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Jason pushed aside his coffee, glancing again at his watch.

8:30...

Hesitating for a second, Jason pulling out his phone, hesitating for a second before dialling Mia's number.

'Hi, this is Mia. I can't answer the phone at the minute, so please leave a message...'

Okay...

Disconnecting the call, Jason dialled again, pressing the phone to his ear.

'What?'

'Tanaka, it's me. I need you to trace a phone number for me...'

'Mia?' Jason called, as he approached his apartment. 'Mia, can you hear me...?'

Something's not right, here. If her phone is here, then why didn't I see her when I left this morning. And why didn't she show up...?'

Jason felt his foot touch something and he looked down to see a Mia's phone lying on the sidewalk.

Dammit...

Picking it up, Jason took his own phone and calling up his speed dial.

'I'm busy here, Jason. I'm not here to help set you up with your girlfriend...'

'Listen,' Jason snapped, cutting him off. 'I think she's in trouble. I'm on my way round now. I need you to hack into security cameras on my street and see if you can find her...'

'...alright, alright. I'll see what I can do...'

'What have you found?' Jason asked as he leant over Tanaka's shoulder.

'Give me a minute,' Tanaka said, his fingers flying over the keyboard and a grainy image appeared on the screen. 'Here she is leaving your apartment and then...'

What..?!

Jason leant closer to the screen as a shadow moved and Mia disappeared.

'What happened...?'

'You saw what I saw,' Tanaka said. 'One minute she was there, the next, she's gone...'

'...alright, alright. There was that shadow...'

'So...?'

'Are there any other cameras around...?'

'Yeah...'

'Okay. See if that shadow shows up anywhere else...'

Jason paced up and down while Tanaka flicked through the other cameras.

This is my fault. I should never have involved her...

'I think I've got something,' Tanaka said, breaking him out of his thoughts. 'Look here...'

Jason leant over his shoulder again as Tanaka brought up another image.

'Here's your shadow again,' he said. 'About ten minutes later...'

'Isn't that...'

'Yeah. It's the same subway that you went to last night...'

'...okay. Thanks, Tanaka...'

'You're not going back down there...?'

'Mia's down there. I don't have a choice...'

Jason's footsteps echoed off the tunnel walls as he made his way through the subway, when there came a scream from ahead of him. Without thinking, he broke into a run, pounding along the tunnel.

'Jason!'

'Haru? What the hell are you doing here?'

'I was exploring,' she panted, her eyes wide and fearful. 'Then, I saw a shadow move...'

'Where?' Jason demanded and she pointed down the tunnel.

'Over there...'

'Can you show me?'

'...okay,' Haru said and Jason followed her down the tunnel towards an intersection.

'It was here. Look, what's going on?' she asked and Jason hesitated.

'...alright. You remember when I got attacked last night? Well, the...creature that did it has taken Mia. I think that's what you saw...'

'What are you going to do?'

'I've got to find her. Come on...'

'You want me to come with you...?'

'I don't want you wandering around down here with that thing on the loose...'

They followed the tunnel until Jason held out his hand, stopping Haru in her tracks.

'What?' she asked and Jason pointed ahead of them to where a dark shape was visible on the floor of the tunnel.

'It's Mia,' she said, starting forward and Jason grabbed her arm.

'Wait,' he said. 'Why did it just leave her there? Unless...'

His voice trailed off as there was a hiss and he looked up as the demon dropped from the ceiling.

'Move,' Jason yelled, dodging backwards and kicking out. His foot caught it in the chest, sending it tumbling backwards and he dropped into a fighting stance.

'Get to Mia!' Jason yelled and Haru nodded, darting past the demon and dropping to her knees next to Mia, shaking her shoulder.

'Come on, you've got to wake up...'

The demon sprang back to it's feet and lunged at Jason with it's claws extended. Jason dodged the blow, his fist crashing into it's jaw. With a hiss of pain, it slammed him to the floor, it's hands closing around his throat. Jason struggled, but it was too strong for him. Then, something struck the demon on the side of the head and it's grip slackened for a second. Seizing his opportunity, Jason planted his foot in it's stomach and threw it over his head. There was a sickening crunch, followed by a strangled scream and Jason rolled over to see that the demon was impaled on a metal spike that was protruding out of the ground. It gave another strangled shriek and lay still, it's arms dropping limply to it's sides. With a groan, Jason struggled to his feet, looking round to see Mia leaning against Haru, a bent metal bar gripped in one hand.

'Come on,' Jason said, with a grin. 'Let's get out of here...'

'What was that thing?' Mia asked as they emerged from the tunnels and Jason turned towards her.

'It...was a demon. A youkai...' he added, using the Japanese that Mia would understand.

'Youkai are myths,' Mia started and Jason nodded.

'They are. But, where do you think those myths came from. This isn't the first time I've encountered something like this...'

'So...there might be more of these things...' Hard asked and Jason nodded.

'Yes...'

'Cool...'

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. Any comments, reviews or constructive criticisms very welcome.