***

Jeffrey Flinch ... the epitome of success, or so he'd happily tell anyone who would listen, has been round the block once or twice and still comes back for more. More than having deep pockets, given the fact that for quite some time he was the highest paid news anchor in the land only to be knocked off his perch in the not to distance past by the odd one or two up and comers. That's alright though as he is dialing back a little, he is on the home run having reached the top of the mountain twenty-five years ago right when it was becoming popular to be a television news anchor.

Back, as a young man he quickly moved up the ranks in radio having a start as an on the hour news reader moving on to have hour long current affair slots. Going from one local station moving through two and sometimes more localized stations often back-to-back to be on the air two or more times a day, on various channels, he graduated to broadcast on to national stations soon after which bidding wars came about to obtain his services.

Not at all vein, at the time at least of being an up and comer, comments that came his way told him his looks were wasted on radio. He sought out television, got in on the right moments at the right time, and the bidding soon enough came once more. Yeah, being number one was of upmost importance especially when it came to sponsorship deals. Winding down is all well and good now; still, he doesn't want to reach an end, not yet if he can help it.

There are no age limits in anchoring so it wouldn't be beyond the realms of thought that a decade or two may still yet come. Competing is a younger man's game now, not that he'd ever admit to getting older and besides ... times aren't what they once were.

Ladies were always easy to come by, fame, looks and money saw to that for the most part and there were always those looking to advance their own career's, being Jeffrey's co-anchor was never without its perks. With Johanna however, maybe it was the aging thing with her being a fair bit younger but then again it most likely may be attitude too. Johanna Appleby could be a Rottweiler whenever she wanted to be and to her Jeffrey is quite the douchebag.

Johanna as it was and is, has no interest in being locked down in any studio environment. The thoughts of even being Jeffrey's underling added in making that thought of a studio career feel more that a little repulsive. Yeah, he has money, fame, influence and he may still be a decent looking man though he is one hell of an ass and his female cohorts have short shelf lives on television.

Besides Johanna's passion lies with being out and about, chasing the stories rather than reading them from a teleprompter, she much prefers being a go getter than being someone who does little more than sit and look pretty. She has no interest in sitting still and looking pretty, no interest in brushing up to the big wigs, those kinds of ladies indeed never stayed around long anyway. Passion was in the air, the scent of something big just over the horizon was worth the chase. It would be worth it all the more if it weren't for jerks like Jeffrey Flinch. She'd like to make him flinch alright, and a whole lot more too if she were to get the chance.

That's not really her in all fairness though people like Jeffrey and especially Jeffrey, made her blood boil. Her big story, she has been chasing it for some time and when she lands right in the center of it guess who is ready to dismiss her and ridicule her the first chance he gets? Well, karma is one heck of a bitch.

On a warm July evening in 2018, when Jeffery Flinch's day is done, after having indeed put down and insulted Johanna for the most odd and peculiar report of her career, Jeffrey makes his way to the television station's underground car park, the celebrity section, he will get to witness odd and peculiar firsthand and he would like it at all.

She had a solo invite for the Ball of all Balls. She kept her camera man near, not on site unfortunately but close enough that he could arrive to the venue in a matter of minutes should he need to, and with that he only caught the after's and not the main action as it occurred. No matter the fact that the live report was going out on air, Jeffrey held no restraints. The kind of reactionary chaos the camera picked up could easily be staged as he was sure it was. He did not hold back, and did not fail in letting Johanna, and everyone watching for that matter, know of what he thought of her report.

So partly with the fact that his ego is what it is, Jeffrey's vehicle is in the most protected section of the station's underground car park. Therefore, there is little activity in that area he is parked. Once his day is done his journey from the studio, with a brief stop through his own personal changing room, down to that car park, only takes a matter of minutes and as aft times before he has come to be alone in the area he needs to be within.

Sections of lighting begin to flicker. There is a bit of a buzz in the air, electrical systems acting up, something Jeffrey would surlily complain about the first chance he gets. His walk is confident and uninterrupted, his strides are lengthy. The flickering lighting appears to be following him and this gives him cause to slow down and take in more of his surroundings.

It is not long before he notices the presence of two figures, silhouetted by failed partial no longer flickering light back along the way from which he has come. They are steady silhouettes, hidden enough in shadow that he cannot make out their features. From what he can make out they appear to be perhaps identical beings of similar shape, height and build.

Their stillness doesn't last. They begin to move in tandem, mirroring one another. If one steps forwards on a left foot the other steps forwards on a right. Jeffrey had come to a stop when he first became aware of these ... individuals.

'Who are you ... and what do you want?'

His confidence is booming and natural, not even an obvious oncoming threat can take that away. So sure in himself that he has the means to defuse anything he may be faced with, not with a physical action, no there would be nothing in that, but with negotiation or a demand, a confident and rational conversation will do him fine and well until some other external force can intervene on his behalf. This time there will be nothing coming to intervene on his behalf, not in time, at least, not in time to save his life and no demand he could make would be adhered to.

The ominous presence, the initial awareness responded to with a confidently asked duo of questions. When an answer came, not by verbal means but something answered with movement instead of anything vocal, Jeffrey to be sure, lives up to his surname for he indeed does flinch. He takes a step backwards, then another and then another. The individuals too take a second step towards him then a third and upon a firth step they both transform.

This can't be real; there must be something more to this, some trick of the eye. What appeared to be two men has now become two animals, two wolf like creatures. Their movements continue to be in tandem and mirrored. If this is real, which it more than appears to be, then couldn't Johanna's report have been real? Is this punishment for his actions towards her. He doesn't see how that could be possible, still, it is too late to take anything back now, if this truly is pennants, then it is his and his alone.

Unlike of when they were in Human form, these creatures are not hidden by any lack of light, they have come out into the light and look very intent on causing serious harm to Mister Flinch. He begins to speak again, words he hopes will create a calm though a fear in his voice is very evident, his confidence long gone, and it isn't very long before he decides to make a bolt for his vehicle.

He doesn't get anywhere close enough to it that he can even think about taking refuse inside for the wolf like creatures pounce and attack, not only that but they have become invisible. They tear into him like lions on a newly captured deer. Security cameras record an attack but do not capture a perpetrator. What it does pick up on is a man being ripped apart, eaten alive by something that goes unseen. At no point were those creatures ever picked upon camera.

Two members of security are in a security booth right by where the car park meets the internal entrance to the station's main building when one of the multiple screens that they have on the go grabs their attention.

'Isn't that ...?' one says to the other.

'Yeah ... it is ...'

Stunned with what they see, it takes both men a moment or two to react and go make an attempt to do anything about what appears to be happening but where they are so happens to be at least thirty seconds running pace away from where they could be of any use.

A right arm is pulled apart, severed at the elbow with a joint also torn at the shoulder. An ankle is bitten into, leaving the foot remaining attached by a couple of inches or so of skin and perhaps a tendon too. A torso ripped open with the insides spilling loose, some of which also goes partially devoured.

There is nothing security can do once they arrive. An attack has concluded and its perpetrators, invisible or not, have vacated the scene. A death has occurred, blood and intestines pool around the remains of the body and nothing of an animal or anything else can be seen.

One of the two arrivals cannot help himself, with what is seen there is nothing he can do to hold onto the contents of his own stomach. The other, with great difficulty, calls through on his radio. Jeffrey Flinch, for all that he is or was, is dead with his death occurring on the night he was quick to dismiss a report declaring the intent of Satan himself.