A Demon of Their Own

[Yuki]

Yuki had not yet served herself the rather rudimentary meal before Aiden flung foward in his seat and launched face first towards the table, causing the pool of milk that had rapidly spread to spill onto his head. Yuki blinked from her chair, stunned and unsure of whether to stifle a laugh or be on guard for another supernatural happening. She looked over at Teagan, who had paused before the spoon went in her mouth, and then looked back at Aiden, who stared blankly at the ground.

Suddenly, he got up and Yuki thought she saw him look pointedly at the girl. Perhaps she was the next target? He ordered Teagan to clean up the mess, most likely in order to not alarm her of the circumstances and make her think the chair had broken out of its own instability rather than because of an other-world being, or so Yuki assumed. Afterall, it would not be so difficult to doubt the fortitude of the furniture in the mediocre tavern.

The girl willingly complied with Aiden's orders. He did not seem to be very worried about what was happening, which Yuki was beginning to find annoying. If he knew the problem, why wasn't he stopping it?

And to make matters worse, now without milk, cereal would be an impossibility. "Seeing as that lovely dairy product has been put to waste, is this kitchen supplied with orange juice or water? If so, I will need to know where the cups are. And is there anything else to eat besides this measly assortment of grain?" she asked irritably, lifting a bag of Frosted Flakes with her hand, finding it increasingly difficult to ignore the haggard fingers.

[Aiden]

Oh, there would be hell to pay, alright. But Aiden wouldn't call her out, not quite yet. The chair, it had been clever, but now one of the bar's chairs was demolished from giving out. He couldn't tell if Teagan knew if he knew or not, and Yuki was definitely out of the loop. He stood up, wiping the milk that dripped down his face away. He moved his glare to the table, where the milk had spread from the hole, and where he nearly hit his head. He closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, trying not to let his rage get to him; luckily, he was successful this time around, and he turned to Yuki. "By the way, forgot to tell you before I fell," he said with a hint of irritation in his voice. "Sarah, the girl at the bar, said that some honeysuckle should work, and there is some out back where we'll be training. If you want to get some now or later, I leave that to you."

He too glanced at the now useless cereal, and swept it up in one swift motion. "Both are in the fridge; water on the front, there should be some orange juice inside. Maybe some fruit left over...bread for toast if you'd like," he mused to himself, going over his mental inventory. He bent down, scooped the pieces of the chair into a big pile, and then moved them aside, to see later if it was possible to repair it. "Anyway, so I have a lead now, but I won't say what it is just yet until I'm sure or it strikes again later," he paused, and then added, my EMF meter told me everything." He hoped that Teagan would get this hint, but if she didn't, maybe she would during the training.

[Teagan]

As Teagan wiped up the split milk, she mused over what her next move would be. Clearly, Aiden had a whim about what was truly going on. She gritted her teeth to force away the smile that wanted desperately to be released. His reaction pleased her; it meant that he hadn't completely jumped off of the deep end with this 'supernatural' concept and was still receptive to reality. A reality where not everything that went bump in the night was a ghost.

As Aiden scooped the remains of the barstool to the side of the room, his words subtly confirmed her suspicions. Mmhmm, she thought. No doubt about-

"...my EMF reader told me everything."


"Your what?" It had to be a reference to some 'hunting' device. Teagan resisted the urge to bang her head against the wall. Maybe she had given the kid more credit than he deserved. Poor, delusional guy. Unless....unless he added that because of Yuki.

Yuki, who must not have caught on yet. Her slowness concerned Teagan. Very much.

[Yuki]

Put off by the fact that Aiden was not telling her his suspicions, Yuki was ready to snap and demand an explanation. At the very least, if he had a lead and wasn't going inform anyone of his findings, then he should proceed to eliminate the primary suspect instead of dawdling around the breakfast table making idle commentary. The only thing that would come of waiting would be more attacks to the tavern, and although they seemed trivial now, they could get worse.

But just as Yuki opened her mouth to speak, she caught herself and blinked a few times. Had he just mentioned the possible cultivation of honeysuckle? She bit her lip in thought. A dire need to be reunited with a familiar herb washed over her. Skipping breakfast would not be so bad, if it was for the sake of the plant. Afterall, she wasn't particularly hungry after that night's horrible rest. Her mind was more preoccupied with the supernatural happening than with nutrition, and if there was indeed honeysuckle to be harvested, then not only could she prepare a remedy for the itching, but also honeysuckle tea--a drink that, if taken on a daily basis, would be the equivalent to taking an immune system booster and a multivitamin all in one. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Yuki stood up from her chair. "In that case," she said, heading towards the refrigerator, "I shall abstain from a formal breakfast and head straight to the source of the herb." With a determined stance, she grabbed an apple and walked out the door.

Although thrilled by what seemed like the first bit of good news since she arrived in the United States, Yuki had her guard up. So far, the attacks had only taken place inside the tavern, but that didn't mean that they couldn't happen outside as well. She knew better than to let her love for herbs cloud her sense of caution. As she stepped outside, she wandered along the perimeter of the building carefully, in search of the location where the plant would grow. If she remembered correctly, honeysuckle, specifically orange honeysuckle would grow in this part of the United States around places with partial shade and along gates or walls, but it would be a little difficult to find since its flowering period had just passed. Such a shame, since the nectar that the flowers procured could be collected and used as an excellent and healthy sugar, with none of the preservatives or chemical ingredients that came with the sugar sold in stores. Hummingbirds were also attracted to the sweet nectar, and Yuki was a bit disappointed that she wouldn't be able to see any of them midst her harvesting.

Finally spotting the small, oval-shaped leaves, Yuki looked around and observed her surroundings. This was where they would be training. The area seemed relatively safe, nothing particularly strange, although those were her same thoughts when she went to take her shower, and that hadn't ended exactly well. She wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Crouching, Yuki started from the bottom of the shrub and scanned it. Unlike sinks, Yuki could tell if something was wrong with a plant--they made more sense to her than humans. After a close analysis, she determined that the honeysucke would not present any danger. Finding a larger sized leaf on the ground from a nearby birch tree, Yuki picked it up as a container in which to collect the herb and began to pick off the honeysuckle leaves. The black stain on her fingers did not slow her down; she was agile and precise, leaving the stem of the leaf intact.

Her mind slipped into a meditative trance as she harvested, but her alertness prohibited her from achieving the normal amount of calmness she drew from the activity. Assuming that Aiden and the girl would head outside after breakfast, she decided that she would collect as many leaves as she could before training began.

[Aiden]

Ah yes, Teagan had caught what he said. If she had stopped to question it, she must surely have some semblence of what he was talking about. Yes, it was the meter that gave her away in the end, because there were few things hidden in the supernatural world that would be able to fool one. While he packed the cereal back into its respective cupboard, he let slip a grin while his back was to her, but it showed no sign of ever existing when he turned back around. "An EMF Meter measures electromagnetic frequencies--EMF--of supernatural beings. If anything comes through here, that needle on the meter will go off so long as there is something non-human about it," he explained, knowing full well now that Teagan would know she was found out. Satisfaction burned inside of Aiden's chest, and he knew that both he and Yuki would experience the retirbution they wanted during training.

"Ah, but it doesn't matter now. Just finish eating, and then head out back," he told Teagan as Yuki disappeared out the back door. It was now their moment alone; would she say anything to him? Confess that it was her that played the tricks in order to repent, to escape their wrath? Or rather would she still remain quiet, obeying his orders, and wait until she was free of their presence to celebrate her success? Either way, it was coming time to pay her back for the trouble caused that morning, and as Aiden too grabbed a bright green apple and bit into it, he couldn't help but not be able to wait until he went out back.

With his nutritious breakfast finished, Aiden left Teagan, walked out front, unfastened the gate on the side of the building, and then pulled his car around. He stopped, the gravel crunching gravely underneath his tires, and then exited the car, trunk popped open. From the trunk he gathered several milk jugs filled with water, a target drawn on with marker. He set them up at various distances and heights around the area where they were training, letting Yuki continue her work. Once that task was completed, he returned to the trunk, going through several weapons, and pulling out the ones he deemed useful and worthy of teaching a first-timer. With extra clips of ammunition laying at the ready, and the girls now done, Aiden began.

"It's pretty self-explanitory," he started, motioning to the guns. "Just squeeze the trigger, don't pull it, and keep your breathing steady. These are loaded with rock-salt, but still watch your aim, if you shoot yourself or one of us, it's going to hurt like a bitch," he said simply. He handed a black police-grade nine millimeter pistol to Yuki, and then his heaviest, oldest, loudest, most complicated to reload sawed off shotgun to Teagan--not to mention it had the hardest recoil. He stood back, eyes on Teagan, smirk hidden in his face. "Fire."

[Teagan]

'Something nonhuman about it.' Don't make me puke, Teagan thought as she indulged in an eye-roll. She and Aiden both knew there was nothing supernatural about the occurrences in the house. And why? Not just because she orchestrated everything (and what a fine masterpiece she created), but because the supernatural didn't exist!

[shadow=red,left,300]B.

S.[/shadow]

Teagan finished cleaning up the mess and returned the now soggy rag to the sink. She turned on the water and rinsed it out thoroughly before letting it dry on a rack to the right. As she wiped her hands on her jeans, Yuki stepped outside. One track mind, that one has, Teagan observed. Then again, the black stain enveloping Yuki's hand may not have been the foreigner's makeover of choice. The honeysuckle might return her to better spirits.

Until that moment though, Teagan found herself alone in the kitchen with the one who knew the real reason they weren't having cereal for breakfast. Would he confront her on it? She almost wished he would, that curious Teagan found herself. Many tricksters, like herself, enjoyed the thrill of constructing something to force people out of the rut of everyday life. Yes, a successful break tickled her to no end, but there existed only one thing more pleasurable than evading escape:

The Reaction.

Everything focused on the Reaction. Screaming, flailing, confusion, anger, pain, embarrassment, shouting, yelling, curse words, feigned ignorance, blank stares, etc. Whatever form the Reaction came in, it was, in essence, the lifeblood of a trickster. If no Reaction occurred, pranks would hold no purpose. Aiden and Yuki had fulfilled one part of the Reaction earlier when they'd panicked over the powder and smell. Yet the boy had one foot across the line of the second, not often reached, phase of the Reaction: the Reaction to Discovery. Would his confrontation be filled with anger and rage? Would he laugh and see the brilliance of her schemes? Maybe she'd finally earn the respect she deserved and he would stop looking down on her like she was useless!

Or, maybe he'll just sit there and finish his apple in awkward silence. Teagan reached for an apple of her own and started her own makeshift breakfast in disappointment. Dumbo. They would recognize her genius one day.

Aiden eventually finished and followed Yuki outside. In Teagan's opinion, he couldn't have left soon enough. She gazed apathetically at the apple as she twirled it around her finger, half-eaten. No one had fallen for the cup trick. Her eyes drifted to the remains of barstool in the corner. It would be a shame to add that to the list of collateral damage. Hmm...

Fifteen minutes later, Teagan headed out into the forests of Portland and contently took a deep breathe of the fresh air. Now that was something close to home. Mostly because home was x miles to the North, but still. Bouncing from camp to camp, she missed the unique scent of her pacific coast horticulture. No place like home and all, right? Continuing at a fast pace, she found Aiden, Yuki and a makeshift target range.

Oh, right. Gun training.

She stared in frustration at the weighty lump of metal while Aiden briefly (too briefly for her taste) explained the basics of firing. Point and aim...she could do that. Hopefully. Teagan could pretend she was playing laser tag back at the Arelak Arcade. Sure, she'd never scored anywhere near decency, but at least she could hold the gun. If Lady Luck smiled down on her, maybe she'd actually hit below a target and not a tree. Visibly nervous, she shakily lifted the weapon.

"Fire."

Crap. Here went nothing.

Her fingers choked the trigger and a loud sound deafened her ears. She shrieked as the gun flew backward and over her right shoulder. Teagan looked behind her as the gun disappeared into the over grown weeds.

"Whoops."

[Yuki]

Gun in hand, Yuki had been aiming with precision at the black target on a water container, when suddenly she heard a bang followed by a sharp yelp from Teagan. Turning to look at the girl, Teagan had a shocked expression on her face. At first, Yuki assumed that shehad shot herself on accident, but the thought was dispelled in a few seconds as she saw the gun land with a rustle in the bushes. A couple feet ahead of her, a tree in the distance now had a round dent where the bullet had hit.

As expected.

Ignoring the petrified girl, Yuki resumed her aim, squeezing the trigger of the small black pistol with concentrated pression. She was not afraid to fire a gun. Weapons were not to be feared, but mastered. With calm, even breaths, and a firm, steady grip on the handle with her left hand, she fired. Water splashed as it burst from the jug. Although not as much of a perfect shot as she had hoped, Yuki sensed the bullet had penetrated the plastic close enough to the target that sufficed for a first-time gun user. It was certainly much better than Teagan's grand mishap, which was absolutely lacking in expertise, or any hope for such in the future.

[Aiden]

With Teagan's scream came a very apparent smirk, and he couldn't help but stifle some laughter at her misfortune. However, her dropping the gun wasn't cool; not only was that gun expensive, but if it fell and somehow went off, one of them could get hurt. He ignored the sound of the pistol and the resounding sound of plastic being torn apart at the touch at the bullet, water spilling over the ground and darkening the dirt. He rounded on his heel, his face very dark now, and his eyes nearly killing if they could. "Are you STUPID?!" he roared, and then glanced away, letting his breathing slow. "What do you think can happen if the gun hits the ground the wrong way? It can happen!" What was so hard about holding a gun after it was fired, even that piece of junk? He was seething, the anger practically radiating off of him. He swept down, grabbed the gun, and shoved it back in her hands.

"Aim. Hold. Shoot." The words were clear, harsh, and he turned back. "Once you hit one of the targets, then you get a different gun." He really didn't want to have to deal with a Hunter who couldn't shoot a gun, it was a necessity in order to survive. He looked at the target that Yuki hit dead on, and let out a breath. He walked over to his car, pulled out a larger, heavier pistol with a silencer on the end. "Alright, this one is going to have more kick, and the silencer makes the bullet stray off a little to the right, so keep that in mind," he explained, heading back to the car, and ruffling through his belongings, looking for other weapons to train them with aside from guns, at least for the moment. Finding nothing else that satisfied him, he stood back up, arms crossed, glaring at Teagan while waiting for the next result.

[Teagan]

Teagan meekly opened her eyes to survey the damage. Hmm...none of the targets had been touched, but the tree to her left was sporting a new piercing. Next to her, Yuki expertly nail the target. Of course. She turned around to look for the misplaced gun when Aiden started talking. The next thing she knew, the level of Aiden's voice had drastically increased and a burning rage whirled her direction. What the heck? She briefly wondered if the kid was bipolar. Her mom's mood swings were less explosive.

"Stupid? Are you psychotic?" Teagan pulled herself up to her full height. "The thing's possessed! It flew out of my hands!" Did he think she had a choice in letting go? Yeah, not so much. Something told her though that he didn't hear her as he rapidly shoved the death trap BACK into her hands. Teagan was about to protest when she caught the deadly look in his eye.

"Aim. Hold. Shoot."

His cold tone froze her and as he walked away she stared at his back, thoroughly puzzled. Yes, she understood the dangers of the gun going off, but Teagan knew it wasn't worth the anger Aiden had instantly mustered. Curious...

She would dwell on that later. In the meantime, maybe she would try to shoot seriously. Her fingers gripped the cool metal and flexed testily. She could do this. Aim....aim. Higher, lower. No. Higher. Bingo. She pulled the trigger and prepared for the onslaught.

[Yuki]

As she was lowering the gun, Aiden snapped sharply at Teagan. It was more than his typical outburst, however--he was furious. She probably would be too, if Teagan had flung a possession of hers as recklessly as she had. Even so, his sudden anger was strange. Although she had only know him for a short time, it was definitely out of his character.

After forcefully shoving the gun back into Teagan's hands, he went to his car and pulled out another gun, evidently larger than the one before. Yuki took this as a sign that she had succeeded in her previous shot and was now moving on to the next level of her training. She nodded when he warned her about the recoil and the silencer's effect upon the direction of the bullet and took the gun from him. It was heavier than the pistol, but nothing she couldn't handle.

So, if the silencer caused the bullet to swerve to the right, she would have to aim to the left of her intented target. Locating the next water jug she would shoot, she pointed the gun in its direction, and with a steady pull of the trigger, fired. The recoil caused her to flinch a little, but she heard the splash of the water from the container as it hit the ground.

It probably wasn't a bullseye, but it was definitely close to one. She turned to look at Teagan, who was still aiming. Hopefully, her next shot wouldn't be as pathetic as the first. After a moment, the girl steadied her aim and pulled the trigger.

[Aiden]

Yuki, she Aiden wasn't worried about. So far she'd hit both targets, even with the recoil and the effects of the attachments. She excelled in hand-to-hand combat, she was smart and intelligent. She could read old texts and retain the information. She was applying herself, she knew that she had to do this. If anything were to happen to Aiden, he knew that Yuki could lead Teagan and keep safe. There was something about Yuki....maybe that it was because she was more believing, that she was rolling with what was happening to her, maybe it was the belief that if she did this, she would find her mother, but that something kept her vigilant and ready.

Teagan, on the other hand, was a mess. She found her entertainment in pranking others and causing them distress. She was unbelieving from the get-go, tried to come up with abstract reasons for everything from demon eyes to the smoke escaping a demon's body. She only skimmed the text, she didn't know the answers to questions, how to kill beings, when you only had a split second to make a choice when in an actual fight. She might have known that he was on to her about the pranks, since nothing else had been mentioned, but nevertheless, her attitude about the whole thing--let's have fun while ditching summer camp, but not contribute and not learn how to defend my own life--irritated Aiden, and that was the cause of his outburst. It was more about saftey, since the gun could have gone off, but it was also just the culmination of it all releasing at once.

Yuki hit the next shot, water splashing down into the dirt again. She had the information and learned, while Teagan had the information this time. Would she learn with her next shot? He heard the loud explosion of the shell, and then watched for the jug to explode. However, the one he was sure that she was aiming at stood unharmed...but one three feet away was hit. He had watched her, and he had to say, he couldn't believe it. "So instead you shoot three feet away? Teagan, did you seriously aim for the other one, or..." he didn't finish his statement, he was being mean enough to the girl. He gave Yuki another gun, a step up, while giving Teagan another smaller, quieter, softer shotgun. "Go again...I want to see something," Aiden asked, staring at her hands now.

[Teagan]

The second time Teagan fired the gun, she was prepared for the heavy recoil that threatened to send the weapon back into the brush. What she was not prepared for was hitting a target she hadn't aimed at. Her eyes blinked and her gaze darted back and forth between the gun in her hands and the hole in the jug three feet away from the one she pointed the gun at.

A small smile appeared on her face. "Alright, forget what I said about the guns laws. That was awesome."

Next to her, Aiden paused mid sentence. What was he thinking about? Teagan lowered the bulky weapon as he picked up a smaller pistol. To her surprise, he handed it to her. She instantly admired the lightness of it as she tested it in her hand.

"Go again...I want to see something." He thoughtfully stared at her hands. Did he notice anything out of the ordinary?

"Okay," Teagan replied, a tad confused. She raised the weapon, aiming at the furthest right jug that Yuki hadn't nailed. With a quick squeeze, she fired.

And the jug in the middle exploded. Teagan frowned. "Say what?"

[Yuki]

When Teagan fired her second shot, the gun did not fly into the air, nor did the bullet create a dent in a distant tree. The result was considerably surprising, for the girl had hit a target, but not her target. Yuki stared at the jug she had hit, which was three feet to the left of the one she was supposed to fire at.

Yuki forrowed her eyebrows. Did the girl have a crooked aim? As Aiden handed Yuki another gun, he probably had the same thought process about Teagan's aim and made a comment about wanting to try something. He most likely hoped to test it out again by giving her a smaller pistol.If she indeed had that issue with her aim, somehow, the trait would be fitting.

When Yuki fired her gun, she hit the jug spot on, even with the recoil. The concept was ridiculously easy. All you had to do was aim, fire, and then brace for the recoil. She supposed that in actual combat, the application of the process would be different, due to the various elements in a battle situation, such as location, distance, and the fact that her teammates and the opponent would not be stationary. They would be moving, and she would need to have precise timing and accuracy for a being to be killed without harming anyone else.

But that would come with experience. For now, she was content with the success of hitting the water jug targets.

As Teagan fired the next shot, the crooked-aim theory seemed to be correct, as the jug to the left of the one Teagan had supposedly been aiming at exploded. She seemed absolutely perplexed, and yet amazed.

On a good note, at least the girl was hitting something now. Too bad it was the wrong thing.

"You seem to have an askewed aim, directed three feet or so to the left of where your intended target is," Yuki pointed out.

[Aiden]

Never in his life had he seen someone that couldn't aim. Well, that wasn't exactly true. She was aiming, it just...her mark was off. Three feet, if not exact than damn close to it. He blinked in disbelief, trying to come up with some solution to this, but when she repeated the same thing, with a different gun, on a different jug, he stood there, staring absently at the jug with the clean hole in it. Three feet to the left....how was that even possible? It was something in her shooting it, but the shots were so fast that it was hard to tell exactly. He stood silent for several moments, noting that Yuki had indeed hit her next target with precision accuracy. After a moment, and just to confirm, Aiden stepped over to the car, grabbed one of his most reliable pistols, leveled a jug in the sight, and fired off five rounds himself. The gun still had four left, and he handed it to Teagan, taking her other gun, and then pointed to one of the unharmed targets. "One more time, please."

It was so strange, but nonetheless she could hit something, she would just have to train with her aim. He returned to the trunk once more, and then pulled out a medium sized, sawed-off shotgun. He stopped next to Yuki, and grinned. "This one is fun. Load in here," he said, showing her the dual chambers, "close it, cock it," he said, pumping the gun, "aim and shoot," he finished, handing it to her. He leaned on the hood of the car, watching the two of them. The gun training was only step one, they still had combat training, first aid, general knowledge about monsters...it was a long way to go, but they were getting there.

Several days later, they were down in the basement of the tavern, in which they had allowed Aiden to turn into a gym of sorts. Standing on a blue mat, he was dressed in some basketball shorts and a light tee shirt, facing the girls. "There will be times when combat is too close for guns, and that means hand-to-hand," he said, raising his own. "Alright, one of you charge me with the intent to strike me," he said, crouching slightly into a defensive position.

[Teagan]

Askew-ed aim? Teagan wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing as she inspected from a distance the hole she had made. Three feet? Well, it meant she would have to practice, but on the bright side, at least she could aim a gun.

And not have it fly out of her hands.

"I could get used to this, I suppose," she shrugged.

Next to her, Aiden hadn't accepted Yuki's theory that Teagan instantly embraced. She leaned against a nearby tree and watched as Aiden picked up another gun (how many did the guy seriously have?). The sound of multiple shots being fired caused her to wince and instinctively tug at her short, black ponytail. The loud sound bothered Teagan somewhat, like a demented or twisted version of the rattling thunder she loved back at home.

He handed her the gun and requested her to fire again, adding a 'please' to the end of it. First he explodes and now he was using manners? I don't understand these people. Teagan accepted it, stepped away from the tree and scoped out another target.

Bang.

Knowing what to expect from the recoil allowed her to keep her eyes open instead of shutting them as she braced for the impact. Arms still steady, she checked to see if she had hit the target.

Nope. But the one to the left of it had a steady stream of water gushing out of it. Very pleased, Teagan decided that she'd undo the prank that had been missed in the kitchen. Three loud sounds filled the air and more water splashed to the ground. Yuki had made her shots. Again. The small teen bit her tongue, slightly jealous. It had been a perfect shot, of course.

Maybe Yuki would have a few restless nights.