"Good evening, Alan. How are you?" The intercom in Alan’s workroom crackled to life with a very cultured, British, female voice. Alan blinked rapidly and looked at the clock. It was already 9 p.m. - had he really been awake that long?

Hastily, he reached out and tapped the intercom button. "Fine, what’s up?"

"I was preparing to leave for the hardware store, and I wondered it you required any parts?"

"Yeah, I need ..." Alan shuffled through the stack of schematics on his work bench and sighed. "Never mind, I’ll just come with you."

"Very well. Meet me in the lobby in 15 minutes." The intercom shut off with a slight popping sound, which made Alan wince slightly.

"Gotta work on that," he mumbled to himself as he turned out the workroom lights and locked his door.

Fifteen minutes gave Alan more than enough time to get to the lobby, so he decided to take his time. He walked casually through the tunnel that connected the warehouse and the main building of Baltimore Security and Investigations. He still wondered on occasion why he put up with these ... people. The rest of the members of the night time staff were Vampires - one of the types of creatures that he hunted. They all had their good points, but did that really balance out their weird habits?

Reaching the other end of the tunnel, Alan walked into a fairly chaotic part of the building - fortunately, a part that the public and the rest of the mortal staff never saw. "Buy a vowel, idiot!" Luther was in one of the offices, nearly leaping out of his seat, as he watched and commented on a taped episode of Wheel of Fortune. Alan poked his head in the door and took a quick glance at the screen. The puzzle only had 3 letters showing, but Alan grinned anyway.

"Oh, that’s an easy one!" he shouted.

"Huh?" Luther looked up, a bit confused. "What did you say?"

"I said ... never mind. You can figure it out yourself," Alan sighed and started to walk away. He glanced back quickly and snapped his fingers.

"Huh?"

Alan pointed to his ear. "Put in your hearing aid, Luther." Luther grinned and fumbled around in the pocket of his sports jacket.

Alan closed the door behind him and instantly flattened himself against the wall. "Jesus, you trying to kill me?" A larger than normal raven glided to a landing and morphed into a scrawny teenaged boy dressed in a worn T-shirt and baggy jeans.

"Sorry, man. I was just getting out of the way of the girls. Helsa’s having a fashion crisis, and Cheyenne’s in a bad mood. Have you seen Gwyneth?"

Alan shook his head and sighed. "Sorry, no clue. But thanks for warning me about the girls... guess I won’t go bug them before I leave."

"Lucifer! Please go in there and drag her out. We’re late as it is!" A pretty Native-American girl with unnatural red hair stood at the other end of the hallway, hands on her hips. She was dressed in a tight black tanktop and jeans, with a leather jacket slung over one shoulder and a backpack slung over the other.

"Hey, I’m not even going in there right now," the scrawny guy responded. Grinning and throwing his hands into the air, he said, "I can’t believe it! I have nothing at all to wear!" He mimicked Helsa perfectly, then turned and hurried up the stairs as a plastic clog came flying out of Helsa's bedroom.

"Okay, fine, I’m ready, let’s go." Helsa stepped out of her bedroom, pulling on a light jacket over her 70s inspired T-shirt and mini skirt as she walked. "Do we have time to hit the mall after class, or do we have a client meeting tonight?"

Cheyenne shrugged and began to walk towards the stairs, nearly running into another girl, this one dressed in a long black lace dress. "Hey, Gwyneth." Gwyneth sighed, giving both Cheyenne and Helsa nasty looks as they walked past.

Finding himself alone in the hall with Gwyneth, Alan began considering going upstairs. "Alan, I need a ride to The Cathedral. Liesl said I could sing with the band tonight," Gwyneth said softly, examining her black fingernails as she spoke.

"Sorry, you’ll have to talk to Luther or Lucifer. I’m going with Elizabeth to the hardware store. See ya." He turned to walk away, and then paused. "Oh yeah, Lucifer was looking for you, but he took off. Sorry."

Gwyneth sighed again as Alan walked up the stairs. Nuts, all of them, he thought to himself as he reached the ground level of the building. Elizabeth met him at the landing and nodded curtly. Although she didn’t look much older than the other girls who worked here, she always seemed so much older - more mature, maybe. She was dressed tonight in a tailored suit and her ever-present chauffeur’s cap. "Shall we go, then?"

"Sure, boss," Alan said with a shrug. "At least the night time staff at the hardware store is ... normal!"

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