Crashing. Slashing. Clanging. The orchestra of violence cut through what should’ve been a peaceful night. Instead of blowing floral scents and pollen, the breeze blew debris that escaped from broken windows.

 

Despite Lillas’s warning, Mr. Hopper wasn’t prepared for how loud and messy cleaning was.  Every glass that shattered, every time the house blacked out, and even every moment of dead silence tested his nerves. Lillas’s grunts and yells had him running to the middle of his walkway, then back to the driveway when he remembered the shield. At one point, she screamed so loudly that he started to call 911. He paused remembering her instructions. The card. Should he call this Kratt guy? Should he call 911? What would he say? The crashing continued. Should he call his insurance? Would they even cover this? Shit!

 

What was he doing? The home he’d worked most of his life for was being destroyed. And he invited the destruction. Was this really the only way? Was it worth it? As he stared at his home in wonder and worry, he thought about his sweet baby girl, her face contorted with rage, swinging anything that wasn’t nailed down. The wounds she gave him would leave deep scars. She may not even remember this. What would he say when she asked what happened to his arm? The truth or a lie? How many more scars would she leave were this not taken care of? Whatever the cleaner cost him was worth it. If it worked, if it meant never having to ask these questions again, he’d replace the whole damn house.

 

Lillas stood at the doorway, invisible safety shield in place around the house. At the end of the long hallway was a male demon. He had broad shoulders and thick muscular thighs. His massive, towering body was almost too big to fit down the hallway. He had a single, decaying wing made of human skin and carried a mace with spikes of teeth, glass, and metal. He smelled of burning flesh. He had two different eyes, neither his, likely stolen from other humans and djinns. He growled at her in his weird, guttural demon language. Then charged.

 

She watched him, unmoved, unamused, making decisions. She could snap her fingers and incinerate this demon or use her blades. Powers were easier. Fire was a damned good weapon, but after a few incidents, she was asked by her team leader, and her team junior… the Cleaner Council….family, friends, just about everyone to maybe consider toning it down a bit. She was scaring people and destroying more property than necessary. Yeah, she should just use the blades. But he was running and did she really feel like dodging?

 

Nah.

 

She reconnected with fire. The demon ignited. As it turned to ash, she said, “Pammoenna domo.” It disappeared, returning to underworld where it belonged. To ensure no demons returned to this area, she needed to seal it with a different spell. “Proenna fi domo.” Unlike the other Angel spells, this particular spell was made to specifically keep out demons, knights, and anything possessed by a demon. Everyone else could still walk in and out and never notice a thing. It was very effective at weeding out and warding off danger.

 

Now that that was done, it was a good time for blades.

 

In keeping with active cleaner practice, Lillas started from the top. Top, down. One room at a time. It may have been the Council-ordered method, but it was really simple common sense. Battling demons was often brutal. There was no guarantee a cleaner would have the strength to climb a flight or more of stairs. However, one could almost always make their way down them. Cleaning and sealing rooms one at a time also just made sense. But, as things go, someone did something fataly stupid and now…well… Clorox has to tell everyone not to drink bleach.

 

First on the Hopper House Tour, was the bathroom. The smallest and easiest room in any house. Typically clean because people don’t tend to just hang out in there. Lillas walked in. No demons. Sealed. Then on to the next. There was one demon in the little girl’s room. Cleaners had their preferred methods of demon destruction. Holy water was popular. Blessed blades were also a good one. However, most preferred good old fashioned holy fire. Lillas was no exception. Fire was just the best and fastest method. But while others needed magic to conjure fire and water, Lillas didn’t. The ability to call forth any element was her birthright.

 

Once the room was cleaned, she moved on with the rest of the floor. Machete in hand, she stalked the hall, looking for a fight. No cleaner drove all the way out to bum fuck Egypt without the expectation of at least one decent battle, if not a great one. Yet, this house was relatively clean.There was one demon in the playroom, a demon in the office, and the library was clean. Had all the demons the knight called wandered to the yard? If the knight was unable to control the demons that were brought here, he must have been young. Maybe the family wasn’t under attack, but was merely the target of a knight in training. She’d call Knighthouse later about this.  

 

It wasn’t until she reached the baby’s room that a challenge finally presented itself. Among the pastel blues and pinks, and the wallpaper printed with hot air balloons and teddy bears, were a tribe of demons. On the one hand, this would surely turn out to be everything she was looking for, on the other hand, taking apart a nursery just felt…wrong. It always felt wrong. Babies sleep here. Her only options were to throw down here, burn the demons, and risk destroying the place, or unblock the hall, allow them to enter that space which would open the hall to more demons and endanger her life. Yep. That was definitely the way this was going to go.

 

No sooner was the shield down than demons rushed in like water breaking from a dam. The dash caught her off guard and she found herself doing more defense than offense. They surrounded her, cursed her. They slashed her, threw her into walls and furniture. Trapped in a space with a cleaner made any demon more hostile than usual. They already possessed an inordinate amount of strength. The desperation to remain on earth, to reside within a human, made them even stronger. Their hatred of cleaners gave them a target for all of that energy and all of that power when they were blocked from possessing a mono human.

 

Lillas slammed a blade longer than her arm into a female demon’s skull. The demon caught fire and dissipated, returning to the underworld. Another demon attacked from behind, swinging an axe the size of its enormous abdomen. She rolled out of the way, narrowly escaping decapitation. In one move, she chopped the demon’s leg off at its thick muscular thigh. When it plunged to the ground like a tree, she buried her blade in its chest.”Pammoenna domo.” The demon screamed as he ignited and was sent back to the depths. The others soon followed. She continued with the rest of the house until all rooms are sealed. And then she was done.

 

As far as cleaning goes, this was a pretty easy night. A small simple two-story. Only about 37 demons. Damage included some cuts and pulled muscles. Nothing broken or chipped this time. Not bad. She exited the home limping. Before speaking to Me. Hopper, she dropped the main shield and raised a demon seal that protected the entire house covering any corners of closets she may have missed.

 

“Okay, Mr. Hopper your house is clean,” she said. “You may need to replace a vase or two, a one…or few windows…the carpet, but you still have your TV. I’ve dropped the shield so you can enter the home, but your house is still protected from demons and demon knights. So if you invite someone to your home and they can’t get in, they’re a demon knight. You need to call me immediately. Do not go outside. Do not try to help them. I can’t overstate how dangerous they are. When are your wife and kids coming home?”

 

“Friday. She couldn’t handle the weirdness of everything. But it’s strange. She called me and said similar things are happening at her mother’s. Well, not similar. We don’t have our little girl trying to kill us, but just weird, you know.”

 

“Um, hmm.”

 

“I think she’s just paranoid myself.” The look on her face gave Mr. hopper, pause. “She’s just being paranoid right, and and you said you’ve put up a shield. So we’re good, right?”

 

“Call me when she gets back.” She like away to her car.

 

“I’m sorry, I’m just…wow. I can’t believe this is real. I mean, demons? Knights? Cleaners? We hear about this shit on tv, but seeing it, seeing you… It’s just… wow…”

 

“Mr. Hopper, you lived it. If you still don’t believe it, there’s nothing I or those scars can do for you.”

 

“You saved a lot of lives last year, you know, with Katrina.”

 

“Yes. It’s what I’m supposed to do. Good night.” She drove off before he could ask her more questions or get into hero worship. He could worship her on his own time. It was late and she wanted to go home.

 

At a long red light she checked her old, scratched-to-hell Nokia. She couldn’t wait for them to release the Nokia 6062. Her current phone had held on for two good years and was ready to be put to rest. 35 missed calls, half from Detective Lenshrader, half from Isadora Castor. Great. She was about to get caught up in some bullshit. No calls from Kratt or Jet. Really? No one thought to call those two? She doesn’t even run the team. What the hell?

 

The Detective sent photos that gave her pause. 9 bodies. All blue. Which was odd enough. But she recognized the deceased and the place. Well, shit. Not sure if this was a cause for concern or praise, but her team leader had to know regardless. He’d never believe this.