Kotie (Dakota Brown)

BACKSTORY

Born in the backswamps of Bienville, Louisiana, it was almost immediately clear that Dakota was an unusual child. Refusing to speak until she was 4 years old and riddled with incidents of sleepwalking that would often have her waking up caked in mud and bogwater in the middle of the swamp surrounding her house. Her parents, devoutly religious, made regular visits to church sermons and Dakota was, of course, obliged to attend these on top of her Catholic-focused homeschooling. It was through these two sources of education that the young girl first learned of Hell and its denizens, immediately becoming transfixed on the subject.

As she grew older, Dakota was more able to take her knowledge of demons into her own hands- she would often steal books from the local library on the occult or- when she was old enough to drive- secretly attend midnight showings of horror movies at the local theater. Her parents were only mildly aware of her fixation, always dismissing any peculiar behaviour as evidence of her devout Christianity. Out of the two of them, her mother was the one often more concerned, but often any attempts to breach the subject with her child were shot down by her husband.

Dakota was in her late teens when her baby brother, Billy, was born. Her mother had complications during the birth and due to her choice to have a home birth and with no immediate medical professionals available, she passed away not even a day later. Dakota’s father quickly took to drinking after that, and she was tasked with caring for her brother whilst avoiding the increasingly aggressive behaviour of her remaining parent. His distraction did, however, give her greater opportunity to explore her interest in Hell and- perhaps due to her emotionally vulnerable state- her passion quickly turned to obsession and delusion.

Dakota was unable to separate the Christian lore of Hell with the pop-culture cliches of demons in movies and novels. To her, the Book of Revelations was just as real as The Exorcist, and so she became convinced that if she sacrificed human lives in the name of Satan then she would finally be able to make contact with Hell- maybe even trade her soul for a better life for herself and her brother.

Her father was the most convenient first victim, of course. He was easy to kill- Dakota simply waited for him to pass out from drinking and used one of his wrenches to cave in his skull. Her ritual was an elaborate combination of several horror sources and a little bit of improvisation. Completely and entirely convinced that her offering would garner the attention of *something*, when nothing seemed to come out of her sacrifice she reached the conclusion that the demons demanded more souls in order to appear to her. It was then that Dakota needed to reach out further to find victims.

All in all, Dakota managed to kill 13 people over the span of six months before she was caught. The first few victims after her father were members of the church that knew her and her parents- a link that eventually helped to bring the police to her doorstep. When picking off members of the church became too suspicious, Dakota turned to the local university. She had ads placed around the campus looking for babysitters- Billy being the perfect alibi. Once the volunteer was settled in her home, Dakota would pretend to leave for some event- posing as the young mother of the baby- only to sneak back into her house and murder the unwitting victim. After carrying out her ritual, she would always cut up the body, drive out to the swamp and dump the pieces- as well as any of the victim’s belongings- in the bog where they would never be accidentally found. 

As with most serial killers, the girl’s final murders were also the most ambitious. Growing impatient by the demons’ perceived indifference to her offerings, Dakota decided that multiple murders on one special night- Halloween- would be the thing to finally tide them over. She posed as a college student on campus for weeks, befriending a group of fellow students and using the cover story of previously having to drop out of college for a while to care for her child. As Halloween approached and she earned their trust, she suggested that they visit her home to have a party- falsely claiming that it was a recently abandoned building that would make for a creepy and private place for the friends to enjoy themselves. In reality, Dakota was luring every one of them into one place, with the intent to pick the students off one by one and sacrifice them all at the same time. 

Her plan was almost perfectly executed, too, but one girl managed to escape- injured- into the swamp. She was never found and presumed dead, but nonetheless was not counted amongst Dakota’s other victims. Whilst the police were already actively aware of the suspicious nature of her victim’s disappearances, it was this night- dubbed later by the media as the Bienville Halloween Massacre- that put pressure onto the authorities to find the murderer. When Dakota was arrested not a week later, she immediately confessed to her crimes and was eventually sentenced to death by lethal injection.

LIFE IN HELL

Though most with knowledge of the case believed that Dakota had met justice for her cold, calculated crimes, the truth was that it was only through death that the girl got everything she had wanted from the very start. Due to her particularly cruel and emotionless treatment of other human’s lives, and the magic she had dabbled with, she was converted to a demon upon entering Hell. The physical changes she underwent weren’t only cosmetic- the two overgrown eyeballs on her head now gave her the ability to communicate with strange creatures, seemingly from another world entirely. This form of magic was developed due to her dedication to reaching out to demons whilst on Earth- though she quickly found that her contact with these beings were somewhat of a double-edged sword. Whilst she did- and still does- delight in finally being amongst these paranormal entities, the fact that there is no evidence of their existence outside of her own head means that people often dismiss her as an oddball, or even insane. Her eccentric behaviour and her talking to these beings in her head only inforce this stereotype. 

Now settled nicely in an apartment in Sloth, Dakota spends most of her time aimlessly enjoying the sights and pleasures of Hell, reveling in the fruits of her hard-work on Earth. She has no occupation or formal role currently, though she will often fixate herself on other random demons and pester them at their jobs or during their spare time. She is always looking to make new friends and involve herself in activities wherever she is welcome.