Half-Mortals: The Ripper: CANCELLED (for now) DUE TO WRITERS' BLOCK

Chelsea Lea is a broke graduate of the AMP. She's assigned to a group of hunters and the adventure unfolds...

Chelsea Lea plods throughout the city, her stomach as empty as her pockets. An early graduate of the AMP (the Academy of Mortal Protection) with no money due to her agent not getting her any jobs. "A lack of street cred" is what he called it.  And how has Chelsea survived without dying of starvation? Well, at age 17, when she graduated, she'd been doing odd jobs. For two years. The magical clover of luck has lost a pedal because no one will hire her for anything. She stops at a quaint looking cafe called "The Rugged Windmill". The title didn't make much sense but the cakes on display made up for it. Chelsea looks at her reflection. Her short, golden-brown hair is extremely unkempt, her blue jeans are ripped at the ankles, and the black jacket she wears was charity gift from her neighbor. Chelsea begins a battle with her conscience.

Just steal some cakes! There aren't any cameras and no one inside is paying attention

RRRRRRRRRR! Chelsea holds her stomach, "Well I guess I-...! Hang on! I can't do that!"

Why the hell not?! We're hungry!

"What do you mean we?"

You need brain-food too, dumbass!

Chelsea contemplates a bit more. "No! I can't steal food! It's wrong."

You are such a goody two-shoes!

Stupefied by the last comment, Chelsea gasps, "I most certainly am not!"

Well, guess what, smartness?

"What?!" Chelsea piratically yells.

You're arguing with your conscience, idiot! People are looking like you like you're crazy!

"Yeah, ri-!" Chelsea stops herself and takes a look around. The on-lookers gaze at the girl arguing with the cakes. Embarrassment twists her stomach in knots. Then the embarrassment turns to anger. "What?!" Chelsea snaps, "What the hell are you people looking at?! You never seen someone who's broke before?! Piss off!"

The crowd of six or seven walks away, cackling and making snide remarks. Told ya, her conscience pipes up.

"Screw you." Chelsea scuffs off down the alleyway. She thinks about what her landlord will say. "Where's my money?! Either get a job or get out!" The landlord's sharp words used to cut deep, like a knife. But through the years they've dulled and are about as sharp as a spoon. Even though the words have become spoonish, they can still bruise and Chelsea doesn't want to be a part of that ordeal. She decides to shuffle up to the Reaper Agency to see if she can get a job. Maybe that three leaf clover has some luck in it. Well it doesn't. Chelsea sits in Mr. Zimmerman's office. He's about ten years older than her and is about to deliver the much expected bad news. Chelsea looks around the office. It has all that stupid stuff you'd expect to find in an office. Motivational posters, a bookshelf with unread books on it, and pictures of family members and his girlfriend. "No", Mr. Zimmerman says with an apologetic frown.

Chelsea lets out an exasperated sigh. "Are you serious?"

"In all fairness, you should've known this before you even asked."

"No offense, Mr. Zimmerman...but you couldn't find s**t if you were in a public bathroom."

Mr. Zimmerman is struck by that, "You know that doesn't make me wanna tell you the good news..."

"Wait, what?!" Chelsea's voice cracks wit excitement.

"No, no, no. I can't find s**t."

Chelsea begins to whine, "Pleeeeease! Mr. Zimmerman! I'll love you for the rest of your life!"

"You, know I've been telling you to call me Jake for like three years."

Tears begin to roll down Chelsea's cheeks, "Jake, I'm gonna lose my apartment! I've sold almost everything I have! I haven't eaten in two days!"

Jake reassures Chelsea, "Hey, I was just kidding! It's okay!" He hands Chelsea a box of tissues.

She sniffles and wipes her eyes, "What's the job?"

Jake starts again, "It's not a job per-say."

The tears come back, "Awww! I'm gonna lose everything!"

"Chel! Sea!" Jake calms her down again, "Dry your eyes."

Chelsea does as he says and listens.

"This guy, Ash Way, is looking for a new person for his group. I've looked through his files . He is extremely talented with his work. He gets lots of jobs."

Chelsea squeaks with joy.

"Let me flip through your file to see if you fit his specifications."

She head slams on the desk, "I''m doo-hoo-hoomed." She zones out into her thoughts as Jake dials the Ash Way's number, My life sucks! Scandinavia sucks! Why can''t I just be a normal mortal-person?! I'm sooooo hungry-hee-hee! She bounces back into reality when Jake hangs up the phone. "Don't say anything", Chelsea mumbles, "I'll just go ahead and make a noose."

Jake chuckles, "You got the job."

"Wait, what?!" Chelsea's voice cracks from excitement.

"Yeah, he accepted instantly."

Chelsea squeaks again. Then, she gets up and hugs Jake tightly. "I..um...have a girlfriend." Jake says. Chelsea lets go, instantly, "Yeah, no, I...um....that was a, uh professional-business hug." Her stomach decides to roar again. Embarrassed, Chelsea clutches her stomach.

Jake gives her a 50 Nummus bill, "Buy yourself some food."

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"

50 Nummus can by you a lot of junk-food. Chelsea discovered that in some chain-fast-food place called "The Grease Rag". Now, doesn't that sound disgusting? It doesn't matter when you haven't eaten in two days. She scarfs down grease-ridden food faster than she can actually chew. Jake told her to go here and to wait for Ash Way. She'd been stupid enough not to look at his picture first and was tempted to go back. What would the talented Ash Way look like? Was he a rugged looking forty-something year old guy looking for an apprentice. A pretentious loser who would do nothing but show off tricks? Or worse! A pretty-boy. Ewww! Chelsea thinks. Maybe he's already here and he hasn't seen her yet. Where could he be? That biker guy with the leather jacket? Or the business looking guy? Maybe he's the cashier! All of these possibilities rush throughout Chelsea's mind. But then it stops. Someone walks into the restaurant. He isn't rugged and he isn't much of a pretty-boy per-say. But Chelsea knows it's him. He has eyes so pale blue, they're almost gray. His hair, is cut short but still hangs down a bit. He wears black sneakers, black jeans, and a black jacket.

Something isn't right, though. This guy must be at least 19 or 20. How can he be getting all the jobs and be extremely talented? He looks somewhat soft. He smiles at Chelsea warmly. This is Ash Way? A demon-slayer? A master-hunter? A well-educated master of magic? Sure, about 99.9% of all that is what Chelsea thought Ash would be like but still...this is Ash Way? He looks like the pushover boyfriend of some biker-chick! And then it hits Chelsea Lea like a fist to the face...Ash Way! He was the punching bag of AMP! Everyone would either beat the crap out of him or they'd just make fun of him! How can this complete and utter....well...dumbbell be a demon-slayer?! Another fist of revelation hits Chelsea. No one ever paid attention to his grades he'd always take the written tests because teachers worried about him. But that doesn't explain how this written-test taking fist-socket could be the Ash Way! Does he even have any skills?! What's he going to do to a demon?! Play chess with it?!

Then, a fist of surprise hits Chelsea as he still smiles and greets her with a, "Hiya!" His smile is even warmer than before. Chelsea's stomach makes another sound. Not a hunger sound but a, "Hey, man, unless you wanna get puke on yourself, you best get outta the way!"

Chelsea greets Ash with a retch and says, "I ate too much food!" She darts past him, into the ladies' restroom and begins to vomit...violently. She spews so hard that water flies up from the toilets. Ash goes in after her. "Um...Chelsea, are you okay?"

"I'm fine! It's not you it's me! You see I haven't eaten in a few d-!" She vomits again. "And I ate a lot of food and-..." She sprays once more, "I'm paying for it." She walks out of the stall and sees Ash still there. "You can leave, now." 

As if coming out of a trance, Ash realizes where he is, "Ah...I'm in the ladies restroom."

"Yes."

"I'll wait outside."

"You do that."

Chelsea washes up. Does he not remember me?

Ash stands outside of "The Grease Rag". He gazes at the generic looking sign, "That sounds...repulsive." Seriously, it's the Half-Mortal Society. Not Mortal. That's half the reason the Mortal Society is Mortal. Crappy food like this. With no one to talk to, he gets lost in his thoughts. I wonder if she remembers me.

Of course she does, you idiot!

I never knew my conscience could be such a d****e-nozzle.

Dude, she joined in on the jeering all the time! She even knocked your books out of your hands! And you still had a crush on her? You. Are. An. Idiot.

Hey, screw you, man! She seems okay, now.

Yeah, seems okay. Wait till the name calling starts. I'll be right here to say, "I told you so!"

Do you wanna get hit?!

What're you gonna do, punch yourself in the face? Shut the hell up.

Oh, whatever. 

"Hey!" Chelsea's voice brings Ash back to reality. It almost makes him jump, bitterly reminiscing the days of schooling at the AMP. He turns to face Chelsea, but not seeing the 19 year old, jobless hunter. He sees the sadistic 15 year old who teased him because of his physical inabilities. The days he spent, crying in the courtyard over the only girl he truly 'liked'. The girl who constantly crushed him was the one he had a crush on. He even anonymously sent her a Rose for Valentine's Day. And as many times as his heart was stomped by her, she'd always be his funny Valentine. 

Chelsea giggles, "Are you gonna gawk all day or are we...um what are we supposed to be doing again?"

"I thought we'd head to your apartment to get your stuff."

Chelsea is struck by this, "I'm moving in with you?" She kicked herself for sound derogatory.

The way she said 'you'. It wasn't a warm welcome. It was like a boot heel stomping on Ash's heart...again. Old memories flooded back into his mind. The masochistic feelings of abuse and love entered his veins, briefly. He sighs and says, "I wish they wouldn't hold me so high when I was searching for a new member. You're moving in with us. Errol Davis and Lindsey Zachary. We have our own hunting party and an apartment further in town."

Chelsea feels overjoyed but keeps her cool, "That sounds amazing."

Ash's car is actually an SUV. It isn't necessarily the cleanest, but hey, what can you do? Ash's mix-CD blasts The Clash. "Midnight to six man! For the first time from Jamaica! Dillinger and Leroy Smart! Delroy Wilson, your cool operator!" Chelsea never knew that Ash was into Mortal music. The Clash is one of her favorite bands. All those days wasted in the school, teasing Ash and knocking books out of his hands...they could have been best friends. She giggles a little bit when he starts to sing along. Jokingly, he asks, "You have a problem with my singing?" Chelsea chuckles out the words, "Hey, man if you wanna sound like a dying possum, that's cool."

"Whatever." Ash takes a right, "So it's this place right here?"

"Yeah."

Ash pulls into the "Setab Apartments" parking area. The entire foundation is made mainly of bricks. The place looks as if it were on the "bad side" of town. Entering the place, you just feel like the landlord is out to get you. Well, he's out to get Chelsea. "Where the hell's my damn rent?! You know what?! Just get out! Get the h-!" Ash steps in front of him and shoots him a glance. It's a very cold glance. So cold that it makes Chelsea shiver for a moment. The bitterness of the look in his eyes lasts only a split second and you have to really look for it, but Chelsea realizes that this nice-guy has something buried within him. A demon itself, maybe. But just by the ice-cold expression, she suddenly knows why Ash is a dangerous hunter. "Can I talk to you in your office?"

The landlord, Mr. Nakazono, is uncomfortable by the glance he was shot, but doesn't want Chelsea to see it. "Sure", he replies and they go into his office. Chelsea goes to room 33. Her 'home'. It's a bit of a small living space. Actually, more like a crawl space in which she lived. One bedroom and that's about it. There was a shower in restroom (which is a sad interpretation of what Mr. Nakazono thinks a restroom is). He stopped the water in it three days ago, just because the rent was late. Chelsea packs the clothes she has (a t-shirt, jean jacket, her glasses, spare contacts, and more tattered pants) left in a suitcase. Happy with the circumstances that have come her way, she prances out of her room and down the hallway. She sees a pained looking landlord and a beaming Ash. Mr. Nakazono starts a pain filled speech, "I'm sorry for my behavior for the passed two years. I will pay you back all the money you've wasted on my apartment , and", he glance at Ash, "you're p-p-p-pretty."

Chelsea blushes at that last part. She didn't notice Mr. Nakazono's millisecond glance at Ash. "Well, you best be on your way."

"I never realized Mr. Nakazono could be so nice." Chelsea puts her suitcase in the trunk, "What exactly did you say to him."

Ash looks off into the distance, "Well..."

A Little Bit Ago...

Ash shuts and locks the door behind him. "What the hell do you want?!" The pissed off landlord exclaims. Amazing...this guy caught a glimpse of Ash's 'death stare', but still needs an attitude adjustment. Ash increases his death-stare by twenty percent, "Give me some duct-tape, now." Terrified, the landlord searches his office for duct-tape and finds some. Ash mummifies his mouth shut. His pale grayish-blue eyes become clouded by anger. The light-bulb above them cracks. The papers on Mr. Nakazono's fly through the air and Ash's voice turns into a low, ominous hiss, "Mr. Nakazono...I am a conjurer of powerful spells! Do not think for one SECOND  I won't practice my strength on you!" 

The magic stops and Ash beams, "I think I'll practice my physical strength on you. How many tenants do you have?"

 Mr. Nakazono holds up five fingers on his right hand, "Mm."

"Give me your left hand."

Like a dog obeying his master, Nakazono gives Ash his left hand. As pushes his thumb on the landlord's pinkie finger, "This", CRACK, "is for Chelsea."

"MMMMMM!"

On to the ring finger, "This is for tenant number two!"

"Mm-hm-hmmm!"

Middle finger, "Oh, my favorite!"

Now, the index, "Tenant number four."

"MMMMMMMMMM!"

And finally, we finish with the thumb which Ash twists sideways and then pulls backwards, breaking it. Tears run down the landlord's face as Ash carefully unravels the duct-tape from his mouth. Ash begins to strike a conversation, "You gotta be careful with these things, you know? Don't wanna make the tape sting your face. And there. All better?" 

Now...

"You know, I think he just needed to open up to someone", Ash closes the trunk and gets in the SUV. It takes about half an hour to get to the apartment area. And it's about ten times better than the other place. It's ten floors high and built beautifully rather than having everything made out of spare bricks someone found at a junkyard. Chelsea's face brightens at the site of it. The inside is even more beautiful. The floors are made of marble and the chandelier above them is enormous. The receptionist looks like a sociopath, which really tops it off. It's a new home for Chelsea. A fresh start. Ash gets the key and they head for the elevator.

Chelsea feels something in her stomach...not indigestion this time. It's nervousness. I only feel this way when I meet new pe-, She stops herself. After two years of practically living on the streets, she'd never noticed her lack of actual friends. She had her pillow and that feral cat that was hit by a bus. Her social life since school has dropped from 75% percent to an all time 2%. Wow, I need a life, Chelsea thinks. The elevator stops on the top floor and they stride over to room 115. The very last room. Ash opens the door and greets them, "I'm back with the newest addition to our group!"

A boy named Errol looks up. He's slightly darker than Ash and has short, brown hair. He wears a black hoodie, black, black shoes, and blue jeans. He gets up to greet the two. "Hey, Ash! How long's it been? About an hour and a half?" He moves to Chelsea, "Hey, I'm Errol Davis. You are?"

Chelsea fumbles through her words, "I, um...I'm Ch-Chelsea. Chelsea Lea." It's been a while since she had to introduce herself to people. She holds out her hand. "Nah, none of that formal crap! We're family now", He wraps his arms around her. Chelsea lets out a nervous laugh, "Eh-he-he..." This guy's a bit colorful...slightly eccentric. Errol lets go and lets Chelsea take a look around. Towards the back, there's four doors with signs on them. One reads, "Lindsey's room: Enter and you die." Next is Errol's room with a sign saying, "Ask before you enter." Ash's room has a sign that says, "Ash." Very original. Towards the left of the for doors is a kitchen area, made of wood. The rest of the apartment is made up of dark blue carpet. To the right of the four doors is a balcony. There's two steps. If you step down, there's a couch and a little coffee table with magazines and an unpublished book titled, "The Guy Code: A Code for Guys by Ash Way and Errol Davis."

Down the steps, to the left is a bathroom. "Yo, Lindsey, the new person's here!" Errol calls. A voice crawls out from under the door in Lindsey's room, "If it's a boy, I'm burning this place to the ground!" The voice is somewhat aggressive but a joking tone overtakes it. Chelsea is somewhat intimidated by Lindsey. The door opens and Lindsey steps out. She's probably the tallest out of the bunch. She wears all black, including a Black Parade t-shirt She's black and her hair is straight and tied back into a ponytail. Up to her elbows are covered up by long-sleeved, black and white fingerless gloves. She's sort of a punk-rock girl with an enigmatic background. She too gives Chelsea a bear hug. "Oh...a second time", Chelsea mutters uncomfortably. 

"Finally...a girl is here!" Lindsey turns to face Ash and Errol, "Carry on with your bromance guys!" 

"That kinda hurt..." Ash murmurs.

"It is, though." Errol proclaims.

Lindsey takes Chelsea's suitcase and shows her to her room. "Wow, your bag is light...is there anything in here?" She opens the door.

Chelsea nervously smiles and titters again, "I sorta sold most of my stuff just to pay the rent at my old place."

"That's terrible...when we get done with this job, you and me are going shopping!"

"What job?"

Everyone sits around the coffee table. Ash puts the file on it. "They call him 'The Ripper'. His location is London and he's extremely dangerous." Chelsea opens the file to see the man's picture. There's multiple pictures of men and women. Some don't even look old enough to drive. Chelsea raises her hand. "This isn't the AMP, you don't have to raise your hand", Errol cackles. 

"Not to, um...point out the obvious but...these are all different photos."

Ash elaborates."The Ripper is a shapeshifter. That's why he hasn't been caught yet. He's broken a record and killed thirty-three people. It was almost impossible for the Reaper Agency to put a soul-mark on him." (A soul-mark is a mark put on a demon's soul so that a hunting party/hunter can track it down easier without mistaking it for someone else's bounty and then really mucking it up for the agency).

"Does he leave any clues." Lindsey asks.

Ash flips throughout the file. "No."

"Have they found any bodies?" Errol asks and takes the file and reads it, "No again."

"So, we're looking for a possible psycho-slasher-demon-serial killer who can change bodies, doesn't leave clues (or corpses for that matter), and doesn't have a hideout." Chelsea sums up, "Wait, does he?" She reads the file and sighs, "No."

Ash speaks in exasperation,"Phenomenal...this job is on a great start."

"There isn't much time to waste, I guess." Errol closes the file. 

"Let's go." Lindsey gets the car keys. 

If you get a hunting job, it means one of two things: The Reaper Agency wants you out of the Half-Mortal Society for a little while or you're a pretty good hunter and you deserve to hunt. Chelsea hopes for either one. She's never been out of the Half-Mortal Society. Except for that field trip to Mississippi, but that's practically the toilet of the Mortal-Society, so it doesn't count. The transport area for the Reaper Agency is sort of like an airport. Only you go inside an elevator that moves at light-speed and gets you where you need to go within about thirty seconds. A lady directs them to where the London elevator is. It's an old fashioned elevator. There's a hand on the top that's pointing to HMS. The other side says MS. "What's our symbol?" Lindsey asks. The symbol being what the soul-mark looks like.

Errol pulls out a picture, "This." It's the alchemical symbol for Mercury.

Chelsea stares at the elevator. She suddenly longs for a much safer job. Cleaning windows, walking a dog, or perhaps slaying an infestation of rats or something. Yes, rats. Chelsea wants to face the creature she fears most rather than slaying a psychotic-slasher demon. Understandable, to an extent. "Are you gonna come or are you just gonna stand there?" Errol says in a tone of half joking, half impatience. Then, Chelsea notices that everyone is in the elevator, waiting on her. I really have to get outta my head, she tells herself and steps into the elevator. An automated voice comes on the PA, "Welcome to The Reaper Agency Elevator Service or RAE for short. Your current destination is London. Time until submersion is four seconds. Have a nice trip."

Chelsea doesn't have time to scream as she's forced against the wall, traveling at the speed of light. She takes a look at the others who are calmly being pushed against the hard walls as they are being dropped probably millions of miles to the Mortal-Society. "Twelves seconds to landing." The voice says as they come to a slower speed. Ash feels his feet touch the floor, "Wow, that was faster than usual." 

"Five seconds. Four seconds. Three. Two. One." The elevator comes to a complete halt and the hand is completely on the MS. Ding! The doors open into an area that has a very distinct stench and an eerie darkness so dark that you can't see passed the doors. "Every time!" Ash exclaims, "I ask for anywhere but the sewer and where do they throw us? The sewer!" 

Getting out of the sewer took Lindsey casting a light spell and Ash fending off rats for Chelsea. Finally they'd found an exit. Ash removes the lid and climbs out, "They are so getting an e-mail about this crap. Every freaking time!" He helps everyone out. Except Lindsey who rejects his hand and says that she doesn't need help from a twig. Ash's self-conscious level: Now at 56%. They go into an alley and discuss their plans. "Alright, should we split up?" Errol asks.

"Good idea." Lindsey replies, "I'll take Chelsea and you go with Ash...I know how you two get when you're separated."

"You make it sound as if we're married." 

"That's the point. We'll head down that way." Lindsey points down the alley, "You guys head some other direction."

"If we don't fin anything in two hours, we'll meet back here." Ash puts in. He looks for a sign, "At Gervais Alley."

At that, the two groups separate.  "You know, telling someone to go into some other direction is i a bit vague", Ash comments.

"Completely." Errol agrees. 

Chelsea and Lindsey climb a medium-sized, brick building and perch on the edge. "What's this supposed to do up here?" Chelsea questions.

Lindsey looks back, "I've seen enough movies to know that the serial-killer guy always hangs out at some diner or something. Chelsea sighs, "Lindsey...I hate to heckle your skills, but the odds of you finding the killer around here are slim and-..."

"Found him."

"What?!"

"Yeah, he's the guy with the business suit on." Lindsey points at him.

"Does his soul-mark match?"

"Use your mortal vision and tell me." Mortal vision is sort of a Half-Mortals way of seeing a soul mark/demons. When you use mortal vision, a lot of the area goes black. If you spot a demon, it's usually blue. If it's weak, the color is light. If the demon is strong, the shading is dark. The soul-mark is located on the demons back and is red. Chelsea hasn't used soul vision in years, so it's a bit flickery. She sees the Mercury symbol and reverts back to normal vision, "Talk about dumb luck."

Lindsey whips out her cellphone and calls Ash.

"Hello?"

"Found him!"

"What? Really?"

Around 8 Minutes Later...

"So what do you suggest we do? Just wait for Buffalo Bill over there to kill someone and then catch him?" Errol hisses. They all hide behind the corner of the diner, still able to see The Ripper. He's baby faced and polite to the waitress. Some of his mannerisms and gestures are very old fashioned. "I said I didn't know!" Lindsey retorts. "We can't wait for long", Chelsea says, "He'll be leaving soon. We can't attack him in broad daylight. So, what do we do?"

Author's Note

I advise that you read the background info first. This story is sort of a comedy with creepy elements. Tell me what you think of it. What should I improve, what do you like? It's probably STEAMING with grammatical errors...I'll edit that later ^^

Reviews

[Kitten]

Write more my dear friend! You can't leave me hanging! wub you :D

[jay]

it i really good this could be a movie you just have to find the directer for the film

[jay]

it is good well i don't know what to say but it is good