A Second Chance at Life Chapter 17, a harry potter fanfic

Hello! I'm back! Glad to see me? Sorry if this chapter is a bit shorter than my current average. Read the notes at the bottom of the chapter!

Chapter 17

Rahkesh had only once heard anything about demons, from a book in the Hogwarts library. He had been looking for information on a goblin rebellion and found a book on demons in the same section. Demons being much more interesting than goblin rebellions he'd read it and forgotten about the project. Demons dwelt in the underworld, a place that no one had ever visited intentionally. They were known to abduct witches, wizards, vampires, and many other magical humans and use them as slaves. There had been occasional escapes from the Underworld during which the demons attempted to take over the world. None had succeeded, but the last one had led to the end of Atlantis and the one before that had ended the civilization of magical intelligent two-legged human-like reptiles that had existed before humans. And the attempt before that had ended another civilization that had ruled during the age of the dinosaurs. That people had forced the demons back into the underworld at the cost of their own species. Causing a mass extinction of most life forms in the process.

Usually it was only possible for a few demons to escape at any given time – the process of getting out of the underworld invariably destroyed the portal used before too many could pass through. Currently the demon realm was sealed shut, having been sealed with the end of Atlantis with seven seals which prevented demons from mounting another campaign. Rahkesh did not know when or how it had happened, but in his time six of the seals were known to be broken. But here in this time there were probably several left, so whatever demons the Inca might be calling forth could not come in large numbers.

Fountains of blood shot from the altar, the blood must have been super-heated because when it hit the kneeling Inca they cried out in pain. The blood had started to hiss and steam, creating a layer of mist that wrapped itself around the Inca and the altar. Light pulsed through the mist, emanating from the bloodied golden altar. Rahkesh could feel the magic pulsing through the clearing, emanating from the altar. The magic had a hot painful feel to it, with an unnatural tang that reminded him of the taste of blood. Finally there was a massive fountain of blood and something began to rise out of the blood-filled altar.

Beside him Sharahak began to shake. Rahkesh looked at him and saw that the vampire's eyes were rolling wildly, turned up so far that only the whites showed. He had death grip on the tree branch and was shaking so hard that the whole branch began to move. Before Rahkesh's eyes Sharahak's nose began to bleed and his eyes slowly became bloodshot. Rahkesh pulled out his wand and cast a quick notice me not charm on the shaking tree so that the Inca would not notice. Then he looked around Sharahak to Daray. The other vampire was not as bad as Sharahak yet, but fast on his way to getting there. He was trembling violently and gasping for breath. Rahkesh had never seen him really breathe before, having no need to breathe most vampires didn't. His eyes were also turning red but he didn't seem to be effected as badly as Sharahak. Possibly because he was younger and not as powerful Rahkesh thought. He was going to ask Nic if he thought they could get the two vampire's out of the tree before they fell, but at that moment whatever was coming out of the altar roared.

The demon's roar sounded very much like the roar of a lion mixed with the scream of a dragon, but much louder. Rahkesh clamped his hands over his ears but the horrible noise was too loud. His eyes watering from the pain in his ears Rahkesh stared in horrified fascination at the creature that emerged from the altar.

First came the wings. Massive black wings. Most of the wings were leathery skin like the wings of a bat but along the bones there was thick reptilian scale. The claws on the tips of the wings were bone white and looked very sharp. Its wings were enormous, more than large enough to support the weight of a human.

The head had the features of a human, but was elongated to a shape reminiscent of a wolf's muzzle. A set of long horns curled like those of a ram rolled back from the sides of its forehead. It had a thick neck covered in thin spikes that looked a bit like porcupine quills. Starting around the cheekbones and facing backwards down the neck. The eyes were larger than a human's and bright orange. What registered the most with Rahkesh though was that its eyelids were sideways. When it blinked the eyelids came in from the left and right instead of top and bottom. It's skin was a very dark russet color and when it opened its mouth to roar again Rahkesh saw a forked tongue and a vicious set of fangs.

The body was vaguely human. Human in that it had two legs two arms and a head. It also had a tail, a long thick whip-like black tail that began over the buttocks at the base of the spine and tapered for a good five feet before reaching a spear-head shaped point. Its knees bent in the opposite direction from a human's while the ankles were the same. Its hips were on the sides of its body in such a way that it appeared a bit like a kangaroo. Its feet were massive, much larger than anything human. In place of toes it had enormous white claws. Four facing forward and two facing back so that it could grip things easily. The hands had very long fingers, six of them, with an extra joint in them. They also had claws that grew from the back of the hand just behind the knuckles. Standing upright the demon was taller than Rahkesh (who was just over six feet) but not by much.

The demon extended its wings and flapped hard, rising high into the air. The drummers had backed up until they were almost in the trees and the kneeling Incas, burned by the boiling blood, were staring up at it in terror. It turned a full circle as if to view its new surroundings. The spiked, horned head tilted upwards and it let loose a burst of fire from its mouth. Then it screamed and dove at the kneeling Incas.

What happened next was a bloodbath unlike anything Rahkesh had ever thought to witness. The demon's tail curled up over its head like a scorpion would and stabbed right through the head of one of the kneeling men. The sickening crunch made Rahkehs wince. Its jaws snapped shut around another man's neck and Rahkesh heard his bones snap and crack like dried leaves. A second demon now rose out of the altar now, a dark creamy gray demon, much lighter colored than the first. It snapped up three Incas as they tried to flee and then set its hind claws into another man and ripped his intestines out. The first demon cut a man's throat with the claws on its wings and ripped another in half with its clawed hands. Blood mixed with intestinal juices ran everywhere. Then the demons began to feed.

The darker one ripped open a still living Inca's chest and bit out his heart. His screams were so loud that Rahkesh wondered if the Chachapoyaro atop the wall could hear him. Then he died, going limp in the demons arms. It purred then, a contented cat-like noise that seemed totally out of place with the blood dripping from it and bits of bone sticking out from the bloodied bodies. It chewed his heart slowly like it was a delicacy. Then it went for the brain next, ripping the dead man's head open and lapping at the fluids with its tongue like a cat would. Finished with that it tossed the rest of the body aside carelessly. There was a wet thump as the mauled corpse hit the base of their tree, and Rahkesh forced himself not to look down. The dark demon picked out another body and with a surgeon's precision slit open his gut.

The two demons picked through their victims, taking only certain parts from each to eat. Hearts, brains, eyes, livers, stomachs, and bone marrow. Their purrs and soft growls indicating their delight with the meal. The Inca who had been using the drums had hurried away to the other fires, Rahkesh could hear them retching in the distance. Only a handful stayed, these ones covered head to toe in black tattoos. They watched silently, waiting for the demons to finish. Rahkesh noted that they were very pale as they stared at the feasting going on in the clearing, but they did not look away. Rahkesh had seen a lot during his life, but the feeding demons were starting to make him feel queasy. He backed up on the branch towards the tree trunk. Nic moved beside him a second later, looking as pale and nauseas as Rahkesh felt.

"Uh. That's disgusting." Rahkesh muttered. He was surprised when Nic just shrugged.

"Demons. You know the Inca will send them after us?" Rahkesh blinked, mentally berating himself for the lapse. He hadn't thought about that yet.

"I don't know how to fight demons."

"Neither do I. And I doubt the Xuelhuala warriors here right now know how to either." Nic replied. They both jumped when Sharahak began to make weird raspy gasping noises. The vampire swayed, then fell.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Rahkesh whispered quickly, catching Sharahak before the vampire could fall from the tree.

The demon's heads whipped around to stare at the tree they were hiding in. The Inca caught the movement and turned to look as well.

"Oh no." Nic said.

"Sh!" Rahkesh hissed. The two stayed still, barely breathing. Rahkesh realized that the demons could probably sense magic. Hiding was probably useless now. The darker larger demon turned to the lighter one. It hissed, and then made a strange noise somewhere between a hum and a squawk. The Inca were muttering amongst themselves, eyeing the tree warily.

The lighter demon dropped the last of the bodies and unfurled its wings and flapped them twice, but did not take flight. The darker one turned one orange eye towards the Incas.

And spoke.

"There are humanssss there." It hissed in a voice unlike anything Rahkesh had ever heard. It spoke slowly, softly, its voice breathy and soft sounding like a cross between a snake's hiss and a cat's purr.

The Inca looked at each other with wide eyes and shifted uneasily. Then one of the older men stepped forward and bowed to the demons. The others behind him copied his example and bowed.

"We summoned you. You are free to do what you will in this world once the task we summoned you to help us with is fulfilled." The elderly man said slowly. And Rahkesh had to admire his bravery, to speak so calmly and to say such commanding words to a demon that had just butchered many of his kin. The demon's eyebrows, no more than a ridge of thick scales, lowered. Now it looked a bit more human, obviously glaring. The sideways eyelids snapped shut then open.

"We are aware of the terms mortal creature." It said. Its soft voice not masking the cruel disdainful tone. The old man sensed he might have offended it, because he nodded and bowed again.

"I believe they are part of that purpose. We are at war." He said. The lighter demon did not take its eyes off the tree in which the two semi-conscious vampires and two mortals sat. The darker one was focused on the Inca, but its body faced them as well, wings half-uncurled, ready to attack.

"We've got to get out of here." Nic muttered to Rahkesh. Rahkesh agreed with a nod. But how? The glanced down at the ground, it wasn't too far to jump. He could levitate the vampires. Nic had his own magic, though Rahkesh knew little of his abilities he assumed that Nic could probably hold his own.

"Once back at the wall Kalahimran and his sorcerers can drive them off. How far is it?" Rahkesh asked. Nic thought for a moment.

"Not far, there're a few other hidden trails that will get us there faster."

"I'll levitate the vampires then." Rahkesh said, casting a second spell on Daray. The vampire began to glow, then the magic bounced off, flying back towards Rahkesh at a much greater speed then he'd sent it with. Rahkesh ducked.

SMASH! The spell blasted a massive crater into the tree trunk. The demons reared up and took flight, roaring. Seeing the two demons rising above them Rahkesh leaped over Nic to Daray's side.

"I can't get you out of here if you keep throwing the magics off Daray. Relax, it's okay. We'll get you out of here." Rahkesh said softly, reaching with all of the telepathy he had learned to calm the vampire.

Daray's telepathy attacked the second Rahkesh's mind touched his. Rahkesh's vision went gray and he stopped breathing as the whole world spun and started to sink. He started getting cold and cried out when horrible pain flashed across his mind. His head started to pound and the physical world vanished. The pain was horrible, blindly screaming pain flaring repeatedly through his mind. He couldn't feel, smell, hear, or see. Everything dropped away and he felt himself loosing consciousness. Through a haze of confusion and pain Rahkesh realized that the vampire was not actually in control of his mental abilities. In fact it seemed that Daray was unconscious and his subconscious mind was fighting anything, not sure of what was a threat and what wasn't.

The demons were flying higher, searching for their exact position in the tree. Beside him Nic was pulling out a set of gold, rune inscribed discs from one of the pouches that hung from his belt. Rahkesh concentrated on the most soothing calm emotion he could feel and tried to project it to Daray. Daray's eyes were rolling like Sharahak's had done and he was starting to glow. Glowing wasn't a good sign.

With his mind under attack, trying to levitate Sharahak and convince Daray to relax Rahkesh was in no position to defend himself, much less anyone else. He turned to tell Nic to get ready for the next attack, but Nic had already sensed the problem and was readying his own magics.

Nic placed one of the gold discs on the palm of his right hand. Attached to the disc were several small gold chain straps which wrapped around and between his fingers and attached to a second disc on the back of his hand. He secured the straps and attached a similar device to the other hand. Then he lifted both hand to his lips and spat on the four discs. The gold discs began to glow, and then they shimmered and turned to a gold water-like liquid that wrapped itself all about Nic's hands like shimmering gloves.

Up above the demons seemed to be smelling the air with both their tongues and noses, and finally agreed upon a location. The lighter one dove for a first attack, the dark one following just behind its tail. The first one swooped down low, so low it legs brushed through the tops of the tree branches. It wheeled away without attacking and roared to the second. The second demon twisted and dove for the point where the first demon's back claws had ripped the upper branches, The darker demon reached out, slashing branches out of the way with it claws, then turned aside. It rose up and turned with the first one to dive again.

Rahkesh saw that the demons were working as a team, testing their unknown opponent and the density of the tree branches, without actually engaging in a fight. They were planning, deciding how best to attack. Daray's mind lashed out again. Rahkesh gave up and simply stunned him. He didn't have time to fight with the vampire. Branches clattered down onto him from above. The demons were picking out the bits that they couldn't handle and removing them. On the fourth attack flight the two demons made a decision. They both rose, turned in perfect unison, and dove, breathing massive gouts of fire before them.

Nic raised his glowing hands and made a motion too quick for Rahkesh to see. The darker demon screamed and twisted as its flames vanished. Nic turned to the other demon and made a different motion; a massive gust of air sent the lighter demon hurtling into its darker companion. Nic made a third motion, yelling something in a language Rahkesh had never heard, the demons shrieked as their wings turned to stone and they crashed to the ground. Seeing that the demons were occupied Rahkesh grabbed the two incapacitated vampires in a levitation charm and fled. He leaped from the tree and hit the ground running. Nic followed him to earth and raced after him a second later. Rahkesh looked back over his shoulder. Behind them the demons were melting the stone off their wings and the darker one had already taken flight again.

As soon as its companion joined it the demon attacked. Diving at the fleeing humans and vampires while the lighter one hovered overhead, waiting to see which direction they dodged in. Rahkesh closed his mind to the waves of telepathy rolling from both vampires and demons, and shot a wandless bolt of lightning at the lighter demon. It wheeled aside and roared at him. Rahkesh cast another spell, opening massive gashes on the darker demon. Beside him Nic was chanting as he ran. His eyes were closed, he seemed to be finding his way by memory through the hidden trails. Rahkesh sent bone breaking curses at the demons, and had to duck when they threw them off effortlessly. His spells weren't working very well. And he could only cast spells so fast while maintaining the levitation. Nic had better to do something soon.

A wave of fire crashed down beside them, Rahkesh threw himself to the side, knocking Nic out of the way. They both landed beneath the fire and waited until it had passed. The demons turned to attack again. Nic raced off down another hidden trail, Rahkesh followed. This trail led them back under the thick canopy and Rahkesh heard the demons raging angrily above them.

Finally Nic stopped, jerked Rahkesh to halt by grabbing his sleeve and turned. When he opened his eyes they and his gold-encased hands started to glow. Nic raised both arms and made a long sweeping motion.

Nothing happened. Rahkesh turned to Nic to ask what he'd done; Nic shook his head before he could speak. Rahkesh waited silently.

Directly above the branches of the tree shattered and burst into flames. The darker demon hit the ground on all fours. Moments later the lighter one landed, ripping the gaping hold in the treetops even wider.

Instantly vine from the surrounding trees began to glow. The demons froze. Nic smirked and signaled with his glowing hands.

The vines lashed out, wrapping themselves around the demons. The thorned vines ripped at their eyes while the smooth ones closed around their wigs in nets. Nic took off running again. Behind them roars and shrieks from the ensnared demons blasted through the silent forest.

Bright bursts of fire appeared behind them. Rahkesh could feel a wave f heat. The demons were burning the vines off. Second later a triumphant roar sounded, followed by the rustle of leaves and the rushing noise of quick feet. Nic turned and led him down another trail. Behind him Rahkesh could hear the demons racing through the forest.

"They're catching up!" He gasped out, unable to believe it. The demons were tracking them, on foot, through a forest, faster than they could run away. Fire flew past Rahkesh, missing his face by inches. Nic ducked a second burst and dodged down another diverging path. The demons leaped the distance between them and landed just behind them, Rahkesh felt fire at his heels and heard tree branches snap. There was no way they were going to get to the wall.

Out of nowhere a wave of power swamped the two, throwing them both to the ground. Rahkesh felt his levitation spell snap. Then two vampiric presences roared to life on the edge of his senses. Flat on the ground Rahkesh realized he was vulnerable and rolled to the trailside. Nic threw himself behind a fallen tree as a jet off fire flew past him.

Then everything went quiet. Rahkesh rolled behind a tree and stood, peering out he saw an unusual sight.

In the middle of the path the two demons were standing, on all fours, massive wings partially furled, side by side. Facing the demons were the two vampires. All four were growling.

Ni and Rahkesh traded confused looks, neither having the faintest idea what was going on.

"Blood drinkers." The lighter demon growled harshly. Its tail lashed like a cat's and it shook its head, spreading the sharp spines around its face and neck. The darker demon hissed and stepped forward and bit. Sharahak growled back and moved in a half circle closer to the demon, walking on the balls of his feet, tense and smooth, like a cat ready to pounce. Daray conjured a set of long knives and drifted closer to the demons, who growled at him.

Before Nic and Rahkesh's surprised eyes the four beings continued assessing each other's battle readiness, with a good deal of posturing and growling. Rahkesh warily opened his mind and searched, sensing massive telepathic presences clashing, but never really fighting. Testing each other with quick strikes.

Finally the larger demon got tired of it, and leaped. Straight up over Sharahak's head. Grabbed a tree branch and leaped off that right at Rahkesh. With no warning at all Rahkesh couldn't dodge, instead he fell over backwards, drawing his wand and hurling a massive stream of lightning at the attacking demon.

The demon roared and tossed its head, scattering sparks and making the air crackle. Rahkesh rolled to his feet and continued the spell. Trying to keep its face away from the attack the demon executed an incredible cat-like turn in mid air, and struck with its tail.

Rahkesh tried to dodge, but even his blood-magic enhanced seeker reflexes were stressed from the past twenty-four hours and he wasn't faced enough. The spread-head of the demon's tail sank deep into his side. It missed the ribs, sinking through only skin and muscle. Rahkesh felt it go most of the way through him and exit the side of his back. Then the demon leaped forward to attack the vampires, yanking the tail-spear out.

Rahkesh clamped a hand over the entry-wound in his side and staggered against the tree as the demon charged Daray. Reeling in pain Rahkesh watched as the demon and vampire closed in a spectacular display of magic.

The demon avoided closing with Daray for as long as possible, striking first with a blast of fire. Daray fought the demon's fiery breath with a massive wave of vampiric telekinesis, something Rahkesh had never seen much of before. The fire shot backwards right up the demon's nose. It screamed and shook it head vigorously and lunged. Daray's knives came up and he struck away the first few attacks. The demon's claws glancing off the knives. As its claws were pushed away again the demon's head shot forwards, extending its neck to its full length of over a foot, and sank its teeth into Daray's shoulder.

Naturally Daray bit back, stabbing one knife up through the underside of the demon's lower jaw, gashing the delicately scaled skin there. Holding the demon's head on the knife point he bit deep into its throat.

Meanwhile Sharahak had drawn a device similar to what Nic used and activated it. The vampire was throwing the demon about with massive sweeps of magic and gestures, bashing it into trees. The smaller demon quickly got a handle on what Sharahak was doing and avoided the next attack. It threw itself and the ground at Sharahak's feet and at the last moment it twisted its spine at an impossible angle to come upon two legs from below, inside the vampire's guard. Sharahak's gold-gloved hands promptly grew a small set of golden claws. One set missed, but the other sank right into the demon's eye.

But the demon had a few tricks of its own, it blinked. The scale eyelids must have been very hard indeed for the claws glanced off harmlessly. Sharahak parried a blow that would have ripped his ribcage open, then twisted his leg between the demon's and sent it sprawling back onto all fours.

Jaws locked into each other's flesh Daray and the darker demon struggled against each other. Finally the telepathic feeding abilities of both kicked in. Vampire and demon collapsed to the ground, Daray striking the demon's tail away with one leg, despite not being able to see the attack coming. Drinking each other's blood they could both sense any attack the other planned. The ensuing scuffle was more about who was stronger and faster and had more mental endurance than fighting skill. A Brutal clash of telepathy that forced Rahkesh to shut down his sensing abilities as far as he could to avoid it. The demons claws slashed about Daray and the vampire's knives returned the wounds.

Rahkesh struggled to breath, realizing belatedly that the demon must have poison in its tail. He could feel gut wrenching pain, and a frightening coldness, spreading from the wound in his side. He was aware of Nic calling his name, but he couldn't reply, he couldn't speak. Rahkesh forced himself to draw another breath and tried again, still he couldn't form any words. He was lying on the ground, but he didn't remember falling. He wad dimly aware of the struggling forms of Daray and the demon on the edge of his vision, but his head was spinning painfully.

The lighter demon leaped back from Sharahak, knocking Nic nearly ten feet with a mighty blow of its tail. Nic landed hard against a rock and slumped to the ground. It twisted around and lunged again. But this time it attacked with its own form of magic. Its body began to glow and when it spread its wings and roared there as a massive flash of light. The vampire tried to flee but the magic had already hit. The light, and whatever magics traveled within it, smashed into Sharahak. The vampire tried to flee but the magic had already hit. Sharahak began to scream as the demon's spell was absorbed into his body. The injured vampire lunged at the demon. Barely conscious Rahkesh lost control of his mental shields, and so he felt the massive burst of telepathic power Sharahak threw through the demon's defenses and into its mind before they collided. Sharahak's teeth sank into the demon's throat, ripping the great vein, at the same moment that the demon's claws ripped his throat open.

Distantly Rahkesh realized he was dying. It was like the Basilisk venom, that slow awareness that he was going to be dead soon. The coldness. He couldn't feel any pain anymore, and he couldn't see. But it had been years since that Basilisk attack, and Rahkesh knew a lot more about magic than he had then. Now he knew how to feel his magic, and his magic was alive and fighting. Rahkesh had never learned to completely sense his own magics, or anyone else's. He's abilities were completely self taught and therefore mostly only rudimentary. But this close to death things were changing. The natural instinct to live was coming to the fore regardless of training.

He could feel his magic know, wrapped around him, emanating from every cell in his body. It was awareness on a level Rahkesh had never experienced. He was seeing with magic, seeing his own magic. He could also sense the poison, also magical, a foreign deadly magic that he body wanted to expel. Rahkesh reached, and heard a soft hiss echo through his mind. Parseltongue. He drew it to him, and, without really thinking about what he was doing, sent his magics flooding through the poison. And the poison retreated.

Unknown to Rahkesh Nic had woken from his injury and struggled to stand. Now he was staring as the blood running from Rahkesh's reopened wounds turned black, threaded through with gold. The wound glowed and began to burn, vaporizing the poison as if retreated from his body.

Finally Rahkesh felt the last of the poison leave, now his magical instincts took over, urging him to seal the wound against further poisoning. Rahkesh did so unthinkingly. Then with a contented hiss the parseltongue subsided and his magic senses dimmed away.

Rahkesh opened his eyes. He was lying to the side of the trail. Healed. Alive. A second later Nic was beside him, pulling him to his feet and out of the way as a mass of thrashing claws, teeth, tails, and knives flew past. Daray and the darker demon. Looking around Rahkesh saw Sharahak lying beside the lighter demon. Neither of them was moving. And both were glowing with a light, which could not be described as light at all because it was black, how could light be black? Rahkesh wondered, still dazed and shaken. A sudden scream and two waves of telepathic power sent him to his knees again. Desperately Rahkesh tried to close off his mind against the uncontrolled writhing power flowing across his senses. Finally his walls closed in and it dimmed to a manageable level.

Rahkesh stood again and looked down. Daray and the second demon were lying near his feet, both unmoving, and not breathing. Like Sharahak and the other demon, both of them were glowing.

Unsteady and confused Rahkesh just stared at the four unconscious, glowing, creatures, not registering Nic calling his name. Finally Nic yanked on his shoulder and Rahkesh snapped out of his daze.

His friend was looking past him, down the trail from where they had come, his eyes wide. Rahkesh turned and followed his gaze. And his eyes were met by uncountable fierce glares.

Beside him Nic began to back away drawing his own weapons. Rahkesh slowly drew his wand again; he glanced at Nic and received a nod in return. The two stepped in front of their fallen friends, facing a glaring army of tattooed men carrying spears, arrows, and knives.

The Inca had arrived.

Ooooohhh. Sorry about another cliffhanger, I really was hoping to get through the next battle as well, but I have to go to bed and I thought you would prefer this to nothing. Much fighting to come. Two more complete battles in the next two chapters I think. Then we'll take a small break from the violence and try something else…hehehehe…(evil giggles)

I've settled into college and have access to a computer, but now I have homework. I'm a science major taking THREE lab courses so I have NO free time. I will be continuing to write but updates will not be as frequent as they were back in July before school started. Sorry.

Thanks to everyone for their reviews. I always appreciate reviews. I always read all of them even if I don't comment on all the individual reviews.

Actually I read the reviews multiple times and actually take notes to see if I'm being too obvious about the future of my plot.

So please review, tell me what you think. I hope this one has less typos and grammar mistakes. Tell me what you think about my demon description, I spent two hours working on that. I hope it was detailed enough without being boring. Remember if I have the long explanations now I can skip those in the future and get right to the action. This chapter is my way of getting a lot of demon background out there; you'll need to know it in the future.

Dude there are groundhogs living outside my dorm, and porcupines, dozens of them. Way cool.