@FantasyChic

"Well I say we follow her, should be able to catch up. Besides we can talk more, as I'm sure you've got at least a couple questions about my strange and magical powers. Also I'd like to discuss some of the stuff I saw again I don't have an order of events yet." David grumbled and sighed. "Come on lets find somewhere to eat, summoning visions of the future makes a man hungry enough to eat a wolf." He said starting toward the waving at Trinity to follow.

@Apollosarcher

Having been silent for most of the interactions, she finally shook herself awake to respond to David "Oh sure. Sorry, was thinking about other things. Like...puppies and chocolate cake. I am hungry..." she got up and started to follow David, wondering just what she got herself into. It definitely wasn't going to be a boring night.

Dmitri Pavlovich

@gravity22

Dmitri was not in any mood to explain himself, and almost shot the girl where she stood and left the body for the mafia boys inside to deal with. Instead he rolled hi window down, so she look down the barrel of his new PP-2000, though he didn't bother to peel his glower away from the road in front of him. He snapped at her in the same flat, sullen tone. "Don't ask questions you can't afford to know the answer to kid. Get lost, or if you think you're up for it, get in, but be quick about it before I turn you into dog food." Dmitr waited for Anya to sit down and buckle up, they would be in a bit of hurry to get there and it'd be a simpler, and safer, ride if she buckled up. If the new girl wanted in, she'd have to hop in before Anya buckled up, or she'd get left on the curb. Dmitri revved his engine, to drown out any verbal response the girl might have attempted. Even if it had occurred to him, just how suspicious the whole situation may seem, he wouldn't give rat's arse especially considering the days events. Besides, as a mafia man it was far easier to explain away a taste in young girls than it was to explain away vampires and demons and god damned Solomons.

In a split second decision that Addie was sure would be life-altering, she hopped in the car with the intimidating Dmitri.

"I don't back down from a challenge. You better hope I get some good shots out of this" She half - jokingly gestured to her camera.

She wasn't sure exactly what she had just gotten herself into, and despite the dark and off putting vibe it gave her. Something about it felt normal.

@FantasyChic

Heading down the street he looked for somewhere they could stop and eat. "Alright so from what I gather, downtown is our best bet. Near a lot of very cheap rat motels and brothels, great place to hide a cult of lust demon lovers." He sighed and finally paused at Chinese restaurant.

Walking in he quickly conversed with the owner in Mandarin and they were moved ahead and given a both near the back. "Alright, lunch is on me and the very nice man over their said me and my lovely sister could sit over here. So be polite. However we can talk while we eat a lot of food." He smiled as two large bowls of noddle arrived.

@gravity22@Tracyarmav

Anya nodded slowly when Addie told her she'd wait for Dmitri with her, "Okay." She replied, smiling softly. At-least she didn't ask more questions.. she thought to herself, sighing internally. She was about to say something else when Dmitri burst in and shouted at her it was time to go, Why the hell is he mad at me? He's the one that got her later than I did.. She thought to herself, glaring at his back as he left.

Addie ran out the door before Anya had a chance to drag herself out of her thoughts and walk out, she watched as the two talked for a bit and it ended in Addie getting in the car. Did she know Dmitri? Shrugging she got up and exited the restaurant climbing into the car on the side opposite of Addie.

"I thought you didn't know Dmitri?" She asked her questioningly, buckling her seatbelt. "And you, be nicer, you were later than I was." She told Dmitri, crossing her arms with a huff at her 'uncle'.

Dmitri Pavlovich

@gravity22@Shikaru

Dmitri put the car in gear and took off down the street, completely ignoring traffic laws, which wasn't uncommon in Chicago during rush hour, but he was clearly taking things up a few levels, and it wasn't long before blue lights appeared in the rear-view mirror for the second time today... Glancing back he groweled back at Anya, though it wasn't much, there was a slight hint of a conciliatory tone. "Not mad at you Anya, I'd have shot you by now if I was. Liz is gone." Dmitri swerved the wagon up onto the sidewalk nearly pasting a few peds, but avoiding plowing through a hasty road block attempt. Pulling back into the road, he turned down an ally, and raced by piles of garbage and dumpsters like they were inflatable toys, before swerving onto the last main road. The cops moved more cautiously down the long alley, and lost sight of the wagon as it turned. A few turns later, he pulled into an abandoned lot behind an warehouse that appeared to be equally abandoned. He hit the brakes hard, but some how avoided generating the sound of screeching tires.

@Shikaru @Tracyarmav

The air in the car felt cold. Colder than outside. She could have sworn the chill was radiating from Anya, but that would be absurd. Only the dead gave that feeling, right? And this young girl was very much alive. Odd but alive.

"I don't. I'm not sure what I'm doing, but something didn't seem right and your uncle didn't object" Addie made it very clear that she got the feeling this wasn't her uncle. She was never the investigator type. But maybe this could have some link to why her mother wanted so desperately to leave this city all those years ago.

And maybe she could get answers to who her father was.

Just as she buckled up the vehicle jerked around and it seemed as if Addie had just gotten herself caught in police chase straight out of an action flick. She yelled at the driver, "Just where is it that you need to get off to, anyway? Why are police on your tail? And whose Liz? I want answers!"

@gravity22@Tracyarmav

Anya sank back in her seat, a smirk on her face when he said he'd of shot her. Then the rest of her words registered in her mind. "Wait? What?! Liz is gone? What happened!" She shouted, concern obvious in her voice. Gone? Gone how? Dead, missing, at her place after kicking him in the shin for something? She'd just been in her apartment a few hours ago, how was this possible?

She sank back further into her seat, if at all possible, and sighed. She didn't know why she was so worried about one mortal, she'd lost plenty of friends in her lifetime, why did one person matter so much? She completely ignored the fact they had just evaded police capture, Addie's shouting being the only thing that brought her out of her thoughts.

"Police followed him for driving so fast and nearly running some people over obviously." She told her bluntly. Really, why the hell was that a question? When they came to a stop she sighed. "He's taking me to a child trafficking ring, obviously. I quite clearly got into his car willingly just so I could be put in a cage and have all sorts of horrible things happen to me." She told her sarcastically, still a bit pissed off that something had happened to Liz, but even moreso mad at the fact she didn't understand why she was.

"I'm..sorry for snapping at you." She told her, looking over at her. "Dmitri why'd you bring her? She seems too..normal..for what you needed me to help with." She asked, leaning up in her seat to stare at him.

Dmitri Pavlovich

@gravity22@Shikaru

Dmitri jumped out of the car, ignoring the girl's questions for now, except for Anya's last question. That one he answered after opening the back hatch, while he hunted for his tools. "This bitch stuck her nose where it didn't belong, if she ends up dead, I figure I'll have done Chicago a public service. Oh, and try not to kill the Imp if you can capture it. If you can't catch it, kill it. The minions are mine." With that he buckled a bandoleer of extra ammunition and three flash bangs over one shoulder, before slamming the hatch shut. In front of him stood a side entrance to the warehouse, he was surprised to find it unlocked, and yanked the door open, and stepped through it and to one side, spraying bullets as he went.

There was no cover whatsoever, for anyone. The massive warehouse was completely empty except for group of about thirty cultists in the middle of the room kneeling in a pentagram shape, around a pentagram etched into the floor, though that was hard to see through the bodies. Dmitri's wild spray of bullets met mostly empty space, though it would quickly narrow to just the group of cultists. The entire place was lit by five blazing braziers set at the points of the pentagram. Dmitri was instantly glad he had forgone opening with a flash bang, which would be almost useless in this wide open space. The cultists reacted slowly, as if coming out of a trance, Dmitri considered this a good thing, considering the weight of their numbers could be enough to cause injury to him and Anya otherwise.

@Tracyarmav@Shikaru

"You guys are insane!" This was the conclusion she abruptly yelled as she exited the vehicle and watched Dmitri pull out weapons and other oddities. It looked as if he were about to perform some sort of assassination.

She followed closely behind Dmitri, still dangerously curious. She wasn't sure if he even realized she was still around. I bet he thinks I ran off scared of him. Well shows him. I'm going to find out exactly what they are up to and call the authorities, once I have more information.

When she saw the cultists she went wide eyed. This is even more sick than I thought. She fumbled with her phone in a panic and shock of electricity vibrated through her. And then what little unnatural light in this place started blowing out one by one and she yelled out a shrill scream.

@gravity22@Tracyarmav

Anya shrugged. "Alright." She replied, hopping out of the car shortly after Addie called them crazy. "Tch..normal humans are annoying.." She spoke to herself, drawing a knife and running, jumping through a window near the back of the cultist. Shortly after the lights started exploding, did she trip a trap or something? Oh well. It'd been a while since she had fed and the blood in the air made her grin darkly, she knew Dmitri said to leave the cultists to him but she was hungry and didn't see an Imp anywhere in immediate sight.

She jumped one of the cultists in the back of the group, digging the dagger into his spine severing it and biting into his neck, draining him. She felt a surge of strength through her body as the blood did it's work and she stood. She still did't notice any Imp around, shrugging she licked the blood off of her dagger after ripping it back out of the guy and watched silently as Dmitri mowed them down.

It was then she heard Addie scream..of course she followed them in. Sniffing the air she immediately found her scent. She casually strolled around the corpses and over to her to stand behind her, she pointed the knife to her back. "One move, knife goes in. Drop the phone, I'll explain when you do. No point in getting cops involved in this and I don't quite like pictures being taken either." She told her coldly, an icy glare on her face.

Hurriedly a lone figure rushed down one of the many back streets of Chicago, panting heavily as they dashed down another alleyway and turned another corner. "I'm going to be fucking late," the young man grumbled under his breath, his heart pounding to the same rhythm as his sneakers smacking against the pavement. Another back street, another set of alleys, and in the distance the sound of sirens blared through the twilit air. Skidding to a stop, the runner halted himself as he realized the sirens were growing closer, and jumped back at the sight of a car speeding down the alley he was about to turn onto.

"Maniac!" the runner screamed in frustration as the vehicle whipped by, narrowly avoiding everything in the alley before it swerved out onto a road. Further angered by the delay, the lone figure chose to wait a few more moments and let the lagging police cars whiz by in the same fashion the law breaker had before resuming his journey. Even with all that time to stop and think, the poor man hadn't noticed the shadow lurking just behind him.

Another back street, another set of dumpsters and stagnant puddles to avoid, and it all brought the runner closer to his goal. He'd never needed to take this many short cuts before; only today had the metro been delayed and it was his last chance to prove he could be on time for work. If there was such a thing as luck, his had run out just today and sadly the lurking shadows knew this would cost him dearly.

Up ahead a set of trash cans crashed out into the middle of the alleyway, forcefully knocked over by some unseen force. The runner was having none of it, ready to jump over the cylinders and even kick whatever raccoon had knocked the damn things over. As he neared the trash cans though, it was no raccoon that showed it's face.

Lurching out from directly behind the trash cans, a massive wall of shadow surged out onto the pavement and swelled to blockade the entire alley. Huge black talons dug into the asphalt as bristled hairs scrapped the buildings on either side of the titanic beast that has suddenly taken form. It's jaws practically ripped open as a primal roar escaped it, a soulless void peering out into the world from within the creature's maw. It's eyes burned like dying stars, whiter than the ghostly face of the runner that stood before it. Slowly it began to rear up, massive paws oozing shadow as the creature swelled to an even greater size.

Unable to scream, the lone man turned on his heels and bolted, urine running down his pant leg as he nearly leaped with each starting step. Fear engulfed him, fueling his escape as he sprinted back the way he came. Running as fast as he was, the poor guy had no time to react when from around the corner a pole flew out to clothesline him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Dumbass," Paxton snickered, standing over his now unconscious victim. He was a young man, maybe 20 years old or so, and had clearly been in very good shape to hit the ground as hard as he had. We was wearing some shitty one piece uniform that bore the colours of the gas station a few blocks from here, and he had a bag with him- score.

Paxton grunted unhappily, rolling his shoulder where he'd felt his muscle give when he'd been holding out his staff to intercept his target. The kid had quite the set of legs on him, and it had gotten his head a one way ticket onto the pavement where a slow trickle of blood had begun to run off into a nearby, garbage filled puddle. Bleeding out like that, he'd be dead soon. Kneeling down to better examine his work, Paxton began to rummage through the runner's bag and pockets, instantly stowing anything he found to be valuable in one of his many coat pockets. A wallet, keys to an apartment, some cheap cell phone, some cash, and a pen. Everything else Paxton saw as trash- the school work he'd dug out being stuffed back into the bag before the bag itself was hurled into a nearby dumpster.

From down the alley, a loud screech sounded and Paxton looked up from the body beneath him to see a rapidly shrinking shadow approaching. In a puff of ash, the shadow congealed into the familiar form of a grey parrot which was quickly flapping over to where Paxton was crouched down. The bird landed on his shoulder in a practiced motion, squawking noisily as it's feathers ruffled up.

"Yes, you did well!" Paxton shouted angrily, lifting his hands to cover his ears in response to the bird's shriek.

"Well?" the bird mimicked, cocking it's head expectantly.

"You can eat one of his fingers once we're home. I don't have any treats for you right now," Paxton spat bitterly, his mood still sour due to the pain in his shoulder and now ears.

"Home!" the bird mimicked once more, spreading it's wings and taking off down the alleyway. The beating of it's wings quickly grew distant, and Paxton sighed as the ambiance of the city filled the slowly darkening air. Even if it wasn't the first time he'd moved a body, Paxton knew it was hard to be inconspicuous even with glamours. Putting his staff down, Paxton sighed as he began to mutter a few words in a language foreign to anyone born of this world. The syllables snapped out of his mouth and fizzled as they contacted the air, and as Paxton's chanting quickened he placed a hand on the body laying before him. A slight shimmer worked it's way through the air and around the quickly cooling corpse, and Paxton grinned. It was a simple glamour- nobody wanted to see a body, so they'd see whatever they thought made sense. So long as he didn't get any second glances, nobody would notice or care as Paxton lugged his freshly made corpse back to his apartment.

@Shikaru@Tracyarmav

Addie immediately dropped the phone. It seemed if she wanted to get out of this alive, she was going to have to listen to them.

She was silent and felt a nausea building in her stomach. If she wasn't so scared to move she would vomit.

She closed her eyes, and decided maybe this is all just a bad dream. And if she opened them in a few seconds she would be okay.

"It's just a dream" She started repeating to herself like a mantra, tears falling down her face.

Dmitri Pavlovich

@gravity22@Shikaru

Dmitri pulled a bright narrow beam pocket flashlight out of his pocket and shone it quickly around the warehouse, checking that all the cultists were down, which they were for now... though most were still alive and groaning, whimpering, or otherwise verbalizing their agony. Dmitri didn't like that the Imp hadn't been anywhere to be found. That was annoying. "Appologies, I should have figured you'd be hungry after all the stress today. If you don't mind, have your friend search the bodies for anything of interest please. I'm going to get a bigger light." He passed his flashlight to Anya, and glanced at the girl who'd butted into their business for the day and then lacked the sense to duck back out at the earliest opportunity... Maybe he should toss her in the pens, assuming Anya didn't want to keep her for a late night snack. He set the thought aside, as he stepped back out into the lot and retrieved a hand-held spotlight and after a moments thought an oil lamp.

Sirens in the distance, made him scowl... He'd have to pull the car into the ware house, but that might actually solve a the lighting issue, he stowed the lights and pulled the car up to the cargo door, also surprisingly unlocked, and opened it with a heave. He parked the car just inside the building and then closed the door, leaving the car running and the headlight pointed at the mass of cultists who lay about, their blood flowing into the pentagram in their midst... Shuddering, Dmitri pulled the water out of the blood, turning into a sludge thicker than molasses. The water floated in a sphere over the pentagram slowly freezing into a solid ball of ice. Dmitri Walked over to Anya, completely frustrated with day's events, which had all gone from bad to worse, and began speaking to her in a low monotone, that wouldn't carry even to girl foolish enough to meddle in events she couldn't change. He spoke of all the events of his day since he'd left her apartment, telling things as he'd done them, seen them, and heard them, though what he'd thought he rarely bothered to even hint at. He watched the girl move slowly from body to body in the light of his head lights as he spoke. If she tried anything, he'd shoot fist and ask questions later, as is his habit.

@Tracyarmav@gravity22

Anya giggled and stomped on the phone with her heel, "'Fraid not." She told her, removing the knife from her back and placing it in her boot. Sighing her tone of voice seemed to do a complete 180 back to her usual self. "Sorry about that..just didn't feel like compelling the police, again, you know?" She told her, rubbing the back of her head and smiling awkwardly. She glanced over to the bodies and Dmitri before continuing, "Annyyy way. Those guys over there were cultists interferring with stuff I forget the small details. There was supposed to be an Imp but..yea didn't find it." She explained. "Annd I'm a Demon Hunter, don't worry about the whole me biting that guy, I don't kill normal people...anymore." she continued.

It was around that time Dmitri spoke, "It's fine, Dmitri. All things considered today was kinda fun." She told him, smiling warmly. She took the flashlight from him as he walked by and poked Addie with it, "Go ahead. Bring any weird things to me. I'll explain more later, maybe." She told her, grinning amusedly.

Soon, Dmitri came back and explained what had happened since he had left. "I see." She told him, though her face didn't show it she was angry. Her hand clenched into a fist momentarily before she relaxed it, deep gouges from her nails embedded into it were slowly healing. Why was she angry? Why did she care about some human girl so much? She was just human, she would've died or left eventually anyway. Sighing she shook her head and leaned against the wall of the warehouse, "The whole thing reeks of demonic kidnapping, really. If her mother was out there why did she choose today to up and jump in front of your car? Makes no sense otherwise." She told him.

"Nothing we can do, at-least not now. I might have a heightened sense of smell but I'm not tracker." She continued. She glanced over at Addie, "Addie! Have you found anything yet?" She called out. She had to get back to Trinity and that Solomon guy eventually, though she felt she might be late for that.

“You could at least get the poor girl a Happy Meal, you know.” Akira deadpanned, watching the “bird” fly back home as she lounged around on a fire escape overlooking the blood-stained alley. She found it to be a stupid place to watch the action from, though, considering that it ended up getting rust all over her hands. Still, being up there gave her an excuse to avoid handling the body and risking getting any blood on her clothes. She brought her gaze back to Paxton lugging the dead man back to the apartment, not sure whether he was simply getting rid of it or if he'd decided that he needed it for another one of his rituals.

“So did you find anything good,” The demon asked cordially. “Or do you want to wait until we're back home to share?” She smiled, front flipping over the railing and landing on the ground near her partner almost silently, with nothing more than a subtle “whoosh” to denote the cushioned impact. She followed Paxton along their trek back with her hands in her coat pockets, the sight of a dead body unable to faze someone who used to see far worse on an almost daily basis.

@Shikaru@Tracyarmav

Addie was looking through bodies. She wasn't even sure if all of them were dead. Her face remained still in absolute horror as she continued the process. Though she wasn't focused on it at all. She was more focused on what the hell just happened. She still couldn't find any other explanation then that all those things she learned in her history of the occult class may not have been mythology and religion. Maybe it was real.

"What am I even supposed to be looking for?" Her strained voice yelled out.

@lavulman

"Madi likes fingers; believe me," Paxton muttered, eyeing a few faint scars that crisscrossed up and down his right pinkie and middle finger. Both hands were quickly made busy as he began fumbling with the corpse, rolling it onto it's front and working to pick it up so the body could hang over his shoulder. Though he didn't want to admit it Paxton hadn't realized Akira had been in the area, and so most of his focus went to dealing with the body as to not appear phased by her appearance. Through a bit of effort and a couple grunts of frustration, Paxton eventually managed to stand up with the body slung over his left shoulder, and his staff in his right hand. This effectively kept his arms full, his left arm being needed to hold onto the body's legs, and so when Akira jumped down to join him Paxton could only greet her with a smile.

"Nice to see you too; and we can share once we get home. Not like I found anything interesting on him; just a wallet, a phone we can pawn, and some keys to an apartment god knows where in this city. If we can figure it out though that means there might be a lot more stuff to flip," Paxton began to explain as he and Akira started walking. Home wasn't too far from here, it being one of the reasons Paxton was in the area. Normally when out hunting he preferred leaving distance between his dwelling and the bloodshed, but inconsistency was key in keeping a low profile when dealing with something as serious as murder. Things were bad in Chicago, but that wasn't keeping the cops from doing their jobs, and it was why Paxton never left the bodies should the people he robbed be unfortunate enough to pass on.

There weren't a whole lot of people out at this hour in this part of town, the districts around Washington Park weren't very touristy and had a reputation for being a bad area to hang around in. Every once and a while you'd go down a street and see a bunch of busted up cars with one really expensive looking sports car sitting in among them. The guy with the sports car was never an honest man; something Paxton could respect despite his bias on material things being 'stupid' to put it simply.

It took about twenty minutes to walk home, most of it silent dotted with a few attempts at small talk. No topic seemed to properly stick though, conversation always seeming harder when you had to focus on not dropping a dead body. Luckily their apartment was just around the corner, in the middle of the block with the main gate locked up like a miniature prison. All you needed was a key though, and after that it was just a short climb to the third floor. As Paxton hiked up the last few steps he felt his shoulder beginning to hurt, and rather hurriedly fumbled with the door lock so that he could shoulder his way into the crumby three room apartment. Akira did her best to keep the place clean, but at the end of the day no matter how much perfume you spray on a piece of shit it's still a piece of shit. It was a simple set up; the front door led to the common room which was a combination living room, kitchen, and second bedroom. The wallpaper was dirty and faded, the decorative flowers peeling off here and there with the only break in the gloom being a single window that lent a wonderful view of the fire escape and alley out back. The floor was some cheap hardwood that scratched easily, and most of the room was occupied by a coffee table, TV stand, and an old looking couch that folded out into a bed. The far right of the room became a kitchen, basically defined by the presence of a stove, a few drawers, and a mini fridge to store things in. Past the kitchen was the bathroom, which was just big enough to move around in but left little space for anything else besides the toilet and shower. Then finally to the left of the common room was the bedroom, where Paxton both slept and kept his crap out of the way by hiding it in his closet or just leaving it on the floor in there.

"Home sweet home," Paxton sighed, dropping the body as soon as he was through the door. He intended to deal with it soon, so he wasn't too worried about where he put it or if it got blood anywhere. Stains like that blended pretty easily with the other permanent discolorations that dotted the walls. Already at the window, Madi was busy tapping away at the glass waiting to be let in. Paxton grinned at the sight of her, or it rather considering that Madi was more of a thing. Regardless of it's status in a world beyond it's home, the shadow imp made a useful companion and Paxton had grown attached to it over the years, what few they had known each other. As soon as the window was open Madi fluttered inside and instantly began moving towards the corpse that lay slumped against the wall. "Bones," it squawked, twisting it's head and eyeing the exposed knuckles on each hand.

Paxton meanwhile removed the dead man's previous belongings from his over coat before removing the heavy jacket all together, throwing everything onto the coffee table and dropping down onto the nearby couch. "Like I said, just what you'd expect to find on any average joe," Paxton remarked, picking up the wallet and opening it up, "or, 'average Austin' I should say," he then corrected, throwing the mans drivers licence back onto the table before rummaging through the rest of the cheap leather wallet.

Dmitri Pavlovich

@gravity22@Shikaru

"Anything and everything that might entice me to not make a profit off of your stupidity and convince my niece that you really aren't a nutritious value meal." Dmitri spoke in a low clear voice, that carried well in the mostly empty space of the warehouse, even over the sound of his running vehicle. Though his threat was mostly idle, he did want her to be thorough, and a healthy dose of motivational terror tended have the desired results, though exceptions did exist sadly. In truth he was mulling over Anya's words as he watched the pentagram in the center of the bodies. He noticed that it still drew the now dry blood to it, and that bothered him. Most of the cultist were dead now, but a handful of people, farthest from the door they'd entered through, still whimpered in pain... or was it fear? That thought made him uneasy enough to use a flask of holy water. Though he didn't do it as most might, he simply unfastened the lid and willed the water out of the flask and into the pentagram with the dry and dusty blood. A portal was briefly opened in the center of the pentagram, and an Imp came shooting through along with a great deal of heat and sulfurous smoke, the air rushing through with a dull "whoomp" sound. The Imp audibly crashed into the ceiling and came tumbling right back down. If Anya didn't intercept it before it hit the floor, it would fall back into the center of the pentagram, now blurred by scorch marks radiating from the center, though the center itself remained unmarked. Dmitri uncapped the second of his three flasks of Holy Water, but took no further action; trusting Anya to take care of the small demon who seemed to be wheezing.