Who: Katara, Prince Zuko, Cordelia Chase, and Angel (plus a couple of NPCs) What: Katara's in trouble. Again. When: Evening (right after Cordelia's vision) Where: Streets of downtown then the Hyperion Hotel Rating: PGish (violence, mostly) Status: COMPLETE
Aside from Junjie (who had seemed genuinely surprised that she had returned his books without a scratch on them), Katara had avoided nearly everyone she could in the first few days following Zuko's departure. Within a week, however, she left the confines of her room and ventured out into the shelter itself. Two weeks, and she was helping cook the meals and assisting the younger children. Now, nearly three weeks since she was left alone, Katara had finally managed to make a niche for herself in the little community within the walls of the East Hills Teen Centre. In fact, the only thing that hadn't changed was her need for evening walks. Even those, however, had been altered to account for her new friends.
Junjie, especially, took a shine to her. At first she had worried he might have feelings but a late-night discussion revealed he simply saw her as a good friend. 'A sister', he'd called her, and the title had brought a smile to her face. It was soon afterward that he'd begun going on the walks with her. They would make their way through the city streets, always mindful of the alleys and abandoned lots where the creatures of the night could typically be found.
As they walked, they spoke of their homelands. It amazed her at the differences between this place and the one he spoke of. China, he confided, was filled with majestic beauty and sacred heritage... but didn't offer near the opportunities that America did. Katara didn't see many opportunities when she looked around, but she took his word for it and agreed that, sometimes, in order to find who you were, you had to leave the familiarity of home behind and strike out on your own.
It was during one of these walks - when he was telling her about his young cousin and their exploits the summer before he'd moved here - that the duo managed to get themselves turned around. Rather than taking a left at Main Street, they had unknowingly continued straight and were now at an unfamiliar intersection... and not alone.
The sight of the vampires looming closer made them both stop in their tracks. Junjie's parents had been killed by vampires and that was the reason he had ended up at the shelter. He was terrified of the creatures and always carried something that would help fend the creatures off. A large, wooden cross was his favorite, with the end sharpened to serve as a makeshift stake. Pulling his weapon from the waistline of his pants, he attempted to step in between Katara and the approaching predators.
Katara, however, was having none of it. She had done some reading on the demons that inhabited human flesh and had, just the night before, received an epiphany as to how best fight them. A quick stop by a local church that morning and, now, she was more than ready to take them on.
Quickly coming to the side of her friend, she wasted no time in gathering the water from her pouch at her side. A few movements of her arms and the liquid shot forth as a massive wave, catching all four of the vampires by surprise. Typically, water would cause them no harm.
Then again, this wasn't just any water.
The holy water - blessed by the priest just that day - caused their skin to sizzle and screeches of agony to fill the air. Within seconds the vampires were little more than dust and Katara turned to Junjie with a smile... only to find an enormous demon coming up behind him from the alleyway.
"RUN!" she screamed and the boy did as commanded, clearly too surprised by her abilities to wield water to question her orders. With one sorrow-filled look, certain of her demise, he was gone and Katara squared off against the demon who had the bulk of his skin covered in large, thick bones. She narrowed her eyes, prepared to summon the water to her side once more, when the creature was suddenly lunging at her.
Katara let out a sharp cry of pain as a pair of long, razor-like claws sliced through her shirt and into the skin beneath. She jumped backward, sending a wall of ice smashing into the beast. He stumbled backward and she turned to go when she was yanked off her feet by her own hair. Another yelp of pain and then she was flying through the air, directly for a brick wall. She didn't have time to react, to even think, before her body collided with the brick and she slid down, dazed and fairly certain the gash in her head would lead to her death if the demon advancing upon her didn't.
Still, she scrambled into a seated position, wiping the blood from her eyes with her good arm. The other seemed immobile at her side, her shoulder aching terribly. "No..." she whispered, horrified at her own fate, as the demon drew back his claws and, in what seemed like slow motion, swiped them out at her once again - this time aiming directly for her face and the arm she'd brought up to protect it as best she could.