Enjoying the view (Angel)

[Adrian]

The night was slowly setting in, he was in violation of the curfew but there didn't seem to be anybody out to enforce the law now. At least, nobody who thought to look to the top of the cathedral. There Adrian sat, legs crossed, hands resting on his knees and his eyes closed, his consciousness wandering through his mindscape in search of unsolved mysteries and unused sources of power. He attire was the same as it usually was, one hoodie and a pair of carpenter's trousers, but this time the lower half of his face was obscured beneath a folded piece of cloth, an effort made to obscure his identity should he be seen.

He wasn't expecting to see demons tonight, though he would welcome their appearance. Instead, he was waiting to hear the crimes of people who had chosen to become demons, of a sort, spending all their energy making life a misery for others. The last thing this city needed was any more instability, but some weak ones were much too caught up in their own endless hunt for gratification, no matter the cost to others. These were much worse than demons, not because many of tem shamelessly masqueraded as proper people, but because of their choice to wallow in pathtic self-gratification when they had the choice to exalt their strengths instead. Strength was not a genetic trait, a product of the environment or some mystical anomoly, no. Strength was a choice, pure and simple, and those who chose weakness deserved no more mercy than they held for others.

[Angel Killer]

Angel came and sat down beside Adrian, from the look on his face she seemed to be thinking about something. Angel looked down at the ground below and let out a chuckle. " Hard to believe it was Luke who made the cerfew." She said as she leaned back. " Like a cerfew is going to help though, I've always told them that if a demon was going to try and attack it's not going to matter if you're inside or outside. They're gonna attack you anyway."

She looked back at Adrian realizing he wouldn't have even known who Luke was, then she went on with the story about how her sister had been kidnapped, and her mom had died, "... So that's about it. And that's why I'm not too worried about demons and all, I've been dealing with them all my life."

Angel pulled her sweater tighter, there was a strange chill in the air for this time of year, it had usually been so warm.

[Adrian]

Adrian had sensed her approach before he heard her, and though his hand had rested on the hilt of his kukri he had known that he would not need it. He had quickly slipped off the masking iece of cloth before she sat down, he didn't want her to know that he hid reason to hide his face. He was, however, wondering what she could be doing on the roof of the cathedral building after dark after the curfew had been declared. Surely she wasn't there only to talk to him, was she? She went on to tell her story, and Adrian listened in silence, nodding thoughtfully. "I see why you respect the man." He said, feeling a twinge of something unpleasant at the thought of him. "I'm also glad that you agree with me, this curfew won't do much good. Still, I don't see any alternatives".

They sat a little in silence, just watching the city. Adrian listened intently for any indication of a crime, but instead he noticed something rather different; his companion was cold. "Here." He said, lifting up the jacket he had been sitting on and hanging it around her shoulders. "You should always dress for the season, and the time of day." He felt that unpleasant feeling for mbefore fade just a it, though it bothered him that he could not place it. He had felt it before, but it had been long ago. Instead he decided to change the subject. "How did you get all the way up here? And why?" He grinned, feeling more than a little insecure about his current situation. "I mean, it's not like you came all the way up here just to see me, is it?" Why was he asking her these stupid questions, what was the point? These matters were for those beneath him, and yet, for the first time in over a decade, he couldn't seem to control it.

[Angel Killer]

Angel took the jacket gratefully from Adrian and soon felt a warmth flow through her, " Well, if you must ask Adrian." She said with a smile, " I just appeared up here..." She looked at Adrian, he seemed like he was so serious all of the time, it was nice to see a smile on his face, " Actually, I climbed up, see." Angel pointed to a ladder that blended nicely in with the rest of the building, making it hard for others to see.

She could tell from the look on Adrian's face that something was troubling him as she watched his movement. She was very perceptive when it came to reading a person's body language and she didn't know weather to leave it, or ask him about it.

" You o.k.? " She asked him, going with the latter of her two choices, " You seem, I dunno, troubled." It was then she was beginning to get a bad feeling, not from Adrian, but almost as if there was something lurking about in the darkness, something watching them, and she wondered if Adrian was getting that same feeling.

[Adrian]

Adrian chuckled at her question before looking away, out over the city rooftops. She hadn't answered his question, and he couldn't decide whether that was a good or bad thing. "I'm just a little tired. Not much time for sleep between studying and hnting at night, you know." It was only a half lie, and so it was much easier to pull off. People who said they were 'fine' were never all that convincing, trying to first persuade themselves to believe it, then the person they were talking to. The evening air was blessedly cool upon his face, taking off the edge of some of that black rage that drove him. He liked the cold, helped keep him in control. "Why do you ask?"

Normally, Adrian would have sensed any observers a long time ago, but right now he was distracted. It was weird, very weird to meet someone who had seen hi mdo what he did and not run screaming away, he had never thought anyone like that would cross his path, or at least no one whom he didn't have good reason to kill. He changed position to hug his knees, feeling vulernable in her presence, and yet he didn't want to leave, not just yet. "So..." The silence was growing very uncomfortable, and he wanted to have a subject, anything, to fill the void. "Tell me about those people who took your sister. Perhaps I've heard of them." He sincerely doubted it, but they needed to have something to talk about. Besides, what could the harm be if he knew what they looked like and would be able to extract information from them should he come across the pathetic cult?

Reaching to the side she couldn't see, his and came up with a thermos flask. He took off the top, poured the steaming contents into it and offered it to angel. "Coffee?." He didn't want her to be cold, things were uncomfortable enough as they were. "Mind you, there's a lot of milk in there, and roughly enough sugar to power a small country." Adrian liked to fancy himself as a tough one, but he had always had a sweet tooth. Something just felt right about this, and for a moment he forgot the reason he was there. Sitting there, with her, seemed reason enough in itself.

[Angel Killer]

Angel thought for a moment, thinking back to what felt like the most terrifying night of her life, she had been nothing but a six year old child, she remembered first of all hearing her father yelling and screaming, a loud thud and then her mother hiding her in the closet telling her to keep silent while she went for her sister Mary Anne.

As she continued with her story she felt her eyes beginning to tear up, " I heard these strange voices, I couldn't make out anything that they were saying but I heard them walk into the room, right behind my mother."

It was almost as if she was in the room, like she was reverting back to the six year old child watching through the crack under the door watching her mother fall to the floor her dead glassy eyes staring back at her, and her sister being carried away by black cloaked figures.


" That was when I found out I had powers." She said finally, " Luke said when he found me I was lying with my mom, I had set the house on fire with my... Well with my mind." She finished.

[Adrian]

"There, there." He set the coffee aside and leaned over to put his arms around her, drawing her into his warm embrace. "It's okay, they can't hurt you now." He had begun stroking her hair when he realized what he was doing. He never, ever touched people willingly, and he had never done anything like this. His mind ordered him to pull back but... the strange thing was that he didn't really want to. But he had to. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get all... up in your space." He wasn't even sure the words he used meant what he was trying to say, but then again he wasn't exactly sure of what he was trying to say either.

"I'm sorry, about your family." He had pulled back and was now staring hard out over the roofs again, though he didn't see them. "I..." He gently rocked back and forth, hugging his knees again. "I don't know where mine are. They gave me up for adoption when I was four or five months old, and I always put off getting back in touch with them. And now, with demons everywhere... I'm not sure I'll ever see them again." He picked up the coffee and took a gulp so big he felt his throat scold. He hated this, he had never been here before. The only thing he knew for certain was that, right now, he was not in control of anything that he should be. "I'll help you find your sister, if you want my help. Families should not be broken like that, it's wrong. Family, true family, is sacred." He was scared.

[Angel Killer]

" That must suck." Angel said bluntly turning the thought of Adrian's parents in her mind, at least she had knew her parent's fate, yes it was a horrible one, but the not knowing would have drove her insane by now, in fact in her eyes, Adrain was considerably mellow compared to most in his situation.

She felt a surge of respect for Adrian in fact as she watched him while they sat in quiet for a few moments longer when suddenly Angel spotted something or someone down below. " Guard." She said suddenly at the sight of a large burly man, " Who ever thought it would get to this point?"

But there was something about the guard, something off about him, Angel just couldn't put her finger on it.

[Adrian]

"He doesn't smell right." The knife was in his hand within a split second, ready to strike. "Aren't they supposed to travel in groups or something?" One man was much too easy to blind-side. He knew this from experience, but he wouldn't attack the guard based solely on that. He had been wrong before, and wanted no more innocent blood on his hands. "Let's get out of sight before he spots us, I don't want to have to call my parents and explain to them what I was doing out after curfew." The only problem was that the guard, or whatever it was, was standing too close to the ladder for them not to be seen if they took it.

"Here, climb onto my back." I've gotta look ridiculous, he thought to himself, standing by the other edge of the roof with his back turned and motioning wildly for her to get on like some over-compensating father wanting to give the child he never saw a piggy-back ride. "Come on, quick. I know what I'm doing." He wasn't so sure that he did. He should have ditched her the moment she showed up, she was becoming a distracton, a liability. He knew that on any other given night he would have scented that guy long before he came within range of sight. If Angel got on to his back he would begin to climb down the opposite side of the cathedral from the guard, his hands sticking to the wall as though he were a gecko. "So then, what do we do now?" He would ask after they'd reached the ground, trying to forget the feeling of her so very close, and her scent. Both were... distracting.

[Angel Killer]

Just turn and run. A voice echoed in her ear, Go on, get out of here.

She stayed put for a moment still clutching onto Adrian, her heart beating quickly, " That was... Close." She breathed, " But why do I get this reason he's not a guard.

With shaking hands Angel pulled out a small Magnum handguns. It was a very sleek, silver gun that to the eye didn't look as though it made much damage, however if the aim was true would be devistating to a demon, or enemy, whatever the case was.

She could see a look in Adrian's eye, disapproving maybe, she was unsure, " A girl can't be too careful around here." She answered quickly pulling the safety off of her weapon. " And I don't think that guards just out for a stroll."

[Adrian]

Ugh, I really thought you had more finesse than to carry such things around. "What? Oh yeah, sure. Don't wanna get caught defenseless and all, I gotcha." He was quite sure that thing wasn't human, let alone a guard. His nose rarely let him down, and not to this degree. "But let's put those away, yeah? They make an awful noise, leave as much trace as finger-prints and will cover you in traceable soot. Can you handle a knife?" Unless she plainy refused to wield one, he slipped a serrated dagger from his sleeve and handed it to her, handle first. "If this turns out bad, I want you to stay in the background, okay? No screaming, no running for help, we do not want to get caught by the guards unless there's no other way, got it? You might know the mayor, but I do not want to be on the look-out list for the guards. I have enough things to deal with at it is."

Drawing his kukri again and tracing its curved blade with his thumb, he meditated on the simple cruelty of the curved blade. Unlike most other curved weapons, this one was shaped roughly like a metallic boomerang with a handle, and the 'inside' of the weapon being sharp, as opposed to most other curved knives. This trait made it less suited for parrying, but the added weight to the strikes made it optional for dismembering your foes. Against demons, many of whom didn't really feel pain, this was a very useful characteristic. "If things get really bad, just run and don't look back." No sense in her dying if he did, he believed himself a superior warrior and, somewhat arrogantly, assumed that if he fell, she would fall before long. The odd things was the he cared, for once. "Ready?" He knew he was.

[Angel Killer]

Angel nodded and held the handle of the knife tightly in her hand as the snuck around the cathedral quietly trying hard not to make any sound.

Adrian's warning echoed through her head, If things get really bad, just run don't look back. Angel looked up at Adrian nervous for him, but if things got bad she wouldn't be able to just run, she'd have no choice but to.....

Angel shook her head, there was no need for that, Adrian was strong, she could sense that for him. In fact she almost felt pity on the thing posing as a guard once Adrian got his hands on him there would be nothing left- she hoped.

[Adrian]

You should've left her, she's nothing but trouble! Adrian groaned and rubbed his temple, forcing the voice into submission. Now was not the time for internal dialogue. Focusing for a short time he drew upon his inner darkness to obscure his and Angel's faces. For now it would no effect, but about ten minutes after having seen them the memories would get blurry and start to fae quit rapidly. It was a very useful gimmick. Rounding the corner as the first, keeping his weapon low and ready to swing, Adrian came to see the guard up close.

It was a guard, a man in the uniform of a city guard, but something was very wrong about him. He was leaning up against the wall, coughing and sweating profusely, his eyes wild from fear and pain. He looked up as the two approached him, his face a waxy-yellowish shade. "Uuuhn... eeese." He croaked, breathing rapidly and clutching his convulsing stomach. "Ruuuuun..." He groaned, gasping and grinding his teeth together as his stomach convulsed more than it should be able to. "Get awaaaay..." Suddenly he smashed his head against the wall, not stopping until blood stained the pavement and his skull gave an audiable 'crack'. He fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Adrian approached slowly, blade at the ready. It was stupid, he should have drawn out his lighter and deodorant, burning the body right there to be sure, but he did not. Slowly he kneeled down and put two fingers against to the man's neck, and sighed in relief. "Nothing." He looked up at Angel for a moment, and would have asked her something had not the guard's hand closed around his arm and flung him against the cathedral wall with astonishing speed, its hand slamming into his stomach an instant later. Or rather, it didn't. Upon the impact of the fist, Adrian disintegrated into a puff of black smoke and appeared behind the creature, swinging the kukri in an arc aimed at te poor guard's neck. The creature seemed to sense this and lifted its arm to intercept the blow, Adrian's blade slicing through bone, flesh and armour, but loosing the momentum to do any further damage. The creature then spun around, back-handing him with a tightly clenched fist and sending him flying once again. He rolled to his feet a few yards away, wiping the blood from his nose with grim determination. The thing was now caught between Adrian and Angel, cold dead eyes staring at the later. A tongue, or rather a tentacle, that had to be at least two feet long, slid from the guard's throat, plucked out one of his eyes and retreated back down from whence it had come. the now elbow-less arm twitched, and a mixture of blood and muscle shot out to form a club-like appendage, almost twice as long as the other arm. Adrian was reaching for his throwing-knives.

[Angel Killer]

As soon as she had seen the guard's face she knew exactly who the middle aged man was as her and Adrian both went to school with his son.

She watched in horror as the man's lifeless body sat on the ground before her, nothing more than an empty shell, the glassy eyes staring back at her reminding her of that day.

She could feel her body starting to become overcome with tremors, not from fear, but from something else. It wanted out, the thing she had wanted to supress, what she had been trying to prevent Alison becoming was now coming out in her.

She could feel herself transforming, her ice blue eyes becoming nothing more than black glowing orbs and her long raven black hair changing it's color slowly to a light crisp blond.

She felt a terrifying energy like she never had before, how many times had she seen countless demon attacks, she had never been to this point, but then she realized why this was different, she had never had anyone she had wanted to protect as badly as she wanted to protect Adrian before.

" Move." She said, her usually soft spoken voice not recognizable, as the knife Adrian had handed her floated in front of her. She narrowed her eyes and the knife became two knives, both aimed at her target ready at a moment to slash threw the demon at her command.

[Adrian]

The creature gave a sound slightly reminiscent of a groan, though no human throat could produce such noise. The throat convulsed as though something was writhing wildly inside it, forcing it to expand before a huge yellow eye, dripping vile fluids, the size of the man's stomach pushed its way up into to his mouth. The process dislocated the jaw to make the head look like a hideously deformed eyelid, the inhuman eye gazing over Angel and her knives. Adrian, meanwhile, was sneaking up on the creature from behind. There would be time to worry about Angel and what the hell was going on with her eyes when they had taken this threat down. Adrian had never seen anything like it before, he would have to spend more time in the library after shool.

His eyes were now a deep, golden yellow and his face was twisted in a feral grin, blood from his nose colouring the cold smile. He sprinted forward, his weapon ready to strike, his heart screaming for blood. The creature spun at his movement, swinging the unidentifiable regrowth, the club-like appendage tracing an arc aimed at Adrian's midsection. Nimbly he dodged over it, his smile vanishing as he felt the still-human hand of his foe close around his ancle and fling him into the ground, swinging the club again towards a now, immobile Adrian. He watched as the weapon traced an arc that would end in roughly the spot where his head was located and pull up his arms to block off the blow. Instead, however, he heard the sound of flesh being cut and felt the thing tremble, the grip on his legs gone. As he moved his arms to look he saw Angel's two daggers had cut off the club and penetrated the thing's chest. Quickly grabbing one of his reserve knives and leaping to his feet, he punctured the eye with a single blow. As the thing flailed he dropped the knife and pull out his lighter and a deodorant, igniting the gases and turning the house-hold flamethrower upon the beast, setting it on fire.

Dodging out of its wild thrashing and picking up his kukri along the way, Adrian positioned himself outside its immediate range, ready to charge again. But from the creature's burning, wild thrashing and the smell of ozone in the air that didn't seem likely. He relaxed in his stance, though he didn't take his eyes off the threat untill it lay still on the ground. Gently he touhed his jaw, grimacing at the wave of pain it released. "Ugh, and I was just growing fond of it too." It was meant as a joke, an attempt to diffuse the tenseness of the situation. Whether or not it would work he didn't know, humor wasn't his strong side. "Are you okay? There's something... Your eyes are... huge..." There was a strange, calming sensation from looking pitch-black eyes like that. He felt calm, at ease, like he had come home. "We don't need to get you to a doctor, do we?" His own injuries would heal in a few days time, he had taken much worse in the past. "And, uhh, thanks. Thanks for helping me out there." If she dan't been there, his head might well now be mush of bone fragments and brain matter. Still, there was something off about her now, her scent had change, and he wasn't sure it was for the better.