Darkness Brings Terrible Things

[Aiden]

Although the cliche beginning of a dark and blustery day was extremely overused, Aiden couldn't help but note that it was, in fact, a dark and blustery day. Okay, maybe not exactly dark, but it was getting there; it was dusk, and this time of year was when all the leaves fell from the trees, creating a rain of dying extensions falling from the branches high above the pedestrians walking the streets. Things with the Portland faction were...shaky, to say the least. It wasn't everyday that a nineteen year old went demon and slaughtered the bad guy without even ripping his body open, and not only that, but he was supposed to be leading Teagan and Yuki at the same time. He was honestly lucky that he didn't have a full blown faction to deal with at the moment, but the support from his small group was helpful, he would admit.

A backpack was slung on one shoulder as Aiden walked down the pathway. He had visited a few shops for routine things--salt, knives, bullets, and the like--and had walked into town. He had done this a few times in the past week, rather than take the infamous Camaro. It was time to clear his mind, focus on the present and make what he could of that night. At some point, a demon had gotten it's blood into him somehow, and he could only venture to say it was Ariel. Not only that, but Malcolm knew the whole time, and while he had tried to protect Aiden by making that deal, it was his demon blood that killed Mal. It troubled him, yes, but there were still missions coming from Casey, still baddies in town, and no time to dawdle about what happened. He would have to deal with it, and take it as it came. He mostly worried about going primal on Teagan and Yuki.

The wind blew in a particularly strong gust, and Aiden caught something on the breeze; a scent that he knew all too well. Sulfur. Halloween had lost its fervor of promises of candy and fun when Aiden started hunting. Too many costumes could be confused for bad guys, too many idiots thought they could take the supernatural into their own hands, and people were reckless, and those incantations they thought did nothing? Yeah, people actually got killed. It was safe to say that the items in the backpack had been Aiden stocking up for the night. The girls had been informed of his views of the day, and had been instructed to listen to police scanners and be vigilant in the case of a job.

Aiden was nearly to the tavern when his cell vibrated in his pocket. He withdrew it, expecting it to be either Yuki or Teagan telling him something was up. By now the sun was nearly gone, and it was truly dark. However, the name wasn't either, but another hunter, Justine. Furrowing his brows, Aiden flipped the phone open, and held it to his ear.

"Aiden."

"Hey, you don't have much time. Some kids were screwing around in a cemetery over in Five Corners. You know what's there, right?"

"No, what?" It was out of his usual zone, and nothing of interest had come from that area in the past.

"Think about it. Five corners, like a pentagram. There's a hellgate there, Aiden, and those idiots opened it. I don't know how they managed to, but it's not good. The number of demons here is bad enough, but most of them...well, most appear to have a vendetta against your little group over in Portland."

How had he not known about a hell gate so close to him? He thanked her for the tip, hung up, and broke out into a run. The tavern was still ten minutes away at his new pace, and in eight, he saw a black cloud that stood out against the rest of the sky. He cursed loudly, and then slid to a halt in front of the door. he nearly ripped his bag open, and pulled out the salt from within, lining the door.

"YUKI! TEAGAN! CODE RED!" Code red didn't actually mean anything to them, but Aiden knew that to him a code red was a cloud of demons ambushing you. He flew to the windows, and lined those with salt as well. He knew that there were several devil's traps around the windows and doors, and he pulled out bottles and bottles of Holy water, on top of the number of guns and ammunition that now lined the bar top. There were no customers, good. By the time that Yuki and Teagan got into the room, the windows and doors were rattling, and Aiden spun to face them.

"Hell gate opened, demon's want revenge, there's a lot. Time to put everything to the test. I don't know how long this will take. Do us all a favor, and watch each others' backs, got it?" Just then the doors burst open, and a crowd of demons began their approach. Aiden turned and fired three shots--better to stop the hosts than to let them in. The wind outside brushed against the salt line. It would give any second, and the demons apparently were strong enough to cause things to move. He had a feeling that the tavern was going to be closed for renovations after this fight.

[Teagan]

Out of all of the holidays and celebrations in the year, Teagan Cassidy hated Halloween. And it wasn't one of those "extreme dislikes" sorta of hate; pure unfiltered rage streamed through her veins whenever the name slipped through someone's mouth. Her fists would clench and teeth grind against each other. Whatever poor soul bothered to mention it around her would find themselves wondering exactly when the dark cloud appeared over Teagan's head and why she looked very put out when moments earlier she had been harmless.

The whole holiday was pointless. Who on earth wanted to dress up like an idiot for a couple hours and beg for candy? Didn't parents ever teach them not to take gifts from strangers? For all the insolent kids knew the treats could be poisoned! Idiots. Running about like crazed hobos with a revelation from some deity that sugar would save the world.

Rubbish.

Teagan spent the day at her computer, wasting time by allowing music videos to take her into another world. She lay sprawled out on her bed, laptop in front of her and leaning on a pillow. The door she kept locked, not wanting to see any smiling faces of the staff offering anymore candy to their coworkers and the residents.

Down at breakfast, Lori had tried to give Teagan some chocolate thing or another. The teen glared at the candy before looking up and inquiring, "What. Is. That. Filth?" Lori had stuttered in confusion, but left it on the table for her, muttering some comment about Yuki and Teagan randomly changing personalities. While in retrospect, she had acted a little harsh to the normally sweet blonde, she had no patience for anyone on this day. It just needed to be over with. Done. Finished. Gone for another 364 days of peace. Before she could bolt to her room for the day to avoid more confrontations, Aiden had grabbed her and Yuki and given Teagan another reason to hate the day:

She had never considered the supernatural aspect of Halloween.

Per Aiden's request, she had kept the police radio by her side the entire day. The activity had been light for the police, and non-existent for the faction. Teagan had never felt such relief as she did when the sun finally set, signaling the end of the most terrible day in existence. Her eyes glanced at the clock. Just a couple more hours and it would all be over.

Bored with more time to kill until midnight, she opened a window where she could view the live feed from areas around the tavern. One of the benefits of their location was that no one would bother trick-or-treating way up there. And if they did? Teagan had a special surprise for them.

She flipped absentmindedly through the different cameras, noting the location of all staff members. From the looks of it, they were avoiding her room. Lori must have given them fair warning to stay back. Teagan's eyes narrowed. Smart girl. A blur of movement in the front of the tavern caught her eye. Moving back to that camera, she saw Aiden running up the front steps and her him slam the door shut below her. What was he running from?

"YUKI! TEAGAN! CODE RED!"

Of course.

Because the only day Aiden would declare the highest state of emergency would be the day Teagan hated with a flaming passion. Reluctantly she shut her laptop and shoved it under the bed before unlocking her door and heading down the stairs.

"Aiden, we never established a color code. For all we know you could be referring to Mountain Dew," Teagan sarcastically commented as she bounded down the last stair. In front of her, the faction leader was scrambling to salt all the doors and windows, which at the moment were shaking uncontrollably. Crap. This didn't bode well.

A hell gate had opened? No time to ask questions -though they certainly would come later- they had to defend themselves. Teagan grabbed a gun from the counter and slid a pair of knives up the sleeves of her sweatshirt. The knives were necessary because if it came to close combat....she'd be mincemeat in an instant. While still practicing twice a day on defensive and offensive techniques, Teagan was in no way, shape, or form ready to go face to face with a demon by her own.

But if they were fighting on her turf...well then, Teagan might be able to handle a couple demons without assistance. Aiden had asked them to put everything to the test, which meant that the full extent of her "Teaganizing" could finally be revealed.

"Guys, if they all storm in, someone close the doors and get the sprinklers to go off, got it? You'll understand when it happens." Teagan may -or may not- have replaced the water line that supplied the water for the sprinklers with a line that blasted 100% pure holy water out the spouts. While no regular person could tell the difference, it would make any creature howl in pain.

Lifting her gun, she took a defensive stance slightly to the left behind Aiden. Nothing attacked their base and got away with it. Perhaps she could take out her remaining frustration from the day on something that deserved the pain.

[Yuki]

Halloween. The holiday wasn’t Yuki’s personal favorite, but it did make it so that people dressed up in costume, and gave anime fans a day where they could flaunt their own cosplay skills, so it did not rank as one of the worst holidays either. On that relatively quiet evening, the tavern was empty, save for the employees and the three Portland faction members. Yuki was busy upstairs reading the latest book on vampires. Although the holiday wasn’t completely useless, she did not plan on spending it loafing around or dressing up to go “trick-or-treating,” like other individuals would, or to pass out candy to said individuals. She decided instead to spend her time increasing her knowledge on supernatural creatures. Just as she was about to reach the end of the book, she heard his voice—Aiden, yelling in alarm. Yuki bolted out of bed with a hasty sigh, grabbing the gun under her pillow and a knife from the nightstand.

Why is it everytime I’m reading, something has to come up?

She ran downstairs, a little ahead of Teagan. The girl had been in a bad mood all day, for unknown reasons, snapping at the employees and refusing to come out of her room unless she absolutely needed to. Even Yuki was surprised by her sudden mood change. Normally, the girl was somewhat cheerful, at least to a certain degree, and she most certainly did not snap at the tavern’s employees. Yuki assumed Teagan had not slept much, and as a result, had woken up with the irritable attitude she now held. Regardless, the child had come out of her room upon Aiden’s command, arriving at the same scene that Yuki now beheld.

The windows and front door of the tavern rattled violently, threatening to break at any second. Aiden was frantically salting the perimeter. It did not take long for Yuki to realize what was happening. “Aiden, who is attacking the tavern?!” Yuki asked, grabbing salt from the counter. The tavern was well protected against supernatural creatures. She did not understand how one could get past its defenses. It had happened once before within the month, but they had reinforced the area afterwards. How could anything have broken through that now?

[Aiden]

Not good not good not good. Yuki and Teagan were taking too long! With the salt lines done, Aiden bounded over to the bar, and grabbed a can of spray paint. The door was open, but there was still space between him and the enemy. Behind him he could hear the girls stumble upon the scene, asking questions that were fairly obvious. Really? They were really asking what was going on?! “Everyone!” he snapped back at Yuki, spraying a sloppy circle onto the ground, and completing the pentagram inside. The demons would have to funnel inside the door, and that meant the majority would get stuck in the trap.

Inside, the lights were flickering, and the audio board began glitching and blaring loud rock music sporadically. Fitting. Glass shattered in one window from all the rattling, and soon there was a breeze threatening to betray the salt line. This was not good. Not in the least. “Alright, I don’t know how many there are, how long this will last, or if we’ll live, so good luck, and just keep a clear eye out. I said watch each others backs…that we’ll die…anything else for the oh crap moment speech?”

Aiden paused as Teagan spoke, and for the briefest moment he was jealous that he hadn’t thought of the Holy water sprinkler system first. Then that passed, and he nodded at her. He grabbed the sawed off shot gun that sat on the bar, and then looked at both of them. “Salt and iron are your best friends, but the only sure way to get rid of them is to exorcise them back to hell. Justine is working on closing the hell gate, so I don’t know how many of the suckers will show back up.”

Just then the breeze blew just strongly enough to break the line holding the door, and bodies rushed forward, some getting stuck in the devil’s trap, others making it inside. The shotgun let off three shots, and Aiden looked back to give one last warning. “And if I go demon, just give me some space and try to snap me out of it.”

[Teagan]

“If you go demon, Aids, I think I’ll snap you out of after you’re finished with the demons,” Teagan muttered to herself. If the second demonic performance resulted in anyway like the first one, she’d make sure lure all the remaining supernatural creatures to Aiden’s space and let them see what happened. Answer? Mincemeat. The whole lot of them.

Glass shattered to her right and she threw an arm up to block the shards from piercing her face. When she dropped it back down, to her dismay a draft had blown away the salt lines in the room. She frowned at the sight. The group really needed to find a better way to keep that stuff in place. Maybe some sort of salt paste solution-

A flood of demons burst through the door and with some rock band serenading in the background, the fight commenced. Immediately a dozen advanced toward Teagan. She took a step back to increase the distance and aimed the gun at the kneecaps of Hell’s angels. Six distinct thumps followed as she emptied the gun and brought half of the demons to their knees. That would slow them down for a moment, giving her a more decent shot at defending herself. Still the other half dozen remained undaunted and continued their antagonizing pace toward the girl. In a grim realization, it dawned on Teagan that she wouldn’t make it through without hand to hand combat.

Now useless for anything else, Teagan swung the weapon around in her hand to use as a heavy weight to swing against the onslaught of creatures. Dangerous hands closed in, and she knocked them away, grabbing her knife in the process. Jabbing left and right, Teagan desperately tried to make the demons retreat to past the door. While her attempts managed to cut through some skin, sending blood of the hosts flinging across her shirt, they didn’t succeed in accomplishing her goal of deflection. Quickly the monsters encased her in a circle. One of them managed to get behind her, and she felt the cool metal of a gun press hard against her back. Not good. Not good.

She instinctively dropped to the ground, the sound of a gunshot echoing not a moment after she had safely cleared its range. That was way too close. Down on the floor, she realized that the demons she had confined to the ground had managed to maneuver themselves over to her, crawling at a non-human pace. Hands grabbed her ankles as she tried to scoot off, pulling her back to the middle of the fray. Another pair grabbed her arms and lifted her up from the ground. “Get off me, freaks!” she struggled, glaring at each and every pair of black eyes hauntingly focused on her. Teagan’s face was lifted until she met the gaze of the demon with the gun.

Her face paled as it knocked the knife out of her hands and tightly grabbed her neck. “Aiden, Yuki,” she gasped. “SOMEONE HIT THE SPRINKLERS!”

[Yuki]

Everyone was attacking?! She mentally glared at Aiden for his blunt response. That wasn’t very specific! …Hell gate?! She had read very little about them, but she had a general idea of how one functioned. This was bad news. Very bad news. Yuki whirled around as the salt she had just finished placing on the floor flew across the room. “Kuso!” she hissed. Aiden let off three shots, and then turned around to give them a warning, in case he happened to ‘go demon.’ …Is that what they were calling it now?

Suddenly, demons burst through the tavern, glass from the windows shattered, and the so-called quiet Halloween evening had evolved into one of pure chaos. Yuki fired her gun, but she knew an exorcism was the only way to kill them. If only she could get them in one place. There were some caught in the devil’s trap, but the other demons would never let her finish the incantation. They needed to immobilize them, all of them. But what could they do? It was too late to draw a pentagram covering the entire floor of the tavern. Suddenly, she wished they had painted a permanent one before the attack. Much before. Dispatching this thought, she glanced around the tavern for a solution, all the while fending off frenzied demons. They just kept coming!

And then, as if Teagan had sensed the frantic need for a solution, she shouted, “SOMEONE HIT THE SPRINKLERS!” Midst the demon bodies surrounding her, Yuki could not see where Teagan was—the child’s height did not help her case either. She hoped that Aiden could help the girl if she was in any danger, because at that moment, Yuki knew what she had to do, and she wouldn’t be able to aid Teagan in the process. Making sure the demons around her were not near enough to inflict any immediate damage, she lifted her gun and fired. Yuki held her breath, hoping that her shot had caused the sprinkler system to start. Within seconds, water was falling from the ceiling, and the demons getting pelted by the liquid began convulsing, cringing from the agony of the holy water that now penetrated their skin.

Success.

[Aiden]

Aiden missed Teagan’s comment, but had he heard it, he probably would have agreed. He sort of wished that he would hulk out, just so they could eradicate them as quickly as possible, but at the same time…no, it was a bad idea. He would just save it for some big bad demon and rip them apart. These common ones could just deal with some gunshots to the vital areas of their hosts bodies. Several dozen flew into the main tavern, and the battle ensued.

Aiden slid the knife out of the holster that was strapped on the leg of his pants, and flashed it at the demons that approached them. None of them really said anything, although there was the general lull of the battle, and suddenly there were six gunshots. Aiden stepped forward and slashed at the nearest body, keeping them at bay until he was able to hear his phone ring, and get confirmation from Justine that the gate was closed.

The knife was knocked away from him in a difficult struggle, and Aiden pulled out his gun and aimed at the demon when another bullet took care of him for him. He ducked slightly, taken off guard by the random shot, and then heard Teagan yell. Then, a second later, there was another gunshot and the sprinklers began going off. Aiden sputtered and spit the water out of his mouth, but the effect was obviously for the demons, and it had worked. Portland 1, Demons 0.

“Yuki!” Aiden yelled, noting the demon charging for her, and slamming his body into the demon to knock it off course. “We need to exorcise them! Ideas?!” They needed to get this done before the building took more damage—more windows broke, and more smoke clouds poured in. Beneath him floor boards were soaked, and some were cracking. Bullets were flying everywhere. ”Remember me?!” a demon attempted to say menacingly. “Nope,” Aiden replied, shooting it through the stomach. He was a little less concerned about the hosts than his own safety at the moment.

[Teagan]

Teagan jerked free of the tight holds, strategically resisting at the moment their bodies started flailing from the holy water in the sprinklers. Completely ignoring the surrounding demonic figures, she bolted out of the room and flew down the stairs to the basement. Her eyes frantically scanned the contents of the room. Aiden’s sword lay idly by the far wall, punching bags, lockers, and….there! To her right lay her staff, which she quickly grabbed and carefully slipped back up to the main room.

Ha. Now they could be on even soil. They couldn’t touch her and she could proceed to teach them why demons stayed in Hell.

Because Portland was waiting for them. End of story.

[Yuki]

Exorcism, excorcism, exorcism. Yuki glanced about wildly, attempting to find a solution to the demon infestation, while simultaneously slashing at the host bodies near her. It was difficult to think of a way to defeat the beings and to fend them off if one could not inflict fatal damage. "Kuso!" she hissed, for what felt like the millionth time that night. The holy water would only keep them at bay for so long. Would they have time to finish the exorcism if they started now? Or should they take the devil's trap approach and incase them in the symbol beforehand?

No, that would be impossible. It would take much to long to draw the circle, complete with lines, especially in the midst of all the bodies present. But what other options did they have? They would have to get rid of them somehow. If the Hell's Gate had been opened, there was no telling how many of the demons had escaped. Which also meant there was no telling how long they would have to keep this up. Yuki saw no other available options.

Here goes nothing.

"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis..."

[Aiden]

First his knife had been knocked away. He could deal with that because he had his gun, and extra clips of ammunition. But when his gun got knocked away as he was swarmed with demons, he got irritated. Wasn't that the typical cliche, something he had avoided in his career as a hunter until now? So now he was getting ticked. Some idiot opened a hell gate. The demons broke into the tavern. The place was wrecked. They were all in trouble. They were the only ones around who could actually do something about it. This was why Aiden hated Halloween. He cursed loudly as he watched the gun skid across the floor. The other weapons were between him and a horde of demons.

His right hand was still bandaged from the night only weeks ago, his knuckles still bruised and tinged purple. He groaned, sizing up his enemies. As much as he didn't do it, this was a time for hitting girls, or rather women. A blow to his right with his left hand, grabbing and redirecting a shot from behind him, smashing his injured hand into the face of a man standing in front of him. Pain seared up his arm, and he scrunched his face, attempting to ignore the pain.

From somewhere behind him in the room, he heard Yuki's voice erupt into Latin, saying the exorcism. Unfortunately, only the surrounding demons would be affected, but the ones out of earshot would be unharmed. "Yuki! It needs to be louder!" His mind was racing as he felt his hand burning, blood soaking into the bandages. If only there was some broadcasting system...a flashback of his birthday ran through his head, Yuki singing karaoke. Or, more specifically, into a microphone. Ducking down to avoid the blade of a knife--his knife--he swept the feet out from beneath a body and leaped over them. He needed to get down to the basement, not realizing that Teagan had just been there. "Guys! Hold them off!"

[Teagan]

From the midst of the fight, Aiden's voice appeared and she briefly saw him flash by in the corner of her eye. Heading down to the basement. While Yuki's attempt at the exorcism managed to hold off a small portion of the onslaught of demons, a few started toward the basement in pursuit of the boy. Teagan couldn't let that happen.

With a satisfying crack Teagan swung her staff roundabout into the head of the demon closest to her, not waiting for the body to fall before rushing to cut off the other creatures from access to the basement. Could she make it? Annoyed at her lack of leg span, she thrust the end of the staff to the ground in front of the demon and sent it sprawling in another direction. To the second one she sent a kick behind the knees and an effective jab atop the head.

Teagan planted her feet in the ground and poised her staff, glaring at the rest of the approaching demonic figures. "Anyone else want to try a stupid stunt?"

[Yuki]

From her lips, the words of the exorcism flowed effortlessly. All she had to do was focus on keeping the nearby demons at bay and recite the incantation. That was it. However, in her head, all of Japan's curse words ran through her mind. What the hell kind of Halloween was this? Was their purpose in coming here to kill the members of the faction? If so, who sent them? And if not, what was their purpose?

Kuso. From somewhere across the room, she heard Aiden's voice call out to her.

"Yuki! It needs to be louder!"

Louder? She was already being as loud as she could! It wasn't as if it was easy to talk over demons in a room full of bodies trying to kill each other, not to mention the accompanying noise of resonating gunfire and the sound of crashing objects and shattering glass hitting the floor. She stopped her words, and within that momemtary pause, a horde of demons came towards Yuki, encircling her in an attempt to immobilize her. Foolish demons. In irritation, Yuki swung around, swiftly shooting nearby host bodies in the legs. That should keep those flithy scum down for a while.

In that moment, Yuki drew her breath, mustering up all the strength in her lungs. Her eyes quickly scanned the room and she spotted Aiden bolting in the direction of the basement. He wanted them to hold the demons off? What did he have in mind? And then, she began saying the incantion once again, practically yelling it. She ran after Aiden, as did several other demons, but before Yuki had a chance to attack, a couple of them were down on the floor, howling in pain. Yuki stopped, raising her eyebrows upon seeing Teagan standing in front of them, equipped with a staff. Swift defeat. Not that she would ever admit that to her aloud.

Suddenly, a mob of demons approached, as if they were trying to replace their collapsed bretherin. Yuki narrowed her eyes, drew her gun, and fired consecutively at the shoulders of three demons. As they clenched their wound in pain, Yuki rushed over to Teagan's side, all while nearly bellowing the incantation. It was beginning to effect demons several feet away, but her voice was not enough to encompass the entire room. Yuki leered at her nearby opponents, ready for battle, though it was clear that her and Teagan were evidently outnumbered.

The blood in Yuki's temples pulsed fervently. They could only hold them off for so long. Come on, Aiden, hurry up!

[Aiden]

Nearly flying down the stairs, Aiden's eyes darted wildly about the room for what he was looking for. Most of it was boxes of alcohol and food stuffs, but within the confines of the room was salt, guns, of which he grabbed a shotgun, but that still wasn't it. "Come on," he hissed, throwing a box aside. There! Sitting in the corner, with the cord wrapped around it was the karaoke machine. He leaped forward and grabbed it, holding the gun out with one hand, and tucking the machine under the other arm.

Flying back up the stairs, Aiden kicked the door open, and pointed the gun straight ahead. He saw both Teagan and Yuki next to each other, holding off the demons. It was a sort of moment of pride, before he noticed just how many demons were there. He tried to find the nearest outlet--on the wall to his left--to hook up the karaoke machine, but there were too many demons in the way. He grumbled, and then shot the shotgun, clearing a space of only a few feet.

Suddenly the crowd of demons parted, and in the doorway stood a shadowed figure. A flash of black gleamed across the man's eyes as the lighting changed, and he stepped forward. With one motion of his hand, the demon (which unknown to the faction, was a higher leveled black eyed demon, a force to be reckoned with in all actuality) sent Teagan tumbling through the crowd of demons and crashing to a wall, then dragging her back and knocking her into Aiden. With his second hand, the demon focused on Aiden, dragging him across the floor, and smashing him into the bottles of alcohol behind the bar, slamming him down on top of it. His unconscious body slid off, landing out of sight behind the bar. The demon stepped forward, going for Yuki next.

[Teagan]

She tightened her fingers around the circumference of the staff, readjusting her grip to accommodate her sweaty palms. The demons hadn't stopped parading through the door since the initial break through and they showed no sign of letting up. For every two demons she knocked over -which wasn't a permanent defeat, just a momentary breather for her- half a dozen more entered the room, stepping over the injured. Taking a quick step, Teagan swung her staff into the head of another demon. A third tried to grab the weapon and pull her in closer, but didn't expect her to comply in direction and shove it into the red-headed host's face.

A number of the creatures in front of her stumbled back, blood pouring from their shoulders as Yuki took a stand next to her. Alright, Teagan thought, somewhat hopeful, we can do this now. All they had to do was ignore the growing number and they'd be fine. Her staff darted left and right, up and down in a flurry of motion, pushing the closest demons back a few feet. Teagan grimaced when she realized that so many demon had entered that she couldn't force them back any farther. Where on earth did they find all these hosts?

A shot rang out behind her and Teagan jumped from the unexpected noise. A quick glance from behind revealed Aiden, trying to plug in the karaoke machine. Teagan returned her gaze to the demon she currently had dedicated all her weight against holding back. Was this really the right time? Really? Unless it had some sort of salt-bomb within it -which was a brilliant idea...she made a mental note to create for if they ever got out of the mess- the black device was practically useless.

The pressure she held against disappeared without warning, causing the girl to stumble forward into...nothing? She caught herself before hitting the ground and rose in caution. The tension in the room increased tenfold. Wait-why had all the demons turned their attention away from the faction? An army didn't just stop fighting unless...

Unless they had received an order from higher up.

A shadowed figure flickered into sight at the entrance to the Tavern, its presence commanding and authoritative even in silence. Uncertain, but knowing she had to be ready, Teagan returned to her defensive stance, raising the staff to her opponent.

Wrong move on her part.

The figure raised its hand and an unseen force grabbed hold of Teagan. Her face turned to a look of terror as the population of demons whizzed by her rapidly before crashing into the wall. A searing pain split through the side of her head as it cracked against the bookshelf, causing numerous volumes to collapse on top of her. Her hands flailed about wildly, trying to remove the texts and stand back up. Teagan's breath caught in her throat as the force grabbed her again, this time dragging her across the floor. Dozens of burning sensations appeared across her body, none of which she had time to process before slamming into Aiden, both of them tumbling back into the wall. Teagan landed on her side, shattering a fallen portrait.

She lay there for a moment, wind knocked out of her, struggling to catch a breath. Darkness speckled her vision, and with the little she had left she vaguely realized shards of glass had pierced her skin at various places along her arms. The sounds around her began to fade, laughter turning to muffled whispers. A warm liquid trickled behind her ear. Dazed, Teagan tried to prop herself up with one arm, the other jerking up to find what the cause of the annoyance was. God, her head throbbed like nothing else when she touched the wound. Her hand shook as it came back blood red. That...that couldn't be a good sign.

The last thing she heard was the faint sound of shattering bottles before slumping to the ground.

[Yuki]

Naze--Why?

Why did these incidents have to occur? Why did they always seem to take a turn for the worst? Why the hell did any of this have to happen, why now?!

She and Teagan had held of the demons until Aiden had come running up the stairs, black box in hand--the karaoke machine. Even midst the chaos, Yuki shuttered at the memory of Aiden's birthday, a day she would be content in forgetting. Unfortunately, the human mind had a tendency of remembering the things one most wanted to forget. She looked at the device in Aiden's hands as he darted through the crowd of demons, and then readied herself to cover him, in case any one of the disgusting beings went after him. As she fired at the leg of one particular demon that had neared Aiden's vicinity a little too much, she wondered why the hell Aiden wanted the machine. Honestly, if was afraid of the tavern's safety, and wanted to keep certain objects safe, the karaoke machine was not the ideal object to salvage. Their faction leader could be reckless, tempermental, and quite frankly, an idiot, but he wasn't that stupid.

No, there had to be a better reason. What did Aiden have in mind? By plugging in the machine...what would he gain? A microphone. Speakers. A sound system--a method of projecting amplified sound waves throughout the tavern...a way to carry out the exorcism! Of course! She fired impulsively at a demon upon her realization, and mentally chided herself for taking so long to arrive at the obvious conclusion. During the entire time that had transpired, she had still been yelling the incantation. After all this was over, quite a bit of gratitude would surely need to be demanded of her faction mates. True, her mental capacity was much higher than any average human's, and yes, she was extremely skilled in pretty much anything and everything, but it took a great toll on her physical and mental capabilities to recite a memorized exorcism in Latin (not to mention at an incredibly loud level), while trying tirelessly to defend her life and the lives of her faction mates by firing at murderous demons, and strategizing on top of it.

Gratitude, indeed.

Suddenly, the pack of demons halted. ...Nande? She looked around to see what could've caused the sudden immobilization, but saw no cause. Teagan and Aiden, who were a few feet in front of her, looked just as confused as she did. Reasons for an army to stop moving: 1) Transmission of an order from a higher-up, 2) Realization of said army that opposing side is obliterating their side, and subsequent acceptance of defeat (Yuki ruled this one out--if any side faced the threat of oblderation, it was most certainly plausible for the Portland faction, not the demons), and 3) Interruption of an unforseen third-party or miscellaneous source.

Within seconds, reason #1 became the only reason. Yuki knew enough about fighting to recognize when a powerful individual was before her presence. She recognized him as a sort of leader figure, judging by the demon's countenance, brimming with authority and eminating an aura of fear into the lower-leveled demons. Her eyes narrowed as she caught the gleam of black shining from the beady eyes of the enemy before her. She clenched her teeth, ready to attack, but before she could make a move, the demon lunged, targeting the opponent nearest him--Teagan. Her mind knew that she needed to continue the incantation, then at least the enemy count around her would diminish, if only a little. However, as the child flew across the room, crashing into the wall, and the demon proceeded to go after her limp, defenseless body, Yuki couldn't control herself.

"YARO!" she yelled, aiming her gun at him. "Don't you dare--"

It was useless. She failed to finish her threat before his hands were wrapped around her throat, and the girl was being dragged across the floor. It happened quickly--so quickly, Yuki had no chance to stop it. Teagan's body flew in Aiden's direction, and as the two collided against the wall, her eyes focused on Teagan. She was losing too much blood. She wouldn't be able to take much more. One more attack, and she would probably--

No. Yuki fired at the demon, but in vain, as the figure barely flinched when she fired at his shoulder. He flew at Aiden, dragging him across the floor in the same way he had dragged Teagan, and then flung him over the bar. Yuki did not see Aiden's body from behind the counter. She only heard the shatter of glasses, and the loud thud as his body hit the floor.

She turned to face the demon before her. Kuso. Her grip tightened on her gun, as well as the knife she held in her other hand. She was uncertain as to what point she had drawn out the knife. She knew it would be useless. But she had to do something! She had to! The demons all stared at her, with evil smiles spread across their faces. This wasn't going to end like this. It couldn't end like this. She raised her gun and aimed it at the heart of the body before her. Host body or not, she wouldn't let her faction mates die if she had anything to say about it. Even if it would not kill the demon permanently, at least she would gain some time by injuring the most vital part of its body.

She glared icily at the demon. "What do you want from us?" she seethed.