Houston walked back to his apartment head hanging low. No matter how hard he looked he could never find any information about the Great Old ones, all he had found was dead ends and disappointment. The apparent cult he thought he had heard about turned out to just be a group of teenagers on hallucinogenics. Houston was beginning to think that people weren't taking him seriously. Perhaps it was more of a respect and trust kind of deal. Now that he thought about it all of the back alley information he had got was zero. Probably due to the fact that none of the people he met gave him a straight answer. The only way he could gain any respect or trust was by proving his strength and reliability. Opening the door with his keys he found the lobby in darkness, this wasn't unusual as the lobby had automatic lights to save electricity. What was unusual was that they had not turned on. Trying the elevator he discovered that the electricity wasn't working. "Great a power cut as If it could get any worse today!?" He would have to climb the stairs to the third floor, heaping another problem on top of his already sour attitude. 

Sifting through his messenger bag he pulled out the flashlight he always carried around with him. The powerful beam easily penetrated the darkness of the lobby as he began to climb the stairs. It was quite late at night so Houston imagined that everyone was still asleep. Thinking back to the information he had failed to gather one particular individual had stood out to him. The man in question was supposedly linked to the cult of the twist tendril. A rather brutal cult who forced people to commit ritual suicide by dosing them with fear inducing toxins. When he had tried to investigate further the man left. Houston had simply passed this off as another dead end at the moment but perhaps the man knew something but didn't want to tell him. Taking his phone out of his pocket he scrolled through the picture album and found the picture he had taken of the man without his knowledge. Pondering on the image he reached the floor that his apartment was located on.

Looking at his phone he felt like he recognised the man somehow but Houston couldn't put his finger on it. Reaching the door to his apartment he grabbed his key and put them in the door but froze as he looked at the door handle. On closer inspection he saw that the frame had splintered as if someone had kicked his door in. Turning the flashlight off he replaced it in his messenger bag. Raising his hands to his mouth he whispered into them conjuring a purple flame that glowed slightly. Pushing the door open he walked into his apartment, before he could even step past the door mat an axe swung his way. Dodging backwards the axe missed and bit deep into the open door. His assailant struggled to pull the axe free from the door, Houston wasn't going to let him and threw the ball of fire at the figure. Their clothes instantly caught alight however the flame did not harm them.

The assailant was the man he had met early in the day, his eye's were red and full of fear. He hadn't reacted to the fire not even to dodge, he had given up retrieving the axe and pulled out kitchen knife lunging for Houston's throat. The man was sluggish and still on fire giving off a light glow. They were in the corridor now, Houston couldn't risk his neighbors getting nosy. Giving the man no time to react he punched him in the face and tackled him into his apartment. The man barely flinched from the punch but Houston managed to shove him inside the apartment, generating black smoke from his hands he hurled it at the man's torso. Maggots erupted on his torso burrowing into the man stomach. Now he reacted screaming in pain as he clawed at the holed they had left in his body. With the man distracted he snatched the knife from his hand and plunged it straight into his throat turning his screams into gurgled moans before the man collapsed on the floor> The maggots were still eating away at his body, Houston had very little time to search the man for more information before the maggots ate away his whole body. 

Finding what he needed he watched the maggots at work, nothing escaped their razor sharp teeth. Once they were done the writhed in agony before dissipating in a puff of smoke. Houston had got lucky with them, however he still had the blood on his hands and carpet that needed cleaning up. But that can come later. Looking at the three items he had retrieved from the dead man he smiled, finally he was getting somewhere...