Embrace

A few minutes later, the cororner arrived as well as the police, who had their hands full trying to keep most of the curious bystanders and the media at bay. Two of the officers were trying to
comfort the woman, though no one was sure how she was related to him, if at all. Astarte and Frost moved away from the crowd, mainly so they could see what was going on without being harassed by the police.

Stuff like this attracts these newshounds like flies, Astarte thought as she watched several reporters, each claiming an exclusive on the story, stand in front of the crime scene with their expensive outfits and try to explain what was already ovbious: the guy was dead. Period. But something about it just didn't seem right. As she watched, she overheard one of
the news anchors, still half-way through her piece.

"...woman has been identified as Himino Utaki, the woman who was with the as-yet-unamed murder victim. According to Miss Utaki, they were walking down this road behind me, when the man suddenly fell. When she tried to help him up & realized he wasn't moving, she turned him over & saw that he was dead. In fact, it was so gruesome that we cannot show it. From what we've just learned, the victim's heart is missing, though medical examiners have said..."

Hold on a sec, Astarte thought. That doesn't make sense. If he was bleeding, she would have noticed it, and as I remember, there was blood around the body but it didn't look fresh. Which means...

"Frost, come with me," Astarte said as she took him by the hand away from the spectacle so she could talk to him in private. Once they got out of earshot, she discussed her thoughts with him.

"That makes sense," Frost said, nodding in agreement. "But we can't exactly prove it."

A sudden noise caught the attention of the vampire; it was very faint, but she couldn't ignore it.

"Did you hear that?"

Frost, in response, listened carefully.

"I think I hear something, but I'm not sure." He glanced around for a few seconds before his eyes settled on an empty lot next to a clothing store that had closed hours ago.

"It sounds like it's comming from there," he said, pointing at the store.

Astarte agreed and, without another word spoken, the duo quietly followed the sound. Immediately, it began to grow louder. When they finally turned the corner, their eyes widened at the sight that befell them:

In a dark corner was the 'grieving friend' Himeno Utaki eating the raw flesh of a young woman whose body was nearly soaked in blood.

"I thought so: a demon in posession of a human body," Astarte mused aloud.

"Leave us, night creature!" the demon said in a dark voice, speaking through its 'host'. "This has nothing to do with you!"

"Tell us - what does this woman have to do with you?" she continued.

The demon chuckled.

"Sight - it has all she wanted since birth. At least, that's what she told me," it said, still speaking through Himeno.
"I remember the night she summoned me: she offered her soul in exchange for being able to see and I agreed. The only thing
I asked of her was to satisfy my hunger in return. Now what's wrong with that?"

"Worthless demons like you don't deserve to live," Frost muttered. "You should pay for making her suffer like this."

"What can you two do? I am forever imortal!" it cried.

"Of course you are - until you lose your meal ticket," Astarte replied. It was sad to say the least, but there was only one chance to save her. In her mind, she silently prayed that this would work.

Wordlessly, she brought her wrist up to her mouth & bit into it until blood slowly began to drip from her fresh wound. She moved her wrist a bit as she made the blood form a circle at her feet. After this task, she chanted a spell in a long-forgotten language, which slowly caused the circle of blood to emit an eerie white glow.

"What the hell are you doing?" the demon cried as it watched the circle suddenly vanish.

Before she could give an answer, the circle re-appeared around Himeno and surrounded her (as well as the demon) in an intense light. Frost watched in great surprise as he could hear the demon scream in pain. A few moments later, the light was gone & Himeno collasped on top of her 'meal'.

"Is she dead?" Frost asked.

Astarte went over and checked her pulse.

"It's pretty faint, but it's there," she said with a sigh of relief. "Let's make sure she gets some medical attention."

Unbeknownst to them, a shadow was watching them the entire time.

"Your judgement is comming," the creature whispered into the wind.