They were inside of the workshop, the concrete ground was covered in the remains of various spills and different colored paint. The metal walls were a dark gray, and shelves were placed for different tools and various stations with welders, grinders, and production machinery. The van was in the middle being painted, this was after David had spent 3 days working on it non-stop to make it a proper hunting vehicle.

 

Sparks could be seen flying out from under the van, David was using an angle grinder to remove the gas tank from the bottom of the van. The engine had been modified and now it used a spell to replace the fuel in the engine, it created an explosion in the cylinder and created a lot of pressure. The entire vehicle had been armored with plates along the sides, and the entire thing was reinforced with metal frames added inside, these were modified to act as shelving.

 

Iron slats had been placed over the few windows in the front, and a ram bar had been installed on the bumper and the front of the vehicle was reinforced. The tires were filled with solid rubber, and David planned to convert the large gas tank into another storage compartment for chains or a wench he could use if the vehicle got stuck. Using the dolly he rolled himself out from under the van and pulled the sweaty goggles off of his face.

 

The gas tank had been drained and it was ready to be pulled out from under it, looking over he could see a pair of women using spray paint to cover up the mismatched iron plates David had welded along the side. One was his girlfriend, Lena, and the other was their invoker, Jasmin. The van was being painted a solid black color, David nodded as he saw this, then he stepped towards the front of the vehicle and was forced to pause by what he saw.

 

Using a bar stool, a cat was sitting in a very human-like way holding an artist's paint tray with a large smile on its face as it held a paintbrush in its paws. Over the armor he had placed over the front, a cat’s large eyes and giant grin could be seen being painted onto the front. It matched the small artist sitting on the chair almost perfectly, and it was painted so smoothly you couldn’t see the brush strokes.

 

“Pan, what is this?” He muttered.

 

The small cat turned and looked up at him, and then puffed up its small chest in pride as it grinned in pleasure. 

 

“Mrow row mow meow mow mrow.” It said nodding.

 

The cat was complaining that the vehicle was missing something, its paint job just wasn’t good enough, and this was the push it needed to push it over the top. It told him that he didn’t need to thank it and it was just doing it to help out the team. It said that he only needed to remember it when we stopped by a stream or a river somewhere and reminded him to pack its fishing pole for it.

 

“She did a really good job on that,” Lena said, using a rag she had picked up to wipe some oil off his face, her hands were covered in black paint from the cans.

 

“She did, It looks just like her.” He said and sighed.

 

Pandora pretended to be a normal cat around the house, she did not act in a human-like way as she did around everyone else. She especially hated when the young children would try to pull on her long tail, and she often pulled pranks on them. Her favorite was using the little bell to create a minor illusion to frighten them, this was common behavior for a demon unless she was actually in the mood to play with them.

 

The door to the workshop opened and the smell of meat soon filled the workshop, as a tall man wearing an apron walked in with a plate with sausages on it. These were sausages made from monster meat and cooked with the spices they had found in the basement of the church. Under the apron, he wore fitted blue jeans and a white t-shirt with a band logo on it.

 

“Are you all hungry?” Harry asked.

 

“I will take one,” Jasmin called as she placed the paint can down. 

 

“Two here,” David called, as he looked at Lena standing next to him.

 

“Mrow!” Pandora said, raising a paw into the air as she followed behind the man with the plate of meat, her grievances forgotten. 

 

David was handed a pair of sausages, they were the size of bratwursts and filled with grease from the meats that were used. He handed one of the sausages to Lena on a paper towel and watched her take it from his hand. The two stood shoulder to shoulder as they used the paper towels to carefully eat the meat without touching it.

 

Ever since she had left the asylum, she was looking better and her figure was incredible, it also seemed to be improving with her complexion becoming better. The only issue was that she had an icy exterior that only got colder the closer you got to her, the only exception was David and more recently Jasmin. Lena had managed to get some details out of Jasmin, or rather they needed to vent to someone and chose her.

 

Jasmin had been named James before the apocalypse, and she was in the process of receiving hormone therapy and was about to have an operation to become a woman physically. Then the apocalypse happened when she came here to spend time waiting for her surgery date, and she was unable to get the surgery before the global blackout, then monsters started appearing. According to her the reason she was drawn to Rollo is that Rollo might be able to assist her, he was such a good boy that he would help in any way he could.

 

When the military came through they left the church untouched and didn’t take anything other than fuel, but a second group was following behind them that looted everything. Jasmin had been forced to leave her home and flee and when she returned all of her supplies were gone. She hadn’t seen them take any supplies from the church and she had gone there to try to get some of them for herself, then she was caught by the imp.

 

“Damn, these sausages are good, where did you learn to cook?” David asked,

 

The taste, the texture, and the snap were all perfect, if they had been made of pork and not mixed meats the flavor profile would have been even better.  Looking down he could see Pandora performing a handstand, as she slowly forced the large sausage up and into her throat. It made her stomach bulge in strange ways as it forced its way inside of her little body.

 

The way she licked her lips happily, as the sausage stretched her body out made David suddenly start to lose his appetite and he wondered if that was the little cats intention. She didn't need to eat, but she was already reaching towards the leftover sausage on David's plate with unmasked greed. That was because she still retained her sense of taste from being a cat, but she fed on souls and Infernal energy.

 

“Pork and beans are what my father was known for, I would be a failure of a son if I couldn’t keep the tradition,” Harry said sadly, and Jasmin walked over and began patting him on the shoulder. 

 

“How many were you able to make?” David asked.

 

“Quite a few of them, I think eighty or ninety, somewhere around there,” Harry said.

 

“So about one or two days of food,” David said, then sighed sadly.

 

“Yeah… we have enough for a week, maybe two at the current pace,” Harry said sadly.

 

The food situation was worse than his parents had told him, they didn’t want to worry him, so they didn’t give him the hard facts. This was a habit all parents had and it was getting on his nerves, Harry had been a big help in this department though. While cooking, he was also tasked with creating an inventory of everything in the house so they knew how long it would last.

 

“We need to go hunting soon, we need to make some hunting teams,” Harry said sadly.

 

“A lot of them are old or children, everyone our age moved to the city to get jobs,” Harry said sadly. 

 

“When the van is ready, we can go to the other towns to look for people,” Jasmin suggested.

 

“It is already done, I just need to weld some steel plates underneath it now that the gas tank is out.” David then looked over at the plates he had prepared.

 

The armor on the sides of the van was half an inch(1.27CM) thick, this was to provide a solid level of bullet resistance to it. Underneath a centimeter-thick layer of steel would be welded over the undercarriage of the van. It was heavier but the magical engine was able to run a full day on a single magical stone and push the van easily.

 

“What are we going to name it?” Harry asked.

 

“I haven’t decided yet,” David said.

 

“If you added a turret on top, it would look like one of those armored cars,” Harry added.

 

“That wasn’t the goal initially, but I think I like it,” David said this with a smile as he trend and saw the cat adding the finishing touches to a logo it was painting on the side.

 

It featured a large version of the cat with a large grin on her furry face as she was in the middle of one of her dances. Mist and spiderwebs had been added and a haunted version of his parent's house was added in the corner. The words “A Bad Omen” were written across the bottom in blood-red paint.

 

“This looks like we are super-villains…” Harry muttered.

 

“Yeah, I don’t think I like it either,” David said.

 

Clatter!

 

“Meow mrow mow meow mew.” The cat said with tears in its eyes as it threw the platter of paint on the ground and ran out of the workshop on all fours.

 

“But she worked so hard on it,” Lena said sadly.

 

“She is a better painter than I am,” Jasmin said. “She even gave me some tips to help me out.”

 

“Alright, we can keep it!” David said.

 

“What?! But aren’t we supposed to be good guys?” Harry asked.

 

“Does your paint job affect your personality?” David asked. 

 

“Well, no but-” Harry stuttered.

 

“I bet you are one of those people who would not hire people who got tattoos when they were younger, even if they can cover them up.” David shook his head at this point. “I have decided to make your armor even heavier now.” 

 

Harry paused as he looked over at the leather jacket covered in rivets to hold the steel plates that were backing it, it was called a brigandine. Each plate was carved with a rune to reduce impact while increasing weight. This was paired with a large shield that was large enough that he could crouch behind it.

 

“David, I am not going to be able to move at this rate,” Harry said in horror.

 

“You called it studded leather, if the rivets were meant to deflect blades, then wouldn’t I have put more of them?” David paused and stopped trying to understand his thought process. “I think you should stick to cooking, I will handle all of your gear from now on.” 

“This armor is also capable of stopping bullets, if you circulate your mana through it while taking a hit then it can stop most rifle fire, or at least resist a few shots.” David then pointed at the large metal shield. “That can only be penetrated by large rifles like 50 caliber.”

 

“David, it weighs 150 pounds(68KG) I am not going to be able to run,” Harry said.

 

That is wonderful, you can’t outrun me ever again. David kept this thought to himself as he put on a straight face. “You will have abilities to get you to the monsters.”  

 

“I don’t think I want to be a warrior.” Harry said, “There has got to be a better option.”

 

“Are you wearing the weights I made for you?” He asked.

 

Harry sighed unhappily as he raised his pant legs and revealed weights made of lead sand that weighed 45 pounds(~20KG) each. Around his waist was also a belt filled with weights that could be adjusted. These were to help Harry train his body and get used to his strength as he tempered.

 

Tempering was a slow process that required punishing your body, soon David would have to consider doing the same to his arm. For his armor, he was going to go for leather as it would allow him to move freely. He was going to make it from monster leather to make it as durable as possible, maybe a cuirass at most but that was unlikely.

 

You either wanted metal with an enchantment that used magic stones like the large tower shield that Harry would use, or you wanted armor that was naturally strong like monster hide. For his arm, he planned to wear a plate mail gauntlet, one that allowed him to take advantage of the mana storage he was capable of having in his arm.  Lena would also be wearing leather, and Jasmin didn’t want to wear armor for some reason.

 

David had shaken his head when she tried to feed him some kind of reason like being closer to Rollo, he told her to stick the doll in her plate armor and close up the lid. An invoker does not need to be fast or to even move at all, and she would only be focused on healing, Rollo was too afraid to attack anything. David then turned and looked at the Van and figured she could just live inside of it when they traveled.

 

“Alright, well these were good sausages. Good job, instead of doing 1000 crunches tonight, do 950 instead, do 975.” David said with a refreshed smile.

 

“Also, I met that kid Billy,” Harry said, taking on a serious tone.

 

“You mean the lycan?” David asked.

 

“Yeah,” Harry confirmed. 

 

“And?” David asked.

 

“I don’t think he is a bad ki-” Harry continued and David held up a hand sadly to stop him.

 

“Lycans are just like normal people until they have used their power too much and lose the ability to become human again.” David reached over and picked the little cat off the stool and let her get comfortable in his arms. “You have seen how Pandora likes to scare the children when they try to play with her tail right?”

 

“Yeah, your Aunt complains about the cat constantly since Pandora seems to hate her,” Harry said laughing. “She did the exorcist head spin in the dining room when only your aunt was watching, then pretended to be a normal cat when she went nuts about what she saw.”

 

The small cat at his chest began laughing as if she was reminded of a funny joke, even her little paws were shaking over her little chest. David realized that the cat must have plotted another prank against his aunt. Yokai were more likely to torment someone than to kill them outright, only certain individuals.

 

“Pandora will always be mischievous, she will look for targets to make miserable,” David said. “A lycan on the other hand will be incredibly violent, to the point of being unable to control it. They can also be forced to transform if they are overstimulated, even if they don’t want to, it is also irreversible.”

 

“And once he transforms enough he will become one for good with instincts that will slowly overwrite his logic, right?” Harry asked.

 

“Yes, at least that was the case until recently,” David said calmly.

 

“What changed?” Harry asked.

 

The cat in David’s hands looked at the large man and put on a smug look as she puffed out her chest in pride from David’s arms. 

 

“We have a demon on our side, and there is one way to help the boy if you have the aid of a demon,” David said.

 

“What’s that?” Harry asked.

 

“Contract, his soul will be forfeit upon his death, but if I am still alive I can have Pandora discard it,” David asked.

 

“What kind of contract?” Harry asked.

 

“The one that turns you into a demon, not a real one but a demonized person,” David explained.

 

“Wait, isn’t he already going to turn into a lycan?” Harry said.

 

“This is why we need to overwrite it with something else. The moment he caved to lycanthropy, his future as a human ended, so we can only turn him into something that will preserve his sanity before it is too late.” David said. “Sometimes there aren’t any good options, but sometimes there are ones that aren’t as bad.”

 

“Will demonizing him instead cause him to lose some of himself?” Harry asked David.

 

“Do you think Pan was always like this?” David asked. “That she was mischievous and playful?” 

 

David was using his hand to rub the white spot on her chest, and she would pull in her limbs, close to her body, in response. When he pulled his hand away, she responded by stretching her limbs out until he scratched her chest again. It was so cute he found himself spending more time than he expected petting her.

 

Knock! Knock!

 

“Yeah?” David called out in response.

 

The door to the shed opened and he saw his father walking in covered in dirt and dried concrete, his head shone with sweat and he looked tired. He walked in holding a plate with one of the large sausages that Harry had made. He chose a bench to sit down on and started to eat his food before he started to talk.

 

“I installed that statue how you wanted, are you sure it will work like that though?” His father asked.

 

“Yeah, it is much smarter to hide it that way, I know you probably have reservations,” David said.

 

“You had it installed under a basketball hoop as a part of the concrete holding it in place.” His father said in annoyance. “I didn’t realize I was superstitious, but the whole time I was pouring concrete on her, I felt like I was burning down a field of four-leaf clovers.”

 

“Have we had any monster attacks since we came back?” David asked.

 

“No, they are avoiding us now!” His father said happily.

 

“See, it works in the back of a van or 8 feet underground buried in concrete,” David said.

 

“But we used up almost all of our remaining concrete powder.” His father said. “Son, we are getting low on supplies.”

 

“I know, we are almost out of everything,” David said calmly.

 

“How can you say that so calmly?” He asked.

 

“You built your tank, and I built mine. Don’t worry about the food situation, we will be able to solve it soon. We have the statue in place now, so we can begin expanding the property, we need to get the farm going again.” David told him.

 

“We don’t have any seeds though, we would need to get some.” His father said.

 

“I went to the general store, but it was empty, can you ask and see if any of the farmers might have stockpiled some of them and get me a list of addresses, it needs to be outside of town,” David said.

 

“Did you go into town?” His father asked.

 

“We did, that is where we got Jasmin from,” David said.

 

“David, you shouldn’t have done that! It was bad enough when you didn’t come home!” His father started.

 

“I am not a kid anymore,” David said. “I can handle myself just fine, you need to stop worrying about me so much.”

 

His father sighed out sadly as he finished eating, he then looked at the grease on the plate.

 

“This is meat from the monsters, isn’t it? We tried eating it but it made some people sick.” He said.

 

“You have to prepare it properly, if you do it is good for you,” David said. 

 

“David, what happened to you in that hospital?” His father asked.

 

David paused as he looked at Harry and Jasmin who were both watching him now that this was asked. Even Pandora had joined in and was staring at him intently as if she was trying to see through him from her spot on his lap.  The only one who didn’t seem to care was Lena, she was busy doing some final touch-up on the van's paint job.

 

“Alright, I guess I can go over awakened, you will probably see some at some point,” David muttered. “After that, I need to deal with the lycan.”