life for a few seconds while trying to get her feet back under her. "Oh my God..." Relief to see them and disgust at what had happened, all at once.

"Back to the Hades tha' spawned ye!" Jara's shout was followed up by several more shots, then they were putting a little distance between themselves and the opening. Evan wasn't making any small talk at the moment; he was too busy running for what looked like Tohmaz's abode. The world was a very different place; the skies were blood red, and everything was either run down and decayed or destroyed. Bodies were on full display, hanging from lamp posts and powerlines. Armageddon had arrived.

Still several paces from the door, it opened on cue, only to shut again once they were inside. It was locked, and a glow went around it. "That was too bloody close fer comfort! I about soiled me panties. How is she?" Jara dropped down to her knees, catching her breath, while wiping the sweat from her brow.

"Huh. . .Huh. . . She's coming out of it," Evan gasped between breaths. "Too close, my ass. They used her as bait to draw us out, and almost caught us!" He carried her to the couch and she was placed down gently. "Hey, you." Yup, it was Evan alright.

She'd tried to get her feet under her, but her legs hadn't cooperated. In the end, she'd had to just give it up to stop hindering more than helping by moving, and just hold on. Things still didn't Feel right, but Evan and Jara didn't have the vibe of making her skin crawl like everyone else had. Eve managed to wiggle into a sitting position, and took a moment to just breathe, try and get her bearings, get the world to stop threatening to blur up on her again. She looked at Evan, though it looked like her eyes had an unfocused look for a few seconds. ". . .At least I'm not waking up in bed to find you naked again." Odd things at odd times. Her voice had a dry sound, hardly more than a croak. "The hell'd you two come from?"

"Tell me about it. Good thing I didn't know who you were then, because that was serious cause for therapy. Or a letter to Penthouse Forum."

Evan would be pushed aside rather roughly, and Eve's arm would be bared, a needle jammed into her bicep. In the same moment, she'd feel the cool metal of at rifle right against her temple. "Dammit, Lizt! You know the drill! She still could be a carrier agent! We test *first!* Reading?"

The gruff voice belonged to Brehnic, while the one holding the needle was Eve-X! "She's clean." Tossing Eve a bandage, Eve-X backed up, then walked off, her baby tee offering the rather familiar sight of the tattoo on her lower back. "Pft, I know Eve as well as I know myself. Get a grip, Brehn. We got her, didn't we? That puts us ahead of the curve."

Bear hug! That was what she'd feel next, as Jara was practically crushing her. "Ye words are right on th' money, luv. We pretty much came from Hades, and as ye see, we're still in it."

"Therapy." Eve had to agree on that one. Being blindsided with a gun to her head a needle in her arm rather annoyed her, the needle more than the gun. "Hey, I've already had more than enough of these. . ." Well, at least this one didn't look like it was injecting anything. The last thing she wanted was to be tranqued right now, because her brain was still fuzzy enough. The fog *was* clearing out, though.

Reaching up to make a brush away gesture toward the gun, annoyed, she picked up the bandage and was in the process of peeling the paper off the strip when the bear hug caught her off guard. A twist before settling, mostly so she could finish and get the bandage on her arm. Well, good to see that things were still nice and confusing. "Nice ink." Eve X's way, before she looked at Jara, then glanced to Evan. "Okay, who wants to fill in the blanks for me?"