Sable crawled into the small office and groaned as she twisted and contorted, fluid filling her lungs with a mindless rage and suffering, the black man sitting in the chair crossed one leg over the other and pointed to a small door, she staggered through and was face to face with a pale woman with a blazing red gem embedded in her skull. Without warning she was thrown into a chair where seven hundred and seventy-seven bands of iron bound her to the chair. A deep growling breathing was heard from behind her and the woman spoke "Is it a truly powerful one? All we've been getting lately are some wimpy little-" another deep breath cut her off. "What type?" some more sounds were made and the woman smirked "A four legged one…a hunter, no less!"

Sable, with all her sixteen years of courage, she whispered "C-can y-you help?" the image of her sister at home rushed through her mind.

The woman hmm-ed and tilted her head "Well, that's up to my partner here, really this type of possession will only submit when the possessed has the power to force the demon back…I could do that but it would take weeks. If you let him it will take only a few moments…of pain beyond which you've never experienced. And will never experience again"

The girl nodded before her skin paled and the single candle flickered, her brow fell and the veins that traced her arms and face stood out, a horrible mask fell upon her face and she let out an inhumane screech.

Raven stepped forward and warned in Latin Be still creature, you have no power here

The demon screamed {My powers do not bend little whore! I shall take this body and crush you as I will your fri-} the demon shuddered as the black-white light pressed down on it with an incomprehensible force.

From the shadows a hand stretched out from behind the chair and pressed a fingertip against the dip in the host's collar and the demon screeched again, this time in pain as the body was filled with it's power. Like a car slamming into a human body the demon fell back into the red realm and the screech changed into a scream. Human. The hand retracted back into the shadows as the restraints released her and she curled into herself. After a moment the former host whispered "Can I catch another one?"

The partner to the one that set her free patted her shoulder "Only one. But if he ever gets a hold of you there is nothing that can save you." the woman walked out feeling the pain that her body now realized it was in, as she passed the black man she tossed a thankful nod before slipping out.

He stood and walked back to see the two "I heard it was a hunter…Raven, you know what I'm thinking…" the pale gray woman nodded "We both know that's impossible…"

Raven patted the taller man's chest "But we both heard it Vic, go talk to Jen, if the signs say something we need to know" he nodded and left.

Jen, know among certain circles as Jinx was a light skinned woman with bright pink hair who ran small antique shop in the city, as the bells jingled she rolled her chair out from behind the counter, the wheelchair slowly coming to a stop as the brightest smile touched her face "Look who it is! Victor Stone- Brother Daystar himself!"

Her weakened legs trembled as she stood only to be caught mid fall by the tall man who hugged the frail bodied girl to his chest, "Hey there Jinx. Take it easy girl, don't hurt yourself!"

With a huff she punched him in the chest weakly and he wrapped an arm across her back and helped her lean against him. She hated the chair for all her worth. Slowly she relaxed into him "Did Raven say anything?"

Vic nodded slowly "I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't heard the demon screaming itself…a hunter. In a sixteen year old."

Jen narrowed her eyes "But that's never happened before, and it can't happen!"

The voodoo priest nodded "That's what makes this so terrifying. She asks that you read the portents, if something big is coming we need to know"

Jen chewed her lip "Only if you move in with me…" she blushed.

He kissed the top of her head "I'd move in for the asking" she nodded and took her seat before rolling over to a large book partially hidden by an annex and took a deep breath before slowly blowing off the dust and turning the pages reverently to page blanketed by an old black and white sketch of a river inside the front cover. Softly she chanted and her eyes rolled back into her head and the pages turned as if driven by wind until they stopped and her hands traced the lines until they stopped. She shook away her dizziness and read the line. Her eyes scrunched and she took a breath before rereading it "Vic…I can't make sense of it…'The body is not that of the soul and beasts shall feast on the heart of treachery'…" she closed the book and rolled back muttering "such an odd reading"

Victor grinned "Not the oddest though" his new roommate nodded "So what do I tell Rae?"

The young woman rubbed her eye with the heel of her hand "Tell her to buckle down, if this is anything like that reading the souls are going to go ballistic"

Instead of leaving like she thought he would he just called and settled into a chair beside her for the rest of the day, hell-most of his stuff was already at her place.

The man slowly walked down the streets, his clothes regarded as too nice for this neighborhood, black leather Italian shoes, black slacks and jacket and a shirt of dove white, the gangsters stared at him like wolves until he entered a bar. They shuddered "If that dude is with them we better not do anything, homes!"

A younger member jeered "What you scared? Pussy!"

The eldest, a member long enough that he was doing his thing before they were born shook his head "Naw, just sane, those fools deal with spirits and shit. I swear I saw her pull a demon out of my godson, that shit did this to me" he undid the cloth he wore around his head and his short hair stood out against the darkness of the alley. Pure white.

He continued his walk into the bar, a man stood immediately behind the dense oak door, a giant of near seven feet with fists almost as big as his head, dark blond hair and almost pure white pupils looked down at him "Your name?"

The man stopped and nodded "I'm here by invitation, Richard Grayson"

The man looked at a clipboard before holding up a hand and waving it over him "Richard….you have lost much…" Richard jerked back "But remember your hot head will only lead to trouble in here, I would not let you in if the Mistress hasn't allowed you herself"

Rich gulped "I-is she psychic?"

The man laughed "Much more little man, much more!" and he stepped aside to allow the newest member in.

"What's your name?"

"Maron Aldrich Michael Markus Octavian Theodore Helshpin III" at the blank stare he grinned "Mammoth" the newcomer nodded and walked in.

It was a club in the true sense of the word, pulsing strobe lights lit up the room as men and women dance or sat at scattered table or even the bar itself as the bartender handed out off colored drinks, many seemed to be water but he was distracted as a voice caught his attention "Richard Grayson?" he looked around until the voice cleared its throat and he looked down to see a woman with long hair in a wheelchair smile- no, smirk at him "Come with me, she's already expecting you"

He walked passed the table and realized that was why they were so far apart, for this woman to maneuver, but with the skill she used to duck, dodge and spin around people he wouldn't have been surprised to see her move between normal seats with equal ease. They moved beyond the people to another set of doors, these one carved ornately with scenes of different things that he didn't recognize, the woman, however, paid them no mind and pushed her way through before waving him to follow. The back half of the room was dark almost as if the lights were busted but the shelves lining the room made the look almost idyllic, a large black man in a white button up, black slacks and a silver checkered patterned vest sat in a corner reading a book on a sofa while sipping a flute of wine. What grabbed his attention though was something much different, the small grayish woman who sat behind a large desk, she radiated power.

She didn't even glance up before speaking "Richard Grayson, apprenticed to Bruce Wayne for two years. Remember, Gotham is only a ripple compared to this city, I am more than willing to give you a shot. My companion," something behind her moved "is less inclined to do so. But he listens to me and I think tomorrow the three of us will see what his happening in this city."

She continued to stare at the paper she was writing on but her free hand waved to the wheelchair bound woman who gave him a beaming smile "My name's Jen, but everyone calls me Jinx, nice to meet you!"

He smiled "Well, I would introduce myself but it seems like everyone here knows me already"

The black man laughed "Yeah, it's rare we get a new face around here in our line of work. By the way I'm Vic-"

"You're Brother Daystar! I studied your rituals, they were a work of art!"

Vic laughed "I guess they were" Jen rolled her eyes and he put his hand on her shoulder before kissing her lightly. He continued "This bar is called Nevermore, I suggest you don't pick a fight, if somebody needs a neutral ground this is it. But if we need to kick them out let me or Rae do it."

"Rae?"

"Raven Roth, owner and proprietor" the woman behind the desk granted.

"So is Mammoth in the know about this place?"

Jen laughed "Actually he and the bartender-Gizmo- were two demons trying just to get out of Hell, they didn't want to cause trouble and they do good work. They helped take care of me before I met these three"

"Three?"

Raven stilled "Gar, come out and be sociable"

Richard could honestly say that this thing wasn't human. The only thing he saw were snake-like eyes held high above the ground, the shade less like anything one would find on this planet and more like a shard of the green paint used to create the universe. Whatever this 'Gar' was he sure as hell didn't want to piss it off. The creature moved and hissed before the eyes closed and the form was lost to the darkness, Raven shook her head but sighed "Don't worry, Gar is…shy of newcomers"

Richard meant it harmlessly "So is he your pet?"

Jennifer and Victor tensed, for a moment complete silence filled the room and he felt like a chicken in the oven. The tension broke when Raven laughed, not just a laugh or two but a full blown fit, when she gained control of herself her amused face became his focus "Mr. Grayson, he is nothing like a pet." Richard let out a sigh of relief, cut very short by her next phrase "No one can tame a creature as powerful as he is." seeing the newcomer's blank look she simply shook her head "I guess I better explain from the beginning" she moved back into the shadows. With her body completely cloaked she began.

When humans first started on this planet we were weak. Demons, creatures, weather, starvation…all of those things killed us in droves, until one day the Demon we know only as Azazaram did something, he sacrificed his own demonic essence to enable humans to survive the cold, hunt better and survive. After he did this we have no idea what happened to him. As far as history is concerned he showed up and disappeared in the span of seconds. Some say he was dragged back to Hell to face Satan's wrath for stealing his favorite prey, others say that he became a human and died or that he became an angel and ascended…but that's a different topic. What's important is that he also gave the first humans a book that allowed them to summon…something demonic that wasn't a demon. These creatures have only been summoned three times in history, the first was at the battle of Omni Guuwhy- a demon army rushed through an unstable portal into the human world, the summoned creature slaughtered the demons more quickly than you or I can breath. The second was for a different matter all together. In 1003 A.D. one Manie Luche of a small village in southern France summoned one to fulfill her wish for a child. After the barren woman gave birth she cast the spell again and again until she had a total of fifty children out of her body, and in those days 'shoe' was a word for a type of house built on a challenge, the king issued a statement that any family who had more than twenty member in the direct family would be given one of these homes as long as each of the members would work for the kingdom-this is where we get the rhyme 'there was an old lady who lived in a shoe…'

Richard snorted "Thanks for the history lesson but I don't know what this has to do with your friend here"

Raven laughed lightly and the lights came on. She was sitting in the lap of a man, somewhere in the lower six foot range and muscled with streaks of iron, his skin was tinted a light green while his hair was a darker shade. There was something completely unhuman about Gar and only after a moment did he realize it. A tail. A long green whip with a sharpened arrowhead at the end waved above him, a mist of green until Richard focused on the tail and gasped in shock. Sitting above his head was a broken circle of the smallest particles of ice he had ever seen. Raven waited for the man too close his mouth and look at her before she started again "I was the third and final one to summon one of these creatures, the book was lost after Luche summoned her dalliance so many times. It fell to Trigon's hands" Richard's jaw dropped as he tried to imagine how one of the three most feared demons lost the book that summoned such powerful creatures. Raven ran a finger across Gar's jaw "he gave it to me incase I ever needed it, the benefits of having a very old father" Richard looked at the two other humans with a twitch of uncertainty. She wasn't fully human.

Gar snorted and stood before stalking-not walking out, the owner behind him. Vic took over the story "Well, they'll be back in awhile…anyways, she got here and started doing this sort of stuff she got in over her head…she found herself in a fight with Lady Midday" again Richard found himself in disbelief-Lady Midday was the personification of heatstroke, dehydration and sun-touched madness. Fighting against this demon was to fight heat. "She got away, but even being part demon she was in really bad shape, she used the book and he's been with her ever since"

Richard could only look at Vic, what had he gotten himself into?