Demons are a girls best friend. (Cloud x Fetzen)

[Cloud_Fire]

Piera grumbled softly to herself, pulling her coat closer to her small body and rubbing her hands together as she trudged through the slushy snow with her cherry red combat boot. Breathing into her hands and watching the breath transform into little swirling clouds before her eyes, another cold wind kicked up making her narrow her eyes against the chill. Auburn hair flicking around her like a live flame, falling into her eyes and blinding her for a moment until she caught a shape out of the corner of her eye. Almost slipping over as she stopped abruptly, flicking her hair out of her eyes and staring up at the tall, broad shouldered man.

Glacial blue eyes widening in recognition, she'd seen him before. But she couldn't quite place it, carefully stepping around him as she offered him a shy smile "S-sorry" voice bearing the softest hint of an Italian accent. Offering him one last polite, bashful smile before hurrying forward. Ducking into the coffee shop she'd been making her way towards.

Piera sighed in appreciative content as the warmth of the cafe pricked her cold skin, shedding her thick coat and charcoal scarf as she gently draped them over the back of a chair and settled. Politely ordering a coffee and muffin as she gazed out the window, realising she could no longer see the strange man just outside that she'd almost bumped into.

Shaking off her confusion as she pulled a book from her satchel, leafing through the pages until she found where she was up to as she took a delicate sip of the warm drink once it arrived.

She rubbed her temples lightly as she looked down at the book, it was a book on folk lore and tales. Something that had always fascinated the young woman who had always seemingly seen things that were all in her head. Written off as a little bit weird with a huge helping of crazy, she found herself not content with this assumed diagnosis. Turning to chasing ghost stories to try and find answers. Tutting softly to herself as she leafed through the pages, despite how fascinating the stories were. They didn't match the answers she wanted.

 

[Fetzen]

That had almost gone horribly wrong. Maintaining a safe distance for observation while also not letting Piera get out of his sight was proving to be much more of a challenge than anticipated. Doran had been tracking her for a while, trying to figure out the woman's daily patterns. This was a strict necessity, one had to know the kind of fish one wanted to catch in order to use the proper lure. Unfortunately though he couldn't help but think about his findings so far to be rather disappointing: Just how many people out here liked to have a good read while drinking coffee or tea ? And how many of these were also eager to seek refuge from the bitter cold outside ?

Frankly speaking, that could just as well have been himself in some aspects at least. Doran himself struggled with the cold he was neither accustomed to nor even properly dressed for. This fancy jacket and the hoodie looked nice and clean, but it was just as insufficient as the garbage shoes he had picked up from... well... a dump site. Money definitely was a thing in this realm and an annoying one at that. He needed more of that, but how ? GO and do some work ? He had little to no idea what would be adequate for him. Also the demon did not know anything about bacteria and viruses here, so he was also completely unaware of the fact that it was his abnormal physiology that had protected him from getting a cold or even a flu of his lifetime so far.

Having plodded along through the snow for some time after Piera had already disappeared in the cafe, Doran hatched the thought of turning around. Why shouldn't he go in there as well ? It was warm and he'd have a much better view upon what Piera was doing. Maybe he'd even try some coffee... the cheapest one, of course. Soon, his shape could be seen coming through the entrance door. Doran decided for an empty corner so not to be too close to Piera, but also one of the radiators was close by and he certainly looked forward to that. Carefully, he sat down onto the bench which started to protest as if being confronted with several sumo wrestlers at once.

Doran let his hands dig into the depths of his pockets in order to retrieve what little coin he had left, then picked up the menu card. He had to try and find a balance between actually reading it and using it as a distraction so Piera wouldn't notice his nosy eyes staring at her.

 

[Cloud_Fire]

The young woman froze slightly as her eyes met his, as though she could see cracks in his human facade. As though he wavered slightly and she saw whispers of demons on his features. Her sight not yet honned enough to be able to completely break through his illusion. But, it was clear, she saw him. Swallowing harshly as she returned to her book, she shook her head slightly as though to clear it.

Piera was used to seeing inhuman, predatory eyes in placement of regular ones. She was used to seeing whispers of tails and claws or black veins cracking discoloured skin. Knowing no one else could, and struggling to decide if it was all in her head or not. Continuing to sip at her coffee, he wasn't the only one with inhuman eyes. There was a man who sat one seat over from her. Far less subtle in the hunger in his eyes, causing the woman to shudder slightly.

Making a point of refusing to engage as he approached her "seer" the man whispered over her. No one else would be able to see him, not a high enough rank to have a human tethered form to the world. Piera rolled her eyes, turning to the front of the book and finding the address of where the book had been printed and purchased. A book store not far from here? Finally she narrowed her eyes and glared up at the sickening monster who glared down at her. Able to see it in all its hoof footed, clawed, drooling glory. Not even flinching, knowing not to speak. No one else would see it, it was all in her head. At least, that's what she tried to tell herself. Ignoring the monster as she stood up, pushing her chair in carefully and approaching the counter.

"I'll take this to go please." Demon on her heels, shadowing her moves.

"I know you see me, delectable seer" the disfigured voice purred.

A shudder this time creeping over Piera's form. Still, she kept her composure, taking the take away cup and exiting the Cafe. Her fingers fumbled for the book, only for her to catch another book. Frowning in confusion, not Recalling packing this one in her satchel. Drawing it out, it was old, worn. A deep crimson cover with strange golden symbols on it, she turned down an alley, still attempting to lose the boogyman on her heels, sensing a second one closing in on her. Forcing herself to instead focus on the strange tome she'd pulled out. Her eyes widening, instantly she recognised some of the pictures smudged crudly within its pages as what she'd been seeing. Even what was following her now was within the pages.

"This is it!?" She whispered, like a silent thankful prayer. Crying out as blinding hot pain ripped across her back, falling to her knees, sanguine red tainting the white snow around her. Book falling open hazardly in front of her, a loose paper slipping out. Hand written in English. Unlike the rest of the book that was in a text she didn't recognise. Instructing her to repeat the below incantion, she heard the Chittering of the monsters standing over her as one sunk fangs into her shoulder, making her see stars as her lips parted in another cry of agony.

Gritting her teeth as she snatched up the paper with bloodied fingers, darkness closing in. "I vocare, sigillum foedus praesidium, Doran".

She felt heat rush over her body as the snow flakes falling around her seemed to suspend in the air around her, as though the world was holding it's breath. Breathing ragged as she panted softly, hearing the shriek of the monsters behind her.

"What did you do!?" One shrieked. Piera cried out as a burning pain spread over her back, able to be seen now through her shredded coat as her wounds were replaced by a black intricate sigil that burned across her skin. Unknowingly showing her pact had been granted, the price of her soul sealed as her instructions had intentionally left the bargain open for the Demon she had called to name his price.

"Quick!" One snarled as it grabbed a hold of her hair, Piera's body felt heavy, weak. Trying in vain to pull away from the two that descended on her.

 

[Fetzen]

Doran had been sipping the coffee he had ordered, the cheapest one available, and to his fortune had no idea about just how bad of a quality it actually was. A perk of being unfamiliar with so many things, especially those that required more money, had rendered his taste honestly believing that the milky-brown liquid in the cup was merely in need of getting used to. The demon had had next to no chance to anticipate what would happen next this evening. He had only been able to see how his target, Piera, left the café eagerly as if the dreary weather outside had suddenly turned into sunshine and the stressed out cab drivers had turned into flying unicorns waiting to give her a ride back home.

Doran had seen many things in the infernal realm he came from and he had also seen a lot of things in this strange, human realm as well, but no flying unicorns. The idea of something being very odd here was easy enough to grasp in full spite of the fact that Doran had intentionally tried not to pay too much attention to Piera and her immediate surroundings for the sake of staying hidden. He found it even harder to try and explain it away with her just having spotted him, but even so, the ultimate decision would still have been the same: He had to follow her. Doran took a last gulp of almost painful size in order to empty his cup and just dropped a bunch of coins onto the table next to it while his attention had already left the building.

Piera was fast, but even faster was the bad feeling that crept up in Doran's mind. He just had to keep track of her, not to lose her in the tangled maze of streets and narrow sideways that weren't blocked by too many people right now, but by poor visibility due to snow and increasing darkness. He now looked like a moving wall of a man in a coat merely lacking a pair of dark sunglasses in order to be an almost grotesque exaggeration of some kind of special agent as one could see them in the movies. His perception was not all too special at this point though so he still found himself almost a block behind her when things happened.

He heard Piera's incantation as if she had been standing right next to him, her words seemingly not caring about physical constraints. They brought with them an offering neither he nor anyone else would have been able to resist, but also couldn't hide the sheer desperation in which they had been spoken. The world slowed down for Doran as well, but his own thoughts sped up at the same time. It wasn't because he was in lack of an idea about what kind of bargain to make for that had already been settled from the very beginning, but because it dawned upon him just how bad the situation somewhere in front of him actually was. The book Piera had just used held many powers, but not the one necessary to make a pact last longer than the very lives of those involved.

Maggots. The plague of creatures with too many fangs controlled by too little mind had long been spilling over into this realm, but he honestly had not expected that to happen just here right now. Doran accelerated the best he could in this human form, the falling snow now twisting in vortexes behind his frame pushing forward. He could soon finally see the red discolorations and the two otherworldy creatures and, just as the first of them descended down towards Piera in order to do something excruciatingly painful, clashed into it.

A snow cloud burst up from the ground as the two fell down a couple of yards further down the paved road. Doran announced his opinion with anger fueling his now almost bellowing voice: "Get away from her!" He fully counted on these two realizing that they were in a somewhat lower class than he was, but was also afraid of sheer stupidity taking hold. He was not in the mood to make a big mess here, but anticipated him doing just that in case the latter scenario would start to unfold.