"Have a great night Derrick. Drive safe."

Derrick waved as he grabbed his apron and went through the door. I looked at the one remaining guy at the bar, a trucker sipping on some coffee. I started on a fresh pot of coffee then walked over to him.

"Its getting pretty late, and you probably have somewhere to be. Do you want a to go cup for that?" He looked up at me, and I saw his eyes were red and puffy.

"I- I don't want to. Aren't you open all night?"

The lights dimmed a bit. I looked at him and cursed in my head.

"Yes we are. Just promise you wont freak out."

He looked down at his coffee and chuckled. "Thats why I'm here. I think she wanted me to freak out, to know that I still loved her. Why else would she call me in the middle of it?"

My heart ached for him. I was about to speak when the lights started flickering. I looked around as the shadows stretched across the ground. The shadows darkened until they were pitch black, and creatures started rising. They hurt to directly look at, 4 foot tall voids of nothingness roughly shaped like people. They all ran towards the counter and hopped up onto bar stools.

"The usual please." The creature closest to me, Alcazard said. It then looked at the trucker. "Is this Derrick? I've heard so much about you!"

The trucker looked directly at Alcazard. "No, my name is Johnnie."

The creature looked him up and down. "Are you hurt? Your looking right at me."

"Only hurt on the inside." Johnnie sighed. "I found out today my wife is cheating on me."

"Doesn't wife mean you two made an oath of loyalty to each other?"

"Thats what it used to mean. I don't really know anything anymore though." Johnnies eyes started to tear up. The creature reached out a hand, and I saw a shiver run through Johnnie when Alcazard put it on his back.

"Thats rough buddy. What are you going to do to the oath breaker?"

"I don't know. Beg for forgiveness?"

The creature stood up on the stool. "No. You don't need forgiveness. She is the one who broke you. Look at you, looking at me like I'm normal. Her evil needs to be exposed to the world."

Johnnie let out a small chuckle. "I guess that was pretty evil of her. I should probably get back to driving." He looked over at Alcazard, and winced slightly. "Thank you, this chat has helped me a lot."

Johnnie gave me some money and left. A few of the creatures left after him.

"Where are they going?" I asked Alcazard who was facing the door.

"They are going to find his wife." Alcazard turned back to me. "Anyways, lets get to the important stuff. Did you ask out Derrick yet?"

It was one of those parts of the world that were just naturally darker than other places on the planet. Didn’t stop man from plowing through and laying down their roads in places best forgotten. A single-pump gas station and a dingy run-down coffee shop were all that made up this pit stop, or rather just pit would be a better description.
The neon flow of red and blue of the open sign flickered out with the rest of the station’s lights. It left the warm yellow glow of the former diner-turned-coffee shop as the only beacon of light in the vast darkness of the flat plains of the forgotten parts of America. In script font, the ‘Eldritch Coffee’ sign countered the warm glow with its cold neon purple. Rings of darkness ran through the tubes pulsing with the electric buzz of a dying power supply.
A portly middle-aged man popped his head in through the front door, and the bell tingled as he did. “Alright, Megan. Shop’s locked up and I’m off, need anything?”
A young barista was behind the counter wiping it down, blonde curls bouncing with her effort. She looked up at the man with a beaming smile, her make-up done to perfection like in the beauty ads. “I’m all good, Al. Thanks for asking.”
“Sure thing. Ya got my number if anything comes up.”
“I do and you’ll be the second I call after the police if something dastardly happens.” Her smile grew and reached her eyes.
Al had made his peace with her running the joint at night, she would not be deterred. He didn’t know why and she would never explain, but this was the shift she wanted. He didn’t think she belonged in a place like this, she should be living it up and enjoying her youth in one of the big cities. As it was her choice, he still tried to look out for her like a protective uncle or something.
“As you should. Goodnight then.”
The bell chimed again signaling the door closing once again. The barista went back to wiping down the counter, easy listening music played over the in-ceiling speakers. She paid no mind to the lone figure sitting in the shadowed corner of the dining area. He’d already paid for his double-shot-no-cream-no-sugar espresso.
Once she was satisfied that the task was done and the napkin containers had been restocked she wiped the imaginary sweat from her forehead with a job well done. That’s when the light by the door flickered to a low dim and the buzz of metal like a tuning fork.
“I think you might have waited too long to do whatever it was you were planning to do.” She looked at the man in the corner.
His coffee now gone, he looked at the woman. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“It’s no matter. Life’s choices have a way of catching up to people.” She fussed with the settings of the drip machine that would make a fresh pot of extra dark.
He’d been told about this place by an acquaintance from a previous job. The man nearly blew the job because he couldn’t shut up about the vision behind the counter. Her overwhelming looks made the man’s reticence pining just as overwhelmingly annoying. Though it had sparked his interest, a lone woman in the middle of nowhere whose beauty was beyond words.
Lowering his eyes from the barista, he’d give the man credit in his description of the woman. She was alone, the station attendant gone, and there was no other soul in sight for the last half hour. The failing lights were a tad bit annoying, and a bit unnerving as it felt like the darkness was growing inside the diner. It felt like the space was getting smaller and smaller.
She’d have to go to the back for something soon or later he thought to himself.
It was like that thought triggered something in the universe because that’s when the door opened. The bell tingled, but the sound was dampened, almost dead. The oppressive cloying tendrils of the dark reached for the man whose flight or fight response just malfunctioned.
Of course, that was natural for anyone who saw the undulating humanoid figure of pure shadow amble to the counter. It took the seat at the counter closest to the man, who was now doing his best to remember how to breathe. Thoughts of the barista were completely pushed out of his mind.
“Ah, yes. That’s better.” The voice ground out like a garbage disposal grinding away at broken porcelain dinnerware. *Can’t have you thinking of our Megan like that.* The same grating noise sounded in his head.
“Gravlahaba’menathulemtik! It’s been a couple of weeks, did you go on vacation?” Megan’s voice was chipper and undisturbed by her latest customer.
“Ah, Megan, how lovely it is to hear your voice. You know you can just call me Grav, and yes I had to go on a business trip. You know how it is, some upstart heroes seem to let the power go to their head and stray from the path.”
“The overzealous eagerness of youth. I hope you managed to set them straight.”
“Maybe, I’m sure they’ll have nightmares for a while though.”
“It’s good to hear you’re keeping the universe in balance then. So, what’ll it be? Something new or the usual?”
“I’ll have the usual, please.”
“You got it. Extra Dark. Extra Large. Extra Sugar.”
Grav smiled, the kind of smile that would rot a forest and turn a creek into a lifeless swamp. He turned his smile to the man.
*You see, our Megan here is very special. It’s because of her that your world remains safe and protected. You thought to take away our one respite of peace in a universe filled with unending darkness. Tsk.*
Megan placed the large cup of steaming hot coffee in front of Grav along with a chocolate-covered biscotto. “Here you go, and the biscotto’s a welcome back treat, on me.” She looked over to the man who’d gone pale and rigid by now. “So it was like that then.”
“Enough to tear a planet apart for the offense.” Grav turned back to look at Megan. “Naturally, we won’t do that.” He smiled once more and Megan returned the smile.
“We? You came with a party?”
“I did, we literally just got back and really needed a good ‘Megan-style pick me up.’”
“Coming to see me first? That’s sweet of you guys. So where are they?”
“Ah, good ol’ Frank here wasn’t alone. His team was going to rob the station while he kept an eye on you and then they were going—” The flash of rage in Grav’s face-area stopped him from finishing the sentence.
“Oh.” She said in a simple response. “At least they waited for Al to leave.”
“We made sure he made it home safe. Should be making sure his kiddos are tucked in all snug and tight right now.”
“Thank you for that. He’s a good man. As for him, you said his name was Frank, I really don’t want to clean up any blood tonight.”
Frank’s eyes darted back and forth between the monstrosity and barista and their casual discussion of his impending death.
“Not to worry, The Endless is with us, he’ll make sure that the humans are never seen again.”
“Gorge is here? I wonder if I have enough hazelnut syrup. Oh, and I hope by ‘humans’, you mean Frank and his team and not ALL humans.”
“Of course, of course.” Grav’s smile turned into a nervous one. He tried to hide it by taking in a long draw of his coffee. The magic elixir hit the spot and it worked its way into the weary traveler’s bones. “You added a touch of vanilla?”
“Not much, but I know you like it even though you’d never ask for it, Mr. Macho Deity.”
“Pft. I have an image to maintain.”
Three more shadow and sludged-soaked monstrosities were announced by the bell above the door.
“Welcome,” Megan announced to the new arrivals, “Halevoln’th’monlig, Vlamkepth’llipta, and Gorge!”
“George. It’s George! I wish you’d stop calling me that.” The other two quickly covered their gaping mouths to hide their chuckles at the smaller monster’s outburst. Megan just smiled brightly at them. “Seriously, I’m like a year younger and she treats me like a small child.”

((Continued in replies))

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