~Angel~
-The Night Before-
(Some nudity stuff and possible drug use)
Investigations had started several weeks ago, as rumors and as they dug deeper the rumors no longer were rumors, there were several people out looking to hire mercenaries, assassins, bounty hunters and other shady individuals to hunt down the crowning princess. The Kind was ill and is soon to pass. Prognosis from Fleshmaster Fabius predicts the King’s life not to last until the end of the human year. Despite the Emissaries of the Sanguine Empire’s suggestions for the King to allow the Fleshcrafter to prolong his life, the suggestion was refused by the council and the King himself. It did not matter who took the crown as long as the Towers were safe.
The Neon district of Winchester, also known as the Demon District, is the heart and soul of the nightlife of the city, it is always night in this particular part of the city, permanently kept that way by powerful spells and rituals. The Demon District is the ultimate one stop shop for everything extravagant, excess, and sensual. The best night clubs, escorts, and anything and everything anyone could ever think or dream of is traded or can be purchased within the district from legal mundane things as phones and electronics, to the illegal and untraceable like drugs, Pokémon eggs, and even humanoid trafficking.
Powerful demonic magic radiate from the heart of the district pouring from the epicenter like a beating heart, a massive citadel-like structure towers over its surrounding buildings it multiple spires pierce the eternally black skies. The stained glass over the main entrance of the building depicted the head of a goat demon with multiple pairs of elaborate horns. The neon lights from within constantly shifting colors sometimes to the beat of the mesmerizing music other times not. The music coming from the building could be heard from a great distance, the deep bass could be felt through the ground and windows, and this great building is simply known as The Pasture, the oldest building in the district and also the most popular by far. A Nightclub / strip club / black market. No one knows who runs the place or owns it, rumors state it is built upon the great ritual site used by Queen Azumi a thousand years ago to break the chains off of the heir of the Marchosias family, but those are simply rumors.
Angel sat comfortably in a red leather couch on the second level balcony overlooking the main performance hall. She propped her head gently against her hand as she gazed over the sea of people below her. According to normal time it was evening and the party was approaching its apex. The music roared as the lights flashed and shifted to match the beat. Suspended cages from the ceiling housed nearly nude to completely nude young women dancing to the music and for the amusement of the crowd. There were currently five nearly nude dancers on the stage that was the focus of attention, their hypnotically erotic dance only drove the crowd into a more fanatic frenzy. Succubi and their enchantingly alluring magic. Angle gazed upon the scene with boredom, a pink Ampharos was curled up and watching on the couch seat next to her.
A slender man dressed neatly in a black tuxedo wearing a grinning mask walked up next to Angel’s couch holding a small platter with his five finger tips, he bent over and whispered into Angel’s ear: “Apologies for the disturbance Mistress, but your mother is requesting your presence immediately.” Angel nodded to the man without breaking her gaze and the man bowed and promptly disappeared. As the five Succubi finished their performance. They flew into the air momentarily before dropping back into the crowd, they were completely nude at that point, disbursing into the crowed for private activities and favors.
The room was suddenly filled with a blood red light as two beams of pure white light shown down on two of the five poles. Angel slowly stood up from her seat and brought up her left hand, it glowed with a pure white light with a texture like powder, she swirled her hand around in the air lazily a few times before bringing her hand in front of her mouth and she took a deep breath and blew, huge puffs of white glittering powder washed out and over the crowd below her, as she blew she made sure to spread it around the room, by the time the white powder-like magic reached the lower level the powder was no longer visible, but no one below was paying attention their attention was drawn to the stage as two young pure white goat demons took the stage, they looked similar to Angel but with different styled horns, hair style, and clothing. As the two goat demons began to dance the entire audience was enraptured by their provocative dance and movements.
Angel made her way to the upper levels of the building with the pink Ampharos following behind her. Eventually she found herself at the end of a long slightly curving hall way. It was dimly lit with red lights, there was no patrons or entertainers in this hall unlike the previous hallways where there were always at least one or two people in them seeking whatever privacy they could before they could get ‘busy.’ This hallway however was unique, though dimply lit the domed ceiling was clearly lit by white lights revealing a massive mural of Kelan and demonic history. Angle walked calmly down the hall, her hooves making gentle clops from each step, the music from the club could still be heard from below. Angel was soon at the end of the hall standing in front of large heavy ornate double arching doors and in-between large towering statues of Sanguine Wolves, their eyes were glowing red in the dimly lit hall, statues of their keeper and master. Angel turned and bowed deeply to each of the statues before the doors opened. Inside was nearly completely pitch black with the exception of a single spotlight that down directly down on a being in the center of the room, it casted odd shadows that obscured the being, the great horns of the being wasn’t helping in that regard, most of the figure was hidden in darkness with the exception of a pair of glowing icy blue eyes and an ever changing and shifting sigil in between the eyes matching them in color.
Angel stepped into the darkness with the Ampharos following behind her, she stopped several meters away from the spotlight in complete darkness, the doors behind her silently closed. Angel bowed deeply and stayed bent over and waited, the Ampharos followed in unison. A spotlight shone down on each of them and they stoop back up. “You asked for me Mother?” Angel asked, clasping her hands in front of her and standing at attention.
“I’ve just made contact with your sister Agnes just now,” Angel’s mother said calmly, “Agnes has taken a job to kill Maker. The intelligence that we just received confirmed that Maker has ran away from her caretakers, and there are already people moving to kill her, not just Agnes….”
Angel’s brow furrowed at the mention of Agnes, “Why didn’t her caretakers tell us earlier? I’m sure Maker showed signs of distress or intent long before she actually left. Given that her caretakers are unable to locate her, I assume that Maker has been missing from their care for several days already?”
“The duration of her absence is unimportant. What is important is the safety and wellbeing of Maker and the involvement of Agnes, she has always been a rebellious little black lamb, and it was cute and adorable when she was younger but she has been a pain long enough.”
“What is your will mother?” Angel asked, her mind was racing and dreading the worst.
“Locate Maker, make sure she’s safe and secure her by any means possible” the figure seemed to be irritated, “Bring her to the Pasture if you have to, I don’t care what it takes, we have been watching over the Towers for a millennia now and I will not fail our Master or our predecessors,” the figure clenched a fist as the floating sigil on her forehead began to burn with blue fire, “especially by the hands of ONE OF OUR OWN!” the sigil on her forehead turned into an inverted pentagram. “As for Agnes… return the Horn of Baphomet, and…” she stopped for a few seconds before continuing, “show her what it means to be a Cho'ehatua, she’s a lost sheep in need of a shepherd, rehabilitate her. I’m trusting you Angel, I know Agnes will listen to you, you were always the closest to her.”
Angel nodded, “It will be done mother do not worry, where can I find Agnes?”
“Agnes is currently staying in the Merchant Hotel, headquarters of the Death Merchant Mercenaries, she’s possibly teaming up with another named Taikon, a ninja of some sort, her knowledge of him was… limited. That’s all I have for you for now, I’ll contact you with more information if we learn anything else, and you may start your search in the morning.”
Angel bowed once more and left the room.
-Current Day-
Angel looked out the window of the limousine at the buildings and people as it snaked through the streets of Winchester headed to the Merchant Hotel. She gently stroked at the pink Ampharos’s head that was resting in her lap. The ride was silent, but the feeling in the air was tense. On the surface, Angel appeared calm but her jaw was clenched and her mind was racing. She was mad but there was no point in expressing it.
The limousine eventually slowed to a stop and Angel stepped out with the Ampharos. She nodded at the driver before she began to walk up the steps of the Merchant Hotel. The limousine drove off as Angel pushed past the front doors. It was a rather busy day, tourists and visitors came and went. Bell boys ran all over helping and assisting whoever they could.
Once Angel had made her inside she looked around and watched, she could easily see the difference between actual hotel guests and the mercenaries, she was in the right place. “Ma’am!’ someone called from behind Angel, “Ma’am, over here, a moment please.” Angel turned around to see Marrious beckoning for her.
Angel walked up to his desk, “Yes?” Angle asked.
“Ma’am, I may just be a friendly old man, but I can see that you are searching for someone, or something, perhaps I can be of assistance?” Marrious smiled kindly.
Angel returned his smiled in kind before leaning slightly closer to Marrious, “Agnes, where is she?”
Marrious furrowed his brow and looked at Angel, confused, “Agnes? Never heard of her maybe –“
Angel turned and left the old man before he could even continue, she exited the hotel and looked around, Angel figured that there was no possible way that Agnes would be in the hotel, and even if she were the staff was not going to give out any useful information. Angel looked around at the surrounding buildings and began to think,
First day on the job, information gathering and attempt to spot the target, priority would be to find a good vantage point…. She felt a slightly tugging at her skirt, the pink Ampharos was trying to get her attention as it pointed at a spire in the near distance, and it looked like a bell tower of some of church. “Good work Amphy, let’s start there.” Angel made her way to the church.
The church was rather ordinary and unexciting as expected, demonic churches tended to have far more excitement. Angel looked around and tried to find a way up to one of the towers but was unsuccessful until she found a door that was unlocked, it seemed like it was carelessly left slightly ajar. Looking around to see that there was no one around she snuck through the door and headed up the stairs until she reached the belfry.
“Now we’re getting somewhere.” Angel looked down at the sleeping priest, one quick scan of the room and Angel figured out that Agnes had done. She stepped out onto the side of the belfry and looked around. “So how long were you here for? Can’t be that long... but what did you see…?” Angel scanned the vista of Winchester in front of her. She closed her eyes as a burning ice blue symbol appeared in front and above her forehead, the Leviathan’s cross. She opened her eyes again, the golden yellow of her eyes had turned into the same icy blue as the burning symbol. Looking around she could see blood red smoking hoof prints and hand prints of Agnes along with wall of the tower the rout she took to the top, the steps she took coming back down. Looking out over the edge she could see the foot steps leading back to the Merchant Hotel and disappearing.
Angel sighed and looked back out into the distance and her eyes narrowed as she tried to get more details. In a few moments she spotted it, the crashed bus, the attacker the people and Pokémon there using their abilities and powers.
What a mess…. Taking a closer look Angel’s eyes widened, surprised to see Maker in the mix.
Well that’s one problem partially solved…. Suddenly the entire scene that Angel was looking at was suddenly bathed in a blood red light.
There it is…. Angel grinned looking around she could see the area was bathed in a cone of the blood red light that was being casted out from a distant skyscraper under construction like a spotlight, Agnes was there, and so was the Horn.
“I’ll meet you there Amphy, you know where to go.” Angel said as the sigil over her forehead faded. The pink Ampharos nodded and ran back down the stairs in the church. Angel let out a sharp whistle and a few moments a large Noivern began flying around the tower, it wore a vest that bore the goat demon head logo. From within Angel’s sleeve she threw her hand up at the Noivern releasing a long rope with a grapple at the end. The Noivern caught it in its claws and Angel leapt off the building. Angel guided the sound wave Pokémon in the direction of the skyscraper.
The storm was coming hard and so was lightning forking down from the clouds but the Noivern dodged with skill and agility, it was suddenly startled by a particular loud crack of thunder that threw it slightly off course. Angel knew that it was not a normal crack of thunder she could see in the not so far distance that Agnes had made her shot, Angel looked back at the sight of the bus and saw that she had indeed fired at Maker but a Chandelure emerged from her body and reflected the bullet back, only for it to be intercepted again midair and the resulting explosion forced the Noivern to violently flinch and was forced to land.
Angel managed to land in a park near the construction site. After she settled down the Noivern and sent it off on its way she began making her way to the site. Angel had enough, she couldn’t believe that Agnes had actually took the shot despite what her body was telling her. If it wasn’t for the Chandelure Maker would have been dead and Hell would have literally broken loose. As she reached the fence she leapt over the perimeter fence with ease and landed kneeling down. She looked up at the building the sigil burning once again. Agnes was several hundred feet above her, there was another but that individual was leaving and Agnes appeared to be packing up the Horn and getting ready to leave.
~Agnes~
The pain and disorientation from symbol on her forehead was now causing Agnes to stagger as she slung the gun case onto her back,
I need to get back… what the hell is happening…. She made her way back to the service elevator and called it. She leaned against a nearby pillar as she waited.
Ding!
The heavy doors of the elevator opened and Agnes stood herself up to enter and when she looked up she froze in place, the pain from the symbol on her head was gone but she stood in place and was trembling.
The elevator doors opened to reveal a pure white goat demoness, Angel. And she did not look happy.
Flash chirped in delight at the sight of Angel and clapped his flippers together.
“Hello Agnes.”
