BAD COMPANY

[ZERACHIEL]

PINE HILLS, FLORIDA

Zerachiel gazed downward, precariously poised within the decaying window frame, jagged pieces of glass gleaming crimson in the blood-red light of sunset. The demon exited the old abandoned apartment building, glancing up at the angel through narrowed black eyes. Three stories rested between the hunter and her quarry; however the distance did not deter Zerachiel. Without hesitation, she hurled herself from the windowsill. The balmy evening air struck her from all sides as she willed her wings to unfurl and ride the updraft.

Her former stoic demeanor was replaced by uninhibited fear. Instead of the smooth landing she had planned, her wings faltered and buckled beneath her weight. Zerachiel struggled to obtain a handhold, though her fingers merely met brick and uneven pieces of stone that crumbled under contact. An anguished cry escaped her lips as the archangel plummeted into the grimy confines of a dumpster, the pungent aroma of garbage encompassing her. Before she could regain her composure, a hand seized the collar of her jacket and forcefully drew her from the trashcan.

Pavement grazed her skin. Zerachiel struggled to flutter her wings in retaliation, though they merely wilted and lay uselessly at her side.

“There’s not an ounce of angel left in you, is there?” the demon sneered, forcing the angel onto all fours, pressing the heel of its boot into her ribs. “What a shame.”

[SHILOH SUMMERLAND]

Shiloh has been on the trail of some nasty creature that had escaped from her just as she as about to trap it. But as she had gotten close enough to try and put a few bullets into it, it jumped over her and bolted down the street where she ran after it. She had managed to keep close to it, but it never let her get close to take a good enough aim at it. After weaving in an out of streets and alleys ways it finally managed to shake her off. Seeing that she lost sight of the creature she slowed her pace until she was standing still in the middle of a cross ways of alleys. She stood still and listened hard to hear any signs of which direction it could have gone.

All she could hear though where the various noises of the allies, water dripping from pipes, small animals digging through the trash, steam from heaters and water boilers, and the sound of voices talking. Shiloh paused voices talking were out of the norm for ally noises. She crept closer towards the voices slowly wondering if it could possibly be the creature she had been tracking. It could easily be just some humans having an argument in the dirty alley and if that was the case then she didn't want to get involved to much. She had enough things to deal with that bothering with other people's problems.

But she had finally gotten a few feet closer so that she was able to hear a little about what was going on. She was disappointed to find that it did not seem to be the creature she was after, but whatever it was it didn't seen normal. She had caught wind of the tone used by one of the voices. It sounded sinister and cold. She briefly weighed the options of interfering or not. Unfortunately her conscious won out as she would feel completely guilty if whoever was getting beaten up ended up dead because she chose to walk away. The least she could do was scare off the 'villain' and maybe drag the poor person somewhere near a hospital.

So before she could change her mind she made her move making sure to keep to gun up she charged silently into the alley towards the voices she had heard preparing herself for whatever she might find.

[ZERACHIEL]

Gritting her teeth together, Zerachiel attempted to ease the pain. Her ribs cracked beneath the sheer force of the blow as the demon thrust its steel-toed foot into her side once more. Gravel crunched beneath her as she rolled across the alley, the air forced from her lungs as she struck the opposite wall. Stagnant water soaked her blouse and blood trickled from her mouth, dripping onto the concrete.

Once she had been able to heal her injuries. Now her angelic powers were rapidly diminishing. She could easily mend lesser wounds; however repairing a broken bone took a lot of energy and left her physically drained. Her wings trailed through the mud, the feathers now encrusted in dirt. Zerachiel retracted them, wondering if she had lost the ability to fly as well. She had known that she would eventually; though the thought unsettled her as she faced the remainder of her life on foot. Flying—the breeze tousling her feathers, gently guiding her—used to be the only form of transportation she knew.

Zerachiel braced herself as the demon closed the distance between them. She withdrew the switchblade from her pocket, prepared to counter the monster’s next move. If she had not been caught off guard by the failure of her wings, she could have exorcised the demon before now; she should not have allowed her surprise to affect her actions. Zerachiel prayed fate was on her side and that she could overcome this minor setback.

The demon paused mid-step, black eyes narrowing as it peered over its shoulder. She paid no interest in what or whom the demon was now interested in. Instead, the angel lunged forward, favoring her left side, and drove the sharp edge into the vessel’s shoulder, smoke emitting from the lesion in faint wispy curls as the salt cured blade sunk deeper.

[SHILOH SUMMERLAND]

As she had rounded the corner as quietly as she could to try and gain the element of surprise she stopped in her tracks for a moment. She saw that the noise had been because of two individuals, one of them was standing over the other who was on the ground. That did not look good to her as the whoever it was on the gerund looked as if they couldn't move very much at all. So if she was going to help them she need to move right then and there. So without thinking about it she took another stepped forward.

As she moved it seemed that the person standing quite a few feet from her heard her movements. Which would not have been possible as the amount of space between them wasn't enough for a normal human to hear the pebbles shift from under Shiloh's foot. So that told her that whatever it was she was dealing with it wasn't a normal human being. She stared the person down as she waited for them to make their move towards her, but before they could the person on the ground took the open chance and struck back. They managed to lift them-self up off the dirty ground and have a go at the other person.

Shiloh heard the pained scream and saw smoke pour out of where the standing figure was cut. Shiloh took the opening and rushed forward to help out on the fight. At a much closer range it wouldn't have been smart to attempt to fire any shots, but if she needed to she could pistol whip the person with the butt of her gun. It would hurt like hell but at least it wouldn't kill anyone until she could figure out what sort of creature she was going to be dealing with. As soon as she was almost upon the two people she let out a loud wild yell. Not out of anger or bravado, but to serve as a distraction to give the person on the ground a few seconds to get out of the way before she accidentally hit them.

[ZERACHIEL]

The angel heard her before she laid eyes on the young woman charging forward. Automatically, Zerachiel wrenched the blade from the demon’s back and leapt out of the way of the oncoming attack. She collapsed into a heap of foul-smelling trash bags, unsettling a swarm of flies which flew in frenetic circles about her head. The unexpected distraction was heaven-sent. Without hesitance, Zerachiel focused on her injuries, accelerating the process of their reparation. Her bones cracked as they realigned and the numerous fractures healed, the pain receding. However, vertigo overcame her causing the alleyway to spin and grow distorted, the colors melting into one another.

She closed her eyes, struggling to maintain consciousness. Each time she drew on the remnants of her power she suffered from minor side affects; exhaustion and intense cravings for human cuisine generally. Zerachiel considered them to be weaknesses that she was gradually learning to manage as her stint on earth extended into another year. She was not fond of relying on weapons now, though she assumed that the manmade armaments would be her only means of protection in the near future. Her ability to teleport herself at will had already disappeared along with the majority of her angelic talents. It felt as if a piece of her had gone astray, leaving a void within her in its place.

Slowly, the lightheadedness subsided. Zerachiel forced her eyelids open, gazing into the golden half-light of sunset. Her surrounds grew clearer, the once indistinct images now manifesting themselves. Recalling the mortal woman, the angel’s grip on the switchblade strengthened as her gaze fell onto the scene playing out before her.

[SHILOH SUMMERLAND]

Like she had expected the person looked towards her as soon as she yelled and with the advantage of catching the other person off guard she was able to land the first blow. Which was a carefully aimed punch to the jaw which connected pretty hard as the momentum she had from running added some extra force behind the punch. The person stumbled backwards a few steps and nearly toppled over before the regained their footing. Shiloh felt a pang of disappointment that the demon hadn't fallen completely to the filthy ground.

Letting out a deep laugh the demon wiped the back of their hand slowly across their mouth to wipe away the small drops of blood that had formed there. They then straightened back up so that they could look Shiloh straight in the eyes.

"Is that the best you can do?" it asked in a very mocking tone as if the punch had not hurt them at all. Which it probably did not. Shiloh felt her body stiffen for a moment as she prepared for whatever attack they would throw back at her. Just like she thought the demon retaliated, but the demon struck faster than Shiloh could follow it. One moment they were there a few feet away, and then the next moment something knocked into her chest so hard that it threw her backwards. With a gasp Shiloh hit the ground hard and a sharp pain exploded on her back from where she had landed on the pavement.

[ZERACHIEL]

Without hesitance Zerachiel leapt forward, thrusting her knee into the demon’s backside. Aware of the young woman lying on the ground, the angel wrenched her adversary backward, its shoulder popping as she twisted forcefully, separating the bone from the socket. The demon snarled in response, black eyes narrowed threateningly. She could feel its power envelope her, struggling to pull her in, however, Zerachiel remained immune to the demonic energy despite her gradually deteriorating angelic state. Not allowing the demon to retaliate, the hunter drove her foot into the delicate area directly behind the knee, and she felt the fragile bones shatter beneath the weight of her boot. Crying out in pain, the hellion collapsed onto the cold earthen floor, its lips drawn back in a snarl.

Abruptly, its eyes changed to an ordinary shade of brown, the mortal woman forcing her frightened gaze on Zerachiel. “Please, help me,” she begged, lying uselessly on the ground. “You have to help me.”

The angel’s stomach churned, as she realized the demon had allowed the vessel’s owner to regain consciousness. She knew it had not yet been expelled from the body, and was merely teasing Zerachiel, manipulating her weaknesses. Uncertainty swept over her as she glanced down at the human female. She could not allow the monster within to cause further detriment to innocent individuals, however her purpose was to protect and not harm the earth’s inhabitants. The unexpected turn of events confused her, Zerachiel’s thoughts conflicting one another as she reflected upon the most logical course of action. Usually she ensured the person’s safety while performing an exorcism. Nevertheless, she was forced to resort to physical combat in order to assist the one who had rescued her.

She wished she had brought her supplies, though Zerachiel was used to hunting without the aid of manmade weapons and wards. Once, she could easily exorcise a demon with a simple touch of her hand, but she could no longer do so. Without her ability to purge the victim of its invader, the job had become a lot more difficult.

[SHILOH SUMMERLAND]

Still feeling pain throbbing through where she had landed on the hard pavement ground Shiloh slowly pushed herself up onto her elbows. It hurt to move, but she knew that she had to get up and help the young woman that was fighting the demon. So she did her best to ignore the pain and kept moving no matter how much it hurt to do so. After a few agonizing moments she was able to get back onto her feet.

Though one she was on her feet she could feel the adrenaline start to rush through her. It helped take the edge of pain off until she could not really feel it much anymore. Once she was not distracted anymore she looked at the fight that was happening just a few feet away from her. It seemed that the young woman she had tried to help had the demon pinned down onto the floor but for some reason she just stood there over it.

Was the demon doing something to keep her from being able to run? It was a possibility, so Shiloh had to think rather quickly and come up with a plan of attack. Normall she would have shot at the demon but there was the risk of hitting the other woman. She grimmaced as she was forced to do the only other option that popped into her head. It was a long shot and she wasn't even sure if it would even work. But it was better to try even if there was the slight off chance that it would work.

She walked a few steps closer towards the scruffle and in a semi-loud voice she began to let out a stream of latin. It was part of the exorcism that she had learned from her adoptive father which was passed down from the family for a few generations. Normally as she was performing it her subject would have been bound to something to make it much safer. She just made sure what as she spoke her voice was steady and strong, since any sign of weakness would allow the demon to try and wriggle it's way out. The last thing she wanted was for this thing to be free to roam the streets.