*** Aug 6, 2005 ***
There is darkness. There is pain. There is evil. These things I recognize because I am these things. I feel the movements of the trulls above me. It has been a long time and the trulls have built many things above me. It is a marvel that they have built.
I can feel the sprawl of their village...it reaches into the landscape like a hard scab that holds the flesh of the countryside together. I can feel the trulls of all kinds. The gentle innocents. The hard violent ones. Even the ancient ones like myself but younger...much younger. They are all trying to make a life in the scab.
Scabs heal. They slough off and become one more bit of dust in the earth. I am the dust. I am where all scabs end up. And I am awake again. I look farther into the land and see a closed hellmouth. I see madness, chaos and disbelief.
I am going to have fun here. The trulls do not remember, otherwise they would have kept the ancient places clean. They cannot imagine what will happen or they would still have champions and guardians in place. They will remember soon enough. I am awake and they are the ones who are sleeping.
***
Mrs. White's apartment had been converted weeks ago into an office. The phone lines and DSL connections were in place and the knick-knacks had been thinned down to a point where most people assumed the small apartment was a reception area.
Victor scratched his head at the tangle of wires behind the desk and the arcane symbols that Ian was typing on the screen. "Are you sure it will work okay? I don't know anything about how to fix these things...much less use them," said Victor.
Ian chuckled, "Come on, Victor, it's time for you to get wired! There's no shame in not knowing but I find it hard to believe that a guy as young as you hasn't had to use these since he was a kid in school."
Victor smiled uneasily. "I grew up in Europe, they aren't as advanced as the States," he lied. Ian had expressed this same sort of curiosity at Victor's discomfort before. Truth was, the technology scared Victor, and it was more obscure than black magic to him.
There was a quiet knock on the door. A young woman stood there in a white tee shirt that showed her midriff. Her tight black slacks accentuated her shapely legs, and the tiny nose stud drew attention to her very attractive face.
"Is this the place looking for the receptionist?" she asked.
Ian gracelessly stood up and tripped on the office chair rushing to greet her, but Victor deftly cut him off and extended a hand. "Pleased to meet you," he said, "My name is Victor. What's your name?"
"Henna," she said, "I am here about the job."
Ian was behind Victor making an ass of himself by waggling his eyebrows and winking at her, and she looked down in embarrassment. Victor stepped back and deliberately applied most of his 450 lbs to Ian's toes. He escorted her in and invited her to sit on the sofa where Ian hopped quickly to sit beside her.
The interview was short, and Henna was quick to assure Victor she knew about stocks, property management, computers, messages, and everything he was looking for. She had been working in the billing and customer service industry for her mother's online stocks business since she was 13. Even at 23, she was a veteran of managing volatile companies.
She left with a job, and Victor was quick to talk to Ian (who was trying to follow her out the door). "When are you going home?" asked Victor.
Ian opened his mouth and decided that he didn't want to push it. "Tonight," he replied.
***
That night there was a noise in the basement. A young figure of a girl walked slowly up the stairs. She looked around the corner from the basement stair and seeing the coast was clear, strolled out into the hallway. Her tight tee shirt was clean and white, and her dark slacks and tiny nose stud accentuated her best features.
She looked into the office and patted the electronic box. Its secrets were open to her, and she held her hand there for just a moment longer as information about the trulls of this new age flowed through her.
She smiled and closed her eyes. One bit of information interested her. Henna. A name, a phone number, a residence.
****
Henna walked around the small efficiency apartment in her workout bra and bicycle shorts. She had already slid the compact folding stair machine under the bed. She sat on the corner of the bed, drinking her spring water with one hand and clicked on the television with the other.
She was glad she had this great job. Now she could really get something accomplished. They had a sweet setup there, and she didn't think they would mind if she ran a small web business on their computer while she was doing work for them. It was only bandwidth and they had more than they needed.
She stopped flipping channels, and flipped back a couple of clicks. She had seen something that caught her eye. The channel looked like a cheesy horror flick from the 70's with huge crowds of cave people fleeing across the savannah from some unseen evil.
There were a few that stood their ground and huge misshapen horrors came and engulfed them. Henna wasn't sure why she was watching this particular program...it wasn't her usual fare of E! or VH1.
She thought it must have been the special effects. They were better than anything Lucasfilm ever produced. She didn't have a HDTV (she was saving up for it) but it was sharp and crisp.
Real. It seemed real. That was it totally. She set down the water and the remote. She approached the set and extended a hand. *This is crazy!* she thought. *This is like some sort of weird movie.*
As her fingers touched the screen and felt only hard glass, her skin stopped prickling. She breathed again (not realizing until just then she had been holding her breath). She stood up.
As she turned around, she saw the young girl sitting on the corner of the bed with the 3lb free weight in one hand and the bottle of water in the other. She smiled at her and dentist-white teeth flashed an evil smile.
Henna barely registered that she was seeing herself before the 3lb weight smacked her in the face, and she didn't get to see the end of the movie. Ever again.
The doppelganger stood over Henna's slim form, thankful that it would not have to clean up blood. Not that it minded cleaning up blood, it's just that lots of blood led to embarassing questions. She dragged the fit body into the bathroom and proceded to insert the real jewelry where only the appearance had been before. Over the next few hours the colorful tattoos faded from the tan skin and appeared on the skin of the clone.
She was a good one. The markings that made her unique had power. She especially liked the "sensual" rune on her lower back. It felt warm and sexy. The rings and baubles each held memories and skills. The ring in her belly button gave her knowledge of movements and combat. The stud in her nose told her stories of places and the thrulls that inhabited them.
The shamans had worn such things. Earplugs and tattoos of power made them unique and guarded their selves against the evil. But they were applied with care, with prayer and with protection. These little things were carelessly applied. They did not protect anything. That was a change it liked.
Tomorrow it would work. It would do menial things while it scouted around. The markings and decorations would disguise it as one of the thrulls. Even the sensitive ones would not know.
When it was time the others would come. Whole armies of them would come forth from the dust and swallow this scab.
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Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
She sat there, cuddled up on her small dirty couch. Thinking. She thought a lot nowadays. The priority of thoughts was around her thinking about herself, her memories, thinking about what she had lost. But most of all she thought about where she could go on from here. She looked around her dingy apartment. Where would she go from here?
Tarix had already quit her job at the small bookshop, but she thought about keeping her job at the burger joint for the time being. *God only knows what is planned for me.*
That day at Thule’s she had felt herself very alone in the world. She realized that the more she knew who she was the more she was slipping into isolation away from it all. It seemed like she was on one side and the world was on the other side, and as an opponent she faced the world, fighting for survival.
When she woke up at Thule’s place that morning, Thule had gone off to work - to wherever he worked, he hadn’t told her yet. She found a message from him reassuring her not to worry, that the truth would come to her slowly, and to remember about their meeting next week, and for her to go work at the burger joint for the time being.
She had come home and taken leave off work for two days. It felt that there was too much for her to consider that she wouldn’t be able to work.
Still sitting on the couch, Tarix closed her eyes and sleep enclosed around her, and she slipped into a dream...
Tarix looked around, somewhat used to the darkness of her dreams now. She was surprised to find out that her surroundings were actually quite bright. It seemed as if someone had taken buckets of paint and splashed it around her. Her surroundings were a colour of turquoise, bright orange, pink and yellow. She didn’t recognize where she was or what she was doing there.
She expected the twins to appear, but they were nowhere in sight. She turned around and found no one, not a person or thing in sight. She looked around again and suddenly found herself facing directly in front of a mirror. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw a reflection of a girl, in mid twenties, with a red skirt and a white top and messy blonde hair over that top. Just as she remembered herself before she had gone asleep.
She kept looking at the mirror, finding nothing wrong with the image shown in it. Then all of a sudden, there was a noise, a scream, that engulfed her. Soon she felt she couldn’t take it any more and saw that the mirror in front of her had started to crack.
Just as the scream had begun, it stopped, cracking the mirror entirely. The glass shards flew at Tarix and on reflex she covered her face with her arms, feeling a few shards cutting her arms. Putting her arms down to examine them, she found that there was quite a large cut on her right hand. She looked to where the mirror was once standing, and was surprised to still see her reflection in it.
Only now the reflection was different. The Tarix in the mirror was dressed the same way, only she had an accusing glare pointed at the real Tarix. She stood their staring and suddenly lifted her arm and pointed at her.
“It’s you. You KNOW!!!” the image said. “YOU KNOW!!!”
After that there was silence and that was what awoke Tarix.
***
In New York, she woke up too. Gasping for breath she looked around her hotel room to find everything was untouched.
*On my god, she is starting to recall,* she thought. *It’s time I made a little trip to good ol’ L.A.*
She got up and made a call to book a seat on a flight, and started to pack her things.
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
Sunday 28th August 7:35pm
The last dying rays of sunlight filtered through L.A.'s smoggy atmosphere to leave blood red streaks of light across the city. One of those fingers of light reached into Xavier's motel room and turned his world red. Xavier whirled furiously to stride past his computer as it laboured to find him the final pieces of the puzzle.
He found the two women easily enough; the dark skinned one was another vampire hunter, there’d even been talk of a potential invite but her cohort had put a stop to that. *First fae, now living in the same building as a demon; not much farther for her to fall...* The Asian woman was the owner of that little magic shop 'XY' and had been seen with Sorrow while he'd been gallivanting around Europe that summer. It was all falling into place, the ease with which Sorrow had known where Victor lived, the stringent precautions he'd been forced to work with. *You know him don't you, you're best buddies, your girlfriend lives in the same building.*
A low growl filled Xavier’s throat and he lashed out, flinging a chair across the room. His burns itched; it wouldn't have been this way...
Xavier watched as a demon in human guise rammed his head towards his brother's chest. With mounting horror he saw the blood trickle from Frank's chest and then the demon like some humanoid bull drove the pair of them towards the a concrete pillar.
The sickening crunch of a collapsing ribcage sounded over the screams of the terrified shoppers.
Frank's mouth filled with blood and Xavier watched the demon sling the body like a sack over the balcony to fall on limply to the ground.
*No! It didn't have to be that way. Damn you Sorrow, it wouldn't have been that way. It wouldn't....* Xavier picked up the chair and turned, his voice screaming his rage and anguish, smashing the chair against the wall over and over again.
Xavier lost count of how many times he struck the wall; all he had in his hands when the knock on the door interrupted his rage was the shattered remnants of the chair back. He flung the splintered wood at the door with a curse then stalked over to it and wrenched it open.
"What!"
Suddenly confronted by Xavier’s bruised and battered countenance, the motel manager flinched from the rage in Xavier’s voice and stammered "I-I... I was wondering..." Xavier reached out and gripped the man’s throat then squeezed slowly.
"Go away. You come back and I'll..." Xavier squeezed harder and watched as the man's face began to turn purple. Xavier pushed him away. "You'll get paid but if you come back..."
The manager met Xavier’s glare and swallowed painfully. Rubbing at his bruised throat he scrambled away. Xavier’s harsh laugh followed him then was cut off by the door slamming. Xavier walked back into the room, his anger momentarily assuaged by the manager’s foolishness. He looked to his computer and was surprised to see the info he wanted was back. He read over it. *Paying her off too?* XY had been trashed a few months ago. No doubt the insurance had covered most of the costs but the demon's foundation - *Legitimate businessman!* - had also made payments to meet its refurbishment. *So the little tramp is getting paid by Victor.* Xavier remembered how the girl had fussed over Sorrow on the way back from her little trinket shop. *Is that what he does for you? Keeps your little whore in business?*
It wasn't enough; he could hear the damn Huntmasters now. 'Legitimate use of Authority... No actual interference in the hunt... All aid requested was given.' Oh they'd watch him for a while but they wouldn't do anything. Xavier's fist struck the desktop. They wouldn't care. It wouldn't matter to them that Frank had died; he wasn't even a Hunter, what would it matter if Sorrow had got him killed?
Xavier turned to his computer. He was sure, even with his resources depleted as they were, he could deal with Victor but without help he couldn’t deal with Sorrow as well. And there would be no help from the Society, not for what he had in mind. Xavier began to type. *There are other societies though, other hunters. You are going to pay, Sorrow. Oh, how you will pay!*
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
Monday, August 29, 2005
Derek’s Office – Lunch
Derek was on his chair playing around with his pen. Kendrick entered his office with a tired look on his face.
“Hey. Did you have lunch?” Derek asked.
“Yup. How about you?” Kendrick answered.
“Nah, not hungry," Derek replied.
There was a pause for a minute. It looked like they had nothing to talk about.
Finally Kendrick opened his mouth. “Look. We have a new party tonight.”
Derek, confused, said, “Party? Like… Fraternity? Birthday?” Kendrick replied, “No. We have a new employee who is going to work with us…” Kendrick gave Derek an “O…K?” look and pet him on his shoulder.
Alley - Night
A very dark silent dream. In Derek's point of view, there were plenty of ghosts staring at him.
Derek’s Office – Night
Derek woke up with a shock.
“Whoa! You startled me there, bud!” Kendrick said.
“What do you want?” Derek, just starting to wake up, said rudely.
“Whoa! I don’t want anything. I just came to you to introduce our new part-nah,” Kendrick replied sarcastically.
Behind the door was a beautiful looking woman around her mid-twenties. Her name was Elaine Street.
“Hi, nice to meet you,” Derek said, tiredly rubbing his face.
“Hi,” replied Elaine.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Street - Night
In this dangerous part of L.A., cops are surrounded making an arrest. Derek and Elaine walked on the street. Kendrick must have been busy with a different case.
“So, why are we walking around here?” Derek said.
“Well, we happen to have no car, and they are very busy.” Elaine replied.
“Well, we could have borrowed their car, ya know,” Derek responded.
They were on their way to the dark alley.
“Man, I don’t feel good when I am here,” Derek said uncomfortably.
She gave him the concerned look, “Huh?”
“It’s a long story…” Derek replied.
Derek continued walking while Elaine stood there with an uncomfortable, suspicious look on her face.
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
***Tuesday 30th August, 2005...02:34am***
Reah sat slumped in the back seat of the police car staring vacantly out into the night streets that casually passed by.
Her head was still a rampage of thoughts trying to overthrow each other, but it had now become more of a muted buzz.
A familiar building came into view, slowed, then stayed there. The numbers 1318 were standing in plain view.
Reah didn’t register her name being called from the front seat and continued to just stare out and study the building.
“Reanna? Reanna!” Someone was shaking her and she lifted her head off the glass to turn about and found it to be Cameron leaning over from the driver's seat. His partner was peering around the edge of his chair too to stare at her.
“Is this where you live?” Cameron nodded to the building.
Reah gazed back out and peered up the steps to the front entrance. “Yes,” she breathed, barely able to believe her own words, let alone what she was seeing.
Cameron and his partner exchanged glances before the driver's side door swung open and Cameron stepped out and moved around to Reah’s door.
He opened it carefully and squatted down to try and gain Reah’s attention that was still stuck in a daze on the building.
“Reanna. Are you going to come out?”
Reah stared back at him for minutes before finally lifting a leg slowly around and placed it carefully on the concrete path as though it was going to collapse in on itself if she applied too much pressure at once.
Cameron stepped back to give her some space.
Once out she continued to stand there. *Can this be real? Was I dreaming? Am I dreaming?*
He reached out with a gentle hand to guide her, causing her head to whip around suddenly and tense at the initial sensation of something about to contact her. She relaxed when she realised it wasn’t an attack and eyed Cameron carefully as she edged away from him towards the stairs.
Cameron followed up behind and Reah turned to face him once she reached the top. Angry at first, then she softened her features.
“Um, thanks for escorting me home. You… you can go now.” She nodded, jittery, unsure of what to do, then started to turn about and open the door when he interrupted.
“It’s no problem. But I’d much rather see you get inside your apartment safe and get an icepack for your head.”
Her voice stiffened. “No, it’s all right. I don’t need your assistance, I can see to myself.”
“No! I’m seeing you inside. I have to do my job properly.”
“Look, I’ll be fine! I have enough co-ordination and sense not to fall down the stairs, break my neck and kill myself!”
He shook his head with a smile at Reah’s defensiveness. “I trust that you won't. But I’m just doing my job.”
Reah kept a stiff watch on his unwavering calmness. It was really beginning to unnerve her. It just wasn’t natural for someone to be so patient. She considered pushing him back down the stairs and making a bolt for her apartment, then rethought the consequences.
“Fine,” she conceded and turned back to the door to push it, but it didn’t budge.
He appeared at her side giving her a silent glance that she saw a multitude of hidden questions in.
She smiled at him, tilting her head and forcefully pulled on the handle. There was a click or snap of something, but nothing was broken, just forced. He smiled back and followed her in and up the stairwell.
Reah paused when she reached the top of the stairs and stared down the corridor. *Which one am I again?* she thought curiously.
He joined her again at the side and gestured forward encouragingly with his hand.
Reah mentally grumbled at his attitude and continued on at a slow and steady pace, carefully eyeing each of the individual doors to try and find one that jumped out at her.
She paused in front of one in particular and studied it sidelong before turning to face it. *211? Seems about right. Better be or I’ll have some explaining to do!* She stepped steadily up to it, peering over her shoulder at Cameron to find him still watching her, calm and expectant.
She flashed a small fake smile and mentally told him where to go before turning her attention back to the door and its handle.
Reah took a hold of it and tried turning the knob. *Locked, damn it!*
She peered back again. Cameron was watching carefully, a hint of concern on his face. *He has to be faking that!*
“Is everything all right?” he asked. “Have you remembered the right apartment?”
Reah sneered and pulled a smile back on. “No. Everything is fine.” She turned back to the door. “My room-mate…” **Sam!* “…Sam must be asleep and just locked the door.”
“Ah!” he sighed.
Reah patted her cloak and reached into pockets for her… *Shit…err.* She looked at the lock again, her eyes widened slightly with alarm but were hidden from Cameron by her turned back.
She didn’t have anything for this lock!
Her mind raced till she finally remembered the chain in her coat and carefully pulled out a portion of it keeping it well hidden still while she jingled it and played with the door's lock, then placed it back in her coat.
Grasping the handle tightly she pressed her body into it and turned her head to smile gently over her shoulder to distract Cameron’s attention while she forcefully busted the door knob creating a horrible grinding crunch noise as she twisted it then opened the door inwards, making sure to keep a hold of the knob so it wouldn’t fall to the floor.
Cameron’s forehead creased and he raised an eyebrow speculatively. “That didn’t sound too healthy.”
Reah gritted her teeth into a smile. “Oh, that’s always been a problem. We’re getting that fixed.” *At least now I will be.*
He nodded and proceeded to step inside before Reah stopped him.
“Hey! I never said you could come inside. I let you walk me up to my apartment. Your job's done here, you can leave. Now!”
He raised his eyebrows at her outright offensiveness. “Excuse me? I said I was going to make sure you got and ice pack on your head.”
“Which I’m sure I’ll be able to manage on my own without having some freak accident and killing myself! Now would you please leave!” It wasn’t a question.
He sighed. “Fine. I’ll go. Just promise me you’ll put an ice pack on the back of your head.” His eyes darted to the doorknob behind Reah’s back. “And make sure you get that fixed. You don’t want it falling off now.” He smirked knowingly over his shoulder as he turned and walked back down the corridor to the stairwell.
Reah watched his retreating back and listened to his footsteps till they faded completely and she was sure she was safe.
She let go of the door handle bracing for it to drop. Instead it just hung loosely from its fixtures, dangling off the door.
Reah closed it behind her when she was certain it wasn’t going to drop anytime soon, and could hear the rattle of the damaged lock as she did so.
Facing back to her apartment she took in the darkened interior. *How could I bloody walk in here with all this crap? What the hell was I thinking?* She pinched herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.
Everything remained. Everything right down to the last mould-covered bread slice.
*If this is real, does that mean that everything else was a dream? She knew that wasn’t true though. The doorknob was proof enough of that… but then again it could have been a stroke of extreme luck.
Reah lifted the palms of her hands to her waist and stared at the fingerless specially designed and fitted black leather gloves. That alone was proof enough that everything was as real as she feared, though she prayed that it could of all just been a dream. A very bad dream. Slowly she turned her hands over and a tear escaped, tumbling down her cheek and plunging onto the back of her gloved hand.
Some of the blood was still there. Images flashed and Reah could see her broken body sprawled on the ground, eyes glazed over and staring straight at her. They weren’t the only ones that stared, but they haunted her the most.
Another tear fell freely into her hand and rolled off its edge as she turned them back over and let them drop lifelessly to her side.
The soft leather started to creak as her hand curled tighter and tighter, fisting till she finally lashed out with rage fuelled emotions and slashed at the couch, her body following through on her arm landing her into a miserable blubbering heap on the floor.
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
Monday 29th August 8:45pm
The sun had gone down nearly an hour ago leaving the small airfield illuminated by numerous halogen lamps. The brilliant lights cast harsh shadows around the edge of the airfield. Within the safety of those shadows lurked a black Rolls Royce limousine and apart from the controllers in the tower the driver of that stately vehicle was the only person on the airfield.
In the distance could be seen the lights of a private jet as it banked to align itself with the runway. Having made its final adjustments the plane slowly descended and landed with barely a bump. It taxied smoothly to the edge of the airstrip and shut down its engine. With a soft purr the limousine glided up to the aircraft, drawing to a halt opposite its door. To any unwanted onlookers the two people who moved silently from plane to car were just two wealthy travellers, a businessman. The unnatural pallor of the two and their grace of motion however were enough to mark them as something at once more and less than human.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Since I can not completely conceal my presence in this city from my errant daughter I think we shall wait. It would be best however if you watched her rather than Tristan."
Samantha looked at her sire questioningly but he cut her off before she could speak. "Tristan is not without abilities and despite his actions to remove the demon I so graciously provided, it is entirely possible he could sense a vampire of your relative youth and as able as your are my dear I have no desire to see you test yourself against him just yet. Jade, on the other hand, should be easier to keep an eye on. She knows not of our return and will therefore not be keeping an active lookout for anything out of the ordinary. She will not sense you, unless you're extremely careless."
As Valerian lapsed into silence Samantha held herself quiet. He had been much less forgiving of her outbursts in the short time since deciding to return to L.A. She smiled a little, remembering the first time she had ridden in this limousine,. She ran her hands over the rich leather upholstery, Sam’s voice was breathy with remembered pleasure. ”Will we hunt tonight?” Valerian’s answering smile was wolfish.
Daddy's Return
Tuesday, 30th August 2005 - 2am
Hongkong Streets At Night | Introducing Actress Bai Ling As Rose
The woman's hands trembled constantly as she hurried down the garishly lit Hongkong street. The air was cool but it was more than the low temperatures that caused her to shiver. The terror rising within her was palpable and many turned to stare curiously at the pale-faced woman hurrying past them, her eyes darting around nervously. She was thin, and her coat hung from her shoulders in loose folds, engulfing her and flapping in the night breeze.
He was near, she could sense it.
The child within her told her. The child within her knew.
He was near.
She couldn't stop. She couldn't let him find her.
She should be safe here. There were people about. He couldn't hurt her if there were people about.
Why then, did this icy cold fear threaten to choke her?
Because she knew. The child knew.
He could hurt her. No one would be able to stop him.
She couldn't let him find her. She had to protect her child.
The church. Almost there. Just another two streets.
The relief that swept over her, however, was shortlived. Mere steps away from her destination, she saw him; his perfect profile illuminated by the many coloured signs hanging overhead. Her breath caught in her throat as she turned to run. It was useless. She'd forgotten how fast he could move.
"Rose..." Valerian's voice was low and vibrating with fury.
***************
"No!" Jade sat upright in bed, gasping with fright.
"Jade?" Sorrow woke up, wrapping an arm around her, his shoulders tensed and poised for signs of attack or danger. There were none. "What's wrong? You're shaking."
The fear she felt was so real. The scene had been such a familiar one; Jade had had the dream many times before. Each time, she shared Rose's terror, her anxiety, her sense of hopelessness. It was like she was there. She shuddered. In a way, she had been.
Jade leaned against Sorrow and willed the trembling to stop. He just held her, rubbing a soothing hand up and down her back. Finally, when she thought her voice could be trusted not to break, Jade spoke.
"I think Valerian is back."
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
11:30pm Monday 29th August
Idly cleaning a glass, Bob surveyed his domain. It was a slow night tonight, the weekend was over and it was mainly Bob’s regular crowd that were in tonight. A girlish giggle attracted Bob’s attention and he looked over at the couple in the corner. An artful display of Oscar winning skill had the vampire thoroughly entranced. Bob shook his head; he didn’t give out free advice and the vampire would get his blood… eventually.
As Bob was returning the glass to its place a wave of energy flowed through the bar. He met the gaze of a couple of patrons before his eyes were drawn to the opening door.
“Oh shit!” Bob whispered as he took in the newcomers. The faint blue tinge to the skin, the hairless slightly androgynous face, the somewhat strangely elongated limbs. Bob shivered in fear as he felt the anger rolling in waves off the three Myoleth.
They stalked towards the bar and Bob shrank back a little with every step they took closer.
“We seek to sheathe the praentath…”
Bob was not the only person in the bar to wince at that announcement. He was glad that whoever had deserved such an appalling death was not in the room. The Myoleth weren’t noted for restraint in the pursuit of their vengeance.
“W-Who?” He may not offer free advice but Bob knew when his continued good health was all the payment that he would receive.
“A human of the Clan ‘Ulle’. His name is Xavier.” One of the Myoleth placed a grainy photograph on the bar.
*What? Oh shit… oh fuck… I had the Huntmaster for the city in here a few nights ago and now the Myoleth want one of their Hunters?* Bob picked up the photograph and took a long look at it. No one in the bar was going to help him; none of them would care if he gave up the Hunter either. Unfortunately for Bob he’d never seen the man in the photo. He met the leader’s eyes for the first time, knowing his life could very well depend on how convincing his answer was.
“I-I’ve never seen him.”
The Myoleth looked at him for a beat.
“We will return. You will have found him.”
Bob nodded nervously as he caught a glimpse of petrified wood through blue tinged fingers. The Myoleth retrieved the photograph, turned and swept from the bar.
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
9:15am Tuesday 30th August 2005
Sorrow set down the small file and took hold of the piece of petrified wood. It would eventually form the grip of the praentath. The piece sat comfortably in his grip and was almost finished. All that remained was for Sorrow to grind out a groove along the top edge into which would sit the blade of the weapon. He picked up another tool and began to chant softly as he worked. A faint trickle of power flowed through his hands into the fossil and the backlash settled as a mild discomfort within his skull.
Half an hour later the grip was complete. Setting it aside he picked up a piece of obsidian and began to shape the black volcanic glass into the required leaf shape. The power he focused towards the emerging blade was greater and the discomfort in his skull turned to actual pain. Completing the blade took two careful hours but finally Sorrow had a single piece with razor sharp edges and a needle point.
The black glass was brittle; its fragile structure would not stand up to any real force but the praentath was not designed for battle. It was an instrument of vengeance and because of that the blade’s fragility was an asset. With the major elements of the dagger completed Sorrow began to prepare various ingredients of ritual that would invest the knife with power.
Into a small chalice he mixed various powders, herbs and crystals. When he had finished Sorrow carefully opened a cut on his forearm and allowed about a quarter pint of blood to flow into the cup. Sorrow grimaced as he bound up the wound; the D’Nethk’Quan would rapidly replace such a small amount though it would of course place additional stress on the bindings. Still, he’d need another session of T’ai Chi after he completed the ritual, if only to settle the backlash down.
Sorrow dipped a small brush into the mixture and carefully painted the hilt and blade with runes, chanting softly. Taking out eight small amethysts he set them at the corners of an imaginary box. Such an arrangement was unnecessary for the creation of the praentath but due to his drained state Sorrow would need to use stored power to complete the ritual.
Picking up the hilt and blade in either hand he held the objects within the ‘box’ and began to chant once more. The amethysts flared slightly while the pieces of the praentath floated upwards slightly then began to spiral towards each other. Sorrow’s chant reached a crescendo and the hilt and blade met in a flash of light. The completed praentath dropped into Sorrow’s waiting hands and the amethysts crumbled into dust.
The joining between blade and hilt was flawless; the painted runes had vanished as if they had never been. In Sorrow’s hands lay an instrument of murder and it knew its purpose.
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
Tuesday Night:
Victor stood in the alleyway behind Poplar Avenue and surveyed his handiwork. The metal of the dumpster was crammed deep into the stairwell that led to the basement entrance. Since that door had been broken on Monday he had boarded it up twice.
This was clearly only a temporary barricade that the clones might manage to bypass but when the load of bricks arrived tomorrow the doppelgangers would find it less convenient to use the rear entrance.
The sound of breaking glass down the alleyway caught Victor's attention. He jogged down that way to see a young woman sprinting away. Victor ran after her but lost her when she leapt over a few fences. While Victor could dive a fair horiontal distance, vertical leaps over flimsy fences weren't easy.
When he got back he realized the girl was a decoy. She had thrown a rock to distract him from guarding the basement. He could clearly see a trail in the back alley dirt leading away from the basement. His barricade had meant nothing.
*Then I stand guard. Forever if need be. But why aren't they using the inside stairs?*
(Author's Note: Pardon the crude drawing folks and its not to scale or anything, but I think that the relative positions of everything will answer Victor's question.)
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
Wednesday Night:
Victor wiped his hands on his coveralls to clean off the last of the mortar. He checked the brick barricade in the outside basement stairwell for cracks and holes. He was pretty sure it was solid.
He had lost valuable time earlier in the day when a doppelganger had tried to escape past him. They were organized and coordinated. There had been distractions aplenty. But Victor was onto that strategy and he ignored any attempts to lead him away.
They weren't at the stage of direct confrontation; whether that was because there were too few or they didn't think they could take Victor he didn't care, but he could sense them watching him carefully.
He had finished the first few feet of the wall when the creature had made its attempt to get past him. It had erupted from the basement door like water from a firehose and quickly formed into a fairly ordinary looking man: muscular, handsome and dressed in black with hair that stuck up in a strange way. Victor's blows seemed to have no effect on him and he in turn seemed unable to harm Victor through his armor.
Clearly, it was a standstill battle as the combat lengthened into close to an hour with neither side making headway. The creature morphed into a vampire form; obviously it was intended to duplicate a vampire (and a strong one at that) so Victor began to just attempt to restrain the false-man in the hopes of receiving some aid or even to get an idea of the physical weaknesses of the thing.
Many hours later, it suddenly lost cohesion and was gone. It just melted like a popped water balloon. Victor watched as it just dissolved into thin air. They could be stopped.
Now he was thinking that if they could be stopped physically they could be contained. He was contemplating calling the building supply place to have them send over some water sealant, when he saw more than heard the wall he had just built begin to shake.
It bulged out from the building as if it had been hit by a truck. The still-hardening mortar was not solid enough to hold the now-unstable structure and it folded down like a heavy curtain of stone.
A creature few have ever seen rose from behind the rubble. It was nearly twelve feet tall and warty with a nose that was big enough to inhale entire chickens. Ogre.
The monster picked up a handful of bricks and hurled them with the velocity of cannonfire. They struck Victor, knocking him several feet away. The beast smiled at his handiwork and took off at a full run. Victor tried to tried to catch up with it as it ran into the street sending cars in motion into strange new vectors as they swerved to avoid its massive form or were shoved by the monster in its escape.
Victor didn't want to leave his guard to pursue it. He called and left a message on Tash's machine to contact Galen to tell him about the ogre doppelganger. He wasn't sure it would be safe to contact Galen directly.
Victor walked back into the building and wearily walked up to his and Tash's apartment. He grabbed an axe and some rope and as an afterthought a net. He strolled back down to the basement door outside and sat on the pile of bricks.
He shouted to the door, "Two in one day. New trick, or have you been doing that for a while? I am not going away whatever you are. Now that we know about you, you will spend a lot of time teaching me your tricks. One or two might get past me but they won't be around for long. I am definitely not going away."
Victor begain rigging the net in the old gladiator fashion and tied the rope so that he could pull it as a trip wire around the back alleyway. Once he had made his preparations, he hoisted his axe and planted his feet and waitied.
That morning after glow
***** Thursday, September 1, 2005 7 am *****
“Mmmm,” Daye stretched languidly under the caress of Drew’s hand on her back and shoulders. “That’s nice,” she purred. It was early morning and Daye was taking a much needed morning off to spend with her man. They’d hardly seen each other more than a half dozen times since the party at Bibliophile. The first week Daye had spent beginning to plan and repair the shop, while Drew had been busy writing up lesson plans and preparing for the start of the fall semester at the University. Half the time when they tried to make plans, their schedules clashed. Frustrated and determined to get things back on track, Drew had all but carried Daye out of the shop the previous evening to have dinner with her at his place. She’d protested half heartedly, laughing when he made a show of turning off his phone and stashing her cell at the bottom of one of his dresser drawers.
Lying cuddled in Drew’s arms while he did deliciously wicked things to her body, Daye decided he’d had the right idea in all but kidnapping her. This was exactly what she’d needed after all the stress of the remodel. Unfortunately, they couldn’t stay like this all day. Drew had a meeting after lunch with the head of the Psychology department; ostensibly his boss as Paranormal Studies fell under that domain in the Universities hierarchy. Daye had work to do to. Sighing, she turned over, cuddling up against Drew and lazily stroking his bare chest.
“I wish it wasn’t morning,” she said wistfully, accepting Drew’s hungry kiss. “But, I fear the sun has come up.”
Drew ignored her comment, trailing kisses over her cheeks and down her throat.
“Drew?” Daye’s voice had grown husky. Drew continued his leisurely exploration and Daye glanced out the window, noting that the sky was still rosy pink with dawn. What would it hurt to stay in bed just a little bit longer?
***
Daye straightened Drew’s crooked tie and brushed a light kiss across his mouth, before leaning back to look him over. Drew cocked an eyebrow at her inspection.
“So,” he said, “do I look okay?”
“Scrumptious,” Daye replied, smiling wickedly.
“Stop that,” he admonished, “or I’ll never get to my meeting. In which case, I’ll lose my job and end up a penniless street person with a shopping cart full of old electronics and bad teeth.”
Daye laughed at the ridiculous picture his words painted. She followed Drew out into the living room, where his briefcase sat on the table beneath Daye’s crumpled skirt. Drew picked up the skirt and handed it to her, smirking. Daye shrugged, accepting the garment and scooping to pick up her other clothing from where it was scattered about the room.
“So, what are you going to do?” Drew asked.
Daye shrugged. “I’ll probably shower, get dressed and go grab a bite to eat before I head for the shop. The delivery men will be in around two with the tables and chairs. After we get everything set up, I need to finish up the invoices and send everything off to London. I should actually be done early tonight.”
Drew grinned, coming over to Daye and pulling her to him. “Good,” he said, kissing her firmly before letting her go. “I’ll meet you at your place around 6 or so, okay?”
Daye nodded. “Two nights in a row?” she asked, a teasing tone in her voice. “You sure that’s not more than you can handle, big boy?”
Drew laughed. “Try me, sweetheart,” he replied.
Daye kissed him once more and then followed him to the front door. Once he was gone, she locked up behind him and headed for the shower, whistling, a satisfied smile wreathing her face.
Secrets Revealed
Monday, 29th August 2005 - 11pm
Introducing Samuel L Jackson as Xavier & Zhang Ziyi as Samantha
The Alley Motel was not an establishment that expected long term visitors. It was, however, a place that wasn't overtly selective in its clientile, nor did its staff ask too many questions, even in the most extreme circumstances.
The manager's hand shook and he swallowed nervously as he spotted the tall black man walking towards the dingy reception. The putrid purple bruises on his neck were a painful reminder of the last encounter he had had with this particular visitor. Forcing himself to keep his eyes down, the manager busied himself with the sheaf of papers in front of him, hardly daring to breath as Xavier stalked past him to the exit.
For his part, Xavier barely remembered the man cowering behind him. He'd spent the day digging up as much as he could on that little Asian whore Sorrow was shacking up with and had found some very interesting info.
Jadyn Lee. Adopted. Family killed about four years ago. Throats ripped out.
*Looks like Mr Huntmaster's girlfriend isn't all sugar and spice and everything nice. Let's hope tonight's little expedition to Poplar explains where she fits into his world of demon-loving bullshit.*
**********
Sam smooth the last strands of her hair back into place and let her demonic visage slip behind the mask of her 'humanity'. She smiled down at the corpse of the young man whose luck had been anything but good and paused, then dipped a finger into the small pool of blood that spread from his torn throat. Raising the finger to her lips, her cheeks briefly hollowed as she sucked the blood into her mouth. "You really were delicious."
Sam slowly closed the door behind her as she walked out of the apartment. Valerian was less forgiving of her foibles now they were in L.A. and he required her to feed quickly and then spend the rest of the night watching his daughter. Sam was in no mood to test her Sire. Valerian's powers far outstripped her own and even the most moderate punishment had set her weeping like a child.
*Time to go baby-sit...*
**********
Xavier watched cynically as Jade walked up the street, talking gaily with a tall Asian man whom he hadn't seen before. *Mr Huntmaster evidently has problems keeping his bitch's attention all to himself... She's probably fucking the chink right under his nose without him knowing it.* Xavier snorted, enjoying the little fantasy about Sorrow being made a fool.
Jade hugged the stranger goodbye and Xavier slide out of the van, debating if he should risk entering the apartment block. It was then he saw the woman standing in the shadows, looking at him. His gaze narrowed and, with a quick glance to ensure that Jade was out of sight, Xavier crossed the distance separating the both of them.
*Demon? Vampire?* Xavier wasn't too sure but he'd always trusted his gut when it came to the hunt and his gut was telling him that the creature standing before him was not human. Even if it'd been wrong, he seldom left any survivors so no official complaint had ever been lodged. He glared down at the petite Asian... *Woman,* he decided, for lack of a better word, and found her staring back at him, a knowing smirk on her face.
"Who the hell are you, what the hell are you doing here and why the hell are you watching me?"
"You have an interest in the girl?" This man's eyes had tracked Jade all the way into building. "She is of some interest to me too." He was a hunter of some sort. The sense of it fairly rolled off of him along with some great unfocused anger. She'd need to be careful. First to get out of the confrontation with her existence and also to avoid giving away Valerian. Hunters were a mere irritant to him but he wouldn't be pleased if she revealed his presence in L.A.
Xavier frowned. He knew he was being given the runaround and it didn't sit well with him. "Look... lady," he sneered, "or whatever the hell you are. I don't give a damn if your interest is in the girl or if it's drinking piss out of a teapot. So unless you've got something to tell me, get the fuck out of my face. I don't have the time to screw around with chink tarts."
His deliberate attempt to antagonise worked. As Xavier turned his back to walk back towards Poplar, Sam pounced, fangs bared, hissing in fury. Quick as lightning he whirled around, knives drawn. She saw the glint of the metal and stopped dead, a mere breath from the blades, her shoulders heaving with both anger and relief. Another inch more and she'd have impaled herself, straight through the heart.
"Ah. Vampire." Xavier took a menacing step forward, tauntingly twisting the knives so that they gleamed in the moonlight. Sam moved back cautiously. "What does a vampire want with our Miss Lee anyway?"
*Calm...* The knives gleamed but it was only moonlight. *Looks like Tristy hasn't handed that little secret out then." Knives couldn't kill her, they could hurt her but it was only pain. She was a vampire, pain was... nice. This hunter needed taking down a peg or two. So what if she was only a fledgling? Her sire was an Elder and he'd taught her a trick or two. She stepped into Xavier, let the blades whisper over her skin and smiled.
Xavier didn't recoil, a vampire's antics neither surprised nor shocked him but when her hands blurred into his stomach and knocked him down, he gasped not only for air. "I wonder what you taste like? Maybe I'll keep you around for a while... A big strong man like you might last a few days..."
*Stupid! Should never have let her get that close!* Xavier got to his feet quickly and put a little distance between them. His hand slipped into a pocket and wrapped round a vial of holy water. "I never bothered much with vampires, they're a dime a dozen and you die too easy." He brought his hand out of the pocket but concealed the vial from her view. If she rushed him again she'd get a face of holy water and then he'd see if one of his knives could reach her spine.
Sam saw light glint of something in the man's hand. *Holy water I bet. Now why would he be interested in Jadyn and be carrying holy water?* "You are interested in Jade. Unfortunately I can't allow you to harm her. Though I'm afraid to say you'll have more luck with the knives than with that," she gestured towards the vial in his hand, "despite what you may believe."
*What the? Does she mean on her or Jade?* "The little whore is of no interest to me, other than she spreads her legs for the local Huntmaster."
"Ah well, it'd be no use on Tristan either," Sam smiled. This hunter was after Tristan and Jade would probably get caught in the fallout. Valerian would probably never find out. Maybe then her sire would spend more time teaching her what she wanted to know instead of obsessing over his daughter. "Tristan exorcised his demon a few months back; Jadyn can't do the same but she doesn't suffer from our frailties."
*The cow...*
"What?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. Am I going too fast for you? Jade is a partial vampire. Tristan was possessed by a vampire demon until he exorcised it a couple of months ago. Neither of them are vulnerable to the usual anti-vamp measures - Tristan because he's no longer possesed, Jade because, unlike the rest of us, she isn't an 'unnatural monster'."
*God, this guy is stupid, maybe I should just kill him.*
Xavier saw the vampire's eyes narrow. "You, on the other hand, are an 'unnatural monster'." He raised the vial of holy water. "Get out of here before I melt your face and then rip your spine out through your throat!"
Sam snarled but held herself back. Killing the arrogant bastard wouldn't benefit her. *I could always wait till he takes Valerian's darling children out before I have him for dinner anyway.* "Fine! Have it your way," she pouted before flouncing off, leaving Xavier behind deep in thought.
*Well well... Jade is a 'partial vampire'. Whatever that means? I'm sure there are people who would be very interested in that fact... Like the Society...*
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
Monday, 29th August 2005 – 9:30am
Tash luxuriated in the feel of the sheets on her skin. She stretched, her glance only pausing briefly at the patches of smooth skin where before had been knotted scars. She was getting used to her 'new' skin, but still wasn't entirely comfortable with it.
Pushing off the thin sheet that was all she needed in the warm summer nights, Tash rose gracefully and padded out to the lounge room to make her morning coffee. She could still taste the lingering hint of Victor from when he'd kissed her this morning before he left. He'd been worried about her, but the effects of her brush with the entity linked to Henna seemed to have worn off. They had some work ahead of them, though. Much needed to be done, and much to be learned before they could deal with the threat they faced. Tash had to trust that Galen's organisation ‘Majestic’ was taking care of the bulk of the existing doubles, but what about the creature itself?
She sighed in unison with the kettle as it boiled and tried to clear her mind as she poured the water into the coffee plunger. The aroma of coffee rose to fill her nostrils and she breathed it in. "Ahh, that's what a girl needs first thing."
Bunniko sat in the lobby of Narcosis waiting for the fun to start. *Where is that girl? It’s been days… I can’t start this without my distraction.* Bunniko looked around the room. “No one here to kill.” *That’s right, things die when I get bored.*
*Wait. I can’t do that yet.* Bunniko opened her backpack. “I got to find something to do.”
Digging around the pack she pulled out a book. “Ok Alice, where were we? The tea party I think.” Opening the book Bunniko noticed a small paper fall from the pages. “What’s this?” She picked it up. “Oh. Victor’s card. Hmm. He’s always fun – let’s see what he’s up to.”
Tash cradled the coffee mug in her hands and sipped the heavenly concoction. Tendrils of steam rose through her sinuses and cleared her brain, while the hot liquid coursed through her system. Now she could start to think.
Doppelgangers, she figured. Today she should try to find out as much as she could about them. Where to start, though? She knew she could recognise one, but short of roaming the streets she didn't know how she'd go about tracking them. And she didn't fancy making her presence known to Galen's workmates. And...
"Oh, God! Sam." Coffee slopped over the edge of the mug, scalding her wrist slightly as she sat bolt upright. She still had to find Sam. The memories from the clone were a little confused, but Sam had seemed really disturbed. But where to start looking for him? Ok, so roam the streets looking for replacement people and for Sam. Great plan for the day…
Finally her brain registered the phone. Putting the mug down, she stood and reached for the shrilly ringing instrument. "Hello?" she said distractedly.
Bunniko paused for a moment at the strange voice on the line. This wasn't Victor. Maybe he had a maid? "Hello. Is Victor there?"
"No..." Tash frowned at the unfamiliar voice and put on her best phone manner. "Who may I say is calling?"
"Hmm." Click. Bunniko quickly hung up the phone. "That’s right, he said he lives with people." She closed the cell phone. "Now what will I do?"
Bunniko looked around the empty lobby. "We don’t open for hours. I’m going to go crazy just sitting here."
Tash pulled the handset away from her ear and stared at it for a second before replacing it on the wall mounting. The caller ID showed a mobile number and Tash quickly scribbled it down. Putting the paper aside she resolved to take it to Victor when she went out, to see if he recognised it.
She settled back down on her seat and resumed her morning coffee ritual.
Bunniko sat there looking around. "La, la, la, la. Ok, now I’m really bored. Oh, why not?” She opened her phone and hit redial.
Tash eyed the phone warily as it rang again. Putting the mug down once more, she rose and inspected the incoming number. Surprise, surprise. Same one. *Well, maybe this time she'll talk to me.*
"Hello?" Tash answered it, sounding rather less distracted than last time.
“Hi. I’m an old friend of Victor. Have you seen him today?”
‘Old friend.’ They were the words Victor always used to describe someone who'd known him from way back. And his version of 'way back' was far more than usual. And not all of them were all that friendly, either. *Or it may be a human acquaintance who doesn't know he's a demon, too. It's not always about monsters, Tash,* she told herself.
"I can leave a message for him, if you like," Tash kept her tone professional. "Who shall I say is calling?"
"This is Alice. Um, the last time I saw him he was wounded. Is he ok now?"
Wounded? The last time Victor was wounded was from Xavier... But Alice? Hadn't Victor said the 'old friend' who had helped him was called Bunniko? Though that did sound more like a nickname, now that she thought about it. "Uh," Tash began, not sure how much to say, "Yeah, he's fine. I'm sorry, Alice, he did mention an old friend helped him recently. But he called you by a different name."
"Oh, did he?" *I am so going to kick his ass.* "Was it Bun?"
"Well, Bunniko, I think. But yeah," Tash replied while thinking indignantly, *Bun? Bun?? Hmph! Him and his 'old friends'.*
"Look," Tash continued, "He told me a little," *A very little,* "about what you did to help him. And I'd like to add my thanks to his. He means a lot to me. We're engaged to be married, you see." There. Let 'Bun' stick that in her pipe and smoke it.
"Oh, did he call me that? Hehe." * DEAD! HE IS SO VERY DEAD. I’m going to stick a lantern up his...*
"Married, did you say? Well, good for him." *I won’t need to kill him, he’s already dead.*
"So I guess you know him really well?" Bunniko finished.
Tash just had to chuckle. "Yeah, you could say that. Uh, I guess you've probably known him for longer than I have, though." Tash bit her lip. If this was an 'old friend' the way Talhu was, trying to get Victor back into the old ways... "I don't know if you realise it, but he's somewhat different to how he used to be."
"He told me, hun. He's a good boy now. Listen hun, I’m kinda bored - would you like to go out for some brunch?"
"Brunch?" Tash's eyebrows rose. Well, she needed to get out and about anyway... and she'd have to stop and eat anyway... and she might find out some interesting stuff from this Alice/Bunniko woman - or whatever she turned out to be.
"Sure, why not? Anywhere in mind?"
"Anywhere you like. I’m buying."
*****
Tash approached the streetside café, looking for a woman who fit the description Alice had given her. There, sitting at a table outside enjoying the morning sun - that just had to be her.
As she drew closer, she was certain she had the right one. The aura was most certainly not human. Patterns of demonic energy flowed throughout Alice's aura, and there were plenty of aggressive colours in there. But not much by way of darkness, Tash noted with relief.
She held out a hand firmly, "Hi, Alice. I'm Tash."
Alice hopped up from the table. "Hi dear." *Well, that explains a lot.* "Have a seat, hun. So you’re Vic’s bride to be."
Tash knew it was cheating, but she didn't care. Especially now that she was 100 per cent sure Alice was a demon. So she let her barriers down enough to capture what she could, and was rewarded almost instantly. *Explains what, I wonder?* she thought.
"Yes," Tash smiled as she sat across from the demoness. "Though we haven't set a date yet."
She smiled at the waiter as he approached with menus and took one in her gloved hands. "Thanks," she murmured.
Tash ordered a coffee - Alice already had a drink in front of her - and the waiter left them to peruse the menu. Tash quickly made her decision and laid the menu down, scrutinising the figure opposite her as Alice scanned her own menu.
"So how far back do you and 'Vic' go?" she asked.
Alice looked over the menu. *Meat, meat, meat. Grr, where are their salads?* "I’ve known Vic for a long time now, but I lost touch with him some time ago. So how well do you know him?"
Tash frowned at Alice's vague answer. "I think I can safely say that I know him inside and out," she said with a strange look in her eye. "But if you haven't seen him for a while, well, like I said he's different now. I know he's told you, and I get the feeling that as," she paused, aware that she was in a public place, "’people’ like yourself go, you aren't that bad. But if you try to get him into anything like the old days I won't take kindly to it. Just so we're clear."
*Mouthy little… Knife to the eye… No, no. Victor’s girlfriend.* Alice put her menu down on top of Tash's. "Yes he told me. No, I’m not here to get Vic into anything. Just working on some things."
A strong impression came from Alice when she mentioned her work. It was so vivid that Tash could almost 'see' it. Alice, on the phone, holding an ornate ring. The ring captures all her attention. She spins it, watching the light glint from it. Then an incredible sense of hate and anger washed over Tash and she had the notion of Alice squeezing the ring, distorting its shape.
Tash blinked, aware that Alice was looking at her a little strangely. Her heart was racing with the left over fury and she fiddled with her cutlery. She breathed a sigh of relief when her coffee showed up, saving her from the awkward moment. She smiled her thanks to the waiter and ordered garlic scallops then turned to Alice, waiting for the demon to order.
"I’ll have a Caesar salad – no bacon - and some more apple juice, hun." Alice looked at the stunned woman. *You can read me, can’t you?* Alice tried to project her thoughts to Tash.
Tash feigned interest in her coffee and took a long sip of the hot liquid to cover her consternation. When she put the cup back down her features were suitably neutral. Ignoring the thought directed at her, Tash went back to the last thing Alice had said, and queried, "And what things do you work on, then, if I may ask?"
"I work for some... demanding people and..." Alice stopped, looked around and leaned toward Tash. "We can’t get into that now. It’s not safe here." Alice pulled back, "So where are you from?"
Alice's fear was palpable, and Tash had long ago learned that if a demon feared something, then it was worth being afraid of.
So she nodded once before saying, "Oh, I was born here in the States." She was damned if she was going to tell every casual demonic acquaintance her home town. "But I'm curious about how you met Victor. He doesn't like to dwell on the old days much," Tash pressed. *And the memories of being Victor are growing too faint to pick you out from the crowd,* she added mentally.
"Dear, maybe we should skip brunch. Let’s go some where more private."
Tash looked around her at the tables filling up with the early lunch crowd. Then she eyed Alice. She sensed no evil intent. "Well, I'd like to eat first," said Tash, ever mindful of her stomach's growling. "I skipped breakfast this morning. But where do you suggest?"
"My place is out. Anywhere you feel safe, I guess. But we can eat first."
Later, with a contentedly full stomach, Tash offered for Alice to ride behind her on the bike, an offer that Alice seemed to accept gladly. Riding down the street, Tash thought she was holding her waist just a little too tightly, but put it down to nerves.
At Poplar, Tash ushered Alice into the ground floor office, not wanting to take the demon to her actual flat. "Excuse the mess," Tash apologised as she moved aside the debris from yesterday's fight with the Henna clone and gestured to a chair. Settling into one herself, Tash leaned back. "Now, where were we? Oh, yes. Victor." Tash flashed a row of white teeth at Alice.
Alice's smile faded away. "Victor is in a lot of trouble. I don’t know who Vic has to help him but I’m not going to let them kill him. I take it you know about the hunter after him?"
Tash's expression darkened, "Oh, yes. Very much so." Her head turned to gaze into the distance, as though the wall wasn't there. "He's still out there somewhere, and I'm sure he hasn't forgotten about Victor."
"He didn’t. He called in for backup. Now Victor has a real hunter looking for him. Lucky for him though, they called me first."
Tash said nothing, but raised an eyebrow quizzically and gestured as if to say, "Go on."
“Now he has The Order of Turaka after him." Alice pulled from her pocket a damaged ornate ring and gave it to Tash. "It seems a man by the name of Xavier called them in to kill someone named Sorrow and set Victor up for a trap."
An involuntary tic made Tash's eye twitch for a second as she took the ring in her gloved hand. It was the one she'd seen only minutes before in Alice's mind. Looking up from the ring to Alice's face, she scowled, "That damn Xavier. Why won't he just get the hint and leave Victor alone?" She gazed at the ring for another moment before handing it back to Alice. "I can't say I've heard of this Order of Turaka, but I gather they aren't nice people to have on your tail." She cocked her head. "Are you telling me that you got the 'assignment'?"
"I’m only one of three I’m afraid. If I don’t finish my ‘assignment’ Ill be next. However, I don’t intend to do this job. I took it so I can help Vic."
Tash lowered her head into her hands. "Oh, God. It's Sorrow and Ulle all over again..." She looked up sharply. "And what about Sorrow? Do you intend to fulfill any of this contract?" Tash held her senses at full alert, ready for any sign of a lie.
"You know the guy? No, I’m part of the trap." Alice got up and looked around the room. "If you know where I can find him maybe I can help him out too."
Tash hesitated. Alice's words felt sincere, and her aura didn't flare. But she was reluctant to give out information on her friends. "Yes, I know Sorrow. He was the one who warned Victor about Xavier." Tash decided now was not the time to get into the whole story behind that. Instead she regarded Alice thoughtfully. "And you're risking your own life to help Victor. Again. How do you plan to survive your own Order?"
"Survive? Probably not going to, but I know things that can help me. Look, I don’t know how long I have before the others get here. Do you know where I can find Sorrow and Vic?"
"To be honest, I'm not sure right now where either of them are. I presume Victor's in his office here. Sorrow," Tash shrugged, "could be anywhere. He comes and goes."
"Sorrow lives here too?" Alice yelled, then dashed to the window. Looking out, she scanned the street while pulling her knife from a concealed sheath. "I don't see him."
Tash barely had time to think. The second she saw the knife appear she was on her feet, gun in hand. For now, it was pointed at the floor, but that could change quickly. In a low voice, she said, "You've got one second to explain. Who are you looking for, and why?"
"I don’t think Danta had time to get here yet, but if your friend Sorrow lives here we aren’t safe. Danta has a way of dropping buildings to get his mark." Alice put her knife away to ease Tash’s mood.
"Well, Sorrow doesn't exactly live here... but he does visit from time to time." Tash slipped her gun back into the shoulder holster. "Tell you what, why don't we go upstairs and see if Victor's in? We can tell him about this new problem." *And won't that just make his day?*
“No, I need to go find Danta. You go tell Vic and Sorrow to look out for a man with blacked out eyes.” Alice gathered up her backpack and headed for the door. "If I don’t see you again it was nice to meet Victor's love."
Tash had no time to reply before Alice left, shutting the door behind her. It was ironic that this demon was doing what Tash had wanted Sorrow to do when Xavier first came after Victor. Alice was defying her Order to protect Victor. And yet, Tash found she felt worse about Alice’s sacrifice than she had about Sorrow’s ‘betrayal’. *Damn, I hate it when he’s right.*
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
Monday, 29th August 2005 - Noon
Victor had cleaned up most of the packing material and had re-crated most of the antiquities. Several loads of trash had made their way down to the dumpster as well. He surveyed the neat stacks of boxes and wondered, *Now that I have it all ready to go who is going to do that eBay thing Henna was talking about?* Victor looked over his shoulder at the computer sitting on his desk. Its monocular stare made Victor cringe in fright. *Maybe Tash could help...*
Tash stuck her head in the open door of Victor's office. "Hi, sexy," she smiled broadly at Victor. Moving into the room she pushed the door closed with her foot and melted into his arms. "Hmm," she sighed.
Victor was pleasantly surprised that she was here and not working out, but he wasn't going to argue. "Hey yourself, sexy." He took a shuffle step to one side where the computer couldn't see him, "What have you been up to all day?"
"Funny you should ask... I've just been having a chat with one of your 'old friends'," Tash grinned evilly. "Alice. Though I think you know her better as 'Bun'." She gave him a playful jab in the ribs as she spoke his pet name for the demoness.
"But it wasn't all about clothes and makeup," Tash's tone grew serious, and she decided to jump right into it. "Apparently Xavier has contacted something called the Order of Turaka to kill Sorrow and trap you. There are three of them after you two... but Alice is one of them, and is defying them to help you." She stopped and looked at her lover. Such a small number of words, it seemed, to convey so terrible a thing.
Victor looked at her with a blank expression., "Is that all? No comet headed towards the Earth? Or an earthquake? Tsunami, maybe? It seems as if everyone has decided to get in on the act." He hugged her close and held her for a second. "We'll get through it. I have a feeling this isn't over... not by a long shot."
A long silence followed where the two of them let their minds wander in the moment. "Let's go out on a date," Victor said out of the blue, "We might not get another chance for a while."
Tash blinked. "I tell you you've got more assassins on your tail and you want to go out on a date?" She felt laughter bubble up inside her. "Last time you went off and hid. But no," she grabbed onto him tightly before he could rethink, "I mean yes. No, don't change your mind. Yes, I'd love to go out somewhere."
Victor smiled at her confusion. "Last time you and I were both confused. But I want to enjoy every moment with you. I would not have asked you to marry me if I didn't want to spend my life with you. Hiding and running isn't living, it’s surviving. Besides, this isn't my usual pattern. I defy them to predict it."
Tash chuckled and squeezed Victor, planting a kiss on his cheek. "Love, I was you for a few days, and if I can't predict you, what hope do those schmucks have?" She kissed him again, properly this time. As they pulled apart Tash whispered huskily, “You know, we could always start the date early."
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
Tuesday, 30th August 2005 – 8am
The room was dark and silent as Reah sat, hugging her knees to her chest in a hidden corner of her bedroom staring wide eyed at the life she tried to recall.
Clothes, stakes, her old cougar magnum…her bike tucked just inside the open walk-in wardrobe door with the front wheel jutting out. Her bed…*My bed…* had sheets all twisted and unmade. One pillow balanced on the very rim of the bed while the other lay not far in front of her on the floor.
Sleep was far from tempting her. As far as she was concerned, this was a dream and she wanted to wake up… Now!
In her apartment, Tash peeled her eyes open as morning sunlight stabbed through the window and played on her face. She rolled over to find Victor's half of the bed already empty and she sighed. Flopping back on the mattress, she waited for her brain to kick into gear.
When she and Victor had finally crawled home after a wonderful night out, she'd willed herself to wake early. Why was that, again?
Oh, yes... She'd been trying Sam and Reah's apartment and had been getting no answer. *So let's try early, before Reah leaves for work.*
A short time later, dressed and with coffee in her, Tash headed towards apartment #211. She frowned at the door, with its lock completely smashed. No sound came from within.
"Reah, are you in there? You okay?" Tash called as she knocked loudly on the door. She tensed, ready to burst in if she heard or sensed anything untoward. It felt quiet in there, *...but you can't be too careful.*
Reah sat still in her corner. Somewhere in the far off distance, something banged and called urgently, but she chose to ignore it. The darkness kept her hidden, safe, secure.
She wished she wasn’t here. She didn’t belong here. Not any more. If she ignored the world enough, perhaps its gaze would just slide over her undetected. *Like water off a duck’s back,* she thought to herself. That saying appealed to her.
Tash could feel a presence in the flat, but she was unable to determine who it was. The feeling was faint. *Dammit,* she thought and booted the door open. Inside was dark, only a little light filtering through the drawn blinds. Tash stumbled over debris scattered throughout the living room. Ordinarily that in itself would have worried her, but she'd been in this apartment before and realised that neither Sam nor Reah were keen on tidying.
Now that she was inside, Tash received a slightly stronger sense of the presence, but it was quiet. Not quite asleep or unconscious, but somehow not quite fully awake either. It had Reah's flavour... sort of. Frowning in puzzlement, Tash called again, "Reah? Are you all right? Answer me, please." She found the kitchen light and switched it on, illuminating most of the flat. Nobody in the living areas. She moved up the hallway to the bedrooms.
Reah’s ears pricked. Someone was inside… light seeped in from down the hallway. Reah slid as far as she could back into her dark corner and stilled herself as much as possible.
They were getting closer….
A shadow of a figure slowly grew on the floor just outside her door, then its solid companion soon caught up with it, treading warily along the way. Reah couldn’t make out who it was, but she could see the anxiety heating their body.
“Reah?” They were standing right in her doorway now trying to peer through the darkness.
Tash let her eyes adjust to the darkness of the bedroom. She knew she was silhouetting herself against the backlight coming up the hall, but whoever was in here knew she was here. It still mostly felt like Reah, but something was wrong. In here, the blinds were drawn so tight that not even a crack of daylight showed, but eventually Tash could make out a darker shadow in the corner. A faint flicker showed around it - Reah's aura. It seemed a little hazy, though.
*Careful, woman,* Tash told herself before slowly taking a step into the room. "Reah, it's me. Tash. Please answer me. What's wrong?"
Habit had Reah tensing ready to attack; being spotted had just made it all the worse.
She could see the woman, but features were lost to her. Although she seemed darker than a normal Caucasian would usually appear in this light, so from that she made the assumption that the woman was dark skinned. The name rang a bell too, but it didn’t mean that because they were friends that she would still think of Reah the same.
After watching Tash a while longer Reah saw no point in keeping silent, she’d been spotted. She’d have to talk if she wanted to get out of this one…. Or run.
She glanced thoughtfully at the hallway before finally coming to a decision.
“I’m fine, there’s nothing wrong.” She stared squarely at Tash.
The words jarred so much that Tash almost winced at the discord between them and Reah's emotions - what she had of them, at least.
"No, you aren't fine. Can I turn on the light, Reah?"
Reah kept her gaze steady on Tash, visualising the light switch rather than looking at it. Did she want it on? No. Could she avoid it? Most likely. But she got the feeling Tash wouldn’t just leave it at this with a simple, ‘Oh well, I tried. Have a good life!’ and skip out merrily never to bother her again. *Well… maybe not so much with the skipping.*
Sighing, she ducked her head mutely.
Light blazed in the bedroom and Tash blinked once or twice, waiting for her retinas to cope with the sudden glare. Getting a good look at Reah, Tash saw her concerns weren't unfounded. Although she was completely clothed in a sort of bodysuit, her face was covered in cuts and bruises. Her eyes... Tash blinked. They looked normal, but the aura around them was odd. Greyed out, almost. And a general haziness filled her entire aura.
”Oh, my God, Reah!" Tash moved to her side, "What happened to you?" She lifted a gloved hand as though to caress the side of her battered face, but didn't touch Reah. "Were you hunting last night?"
Reah flinched away from Tash’s hand. “Yes. I’ll be fine. Had worse.” *Much worse.* She thought and felt sick.
"Ok," Tash said reluctantly. It was clear Reah wasn't going to be more forthcoming just yet. "Uh, what I actually came here for was to ask when you'd seen Sam last. I'm worried - he's been missing for a week now."
Reah clicked. *That’s right. This is going to be hard, I can tell.* She felt nauseous again; the room swelled and spun with her head.
“Excuse me!” She was suddenly on her feet and out the door past Tash in a split second. Reaching the bathroom, she rejected the contents of her stomach into the toilet bowl, then slumped back against the cool tiles with her head tilted back against the wall. She breathed carefully to calm the sudden wave of vertigo that took her.
Tash followed Reah into the bathroom and wet a facecloth. Holding it out to Reah, she asked, "Feeling better now?" She sat on the edge of the bathtub and rested her chin in her hands, "Tell me what's wrong, Reah."
Reah slowly accepted the facecloth and kept a wary eye on Tash. Tash knew something was up and Reah didn’t like it. Dabbing the cool cloth on her forehead was a relief she was grateful for. “Thanks,” she murmured quietly.
She decided against lying; she didn’t know Tash entirely well, and so far Tash seemed to be aware of more than she was letting on. Who knew what the woman was capable of?
Telling the truth would be a safe way out… she just wouldn’t tell the whole truth.
Sighing heavily she spoke up shakily, “It seems like forever since I’ve seen him.” She hesitated, “I have no idea what happened! I miss him so much.” Tears were hidden by the facecloth. “I fear he’s dead or something! He was always so gentle and caring. How could someone like him survive?”
Tash's stomach knotted at Reah's words. They echoed the thoughts she'd been trying not to have about Sam. What if a doppelganger had found him and killed him? Somewhere out there could be a fake Sam. But it was also feasible that hadn't happened. Sam had seemed quite disturbed by the fake Tash's seduction of him. Maybe he was just afraid to come home?
Taking a deep breath, Tash decided that since Reah lived two floors above the thing, she deserved to know. "Reah, there's something I need to tell you about..."
Without further ado, Tash launched into an explanation of the doppelgangers and what they'd learned of the creatures so far, and of the actions of the false Tash. "...so that's why I need to find him. I have to explain, tell him it wasn't me."
Reah studied Tash silently. The pure concept seemed ludicrous! She wasn’t looking for someone to blame; she’d moved on and managed to overcome it, but hearing this had Reah’s muscles flexing. The hand that held the cloth over her clenched, squeezing every last drop of water out of it to cascade freely down her face that stayed as unmoved and solid as stone.
She very nearly slipped and did something extremely stupid that could land her under many inquisitive eyes. Luckily she hadn’t revealed enough to pass through the covering of her gloves, and carefully retracted back till she was safe from accidentally exposing herself.
Her jaw clenched with forced control. “What do you mean? I’m supposed to believe that?” She shifted her seating. “No wait. I probably should, it’s too outrageous to be otherwise. Right?” she asked with as much control as she could muster. It was hard, but she wanted to draw as little attention to herself as possible.
Something was definitely 'off' with Reah, Tash could feel it. She had no sense of that connection with the thing in the basement, though, so she knew it was at least the real Reah. But it was as though Reah was suppressing her emotions, keeping a tight lid on whatever was boiling underneath. And her aura - it kept flickering. At one point the haziness around her forearms grew denser, just as Reah seemed to be struggling with herself the most.
"Reah," Tash spoke as gently as she could, "I know we don't know each other all that well, but something must have happened to you last night. Those cuts... and you seem so tense."
She touched Reah lightly on the arm, "Please let me help you. Even if you just need to unburden yourself of something. It can help to talk about stuff, you know."
Reah couldn’t keep the tears from forming in her eyes as recollections of her last night came rushing back again.
Those eyes, her body…
Reah shook her head and clenched her teeth. Rage seethed within her. *She doesn’t know me!* “WHAT DO YOU KNOW!” she yelled, “ARE YOU A FUCKING SOCIAL WORKER NOW TOO!” She sobbed violently.
Those pained eyes kept staring at her. *Why? Why me? Fuck off! Why did it have to happen to me?* “You don’t know anything about me,” she shuddered out between sobs. “You wouldn’t understand.”
She curled up tighter and pulled her arm savagely back from Tash.
Tash let her hand drop back to her side and rode out Reah's outburst. "Maybe I'd understand better than you think," she said sadly, "But I'm not going to force you to talk about whatever's bothering you. Just remember that I'm only next door if you need me."
Tash stood, "But for the moment, I think you'd be better off back in bed than lying on the bathroom floor. Will you at least let me help you back to bed?"
Reah couldn’t be bothered with arguments, her outburst had burnt up any rage she had to refuse and she quietly allowed Tash to help her up and guide her back to her room.
She was so tired of it all, of fighting, but it was all she was good for. Made for.
She wanted to be alone and never see civilisation again, but something inside her craved something else. Strangely she found herself apologising to Tash just as she was about to leave the room.
Reah averted her eyes and quickly dodged any further eye contact by rolling onto her side, separating the two with her back and just lay there silently with her eyes wet, still wide open and still far from sleep.
Tash gazed at Reah for a moment, then shook her head sadly. "Rest if you can. I'm only next door if you need anything." Tash closed the door quietly on her way out.
MJ12 - Moving on Clones
Tuesday, 30 August 2005
Various Locations
Melissa Blue never felt more alive as she found herself in another club, moving with the exciting music. She felt a body rub up against her slightly to get her attention as she eyed an attractive man in a jeans and a t-shirt with denim vest. “You look like you could use some company,” he said, winking at her. She turned to face him, thinking he certainly looked attractive.
Dance after dance began to follow for the pair, along with flirting.
The receptionist of Dr Harry Levin’s office looked up as the new arrival came in. A young, well dressed woman who looked like she belonged on the cover of Forbes magazine. “Good morning, my name is Suzan Smith,” she said, speaking carefully. “I called you earlier about the broken tooth.”
“Oh, right,” she replied, reaching for the forms. “Fill these out, Dr. Levin will see you as soon as he’s able.” Smith thanked the receptionist, and sat down to fill out the forms.
Miguel Esteban was, in many ways, your average gang banger. When he first joined the Southside Crew, as they called themselves, his initiation consisted of both shooting an innocent person, then taking a beating from several other gang bangers for 35 seconds. Now he was well on his way into the drug trade, making a good amount of money selling coke and getting in a number of scuffles. Ever since the night of the twenty-sixth, he had been bolder, working his way to a position of authority.
Then the invitation for the meeting came, which he was now arriving for. A chance to make Southside Crew a real power, maybe even part of something that could challenge the Crips or the Bloods. He got together with a few trusted men in his crew, and began to head to the meeting place.
Melissa ground her hips against the man she was dancing with, enjoying the feel of him close up against her under the hot lights of the dance floor. “I could really show you a good time,” he whispered in her ear, biting it lightly. “What do you say? We can just step outside…”
On the other side of town, another person prepared for the meeting. Detective Rachel Gray finished putting on her bullet proof vest. She pulled her sidearm, and chambered a round before holstering it. Orders were orders, and if a few gang bangers went down with the clone, who was she to argue? The next thing she picked up was the shotgun, fully loading it with five rounds before going out to her car and driving to the meet.
In Dr. Levin’s office, the woman finished the paperwork just as the doctor came out to notice her there. “You were the one who called earlier, weren’t you?” he asked, noting she was not one of the regulars. She nodded once. “Okay, just follow me, we’ll see what we can do with you.” The dentist lead her back to one of the examination rooms.
Melissa found herself back in the alley again, passionately kissing the man she had been there with. This time, she hadn’t even bothered with his name. She unzipped her skirt as he pushed against her, feeling the excitement grow.
The bitch was 20 minutes late, Miguel thought. That would have to change if she wanted to do business. He would have to show these people that nobody, nobody stood up the Southside Crew. “About goddamn time,” he said to himself, seeing the car approach from the distance.
Dr Levin shut the door to the examination room as the woman came in. “Have a seat, please,” he said, turning to pick up a pair of latex gloves.
She didn’t see it coming. The man Melissa was with was continuing to brush up against her, working up her excitement. Without warning, a garot wire came around her neck and she felt her breathing constrict.
The car didn’t stop like it was supposed to, instead turning quickly. Detective Gray aimed the shotgun out the window and fired once, watching a banger go down. Her target and his other banger pulled guns and began shooting, but she planned on dumping the car anyway.
Instead of sitting, the woman pulled a syringe from her jacket. One hand clamped over Dr Levin’s mouth, and he was injected with the same solution as Anthony Constillias.
Melissa’s breath began to grow shallow as she dropped to her knees then slumped down on the pavement.
Detective Gray continued to fire from inside the car, and watched as the two remaining gangbangers fell – including the target. She floored it quickly, and drove off.
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
6:50 pm Tuesday 30th August 2005
Jade wasn't back from XY yet, a fact Sorrow was profoundly grateful for. He'd laid out the various accoutrements he'd take with him this evening though it didn't amount to much. A few crystals holding a couple of spells, the most important of which was a spell of silence. A couple of knives though he was wary of getting into a knife fight with Xavier. He was taking Hizashi and some vials of holy water too, in case he ran into a few denizens of the night. Finally, there was the praentath; it sat in its sheath like a venomous spider in its web.
Sorrow sighed and began to slip the weapons on. The throwing knives went into forearm sheaths, Hizashi was over one shoulder as always, the praentath he nestled in the small of his back and a third knife sat in an ankle sheath. Shrugging into his long coat Sorrow slipped vials and crystals into various pockets. Taking a moment to glance in the mirror he let his enhanced senses of their leash and checked his visage. The knives were barely noticeable even to his augmented gaze. The vials even less so. Hizashi's hilt stood over one shoulder but the obfuscatory magics wrapped around he blade would conceal that.
*It’s time.*
Alice looked for Danta most of Monday night. She decided she'd better hang around Poplar Avenue and maybe she could spot Danta before it was too late for Sorrow. Alice found a nice spot on the roof of a low building across the street from Tash’s home. “Shouldn’t be long.”
Sorrow nodded silently to Victor as he walked out the back door of the building into the alley behind. Victor’s senses were more acute than his own and he wouldn't be able to hide the variety of weapons he was carrying tonight. He only hoped Victor would note his posture and attitude and realise that he would answer no questions nor brook any interference this evening.
Sorrow had relaxed a little by the time he'd reached the street. He turned left and once again loosed the constraints of his senses. Xavier would be difficult prey and Sorrow would need every edge he could muster. He moved quietly down the street, the predatory grace that years of martial arts had etched into muscle and nerve coming to the fore. He turned left again into another alley and practically flowed between the buildings.
Alice watched an attractive man exit the building and enter the alley. "Hmm, nice! I hope that’s my boy. Why do all the cute guys have all the nice names. *Angel, Spike, Sorrow.* "With names like that they have to be good."
Moments later Alice saw her prey. The very shadow of the door moved after Sorrow. "And there’s Danta right on time I see." Alice adjusted a large object under coat. "I hope this works." She then dropped to the ground and quickly and quietly moved into the alley.
Sorrow caught it out of the corner of his eye. It seemed shadowy but it moved almost wrongly against the light. He dove forward, rolling as a blade passed inches over his head. He came up to his knees with his glowing blade in his hand. Before him stood an indistinct figure wielding a blade as nebulous as its own form. The figure glided forward and Sorrow rose to meet its attack. There was a short exchange of strike and counter strike, attack and parry before Sorrow rolled his wrists into a bind and forced the thing's blade aside. He lashed out with blinding speed and Hizashi sunk deep into the creature's form; the light from his blade pierced its gloomy flesh and the shadow dissipated.
Sorrow glanced around then focused in horror at the shadow he cast in the light of his own blade. It stretched away from him then separated from him entirely. For a moment it hesitated as it realised it held but the hilt of a sword in its hands, then it moved to an unarmed stance and attacked.
Sorrow disposed of it rather easily, an unarmed opponent being little threat against his shining blade but as quickly as the shadow disappeared anther sprang up to fight him. Soon the faint shadows he cast against the light of the street lamps also began to animate and Sorrow found himself surrounded by a seemingly unending army of shadowy replicas all striving to kill him. It was when the knives appeared he began to really worry.
However, Alice kneeled behind a dumpster watching the sword fight before her. "He’s good. Ok. Now to find Danta.” Alice pulled her cell phone from her pack. “I hope he’s still a moron.” Alice hit her speed dial button and Danta’s phone began to ring.
“Yep, moron.”
The ringing came from down the alley across the fighting Sorrows. Alice dashed across the alley and dove under the rain of swinging blades. Although her move was graceful it wasn’t completely successful. Sorrow’s katana skill was masterful and opened a slice in Alice’s side.
She looked into the darkness. Shadows hid the demons dark skin. "Hi Danta. Night, hun." With that Alice pulled the object concealed under her coat.
"It's a Splashzooka Super Soaker 65 Oz. of Holy Water fun." Alice sprayed the shadows, drenching the wall and the poor demon Danta's flesh began to steam and he burst into flames. All the Shadows of Sorrow slowly faded into the darkness. Alice stood up putting her hand to the blood oozing from her side. She turned and looked at the man who had wounded her. "Sorrow, I take it?"
Sorrow kept his blade between them; while he was grateful for the aid - it had after all most probably saved his life - he was in no mood to be charitable. Sorrow caught his breath then waited a few moments longer. "And you are?"
"I'm Alice. I’m a friend of Victors. Sorry it took me so long to find him. Are you ok?" Alice dropped the strap of her pack off and began looking in it.
Sorrow lowered his blade a touch and his demeanor became a little less frosty. "I'll live."
He walked over to the remains of the demon who had attacked him while keeping this newcomer in sight. A friend of Victor's wasn't necessarily a good thing. It wasn't that long ago that Sorrow and Victor would have been enemies had they met.
"You called him Danta. There isn't much to go on but I don't recognise the species and I certainly don't recall pissing him off." Sorrow turned to face the woman. "So, what did he have against me?"
Alice pulled a first aid kit from her pack. "It's - ah there it is - what against you? Oh no, it was a hit honey. Xavier is trying to keep you busy so he can hunt Victor." Alice lifted her shirt up to bandage her wound, pulling it up so it was just under her breast. Almost teasing Sorrow to see if he wanted to see more.
Sorrow eyes narrowed, he glanced back to the evil smelling ashes and noticed the glint of gold. He reached down and picked up a heavy ring. Turning it over in his hands Sorrow saw the crest and inhaled sharply. He turned back to Alice, casually noted the oddly shaped pink star tattooed on her hip. "Xavier has hired the Turaka to kill me?"
"That about covers it, yes. Do you know the Order?"
"I'm the Society of Ulle Huntmaster for L.A. Do you know what happened the last time The Order killed one of our Huntmasters?" Sorrow smiled grimly, "Neither the Society nor the Order take kindly to the other meddling in their business. Xavier must have omitted a few pertinent details; either that or someone got very greedy."
"The Order isn’t what it used to be. It’s more thugs and punks than hitmen and assassins. The big names took their money and left. They even work with humans now."
Sorrow's smiled turned a little ironic, "They've fallen so low?" He forestalled Alice’s response with a raised hand. "You seem rather conversant with their current situation. I take it you're a member too?"
"Well, not any more.” Alice finished applying the bandages. " Looks like I’m going to need to stitch this up for now. I need to get home. So you be careful, there is one more out here somewhere." With her hand pressed to her side Alice slowly walked down the alley.
"Wait! Other than killing me did Xavier request anything else?"
"Ya. I was to set up Victor for a trap and bring him to Xavier alive."
"Hmmm." *Perfect... assuming she'll help.* Sorrow walked up to Alice, "Look, you need a hand and maybe you can help me too.”
Sorrow quickly explained as she walked to the car. "You said you were a friend of Victor's, right? Xavier's going to keep going after Victor till he gets lucky and then Victor's dead. The only way to stop him is to take the guy down. With him calling Turaka in I can act, pretty harshly too." *Ok you were going to act anyway but Xavier just gave you a Get out of Jail Card.* "Xavier's expecting you to call, right? To set up a meet to hand over Victor? What happens if he gets there and it isn't you and Victor he finds?"
"Ah." Alice took out her phone and dialled. "My phone service loves me.” She got in her car, "Anywhere you want him to be hun?"
Sorrow smiled and gave her a location.
As Alice made the call two orange coloured eyes stared down at them from a grey skinned face. Hooded and robed the figure raised its arms and vanished into shadow. When light returned to the magician's world he spoke one harsh word - "Betrayer."
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
10:20pm Tuesday 30th August 2005
Sorrow walked through the night. The clouds that had rolled in just after sunset were lit from beneath by the glow of the city, lending them a garish orange cast. Around him were the slightly shabby silent buildings of a run down industrial district. Mainly warehouses now, the area was empty save for the occasional sleepy security guard. It was perfect territory for an exchange and it was the perfect place to hunt down and kill Xavier. Sorrow was unfamiliar with the area; vampires rarely came here due to the lack of a significant human presence. So despite having at least a couple of hours before he needed to meet Xavier, Sorrow walked those empty streets, peered into shadows and memorised what he could for the hunt ahead.
Unbeknownst to Sorrow, Xavier sat in the back of his van, a few streets away. Xavier was also preparing. When Alice had called a few hours earlier he had been at the motel. Now he was hunched over a street map fixing the patterns of the streets in his mind. Half an hour before the time he was supposed to meet the assassin who had caught his prey Xavier started to gather his equipment. Despite Victor’s actions Xavier had no intention of merely executing the creature. Xavier had come to L.A. to hunt and hunt he would. He smiled down at the shotgun, pistol and various explosives he intended to take. Victor would have no chance of surviving this pantomime; Xavier would make sure of that from the very start.
Sorrow crouched on a rooftop overlooking the empty lot he had chosen for the meeting. At his request Alice had told Xavier that she had killed him. Sorrow’s appearance before Xavier instead of Alice and Victor would put Xavier off balance and give Sorrow a few critical moments
As Xavier walked into the lot Sorrow catalogued his weapons. Xavier held a shotgun loosely in one hand and beneath his coat were the suspicious bulges of further weapons. One was definitely a gun, most probably a pistol - the rest Sorrow was unsure of. If they were smaller Sorrow would think vials of holy water, but the size was wrong. *Grenades?* Xavier wasn’t averse to using explosives and the environment Sorrow had chosen meant Xavier might be able to use them without drawing the police down on them like a swarm of angry hornets.
Sorrow watched Xavier a few moments longer then stealthily crept across the rooftop, back to the fire escape. He mentally sorted through the crystals he had brought with him. Their power was limited and he would be placing himself at risk using any magic but Xavier’s shotgun made things difficult. Sorrow thought he had the perfect counter measure; he drew out an artificial citrine - a heat-treated amethyst. The powers it contained were, in Sorrow’s mind at least, appropriately aspected for what he needed.
Circling round the building Sorrow approached the lot quietly. He waited in the darkness at the edge of the lot and let Xavier’s tension mount a little higher.
****************************
“Hello, Xavier.”
Xavier whirled at that hated voice. A voice he expected never to hear again. *She lied to me!* He stood frozen in shock as Sorrow stepped out of the shadows and that moment of indecision on Xavier’s part was all the traitorous Huntmaster needed. A sparkling green crystal sailed across the space that separated the two men and a short incantation sliced through the silence. Instantly the temperature of the air around them dropped. As Sorrow’s spell sucked the heat out of the air Xavier laughed and raised his gun. *Shit!* The stock of the weapon suddenly became hot and Xavier in a flash of understanding flung the weapon from him mere moments before the heat settled in the magazine and cooked off the shells.
The explosion ripped the firearm apart and sent fragments spinning lazily through the air. Xavier rolled to his feet, pistol in hand, but Sorrow no longer stood in front of him. *Why did she lie? * He could think of only one reason - Sorrow was already working with The Order. It wasn’t that far a stretch; after all he was fucking a half vampire and living in a building owned by a demon. *You can’t trust supernaturals! No matter how human they seem. We should never have let the bastard in.*
Xavier sprinted towards shadows while he racked his brain for the details of Sorrow’s file. *Slightly stronger and faster than you’d expect, supernatural endurance and enhanced senses. Master swordsman and skilled spellcaster.* Xavier had to admit Sorrow had pretty much the full package. Still a gun was a great equaliser and Sorrow obviously wasn’t casting anymore spells just yet. *Don’t get cocky, this guy has caught you out already. I don’t get it; there was no hint that Sorrow was connected with the Order. How long has that been going on?* It didn’t matter, Xavier had made arrangements. Even if Sorrow killed him the man’s tawdry secrets would get out. They already knew, and the Society wouldn’t be far behind whether Sorrow managed to kill him or not.
************************
The darkness hid Sorrow from Xavier far better than it hid Xavier from Sorrow but Sorrow didn’t let himself get overconfident. Xavier was used to hunting prey with lots of advantages over him. That the man was still alive was testament to his ability. *Can’t use Hizashi, it would give me away. But I still need to get rid of that pistol.* Sorrow had no more citrines, not that it would have mattered. The slight discomfort at the back of his head was warning him that anymore magic and this hunt would be over. Sorrow crept through the shadows and watched Xavier do the same. The lighting in the area was poor. Too many streetlights were barely functioning. Sorrow slipped one of his throwing knives into his hands and waited.
*Easy…Easy… just a little bit more…. Now!* Sorrow's hand flashed and a sliver of sharpened steel lanced through the darkness. Xavier howled and cursed as the six inches of metal bit into his right forearm. The gun tumbled to the floor and Sorrow rushed his opponent. As Hizashi whispered out of its sheath Xavier dove desperately aside avoiding the blade by a fraction of an inch. With the gun gone and Xavier’s arm dripping blood Sorrow pressed his advantage. His blade flashed through the air to be met by one of Xavier’s knives.
They pirouetted through a deadly dance of steel as Sorrow’s sword struck sparks from Xavier’s blades. Sorrow directed his blows to Xavier’s right side forcing his opponent to defend again and again with his injured arm. The blood dripped steadily down Xavier’s arm and Sorrow smiled. Yet he had to be careful, despite having the advantage of reach Sorrow knew one mistake would let Xavier inside his guard and then Hizashi’s length would be an encumbrance not an asset.
Sorrow’s tactics finally bore fruit as his opponent’s right hand finally spasmed and dropped the dagger it held. Xavier cursed and flung the blade in his left hand at Sorrow’s face while he dived backwards. Sorrow batted the knife aside and moved forward but in that momentary delay Xavier’s left hand dipped into his coat and brought forth a green cylinder. The pin disappeared into the night and the lever pinged to the ground as Xavier and Sorrow both leapt away from the grenade. There was a thunderous bang and a flash of light like the sun brought suddenly to earth and Sorrow’s world was plunged into the silent dark.
*********************
*Enhanced senses… * The flashbang had turned the tables in an instant but Xavier was in no condition to follow it up. Recovering first from the effects of the stun munition he retrieved his gun and, firing left handed, was lucky enough to put two bullets in Sorrow’s general vicinity to speed him on his way. Xavier didn’t smile, his right arm ached and he knew how close he had been to being spitted on the length of Sorrow’s glowing sword.
Xavier moved into the shadowy streets and found a secluded alleyway to dress his wounds. Tearing a strip from his shirt he examined the deep cut into the muscle and then tightly bound it. He grimaced, “Round one was a draw… or maybe a win on points.” Xavier wasn’t sure who to. He also knew this wasn’t over. Sorrow would have to follow through on his attack and kill Xavier or risk being declared anathema by the Society. That meant that right now Sorrow was stalking him. Xavier smiled predatorily; he’d wanted a hunt tonight. It looked like he’d get a real one.
Xavier moved further into the alley and pondered the situation; Sorrow’s senses and magic gave him the advantage. It was far more likely that Sorrow would find him than the reverse. The best Xavier could do was limit Sorrow’s avenues of attack and perhaps lay a few traps for the unwary.
*****************
Sorrow felt rather than heard the two bullets as he fled the deserted lot. *Damn, he’s got the gun back.* Still, other than flash blinded eyes and ringing ears Sorrow had to feel that the first engagement on the night was a qualified victory for himself. The injury on Xavier’s arm would only get worse irrespective of whatever treatment he may be able to administer and at least Sorrow had dealt with the shotgun. Sorrow moved quickly into the streets and during the time it took for his sight and hearing to recover he kept to the quiet, dim and secluded areas.
Once he had recovered fully from the effects of Xavier’s surprise he turned his attention to finding his prey. Xavier was skilled and experienced and would realise that for now Sorrow held the advantage. Sorrow could therefor expect traps and other actions designed to force him to give up those advantages. He thought about the area. There were a number of places where a successful ambush could be laid and considering Xavier appeared to have come equipped for a hunt rather than a simple killing Sorrow surmised Xavier would be as familiar with them as he was. He set off towards the nearest; his senses on high alert, just because Sorrow thought he had the advantage, it didn’t mean Xavier was of a similar mind.
*****************
Xavier looked around the area. There were three alleys converging on this spot, the surrounding buildings were all flat roofed and the only access to them was from here. Xavier pulled out a couple of grenades that were designed to operate as booby-traps and Xavier had no compunction about using them. Placing them about halfway down two of the alleys Xavier smiled as he strung the darkened wire between the walls. Even taking into account the confinement Xavier doubted the grenades would kill Sorrow but they would severely injure him and make him easy prey. Xavier made a mental note of the placement of the wires. There was no guarantee he wouldn’t need to flee down one of these alleys and he didn’t like the idea of being killed by one of his own traps.
*Now to find that bastard.*
For a few hours that night on the streets of L.A. there was an elegant ballet of detection and evasion as Sorrow and Xavier sought to position themselves for an attack. Yet to an observer able to track the motions of both parties it would soon appear that Sorrow held the upper hand, if only barely. For despite Xavier’s guile, for all his skill and experience it was Sorrow who slowly drove Xavier toward a confrontation. Eventually it came at the confluence of three alleyways surrounded by a number of flat-topped buildings.
Breathing hard, Xavier reached his position. A dumpster shielded his back and his eyes strove to pierce the gloom. Taking out his pistol he aimed down the alley, confident that if Sorrow attempted to approach from another direction Xavier would still have the advantage.
******************
Sorrow edged his way down the alley. He wasn’t sure, had he driven Xavier here or had he been led a merry dance? No matter, this was where he wanted to be. The hunt had been exhilarating, unlike anything he had previously experienced. He had been forced to use every skill and sense he possessed. Now in the darkness Sorrow moved in for the kill.
******************
*Where is he?* Xavier had been certain Sorrow had been close behind when he had ducked into this alley. *Perhaps I lost him for real or maybe he realised what I’m up to.* Xavier tried to calm his breathing and strained his eyes to peer into the darkness. *Come on…Come on…* Suddenly the dumpster behind him shifted. *Fuck!* Xavier dived out of the way, rolled and came up facing towards where he assumed Sorrow would be. Almost before he had settled into his crouch Xavier squeezed the trigger and fired three quick shots up the alley. There was no answering moan of pain, just the whine of bullets off brick. Xavier rolled again as a throwing knife spun towards him. The knife skittered off the metal sides of the dumpster but Xavier had no time to notice this as Sorrow attacked again, his blade cleaving through the air towards him.
Xavier turned the initial strike away with his gun and got a minor nick on his hands for his trouble. Before he could recover his position, Sorrow moved even closer. One of Sorrow’s hands relinquished its grip on his blade and lashed out towards Xavier’s face. Xavier jerked back and tried to bury the muzzle of his gun in Sorrow’s stomach, but drained by the night's exertions and the faint beginnings of blood loss Xavier was moments too late. Sorrow hammered the pommel of his sword down onto Xavier’s blood soaked forearm.
With a cry he dropped the gun, and Xavier pulled a knife from somewhere within his coat barely in time to deflect Sorrow’s next slash. Desperate to take control of the fight Xavier rushed Sorrow striving to get inside Sorrow’s guard before the razor sharp katana killed him. Amazingly Xavier succeeded and rather than use such an unwieldy weapon so close Sorrow let go of Hizashi and blocked Xavier’s next attack with his bare hands.
The praentath lay nestled at Sorrow’s back waiting, almost eager for its moment but Sorrow wasn’t ready yet. And anyway attempting to draw that blade would invite a crippling strike from Xavier. Instead he focused on avoiding Xavier’s knife. The knife gave Xavier an advantage but not an unassailable one. The night had taken its toll on him already and Sorrow could see blood began to drip again from Xavier’s hastily bandaged wound.
Sorrow upped the tempo trying to push Xavier to a mistake. He couldn’t avoid the knife totally and a host of minor cuts blossomed on Sorrow’s hands and arms but they were not dangerous…yet. Sorrow managed to duck under the knife. At quick punch to Xavier’s gut managed to push him off balance long enough for Sorrow’s hand to flash upward and grasp Xavier’s knife hand. Sorrow applied pressure and slowly Xavier succumbed and the knife fell from strained fingers as Xavier broke free.
Now they were even and what followed was brutal. Hands, feet, elbows and knees, they employed every striking surface the human body had in a vicious melee. Xavier ducked and Sorrow’s attempted eye-gouge instead scraped a layer of skin from Xavier’s temple. A strike to Sorrow’s stomach left him doubled over and vulnerable to Xavier’s knee that slammed into the right side of Sorrow’s face and dropped him to the floor, yet Xavier was unable to take advantage as somehow Sorrow managed to recover sufficiently to scissor his opponent's leg from under him. The combatants regained their feet and continued to fight.
Sorrow’s endurance was beginning to tell. Though they were nearly evenly matched in strength, speed and skill, Xavier’s wound was sapping his strength and the supernatural energies that kept Sorrow’s fatigue at bay allowed him to slowly take control of the combat. After another inconclusive exchange of blows Sorrow finally pierced Xavier’s guard with a simple kick to the man’s chest. Xavier staggered back and Sorrow delivered a powerful kick to Xavier’s head.
Sorrow circled slowly and delivered a few more blows to keep Xavier off balance but yet again the man surprised him. Xavier broke for one of the alleys at a stumbling run he fled. Sorrow smiled. Walking over to his fallen blade he picked it up and slid it into back into its sheath. Then before Xavier managed to move outside the reach of Sorrow’s hearing he began to lope after his victim.
If what had happened previously had been elegant this was simple. Xavier was wounded, in pain and barely conscious. All he knew was that he had to get away. Sorrow, though in not much better state, was capable of more measured thought and his strength had not yet failed. Sorrow herded Xavier, forcing him away from the crowded portions of the city where help lay. Occasionally Xavier would try to rest to regain a little of his strength and when Sorrow realised this he closed in delivering a few heavy blows before allowing Xavier to escape. An hour passed as Sorrow drove Xavier from one edge of the district to the other and back again, until bone weary and broken in strength Xavier collapsed to his knees in some darkened corner far away from the light.
Sorrow approached. There was no care in his motion for though perhaps not quite as physically exhausted, the cuts, bruises and aches that Xavier’s skilled hands had delivered were beginning to take their toll. It did not matter however, for Xavier was incapable of taking any advantage. He watched barely conscious as Sorrow walked into the darkness.
Sorrow reached behind him and drew the praentath. The obsidian blade all but merged into the night yet Xavier’s eyes widened none the less.
“No…” Xavier's voice was hoarse.
“It’s over.” Sorrow reached into a pocket and pulled out a small smoked quartz crystal He looked down pitilessly on Xavier as he crushed the crystal in his hand. A whisper of power floated on the air and the few faint sounds of the city that penetrated this far faded away. Grabbing Xavier by the shoulder Sorrow dragged the beaten, exhausted man to his feet and slipped the obsidian knife into his belly. With a savage twist of his wrist Sorrow snapped the blade off and then he pushed Xavier to the ground.
At first Xavier’s eyes merely widened from the pain of the blade penetrating his flesh then for no discernible reason he arched his back emitting a scream, a howl of such agony as to freeze the mind. Sobbing in pain Xavier writhed at Sorrow’s feet.
Sorrow watched it all. He had done this, he had used this evil weapon on a fellow human being and he would watch and hear it all.
Finally it was over; Xavier had breathed his last. By the time the circle of silence had failed there had been no further screams, just an endless gurgling moan. Sorrow took out his mobile and dialled a number. He wasn’t sure whether the machine picked up the call or Jade; his mind was reliving Xavier’s death throes.
“It’s done…”
Sorrow switched off his mobile and turned from Xavier’s bloody corpse. As he staggered away from the scene he did not notice the figure that detached itself from the darkness to stand over the body.
Valerian looked down at the corpse then back at Sorrow’s retreating form.
“Oh, my wicked childe!”
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
Wednesday, 31st August 2005 - 4:55pm
Sorrow awoke aching, every muscle protesting the slightest movement. He groaned then rose and hobbled into the bathroom to run a bath. An hour later having soaked his aching limbs and feeling almost human he dressed and sat down in the living room of his apartment. He stared into space momentarily, remembering eyes suddenly filled with agony and a scream that trailed off into a gurgle. Sorrow shook his head to clear the images; he needed to talk to someone and for whatever reason he didn't want to face Jade right now. He pulled out his cell phone and hit the button for Tash.
"Shit!" Tash exclaimed out loud. "Why does the bloody phone always ring when I'm in the shower?"
Turning off the water, grateful that at least she'd already rinsed her hair, she dove out of the shower and dripped her way to the phone. Her dirty clothes were still heaped in the middle of the lounge room where she'd dropped them only minutes before.
"Hello?" *And if you're a telemarketer I'm going to kill you.*
"Hi Tash, it's me." Sorrow was relieved that Tash had picked up. Leaving a message would have been awkward. "Did I interrupt anything?"
Tash chuckled. "How did you know? Was it my cheery 'I'm going to murder somebody if this isn't important' phone manner that gave it away? But no, not really. I was just in the shower." She looked at the floor, "And now I'm dripping all over my floorboards."
Sorrow's stomach growled. *Damn, I need to eat too.* There was nothing in the kitchen - Sorrow had cleared everything out before returning to Jade's.
"Oh, training?" *Of course training, what else is she going to be doing at 5pm?*
"Actually, no. I was helping Victor brick up the basement. Sorrow, what's up? You sound a bit distracted."
Sorrow closed his eyes despite the fact that this was why he'd called Tash in the first place. "I'm not sure the phone is the best place to discuss this. Have you eaten yet?" *Please don't ask me back to Poplar...*
"No, not yet... Where are you? Your flat?"
"Yeah, I've nothing in though. Maybe we could go out?" *Please...*
Tash hesitated. For an instant she worried about Jade, about what she might think if... *Oh, dammit. I know it's perfectly innocent. Why do I keep worrying about what that damn doppelganger did?* "Sure," she replied. "Be happy to. Where do you want to go - should I meet you there?"
*****
Sorrow glanced around the restaurant looking over the other diners while waiting for Tash to arrive. He had a passing acquaintance with the owners, Jade and he ordered takeout from here quite often though he got the occasional odd look from the staff. *That damn towel.*
Tash parked her bike in a spot outside the restaurant. It was as Sorrow had described it, a nice, unassuming Chinese restaurant. *Hope they do sang choi bow in here.* Pushing open the door she glanced around and spotted Sorrow sitting at a small table along one wall. Waving, she manoeuvred through the tables to reach him. As she got close, she noticed his bruised face and the careful way in which he held his shoulders. The hand he had lying on the table was covered in fresh nicks. Tash let her eyes show her concern, but she said nothing.
"Hi," Sorrow let Tash settle herself down. "Do you want a drink?"
"Yes, thanks." Tash turned to the waiter who hovered near the table and ordered a beer.
As Tash turned back to him and the waiter walked away Sorrow spoke softly, "Xavier is no longer an issue."
Tash went still for a moment, letting the implications of that sink in. He was letting nothing through his shields so she looked long into his face. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't relieved. But how do you feel about it all?"
Sorrow waited for the waiter to leave after depositing Tash's drink on the table. His eyes danced over the restaurant again but its patrons were concerned only with their own meals and friends. "How do I feel? I stuck one of the nastier weapons I know into a fellow hunter and watched as he writhed in agony while black glass flayed his skin, laid open his nerves and parted flesh from bone." Sorrow looked away. "God, he screamed, Tash."
His voice was haunted, "And I'm not even sure it needed doing."
Tash had to swallow hard to stay composed. She toyed with the glass of beer in front of her and gazed into its depths, unable to meet Sorrow's eyes for a while. He was upset. Damn, of course he was upset. So was she. But his voice was ragged. She wasn't sure how long he could hold it together.
She reached across to grasp his hand and finally met his gaze. "This really isn't the place. Maybe we should get take-away instead?" she suggested.
"No it's not the place, but where is? My place then, I can't face Poplar yet."
Tash nodded, "Your place is fine."
Some twenty minutes later Sorrow was unlocking his door while Tash balanced the carry bag holding their dinner. Tash gave a low whistle as Sorrow flung open the door. "Wow, this place sure looks different to the last time I saw it." She surveyed the tasteful furnishings. The style was somewhat bland, but Tash's own apartment was sparse on personal detail, too. She walked in and deposited the bag of food on the expensive-looking but unadorned coffee table. "Beats the hell out of sitting on the floor, which is what I thought we'd be doing."
"I had the place remodelled over the summer... though why I bothered I don't know. It's not like I spend much time here, and with you putting the training room in as well…" he shrugged. "I'll give you the tour later."
Walking into the kitchen Sorrow grabbed a couple of plates out of the dishwasher and returned to the lounge. "So, Xavier’s dead, Victor is no longer threatened by the Society and if my preparations worked no suspicion will fall on me. If it wasn't for the fact that he was human and I butchered him like a pig this would feel like a victory."
Tash winced. She gestured for Sorrow to sit next to her on the couch and took the plates from his hands before he shattered them from the force with which he was gripping them. “I almost hate to ask, but why so brutal? Was it to make it look like someone - or something - else did it?"
"Xavier hunted down and killed a Myoleth triad last year. The Myoleth are big on vengeance. They even have a special weapon for it called a praentath. Ask Victor about it, he'll probably blanch if he could. I scattered illusions around that'll make people think another triad is in town hunting Xavier, but that would've been meaningless if I hadn't killed Xavier with a praentath."
Sorrow looked down at his hands "The praentath's blade is made from obsidian. When you stab someone with it, it shatters into lots of razor sharp pieces. They flay the victim, skin, bone, nerve and sinew... but they don't touch the major blood vessels and the knife's magic can keep you alive for hours while those little pieces work."
She tried hard. She really did. But all Tash could do was stare at Sorrow in horror. To kill a human was bad enough, even a human like Xavier. But like this... She put her hand to her mouth and simply stared. "Oh, Sorrow," she started, then couldn't speak any more.
Then she saw again the look in his eyes. This would haunt him forever, she knew. Every night he would hear Xavier's dying screams. She grabbed his hand and held it to her cheek, not caring about the blood on it. "How awful," she said, and she wasn't sure if she meant awful for Xavier or for Sorrow. Or both.
Sorrow pulled away from Tash's hand as if he were burned. "So he's dead and the Society will hopefully think it was the Myoleth looking for vengeance. So they won't investigate further and we're safe a little while longer. We won't have to run."
Tash dropped her hand back in her lap and looked at it, hurt by his sudden withdrawal. She was very conscious of the actions the doppelganger had taken, and it made her feel awkward around Sorrow. "I'm sorry," she muttered, "I didn't mean it like..." She glanced back up at Sorrow, wondering if she had the wrong end of the stick, somehow, but his eyes gave away nothing.
Soldiering on, she continued. "And no, it looks like you're safe from your Society, and Victor’s out of danger. But you may have another problem…”
Tash rolled her eyes, “It never ends, does it? An old friend of Victor’s spoke to me the other day, and warned that Xavier had contacted something called the Order of Turaka. She said they were after you, too.” Tash paused, wondering at the lack of surprise on Sorrow’s face. “She was called in to be part of the assassination team, but being Victor’s friend she’s not going through with it.”
Sorrow simply nodded, “Yes, I know. I saw her – she killed one of the other members last night and helped me set up Xavier.”
“She did?” Tash let her worry subside fractionally. That made one less beastie out for Sorrow’s blood. “But she said the Order would likely come after her for this – it’s not over yet. We owe it to her to help her now.” Tash rubbed her face with her hands. Somehow she’d got sidetracked…
“But I’m worried about you right now,” Tash said, picking up her old thread. “Sorrow, you called me for a reason. You needed to tell someone about Xavier, and I’m glad you did. But now you’re going to have to start coming to terms with it, too.”
"Coming to terms with it,” Sorrow repeated. “I didn't just kill him, Tash. Tomorrow when the police find his body they're going to wonder what sort of madman they have. I did what I had to do. It was that or lose everything, so I made my choice. I have to live with it." He looked bleakly at Tash, "We try so hard not to become monsters..."
"I wish I could say I knew how you felt, wish I could make the pain go away. But I can't. All I can do is tell you that I empathise. Not sympathy - you don't need that. But so far as I can, I understand." Tash lifted her hand. So much of her method of comfort included touch, but in this case she thought he'd only recoil from her. The hand hovered between them for a moment, then she let it drop again, its mission aborted.
"You know the worst part? It won't matter. They'll find out eventually and then what do I do? I can't fight them forever and she won't run." Sorrow wasn't seeing Tash, his eyes were focused somewhere else. Somewhere within.
He wrapped his arms around himself, "God, the screams..."
Discomfort be damned, Tash decided as she wrapped her arms around Sorrow. He tried to pull back, but she refused to let go. "No, you need someone now. And you did ask for me, remember? You need a friend right now, and I am your friend."
She held him for a while, feeling his shields weakening and trying to block out the worst of the memories he was reliving. But they were so vivid in his mind... A tear started to course down Tash's cheek and a trembling started in her limbs. "What's done is done. You had to choose, and it's over now. And yes, it was horrible. And yes, it may turn out to only buy you a little time. And no," Tash answered his unspoken question, "I don't think I could have done it."
Sorrow covered his face with his hands for a moment then shuddered. His shields snapped back into place as he drew a deep breath then lowered his hands. "Thanks." He pulled away from Tash's embrace slowly. "The food's getting cold."
Tash surveyed the boxes on the coffee table. "You know, I'm not really all that hungry after all," she commented. She looked at Sorrow, "I know your tendency is to keep stuff inside. But really, this will only fester if you do." She decided that being brutal was going to be the only way to break the dam. "You killed a man. And not a clean death. It was long. It was agonising. It was way more than he deserved. That has to affect you. I know it does. I can feel bits of it." Tash sighed, hoping she'd said enough. And hoping she hadn't said too much.
Sorrow began unpacking the food. He helped himself to some rice and a little of various dishes. "I'd do it again. If I could go back, knowing what I know I'd still stick that damned knife in his guts and if similar circumstances arise I'll do the same again. I know you think I need to talk about this but what is there to say? I'll have nightmares about what I did? That though I hate myself in no small measure for being able to do that to someone I also know that without a doubt I could do it again if necessary? And who do I talk to about it? You? I saw it... that brief moment of absolute horror."
"Yes. And what would you have thought of me if I had just taken it all in stride? If I were the sort of person who could hear what you did without being horrified, I'd be no good to you as a sounding board. I am horrified. But I'm still your friend."
Tash looked at Sorrow's plate and her stomach rumbled. *Damn it,* she thought, and started piling food onto her own dish. "And your friend thinks that you need comfort, even if you won't allow yourself to receive it."
Sorrow continued to eat in silence. “You know Tash, it isn't that I killed him that bothers me. You'd think that killing a human - someone who was the same as me - would be harder but it occurs to me that I've been doing that for quite some time."
"Oh, no," Tash paused, her chopsticks halfway to her mouth. "You were never like them. Even when the beast was in control, you were still in there. Just don't even go down that path of reasoning, Tristan Barrington."
"No? You don't think that every time one of those demons turned to dust a part of me didn't know it was the same? Don't make the mistake of thinking I'm entirely human, Tash. Last night I played with Xavier. We hunted each other through the streets but when I had the upper hand I played with him like he was a mouse. I spent fourteen years sharing my soul with a demon. It's had its effects."
Tash forced herself to put the morsel of food in her mouth, chew it and swallow. "So what do you want from me, Sorrow? You want me to be disgusted with you? No, I can't do that. You want me to be horrified? Yeah, ok, you horrified me, I'll grant you that. You want me to know exactly how you feel? There's only one way I can do that, and I don't think I'd cope with it, to be honest. All I can do is try to understand what you must be going through." She stared at him frankly, "I can't absolve you, I can only be here for you."
Sorrow looked down at his plate. "No, you can't." He paused and looked at Tash, really looked at her for the first time that evening. "Fine, finish your food and I'll give you the tour."
"I mean it, Sorrow. I am here for you." Tash put her plate down and returned his look. "I really don't know what else to say to you." Feeling a little useless, Tash stood and pasted on a smile, "Ok, show me the sights."
Sorrow showed Tash round the apartment; most of it was as blandly decorated as the main lounge. Only the study and the large training room showed any real personality. The expensive and well appointed kitchen seemed out of place, especially when Sorrow admitted his culinary skills were very limited.
"It's probably too much and I don't really call it home, but what do you think?" Sorrow smiled rather deprecatingly when they returned to the lounge.
Tash was suitably impressed by the apartment. If anything, it seemed even larger now that it was full of furniture than when it had been completely bare. "It looks like it belongs in ‘Home’ magazine," she smiled. "Except maybe the training room - it's a great training room, by the way. Not so large as mine, but better equipped."
She stood back and surveyed Sorrow. The angst he'd been displaying was still present in his aura, but you wouldn't know it to look at him. He'd put up an incredibly lifelike facade of normality. "Why do you do that?" Tash asked softly.
"Do what?"
"Hide."
"Do I? It's emotional control - a pretty critical skill when you're dealing with occult forces. I suppose it becomes a habit after a while."
"Well, I can understand that," Tash replied as she tidied up the remains of their dinner, shoving the boxes, serviettes and debris into the carry bag. "I've done my fair share of hiding, too. But," she straightened, looking him in the eye, "there are times when you can let it out a little. And if you don't then you can get catastrophic results." She cocked her head to one side. "Have you told Jade about your spasms yet, for instance?"
"No, and I have no intention of doing so either. I'll be taking steps shortly."
Tash sighed and settled back on the couch. "Now, 'taking steps' is all well and good. But you need emotional support as well. It's got to be scary, knowing that if you can't fix it, you won't survive." She craned her neck back, looking up at him. "Loved ones can be a source of amazing strength at times like that. Gods, listen to me!" Tash shook her head, "I sound like a goddamn social worker, just like Reah said..."
Sorrow sighed ,"Yes, and you don't give up either do you? Let's see… If I can't fix it I die? Fear of dying is something I face every time I go out and hunt. I face things that are faster, stronger and meaner than me, and every night I wonder if tonight is going to be the night I'm not good enough to survive. This DNQ stuff is the same thing. I wonder if I know enough, if I'm good enough magically to solve the problem and survive."
Sorrow sat forward on the sofa and met Tash's concerned gaze. "Look Tash, I've spent my entire adult life and a big part of my childhood dealing with my problems alone. I'm used to it and so far I haven't done a bad job of it. Yes, I understand you're there for me and I realise you think I should share more with Jade but that isn't who I am. Stop trying to change me."
"No, I don't give up," Tash smiled. "And yeah, I know you've always coped more or less alone. I was lucky, I had Matthias for the rough times. And now I have Victor. And my friends. Am I trying to change you by encouraging you to open up? I don't know… All I know is that you asked me here for help, company, someone to talk to, whatever - and I'm trying to do that."
She threw herself back in the couch and the deep, soft cushions enveloped her. "Damn, this is one comfy couch."
"Yeah I know, but maybe don't push quite so much." He paused, "I have a choice tomorrow." He rushed on before Tash could reply, "I don't have to rebind the D'Nethk'Quan. I could unravel it safely as well."
Tash stared at him from the depths of the sofa. "So you can stay a Superman, but run the risk of it coming apart again, or you can become Joe Normal... I presume you'll still have problems with the magic, whichever way you go?"
Tash saw the concern on Sorrow's face. "Actually, no. If I unbind the D'Nethk'Quan my magic returns to normal as well. It would take time to recover but in about a month’s time I would be free of backlash." Sorrow stared into space as his right hand clenched and unclenched. "There would be no pain when I cast spells," he whispered.
"Oh. Ok, so your choice is between physical prowess but problems with magic - not to mention the attendant issues of being D'Nethk'Quan anyway - or being the way you would have been if you'd never done the ritual in the first place." Tash watched Sorrow's hand as he reflexively clenched it repeatedly. "Do you want to know what I'd do if I were you, or do you want to tell me your thoughts on pros and cons? See? Not pushing," she winked.
Sorrow laughed out loud. It was the first sound of mirth she'd heard from him in a while but he sobered all too quickly. "I was walking a dark path before I took the D'Nethk'Quan. Oh, I was strong enough to give it up once I had to, but until the pain gave me an incentive... I'm not so sure I want to go there again. I'd be a very different person if I'd practised those magics for the last few years. A half dozen incantations spring to mind that would kill you where you sit. Right now, the backlash would leave me writhing in agony, but without the D'Nethk'Quan? A spell isn't like a gun or a knife - it won't harm by accident. It's a singular act of will to invoke such killing magic and I think we've found out just what I will do if I have to."
Tash closed her eyes, hearing the self-doubt in his voice. "Either way, you're pretty lethal, Sorrow." Opening her eyes again to regard him, she continued, "It's up to you if you're the sort of person you want to be. Maybe I'm not the best person to preach about self-awareness, given my recent blindness with Ohenewaa, but you have to decide if you can trust yourself with the magic."
"But even if I accept the bindings and keep the DNQ maybe I'm just walking the same path, just a little more slowly. And if I do repair the bindings I will be superman. It won't be this pale reflection I have now; it will be the real thing. Near Slayer level abilities with no sacred calling. I've crossed the line and there's no going back. Can I trust myself with either?"
"So what's your third choice, then? Let yourself die?" Tash shook her head. "Nuh, uh. You won't accept that. Neither would I. So you have to choose. Strong, fast killing machine, or super warlock? Whichever one you pick, you still have to live with the consequences of wielding that power."
Tash leaned forward and took both of Sorrow's hands in her own, forcing him to look at her. "The fact that you're worried about it bodes well. I know a part of you revelled in what you did to Xavier, but a larger part of you is repulsed. I remember how it felt to relish the kill - and that was all me. I wasn't possessed by Ohenewaa. Even her memories didn't make me do it. It was how I reacted to them - it was me. It's in all of us. And you've been closer to the bloodlust than most, but you don't have to let it control you.”
"Personal responsibility? Make your choice and pay for it?" Sorrow seemed somewhat surprised.
"Well yeah, I guess. Though I'm hoping your choice will be to not kill people wantonly," Tash smiled. "But why so surprised? Do you think I don't feel responsible for the choices I've had to make?"
"Because we don't make all our decisions. Ohenewaa certainly wasn't one you made for yourself and though you solved that issue where would you be if you hadn't?" Sorrow held up his hand, "And yes I realise playing 'what if' is pretty pointless but... magic has a tendency to make your choices for you."
He glanced down the lounge to the suntrap at the far end. "It's getting late and I should see Jade tonight. She'll be worrying."
Tash shook her head. "You said yourself that it's a singular act of will to invoke killing magic. You have to want it. You have to choose. And when you know you've got such lethal power at your disposal - be it the magic or the DNQ - I think you’ll be more careful about the choices you make. I have to believe that. Deep down, I know that you’re a good man. And I will do my utmost to keep you from that dark path.”
Tash followed his gaze, noting the changing colour of the light signalling the proximity of sunset. "And yes, I think seeing Jade tonight will be good for you, even if you refuse my good advice and won't talk to her about any of this. Just being near her will help."
"Jade can't help with the DNQ, and if she understood what the praentath really did..." Sorrow shook his head, remembering Jade's ultimatum. If she understood just what he had done because of that...*It's better she doesn't know.*
"Come on, let’s head back. You can take me for a ride."
Tash's laugh pealed out, high and clear. "I don't think I could take you for a ride if I tried," she smirked, "But yes, I can give you a lift home."
With Sorrow's arms wrapped around her waist, Tash sped through the street towards Poplar Avenue, the wind whipping past them and the golden glow of the sun behind them, casting long shadows in front of the bike. Just how dark and shadowed was Sorrow's path going to be, she wondered. And would she have the strength to provide some light?
Only time would tell.
Dinner With JC
Tuesday, 30 August 2005 - 10pm
"Earth to Ms Jadyn Lee... Come in J...You've faded out on me again." Julian leaned forward and waggled his fingers in front of Jade's face. "What's wrong with you gorgeous? You've been in this daze the whole day." He grinned cheekily, "I'm beginning to think you no longer enjoy my fabulously witty company."
Jade smiled back, a little sheepishly. "I'm sorry JC... I... didn't sleep well last night." *Hardly surprising, considering that I spent most of it trying not to get hysterical over that damn nightmare!* She shuddered. The thought of Valerian being back in L.A. chilled her blood. After his plan of getting to her through Sorrow had failed, she'd sensed his departure and had almost convinced herself that he'd given up on her for good. *Foolish. I should have known better. He's back... Whatever Tris says...*
Sorrow had tried to comfort her... "It's just a dream darling... Try not to think about it too much, it's probably nothing... He has no hold on you now. I've been cured, remember? And you're safe. You've got me. And Tash, Victor and Kate. We'll never let him hurt you, you know that..."
Jade, however, had seen the flicker of fear in Sorrow's eyes and knew that he was more concerned than he was letting on. She was also convinced that she was not being overly-paranoid. The dream she'd had was proof enough for her. *I only get that nightmare when Valerian's close. He's in L.A., I know it!*
"There you go again... Drifting off to god-knows-where. C'mon J... What's going on?" JC cupped her face in his hands and looked at her intently. "Is everything ok?"
"What? Oh... Yes. Everything's dandy." Jade gave herself a mental shake and downed the rest of her wine in a bid to relax. "Thanks," she smiled as JC topped off her glass, lit a cigarette and leaned back in her chair. The night was cool and refreshing after the warm, muggy weather dominating L.A.'s summer. "Don't nag," she chuckled as Julian opened his mouth to comment on her smoking. "I know I didn't use to... It's a pretty recent habit."
"So... What were we talking about?" Jade deftly changed the subject.
"You. Well, I was asking if you're seeing anybody at the moment." JC tapped Jade on the nose and winked. "I'm warning you though, if you say no, I'm probably gonna kidnap you, fly us to Bimini and force you to marry me."
Jade burst out laughing. "Besides the fact that you're too young for me... I am seeing someone." She blushed a little, "Tristan Barrington, although he prefers to be called Sorrow."
"Sorrow?" JC raised an eyebrow. "What sort of name is that? What's he do? Wait..." He pulled a face. "Let me guess. He's a gothic rock star?"
"He's... Errrm... I've got a better idea. Why don't I call him and see if he wants to join us?"
Jade took our her mobile phone and punched in the number for the apartment. Receiving no answer, she called Sorrow's mobile. "Tris? Where are you?"
There was a slight pause, then, "I'm having dinner and drinks with an old friend... We're at the Cafe Cartel. Thought that you might want to drop by and say hi... I miss you..." She smiled softly into the phone, deftly flicking her paper napkin at JC as he made funny, sappy faces at her.
"I'm kind of busy tonight. Don't think I can make it..." Even through the phone, Jade could hear the strain in Sorrow's voice. Her grin faltered a little and her hand gripped the edge of the table, "Tris? Is everything ok?"
*Something's... off...* Jade couldn't quite put her finger on it but... She thought, for one panicked moment, that he'd gotten into some trouble with Valerian but almost immediately discarded the idea. If Sorrow suspected that the vampire was around him, he would have said something.
"Yeah, just a little distracted. I'm... hunting tonight." Sorrow sighed then said softly, "I'll see you tomorrow, ok? You enjoy dinner..."
Jade's attention snapped back to JC who had a slightly puzzled look on his face. *Ok. Not a good time for that sort of discussion.* With Julian around, she couldn't ask for any further details and, despite Sorrow's attempt at an easygoing tone, or perhaps, because of it, her feeling of unease grew.
"Tris, wait! I..." Jade bit her lip. *Damn it... I can't say anything with JC here.* "I'm heading home soon. It's going to be another long day tomorrow; I'm showing JC the ropes and will probably be at XY till late." *What isn't he telling me?!*
"Ok. Look Jade, this isn't a good time. I'll talk to you later, ok?" Sorrow heard Jade's quick intake of breath, knew he had hurt her and winced at the curtness in his tone. "I'm sorry darling. It's just that..." he trailed off.
"No no, it's ok. I'll talk to you later." Jade forced herself to smile for Julian's benefit before hanging up.
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
*** Thursday Sept 1, 2005 ***
Alice drove up to Poplar after a small drive around looking for Nix, the third member the order had sent to trap Victor. *I hope he didn't get to Vic without me.* Alice walked to the door, looked around a moment then walked around to the side of the building. "I'd better search around here too." Alice began to walk very stealthily around the building .
Victor sat on the small pile of bricks he had stacked to prop himself against. He could have stood without it for days if necessary but after the Ogre had slammed him with the remainder of his wall he was less inclined to leave handy weaponry lying about.
If the wall would not stop them it would also make a dandy cover wall should they try to come after him too. In all it was like the old days of fighting hoards of savages on the plains. Physical defenses and containment. Simple stuff.
A sound of approaching footsteps coming from the alleyway made Victor shift his stance slightly. *The creatures are going to try to hit me from two sides eh? I am ready.*
A shadowy figure clinging to corner and making less noise than it should padded behind the corner. A familiar scent drifted among the garbage and urine smells in the back alley; a familiar smell.
Alice stopped. Her noise wiggled, "Vic?" she whispered. "You out here?"
Bunniko's voice came to him. *I hope it's her and not a clone of her,* Victor thought before calling out, "I'm here. But you had better come out slowly. I am a little tweaked right now."
"Okay babe," Alice stepped out from hiding. "What's the matter hun?"
On seeing Victor's stack of bricks she quipped, "Making a grill?"
Victor chuckled in spite of himself but he did not relax his guard. Her natural manner didn't mean she was not a duplicate but when the Hispanic woman came into full view Victor relaxed slightly. *Either she is Bunniko disguised by magic or a clone stole her disguise.*
"Good to see you again. I am sorry I wasn't very friendly the last time we met. But I am grateful that you helped. Tash says you are going by the name 'Alice' now. It is still a little blurry, that ride from the mall. But I am glad you've had a chance to meet Tash. She helped me get past the hurdle I had been struggling with for... well a long time. She is very special to me."
"I know. I got a whole touch my man, pull back a bloody stump vibe from her."
*That’s my Tash. And that’s exactly the kind of thing a duplicate wouldn't say if it was out for thrills.*
Victor stood up and lowered the crossbow that Tash had let him borrow. "I suppose guarding the back door of my building with a bow from a brick barricade looks a little strange, huh?"
"Well if I didn't know you I would think you might have slipped on some of those marbles you lost and hit your head. On the other hand I do know you. And One: why do you need a crossbow? And Two: what has got you so spooked?"
Victor waved to her to join him behind the wall. "We have an infestation problem. A big one. It would seem that our basement has become a dimensional nexus for an extradimensional entity to spew pseudomatter into this universe in an attempt to take it over. And it all comes through that door." He pointed at the door, now scarred with mortar, arrows, and slime.
"Ick, pseudomatter - it gets in all the cracks." Alice joined him behind his wall. "How do you intend to stop it? Flamethrower, C4, Kryptonite? So you're just going to sit out here and play William Tell with it? Till it copies you again and no one here will be able to stop it. Don’t you just love LA?"
Victor looked at her for a long time. He wished he had Bunni... er Alice's sense of "right here right now" instead of his 20-20 hindsight. She always seemed to reduce even the most potent threat to how it affected her now.
"Right now, that's all I can do. It is buying Tash and some other friends of mine - Sorrow and a few others - time to gather forces to try against it. Saturday night. Say, want to help? I know you have a trick or two that might make a dent."
"Saturday? Well I think I can come up with something to make a dent by then. I'd be glad to come to your party. I'll bring the dip."
Love, Truth & Honesty
Wednesday, 31 August 2005 - 8pm
Jade's heeled sandles clicked repeatedly on the pavement as she hurried down the street. Even with Julian's height advantage he was hard pressed to keep up with her as they walked back to Poplar. She had been edgy the whole day - Julian had tried to ask about it but she'd brushed him off, the shuttered look in her eyes warning him not to pursue the topic.
After they'd closed XY Julian had offered, as he had the previous couple of nights, to walk Jade home. She'd accepted but unlike before, had found herself too distracted to hold up her end of the conversation. Sorrow hadn't returned home last night and she had not been able to contact him on his mobile since they'd last spoke. As the day progressed, Jade had found herself becoming increasingly worried.
*He's fine. Tris is fine. I have to believe that. Oh God, please let him be all right...* It was all Jade could do not to wring her hands as she hurried home. *Something's happened. Valerian's attacked him. No, no... I would have sensed that if it happened. No, why would I? I didn't before. Damn it! I have to stop this!* Jade stopped suddenly and pressed her hands against her temples to stop them from throbbing.
"J? Are you all right?" Julian gripped Jade's shoulder as she swayed a little. "Geez, you've gone all pale... I'm taking you to the doctor." His voice was determined.
"Wait. No! JC, I'm fine. Really. Just tired." She forced herself to stand upright and give him a little smile. When it looked like Julian was about to argue, Jade used the one thing men were never able to argue with. "And I've got the worse case of cramps ever. That time... you know?" At his abashed look, she gave a weak chuckle. "Just take me home. I'll be ok after I get some sleep."
**************
Julian hovered over her even after she'd reached home. A little amused, Jade said, "Will you please relax? I said I have PMS, not cancer. I'm not going to collapse and pass out any time soon, I promise."
A quick glance at the clock told her it was past 8. Still no Tristan. Jade walked over to the cordless and dialled his mobile number for the umpteenth time that day. After being transferred to his voicemail *Not again!*, she slammed the phone down and raked her hands through her hair in frustration. It was then she saw the red light blinking on her answering machine. She hadn't checked her messages in a couple of days. Reaching over, Jade hit the playback button.
You have two new messages. First message. Sent on August 30th, 4.08pm. "Hi Ms Lee, this is John from the drycleaners. Your stuff is ready for pickup. Just thought I'd let you know."
Delete.
Message deleted. Next message. Sent August 31st, 3.14am. "It's done."
"What?" Jade's eyes were bewildered as she stared down at her machine and tapped the replay key. Hoarse as he had sounded, she had no problem recognising Sorrow's voice. *What the hell? What's done?*
Then realisation hit and shock turned her legs into jelly. Oblivious to Julian rushing towards her in concern, Jade slid down to the floor and sat there rocking to and fro, her eyes focused vacantly in the distance. *Xavier. He killed Xavier last night. He killed Xavier last night and he didn't tell me beforehand. Why didn't he tell me he was going to kill Xavier?*
"J! Damn it! What's wrong?" Julian shook her slightly. The blank look she gave him told him that nothing he said was really getting through. Not too sure what to do next, he just scooped Jade up and carried her over to the couch. "Talk to me J. C'mon... You're really scaring me here."
Jade just shook her head and wrapped her arms around her knees, hugging them close. *Tris kept it from me. He's been planning this for ages. Why didn't he say anything last night? Why? Oh God, what if he's hurt? What if that's why he's not back yet?* She stood up suddenly, almost bowling Julian over. *I've got to go find him!*
**************
Sorrow let Tash lead the way as she hauled her bike up the stairs. Sorrow stood uncertainly at the top of the stairwell as she wheeled the bike to her apartment. "Talk to her." Tash and the bike disappeared from view through the doorway. Sorrow sighed and took out his keys. *Maybe she'll still be at XY...*
As he raised his hands to the lock, the door suddenly burst open. A somewhat dishelvelled and obviously distraught Jade had flung the door open while struggling with another man.
"Jade?"
"Let me go, JC! Tris!" Jade shoved her friend away and burst into tears. "You're alive! You're hurt!" She reached out instinctively to touch Sorrow's face then stopped herself and fought for composure, aware that Julian was standing right next to her, totally bewildered.
"I... I..." As her voice broke, she drew a deep breath, took a step back and turned to Julian. "JC... I know you're wondering what the hell is going on and that you're worried. But I'm all right, I promise you. And I need to talk to Tristan alone..."
"No. Wait. I'm not leaving you like this." Julian looked at Sorrow suspiciously, then back at Jade. "You're not all right, I don't care what you say."
"Please. JC..." Jade placed a hand on his shoulder, "I swear I'm ok. I was just... worried... that Tris was in trouble. Now that he's home, I'll be fine. Just go on home, I'll see you at XY tomorrow. Please," she repeated, her eyes beseeching him not to argue.
It was evident that Julian didn't want to leave but faced with Jade's insistence he had little choice. "Ok. I'll go. But call me if you need anything, ok?" Jade agreed and he turned to Sorrow and nodded curtly before walking off.
Sorrow watched the man's retreating back. "Who was that?" he said returning his gaze to Jade.
Sorrow walked into the apartment and settled slowly onto the sofa with an audible sigh. "And why was he trying to keep you in here?"
Jade shut the door and met Sorrow's stare. "That was Julian, we met when I was studying in Melbourne. He's going to be helping me out at XY..." Her hands were balled into tight fists behind her back as she strove to maintain a semblance of calm. "He was trying to stop me from running out to look for you when I thought you were probably bleeding to death in a ditch somewhere." *Ok girl, not so calm after all.*
Deciding a little distance and a few moments alone would be good, Jade walked towards the kitchen. After leaning against the cabinets for a little while, she got out the first aid kit and brought it back to the living room. Opening it, she lowered herself onto the couch next to Sorrow, shook out the contents of an unmarked bottle onto a cotton pad and dabbed gently at his face.
"An old Chinese remedy for cuts and bruises... It'll help with the pain," she spoke softly, in a voice that threatened to hitch with the sobs that she kept swallowing back.
He raised his hand to hers and pulled it gently away from his face. Taking the bottle out of her other hand he drew her slowly into his embrace. "I'm not bleeding in a ditch somewhere..." *And Tash wants me to tell her about D'Nethk'Quan as well?*
"And I know I didn't tell you but..." Sorrow flinched as the memory of Xavier's wails of agony rose up in his mind.
It was hard to remain angry or be accusing when Sorrow was hurting. And Jade knew that the pain went way beyond the physical. Having killed Xavier would be causing him great mental and emotional torment as well. However, as Jade lay nestled in Sorrow's arms she couldn't rid herself of the hurt she felt at his need to keep things from her. "Why didn't you? Tell me, I mean?"
"I... I didn't want you there, it would have been too risky for both of us. It was hard enough without me worrying about you and I'd have worried whether it was warranted or not." He lowered his voice, "and I killed a man in cold blood last night. Not the demon, me. I didn't want you to see that."
Sorrow relived the black glass shattering into dozens of sparkling pieces as he snapped the praentath in the wound. "I didn't want you to see any of it."
"Why?" Jade cried, "Because you think I wouldn't be able to handle it? Tris, I'm not made of glass. And I don't need you to protect me if it means you're going to be keeping secrets like that from me."
She pulled out of his arms. "What hurts me is the fact that you didn't tell me, not what you did. How could you think that I'd care that you killed Xavier when it was my idea to kill him in the first place? Do you think I'm as shallow as that?" Jade looked away.
Sorrow ached, his body was bruised and battered and his heart just... ached. "It wasn't the 'what' but the 'how'." He reached for Jade but let his hand drop before it touched her. "Yes, you wanted Xavier killed, you made me realise the necessity of that but..."
He remembered the look on Tash's face when he'd explained the nature of the praentath - he didn't really want to go into this but Jade wouldn't leave it alone. "The method was my choice."
"I don't care how brutal it was. You did what you had to do. You think I wouldn't know the sort of person you are? That you would have chosen the least painful way of death if you could?" Anger bubbled within Jade again. She knew that Sorrow was used to a solitary existence, working and living alone, but him excluding her from this pushed her over the edge.
"I obviously understand you a hell of a lot better than you do me. We've been together six months. I've never loved a man the way I love you. Damn it Tris, what if something had happened to you? Do you think I could live with myself knowing that I could have helped you in some way?" Jade choked, "Do you think I'd want to go on living if you didn't?"
"Don't you ever say that. I hunt things in the night and that could kill me any time. But don't you even think about giving up when I'm gone. As for Xavier, there are some things I have to do alone Jade... It's who I am. And brutal? I stood and watched while black glass tore a man to ribbons. The wasn't much left of Xavier but raw meat when the praentath was through with him. You want to know do you?" Sorrow stood and despite the pain of his wounds, stomped towards the bedroom.
He returned, seconds later, with a book in hand. He threw it on the table. "There! Why don't you read it? It's a far more eloquent description than I could manage. I need to know there are some places in my life that it doesn't touch. Can you understand that? Everything got ripped away from me, all that was left was pain. Can you understand that I need, yes Jade, need, a refuge from it all and that means there are some things I won't share with you, not because you can't deal with them but because. I. Don't. Want. You. To."
"So I'm suppose to stay at home like the good little woman with no idea of what goes on in your life until you decide it's time to tell me?" Jade's face had turned white at Sorrow's description at what had been done to Xavier but she forced herself to focus on the issue at hand.
"I'm sorry Tris, I can't be like that... I can't live like that." Jade met his stare squarely, trying not to flinch from the fury and the anguish she saw in his eyes. "I've kept no secrets from you. You knew, almost from the start, everything there is to know about me and ugly as it is, there's not been a day you haven't been my 'refuge'. I can't fathom why you think it would be any different for me. Why you would think it's necessary for me to be kept apart from the darkest aspects of your life."
Tears started to run down Jade's cheeks again but her voice, thankfully, remained steady. "I know what you do, the dangers you face, night after night on the street. How could I not, being what I am? She gave a short, bitter laugh. "Which makes the fact that you've been keeping things from me even more painful. If you feel as if you can't tell me, who else can you tell?"
Then Jade saw it. The slightest flicker of guilt. "Oh God..." She sank back down onto the couch. "You've spoken to someone else about this already?"
"Yes, I've spoken to someone else, and you know why? Because when I saw the same look of horror and disgust in Tash's eyes that I saw just now in yours, I could cope, but not when I see it in yours. You are a beautiful, wonderful human being. Your past and nature will never change that but I have remade myself as a monster who can kill for the woman he loves."
"You're not a monster! How could you even think that!" Jade couldn't remember ever feeling this torn - conflicting emotions of hurt, anger and love swamped her and left her feeling exhausted. Getting shakily to her feet, she crossed over to where Sorrow was standing, his entire body rigid. "Tris, listen to me. Xavier was the monster, not you. He had less regard for human life than most of the demons I've met. He was hunting down one of our friends and it was only a matter of time before he came gunning for you and me. You did what you had to do to survive. You did what you had to do for me to survive. All that you've done, you did so that our life together could continue. How could that be wrong in your eyes?"
The urge to wrap her arms around him was strong but Jade resisted. Even though she knew he was suffering, Jade couldn't bring herself to ignore the pain she felt at how Sorrow had lied by omission. Not only that, he had turned to someone else for comfort and understanding. To Jade, that boiled down to one thing - a lack of trust. Sorrow could not, or would not, open up to her because he didn't trust her enough to be able to handle it and continue to stand by him. As much as she loved him and vice versa, Jade didn't see how any relationship like that could work out.
"How can you be so sure? A matter of time? Why would he? How can you so calmly stand there and accept? I murdered a man, Jade, not because of what he did but because of what he might have done. Do you think I didn't tell you because I thought you'd leave? Do you think I didn't tell you because you weren't strong enough? I know you'll stay despite all that I did, no matter how brutal it was and... What does that say about me? About us? At least if you don't know I can pretend it's because you don't know, but now?"
A harsh sob fell from his lips, "Tash would listen because she knows I need a friend, she wouldn't judge me because it wouldn't help. You? You would do all that because you love me. It's a slippery slope when you're willing to forgive murder for love."
"You're right when you said that I wouldn't judge you. But that's not because I'm deliberately blocking out how Xavier's death occurred. Neither am I overlooking murder for love. He might not have killed any of us yet but were we supposed to wait for something like that to happen before we made a move? Wasn't Victor's run-in with him at the mall bad enough? You heard what he said the day we saw him kill that shapeshifter. He knew you were staying at Poplar. How long do you think it would've been before he found out who you were staying with? I saw his eyes Tris... They were filled with such hatred. He wanted nothing less than your blood on his hands."
Jade shuddered at the thought, "And if you didn't stop him, he would have had it. And probably mine, Victor's and the blood of God knows how many others. You tried to solve this through other means but the Society refused to take any action against Xavier. We didn't have any other choice. I'm not saying that killing a man in cold blood is something that doesn't eat at me, it does and I wasn't even there! I can't imagine how it must be for you... I can't share that pain with you because you won't let me share it Tris."
"How could I hurt you with this?"
"Because I love you, you big, mule-headed idiot!" Jade fought the urge to kick the coffee table in frustration. "And since you claim to love me, here's a little tip. People in love tend to share both the good and the bad. That's why 'honesty' and 'trust' are such important words in relationships."
"'Honesty'. 'Trust'... Then there is something else we need to talk about." Sorrow sighed. This was going to be even more difficult than he thought.
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
Wednesday, 31 August 2005 - 9pm
The aches and pains had slipped past his control and Sorrow had had to resort to a couple of painkillers; not Imitrex, just Ibruprofen, but still painkillers. Jade was looking at him from across the room, her lower lip caught between her lips. Her stance showed equal measures of concern, hurt and anger and Sorrow had put all three there. Unable to meet her gaze, Sorrow wrung his hands and tried to decide just how to tell her he may be dying.
"There was an unforeseen consequence of the exorcism we did. It seems removing the demon damaged the binds of the D'Nethk'Quan. The whole structure is degenerating and it's causing progressively worse physical symptoms. I think I've found a solution and tomorrow once I've recovered from this," he gestured towards his own battered body, "I intend to implement that solution."
Jade stared at Sorrow as she tried to process what he was saying. *This is all too much. Valerian. Xavier. And now D'Nethk'Quan? How much are we suppose to be able to take within 24 hours?* In spite of the warm night, she was shivering uncontrollably. Somehow, she knew that Sorrow was skimming over a lot of details in his latest revelation and she wasn't sure she'd be able to take finding out any more without breaking down completely. *Ah well, you got what you asked for girlie... He's finally being truthful and honest...*
As Sorrow dry swallowed several pills, Jade rubbed absently at the throbbing in her own temples. "Wait... What kind of physical symptoms are we talking about? What exactly happens when the bindings of the D'Nethk'Quan come loose? We've never really talked about that." She noticed that his hands were trembling as he capped the bottle of medicine and the tight set of his mouth told her that he was was in a considerable amount of pain.
"Muscle spasms mainly, though they're getting longer and affecting a greater number of muscle groups simultaneously. As for what happens when the bindings come undone?" Sorrow shrugged, "I don't think it's ever happened before; at least if it has, the book doesn't mention anything. I'm working somewhat blind here. The bindings are supposed to be permanent and incorrruptable. I guess no one expected them to deal with ancient magics designed to purify the living dead."
Sorrow walked over to Jade and wrapped his arms around her. "All that energy in the binding has to go somewhere once they let go completely."
"Has the pain been getting worse? The backlash?" Jade looked up at Sorrow, her eyes wide with fear. She ran her hands up and down his arms. "You used magic to fight Xavier. If the bindings are loose, aren't you putting your life at risk?"
"Most of the magic I used last night was stored power. As for the rest, there doesn't seem to be an increase in the intensity or duration of the backlash." Sorrow tried to smile, "That at least hasn't gotten any worse."
Jade led him into the bedroom and pushed him gently on the bed. For that, Sorrow was thankful; he was exhausted and it showed. Jade fetched the first aid kit and continued to treat his injuries as she went on with her questioning. "What did you mean about the energy in the binding having to 'go somewhere'?"
"If I don't fix it or at least dissipate the binding in a controlled fashion, all that energy gets dumped somewhere. The only place for it to go is my body."
"Why don't I like the sound of that?" Jade looked at Sorrow worriedly, "What aren't you telling me Tris?"
"You're right, it's not something pleasant. In fact, unaddressed it's likely to be fatal," Sorrow spoke over Jade's shock, "but I have almost everything in place to fix this before it gets that far."
"F-f-fatal?" Jade stammered. "My God... You could have died and if I hadn't pressed, you were going to tell me when?" She stood up from the bed and walked to the windows, stared blindly at the lights in the distance. She didn't think she could look at Sorrow a moment longer without hitting him. *I will not cry. Idiot man. Stupid man. I will not cry.*
Sorrow struggled out of the bed and walked up behind Jade. He rested his hands lightly on her hips and pressed a kiss into her hair. "It won't come to that. Tomrrow I'll fix everything and it won't be a problem. I wouldn't have worried you with this but...'truth'...'honesty'."
"Oh don't throw my words back at me to placate me." Jade whirled around and prodded Sorrow in the shoulder, ignoring his wince of pain. "It's up to me to decide if I should get worried with what's going on in your life, although, after this, I'm not sure I should bother."
Jade ducked out of his arms and started pacing around the bedroom. "Damn it Tris, your life's been in danger and... and..." *Oh hell. So much for not bawling.* She burst into tears. "Y-y-you better pray that you survive all of this... Y-y-you owe me that much. I need to kick your ass for k-keeping everything from me and I can't do it now with you all bruised and b-battered."
Sorrow caught Jade's arm and turned her to face him. "Hey..." he wiped a tear from her cheek and smiled softly, "When this is over you can try and kick my ass. But I'm not sorry to say you'll have a tough time managing it. I'll either be a true DNQ or I'll have my magic back." Sorrow leant forwards and kissed away the tears on her other cheek. "I love you and I'm sorry."
"Oh believe me darling, DNQ or not, I'll kick your ass all the way to China and back." Jade sighed softly as her lips met his. "I love you too Tris. But I meant what I said about needing you to be honest with me... Ok?"
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
Thursday 1st September 2005 3:20pm
Sorrow walked down from the training room having just completed another T'ai Chi sequence. The right side of his face was still puffy and numerous nicks and minor cuts covered his chest. *You're running out of time.*
He took a quick shower and then gathered up his various notes. There was nothing more to add, all he needed to do was find someone willing to help and he could recreate the binding. Unfortunately for his peace of mind there was really only one person who would be able to help and Sorrow had been avoiding Kate since February. Having finished showering Sorrow dressed and turned to face the apartment door like a man facing his last battle. *Well, no time like the present."
Kate had been trying to rest since she returned from the hospital that morning but she was finding it hard to relax with everything that had happened lately. So far she'd managed to clean the entire apartment, removing any reminder that the doppelganger had even been there. She was just in the process of re-dressing the cut on her forehead when she heard a knock on the door. She quickly dabbed at the cut, it wasn't really bleeding any more but it was giving her a terrible headache. Pressing firmly against the cut she quickly went to answer the door. This time she remembered Tash's warning about being careful who she opened the door to. Kate paused with her hand on the door handle and sighed, then opened the door and forced a half smile.
"Sorrow," she said blankly, "what can I do for you?"
"Hello Kate, this is rather involved, could I come in? I don't really want to explain in the hallway."
Kate stepped aside and let Sorrow enter the apartment. He rather nervously perched on the sofa.
"What do you know about D'Nethk'Quan?"
"Apart from it being a bugger to spell? Very little," replied Kate tiredly. She removed the bandage from where she held it against her head and then finished dressing her wound in the hall mirror.
"Ok, well I'll give you the pertinent facts. The D'Nethk'Quan is a ritual that grants a great deal of physical power at the expense of a person’s magical ability. When I underwent the ritual I didn't gain all of the benefits, essentially because I was sharing soul space with a demon. The bindings of D'Nethk'Quan go that deep. Anyway, when I exorcised then demon this summer it damaged the bindings and if I don't repair them soon I have at most a month to live."
Kate returned to where Sorrow sat perched on the edge of the sofa and sat back down. "So, you want me to repair these damaged bindings? Of the D'uh Neth Kwan? What makes you think that I can? I've only ever heard of this... this ritual in legend and stories to frighten young children."
"Not precisely. The D'Nethk'Quan is one of those nasty circular bindings, the only person who can act upon them is me. I've gone over the original ritual and I've come up with a process that should allow me to repair them but It's going to take a lot of power. I'm still bound by the D'Nethk'Quan though and simply put I can't raise the required energies without killing myself through backlash."
"Oh," said Kate in surprise. She stood up again and paced slightly. She didn't realise how strange it would be to see Sorrow again, especially as he seemed so changed since last February. She always knew it would be difficult to face him again, though in the light of everything that had happened in the past few days... Kate wrung her hands nervously. "Well, well, I suppose... I suppose I could manage..." Inside she felt annoyed with herself, here Sorrow was asking her to help save his life and she was still hung up on the past.
“Look Sorrow,” that name seemed strangely apt for the first time, “I know we… well, there are unresolved things in our past and I, I don’t…” Kate cleared her throat and began again. “You and I never got off to the best of starts and with everything that happened last February with Serapis and Luc and you and your… I just think it’s best to get this out in the open now.” Sorrow looked slightly uncomfortable and opened his mouth to say something but Kate stopped him and sat back down. “Please, just let me say this, I don’t even know if it will mean anything to you but I want you to know that I don’t blame you. I mean, yes, I did, for a long time because it was easy. It was easy to blame everything on you; Serapis, Janus, Tempest - they were dead and you were the only…” Kate fiddled with a loose strand of hair, twirling it around her finger. “But I don’t blame you any more. And the things that you do, that you’ve done… for me, I mean despite how things turned out you were willing to risk all that for me, and you hardly knew me. Like I said, I don’t know if this means anything to you but I just wanted to let you know, despite any awkwardness I’m willing, to help you.”
He hadn't been expecting that. Yes, he'd helped her in need; he'd also put a bolt of power in her lover's back. "Thank you,” Sorrow glanced away momentarily then pulled out a sheaf of notes. "Here's the stuff on the ritual... you'll want to go over it I'm sure. Tash will probably let us use the training room as a ritual space but if not there's always the one at my apartment." Sorrow finally noted Kate's battered appearance. "Are you up to this? You look rather..."
Kate took the notes from Sorrow and quickly looked them over. "You don't look too hot yourself,” replied Kate with a hint of annoyance. “Always straight down to business, isn’t that right?” Kate continued to flick through the notes, pausing every now and then to read something of interest, “Tash told me what you went through this summer to exorcise your demon… your humanity must really matter to you to go through all that.” Kate put the notes to one side momentarily. “It occurs to me that aside from your hunting antics and the fact that you’re Jade’s big tall and handsome I don’t really know anything at all about you. So tell me, what does Tristan get up to when he isn’t fighting the forces of darkness?” Kate paused for a moment then continued. “Come on Sorrow, you know? You fight so hard for your humanity so what makes you human? What’s your favourite book? Or, um, the most embarrassing thing you ever did, or… your fondest memory of your childhood?”
"Fondest memory? My childhood was destroyed by the realisation that things do go bump in the night. Everything I remember before my family was killed was turned to ashes by that attack. Afterward? I spent my 'childhood' learning how to kill vampires." Sorrow sighed, "Maybe it was the first time my Sensei let me use an iaito instead of a bokken or the first time I managed to cast a real spell, though that might also qualify as most embarrassing moment. I'm a sucker for romantic comedies, especially anything with Meg Ryan and City of Angels makes me cry every time." Sorrow smiled at Kate, "Doesn't really go with the image does it?"
Kate smiled warmly and touched Sorrow’s hand. “No, it doesn’t… but I like the new image much better.” Kate returned to the notes and continued to read them for the next ten minutes. When she was finished she sighed. “This looks awfully complex, but I should be able to do my part. Simple enough, you just need me to draw on the power to fuel the ritual right?”
"Pretty much, there are sufficient cut outs that even if it all goes horribly wrong you should be safe, and it needs to be complex. I'm borrowing heavily from the final part of the original ritual. I just hope I've balanced all the elements correctly. I need to talk to Tash about using upstairs and I need to go get all the materials for the rings."
Kate stood up with an air of finality. “Then what are we waiting for?”
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
6:05pm Thursday 1st September 2005
Sorrow had spent the last couple of hours recreating the rings he had last used when he became D'Nethk'Quan. In the centre of the room was a complex arrangement of gemstones, incense candles and bowls of water. Double checking the remaining alignments Sorrow was finally satisfied.
"Ok, these will hold the power you project towards me. They aren't quite like the originals since these will allow energy to enter but not leave. So we are going to need to ward the room before we proceed." Sorrow glanced over Kate's portion of the preparations. "I'll go grab Tash and a last few items and the we can get this show on the road."
Sorrow returned a few minutes later with Tash and a small box. Walking over to the table they had pushed against one wall Sorrow took out a syringe and a small vial.
Kate carefully added the finishing touches to her own ‘space’ - nothing overly dramatic, in fact it paled in comparison to the elaborate decadence of Sorrow’s ritual. Kate drew in the last section of the Triangle of Power, the very symbol that would magnify the energies she would be drawing upon. She only hoped it would be enough.
As Tash entered the training room Kate straightened up and smiled, brushing a little chalk dust from her simple blue robes. Kate turned to Sorrow, “This will be safe, won’t it? I mean… it’s safe?”
Tash gazed around the almost unrecognisable training room. "Wow, you guys really go to town with these rituals, don't you?" She turned to Kate and gasped at the nasty bruising covering her face. *Geez, between Reah, Sorrow and now Kate, am I the only one without pretty purple flowers on my face?*
"What happened?" she asked Kate gently. Though despite the look of the damage, Kate's aura didn't show much hurt. In fact, she seemed ecstatically happy. Tash found herself smiling in response to the happy glow. "Did you have a reunion with Galen, by any chance? Uh, I don't mean he did that..." Tash gestured helplessly, realising too late the unfortunate juxtaposition of her questions.
Tash's questions brought a smile to Kate's face as she remembered the previous night. "We did," she grinned, then she quickly frowned in annoyance. "Actually I had a run in with a doppelganger... it's all right, she's dead now, only... And Galen got shot, he's in the hospital. But he's going to be okay," she added with another smile. She paused for a moment suddenly feeling very queasy then continued as the feeling passed.
"You know I think..." Kate began, but suddenly the nausea became too much. She covered her mouth with her hand while Tash gestured frantically towards the small wash up area in the far corner. Kate ran behind the partition, followed shortly after by the sound of vomiting.
*A doppelganger? Galen shot! Holy shit...* Tash turned to Sorrow. "Is she going to be up to this? And is it safe?" Tash shook her head, "No, silly question. Of course it won't be."
"Actually there's little risk to Kate. It may stress her powers somewhat but the majority of the danger is going to be inside those," Sorrow gestured to the rings, “which is why Jade isn’t here… too much distraction.” He walked over to the table indicating for Tash to follow.
While Kate continued to gag in the corner Sorrow dropped his voice and spoke to Tash, "Despite Kate providing most of the power for this, I'm still going to suffer backlash. Quite a lot of it in all probability. That's on top of all the magic I've done recently. The pain is going to be very bad, probably enough to push me into a synthetic episode." Sorrow dropped his gaze to the syringe and vial. "That's a tranquilliser. It'll put me under fast and keep me down for twelve hours at least. When the ritual finishes, use it."
Tash gazed at Sorrow. "That's why you needed me? Surely Kate could administer it." She eyed him suspiciously, "What aren't you telling me, Sorrow?"
"This will push her to exhaustion. If she collapses before administering this you'll hear my screams clear across town. Please, Tash."
Taking the vial, Tash said, "Oh, there was never any question of me helping. I'm just worried." Gazing at the elaborate preparations in the room she sighed, "I just hope you survive this."
She moved to Kate's side as the stricken woman returned from the washroom area and held out an arm for her to lean on. "Feeling better?" Tash tried to fight down the deja-vu she was feeling - what was it with her friends lately? All bruised faces and vomiting.
Kate brushed the stray hair from her face, still feeling quite shaky. "Uh, yeah... I guess I'm just nervous," she mumbled, suppressing a shudder. "Are we ready?"
"Let's give it a minute. We have a little time..." said Sorrow warmly.
Tash could sense Sorrow's trepidation, mixed with concern for Kate. She touched his cheek lightly with her gloved hand. "You know Kate will give it all she's got. She's good - you'll be fine." Then she drew Kate closer and grasped the woman's hand. "And if you need to draw on my strength to help, then do it. I'll be right here for you."
"Once more into the breach." Sorrow began to unbutton his shirt.
Kate rolled her head in circles, releasing the tension in the back of her neck. When she felt relaxed she sat herself down in the middle of the Triangle of Power she had so artfully drawn across the floorboards. She crossed her legs and closed her eyes in silent meditation.
Tash moved to a position close to Kate, so the wicca could use her if needed. She settled and glanced up, then back to the floor as she noticed Sorrow. She'd forgotten about that aspect of his rituals. Although Sorrow seemed perfectly okay with the whole doppelganger thing, Tash herself still had some vague memories that she'd received from the clone. It made her just a touch uncomfortable. *No, get a grip, woman. Be professional about it.*
Composing her features she raised her head again, willing her eyes not to flicker. She needed to be aware of everything that was happening, so she could intervene if necessary. She couldn’t help but notice that the bruising on his face paled in comparison to the dark purple bruises that covered most of his body. Xavier must have given Sorrow a serious pounding before succumbing to him.
Xavier. Tash was still having difficulty coming to grips with Sorrow’s confession, and the brief bits and pieces of emotional overflow she’d felt from him. She’d told him last night that she was horrified but not disgusted. She had to admit to herself that wasn’t really true, though she’d maintained a calm for Sorrow at the time – he’d needed her to be stable, to let him have his catharsis without judgment. But he’d murdered a man in cold blood. Ok, the man in question was someone she wasn’t all that upset to see gone, but all the same… And the method he’d used was blood curdling, true, but that wasn’t the crux of it for Tash. He’d murdered a man in cold blood.
He’d murdered a man in cold blood.
Tash shook herself and forced her concentration back onto the task at hand - keeping Sorrow and Kate safe during the upcoming ritual.
Sorrow finished undressing and stepped into the rings, his voice raised in song. He lit the incense and candles as he moved through the concentric circles. Reaching the centre he turned to face Kate and let his voice fall silent. There was a moment of silence then Sorrow called the barriers into being. The air crackled for a moment then an unnatural stillness flowed into the room.
When Kate reopened her eyes her gaze was cold and impassive. Her eyes turned black and glittering and she was silent for a moment before her head rolled back to look up to the ceiling.
“Goddess Hecate I invoke thee! Bring unto me the sacred power!” Kate returned her blank stare back to focus on Sorrow and she stretched her arms out to touch the edges of the triangle. “As I will it.”
Suddenly, a crackling spark seemed to crawl through the room centring on the triangle in which Kate sat. She watched curiously through her deadened eyes as the electric blue light danced up her arms and channelled through her body. Suddenly she threw her head back and cried out a high pitched scream of anguish that seemed to come from deep within. The energy pulsed through Kate’s rigid body in deep waves as it began to accumulate and grow stronger.
Kate’s voice faded into an almost silent choking sound though her body did not move a muscle while the power flooded every fibre of her being.
*****************
Darkness had long since fallen. The room was illuminated only by the candles and the light that surrounded the two magicians. Tash felt the outermost shield vanish, seemingly drawn inward towards Sorrow. There was a brief flare of light as the candles burned themselves out and the gemstones crumbled into dust. A few minutes later the second shield followed the first into oblivion and Tash began to discern the first notes of pain in Sorrow's body.
A quarter hour passed before the third shield vanished, then the fourth and fifth went in quick succession. The pain was obvious now in Sorrow's voice.
The innermost ring remained only a few minutes more before it vanished snuffed out like the candles representing it. Kate collapsed to the floor suddenly limp as the energy she had channelled for so long abruptly vanished. Sorrow's voice trailed off into a sob. There was a pause while Sorrow drew breath and the room was filled with a wail of sheer unadulterated agony. It went on and on and on.
Tash was already poised and ready, had been for several long minutes by the time the ritual reached its end. Now she sprang forward and drew Sorrow's head into her lap. His hair was plastered with sweat and he writhed, trying to shut out the agony. Despite her own barriers, Tash was getting enough of a backwash from Sorrow to know that his every nerve-end must feel on fire.
Quickly she flicked the syringe she’d already prepared and held his arm steady with one hand while she slipped the needle in with the other. “Rest,” she whispered, knowing he couldn't hear her. Gently she stroked his hair until he passed into a quiet oblivion.
She arranged him comfortably on the floor and covered him as best she could with his discarded shirt. "I hope this worked for you," she said to his sleeping form.
She turned to Kate and checked the woman. She seemed to be all right so far as Tash could tell - just exhausted. Again, she arranged Kate's limbs in a more comfortable position.
*Stupid woman,* Tash berated herself, *Why didn't you think to organise things before you had two unconscious bodies to worry about?* She fumbled for her keys and found the one to the penthouse. Opening it, she wrinkled her nose at the slightly musty odour inside, but had no time to worry about that. Racing back to the training room, she lifted Kate and carried her to the apartment, depositing her on the rumpled bed in the main bedroom. Tash nose wrinkled in disgust as she realised that nobody had been in here for a week. The last time this bed had been used… *No, don’t think about poor Sam now. Later.*
She covered Kate with a blanket, then returned to Sorrow. He was much larger and heavier than Kate, but Tash was able to manage a fireman's carry, though his covering came loose in the process. Grimacing, Tash staggered gamely to the penthouse, glad that she didn't have to carry either of them down the stairs. With a grunt of effort, she got Sorrow onto the bed in the second room and quickly pulled a blanket over him.
After going back once more to fetch Sorrow's clothing and lock the door to the training room, Tash settled on the couch in the living room of the penthouse and stood vigil over her friends.
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
Friday, 2nd September 2005 – 7:30am
Tash started awake. Damn, she'd drifted off to sleep. *Some vigil-keeper you are,* she berated herself. The morning sun was glimmering through the curtains in the lounge room. Tash stood and stretched, then quickly checked on her charges. Sorrow was lying in almost exactly the position she'd left him in, his breathing deep and regular. Across the hallway, Kate seemed to have tossed and turned during the night. Even as Tash started to withdraw from the room Kate muttered and rolled over.
Kate uttered a small cry and awoke abruptly sitting bolt upright in the bed. For a moment she couldn’t remember where she was, the brilliant white walls of the bedroom glaringly reflected the early morning sun as it poured in through the open blinds. She rubbed her eyes tiredly as the memory of the previous night returned. As her vision cleared she noticed a woman stood in the doorway.
“Tash?” she called out sleepily.
Tash moved to Kate's side and knelt by the bed. She'd prepared glasses of water for both of her charges and now she lifted Kate's glass to the woman's lips. Kate grasped it gratefully and took several swallows.
"How are you feeling?" Tash asked when Kate finally lowered the glass.
Kate smiled weakly at her friend, "Actually, I feel... okay. Tired," Kate frowned against the dizzy feeling in her head and then forced another half-hearted smile, "but okay."
The two women sat in silence for a moment before Kate mustered the strength to talk again. "How's Sorrow? Did it work?"
"I have no idea," Tash shrugged. "He's sleeping peacefully, that's all I know right now. He said that stuff I gave him should last about twelve hours... so it should be wearing off soon." Tash looked over her shoulder towards where Sorrow lay. "I don't suppose you know which way he chose in the end?"
Kate shook her head. "I don't know. To be honest I don't really remember much about what happened last night after the summoning. I guess I was pretty out of it. I just hope which ever decision Sorrow made was the right one."
Silence descended again while Tash wondered whether there was a "right" decision for Sorrow in this. Shaking herself from her worried reverie, Tash changed the subject. "But what about you? And Galen? You said he was shot."
Kate pulled the covers back on the bed and slowly sat with her legs over the edge of the bed. It felt really weird wearing her ritual robes in the daylight hours. "He's going to be okay. They tried to kill him, the ‘big secret government agency' that he practically devoted his life to. Things aren't going to be the same after this; Galen's talking about leaving but I don't know if they'll just let him go so easily."
Tash shook her head, "No, I don't see Majestic being the kind of organisation that just lets people resign. Mind you, I'm sure he'll have collected plenty of dirt on people over the years. Maybe he can blackmail his way out." Tash offered Kate a reassuring smile, "He's a smart guy - mostly. I'm sure he'll find a way."
Tash frowned, remembering the message from Victor, "Hmm, I need to let him know about the ogre doppelganger, too. Can he be contacted in the hospital?"
"Sure, I've got his number... somewhere." Kate sighed anxiously and then frowned, remembering something she had meant to tell Tash last night. "When I met my doppelganger she said something about the basement. In fact she said quite a lot, I never realised I was quite that talkative."
Tash tried to stifle the laugh that rose, unsuccessfully. "Oh, don't worry. It makes a nice change from someone like - oh - Sorrow, for instance." Tash's chuckles subsided. "But good, we can call Galen later. And yes, we've discovered that these things come from the basement here. Why is everything always in this damn building? I've been helping Victor brick up the exits, and he's down there guarding it now. We need to get everyone together and see if we can't block this creature that's making them."
Tash snorted and rolled her eyes, "Sounds so easy, doesn't it? Oh, yeah, we'll just push some extra-dimensional being back where it came from. No biggie."
Sorrow uttered a hollow moan as he slowly returned to wakefulness. The light was too bright, and he could hear the sounds of cars passing outside. The rasp of two people breathing, the slow thud of two heartbeats. The power held by those two people scraped across his mind ruining what little concentration he had. The pain was merely agonising. His overly sensitive skin chafed at the weave of the cotton sheets and when Sorrow moved there were occasional flashes of light in his vision.
“Tash?" Sorrow winced at the apparent thunder of his voice.
Tash knew the second Sorrow reached consciousness. The feeling of pain rolled over her and she smiled apologetically at Kate, "Think you can manage by yourself?" At Kate's nod, Tash padded towards Sorrow's room.
"I'm here," she said quietly, noticing that even that soft greeting made him wince. She pulled his blinds more fully closed and as she had for Kate, offered him the water that sat by the bed.
He heard the words, the footfalls. *Get a grip, Tris, this is breakthrough. Just concentrate, you know how - just...* Sorrow fought past the pain and slowly reduced it, brought his sensitivity to more acceptable levels. He took the glass from Tash and slowly sipped at it. After barely a mouthful he set the glass aside. "Let's see if it stays down first."
Tash nodded and knelt by the bed. "Apart from the agony, how do you feel? And did it work? I don't even know what you chose, in the end." Tash let that statement hang, almost like an accusation.
"Did it work? I'm not sure yet. Certainly I'm alive and the binding is intact but whether it will come loose anytime soon I've no idea." He reached for the glass again, took a few more sips. "The D'Nethk'Quan is the safer option. Oh, with time and patience I could build enough power for something really nasty but it wouldn't be easy. Without the D'Nethk'Quan it would just be too easy." He looked around the room "With the D’Nethk’Quan I'm just a magically enhanced human. There are things that can deal with that. With the magic I'm not sure how easy it'd be to stop me if I got really started."
Tash sighed sadly, "I still think you don't give yourself enough credit. The magic is just a tool, like any other. You'd still have to want to unleash it fully to bring about the results you fear so much." She fidgeted slightly, "But you've already decided, so there's no need to rehash old ground. I just worry that it might unbind again."
“Do you read much science fiction? Some tools make choices their owners don't like. Magic is self aware; sometimes it takes a different path to the one you intended."
"Indeed it does," said Kate exhaustedly over Tash’s dismissive, “Pfft.” Kate slowly entered the room, holding steadily onto the doorframe for support. "But it doesn't control you, that's what you have to remember. How are you feeling Sorrow?"
"Right now there is pain and not a lot else. I seem to be re-experiencing breakthrough because my sensory acuity is pretty much maxed out and then some. I can keep a lid on it to some degree but..." Sorrow looked towards Kate, "The synesthesia isn't quite gone. I'm still getting the occasional light flash in my vision when I hear something." He shrugged, "Other than that? I'm fine."
Tash rose to her feet and held out a supporting arm for Kate. "Well," she said to Sorrow, "if you feel like getting up your clothes are on that chair there. But maybe you're best off resting a while longer."
She hesitated, but Sorrow could be a great help - they needed him. There was no time for him to regroup. "That thing in the basement won't wait forever, and we'll need you at full strength." She smiled apologetically, "I know the timing sucks, but when doesn't it?"
"With a little rest I'll be functional... when are we dealing with this thing?"
Tash shrugged, "Victor's keeping watch, making sure no new clones get out. But we'll need to gather as many resources as possible. You have to be strong enough, Kate has to recover from last night too." Tash gave Kate's arm a squeeze as she spoke. "Then there's Jade and Daye - another witch would be handy." Tash frowned, "Maybe the new girl, Reah... but I'm not sure. I saw her the other day and she didn't seem quite herself. No, not a clone," she added quickly, "I'd have sensed that."
She shrugged again, "I just don't know about Reah. We'll see." She started counting on her fingers, "Victor said that Alice would be handy and is sufficiently trustworthy, so he's going to ask her along. Galen? Well, he's in hospital... Then there's Daye's friend Jess, she's a Watcher, maybe..."
Kate looked from Tash to Sorrow then back again, *Who is Alice? And just what has been happening around here the past few days?* thought Kate silently. "It'll take some time to gather everyone together,” she said, “I haven't heard from Daye since the morning after the party and..." Kate's voice faltered a moment, remembering the fight they'd had. "We need to act fast on this, there's no telling how many of those doubles are out there or what will happen when we try to stop whatever is making them."
"I know - even though I've had a sort of link with this thing, I've got no idea what might stop it. Though it feeds off experience. Hopefully Majestic has been doing its bit by killing off doppelgangers. We can only hope that weakens it. But how to stop it completely?" Tash's mouth quirked, "I have no clue. All we can do is throw everything we have at it and hope that it's vulnerable to something, be it magic or physical attack, or whatever."
"That doesn't sound like a good plan,” Sorrow said. “Have you tried to find out what this thing is?"
Tash looked at Sorrow, her eyes unfathomable as she recalled the feeling when she'd been touched by it through Henna. "It's old, Sorrow. Older than the Earth, I think. And it's been asleep a long, long time." She shivered, "And it's evil. You were there. You saw what a moment's fleeting contact with it did to me."
"Yes I did, and do you really think we can muster whatever is needed to stop it?" Sorrow shook his head. He knew the answer before Tash spoke, *It doesn't matter. We have to try.*
“Maybe we don't have the strength to defeat it,” Tash grimaced. “But we know what will happen if we fail. We have to try."
The Wait
Friday, 2 September 2005 - 6.30am
Jade hadn't slept. For the last eight hours, she'd alternated between pacing the apartment and smoking as she stared out the window. Waiting. Wondering. Not knowing if the ritual was a success. Not knowing if Sorrow was still alive. The agony of it was killing her more than the cigarettes were, she could almost feel it. She muttered brief, disjointed prayers as she scurried to and fro, pleas, promises, bargains, anything that came to her mind.
*I should have gone with him.*
*No, it's better this way.*
Against her every instinct Jade had agreed to stay away. Sorrow was right to say that things were extremely emotional between them at the moment and her being around would have disrupted the flow and divided his concentration. *Not good when you're messing around with enough powers to make a magic nuclear bomb.* Still, with nothing but time on her hands Jade found herself vacillating constantly between the two. Even though it was too late to change her mind and did no good to anyone for her to dwell on it.
Jade stubbed out her cigarette and went over to pour herself another cup of coffee. Her nerves were on edge but she didn't want to fall asleep before she knew for certain what had happened. Carrying it over to the sofa, she grabbed her mobile and sent Julian an SMS.
JC, I won't be coming in today. You've got the key to XY. Close up around 7. Drop me a call at home if need be. Thanks... I owe you one. J.
Click. Send. Sending. Message sent.
Staring at her phone, Jade debated if she should try calling Sorrow. With a little "pffft" of exasperation she discarded the idea and tossed the mobile onto the coffee table. It would have been surprising if Sorrow had even switched his phone on in the first place and even if he had, she had no idea how long the ritual was going to be and couldn't run the risk of interrupting it. Which pretty much nixed any ideas she had about heading out to look for him either. *Damn it!*
So instead, Jade sat back and tried to focus on the morning news.
Local headlines. Weather report. International news. Local...
The horizon was just starting to lighten as Jade dozed off.
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
Friday, 2nd September 2005 – 9:30am
Galen received a call from Algernon late Thursday telling him that everything was taken care of, and a few agents would be arriving to help him while he was still in the hospital. To his surprise the next morning it turned out that Goethi and Circe were the ones called in to help him out. A large argument with the hospital staff resulted in the arrangement where Galen would get out Saturday morning, even though the two agents were constantly running in reports. Circe was the only one around at the moment, standing outside the room. Grateful for the opportunity to rest, Galen picked up his phone and looked at it. This might be the only chance he got to let Kate know he was getting out, so he quickly dialled the number she had given him for her apartment at Poplar Avenue.
Kate sighed and rolled over in bed to reach the ringing telephone on the side-table. The ritual of Sorrow's had really drained her of all her energy and she still felt tired even after sleeping most of the morning away. She fumbled for the handset and tiredly rested it against her ear and the pillow. Stifling a yawn she spoke into the mouthpiece, "Hello?"
“Hi, honey,” Galen said, thinking she sounded tired. He wondered how much energy she would have now on a regular basis. “How are you doing?”
Kate perked up somewhat upon hearing Galen's voice on the other end and smiled sleepily into her pillow. "Hmm, I'm doing fine," she said still half asleep. She contemplated for a moment telling him about the ritual with Sorrow and then decided against it. It just wasn't the sort of thing you could summarise over a telephone conversation. "How are you?" she asked hopefully.
"From the taste of the food, I think someone on the staff is trying to poison me and failing," he joked. Kate's laugh sounded a big forced and he took the hint not to make any more jokes. "Good news,” he said finally, ”They're discharging me tomorrow morning.”
"That's great news!" said Kate rolling on to her stomach and lifting the handset closer to her ear. "Does that mean you're better? Or just managed to bug the doctors into signing your discharge forms?"
Thinking back on the argument with the doctors Galen knew they would have preferred to keep him a few more days, even if he was making what they were calling a ‘remarkable recovery’. "A little of both actually. I have some really good drugs now."
Kate was glad they were talking on the phone so that he couldn't see the expression on her face at that moment. "It... it might not be safe for you to come back here just yet. I talked to Tash this morning; she seems to think that the doppelgangers are being created by some kind of ancient entity in the basement here. At the moment Tash is trying to get everyone together so that something can be done..."
"Kate, honey, don't worry," Galen interrupted her gently. "I'll be ok, and be there to help out. Do we have any idea how to kill this thing?"
"No, that's the problem." Kate nervously wound the telephone cord around her finger and then slowly unravelled it, "Look, Galen this could be... dangerous."
“It’s always dangerous,” Galen said, wincing some while he shifted position. “It’s sweet of you to worry, but you’re the one who should be taking it easy, with the baby and...”
"Galen!" interrupted Kate sharply. "Galen, please, I'm..." She paused; she still couldn't quite believe that she was pregnant, saying it out loud just made it seem too... real. "It's not like I'm dying or anything. I'm... I'm fine. And besides, there are more urgent matters to attend to." Kate suddenly felt angry that Galen would use her 'condition' against her like this. "If you're feeling up to it I'm sure we would appreciate the help," she said coolly, feeling a stab of hurt inside.
Galen could hear the hurt in her voice and felt guilt beginning to rise up inside of him. They had just decided to give their relationship a second try, and already they were getting ready to fight again. "I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't mean it that way. I'm just worried about you and our baby." He still couldn't believe he was saying the words, it all seemed so surreal.
"No, I'm sorry," sighed Kate, "I didn't mean to start an argument. I... I just want you home. We have a lot to talk about and I don't want to do it over the phone."
"I know," he replied, sighing. He wanted to be home with her too. Someone started to come in the room with a lunch tray. "No, you take that away, bring it back when it's real food. Sorry about that," Galen added to Kate after the nurse left, shaking her head. "One of my agents has been smuggling good food for me. I never thought I'd be so glad to see a Big Mac in my life."
Kate grinned; she was glad that he sounded so much brighter than he had yesterday when she'd left him. "Well you hurry up and get better and I promise you the best Chinese food I can order!"
"That sounds very nice," he said, grateful to the powers that be she had not said cook instead of order. Love only went so far as a spice.
Goethi naturally picked just that moment to come storming into the room with a worried look on his face. "We have a problem." he said, "The shit just hit the fan. Again."
Galen swore to himself inwardly, letting out a heavy sigh. "The conspiracy calls," he said to Kate. "I have to go now, see what the latest problem is. I love you."
Kate pressed the handset to her ear. "Be careful, I love you too," she said intently before reluctantly hanging up the phone.
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
*** Somewhere, Sometime ****
Guardians and champions. They always come. They always forget. I can feel the forces marshalling at the warning horn. I can see the gathering of feeble forces. They have no idea what I am.
They fear me. Rightfully so. But they are not afraid of what I AM so much as what they DO NOT KNOW. So strong now and no longer sleepy. These trulls with their lives. This new world is so different than before.
It is faster. It is louder. It is more extreme and yet more safe. Speed and variety and excitment are given away by those who crave it as much as I. And I want more. The champions and the guardians are denying me my due. The trulls waste their lives where I preserve them in memory forever. I cherish the lives the trulls give me... that I take from them.
The eyes and ears are gone but my vision is unclouded. I have seen this event a thousand times and it always ends the same.
They will focus all their power at me and I will not blink.
The bite of a fly does not make a mountain twitch.
The crash of a meteor does not make a planet flinch.
The explosion of a sun does not make God jump.
The champions cannot win. The champions never win. They only ever delay the inevitable.
Airing grievances
Friday 2nd September, 2005 – 8:30am
Tash was very glad of her innate strength as she took the bulk of Sorrow’s weight on her shoulders. She’d already helped Kate back to her apartment, the wicca assuring Tash that all she needed was some sleep. Sorrow was in worse shape, though. He was still obviously in some pain and Tash would brook no argument from him, insisting that he needed help.
Sorrow fumbled for the keys to Jade’s flat, finally drawing them out and opening the door. It swung open onto the lounge room where Jade dozed on the couch with her head flopped on the backrest and a cup of coffee cooling in front of her. Tash closed the door gently then slid her arm around Sorrow’s waist again. He gazed at Jade’s sleeping form with a tender smile on his face before nodding and settling his arm across Tash’s shoulders once more. Tash began to struggle with him towards the bedroom.
The sound of shuffling feet had Jade stirring. Her eyes fluttered open and she sat up straight, feeling a little disoriented. Sleepy as she was, it took her a couple of seconds to register what exactly was going on and she stared blankly at the sight of Tash half-carrying Sorrow across the living room.
"Tris!" Jade sprang up and went to Tash's aid. *Thank God he's alive!* Her heart was racing as her eyes searched Sorrow's pale face for some clue as to how the ritual had gone.
Her questions must have shown because Sorrow gave her a wan smile and said, "I'm ok darling. There's a little pain but all the bindings are back in place. I promise..." Sensing her doubts, he reached up to cup Jade's face. "Now all I need is rest and I'll be as right as rain."
Jade nodded and slipped his other arm around her shoulders, helping Tash support him towards the bedroom. Easing him down onto the bed, Jade smoothed Sorrow's hair back and kissed him lightly on his forehead. She then pressed her lips to his and fought to control the wave of emotions that threaten to overwhelm her. Relief, love, worry... She swallowed them back together with the lump in her throat. *He needs you to be strong. He's all right. Don't cry, you silly girl.*
With Sorrow safely on the bed, Tash retreated to the lounge room, leaving Jade and Sorrow some time alone. She stood at the window staring out, but Jade's window didn't overlook the back alleyway where Victor was standing guard. Disappointed, she turned her back to the window and offered Jade a wan smile as the woman left Sorrow to his rest. Jade's face was pale and drawn.
"I guess you must have known the ritual was happening then," Tash remarked. "I didn't know that Sorrow had told you, otherwise I'd have let you know last night that it went okay." She sighed and walked towards Jade, put an arm around her shoulder and eased her back to the couch, where they sat. "I'm glad he finally took my advice and filled you in."
Jade's smile was slightly strained as she wondered how forthright she should be with Tash. Truth be told, since Sorrow had admitted that he'd spoken to Tash about his concerns regarding Xavier and the D'Nethk'Quan, Jade couldn't help but feel a flicker of resentment towards her friend, one that made her feel extremely uncomfortable since Tash had been nothing but good to her.
Buying a little time to compose herself, Jade stood up and said, "You're probably as tired as I am. Give me a minute, I'll make us some hot drinks."
She made her way into the kitchen to make a fresh pot of coffee. Pouring two cups, she walked back into the living room and set one in front of Tash. Lighting a cigarette, Jade sat down and sipped as she contemplated what to say next.
An awkward silence stretched between the two friends. Tash sipped on her coffee and absorbed the antipathy she felt from Jade. Tendrils of smoke from Jade's cigarette curled upwards into the air and Tash watched them with a strange fascination.
She shifted uncomfortably on the couch and cleared her throat, "Are you upset with me, Jade?" Tash had a good idea of what was wrong, but perhaps if Jade had the chance to vent a little she might get it out of her system.
"I'm sorry," Jade burst out, her cheeks flushing, "It's just that I'm feeling... weird... about all that's happened and I... Well, I wish Tris had turned to me first." *Oh, that sounded mature!* She sighed and took another drag from her cigarette. "We've been through so much but for some reason, he feels this... need... to exclude me from the darker aspects of his life."
Jade let out a little huff of annoyance, "He acts like I'm living in this fragile little glass bubble that'll shatter if he gets me involved in any way. So instead of being honest with me, he keeps things from me for what he claims is 'for my own good'. And it just infuriates me no end!" Reaching forward, Jade retrieved an ashtray from beneath the coffee table and viciously ground out her cigarette butt.
"Jade, I..." Tash stopped, unsure what to really say. "Uh, I'm not sure I should speak for Sorrow here. He's talked a little about why he didn't want to say anything to you about his DNQ problems." Tash took Jade's hand in her own, "I kind of found out by accident, then he told me about it. And I kept on at him to tell you, that he could draw strength from sharing it with you. But you know what he's like..." Tash shrugged. "At least he did, in the end. I didn't think he would at all."
*And Xavier?* Tash thought, *Did Sorrow mention that he'd killed Xavier?* Tash rubbed her face with both hands, sighed deeply and picked up her coffee again, taking a large gulp.
"Yes, I know what he's like." Frustrated, Jade pressed the heel of her palms hard against her eyes. "He wouldn't have told me a thing about last night's ritual if we hadn't had a huge fight about Xavier."
Finally, she raised her eyes and met Tash's tired gaze. Taking a deep breath Jade said, "Thank you for pushing him to tell me, I'm not sure my little 'tantrums' would have been incentive enough. Whatever you said to him definitely pushed him in the right direction." She reached out and touched Tash's hand. "You're a good friend Tash. My head knows that. My heart's taking a bit more time to catch up..." She had the grace to look a little sheepish. “I wish I could be more cavalier about it all, but it just irks me that Tris would turn to someone else with his problems rather than me."
Tash offered a watery smile, "I understand. I'm sure if Victor did the same I'd be annoyed too. But on another level, I know there are things that perhaps only another demon can truly understand. In Sorrow's case, maybe it's because we're both hunters..."
*Huge fight about Xavier?* She bit her lip, "Uh, and he talked to me about Xavier, too. About what he did." Tash searched Jade's face, "Are you okay?" Tash could only imagine how bad Jade must be feeling, knowing that Sorrow had killed in cold blood.
Jade hesitated. *She doesn't know. Tris wouldn't have told her that it was me who insisted Xavier be killed. I should have expected this.* It was hard, but Jade forced herself not to look away when she replied, "Tash, it wasn't Tristan's idea to kill Xavier. It... It was mine. He went ahead with it because he knew that if he didn't, I'd try to kill Xavier myself."
Tash blinked. "You asked…” She could only stare in amazement. “Of the four of us, I would have thought you’d have least reason to want him dead. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not all that sad to see Xavier gone, but to kill someone… And in cold blood… That changes a person, Jade. Yet you made Sorrow… Monsters are one thing, but humans…” Tash closed her mouth, willing herself to stop babbling.
Sitting still became too hard, and Tash rose to pace the room. After one circuit she crossed her arms and forced herself to sit back down, facing Jade. Tash had only one word for her: “Why?”
"You're wrong. Out of the four of us, I have the most reason to want him dead. I also have the most reason to fear him. Xavier was not only a very serious threat to my friends, he was also a threat to my entire existence."
Jade's voice shook slightly, "I've been worried about Xavier being in L.A. since the minute I heard from Tris that he'd arrived. He sought Tris out and obtained information about Victor. I knew it was only a matter of time before Xavier found out enough to realise that Victor and Tris were friends. Can you imagine how Xavier would have reacted to that? The Huntmaster of L.A. - friends with a demon! How long before he started digging deeper? Before he found out what I was? How long do you think Tris and I would have lived if it came to that?"
Tash closed her eyes. “I know, I know. He was implacable. I was worried about Victor for the same reasons. And I know he would have found out about you – he was watching Sorrow. But,” Tash ran a hand over her face, “Xavier was human, Jade. And you used Sorrow as your tool.”
"Maybe I did." Jade's insides twisted but she forced herself to remain steady. "Tris killed Xavier because he knew that if he didn't, I would attempt to and he didn't think I'd live to tell the tale. I know Xavier was human Tash, but he would have killed me and everyone I cared about if I hadn't had him killed first." Her eyes were haunted as she faced her friend. "We tried to get him out of L.A. The Society wouldn't budge. Tris and I went over it..." She ran her hands through her hair. "We couldn't find another way..."
Tash rested her elbows on her knees and returned Jade's gaze. “You know, I had a tough time staying calm while Sorrow described to me what he’d done. It’s a hard thing to hear one of your friends explain that they’ve just murdered somebody. But to learn that you manipulated him into it…”
Tash stood and paced around as she continued, “Jade, there are always options. And you know how delicate a path Sorrow treads – what if it pushes him over the edge? One of the things he talked about with the D’Nethk’Quan was his fear of unleashing his magic on the world. He was terrified he’d become some sort of unstoppable killing machine.”
She stopped moving and simply stared at her friend. Jade’s eyes were haunted, but she met Tash’s gaze unflinchingly. “Oh, Jade,” Tash sat once more, sandwiching Jade’s hand between her own, “I…” Unable to finish, Tash simply shook her head sadly.
Jade pulled away, her heart heavy and her voice quiet, "No Tash, I wouldn't know. Because Tris has never spoken to me about those fears. Isn't that pattern of our relationship obvious to you by now? Whenever Tris has some life-threatening situation to face up to, he doesn't turn to me. He turns to you. I find out through other means. That's what happened when he found out about his connection to Valerian. That's what's happening now."
She got up and went to the window, staring out blindly. "Tash, I've killed before; you've seen me do it. When we rescued Kate. It was as unjustifiable then as it is now." Jade wrung her hands unconsciously. "But I did it for the same reasons I did then. To protect someone dear to me. More so this time since it involved Tris. And you and Victor. If it calls for me to be the instigator behind the murder of a human being, so be it." Tears trickled down Jade's cheek.
Tash remained seated for a moment or two, saying nothing. Then she walked to where Jade stood with her back to the room and wrapped her arms around Jade’s slight frame, peering over her shoulder at the same scene Jade was watching sightlessly out the window. Jade stiffened slightly at Tash’s touch, but didn’t pull away. That was something, at least, Tash thought. Guilt permeated Jade’s aura. *That’s something, too.*
“When you killed before it was in battle. Things were fast and furious and the danger immediate. But this was planned, Jade.” Tash relaxed her hug enough to turn Jade to face her, holding her by the shoulders. One gloved finger wiped away a tear that trickled down Jade’s cheek. “And I’m glad you feel bad about this. If you didn’t, I’d be truly worried. I know you did what you felt was best.”
Tash took a deep breath and plunged on, “But I think I can explain why Sorrow came to me instead of you. I don’t know just how much he’s told you about what happened with Xavier, but it was brutal. He chose to use a method distinctive to a particular type of demon to cover his tracks, and it was horrific.” She shuddered at the memory, “He was traumatised by what he had to do to Xavier. And you wanted him to come to you afterwards? Jade, it was you who put him in that situation. Of course he couldn’t go to you for comfort.”
"It wasn't just this one time, Tash. He never comes to me with anything that's bothering him." Jade never thought that saying it aloud could be so painful and she had to pause for a couple of seconds before she continued. "I've come to realise that Tris doesn't... can't... open up to me. Even after everything we've been through together, he's still a one-man-show when it comes to the darker aspects of his life. And with the kind of lives we lead," Jade's laugh was harsh and short, "those aspects make up a hell of a lot of it!"
She slipped past Tash, walking back to the coffee table and retrieving her cigarettes. Her movements were short and jerky as she yanked one out of the pack. "He told me everything he did with Xavier. Whatever details he left out, those books," she indicated the volumes stacked neatly in a corner, "filled in the rest." Jade realised she couldn't light the cigarette, her hands were shaking so badly. "I now know, in excruciating detail, what I made my lover do for me. He flayed a man alive and watched him die, screaming in agony as the flesh was peeled back from his bones. I wasn't even there and I'll never be the same. I can't imagine the pain Tris is feeling."
She placed the cigarette on the ashtray, fought for control and continued, "But that's all water under the bridge now. It's done. Xavier's dead. And if I let my guilt swamp me, I can't be there for Tris if he ever decides he wants to share his. He probably won't, being the way he is, but if I let him see the way I feel, then he'd die before he'd burden me with anything else. Can you understand that?"
“So because he’s been hiding his feelings from you, you believe the best way to counter that is to hide your feelings from him?” Tash propelled herself from the windowsill and perched on the arm of the couch. She delicately picked up the cigarette Jade had discarded and flicked the lighter to make a bright yellow flame. The tip flared into life and she handed it to Jade with a tight smile.
“And yes,” Tash continued as she watched Jade hungrily suck the smoke into her lungs, “Sorrow isn’t the sort to share his feelings easily. He specifically rang and asked to see me the day after he’d killed Xavier – and even so he had a hard time expressing himself. But I don’t think that hiding your emotions from him will encourage him to share his with you. Unless you open up to him, how can he be open with you?”
Tash eyed her half-drunk coffee, which by now was stone cold. “Jade, I’m sorry. I wish there was an easy answer. Communication,” she shrugged, “Communication is the key. Sounds trite, I know, but there’s a reason for that. It’s true.”
"My whole life's been an open book for Tris. I've never been one to hold my emotions in check and it's not easy for me to do this now." Jade stared moodily at the grey ash forming at the end of her cigarette. "It's not enough for Tris to know everything about me. I could continue being as open as I have been with him and he wouldn't be able to bring himself to tell me anything he thinks might cause me worry or fear. I know I'm not some superwoman Tash... I know I don't have all the answers... But I'd like to be able to share everything in his life, not just the good parts. Knowing that he doesn't want me there, for whatever reason, hurts and pisses me off."
Jade stalked to the kitchen to grab the still-warm pot of coffee. Refilling both their cups, she pushed Tash's towards her before picking up where she'd left off.
"I'm tired, Tash. Since this whole thing came up, I've been thinking and I keep wondering how my relationship with Tris is going to continue. I know he only wants what's best for me. He wants to protect me. Maybe it's because of what happened before, with Jenn..." Jade's voiced faltered a little as she brought up Sorrow's old flame, "He didn't save her - I know it still haunts him. But like I told him, I can't be the sort of woman who stays at home with no idea of what goes on in his life till he decides it's time to tell her."
“I know you can’t. And if you’ve told him all of that, well I don’t know what else to suggest.” Tash leaned back against the couch, “I don’t know if I can help, apart from saying I’ll be here for you. The same as I’m here for Sorrow. I can’t promise not to judge you,” Tash’s mouth quirked at this reminder of Jade’s recent role, “though I’ll try to stay open-minded.
“But if you’re worried about you and Sorrow staying together, then you two definitely need to talk. Maybe not today – he’s exhausted and you’re wrung out emotionally. And tomorrow,” Tash grimaced, “tomorrow we’re going to see what we can do about that thing downstairs – if you’d like to join the fun.” Tash nodded at Jade’s wide-eyed realisation. “Sorrow can fill you in on what we know so far – which isn’t much.”
She reached out and clasped Jade’s hand, “But soon. You two need to get out – go away for a couple of days, maybe – and really talk. Tell him all of your fears, including this one. And you might be surprised – he may even respond in kind.”
**********
The back alley was reminiscent of a war zone. Bricks were piled up, forming a makeshift bunker behind which stood Victor, ever vigilant in his duty. He watched as Tash picked her way over the rubble towards him.
“What’s up?” he asked as she drew near.
“Nothing much. Well, some, but I’ll fill you in later. Right now,” Tash wrapped her arms around Victor’s waist and buried her face in his shoulder, “I just needed to tell you I love you. Deeply, completely and unutterably.”
Victor smiled as he held Tash close.
Of men and monsters
Saturday, 3rd September 2005 – 1:45pm
Victor looked at the dial on his watch. The others would be arriving soon. They had been told through Tash and some through standing watch out here everything that he knew. *What little I know,* he thought. But it was all they could do. Work and plan. If this was the source then it was their job to cap it. Victor could hear the beginnings of movement within the old brownstone at the periphery of his hearing. Things were about to happen.
Tash smiled tightly at Victor as she rounded the corner to the back alley. Offering a quick peck, she said, "The others are coming out just behind me. I still couldn't get hold of Daye, and I'm not sure about Reah." She shrugged, "We'll just have to hope we have enough." She dumped her bag on the ground and unzipped it, displaying an array of weaponry. "Take your pick, darling."
The car came to a stop outside Poplar Avenue. Galen was sitting in the back, with Goethi and Circe both waiting in the front. He opened the door to get out, resting his weight on the oak cane while grabbing a backpack. “Don’t bother getting out,” he told them, “The two of you are looking for that Ogre clone.”
“You’ve got us doing grunt work?” Goethi said, “Look, our orders were explicit-“
“To follow mine,” Galen interrupted. “Look, nobody else around here is better qualified to go after that thing, now get on it.”
From the look on his face, they decided to shut up and leave. Watching the car speed off, he felt a bit of pain in his back and hobbled towards to front steps. He was just in time to see Kate heading out of the front door with a small bag containing what he assumed would be magical supplies.
He caught her attention and Kate waited until he had reached where she stood before they continued to walk slowly towards the back of the building. Galen nodded towards her bag, “What you got there?”
"Just um... everything," said Kate as they walked towards the back alley where they had all decided to meet. "I'm not exactly sure what'll be happening so I've tried to be prepared for any eventuality."
“I know the feeling,” said Galen sombrely, hiking his own backpack more securely on his shoulder. Suddenly he stopped Kate, his hand resting on her forearm. “Wait…”
Before he could continue Kate caught sight of Tash and Victor standing by the back entrance to the basement. Ignoring Galen’s harried glance she quickened her pace and smiled lightly, giving her friends a slight wave. As they came further into view Kate's smile turned into a frown. "Please tell me everyone else is being fashionably late?"
“I wish, but it would seem that life has intruded into the apocalypse once again," Victor said humorlessly. *Where are people's priorities any more?*
Victor looked around at the few gathered. "It looks like Jade and Sorrow are the last to join us,” he said pointing down the alley.
Sorrow held the door for Jade as they exited the apartment. They were both dressed for the occasion; he had his sword, Jade her ornate dagger. Sorrow was also carrying a small bag in which something metallic clinked. "You know if this keeps happening you need to do some training and now you have JC at the shop..." They stepped out into the alley and approached the small gathering.
"We brought gifts," Sorrow held out the small bag.
Tash smiled reassuringly at Jade, who looked somewhat nervous. *Can't say I blame her - we still have no real idea what we're facing.* Grinning she peered in the bag, "Ooh, gifts! Oh, wow... Hmm, grenades have never been in my repertoire, but don't they have large blast radii? I mean, we'll be inside and all..."
That got Galen thinking about the gifts he had brought. All the talk of violence and explosions was starting to make him more than a little nervous. Especially when he considered the volatile nature of his explosives. "Um, Kate, we need to talk," he said, leading her off to one side, hopefully out of earshot of the others.
"Kate, are you sure you want to go through with this?" he asked. "Tash does have a point, and the stuff I brought... well, it's kind of not out of the testing stage."
"What are you talking about?" said Kate glancing back momentarily at their assembled group of friends as they looked through the various weapons that had been brought along, "Of course I'm going through with this. None of us know what we're up against, we need all the help we can get."
"But that's just it, Kate. You don't have to." He sighed heavily, trying to think of anything to get her away from there. "Look, I still have some pull at MJ12. Give the word, I can another witch down here. You don't have to do this."
Kate was growing increasingly annoyed at Galen's tone of voice. “Galen, please, I’ll be okay, this is who I am, this is what I do!”
Galen tried to keep his voice under control. The risk was too much. "But, Kate-"
"-But what, Galen?"
Something inside him snapped for a moment. “But what?” he said, raising his voice. “You’re pregnant!”
Kate’s look was a mix of shock, anger, and hurt. Galen’s was a combination of embarrassed and apologetic. Neither of them could think of anything to say in the awkward silence.
Victor cleared his throat. "She's here to fight. That’s her choice. And congratulations."
He stood down by the door of the basement. "I appreciate the enthusiasm you are taking, but those bricks and these boards have not slowed this thing down. Frankly dropping the building on it probably won't slow it down. I am hoping that we can find out how these creatures are getting into our basement and plug it up. I just don't know how. The best plan I have involves having Sorrow, Galen and myself moving in to the storage cage and pulling out all that junk. Somewhere behind that is where I think the portal lies. The rest of you should watch our back for that thing in the floor and any magical energies that might be protecting it. Anyone have anything to add to this plan?"
"Just one thing," Galen said in a resigned tone of voice. He carefully put his bag down and pulled out a small device. "I brought some rather volatile explosives, just in case. Very powerful, but also highly unstable. You don't want to shake these like martinis."
Tash eyed Galen's explosives warily, "Well, as Victor just pointed out, destroying the building probably won't help much. And while you men are in the thick of it Kate can start on that spell we talked about. Jade and I will keep lookout for everyone."
Victor unlocked the door and swung it open. "Who wants to go first?" he said.
Receiving no response, Victor shook his head and walked inside. The basement looked much as it had the last time he was down here. Slightly cool, a naked bulb with a string the only illumination. The storage cage to his right was open and the boxes and stacks of junk seemed completely undisturbed. There was no sign of the monster that had attacked him before.
"Seems clear," he shouted back at the others.
Galen started down the steps cautiously, drawing his gun by instinct before reholstering it. He motioned to the storage cabinet. "That's it?" he asked, "All right, where do we take all this crap too?"
Tash followed Galen, with Jade and Sorrow right behind her. She skirted the area where the tentacled monster had been, keeping a wary eye on the seemingly empty space. Kate came in last, swivelling her head, no doubt looking for a good place to set up. The noise of shifting boxes and whatnot came from the cage where Victor, Galen and Sorrow were clustered. Tash watched the monster's area for a little while, but it seemed undisturbed. She advanced slowly, testing it. Still nothing.
"Hmm," she murmured to herself, "No good having it pop out at us. I wonder..." Carefully she peeled off one glove and squatted near the place where she thought its 'mouth' - for want of a better word - had been. After a moment, she twisted her head over her shoulder and caught Victor's eye. "It's quiet," she said, "Knows we're here, but doesn't give a damn."
She shrugged. It wasn't like touching a person, but not quite like touching an inanimate object either. It had memories of eating things. It looked for a specific flavour, or smell... she couldn't quite sort out the impressions.
"Better stack that stuff over there," Victor pointed to a space under the stairs beyond the old cast-iron stove. He was pushing an old steamer trunk when Tash gave him her news.
He paused for a moment. "It was certainly trying to eat me!" he said. *Or was it? It threw its tentacles at me as Henna and that other thing...*
"Can you see what it was doing the other day? When we fought it? Who was it trying to eat really?" Victor lifted the trunk and carried it out of the cage. Slowly the junk, much of it over 100 yeas old, was being cleared.
Kate looked around the gloomy interior of the basement; everything looked 'normal' but Kate knew that looks could be deceiving. If what Tash had told her about the monster in the basement was right they had to be ready for anything. Kate set her bag of spell components down in what looked like a good 'safe' spot near the newly installed washer/driers.
Tash tried to concentrate the images from the monster - *Guardian? It thinks of itself as a guardian? Hmmm.* - but it wasn't a highly evolved intelligence. It was hard to sort out any specific event from the montage of consumption. That's all it seemed to do; sit here waiting for that 'right' flavour. "All I'm getting is that it likes a certain type of food."
Victor picked up a crate and watched Tash at work. He was about to set the box down when he noticed it had 20 or so diaries in it. He idly picked up one and flipped through it. Diagrams and arcane languages filled every page. He lifted the crate and moved it off to the side. Seeing Kate making her preparations he made a mental note to tell her about it later.
Galen shook his head while considering everything that was going on, and everything being moved. "Wait a minute," he said in shock, "How many monsters do you have living down here anyway?"
Jade made a startled yelp and began backing away from the wall. Eyes turned to see what horror was preparing to attack her from the dark corner. Weapons appeared ready to attack; even Jade had her knife in hand. The small grey mouse finished his journey into the cracks under the stairs.
Jade looked around sheepishly, "It ran over my foot!"
Weapons were re-sheathed and a few chuckles lessened the tension. Victor called to Kate to come into the cage. As Kate warily entered the cage Victor showed her the virtually unblemished wall marked only with cobwebs and coal dust.
Seeming to step out of nowhere, Alice walked down the steps. ”Am I late? I hate being late. I had a hard time getting out of work.” Alice drew her pistols and gave them a little twirl. “I’ll try these first.”
Kate withdrew her hand sharply from the dirt and dust of the exterior wall. Was it her imagination or did it feel warm suddenly? She turned momentarily to acknowledge the new arrival and then returned to the wall. Jade handed her some things from her bag and Kate carefully lit a few candles at the base of the wall. She knelt with the candles surrounding her tightly in the enclosed space and placed her hands against the wall.
As Kate felt herself go deeper into her meditations the flames of the candles grew slightly in the gloomy surroundings. She began to recite, quietly at first her voice just a whisper but as the wall seemed to grow warmer Kate's voice grew louder.
"Terra, vente, ignis et pluvia. Cuncta quattuor numina, vos obsecro. Defendete nos a recente malo resoluto.”
Tash threw a smile at Alice who was descending the stairs. "Glad you could make it," she said before turning her concentration back to the bare concrete she was resting her palm on. "It's still quiet. It's not at all bothered by... oh shit!"
Tash snatched her hand back from the ground as though burned and stood hurriedly. "Guys," she said loudly, her voice slightly tremulous, "it's about to go beserk..."
A faint hum filled the room and the air seemed to crackle, just like that feeling you get before a big thunderstorm. Tash backpedalled from the guardian monster's area as she smelled the actinic tang of electricity. Blue sparks crawled over the space before which Kate was sitting. The whole area within the storage cage seemed to pulse and the air grew thick and cloying. The sparks grew in intensity, blue flashes illuminating the seven faces that stared frozen at the spectacle.
Victor pulled Kate away from the wall as it began to bulge, the fragile web of sorcery shattering like a wax seal. He pushed her towards the door of the cage. Tash and Alice tensed for combat and Victor braced for impact.
Galen pulled Kate with him out of the cage as the world inverted.
They felt the space around them become clogged with pseudomatter. Thick viscous syrup that pressed in upon them. The basement felt flooded with it, bursting at the seams with it. It invaded every pore and opening and its crushing pressure threatened to drown them.
But the worst part was the gaze. The feeling of being watched. The awareness that surrounded them and found them as interesting as fleas or microbes on a slide. The presence that filled their minds and crowded out their thoughts.
The universe that dreamed.
Legs gave way and wills collapsed as the enormity of the entity's presence overwhelmed the insignificant minds in the basement. Unable to move, Tash could only cower mentally as the consciousness she'd merely brushed earlier scrutinised her, studied her like she was an insect. No, less than an insect.
She was nothing.
Her mind and body felt twisted. Turned inside out. She whimpered as she felt her internal organs spilling out over the floor. Her brain was laid bare, picked over by the ancient intelligence that controlled this universe she was suffocating in.
Sorrow fought with every fibre of his being. But in the end like a bug he felt the entity pluck his wings and discard him, forgotten.
Victor was dismantled and reassembled in new and bizarre configurations, each of them more painful and demeaning than the last.
Jade was sliced and separated a cell at a time into two huge bins.
Galen was peeled like an onion. Each layer stripped back, revealing all his secrets.
Kate tried desperately to hold on to some semblance of control, something that was herself. But like her friends she was quickly overpowered by the ferocity of the entity’s presence as it soaked in through her skin and viciously dissolved her every molecule into nothing more than bits and pieces of flotsam and jetsam.
Alice had been condemned to a void. Her senses had stopped, leaving her numb, dumb, blind and deaf and all she could do was think but as she reached for each thought it dissolved like ashes leaving a blank space behind.
To an outside observer the effect would have only lasted a second... maybe two. A bulb of pseudomatter had formed on the wall. A drip of cosmic energy. It formed a shape then solidified. The seven champions leaned, rolled, and clutched at their bodies, their primitive nervous systems overwhelmed by contact with something nearly infinite.
The form rose up and looked upon them with a menacing blue visage.
It stalked forward, casting a brief glance at the inert space where the now-helpless guardian rested. It knew the beast would recover soon, so it had to work quickly. Grasping the nearest forms with three of its hands, it hurled the bodies with ferocious strength towards the far wall, away from the guardian. They landed with a trio of loud thuds, quickly followed by two more, then another two as the enormous, multi-limbed doppelganger cleared the area of the writhing forms of the pitiful champions.
*Huh?!* Reah snapped awake at a sudden thud that echoed from somewhere below her. The hair on her arms stood on end beneath her suit as though the air was static. Mentally grumbling and cursing her choice of residence she tried to roll over and ignore it. She hadn’t realised she’d fallen asleep - must have sometime early Friday morning without meaning to. She hadn’t slept at all since she’d returned.
Thud… thud… CRASH… thud…
Infuriated by the constant action from downstairs, Reah quickly pulled herself off her bed and padded around her bedroom to gather her katana and sword. She was still wearing her form fit with her holster askew from lying down. Straightening it till it sat properly, she checked the clips of her ares preditors, finding them equally ripped through and shoved new clips into place. *Fuck! I’m going to run out of these soon!* She still had a couple of grenades attached to her belt and contemplated whether she’d actually need them. She eventually decided to take just one, though she doubted she’d need it.
Strapping her short blades into place she swung her coat on to conceal the main body of her weaponry and stormed out the door. *Whatever the hell is making all that noise is going to die, and it’s going to die painfully!*
Reah all but leapt down the stairwell following the noises and finally came up to what appeared to be the basement door. Recollection of some ‘monster’ and ‘clones’ from the basement that Tash had told her about came back to her and she didn’t hesitate before trying the door and finding it locked she pulled out one of her ares preditors to shoot one round at the lock.
The door still didn’t budge despite the busted lock when she tried it again. “Fucking barricaded?” Stepping back a bit to get a little run up she rammed her whole body into the door.
Reah stumbled inside a step and stopped herself before tumbling down the stairs in time to see some massive blue creature with a belt of heads, brandishing multiple weapons and grasping a dark man’s head that spewed yellow goo everywhere.
Luckily for Reah the creature had its back to her and was facing an array of bodies strewn about on the floor. *There’s the rest of that man!* she thought as her stomach twisted slightly at the sight. Most of the bodies seemed vaguely familiar, then one in particular caught her eye and Reah’s rage toward the creature exceeded a controllable limit as she let out a vengeful yell and leapt down to the bend in the staircase where she lunged powerfully off the edge, the spurs from her hands bared, and slammed hard into the creature’s back.
The shelves on the other side of the basement began to droop and slide. The floor opened into a tooth maw, and tentacles protruded from otherwise normal looking surfaces. The beast looked almost like a sleeper stretching as it woke. Silent and languid it moved with deliberate slowness, gradually picking up speed as more tentacles extended across the concrete and stone spaces unable to reach the doppelganger or its attacker.
Reah dug her left spurs in causing a piercing scream as she tried vainly to hold on while the creature tried to throw her off and slash at her with the multiple weapons. The doppelganger managed to grab hold of Reah with one of its free hands and tore her off its back, losing a large chunk out of its back in the process. It screamed again in rage and threw Reah to the other side of the room, where she landed on top of a couple of the others. Reah pushed herself up paying no mind to who she'd landed on and charged straight back at the creature, unsheathing her sword.
Sorrow stirred and groaned. His head pounded and his stomach felt as though someone had just jumped onto him from a great height. Through bleary eyes he took in the scene around him and staggered to his feet, drawing Hizashi. At his feet, Jade let out a long moan. "Wha...?" she slurred.
Sorrow bent to help her up. "Big monster. The usual," he said.
Tash gradually collected her wits back to her and forced her eyes open. Frantically scrabbling at the floor in front of her she was relieved to note that her intestines were still in her body where they belonged. "Ow, goddam," she muttered and rose shakily as the others slowly woke from their stupors.
Except one.
Tash's eyes widened. "Victor?" Her voice sounded small and far away. "Oh, God, Victor?" She stumbled to his body, slime pouring out of the stump of his neck. Whirling, she saw Reah battling a huge blue monster. A blue monster holding a head in one of its many arms.
Victor's head.
Heedless of what anyone else might be doing, Tash drew her pistol in one hand and her sword in the other and charged the creature, emitting a blood-curdling yell.
As Alice's senses returned, she forced her attention on the blue beast and Reah. "It’s about time you showed up," Alice steadied her guns, “Why don’t you people ever just think about filling the place with concrete and moving?”
She opened fire on the blue beast. Bullets flew straight at its head, but with a quick slash of its blade the bullets ricocheted back cutting Alice’s arm and neck. "Bitch!!" Alice dropped her guns and drawing her knife she rolled closer to engage the enemy. "I hate plan B."
Sorrow hummed a tone of power and clenched a fist. The multi-armed creature struggled as its own swords hacked at it. But Sorrow could not maintain the energy; he had not taken time to replenish from the ritual two nights before.
He gritted his teeth and did a jump onto the stairs. He spun, bringing Hizashi around in a whirling attack. The demonic form turned its head and brought arm after arm to defend against the increasingly brutal assault until fully five arms were fending off as many attacks as they could.
Kate crawled to her component bag, beckoning Jade to join her. Between them they found the items they required. "Just follow my lead," Kate said to Jade. Jade nodded, and the two joined hands as Kate started with a mutter that grew louder as their power built. Jade concentrated on holding the link between them, trying not to let any of the energy spill out and go to waste.
The doppelganger looked at the women over the fray and hurled a skull from her necklace at them. Galen jumped out from the corner he had been slumped in and caught it like a winning touchdown. He looked back for only a second, "Keep chanting, I have you covered."
Tash ducked under a wicked looking blade and pushed her gun deep into the creature's belly. The retort sounded loud in the enclosed room, but the hole the projectile made began to close over again almost immediately. "Damn," she muttered, then ducked again to avoid one of Reah's blows that had been deflected.
But Tash had her target in sight. She dropped her gun and grabbed the arm that clutched Victor's head, hewing at the limb with her sword. Two heavy strokes, and the limb severed. Tash grabbed Victor's head and tried to prise the fingers loose from his hair, but the half-limb she held suddenly dissolved and dripped to the floor as a puddle that merged back into the creature. It roared and backhanded Tash across the face with its newly reformed limb, sending her sprawling.
Reah dodge-rolled out of the way to avoid being slammed by the short-flying Tash and came up a couple of feet just behind the creature stopping short of an outstretched writhing tentacle that strained to reach her. “Fuck! What the hell is that?” She stared at the massive maw of teeth and took a further step back to make she was sure she was out of reach. *Well at least it doesn’t seem to be getting any further than it is…*
Reah shot a round at the tentacle that nearly had her for good measure and forced herself to move back to the blue ten armed bastard, but unease sat in the back of her mind with knowledge of the creature that had very nearly eaten her. *Hm…* Reah deftly danced back into the tangle of arms and moved in offensively from the front.
Jade's arms vibrated from the effort of holding in the arcane forces Kate was mustering. Kate’s chanting reached a crescendo and she suddenly threw back her head as her hand shot out towards the giant blue demon. "Pulsus!" she cried and a rippling wavefront flowed from her to the beast. The creature staggered from Kate's magic, stumbling backwards a few steps... right into the grasping tentacles of the monster in the floor.
It wrapped pseudopods around the thrashing blue creature and pulled it inexorably towards its gaping maw. Long, sharp teeth gnashed in hungry anticipation as inch by inch it drew its prey closer.
Galen peered from the back of the crowd as the others stood in a ring around the madly flailing creature as it was masticated by the floor. Tentacles were severed by the various arms and quickly replaced by others that sprang from walls, the floor and all the surfaces of the basement near the storage bin. They stuffed the blue monster into its maw and quietly munched on it. The monster was little more than a tightly wrapped package slowly sinking into a hole in the floor.
Only one person wasn't watching the basement eat its meal.
She sat slumped by her lover's body, holding his leaking head in her lap. Tears fell onto Victor's face and his eyelids seemed to twitch. Tash held her breath for a second, wondering. *He did say he could survive decapitation...*
The eyes opened, and Tash jumped, almost dropping his head on the dusty floor in shock. Strange noises were coming from the other side of the basement, but Tash didn't hear any screams of her dying friends, so figured she wasn't needed right now.
"Victor?" she asked, wiping goo from the side of his face, "Oh, my God, I can't believe it!" She kissed his forehead and watched the eyes track hers as his mouth opened and closed soundlessly. He managed a smile as she placed the head in its rightful place next to his body. "I'll get you upstairs as soon as I can, darling," she laughed nervously, "Handy thing to have a boyfriend who reassembles."
Kate hugged Galen as the top of the blue creature's head disappeared beneath the floor.
Galen quipped, "Well I'm hungry now."
But Kate was more concerned, "What do we do tomorrow when another blue meanie pops out of that wall?"
Jade looked at Sorrow and then over at Victor, "We could guard the basement for a few more days."
Kate frowned, "Hardly a long term solution."
Sorrow shook his head, "Not if we keep getting stunned by that... effect."
Kate eyed the innocuous looking floor where moments before a hideous monster had devoured the thing attacking them. "You know, Tash said it grew alarmed just before the portal opened. So how did the doppelganger get past it? If it was stunned too..." Kate trailed off as her mind started ticking over.
Alice got to her feet. *Must have got knocked out there a sec.* She watched as the hunting party discussed the options. *’...keep getting stunned by that effect.’ Hmm?* Alice took off her pack and started rummaging around. “Ah. Here it is.” She pulled out a small can of spray paint and started painting the floor in the cage.
Sorrow watched the designs appear on the floor with interest. As Alice sprayed a particularly complex one he spoke, "I don't recognise that one."
He pointed to the first one near the portal, "Fishtrap... to channel the energy." The second, “Eye to expose truth."
Kate pointed at another, "That one looks like a binding symbol."
Jade tapped the one Alice was finishing, "Stone, to make it this ground that is protected."
Sorrow nodded, "That should work."
“Yes, it’s not going to close the portal but it will take the bite out of its sting.” Alice muttered some quite words and the red paint begin to glow. “And of course it’s not permanent. I suggest no paint thinner be stored in the cage." Alice smiled as she put the top back on her paint.
Reah stood silently away from the group merely observing and wishing she was somewhere else, but for all the world she couldn’t make her legs move. Alice was standing right there… there… here. She resolved to just stand there and watch. *Why the bloody hell can’t I just leave?* She noticed her spurs were still drawn and quickly retracted them into the backs of her hands and turned her attention back to where the tentacle mass thing had been that seemed to have disappeared after eating the arm mass thing.
Tash called from where she sat next to Victor's supine body, "Could someone give me a hand here, please? He's not dead."
Kate hurried over, with Galen in tow. "Not dead? Oh, Tash, I thought... Thank God for that." Kate took Victor's head carefully in her hands while Tash and Galen hefted his body between them. As they carried him to the stairs, Galen tripped over a crate on the floor. "What the...?"
Kate frowned and bent to inspect the contents, which had been spilled over the floor. One diary had fallen open, revealing diagrams and notes. A drop of slime from Victor's head fell onto the page, and Kate passed the burden to Jade, who made a moue at the honour.
Kate gathered up the diaries along with the remains of her spell ingredients. Something about that diagram reminded her of... "Hmm, have to check this out."
As everyone filed up the stairs past Reah she was left alone watching Alice who was still lingering behind, gathering up all her equipment. It was so surreal she could barely believe her own eyes. How was she supposed to feel?
Alice lifted her head to look back at Reah staring at her before straightening up to stare intently back.
Season Two: Aug 6 2005 - Jan 6 2006
Sunday, 4th September 2005 – 2:15am
Kate pushed a loose strand of hair out of her eyes and continued reading, her eyes growing wide. She held a glass of water in one hand but it had paused partway to her lips, frozen in time as the diary’s contents captured all her attention. Her mouth formed a silent “Oh” and she quickly gathered a couple of the volumes, yellow sticky notes poking from various pages. Barely stopping long enough to slip on some shoes, Kate raced up the stairs.
Tash looked up from her ministrations on Victor at the insistent knocking upon her front door. Frowning at the time, she hurried to answer it. Frantic knocking at this time of night? Could only be bad news.
Her customary, “Who is it?” sounded loud after the quiet of the past few hours.
“Kate,” came the breathless reply, “I found something…”
The tall redhead burst into the flat as Tash opened the door, “I need to show this to Victor. Is he…?”
Tash nodded, “More or less. He can’t really move, but at least he can talk. It’s amazing how fast he heals. I mean… let’s face it, anyone else would be dead.”
She led Kate to the bedroom where Victor lay propped up on the bed with a framework of braces and screws supporting his head on his neck. He offered Kate a faint smile and said with a hoarse voice, “You found something in the journals?”
Kate nodded, “Yep. Right here.” She flipped open the book she’d been reading and pointed to a page. “These are all journals chronicling the history of the Circle of Osiris. Most of them refer to the Circle’s founder, some guy named Hyron Gerhardt who theorised that there was a major convergence of ley lines right here. They built this place on top of them back in 1813.”
Kate’s eyes shone with excitement as she continued. “But this book,” she said, brandishing the volume she held, “contains both the diagrams of those ley lines and something else. Some other magical vortex. The notes indicate that nobody knew what it was for, but it was powerful and according to these plans it’s centred right where that tentacled thing appeared. They did determine that it was benign – a strong protective magic of some sort – and to play it safe they built this place according to carefully calculated formulae so as not to disturb it.”
She shoved the book towards Victor’s face, but he managed barely a glimpse of the page before Kate dropped it on the bed and started gesticulating. “Don’t you see? When the third floor was destroyed with the Cloch Cosan, it must have messed up the balance the Circle preserved…”
“…and when we rebuilt it, we didn’t follow the original design,” Victor finished.
Tash’s eyes flicked from Kate to Victor and back again. “So you’re saying that there was some heavy mojo on the guardian to protect it – and we screwed with it, so whenever a new clone is made it goes all wonky like we did yesterday?”
Kate nodded. Victor started to nod, then stopped as the hardly healed neck wound threatened to tear. “Yes,” he rasped.
“And that’s probably when – and why – the entity became active,” Kate added. “It must have sensed the weakening of the protection and knew it could get through here without interference from the guardian.”
Victor groped blindly for the discarded journal and held it up to Kate. “From this,” he croaked, “can you work out how to fix it? I wish I could help, but I understand magic about as well as I understand computers.”
Kate took the book from his fingers. “I think I can, given a little time…”
“We have a little of that, at least,” Tash pointed out. “Alice said the ward she did would last a few days, and she could always renew it.”
Kate nodded decisively, “Ok, I’ll get right on it.”
She passed a hand in front of her tired eyes. Now that the adrenaline of discovery had worn off she felt totally drained. “Uh, maybe first thing in the morning,” she amended.