The park had bodies of men, woman, and children all over it. They seemed to be dead but there were no signs of wounds that showed how they died. Sitting in the center was a small girl, short black hair, dark green eyes and dressed in a light blue t-shirt and black shorts holding another girl, long brown hair who seemed to be dead.
"Wake up! Wake up!" The girl screamed, tears falling down her face. "Come on! Please wake up!"
That was when she heard laughter. Looking up she saw a creature resembling a human size doll standing over her.
"Another one? Yay! More food!" The creature sounded like a little girl as it reached for her.
The girl screamed as she hugged her friend. "Help!"
The hand reached and grabbed them both as the doll like monster opened its mouth.
"Time to feed!"
As this happened the necklace on the neck of the girl's dead friend with a silver star flashed brightly.
Xxx
(Ten Years Later)
It snowed in the streets of Toronto as cars went down the road and people went about their daily lives. Another day was over and people were scurrying to get out of work and head home. A young woman with blond hair was walking out the store that had just closed and headed the side walk towards the parking lot. Jogging a bit to get out of the cold the woman pulled up her purse to look for her keys.
She stopped when she heard something. It sounded a bit like a chuckle but it was deep voiced. She spun around to see if she was being followed but found that no one aside from her was on the street. She shrugged and then walked over to the parking lot.
Just as she reached her car she heard footsteps. She turned look behind her again but like before there was no one there. She cautiously turned to her car but looked on the windows to see her reflection and see if anyone was trying to sneak up on her. She heard the sound and looked on the window to see if there was anything behind her.
This time she saw something but it wasn't a person. There were footsteps in the snow but there was no one making them. She spun just as she felt something grab her by the neck. She tried to scream but the grip tightened that she had to struggle to breathe.
She was lifted into the air as a large clawed hand appeared around her neck and an arm appeared after that. She watched in shock, horror, and awe as a creature appeared out of thin air. It had grey skin, was about average height as a regular human but its face was skull like with a pointed nose, shark like teeth, a snake like tongue, and eyes as black as space.
"Lucky me, a free meal out and alone and so young looking as well." The creature snickered as the woman struggled. "So young and so full of energy, this is my LUCKY DAY!"
The creature reached out with its other hand to pierce her chest but just as the claws were about to pierce her something got between them and her body.
"What?" The creature exclaimed as a katana blocked its claws.
"Honestly, we're close to the holidays and you morons still have nothing better to do?" A female voice sounding annoyed asked as the creature looked to see who was holding the sword.
It was a young teenage girl, around the same age as the one it caught wearing a dark coat with a hood covering the top of her head, black pants and boots and dark gloves. The part of the girl's face showed that her skin was pale and her lips were blue.
"I have a tight schedule to keep and you're out ruining it because of that damn appetite you and your moronic friends have." The girl said as she pushed the claws away and forced it to drop the other girl.
She fell down and crawled back in fear until her back pressed against her car.
"You know what I am and you were able to block me? That means you're no ordinary mortal." The creature growled.
"Give the monster a prize." The girl praised sarcastically. "I always knew I was different but you just confirmed that. Now are we going to have to fight or about you just crawl back to whatever dimension you came from?"
"Ha! You're just another meal! I'll drain you and that other girl's life energy in just a few seconds!" The monster roared as it charged at her.
"Idiot." The girl blocked its claws as it swung at her multiple times before jumping over its next swipe and landing on top of its head and jumping off, flipping through the air and landing a few feet away.
The monster spun around and charged at her again but this time the girl jumped forward and swung her sword, cutting off the monster's right arm. It screamed in pain as the arm fell off and faded into a mist.
"You bitch! I'll gut you like a fish and use your skull as a lamp!" It charged at her but the girl ducked and sent her sword up through its chin and up its skull.
"I've heard worse." The girl scoffed as she pulled her sword out and the creature fell over, fading into nothing.
The girl turned over to the other frightened girl and slowly walked over to her.
"Wh-wh-what was –"
"That?" The dark coated girl asked jerking her thumb where the monster was. "Just a figment of your imagination."
Before she could ask what that meant the girl held up her left hand and a soft yellow light came out and engulfed the frightened woman's head. She was scared but a few seconds after that she was calm the girl put her hand down, her katana vanishing in a flash of light.
"Wh-what happened?" The girl asked the dark coated figure pulled of her hood revealing pretty looking girl with pale skin, black hair with blue streaks and green eyes.
"You don't remember falling down? You must have hit your head pretty badly." She smiled and offered her hand which the confused girl accepted. "You're lucky I was here or you would have been knocked out and left to freeze. That would have been bad for your health."
"Oh. I guess that's what happened. I just have some trouble remembering." The blond rubbed her head.
"Relax, it happens. You okay now?" The dark haired girl shrugged.
"I guess. I am fine now, thank you." The blond smiled and waved as she turned to her car.
"Yep, you are now." The dark haired girl smirked.
Xxx
You're probably having trouble figuring what just happened there. I could tell you but you would most likely never believe it. A strange creature pops out of nowhere and tries to kill you and you're saved by a girl carrying a sword who happens to be from the stupid reality show Total Drama. Oh yeah, if the hair's not a giveaway you must have figured out that it's me, Gwen Rivers, the goth girl. And you're not hallucinating; I just saved a girl from an evil demonic spirit out to steal her life energy.
Think I'm crazy yet? Its okay, I thought it was crazy when I first found out but the person who told me about it was very convincing. Stuff like ghosts, spirits, paranormal, it's all real. Well some is real while other things people say about the paranormal is complete crap.
How do I know? The spirits said so themselves but they were amused by the things we humans come up with. You heard me, I met some spirits but they are not what we think they are. Spirits as you call them have various manifestations, one being that some spirits retain human qualities of the dearly departed that have unfinished business, others could be born from pure thought and emotions from us, there are even some spirits that reproduce like humans do, then you get some spirits are close enough to be considered actual gods, then you get demons which is what you would call evil spirits that are very violent and blood thirsty.
Why are there some that causing trouble you ask?
They come here for different kinds of reasons. Some just like to come here and have some fun, pranking and scaring people like people have seen in some movies like Ghostbusters, Casper the Friendly Ghost and a few other movies. A few just come for the sights, like taking a vacation from their world. Traveling all over the world and enjoying the same thing humans do.
It depends on the type of spirit and what it wants.
But the one taboo that these spirits can commit in their quests is stealing the life energy of anything living, plants, animals, anything living with humans being the top of the menu just so that they can become stronger. What is Life Energy you ask? It's basically the batteries we need to live, energy just as important as the beating of a heart or the blood running through your veins. The life energy from your parents is used to give you life when you are born.
They both give a small piece of their life energy to the child that grows from depending how healthy you are. Depending on healthy you are your live energy will allow you to live a long life but if you are unhealthy, sick, or give a kidney it affects your life energy and it's shortened along with your life span. The energy of the living serves as a power source for spirits, allowing them to manifest themselves here and become stronger here in our world. Unfortunately it makes them dependent on life energy like how some people become addicted to drugs and it's not very abundant in their world.
Spirits would come to places where the borders between our world and theirs were the weakest, absorbing the life energy of anything nearby to fully manifest themselves in their true forms and roam our world to find more energy. Not all spirits become addicted to the life energy of the living, like I said they can find other ways to get stronger but some spirits prefer to do it the easier and faster way,by taking the life energy from the living regardless of the fact that people die when it happens. Some are territorial, if you leave them alone they leave you alone; life energy can come in all forms, even the very air we breathe. Just by being here they can they gain more energy slowly more than just taking it directly.
A few just like to screw with people, causing small jokes and pranks like crop circles. Other spirits disagreed with this policy and found a way to help us survive being cattle. But most are either too weak to stop them or too strong to enter this world without drastically affecting the environment around them, most likely causing a big storm and if renegade spirits sense them it causes them to panic and reveal themselves which would lead to all sorts of chaos. So the good spirits had to choose a safer way to help us.
By giving some smart humans their powers. They give the human they have chosen as their partner an object that could be a ring, a bracelet, anything and that human becomes that spirit's avatar. The object connects the spirit and its human partner allowing the chosen Avatar to wield its power when needed. In my case it's a necklace with a star charm on it.
"Good job, child," The voice had a slight accent to it that reminded me of one of those cheesy vampire movies...ah yes, specifically of French vampires, from Interview With a Vampire. "And I do take offense to those thoughts you know."
"Then stay out of my head," I couldn't stop the smile from forming despite my best efforts. I turned to look at the speaker as she manifested as a tendril of silver smoke that curled out from under my trench coat. It did not take any discernable form, twisting around me as two eyes that shined like stars looked at me.
"If only I could, child, but we both know that isn't how it works," The speaker replied, sounding as though she were about to laugh like I was. "But a fine job none the less."
Andromeda is my spirit's name. In her world she is known almost by everyone, calling her Heaven's Star because she was very powerful. How did she become my partner? Not something I'd like to remember and for my sake she doesn't try to bring it up.
She was especially useful because aside from the powers she provided me-along with training she had contact with multiple lesser spirits who were not altruistic enough to be good and not strong enough to be evil. All she had to do was go silent for a while and she would come back with the location of a planned 'Swarm'. A Swarm is a phrase coined by humans like me to describe when a large amount of spirits-and maybe a demon or two would try to come out into the world all at once and cause havoc. This consisted of possessing humans-making them strong like me, minus the free will. Once a human was possessed an exorcism could be performed...or I could do the simple thing and skip the fifty minute chant in favour of using a spell that Andromeda had shown me.
"You should have checked that girl however,"
"You know I don't swing that-"
"I meant for anything that would have attracted that thing to her," Andromeda cut me off.
Sometimes when there was an attack it was random, a spirit just came out and wanted to play the big bully two seconds in the mortal world. Other times it was because it was looking for a human who had a 'spirit scent' on them, meaning they had been near another spirit and lived. This made them valuable, at least more than the average human to these spirits. How, I may never figure out, but I had trailed these 'spirit scent' humans more than once and stopped an attack on them.
And the kicker of course is this: all that's needed to eliminate the scent is vinegar. Like in I Am Legend, right?
"Alright I'll go and run a scan," I groaned, pulling out a small cell phone and flipped it open.
Now you might think technology was useless in this fight, right? Dead wrong, or at least you are if you didn't take advantage of it and kicked the bucket because of it. A human with a spirit partner and a cell phone with a camera were able to see things a human couldn't. Normally a spirit would cause static or a fuzzy image, maybe even an orb of light.
But with me, I could see the spirits themselves if they were strong enough to become invisible or their scent.
"...yep, she's got a scent." I nodded, flipping the phone shut once I saw a green glow on her upper arms and head. "Might have just been another one with the scent making out with her, but its there."
"In that case don't bother, it will fade of its own accord within the hour," Andromeda stated. "For now I'd like to see if we can find anything else before the night is over."
"Perfect, enough time to get Alex that Blood sucking video game he always wanted," I mumbled before I took off down the nearest alley and stopped at the end where a white hexagon had been drawn in chalk into the wall. I held up my right hand and pulled a glove out of my pocket, sliding it on. The glove was leather and had blue lines and swirls on it.
This is another important tool (so listen up you maggots!) for the spirit hunting human. It is called an Omni Glove, so named because it has nearly an endless amount of uses depending on what Method you use with it. A Method is a technical term for spells because even though it looks like its magic it's not entirely like that, it allows us to humans to use what looks like spells that is powered by both our life energy and our spirit's. There are two kinds you must know if you're a Spirit Avatar, there's an Authorized Method and an Unauthorized Method.
An Authorized Method is what a spell that our spirit partner showed us and allowed us to use, believing we have proven that we are competent enough to use without something bad happening to us or endangering innocent bystanders. It also refers to spells that spirits that have arrived here in our world are allowed to use that have been well...authorized by higher ranking spirits that allowed them to come here. While an Unauthorized Method is a spell commonly used by rogue spirits, most noticeably an ability that is commonly used to steal life energy or cause destruction, spirits usually learn these methods through illegal means such as developing them on their own without approval from the higher ups, stealing the knowledge for them especially when it's restricted or even drains the knowledge from a spirit or avatar that has been caught and most likely killed. I placed my glove on the wall in the middle of the hexagon and then began to move my fingers between every corner.
Where my hand moved it left a blue line of light behind it. Finally after I was finished I slammed my hand, palm flat into the middle of the hexagon. I shut my eyes as the Method nearly blinded me-the one thing I hate about this, it's always flashy. The next second I was gone and the hexagon would have dissolved of its own accord to eliminate evidence of its use.
I reappeared across town where I had positioned the second hexagon portal, near the electronics store that had the game I sought.
"Ah...Gwen, right on time," A voice said as I landed on the sidewalk. "As usual of course."
Here is another one who is in the same profession I am in: Kurt, the Arcane Technician which was the title given to him for his known abilities. He is the one who manages to make things for me ranging from my sword and Omni Glove to even researching new methods of finding ways to enchant weapons or objects. For a game show producer, the only thing he wears is a black t shirt and shorts, even in the winter along with a Barbados cap over his red hair and a set of sun glasses (at night!).
Most people don't see him, so they have no idea. But me, I've seen him walk down the street in the winter in his usual clothing, and he didn't even shiver once. He's got some kind of fancy method on him somewhere, and making me go to the trouble of having to put on warm coat when I go out to fight. He always talks about how he has 'other customers with more dire situations than mine' but I can't help but feel suspicious due to the fact that I never see these customers.
"Kurt, real nice timing...are you stalking me?"
"Now Gwen what do you take me for?" Kurt feigned sounding hurt. "I am not that type of person and aren't you a little too young?"
"So you admit that you're really a creepy old guy who makes himself look younger?"
Another thing about Spirit Avatars some can look very young when they are actually a century old. Their spirit partners usually do this if their avatar lives long enough, supplying them with enough energy to live about...ten or fifteen times as long as a normal human. Kurt even told me of one who dated back to the first Crusade.
"Gwen, everyone is creepy in their own way," Kurt said, hands in his pockets.
"Keep talking," I pulled my hood up and checked for traffic.
"Here to pick up that game?" Kurt held up something wrapped in green paper. "I remembered to order before the Christmas rush tomorrow. Honestly what is it with kids and games with blood and violence these days? That tells them to grow up to be worse than the scum bags you hunt now."
"I saw all those 'Malignant Citizen' games and movies in your room," I deadpanned. "And thanks." I accepted the gift from him.
"I improve my intelligence by learning new things Gwen," Kurt claimed. "If you live long enough maybe Andromeda will teach you those same lessons."
"I'll remember that," I nodded. "If you ask for a kiss over this I'll toss you into traffic."
"Surprisingly I've had worse threats," Kurt shrugged. "But anyhow I am above that Gwen...besides; my girlfriend would slaughter me if she caught me doing that. Let's just say I prefer my favours to be proportionate to what I've done to earn that favour."
"You want me to buy your girlfriend something?"
"...you'd do that for me? Oh thank you for offering!" Kurt grinned. "You're a life saver!"
"It's in Victoria's Secret, isn't it?"
"Ah, and intelligent to boot!" Kurt snapped his fingers. "Have fun Gwen! And remember, holiday spirit, Christmas giving, and all that jazz, so it's worth it!" Then he vanished. Not in a bright light, just like that, poof, gone...minus the smoke and the 'poof'.
"...how does he do that?" I mumbled.
Xxx
Normal POV
When Gwen got off of the bus she took off her trench coat and stuffed it into her bag. Now she was left in her boots, pants, and a long sleeved shirt that was dark blue bordering on black. It was just another block to her house now, and she could see the ridiculous amount of Christmas lights that were on it-including the giant Santa Clause in his sleigh with all reindeer named and in order.
"Man they're fast!" Just this morning there hadn't been so much as a red or green light set up.
Before she even reached the front door it was thrown open and suddenly a pink something or other snatched her up, crushing the life out of her. If it were a spirit her reaction would be to kick ass, if it were a rapist her reaction would be to go for the groin, but it's not either of them it's...
"Gwen's home!"Her mother squealed, carrying her daughter inside and setting her down. "Just in time pumpkin, the Christmas cookies are almost ready!"
Before you all make assumptions: no, Gwen does not hate her mom. In fact to the contrary she loves her very much and her positive attitude it welcomed. Gwen admits she can be a bit overboard...but those are some very good cookies she makes!
She then lowered her voice to a whisper. "Did you get Alex's gift?"
"You know it," Gwen held up the wrapped box.
"Aw you even wrapped it," She hugged her. "Thanks for the last minute shopping dear; I can't believe I forgot to grab something for him."
Now unlike most moms and dads who assumed that it was the video games alone that make the psycho, her mom understood that it was okay for a violent game here or there so long as there was some control. So when Gwen told her she was getting Alex the latest in a series of immensely violent and mind scarring games she only told her to make sure Alex didn't spend all hours of the night playing on it-good luck with that by the way.
"Quick, go hide it under the tree!" She ushered her off and rushed off to the kitchen where the smell of her baking originated from.
Quickly sliding the small gift in with the multitude of others, she rushed up to her room and hid her pack under her bed. Then she got into a fresh change of clothes-a night spent out in this heavy snow fall left her clothes soaked. Once she was dried and ready she went back down and was about to make a left turn into the dining room so I could make for those delicious cookies...
Only to see a red envelope on the welcome mat. She knew what it was when her brother Alex rushed through without snatching it up and shouting 'mail!'. She knelt and picked it up, opening it and reading the contents.
It was from one of Kurt's human contacts, another spirit avatar from Belize (a Central American country for anybody lacking in Geography) named Marcus Espino. He was a regular informant for North American Spirit Avatars seeing as the US had a heavy traffic of malignant spirits due to murders and crime rates. He was often reliable. Key word, often.
Dear Spirit Avatar-whoever receives this anyways.
Strange activity has been spotted in the area of Baltimore. I have limited information on it but according to the Prowler Sprites I have there this may be a medium level threat to the populace in the making. If you are interested, then this letter shall form a Hexagon Gate at midnight in whichever time zone you are in-as I know that most of you people on the East Coast have familial matters to attend to.
I recommend caution and have added a list of possible spirits and demons this may be. Possession is a possibility.
Marcus Espino, your friendly neighbourhood watchman.
Gwen stuffed the letter into her pocket. "Really great timing Marcus."
She didn't even know the guy, but he could have a habit of bad timing here or there.
"You can only respond if you wish to," Andromeda pointed out. "Let another Avatar take this one. I hear a friend of mine has selected a promising avatar who needs the experience."
"I'll consider it, but you know I jump at the chance," Gwen replied, keeping her voice low. "Now go silent, family time." She darted into the kitchen as her mom finished setting cookies with red and green M&Ms embedded into them on a plate.
The next hour or two will consist of gratuitous and violent eating that Gwen would not dare to describe to younger people. But needless to say Alex ate the most-and vomited the most from eating far too much too fast. For anybody who has a younger brother you should know how much crap a twelve year old likes to eat.
Xxx
"Are you sure that you want to?" Andromeda asked as Gwen laced her boots up. "Time like this should be well spent with loved ones; even avatars have to take a break."
"My loved ones are busy sleeping right now," She pointed out. "And I still have too much adrenaline in me, I need something to fight."
"You are so reckless sometimes," Andromeda almost hissed.
"That's why you love me," She grabbed her necklace and tied it up around her neck. "Time?"
"The Hexagon Gate shall form in three...two-"
The red letter on her desk glowed as the letters reformed into a small white hexagon. She raised an eyebrow. "You were off a second. That's not like you."
"I believe you humans have a response for that...bite me."
"Tempting, maybe when I see more than smoke," Gwen put her hood up and zipped her coat up as she stepped over to the letter and placed one finger on it. She traced a blue line to each corner with her Omni Glove, and then she was gone! Luckily Marcus' mini portals did not make so much noise and less flash when they worked.
Xxx
In a second Gwen was far south in Baltimore, appearing on the old museum ship the USS Constellation in the harbour. She quickly looked around for any prying eyes and then marked where the hexagon gate was: on the deck of the ship near the wheel. She noticed a small grey case left nearby: a Spirit Drop left by the Sprites Marcus used to scout out cities for demons.
She opened it and found a map of Baltimore City, a flash marked as 'Hot Chocolate' and a flash light marked as 'Locator'. Now for you little tykes who hide under the blanket with a flash light at night, the Boogey Man is the one who is afraid of these lights. A locator light is both exactly what the name indicates and a weapon in one. It can reveal a spirit that is disguised, and hurt it when it is exposed to the beam.
"You should be very cautious, human."
She turned and saw the tiny spirit, in the form of a wisp of green light. It was a Sprite in its true form. "It's not safe to be alone at night, even for an Avatar."
"I'll manage," Gwen tapped the symbol on her Omni-Glove that materialized her katana and examined the blade. "Do you have any idea what this is?"
"I do not know, but..." the sprite's glow dimmed-a sign of fright. "It...it killed two of my kin when they got too close to the darkness...it choked the light from them without mercy. This does not hunger for life energy like a rogue spirit...it is a spirit of rage..."
"I don't see anything like that on this list Marcus gave me," Gwen flipped the card over to check both sides of the list.
"People make mistakes, even the great Marcus Espino, you know that," The Sprite said. "He has not been here long enough to study what was in this place...this country has many crimes in it, it always had ever since it first rebelled against the British Empire. The blood of those who did not find justice cries for vengeance...and if you recall, many shed blood when this country was born of rebellion."
"So this thing is old then? Like...around the time of the American Revolution?" She asked.
"That is as accurate as I would estimate. If I were right it is born of the combined hatred of over two hundred years, perhaps starting when the Americans strung up and murdered Loyalists." The Sprite whispered. "The anguish, the pain coming together formed something like this. If you find a newspaper you'll see a murder took place three nights ago. That is when this thing appeared. It was isolated at first, so a fighter came alone thinking to find a simple poltergeist...he escaped with his life thanks to us."
"I'll be careful then," Gwen held up her Locator Light. "Where was it last seen?"
"That is just it...it is everywhere and nowhere in this city." The Sprite floated around her. "This city and everyone in here is cursed to be its play thing...and any who leave will transfer the curse further and further. If you can stop it here...its rage will diminish and be lost to the void. If not I fear it may take hundreds before it is appeased."
"I'd better not waste time then," She hopped off of the ship and over to the pier.
"Still think I was wrong to take this case?" She looked down at her necklace.
"You have good instincts," Andromeda replied. "The spirit here is young, but strong like we all are at birth. I would rather not see it grow stronger. If it is what I fear it is, then a few hundred will only appease it for a while. You should hurry and destroy it."
And so Gwen began to search the town by the roof. She would keep an eye out for anybody with the scent, or follow police cruisers. For the next hour she thought she would have nothing until she saw three cruisers scream by, heading north. She followed them as best as she could-even Avatars have a limited speed. They stopped at an apartment building where a several ambulances were loaded with three bodies on gurneys.
"I can tell they did not die painlessly," Andromeda said grimly. "It's developed a taste for killing. It feeds off of their fear in the moments before death...and every moment is an eternal feast to it. This is as bad as a spirit addicted to life energy. Head for the apartment where it struck so we may track it."
Gwen slipped inside by using another Authorized Method Kurt had provided to her-for a charge of course, greedy bastard. She held her Omni Glove out and traced a circle in midair, forming a blue loop of light. Then suddenly as she looked through it she did not see the outside of the apartment building across the street, but she saw the interior beyond the outer wall. She placed her hand on it and suddenly she stood inside the hall of the fifth floor. The portal vanished behind her.
She heard rushed footsteps downstairs; perhaps the police were preparing to block the apartment building off entirely. She had to move fast in order to find this thing. She managed to find the room on the eights floor, in the penthouse suite, where the door had blood that had seeped under the door. Judging from the chalk outline Gwen assumed the victim had been about to open the door to escape when they were grabbed from behind and slammed headfirst into the door...
Let's find out.
She knelt and whispered. "Show me the end."
She placed the tip of her Omni Glove into the blood splatter.
She heard the screams of her husband and his brother behind her. She last saw that thing as it nailed her brother in law to the ceiling through the throat while her husband cowered on the couch. Then suddenly she heard a 'crunch' and turned just as she reached the door and grasped the handle. Her husband lay under the overturned couch, and the thing had slammed is arm down through the furniture...and slowly dragged out a wet mass of grey matter.
Then it looked up and howled, it's mouth was normal sized at first but then grew larger and showed a simple black void as liquid bubbled and fell down its chin before it planted both hands on the edge of the couch. She knew it was going to lunge and turned to open the door-
SLAM! She was crushed up against the door and before she was aware of it her head had literally been smashed into a pan cake, causing blood and brain to squirt out to escape the built pressure as the monster slammed its hand into her temple.
So Gwen was right about that one. The monster had looked like a woman, with skin that looked like it had just started to decompose. It was green and wet, dripping globules of skin falling off of it at every movement it made. It had been naked-unfortunately for Gwen. Its limbs were long and bony and tipped with oversized hands and thin feet. Its hair was long and curtain like, covering its face except for one bright red globe.
"I know that beast," Andromeda said. "It first appeared in Japanese fable, an Onryo, a spirit of vengeance. Created from the last dying thoughts of a person consumed with thoughts of anger and rage for what created it."
"Vengeance on a whole town?" Gwen asked out loud.
"It is known for unjustified retribution," Andromeda informed her. "You could be unrelated to the cause of its anger before death, but if you were to get connected in any way in the slightest-even by being in the same building then you could be a target. In this case the whole city seems to be the target."
"What do you think would cause somebody to die that angry?"
"I would guess either the Sprite's guess: a British Loyalist murdered perhaps in this city or in some way that has led the curse to this city. Or perhaps it is a woman burned as a witch early on in colonization. These entities always manifest through different ways."
So they had a Japanese Demon running around killing people at random for their taste in location. She just needed to know how to kill it. And so out came her phone and she went to speed dial.
"Hello Gwen! Calling me at this early hour? And you call me the creep; shouldn't you be sleeping in with your family? Enjoying the coming holidays?"
"Kurt we have a Japanese Onryo ripping apart Baltimore, can you focus?"
"Whoa nelly that's a serious one, are you sure you're up for this one?" Kurt sounded nervous. "This could be trouble for even the Avatar of the great Andromeda, especially a beginner like you."
"I don't have a choice Kurt; now hurry before that thing appears." Gwen said.
"Well assuming you've brought the Star Necklace-which I'm sure you always do as usual, then you'll need to call upon Andromeda's power in order to make yourself strong and fast enough to face it in combat," Kurt said. "You see an Onryo is capable of killing so easily because of a few things. Number one, it can be powerful enough to spread through a small country, given the right circumstances. Number two, whenever it targets a mortal and manifests, its physical body will always be twenty times as strong as that mortal and able to kill them easily-or painfully. Three, its rage makes it get creative, especially in a fight. But if you have the aura of a spirit around you, then it cannot automatically adjust itself to make itself as strong as you. It's like fooling a thermos into thinking a room is too warm and it has to cool down. The demon will not know how strong to make itself-as a deer does not know that it must run in a certain direction to escape danger. So after that it is a simple matter of holding it down long enough to administer an exorcist method to its head."
"What's the method?"
"I'll send you the symbol, this is the only thing that can permanently end an Onryo outside of a sixty minute ritual...I think only one person ever used that successfully." Kurt said. "Killing it as you would kill as simple demon or a spirit would only make it to manifest later, maybe in a month or two. With something that angry rest assured it will come back. Take away the rage and it vanishes permanently."
"I'll give it a try, thanks Kurt." Gwen looked at the symbol that was sent to her.
"Come out of this alive Gwen, I've seen too many families wonder why one of their own dies close to Christmas," Kurt said.
"Don't worry," Gwen hung up and pocketed the phone.
"Now all we must do is find it," Andromeda said.
"And to do that I need a scent," Gwen took her phone back out and flipped it open. "Come on..." She spotted a red blotch in the middle of the room, glowing as it led to the nearest window. "Bingo...she went to spectre form and left through the window."
She formed another short range portal and had her appear out on the streets far from the police. From there she followed the Onryo's scent trail for about five or six miles. Sometimes it passed through occupied areas and brushed over victims it would take later, or through empty streets. Finally she found it in the harbour again, leading to what looked like a pleasure boat. It might belong to a family; hopefully they had the sense to be anywhere but on a boat in December.
Taking out her katana, she stepped off of the dock and onto the deck of the boat. She peeked in through the windows and kicked a door open. The interior was dimly lit only by the moon light, and even when she flicked the lights on it was not much better. She inhaled as it traced the red trail to a door at the end of the hall she stood in.
It led to the bed room-probably empty now...or maybe this was where it died? Not on this boat but perhaps in this position where another had been? The door suddenly shook on its hinges, making her back pedal as a new trail of red shot out from the top of the door, heading right for her! It then took a turn through the wall on her left, passing through unseen rooms.
Then it was back again, and she was running for the exit now. It screamed against her as she launched herself out into the open air. She looked back and saw tendrils of what looked like hair shoot out of the now dark doorway. She clutched the star of her necklace as they grabbed her and stopped her in mid leap.
Then she fell into the cold water, blinded for a moment...and then she was released. She opened her eyes...and saw it crawling along the underside of the boat towards her. It opened its mouth in a hateful snarl as its hair rose about it. It reached for her...
Only for a bright light in the star of her necklace to come to life. Gwen could feel Andromeda's power flowing into her as she was engulfed in a bright aura; Gwen smiled feeling the warmth it brought. She always feels calm even in a fight like this. When it happens she can feel Andromeda reaching out into this world to keep her safe.
It backed away, shrieking mutedly. She looked down as the light spread all over her, and suddenly she felt like she didn't need to take a breath at all! She released the star and faced the Onryo, which launched itself through the dark waters towards her. Her katana came free and moved like it would if she were on dry land. It cut deep into the Onryo's face, and it twisted away, launching itself out of the water. She went after it, moving faster than ever before!
She was on the dock at the same time as the Onryo, which howled and crawled towards her like some demented spider. It was ready for it when it lunged up at her, and she planted her boot in its face and sent it rolling back. She held her katana before her and slid into a stance. "Alright, I'm soaked and its winter, now you're dead!"
It hissed and rushed her on two legs. To a human it would look like it took the blink of an eye to reach her, but to Gwen it was moving about as fast as Owen on a daily jog...as though he ever took one-no offense to the guy. She sliced again, and took off its right hand. It was incapable of formulating a proper plan to get past her defences, so the battle slowly went downhill for it.
She twisted out of the way of a kick and then was right behind it, burying her katana right through its ribs and pulling out in the time it took to spin to face her.
"It's over now, bitch!" She thrust her Omni Glove forward, uttering the Method. "Diminish Rage-"
But then her hand was forced up by the Onryo's one good hand, and it was hissing in her face. Gwen was stunned, but just as she was about to break free it leaned forward and whispered.
"Avatar..."
"You can...talk?"
"Arrogant human...you know nothing of me..."
"No...and I don't need to," She viciously kicked the Onryo in the ribs, sending her stumbling back. "You've murdered people for days, and I'm ending it."
"This country is just as wretched as it was when I lived in it!" The Onryo cackled. "I was like you once...Gwendolyn Rivers, Avatar of Andromeda!"
"You...you know my name?" Gwen stopped in mid step.
"I know you...I know Andromeda...I knew her all too well when I was her pupil," The Onryo said. "My partner never took another avatar until she met you...do you know why? SHE LET ME DIE! THAT'S WHY!"
Gwen was almost caught off guard when the demon lunged for her. She barely avoided the tendrils of its hair as it tried to strangle the life out of her.
"I FOUGHT FOR HER! I LIVED FOR HER! And do you know what it got me? DROWNED! DROWNED AS A WITCH!" The Onryo shrieked. "I used to be Sarah Shepherd, I was a mother! I was innocent! But these humans, they were arrogant in their self righteous beliefs! They saw me use her power to slay a demon and deemed me a witch!"
"Sarah..." Andromeda sounded sad for the first time Gwen had met the spirit. She sounded...remorseful.
Sarah paused in her attack. "Hello...old friend."
"Sarah...I'm-"
"DON'T YOU SAY ONE MORE WORD!" Sarah howled, pointing at Gwen as though Andromeda stood in her place. "I am through with your empty promises! Your avatar shall suffer in your place!"
"Gwen..." Andromeda whispered as Sarah started forward. "Sarah...she doesn't deserve this...free her."
Her hand came up as Sarah got closer. "Disperse Rage and lay in peace!"
Gwen grabbed Sarah by the head as she tried to claw at her throat. The Onryo suddenly froze in place...and then vomited up a projectile stream of the black liquid that seemed to seep from every one of its pores. It fell down and writhed as its body bubbled and began to break apart.
"Rest in peace...child," Andromeda said soothingly.
Then Sarah exploded in a fountain of block oil like liquid-which thankfully faded into a spectral substance instead of a solid one within seconds. The one good thing about killing a spirit was that it never left a mess.
"She was your avatar before?" Gwen asked after a moment of silence.
"Yes...back in the 17th century," Andromeda replied. "Full of life and promise. She asked for help when a creature came for her children's' life energy. I came to her...and she performed better than any other avatar I had before that point. For a long time she was my avatar until the events she spoke of...a man had rallied a crowd into believing she was a witch and tested her as they once did in older days."
"They threw her in the water...if she drowned she was human, if she lived she was a witch." Gwen mumbled.
"The Star Necklace was separated from her; I could not help her..." Andromeda said. "Until I met you...I never took another Avatar."
"...why did they all believe she was a witch so easily? That stuff was like..." Gwen shook her head. "Wasn't that before colonization or something? I don't make a habit of reading that history."
"Regardless...the man who led the crowd...he was influenced...and that influence spread to those around him," Andromeda's voice slowly became sour, a low growl. "And if he had ever become an Avatar...I would not care what laws I would violate to strike him down for how he tormented Sarah before her death."
Gwen nodded. "Some people deserve to die for what they have done."
"If not to satisfy one's revenge, then to ensure the safety of others," Andromeda said. "I think it was another spirit who killed him for me."
"So you do have a dark side then," Gwen smirked.
"Don't get used to it Gwen, I take care not to let it show," Andromeda returned to her usual tone. "You may want to hurry home, your mother woke up and is checking on your brother right now. You're next."
"Oh crap!" Gwen reached for the now soaked card. "Double crap!" Gwen used the portal anyways and reappeared in the middle of her room, soaking wet...and Kurt stood there with a towel.
"Hi-yo!" He shout-whispered.
"SHHH!" Gwen hushed him.
"Don't worry, I placed a paralysis method on your mom, she won't notice even after I take it off," He assured her. "Now dry off, feel free to use the shower or something, I paralysed your brother also. Make sure you change into some comfy jammies and look like you had a good night's sleep. And you may want to make a habit of taking up coffee. Try French Vanilla, it's my favourite."
"Get outta here," Gwen grumbled, taking the towel and getting her trench coat off.
"I assume you need a new phone then?"
"Yeah." Gwen tossed the trench coat to him. "How much?"
"Seeing as you killed an Onryo-which is no easy feat I'll make it on the house this time," Kurt smiled warmly. "I'll take the method off before I leave."
Gwen managed to take a hot shower and change into some pajamas in five minutes flat. She crawled into bed, and Kurt vanished with his usual teleporting trick. She heard her mom's foot steps out in the hall and shut her eyes as the door opened a bit. After a few moments it shut, and her mom's footsteps faded.
She opened one eye and groaned silently as she saw her alarm clock. The chase to find Sarah had taken three full hours and she hadn't realized it! It was four thirty in the morning. "...thank god it's a Saturday."