• "Where is she Peter?"

    "I don't know....I was studying and she was gone."

    Angie knew Sabatha was gone as soon as she got home. The rain was thick and greasy with smog and Sabatha's window was open. Music was thrashing against the trees and the strobes were blairing. She used the cacophony of music and thunder to cover her escape. Peter was a naturalist and his magic was used to wrestle the beast within. Claws, teeth, strength, stamina, and a hypersensitive senses. Sabatha knew she could never sneak out so she flooded his senses and then stormed out through the white noise.

    "You didn't follow her?" Peter shrugged. "She figured out a way to mask her scent...going anywhere without it would have been pointless."

    Angie was dead on her feet from working a double shift in the emergency room. She was a doctor. She had always been the nurturer and protector. Her magical studies deal with healing and binding. Sabatha is good at getting herself hurt and summoning things she can't control. Angie is always there to patch her up and bind whatever it is she summons. "I have to go find her." She said the words but she just stood there with shoulders slumped. She hadn't entered the house. She stood there on the porch under the awning and looked sideways at orange sunlight at the edges of the storm cell. It would be pitch dark soon.

    "I'll go with you. Let me drive." Peter said hoping she would sleep. But he knew she wouldn't. He walked bare footed past her towards the drive enjoying every sensation as if he were licking the ground with his feet. He almost went on all fours so he could lope and get his nose closer to the ground but he knew it bothered Angie. Walks with him made her feel like she was walking a dog. Despite where they were going being out in the rain made him want to wag a tail he never had. When they found her and got her out of trouble he knew he would kick her a**. As much as he was going to enjoy the hunt he knew it was taking it's toll on Angie. Peter didn't care what Angie said this time; it was on!

    Sabatha being only sixteen had no real freedoms. She couldn't even be held criminally responsible for her own actions yet. burning_eyes But she wanted freedom so badly she was taking steps to establish her kingdom. An imp walked beside her with needlesharp claws. Periodically if she stopped it would sink the claws in and then lick the blood from her calves. That was his price for total invisibility. She snuck out right after school so she still had on the uniform. She rolled the sleeves up and changed into her biker boots and braided her hair for the cycle helmet to fit then she snuck out.

    The imp drank his fill then vanished them both at the edge of a dive on the south side of town. They walked past the punks and pushers acting as guards. They entered the fun house where the small little gang held initiations and made big decisions about who to jump and who to vandalise. They walked in right up to the clown king's chair before becoming visible again. No one knew how she came in. They were all so high from a community bong that they just assumed they missed her entrance. They immediately became angry and got to their feet.

    "Hello Pendejo I'm here to run the gang." She said without missing a beat. They laughed.
    "It's Payaso homie and you got to be in the gang before you can run the gang. and I don't think you can take the initiation guera!" scream It was false bravado. She wore sunglasses at night, had pale skin, and didn't miss anything. She could see everything red like a cat unless it was yellow cause she burned it.
    "What I got to do Pendejo!" She cocked an eyeybrow from behind one of her shades and leaned on one leg.
    "You got to get jumped in but there aren't enough home girls here to do the job. You can be my Payasa until there are though." She didn't like the insinuations he was making.
    "Last I heard the number was seven and I coun't thirteen home girls in here right now. Bring it on." There was only one home girl in the room the rest were guys. Most of them grinned until Payaso said "Fine! Jump her clowns!"
    There was a pause and most of the veteranos didn't move. The younger more ambitions types wanted to prove their loyalty and half of those beat their own women at home when no one was watching anyway. Not to be out done the veteranos took one last drag or swig and then got up too. They surrounded her and she took off her shades. The part of her eyes that was supposed to be white were black and the parts of her eyes that were supposed to be black were tiny pinpricks of red light. Payaso took a step back and the hair on his arms and neck stood up but his homies couldn't see what he was seeing and it was too late. The eleven of them moved in on her and as soon as they got to within five feet the pits of their stomachs sank. They were overtaken with weakness and began to knee, elbow, and punch them all into submission. A few of them tried to run or fight back but it couldn't be done. She smiled a little at first and by the time it was over she was grinning. When the last veterano fell she turned to see payaso shaking in fear and rage and a puddle of piss. He drew a nickle plated revolver and aimed it at her side ways. The grin dissapeared and she squared her shoulders. The red pinpricks went yellow and his shirt ignited. Then his skin. She stepped aside as he began to fire his gune wildly in the room. The shots being fired called in the guards and the defeated found their feet and knees out of self preservation. The fire ended almost as soon as it began. Payaso's chica put him out with a couch cushion.

    "So am I in or what?" She asked.
    The gang is hers now but it's not the 5th street clowns anymore they are not constrained to any one street and they are her Demonios.