Lovejoy and Co: Night of the Living Dead

[Race's Girl]

Chapter 1- Slow Week

For New York City, it had been a quiet week for Lovejoy and the gang. Not a single call had come in for so much as an antique mirror. With none coming in, Lovejoy and his cohorts had been spending the week doing their own thing within the store and today was no different. Rocky was cocking his gun in case of a criminal attack, Ricky was listening to his walkman, Jessie and Becky were talking about how dreamy they both thought Justin Timberlake was while Lovejoy was on phone to Charlie arguing as usual. Catherine suddenly entered the store with a lagre box. Inside the box were several macabre antiques.

"What the hell are those?" Ricky asked taking the headphones of his ears.

"These are ancient antiques that are rumored to be evil, Ricky," Catherine said puting the box by Rocky's feet. "Rumor has it that when there's a full moon out, they'll bring all evil on this city."

"At this rate, the full moon thing's tonight and if it's 12:00 midnight, we're history." Jessie said and sighed.

"Don't worry, Jessie," Lovejoy replied. "At least Catherine's had time to work on getting rid of that crap from her attic."

"How's that been?" Rocky asked.

"For a world filled with supernatural beings," Catherine replied as she walked to Lovejoy and hugged him. "A bunch of crap."

"Whoa, Catherine," Becky stated. "Better slow down on that evil crap, yo. With the lack of jobs lately, there ain't no tellin' how long the evil thing'll last. I'll tell you what. We might think that zombies or that kinda stuf don't exist. If you hide that stuff, the evil won't start."

The sad expression turned to one of joy as Catherine winked at Becky who grinned back at her.

"Okay." Catherine said as the gang left the shop at closing time several minutes later.

Ricky giggled as he walked over to his beloved skateboard.

Meanwhile, moonlight broke through the otherwise darkening times. No one was around but most people didn't visit the area. Even if any did, it wouldn't be during the night. Fortunately, that choice would save them.

For the time being.

It was nearing 11:00pm in the city when a ghostly hand reached through the ground followed by the other. Lifting himself out of the grave, the spirit, almost demonic in appearance complete with horns and all, stood on its feet for the first time in centuries. As the spirit looked around, his mind was filled with one thought.

It was time.

[Race's Girl]

Chapter 2- A Perspective Job

The following morning at 9:00am, Catherine watched as a young woman in her mid-twenties walked through the shop door. Seeing Catherine sitting at the counter, the woman walked over.

"Hi, is this where I come to see Lovejoy and Co?" she asked quietly as she adjusted the purse strap on her shoulder.

"Yes, Ma'am," Catherine replied and looked around at a load of antiques and several random posters on the wall. "Believe it or not. Got a problem you need help with?"

"Yeah, I think so," the woman replied. "You see--"

Lovejoy dashed out of his office and ran towards Catherine and the other woman. He ran over to the blonde haired woman, grabbed her hand and shook it.

"Hi," Lovejoy said. "Lovejoy at your service. How may I serve you? My wish is your command!"

The woman looked at him with an arched eyebrow.

"Don't worry," Catherine muttered. "His ex-fiancee said he's been like that for years."

"I'm Jennifer Roscoe," Jennifer replied. "I think I may have a job for you."

Lovejoy guided her to his office. "Right this way then," Lovejoy said. "Tell me all about it. Go ahead, have a seat."

Jennifer sat down and bit her lip. "Late last night," Jennifer said. "My fiance disappeared from our home."

A disappointed looked crossed Lovejoy's face for a second. "Your fiance, huh?" he said. "I'm sorry, Jennifer, we only deal with antiques here. We leave the missing person deal to the police."

Jennifer shook her head. "He's not missing like that," she said. "There's something more to it. Something more dangerous, I'm just not sure."

"What makes you think that?" Lovejoy asked.

"For the past few weeks," Jennifer said. "My fiance had been having these weird nightmares. As strange as it sounds, he's been claiming he's had several visions of some creature that was going to enslave people although he didn't know how or when evne if they involved evil antiques. He said he was afraid they would come true and he would be one of the first to become one of the creature's slave."

She paused. "I didn't believe him but now that he's disappeared, I've wondered if there might be some truth to it."

Lovejoy thought for a second. "Okay then," he said. "Wait a second." He stood up and walked several feet from his office. "Hey, Rocky! Come here for a second and bring the kids with you!"

Rocky dealt better with these types.

[Race's Girl]

Chapter 3- Determing the Truth

Lovejoy parked the Miriam 3000 in front of the woman's home. He, Rocky, Jennifer and the kids all got out of the vehicle and walked inside the house. The house itself was fairly nice. Maybe not the largest house on the block,but it was one many wouldn't mind living in. Small white fence, several trees in the backyard, even a small chimney on the roof, you name it.

As they walked inside, Rocky pulled out his old double barrelled shotgun if they were to officially take the job, they obviously needed to make sure her fiance's disappearance was due to paranormal activity. Rocky bit his lip as Jessie used her PKE Meter to examine the house. The Meter picked up a fairly strong signal from the living room.

"What do yo think, Jess?" Becky asked.

"Oh my God, there's been an evil spirit here," Jessie said. "The byproduct emitted from the spirit's still strong. I think a zombie or whatever had something to do with this. Where was the last time you saw your fiance?"

"When we went to sleep," Jennifer said. "The bedroom's this way. Follow me."

"Don't say it, don't say it, don't say it." Ricky chanted silently to himself as they followed Jennifer to the bedroom.

The group walked down the hallway and Jennifer led them through a door at the end of the hall. The bedroom, mostly painted white, was pretty big.

"Oh my God," Lovejoy commented. "This room's bigger than my old cottage back in Suffolk."

Jessie reactivated the PKE Meter. Almost immediately, the PKE Meter went wild and nearly exploded in her left hand.

"Okay, that settles it," Jessie said. "There's been something super weak here. I think what the spirit was and why it's responsible. Jennifer, can you tell me anything else about your finace's visions?"

Jennifer scratched her head and thought. "Nothing but what you already know," she replied. "He said he kept having these strange nightmares where a demon came to him and said he would be the first of many. He would fall and start the enslavement of the world."

"Did he tell you anything about the demon itself?" Rocky asked.

"He mentioned it in passing," Jennifer replied. "From what I can remember, the demon sounded pretty stereotypical. Two horns, average size, kind of human in form. He said the demon called himself Venger and said he knew a guy called Charlie Gimbert."

Both Lovejoy and Jessie suddenly perked up.

"Did you say the demon knew Charlie Gimbert?" Lovejoy asked. Jennifer nodded. "Jessie, that explains your PKE Meter's reaction. But this isn't good. I'll have to check your Spirit Guide to see what it's got. We need to get back home. Unless I'm mistaken which I doubt, the whole world's in danger!"