Astra Im-Rose had a love-hate relationship with her job. There were some days she was so satisfied with working as an agent for The Foundation for Public Relations, but there were other days where she thought the work was tedious and quite morbid at times. This was definitely one of those days. 

Within the headquarters of the Foundation, on a forgettable day at an otherwise forgettable time, she had been tasked with interviewing a distressed woman who appeared to have been in her mid-forties, crying her eyes out as she had just finished explaining the predicament she was in. Astra had grabbed the woman a box of tissues and kept a calm tone and expression as she talked.

"Excuse me, can you repeat that last sentence, ma'am?"

The small woman chewed her fingernails anxiously, grabbing a handful of tissues and dabbing the corners of her eyes before she spoke. "I know, I sound crazy, but it's the truth. Lukas was grabbed out of his bed by these huge shadowy hands, dragged away while he was screaming his lungs out." The lady's breath shakes as she takes a moment to blow her running nose. "I couldn't do anything to save him..."

Astra nodded, brushing her white hair out of her face before grabbing a pen from her desk and scrawling down the details of the conversation on a yellow notepad that lay in front of her. "I see."

"Again, I'm telling the truth." The woman gave a perturbed laugh. "I mean...I have nothing to gain from this. I just want my son back." The interviewee looked up with a desperate expression etched into her face. "You believe me, right?"

The albino interviewer stood up and nodded. "Don't worry, Mrs. Nelson, I believe you." With a confident smile, she then added, "You've come to the right place. We'll give you some closure either way." She made her way over to the door, holding it open for the grieving mother, anxious to get her out of here so she could actually do something about this situation. "We'll contact you if we get any leads whatsoever."

The woman's face lit up with hope as she slowly rose from her seat. "Detective Rose...I really can't thank you enough. You have no idea how much this means to me...I--"

She was cut off by the closing of the door behind her. Maybe there were more polite ways to get rid of people, but that was about enough for her. Socializing with people already made her uncomfortable, and even more so when they were distressed like that.

Astra locked the door and took off the hat she wore, revealing two black horns of differing size erupting from her head. Placing a hand on her hip, an exasperated sigh escaped her lips.

Would she really have thanked me that much if she knew what I really was? She wondered to herself, stealing a glance into the one way mirror within the room. She stared at what looked back at her, something she had always been told was a disgrace.

Folded against her back were two wings, white as snow. Her hair was the same color save for a small lock in her bangs which grew in black. She'd be able to pass for an angel if it weren't for the two black spires that were on top of her head, giving away what she was, a daemon. Not just any sort of daemon though, one crossbred with a human, which made her even lower on the societal food chain.

Out from the wall, a hand appeared, shortly followed by an entire body. The body in question was that of a darker skinned woman, who irritatedly cracked her neck, followed by each of her individual fingers. Astra rolled her eyes. Nokt, her longtime work partner, always had a habit of making...interesting entrances.

"What are you looking at yourself in the mirror for, anyway?" Nokt asked, a small smile spreading on her lips. "Getting ready for a date or something?

Astra rolled her eyes. "Very funny, Nokt." She sighed exasperatedly and took a seat at the desk in the midst of the room, throwing her feet on the table in a huffy manner. "As if someone would wanna risk going out with a mutt."

Nokt crossed her arms and walked towards her accomplice, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Hun, look, someday this backwards world is gonna stop treating daemons like shit. But no matter what, you're always gonna have me by your side." She then eyed over her freshly manicured red nails before speaking again. "Besides, look on the bright side. You've got enough information to finally make a move on these guys, don't you?"

Astra nodded her head, a new spark coming to her eyes as Nokt mentioned the case. "There's definitely no doubt about it now." She pulled out a map from within the drawer of her desk, marked up with several red dots. Astra circled around the area and smoothed out the paper.

"All of these attacks have been happening within a four mile radius of the abandoned Braurey Cinema." Astra stated, looking to Nokt.

Nokt raised an eyebrow, as if annoyed that Astra was giving her information without elaborating. "And...?" Came a sassy remark from Nokt.

Astra groaned, massaging her temples. "Do you seriously not remember?" She pulls out another file from within her desk and slams it down. "The case we had last year involved the assassination of the Braurey's daughter. Afterwards, we framed it on her father, Garrai Braurey, who had been charged earlier with the murder of young girls." She looked again towards her comrade. "Any of this ringing a bell to you?"

Nokt cocked her head for a second, then her eyes, which had shifted into a light blue color, lit up. "That's right! Wasn't he the leader of that small cult of devils?"

"The Will of Chaos, yes." Astra confirmed, tapping on the map at the location of the theater. "They all conducted their meetings within the basement of the theater, which Braurey owned. Garrai's daughter, Marhala, was in training to become a vessel worthy of being possessed by the God of Chaos, which is why we were involved in the first place. After the arrest of Garrai, all of his followers scattered, and we thought that was the last of them." The daemon girl recapitulated.

Nokt walked over to the map and studied it a bit closer. "So you think that a cult that we've heard nothing about in a year is behind all of this?" The girl huffed, her cinnamon brown hair changing to a shade of light ginger. "But why be active now all of a sudden?"

Astra rolled her eyes, getting obviously irritated. "You go to the nail salon often enough, aren't you forced to watch the news there?"

Nokt huffed and placed her hands on her hips. "Even if I was, maybe I prefer being social to learning which country Ijeuman is threatening to blow up."

The daemon girl opened a drawer below and picks up a printed news article, with pictures of devils dressed up for some sort of grand occasion in elaborate costumes and face paint. "Every three years, it's a tradition amongst those who worship the God of Chaos to offer up souls of the pure as a sacrifice to get rid of the order within their lives, in order to be truly free." Astra continues explaining, gesturing to the paper. "In most countries, these sacrifices aren't killed, but rather dressed up and sent into a week long coma before being woken up, but that's due to the reform of tradition set in place by the Foundation."

Nokt nods, now seeming to understand the words of her partner. "So in other words, you believe that the Will of Chaos is still operating and getting ready to sacrifice all of these kids to their deity for their tradition." The ebony woman cracked her fingers and rested her arms behind her head. "Now, here comes the real question. When is this all supposed to happen?"

"At 12 minutes to noon." Astra stated. "When the sun is at its highest point in the sky."

"And?" Nokt tried again, crossing her arms.

Astra met Nokt's gaze, a grave look in her eyes, a worried smile beginning to form on her pale lips. She picked up a glock pistol and placed it into a holster in her thigh, then threw a rifle to Nokt, who managed to catch it without even being surprised that such a deadly weapon was thrown at her.

"That'd be in about fifteen minutes."