Demon Huntress Anna

Anna Petrov pulled the old pickup truck she had rented from a nearby resident as far up the driveway to the mansion as she could, but the old road was dilapidated by time, and so she only got a few meters from the street before she had to park, and continue onwards on foot. She stepped out of the old truck, the last few minutes of sunlight illuminating her face. She had raven-black hair, which normally fell to her back, and framed her gorgeous, Eastern European features, but was currently tied back. She wore a light green jacket. Anything more would have been oppressive in the humidity of the bayou, but she had been told the nights grew cold. Underneath, she wore a blue, loose fitting tank top and dark cargo pants to allow her freedom of movement. She was in great shape, walking with both the appearance and confidence of someone who could win a fight if necessary, but didn't need to prove it, which made sense, given that a young, beautiful woman with ample curves felt comfortable travelling alone through a part of the country that lagged in both literacy and manners

She grabbed two large bags from the truck, took one in each hand and made her way towards the mansion. One could surmise from the state of disrepair of the garden that this antebellum mansion from the late 1800's was abandoned, but the ancient structure didn't look a day over 50. Given the area's propensity for hurricanes, fires, floods and drunks, it was almost eerie that the building looked as good as it did. It still retained some of its original white paint, although the elements had torn that off in strips along the façade, and at least at the front of the house, all of the windows were still intact, albeit probably dusty.

All of this would have made it very strange to the untrained eye then, that the young curvy woman began to set up a camp off to the side, in the trees just out of sight of a perfectly weatherproof mansion, but that is what Anna did. To the unknowing eye, this behaviour wouldn't have made sense, nor would it have made sense to see her drawing symbols of a forgotten, or perhaps fabricated language around the perimeter of her camp. To an educated eye, however, one would quickly deduce that Anna was one of many demon hunters around the world. The symbols were sigils, designed to ward off anything that might go bump in the night and meticulously memorized: Any mistake would render them useless.

As for the camp, the reason a demon hunter had driven out to the bayou was that the mansion contained her believed target. She was investigating a wide manner of crimes that all seemed to have some link to this place. The secrecy of demon hunting meant that crimes that may appear to be caused by humans to you or I to Anna often indicated something more sinister at play.

This case however, was strange for three reasons. First, there were a wide variety of crimes. Monsters and demons are rather similar to animals, although the analogy is imperfect. They have specific hunting patterns, habitats, prey. This case had none of those, but instead unique pieces of evidence for multiple monster species all coming from the same area.

Second, the brazenness of the crimes was unusual. Most monsters, if not all, were sentient beings. They were capable of thought, and more importantly for them, they were aware of the presence of hunters. Over the centuries, monsters had learned to avoid the ire of humans wherever possible, choosing animals to feed, or whenever it was necessary to take a human, they were usually good at hiding their tracks or picking off the . In this case, however, Anna was tracking multiple murders and kidnappings, and they all seemed to involve young women. Any men who were victims were often dismissed by the police as being "caught in the crossfire", boyfriends and husbands who had got in the way of the true target.

Finally, the sheer number of crimes was strange. Again, monsters knew the dangers of interfering with human life, and when they did have to reveal themselves, they tended to move from place to place to avoid drawing extra attention. The number of crimes in the county had risen to the point that Anna's government contacts had told her the FBI was preparing to take over for an overwhelmed sheriff's department.

This lead Anna to a vague, but definitive conclusion. She was dealing with some class of higher order demon. One capable of controlling multiple classes of monster, or at least manipulating them to do their bidding. She would be up against a veritable horde of opponents. She could not carry equipment for every monster in lore all the time. She would have to take this slow, room by room, gather information, and then use it to her advantage.

What she didn't know, was why the demon was targeting young women. She couldn't think of a reason. It was a little too softcore erotica for her.

But she would soon find out. She filled her pockets with a collection of tools that were effective against all manner of creature, leaving more specialized equipment locked in camp, and made her way, by cover of darkness, to the doors of the mansion. They opened without sound or protest, and Anna stepped inside, closing them gently behind her.