Come little children

Problems had been springing up all around Chicago, mostly for human families. Their children had fallen under rather strange sicknesses and no hospital could help them with their problems. To Samael it was just another problem, one that they needed him to solve and so he would.  Eventually a family had come across his information, and they sent an address that he would meet them at. The house reeked of middle class delights, with it’s brick exterior and being able to sustain parents with two children. The lawns was deep green, kept lush by someone that cared about how people saw them. Reminders of familial life he wouldn’t have had with his birth mother, but he pushed the vague feelings down as he knocked on the door.

He was dressed in a black leather jacket, black skinny jeans with a dark grey shirt underneath, making both pale skin and copper red hair stand out against it even more. The one to answer the door was a male, likely in his early thirties with worry etched within his features, replaced with apprehension. Perhaps the just didn’t trust this odd pale youth with dark tinted sunglasses standing on his doorstep on the eve of Halloween. His lips split into a smile as he extended a hand in greeting, the male in their annoying sweater extending their own. ”Sam, i’m from the Christensen paranormal investigation services.” He answered, seeing the expression not change except for a minor amount of relief.

“So you’re the guy who can help us with our...problem?” He would ask, swallowing as his adams apple bobbed noticeably.

”Probably better than any doctor can anyway.” The man accepted his hand with a firm grip before letting him step into the home, smelling the faint smell of cinnamon. Candles if he recalled the smell, smatterings of something burning with that sweet scent. He had to focus upon it to get something but it did come up if he focused upon it. He was lead through a hallway and up a stairway, a single step creaking as they were brought to what looked like a childs bed room. There nestled upon the bed was a child, bearing the soft brown hair of his father, breathing serenely with the light of a lamp casting itself over his face.

His eyes narrowed behind the glasses as he stepped up to the bed, a woman stepping between him. There was challenge in her expression. Her husband would look to her, and within a minute she would step aside, letting him check the child’s vitals. Nothing out of the ordinary, save for perhaps the strange feeling he got from the child, as if they were empty to some capacity. It only took him a few moments until recognition dawned over him, something was going on. ”That explains it.” He stood up from the bed, looking to both parents. ”He doesn’t have a soul.” He said, gauging their shocked expressions.

“What the hell does that mean?” His father would demand after a few seconds. “Why doesn’t my son have a soul?”

”Simple really, something took it. There are a few things that do it this time of year, so i’ll need to sort through that. If we’re lucky, I can return the soul to where it belongs.”

“If you’re lucky?” The mother would ask with barely contained shock.

”Whatever did this could’ve devoured his soul and that means...well you know.” He said with a casual motion to their horrified shock. ”Now if you’ll excuse me, I need track this thing down. So give me some space.” He shoed them out of  the room, removing a few things from a pouch hanging from his waist, muttering to himself as he sifted through it. Settling a few things on the child’s chest, he began to mutter something in an almost guttural tongue and within seconds a soft glow began to emanate from him.

If there was a trace of the demon, he could track it or at the very least force it back here. There was a brilliant flash of orange light and something materialized within the room, taking the form of an off impish being with a diminutive body, along with stumpy arms. Its strangest feature was what looked to be a head shaped like a pimpkin, yes the eyes moved about as if it were flesh with flames flickering out from that section, along with a carved grinning mouth of teeth like needles. ”Well you’re not something i’ve seen before.” He growled as he thing let out a cackle and burst through the window. Samael was quick to follow, leaping through and landing on the ground with a jarring thump.

His ankles ached for a second but that didn’t stop him from making chase  as he felt the parents were even more worried about what had happened. However he was chasing what looked to be an odd sort of demon.

A paranormal disease began taking root in Chicago. Yofie knew nothing of diseases; she assumed something evil would tend to this garden, but when a gust of wind blew off her trajectory landing, she also felt a vile demon behind such a mundane act. Yofie swooped down to the street, spreading her wings in a display of glory, pushing back a shocked populace. The glory of the angel lifted herself from her kneeling position to fix her gaze. "What is this you are serving?"

A man behind a cart looked to his side, then moved his head to the look to his opposite side. "Uh? Hot dogs?"

"And this delicacy is not of evil origins?" Yofie tilted her head as she crossed her arms, letting her wings meld back into body.

"I don't think so, but people don't really know what is in a hotdog."

"That is troubling." Just as Yofie lowered her wings, her eyebrows raised in an arch. "I must look over your culinary contrition."

A few clumsy clings from the metal tongs eventually constructed a hot dog with condiments sloppily thrown on. The paper holder welcomed the hotdog while steam emanated from sausage. The vendor sheepishly pushed the hot dog towards Yofie.

Slowly her hand extended, taking the paper holder under close scrutiny. Exquisite fingers gingerly embraced the food, holding it like an unwanted child to a baron solely in need of an heir. "Does this come from the cow creature or the pig one?"

A shrug lifted air from the vendor's lungs to his mouth. "Probably both."

Flames broke from Yofie's back, shooting her wings into full extension. A shocked look turn to disgust, following by condemnation. "You told me the hot dog was not evil!"

The thing cackled as he chased it, appearing to keep ahead of him without much effort. People and some children in their costumes turned to look in awe at the man chasing after what looked to be some imp flying through the streets. Really fucking hate these things. he thought to himself annoyed, picking up the pace and still not managing to catch up with it. He turned a corner, managing to pivot within the motion as the sight of a hot dog stand came into view, an odd looking individual taking one from it. That was when the flames burst from her, appearing to catch the interest of the demon.

“Annnngggeeeeeel.” The demon hissed, as it careened towards the female, swooping down to snatch the hotdog from her hand, before flying upwards. It appeared to let out a shrill cry of triumph as it bit into the hotdog with its pumpkin teeth, ape paring pleased with the food as it flew away on its little wings. That was followed by Samael shouting obscenities at the thing.

”Hey! Where the hell do you think you’re going?!” he reached for a hidden knife under his pants leg, and chucked it at the demon, slamming into it’s leg as it let out a cry, but didn’t flag in its flight.

Whatever judgment Yofie held for the hotdog and vendor quickly transcended to a more pressing danger. "This creation of yours draws out creature of darkness."

"Listen, lady, it's a hot dog." The vendor stepped back from his cart as Yofie diverted her attention towards the sky. Flames from her wings set fire to the inside of a napkin dispenser. "Oh god!" The vengeance of a thousand roasted weenies played out before the vendor's eyes as he ducked behind his cart. A small trail of smoke began to flow up from behind the cart as the man gingerly pushed his head up above the counter to look up as the ball of fire moved past the roof of the adjacent building.

Yofie allowed her wings to propel with reckless abandon. Her flames fell towards the ground, burning up before coming into any contact with the tops of the roofs. "Fall demon! Your orange head does not scare me!" A blast of fire flew from Yofie's sword, hoping to make contact with the demon from behind, forcing him to end his flight and engage her in a melee.

The angelic woman propelled herself into the air, reminding Samael that he wished he could fly like that. Instead he looked onward from the ground with a sort of silent envy as she chased the demon with righteous fury within her heart. Brilliant flames flowed towards the thing, catching its wings and burning them up like matchsticks,. It let out an ear splitting shriek as it plummeted towards the ground with impressive speeds.  Smoldering black stumps that were once wings tittered about uselessly before it collided, emanating a sickening crack and yet the thing was still alive.

Sam walked towards the thing with a sort of silent determination as he knelt down, resting the palm of his hand against the things throat as he applied pressure. ”Now imp. What did you do with the childs soul?” he would demand, brows furrowing in an angry twist as he waited for the thing to answer. That was when he realized he was putting a bit too much pressure and lightened up enough to allow it to speak.

“Souls? Don’t have souls anymore.” It said with a raspy voice colored with pain. “Master has now. Master doesn’t want to give back, important for master.” It continued, futilely clawing at the lather sleeve around his wrist. “Never said would be angel. Angeles bad, smites us imps yes they do.”

”Well I don’t care what master wants. If you don’t tell me how to get that soul back, your master will be the least of your concerns.” His nails elongated slightly, colored black as the razor tips would dig into pumpkin looking flesh.  

“Can’t talks. Bound by magic, darkest magic. Only master can undo it.” Well this thing would be no help, so something told him he had to think of another way to deal with it and he had forgotten about the angel.

A demon falling from the sky only drew more ire from Yofie. And with ire, comes fire. A sudden drop from the imp sent him crashing to the ground unceremoniously, but Yofie needed her ceremony. One wing pointed directly to the ground, giving Yofie enough break to stop her forward movement and point her momentum downward. While the imp fell through the path of less air resistance, Yofie found herself unable to stop before forcing an impact with the flat roof of a square topped building.

A broken lawn chair held the business end of Yofie's blade. Potted plants flew from their perch as Yofie moved to straiten her wings after the blunt of the impact took its course. A young boy stood at the doorway of the small hub leading to a staircase. "Your building interfered with my pursuit of justice. I hope you had nothing to do with this maleficence."

The boy shook his head slowly from side to side.

"Good. I will leave you to however you atone." Before Yofie's wings could reach full apex, she lifted herself twenty feet off the ground and followed a direct descent towards the street where she last saw her mark.

While Sam continued his interrogation of the imp, Yofie took a more direct approach to dispatching the creature. All momentum of her downward push found its conviction swelling up in the apex of her blade. Then, the apex of her blade found itself pressing through the stomach of the imp. "Die fiend! No longer will you torture the people of this city or partake in hot dogs!"

Samael was well into interrogating the thing when Yofie inserted herself into the conversation in the worst way. The blade punched into the things abdomen, releasing a spurt if black ichor as the thing let out a pained cry. Black inky blood splattered across his face, blotting out one of his lenses as the thing rapidly reverted into a disgusting mush. For a moment all Sam could do was look down at the thing with a shocked silence As the realization of what had happened washed over him like a wave. He stood up, drawn up in shocked silence for a few seconds before looking to Yofie, wiping away a bit of black ichor from his sunglasses.

”You have got to be kidding me.” He growled. Furrowing his brows as he glared at the angel through tinted lenses. ”No,knowing you angel types you’re probably not joking. Always swooping in with your righteous vengeance and not caring who gets hurt.” He found himself near ranting as something came to his ear, a rather familiar voice. To anyone but him it would sound like the caw of a raven, but he heard more than that.

”Ha! Foiled again by an angel. Getting really bad at your job aren’t you Sammy boy.” A great black bird landed on the sidewalk, pecking at one fo the many fallen hotdogs and gorging itself on the processed treats. ”Before you know it that pesky brother of yours will be here.”

”Oh great, it’s you now.” Samael snapped at the raven, wiping his face down, the feeling of demonic blood leaving a stinging sensation on his face. ”Whatever. Guess that just means I have to hunt down another stupid imp.”

"Jokes are repulsive. Why would someone seek to create a false narrative merely to overcompensate their compromised character? It only makes sense when seen through the lens of evil." The flames from Yofie's wings continued to kindle in the night air, drawing the attention of the guardian angel. "I sense a darkness in you. Perhaps my smite is not out played yet. I must question your essence of purity."

Both of Yofie's wings created a barrier around herself and Sam, blocking his methods of escape. "Were I to try and remove you physically from myself, were you an evil being, you would escape due to your malevolent nature. However, were you to be of non evil origins, impaling you to check to see if you are good would leave behind a corpse and would compromise- why are you speaking to a raven? Is the raven evil?" The flesh of fingers began to flush white with the tight grip choking into the blade. "Stand back as I do what is necessary." I don't think that group could handle Yofie.

”Evil? Haha, i’ll have her know i’m at best….okay i’m evil.” The raven flapped its wings, going about and nipping at more of the hot dogs as if Yofie weren’t any of his concern. Samael could tell the female angel wanted to...probbaly kill him now, though he had no idea why. He reached aroind to his back, feel the hilt of one of his  weapons, grasping onto it as he considered his options. Cutting off any route of escape was a wall of flames, something about them screaming danger. Holy fire if he recalled the stuff that his brother threw about, bringing a painful burning sensation to his flesh.

”Well if a fight is what you want.” He wrenched the blade from behind his jacket, clicking something as it extended into a long steel weapon. It gleamed in the light of a street lamp as his fingers tightened around the hilt. His eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses as he prepared to spring forward, but that was when...well he noticed what looked to be a large cloud of more of the imps flying towards them in one direction. ”Let's save the whole fighting thing until i'm finished fighting demons.” Without even wasting a second, he turned around and dashed away.

Sam leapt through the flames, making as little contact as possible as it licked up at his clothes. Leather began to melt and burning pain leapt through his body, though it all lasted less than a second. This was followed by him trying to follow the gathering of demons.

Oh all the nerve one could have, it took the bad ones to you ask Yofie 'if a fight is what she wants'. Of course she did not want a fight. She wanted a smite. If it took a fight to get there, so be it, but the angel of no mercy took to what she knew and choked up on her blade. "You dare challenge me?" He did. Not that Yofie needed a formal challenge. "By fire be purged!"

Her purge went forward, but with no resolve. The mark slipped, compromising Yofie's blow into the solid brick wall. "Stop rogue! You will submit-" The flock pulled the eyes of the angel towards a greater threat. This monster before her would need to wait. Flames rained down upon Sam as Yofie took to the skies, leaving the ground bound demon to his own devices to get to the imps.

The presence of evil ignited the angel spiritually. Her spirit led her with a fleet of foot. With sword in hand, Yofie would follow in fast pursuit to find the source calling this cloud of pestilent beasts.

Like a malevolent cloud the gathering of imps flew towards something, blotting out the sky itself. Perhaps they were the ones responsible for the sudden influx of children being brought to hospitals, all suffering the same symptoms. If so maybe he could just get a large amount of souls brought back to their bodies in one go. Sure, he wouldn’t get paid for something like that but then again even Samael wasn’t that heartless. The whole good deed being its own reward thing was something that he occasionally adhered to, though something else was drawing him to follow the. As if the very blood within him was calling out towards this odd advent.

This involved ducking and weaving around people looking dumbstruck at the display above them. Giggling and cackling monsters creating a glowing cloud of orange and black above them. Very few actually turned their attention to the red haired male following them with a weapon in hand, picking up the pace to where he could barely keep up with them. There was the flap of wings close to him, but he was already aware that it was his personal raven doing their usual thing. ”This is pretty noble of you ravens son. Shouldn’t you be...I dunno, making someone pay you before you do anything.”

”Why don’t you bother someone else ya damn bird?” He growled, climbing over a chain link fence. The impact of the landing reverberated through his ankles, as he continued to run. Flying became something that he really envied of these demons, and yet he was fine with just trying to run after them.

”My job is bothering you for all eternity, or...well until you die. Don’t have anything better to do, so get used to it.” it responded, flying after him with a seemingly impressive ease. Where he ended up finding the imps stopping was what looked to be some manner of lot, decorated with a few cars and the center serving as some manner of focal point. At the center of it was someone in a loose fitting black robe, whipped around by a savage wind. Their hands, gloved in thick leather was held up to the sky as electricity crackled from it. These imps gathered around them, forming a maelstrom as their voices all raised like the choruses of hell itself.

So this was the person trying to gather these human souls but he had no idea what their purpose was. ”Goddamn mages.” Samael growled, having already forgotten about the angel, which was not the smartest thing to do. He hefted his weapon as this magic user took notice of him with an expression of amusement becoming apparent within the shadows of their hood.

"Well that looks like the person you need to stab, so get to work demon boy."

You know who does not forget about Yofie? Yofie. And when she remembers, she gets angry.

An angry Yofie soared through the skies, fully cognizant of the cloud of imps swirling around a manor. What manner of manor? A splendid one. Splendid and Gothic with a touch of the macabre. Nothing about it set well with Yofie, nor did her wings grow any cooler as she approached. Soon her blade would be sated with the memory of expunging evil and injustice from this world.

Her metal boot touched down in the center of the ritual gathering. Flames danced off the side of her skirt, embracing the material and illuminating the runic warding. "You have consorted with fiends of the lowest order and it is time for you to stand justice." Each gust of wind broke against her with a summary dismissal from the angel. A tranquil composure from the angel thwarted the maelstrom violence. "Now, you will repent for what you have unleashed-"

Dissonance rang out. The chorus of imps rang in Yofie's mind, drowning her thoughts and darkening her mind. The flame around her blade squelched. Her wings lost their grandeur. Reaming in pain, Yofie brought her hands up to her head, trying to remedy the pain unleashed by the singing.

Much like the chick no one wanted, Yofie arrived to the demonic party shouting with her usual grandiose attitude. The practitioner of magic turned to Yofie, just as amused as her with Samael. Either they weren’t worried about the angel or she was needed for this portion of the rather vague ritual that was going on. He was expecting that the angel would be able to help him with the chorus of demons, and yet what he got was her holy fire beginning to go out. ”So much for getting help from the holy roller.” Within the chorus of words, he could catch what sounded like them singing, decrying the angel and mentioning some manner of rising.

The air itself had begun to become rife with a thick magical energy, agitating his skin as the robed person raised a single hand. “You do not belong here Cambion.” For a moment the wall of imps parted as a great fireball erupted from the space, slamming into Samael as he was thrown back, flying far enough as he hit what felt like a chain link fence. The flames themselves ruined his clothes, reducing his glasses to nothing as he threw them from his face. He blinked, pitch black eyes focusing on the mage as  the cloud of demons began to rotate faster.

“Count yourselves lucky as you witness the return of my master to this world, after so many years.” A brilliant glow emanated from the imps, sickly and red as it cast itself across the extravagant circle painted across the ground. Reality itself began to warp, ripping and tearing as the wind howled like a creature in pain. Intermingling with the howling wind was a chanting, in a language that no human tongue could ever hope to utter. He was calling something, but Samael did not want to know what that something was.

”Hey angel girl! Get your shit together before this guy summons whatever demon he’s conjuring!” Samael shouted, pushing himself from his prone position as he charged the imp wall, swinging a blade into it as cries of pain joined with the splatter of blood.

While the darkness remained all around her, Yofie could regain composure in her head. The chorus of imps turned to a wail of pain and agony. Reignited, Yofie could feel the flame of her blade swelling up around her. A kindled flame began within her heart and soul. It would burn more brightly than her sword in the wake of the encroaching shadows.

The ritual neared completion. A portal began to form. Yofie knew what she needed to do to end this before it could take tangible root within this world, but Yofie choose the more direct route. The path of most resistance. Instead of dispatching the sorcerer to stop the ritual, Yofie moved flew towards the break in reality, preparing to fight the demon on the other side of the portal.

Her blade burned bright. Wings illuminated with duty. Her soul would not be denied.

Trying to break through the barrier of imps proved futile, as a bunch of them with their little legs threw him back with force. The pain was splintering as he was thrown, skidding along the street a few feet as the crack of thunder sounded off. The crack within the sky widened until it formed a full portal, leading into a burnt realm long since dead. From it erupted what appeared to be a black ichor, reaching out with many streams as it rapidly shot out towards the mage.

It forced itself in through any orifice it could find, as he let out a chocked cry, causing the dance of imps to slow down for a moment. Their songs were silent now, as the human began to writhe, doing so for a few minutes until he became still, even as he was upright. Samael rolled to his feet, twirling the blade within his hand, casting the light from his silver blade as he glared at the still person. With a sudden jerking motion they looked upwards, eyes as black as his own with black veins going outwards from there.


He spoke as if with two voices layered over one another. The demon now in human form glared at both the cambion and angel, lips splitting into a wide grin as if Samael was just the person he wanted to see. ”The hell are you looking at?” Sam growled at him, flinging his weapon with frightening quickness, only to be caught by a thorny vine that sprung up from the ground.


Without much prompt the ground beneath them, as great thorny vines rose, most of them with the intention of trying to wrap Samael up, while also aiming to crush Yofie under their own weight.