(r1/2)(ff)the circus of the damned(revised)

I'm not really completely happy with it so far so I decided to try some 
more stuff for it.  I had some free bored(murderous intensions)time so 
decided to work on it some more.
					john trombley

This is something I thought about while just lying around. It is a dark fanfic set in the Ranma universe, while none of the major characters are represented in it except in a small scene. Sorry for the content of this fanfic my mind is a little strange. This is not a lemon for I do not believe I am capable of writing one.

This is another revised version. I'd like to thank those people out there who helped me out and gave back some C+C. I'm taking all the cc I can get to get it right. I don't do self-insertions.

This unversed in owned by Rumiko Takahashi and others about which I don't know. I am truly sorry for putting my dark mind into your beautiful world. Again Sorry about this.

Scene: China; in a valley filled with many pools with bamboo poles in the center of them. Jusenkyo. The cursed valley where each pool destroys the life of any who baths there, more so for these poor souls.

We see a little girl running to a shack where a pudgy man smoking a pipe, wearing a green communist uniform. (We recognize this as the Jusenkyo guide)

"Father, Father, there are customers coming." Little Plum stated in hurried Chinese, trying to catch her breath.

"Ah, thank you little one." The guide replied with love in his eyes for his daughter. "How many customers did you see?"

"Very many Father, they are bringing closed off wagons with them." Plum stated proudly, she loved helping her father with his work when she got the chance. There was just so much that he could teach her, a lot more than any school. Already she knew Japanese and was learning English from him, so that she could help him on those times when she did not have to go to school. She loved to help him at his work, anyway this would be her job when he retired so she might as well know all about it.

The guide gave a slight look on his face, one of confusion and a hint of fear. "Wagons you say?" At Plums confirmation he asked, "what else did you see about these wagons little one?"

"The wagons are all painted like those in a circus, with pictures of animals on them." Her brow scrunched up in concentration wanting to give every detail to her father. "Oh yes, there was also on the first wagon, a name printed in big letters foreign letters. M-ma-dam Ser-ercy's Mys-steries." Plum tried to pronounce the foreign words as well as she could. "Father, who is Madam Sercy?"

Unfortunately for little Plum that after hearing Sercy's name the Guide grabbed Plum by the arm and quickly pulled her into the shack that served as his home. Quickly he drew away a rug that was on the floor to reveal a trap door. Pulling the latch open, he led her down inside to a where small cubicle existed. Plum was shocked and scared, for all the times that she has visited her father, she has never seen this before. What could scare him so much that he would show it to her now. Plum started to cry in fear.

"Hush little one, when I leave, you are to lock the latch to the entrance and do not open it for anything until I call for you." The guide said in what he hoped was soothing tone of voice. "No matter what you hear outside do not open this door. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes Father." She trembled before laying down on the sleeping mat that was on the floor.

"Good little one, very good." The guide stated as he moved to leave. And in a small hushed voice. "I am truly sorry that you must learn this so soon little one." And with that he left the cubicle, waiting at the top to make sure that Plum locked the door way as her told her. When he heard the click of the latch being thrown, he then proceeded to cover the door back up with the rug. He then moved the table over so that it was placed just above it. Gathering his composure, he turned to leave the cottage. To face the evil that is man.

Little Plum stayed in the cubicle for two days, all the while hearing screams of pure terror along side cries of sorrow. Some of the screams she could not understand for they were in a language that was unknown to her. Some she could understand in her broken English, while others she understood completely to her dread. Soon these screams were replaced with the cries of animals and then again into something that was a mixture of both sounds. For the rest of the time that she was down in the cubicle she placed her hands over her ears and started singing to herself to block out all the noise. Tears of fear and sorrow for those poor souls littering down her face. It was at the end of the second day that she heard the stamping of a foot on the door to the cubicle. At first she feared that the strange customers had come for her as well, but was comforted to hear her father's voice.

"Plum, Plum, you can come out now little one." The grief could be heard in his voice.

As Plum existed the cubicle, she was swept off her feet into the arms of her father who then preceded to cry. Tears of sorrow matting the hair of her head down. That was how they stayed for sometime before they prepared for sleep.

Just before laying down to sleep Plum asked her father in a hushed voice, "Father, who were those people?"

The Guide just stood still for a moment before answering in a low voice. "They are evil daughter pure ancient human evil."

"Like I said daughter, they are human evil and there are those in power who fear that evil as well as those who respect it." The Guide stated in shame and sorrow. "Even our Jusenkyo committee could not bring them to justice. Those that tried were never seen again, or worse, they were seen but not as they were known as before."

"Fortunately they only come this way in a great many years. Their leader Sercy is an old one, it is said that she has lived longer than even the oldest of the elders of the village. Time has marked her not, it is said that she made a pact with a major demon to promote human misery and suffering in exchange for eternal youth. She is a witch in every sense of the word, she even posses a demon familiar who keeps track of the stock for her." A shiver of fear flows up and down her spine as he told her this.

That night Plum did not sleep well for her dreams were plagued with nightmares of the worst kind. So terrifying was her dream that her father let her lay in his bed with him. So that Plum finally got some rest as she knew her father would never let anything happen to her.

The Guide did not sleep so well that night for he knew that if she wanted to, Sercy could take his daughter from him and he could do nothing about it

Somewhere in Hong Kong, a dark and evil deal is being forged. Two individuals, one a lady of great beauty with a cat of the blackest night in her arms, the other a man with a scar on his face where once there was an eye.

The lady spoke in a soft musical voice, "Yes I will be needing, hmm, oh about two dozen or so. Preferredly foreigners so that no one would worry overly about them being missed, and of mixed genders of course, although it matters not as long as you can get then for me."

"And you will pay in gold as was promised?" The man asked in a raspy voice he had been in this trade for a long time and was used to dealing with different types of people with different needs.

"Of course, but I want you to make sure that they're young and healthy they will have to survive a long time you know, and I don't want them dying on me." With that she left, knowing the man would not fail her for the greed of man is great, greater even than her, if that was possible.

Jacob laughed with his friends as they watched the two fighters go head to head in the ring. It had been a week since they came to Hong Kong wanting to see what the world had to offer, that could not be found the US. Sure they've seen some weird things since they got here and a lot of beautiful things as well. What a great way to spend summer vacation. It was a good thing they had Molly's parents plastic or else they wouldn't have been able to afford it. It was a great idea of Mike's to come here.

As the group was just leaving, exploits of the fight clear in their thoughts, this kid came up to Jacob and spoke to him in broken English.

"Hey guys this kid said that there's another fight around here, do you want to go see it?" Jacob asked, his voice betraying his desire to go see the show.

While Susie and Molly were not that enthusiastic about it, however the other three broke out with.

They followed the kid down to the docks and into a warehouse where a crowd of people was forming. While waiting for the fight to start noodle venders came by and sold their wears. It was quite good and the group inhaled the noodles. After finishing their noodles, they started asking who was fighting, and of course Mike was asking the odds on the fight, he was always looking to make some extra cash.

That was when all hell broke loose or would have if it wasn't for the noodles that they have eaten earlier. So it was that the girls and Mike slumped to the ground asleep, while Jacob and Eric watched. Not knowing what was going on and in true fashion as soon as someone grabbed him, Eric started hitting people. Of course it was no use, but he had broken one guy's leg, another guy's arm, and knocked two unconscious before someone knock him over the head and he went to dream land. Jacob didn't even last that long as a similar blow had already sent him there.

The foreigners were then all carried away, all fifteen of them. They were then brought to a separate building where a dozen more were housed, also unconscious. Collars were placed around their necks and they were laid on the floor in rows for inspection.

"As you wished two-dozen young foreigners, I also added a couple of locals that would not be missed. Just think of it as a bonus, for using us in all you market needs." The scarred man smiled at his humor.

"Very well just bring them to the agreed upon place and you will be paid the rest." With that the lady handed over a small bag that 'chinked' when placed in the man's hand. The scarred man smile grew bigger at the weight of the bag as it felt in his hand.

Two days after that transaction our group began to awaken. They did not know where they were but it was dark and they were moving. Moans of confusion broke out among the other "passengers" It was a long night as people cried out in fear after finding out about their situation. Not fear of knowing what has happened, but fear of not knowing what was happening or going to happen in the future. Outside a beautiful lady and her cat of blackest night laughed softly at their pain and fear.

It was all Eric could do to keep Susie and Molly from drowning too deeply into their despair. It was more for his own effort than theirs that he did this. He did not know if he could stand being in this closed off cage with all these people around him. It seemed that for every hour spent in the cage that the walls were closing in on him, the air becoming filled with the scent of fear. That fear was very contagious, it was he could do to hold it off. Only the light from the outside, his own seething anger, and worrying over the girls kept him from panicking and going into a state of shock as well.

Mike seemed to just withdraw in himself. For the first two days of the "trip" he kept muttering over and over to himself. "They can't do this, this is kidnaping wait until my parents find out I let myself get kidnaped, their going to kill me." After that he kept on saying either to himself or to his friends, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" no one knew for sure. It was all the others could do to make him eat his share of the food that was given to them, and to stop others from taking it. His friends knew that he was never really close to his family. No matter what he did to try and make them proud of him, it only seemed like he was always an inconvenience to them. Junior captain of the soccer team, it would have been senior captain next year. He was also self-sufficient, always trying to find new ways to earn some extra money without having to ask for it from them. He took this captivity very hard and believed that it was his fault for suggesting that they come here.

Jacob and Angie just held each other. When the guard came with food they both shrank back into each other, the fear etched onto their faces. They had given up hope of ever being free and were expecting the worst. The worst was what they got.

It took about a week before they got where they were going. They never saw anyone except for the guard who brought them food and water. There was plenty of room in the cages for the people to move around in and even do some small exercises. They only tried to escape twice, once when they rushed the guy with the food only to find that they couldn't leave the cages without pain coursing through their bodies, they were not fed for two days after that. The next escape attempt was when they tried to brake the collars off from their necks, well Eric did at least. He did not like the idea of wearing a collar. When it seemed that the collar was about to brake pain started flowing through everyone's collar and then they quickly stopped anyone else from trying for they did not want to feel any more pain.

A valley floor with many pools with bamboo rods in them. A young girl is running to a shack where a man sits smoking a pipe. The man and child go into the shack and only the man comes out. It is clearly seen that he is quite nervous. He then goes to the springs and waits for the wagons to come to him.

"Aaah, welcome good Sirs to home of cursed springs Jusenkyo. Here-" but his speech is cut short as the beautiful woman Sercy steps down from her perch on the wagon.

With a cruel twisted smile and a laugh, "Ha, ha, ha of course I know all about Jusenkyo, so I guess I don't really need it explained to me do I?" With that she directed her crew to set up camp a few yards from the spring. The guide just sat in his chair in front of his shack to watch the evil that was to commence.

Sercy liked to think of herself as an artist and finding things that people would like to see is an art. So to her Jusenkyo was just the tool for her art to manifest itself. Her crew got the camp site up easily for they were not human but lesser demons who served her in exchange for the taste of human fear and misery that always manifested itself when she practiced her art. The trip here was quite satisfactory and the next six months as well would be extremely tasty. That was until this group was no longer useful, well then Sercy would sell them until the next time her pets had to be fed and then she would start all over again, in the end still making a large profit from the venture.

I'm sure that turning humans into animals would cause quite a lot of grief and suffering. The problem with that is that the human species is a very adaptable one. Put them in a situation for a extremely long time and they will change to suit their new environment. Unfortunately, at least for her captives, Sercy has found out a little something about the springs that she has used to create even more suffering. So it was that the first person was brought out of the cages, while the rest watched, was then brought to the edge of the pools.

After a demon was finished taking off his collar, Sercy went to him and said. "Here's your chance, you can escape. All you have to do is run to the other side of the valley and you'll be free to leave."

After a few nervous looks at the guards, the man started running through the springs until he tripped over his own feet and went flying into one of the springs. What went in was a man, what came out was a deer with large antlers on his head.

Sercy let out a small laugh. "Oh the poor dear, it looks like he didn't make it." And then to her demon guards, "boys go get him before he falls in another one." And with that they promptly went and got hold of him before he could bolt. They then brought him back to the edge of the springs, placed another collar on him, and then put him in one of the separate cages.

To the rest of the group in the cage she smiled, "Welcome to Jusenkyo, the valley of cursed springs, were one who falls into the springs takes the form of those that drowned in the spring when it was created." With that many of the group started shouting out in fear stating that they couldn't do this to them and all that garbage.

For the first six or so she just let them run through the course and watching them fall in. The fear that they generated was great until they put out Eric to run through it.

"Hmm, a good point," with that she turned to her guards and simply stated, "throw him in."

With big grins on their faces they both grabbed an arm and with a mighty heave threw him toward the end of the springs. Just as it looked like he was going to plunge into a spring like the rest, he did something totally unexpected. As he was nearing the water he reached out and grabbed hold of one of the bamboo poles that stuck out of the pools to stop himself. After he got his balance he simply started for the edge of the pools since he was almost there anyway and easily got to the edge. Turning around to look triumphantly at his ex-captors and with a loud, "HA! , Looks like I win!" he turned to leave. Unfortunately for him he was to close to one of the springs so that when he got ready to flee, the ground gave way underneath him and he fell in and out came a tiger. Who looked at himself in disgust. While the peals of laughter could be heard on the opposite shore, not only were the demons and Sercy laughing at him, but also were some of the other prisoners. All he could do was growl as the demons came and fetched him was, *thanks a lot guys*. Do to the fact that this form was so new to him and that his captors were demons, any attempts to attack them was ignored as any wound he inflicted was instantly healed. So again he had to submit to the handling of his captors, much to his disgust.

From that time on the rest of the group were just tossed into various springs. So that at the end of the night the cages were filled with various of animals of various sizes, from little birds to large horses who had to be placed outside, with many other different kinds in-between; from fish(how a fish could drown is beyond me) to lions and one baby dragon in the cages. Various sounds floated through the night as each animal cried tears of hopelessness and sorrow. The demons feed well that night. This was joined by the silent sobbing of The Jusenkyo Guide, who knew what was going to happen them next.

The next morning was one of confusion as they were raised from their slumber, for those that did sleep that night. Sercy came to them with a big smile on her face that changed to one of mock confusion as she asked herself aloud, "While trained animals would bring in quite a bit of money it's not really enough to justify the effort, what else could we do to jump up the profits?" After a few seconds hesitation and with a beaming smile, "ah I know, well boys lets take it from the top."

With that the guards went into the cages and brought the deer from earlier to a spring. And with a sharp push sent him into a spring and then they pulled out a nude human female with hooves and doe like eyes. It looked like a cross between a human female and a doe. She was shivering in fear as the demons dragged her back to the first cages and placed her in it. All the while Sercy smiled nastily as she turned to the other animals. "As you can see the effects of the springs are cumulative and people will pay more to see freaks of nature than just trained animals."

In all actuality it was quite interesting to the effects of the spring of drowned girl and the other springs when those guys who were turned into fish became what looked like mermaids. Those females who were turned into fish, were then dropped into the spring of drowned horse so that what came out being literally Sea horses, the front half is a horse while from the mid section on back was a fish's tail. Sercy knew that if she dropped someone into the sex of what they were originally it would just reverse the curse, besides people would pay more to see beautiful nude female freaks than male ones. Sercy knew she could use these springs if she came up with something she didn't like, so that she could start all over again. And so another long day came about, no one but they knew who they were originally. Not all of the animals were dropped into the spring of drowned man or girl to some she dropped into other springs creating creatures of legend. Combining the spring of drowned horse and drowned goat she got what looked like unicorns. Of these she produced two for she knew of someone to sell them to after she tired of them. By combining the spring of drowned lion and drowned eagle she got what looked like a pair of gryphons from Greek mythology. An so the day continued until at the end it looked like someone opened a book of mythology and dumped out the creatures within.

In the cages that night one tiger-girl looked for her friends. Going only on what they were first changed into to help in identifying them by. She called out their names. "Susie? Is that you?" When she received no response, she would go on to the next prisoner. The next was a bird-girl "Susie? Mike?" she asked hesitantly as she came up to her. "Huh?" the bird-girl replied blinking the sleep from her eyes, you can see the tracks the tears left on her face. Knowing that she cried herself to sleep, the tiger-girl just bends down next to her looking on in worry. Mike shivered in the night air not having the light coat of fur that the tiger-girl had covering her body. All of their clothes where torn up, lying at the bottom of the cursed pools. Seeing this, the tiger-girl moved next to her and pulled her into an embrace to share her body heat, all modesty was thrown out the window, for her friend needed her.

"E-Eric?", Mike asked shivering in the cool night breeze. "H-Heh, some trip huh?" she continued. "Sorry about this, it's all my fault!" With that she started crying again into Eric's shoulder.

"Shhh. Don't worry, I don't plan on being a circus freak for the rest of my life. Hey look at it this way, at least you got wings now and a great pair of breasts. Look at me, I could star in a Batman movie." Eric said to his friend as he tried to comfort him. "Well the first thing we need to do is find everybody else, then first chance we get, we're out of here." He tried to sound hopeful to Mike.

The thing was, Eric never expected to live life as a cat-woman and was greatly distressed by it, but as was said earlier, his friends needed him-er, her. Friends were more important to him than anything, for he only had a few and was not going to lose the ones he had to some Wicked Witch of the Far East.

"Well I think the horses with the horns, Unicorns I think they're called. Well Jacob and Angie were horses on their first dunk. So I think that's them, because the other horse types were created later on." Eric was talking just to keep herself thinking strait and to comfort Mike for she didn't want her pull completely away in depression.

"I think Molly was the big lizard," Mike piped in trying to be useful. "She was only dunked once."

"I'm pretty sure that she was one of the fish in the first dunk, so I guess that she's one of those sea horses." Mike was really concentrating this, not wanting to fail his friends again.

"Damn," Eric muttered under his breath. *that means we won't be able to take her with us. * looking down at Mike, who was clutching at her for support, she came to the conclusion. *No! Nobody is going to be left behind. * They just laid there, holding each other and tried to sleep the rest of the night away.

The next morning as the stock was loaded onto the wagons again, each of the prisoners were placed in a spot where they could survive, i.e., those who needed it into a water tank and so on. Then they went on to leave the valley. The aura around the caravan, one of despair and sorrow. Watching them until they had completely left, the Jusenkyo Guide then went to his shack to get his daughter and to shed tears for those unfortunate souls and the living hell that they would live.

For if you thought that just changing them into those creatures were cruel enough, the wagons then made a stop at a village of animal men. There Sercy held a conference with their leader while the rest of its citizens stared at her stock. That night she came upon each of them with a bucket of cold water and using a ladle, a very special ladle, and preceded to douse each and every one of them.

Even then their nightmares have just begun. For the lucky ones were those that held the shape of animals or the animal-crossbreeds that they were. Those that were once an animal and now a mix between animal and human, those were not so lucky. For the six months that they traveled there were those who were willing to pay extra for a little time alone with the mermaids, the tiger-girl, the roe (humanoid deer or faun), fox-girl, bird-girl (or Angle), or other animal people. They had the worst of it, for they had to be stared at and laughed at during the day, and then fondled and raped at night. Always with the collars around their necks that prevented them from protecting themselves or retaliating against their assailants, and could only take the pain given to them, which the demons drank deeply upon.

Molly, who became a baby dragon along with Jacob and Angie who were now unicorns, were bleed almost every night. For their blood was magical and many sorcerers were willing to pay top money for the blood of creatures that was thought of as dead long ago. They were living a wasting life, enough that they seemed to be in good health but with the knowledge that as soon as someone payed Sercy enough, she would give them to that person to be done with as they willed. At least they wouldn't have to suffer any more.

There were those who were driven insane by all this. Insanity being the rarest of dishes for demons to partake, and they feed well. One of those who had lost their minds was Susie. For when the time finally came when they could escape, they came for her only to find a creature whose eyes no longer held any hint of intelligence in them at all.

For six long months Eric never gave up the idea of escaping. No matter what they did to her they could not break her will. Mike had long given up hope of ever being free again and would just lay there as she was taken each night and then crying into Eric's arms. For Eric always came to her after they were left for the evening so that they could share each other's grief.

It was in the last few weeks that Eric finally came up with a plan to escape. It came in the form of a young apprentice sorcerer who became smitten with her. Many were the time that he came for her in the night to lovingly caress her body. How it sickened her but she bore it for she knew what would happen if she refused him and word got to Sercy. Not for her sake, for she didn't care wether or not she lived or died, but for the others. She knew what would be done to them in her disobedience. Soon he started talking to her of love and how he was going to buy her from Sercy so she could be with him forever. Many were the time when he would come in to promise that, but truth be told, Eric knew he could not afford it, for there were many who paid for her services. Soon she came up with a plan. Since he was a worker of magic, he could free her from her collar then she would run away with him. So it was that the young sorcerer studied the collar and concluded that he could only turn off the pain for a short while. That was not a problem for Eric for she could easily rip the collar from her neck if not for the pain. Also all the collars are linked so that when one was turned off all would be. Eric had figured that out already, in fact it was part of her plan. She beseeched him to free her so that they could run away together.

Two nights later during a normal visit, he told her he was ready. She had been ready as soon as her plan had first came to mind. She was always finding out where the others of her party were at all times so that when it was time to escape, she would have to be quick and sudden if she wanted to escape Sercy and her demons.

"Come my love, let me remove the spell of binding that imprisons you." The young sorcerer stated in what he hoped was a gallant voice.

"Oh yes, please free me of this foul witch", she replied, the very image of a damsel in distress.

"Ugh" Eric grunted as she ripped the collar from her neck, joy filling her heart.

"Quickly my love before the guards re-urk!" His voice was suddenly cut off as he realized that he could no longer breathe. Clutching at his throat his hand came away covered in blood. Shocked he looked for his beloved to help him. Only to see her clawed hand covered in blood and a sad smile on her face. That was the last thing he saw before the darkness over took him.

Before leaving, Eric bent down and kissed him on his check as a single tear flowed down her face. "Thank you, I'm sorry it had to be this way." And with that she took his cloak and sped to where she knew Mike would be.

Stopping just in front of the door, she listened for sounds within. That was one of the advantages of her new form, heightened senses along with the natural weapons and increased strength. Hearing the grunts of a man trying to get his rocks off on a totally unresponsive girl. Eric quickly made her move for there was not much time left. With a quick twist of the man's, well boys' actually, neck it was all over. She didn't want to get blood all over Mike for she knew that the other couldn't handle it. Pulling the body off, she checked on Mike, yep, she was still in a trance. [ It was something Eric showed her, to get her mind away from her body during those times of pain. Eric had to use it once when she was a he and he was all alone when hurt while out in the woods looking for something. ] Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view) she was not as good as Eric so it took a whole hour to get out of it. Wrapping the dead man's jacket around her, Eric put Mike up onto her shoulder and then ran for the stables. That was where the others were kept.

Once making sure that no one was around she freed her friends removing their collars before the time limit of the spell had run its course. She then went to the water tank to get Susie, when she got there she noticed the condition Susie was in. That wasn't Susie anymore, the look in its eyes was enough to tell you that. Not wanting to leave the poor creature to the demons tender mercies. She walked up to it calling out soothing sounds, and when it was relaxed with its eyes closed, Eric killed her. Breaking her spine at the base of the neck, she never felt a thing. With that out of the way they mounted up on the unicorns and rode away from this evil place, none heard them leave for the treed of a unicorn is always silent when it needed to be. They had to go slow for Molly to keep up with them, her dragon legs not as swift as her friends. The others never found out what happened to Susie for Eric new they could not handle it and they had been through enough.

The group did not stop for two days fearing that Sercy would be pursuing them. When they did stop, they slept the sleep of the dead. All except for Eric, for she would not leave the others unguarded, besides they would need food for when they awakened. Both Mike and Molly were emotional wreaks and needed long periods of healing. So they found a place to live where few would find them save for a few peasants who traveled the mountain ranges, but they had secrets of their own so could be trusted to keep theirs. Jacob and Angie adapted to their situations, for they were both unicorns and in love, so they had each other. Mike and Molly had Eric to look after them but they would never be the same again. (Oh yes, both Molly and Mike learned how to fly and Molly figured out how to talk so that we understood her. Heh, I guess she really was a dragon after all.) As for Eric she only had one thing to comfort her.

It was a month after they had gotten to their new home. Supplies were getting low and the rest of the group could not survive on the game that she would catch to feed them. Also added to the fact that with the exception of Molly, the rest of the group became vegetarians since that was all their bodies needed. That and they could make themselves part take of something that might have been human once. So it was that they needed supplies. Winter would soon set in, and even her companions could not live off the foliage then. So it was that one night she set off to get what her friends needed to survive.

It took two days of travel to reach a village large enough to have the supplies they would need. It was a moonless night. The only light that was produced by the torch in the center of the village. She was at the entrance of a shop that sold the things that they would need, when the wind shifted. There, that smell. It was in the back of her memory, but she knew what it was almost right away. A low growl escaped her throat as she followed the scent. There. In the large building, which was probably an Inn or a bordello, for the smell of lingering sex was high indeed. That did not matter to her. For somewhere in there was her prey. With the tread of a hunting cat she circled the build until she came upon the greatest source of the scent. Opening the shutters, she melted into the darkness, flowing through the window. Using her sense of smell and hearing, she determined three bodies in the room. One she knew all to well. He was not the first or even the second, but he was one of them. Those that took her on a nightly basis, and she remembered every one of them. When the women who he bedded that night awakened in the morning, they were introduced to a horrifying sight. It looked like a monster had killed their trick. By the wounds, they could tell that it was not a quick death, and that he was just finally died, for his blood was still hot to the touch. How could someone torture someone else without them being awakened by it? They didn't know nor did they wish to. All they knew was that the man died horrifying and all of his money and most of his useful possessions were missing. The shop keeper awake to find much of her stock gone. In its place was more than enough money to pay for what was taken.

So it was, that with a fully loaded pack. Eric made her way back to her new home. A new bounce in her step, so that it took less time to get back than getting there in the first place. She needed that. Of course it wouldn't be smart to go back to the same village, at least if she encountered anymore surprises that is. So it was that once a month she would be gone for a few days and sometimes up to a week. None of them knew where she went to or what she did for she would not tell them and they worried about her often, but she always came back, and in a more satisfied mood than when she had left.

Back at the Madame Sercy's Mysteries there were a few specimens, noticeably a tiger-girl, bird-girl, the two unicorns, and the dragon that suddenly vanished one night to the dismay of Sercy. Their collars destroyed on the ground were they once were. Bodies littered the scene of the escape. Two young men and one female sea-horse. The men she could figure out, but why the sea-horse? It was a riddle for another time. But still she smiled at this, for news soon came back of this strange creature that was killing men in towns that they have visited before. And so still the demons fed on the lives that were stolen by this creature. *Oh well, I can always get more next time. * "I'm glad that it all worked out as I expected it too." She told the cat of blackest night that she held in her arms.