3258/What Goes Bump In The Night

What Goes Bump In The Night
Date of Scene:	06 September 2020
Location:	Holiday Inn Convention Center
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Ella Normandy, Robbie Reyes

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Ella Normandy has posed:
    Your average Satanist, discounting the LeVeyans, is about as dedicated to the religion as your average Christian: they mouth the words, then forget them while at work or at home, and maybe bother to show up for the services on Christmas and Easter, except the Satanic equivalents of Christmas and Easter tend to be orgies with kinky demons. Vampirella has never really bothered to pay Satanists much mind. There aren't enough of them who really put their hearts into it.

    But the Six Marys had reliable intel (she didn't bother asking where; they'd have taken such a question as a threat) that the local group had actually managed to summon a real demon, so they sent Vampirella ahead to scout. The Marys, befitting a group of Inquisition nuns, were true believers who expected Vampirella to be like them, to prove her worth by being willing to die for their god of fishes and loaves. She accepted it with a shrug. She found the site of their dark communion, a Holiday Inn Expo Center that had been rented for the occasion; the absurdity of it was lost on her. Through the skylight, she could see approximately thirty humans in various states of self-indulgence, a portable fountain full of blood (even at this distance she could tell it was pig's blood), and, in the fountain, a vaguely werewolf-shaped demon who was lounging and trying to look superior rather than bored.

    Church services are the worst.

    The Marys don't believe in killing humans. To the Inquisition, even a demon-worshiper is just a lost lamb. They have considerably less mercy for demons, though, and Vampirella could always use a drink. She hops off the expo center's roof, landing lightly on her toes, and slinks silently toward the front door. There are guards, but no human guard has been able to withstand her will yet.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Unlike the supernatural creature that is Vampirella, Robbie Reyes doesn't have an information system or people who back him. Rather its just himself and his Uncle Eli, their souls irrevocably fused with one another. Robbie had just put his kid brother to bed after a long day of schoolwork before he turned his head towards a particular direction.

<<You thinkin' what I'm thinkin', kid?>> Eli asks with a voice that can best be described as maniacally excited.

"Yeah...we have work to do."

So Robbie grabbed his car keys, slung his jacket over his shoulders, and hit the ignition. Also unlike Vampirella, Robbie Reyes has no skill at all in scouting or being stealthy. When you're the Ghost Rider, its pretty much your thing to show up and wreck everybody...since you apparently have the power to do it.

So, the engine is loud enough perhaps that those inside may hear it, but may or may not recognize it. All that is known is that suddenly, there is a loud knock on the door. Robbie stands there with his bladed chain on the other side, waiting for it to be opened.

In his defense, he did knock.

Ella Normandy has posed:
    The guards immediately knew something was wrong with Vampirella. Even when you're showing up for a demon orgy, you don't dress like her except maybe under a trenchcoat. They stiffened and prepared to raise their hackles, but then they met her eyes and were lost. One was convinced to ask the other to cover for him while he ran home for something her forgot, while the remaining one was convinced he had to run to the bathroom to fall asleep on the toilet. Big deal.

    The first thing that greeted Vampirella on entry wasn't the sights; she'd seen it all before and wasn't so dirty-minded she was really enticed by the clumsy delights the cultists had to offer. No, it was the smell. Scents are nearly impossible to describe to humans with any accuracy, but a human who could imagine what looks like a burger but is actually made of squirrel roadkill would be at least in the ballpark of understanding what all that pig's blood smelled like to her. No stealth left, she strode fearlessly through the crowd, ignoring all the curious and lascivious glances sent her way, her jade eyes fixed on the demon and flat with its impending death. Its wolflike snout picked up her scent immediately, and she observed the flicker of an ear in her direction just before its eyes homed in on her. Like her, it did not waste time with panic or foolish questions, observing a predator in its herd and reacting immediately. It rose out of the blood fountain with a great splash the Satanists would lose their deposit over and probably have to pay for the carpet to be replaced to boot, and it hurled its ten-foot tall, four hundred-pound bulk at her. Each of its claws were the size of daggers, and its breath reeked of things even Vampirella wouldn't bite. She dropped to a crouch to receive the beast, her own claws extending, but she realized a moment too late her strength wasn't quite equal to the sheer momentum of its pounce. She twisted to dodge its claws and got struck in the side by an arm the size of an I-beam, thrown forty feet against a wall and adding another few thousands of dollars to the Satanists' bill.

    Outside, Robbie hears screaming that probably completely conceals the sound of drywall crunching.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Robbie hears the screaming and he sighs a moment. "Well, I guess thats my cue."

He lifts his leg and uses his great strength to kick the door straight off of its hinges, the door itself might fly at the demonic wolf-monster to draw its attention from Vampirella.

"Surprise, you ugly motherfucker."

Robbie has such a colorful language. However, he does notice Vampirella - whoa, okay....she forgot clothes, or that was intentional. Either way, she's hot...and probably somebody who, at some point in time, will try to kill Robbie. Yikes. FOCUS DUDE.

Robbie exhales heat...hellfire, more specifically, and his face looks like its about to be superheated. Also, not to mention he's standing in a room of depravity and its gross to him, but he's keeping his focus on all possible enemies here

Ella Normandy has posed:
    Vampirella both have the same reaction to Robbie's presence: they see an enemy who must be attacked. Vampirella is further away, painfully extracting herself from the broken wall, her metabolism too concerned with healing her broken bones to allow her to assume her monstrous warform; the fact might have saved her life. Robbie is probably less likely to kill her while she still looks human, and that's a thought that flashes through her cold, calculating mind as she watches the demon (she's aware of its kind, they're called Slashmar, they have the power to travel between dimensions and for some reason though most of them look like werewolves their god-queen is a titanic maggot, go figure) hurl itself like a sedan at the fire-breathing interloper. The two aren't friends, then. That's good.

    What's not so good is that the demon knows it's outnumbered and is trying to even the odds. In the back of the room, to Vampirella's right and far in front of Robbie, one of its nests begins intruding on the world, a bulging hive that looks like it might be made of mud and viscera wavering into this reality slowly. Dark Mother only knows how many of its brood would be in there, ready to join the fight.

    Vampirella's fangs try to extend. With an effort hard enough it makes sweat pop out on her brow, she keeps her teeth in place for now and she shouts in her thick accent, "Watch out for its hive!" She starts shoving her way through the crowd of panicked Satanists, but her efforts to join the fight are hindered by the panicked, screaming, pointlessly stampeding crowd of Satanists she has to take effort not to get bowled over by. If only this room was thirty feet taller, she could spread her wings and get above it all. If only. She puts the thought out of her mind and shoves her way grimly toward the Slashmar king.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
As soon as that beast looks his way, Robbie starts to change.

His entire body becomes wreathed in extremely hot flames, hot enough that even that monster would have difficulty taking that kind of heat. When the flame dissipates, Robbie looks -completely- different.

He's dressed in an armored bodysuit version of his jacket, not showing an inch of skin, and his head seems to have been replaced with a mechanic-type skull, wreathed in flame. It burns bright, and it seems a demon is needed to kill another demon.

The flame?

Hellfire. Bane of the wicked.

But since the monster is coming after it, the Ghost Rider roars an ungodly sound and leaps at the monster, their clash enough to start shaking the room with the strength on display -- something that Ghost Rider has enough of, capable of grappling this thing evenly, though Ghost Rider is most likely far stronger. At the warning about the hive, Ghost Rider tries to literally pick up and throw the Wolf Demon at the hive-port. Plug it up.

Ella Normandy has posed:
    Vampirella watches the human turn into a flaming skeleton with cold analysis faintly tinged with annoyed disgust: she knows how to extinguish fire and break bones if she must, but trading flesh and blood for fire and bones just seems perverse. She watches Mr. Burningbones hurl the demon toward the hive he was summoning, or maybe had just called to and it was summoning itself. She doesn't know which and the distinction might be important even now, in a fight. She impatiently shoves a few panicked yet still fawning humans out of her way as she veers off to her right to follow the Slashmar (who names these things?) who took an unexpected detour to the source of its backup. Her hair bounces with each long, stalking step.

    After a few seconds and some burnt calories fighting through a choppy sea of terrified mob, Vampirella reaches her prey just in time for the half-there half-not tumorous bulge in reality to solidify, a massive hive at least twenty feet in diameter, its gooey tendrils extending from the corner of the room it was birthed into to cling to ceiling, walls, and floor, anchoring it. Its sides begin to tremble and bulge as long, furred, sharp-clawed limbs begin to pierce it, fighting their way through the membrane into this world. The king can't smile, but his body language is all aggression and victory as he pounces on Vampirella again. She catches his wrists and wrestles those deadly claws away from her, but in a moment she'll be overrun.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Of course, Ghost Rider could say the same about Vampirella. But, well, no rest for the wicked and Ghost Rider doesn't exactly have the luxury of time on his side. After he manages to lob the demon towards the hive that was being summoned, the Rider growled as it watches the tumor bulging into reality and solidify into some kind of parasite in the world.

However, the Rider also notices Vampirella sauntering over to this wound in the world, only to be attacked further by the Slashmar that keeps trying to maul her.

How to solve this conundrum?

Ghost Rider leaps at the King, intending to tackle it away from Vampirella and onto the floor. The actual attack being to impale the wolf-demon with the bladed ends of the Hellfire Chain.