Author's note – Time for another AU story, this time with Kitty as a demon-slayer. Note that this is a different universe to the 917 universe of The Demon of Bayville, The Foundling, and The Island of Legend. Enjoy!

Kitty's Demon

Prologue - Against the Rules

There was a long list of things that Kitty had never wanted to be. These included being chosen as a demon-slayer, finding out that she was a mutant, and having her best friend cheat on her with her boyfriend. However, currently, being attacked by six rather large demons, all at the same time, came top of her list. There had to be some sort of law against that, surely, after all, in all the old films, all of the enemy soldiers always attacked one by one, single file, waiting patiently for their fellows to be bested before taking their turn to attack the hero. It was an unwritten code, she was certain of it, as she spun around, hacking off two of the demon's heads with her rather large axe. They were never supposed to attack all at the same time; it just was not the done thing. Apart from anything else, it just was not polite. A dagger lodged itself in a third demon's chest, and the creature fell to the ground. Kitty grinned as the fourth demon fell down, a bolt from a crossbow, expertly shot by her Watcher, Austin, protruding out of the demon's back. This was more like it; two demons, two heroes. It was just a shame that Austin could not have arrived earlier, but Watchers had to spend as much time wading through books as they did wading through demon goo. The fifth demon was decapitated by Austin hacking it to pieces, and Kitty threw another dagger at the final demon, killing it instantly.

Austin removed his glasses, and began cleaning them, "Quite a busy night," he said, in what Kitty had come to regard as Watcher English, "I am sorry that I could not have arrived sooner."

Kitty merely sighed, "They're not supposed to attack all at once," she said, "in all the old films, they always attack one at a time, always. It's got to be a law or something."

"Quite," Austin replied, in the same Watcher English, this time laced with an undertone of sarcasm, "but I believe that it is a fact that, demons, being soulless monsters, are unconcerned with obeying the law."

Kitty sat down on the wet grass. Now that the rush of adrenaline from all of the fighting was beginning to subside, she was starting to feel tired and worn out, "Why do Watchers always have to be such smart know-it-all's about everything?" she mumbled.

Austin gave her a wry smile, "I believe that is a prerequisite to being in the position of Watcher," he said, "I think that Watchers are required to possess at least a small amount of intellectual capacity in order to avoid becoming demon food within the first week of taking up the position."

Kitty got to her feet suddenly, "Talking about demon food, how did we manage to miss big bad Blue over there?" she pointed to an eight foot high blue Cyclopes with bulging muscles and a furious expression, who was wielding a rather large axe in a decidedly menacing manner. Kitty did not know where the creature had come from; it seemed that it had just materialised out of nowhere, but that was hardly unusual for certain kinds of demons. Kitty tightened her grip on her own axe, and glared at the creature, a determined expression on her own face. Well, at least this one had had the courtesy to wait his turn, unlike those six other demons, but this one was certainly larger than the others, and seemed to be stronger and more powerful than all of the others put together.

She lunged at the Cyclops, wielding her axe, landing a direct hit on the torso. The creature merely looked down at where the axe had failed to even produce a slight dent in its blue skin. Then the creature reached down, grabbed her by the throat, and threw her, none too gently, against a tree. Kitty shook herself, feeling more annoyed than hurt; demon-slayers were tough, they had to be, or they did not last very long at all. But that did not mean that this creature would fail to present a challenge to even her abilities. She glared at the creature. Now she was not only tired, but angry, not to mention dirty. She looked around quickly, and glared at where Austin was examining the creature with what she had come to think of as Watcher Knowledge.

"I believe that our most recent companions is a Karikhian demon," he said, as the Cyclops turned towards him suddenly, and knocked him to the ground. Austin reached around himself for his glasses, which had fallen on the ground besides him.

"That's just great," Kitty growled sarcastically, "if ever I want to invite him to a party, I now know what to write on the invitation," she threw one of her daggers at the creature. It merely bounced off of his chest. The creature looked down, momentarily distracted by the dagger, but nevertheless unharmed by it. Kitty sighed in exasperation, "What I'd really like to know, though," she said, keeping her temper with more than a little difficulty, "is how exactly I am supposed to stop this thing."

"Ah yes, of course," said Austin, as he turned around and noticed that a much smaller blue demon had just emerged from the nearby bushes, "the only way to stop a Karikhian demon is by beheading."

"That's all I needed to know," Kitty took one huge swing of her axe, and moments later the creature's head was severed at the neck. Panting slightly due to the effort, she suddenly noticed the smaller blue demon, noticed that the creature seemed to have been preparing to attack Austin. However, the creature had apparently noticed how effectively she had managed to kill the larger demon, and so the smaller creature suddenly, to her astonishment, fell on its knees, staring at the severed head of the Karikhian demon in horror.

"Please don't kill me!" it begged, pulling at the bottom of Kitty's jeans, and looking up at her with pleading yellow eyes.

The creature was truly pathetic in comparison to the Karikhian demon, small and thin, covered in dirty and untidy matted blue fur, its hair covered in mud, and its spaded tail hanging limply behind it. Despite the fact that it had apparently just been preparing to harm her Watcher, Kitty could not help feeling rather sorry for the creature. Still, she reminded herself suddenly, it was nothing but a soulless demon, and so pulled away from it hurriedly, and then turned towards Austin.

"It's begging me to spare its life," she said, "that's got to be against the rules or something, hasn't it? They're not supposed to do that, are they?"

Austin adjusted his glasses, and stared down at the pathetic creature, a sceptical look in his grey eyes, "Indeed," he said, "however, as we discussed just moments before, demons do have a nasty tendency to ignore the rules."