I had only just unlocked my car when I heard a noise coming from a dark alleyway nearby, the clear sounds of an argument arising from just around the corner. As I approached, the first person I saw was a tall, broad girl; with long dark brown hair, with an array of vibrant pink braids, and smooth chocolate skin with small pale patches ranging from a small spot at the corner of her lips to a misshapen circle around one eye.

She looked exhausted, with small tears littering her pink cardigan as she struggled to breathe properly, clutching her side. The scent of dirt and stone surrounding her like an aura.

There was a man in front of her, taller than her by a foot and far more muscular; with unruly black hair and a small goatee. He carried with him the smell of musk and metal, with a hint of something I could only describe as...rage.

The girl punched him, sending him back a foot before he righted himself and slammed her up against the brick wall. She rammed her knee into his crotch sending him into a fit of swears.

‘do something.’ the soft voice in my head whispered, egging me forward ‘you can help her.’ is said.

“You bitch!” he snarled, slamming her head against the wall. “If you think I’m letting a godless prowler like you get away with stealing from me.”

‘Kick his ass!’ the dark voice sneered. ‘Break him!’ it cried in righteous anger.

“Oh please,” the girl scoffed. “you’re a poacher! God can’t be that important to you.”

The man growled, punching the girl in the jaw, forcing her head to slam against the wall even harder than before. 

She stifled a scream.

“Hey!” I shouted before I could think. “Leave her alone!” I said, approaching.

“Or what?” he sneered, watching me come closer.

“Or...or I’ll call the cops,” I said, forcing myself to stand taller; discreetly pressing send on a text to Justyn.

The man barked out a harsh laugh, letting the girl go. she slid down the wall, her hand clutching a bloody wound on her head. “You wanna play hero little girl? Bring it on,” he growled, rushing towards me. He threw a punch my way, sending me twisting around to avoid it as I rammed my forearm against his chest with all the strength I could muster, knocking him off balance and onto the ground.

He got back up and dodged my next punch. Grabbing my shoulders and slamming me against the wall near the other girl. I was disoriented for a few moments, not able to stop him as he hauled me up by my shoulders and threw me to the ground. He landed two punches to my face, leaving the tang of blood on my tongue. He threw another punch, slamming his fist against the pavement as I moved my head out of the way.

I jammed my knee up, kicking him away from me as he stumbled back, and pushed myself up from the ground before he could recover. He threw another punch, just barely missing me before I rammed my fist into his abdomen. He took a second to recover before kicking my legs out from under me, sending me crashing to the ground once more.

He stomped down on my abdomen once before a police siren went off. 

“Stop where you are!” a woman in a blue uniform said, stepping into the alley with a taser in her hands. “Raise your hands above your head!” The officer shouted.

The man growled, raising his arms slowly.

“Which one of you is Iskandar?” the officer asked, stepping forward, her skin appearing to be reddish in color as the breeze carried the strong fragrance of electricity and linen.

“I am,” I replied, struggling to push myself off the ground.

The man growled and moved to tackle me before the officer fired the Taser, sending him into a spasming fit as he crumbled to the ground.

The woman approached, slapping a pair of handcuffs around the man's wrists.

“Justyn sent me. Are you two okay?” they asked, dragging the struggling man over to her car.

“I think so,” I said. 

“Will you be able to help your friend?” She asked, forcing the man into her police car.

“Yes,” I replied, stepping over to the wall with the other girl and sitting down beside her.

‘say thank you.’  the soft voice whispered.

I tried to get the words out, forcing the breath from my lungs and through my teeth, but then the officer started speaking again.

“My partner will be waiting at the inn to take your statements. Now you two stay out of trouble,” she said, she read him his rights as she pushed him into the back seat and closed the door, before climbing into the front seat and driving away.

‘her head,’ the soft voice whispered. ’she’s injured.’ it reminded me.

“Do you want me to drive you to the hospital?” I offered, trying not to watch the girl as she tried to pull herself together.

“No,” the other girl said, running a hand against her head lightly.

“You should really have that wound treated,” I said, tentatively poking at the developing bruises on my cheek and brow ridge.

“None of the doctors in Salem are class B.” she said.

A silence followed.

‘She thinks you know what that means.’ the dark voice chuckled. 

“What...um...what is...class...B?” I asked.

“It...means…”of or pertaining to the magical world. No doctor in this state knows that we aren’t…”human”.” she sighed, the word a bitter slur on her tongue.

“How...what...are you?” I asked, shocked.

“A few things really, part Popobawa, part Kitsune, part Mage, not really sure if there’s anything else though.” she sighed. “You never really can be.”

I took a second to try to process the names and remember what I had read about them each so far. “Popobawa,” I said aloud, hoping she would be willing to fill in any of my gaps. “African night demon that survives by scavenging necessary hormones from other creatures. Kitsune, Asian fox demon, known for being...wise and powerful. Mage, standard term for wizard or sorcerer, usually entailing european descent.”

“Yeah, that’s about right.” she said, glancing sideways at me. A small smile turned up her lip. “A little general in terms of your descriptor for Popobawa though. We specifically struggle when it comes to producing our own progesterone, testosterone, and estrogen. So we’re qualified as sex demons, like incubi. And we don’t really scavenge anything. The brain responds to pheromones by over producing different hormones. So, a person in heat, is going to cause their partners brain to create more of the necessary sex hormones that otherwise, they couldn’t really make on their own.”

“How are sex hormones necessary?” I asked.

“Well, estrogen is very important for all sorts of things; the brain, bones, blood, mood, even the heart. Testosterone is also pretty important for brain function, mood, and bone strength. And progesterone is extremely important for any woman who’s actively trying to have a kid. You literally can’t get pregnant, let alone carry a child to term, without progesterone.” she answered.

“Okay.” I responded. “Are you...are you alright?” I asked, surprisingly worried about this stranger.

She looked at me for a moment, something like affection flashing across her features, before a weak smile curled up her lips. “Yeah.” she breathed. “I’m alright. I’ve been through worse.”

“Alright,” I replied. “I saw a first-aid kit at the apartment. Why don’t I give you a ride, and treat that head injury?” I suggested, helping the girl stand up.

“Yeah, thank you.” she smiled, walking back to my car with me.

It took me a few minutes to find my way back to the apartment building. Once I got the girl inside I had her sit down on an ottoman while I went to grab the first-aid kit I'd seen in the bathroom.

As I walked back, a knock sounded on the front door.

……...

……………...

……………………...

I felt my body go numb, the world fading from existence around me.

All I could hear was the melodic bangs, ringing over and over in my head. 

There was nothing but darkness and the all-encompassing, deafening knocks, getting louder and louder.

 Suddenly, the world turned gray. A rapid influx of dread rushed through my veins; bringing with it the painful cold. I became nauseous as I tried to focus on the images slamming my senses. Shadowy, almost dreamlike images of my death.

I was...in my parents’ apartment.

My parents? They...were leaving...on a trip. My mothers’ claw-like fingers brushed through my hair, as she cooed about how 'lovely' I was becoming; she called me her ‘Dear Little Damiya’. Then they were gone before I could even process the fact that they were leaving. They hadn’t even warned me.

A knock rang out from the door. I thought it was the junkie from the apartment three doors down. I figured he didn’t know they’d be leaving either. He stopped by every night for his mail...they’d always called it his mail.

Night? When had it become night?

Suddenly the door was open, and the very air changed as it carried with it a new smell, like an ocean breeze. The air crackled and i couldn’t breathe. Why had I been so stupid? I felt dizzy as she reached out for me. Her voice grated against my nerves, there was something unusual about her melodic tone. “Hello, Iskandar...it’s great to finally find you.”

The images vanished as my feet slipped off the floor.

I was falling, until a wispy pink cloud encircled me, pulling me back towards the light.

The first thing that came back was sound. The ever-present hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen, the trickling of the broken tap in the bathroom, and the soft whispers of the other two people in the room.

The girl from the alley was kneeling in front of me, twisting the lid off a bottle of synthetic blood and holding it up to my lips.

“Drink.” She said, in a soft breath.

I took a sip, letting myself adapt to the bitter flavor before allowing her to give me more. A quarter of the bottle was gone by the time she put the lid back on and put the bottle on the floor.

“Feeling any better?” she asked.

‘No.’ the dark voice growled.

“Yeah...um...a little.” I sighed, forcing myself to breathe properly, my chest heaving.

‘Bite me.’ the voice spat back.

“I’m so sorry,” The older woman in the room said, stepping closer to us; a notepad clutched tightly in her hands. She was a tall woman, with pale white skin and dirty blonde hair pulled back in a loose braid. The color purple was splattered all over her outfit, from her fedora to her tie; even her stockings were a dark shade of violet. 

She smelled like the cop from the alley, like...electricity and clean laundry.

“It's alright,” I said, pushing myself to sit up properly. “I’m still...I...um...I’m still...getting over...some things,” I said. “I’m okay, it was...just a small panic attack.”

“Small!” the girl exclaimed. “You were dead to the world.” She continued, seeming genuinely concerned.

I was caught off guard by the emotion in her voice. This stranger who I had only just met had waves of anxious energy rolling off her as she watched me carefully.

“Yeah…” I started, “that happens sometimes. It’s...my...PTSD.” As the world started to restabilize around me I smelled something strange yet familiar in the air. Like cool earth and iron. “Fuck, your head injury,” I said, snapping back into focus and looking around for the first aid kit. It had fallen to the floor, still latched shut.

The girl picked it up, handed it to me and sat down on the floor in front of me.

I took a deep breath, opening the box and pulling out a few items.

“Are you the partner we were supposed to talk to?” I asked the woman as I closed the box and put it down beside me.

“Yes, ma’am. I’m Officer Wilson. Could you two please tell me your accounts of what happened?” She asked, sitting down in the chair across from us and writing in her notepad.

I wasn’t sure if I should speak, or if the other girl should tell her story first. She hissed quietly as I wiped the blood from a rough scratch on the back of her head, but to my relief, she began to speak first.

“I overheard a man and his friends talking about going hunting at a bar downtown, something about the guy sent a chill down my spine, something about the way he said the word ‘game’ seemed off, so I planned to steal his ID and bring it to you guys. I just wanted to know if he had any past instances of poaching on his record. But he saw me and followed me out to the alley. We were actually fighting for a while before Alex found us. and just in time too, I was about to pass out when she distracted him.”

My hand hesitated for a moment before I pressed a gauze pad with some ointment across the wound after. ‘How did she know my name?’ I pondered, ‘did we introduce ourselves and I hadn’t been paying attention?’.

“Alright, and you’re Sophie, right? Justyns’ sister?” the officer asked.

“Yes I am.” the girl responded.

‘Oh!’ I thought, mentally slapping myself for not having thought to ask her these questions myself.

“Okay, and you’re Alex right?”

“What? Oh...um...y...yes.”

“What happened after you found the two, fighting?”

“Well, I sent a text to...I sent...to...Justyn, and then approached the man and tried to distract him. Your partner was...she didn’t...they were...they arrived really quickly. S...Sophie had her head slammed against a brick wall a couple of times, and I got punched in the face...twice, and he...sorta...kicked me; although it was…um...it  may have been more…more like...stomping.” I responded, growing frustrated with how much I was struggling to speak.

“Tawn...um...Officer Coleman...has already reached out to the closest Foundation physician, they should be here early tomorrow morning to treat both your injuries. Unless you feel you need medical care right now.”

“That’s okay, I’m alright. Thank you, officer.” Sophie answered.

“Alright. You’re welcome. Goodnight.” the officer said.

“Goodnight.” we both responded.

“So...you’re Justyns sister.”

“Yeah, and you’re Agent Lins new pupil. I’ve heard you’re pretty new to our world.” Sophie said. 

“Um...yeah. I was turned a couple of months ago, I’m still...sorta figuring things out.” I replied

A buzz rang out from Sophie’s pocket. She pulled her phone out and sighed. “Well, I should head upstairs. Justyns’ been texting me, he’s worried.” She said, pushing herself off the ground and heading towards the door.

“Alright. Good night.” I said, as I followed behind her.

“Good night,” she said, smiling as the door closed.