is…” but Tony stopped out of shear fright. “What is that!?” Tony pointed to the fiery figure launching itself to the car behind them.

“Run!” Charlie screamed. He ran, Itchy in paw, to the car just in front, with Tony scuffling behind. The fiery creature drew closer, and closer. The dogs leaped the gap separating cars and were about to relax when they heard the whooshing of the blazing object behind them. It plowed into the car behind where the three dogs had been, causing it to explode. The debris shot outward, nearly decapitating Itchy’s head, but instead just scratching his back.

“What was that!?” Itchy yowled in pain.

“That, my little friend, was a container of propane exploding due to what appears to flaming demon. Any questions?”

A blackened demon jumped from the wrecked cars onto the roof where Charlie was laying. It snarled and hissed and took a swipe at Charlie, who slid out of reach. Itchy wailed at the sight. I have no time for an old yeller. Charlie thought. He placed Itchy down in the center, and then got to his feet. “Oh, you wanna piece of me, do ya?” The demon lunged, missing as Charlie swiveled, matador style. “Ooh, you missed me!”

Tony spoke with worry: “Are you sure you should be taunting it?”

“What?” Charlie turned to Tony. “Oh sure. I’ve faced these guys tons of times. You’d think the old wench down there would get some better infantry soldiers. Such a stud-” Charlie collapsed and laid on his belly; the demon his whacked him over the head. His body began sliding to the edge, and Itchy reached out, only being able to grab his arm, leaving Charlie dangling over the edge.

“Oh man! Charlie!” Tony tried to help the German Shepherd, but was cut off by the demon. “I’m not missing my chance this time!” Tony launched a punch at the demon, which in hindsight was a bad idea considering that the demon, until as of late, was on fire. “Oh ouch! Just ow! That’s hot!”

The demon, however, was unaffected and proceeded to punch Tony right back, using its sharpened claws to leave quite a mark. Tony’s body was sprawled across the rooftop, but Tony was merely faking. That’s it, get into a good position…

“Wake up, Charlie, ooh!” Itchy tried using his free paw to slap his friend awake, with no success. The demon was closing in, and Itchy was next to defenseless.

Charlie’s eyes slowly began to open, his ears rattling from the speeding wind. “Ok, I do not remember getting stuck in a jet engine.” he muttered. He gained focus, just as he looked down at the fast moving ground below him. “Aah! Itchy! Itch?” Charlie looked up and grinned. “Oh there you are. What happened to the demon?”

Itchy tilted his head to the oncoming monster. “Right there.” he said through his locked teeth.

“Well why didn’t you say so?” Charlie used the side of the car to push himself upwards, grabbed the edge and brought himself back onto the roof, where the demon was about to strike. Charlie ducked, and sucker punched the demon right in the chin, which was, again, a poorly thought out idea. Charlie let out a melodic howl. “Why did I just hit that?” Still not phased, the demon kicked Charlie in the chest, sending a burning pain throughout Charlie’s body.

“And…now!” Tony leaped up and got one good kick on the demon, catching it off guard and setting it off balance. Despite its attempts, the demon began to fall off the car, but grabbed the distracted Sheppard’s legs on the way down. Charlie yelped in pain and hit the roof hard. The demon dragged Charlie along as it slid off the roof. Charlie grasped the edge, but the burning touch of the demon made it only that much harder.

“Hold on Charlie!” Itchy barked as he moved over to Charlie and grabbed an arm. Tony followed suit and did the same. But the actions only made the demon grab harder, sending more pain through Charlie’s body, and rapidly heating his body. Within moments, Charlie’s arms had become as hot as the demon itself. Unable to take the heat, Itchy and Tony released their hold.

“Yeah.” Charlie groaned. “Thanks for all the help.” Charlie stood the pain, but the heat was getting to him. If he didn’t get that demon off him, he’d being going down early. Charlie swung his legs into the side of the wooden car. Enraged, the demon heated up, but Charlie kept swinging and the demon kept crashing into the side of the car. The demon used its free claws to grab onto the car, but as he did, the spot began to melt until a hole was all that was left. Charlie gave one more big swing and flung the demon into the car.

Tony and Itchy, realizing that Charlie was cooling off, pulled him up to the safety of the roof. “I think we better get off this car before the demon finds his way out.” Itchy suggested with panic in his voice. Instead, Charlie used the ladder on the car to move and open the door.

“Well would you look at this!”

Tony was first to climb down the opposite ladder to see what Charlie was talking about. Inside the cart were gallons of water, dousing the fire demon. “You now Charlie, you may have died twice, risked the lives of the ones you care for, and be an angel revived, but you are one lucky dog.”

“See Tony?” Charlie said in a monotone voice. “You just had to pick the most arbitrary train in the entire country. Propane in one car, water jugs in another.” Charlie lowered himself into the car and rested himself on the carcass of the demon. “At least it feels refreshing in here.”

Itchy came down the ladder, and gasped at the sight of Charlie on the demon. “Is it?”
“Oh yeah, I got it good.”

Tony and Itchy followed Charlie into the car and rested after the surprise attack. “So,” Tony began, breaking the silence. “Where, pray tell, did this demon come from?”

“It has to be one of Belladonna’s. There’s no mistaking it.”

“Do you think that Belladonna is after the watches?” Itchy naively asked.

“Knowing her, she’s probably the one who caused all this mayhem. But if not, then the little monster who stole those watches better make sure that I never find them, because when I do…” Charlie growled and ripped the limp head off the demon.

Chapter 4:

[August 29th - 9:38 am]

Crystal was laying on the hood of a car in the light. She was not a morning person. “Seriously Mickey? This early in the day. What makes you think this Harli person will even showed up?”

Mickey was waiting in the shade of a wrecked car pile. “I know she’ll show up. She’s very reliable. A bit clumsy at times-”

“How clumsy?”

“She once set a box of firecrackers on fire while rummaging through trash.”

“Oh yeah, very reliable.”

“Hey!” Mickey snapped. “You oughta be careful what you say about her. If it wasn’t for Harli, you could have gone and killed me!”

“Right. Sorry.”

While Mickey and Crystal had their conversation, Poppy was watching them from the seclusion of a partially destroyed hearse. Britney was relaxing on the floor (what was left of it) trying to get some more sleep. “Why did we have to come out here Poppy? Scott might be looking for us.”

“I told you. Judging from that twilight bark last night, there is probably something big going down.”

“Unlike you, searching the sky for that strange angelic disturbance, I was sound asleep. Remind me. What was so interesting?”

Poppy sighed. She moved from her vantage point and got low, to look her sister in the eyes. “Mickey wanted Harli because of and I quote: an emergency from the mystic forces.”

“And this is important because…”

“Don’t you understand? This could explain the strange activity last night!” Poppy returned to her post and continued to observe. Britney didn’t want to roll out of bed just because her loony of sister eavesdropped on a friend, but she did because she knew that Scott was never going to keep track of her, nor was Dale. Now was not the time for animal police to come to her with Poppy in a straight jacket. “Things are getting interesting.”

“How so?” Britney tried to act enthusiastic.

“Looks like Mickey has some kind of pocket watch around his neck. Very fancy.”

“I still think we shouldn’t be spying on our friends.”

“And birds shouldn’t fly. You wanna make a better point? Oh, I see Harli now!”

The heeler ambled through the front door of Don’s Auto Wreckers. The place hadn’t been operative for nearly 25 years, but cars kept arriving. Most likely from the humans who had nothing better to do with the scrap heaps. Harli whispered to herself, “Don’s Auto Wreckers, 9:40 am. I wonder what Mickey wanted me for.” She walked through past the dilapidated vehicles, trying to find her rendezvous. “Wait, I know that white blur. Hey! Mickey!”

“…Really? You stowed away on a drug smuggling biplane and that’s how you ended up in Hawaii?” Mickey question Crystal.

“I don’t lie. Well, at least my normal self doesn’t. Hey, there’s a blackish red dog coming our way.”

Mickey turned his head to see the dog hollering from afar. “Harli! You made it!”

Harli rushed over to the Lhasa