“Are we ready to begin?” John’s mother asked, wearing a white lab coat with long dreadlock hair.

Little John stood behind the glass window, watching his parents observe their latest invention inside their lab.

A metal ring stood against the wall at the back of their lab. Hundreds of cables coated the back wall, connected to the ring.

John remembered his father told him the ring was a portal, built to become the new step for intergalactic transportation. If the prototype works, the colonies could use the gate to travel across the galaxy without using starships. Their travel would be faster, like walking through a door to another world.

Space Ace Industries hired them to make their project become a reality. If it works, they will become billionaires for the rest of their life.

“Yes.” John’s father stood behind the control panel and lowered his goggles over his eyes before pulling the lever down.

He too wore a white lab coat and a pair of goggles rested on his bald head.

The ring spun around against the wall like a chainsaw. Bolts of electrically flashed along the ring, and the floor vibrated beneath John’s feet.

He held his teddy bear tightly in his arms while his heart raced. Somehow the machine looked scary while it roared. Maybe he shouldn’t have come, but he wanted to see what his parents built.

Within the spinning metal ring, a lightening ball expanded. It touched the ring and stopped, glowing white with blue bolts flashing around it.

“Is that the portal?” John’s mother asked.

His father lifted his goggles and smiled. “Yes! We did it! We did it!”

His parents hugged and kissed, bringing a smile to John.

But then John spotted a red arm reaching out from the portal. A red leg stepped out next with a black hoof, then the other leg stepped out.

His parents turned around and saw a giant red monster, standing before them. It has a skull face with long horns and large bat-like wings on its back. Muscles covered its whole body, and a tail swung from its lower back.

While the monster glared at them, his parents stepped away from the control panel, shaking in their shoes. When it roared, his mother scared and dashed toward the door.

His father pulled the lever down, turning the portal off. Before he reached for his plasma gun on the panel, the monster’s tail shot through his chest.

He stared at his beating heart on the tip of the monster’s tail. The monster grabbed his head and pulled it off his body.

John’s mother pounded his fists on the door until the monster approached her. It grabbed her head from behind and pounded her face against the door, smashing her head flat. Her brains and blood splattered all over the small window on the door.

John stepped away from the window, shaking as his tears fell from his watering eyes. “Mom….. Dad…..?”

After the monster dropped his mother’s corpse, it turned toward him and smiled. John screamed until he opened his eyes, resting on the examination table.

“John!” Alexis’s face leaned over him. “Are you alright?”

John sat up and looked around, realizing he was back inside the medical bay on the Undertaker.

He rubbed his sweaty forehead. “Fuck…… Just a dream.”

“About the deaths of your parents again?” the space witch asked.

John nodded.

The nightmare haunted him since he joined the SPD academy after the demonic outbreak killed his parents. He couldn’t control the dream, but it helped him remember why he joined the agency in the first place. "What happened?"

"You transformed when the daddy asteroid spider arrived,” Alexis explained. “I have to say you tore that thing up pretty good."

"Are we still inside the asteroid?"

"No. Lena got us out of there. We are just drifting through space until she finds the demon."

"Okay." John slid his rear on the edge of the table, letting his bare feet touched the cold floor.

Only his white shirt and pants were on. Unlike last time, he was half-naked and making with Alexis.

"How did you get me back on the ship?" John asked.

Alexis crossed her arms. "It was easy. Kara has to grab your attention to get your furry black ass into our ship."

"I didn't hurt anyone… Did I?"

Alexis rubbed the back of her head. "Oh, don't worry. Kara still likes you."

John sighed.

He wouldn't live with himself if he killed one of his teammates.

Kara was a strong girl. If she wasn't, she wouldn't last long with the squad. Being part vampire helped her survive.

"I also got good news," said Alexis. "I put the chip inside your brain while you were unconscious."

John touched the back of his head. He felt a scar there where Alexis performed the surgery. "So that means I will be in control when I transform now?"

Alexis bit her lower lip. “I am still not sure. You just have to transform for me to find out.”

“How can I do that? It feels like I can only transform at random times.”

“Maybe when we are in danger, the change takes effect.”

“But it didn’t happen when the tiny spiders attacked.”

Alexis rubbed her chin. “Convenience I suppose.”

John got up off the table. “So what now?”

“Lena is still tracking the demon. I suggest we should do some research on him if we can find some history about him.”

John nodded. “Good idea.”

Before he reached the door, Alexis placed her hand on his shoulder. “One last thing.”

John turned toward her. “What thing?”

Alexis rubbed her upper arms while biting her lower lip. “Remember when we….. Had intercourse in here?”

John crossed his arms. “Why talk about it now?”

Alexis stroked her hair, blushing. “I want to let you know….. Why I came on you…..”

“Then speak up about it.”

Alexis sighed. “It wasn’t my fault….. Your pheromones made me…..”

“What?”

“You are an alpha werewolf with highly effective sex pheromones, produced to create a pack of mates. Male werewolves use them to either attract prey or turn them into their mates. .... And I believe your pheromones infected me and the others.”

“Oh….. Will it affect our mission?”

Alexis smiled and kissed his lips. “I will make sure we won’t go wild during important stuff.”

John smiled back and kissed her. Becoming a monster might not be so bad after all.

***

John followed Alexis into her quarters from the medical bay. Her bedroom was unusual than the other quarters on the ship.

She has long purple curtains, covering the walls that darkened her room. However, she has candles lighting the room on her dresser and table. Near her bed was a tall bookshelf, full of leather books in different languages; English and forgotten tongues. Computers couldn't copy those books because magic enchanted them to keep the books from aging. John does not understand how old those books were.

The SPD kept all the supernatural artifacts safe in their vaults and they kindly allowed Alexis to keep the occult books for her missions. Some books have spells, monster category, and other weird stuff nobody would understand.

John could smell a strong scent of lavender inside Alexis’s quarters. Her bedroom reminded him of a massage parlor room with a seductive atmosphere meant to keep clients relaxed. It sure was a good place to have kinky sex with candle lights.

Alexis searched through her bookshelf until she pulled out a red leather book with a satanic symbol on it. She brought the book to her desk and placed it down. “This volume contains all the elder demons.”

John sat down on Alexis’s bed. “Must be a lot, considering that is one fat ass book.”

“There are many generations of elder demons, who were the monarchs of hell space.” Alexis sat down at her desk and opened the book. “They kept rising and falling in our records.”

“Like the old leaders in history.”

Alexis stopped at a page and stared at it. “I found him. Dragmorath, right?”

“That is what he said.” John leaned over Alexis’s shoulder, looking down at the book.

Two yellow pages, fresh as deer’s skin, have a diagram of a bat-like creature with a bull’s head and a spider body. Two wings behind its back and it has a long tail with a human skull on it. The second page has a bunch of runic symbols John couldn’t read. They were the same texts from the alien ruin on Zenus.

“Dragmorath the Exiled was the conjurer of automation in hell,” Alexis explained.

“Like an engineer?” John asked.

“Something like that. He has the power to control inanimate objects and transform them under his will. Anything he touches or possesses becomes part of him. His worshippers used to call him Dragmorath the Technomancer.”

John crossed his arms. “Why was he kicked out of hell?”

Alexis turned a page. “He tried to assassinate the supreme elder and rule hell for himself. To keep the throne, the hell king sentenced Dragmorath to Planet Zenus inside a special prison. He was never heard from again.”

“I guess he wants to return to continue what he tried to do.”

Alexis closed the book. “And he will unleash hell into our universe if he succeeds.”

John knew that will be a huge disaster. Even the SPD wouldn’t be strong enough to fight off a massive demonic invasion. Millions of worlds would die and mankind would go extinct. After the galaxy gets consumed, it might take eons for hell to conquer the entire universe. If a god or a goddess existed, they wouldn’t be able to stop it too. The hell portal can’t be open, or else the demons will win.

“Hey, guys!” Lena’s voice shouted from the speaker. “I found him! Get back here quick!”

Alexis picked up the book and placed it back into her bookshelf. “We better hurry.”

“What about his weakness?” John asked.

“My only advice is to keep him from any tech. If we destroy his host, he will be vulnerable.”

“Easy said than done.”

Alexis shrugged. “We will get that son of a bitch, one way or the other.”