Feisty Foxes

Hell’s Kitchen, New York

The full moon shone brightly on this cloudless summer night.

Alejandra answered the call of the local church to investigate claims of murder, possession and demons, There was of course an option to wait for someone of higher rank – and capability – to come in, but each day delayed was lives lost. And Alejandra couldn’t let one innocent perish.

She was glad it was cold out. Wearing a habit over chainmail would be unthinkable during the daytime. The outfit had the added bonus of easily hiding her armaments. She parked her bike just in front of her destination. She arrived at the Windermere Apartment, an old dilapidated place, the target of a dozen failed promises of revitalization – an allegory of New York being unable to fully rebuild. Now only the homeless, the desperate and the criminal call it home, falling apart and a public hazard that it was. Still, a few faint lights were visible through some of the windows on the upper floors… about 11 or 12 storeys. Wonderful, Alejandra thought, stairs in a dilapidated building.

And then there were also the screaming. It sounded like someone was calling out to someone up there, but Alejandra couldn’t quite make it out. “Elaine… Yvaine…!” A male voice cried out over and over.

“Well what do we have here. Check it out, a nun.” From the nearby alley, a trio of young boys acting like gangsters emerged.

Street trash. Alejandra stood her ground and eyed them up and saw three, perhaps more waiting nearby. They were too close to pull out a gun. Probably hid in the alley, considering how quick they closed in. The short stocky one was already circling around to flank and cut off escape. Alejandra cracked her gloved knuckles under her habit.

“Ooooh. Sister I’ve been a baaad boy.” Another joked, Alejandra noting what they wore. Large hoodies and baggy jeans, hiding any number of weapons.

“This your bike sister? Or the church’s?” They asked, making their interest clear.

"This is pointless. As I've come to learn, you humans kill each other all the time. We did not sense anything coming from this direction. Turn back." The sword argued. Penny had it contained within a clothe so that it looked like she was carrying a large stick. It was all she could do to carry the weight of the sword in public. She wasn't going to get any stronger otherwise.

"If you had been paying attention. I sensed something south of us a while ago. I'm going to get near the building and wait. Then if I don't sense something. You were right. If I do. We stop it. People are dying sword. Too many. It has to be something." Penny muttered too it, shivering. It was cold and she only had a tank top on with a pair of jeans. The clothe would have been nice to keep her shoulders warm, but it was hiding her sword so that was out of the question.

It wasn't the most common knowledge. After all. A lot of people died every day for reasons people were growing terrifyingly use too. But she knew the building. A shelter for a lot of people from walks of life often related to a rats. People hid, they burrowed and they hoped for something better. She thought about staying there once, but she hadn't. She couldn't remember why. She always had a good intuition about things... Maybe that was why. Good thing too. When she heard people were suddenly dying... Well. She had to know.

When she finally made it, she only saw another good reason why she never stayed. There seemed to be a gathering of fools and hooligans, all surrounding one... "Is that a Nun?" Penny whispered in surprise. What was a nun doing here? Didn't matter.

"Let them be. They are not our concern." The sword whispered in her ear, and she thought about listening... But then she decided not too. Forcing the sword back to whatever pocket world it went too, she wrapped the suddenly empty clothe around her shoulders and cleared her throat loudly to get the attention of those around, walking towards them. A short, stocky looking one was right ahead of her. Did she know him? She wasn't sure.

"Leave the Nun alone. People are dying in this building and y'all are acting like idiots. Go back to your holes and pray whatever is killing here doesn't find you interesting." Penny warned, hoping the fear and knowledge would be enough to ward off the young, stupid and scared. And perhaps make the bold and angry wiser. She didn't want to fight normal people of all things. She was meant to be protecting them.

“I heard there’s been rumors about demons and possessions at this apartment. You guys wouldn’t know anything about that would you?” Alejandra asked, trying to diffuse the situation.

“I ain’t seen you around here before. Why the hell you’d give a damn?” He asked not so nicely.

Once Penny arrived, the trio hesitated to make a move against Alejandra. She was twitchy and kept an eye on their every move, and more importantly she was not afraid. In fact, she was more than ready to react. Their leader noticed this, but one did not. Not surprisingly then, that the one on her flank rushed in. Coming in with a clumsy haymaker, Alejandra easily stepped in, and threw him over her shoulder. He instinctively grabbed the habit, trying to take the nun down to the ground, but a firm stomp on his groin made him squeal like a girl, clutching his crushed manhood in pain he’d never experienced before in his life.

Alejandra had her hands up and ready to fight. The goon who was looking over her bike raised his hands in quick surrender. He wanted to have children someday after all.

“Carl you idiot!” Their leader said, deciding that this situation was way too unfavorable.

“Sheeeet mijo. That’s some serious judo stuff right there! We… we didn’t mean anything.” He let out a nervous compliment. Then he turned to Penny, whom he felt was familiar but couldn’t quite place.

“Hey… hey you. I’ve seen you around here before… I saw you help some old people around here. You… you heard about the possession too?” The leader didn’t want to get on their bad side, and tried to get on the same bandwagon as them.

"Seems she did not need your help." A voice whispered all so closely to the girls ear. It's words only for her. And it was right. Still, she did her best to mean eye anyone else who thought about trying to attack the nun. But it seemed they were smart enough to realize this sister had a bite to her.

Penny smiled at the satisfying and quick resolution, only to frown when the short one seemed to recognize her as someone who helped some older people. She thought hard about it, but it felt like years ago... Might have been. Still, her mane of red hair was perhaps easy to remember. "First I'm hearing of it... I thought I heard some rumors of deaths. But possessions... Seems our time wasn't wasted eh?" She threw a smile over her shoulder, which would look odd as she seemed to smile at no one.

The sword inwardly huffed at her comment, directing the girls eyes back to the nun. Possession and a nun. Oh yea. It was all coming together. Now how was she suppose to deal with this? "Sister. If you're here for the.. Possession. Don't mind if I come along? But in the mean time... Mind explaining what it is you mean exactly?" Penny directed her question to the one she... Nope. Still didn't quite remember. She had so much on her mind lately. It was hard to remember anyone she didn't meet daily. Or were extremely interesting in the supernatural sense.

Now that the situation was resolved Alejandra went to her bike, while speaking with the leader. “Now. You. What’s your name? You tell me everything you know.” She then retrieved her sheathed weapon from the bike and wore it at the hip.

“Me? I-I-I-I’m Tuco. This is Eduardo.” He pointed to the guy who’d been eyeing up the bike. He waved. “It…it…it… it’s the Flores-es! Jesse and James Flores. They run the neighborhood grocery. Jesse’s been asking for help these past three days cuz… something’s wrong with James. Screaming and thrashing, some real Exorcist shit y’know.” His eyes went wide when Alejandra fetched her sword, but continued when she did so just to latch it onto her belt. “That’s all I know I swear.”

“Guess we’ll have to find then.” She finally turned to Penny. Apparently she was some kind of neighborhood Samaritan. She had a few guesses what those bolts of cloth she held. “Well I won’t turn down help but I can’t guarantee your safety if something happens. Also, I hope you like stairs.” Indeed, the apartment was on the 12th floor, and the elevator was boarded up- the car was rusted beyond use and was crumpled on the basement level.

“I didn’t catch your name.” She decided a little conversation would help the stair climbing go faster. “What’s that your holding, if I may ask? I have a guess.”

Jesse and James were names she did remember. They were nice to her once upon a time, and now it felt personal if something was hurting that nice couple. The nun finally addressed her, and Penny simply smiled a cocky smile, holding the clothe tighter to her shoulders. "No need to worry about my safety... And I suppose they'll help." Penny spoke as she joined the sword wielding nun. That was perhaps the scariest thing she'd seen since... Mmm. She didn't want to remember that.

The start of the stairs signaled a long journey. And it wasn't going to be quick, so Penny was quite thankful that the nun initiated conversation. She'd dread what would have happened had the woman not spoken at all. "Name's Penny. No last name so not worth asking. May I have yours?" Penny asked, waiting a few steps for an answer before answering about the clothe which she still held tight to her shoulders.

"Hmm? Well. Nothing right now. It's a cold night so I'm just trying to keep warm." The girl smiled. Her sword was in a dimension all it's own, which she was thankful. Walking around for even a hour with that thing was hard enough, she wasn't sure she could handle a couple of flights... She could feel it's presence scowl at her from the thought, and suddenly she realized that the sword had a new idea on helping her get use to it's weight.

"So. I gotta ask. You really think it's possession? Normally I'd have judged you for a woman of clothe that came because she felt she could help a few confused and scared people... But then you pulled the sword out. Would I be correct in assuming you know a little more then the average person?" Penny asked carefully. She wasn't sure just how involved this nun was in the big open world of the supernatural. There was a chance she knew all he secrets Penny knew, perhaps even more. She hoped that her vague wording would have been enough for the nun to understand Penny had an idea if the nun was herself knowledgeable.

Or there was a chance she was a nun who liked her protection. In which case, if these claims of possession were real... Then it'd be the sister who needed protecting. And Penny wasn't sure she was capable of that.

"Alejandra Reyes. From Brazil originally, moved to the States." Alejandra was already pacing her breathing past the fourth floor. She did not wish to hide anything from Penny, lest she walk into something different.

“Truth be told, the local clergy from the Hell’s Kitchen church already came by two days ago and confirmed it wasn’t a possession… they’re supposed to send someone higher ranked but it could be days before a Paladin comes so, here I am.” Their stairs workout came to a halt at the 9th floor, when the staircase going to the 10th and above was completely gone, rotted away.

“Guess we’ll take another way up. You want the fire stairs or maybe the outside fire escape? I think it’s a couple of floors to go anyway.” Alejandra didn’t want to look tired in front of Penny, despite building up a good sweat under the chainmail. The horizontal walk proved a welcome relief, but now they had a tour of the apartment. Vagrants, shady ne’er-do-wells and junkies were scattered all about the filthy, garbage and debris strewn floor, most units having doors torn out and holes in the walls people could pass through. The main hallway was choked with trash bags and a horrible stench. A bit of exploration was warranted to proceed to the next level.

Alejandra made a sign of the cross and muttered prayers for the people here, some already dead or too far gone, a glassy haze over their eyes rocking back and forth, mumbling. Syringes and small mounds of white powder scattered over the floor. Perhaps it was better if a Paladin didn’t come. They were notoriously judgmental.

Meanwhile, back on the ground floor, Tuco and company were back to their alley ways. They spied a new figure coming down the street, a lady in a sheer white gown with generous slit. Carl wanted to check this lady out, but Tuco dragged them both into the alley to avoid being seen. “Oh shit, it’s her!”

“Her? Her who? You know that fine piece of ass Tuco? You holding out on us homie?” Eduardo asked rather disappointedly in his compadre.

“Shut the fuck up, Eddie. That ain’t no hot chica. That’s the witch that made Jimmy Flores go loco.” Tuco objected vehemently, daring to take the slightest peek to see that the woman in white didn’t see them. Or wasn’t interested in them. She wasn’t, seeing as she had entered the building.

“Oh shit, we should probably like, warn those two going up or something.”

“Shit yeah man. Anybody got the Flores’s number?”

"Oh yes. We should do this again. Next time, you shall hold me. You need your endurance to be stronger girl. If you can not climb these stairs, you will fall to any greater foe." The sword whispered inside Penny's mind, who was for lack of a better term, disgracefully showing by the seventh flight of stairs.

She had already been jogging with the sword before they had arrived here, now she was nine flights and she seemed to find herself hard of breath, much worse for wear then her nun companion, who was explaining a little more about the situation. "Your Church sounds wack. Paladins and all." Penny muttered, before letting out a long groan at the sight of what seemed to be rotten away stairs. How did anyone live in this awful building?

"Did you not talk with a creature of how you felt like a paladin? They are soldiers of humanity, fighting to eliminate the surge of unholy beasts." A voice rattled in her mind, and she scoffed at it.

"Templar. Not the same." She quietly muttered, but her hoarse voice was not exactly the most quiet thing, finally taking notice of the woman who didn't seem as tuckered out as the young woman. "Whichever comes first, is quicker or the safest. I feel like this whole floor could collapse under us." Penny told the nun as they explored their current floor. She soon wished that the stairs had not rotted away. She could have avoided the sights to come.

She was not shy to the dead. She had seen a few dead people ever since coming in contact with this sword. She had been dead herself. But perhaps it was the fact that these people did not deserve it as far as she knew. They were trying to live a life, and something was taking it from them, worse was perhaps, those who were distracting themselves from life, and she didn't wish to hold any heart for them... And now she was concerned some of the dead here was a choice. Not taken.

"Let's hurry up and find the Flores. I don't think I want to stay here any longer then needed." Penny motioned forwards, energy surging into her muscles as she quickly walked to escape the damaged. A foul reminder as well of what she could have been.

Alejandra laughed the comment off. Her weapons master said the same thing, and she echoed the sentiment. “Yeah it’s all wrapped up in mysticism and stuff. Half of the Paladins still alive are over 60.” She then peeked out a window, seeing an external fire escape stair.

“C’mon, I think this is the quickest way up.” She went out the window and pulled down the metal stair, which creaked with rust and resistance. She gave it a shake, and it wobbled uncomfortably. The air was cool and brisk, and the ground seemed so far away, dimly lit as it was down there. “Uuhhh….” Alejandra climbed the stair with a bit of hesitation, but decided that hurrying was the better choice.

They finally reach the 12th floor, and finding the Flores apartment wasn’t difficult, given that James was calling out for someone so loudly. “Yuan. YUAN! WHERE ARE YOU MY LOVE?!”

“Man this is worse than I thought. Well, let’s get this over with. We should talk with Jesse and-” Alejandra knocked on the door. It swung open with great force, and a tired looking woman with graying hair pointed a gun – a colt 1911, a fine firearm – right at Penny’s face.

“DON’T YOU DARE COME NEAR MY HUSBAND YOU BITCH!” She screamed hysterically.

"Oh jeez." Penny exhaled as she followed the nun onto the fire escape. Why was she doing this? She knew the reason, but she found that she needed to keep asking herself the question to keep herself sane.

Thankfully, they made it past the fire escape safely, albeit she wasn't keen on the return trip, but now, after a little more walking, they finally made it to their destination. Penny felt like it was, considering the wild calls of man reached through the almost empty halls. Finding the apartment, the girl looked dubiously at the nun. "How is this worse then you thought?" Penny asked, looking at the nun when the door was slammed open. She turned to find a gun staring at her face, her golden eyes wide as fear coursed through her veins and she defensively raised her hands to fruitlessly hide her face.

"No!" A voice rattled the inside of Penny's mind with a ferociousness she hadn't heard before as her golden eyes flashed bright for a moment and her hand grew heavy as the hilt of her sword appeared, her fingers wrapping around it as the blade placed itself between Penny's face and the gun's barrel. The sudden appearance of the sword was enough to scare anyone not expecting it, but someone addled on adrenaline and revenge? Penny found her ears ring as the gun went off and her hand shook with a found pressure as the metal deflected the bullet.

With her own adrenaline, Penny lowered the blade and practically slapped the gun out of the woman's hand with her free hand. "MY name is Penny! Not Yuan. We're here to help you crazy woman!" Penny half yelled, half tried to contain her anger at nearing being shot by a woman she was here to help. Lowering her sword to her side, the girl took the clothe from her shoulders and did her best to hide the sudden blade now in her hand. "May we come in?" The girl then asked with a gulp, nervously glancing at the nun. Hoping she didn't think anything dastardly.

Alejandra could not react in time as Jesse panicked and got a shot off. Penny being able to defend herself with a magic sword didn’t register with Alejandra until she had moved in and disarmed the middle aged lady with a pistol defense maneuver.
Jesse, relieved of the only source security left, fell to the ground and tried to shield herself. Once Penny had performed the bullet deflection and Alejandra the pistol takedown, she realized the grievous error of judgement that almost had her shoot an innocent person. “I’m so sorry, please don’t hurt me!”

A moment of silence passed after Penny explained that they were in fact, not demonic seductresses here to steal her husband. Alejandra helped her up, and leaving Jesse’s 1911 on the nearby table. “I understand you’re on edge right now, ma’am. We are here to help... in the name of God.”

“Bless you sister.” She replied, noticing the nun with the crucifix, and making the sign of the cross. “Please come in.” With that they were now able to go inside and calmly talk things over. Alejandra took a position near the door with her sword, and gesturing Penny to the solo sofa near Jesse. Calm discussion was a challenge though, having a man in the next room screaming the name of a woman that was not her wife. It was a disturbing thing, Jame’s voice agonizing with unfulfilled desire, describing in detail the depraved things he wished to do with this ‘Yuan’.

Not surprisingly, Jesse was a mess of a woman, deep dark lines under her eyes, and a heavy invisible weight on her shoulders. Each scream was like a punch to the gut. This was not just a monster that devoured souls, but destroyed holy matrimonial bonds as well. She wiped the tears from her eyes, the willpower just to speak calmly something evident. Alejandra did not want to discuss until Jesse was ready; If she could ever be ready.

“About five nights ago. I came home late from locking up the groceries. I came home to see that… thing… sitting on the window, with my husband. He gave her all our food and all our cash savings, then he demanded I give her more… That Tuco boy and his two friends help me tie James down. And…” Jesse couldn’t say more, tears welling up in her eyes.

Alejandra gripped her sword, looking at Penny and saying nothing. This was monster that needed slaying.

The mood was interrupted when Jesse’s phone rang. She answered quickly enough. “Yes who is this… what? Eduardo? She’s here?” She looked at her two new guardians. Alejandra was quick to get on her feet.

“Let’s barricade ourselves in with James. He’s her target.” Alejandra suggested, plotting an ambush.

Her legs like jelly, Penny moved over to the sofa, taking a thankful seat and resting the sword over her thighs, making sure to keep the clothe over it.  The woman explained the events that had taken place. Penny wondered if it was only the woman's husband currently enraptured with whatever it was that was doing this, but brushed aside the thought. Willing the sword away, she lifted the clothe and covered her shoulders with it once more, her magic sword no where to be seen.

"What exactly is this Yuan anyway?" Penny asked in between winces caused by the husband yelling and crying out for a love. Some of the things he said were... Interesting. To say the least. "Only thing that comes to mind is a succubus. But fantasy books and the real thing are vastly different I'd assume." Penny continue, only to frown when the phone rang. The woman quickly answered, exclaiming a few dreadful words that meant no good.

Standing, Penny was about to offer her own thoughts when she seemed to go still. A pulse of magic, invisible to all those who could not sense magic spread from her fingers, up her arms, through her body and down to her toes, before quickly seeping through the building. It quickly pinged a supernatural creature and hit Penny hard. Oh yea. Something was here. She turned towards the direction of the ping. She couldn't tell how far, but it was coming. She knew that.

"I don't know if I could stand being in a room with your husband. No offense. Besides... She's... That's weird." Penny stepped towards and pointed at the living room window, before lowering her finger downwards, not quite towards the ground, but still no where close to what one might consider inside. "Did the guy say she was here or outside? Cause I'm pretty sure she's outside. I think." The girl spoke towards the nun and the woman. Looking away from the window and at them with a rather confused frown.

Jesse looked at Penny. “Succubus. A literal demon. Sounds about right. But I also remember a fluffy tail, and point ears, not horns.” She tried to remember those scant details she could.

The three women make for the master bedroom. James had all four limbs tied to the bed posts. He too was an older man, his form emaciated. In his mania he could not be fed, and could barely drink. Another couple of days and he would have wasted away from starvation. Alejandra leaves the door half open, and hides behind the door.

“My lovely Yuan is coming here isn’t she?” He asked with a wild desperation in his eyes, his voice parched, his face pale and sunken with a terrible affliction. Seeing him talk triggered Alejandra’s paranoia that he might alert her to their presence.

“Penny can you do something about Jesse's screaming? He's going to give us away.” Alejandra asked.

“Okay. We let her walk in, and get near James. Then we get her.” Then Alejandra stopped speaking, and gestured them to be ready. They could hear the living room window opening, and very light footsteps just outside the door. The master bedroom door was being slowly opened…

"I wasn't being too literal there." The girl muttered under her breath, rolling the details the woman provided around her mind. Ears? Fluffy tail? That sounded familiar but she wasn't sure. Fantasy books only offered so much, so did movies... But zombies, vampires, dragons and werewolves were the biggest names those two mediums often shared. Demons not so much. Fox people, less so.

Staring at the window she had sensed the supernatural, Penny followed the rest of the woman into the bedroom rather reluctantly, her eyes tearing away from the sky high entrance to look towards a man who seemed dead inside if not for his struggles to escape the bonds which held him tight. If this were any other situation, she'd have looked to the wife like a crazy woman. But she knew better.

"What do you mean quiet him? What am I suppose to do?" Penny asked with a hushed call, motioning towards the man uselessly, before looking at him. "Uh? Yea. She's coming. You don't want... To scare her away now right?" Penny spoke, hoping that would be enough, before hearing the window, from the direction she had pointed at, opened. She stared at the door, half opened, and started moving to hide herself from sight, but stopped.

"I grow tired of this waiting. It is right there. Waiting for us. Attack." The sword growled inside her mind, causing her to wince. Attacking never led them anywhere. She never got anywhere just blindly attacking. "The others will follow. Take charge. Stop this creature from doing more harm. Take this chance and surprise it!" The sword whispered, it's words digging into her mind. With a huff, her golden eyes flashed as the sword appeared in her hands.

"Screw this." She spoke quietly, walking towards the door as it started to open. Grabbing the handle, she slammed it open before charging shoulder first into whatever it was behind the door, hoping to knock them down and thrust her sword towards them threateningly. "No more!"

Once Penny valiantly charged into the living room, she would behold a beautiful creature in a sheer white dress possessing a supernatural beguiling aura. She seemed a woman of raven hair and pale of complexion, with deep blue eyes that seem to just draw you in. “Oh, I didn’t know we had guests!” she spoke in a mesmerizing voice, almost supernatural, as to affect even women. She stood with poise, and moved with fluid dexterity.

Alejandra followed Penny’s charge, but as the swordswomens’ blades went for cuts and thrusts, it seemed as though either Yuan was too quick, or the heroes were fighting underwater. The agile fox weaved and bobbed with their strokes, even spinning around then behind Penny then pushing her with a butt rush.

“I’m sorry I know I have some effect on women, but I don’t…. ‘swing’ that way!” Alejandra held her sword in a half-sword grip, in an attempt to close the gap and skewer Yuan… only to have her attack redirected, and Alejandra being tossed and landing on her back.

Alejandra groaned from the impact against the wooden floor boards. She rolled away to regain her footing. Yuan simply giggled irritatingly, teasing the heroes.