-- vigilantes were better cops than actual cops.

Teresa reached out and took the baseball bat in her hand. She'd never fought using any type of weapon before... then again, she'd only been facing humans.

"I'm Teresa," she told the girl, following her as she got moving. Heroes had already laid out plans and systems, it seemed. This was why --

"People are probably going to be injured and need help evacuating," Teresa suggested. "And if the... demons... are attracted to the smell of blood like predators... they're going to need protecting."

So Teresa's gut feeling had been right. "Jesus Christ..." she unconsciously reached up to clutch the gold cross around her neck.

She looked back at her shop, then at the woman and shook her head. "No. It's just me..."

After another moment, she said: "Wait... I want to help."

-- knew what it was, but she also acknowledged the thought might just be human ignorance.

Teresa had frozen when the rifle was pointed at her, then she whipped around to see that she'd just shot a demon. She looked at the body of the creature, horrified.

"... What is that thing?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly. She had an awful feeling in her gut that she already --

|| My autocorrect has been VERY unhelpful recently. 😩

*is

-- uncomfortable.

My goal is not to hurt people though. It's to open their eyes, make them think. I believe people are capable of great change, but only you can improve yourself. All I can do it help you see.

I did bring up the topic, that's true. And I stated my opinion on it. We could have just had a productive conversation about it, or a debate. I'm always happy to do that.

You instead are taking it as an attack. Most people do. Then they attack me or dismiss me, because the truth is --

I don't tend to hold back for the sake of 'politeness'. If I think what someone is doing is wrong or hypocritical, I will tell them so. It makes many people uncomfortable, but I don't regret it. Being quiet never changed the minds of anyone.

No, she means me.

She doesn't like me.

Chances are, you're all eating bugs.

Carmine is used to add a red color to a wide range of foods, including yogurt, candies, beverages, and even some meat products. It's often labeled as "natural red 4" or "E120". It's made of bugs.

Teresa gasped when she saw the person crash. People around Teresa had begun fleeing, screaming... but Teresa started running towards the person that had just gotten thrown into the car. She needed to see if they were alright.

Teresa was in the bakery when she heard a commotion outside. Frowning, she walked around the counter and stepped out the glass door, her eyes turning to the sky.

A horrible feeling twisted in her stomach. "... Jesus Christ..." she whispered, suddenly crossing herself.

#TheDemonicTakeover

Teresa arched one of her brows.

"... You think chopping down trees is an 'amazing job'?"

"'Spiders'...?" Teresa had a feeling the woman didn't mean your everyday arachnids when she'd said it.

She glanced down below at the scene with the police, then back at the woman. "So far," she confirmed. "Who're you?"

"... Are you following me?"

Teresa nearly jumped out of her skin. She wasn't expecting someone to come up behind her 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘺.

"Fuck—" her hands flew over her mouth to silence herself. She didn't want to alert the others below that she was watching. "What the hell?" she said after a moment, still looking rattled.

-- On the house. It's vegan."

-- planet, by the way. There's nothing high or strong about factory farming animals, then buying packaged meat off a shelf for your sandwich."

Teresa took a cupcake out of the display case, set it on a plate, then slid it towards her on the counter. "Everything you do is a choice... Here. --

-- thanked the spirits of the animals they killed. Back then, you could make the argument of hierarchy. But even back then, humans weren't at the top of the food chain.

In this day and age, you can't make that claim. We don't need to eat meat anymore; we choose to. At the expense of the --

Teresa was calm, looking at her with an almost amused look. She shook her head. "It doesn't sound complicated at all to me. It does sound pretty hypocritical. Especially the 'hierarchy' part.

In the world of hunter-gatherers, they carved their own weapons, they hunted themselves, and they --

She had to chuckle a little. "I guess it depends on if you find lumberjacks attractive."

Teresa raised a brow. "I'm listening," she said. This girl was timid, but that didn't mean Teresa wasn't going to challenge her. In fact, it'd probably be good for the girl.

Teresa chuckled. "That I can understand..."

"So you're an animal lover... does that mean you're vegan?" she asked her.

She pinched her brows together. "... Well, you look like a lumberjack, for starters..."

Teresa raised an eyebrow, tilting her head slightly. "You didn't see any value in people before now?"

"That sounds like the kind of thing I might've done when I was a kid, too." Teresa leaned her elbows on the counter. She didn't mind the girl lingering here, since there were no other customers. "I was a trouble maker."