October 31st, a night full of kids and adults alike are dressed up in costumes. Some are of creatures and monsters from pop culture and others are dressed as their favorite fictional character. Even so, there are others that are just dressed up in a typically unrelated costume. The children are accompanied by their parents or guardians as they go from home to home asking for candy. The adults are out at bars or other people's houses to party the night away.
Tonight is the one night of the year the veil between the seen and unseen, the known and the unknown is gone. Many different creatures of the night or otherwise supernatural are free to wander among the humans. This night is a little extra special for the fact that a certain someone no longer cares to be hidden. They'll cause as much pandemonium as they wish for both sides of the coin.
The city and its surrounding area that has already been tormented for the past couple of years, isn't going to get a break tonight. The destruction has already begun with the crumbling of a big section of intertwining highways. The loss of human life is already in the dozens as they were either killed by the fall, or crushed under the rubble.
Even within the few minutes it took for first responders to get to the scene, there are no survivors. The cloud of dust that was kicked up, flooding the area, makes it difficult to search. And anybody that they find that wasn't killed outright was found having been brutally torn to shreds. They don't know how but they can only suspect the serial killer they've been on the hunt for is becoming a domestic terrorist for them.
The only reasoning for this is the way the bodies were torn to ribbons. They aren't sure how they collapsed so many overpasses. The only thing they can come up with at a first glance is that the killer must've killed them before and then destroyed the supports holding up the highways.
Lilith, now covered in blood, made her way aimlessly around the city looking for anything that's made its way over. She was disappointed when a reaper didn't show up immediately after her destruction and she didn't feel like waiting. Her annoyance by that caused some clouds to roll in, blanketing the sky above the metropolitan area.
After wandering around for nearly half an hour, something caught the attention of her nose. With her crooked smile and sword in hand, she quickly rushed over to a large bridge that spanned the river's widest point. It was easily a mile from one side to the other and she could not only smell but see loads of spirits that are collecting on the sides.
There are also a decent amount of living humans walking along the bridge as well not able to sense the spirits just a mere few feet away. As she gets closer to the bridge, some of the ghosts start coming towards her while others seemingly try to flee. She can feel the anger from the ones that charge at her and with she quickly runs through them with her sword. She went fast enough that no human could've witnessed it, only the strong gust of wind that followed behind her.
Not a single lingering soul even leaves the bridge before they can be sliced up and sucked up through her fangs. Heavy fog falls onto the city as Lilith vanishes into it to use as cover. Inside the cloud that's hugging the roads of the central area of the city, she freely hunts anyone or anything that enters it. The cemented jungle is becoming more and more a simple playground for a deadly monster.
A girl and her boyfriend are on their way to the bar when the fog starts to set in. At first, they enjoy it, the atmosphere that it gives the night of horrors. But they shortly change their mind as the fog gets immensely thick to the point they can barely see a few yards in front of themselves. They nearly walk straight into the road as an oncoming car heads their way. With quick thinking, they manage to not get run over.
The noise of the traffic and other people's parties get drowned out by silence. It's then when they start to hear screams all around them. Screams of pure agony and pain, people calling out for help. It's disorienting and they quickly start to panic. The voices sound as though they're echoing loudly inside their own minds.
They try to call 911 but find that their phones aren't getting any reception. The fog gets thicker and thicker until you can practically reach out and grab it.
The girl crouched down, starts crying and clutching her head in an attempt to block out the noise, but it doesn't do anything. She feels a warm hand on her shoulder, the touch is comforting as she knows it's her boyfriend's. She stands up and turns around to cling herself onto him only to grab onto something else. It has a human shape but it isn't her boyfriend's torso.
A laugh that sounds as though it was taken straight out of hell engulfs her and she isn't able to move. All she can do is stay frozen there clinging onto this unknown thing. Her stomach starts to feel incredibly warm as a liquid of some kind runs down her body. She manages to take a couple of steps back and looks down, what she sees makes her pass out from shock. She stares down at her intestines being pulled out by an inhuman hand.
Miyako suddenly wakes up to what sounds like an explosion that went off across the city. At first, she sits in bed silently as she listens, she's able to hone in on the sirens through all the chatter and traffic. She quickly goes out into the living room and turns the tv's channel to a new station. After a few minutes, her curiosity gets sedated as they report the collapsing of a big section of overpasses.
Makinzie wakes up during the report after rolling off the couch. At first, she can't make out what they're saying but then after waking up enough, she realizes it. She looks over at Miyako and quietly asking as more of a confirmation than as if she's actually lost, "Lilith, right?"
She nods, "Most likely. Unless she's in a fight and it was whatever she's fighting. I don't see how it could collapse all it's own."
"Are you going to join her?"
She shakes her head, "No. I'm not huge on the mass killing and feeding when it isn't necessarily needed." She adds, "That, and I've got to make sure you stay safe tonight."
Makinzie gives her a quizzical look at her last remark, "What do you mean?"
"Tonight is when the veil between the seen and unseen is gone, usually given our history," she hushedly adds, "Mostly Lilith's, that means they'll often try to come after us."
She gets curious, "Who? What? And why?"
"Really anything or anybody that wants revenge on us for something. Tonight is usually their best chance as they often have trouble fully coming over. Well, it also just makes it easier for anything else that normally could but would just have a difficult time."
Not completely understanding but also not wanting to keep asking questions, she responds with a simple, "Oh okay."
Miyako looks out the window and notices the clouds rolling in, "Wonder what's upsetting her."
"How can you tell she's upset?"
Staring up into the dark clouds that are forming above, "Trust me, the clouds are probably the lesser signs something is bothering her. From what she's eaten before, I've witnessed some absolutely insane things happen because of her."
Makinzie's imagination kicks off as she's curious and it's the only thing she can do without seeing anything else. Her train of thought is interrupted as there is a loud knock at the door. She quickly glances over at Miyako but there's no reaction from her so she decides to ignore it. But it only grows louder and louder, she begins to think the door itself is going to be busted down.
She gets up and angrily opens it up to tell whoever it is to stop. When she violently swings the door open, she's met with an empty walkway. The only sign of life she sees as she looks, either way, is a cat walking on the railing towards the end of the path.
Miyako looks over at her confused, "What're you doing?"
She waves her hand up in the air, "Nothing, just thought I heard something."
"With you having just waking up and not to mention the night it is, I wouldn't worry about it too much."
Slowly closing the door and locking it again, she gives a half-hearted, "Yeah, true," and makes her way back over to the couch. She quickly throws up a bright smile and asks Miyako if she'd want to play some games.
"Sorry honey, Lilith is the one who is the video game player, I'm more of a book person. Besides, as I said, I'm probably going to end up being busy tonight."
"Oh okay." Makinzie goes to turn on the T.V. but in the reflection of its black screen, she sees someone standing behind the island. This time Miyako seems to notice their presence as well and immediately goes into a fighting stance, pulling out two daggers seemingly out of nowhere.
Makinzie turns around and the person seems to be dressed in a white nightgown covered in blood. Their bright white hair is draped over their face. Heavy and unsteady breathing is coming from it as it looks to be moving in a staccato way.
When it looks up you're able to see all three of its faces that are twistedly stitched together to form one. Each one is of a different proportion, there are even stitches going through some of the eyes that are of different sizes. Three different nose shapes are all offset and look to go in a spiral like the stitching. Its mouth is like a crescent moon taking up most of the bottom half of the faces.
It dashes towards Miyako with sounds of broken flesh and bones struggling to do so. Even so, it moves at an incredible speed but Miyako still seems to keep up just fine as she goes to slash it, but the blade passes right through the body. Even though it seems intangible, Miyako is still thrown back against the wall, but she uses it to kick off and fly back at the ghost.
She's dropped her daggers and reaches out with her hands to grab and tackle it to the floor. She pins it down but many objects near the two of them start to rattle and scoot around on the kitchen counters. The apparition tries to pass through the floor but Miyako is keeping a tight grip. She quickly bars her fangs before plunging them into the spirit's neck and sucks them up.
Makinzie, who was watching on in awe, comments, "That was cool, but also, shouldn't we go somewhere else? I mean it did cause a bit of a ruckus."
Miyako stands up, "I agree, the best place I can think of would be the mountain's forest. We can also get the help of Shiyezop and the other faeries."
Makinzie already starts getting dressed, "Also you could teach me how to defend myself right? I mean I am one of you now."
She smiles, "I'd be happy to help you to protect yourself."
The two of them get all dressed and Miyako picks up her daggers along with the one she kept from the night of Midnight's death. Makinzie is already excitedly standing next to the balcony door waiting for her. The two of them walk out onto the balcony and make sure no one is able to see them. They both sprout their wings which shocks Miyako.
"You can already do that?"
Clearly proud, she smugly responds while also giggling, "Of course. I mean it was difficult but I'm pretty sure I got it."
Miyako happily takes off who is followed by a struggling Makinzie. Although she has a difficult time with the initial take-off, she doesn't have a problem with the act of flying itself.
The two of them head towards the forest together. Makinzie looks back at the city to see that most of it is engulfed by an extremely thick fog. Huge storm clouds are above as well that seems to be messing with the city's electrical power grid.
Miyako lands in an area where the city is beginning to fade into the wilderness. They're on the South-western side of the city where there's really only one major highway going out. The surroundings are rolling hills as the mountain range starts a few miles North. The woods in this area are extremely thin and they're able to see quite far. Miyako draws a big circle in the dirt with strange symbols inside of it.
She explains, "This'll attract the lingering souls to us and out of the city. This way we can handle them without attracting too much attention while letting you get used to being in a fighting situation."
Makinzie has a nervous but excited light in her eyes. I'll be able to become less of a burden to them if I can fight back. "Sounds good."
Miyako can't help but smile, "I may not be as good of a teacher as Lilith would be, all I can really do is to show you what I can do. Although a tip I can give you is that you don't need to fear the pain of injuries as they'll quickly heal themselves."
She nods as she notices a group of creatures is heading towards them.
"Also, remember that these opponents aren't human anymore so I hope that you don't have any apprehension towards them."
Makinzie is personally too excited about finally having a chance to help out isn't concerned about that. She's more worried about not getting in her way or causing any problems for her, "Don't worry 'bout that."
The two of them watch on as the twisted and morphed souls of the dead are gradually growing closer and in quantity. To Makinzie, they look like something you'd see out of a horror game or movie and wants to make a joke about it. Although she does stay quiet as she does realize that they were once living humans.
Miyako is silently waiting for them to get closer before she makes her move. Once she does, she's begun to dance through the crowd with ease, slashing through as many as she can with grace. Twirling and flipping through the air like it was nothing, all while continuously cutting through the lingering.
Makinzie watches her with amazement now that her eyes let her actually see what she's doing. She tries to join her but finds she isn't nearly as graceful nor adept at fighting as she is. The best she can do is try and shove the souls around so that Miyako can get to them easier.
Meanwhile, the fog Lilith created has begun to reach the outer limits of the city to where the two of them are at. Miyako doesn't seem bothered by it at all but Makinzie quickly finds herself disorientated. Unable to see even a foot in front of her face, the inhuman noises from the twisted souls start to get to her. She has no way of telling if they're real; and if they are, where they are.
They're all too similar to the voices or sounds she'd sometimes hear in her head. Before she knows it, they swarm her and despite her best efforts to keep them away, they manage to overpower her. She screams out for help and finds she's started crying.
She's trying her best to squirm her way free from the hands and claws of the creatures currently trying to tear her apart. She can feel her skin being ripped and pulled apart just as quickly as it is healing itself. All of a sudden Miyako appears out of the fog and swiftly clears the swarm that was holding her down.
From a mixture of excruciating pain and exhaustion from the amount of energy it took to keep healing herself, she passes out.