Frank got out of the cab in front of the pawn shop he had found in the yellow pages. He didn't like doing business with the same place too many times. He wrapped his hand around the necklace and earrings in his pocket and smiled. These should be worth quite a bit, he thought to himself as he pushed the door open.
Frank was, well, an entrepreneur. The police had other names for it, but hey, what the hell did they know?
He walked up to the cage and passed the goods through the slot to the oily looking shop owner. "Check these out", he said. He looked the pawn broker over while the appraisal was being made. He noticed a scar running down his face next to his ear. It looked fresh. Damn, he thought, this guy is rough trade.
He cast his eye around the shop and did a double take when he spotted a nice camera with a twenty-five dollar price tag. He knew enough about cameras to know it was worth a hell of a lot more than that. This guy must not know anything.
The broker put the necklace and earrings down and looked at Frank. "I'll give you a hundred dollars for them", he said.
Frank looked at him like he was out of his mind. "Are you kidding, they're worth ten times that", he exclaimed.
The broker shook his head. "Nope. The stones are paste. The gold is real, eighteen carat. That's the best I can do."
Well shit, Frank thought to himself, then said, "hey, i'll make you a deal. I'll take that camera over there and the rest in cash."
The broker smiled. "Sure," he paid Frank out but seemed apprehensive as he grabbed the camera and headed for the door.
What luck! Grinning from ear to ear he headed back to his hotel. He had a sucker lined up for later, but he couldn't wait to try out his new toy. He hung the camera around his neck, eyeballed an interesting old building and lined up the shot. He looked at the lcd monitor, shook his head and squinted, then looked again. There was the building, but in front of it was some sort of...beast. He looked up quickly at the building. Nothing. He looked again at the monitor. The thing was the size of a man with fangs dripping nasty fluid. Worse, it had what appeared to be razor sharp nails at least a foot long.
He stormed back to the shop and stomped in. The shop owner didn't seem surprised to see him. Frank took the camera from around his neck and put it down hard on the counter. "What the hell is this about?!" he screamed.
The shop owner grinned. "Oh, I assure you it's no joke. Many years i've waited for that damned thing to leave me! But no, everytime I thought I'd found some one, back it came. It's your problem now!"
Frank looked perplexed. "I'm not leaving here with that thing, give me my money back!" The shop owner handed him twenty-five dollars with a smile. Frank rushed out of the shop, slamming the door.
And found himself standing on the street with the camera around his neck. He began to shake. He stormed back in. "Start explaining", he said tersely, as the shop owner grinned.
"You saw it, didn't you?" he said. "You better arm yourself. It'll come for you soon enough."He could barely contain his glee.
"What the hell are you talking about?!"
"It! It's your problem now! It likes blood, by the way. Lots of blood. It hunts the owner of the camera. Once you take a photo, he's loose and you become his prey. You can only get rid of it by fobbing it off on someone, shall we say, more deserving than yourself. I haven't been a boyscout, but you must be a real piece of work. I knew it the minute you walked in. I knew you'd be the one".
"This is bullshit!", Frank thundered. "It's a trick!".
"Is it?" the pawn broker mocked, turning his head to the side to display the fresh scar that ran down the side of his face.
