There, faded, angry footsteps scarred the ground. Something had walked this way, soemthing that the very ground repudated. It was wholly tainted and evil, dripping decomposition and decay in its wake. The Guardian Angel saw where the steps ended, at the mouth of the alley, leading out into the street behind him. Too many bright lights of human passage washed the trail leading away, so the Guardian turned back to the faintly luminescent marks and traced them backwards to where Elonore had encountered them. It had stood, waiting there for her to come to it, its foul essence had sunk into the very rocks, leaving behind a taint of rot that only a being that could call upon more than physical senses could detect. 
                              
The Angel walked forward and knelt down, pressing a frail human hand to the ground. The spirit within the flesh also reached forward, tasting the faintest mark of something else there. A small shard of glimmer, indicating that Something had been here, briefly. Not Ascended, not Descended. Something Other. The Guardian slipped more of his physical shell off, revealing himself so he could get a greater feel on that Anomoly. And as he knelt there, exposed, the Descended he hunted stepped out of the shadows, the trap was sprung. 
                              
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A flash of amethyst purple in the dark recess of the alleyway. The eyes were beautiful, a rich, glowing purple that was saturated in Arrogance, Seduction and Royalty. The eyes lured, blinding the victim to anything else, bringing with them a face that was appealing only if the viewer liked the pale frozen flesh of death. She had grayish skin, ethnically dark but lifeless yet somehow still supple. Her lips and eyelids were faintishly blue and her teeth were longer than they should have been. Not the fangs of a serpent, but instead the jagged teeth of the ghoul. Her face was sullen and sunken, body thin and gnarly as only a severly anoerxic woman can be and her long red hair was dark at the roots, the hair brittle and dry. She stood watching in the Shadows, seeing what prize her trap would snare. 
                              
She had felt it long before that pathetic specimen of an Ascended had even searched. That spark of Other, the Anomoly, had drawn her attention. Pulled her away from languid entertainments and studies of her own, Chalice watched the failed Angel kneel and study the Anomoly mark. She enjoyed the fact that her pet was already moving closer to the soon dead fool. Finally he noticed her puppy as he stalked out of the concealing darkness. He was her grand stud, a blood line she'd worked on and taken centuries to develop to this point. And he was flawlessly brutal and gloriously violent. He hadn't failed her for longer than Mankind had iron, and until this morning, she had had no reason to doubt him. He had failed to Fetch like a good dog but now he was bringing her something interesting to occupy her thoughts. 
                              
Gavin felt the owner of the tainted footsteps come closer. He'd been aware of the other's presence for a while but it had felt far weaker than this. Somehow the creature was able to conceal it's own power signature to appear as a much weaker entity. Gavin hesitated to pull all his power back, realizing that this being in front of him was unknown and likely dangerous. He would need all the advantages his more than human state could give him and if he hid his otherness, it would conceal his location from other Descended, but leave him weaker. So he faced the gray skinned monster of a man in front of him and felt the taint seeping into the air around them. 
                              
The 'puppy' looked at Gavin with nothing resembling sanity in his eyes. Althoguh the creature was tall and grossly muscled, he moved with a sinuous grace that warned of fast movements and quick reflexes. Gavin stood, body relaxed and ready to snap into action when it moved closer to him. He had no desire to run, and knew it would be futile anyways. He felt cautious but confident, seeing only one of the creature, no allies around to back it up. He could take it, one on one, he was sure of it. 
                              
The creature smiled at him, a teeth baring, drool dripping snarl of aggression. He seemed happy at the prospect of a fight, eager to rend flesh and bone. Silently the two stared at each other, waiting for the first move. The closer Gavin got to the creature, the less confident he grew. It's aura was a horrible sucking maelstrom, drawing from the Angel all his strength and will to fight. Without ever laying a hand on him, it damaged his aura, ripping pieces out of it, swallowing them and making itself stronger. Gavin lashed out, striking flesh against unyeilding flesh. Where his skin made contact, the flesh grew pale and numb, as if the creature had the ability to drain hte very life from his neigh immortal body. The 'puppy' snapped his teeth at Gavin and raked jagged nails down at him. Flesh split open and hot blood dripped down.