Black Winged Angel

Kotaro and Yohji sniggered as Kyou took the invitation and sat down, resting Kyoko’s feet on his lap.

“As you are all aware, tonight is Halloween,” Kyou began.

“Duh!” Toya muttered, trying not to glare at Kyoko’s feet touching his brother.

“Which means,” Kyou continued while glaring at Toya. “Tonight, there will be increased activity. Pagan rituals will go wrong as usual, and the increased paranormal activity will escalate as well. All of us will be on high alert for the next twenty-four hours. Considering that Halloween parties will last longer into the night, being it’s Saturday… I believe you all get the idea.”

“Yeah, yeah, we got it.” Toya exclaimed. “Whoa, watch out for naked women running down the street being chased by lesbian gang bangers, ooh!”

“Where?” Shinbe asked loudly, having not paid much attention to anything since Suki had walked in.

Kyou massaged the space above his eyebrows as he felt a slight pressure building. He and his brothers hid their powers well from the world, but sometimes he wondered if they had not regressed a bit too much. They had been sent here to keep Kyoko safe without her knowledge and to rid the world of as many demons as they could. He’d set up the agency as soon as he had realized what her choice career had been.

Kotaro spoke up, “The police department has assigned my squad to the town square tonight because of the overload on the police force. Other cops will be there off and on because last year, the block parties didn’t die down till dawn and several people went missing that night.”

Kamui nodded, flipping his laptop around to show everyone. “Guys, we have a witch in town.”

“Here’s a news flash kid… tonight we have a lot of witches in town,” Yohji smirked. “Some of them sexier than others.”

“Those witches aren’t sucking the life out of little children,” Kamui pointed to a list of names in the children’s ward of the hospital. “All of these kids are in comas, and it has all taken place within the last week. The doctors are stumped, because in every case, the kids were out after dark and all the tests they have run are showing no injuries. They simply won’t wake up.”

Kyoko frowned as she tried to concentrate on the meeting. It was hard because she couldn’t shake the strange feeling that had stayed with her since she had seen the man across the street, then felt what she could have sworn were his arms around her.

Pushing the memory away for a moment, her face grew sad thinking about all those children in the hospital. She had read once that if a witch took part of your soul, you fell into a deep sleep. Then you would have nightmares forever while the witch fed off your fear. Were all those children now stuck within those dreams, crying out for someone to save them?

“I don’t guess a bucket of water dumped on her head will work but I want to be in on the hunt for something that cruel. How will we know the witch if we see it? Has anyone ever seen one? Aren’t they just humans who have tapped into an overload of magic?” She started firing questions as she tried to sit up, but Kyou placed his hand across her ankles to keep her from doing so.

Kyou didn’t look at Kyoko, hoping she would think it wasn’t intentional as he curled his fingers around her ankles like a bracelet. At the moment, he had a protective barrier around her that was only held in place by his touch… plus, he simply wasn’t ready to lose contact with her just yet.

He’d felt the powerful aura surrounding her just before she passed out. And although he had pushed it away from her… he still felt its presence lingering. That alone was enough to anger him. He had placed demon wards all over the building and in every corner of every floor within the drywall so they would not be noticed.

His golden eyes rose to the huge picture window that sat in the middle of the outer wall. The weather for today and tonight was supposed to be clear and cool, so where had this strange storm come from. As he watched the rain closely, he noticed a silhouette where the rain did not pass through.

Not wanting the apparition to know he had located it, Kyou turned his attention to Shinbe’s overly happy description of a witch.

“A real witch was never human. Their souls are demonic and eternal. They keep their lives sustained by taking the life force of children and feeding off their nightmares. That is their food source. As for what one looks like, since so many children have already fallen victim, by now she should be in rare form… young, beautiful, and even angelic in appearance.”

Shinbe cleared his throat and erased the erotic picture lingering in his mind’s eye. “She will not show her true form until she is in the middle of taking another’s life force or in battle. What she looks like during a feeding is truly hideous.”

“You would know,” Toya stated in a dark voice.

Shinbe sent Toya a look that told him to remain silent and for once, Toya had the decency to drop it.

Yuuhi was standing beside the chair his brother Amni was sitting in, but his eyes were on the rain outside the window when he spoke. “She will be in the center of town within the block parties, near the children’s festival, but she is not the only demon there. She is wary of those with powers superior to her own. That’s why she is on a feeding frenzy… storing power for the fight she knows is coming. She will add victims to her feeding frenzy tonight.”

Tasuki rubbed the chill bumps on his arms. “I really hate it when you do that,” he muttered as he watched Yuuhi’s eyes. The only difference between the boy and a true albino was the fact that Yuuhi had deep black eyes, and when he got a vision, the blackness would grow… and that was just creepy.

As Tasuki watched, Yuuhi turned his eyes on him and the ebony pupils became huge and luminous.

“It will not be a witch that you face tonight,” Yuuhi turned back to stare out at the rain as if he hadn’t just frightened Tasuki to death.

Tasuki clinched his hands into fist, knowing the child wouldn’t tell him just what he was up against. Deciding to ignore the rest of the room, most of which were snorting quietly in amusement, he walked over to the cabinets that held all kinds of demon weapons and pulled out a small bag of sea salt and quickly slipped it into his pocket.

He knew a few things about true magic, and if sea salt didn’t kill the witch or demons accompanying her… then it would at least give him a head start.

Amni smirked as he watched Tasuki grabbing the salt. This was too good to pass up. Silently clearing his throat, he did a very good impersonation of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Tasuki had to have jumped a mile out of his boots, turning around with a hand to his heart, glaring at the blonde psychic.

“Good one Amni!” Toya exclaimed.

“Go to hell!” Tasuki growled.

“Tasuki!” Kyoko admonished. “Do you want me to call Grandpa again?”

Tasuki froze and felt a bone deep chill pass through his body. Yeah, there were things the agency faced that scared the shit out of him… but nothing was worse than a visit from the master of all terror… Grandpa Hogo.

“Not necessary Kyoko, just keep that weirdo away from me tonight,” Tasuki finally managed, hoping the old man wouldn’t show up in the center of town tonight. He had a way of just popping up out of nowhere when they were out on their demon hunts.

Amni grinned at him again, winking suggestively to make Tasuki blanch before turning back to the group. He pressed his fingertips together and closed his eyes as he called on his power of sight. Behind his eyelids time sped up, day turned to night, and he was flying past the vast skyscrapers of downtown. Amni abruptly found himself in the middle of the city after dark and surrounded by humans dressed up in Halloween garb.

Thrusting his supernatural sight out in all directions, he inhaled slowly, feeling for the things that did not belong… there were so many. Distorted shadows writhed all around him, absorbing people from all directions before vanishing from sight. Wraiths that looked like nothing more than filmy spider webs flew around him as if trying to attack, but there was nothing there.

On the very edge of his consciousness, Amni began to hear something sinister, almost like demon claws scraping against metal. Something screamed past him and he was jerked back to the present. He felt a small hand on his shoulder and looked up into Yuuhi’s knowing eyes. That’s when Amni noticed he was on the floor with the chair he’d been sitting in toppled over.

“No one should go out on their own tonight,” was all Amni said as he turned away from his brother and they both looked out toward the rain. The silhouette vanished, leaving the rain to fall within the empty space.

“Everyone will partner up tonight and have their cell phones with them,” Kyou ordered. “Kamui will track everyone from here, so call him if you run into trouble. Whoever is closest to your position will be sent to assist. Yuuhi and Amni will stay with Kamui, so he can relay any warnings if it comes to them.”

Kyou looked at Kotaro, “Kotaro, you and Yohji will patrol the city square for the police department, and wherever they send Tasuki is where Shinbe will follow. Toya and Kyoko will dress up to blend in with the festivities, and possibly keep their identities safe should something unforeseen happen. They will patrol the children’s area, on the lookout for the witch.” He gave a slight nod to Kyoko knowing that was her heart's intention.

“Amni, you and Yuuhi will also be doubling as the ‘clean up’ crew. Should anything get out of hand with too many spectators, you must be ready.” He silently gave them a look to let them know to do a mind wipe of every living being they sense if need be. “Suki will be waiting with the arsenal van for anyone who needs weapons or a pick-up.”

Toya crossed his arms over his chest, completely satisfied that he would be with Kyoko tonight, even if it meant he would have to dress up for demon night. Suspicion crept in when he realized Kyou had not offered his position for the night.

“What about you?” Toya asked suspiciously.

Kyou narrowed his gaze toward the window knowing they were no longer alone within the room. He had felt the air shift from movement not seen and the hidden power within it was staggering.

“This meeting is over,” Kyou kept his voice calm but demanding so as not to alert the others.

At first no one moved, waiting on Kyou to leave as he normally did after meetings. When it was obvious he wasn’t leaving, one by one they got up and vacated the area. Kyoko also took the hint when Kyou released his hold on her ankle. Within moments, the room was empty and Kyou closed the door behind them… locking it so he wouldn’t be interrupted.

He leaned his back against the door as he looked out at the empty room.

Kyou let his heightened senses scan every square inch of the area before lifting his gaze toward the window. He stared intently at a place directly next to the window frame. He knew this had to be the same entity that had caused Kyoko to pass out a few minutes prior. What he couldn’t figure out is why. It obviously meant no ill will… almost as though it was simply visiting.

However, Kyou couldn’t shake the sensation that he’d felt this entity before. Whatever it was, Kyou knew he needed to find out its secrets and why it was there. In the meantime, he actually humored the idea of staring at its hiding place until it either introduced itself or left.