┏ ∙⋆⋅⋆∙ ━━ ∙⋆✧⋆∙ ━━━ ∙⋆⋅⋆∙ ┓
03.04: sin city
00. ❝ chasing devils ❞
┗ ∙⋆⋅⋆∙ ━━ ∙⋆✧⋆∙ ━━━ ∙⋆⋅⋆∙ ┛

Lawerence, Kansas
July 24, 2005

The sun has gone to rest as the darkness begins to surround the horizon. The night was starless and the moon was covered in the murky clouds that blended in with the rest of the sky. The air was still, but the faint wind brushed against the surface of the leaves, the ruffled sound echoed through the atmosphere. The small town of Lawrence, Kansas had entered its resting hours. The tiny neighborhood just north of the town was peaceful. The activity around the community wasn't much, but there were cars that often transpired from time to time. It was mostly business workers and shop owners that were just returning home from their profession. Nothing unusual about that.

The house in the middle of the neighborhood stood on a slight rise. The house was long and narrow. It was two stories high, and an extension at the rear for the kitchen. At first glance, the house seemed like it was straight out of a magazine cover. It was clean and geometric. Up the second story, the room located on the first right was silent. Stuff animals and plastic dolls had been tucked away towards the corner of the room. The bright light that had once radiated the room had been replaced with a slight glimmer of the sky fall. The small child that occupied the room was fast asleep.

CREAK!

The sound was loud enough that it sparked fear into the subconscious of the girl. Her body shot up quickly, her head turned in a panic as her eyes scanned around the room. The only source of light came from the window, but it was not enough to reassure the child's paranoia. She flicks on the lamp located on the nightstand, slightly pulling up the covers, causing a cold gust of air to form. As silly as it sounds, she sighs in relief that there is nothing there. It was just all a dream. Just a scary dream.

CREAK! CREAK! CREAK!

Her heart begins to pound. She can't tell if it's her vivid imagination or if it is an actual event, either way, she is frightened. Without a sudden second thought, she cautiously slips on his slippers and quickly escapes her room. The feeling of panic is heard within his footsteps as she runs down the end of the hall, revealing another bedroom.

"Auntie Jasmine," she screamed. She violently shakes the being awake. The young adult groans at the sound of the child, turning to face the opposite way of the child. However, this does not surprise her. She does this often. "Aunt Jasmine, wake up! I think there's a monster downstairs."

No matter how many times she groans, the girl continues to shake her. She knows that sooner or later, her guardian will give in to her plea. And about the seventh time, her eyes flicker open. She turns on her side, revealing the small child. Even in the dark, she can picture the dread that is plastered on her face. "You gotta believe me, I heard the noise four times. The monster is downstairs."

She tries her best not to let her true emotions show as she reaches for the light next to her. This had been the fifth time this week that her niece, Zya had stirred her out of her sleep because of her wariness about creatures of the night. She knew that it was probably due to the fact she had let her stay up and watch late-night television with her and her boyfriend once. Her mother warned her about that, but she thought she was only overreacting. Now she is wishing that she would have listened.

"Zya," she sighs. "Do you remember the other night when we checked the entire house and we found out that there was no such thing?" She nods. Two nights ago, around the same time, she and Zya with flashlights in hand, searched the entire home to make sure that there weren't any signs of monsters. She literally means the entire home. Inside and outside. Although it seemed strange to others around the neighborhood, Jasmine was trying her best to convince the young child that monsters did not exist. They were just made-up realities. However, the girl was still paranoid about it. "It was just the sound of the wind or just a tree. I promise you there are no monsters."

"No, you have to believe me this time," she insisted. She jumps up and down to express her concern. "There was a creaking sound coming from downstairs. I heard it!"

And almost on cue, the creaking sound that had driven the paranoid girl out of her bed resonated through the halls once more. The girl jumped into the arms of her guardian, her arms quickly reaching for the sheets, pulling them over her head. "See, I told you. There's a monster downstairs, Auntie Jasmine!"

At this, another figure that resided in the bed groaned and slowly rose up from his position. He wiped his eyes and looked towards Jasmine. She gave him an apologetic smile and he sighed. If there was one thing that Jasmine knew, it was that her boyfriend would be the hope in all this madness. Corey, who happened to be Zya's knight and shining armor, knew that Zya would not be at ease if someone didn't bother to check up on her need. In fact, he was the one that suggested two nights ago to check outside for monsters. Although again, it did seem weird, he thought it would be beneficial for Zya and her constant fear. Plus, it would be great boyfriend points for him to add to his resume. He loved Jasmine and her family and he was willing to show his affection in any way or form. Even if that meant going monster hunting at midnight.

"Let's go check out it princess, together," he said, grabbing his shoes. "If there are any monsters in here they should be scared because there's a sheriff in town." Zya peeped from the covers, a little sense of worry removed from him. Because she knew that Corey was an actual police officer for the town of Lawrence, she felt a sense of protection.

Zya smiled gently at him and she walked towards the door, waiting for her hero. Corey followed behind her, looking back in the direction of his girlfriend. She nodded him a quick thank you and he nodded as the two walked into the hallways.

Zya held onto Corey's shoulder tightly as they ventured down the stairs. Corey did not bother bringing in the type of weaponry because he assumed that their trip was going to be a one-and-done type of deal. Plus Zya already had this image of Corey as her faithful knight and Corey was not trying to ruin that representation for himself. He took pride in being the six-year-old's hero.

CREAK! CREAK! CREAKKKK!

"See, I told you! There's something here, Corey!" Zya whispered.

As they reached the end of the stairs, the sounds began to grow louder. Corey was convinced that it was wind from outside, but the more they investigated, the louder the sound grew. From the corner of the kitchen, a large shadow of something or someone could be seen. Shuffling of feet, along with small grumbles could be heard through the small kitchen.

Soon Zya caught on and looked down at Corey. The young girl was slightly disappointed because her hero did not carry any type of weaponry with him, but shortly her disappointment went south as she watched Corey grab the wooden bat that sat nearby.

"Stay here," Corey warned, place her down and pushing back. The girl nodded her head and did what she was told. Although she was scared shitless, she had faith in her hero. She believed that Lawerence's own protector would protect her from whatever was trying to scare her family. This was a job Corey was used to, so this was going to be a piece of cake.

At least that's what he thought.

━━━━━━ ✤ ━━━━━━

Dinah was restless.

The soft splashing water droplets hit the car window as she drove onward. The skies overhung with a blanket of grey that it was beginning to become hard to tell the difference between the sky and clouds. Despite the car ride feeling tedious, the rain was the only thing that was keeping Dinah calm at the moment.

The car came to a slow stop as she placed it in park. She glances down at her watch. The wristwatch was a thing she wore as an accessory, yet one that carried a great significance. The watch was a thing that almost no one wore these days, yet it had been his. She didn't care if it told the right time or not, just that when she wore it she could feel his wisdom in her blood.

And right now she could use some of his wisdom.

She reached for her phone sitting in the passenger seat. Flipping it open, she sighed as the small screen displayed no new notifications. Impulsively, she redialed the last number that she had been trying to reach for the past couple of days.

Her stomach flipped as the dial tone emitted from the speakers of the device as she greeted with once again his voicemail, "Hey this is Frank, I am not able to come to the phone right now, but if you leave your name and phone number, I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

She had expected a different reaction. She expected the connection on the other side would connect to her line, ultimately bringing her anxiety to an end. She expected for her pager to ring and smile as a message would come through from him. However, what she didn't expect was the same disappointment she had been met with before.

His fucking voicemail.

Her voice becomes brittle as the message tone cue as she says, "Hey, I hope you know that you have officially scared me shitless. It has been a week and six days since anyone has heard from you. And this is not like you, Frank."

"I know you and I have our differences from time to time, but this — this is something totally different. I know that you're in this Scarface revenge mood right now, but you have to think about the people who love you."

She pauses. Her mind raced, but she chose not to make it evident. She pulls away from the phone from her mouth as a fat tear started to drop down her cheek. She wept, hot tears soaked into the lap leaving damp evidence, but the proof was written on her face.

Crying was hard to hide. (And to be clear, Dinah was not someone who just cried freely, let alone she did her best oftentimes, to hide her emotions from everyone. However, worry brings out the worst of us.)

The only thing that brought her back to reality was the female voicemail script, commanding her to press the pound button when she was finished. She continued, "People like me, Frank . . . I've gotten so desperate that I decided to go to her house. Yes, her house. And don't roll your eyes at me either. I just didn't know where to go and maybe she might have a way to make sense of all of this."

━━━━━━ ✤ ━━━━━━

"I said, freeze, asshole," the man shouts at her, his hands are gripping tightly onto the wooden bat. His eyes are focused on her. The tone of his voice is yearning with agitation, but unfortunately, that is Dinah's last concern. If anything she's the only one that is allowed to be agitated at this point. "Put your hands in the air where I can see them!"

Dinah frowns at him. "Hasn't anyone told you that it is a cardinal sin to put an empty jug of milk in the back fridge?"

He looks confused. "Excuse me?"

"I'm just saying," she shrugs. "In my house, we call that an utter disappointment. I mean, do you realize that's just selfish, right?"

The man shakes his head. "Look, lady, I don't know what kind of drugs you are on, but you are breaking and enter—"

"It's not breaking and entering if you happen to have a spare key," Dinah says. She points to the key that is still stuck in the keyframe of the door. In her mind, she is eternally grateful that she has a hidden talent for finding useless things. It's honestly like a bad habit. Like she just stumbles on it by accident. Others may call it luck, but she calls it a talent. "Hiding it under the flower pot is so cliche. I suggest maybe a garden gnome or something like that. Whatever floats your boat."

"That's enough, you are going to jail."

Shit.

In a panic, Dinah shuffles around the island, trying her best to avoid the two things that are keeping her from her current goal: this man and the wooden bat. "Aren't you going to ask me why I did it first?" she says. "There has to be some type of itching desire to know exactly why a criminal acts so criminal."

He trips over himself as he shuffles to the opposite side of the island, trying to keep up with her. She smirks a little, but still manages to keep her focus on not getting caught by him. The last thing she needed right now is to be in Lawrence County Jail.

"I could care less why. All I know is you are breaking and entering into my house," he says, still standing on the opposite side of the island. He makes a move to run in her direction, but in quick thinking, Dinah grabs a banana from the island counter, throwing it at him as she shuffles to the kitchen table.

She felt like a kid on a playground. Only except, at this playground, the person chasing her had a weapon in their hands. So dramatic.

"Wait, time out. This is your house?" she questioned. She was standing by the corner of the table, on her toes ready to make the next move. In their weird game of tag, the mystery man raises his eyebrow at her. He nods. "I think all that batting practice might have gone to your head because this can't be your house."

Still confused, the man gives her a look. "No, I mean because I used to come to this house all of the time and there was only one person that lived here," she explains. "She was practically born here. As much she hated this town, she loved this house. In fact, she loved this house way too much. This house was the reason why we—"

"Have you been drinking?"

At this, the small child that had been occupied in the hallway peeked her head inside the kitchen entryway. To her surprise, the trembling fear that once kept her from her slumber disappeared at the sight of the woman. The tension of the air decreased at the squealing sound of the little girl, jumping up into Dinah's arms as she screamed, "Auntie Dinah!"

Dinah's reaction was quick as she picked up the exhilarated child from the floor and into her arms. With all of her might, she squished her tight, hugging and kissing endlessly. "Auntie Dinah, you killed the monster! You killed the monster."

Not exactly aware of what the girl was talking about, she decided to play into her game. Zya was known for having a big imagination. "I sure did, Zya. That big mean monster wasn't going to stop me from seeing my favorite kid in the whole wide world."

Zya giggles. From across the room, the man who is still clutching onto the bat is confused. Very confused, in fact. "Uh, Zya, sweetie, how do you know this crazy lady?"

Dinah, offended by the man's comment, frowns. Before Zya could speak, she says, "And Zya, how do you know this crazy man who can't even stay on his feet long enough without even tripping over himself?"

The man scoffs. Dinah makes sure the girl isn't looking and flashes her middle finger at him.

Zya laughs and says, "Auntie Dinah, this is Corey. He's Auntie Jasmine's boy—"

The sound of shuffling footsteps grabs the girl's attention as she looks up into the entryway to see her curly-haired guardian. A smile grows big on Zya as Jasmine notices her in the arms of Dinah. Although, the thrilled expression doesn't seem to phase Jasmine as she locks eyes with the dark-haired woman holding her niece.

The only sound that radiated throughout Dinah's ears was the sound of her jolting heartbeat. Her breath came to a complete stop as her eyes locked on the caramel skin being that stood five feet away from her. Although she claimed she was ready for this moment, she had been completely lying to herself.

"D-Dinah," Jasmine stutters. She laughs dryly as she shifts awkwardly, crossing her arms. "What's going on?"

Dinah stares in shock at the woman. She opens her mouth to speak, but no words manage to spill from her lips. That was the effect that Jasmine Phillips had on her. Speechless. And even after a few years had gone by, Jasmine Phillips still had a way of playing with Dinah Vincent's heartstrings.

The history of Jasmine Phillips and Dinah Vincent occurred a couple of years back. The two of them had come from opposite sides of the world. One, being sucked inside the paranormal activity. And the other, growing up with a silver spoon in her mouth. Although these two were extremely different, they managed to develop an unspoken connection that not even Cupid, himself could ever explain. Perhaps, some people would look at this and say it was out of random, however, Dinah did exactly feel the same way about that statement. It seemed as if the heavens had opened and gave her the one good thing that she could ever want. And Jasmine had become that to her. From friends to lovers, their relationship had turned into more than just casual buddies. From Dinah's perspective, they were soulmates.

But alas, that sudden comfort had come with a price. A price that neither one of them had been ready to pay.

The room stood silent as the daunting question hung over the atmosphere. Once Jasmine had cleared up everything, Corey had taken the opportunity to excuse himself along with Zya as they headed back upstairs. The two young women had stayed put in their original spots, neither one of them bothering to move. Dinah places her hands in the pockets of her jacket and sighs heavily. She knows that eventually, she has to open her mouth and at least say something.

"So I didn't know that you were dating. . ." she spoke. Almost immediately she regretted her comment at the sight of Jasmine's expression. Out of the millions of things she could've said, she chose the one topic that was a seriously awkward situation for the both of them. After everything that happened between them, it was the last thing on anyone's mind to start an argument about the past. However, despite that, her mouth had other plans as she continued to ramble on. "And he's what, a cop?"

Jasmine sighed. "You drove all the way down here just to judge my love life?"

"Oh no," Dinah said. She defensively threw her hands in the air. "I'm just saying, if I remember correctly, you said that you didn't want to date anyone—"

"Well . . . I'm exploring my options." Jasmine scoffed. "However, I don't think that's any of your concern considering the fact that, well, you know."

Dinah's brow creases. "Well, it wasn't exactly my idea to — well, you know." Her emphasis on her last words caused yet another irritable look from Jasmine.

"I'm a hard time believing that you drove all the way to Lawrence just to talk about our break up," she said. "So, Dinah can you tell me what's going on because it's three in the morning and quite frankly, I have work in a couple of hours and I would like to get some sleep.

Dinah grew quiet. The silence that once stood between had revisited them.

"Dinah."

Silence.

"Dinah."

Silence.

"Dinah . . . . what's going on?"

"I-I didn't know where else to go," she manages to say. "I panicked and the next thing I knew my car ended in your driveway."

Jasmine gives Dinah a concerned look. She didn't know exactly what to say at this. Dinah continues as she says, "A couple of weeks ago, Frank and I got into this huge argument. I figured that things would be okay after we cooled down a bit, but something weird happened. Frank never misses any of my calls. No matter how mad he is. Especially my emergency radio ones."

"And I've got this weird feeling that something weird has happened to him," says Dinah. "I have checked all over his favorite places. All of the bars and shops. I've called all of his friends and they haven't heard anything from him."

At this, Jasmine slowly makes her way over to Dinah. The girl notices the slight panic in her friend's eyes. Not many people had been aware of Dinah's usual past. However, throughout their years of knowing each other, Dinah felt that it was only right to tell her the truth. She felt as if Jasmine wanted to be around her, then it was only best to know the curse that stood behind the identity of Dinah Vincent. Luckily, for her, Jasmine was really afraid of it. Of course, she was at first. But soon, she had learned to accept it. And still, to this day, Dinah never understood exactly why.

With just a touch of her hand, Jasmine was able to give Dinah a small piece of tranquillity. She had a way of doing things like that. "Maybe, he's just in a place where there's no reception? We both know Frank wouldn't just up and leave like that. That's not him."

"Yeah," says Dinah. "That's what I thought. Until I found this." With her hands still shoved into her pocket, Dinah managed to pull out a piece of a silver pendant and place it into Jasmine's hands.

Jasmine no longer was staring at her friend but at the silver dog tag that was placed into her hands. The women's eyebrows crease together as she scans the identification tag. Frank was known to wear this familiar piece of jewelry everywhere he went. There was never a time that she had never seen him without it. He claimed it to be his lucky charm. "Where did you find this?"

"The night I went to his place, it was just sitting there. Along with a bunch of old books and journals about demons."

"Demons? Was there a specific kind that he was looking into?"

"Uh, he had been rambling on about Azazel like a couple of weeks ago," Dinah explained. "He mentioned that Azazel had been sighted out by a couple of other hunters, but no one knew for sure."

"Azazel? That fallen angel that went crazy?" Jasmine asked. Dinah nodded. She had forgotten how normal it was to talk with her about supernatural stuff. After Dinah had told Jasmine about her past, Jasmine being the studious person that she was, did her research. Too much in fact. She practically knew more about the paranormal than what Dinah had known about. And Dinah thought was the one with the cursed past. "What the hell was he looking into that for?"

Dinah shrugs. "All I know is that he was adamant about him looking for him, but I never understood why — he really never got into it."

Jasmine excused herself from the conversation as she walked into the living room. Dinah didn't know what she went to do, but her mind began to put things together as she noticed the leather journal in Jasmine's hand. She smiled slightly at the sight of that.

Jasmine was researching. Way too much into it. She sat at the table and Dinah followed suit, sitting beside her. "Well apparently, Azazel comes from a long list of royalty," she said, Dinah scoffed. "He was Lucifer's first little project way back when. And apparently, he has children, Meg and Tom?"

"What a cute little family. . ."

"That's not all. There isn't a complete list of his past significant others, but there is this name," she says. She turns the page of her journal. Her fingers land on them and Jasmine stops. The sight of Jasmine's sudden pause starts to worry Dinah. She quickly reaches for the journal for herself and scans the page. Her eyes land on the name and immediately she regrets it.

The gut feeling of panic comes rushing in. Dinah couldn't exactly pinpoint it out, but she knew that there was something that she had been missing out on this entire time. Fear seeped into her body as her breathing had become too erratic. As much as she didn't want to believe it, everything that she found had to lead her up to this point.

The night before Frank's disappearance, he was trying to warn about something — someone. However, Dinah was too stubborn to even listen to him. And although, Dinah had been too caught up to even pay attention to it before. This was the moment that clarified everything.

"You don't think he was looking for her, do you?" asked Jasmine.

Almost immediately, the room began to spin. The dark memory of the sinister being flashed back to Dinah's mind. Her wicked smile grew as the dark blood spewed onto the clean white sheets. Dinah remembered the demon's laugh as she watched the parents cry out for help. She remembered the pair of yellow eyes that shone in the night, the way they stared deeply into little Dinah's soul. The paralyzing fear sent shivers down the spine of Dinah at the thought of the unruly creature.

Dinah should have seen it coming. Really, she should have. She was a walking curse. Everyone and anything that she had ever cared for, she was bound to lose, eventually. But there were no dark, gray clouds. No harsh gusts of wind or signs telling her that danger that was on its way.

There was just a name. Her name.

"Delilah," Dinah says. "She's fucking back."

───────── ※ ·❆· ※ ─────────

[  supporting cast  ]

zya phillips

corey henson

※ ·❆· ※

NOTES:

      when I tell you that I am not really ecstatic about this prologue. . . I mean it. I have legit have been sitting on this for months because I have re-wrote this like a hundred times and I am still not satisfied with it. so, I do apologize if this not the intro you guys were looking for. (but I am happy about my gifs and moodboards! they are coming out so good so I am satisfied!)

    the goal of this story is to basically keep the canon storyline, however, I will be adding my own little twist and turns to make it unique (hint: Delilah the demon). so definitely keep that in mind because I definitely do not want anyone criticizing me about how I am not following the storyline or the timeline of the show.

   this chapter was just a way to introduce the story and characters. my goal is to try to at least get to the actual storyline by maybe the third chapter, but I am still mapping things out.

   anyways, I am glad I was able to get that out of the way so I can move onto the actual story. I am super excited about it and hopefully my writing and actually reflect that.

   let me know what you guys think!