Page 120 - Hunter the Vigil - Mortal Remains

They’re here. Among us. They live, they breathe, they fuck and
piss and do everything we do… whether we admit it or not. But there’s
one thing humans do that they do a lot more.
They lie.
In fact, demons are lies. Their identities are stolen, their pasts
are fake, and they never so much as frown without deciding to
first. Even when a hunter is facing one down in an alley, her with a
crowbar and him with a bleeding scalp, he still can’t wipe the smirk
off his face unless he lets the hunter win.
Here’s the truth about liars: at their very simplest, they’re ex-
actly what hunters assume them to be. Intruders, bargain-makers,
fallen servants of God. They take the place of weak souls and in-
filtrate communities. Everything a hunter knows about demons is
right. But the devil’s in the details.

The Enemy

Demons are, above all, infiltrators. Some hide in stolen bodies.
Others wrap themselves in stolen lives. Still others, perhaps the greatest
among them, possess entire structures, neighborhoods, and institutions.
A hunter’s neighbor could be a demon, as could his banker or schoolmate.

Lesser Demons

Hunters may call lesser demons a diminutive name like “whis-
perers” or “familiars.” Clued-in hunters call them “lesser” demons
because they so rarely have bodies of their own. These demons are
spirits of vengeance that take over mortal vessels; they might also be
imps with mouths full of grinding gears that emerge only occasion-
ally from a twilit world. While they can be found in occult lore, these
demons aren’t as deeply embedded into myth and are often overlooked.
Lesser demons share a common trait: they feed on Vice. The only
way a lesser demon can regain a Willpower point is to indulge its
Vice; the only way it can get a full refresh of Willpower is to con-
vince a human — or hunter — to indulge his.
Voyeurs
Voyeurs want a ticket to ride. They attach themselves to a human
soul, to enjoy the thrills of their victim’s mind as it destroys itself. Voy-
eurs rarely force their host to take “action,” they only suggest it.
These creatures have no physical form. Some who have occult sens-
es can perceive voyeurs as strange mechanisms lurking intangibly within
the hearts or brains of their victims. What God or Devil conjured them
is impossible to say but, like all lesser demons, they spur humans to act. Beauty is mysterious as well
Voyeurs are like water torture. Drip by drip, they torment their vic- as terrible. God and devil
tims with unwanted desires, until the mortal finally snaps and gives into are fighting there, and
either his Vice or the demon’s. Both at the same time? Even better. Any
action the victim takes to fulfill both his Vice and the demon’s is a the battlefield is the
rote action, in addition to obtaining Willpower benefits. heart of man.
While voyeurs do corrupt mortals innocent of the demon’s –Fyodor Dostoevsky
Vice, the demon tends to latch onto someone who either shares
some of its predilections or is in a good position to indulge them.
A burglar with a violent streak is encouraged to rob homes when
the occupants are still inside. A member of the Long Night is per-
suaded to leave the mark of Cain on the heads of a congregant who
confronts him. A Cheiron Group hunter is influenced to collect
innocents as well as supernaturals.