-----

Sound bounced back to him off the closed space. Fidrieon didn’t quite sound right as Ian played. His fingers flew over the keys and blood dripped down over the lip of the flute. This wasn’t working. He had to play tonight at the bar and he couldn’t. With a snarl he sucked the blood off his lips and spat it onto the floor of the practice room and stormed out of it. The cuts on his knuckles had also split open the blood slid across Fidrieon as he walked towards the infirmary.

The duty nurse was insistent that she help. Ian had given her one look and she’d left the antibiotics, cotton swabs and alcohol on the cot while he cleaned the cuts on his hands. Stopping from time to time to spit the blood from his cut lip into the sink. Anytime the nurse came back he growled and she went scurrying.

She soon got another patient who needed her attention. Ian couldn’t exactly see her from where he stood, nor did he really care, but he did hear the conversation between the women.

“Hello, Mrs Carla~! Sorry to bother you again, I think my shoulder’s broken.”

“Your shoulder?! How the hell did you manage that?!”

“Oh this time I’m innocent, I swear. I was a ghost who caused this.”

“A ghost?”

“A living legend!” Laugh followed on the visitor’s part and a grumble on the nurse’s. “Come here, you’ll need a x-ray if you think it’s broken. You have to deem yourself lucky that this place is so well-equipt.”

“Haaaai~”

Ian more or less ignored the exchange as he held gauze to the cut on his lip in annoyance.

A couple of minutes later the patient re-emerged and shamelessly started poking her head in between the screens, looking at the other patients.

“Ah! Ian, what’s happened to you?” She asked, perplexed at his beaten up state. She had rarely talked to him personally but she’d never seen him lose a match.

“Fidrieon opted to not be helpful in the middle of a fight. Turns out Iris isn’t a pushover. Of course I probably should have been paying attention.” He didn’t bother to turn towards her as he wrapped his knuckles up. “However, these are the result of ruining a perfectly good wooden dummy. Unfortunately its not going to be repairable. Too many pieces.”

Sam grinned and waved her newly immobilised shoulder. “Bad day for both of us then. And even worse for the dummy. Don’t hold it against Iris though, she has a lot to prove, being new and all. Heck, I’d be pissing myself if they made me fight you first thing after joining.”

Ian gave her a flat look “That would be because I’m not supposed to be in Lazarus’s class. At least not that one. I shouldn’t have been fighting her to begin with.” He made no comment about his intention either way in terms of holding a grudge. He gave no further indication that he planned on interacting with her.

“I say it’s fate.” Sam grinned, well aware that she was getting on his nerves. “Just like it’s fate that I found you here just when I was looking for someone to hang out with today. I’m off shopping for some very powerful and mysterious artefacts that are bond to make you either much stronger, or much weaker. Think about it.” She whispered and disappeared into the infirmary’s hallway.

Ian pursed his lips as he debated following after Sam. Finally he made up his mind and took off down the hall after her. “Fine you have my attention what exactly did you have in mind?”

Sam spun around, a bit overly theatrical, and spread one arm out, as two was an impossible number at the moment. “As I said, a mystical artifact awaits your attention, Mr Snyder~ It’s bond to give you happiness, and maybe even fame. I shall be your guide on this quest for glory, my amazing navigation skills surely bringing us to the shore of Fortune~!”

Ian sniffed a little in bland acceptance of her foolishness. “What the hell do you need me for? Clearly I can’t even beat a freshman in a fight.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You just want my money don’t you?” His eyes twinkled just a little bit at that.

“Oh, you have money? That’s even better~” Sam chirped, unbothered. “There are two roles in this game - a subdued one and a subduer. I don’t mind which I play, all I need is for someone else to play the other.” She turned around and winked at him. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing kinky. But it should be fun nonetheless.”



Samantha's walk always resembled a march rather than a simple way of getting somewhere. Her shoulders were hunched and her stride was long but her head was held high and her expression - nonchalant. Her steps were heavy and produced rhythmic thuds as her boots beat the ground beneath her feet. She didn't speak much and evaded every question with a grin, obviously thinking that would only make the game more interesting. It wasn't long before they reached what seemed to be their destination – the Church Hill Market.

This was a market specifically dedicated to the long-gone ages, playing on Loom's nostalgia on items no one really needed anymore – cassette players, tapestry, lacy tablecloths or clay pottery – all could be found here. It was teaming with people, mostly old, as to be expected based on the goods offered. Yet there was also the odd young person walking about, probably doing errands for their grandparents.

Sam overtook a few dozen elderly people shuffling their feet with the speed of a race-car and dived straight into a record shop. Inside the few well-groomed people in suits that were browsing the old entertainment paid neither her, nor Ian any heed. Nobody objected as she shamelessly strode past the staff door either.

Ian followed Sam having fallen silent as she refused to tell him quite what was happening. He’d never been to the Church Hill Market but it was his kind of place, his family had been the kind of people to engage in bringing home antique. Ian followed Sam, this show been rather intersting at least.

Inside the staff entrance awaited a surprise. It wasn't the typical narrow and sterile-looking white corridor that usually let the staff of a business pass through in a hurry. No, instead it seemed like the hallway of somebody's office or home. Solid oak coated the floor, a myriad of tiny halogen lights creating pools of light on its polished surface. The walls were a neutral magnolia colour but the ceiling immediately caught the attention – it was a huge canvas. Two beautiful figures, one with horns and one without, were floating in the sky, their outreached fingers touching. Behind them an angel's arms were open, reaching out for both but not quite touching. There was something familiar about the painting, as if Ian had seen it somewhere else before, if slightly different.

What was even more bizarre was the room the hallway was leading up to. It was a big round space with no clear edges and hidden lights illuminating the ceiling. Along the walls were a few dozen pillars, each a stand for a single mask.

Ian narrowed his eyes as he approached the room “Sam...are those what I think they are?....” His sentence trained off as the continued down the hall. He could hear Koshmar laughing inside his cage. The hallway was strange to say the least but the least of his worries. “I certainly hope that you know what you’re doing”. This was certainly a new experience for him.

Sam just grinned, obviously enjoying his reaction to the peculiar gallery.

“We're going Angel today, Ian.” She chirped, stopping her boots in front of a mask that seemed to have caught her attention. They were near all the same, barely any features on them, all porcelain and cold-looking. If Ian didn't know what he did, he might just presume they were ordinary masks. But of course, they weren't. And the reason why Koshmar resonated with them so well was because they were more similar than one might assume.

Sam outstreched her fingers and stroked the cool surface of her chosen mask with surprising gentleness.

“This one is a Miracle angel.” She explained, turning to him with a weird smile on her face, eyes alight. “You wouldn't be able to tell but if you use your instrument they can identify them. Just the same way they can see people in the dark when we can't.”

The Guardian, Put on the Guardian mask Ian got an image of Koshmar clawing through the bars of a cage made of nightmares and obsidian. Ian scowled. “Isn’t this more than a little bit dangerous?” Ian gave Sam a concerned look “For us in particular” God she was attractive. It was certainly his libido talking but it had been years. Courtesy of Koshmar. He had the strangest urge to do it though. Maybe it was a need to continue impressing her but Ian didn’t care this was the most human interaction he’d had in too long. Stepping over to the mask Koshmar had indicated he scooped it up.

Time slowed and Ian turned his head to the left and caught a flicker of Koshmar’s form behind him. “Scared?” Ian snorted. “Not really” Koshmar chuckled at that “You’d be smart to be fearful”. Ian shook his head at that “Fear leads to indecision” Ian turned to Sam. “So how does this work? You show me yours I show you mine?” Ian smiled sarcastically.

“They are sealed, I'm afraid.” A woman's voice interjected, proving that the room wasn't empty after all. Or maybe it had been until just then. “For security reasons.” she added. “However you are welcome to meet our customer advisor in the next room if you'd like any further information or a trial of our products.” She gestured at the door behind herself and stepped away from it as Sam sped up towards it.

The door didn't lead straight to a room – instead it lead to another hallway hosting a number of doors, this time with signs hung over them. The teenagers looked around curiously to spot signs such as “Laboratory”, “Isolator”, “Infirmary” and “Treatment” among others. All of them had a set of signs next to them indicating whether they're taken or vacant. And sure enough, one of the doors read “Cursomer Service” though their attention was drawn to it thanks to a man appearing at the doorframe than through anything else.

The hairs on Ian’s neck stood up, this was a very strange place indeed. He checked the small of his back for the Springfield. He’d loaded it with RIP rounds, they were a vicious invention from the start of the twenty first century, and were quite effective against demons and angels as well as humans. The rounds tore apart like nothing else he’d ever seen inside the target. They were even effective against most types of armor and walls. They were the equivalent of firing a hole saw at someone.

“Welcome, my dear guests.” The man said with a smile even more brilliant than his polished black dress-shoes. His expensive suit was a testament of his status even more than his badge. “The name is Azoth, and I'm happy to have you. Please come join me in my office.”

That room was as homey and cosy as any business office could ever dream to be. Simple and functional furniture, more comfortable than it actually looked, a few rows of catalogues on a shelf next to the desk, some plants and prospects laying around in strategic places. What set it apart was the colour of the walls – a peculiar mixture of blue and grey with a silver gleam to it, and the big painting on the wall behind the desk – the same as the one on the ceiling in the hallway.

As everyone took their seats – the man behind the desk and Ian and Sam next to each other on the other side of it, the man noticed Ian's stare fall on the painting and smiled, half-turning towards it.

“It's very old-fashioned, I agree, so I couldn't help commissioning a little upgrade from the original. Consider it a little inside joke.” He grinned, not specifying what the pun even was and turned towards his visitors again. He put his elbows on the desk and narrowed his red eyes at them, looking suddenly smug. The man was a demon and he wasn't hiding it.“So you have an interest in purchasing some of our products?”

“Product is a rather interesting term for it.” Ian was scrutinizing the painting still but he turned back to Azoth. “that being said I believe you know the answer.” Koshmar’s Nightmare fire flickered over Ian’s eyes momentarily. This is such a bad idea Ian thought to himself but Koshmar was slavering at the bit for this, which was why the Nightmare fire was starting to bleed through into his eyes. Even though he had a leash on Koshmar, it was still like holding the leash of a rabid dog.

The man opposite levelled a bemused stare at Ian but before he could say anything, Sam interrupted him.

“Rent.” She said impatiently, a grin ever-present on her face. She didn't seem to be nervous at the situation though Ian doubted she knew exactly what she was doing. “We want to rent them for a little while and then we'll give them back.”

Azoth laughed, but not too loud, careful not to offend.

“I'm afraid that would be impossible. There are creatures walking this earth capable of making out the specific signatures of the masks and I can't risk getting on their bad side.”

Sam displayed her displeasure by crossing her arms and slamming her back against that of the chair.

“If you are still interested, you can find the list of our models and the respective prices here.” The man continued unfazed, producing two catalogues from the shelf next to him and handing them to Sam and Ian. Inside, as promised, were pictures of the masks (peculiarly enough, they had names), their nature and abilities and the prices. They were organized by prices and started from the most expensive ones. The one Sam had looked one was right there.

“Five million?!” She shouted, with disbelief.

The man smiled apologetically but it was obvious he didn’t quite mean it. “All our Miracle angels are expensive.” There are some creatures that are better liked than others and the career paths for Miracles are layered with silver and gold.”

Sam puffed out some air and went quiet, looking over the rest of the catalogue.

Ian snorted. “Really? You’re asking five mil for your top of the line? Maybe we’d be better off somewhere else Sam.” Ian smirked. His parents had left him a fortune with a lot of zeros. although he rarely used it. “Seems like you’re pawning cheap knock offs” Koshmar even seemed stunned by that but then he realized what Ian was up to and snickered. “How do we know you’re legit? Five million seems really low for a Miracle Angel mask. Which makes me wonder if you’re trying to sell us smoke by low balling a fake.”

Standing he stretched languidly, it had been a very long time since he’d played the spoiled rich brat but he could still do it. “So lets be real Az…” He shortened the Demons name on purpose “I need to see the goods before I’m buying. 5 mil is chump change so I wanna know I’m actually getting a good deal as opposed to being screwed out my spending money for this month.” He hoped Sam didn’t think he was actually a rich brat but this guy needed to be shown that they weren’t just kids looking for a high.
Ian I didn’t know you had it in you Koshmar’s approval was like a slick of oil coating his psyche.

“So, what’s it gonna be Az?” Ian lounged against the wall next to the door “You got a display model or are we headed to someone who’s the real deal?”

Sam was staring at him open-mouthed. Azoth didn't give him that pleasure, but he was obviously amused when he got to his feet as well.

“But of course, my lord.” He joked as he saw the kid could take a jest. “I take my business very seriously so we do everything we can to ensure the mask and the wearer are compatible. If you'd like to follow me to the Laboratory we can start with the first stage of the testing.”

Ian winked at Sam and offered a hand out of the chair.

Azoth lead the two of them out of the room and back down to a door marked Laboratory. Keying a pad by the door he pushed the door open and held it to allow Sam and Ian entry. It was an observation room overlooking a sterile white room with a stark white table in the middle of it. A man was sitting on it while a nurse prepared an injection at a counter next to him.

“We start the process by injecting you with a sample of the Angel or Demon Essence. And before you become concerned its a negligible amount. The idea is to make sure the mask you want isn’t going to be hostile towards you when you fuse with it. After we determine if the bonding will be safe, you’re allowed to bond with the Mask in order to determine if it’s the right fit for you. It’s a half an hour in the Isolation unit for you to make sure everything is in order and to your liking.”

Ian stepped up to the window folding his hands behind his back. They were just below the pistol in the small of his back “How often do you have issues with the procedures?” He was all business now. If he was going to purchase one of these things he wanted to know how much of a risk he was running. He suspected it was a sharp one.

Azoth shrugged, Ian caught the motion in the window as it reflected well enough for him to see Sam and Azoth. “We have an 87 percent success rate which is far higher than any other establishment than you will be able to find.” Ian nodded. No use antagonizing him at this point by claiming that there was somewhere else Sam and he could go that would be better. “I assume the injection process is safe?”

Joining Ian at the window he gestured down as the nurse injected the man sitting on the table. “See for yourself. We’ve made remarkable advances in medical tech, the needles don’t even prick anymore. The worst you can expect from a bad injection is a headache and a night or two of moderate nightmares. Koshmar chuckled and Ian smirked. “Well Azoth I’d say you’ve succeeded in impressing me and assuring me that you’re not going to try and rip us off. Lets talk product.”

The man seemed pleased.

“Have you decided on the masks you're interested in in particular? We like to test specific samples of the masks at the top of your list. Our researchers have established that it would be safe for you to try up to three samples with five minute intervals in-between. You're welcome to try more, of course, but we don't recommend it.”

“We want a Miracle and a demon. He's paying for it.” Sam grinned, nodding at Ian, just in case. “Do you have a favourite?” She asked with restrained excitement.

Ian pondered for a minute. “Something with some magical might, preferably in the enhancement department.” Ian had some untested magic powers he knew but it was almost negligible. He stood for a second listening to Koshmar “And The Nightmare says it better argument my magical reservoir so I don’t keel over when I use Nightmare fire.” Ian raised an eyebrow. “Got something in mind?”

“Of course.” Azoth smiled, opening the catalogue on the exact page. “Ishrael is the demonic equivalent of a weather angel. He's good at water and wind manipulation. Vaamrael” he flicked on another page to show another mask to Ian. “Is an enchanter. He also has some abilities in essence manipulation, but you'd have to work on that to perfect it. Esifur is a blacksmith who is capable of directly crafting artefacts through alchemy and craftsmanship. And if you're looking for more utilitarian magic, Landris is great at levitation magic and cleaning.” He smirked. “As for your energy you shouldn't worry about that. All of them are experienced in magic usage and in replenishing their energy. All you have to worry about is nutrition. Obviously, the longer you remain a demon the more detached you'll feel from human food. As soon as you take the mask off you might feel more hungry than you did while you wore it, or more tired, but that's a natural process of your body readjusting itself.”

Ian gave him a condescending look. “Koshmar seems to think you’re holding out on me, cleaning and levitation are all good but endurance and coordination are better.” He pointed at Vaamrael’s mask. “This is close to what I’m looking for but more in the physical department. Koshmar seems to think that I require enhancements to my musculature in order to make merging with him a more viable option.” Ian crossed his arms. “Come on now Azoth, don’t you hold out on me, I am picking up the Tab after all”

“Ah, I see what you mean.” Azoth's smile stretched, his eyes flashing. “What would you say about a griffin then? They are well renowned for their endurance and agility, you should know, as well as some aerial magic. Of course, in order to turn into a beast you'd have to bond quite throughly with the mask, but unless you use it regularly, the physical alterations should be minimal. Claws, feathers, wings, possibly. Another option is a minotaur or a draconic creature. I wouldn't recommend the latter, however, not because I doubt you can afford it, but because I doubt its use will stay unnoticed. Definitely not in your institution.” A smirk twitched on his lips and disappeared just as quick. “The reason I'm suggesting beastly creatures is because they are best when it comes to endurance. If you want a humanoid warrior, I have a few other suggestions, just let me know. And, I need to warn you that we are talking about a different price-range as well.” Azoth smiled, pulling out a much smaller but relatively thick catalogue from his inner pocket and handed it to Ian.

Ian tapped his lip, the Griffin sounded fine or even a dragon but Koshmar seemed annoyed by the suggestion. “I think that at the very least I’d like to hear more against the more humanoid. If i’m going to put this to work regularly I suspect that I will need to be relatively inconspicuous.” Ian took the catalogue to and began paging through it. He stopped and grinned. “I think I’ve found what I’m looking for.” He turned the Catalogue so Azoth could see. “I assume the reason there is no price listed is because this is one of those things that if you have to ask you don’t have enough?”

Azoth laughed “Correct.” Ian grinned at Sam “Then I’ll take The Thorned One. Shall we get started?”

“Finally!” Sam exclaimed with a grin.

Azoth lead Sam and Ian out of the room and to another doorway which took them into another room which was almost identical to the room that they had seen the injection occur in. “You’ll have to wait here while I have them prepare the injection, We need to make sure that the masks will except you” With that Azoth closed the door behind him and left Ian and Sam in the stark white room.

Sam’s feet were impatiently beating the floor again. She seemed really excited.

“I’m surprised you actually followed through. I like you.” Sam grinned at Ian. “Ever done this before or is it your first time as well?”

Ian looked from her tapping feet to her excited face. “Not exactly. I’ve experimented with fusing with Koshmar…” He rubbed his head sheepishly. “Probably not the best idea but I wanted to know what exactly it was, you can only read so much before you have to try something”

“Naughty!” Sam shouted and laughed. “And who is Koshmar exactly? Been talking about him a lot.”

“Talking to him is more like it” Ian rolled his eyes “Koshmar is the name Fidrieon’s personality has adopted, Its Russian for nightmare. He thinks it’s appropriate. Which I guess it is. He’s just kind of a jack ass. Well now he is…” Ian trailed off into thought. “He used to be what I thought was some sort of cosmic punishment. Dunno what the hell for. Hazumi finally reined him in.” Ian hopped up on the table to sit in sullen silence. It stung admitting he’d needed help especially since it had been so recently and especially to Sam who didn’t seem to be phased by all that much. “I guess its better now, better being a relative term”.

Sam stared at him with wide eyes full of curiosity and attempt to comprehend.

“So you’re one of those guys. The ones who have trouble with their Instruments. See, me and Sameda, we don’t have that problem at all, but it doesn’t really speak to me either and I wish it did. It must be nice to bond with them, though I guess not so much in your case. You should just quit, then, if you hate it. You know you can, right? I wouldn’t put up with it if anyone was poking in my head and giving me nightmares - he needs to learn to respect you or you need to make him. Give him nightmares!” She giggled.

“It’s not quite that simple” Ian avoided eye contact. “This is alI I have now, so quitting isn’t an option and as for giving him nightmares. Well I don’t know about that. Maybe the mask will help” You know Ian for such a great combatant you really are no good at taking what you want Ian flared his nostrils in annoyance. Hazumi had gotten Koshmar out of his dreams. Too bad she hadn’t shut him up. Quit bitching Ian sighed.

“Koshmar would have you believe he’s doing me a big favor or something, the reason he wants me to take up a mask is so that I’m less ‘fragile’ “ He framed the word with his fingers. “He’s convinced he’s going to get me to completely bond with him” I am. Ian stopped talking and just sat staring at the white tiled floor.

“Hey, I’m not talking to that Koshmar demon, am I, I’m talking about you.” Sam snapped at him. “Who cares what he wants if he can’t get it - it’s still your body, even if you have him whispering in your ear all the time. Be a proper teenager and stop listening to adults so much.” She waved dismissing the problem like it was an annoying fly.As if to demonstrate her point she jumped off the table, pulled Fidrieon out with a shamelessly percise movement and tossed him across the room to the far end of it.

Hey, What the fuck was that? Ian ignored him. “A proper teenager? My parents would have had you believe that a proper teenager listens to adults.” Ian hopped from the table and strode over to pick up Fidrieon. He snatched up the flute and spun it on the palm of his left hand before passing it to the palm of his right hand. Turning his hand side ways he spun it twice around his middle finger and slid it back into it’s sheath with a fluid motion. “However, lets stop listening to adults and do something dumb for fun” He grinned at her. “And careful where you fling Fidrieon. It’s a decent instrument even if it has a demon in it.” He laughed.

“Don’t worry, they don’t break that easily.” Sam grinned, approving of his eagerness for adventure. As if on queue, a man and a woman entered the room, They were carrying white medical coats, and, as expected, two injections. They rolled up the youth’s sleeves and instructed them to relax and clear their minds, as if meditating. A painless stab after, they were asked to keep quiet and concentrate on figuring out the intentions of the essence they were injected with.

“If you are unsure we can give you another dose but keep in mind there’s no way to extract it, so only ask us to if you feel safe.” The man explained.

Ian felt it, a presence unlike Koshmar, it was clean like a blade. It moved through his psyche instead of over it gently parting the storm of his mind instead of tainting it. It wasn’t malevolent, it was dark that was certain but it didn’t seem to bear him ill will. You have promise child. It has been a long time since I found someone with promise this is good

Shivering Ian looked at the man in the lab coat. “I think it likes me” The man seemed almost startled at that. “I’m ready, give me the mask” The man nodded “Follow me” Ian stood and before he left he squeezed Sam’s shoulder “Good luck, I’ll see you on the otherside”.

Sam giggled at the theatrical phrase and closed her eyes in an attempt to concentrate on the inner-workings of her body. She couldn't feel anything but a slight tingling and it didn't matter how hard she listened. Her foot dangled off the side of the bed while she was waiting for sudden enlightenment but eventually her eyes opened and she frowned at the nurse.

“Next please, nothing's happening.”

The nurse seemed slightly perplexed but still gave Sam another dose of the same essence. This time the girl felt it. It started off as the tingles but with another heartbeat it grew into the fizzy warming feeling you got from drinking alcohol. Yet this time she knew it was because of the close proximity of another human being.

She opened her eyes and, still frowning, looked at the nurse's face. It was shimmering and more beautiful than Sam remembered.

Hell no! she thought to herself and laughed, hopping off the table.

“Mask please!” She chirped as she hopped to catch up with Ian.

----

The Isolator was a fairly large glass room behind the solid walls of another room but they were not allowed to go in together. Insisting that she wasn't any threat to anyone, Sam impatiently asked if it isn't possible to try her mask on there. Luckily, the door to the Isolator itself was armoured so they allowed her to. She was presented with the mask she'd liked and the staff monitoring them was changed to two angels. Sam didn't know why at first but figured it out as soon as the cold porcelain touched her cheeks and the mask melted away on her face. Miracle angels could only do harm to demons. Something she couldn't care less about.

With a sudden gasp Samantha spread out her arms and with them she also spread her newly-grown wings. A small breeze passed through the room and ruffled the hairs of the two dispassionate angel nurses.

As Sam suspected , something about Ian had changed and his face was suddenly even more attractive than the nurse's. Ironically enough, so was everyone else's. The girl just giggled at the observation.

With a whimsical flick of the wrist she stole some light from the lamps above and splashed it around in a generous gesture that scattered a million little light-bunnies around the room. As it landed on the floor she swirled her finger and, even at a distance, the light danced and twirled as if it was a lake she was stirring with her finger.

Someone asked if everything was alright. Everything was alright, the sun was shining (probably), the birds were chirping (probably) and demons and angels were holding hands all over the city (probably).

With a loud laugh Sam took the mask off and laid it back on the satin purple cushion.

“He'll take it.” She grinned at the nurses, gesturing at Ian and moving to the glass window to observe his progress.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They handed Ian a grey mask. It was a nondescript humanoid face with part of it that appeared to have been burned. However when Ian picked it up it felt like it was part of the mask;s design. I don’t know about this Ian Koshmar sounded...concerned?

Ian snarled in surprise victory, he’d thrown Koshmar off balance. Koshmar had felt the beings presence and wasn’t sure he could bully it. With that he fitted the mask to his face. It was like diving into the depths of an endlessly dark ocean. A soothing cold pushed away any pain or fatigue he felt and there was silence. Blessed silence from Koshmar. He opened his eyes and a grin curved across his face. His frame had changed, his limbs were longer but thinner. His face was drawn and pale compared to his normal features and his skin was grey. His hair had also grown to frame his face and it was the color of oil.

Flexing spidery dexterous hands he marveled at the power he felt in them. Observing his reflection he was shocked. Spurs had sprouted from his knees and elbows as well as smaller ones at his other joints and his forehead now sported two small horns concealed by his longer black hair. Ian realized there were other adjustments as well. His muscle density had increased significantly and he was fairly certain his essence control had grown exponentially.

As though by reflex he lifted his right hand and conjured a sickly green energy. He knew it would pass directly through the wall and strike at the other individuals in the building if he wanted it to but he had the strangest urge to not bother. Almost as though they weren’t worth it. Much the way a human feels about a single ant. Not worth the bother to squash. Letting go of the energy he tested his legs. They were powerful, he turned so he had the whole length of the room, and launched himself across it. It was a wonderful feeling. Koshmar’s voice interrupted his ruminations Are you quite finished playing with your new toy? Ian was suddenly done taking Koshmar’s smart ass remarks. He stuffed the psychic equivalent of a gag in Koshmar’s mouth and hurled him back into his cell in the depths of Ian consciousness.

Much better, no more annoyances to disturb him. ‘How the hell did I do that?’ Ian suddenly thought. That was when he realized the presence. It was certainly a being and he was certain it could communicate directly with him but it had refrained from doing so, it had simply helped him to do the things he wanted to do. Much in the way a word processor corrected misspelled words. It had made the necessary adjustments for Ian’s conjuration, psychic gag order and even corrected for the leap he had made not being aware of the full power of his muscles.

Ian wasn’t even sure if it was evil. In fact he had the strangest sense that it was certainly a dark presence but not in the malevolent sense. More in the way that a predator radiates a tangible aura. Ian whispered “Namshiel” and the presence seemed to quiver in acknowledgement. This was a being of power and dark knowledge, a supernatural predator from the days when humans had only dreamed of what lay beyond heaven and hell’s gates. It was not evil so much as savage and cunning beyond anything Ian had encountered. Bellow it’s surface Ian could feel the weight of millennia of knowledge. Namshiel was old, very old.

Reaching up he removed the mask and turned. “We’ll take them both. Where’s the bill?”

----

“That will be 35 million altogether, please.” Azoth announced with a smile. Behind him the two angels were carefully wrapping the masks in a peculiar type of fabric that seemed equal amounts rubbery and silky and putting them in intricately ornate square boxes. Sam was looking at hers with a bemused approval. ”The saleth that they’re wrapped in will protect them from being sensed by anyone as you leave the establishment. Please burn the fabric afterwards - it’s highly flammable and produces hardly any smoke, so it should be no problem to dispose of it discreetly.” Sam raised an eyebrow at that but didn’t say anything.

Ian nodded. “So Azoth, you seem to like to deal, so I thought perhaps you’d appreciate this. I can pay you the 35 million right here and now. Or. I give you 25 million now. And in the future you get a marker you’re free to call in. I do a job for you and we call it even. Are you interested?” Ian didn’t smirk or give any kind of indication of his feelings. He simply stated the offer and crossed his arms.

Azoth’s eyes twinkled as he crossed his fingers and observed the young man with a smirk. The boy certainly had potential but he also had limitations. The question was, was it worth the investment.

Making up his mind, the man clapped once and reached out to squeeze Ian’s hand.

“Deal.”

Ian let Koshmar out of his cage. He didn’t trust Azoth at all. Nightmare fire burned in Ian’s eyes. “Deal” Ian’s voice had the double tone of partially bonding with Koshmar. This should be interesting “and for the record. If it’s an assassination.” He pointed at Sam “You even consider asking me to kill her, I’ll kill you instead” Nightmare fire flickered in his eyes. “Just for the record” He grinned “Otherwise I suspect you know where to find me”.

The man laughed. ”Don’t worry, nothing that grim, I would hope. Assassination is not my style. Now, for the legal matters. While my business might look shady to you, it is actually an official one.“

“‘s that why you hide it?” Sam spoke up with a scoff.

“That’s just good measure for keeping some unsightly incidents from the faint-hearted. Besides, not everyone is as forward-thinking as you young people.”

“I suddenly lost my respect for you.” Sam commented, turning her head to explore the room instead. Azoth cleared his throat and looked back at Ian who seemed a much more attentive customer.

“Those masks will now be officially registered under your names. As such, and because I want to minimise the risk of any confrontation with the government or Master Melody’s, I’d like you to both sign those contracts here and offer a droplet of your blood as a stamp. Or a tear, that suits some clients better.” He joked. “Of course, that information will be strictly confidential and will only be disclosed to the highest authorities in the case of a severe crime committed while wearing the mask. I’d like to think that it wouldn’t come to that. Additionally, if you ever feel as though the mask doesn’t suit your taste anymore or are having any other kind of trouble, please bring it in for recycling. As another security measure, please refrain from putting it in your will or selling it on as it would be dangerous for anyone to put it on without undergoing our tests first.”

“Understood.” Ian produced a butterfly knife and flipped it open. “Where do I sign” Ian laughed as he rifled through his bag and produced a pen to sign the contract. After a quick flourish he pricked himself with the blade and stamped his thumb on the contract. “Sam?” Ian held out the butterfly knife. “Oh and as soon as you’re done with the contracts, I can give you the account number you’ll need.”

Sam hurried to sign her own contract and grinned at Ian, hugging him suddenly.

“Thank you~” She chirped.

Ian caught her; it was the first time in a Very long time that he’d had the pleasure of true human contact “Oh yes for getting us into an absurd amount of trouble” He gently let her go, loathed to do so. “Is that all you needed from us?” He directed it at Azoth.

“Yes, that is everything.” The man stood and reached out to squeeze Ian’s hand again. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

-----

Driving always soothed Darius. Most believed what he loved most was the neck break speed or the simple control at the slightest shift he made with the wheel, but they would've all been completely wrong. His greatest love in the experience was much simpler. Whenever he drove along the wounding, black streets, the car darting in and out like an extension of himself with ease, it gave the comforting illusion one was running away. That he was leaving all his responsibilities and problems, from Kenan's dirty political ways to the recent doom looming over his head, in the dust. Nothing mattered in this split second game built by risk and death's possibility.

It didn't when he first started out on the surface.

His paw tightened on the wheel as his foot pressed deeper into the pedal, early flooring it completely. For a moment, his eyes darted to speed diameter. 50...55...60...65 and number just kept going up. Darius smiled at the increasing speed and pulled his eyes up in time to see a truck in front of him, his front coming dangerous close to colliding with it. Thinking in a split second, he jerked the wheel abruptly to the right causing the car to drift sideways. It rattled only slightly, added to the kistune sense of control and freedom, both he rarely felt, while he pressed his foot harder on the gas to pull pass the barreling deliver truck. The image on the side a blur from the speed lines, a vomited mass of color and smears to his vision's corner. Just like the cars, peoples, and ever towering buildings flashing by in his city's surroundings. Every single one of them seemed blissfully unaware that in the days ahead, their world might very well come altogether to an end.

Darius bitterly mused over how easily the unseen was forgotten in favor of moving forward in their lives. Inwardly he reflected on the current news about Inaniae and Kenan, more specifically the way the two seemed be absolutely nesscary to provide a healthy world. He let out a soft scoff at feeling empathy toward those under his iron paw's rule.

It pressed at his attention much like his own paw did ever continually on the mafia bosses, gangs leaders and rival heads throats, holding so tightly that moving too far would've likely struggled them. The world might've known the Academy as an force that kept peace, but in Kenan, that little fact was far from truthful. On the outside and in public, the world wanted to brush aside the immoral. Which including Darius and his ilk, sweeping all the crime, death and more aside to create a paradise. The fox's jawline tightened at the thought and fought not to scoff at it when he jerked to the left, all the streets' curves and more surfacing from memories. While they claimed differently, he knew none of the races would ever fully accept such a world as being real. It would only take time until chaos took root and threatened, like always, to rip apart the world at the seams. This small, real fact was why Kenan didn't follow rules dictated by the Academy. To properly thrive and live in reality, a stain on the perfect surface was needed.

Other than Szayeis, who would've ever predicted Inaniae's threat would one day come to undo everything so soon?

In the passenger seat, a mew sudden broke out when the cargo he had been transporting stirred. Clawing and rustling sounds started to disrupt the basket, securely fastened by the seat belt as one small, white furred head popped out. An Egyptian Mau, pure silvery coat covered in a spotted black pattern, push and peered through the blanket covering her. In moment she fixed him with a bright eyed stare. Silently, Darius reached his hand over then flopped the cover back over the small kitten's head. Forced to duck down, she made a protesting meow and rustled the basket in her landing. Cause and effect demanded consequences, the result clear when it seemed her fall had jarred the others from their nap. New cries began, followed by two more kittens popping their heads out. Shortly on seeing somewhere new, they started to struggle with the steep edges and began to pull out. Sheer luck had it when Darius had just arrived to Masha's current residence.

Wasting little time, he didn't stop to admire the view. Instead he shut down the Bentley and turned to retrieve the single rose, spotting in time one of the small, fiendishly curious animals managing to overcome the steep basket edges with his claws. Wobbling in his grogginess, the brazen thing started to sniff the fox's extended fingers causing him to focus on the cheeky thing. It wouldn't be long before the others would've copied the first's success as Darius' hand scooped the kittens, cupping its belly, then plopped it quickly back into the makeshift pen. He took the handles firmly and made his exit with the rose placed in his right index finger. Using his telekinesis, the car door slammed shut in his wake while he casually strolled to the door where he promptly knocked.

He was very much aware Masha preferred to sleep until the dusk hour, but he also knew she would've been nettled (mildly put) if he left the kittens without food for much longer. It didn't help the kittens were purchased recently from an employee, one who was unfortunate enough to be devoured in the recent events.

---

With Darius' angle taken care of, Szayeis transported himself to Loom, his shadowy visage walking through a shadow in Kenan, and stepping out on the other side in Loom. He was in a familiar place, one that roused memories of the days just before the destruction of the city that had since been rebuilt.

Loom's ghettos. A terrible group of despicable houses, shacks rather. Some were simply abandoned and derelict, whereas others were the centers for drug distribution and crime. Others still were minor renegade meeting places. How the authorities still had not managed to clean this place up even after rebuilding the city and policing it for the last 150 years the demon did not know. Still, how the darkness persisted in a country that liked to think itself a utopia amused him. It was the wonderful stain in a city that otherwise might be perfect.

He chuckled, for it were these very ghettos that would once again allow him a great many things. Still, one thing at a time.

With this in mind, the lord exited the alley and almost immediately found himself surrounded by a group of ten armed humans. Not that their weapons were anything notable. None of them were enchanted from what he could tell, and only four of them were firearms. He smirked, “Now how may I assist you in the beginning of this wonderful day?”

Their apparent leader, a man who carried two weapons, one appearing to be some kind of powerful revolver, and the other a worn dagger, spoke up, “Yeah, drop all your belongings, strip, then scram!”

Szayeis' smile only grew, oh how this scrappy bum reminded him of Aeriqi, it was too bad the fellow was almost certainly dead. He wondered what had ever become of Anarchy and his brother, the Emissary.

“I said drop yer shit, demon!” Szayeis raised an eyebrow at the man and took a step forwards, earning him a swift shot in the leg. The leg didn't crumple, or bleed at all. “Any closer and it'll be yer life that's lost, chump,” Szayeis twitched and his eyes narrowed. “Very well, human, you want to play games? Then we'll play games,” what little light there was from the recently risen sun suddenly vanished within their immediate vicinity, culled by shadow.

The little gang whirled and spun about, trying to figure out what was going on. They called eachother's names and huddled into a tight circle, their backs facing their comrades so they could collectively see in all directions. Szayeis sighed, “You humans are such a sorry lot. You've not a clue who you're dealing with, but you know me new to the area, so you immediately presume I am prey ripe for the killing. Fools, all of you.” The voice came from everywhere, its source impossible to locate. “You even knew I was a demon and still thought to assault me.”

The group collectively began to sweat, the leader in particular, whose eyes glowed ever so slightly in the dark. Szayeis smirked, and as he did white eyes and a toothy grin spread in the darkness around them. They could all see it, as if it encircled them, even though it didn't. Illusion magic was easy for a nightwalker. “Come out and fight head to head, you c-coward!” Szayeis simply laughed, then his eyes trained on their leader, piercing right through him to his core. “You know, I was going to devour you, all of you, but I have a better idea. Let's play a game,” his grin widened.

All of them would suddenly know that they were unable to move even a milimeter, their bodies would not respond, and even when they did it was like trying to move while encased in ice or a hardened mold of mysterious make. Twas the darkness that held them fast—the very shadows that composed the lord's body.

“Let's see which one of you breaks first,” his voice teased darkly. It was now that the whispers began.

Tear them up. Eat their souls.
Burn them alive!
Tear out their eyes...hahaha, yes their eyes. Rip their pupils from the orbs first. Make them suuuffer,

Szayeis began to hum softly, the tune a haunting melody. The group felt like the darkness was closing in, yet their eyes could see...something. Little flecks of light, like dust, floating, drifting, and sputtering all around them. However, they were not charming like the light of lightning bugs, or stars in the sky—though they seemed as numerous.

Let me out, please...let me go!
Szayeis, master, lord, I will serve you well. I'll never fail again, don't do it!

A cold sweat broke out in the group and two of them began to whimper, another began to cry softly. ”Please don't let this be the end...I don't want to die,” one of them whimpered quietly, though his voice was like thunder in the whisper filled silence.

Rend them from their vessels, master. Let me have them...

Szayeis' eyes glanced at an area of the darkness suddenly, the space where something familiar dwelled, and where another whisper, a louder one, began to speak.

Let us serve you again, lord Szayeis....

The leader's eyes darted to the area as the light in that spot began to grow. It was devouring the other specks and increasing in its brightness because of it.

Then, as a series of phrases were whispered in the minds of the group, the leader covered his ears...and began to scream. He'd lost it. The feeling of overwhelming terror that surrounded him had compiled into panic and fear.

Szayeis looked to him, and smiled. “Wonderful, it seems we have a winner,” without any further comment there were the sound of seven screams, before they were all cut short. Blood could be heard dropping into puddles on the ground, but what was worse were the continued wailing of the seven souls that Szayeis now held. They could not return to the void, not while they were within his body, for that's what the darkness was.

The leader continued to scream for a solid minute as Szayeis weaved the souls into one, then plucked the brightest of the lights from his form, and pressed it into the center of the mass.

Finally, he thrust the essence into the leader's body and it was in this moment that his screaming ceased.

The darkness receded and again there was light and the sounds of the city. “You sacrifice your sense of self, for power. You will be named...Taihi of the Many, though you may have once had three names,” Szayeis smiled at this, seeming satisfied. It was even better that the other seven had given unto him their bodies and the remainder of the essence that lay therein.

“Thank you, lord,” Taihi said, his eyes turning to his master, both old and new.

“Your very welcome, just know that should you defy me, I shall return the Many to their origin, and you will gain no third chance. Understood?” The Many nodded, its human guise hardly representative of its true nature, for while it was human, it was also demon-both surface and Hellion. Still, its essence was seven fold human, and only three fold demonic. The golden irised avatar smiled at Szayeis for a long moment and shook itself, “Understood, my lord and master. I could not defy you even should my purpose will it. I am yours completely.” “Good,” was Szayeis' simple response before he turned from the avatar, strode through a shadow, and was gone.

His first avatar since his return looked upon the locale of his lord's leaving for a long moment, before a smile cover the Many's face, and he began to laugh. “We are free brothers. We can again be Emissary to his will, and sow Anarchy in his name. Though I find that we have a far more intriguing purpose now. It really is too bad that we are of eight souls, when he thinks us of ten. Amusing nonetheless.”

It was with this that Aeri-...Taihi, turned and strode deeper into Loom's ghettos. It was time to do some recruiting for the lord after all.


There they stood again, just like every Thursday of a month's second week, with his uncle on one edge of the Plateau, arms behind his back, one hand clasping the other's wrist, eyes trained on him.

He stood at the edge opposite his uncle and guardian, green eyes shining fiercely in the evening light. The sun was setting behind him, but its movement was gradual as it moved ever so gracefully from the sky and below the horizon. The scene was like something from some old film, a stand off between two powerful mages, each sizing the other up from a safe distance—awaiting their opponent to make the first move, daring them to, betting that they would strike first.

It was too bad that Reates was not yet skilled in the act of gambling.

He blinked, and the very air around his uncle suddenly pressed in on the man, who made no attempt to stop it. Instead, he merely breathed in, the air cycling through his body, then releasing in his exhale as flames, which licked about his form, before coalescing into the sky and fading away.

Clouds began to form ever so slowly in the clear sky. Reates smirked and raised his hand in front of his body, opening his palm. “C'mon uncle, don't be borin',” he called across the 100 or so meters of distance between them. The plateau was a massive formation that his uncle had purchased for a large sum of money, almost solely for the purpose that they were about to display.

“Now Reates, have you learned nothing? Patience is such a valuable skill, particularly in a magical duel,” Nathan said, a small smile laid across his face as he stared across at his only nephew. He wondered what the little rascal would throw at him this time.

As if hearing his uncle's thoughts, Reates suddenly closed his hand, almost immediately causing the entire plateau to shudder and creak as stone ground against stone. Nathan glanced down at the stone and tilted his head. Reates just smirked as the earth that Nathan stood on seemed to crumble, then grasp upwards, forming an appendage almost as fast as it had ceased to be a part of the landscape. Nathan, somewhat surprised by his nephew's antics, found his legs firmly held by the large hand. It was too bad he'd been a Practitioner far longer than Reates, as otherwise that very well have been his end. As if to illustrate this point the stone suddenly glowed in a variety of locales, many lines and symbols suddenly apparent in the off-white light, which shone from its surface.

Reates' eyes widened as the stone fractured and was sprayed in all directions, but Nathan wasn't done. No, each individual stone was now inscribed with its own sigil, and as such each stone curved in its trajectory and headed directly for Reates whose eyes lit up with glee. He raised his other hand and gripped his glasses, deftly pulling them from his face, folding them, coating them in essence, and stowing them on his person.

The world around him lit up and as it did his hands sprung into motion, fingers flickering about, and arms waving as if he were preforming an elaborate dance. Each stone nearly struck him, curving only within several feet of his person, before shattering to create a screen of dust. Before even half of the debris had reached him, Reates' entire side of the plateau had been obscured by dirt and dust both.

Nathan, who had by now gently floated down to the ground, merely chuckled. He brought his hand to his breast-pocket and with drew an old fashioned pocket watch which he watched for exactly five tics. On the fifth tick he looked up and there was Reates, dashing out of the cloud, essence shrouding his form. “Just like clockwork, nephew,” said Nathan as he flipped the watch closed and dropped it into his pocket where it was safe. Reates continued his dash, before suddenly letting himself slide. The moment he crossed 2/3rds of the distance his foot came down, and his entire body suddenly sunk into the earth at roughly a 115 degree angle. The ground shuddered once more as pillars of essence shot up through the Plateau, then suddenly changed trajectory in right turns to strike Nathan. The master just raised a single finger and swept it before him.

Each would-be strike rippled and then dispersed. The mage then hopped forwards as Reates emerged from the ground, his body wreathed in flames. “You have no patience, boy,” Nathan said, shaking his head as he turned halfway towards Reates. His apprentice however, did not have a look of disappointment in his eyes. Nathan's eyes widened as suddenly the dispersed essence solidified, forming a spherical prison around him, upon which were hundreds of interweaved sigils, each with their own unique keys. Reates then snapped his fingers and the dust on what had been his half of the plateau cleared to reveal a massive golem wrought of stone, whose fists now hurtled downwards to strike Nathan.

His uncle, now somewhat impressed, raised his other arm, altered his stance, and closed his eyes. “Very well, Reates. You've proven you're worthy of the family name. However...” the air wavered around him, “...you've forgotten why they call me The Rippling Serpent.” The sphere of essence began to shudder as ripples traversed over its surface. The very fabric of its making began to alter and then it snapped into the form of a massive hand, which proceeded to block the downwards strike of the golem. Nathan's eyes opened and the golem crumbled, then evaporated, before Nathan himself vanished.

Before Reates knew what had hit him, he could see his uncle standing over him with a smile, and reaching his hand down to help him up. “Up boy, we're not done yet, the sun's not below the horizon, and you've yet to lay a scratch on me.” Reates however, rather than take his uncle's hand, burst into laughter.

Nathan withdrew his hand, looking down at Reates inquisitively. “I can't believe you decided to just break the binding sigil, and then use your own cage as a weapon!” He continued to laugh, sitting up somewhat as he did so. Nathan just shook his head and chuckled, “Patience and observation are key, Reates, if you don't learn that it won't matter that you've been gifted with the Sight. You'll just be a half-rate mage, and we can't have that, now can we?” Reates wiped his eyes and rose back to his feet, accepting his uncle's hand when it was offered again. He looked to the man, a smile on his face as it always was. “Haha, that's okay uncle, as I've got two things you don't,” Nathan raised an eyebrow, “Oh, and what would those be?”

Reates smirked and patted his uncle's shoulder, “My youth, and a plan.” Nathan realized too late before a severe jolt of electricity traveled through his body, while Reates remained unaffected despite standing right next to the spot where a lightning bolt had just struck.

He was laughing again, whereas Nathan was twitching, his hair on end, and his clothes burned in various places. The man sighed and shook his head, being unable to avoid smiling, “C'mon you, let's get back to the house. I've had quite enough of your foolishness.”

Reates laughed a bit more before locking eyes with Nathan, his eyes literally glowing with mirth. “Not until you admit I gotcha good.” Nathan stared into his nephew's glowing green eyes for a long moment before finally letting up and sighing, "Fine, you got me, but only once." Reates smirked, "A hit's a hit, Uncle," he replied, his uncle grumbling as he heard it. "Ye know what that means Nathan." Nathan turned away and began to walk towards the edge of the plateau, Reates quickly followed, weaving a simple levitation sigil, which he pushed onto his feet so as to follow his uncle into the air where they began to walk, if one could call it that, back to their home. "Ya promised you know," Reates said after several minutes of silence. Finally, he heard a sigh, "Very well, you are allowed into my library for one hour," Reates groaned in response. "You hit me once, so you get one hour. That was the deal."

"Oh, and no nicking my books," Nathan added, scowling back at Reates for a moment, he merely snickered. "If a snake slithers I'll swear notta take anythin'," at this reply, Nathan stopped--Reates followed suit. For a long moment the senior mage simply stood there. After several minutes, he turned around and raised his hand, "Shake on it then." Reates, with no hesitation took his uncle's hand and shook. "Good," Nathan then turned and they walked the rest of the way back.

---

Four hours later, Nathan strode into his library and gasped in horror.

It was empty.

"Diabhal go léir(Damn it all)," he swore under his breath in gaelic before stalking out of the library. He was the snake, and he wasn't slithering, he was standing. The little bastard had tricked him again.

He may have been the elder of the two, and certainly the more skilled mage, but Reates had him beat in word games, and it seemed that much would never change.

Perhaps one day he'd figure his nephew out. Today however, was not that day. No, today was the day he drank heavily, knowing he couldn't rightly take his books back till the day had passed. After all, he had long ago foolishly agreed to such terms with his nephew. Of course, back then he hadn't known just how clever the boy was at word play.

He continued to mutter curses under his breath as he headed for the wine cooler.

Sometimes it was best to just drown his annoyance.

-----

---

Waking himself fully after Aeris had departed for her business, Mairyell was showered and dressed already. He could still feel her skin against his despite having washed himself of the smell that often accompanied such actions. He didn't mind it, not even slightly. It was comforting in a way, especially since it was time for him to get to work, work that was far less...safe than his sister's teaching.

Exiting Aeris' room, Mairyell walked to the Academy's nearest exit and departed, leaping straight into the air from the courtyard and spreading his wings. As he took flight his already incredible mood turned into one of elation. It was amazing how long he had waited to tell her. How many years they had gone without ever saying anything of it, without him being honest.

Two hundred years was a long time, and while he knew there would be struggle, he desperately hoped that they would not be pulled apart—in any fashion. These were the thoughts that entered and fled his mind as he flew, but by the time he arrived at the small building at the edge of Loom's downtown they had faded away and his focus had settled into its normal place.

He furled and absorbed his wings, pressing his hand against the wood of the door and whispering the code under his breath. He then knocked three times, then once, then eight times twice. Followed that the door evaporated and he entered. What he saw were three children, all surely orphans, who stood bravely in his way, looking up at him with quivering fists clenched at their sides. He smiled down at them with a bit of amusement in his purple eyes. “Would you mind calling him up? You know why I'm here already, your little act's not going to trick me,” he said with slight disdain in his voice. The children did not move so he began to walk forwards, intending to enter the empty fireplace that they were blocking with their bodies.

Immediately he knew something was wrong and he jumped backwards, eyes narrowed as the three children erupted into fiery eyed elementals and lunged at him. His claws extended, his fingers tensed, and his blood spilled forth, forming a wall to block their approach. What the hell is going on, he thought as his foot touched the ground and he pushed off, vanishing from the senses of the elementals. In an instant their flames were snuffed out as his blood pierced their bodies from behind and wrapped itself around their hearts. They froze in place. The acidity of his blood was decreased to zero, but should they retaliate they'd very quickly understand why Mairyell was internationally infamous.

He turned to them, eyes now a deadly shade of crimson, “Where's Bree?” All three of them visibly twitched, then shuddered as they heard his question, knowing that a wrong answer meant more than just death. They still however, remained wholly silent, “Don't make me do it, children. I've killed for less, trust me.”

One of them sighed, “We were only told to distract you.”

Mairyell frowned, “What?”

The elemental smiled, and then Mairyell's eyes widened. Shit he thought a moment too late before he felt something surround his neck, and then a sharp pain against his temple before he blacked out.

---

His eyes fluttered open and he found himself in a sterile looking room, walls of some kind of metal, silver in color, with small lines covering its entire surface. He smelled something, and looked in front of him, simultaneously noticing that his arms were bound to the chair he was in. His first response was a violent one as he attempt to exude blood to destroy his binds and maim the man who sat across from him, looking rather bored, though oddly expectant.

The only thing that happened was the sensation of a pinprick and then electricity passing through his body. He convulsed slightly, wincing, before it stopped. Feeling the last wave move through him, he glared across the table at the mysterious man, meeting his silver-blue eyes. The man smiled, leaned forwards, and placed his forearms on the table, hands clasped together, before he spoke. "Settled down yet, Sanguine? Good, I've been looking for you...or rather, a man of your talents."

Mairyell spat at the man in response, growling slightly as he did so, but the blood infused, and thus acidic, saliva never reached the man. No, a cloud of silver particles rose from the table and stopped the projectile before it could strike its target. The man chuckled, "I applaud your efforts, but trust me, you're thoroughly restrained and I'm more than equipped to kill you if I want to. Cooperate and I'll release you, don't, and you'll find out how well I was trained in the art of torture and interrogation."

Mairyell opened his mouth, but before he could speak the man interrupted, "Yes, I'm quite aware of both your physical durability and regenerative properties. I've dealt with demons before, and I can assure you there are far more ways than you're aware to really make a man suffer." He closed his mouth, then exhaled through his nose, calming his nerves. “Fine. You've clearly done your research. What is so important that you had to go to these lengths, not to mention risk crossing someone who can literally track you down no matter how far you run?” The man smiled, "Good, right down to business. Smart man. Firstly, your friend is just fine, Bree you called him. He's already managed to extricate himself from my clutches, as miraculous as that was." The man seemed slightly annoyed as he mentioned Bree's escape, it made Mairyell grin.

"Anyways...the reason I sought you out is because of your track record. I knew you'd be looking for a contract soon, and so I'm here to deliver." he smiled at Mairyell, "Oh and I'd apologize for knocking you out, but frankly it was fucking hilarious." Mairyell rolled his eyes.

“So, stranger, whats this contract you've got for me?” The man grinned, "Simple, track down and annihilate every member of the Raven's Feather Organization, then report back to me." Mairyell raised an eyebrow, “Elaborate.”

"I'll give you the basic rundown. The Raven's Feather is an up and coming group of individuals in Loom's underground. They deal in information and are also mercenaries of a sort. However, their operations are carried out so effectively that even I with my vast resources and practical knowledge can't weed out much. Plus, it's beneath me, so you're going to do it." The vampire ignored the insult entirely and tilted his head back slightly, looking at the man with disdain.

“How much?”

The stranger smiled, "Five-hundred thousand." Mairyell didn't even flinch, “There's no way you can afford that.” The man chuckled, stood up and walked to one of the walls. After running his hand over its surface and then tracing several patterns across it too fast for Mairyell to memorize, the wall folded open and the man reached in to pull out a metal suitcase. He pushed it across the table and blinked. Mairyell's restraints released and he reached forwards, opening the case.

It was, of course, full of money. He inhaled deeply and then closed the lid and slid it back. “One Million, no less. I'm not doing your dirty work for you with so little information.” The man nodded and opened his mouth, but Mairyell spoke first, the ball was in his court now, “Oh yeah, and I want your name. Don't try to lie either, or I'll kill you where you stand.” The stranger didn't flinch but he did sigh and turn away. After a few moments he spoke up, "My name is Dane Tessarin, and very well. Your lead is a certain vampiress in Kenan. My sources tell me she is something of an away agent for Raven's Feather. She goes by the name Masha, but I did some digging. Her real name is Maryia Vladislavovna Vorobyova, not that you could pronounce it anyways."

Finishing, Dane extracted a slip of paper from a pocket of his clothes and placed it on the table, face down. "Now get to work, ah, but first!"

Something hit him from behind and again his vision faded to black. He heard laughing as his mind fell into the black. Before he passed out he swore that he'd be damned if Dane didn't find himself skinned by the end of this.

Too bad he had no idea who he was dealing with.

---

Having concluded his business with his newly conscripted hunting dog, Dane chuckled to himself, one hand on the wheel of his car, and the other tapping on the dashboard absentmindedly. The black tinted windows of the normal looking vehicle were the only indicator of its ownership and in a world where many had such cars, it didn't stand out at all.

Glancing at the dashboard he tapped a few spots and then turned several dials, adjusting the sound and station he was listening to. It was classical music from an era so many had forgotten. He enjoyed it, though he had very little idea as to why it always sounded so familiar to him. It was one of the many things he was consistently looking into, no matter how trivial it seemed. Turning his mind away from the music he looked ahead and frowned somewhat. He was nearing the building. It always gave him mixed feelings. On one hand his lab was in the Armax HexTech Inc. Headquarters he was about to enter, but on the other being within its walls meant constant surveillance and annoying as fuck people--some that now outranked him, which was indeed a fact that greatly displeased him.

Sighing he turned the car into the parking complex, went to the same spot he always did, and then let it sink down, hiding the car altogether, before replacing the spot once more. He felt, rather than heard or saw, the scan go through his vehicle. It only lasted a moment, but it always made him shake himself of the sensation. Had he been normal he would have been unable to feel it at all, but alas he was not.

Exiting the car after a minute or two of waiting, Dane closed the door behind him and entered the building. It smelled sterile, and felt of power and organization. It was nothing new.

One day I'll have my own private lab again and I won't have to come to this damned place so often, he thought, his internal voice a bitter one. Perhaps he was right, but first he'd certainly have to prove himself again and while that wasn't a terribly daunting task for one such as him, that didn't mean it was easy.

Turning several times and taking two elevators on his way down to his lab, Dane's mind began to turn to his research. However, on the third elevator he ran into someone he had never expected to see:

Logan Bain.

"Mr. Tessarin." Said the O-5 Operative. He was the Chairman's personal lapdog, and the only person in the Three Worlds who even got to see the elusive entity's face. He ran the operations here most of the time, since being an O-5 Agent made him a near equivalent of one of the company's major stockholders. The man was a Gene Spliced, Cybernetic Chimera. A walking supersoldier who got his rank in a span of mere weeks, rivaling the talents of an agent who went Rogue just over two hundred years ago, and some were saying that Logan was even better. He was also known as Sundowner, due to his demonic traits. He was an ugly man, his body a burnt mess that made him look like a baby smooth skinned nightmare. Probably an intentional design, based on the genes he was cloned from. "I hope I'm not intruding on your busy schedule."

Dane, punching in the floor he intended to go to, barely glanced at the chimera, the roll of his eyes obvious. "Oh hardly, not that it would matter," he looked at the man once more, appearing to briefly size him up before looking away, watching as the elevator ticked through the floors, descending with every moment. It'd be awhile till he could escape from this guy. "So, Logan, what brings you here exactly? I don't see you around base much after all, so you must have a good reason."

"I spend most of my time running this place from the field. But what brings me here today are orders from the One and Only." He pulled out a folder from his trench coat and handed it to Dane. "I noticed that you want your Agent status back and have seen the talent you show daily. So I used my position to pull some strings." He folded his arms, examining Dane, and his D.A.R.T. chip. "Agent Miles' grip on you has been revoked. You have been under my jurisdiction since 3 hours ago. Continue to use your talents wisely and I can get you back into O-1. Miles wanted you in the grave anyway."

At first Logan's words meant nothing to him, but that all changed when he mentioned his status. At its mention his eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth, as if to rebuttle him, but before he could he was handed a folder and told that he was essentially being given another chance. He looked down at the folder for a long moment, then a smile crossed onto his features. "Miles would've never gotten what he wanted, I'm too valuable an asset," he said, the satisfaction dripping from his voice. He glanced at the elevator and hit another floor, "I think I'll pay ol' Miles a visit," he said with a grin on his face.

After a moment he exhaled and looked back to Logan. "I almost forgot," no he hadn't, "...what's the catch exactly? Oh, and not to mention the One's involvement. I know I'm important, that much has been made clear to me, but why exactly would he give a damn?" He raised an eyebrow, his silver eyes staring through Logan, a look of expectation and mild doubt in them. He was not one to take such things lightly, doing so was foolish--especially in an organization where failure often meant death...or worse. Yes, Dane knew some things, this was for sure, and he was a valued asset, but they still had his DNA, and that meant they could clone him if he died, or they deemed him unnecessary.

He had no intention of missing such hints.

"Number 5 has deemed you a loss. But the Chairman and I think otherwise. He has been watching you very closely and has found N-5's decision to revoke your status... Hmm... Disappointing." He pulled a phone out of his pocket as it beeped, he had recieved a message. He navigated its menus as he continued to talk. "Minor mistakes such as that previous event are trivial, at best." He was reading the message just as he spoke. "And Miles already knows. Sorry I rained on your parade." He placed his phone back in his pocket, seemingly satisfied with something that he read. "The catch is I need your skills for something big. But for now we need to deal with a small problem. I got wind that you hired Sanguine for a large hit on the Ravens. Did you do your research on the man? His background, current associations, that kind of intel?"

You're damn right it is disappointing, Dane ranted internally. Still, he had won in the end, and that's all that mattered. He shrugged a bit as he mentioned Miles already knew, his mind already moving on to new topics and how he'd elevate himself back to his former status. Then Logan mentioned the Ravens, and furthermore Sanguine. In response he scoffed, having opened the folder. He was reading over the contents faster than any human ought to have been able to. "Younger sister, he hangs around her at the academy a lot. He's got ties internationally. Szayeis considers him a toy," he'd dug real hard for that last one, "...what else," he paused for a long moment and stopped reading, feeling like he'd forgotten something important. This was not a thing he did often.

"Forgot something, haven't you?" Logan noticed the pause and his facial expression. "Mr. Kasio has ties with a Rogue Agent. He knows everything about us. So, Dane. What position does that put you in?"

Dane flitted through the rest of the pages, having only a few left to go over. He then closed the folder and his eyes flitted back and forth as if reading something in front of him in the air. Algorithms ran in his mind, recalculating the odds of his plan backfiring. They went up slightly, he'd need to compensate for that. He knew he couldn't really too much on the organization, at least not for any direct personnel. "Heh, not bad. I considered quite a few variables before going into this. I knew he was dangerous to begin with. Although, if he decides to go to the Rogue Agent it might be...slightly troublesome. Then again..." he trailed off, a smirk finding itself on his face.

"The Rogue Agent is Solus Grim. You read the file. Now recalculate your odds." Logan's tone was serious now.

Dane showed not the least shred of surprise. "Oh I know. There aren't many Rogues that are still alive, last I checked. Hmmm," several holograms opened up in front of him and he began to flit through them and rearrange various slides. After roughly five seconds he nodded and blinked, closing them down in the same moment. "Solus Grim has the knowledge, and the power to be a threat on certain levels. However, even with the tech he carries, he doesn't really mean much. Sanguine is getting compensated handsomely and while it's likely he'll try to kill me after I pay him, I've faked my death before. Plus, my essence doesn't stay the same for long," he glanced at Logan with a grin. He knew the chimera only cared about his orders and destruction, so he doubted the man would take any mind to what he said aside from whether or not it'd be a problem for the organization in the long run.

"Even better, if Sanguine decides to go on instinct and anger and get Solus involved, it'll be pretty evident pretty damn fast. I've got a few nanobots in his system and while they're not enough to kill him, they're enough to inform me who is in his vicinity and the acitivity of any tech he utilizes. If he walks into Solus' home, or calls the bastard, I can set a trap for him, and we won't have a Rogue Agent anymore, now will we."

"You underestimate him far too quickly. Solus has singlehandedly obliterated Solstice, Site 11 in Loom, destroyed countless experiments, killed a Demon Lord, and is in direct contact with a Deity. And we barely managed to find out about the latter." He folded his arms again. "Here's what you can do for the moment. Pretend you are some rich businessman who wants the Ravens gone, play the game as the ball is still in your court. I'm sure you had this scenario thought out already. But if Solus gets involved, no matter what you do, you will fail. He will find you faster than you can blink. He's a former O-5, he uses our own methods, and some of his own, more creative ones." He paused for a moment. "But that does not matter, I'll deal with him by the end of today. Just make sure Sanguine doesn't figure out who you are, and Grim won't hunt you down."

"Have you read mission report 031B?" Dane suddenly asked, seeming to ignore what Logan had just said. The smile on his face had faded. He was much more serious now.

"I did. Impressive. But Solus isn't that easily fooled. Especially when dealing with our kind of personnel. But like I said. He isn't your concern for now. Deal with Sanguine, make sure he hasn't got a clue and pay him. Then we will talk about the bigger picture that I want you to be a part of. If we pull it off, you will be an Agent again." The elevator pinged at the designated floor and the doors slid open. "This is your stop."

Dane chuckled, putting the folder under his arm as he walked out of the elevator. Before the door closed he turned to Logan and smiled. "That little trick happened months ago. Wait till you see the shit I've come up with recently." As the doors were about to close, he finished with, "Oh, and noted. I'll be...extra careful with the Blood Hound...sir." Then he was gone, off to his lab to finish his plans and, likely, make some afternoon discoveries.

Yes, things were going well. A normal mission he'd taken almost on a whim, now meant that should he preform well he'd soon be back to Agent status, and from there he could only continue on upwards.

First though, he had to figure out just how far the cloning programs went.

Yes, one thing at a time, he thought to himself, his smile broadening.

One thing at a time.

This place was like a maze. Olivia looked down from one hallway to the next, her eyes brushed the many classroom windows noting both the full and empty rooms, the earlier made her less eager to bother while the latter didn’t have what she was looking for. Slowly she was feeling her irritation grow when she managed to find everything save what she was looking for. Even her old school hadn’t been this large back in Kenan and she felt her heart collapse in on itself, an invisible fist seemed to be threatening to crush it thanks to the weight in her chest. She hated the sensation yet only managed to shove it away again, barely.

At least she had a chance to change her clothes and brush her hair, the red strands braided and fitted with new flowered barrettes. They happened to be a pair Aeris usually had with her since when Olivia was younger, she often lost them making keeping a spare pair handy a habit back then. The girl was lucky Ris never stopped doing it. Lisara had helped her find another pair of gloves, fingerless and made from knitted wool, to wear. She always found it odd how the hellhound knew exactly that she needed gloves even when the rest of her family thought it was some sort of fashion statement, something she was so shallow about. Though the colors did match her current school uniform surprisingly well. It was the one that seemed suitable for the weather as the skirt, compared to Noel’s sweater dress, reached down to an inch above her knees covering much of her legs thankfully which made her feel less awkward.

She edged into a wider space only to meet her biggest choice yet. There were five corridors, each leading to different directions and she had no idea which to take. Even worse, she had made so many twists and turns, it was difficult to tell which way she had come from originally. Her forehead rested in her hand when the realization washed over her, “Ahh… AC, I think.. I just got us lost…”

“I’ve never been lost before.” Aluvia replied almost whimsically. “The place I lived before was easy to navigate. Forest and wilderness. Not like the hollow canyons of these cities. Even then though... “ She continued neutrally. “I simply wandered. I could always glide up if I needed to see.” She did not realise how much she was not helping.

Olivia turned to the angel and gave her a frown, a thinking one. “That doesn’t help me though as I don’t have wings and I don’t think it would matter as we’re inside a building. I’m sure you’ve had situations you couldn’t always fly, right? What did you do in those occasions when you wanted to be somewhere in particular?”

Still waiting on the woman’s answer, she looked at her five options with worry because one wrong choice could end up getting them more lost. A matter that Ris was already going to kill her for since she couldn’t figure out her way back to the room. She was sure she looked like an idiot just standing there and even worse, she was fully aware of it which only increased the frustration.

“I try to stay outside.” She said simply. She preferred it under the open sky, the sky that would bend to her every desire. In here she felt vulnerable, all she had to defend herself was her wings. No rain to wash the dirt and blood away. No wind to keep her hair from falling in her eyes. Everything was too controlled. Too ordered. Somehow that felt familiar, like something from long ago, yet not necessarily a pleasant familiar. “I try to stay under the sky.” She repeated to clarify.

Olivia nodded, though she knew the statements did little to help her. Then again, the woman had mentioned she had died before so that could be why she seemed a bit odd. Though Olivia was still figuring that part out…. Her hand brushed her hair as she bit her lip some, inwardly debating on what she could do and knew there was one guaranteed way to find her way. A way, she wasn’t about to try if she could help it. Pausing for a bit longer in thought, she finally gave into the option of chance when she asked Aluvia to choose a path, “Well, which corridor do you suggest? They all look the same to me and one seems to be as good as another, isn’t it?”

Aluvia looked at each of them in turn. They all looked the same to her. She felt like it would be faster to get outside if they took the leftmost one, why, she couldn’t say. Perhaps it was just a hunch. Without saying a word, she turned and started walking that way at a swift pace. It would be good to be outside again. She could stretch her wings there. Without burning anything people might be attached to.

Noticing AC suddenly shoot down the furthest left one, Olivia’s feet darted after her. Her shoes slapped the tile floor and almost ran to keep up with the angel, mindful of the wings. She knew how Aluvia had said they hurt despite how pretty they looked. The last thing her friend needed was more pain, something Olivia refused to cause more of as she tried to keep close as possible behind. It seemed like several minutes passed before a door appeared, the small gap underneath seemed to shine light and a breeze blew in through it. The air around this part of the hall had a heavy rain scent compared to the rest making Olivia realise why Aluvia had came here.

“That leads outside, doesn’t it?” She asked, reaching out a hand to touch angel’s shoulder and get her attention. And hopefully get her to move aside without being rude.

At the sudden touch, Aluvia jumped in surprise. She was not used to the touch of other people, never really having felt it. Her wings twitched and she pulled away, brushing her companions hand with the tip of her glowing wing as she did so. She knew the effect her wings had on flesh from past experience, and even as she pulled back she looked with horror at the human girl next to her, hoping that she had not badly injured her. Fear twisted in her belly, that she might lose this person who cared, because of one clumsy mistake.

Heat was the first sensation in Olivia’s brain. Followed shortly after by the combination of excruciating pain and smell of burning flesh. It was sudden and no time to adjust, Olivia’s hand brushed the feathery tip on the wing and her hand jerked back. Her mouth opened and screamed. It was a blood curdling one that erupted and echoed in the small hallway. The girl’s nerves roared in agony, her glove smoldered as the fabric couldn’t stand the wing’s energy, exposing her flesh underneath to the fire. As if it had been caught on fire. Her knees quickly gave out causing her to crumble to the floor, hitting her side hard on her landing and knocking the wind from her for a brief moment.

The image of AC’s expression seared itself inside her memory. It followed her down as she clutched her injured hand, and shoved it against her stomach in a pale attempt to stop the pain. Her body curled into a ball while the ache seemed to fill her focus. Oh god, it hurts. It hurts so bad… Olivia started to tremble in a familiar sensation that seemed to rapidly spread within her, her mind locked in the images that flashed and her eyes squeezed tightly. Her body tightened in position, throat collapsed in on itself as her lungs seemed to stop working leaving her breathless. NO, please… no, not here. Not now! The girl found herself silently pleading for it to stop. She felt the helpless realization wash over her then when she knew all she could was wait out the storm raging within her. Let it be over quickly, please... With those last words Olivia felt the effect fade and her mind darken, edging to pass out from the experience.

Aluvia froze as her companion fell, screaming. She could see that it was nothing more than a mild burn to the hand, yet the pain it seemed to be causing evidently went far beyond that. She stood staring at Olivia’s unmoving form for several long moments, knowing not what to do. Her own wounds healed fairly quickly… But she remembered that others did not have such effective healing as she. Especially humans. She did not remember anything helpful though. “O-Olivia?” She said fearfully, reaching out halfheartedly towards her prone form for a moment before withdrawing her hand again. She could see the girl breathing, but she did not wake. Why wouldn’t she wake up? “Wake up…” She pleaded.

“Move away lass,” a male voice chimed as if from nowhere, no cheer in it, no joy. Reates walked towards them, bent a knee and checked Olivia’s pulse. He sighed and then closed his eyes, taking no mind to the angel. His essence roared through him, then focused and exited his fingertips, curling around Olivia’s body, some of them lightly making contact with the burn, which quickly faded. The energies would gently wake the girl, simultaneously alleviating the pain, and healing the wound. He was glad he’d left a part of Abstractis with the girl, as she’d wandered far and was quite lost, and now injured--even if not for long.

“Lassie. Olivia, wake up dear, tha pain’s gone now,” he said gently, his accent altering his words slightly. He remained on one knee near her, there mostly for comfort now. Even the fabric of her glove would’ve reformed itself, as if the damage had never been done.

He was a master of the Art after all.

Olivia couldn’t move as she felt her magic weave its magic, images she never seen flew inside her head and her body trembled in response. It seemed like it would never end. Her heart was thumping rapidly and out of control, her pulse fluttering under Reates’ in an unusual pace. She hadn’t even registered AC’s or the teacher’s words before something swirled inside her and the pain faded. At feeling the magic subside, her eyes slowly peeked open to see two blurry images at first looking on her balled up form. Olivia’s eyes tightened to focus, clearing the images until they looked more like people than blurry shadows.

Gingerly, her body began to stir upright, her right arm using it to balance herself while she tried to think about what had happened. Her head snapped up and looked at AC, her face filled with worry at the recollection about the wings being painful, “What happened? AC, are you alright? Did I hurt you?”

One trait she did unknowingly was to worry about others, especially about those she was closest to. Dizziness washed over her due to her sudden movement causing her hand to cradle her head and arm to keep her from falling back down. The girl moan softly, her fingers rubbed in gentle circles while giving a small, forced smile to the pair, “I passed out from the pain, didn’t I?”

Aluvia stepped back when asked, watching the man, a teacher presumably, heal Olivia. She didn’t speak, simply standing somewhat awkwardly awaiting the results. She was filled with relief when Olivia started to sit upright, thankful that this accident hadn’t been more dire.

That was quickly replaced by worry and fear that perhaps her new friend might think she struck out on purpose, and so she remained silent. She was quite surprised by Olivia’s first words however. “You… hurt me?” She said with equal parts puzzlement and disbelief in the possibility. After all, how could a little human girl possibly harm her? The ground and air was at her bidding and her wings seared flesh to the bone. “No… I hurt you.” She said matter-of-factly. “You surprised me. My wing touched your hand. It burned you. It burns everything.” She added by way of explanation. She didn’t know what to say to the idea that Olivia would pass out from the pain. She must’ve been very weak to have passed out from such a glancing blow. Aluvia found herself disappointed and disgusted from that thought, though she did not know why.

A smile gracing his lips, Reates’ eyes were a soft glow. He chuckled at the angel’s response, then offered Olivia a hand. “Ya ready to be back on yer feet?”

Olivia nodded and reached her hand to take the man’s, her eyes giving AC a small smirk. Namely to let the angel know she was alright as she was hauled up, her feet still threatened to wobble out from under her. Olivia noted the tone in her friend’s voice when she corrected the younger girl’s words and caused her to address Aluvia or Cerria, she was still figuring out which to call her, first. “It’s fine and I didn’t think you would’ve reacted that way to be honest. I didn’t mean to startle you. As for your wings, I did recall you mentioned they hurt and I didn’t want to make that worse. Though I wished I had known they could burn too.”

At the thought of burning, her eyes jerked to her hand and eyes widened in surprise at finding the glove intact. She stared at it harder and examined, her eyes studying it as she tried to puzzle the reason why. Not wanting to look ungrateful, she remembered she had yet to thank the teacher that arrived and helped her upright, “Ummm… thanks Mr. Saerne, I appreciate the help. Though I’m sorry to say, I think I got us lost trying to find the pay phones.”

“Ya shoulda asked, mosta tha folks ‘round here are rather helpful,” he was now smiling, amused by her surprise at the glove and her lack of injury. He waved the idea away, brushing his hand through the air, “...but no matter, I’ll help ya find it.” His eyes slid over to the angel that was now accompanying his charge. Her wings were indeed burning, their essence searing away any and all impurities, slowly, that remained within her. The process could take decades if not properly managed.

He retained his smile as he spoke to her, “I don’t believe we’ve met, what’re yer names? Mine’re Reates Saerne.” He had gotten few tips from Abstractis, though not all of the details. Even if he had known her name, it was far more polite to ask.

Aluvia looked briefly between her now healed companion and the man who had healed her, not sure if she should speak. When no one else said anything after a moment, she concluded it must be her turn to speak. She was slightly surprised that the man had asked for her names. Usually people seemed to ask for her name, as though she only had one. At least that solved the usual dilemma of which name to give him.

“I am Aluvia. I am Cerria.” She said with far more confidence than she had ever had before when stating her names, though immediately after she looked somewhat lost. Beyond that, she still hadn’t determined what she should say to new people. One thing did occur to her to ask though. “You made her pain go away. Can you make my pain go away?”

Olivia had been quiet. Slowly her head turned from the professor to AC in a hope to get the Angel to introduce herself. For a long, awkward time it had seemed unlikely her new friend was even aware of what she was suppose to do and Olivia didn’t want to risk stepping on toes. Though it would’ve helped breaking the ice, Mr. Saerne didn’t ask her to introduce her friend. The girl finally felt her held breath release softly when she heard the confidence in AC’s voice when she figured it out. Her lips curled into a smile warmly at the older woman and tried to look encouraging. In habit, Olivia’s right arm had crossed over her body and held it there, her hand gripping the upper part in relief that the two now knew each other.

Despite her image, something bothered her inside.

Her mind lingered on what she saw, mentally hoping it was merely her imagination. Deep down, beyond the false hope and desire to believe, she knew better. A fact which only worried her more than before. Something terrible was happening to her friend and the pain appeared to be only part of it. Olivia shuddered briefly before she shook off the feeling and kept her smile, ensuring it didn’t waver. One thing she was good at was faking emotions she didn’t fully feel. It was a good thing the talent was practiced and had gotten better over the years until even she had trouble telling the fiction apart from the truth.

“AC- which I shortened for a nickname- says her wings hurt. Though after touching them, I can see why now. At least I thought I did,” Olivia’s eyes stared at her gloves again, still wondering what she saw or experienced. The image seemed like a faded memory now. She knew something happened as Aluvia had stated he healed her, but Olivia still wondered if she should trust her own eyes at all.

She ripped her stares from her hand and looked to the professor with pleading eyes when she continued, this time asking a question. “Please, tell me there’s something you can do Mr. Saerne?”

He listened closely and it seemed Abstractis had been right. She had two names, both first names, rather one being a surname. While Olivia spoke, the professor’s eyes scanned AC’s wings further. Their incandescence was odd and likely related both to a regression and her status as a weather angel. Stranger still was the fact that she did not appear to be aware of what was happening to her, leading him to believe that this regression was not a willful one...at least not by this incarnation’s will. Still, while he knew a great deal about angels and their biology, he was not entirely certain as to whether or not one could stop a regression once it had begun.

He doubted it. Nonetheless, he might be able to soothe her pain. He glanced between the two, his expression somewhat more serious as he looked Aluvia over. He noted Olivia’s minor disbelief in what had happened to her, somewhat from her actions, and somewhat from the very surface of her thoughts, something he did not read on a truly conscious level. “There might be a thing’re two I can do to alleviate the pain,” he said, his tone measured, “...however, before I attempt such a thing….” he paused for a long moment, seeming to consider something.

After a moment he smiled, “I’d prefer to get a better handle on who I’m working with. So AC, what do you remember?” He held up a finger, remembering something, and glanced back to Olivia. “You were searchin’ for a phone, aye? Ye could’ve just asked ya know. There’s one back in my office, and,” he paused, glancing back at AC with a smile, “that also ‘appens to be tha best place for me to help ya. Shall we change locations then?”

Olivia listened to the professor, her heart racing and mind hoping, as she noticed the change in his expression. From her first impression the man had seemed rather odd in her opinion, to put it mildly, and over relaxed. The latter a trait was one her brother and him shared loosely, though Emmet’s was more hidden away in his overprotectiveness and awareness about her feelings. Her fingers tightened in reaction to her thoughts about her brother, making her apprehensive inside again. “I didn’t want to be a bother to anyone, but thank you for the offer. It’s better than getting lost inside.”

After all, she was only a temporary student here and wouldn’t be sticking around long enough for it to be necessary. She knew, besides her brother, Uncle Darius would worry about her though it was likely Aeris had already notified him so he was aware of her location. EZ had no one to contact or worry about him, save for herself. She inhaled nervously and looked to see AC’s answer, partly knowing the angel rather be outside than confined inside. In an effort to ease the discomfort, Olivia piped up with a suggestion she hoped would help coax her friend into tolerating the inside a bit longer. “Once we’re done, maybe we can get some lunch and eat it outside? The weather looks lovely today and might be fun, don’t you think?”

“Yes I would like to go outside…” Aluvia said somewhat absentmindedly. This new man now seemed a little like the others she had met. Not afraid like they were, but he did not seem like Olivia either. Still, he wanted to try and help, and that was good. “Yes lets go there.”

When they reached the office, Aluvia turned to the man, Reates was his name, and started speaking about who she was. At least to the best of her limited knowledge. “I was Cerria, before I died. Dying was the first thing I remembered when I woke up.” She tried not to think too hard about it, lest the memory return unbidden once again. “I remember being angry, hateful. Destroying humans, demons and angels without a second thought.” She was speaking matter-of-factly without any real hint that what she was saying might be considered terrible by a normal person. “I know there was something before all that. The man that killed me talked as though we were friends, and happy, before I did what I did. His name was Lucien.”

“Was it because you were in pain back then as well?” Olivia blurted out and nearly flinched at her carelessness as she bit her lip, unsure how AC was going to react. After all she didn’t know how this whole death and still alive thing worked though she was deeply curious, a trait that would likely get her in trouble later on if she wasn’t careful. Not that the notion ever occurred to her.

“No….” Aluvia said, as though the idea was absolutely ridiculous. “It only started hurting when I started remembering.” Now speaking as though it were obvious. “I stopped trying to remember, and it didn’t get more painful. But I want to remember. I want to know who I was before. But I also want the pain to stop.” She tried to sound sure of herself, though it was hard. Remembering more meant more pain, and she did not know how much more she could bear. How much further back would the memories go? How many more of them would be horrifying?

Listening closely, Reates nodded his head, then rubbed his chin somewhat, an inquisitive look on his face. As he thought it over his eyes flickered over and around Aluvia’s body. After a moment he sighed and straightened up fully, bending back till there were light popping sounds as he loosened the muscles in his back. He sighed and then looked at the angel, “Hold still,” he then took his glasses off.

While neither of them would understand the significance of this action, it was indeed one of note. Reates practically never removed his glasses, but it was not because he couldn’t see without them on--quite the opposite. In fact, one could say that Reates saw too well without them, for he was one of the rare individuals who possessed what was colloquially referred to as ‘The Sight’.

Reates could visualize essence, but not in the same way as some mages learned to do. No, Reates could do more than see the initial layers of essence, he could see its intricacies all the way down to the level of the sub-atomic plane, and that was a feat that very few could claim--let alone understand.

It was this sight that he needed to properly analyze the entirety of this angel’s essence--or at least as much as his mortal mind could process and understand. In an effort to increase his own capacity, the mage increased the speed that the essence in his body moved and redirected a fair amount into his brain, temporarily speeding up its processes. All this in a mere four seconds.

With his preparations taken care of, Reates’ eyes swept over Aluvia, from top to bottom, and wing tip to wing tip, four times. After looking her over the professor swiftly replaced his glasses, closed his eyes for a long moment, and then let out a deep breath. After several seconds of processing, and his allowing the slight headache behind his eyes recede, Reates opened his eyes and smiled at the two girls before him. “Aluvia, there’s good news and bad news. Tha’ bad news is I can only lessen tha’ pain, not get rid of it. The good? I know exactly what’s causing it and I can help you, albeit slowly, work through it--provided you’re willin’.” He smirked and then glanced over to Olivia, “Ah!”[/B][/color] He exclaimed before turning and grabbing an item from his desk, “Think fast!” He threw it lightly towards Olivia. If she didn’t catch it, it would nearly hit the ground, before suddenly stopping all movement, as if suspended in time. Regardless there’d be a smirk on the irishman’s face.

“Less pain would be good.” Aluvia began, looking extremely puzzled as Reates suddenly threw an object straight at Olivia. “I came here so that you would help me.” She said matter-of-factly, in response to the next thing Reates said. It seemed strange to her that he would bother asking if she was willing at this point. After all, if she were not willing, she would be busy leveling a nearby city right about now. “What must I do?” She then asked in a slightly optimistic tone.

Olivia's teeth pushed deeper into her bottom lip, turning the spot slightly whiter, as the girl's expression shifted. At Aluvia's tone, her earlier curiosity into a mingle of hurt and discomfort causing her eyes to shift downward. It was clear she didn't like the assumption her friend might've made about her intelligence or the possible fact Aluvia's prior life could have been a murderess. Was it fair to judge a person by their past crimes and punish them for it, even when they weren't the same person? Especially when they want to remember it? The answer to the first question as no and the easiest to answer, but the last one was harder. Though Olivia admitted she couldn't see why anyone would've wanted to recall such things. Aluvia's sting faded when Professor Reates sighed and stretched, the light popping sounds quickly drawing Olivia's attention with a jerk from her head to his direction. Finally he said something odd, then removed his glasses.

It made Olivia tilt her head in confusion at why he had to remove them, noting he hadn't before in her presence. While he examined Aluvia, she pushed the thought away slowly to the back of her mind. She reasoned there had to be point, one she didn't fully understand, and since she wasn't assigned permanently here, it wouldn't matter. In silence she observed the professor looking the angel up and down several times before he seemed to finish, replacing his glasses and absorbed what he apparently studied. Though all he did was look, Olivia didn't understand what he could've saw to help him conclude what he spoke next. Even doctors needed more than simple looking and examination to tell when something was wrong, let alone how to fix it.

Absorbed into his good news, Olivia abruptly jerked when Reates suddenly piped up with sound and caused her eyes to follow his figure to the desk. She didn't expect him to have tossed something at her and immediately made to catch it, her hands stinging when the item collided against her palms. Her fingers tightened to prevent it from slamming into the floor. Her body had nearly dove for it as it hunched over, feet spread a bit to keep her own figure upright. Widened up, she looked to Reates and back to the phone he had tossed, firmly in hand. He threw a phone at her. She blinked, still trying to register why, finally straightening up again.

Taking the time to recover after the shock, she waited until Aluvia was done before she jumped in. “Thank you... I think. Professor Saerne, is there somewhere private? I rather not interrupt anything while I call my brother as I know he'll be worried.”

In response to the girl the professor’s arm raised, as if gesturing to a corner of the room. His fingers flickered in several patterns, and when Olivia turned towards where he’d gestured there’d be what appeared to be something of a phone both. It had a small bench in it as well. “It’s sound proofed, dearie. Take yer time,” he stated, smiling at her before glancing back to Aluvia. “Thought as much, but it’s best ta doublecheck before trussin’ around in someone else’s essence, aye?” He smiled at her then took in a deep breath and motioned for her to take a step or two closer. As she neared him, he flourished both his hands, coating them in a layer of essence as a primer for what he planned to do. “Turn ‘round lass, I’ll have to adjust yer wings some before I get to tha rest.”

Once she’d turned ‘round Reates’ hands would begin to dance about her wings deftly, every so often coming into direct contact with them, before moving into another set of patterns. As he wove he began to explain, “Put simply, you’re going through what’s called Regression. It’s when an angel relives, or at least, delves into their core essence--which is stored in their wings--and remembers their past lives. In yer case it seems like you’ve only had two lives...though I can’t tell much beyond that from just a cursory examination.” He stopped for a minute or so, going totally silent as the movements of his hands, fingers, arms, and eyes became more complex.

Every so often his hands would make contact with various areas on her back and arms. At this point she’d begin to feel the pain adjust and lessen with each passing motion of the mage’s hands. “Problem is, lass, Regression is already a process that more often than not, drives an angel off tha deep end...ah. They go insane,” he corrected himself for clarity’s sake, something he did not do often. "However," he began as he laid down the last of several layers of enchantment, "I can relieve some of the pain by stabilizing the flow of yer essence, and I can help ya with the regression if ya come ‘ere every few days, or we scratch up a schedule. I can help walk ya through the process somewhat and make sure yer mind don’t get turned all a tangle."

At that he ceased talking, waiting for her to process the information before he said anymore. It would take him only a minute or so more to finish his work.

Aluvia unknowingly held her breath as she turned and let Reates touch her wings. She was expecting him to recoil and shout in pain as his fingers burned. She breathed a sigh of relief as not only did Reates’ fingers not burn, but the pain in her wings actually decreased. It was better by far than the soothing of the rain on her skin, as cool relief ran through her veins. The pain was still there, but her limbs felt less stiff and her wings relaxed almost imperceptibly. She only half heard what he was saying, tearing her focus away from the feeling in her wings.

“Regression?” She said slowly. Reates was saying it drove angels insane… Did that mean she was insane? That sounded bad. “I am not like you…” She said including everyone else she had met within ‘you.’ “Is that why? Am I insane?” She asked calmly and with curiosity evident in her voice. Something else occurred to her then. “You said… Only two? Does that mean other Angels die more than once?” That sounded incredibly unpleasant. It was bad enough remembering only one death.

“I do want to remember. I want to know what I was like… When I was still Lucien’s friend. I will keep coming back here.” She spoke now with enthusiasm, finally someone that seemed to have answers and wanted to help.

Reates chuckled at first, then nodded, smiling somewhat, though there was a more serious look in his eyes. “No lass, you’re not insane, ‘t’least not as far’s I can tell,” he began taking in a deep breath then glancing at her essence once more. “I’m willin’ to help ya with continued regressions, but tha pain will get worse the further ya go, and since this’d be only yer second life it means the regression will last...quite a long while. It might take ya years to properly finish, and only then will the pain stop completely.”

He let that statement sit for a moment before he continued, “If you’re willing to go through that, then I’ll help ya, but once you start...backing out will be a bad idea. Oh and as to the matter of other Angels, yes. All Angels are...reincarnated once they die. Two lives is a rarity, hundreds is common.” His tone was more business-like and serious than normal.

Nonetheless he smiled at her when he finished then turned towards where he’d seen Olivia wander off to. “We can talk about it more later. I’ve got to grab a small bite ta eat before me class and I’m sure Aeris’ll be wantin’ Olivia back soon, haha.” His eyes moved away from Olivia and back to Aluvia, “We can meet tomorrow, midday. I’ll get ya some lunch and we can have a nice little sit down in my office and work out the details.” He then nodded, assuming her willingness and beckoned to Olivia, “Lass, I’ll walk ya back to Aeris’ room. I’d hate for you to get lost again.”

Olivia had just finished her phone call when she exited the booth. Her eyes reddened from crying and face thoughtful, masking the troublesome thinking buried within her head. Mostly regret and worry sank into her chest where it curled like a snake. A nasty one, waiting and listening for a perfect moment to poison her attempt at hiding her frustration. It had taken some time to stop the crying but she did it, putting on a smile to hide her pain. After all, she had been practicing for well over a year so it wasn't as hard anymore.

“It's alright, Professor Saerne, but I think I can find my way back on my own.” Her voice wavered a bit, subtly, and she forced more strength into it. In truth she didn't want go back to her room and wait on Aeris, uncertain if her sister was even there. She was a teacher after all, busy and it wasn't fair to bother her over what she had learned. Inside she wasn't even sure how much longer she could hold it in but she didn't want to lose in front of Aeris. Crying was one thing, but tossing and screaming out every little pain was something else. “If you don't mind that is as I’m sure you need to get ready for another class, right?”

Inside she pleaded he didn't insist.

He didn’t, instead he nodded, walked to her, gave her a brief hug and then flicked his wrist. He held his hand out, a sheet of paper in it. “This is a map, so ya don’t get lost again,” he smiled at her calmly and patted her on the back. He decided not to ask any questions and then bid her ado, gently escorting her to the door and then gesturing for Aluvia to depart as well.

Once they were both gone, Reates headed for the cafeteria to retrieve his lunch.

Abstractis on the other hand, remained unseen...always with Olivia.

Reates was a cautious man after all.

Olivia hadn’t noticed, until Professor Saerne hugged her, the teacher was nearby. Her eyes widened and facial features turned up into a stunned look when his arms wrapped about her as if he knew exactly what had upset her. For a moment, fleeting, she considered just sinking into the embrace. To let everything held tightly inside go and crumble, the time passed and denied by her choice back in the toll booth, when he finally detached himself. The sensation of his strength still lingered to comfort her as he summoned something. It looked like aged parchment and a map, which he handed off to her. Gingerly Olivia nodded and reached out, taking the item in hand while he escorted her to the door.

She paused a moment, waving back at the angel, before leaving. “See you later AC.”

With those last words, she almost fought not to run away from the office in her haste. Namely before she broke down and cried right in front of the pair, feeling her calm slowly breaking apart. Her mind could vividly recall the whole conversation from start to finish, relighting the worry about her brother and it fogging over the fact she didn’t call her Uncle, while she walked.



After leaving AC and Reates alone, Olivia closed the phone booth door behind her. She reached for phone and the whole time had ended up gripping until it stung in her hand. The pain was slow to dull causing her to look down at the object in her hand. It was mild to say her nerves were unsettled, thick enough it seemed to suffocate her, when her eyes lowered to gaze at it. It was a normal receiver though one, surprising her a bit, mainly since she didn’t expect to be used by the eccentric teacher. She took a moment to study it, both settling and bracing her nerves. Of course nothing odd stuck out to her, noting the thin, rectangular shape with a smaller screen for visual conversations and touch screen displaying a dial used for contacts. It was wireless despite it being a landline so there was little need to worry about getting tangled up in the cord or being restricted in the same room though she was still blocked off from the others for this moment of privacy.

For several moments she tried to quell her discomfort slithering inside and curl, tightening in her chest where it sat like a dead thing. She wanted to hear Emmet’s voice, enough to know he was alright, but a part of her knew if she did then there would be questions. Both selfish and concern types poured into her skull making Olivia feel a budding headache coming on about what she would say. Finally she exhaled the anxiety as she reached for the touchscreen then began to dial, the buttons beeped at her touch, pausing long enough to recall her brother’s emergency number and finally enter. The bland, loud tone came into her ear during her wait for someone to pick up. She was expecting to hear Emmet’s gruff voice and some lame excuse.

Zi was out of breath, huddled up in a couch in one of the hippy cafes where freaks were a normal sight. Her wings were folded up behind her, still trembling slightly from the strain. Hearing the phone ring she almost dropped the cup of coffee she was cradling and hurried to pick up.

“Emmet?” She asked breathlessly, her voice shaking with panic and hope.

Olivia’s eyes widened in surprise to hear a feminine voice answer instead, her breath held in and stilled. Her stomach knotted tighter when her brother’s name escaped the woman’s lips, the tone not helping her in the least to remain calm. The girl’s fear made her fingers tighten until they were white as her chest burned and trying to peel away the numbness in her mind just to think. Finally her voice found its way back to her throat, the constriction gone, letting her speak.

“No… This is Olivia Matthews, his sister. Where’s my brother?”

Zi felt her breath catch in her chest. All she knew - Emmet leaving because of Olivia, the policemen talking about an incident at her school, Olivia now calling, the angel that shot at them - swirled around her head in an incomprehensible mess. Had it all been a trap? Was Darius finally bored of Emmet and found a way to dispose of him?

The phone started shaking in her hand and she brought her knees up to her chest, squeezing the phone with both hands to keep it steady. She knew she was supposed to lie to the girl to keep her from being worried but more importantly, she needed more information.

"I'm not sure, Olivia, he was with me last night but he got a call that something's happened with you and left." Her voice was steady, masking the beat of her frantic heart. "Are you alright?"

“He was suppose to pick me up. When he didn’t come, I just stood there waiting for him. It seems Hank was sent instead and…” Blood, dead eyes and Hank’s image of his slumped over body flashed in the younger’s eyes causing her throat to tighten and a sourness to gather within her mouth. She knew that sensation well. The desire to vomit and purge her guilt, but slowly she took small breaths to push past the creeping sensation of terror building inside her core, “He and Mr. Findley, both were killed by a woman that t-took me. It’s my fault. All my fault this happened.”

Instinctively her arm closed around her body and her mind whirled with the confusion over this news delivered to her. Aluvia’s words, once calm and soothing now burned up like the essence fuming off the angel’s wings. She was wrong. He’s not alright, her brother was in trouble and she was sitting here doing nothing to help him. If he died because she…

The thought was enough to trigger what had been held back as her body curled, her free hand jerking to stop it. Anything that had been within her stomach came up in acidic and nasty tasting mess, held back in her throat where it sting and threatened to come up. She was breathing hard, daring not to speak, fearful of letting the foul tasting mess escape and land on the floor. Now wasn’t the time to get sick. Swallowing it back down, Olivia began to cough roughly when her last meal went down overly rough and tried to choke her.

"Olivia?!" Zi shouted down the phone as the girl made a whimpering sound. A few heads in the cafe turned and she lowered her voice, realising the girl had almost thrown up. Her voice was even stronger now, worried but commanding in the same time. " Olivia, listen to me, don't you dare underestimate your brother. He is alright but he must be worried sick - you know you're his single, most precious thing, right? I'm currently looking for him in all the hospitals and police stations around and when I find him he'll want to know about you. Where are you right now? Are you safe?" Should I come get you? was the next logical question but she didn't ask that. She couldn’t afford that.

Wiping the back of her hand across her skirt, Olivia’s head seemed to flood her in unwanted thoughts, doubts, and worse case scenarios. She couldn’t stay here and risk losing him. The thought drove a nail into her center leaving her mind spinning and body weak, slid down on the bench allowing her to prop against the glass wall. “Yeah...I’m alright. The woman took me to an abandoned building on the way toward Loom. She covered the room in some sort of webbing and trapped us inside. I managed to make a cabinet fall and...I-I-I think it j-just t-trapped her so I tried to get out. Noel, a musician heard me and helped me to escape. Aeris found me later and now we’re at the Academy. It’s only temporary but I want to go home and I want to know he’s alright. If something happened to him…”

She could feel her eyes stinging thanks to the tears as she closed the lids, letting the wetness wash away the shame. What could she do but make it worse?

Zi took a sharp breath and squeezed the phone tighter. “Olivia, listen, ok? Calm down, please. We need to be strong, your brother will be” pissed “furious at us if we don’t get it together, right? You should trust me and you should trust your uncle, we’ll find him.” She’d thrown Darius into the equation just as a way of prodding about whether Olivia had any suspicions of the true nature of his and Emmet’s relationship but as the sentence left her mouth she realised something else as well. “Have you spoken to your uncle already? He might know something that I don’t.” Her voice never wavered despite the sudden surge of anger she felt on the inside.

“I’ve not talked to Uncle Darius since I was kidnapped, though I’m sure Aeris told him I was here. I can’t be fully registered according to the headmaster without Darius’ permission,” Olivia spoke, her middle churning and body curled for self comfort, “This isn’t normal for him, Zi. I was going to ask Aeris if we could stop by his apartment since Ms. Quarin believes this might’ve been a one time incident. I know it’s not. He wanted me kidnapped to get to a woman named Mary… there was some confusing stuff said about Darius and my brother, stuff I don’t understand and don’t want to think about. I just want to know EZ is alright. It’s all my fault… I got Mr. Findley killed, Hank and now… E-” What had she done...The question rippled in her head over and over, taunting her with some hidden secret that made her heart blacken and twist inside.

The apartment. Now that was a bad idea. “I’ve been to his apartment. That’s how I got his phone. He’s not there, unfortunately, but there’s nothing to suggest he’s not alright, Olivia.” She cringed at the ease with which the lie left her mouth, suddenly feeling as disgusted with herself as she was with Darius and Emmet. Wasn’t the girl old enough to deserve the truth? But it wasn’t up to her to decide, was it?

“You didn’t get anybody killed, dear. But if anyone is after you, you better make sure you keep yourself safe. Stay where you are and leave the rest to me and your uncle. You can trust us that much, can’t you?”

“I-I can try. I’ve got Darius, Aeris and Emmet but I know my brother doesn’t have anyone. He doesn’t let anyone inside and I don’t understand why. Please, no one worries about him so no one will seek him out. He doesn’t deserve to be forgotten.” Olivia said as she admitted to the woman her fears. “Promise me, you won’t abandon him.”

“I would never forget your brother.” Zi smiled as bitter saliva dripped down her throat with the admission. Sometimes she wished she could. “This is why I’m asking you to have some faith in me.”

“Kay, but if you don’t find him...I’ll kick your ass.”

Zi chuckled despite herself and her voice softened. “I wouldn’t risk that. Keep yourself safe and I’ll call you as soon as I know anything.”

“You too,” Olivia said and hung up, her shaking hand placed the phone beside her. She was shaking all over, her eyes horrified that she couldn’t stop while she pressed her palms into her eyes to cease the wetness. No...not here, stay calm. She tried to order herself, her body feeling weighed by the fear and pain inside before forced it to stay upright. More than anything she wanted to sink farther into the booth’s wall, using its solid form like a prop, while her arms wrapped about her knees. And just cry. All she could was use her hands to wipe away the wetness along her redden eyes. It seems so easy for her mask to surface when her hand pressed against the door, opening it to face Professor Saerne finishing up with Aluvia.

This was a hellish week for her that much was turning out to be certain.

---

Olivia had managed to excuse herself from Professor Saerne and Aluvia, her body clipping quickly down the hallway and fighting every step not to just break out into a full out run. Most of all what she wanted to do was to scream all her pain, misery and sorrow for the world to hear... but she couldn't. She made a promise and despite her frustration, she had little choice other than to trust Zi, a woman she had only sparsely met through Emmet. It was the hardest thing she had every had to swallow before.

Her shoes clipped harder, seeming to believe she could make her getaway faster, while she booked it to the only place she knew could help her to escape these dark feelings: the library. It had always been her comfort zone since her youth as Darius made sure her room was filled with various reading material, from the ancient tales of Moby Dick, A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, and more to the more modern fiction and facts of the age. It was the first place that came to mind when she started to walk and let her feet lead the way.

Her hand reached up to wipe away the salty tears stinging her vision and making it blurry, further increasing her redness. Only able to partly see, she nearly collided into another person, a woman, causing Olivia's attention jerk to the present. Side tracked from her destination, she managed to clear her vision enough to study the woman before her. She looked like a student or possibly a teacher aid, at least she was too young to be a teacher in Olivia's mind, while she blurted out her miserable apology.

“I-I’m s-sorry. I didn’t mean… I… My name’s Olivia Matthews.” It ended in a tragic way, her mind painfully aware of the fact when her voice trailed off softly.

Mary was heading back to the library. It was one of the few places she felt a little less lost and confused in this new world. In her customary black long sleeved shirt and blue jeans, she headed towards one of the last familiar places. Lost in her own thoughts, she didn’t notice the other person in the hallway until they had nearly rammed into by a small girl. Stopping suddenly, she looked down at the red eyed child, whispering her name and felt sorry for her. Something was clearly wrong, and this was something she could perhaps help with. Smiling in a friendly manner, Mary knelt down to Olivia’s eye level. “Don’t worry about it, Olivia. I’m Mary” She took in the hastily wiped away remnants of tears, and then wiped the rest away with her sleeve. “Now, why don’t we go into the library, away from prying eyes, and you tell me what’s wrong.”

Despite Olivia's thoughts being fixed on Emmet, her head tilted at hearing Mary's name. Her eyes blinked a bit when the woman wiped away her tears, helping a bit in clearing her sight until the image came into focus. She forced herself to smile some though her mood didn't full fill the energy behind it. “A bad day really and now I learned my brother's missing. Even worse, I can't do anything to help him because I promised to stay put.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that.” Mary said earnestly, remembering how she felt before she found out both her parents were dead. In a way, the not knowing was even more terrible than the actual finding out that Henry and James had killed her parents. She thought for a moment. “Have you tried asking Hazumi for help? The headmistress of this college. From what I’ve heard, she’s ‘the Essence of the World’ something extremely powerful, I guess.” Mary shrugged. “I haven’t been in this world long enough to know what that means. Or at least, what the title means in comparison to everything else. But, from what I’ve heard, she cares about her students. Asking her to help might just get your brother back in no átime. Now, rather than focus on your problems, let’s see if we can find something to take your mind off of it. It’s why I came here myself.” Mary stood and gestured towards the library a few feet away. “Unless, of course, you’d rather we find Hazumi right away?”

“I’m only a temporary student here, at least until or if Uncle Darius registers me. Though I’m not sure I really belong here as I don't have any magical abilities,” Olivia uttered the words through her teeth while she slowly realized how easily lying came to her lips. It took great strength not to flinch, her face easily clouded over the reaction, while she listened to the woman. She couldn't help but wonder if this was very woman who was targeted by this ‘Sir’, the one who unknowingly ruining her very life and tossed it into chaos.

Olivia’s heart squeezed in on itself at the venomous thoughts. She barely stop herself from wrapping her arms about her torso while she pushed at her hatred, driving it down, before she spoke again. “I don't know. I've already contacted a friend of my brother, someone named Zi, to find him. She just told me to be careful and stay put. After what happened... I'm not sure about a lot of things anymore. Right now I just need something normal to keep me from going insane and books always helped me forget.”

Her feet naturally edged toward the library's entrance as she added, her head turned to the student's direction. “What's it like here? I've never been to a place which teaches magic, though I thought it might've looked much. It seems similar to my old school save for the boys because my last school was an all girls’ one.”

Mary nodded. “Well, if you don’t have any magical abilities, they’ll give you an instrument on admission. That will give you magical abilities. I don’t have any natural magic, but my Instrument,” Mary turned her ring back into a string of light, intertwining it through her fingers, “Gives me the abilities. As long as you have no problems with other voices in your head, as each Instrument has its own soul, you should adapt quickly. Unless they’re particularly annoying, like mine can be.” Mary smiled a bit at the immediate protestations by Mercy and Vengeance, turning her string into a ring once more. She took the lead towards the library. “Honestly, from what I can tell, it’s no different from the school I’m used to. You go to class, you hope the Professor goes easy on you, and you learn to the best of your ability. Switch Veterinarian classes with magic and combat classes, and that’s the only difference. For me at least. “ Mary gestured towards the interior of the library as they stepped in.

“I really don’t see the appeal in magic really so I don’t think so. My life is bad enough without driving myself insane after all.” Olivia admitted, earnestly, her eyes noting the ring on Mary’s finger twitch into a string and back again while the woman spoke. Her vision settled on it with an apprehensive expression for a few seconds then swallowed it down. Upon stepping into the library, her brown eyes flickered across the vast arrangement and seemed to smile on seeing vast rows on rows of old fashion book spines, a rarity with everything going to downloads, though unlike other girls she had perks. Darius had bought her a old fashion paperback every year since her tenth birthday. Her memories dimmed when she noticed something.

“Where’s the librarian?” Olivia asked curiously, casting her head about to search for what was missing.

“As far as I can tell, no librarians are here. The books are all organized and everything is clean whenever I leave and come back, so I can only assume it’s magic. Haven’t yet caught the magic at work. Books are a great distraction, I agree.” She smiled sadly. “My father taught me my love of reading. Granted he only read gun books and how to operate them. I just expanded by interests.” Shaking off the grief that was always waiting on the edge of her consciousness, Mary clapped her hands together.

It made Olivia smile a bit to find a common interest with someone, especially a place she was bound to be stuck inside for at least a day or two, worse more if Sir wasn’t imprisoned soon for his attempted kidnapping. She hated to think he would’ve tried again...Olivia felt sick just thinking of it. Mary’s mentioning book titles gave her a reason to push the ill thought aside, her twirling head paused for the moment to listen closer.

“So! Where shall we begin? Centuries old classics like ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, more recent ones like ‘Divergent’, or something in this world that I’ve never heard of?” She spread her arms wide and slightly up, the sleeve falling back to reveal not only an old, barely holding together, bracelet with what appeared to be a small bullet on it, but some of the scars from Sir’s experiments.

Olivia stood very, very still when her sight fixed on Mary’s arm. All color drained from her face, leaving it pale and white, while she found herself locked in place. Those scars… she had seen some like them before. Her mind filled by pain and her body trembling, feeling her anxiety build in her core where it pushed at her steadiness like a flood against a weak dam. In that moment Olivia felt she was the biggest damn fool within the world. There was too many disturbing things in common with this woman and Sir’s Mary that was impossible to ignore, hateful for her blindness. She would’ve noticed it earlier if she had paid attention. Again, she put on her fake smile and stepped to the nearest book shelf to graze a few fingers over the spines.

“I like fantasy and sci-fi genres. Also historic novels as well. Like ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ though it wasn’t accurate to history which made it a bit hard to fully get into. I’ve read ‘Huckleberry Finn’ and ‘Oliver Twist’.” Olivia idly plucked off a single, old novel from the shelf while she skimmed the label: The Clocktower - By Gabriel Ronson. It seemed interesting enough as she took it into her arm, mainly to read when she felt ready. “Where did that bracelet come from? It’s rather interesting as I’ve never seen girls flashing ammo.”

“I can' see why it would have no appeal. Magic, to me right now at least, is more of a pain than it is a useful tool.” Mary replied, as Olivia gazed about the library. Mary smiled as Olivia listed off her genre’s missing the intense stare fixed on her bracelet, and the sudden paleness seeing her scars had given Olivia. While the girl searched for a book, Mary herself browsed the shelves. “I used to read fantasy all the time. Now it seems like I’m living in the books I used to read. So I tend towards the more relatively normal ones, well, old world normal at least. Still, there is much to go for a good fantasy book.” Before she could continue, Olivia asked Mary a question. “Oh, this old thing?” She held it up for better inspection, shaking her wrist gently and making the worn chain and bullet clink lightly.

Olivia, on hearing Mary’s comment on living in a book, scoffed inside at the words. Though it wasn’t directed at the woman’s view life but rather the bitterness she was sharing the same fate, her own life turning into a mystery and horror rolled into one. Not if only she could skip this chapter in the novel instead then she could get on with her life. Her body had pushed in beside to Mary while the bracelet was held out, giving her better view of it then before. It didn’t look like anything special at first though, her eyes following the bobbing trinket for a moment and nodded her answer. Mary seemed to have taken that as a signal to continue.
“I got it from my father, after I killed my first deer. He was majorly into guns and insisted I know how to use one.” Mary mock frowned and imitated her father’s gruff voice. “‘Every girl should know how to defend herself. And since I can’t afford to have you taught all those fancy kung fu moves, firing bullets into your assailant until they stop moving will have to do.’ The .22 round, he claims, is from the gun I fired. The only one I didn’t fire, missing most of the time, he also claims. Despite the fact I only fired once and we both know it. A reminder he said, that I should always have one in the chamber. Just in case.”

Olivia smirked at how overprotective her brother and Darius had been, knowing fully well they would’ve never her near a gun, let alone, learn how to work one. Sadly they didn’t have to because all she would’ve had to do was touch a targeting range tool and she would’ve learned too rapidly for her own liking. She shuddered, quickly realizing how easily it would’ve attracted Mary’s attention only to become relieved. It seemed her action didn’t attract Mary’s attention, the older student lost in her own world and still went on about her life.

Mary smiled at the memory, sighing a little sadly at the thought of happier times. Times before her world went up in flames. “Most girls where I came from didn’t flash ammo either. But I didn’t care. It was a gift from my father. What girl says no to that?” She spotted Olivia’s book, tucked under her arm. “Find all you’re looking for, or do you plan on more than one?”

“I can relate to that feeling though I never got the chance to experience it much. Both my parents were killed when I was young and I can’t remember it fully. I do know father’s death had brought Darius to our small apartment, breaking the news to all three of us, my mother, Emmet my step brother, and me. I was only four. A misunderstanding happened and one of the demons went to reach for me, something Darius didn’t agree with. Before he could order a counter command, my mother got in the way and he reacted violently. My brother over reacted and held a blade at Darius’ throat, which he waved for his other men to take me away. He didn’t want to scare me anymore then I already was or risk involving me in a fight. I was crying and bawling in the car before his men got me to settle down. Lineage, a vampire, had me sitting in her lap during the whole ride.”

Mary paused, deciding to choose her words carefully. To her, this Darius sounded more like a murderer than a protector. But it wouldn’t do any good to upset Olivia any further. “I’m sorry to hear about your parent’s deaths. It’s hard. I know.” Mary changed the subject before Olivia could press her own questions. “So Darius and Lineage raised you? That must have been interesting, to say the least.” She was curious as to where Olivia’s brother was in all this, but realized that asking about her brother was a bad way to go. “I take it Darius was the one who got you into reading, or was that Lineage?” Mary shifted her sleeve down once more, covering both the bracelet and the scars.

“No, actually Darius tried to raise me alone but… well, he admitted he didn’t know the first thing about raising a girl. The demon he said that killed my mother was dealt with and released from his service.” Olivia said, assuming the demon had been fired. However, deep inside, she had a distinct, unpleasant feeling the truth was far from it. She hoped it wasn’t as she thought highly of her Uncle. “He brought in Ris, better known as Aeris Kasio, to help. She’s a lot like a sister and mother all rolled up into one to me. Lineage was Darius’ second to help him run his business in Kenan and help keep order, mainly because he knows if he doesn’t… people will get hurt. Namely those he loves the most. It’s why he’s my guardian instead of EZ since the bad guys would use me to hurt both him and my brother. And I think part of him wanted to make up for the mistake that took my mother’s life.”

Lazarus rounded the corner of one of the bookshelves staring down at a copy of an archeological text. Catching the end of the conversation he looked up and took in the two girls and smiled. Mary, it had been a day or two since they’d had a chance to talk. “Hello there Mary, how have you been holding up? I’m so sorry I haven’t seen you today. Did the roomate work out?” He eyed Olivia with curiosity. He didn’t recognize her and he hadn’t seen a name on the student lists that correlated to her face. “And who is your friend?” He let the last question hang scrutinizing the girl before pulling his essence sight over his eyes and checking her over in curiosity. No instrument. Curious.

Mary was saved from having to respond to Olivia’s explanation of how she was raised by Lazarus’s sudden arrival. Mary immediately smiled at the mage who had taken her in. “It is fine Lazarus. I’m here now. You don’t have to watch over me like a mother hen. The roommate was....interesting, but I like her. As for how I’m holding up, so far so good. The...Abyss,” she pronounced the name with as much hatred and disgust she could put into one word, “has been mostly keeping to himself. He hasn’t even irritated the spirits in my instrument, which is progress.” You actually said my name. This is progress! The Abyss quipped, causing Mary to frown, before brightening again. “This is Olivia Matthews she’s here under the protection of Aeris Kasio, I presume, while her brother is found.” Mary looked to Olivia. “Oh! Olivia, this is Lazarus. He’s, from what I can gather, a rather brilliant history teacher and mage, if slightly insane.” The last three words were said teasingly, before she looked curiously at him. “But what are you doing here? As far as I knew, this was one of the lesser known libraries in the College.

Olivia had just finished her reply when a man appeared from almost nowhere. Immediately she jumped, the energy rippled through her body and traveled upward as she jerked her head to the side, her eyes locking with him. He was in his late twenties, with a short, curly cut and taller than either of them. Those were the clear and immediate features Olivia had noticed, but when she met his eyes she felt like they passed right through her. At first it was unsettling at how he studied her, making her aware how a bug under glass might’ve felt like.

She inhaled softly while he addressed Mary, apologizing for his absence then inquired about a roommate, trying to sooth over her discomfort. After all, the man hadn’t done anything to her and while she was in the Academy, she doubted he would have. At being introduced, Olivia’s hand rose to shake Lazarus’ as she was taught by Darius to be polite. The name Abyss hissed over and over in her mind back, her mind calling up the memory to the surface, while she immediately slammed it down. It made her heart sink at learning more about this woman and knowing, without a doubt, this Mary was the very one her kidnapper had wanted.

“Nice to meet you, Lazarus.” She said timidly.

“Good I’m glad you’re settling in.” He smiled at his ward “And I’m glad to hear that IT is leaving you alone more or less. Let me know if it ever gets to be too much again and I’ll see what I can do.” He squeezed her shoulder lovingly before turning his attention back to Olivia.

Lazarus took Olivia’s hand and shook it while smiling. “That is a lovely name you have Olivia. I’m sorry to hear about your brother. Is there anything I can do to help?” He held off on answering Mary’s question for a moment about what exactly he was doing in this particular library. The girl had a talent. He’d seen the ripple, but he wasn’t sure what exactly it was. “I am quite good at finding lost and missing things.” He smiled softly before he gave Mary her answer by handing her the book he was holding “Demonic Archeology. A little more off the beaten track than usual. Then again Mistress Kasio is teaching a comprehensive class on the Western Realms.” Lazarus kept his attention on Olivia looking for a reaction.

Olivia's eyes turned to Mary, noting the man give the woman a gentle squeeze on her shoulder, her face a bit confused by the words. It wasn't that she didn't understand English, but way they were talking about the Abyss. She could hear the venom and spite in each reference, like it was something living. Vaguely she could easily remember how Sir's tone seemed to indicate the very same thing now that she studied the memory absent the fear. Mentally, her mind shudder at the thought, and she pushed it aside when Lazarus made the same offer to help.

“Thank you. Darius thought it was better I took his last name, but I rather keep my parents’. As for my brother....” Olivia bit her lip, wondering if it was right of her to enlist more help when Zi asked for her trust. When she felt him release, she let her hand fall back to her side before she replied. “I could give you Emmet's emergency number, if you think you could help Zi. And I didn't know Aeris know something over one of the Regions of Hell.”

Though Darius had kept her isolated from much interaction with demons and angels, it didn't mean she was completely ignorant about the world as she tried to recall what information she had locked away about it. Sadly that wasn't much.

Lazarus gave her a smile. “If you have other people on the hunt I hardly need to intrude. How long has he been missing out of curiosity?” Timing was everything. If the man had only been missing the last 48 hours then he could find him. Something longer….that was more than a bit harder but still doable. Why did the name Darius sound familiar. Lazarus turned the name over in his mind as he studied Olivia. This young woman was certainly interesting. Largely because she was a mystery, and mysteries needed unraveling when they landed in his lap.


Olivia quieted, her mind turned inward to recall the details of Zi’s and her conversation. It wasn’t easy since her high emotion, panic, and more had clouded her recollection. “I talked with him yesterday evening but I don’t know for sure when he vanished. It would be easy to find out.”

She managed not to choke on the last words spoken, knowing how truthful those words were. For her magic it wasn’t hard to get a full play out on the whole scene of her brother’s circumstances. Merely she just needed to touch something Emmet wore that day or from where he was taken and then she would’ve had gotten everything needed to find him. However, it was easier said than done really. Mostly because she lacked key facts like where he was taken and that was the most important detail to help her learn the truth. Her fingers tightened into a small, kneading fist that seemed to clench in on itself to ease her worry. “I now wished I had asked for more details but I wasn’t really having a good day. Someone came to my school and attempted to snatch me. Ended up killing my Uncle’s protection detail and Mr. Findl-”

Her throat constricted on the name, again. It was like bitterness filling her throat back and preparing to launch halfway across the room, a fact she wasn’t happy with. Instinctively her arms began to fold and rub the upper part, trying to chase away the guilt. “Because I didn’t come quietly, the groundskeeper died.”

Mary, for the most part, stayed out of the conversation between Olivia and Lazarus. She had no idea what either of them were talking about and aside from a smile acknowledging Lazarus's offer, she could only watch, disinterestedly reading some bits and pieces of the book Lazarus had handed to her. However, when Olivia spoke of her attempted snatching, Mary put the book down. At the guilt and bitterness in her voice, Mary's face softened with empathy. She knew what it was like, to blame yourself for other's deaths. Without a word she crouched down and hugged Olivia. "It's not your fault. You can't think like that. You are not to blame for anyone's death. Only the monster who tried to steal you is to blame."

Lazarus nodded “Well. I can find him.” He dropped the phrase calmly like a sword severing a limb. It was swift and deadly. Parting the air. “If the trail is only a day old I can still track him. I just need to know someplace he’s been within the last two days.” He stood calmly before her before he finally smiled at Mary. “My ward is correct. It is not your fault.” With warmth he put his hand on Mary’s shoulder again for a moment. The gesture was full of the protection and care he felt for Mary. “Should you wish my help I would gladly find your brother for you.” He clasped his hands behind his back calmly.

Olivia felt Mary’s arms wrap about her shoulder, her body tensed then relaxed into the hug. She leaned into it as she did with Aeris, though part of her was wary and cautious since it was a complete stranger hugging her. Overlooking that fact, the girl was surprised to discover it was what she usually needed. She didn’t push or shove Mary away, ignoring the fact it was the woman’s fault in some ill twisted fated way, her eyes looking at Lazarus’ offer with hope. Gingerly she nodded and spoke, quietly. “Thank you. If you have something, I can write his number down for you. Then you can call Zi. I don’t have my cellphone on me currently else I would’ve handed it to you. I don’t want to trouble anyone but Emmet’s all I got and Uncle Darius isn’t likely to worry too much as he thinks my brother can handle himself. It also doesn’t help Darius has a lot of responsibly on his shoulders helping to run Kenan.”

Lazarus nodded and smiled as Mary hugged Olivia. “I just need to know where he was within the last 48 hours. And I can find him” Lazarus put his hands in his pockets and sighed. Another errand another lost soul, another piece of a never ending puzzle. A pattern that had stretched on since time immemorial. He turned the names over in his head as she spoke them. Darius, Emmet, Olivia, Kenan. So many moving pieces. So many things to scrutinize.

“I don’t know, though Zi said she was with him last night before he got the call about him. I assume it was his apartment and he knew he was going to pick me up, so it’s logical he would’ve gotten sleep before he did. Or least returned there within the last two days. No one’s telling me much save for the minor things. Zi’s looking in the hospitals and everywhere else. I just hate waiting and wondering… especially if something happens to him.”

She felt her heart tighten at the thought, thinking how pissed Zi was likely to be at her and shoved it away. After all, wasn’t Emmet more important? Her eyes looked down as she leaned harder into Mary, considering one last thing. “I could ask Aeris if we could call Uncle Darius to see if he was the one that called EZ.”

Mary continued to hold Olivia, gently stroking her hair. She listened to Lazarus talk about how he could find Olivia's brother, smiling slightly. If Hazumi couldn't be found to help, Lazarus certainly could. It almost surprised Mary how much faith she put in her protector, given the short time they knew each other. She considered something for a moment. Wouldn't it be better to know what he's goin into? Mary pulled back enough to look into Olivia's face. "Olivia?" Mary began gently. "Do you know who tried to kidnap you? A name or a description that Lazarus might recognize? He's been around quite a while."

Olivia couldn’t stop her face from draining of all color when Mary’s words spilled out. It tossed and rolled in her red head as her eyes widened, vomit rushing into her throat. A disgusting, spoil carrot taste rose into her mouth causing her choke and cough suddenly. Her body rattled with each hack, her hand pressed against her sealed lips trying to prevent from throwing up on Mary’s clothes. With watering eyes, her vision blurred when her knees crumbled underneath her immediately. She took several moments to stop the foul stuff dead in its tracks before she swallowed it down, nearly feeling it push back, when she shook her head hard and repeatedly.

“I.. I don’t.” Olivia lied instinctively, trying to stop her shaking, her reaction clearly over the top. “This shouldn’t be happening at all! Why? Why does it have to happen?

Mary didn't need both Mercy and Vengeance to tell her Olivia was lying and trying to avoid the question. They did so anyway. Why would she lie? Who is she protecting? Mary woundered, watching as Olivia shook and stayed pale. The older woman looked at the young girl in concern for a few moments before speaking. "Olivia. You don't have to lie, we just want to help. Who tried to kidnap you? Can you describe them?"

“I don’t want to think about it... I don’t want someone else to die because of me.” Olivia said, her voice shaking. Her hands pulled closer to her mouth and her body felt like it was about to curl into a ball, her mind conflicting against what was right and what she wanted most. To make this nightmare end and go back to her normal, boring life. Most would’ve found it easy to just blame the woman beside her, curse her out and utter everything but she couldn’t bring herself to. One thing Darius had done was raise her right, a matter that made telling her everything more difficult. She wiped her eyes and nose on her hand back, clearing it away to breath better. Her lips forced herself to smile, that same fake one she had mastered, then added with some regret. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked… I just… I just want my brother safe.”

She's still lying. Press. It's a matter of safety for Lazarus. You can apologize later. Mercy advised. Besides. She's lying to us. She doesn't deserve a respite. Vengeance added. Mary couldn't shake the image of him sharpening a blade while he spoke. Still, they were both right. Lazarus couldn't go into this blind. "Olivia, I'm sorry if this upsets you. But we need to know. The more Lazarus knows, the easier he can prepare and find your brother. Please? If not for our sake, for your brother's?" Mary hated using Olivia's brother against her like this, but it was necessary.

“No. I can’t and I don’t know.” Olivia’s voice resist, her body pulling away. Her foot took a step, slowly, away from the woman while she looked at Lazarus. “I’m sorry bothered you, both. I don’t even know if the two things are connected and…”

I should’ve just trusted Zi… Olivia’s mind whispered at her. The tone was accusing and spiteful, hating her own weakness and stupidity for not keeping her mind focus. She was already edging into retreat mode which meant one least nudge and the girl was going to run away like a scared rabbit.

“Mary. Enough.” He placed his hand on his ward’s shoulder gently. He took Olivia’s hands “It’s okay. I want you to stop thinking about the kidnapping okay? He ran essence through her hands, it was warmth and protection. Lazarus seemed to take up the whole room filling Mary’s vision. “Don’t think about it anymore, you’re safe now and your brother is going to be just fine.”

While everything he said was true, his intentions were twofold as always. Telling someone not to think about something was a sure fire way to get them to initially think about it. He was waiting, he didn’t need her to say a word, he just needed her to think about it for a moment and he’d know everything he needed to know about the kidnapper.

“You’re safe here. I’m sure Zi is fine and will find Emmet. Don’t worry. Come on, I don’t know about you but I think it’s time for some food or at least some fresh air.” He gave Mary a meaningful look and gently brushed his consciousness against hers like he’d done in Finch’s Loft [i]I’ll be fine, she’s been traumatized and needs comfort right now. Thank you for looking out for me[i] he favored her with a rare smile.

I just hope Sir hasn’t taken my brother like he tried with me. I can’t tell Mary, it’s not her fault he wants her and I can’t explain how I know. I should’ve been more careful when grabbed her necklace. Why did I panic like an idiot? Olivia nodded, her hands shaking and body feeling on the verge of crumbling. The only reason it was still standing was because Lazarus’ warmth filled her, causing her to relax, while she let words settle her rattled nerves. “I’m sure if I can eat but could we pick up Aeris on the way? Please?”

“Of course.” He offered Olivia his arm, he legs still looked shaky. With that he lead her from the library.

Outside the acadamy, a man who looked like a cowboy came up. His clothes were dirty and worn, and he had the look of a man of hard labor. A large hat adorned his head, and workboots on his feet, and gloves on his hands. Oddly, despite being well used, not a single tear was found across any of the clothing, or signs of wearing out.

His right glove was off, tucked into his belt, and he held a camera in it, taking picture after picture of the place.

Edgar Delano was preparing to enter the acadamy, after having saved his boss.

“Da-yumn, this place is faaancy! Who dun imagine I’d be going back to school. Superhero school or whatever. I don’t even remember the last time I was at school.”

It was infact true, he couldn’t remember anything about school. Or really anything before he started working at 16, 4 years ago. He was trying to be excited about the event, the repeated flashes of the camera being proof of this, but something still agitated him.

Edgar put the camera away, before pacing nervously a bit, and spitting to the side. His mood was shifting as he was still nervous.

“Damn you Tony! I ain’t no student or nuddin like that. I’m a working man! Save your ass, and you damnwell fire me. Ya want me to be all scholarly like and stuff.”

Edgar tipped his hat, taking a deep breath.

“Guess I gotta in. What do I do if they say no too? Ugh….”

Inside, the officelady looked strangely at the dirtily dressed man, eyeing him with the question plastered to her face ‘what are you doing here’.

“Well, hello there pretty little thang. This where we sign up for this here acadamy?”

Her eyebrow raised, before she shuffled through her papers, looking for tan application form.

“You are aware of the dresscode here?”

“Well, shucks, guess I ain’t dressed for no party. Can I get some of ‘dem clothes here?”

She straightened her glasses in annoyance, before telling him where to go.

A few minutes later, Edgar had filled out the paperwork, and walked out of the restroom changed into the the dresscode of the acadamy…. mostly.

“Sir, you still have on the hat, and the gloves.”

“Well, this is a place for superheroes, right? I need them to be super.”

“No, the Master Melody’s Academy of Fine Arts is a place where we instruct talented persons in the use and general application of essence for the greater good of humanity.”

“So….superheroes…?”

*Sigh* “What instrument do you use?”

“In...strument? I ain’t gay.”

“Tell me you don’t even know what that is. Why are you even here if you don’t know what this place is, and you don’t use an instrument.”

“Well, tell ya the truth, I dunno. My boss told me I had to. That I had an ability he said could be helpful and I was wasting my time working.”

“And….what ability is this?”

“Well, ma’am, I can harden and soften things. I can make my clothes harder than steel, or something really hard. Like I’m wearing armor.”

“And what does this cost you? If you already know about it, you seem...remarkably well put together for a man of your...intelligence.”

“Oh, this cost everyone some’ting? I thought I was a freak. Makes me forget things. Not that I could ever forget a face like yours, darlin’.”

“Just get to the cafeteria! Mingle with the students, and try not to sexually harrass the staff. You will have to meet with the principal, she'll make a decision about you. Other than that you should be good to go."

"Yeehaw! Sounds like fun."

Edgar Delano & Lily Quarin

Loom-Acadamy- Noon

Lily sat at her desk. Her fingers click clacked against the keyboard and the letters darted across the computer screen, her eyes relaxed and expression unreadable during her work. Over all her image was that of a sexy, hard working principle tapping away at her recent project. The spacious office surrounding her and looking elegant enough with personal touch, the only out of place object was the violin rested upon its pedal stool. It called to Lily while her spine rested against the stiff chair back and resisted the urge to summon it into her itching fingers, her work more important.

Her fingers stopped as she leaned back, the siren listened to the chair protest with a loud creak. Gently, her trimmed finger nails traced through her bangs and pushed them out of her eyes. The causally loose, fiery red hair was tightly bind in a bun, pinned to her head in a professional manner while her eyes shifted to the violin for what felt like the hundredth time. She swallowed down the desire to play burning in her soul. It had been weeks since she picked the instrument and a part of her felt unsettling numb because of it, like something was missing, making her push herself beyond expected limits.

A saying, older than time itself, echoed in her head. 'All work and no play, makes Jack a very dull boy' causing her lips to pull into a faintly mused smile. Looking down at herself, she couldn't help but realize the pronoun fit her far better than in the past. From the tightly fitted, gray pencil tight skirt to the ruffled dress blouse, she certainly belonged here.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a voice buzzed on her phone. She hit the answer button and spoke, "Yes?"

"A Mr. Delano is here for evaluation, Mrs. Quarin."

"Send him in and thank you, Clara." Lily replied promptly as she put her computer to sleep, her head turned to face the student coming in.

Edgar Delano shuffled into the office, still looking dazed from being in the school. It was a whole other world from what he was used to. He almost wanted to just go back to working. He awkwardly looked around, before noticing the principal infront of him. She was not bad looking. Edgar fidgeted with his hat, which he still had refused to take off, with his similarly not-taken-off-gloves.

“Howdy darlin’. You must be the principal or something. I thought you’d be an old grandma, but I can hardly take my eyes off’a ya. So…. what am I doin’ here again? Heard ya wanted to meet with me, some sort of evaluationing or something.”

Edgar, for all his hard work, was not the brightest tool in the shed. Then again, he had never pretended to be. He felt extremely out of place, and that made him even more nervous and feel out of place. He felt like a deer in the headlights, or something. He honestly did not remember ever being in school.

Lily watch the slightly roughly dressed individual enter. Her calm eyes, one green and other red, pinned his image into her mental file for later like many others. On first glance over he appeared like any normal, average working young man in Loom though she recalled Clara's notes and mentions about his inherited ability. So it was little surprise he found himself here. In the Academy, most students were musicians and chose willingly to take on the responsibility and risks to retain peace in the world even when all of them weren't up to the task's challenges. However magic had many facets and humans, as well as the occasionally turned demon or isolated angel, some times found themselves here as well. Rarely any who was naturally gifted in tapping into this area were ever turned away.

The siren rose to her feet and gently held out her hand for the man to shake, greeting him formally. "Yes Mr. Delano, and my name is Mrs. Quarin. Pleasure to meet your acquaintance and if you wouldn't mind having a seat, we can get started with filling out your school recorders and settling you in officially."

Once her hand was freed, she gestured to the chair sitting directly in front of her desk before she herself took her own seat. "Now, you mentioned Clara, my secretary outside your magic can 'harden and soften' substances which makes me aware you have experienced this? Namely as in practicing it?, correct?"

As her hand came to meet his, Edgar went to return it, before noticing the state of his gloves, and he quickly removed it, before returning the shake, putting it back on as he took a seat. His hands were filled by callouses. (How the hell do I spell that? Better?)

“Well, it’s nice to meet’cha Mrs. Quarin. Someone’s gotta be lucky for you to be Mrs. So the gal’s name out there’s Clara, nice to know. Kinda weird not knowing anyone’s name. Ain’t sure I’m gunna fit in so well, but guess I gotta. My boss, Tony, fired me and told me to get my ass over here. I kinda saved his ass the day before. I made my clothes hard and jumped infront of a beam, stopped it from crushin’im like a bug. I dun my magic ‘fore, but seems like whenever I do it, makes me forget stuff. Ain’t so bad when I do on my own clothes, guess cause I dun it so much. I reckon’ I could probably punch steel with my gloves and not be too bad off. Not sure why I’d wanna though. . I kinda don’t like doing anything else but my clothes. This new getup’s gunna take some gettin’ used to. ”

To be honest, Edgar was a downright scared of using his ‘magic’ on anything more than his clothes. He was afraid he wouldn’t remember anything if he did it too much. He really wasn’t even sure what the magic was. He just knew he could do it, and he’d played with it. Kinda felt like putting a piece of him in whatever he was playing with, but that just didn’t sound right. Then again, what he did didn’t sound right either.

“So…. Mrs. Quarin, I know ya’re the principal and all that, but I dun know alot of anything. What’s with this ‘magic’? I wanna know why I forget stuff doin’ it. I don’t wanna forget anything else.”

Lily folded her hands and interlaced her fingers, listening to the man’s words collaborate with her suspicions of what Clara said. She nodded and felt a hint of sympathy towards to the human if her theory was correct. It also meant if he hadn’t came here sooner, the damage would’ve been much worse and likely upped the danger in the situation. Not just for him, but others as well.

“Yes, I got married around the 22 year war that Judas wrought against angels, demons, chimeras and their allies. And thank you. Now, back to focus on you. I can imagine how scared you might be by all this. From your magic to your misfortune at losing your job, but I’m fairly certain I know you’ve come to the right place to help you. Humans, unlike demons, chimera, or angels, who are able to tap into magic usually do so at a price. For some it’s blood, hair or something physical. In your case, it seems to be memories.”

She paused letting the words sink in for a moment, before continuing onward. “I believe with practice and time, those memories can recover after a set time. Though in order to gain strength you would have to practice repeatedly and find your limit, namely so you don’t push past it. There are also several well experienced and trained teachers familiar with the aspects of magic which could help you discover a way to cope with your memory lost. However, allowing it to just exist without further training could possibly risk your health as well as your safety in the long term. Most students learn to control their magic and either leave to go on with normal lives while others decide to work alongside the musicians, namely to help keep order and peace. Does any of the information I’ve spoken put you at ease some?”

Edgar blinked as a response, he’d gotten most of it though. Lots of terms he wasn’t familiar with and hadn’t heard too much other than in passing. He almost wanted to kick himself for not caring about things like chimeras or magic, or…. the hell was a musician?

“Think I got it. So my lil’ ol’ trick cost me my memories… You think I can really get them back?”

That part made him feel oddly ecstatic, he’d never thought of the possibility that he would get them back, he’d just been living everyday one step at a time. A bit afraid of losing it all, but never thinking he’d have the chance to get everything back. Even if he could just control it so he wouldn’t lose everything, that would be great. Then he could…. then he could do what? He just worked because it kept him busy. He’d never really thought what he wanted to do with life. He didn’t know what the musicians were, or this whole thing about order and peace, but it sounded cool enough, especially if people like him where there.

“I can’t say for sure, Mr. Delano but we’ve encountered some unique and unusual magics here at the Academy. Many we’ve helped to live better lives. Lives without fear and pain over their natural gift. All we can do is hope for the best and take it one day at a time.” Lily admitted, being fully truthful with the man. She wished she could say or do more, but empty promises were useless to those seeking hope.


“A’ight...a’ight. Well I think I can do that. Don’t know who these musicians are, or ‘bout peace and order, but I like to lend a hand around. Sure, I pass this place, I just might stay, don’t got nothin’ better to do. Hell, I might fit in after all. By the way, Mrs. Quarin, mind if I take a picture with’chu? Ain’t so steady on the memories, but the camera never lies.”

“Musicians are students who have willingly chosen to wield fragments, pieces of the Essence named Hazumi. It’s an important task but extremely dangerous as they will be living alongside another voice or essence that can possibly take over if they aren’t careful. Many never realize it until it is too late or end up dying in the line of duty.” Lily looked remorseful as her mind listed the fallen in her head. Hazumi might’ve kept a wall of the dead, but she remembered them less like KIA soldiers and more like students they were to her. She leaned back into the chair and smiled, replying gently. “ Very well, but I can’t promise how it will turn out. Often been told a picture of myself isn’t as good as meeting in person after all.”

On stepping outside, the sunlight invaded his vision with its harsh light causing Juan to flinch. It hurt worse than his still aching body as his left hand raised to shield his eyes, some white gauze still wrapped about his forearm. The bloodied, stained ribbon trailed across his body where the opposite end was bunched up into his palm. Juan's teeth gritted at the light scorching his retinas as it dulled, giving him relief finally and cleared his blurry vision. Inhaling a breath, he shoved off from the pouch steps onto the path leading up to the safe house while his hand finished unbinding his now mended wounds. He seemed to had a bit of his old swagger back when he waltz right up to the metal trash can and plopped the crumbled up rag right in. It gave a soft beep shifting the lid just in time as light flared deep inside and smoke rose, his magic turning the rag to ashes within.

Juan smirked a little, enjoying the display.

Reaching the end of the sidewalk, the man paused and placed his hands on his hips casually before he turned. His lips flashed Damon a smirk on spotting the shape shifter perched on the roof making him shake his head. They were supposed to be in hiding and though the roof gave a vantage point, it provided very little cover against any overly curious eyes. Sighing at the younger demon's antics, Juan's arms crossed over his chest causing his body to tense at the tenderness flooding his nerves. Still he gritted and bore it for now just to speak. “Are you going to stay up there all day, I thought you wanted to go shopping with me after all?”

Looking down from his roost Damon saw Juan. Looked like his business with Emmet and Kasadin was finished. He coyly asked Damon if he was just going to sit up there all day, to which the demon responded by jumping off the roof, bracing his body to absorb the impact like a rubber ball, bouncing up and down until he took the form of a dapper gentleman. Standing to full height Damon tipped his hat at Juan. “Lead the way, Sladky.” Damon even spawned a car for them, though it used up most of what was left of his mass. He’d have to consume it again to recycle mass, or just eat someone elses car later.

Juan eyed Damon’s image, his sight ran up and down for a moment to take it into memory. He looked like some over dressed, rich college demon with a delightful playboy expression and a face to match. It made the darker skinned demon smirk in enjoyment. Out of all the shapeshifter’s forms, this one wasn’t too bad looking causing the man to nod his agreement at the words. “I’ll drive then, though it shouldn’t take too much time to get there.”

Pulling his slender body about the hard, newish exterior where his hand glided across the smooth outside until he reached the driver seat. His hand snaked out then jerked open the car door. It hissed and popped forward, allowing him to duck inside easily. Once he slid his ass into the artificial seats, his hand started the ignition sending the car to purr to life while his darker eyes waited for Damon to hop in. When the shapeshifter pulled in, Juan rolled out.

His hands on the wheels and eyes on the streets, he listened for Damon to start a conversation he knew was coming. In the back scene when seen through the windows, cars slide in various speeds, most demonic, as early morning traffic started to swell into afternoon commutes. They zipped by without a care in the world and few tried to easily outstripe Juan, aiming to cut into the spot ahead. One thing about Kenan traffic was that it is hellish to work in.

“Well? I know you’re itching to ask something, it’s plastered on your cute face.” Juan finally asked at last.

Letting out a sigh Damon figured now was as good as ever. He didn’t think he’d get a straight answer, or the truth for that matter, but better than being left in the dark. ”You know that we both have our secrets, and we do our part not to get involved more than we need to. I’ve worked with you long enough to know that you got skeletons in your closet and it’s best not to ask. But when we escaped from Darius’s mansion that… Thing. The sentient darkness or whatever. Something tells me this wasn’t just snatching back your science project.”

From what little Damon gleaned from Juan back at the hideout, Emmet wasn’t family, but something that Juan had been working with for a while. From the way he talked about Emmet the boy seemed more like a living experimental weapon, which may be what Emmet is to Juan. If it was just that than Damon didn’t need to know more; he’s met his fair share of science-like figures who raise kids with new magics or powers. Damon often ate them to figure out how they do it, but aside from that it wasn’t his business to stop them unless someone pays him. But it wasn’t that simple. That thing that Damon and Juan confronted… It wasn’t just a powerful demon. He’s met plenty of them. Couldn’t always fight back, but they didn’t invoke the same feeling Damon had with that demon. Something about him said that he had more power than just the ability to plaster Damon against the ground. That’s when he realized, digging through his collective memories, what made him freak out so badly.

”Why was one of Hell’s Warden doing at Darius’s place? More importantly, what does Emmet have to do with Darius in the first place?”

Juan’s spine shivered when Damon mentioned the thing back at Darius’ mansion, his mind toyed with the memory frozen in his mind. He could almost feel the chill filling him again and icing over his strength while his eyes flickered over the street’s busy scene. Idly he rounded a corner as he continued on, his mentally carefully chose his words in his next response and his hand gently navigated the road. He noticed the sun already started into the smog filled sky over the skyscrapers, hitting some time between midday and noon, while to the northern section it seemed some clouds had started to build and grey into storms.

“I can’t honestly tell you Damon as that’s the first time I’ve seen anything like what we saw back there. I don’t know who, what or how that…thing relates to Darius or if they know each other, personally I hope neither one of us cross its path again for the rest of our lives. As for Emmet, that’s slightly complicated though I don’t fully understand it myself why Darius has such a hard on for the boy. He’s cute, but I’ve seen better looking in my time though I suspect it has something to do with the fact Olivia’s in the Fox’s care.” Juan stated, continuing, his arm steady while his eyes darted back to Damon. “Simply put, the Matthews are the last generation budding from a man named Isaac Tyson, patient zero. A man who ended up dying in Judas’ war and was prematurely released during its earlier stages, sole survivor of my experiments. If Emmet had died because of Darius’ stupidity, my research ends, including discovering if my research had any impact. With the reaction I saw from Emmet it seems it takes another set of factors to bring it fruition... though I doubt Kasian will approve of it.”

His eyes returned to the street while he seemed lost in memories. “ I discovered the family line had developed magical abilities that stemmed from their ancestor and afterwards, I decide to study them and saw every generation had been employed by Darius. How or why is something I’m still hazy on the details myself.”

”Hmm. Sounds like you aren’t the only one interested in their power then.” Damon said. This was a lot of information to take in, and not much of it Damon could make sense of even after Juan told him. More so since Damon still doesn’t know why Juan is interested in these experiments, though perhaps it would be for the same reason Damon might be; power. Against whom or for what, Damon aimed to figure out. ”Which really begs to question the why of it all. Why Emmet, why the Matthews in the first place? And I know that this isn’t just a simple fancy of yours, otherwise you could have called me in. If it’s an issue of lineage or experimentation, you know my abilities. Making kids is easy for me, heck if you let me consume Emmet I could produce potentially infinite amount of his bodies for experiments. And if it’s a matter of life… Well to be frank there’s a lot of ways to cheat death nowadays. I know a few myself, not that I can apply them. So… What do you intend to do with this boy Juan?”

The demon couldn’t say he knew Juan that well. They both kept their secrets from each other, and respect that. But ever since that demon showed up Damon had the sneaking suspicion that they have all been marked, for whatever reason. And the more he knew the better Damon could prepare himself and everyone else for another chance encounter. Plus this was more entertaining than being a vagrant. Damon’s phone vibrated in his body, but he put it on hold.
Juan was silent for several moments. His eyes returned to the front, his hand steadying the wheel while avoiding the chance of collisions and let the quiet flood the car in his thoughtfulness. In the back of his mind, he was worried about what the demon said. Mostly if it was true and if it was, things would became extremely more difficult in the coming future. Emmet's connections, useful for keeping him alive, had become harmful as hinders to his current work. This wouldn't do at all. He took a large breath, letting the breath fill and extend, then held it for several seconds before releasing.

“Isn't odd how a series of events can open one's eyes to things they failed to see in the first place?” Juan began slowly, his voice twisting in bitter anger. “The human race is fragile compared to the angels and demons, something I don't think even you would argue. Even humans with magic can pale in comparison with what demons or angels natural traits are able to do. For demons, they are used as food, breeding, toys or worse while angels see them in a far worse light. They can claim they know what's best for the human race, but in the end, it's only for the greater good that they aim for. The masses take greater value over an individual, young or old, in everything. Noble traits save to the life taken and those individuals left behind to mourn it.”

His knuckles tightened on the steering wheel until his black knuckles were ashy white, hearing the memories flood his mind. Daddy... His body flinched visibly and his teeth grinding silently against the sickly sensation filling his mouth but his eyes stared forward, resisting the depression flooding his soul. All his reasons for this was lost in the past and he sacrificed some much, from his humanity to his very existence, leaving him more of a hollow shell now. He wasn't even human anymore.

“It's a bit more complicated than that. You can duplicate many things Damon, this I won't deny, but those bodies would've been useless to me. They would've lacked a soul, something no one can replicate or create, unless you're a God, Damon. Besides, while my goal was power, it was in a much different sense. It wasn't to create new race...It was to improve an already existing one, humans, through artificial evolution.” Juan stated flatly, continually and observing Damon's reaction outside his vision corner. “I aimed to do this by rewriting a human's soul and enabling them to grow beyond their established role below demons and angel. I've experimented on numerous humans and only one managed to survive. I don't know why and when he was released, I tried the same process he lived through on many others and I ended up with corpses again. Even attempted traits on subjects as close as possible to Isaac, and it still didn't work. When I found the blood line again, I wasn't certain if the trait was inherited until some of the members began to display unusual traits. Something that made me believed I had succeed possibly. I've already tried several times to produce subject zero and failed, without fully studying Emmet I can't tell exactly what happened to cause it. That’s main reason we're heading to my lab.”

Juan purposely didn't answer Damon's last question, mainly because he, himself, was unsure of the answer. He wasn't even sure of the extend or way Emmet had been altered, save something had happened. This made things trickier. He intended to gather some additional notes and possibly tools to study the boy, faintly hopeful he could learn his success (aided by mother nature) which might allow him to repeat it. Any demonic consumption, which was likely what Damon would suggest, was a grey area and a risk Juan wasn’t fully ready to take. Namely because neither of them would have any idea of the immediate effects on either Emmet or Damon. He had always prevent Emmet from being consumed purely because he couldn’t replicate his experiment yet, which now was becoming his greatest regret for the lacking information from it.

Damon quietly let Juan explain himself, noting that he was still avoiding the “Why”. Improving humanity was noble and all, but there was more… Efficient ways to go about that. He wouldn’t say it outloud, but if Emmet is the last of Juan’s experiments it was a lost cause; if everything banked on his survival, with no ability to replicate beyond very special circumstances, Juan’s dream of improving humanity hand by a thread. Still, if there was one thing Damon knew about humans, it was that they were capable of anything. Juan may not be human anymore, but he was (Or at least looks like one), and that ambition would lead him to glory. Hopefully.

”Heh. Ya know, you’re not the only one who believes humans are… Beneath us.” He was referring to both their nature as demons, or in Juan’s case a chimera of some sort. ”And I’ll admit myself they have a lot of improvement to make. But they have potential. So much exponential potential it’s not even funny. Demons like me… We are formed, I think, by the imagination and cruelties of human. Or angels. And even angels are but mere servants of a higher power, one that even they cannot discern. Makes them irritating as hell. Humans however… They aren’t limited like that. Humans can become demons, or angels, or a mix of the two. But we can’t become human. No matter how I look or what I do, I’m always a demon. There’s nothing else I can be. But humanity has options, and not always the ones we give them. So you go on and try to improve humanity if you’d like Juan. One thing's for certain, they don’t need angels or demons to be angels or demons.”

Damon finished his rant, thinking about what Juan was hiding. Perhaps he doesn’t trust Damon, and for good reason. Such a thing would be useful to him, more so if he ever runs into that shadowy Hell Warden. The constant buzzing of his phone was starting to bother him however. ”Sorry Juan, I’m going to take this call right quick… Yo. Hmm? Sorry, can’t say. What did you find out about Olivia so far?”

Juan was silent, save for his mind. It was buzzing with rebuttals, arguments and accusing thoughts which he knew were not justified despite everything that was said. From Damon’s words, it seemed the demon only saw human’s potential in the fact they could easily become any of the three races, not being powerful on their own. It a point where Damon and his beliefs parted ways, dividing the two far more drastically than likely the demon realized. Juan merely nodded his understanding while he returned his focus to the road, a small piece of data retrieved from memory as he recalled a hazy thought on a human race long ago. Mimics. It was his first hard evidence that humans, the species itself, could actually stand against angels and demons without changing their nature at all. This was the very thing that made him hope he could duplicate the process. Even if he had to alter the procedure based on what he discovered had happened to Emmet. Deep down, Juan knew he was missing something critical but what it was, he didn’t quite understand since Isaac was release before he could investigate it.

The assistant crept unwilling into his mind causing him to tighten his grip on the steering wheel once again, though his knuckles didn’t turn white. If that bastard hadn’t grown a heart….Thankfully Juan had long ago taken care of the nuisance and never again would he be denied. All other who got into his way would meet the same fate. The thought warmed and calmed his soul, only partly listening to Damon’s conversation should the demon decide to result talking to him.

”Uh huh. She’s okay then? No trouble at all? I doubt that. Oh, and I got a request for you. If your academy has an archive of some sort, see what the most recent data on Hell is. Why? I need to verify some facts is all. Oh, and also, if you happen to catch word of anything related to Darius, rely it to me, alright? You ought to be careful too. What am I doing? Just some work is all. You know how it is. But still, keep an eye out on that girl… She’s more trouble than her brother I reckon.”

Damon spoke with his caller for a few minutes exchanging only information, or rather he was given information. Damon was given an up-to-date status on what was going on at the academy, both important to Damon and trivial. If Emmet was related to Olivia, than it wasn’t going to be hard to think that Darius is going to go check on her, more so since he’d have an easier time finding her than they will. And if Emmet knew that Olivia was at the academy now, and if he’s as much of a siscon as Damon thinks he is, than Damon needed to make sure he had a guy on the inside to intercept Emmet if he does something foolish, or at least give Damon a way out if for some reason things get hairy over there. Of course it’s not that Damon trusts Noel entirely either. While the two have had a rather beautiful partnership so far, like everyone else Damon works with he always carefully considers betrayal. The fact that Noel was at the academy now signaled Damon that something major just happened, so Damon can’t grow too reliant on the mortal, else he becomes dependant on him and finds himself in a bad deal. But he had his uses for now so Damon aimed to make the best of it, even if he can’t use it right now.

Hanging up his phone Damon looked back at Juan. He was starting to wonder where they were going. ”So, where are we heading anyways? We just passed Wal Mart so I doubt we’re just running errands…”
Juan mind ripped from his thoughts when he finally registered Damon speaking to him. His eyes, casually, took themselves off the street and looked into the shifter’s direction while absorbing the gist of what it was that Damon had asked. It took several moments until finally he spoke to answer, slightly amused at the Walmart comment, pretty sure getting it there was going to arouse questions and worse, unwanted attention. “We are running errands but it's easier to get them from my Lab located in Kenan, rather than the local Walmart. Unless you like attracting unwanted attention?”

Inside his thoughts, Juan idly wondered if it was a good risk to allow Damon within the building or make him wait outside. Would the risk be worth it in the end? It was a question he was left with no sure answer as his eyes noted the flashing red and yellow warning sign head, causing him to turn off and park the car to the side. When the car had grinded to a stop, Juan's hand whipped out to click the door open where his body followed shortly. His arm reached out before it perched on the roof, his eyes stared hard in surprise at the detour sign blocking their way in. There was a woman's image floated slightly off the background, like a D-3 image, dressed in a police uniform repeating the same gesture over and over. First her right hand placed up in the universal signal for stop while her other waved any approaching cars to the side, theirs the only one around, indicating another way around. Most likely an overly long and unnecessary measure to avoid the area. Something that made Juan's eyes narrow in spite at the inconvenience.

Sighing, he turned his head back to Damon and shrugged. His next comment was more to relieve annoyance by stating the obvious, pausing when his body bent down again and reached a hand at the ignition, turning it off with a jab. “Looks like Darius won't make this easy on us, will he? Well, the warehouse is beyond that sign and I intend to get there, sign or not. Are you coming or rather stick with the car?”

”Hmph. Of course I’m coming. The car too, if need be.” Damon stuck his hand into the glove compartment, melding into the vehicle. This was once part of his body after all, and he had no trouble becoming one with it. Damon’s voice spoke through the speakers. ”Besides that, no sense in leaving good raw material like this. You lead, and I’ll follow after you.”

A body dropped out of the sky, right in front of Juan, a gust of wind following soon after. Just as fast, Zi jumped back to her feet, her hand grabbing Juan's collar as her eyes bore into his.

“Where is Emmet?” She asked in a deep and dangerous voice, despite being slightly out of breath.

“By all means. A stalking car won't attracting attention darlin'.” Juan said, his voice sarcastic though playful in his tone. He'll punish Damon later, likely in another romp under the sheets, for his naive thinking. While he was busy watching the shape shifter merge with the car, movement caught his vision's corner suddenly. In a mixture of nerves and instinct, Juan's body whipped about with his hands gathering smoke and summoning his chain blade. His body was set in a combative stance before he realize who exactly had approached him, her voice thick with threat.

Juan chuckled lightly, his weapon dissipating into the air, while his arms crossed over his front. His eyes looked at her with a cheeky look, his figure disarmed and unthreatened by her aggression. “Well, nice to see you too kitty. As for Emmet, well he's currently getting doctored up as we speak. Best he doesn't have any visitors.”

When the new guest arrived, Damon tried to act. She was faster, Juan a bit faster, but Damon didn’t skip a beat. One moment he was a car, the next moment he was also behind the girl, one hand grabbing a large tuff of her hair, and his other hand glowing unnaturally. Magic, it seems. ”Hey, nice to meet you too. Name’s Dark Matter. You got business with us?” As he said that, his other hand glowed with magic as well. It was glowing quite bright, almost blindingly so. Anyone from across town could see this unnatural purple light. ”Why don’t we get some tea? Wouldn’t want the locals to start making complaints about public disturbances after all.”

If she was in the right state of mind, Zi would be intimidated by having two demons trying to intimidate her. As it was, however, she was beyond fear. She had healed the wounds on her shoulder and the lack of pain and presence of fear for Emmet was lighting her nerves on fire. The fact that Damon had grabbed hold of her hair and spoken barely registered over her thumping heart, Juan being the only target of her attention.

"What happened to him? Where is he now? I have to see him!"

Juan sighed. His hand raised to shield himself, fighting to see through the bright, purple light before casting his sight about. If Damon wasn’t careful, Darius’ foxes would start to investigate this little scene and they all were fucked. He was becoming rather annoyed at the lost, little kitten because he knew she wasn’t going to settle down even with Damon dangerously close. Not until she was reunited with Emmet. It wasn’t a secret deep inside he was glad she hadn’t considered retracing their trail from here back or waiting until they finished, tracking them back to the safe house. That scenario would’ve been a bloody mess.

It was easy to see Zi wasn’t in a clear thinking mood, her volume made him flinch even as it seemed to add to the scene. Not a good thing. Juan immediately reacted, hoping to rein in some common sense and avoid them all getting killed. If they ended up in Darius’ claws, they all were as good as dead. Emmet included. “Damon will you snuff out that light and knock it off! She’s not settling down and if Darius’ foxes investigate, I don’t need to tell you all us are better off dead. Including Emmet.”

He snapped around to Zi next, narrowing his eyes while he expected Damon to dim his lights. “As for you sweetie, you might want to pipe down so I can tell you. However, if we’re caught, then our dear Emmet won’t survive the damn hour! As for what happened? Darius inquired if Emmet was responsible for his little sister’s kidnapping, which he’s done before, and because of your mending his wounds so quickly, guess what? Darius didn’t believe him. So Emmet attacked Darius which resulted in punishment. After that little stunt, I and my friend,” he gestured to Damon with his right hand, “had to put our sweet ass into a dangerous position in order to get him out. We managed to free him but he was in pretty bad shape which if not for the Dr. M’ve, he wouldn’t have made it past the morning. A matter he still might not since you’re delaying us into getting some critical supplies. So the day’s been peachy dear, from saving Emmet, nearly getting eaten and oh, some insanely powered demon or something appeared...Starts with an Ssay-sis or something like that? Do you recall it, Damon?”

Juan couldn't recall the name the doctor called out, drawing the creature’s attention, as his mind was so lost in the numbness. He had naturally succumbed before Damon did which didn’t help his memory, frustrating him more when he failed to pronounce it correctly. “Anyway, Emmet’s out of Darius’ claws back at a safe house we just left. Currently being looked after by a demon named Doctor Kasain M’ve. Now if you would wait a bit, we'll get some things and head--."

“Don't fuck with me, Juan!” She interrupted him mid-sentence, taking in what he’d said and saving it for later consideration.. “I'm not gonna sit here and wait for you guys to finish your little stroll while Emmet is possibly dying! I'm going there, now. How do I get in? And don't give me bull, I saw the sigils you had littering your apartment, you can't fool me.”

“I’ve not had the pleasure of fucking you sweetie, because you know my eyes are set on Emmet alone.” Juan spoke with a honeyed tone he knew would farther piss Zi off. Her hand squeezed and she was close to choking him now. “I take it you set some off or did you see the damage Darius’ foxes did during my little pit stop? And it’s not a stroll, my dear and I said Emmet was dying. You really should consider doing more than looking pretty, it will only get you so far. M’ve’s got him stable, but you go peering in there uninvited and the Doc might assume you’re going to stress him out. Now… will you take a breath and actually let me finish all of my sentences or should I just run my errands first before telling you?”

His hands fell to his hips, his eyes sharpened to silence any further aggression. Despite his calm appearance, even while she held his collar, his body seemed ready to react and take matters up a notch should Zi insist on getting into his face. This was going to be one cat fight Emmet’s little kitty wouldn’t win.

Zi’s grip eased a little bit as she grit her teeth and glared at him, obviously close to defeat. While worry and anger and helplessness still raged inside her, her brain was slowly catching up on the fact that a very dangerous individual was currently staring down at her, his muscles coiling in response to whatever he was thinking. The self-preservation instinct she so hated was slowly awakening under that stare, though Zi’s fist remained clenched around his collar for a moment longer. A simple truth emerged in her head and tipped the balance: for whatever reason, Juan had kept Emmet safe so far.

Giving up on the idea of meeting Emmet right now was painful and frustration showed in her gesture as she removed her hand from Juan’s collar. Common sense snapped back in place as she retreated from his personal space and even acknowledged Damon with a long glance. “If you promise to take me to him, I will wait for you.” Of course, if she trusted the men, she would have offered to help. But she didn’t trust them and weak and stupid was what she was going to play at. She had hid her abilities away from Juan for years now, and she didn’t intend to reveal anything anytime soon.

Signing, Damon dropped his magic and letting go of the girl. But as he did so, something slipped off his hand and into her hair. It looked a little bit like oil. ”Sheesh Juan. Why don’t you you just tell everyone my true identity? Whatever. We should hurry to somewhere more… Private. I think my light show attracted all the wrong attention.” A bluff on Damon’s part, but only because there was a very real possibility that he did just attract the attention of Darius, who may or may not be on the lookout for Juan and his associates. Damon, quite aware of the potential disaster he just made, kept a sharp eye and ear out for the shadow foxes that would may come to investigate. ”Lead the way Juan. I’m right behind you.”

The demon had patiently waited until Zi released before helping her in finally extracting her hands fully off his collar, the tight noose slowly cutting off any breath. “Naturally. I’m sure little Emmet would love to see you, but you need to behave after all and let us do our job. Understand kitten?” He smirked a devilish grin, rubbing salt in the wound a bit.

While Juan's obvious taunting was irking Zi, she didn't let it show. Gritting her teeth or even punching him were reactions that were only going to fuel his aggression and give him an excuse to carry on or even act on it. There was a very simple trick for dealing with obnoxious fellows she'd learned while working at the Rabid Dog: ignore who they are and imagine you actually like them. Imagine that what they're saying is in your best interest and you'll respond in a way that truly will be.

Convincing herself that being called “kitty” was an affectionate gesture and that Juan truly was on her side, was hard enough with his smirk belittling her from such a close range. However, there was the small satisfaction that he was hugely underestimating her, and thus overlooking the careless mention she'd made in reference to her abilities. She'd been playing the underdog for years and he was still none the wiser about her true abilities.

She really wished she could afford to close her eyes for a second and take a long breath to expel all the hatred and panic she felt on the inside. She couldn't, though, so she just shifted awkwardly trying to shake the tension off her muscles. All she had to do was remember that time years ago when she thought Juan was actually on her side. Having mentally braced herself for the next stage of their never-ending cat-and-mouse game, Zi looked back at Juan, not quite smiling, but showing enough submission to lead him to believe she recognised him as the leader.

At Damon’s little whine, Juan merely shrugged it off. His hunched over figure returned back to its original upright position and straighten out his collar once more. The neckline still sting from her iron like grip and the makeshift noose, biting into his hard, rocky flesh. It still amazed him how females stirred up almost unfathomable strength from their petite little figures. Even the white blonde bitches, mentally referring to Zi, seemed to have the skill. His lips widened in silent enjoyment, mocking her almost, for a moment.

He slowly rubbed his neck some to work out the pain while he listened to Damon’s childish nitpicks. True it had occurred to him, for a second, how bad it was to reveal Damon’s true name. When she called it out in a public place, it wasn’t likely to get just Darius’ attention but the Academy’s musicians too. It would’ve provided a perfect way to create a distraction for the pair to slip away.

Juan’s body suddenly stiffened on Damon’s mentioning his light show might’ve attracted attention. Of course their rotten luck had to continue, he thought bitterly when he spied two glowing, white eyes appear in the alleyway and two foxes emerge to investigate. “Fuck…Zi, you might want to consider following or vanishing. Unless of course, you enjoy being chased.” Juan hissed, instantly his feet twirled on the spot. Without looking back or trusting Zi to know how exposed she was, he quickly lead Damon down the street toward the warehouse where his lab was located.

“I’ll find you when you finish.” The woman whispered quickly tucking the wings tight on her back and slipped into the nearest alley. It wouldn’t fit the image of the naive weakling to follow the demons on their mission. However, she wouldn’t miss the chance to find out whatever Juan was playing at, a small fraction of her essence-cloud following the men as they made their way ahead. Meanwhile, the rest was spread out in a thin blanket covering two blocks in radius and alerting her of any presence within it. With that it would be easy for her to tip-toe around anyone looking for her - especially with the sky as a possible escape route. Confident that at least she had some idea of what was going on, Zi finally allowed herself to lean on a wall and take a deep breath. Then she pulled out Emmet’s emergency number and sent a quick text.

Damon turned his head towards the foxes before shrinking into Juan’s shadow. Seemed like trouble had found him. But Damon was prepared for them this time. He stayed hidden in Juan’s shadow, keeping up with his speed and movement. If he needed to hitch a ride he’d turn into a spec of dirt on Juan’s shoe, and when he was ready to stand and fight Damon would be there to help him.

But what Damon was also curious about was that girl. Who ever she was, she wasn’t a friend of Darius, but also someone else who wants Emmet. Evidently she was an acquaintance of Juan, and surely someone of notable power if she was so brazen as to threaten him in front of Damon. Or perhaps she was just stupid. Still Damon didn’t trust her, which meant he needed to keep track of her. Which was a good thing he planted a bug on her when he grabbed her hair. That should alert him if she’s ever nearby, or to track her down if it comes to that. But first thing’s first; they needed to lose these wolves.

Damon continued to trail after Juan all the way to a warehouse. It looked old and abandoned, but if Damon knew anything about warehouses, there was always someone using them for some reason. He’d suspect that Juan precured one for himself and uses it as a base of operations, even off paper. ”I don’t think we lost them, is it really a good idea to bring them so close to your hideout?”


{The text is to Olivia saying: “He’s alive and well, tell you more soon.”}

---

Ian took a sip from the beer sitting on the piano next to him as he changed sets. The night had been a great change of pace since he’d spent so much time at the academy lately. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and winced it strung still. While he didn’t have black eye his left cheek still bore a mark. He switched over to more of the classic Irish tunes as most of the band had dipped so he lacked the backing for more of the Irish rock.

“Um...Excuse me?” The familiar sweet voice bore recognition in Ian. “I’m looking for Ian..Snyder?” Someone pointed to the direction of the boy, a familiar lass in a simple ivory crop top and skinny jeans beaming when she achieved of his location. “I found you--” Iris paused when she heard him playing a nice tune, and, out of the dearest respect she took a nearby seat next to a rather grumpy man who isn’t holding his whiskey well. Her wide-eyed expression remained locked on Ian. She then squirmed around in her seat, trying to get comfortable with the unusual formalities of the bar.

Ian almost lost the tune as he recognized Iris entering the bar. What the hell was she doing here? why was he looking for him? His fingers flashed along the flute as he continued through Raggle Taggle Gypsy. Maybe she would leave if he ignored her. He kept going and then switched into step it out Mary without stopping. The bartender gave him a weird look. Normally he stopped and took requests. His arms and knuckles sported new bruises. Not from the fight. He’d destroyed another wooden dummy recently.

Iris just waited patiently, her eyes not leaving him. Aww the bar works him so hard!! it must be tough being in a band! She rested her chin against the table, getting sleepier and sleepier. Suddenly a waitress came to her table, causing Iris to jolt upright again.
“Good evening! what’d you like?” The waitress looked down at Iris with a practiced smile and cheery tone. “..um..OH! water please!” Iris gave the waitress a simple grin, then it was back to her staring habit. The tunes that escaped Ian’s instrument sent Iris to a blissful trance, for she appreciated the way the notes danced all around the scale. I’ll stay all night if I have to, to make sure that he hears me out.

Ian narrowed his eyes, there was no way he was going to make it out of the star of the county down without a break. He finished it out quickly and snatched a shot glass off the piano downing the contents. He licked his split lip which had been a real bitch to play flute with. Flexing his hands and sheathing Fidrieon he stood up off the barstool and stepped off the stage walking to one of the corners of the room where his backpack was sitting on a table. He sat down and watched Iris to see what she’d do.

Iris’s eyes grew really wide and she stood up, wiggling through the tables and chairs to get to him. during her efforts she hummed a few notes, the vibrations in the air transmitting a message to Ian’s ear. “Stay right there, don’t move please! I’ll be there in a second--” “Hey! watch it!” a low voice sneered as Iris bumped into a teenage boy twice her size. Her eyes traveled up to the man’s face, which was marred by an ugly diagonal scar down the majority of it. “I’m sorry--” The boy shoved her back, causing her bruised hip to hit a nearby table. She winced in pain. “ow..”
The boy grinned at his roughhousing, glancing around to make sure his scandalous deeds were noticed and praised properly.

Ian frowned and rolled his eyes. “Hey, the fuck is wrong with you?” The boy turned and Ian used a tricked he’d learned from Lazarus. Turning his will into a physical force, he slammed it into the boys solar plexus doubling him over. Gripping Fidrieon he went from sitting at the table to slamming his fist into the back of the boys head. Flooring him. He sniffed. Wrinkling his nose. Using Fidrieon to do that was probably a bad idea given his current condition. Looking up at Iris “Are you alright?”

Iris paused, then smiled weakly, her hand leaving her bruise. “That should be my line.” She gestured Ian to follow her back to the table he was at before. Her crystal green eyes shone in the dim lighting as they looked at the floor, then up at Ian. “I’m truly sorry for the arena yesterday,” She exhaled, nervous about his response. “I didn’t mean any harm towards you, no, towards anyone. I need to learn to control my abilities more, which is why I came to the academy in the first place.” Her worried look turned to one of intensity. “your cheek--” without thinking her hand lifted to the mark, then drew back, as if she accidentally broke a wanted barrier. A smile played at Iris’s lips. “I can fix that.” Before Ian could complain Iris’s voice entered the air around them, the notes long and strong, the vibrations reaching his mark, and sealing it shut, dissolving any trace of pain and replacing it with a warm, comforting sensation, similar to drinking something hot after being nipped by the cold.

Ian opened his mouth to protest but she didn’t let him speak. Great, another injury to his pride, not only had she kicked his ass but now she was fixing him up like a child who’d fallen and scraped his knee. Part of him wanted to thank her while the rest of him told him to rabbit. *Run little coward* Koshmar’s whispers resounded in his head. A look half way between rage and pain crossed his face. Koshmar hadn’t said a word in the last twenty four hours and now he was speaking up. Suddenly Ian realized he hadn’t responded and the only thing she’d seen was the look he’d gotten at Koshmar’s reappearance.

Iris’s smile dropped completely to one of shock and she cupped her hand over her mouth, her voice muffled. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do something you wouldn’t like,” she bit her lip, attempting her boundaries. “unless...something’s on your mind?” She stared at him intensely still.

Ian half looked at the door still processing what she’d said and still trying to deal with the fact that Koshmar was back and at the worst time ever. Finally he made a decisions after long seconds ticked by. Seizing Koshmar he crammed him back into Hazumi’s cage for him in the depths of his conscious. It was only a stopgap but he doubted Iris would appreciate him using Namshiel to contain Koshmar. “No it’s fine, I’m sorry that had nothing to do with you” It was mostly true. ‘why am I being nice to her?’ The thought forced its way to the front of his mind. He took in her look for a moment “Would you like to sit? or are you planning on giving me that look for the rest of the night?” his lip twitched towards a smile and he winced as the cut on it twinged.

A frown found Iris, then again a low hum left her lips, the warm sensation filling up more contours in his face. Iris planted in the seat next to him, grinning. “Now that time I healed you for myself, so I can see that smile of yours at its best.” She paused. “Sorry, that sounded a bit like a creepy dentist, huh?”

A chuckle warred with the sudden urge to smack her with his ASP. After he pictured the second option he snorted and then broke into a laugh. “You know, you wouldn’t have to be doing that if you hadn’t hit me to begin with” His laughter pulled at the edges of his eyes. “What the hell do you want Iris? I thought you made it pretty clear how you felt about me yesterday.” His smile fell away but it haunted the corners of his eyes and the edges of his mouth. He took a sip from a glass of water sitting on the table.

“Well first I wanted to apologize, then I saw you had cuts on your face and wanted to heal them.” Iris didn’t feel convincing enough. “Besides, if I was the cause of your pain I’d want to fix it.”
the two of them fell quiet before she spoke again with a hollow tone.
“I want to be friends with you.”

Ian blinked and opened his mouth to respond *Kick this bitch to the curb Ian, Sam is way more fun* Ian’s eyes bulged and he clamped his mouth closed. Seizing a hold of Koshmar once more he hurled him back into his cell again. He caught Iris’ look “Sorry, its…” He trailed off “Okay, but you certainly have a funny way of making friends” the smile played at the edges of his mouth again.

Iris curled her lip in a pout. “is that such a bad thing? I got my point across…” Her eyes found the glass of water and stayed there. She just realized how long she stared at Ian this whole time and it brought red to her peachy cheeks. “I’ll admit I’m not very good at being...convincing. So..what can I do to convince you I’m not trying to cut you up like a carrot for soup?”

Ian shook his head in laughter “Look, I haven’t had my ass kicked in a long time. And you did a fairly thorough job of it too. And now you’re here asking me if I’d like to be friends? Can you understand why I might be a little wary of your intentions?” Ian reached out and pushed the glass of water with his finger to break her gaze on it, he’d seen the red creep into her cheeks. “There isn’t a darn thing you can do other than not as you put it ‘cut me up’. Course” Ian chuckled again “You’re already a little behind aren’t you?” He realized he was still talking in circles a bit “If you want to be friends we can if you’d like. I have no objections, I’m just a little surprised is all.”

Iris looked up at him. “are you sure?”

Ian grinned at her “Not at all, but I seriously doubt our relationship could get any worse at this point.” He hoped she took the comment as a joke the way it was meant. He hesitated for a moment he didn’t want to send the wrong message even though he might have some reservations about this whole thing “Yes. Iris I’m sure, I’m just being a bit of a brat. You’ll have to give me that much”

As soon as the words left Ian’s lips Iris beamed an 1000-watt smile. “Next time if I kick your butt I’ll just use my healing powers to make it all better.” Iris narrowed her eyes, her smile still present. “besides it feels good after being healed, huh? all tingly and warm. I heal myself quite a bit for practice.” She frowned. “By the way, I’ve read of alcohol in books and know it makes someone all tingly as well...how?”

Ian gave her a bemused look and considered addressing her statement of the possibility that she could repeat her earlier “success”. “It does feel good, although to be honest I’ve always been partial to letting things heal on their own.” To illustrate his point Ian extended his hands, palms down. Scars and calluses criss crossed his hands. He turned them over so she could see the swordsman calluses on the inside of the hands. His knuckles had bruises on them which he’d given himself earlier in the day taking apart another of the wooden dummies.

“As for the alcohol its more of an experience thing. I’m sure Lazarus could tell you the science behind it but the feelings is certainly an interesting experience” Ian folded his hands on the table in front of him.

“Oooh! battle scars so you can show off!!” Iris stared at him with amazement. “wait, those bruises on your hands look new..I don’t recall you using your fists against me that much during the fight,” She gave Ian a somewhat gloomy look.

Ian took his hands off the table and didn’t respond to the comment. The fight had been a little one sided for that but he didn’t bother to say anything.

Iris didn’t seem to care so much, for she was already onto the next topic. That, or she didn’t want to pry for information not wanting to be shared. “I like your flute by the way, it has a very crisp sound. The music you play with it goes together fairly well. It almost lulled me to sleep," Iris stopped and clenched her teeth in panic. “OH! not like, it was bad kind of sleep!! but like, the music was soothing and really calming and stuff!! I really appreciated it!!” Ian’s lack of response made Iris plant her face on the table, her scarlet hair sprawled all across the dark furniture. “Srrny..” (sorry..)

Ian stuck his tongue out at her while she had her head down. And grinned a little. ‘Okay maybe you should stop being a brat’ Ian thought to himself. “Hey” He gently put his hand on her back “Why are you sorry? You already apologized for beating me up” Ian stuck his tongue out at her again. “It’s one of the only beautiful things Fidrieon does, so I appreciate that.” Ian shook her gently “Hey as much as I might like the color of your hair you have a halfway decent smile too”

Iris slowly lifted her head up at him, her eyes searching his for some kind of hint of a joke. She cocked up an eyebrow.

Ian grinned at her “Okay maybe a little better than halfway decent” He raised an eyebrow back at her continuing to smile.

Iris grinned and her eyes lit up. “Oh, by the way, I have a gift for you. Close your eyes and hold out your hands.”

Ian looked at her warily. “You aren’t going to punch me again are you?” with a sarcastic grin he closed his eyes and extended his hands. He mumbled under his breath “Seriously don’t punch me”

With the speed of the wind she grabbed his wrists and hummed a series of staccato beats, the notes quickly finding his bruises on his knuckles, causing the purple on them to vanish. She let go of her grip and stood up from her chair, taking a giant swig of the glass of water, finishing it’s contents. “There. Now I hope you don’t take offense to me getting rid of a few of your prized possessions, I just don't want people to think you got into a fight with a sack of blueberries." she gave him a quick wink, spinning on her heel in the direction of the door. “See you later, Ian.” The warm intimate voice reached his ears as her body glided towards the doorway.

Ian opened his eyes to see her leaving, to his surprise he felt a twinge at her leaving. ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’ He pushed the thought aside “I look forward to it” he said as he sat back enjoying the last tingles of her magic.

Mary followed Lazarus and Olivia quietly. She felt guilty for causing the young girl so much distress, but she didn't regret it. She had lost too many people she loved because they didn't know what they were getting into. Mary smiled back at Lazarus, but it was one filled with worry. While she had a rough idea what he was doing, being familiar with his mental abilities, she wasn't sure if it would work or how it would affect Olivia. I hope we're not putting this poor girl through any more pain...

Olivia leaned into Lazarus, her weight shifted off her knees, while she took his arm with her own. It felt strange, at least in this day and age, to be escorted out in this fashion. Her heart thump relentlessly against her chest and her feet inched slowly towards the exit, following Lazarus’ lead. Eyes itchy, her tear stained cheeks, and emotions swirled tightly in her core, threatening to crush her. This was getting to be too much for her now. From the kidnapping attempt to Emmet’s disappearance, all it happening in less than two days. Already her mind felt at its breaking point and it was a sad fact she was only human. She was relaxing with the longer they walked, letting her mind go numb for the movements. It was something Olivia taught herself a long time ago when she kept activating her powers, her life being ruined by anxiety and worse. In, out, in and out, Olivia breathed trying to sooth her growing fear.

Aeris’ body moved listlessly through the halls, following Reates’ directions. It was simple enough to find the library once she knew the path she needed to take, her glowing sapphire irises resting on the space in front of her.

When she finally got to the room she had been looking for, Olivia as well as two other people seemed to be walking out already. Aeris smiled meekly and strided up the group, only to be caught off-guard by Olivia’s tear stained face. “Olivia? Sweetie, are you alright?” Aeris asked softly, her hand coming up to brush the girl’s cheek gently before she looked at the two companions her goddaughter had garnered in her absence.

Olivia shook, her cheek warmed with comfort at her guardian's touch. Mentally she warred between telling Aeris what had happened to Emmet and keeping her silence, mainly because things had went rapidly downhill with her conversation with Mary and Lazarus. The ups and downs during the day wore at her limits like overstretching thin fabric. She wondered how much more she could take of it and a small, timid instinct whispered the truth: not much more.

Lazarus responded on Olivia’s behalf “I think she’s had a sufficiently long day, settling into a new routine can be tough and I think my ward and I may have caused undo strain. You must be Aeris.” He bent smoothly at the waist, “I am Lazarus, it is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. I was taking your goddaughter to find something to eat, if you are at all interested we would certainly enjoy the company.” He left Mary to speak or not speak for herself as was her want.

Mary stared at Aeris, frowning in puzzlement. I've seen her from somewhere before... She thought, struggling to recall. She was coming up with nothing. Mary was sure she had seen Aeris before. But where?Perhaps I saw her at the ball, before I met Sam. Certainly it can't have been any time before that. Mary shrugged off the problem, assuming that Aeris was just a face she saw in passing. "I'm Mary. Olivia and I ran into each other on our way to the library." She held a hand out to Aeris. "Pleased to meet you."

As Lazarus spoke Aeris’ head inclined intently, an eyebrow raising when he bowed. Though she was rather skeptical a warm smile graced her lips nonetheless. “Ah, nice to meet you Lazarus, I appreciate you looking after Olivia, and I’d be happy to come with you to get something to eat.” Just as she was finishing her statement, her eyes fell on Mary’s confused expression, a smile still resting on her lips.

When the girl introduced herself Aeris took a quick glance at Lazarus. Was this the Mary that Sir was after? After a second, she gently grasped the girl’s hand in her own and shook it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well.” Her sapphire eyes rested on Mary’s face pleasantly for a moment before they wandered back to Olivia. “‘Liv, after we get you something to eat, do you want to go out with me for a bit? We can go shopping, and give Darius a call, I’m sure he’s missing you.” Aeris’ voice was soft. It was obvious Olivia’s distress was tugging at the vampire’s heartstrings.

"I would like that." Olivia the admitted, though she seriously doubted she could eat. At the mention of Darius, her eyes settled on Aeris and pleaded slightly at her caregiver with her next words. "I tried to contact Emmet and Zi answered. Aeris, he's missing. According to Zi he got a call about me and left, but we both know he didn't pick me up. He's not at his apartment and I'm hoping Uncle Darius knows where he's at."

Lazarus frowned for a split second. He’d latched onto the reference to Sir. He’d suspected something when it came to Mary but it was starting to become clear that someone was after her. No surprise there really considering what she had riding along in her head. Calmly, Lazarus drew his essence site over his eyes and scrutinized Aeris carefully. It was always interesting to look at new people. Certainly Hazumi had about fried his brain but that didn’t stop him. Olivia’s words returned the frown to his face. “Olivia, believe it or not you’re in the right place to have someone look into your brother going missing.” He gave Aeris a meaningful look “Maybe you should go with your Godmother today, take your mind off of things after we find you something to eat.”

Olivia nodded but didn't feel like elaborating that her emotions might get in the way. She noted his frowns and wondered, fearfully, if something she had said had given unwanted clues to her problems. Her fingers instinctively tightened about Lazarus' sleeve for a moment but quickly released, not wanting to give away her growing anxiety. Does he know? Did I give it away? Olivia's mind spilled over in questions, fearing she had become careless while trying to keep her calm mask up. A skill she had practice numerous times before.

Mary saw Lazarus's frown and narrowed her eyes briefly at him. She knew that he had read Aeris's mind. Why else would he frown? Darius? He would have asked about that name already. You're just reading everyone's minds today, aren't you? She teased at Lazarus, sending a small smirk his way before focusing back on the conversation. "Does anyone know a good place to eat? I've never been in this area before." Which was an understatement, all things considered.

Aeris’ eyes brushed over Olivia’s face as the girl spoke, and she nodded with a meaningful smile. “I hope so too, sweetie.” It was at this point that she heard Lazarus begin to speak, her attention falling on him for a few moments as his voice resounded through the air around the group. She nodded absently in agreement before her eyes fell on Mary again.

It was Aeris’ turn to look confused. “Ah, I thought you were just going to the cafeteria.” The vampire chuckled softly in embarrassment, her fingers running through her own hair. Aeris… Will you bring me back something to eat? A familiar voice reached through her mind, causing her to space out for a moment so she could respond. Sure, I’ll bring back anything with meat. At Aeris’ response Lisara’s presence withdrew from her mind, leaving a grateful feeling in its wake. Her way of saying thank you.

Olivia looked at Aeris, studying her expression, noting the vague and relaxed features. It seemed like Ris was spacing out for a moment but Olivia had a feeling it was likely something else. "Everything alright, Ris?"

While waiting for Aeris to answer, Olivia turned to reply to Mary's last comment. "If we were in Kenan, I could show you a small little ice cream shoppe owned by an old couple. Makes some wonderful, all natural stuff. It's a favorite spot I usually go to with..." She trailed off when she almost mentioned her brother, her heart aching again, and closed her eyes for a moment. The guilt at forgetting her brother weighed on her chest and throat, trying to strangle her as she tried to follow the others advice. It didn't help the Academy reminded her why she was here in the first place.

Lazarus ran another wave of warm essence over Olivia. “No use lamenting what is, you can only affect what will be.” He gave her another smile. The pieces on the board shifted as he continued to turn names over in his mind. Fitting them into a spiders web of names and faces. Players in a game really. The clock caught his eye. Oh is it really that time already? He really needed to be going but he had so little time with his ward and the Olivia girl was not exactly stable right now.

“Mm? Yes, everything’s fine, ‘Liv.” Aeris spoke with a soft chuckle of embarrassment. When she saw the girl close her eyes, Aeris’ heart sank. The vampire thought a moment, and then opened her arms to Olivia after Lazarus had spoken, her head tilting to the side with content smile.

Olivia was surprised at feeling the warmth fill her again, her head jerked up to hear Lazarus’ comment and exhaled quietly. Her head tilted back down to stare at the floor while her eyes studied it, knowing his words were true. Emmet had often told her the same thing though she suspected for alternative reasons, mainly to ease her worry and frustration. She gave a jaded smile at hearing Ris was alright though it only reminded her that her brother could possibly far from it. Movement from Aeris caused Olivia’s head to snap upward, spotting the vampire with arms wide and an encouraging smile. Olivia’s feet moved before she could stop them.

One step then another, and in a few quick smacks of her shoes she had left Lazarus’ arm immediately pulled into Aeris’. Olivia wrapped about Aeris’ neck allowing her face to nuzzle into vampire’s neck, letting out a muffled sob at the contact. The girl’s body rocked with each attempt to keep it back but it just kept building. All the emotion flooded to the surface and fresh tears, one she thought long since dried, renewed against Ris’ skin. It didn’t show through sound as much as it displayed it in her tight hug. It was clear all she wanted was this Aaurus awful nightmare to be over with and not keep climbing like the day demanded it to do so, her fragile and small figure drawing any comfort through the touch she had.

“I just want things to be normal again…” Olivia choked out the words at last.

Lazarus frowned as the girls frame shook. Without thinking he gently put his hand on Mary’s shoulder and let the same warmth flow through her. It was a gesture that he didn’t even realize he’d made. With all the things on his mind and all the worries of this world in the last two days he’d had such little time for Mary and he’d felt terrible about it. One day here he should get around to legally adopting her as his daughter. Kathleen would have approved of that. He sighed inside at the thought of his dead wife. Today was only going to get worse. Things in general were only going to get worse. He squeezed Mary’s shoulder gently again without thinking.

As Olivia moved into her arms and began to shake, Aeris’ arms wrapped tightly around her. One of her hands rested on the back of the girl’s head, the other on her back as she let the girl cry into. A sober smile rested on the vampire’s face as she kissed the top of Olivia’s head. “It’s all right sweetie,” She cooed to the girl gently.

It seemed hours had passed-reality only a few minutes- when Olivia’s sobs softened and settled, her grip still about her guardian’s neck. Her rattling body had ceased its shaking when Aeris’ hand touched her head and held her close, protecting her from more pain and hurt trying to surface. Finally feeling her tears once more make her eyes itch, Olivia pulled back a little. “I’m fine… I just want things to go back to normal. One time something crazy doesn’t happen is what I need.”

Mary started briefly at the sudden warmth flowing through her, jerked from her guilt at being at least partially the cause of Olivia’s pain, by Lazarus. She smiled gratefully at him, knowing that he felt a little bad for not being able to visit her recently. “I’m fine, or as fine as I can be given the situation. You should be more concerned with Olivia and how to help her.” Mary spoke quietly, not wanting distract either Aeris or Olivia. She could only empathize with Olivia as she cried, giving a small smile at Lazarus as he squeezed her shoulder again. Still, she couldn’t stop the feeling of helplessness from going through her. What could she do to help this girl, right now? Nothing. Aeris was taking care of her, Lazarus was investigating for her, and someone else hunting down her missing brother. Mary was just…there.

Lazarus looked at the clock with a frown. “I’m very sorry to have to leave you like this but I have to be on my way. I will see you tomorrow Mary and I suspect I’ll see you in my classes Olivia. Lazarus frown deepened and he muttered “I really have to go”. With that he hugged Mary good bye and took off up the hallway. He had a folder on his desk that he needed to deal with. Too many musicians were missing. It was time to deal with the problem.

@Themerlinhawk@yoshua171@Wind Wild

Lazarus swore as he stormed down the hallway outside his office. Students scattered like leaves in a winter squall. What the hell was wrong with Hazumi? The world needed her outside of her damn office, and out in the world doing something.

He didn’t bother with the door.

Lazarus’s eyes flared with a grey light and the structure of the wall simply rearranged itself to give him access to his office. Foolish woman. Dracul leapt from his side and onto the hooks on the wall where it rested normally. With a flick of his wrist Lazarus sent the folder flying through the air. Instead of scattering everywhere it was suspended in mid toss. The photos and reports in a mid flight. Kicking off his shoes Lazarus slid over his desk and into his chair, propping his feet up on the desk and giving the file a sour look as it rearranged itself for him to look at it.

Power and emotions rolled off him in waves causing the objects in his office to twitch or shake. The pictures began to smoke. What the hell was wrong with him? So she wasn’t what you thought. Why are you so damn bent? He considered thumbing Esperacchius and then dismissed it. As the pictures began to slowly burn with black fire he kicked at his desk in annoyance. It’s not that big of a deal.

With that he picked up the phone on his desk and called to cancel his classes for tomorrow and begin the process of filing a mission plan with the academy’s bureaucracy. With an aggressive growl Lazarus slammed the phone back onto the desk as the ash from the photo’s hung in the air. Not like you need her you fool. With that he stood from the desk and Dracul leapt to his side again. He wanted to go hunting NOW. With that he started towards the door with a mantle of ash around him.

The door slammed open and sent a group of female students squealing and running for cover. Lazarus grumbled something about women as he stormed past. The ash trailing in the air behind him he all but stomped down the hallway and out the front of the academy. The ash dispersed in an agitated puff as Lazarus turned out onto the street headed for the bar where he planned on being until later this evening at which point he’d move onto finding the people in the file. Lazarus was fairly certain he could find them simply by reversing timeline for one of their kidnapping sites.

By the time he’d made it to the bar a fair bit of his anger was spent but it still seethed beneath the surface. What was the point of all that power if you were just going to lock yourself away from the world and not actually make a difference. Maybe he’d been wrong about her. The bar keeper nodded to him and gave the sword on his hip a look. Instead of Lazarus normal beer the barkeeper produced a bottle of Irish whiskey and asked a few of the other patrons to move so Lazarus could sit by himself at the bar.

As he approached a tumbler grew from the wood of the bar and became glass as he sat down. It was a similar trick he’d used with Hazumi and for some reason it pissed him off more, it was one of his favorite uses for alchemy. Now it had been ruined by his irritation at her. He sat and he drank.

She was haunting him. And the drinks didn't make things any better. In fact, they made them worse as a vision of Hazumi literally manifested on the seat next to him. Her walk was graceful and nonchalant as usual, her dress slightly less formal than usual but still slightly out of place for a pub. The bartender gave her a look, warning her about Lazarus' mood but she disregarded him and ordered a drink instead. Receiving a glass of white wine she took a sip and glanced at Lazarus with the corner of her eye, not saying anything the entire time.

He wrinkled his nose at the glass in front of him “Can I help you? Since I’m clearly not hallucinating you, as he...” Pointing at the barkeep “...can see you.”

Hazumi looked at him and lowered her glass. “Question is, can I help you. You seem to be in a bad mood?”

Lazarus gave her a long look. “You know, just because you fucked up two hundred years ago doesn’t mean you get to hide from the world and pretend it didn’t happen.” It was clearly at least some of the alcohol talking as his accent was showing through. It was a strange blend to have his typically accent devoid english with an irish slant to it. “The world needs you, even if people like Lily have their heads buried so far in the sand they can’t see a damn thing” He took another drink.

He carefully set the glass down and turned to face her “You’re being a coward and you know it. Just because we’ve made mistakes doesn’t mean we get to bury our heads in the sand like the rest of the world. We have power and we’re obligated to use it for better things than we started out using it for.” He pointed a finger at her “You have a choice Hazumi, hide and let others die doing the things you won’t do. Or stand up for something and take responsibility.” Grumbling he turned back to the glass. Which was empty. He scowled at that.

Meanwhile Hazumi was scowling at him. She was the reason he was in that mood right now? Ridiculous. She disagreed with him on the matter of Lily, who, in her opinion, was a very wise woman showing a lot of self-restraint while focusing on educating young people over trying to fix the whole world's problems, but she didn't think it would get her anywhere to argue with him. There was hardly any point in arguing on whether she should be proactive or not, as her presence here was sign enough.

“It's impossible for me to track them down.” She cut to the chase after taking a sip of her wine. “Too much time has passed for me to collect essence samples and the people who escaped were only able to provide physical descriptions of the culprits. As I can only see the essence from afar and that has no physical characteristics, I can't link the essence with the face. They must know my weakness as they didn't actually kill anyone – if they had, I would have remembered their essence and submitted it to the hunting squad. It's possible that they obtained such information from one of our pupils they captured. Alternatively, we might be dealing with someone from the Academy turned dark.” She took another sip. “We have been trying to catch them, I'm just pointing out why it's been fruitless so far.”

Lazarus looked at her “Don’t be obtuse.” He waved his hand and a web of essence extended from it. It wove through the air, and to those who could see it, reconstructed the movements of the people in the room from the last hour. With a flick he began rolling back the movements. “I can do it for up to 48 hours and the last kidnapping was 20 hours ago”

He went back to the drink

Hazumi’s eyebrows rose at the spectacle, her jaw almost dropping. She’d never seen such abilities before and the lax manner in which he demonstrated them bugged her ever so slightly.

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” She asked, getting to her feet and grabbing his arm. “Let’s go.”

“We’re waiting on my buzz to..” he trailed off. “oh hold on” With an effort of will he forced alcohol out of his system. He blinked as it rolled down his face via his tear ducts. “Damn that stings really badly. Hate doing that. Wastes a perfectly good buzz.” Lazarus forced his liver into overdrive and directed a higher blood flow to it as well as bolstering it with essence. “Okay, that should do it” Lazarus stood. “Okay lets go.”

***

Hazumi's nerves were on end. They had successfully managed to get the essence samples and tracked down two of the culprits – an angel and a human. The bad news was, they were currently on the 20th floor of an apartment building.

“We shouldn't kill them. No matter who they are, they deserve a fair trial.” She quoted Lily's words as if they were her own conviction. She'd told herself that time and time again for decades – much like an enchantment that could extinguish the thrill of a hunt. Still, butterflies were dancing in her stomach as the elevator counted down the floors.

Lazarus drew Dracul calmly. “Of course.” He didn’t sound convinced but he’d follow her lead regardless. It felt strange. Flicking his hand again he checked the web making note of the form and direction of the two individuals. “Pity it seems they don’t have anyone with them that they’ve taken”.

“But you can make them talk, right?” She looked at him without turning her head, unease obvious right beside the hope for a positive answer.

“I don’t need to” His eyes flashed with the silver light for a moment. “I can take the answers directly from their mind.”

“True.” A small sigh of relief escaped her. “I always forget that.”

The elevator reached its destination and the doors slid open. Hazumi licked her lips nervously as they stepped out and threw a look around for anyone spying on them. As if it was even necessary. She could sense at least 10 people around, all going about their lives, living peaceful lives right next to the sick bastards who had kidnapped children and tortured them for ransom. And surely for some fun too. She looked at Lazarus again, her steps slowing to let him lead.

Lazarus checked his web again and lead them down the hallway. Lazarus pulled on the energy in Dracul and wrapped both of them in an entropy shield in preparation. “Last door on the left. How do you want to play this?” He gave her a look from the corner of his eye.

“Just try to overwhelm them as quick as possible. And try not to get the neighbours involved.”

“Sounds good to me” He readied Dracul.

With a quick twist of the sword he leveled a burst of x-rays at the wall rendering it transparent to his vision for a split second. “Just the two of them, shall I do the honors?”

Hazumi nodded, squeezing her dress. "Please."

Lazarus was not in a mood to use doors. He just molecularized the wall and leveled a wave of force at the individuals in the room. It was way more showy than he would have prefered, but it was dead silent.

The angel and the human were hurled to the floor and most of the furniture was slammed against the far wall. “You have been found to have committed high crimes against the people of Loom and the students of the Academy. Come quietly and you will not be harmed.”

Needless to say that wasn’t taken nicely. The two of them were surprised but they weren’t unprepared for such an eventuality. The human who had ended up behind a couch used it as a cover and made a run for the other room. Meanwhile the angel pulled out a gun and shot. Hazumi cried out and, probably in vain, shoved Lazarus from behind. Unfortunately this gave the angel opportunity for a cleaner aim. Another shot rang out.

Lazarus cursed as the first shot was deflected by one of his spectres with a ghost copy of Dracul. Slapping the bullet out of the air with the flat of the blade. Hazumi’s shove put him right in the line of the second bullet which caught him in the stomach. Gaelic expletive exploded from his mouth as he dropped to his knee. With a roar of pain and rage Lazarus leveled a cone of necrotic energy at the angel. It clipped it causing the angel’s shoulder to go gangrenous in a matter of seconds. Its second effect was to cause the far wall to collapse in a mass of dust, splinters and rot as the necrotic energy ate it away.

“Well fuck…” Lazarus looked at the roof waiting to see if it would collapse. In preparation he started to draw essence from Dracul fueling an entropy shield. Hopefully the roof didn’t come down on his head. He’d only survived the one building falling on him.

Hazumi herself cursed at the damage her shove had done but then her words dried out as Lazarus used his hand to literally pulverise the angel’s shoulder and the wall behind it. The angel then jumped to the side and ran after his accomplice. Hazumi made a step over Lazarus to chase after them but then froze, hesitating as she turned to the teacher. “Are you okay?” She asked, torn between the urge to chase after the targets and stay behind to help. Too impatient to wait for an answer she made a circling motion with her hands and then placed them on his stomach. To Lazarus it felt like a bus slammed against his stomach.. and penetrate it. A bizarre warmth began spreading out from the thing and his tissues started itching as they bound again over the bullet. “Angel essence, it’ll only take a minute. Wait a minute.” She instructed, then got up and ran after the culprits, grabbing a kitchen knife on the go.

Lazarus ignored her, he wrapped death energy around the anchor points, and began to force his flesh to knit. Standing he grabbed Dracul and moved like a wraith after her, running with its power flowing through his veins. Forcing his legs to move faster than any humans’, his form blurred as though he was moving faster than his spectres who trailed just behind them. A thought crossed his mind and he dove through a window and ran along the edges of the window sills paralleling the way they were fleeing. Leading Hazumi by just a few feet. The wound throbbed but he didn’t care. Opening his essence sight he tagged the angel’s essence, it was still being attacked by the necrosis. With a hiss he sent more power to the disease causing the shoulder to swell painfully.

The angel cried out and then did something drastic. He dug into his own flesh and with a burst of inhuman strength ripped his arm out. The decaying flesh was strategically calculated and not all of it could be removed so easily but the angel has a trick up his sleeve. He was a Battle angel and every moment his heart pumped blood up his arm, new cells grew in place of the damaged ones, not entirely negating it, but stopping it in its track. As Lazarus and Hazumi reached the next room what they saw was gut-wrenching.

The angel was standing in front of her, his wings flaring protectively, gun in one hand, but it was obvious to both of them. The human was holding a hostage, a young girl, no older than 10, beaten beyond recognition, her arm twisted at an abnormal angle. She wasn't squirming to get free even though a knife was at her throat, she didn't whimper, even though the woman was holding her by the hair. Her essence itself was so weak that they hadn't even realised she was there at the start.

“Let us go and you can have her back.” The angel mocked, a twisted smirk tainting his features.

Hazumi frowned but the next second she was running towards the angel, knife firmly gripped in her hand. The angel was faster, rushing at her... twisting his body in the last second to surpass her, and slam straight into Lazarus.

Chaos ensued, glass breaking, knives slicing throats open, Hazumi gasping, Lazarus falling...

Lazarus grappled for the knife in mid fall. This was going hurt. He poured on the necrotic grip wasting the angel’s muscles to nothing, decaying flesh flaking away in the seconds of the fall towards the hard pavement. Lazarus’s face had been slashed open so his teeth were showing on the right side of his mouth. The Angel tried to bring the gun to bear but Lazarus snapped it’s fingers like dry kindling as the bone was beginning to deteriorate from his plague. Grabbing the knife by the blade and forcing it back Lazarus twisted and rode the angel into the unforgiving pavement. It’s ribs shattering like glass.

The Necromancer rolled off of the Angel, he coughed up blood. Chest heaving as he lay in the street, the angel twitched and then lay still. Hopefully Hazumi had saved the girl. Lazarus had his own battle to fight. Dracul lay a few feet away but he didn’t need contact with the sword. With an effort of will he drew the essence from it. Using it to hold his soul in place within his body. This battle wasn’t over yet and Hazumi had need of him yet. Lazarus’s hands were slick with his own blood as he crawled to his knees. With a heave he stood. Holding his side as blood seeped from it. With more will he drew an entropy shield around himself, snapping his fingers a staff of pure black obsidian grew from the ground. He leaned heavily on it, Dracul hanging loosely from his right hand.

Where the hell was Hazumi.

Dracul greedily ate the Angel’s soul as Lazarus swayed on his feet. Note to self. Avoid falls.

Back in the apartment Hazumi's eyes widened as she realised Lazarus had just been pushed out of the window. He wasn't the Academy's only teacher, of course, but he was a talented one and this was a fate he did not deserve. A sudden anger crashed into her as if it was a wave washing over a rock, as if it was something foreign that came out of nowhere but left itself embedded in her pores.

Her head snapped back to face the human who was now holding an absolutely lifeless body instead of a dying one. Blood was slowly trickling down her knife and Hazumi saw with painful clarity how it was pooling under the woman's hand, thick and wasted.

Hazumi bared her teeth, suddenly sharp and animalistic and snarled her frustration out. The woman dropped the body and lunged at Hazumi, her knife bared – her only weapon. Even though the space between them was only a few meters, Hazumi didn't wait for the woman to reach her. The impact was inevitable and instant. The knife ran smoothly into Hazumi's shoulder, her bones welcoming it and locking it in place, her other hand slamming into the side of the woman's head and crush it hard against the wall. The human whimpered painfully as Hazumi's face hovered close over hers. Her teeth were sharp enough to cut the air and steam was coming out of her mouth, hot enough to cause skin to itch painfully before melting. It was no longer blood that cruised Hazumi's veins, it was magma and liquid rage and her eyes were a merciless reflection of it.

“You were smart to cut the vein, creates much less of a mess. Murderers care a lot about their liars, do we not? Some like it clean, and some....” A rumble rose from her throat, a sharp chuckle. Her lips curled back in a grin that promised to be the last thing anyone would see. The human thrashed instinctively but Hazumi held her firmly as her nose caressed the other woman's neck.

Jaws clenched.

Flavours exploded in her mouth, salty and bitter, unpleasant yet so thrilling, as the blood gushed out of the artery. The pressure was so high that blood splashed all over Hazumi's face and halfway across the room. It was flowing too fast, drenching her clothes and the carpet underneath. And it was too much to drink. Hazumi's voice roared out halfway between choking and.. laughing. As the human started drowning in her own blood, her legs slowly buckling the laugh rose even higher.

It took a few long minutes before she felt sated - not because there was no blood left, but because she simply didn’t feel like taking any more in. She hadn’t even consumed the human’s essence - she didn’t want that bitch to be a part of the legacy her body and soul were. She didn’t even need the blood, though her demonic part appreciated it. Like a petulant child she had ruined the human’s integrity for the sake of it, on a whim driven in equal measures by amusement and fury. Hazumi stood and wiped her lips with the back of her arm.

Then she threw a look down at her clothes and popped in the shower. Only after she was finished did she scout the place for a clean set of clothes, threw on an oversized t-shirt and some leggings and jumped out of the window, the wind curling around her to lower her gently to the ground far below.

Lazarus had slid down the wall of the alleyway, he’d found the knife buried in his side. Blood continued to seep onto the ground. His breathing was shallow, but pain didn’t register on his face. Perhaps it was time to make sure he could still do it. After all, this body was beginning to wear a bit. Fucking angel, how in the world had he managed to land just so on the knife.

With a heave he slid the blade out of his side and let it fall to the ground. His left hand pressed to the wound as blood flowed from between his fingers. It had gone much deeper than he’d thought. It certainly explained why he’d been coughing up blood. Twitching his fingers he stimulated the growth of skin cells to close the wound a bit. He didn’t want to start bleeding internally so he left the wound open enough to keep blood from pooling inside.

At a sound Lazarus looked up to see Hazumi descending from the window. What great timing. Annoyance flashed across his thoughts but he pushed it away. There was no point now.

Hazumi was surprised at what she found at the foot of the building. There was a blood-splatter but there were no bodies, and once she scanned the perimeter she realised Lazarus is very much alive and pretty well. Bad news was that the blood was his own.

“You handle the other one?” His voice was breathy but it didn’t sound like he was in pain from the wound as he reclined against the wall of the building. Blood still seeping from the wound. Dracul’s amber glow gave his face a haunted deathly pallor. The loss of blood was also probably not helping. His breathing was shallow but his eyes were alert and took her in. “The leggings suit you, but I don’t think the T-shirt befits your status. He cracked a wry grin, it was clearly to hide the beginning of pain.

Hazumi blinked at him, perplexed of how he started with the actual problem to then question her looks. “I got her. My clothes were ruined in the process.” She ran her tongue along her gums. She could still taste the blood. “What happened to you? Are you okay?” She asked with an eerie calm. There was something different in the person who was now standing in front of him.

Lazarus laughed and blood flecked his lips. “Fine for now. I can’t decide If I want to ditch this shell and start over or see if it’s worth salvaging.” He tested the depth of the wound with his finger “It’s sort of right on the edge. It might be worth the effort to salvage it or it might be a waste of my time.” He sighed in exasperation. “We’re still missing number three, and we have no leads on the whereabouts of the missing students.” He grimaced as he withdrew his finger from the wound. It was read to just about the second knuckle.

“You mean your body?” She asked, eyebrows rising. She hadn’t realised he’s so bad. He didn’t show it much anyway. “Why would you ditch it? You’ve had it for so long. If you do, won’t you become a baby again?” She questioned, uncertain about the specifics of his rebirths.

Lazarus cackled a little at that “Hardly, it isn’t exactly a rebirth. It’s more of a...transference.” He looked at her for a long moment. “While I do become rather attached to them, I was hoping this one would last a bit longer than 60 years…” He frowned “Why am I telling you this? Its way too dangerous for people to know how this works, in any way shape or form.” He scowled. “You want to know how it works don’t you?”

She smiled. “I am rather curious. However it hardly seems like the right place or time to discuss a thing such as this. An angel is fast approaching, possibly the last one.” She glanced him over quickly and stepped in without hesitation. Her lips met with his in a far-from-gentle, almost forceful manner. She didn’t seem to recognize the gesture as a sign of affection and it hardly constituted a kiss as what it did to his body was light it on fire.. quite literally.

As some of her essence poured into him it jolted his body into healing at a rate that shouldn’t have been possible, forcing cells to divide and tissues to form. The feeling was almost excruciating as it incinerated everything in its wake, yet at the same time it was also peculiarly… intoxicating. As the sudden rush of pain receded what was left in its wake was the feeling of insane power cruising his veins and the confidence, the knowledge of being invincible.

Hazumi pulled away and ran a hand through her ruffled hair. “Sorry for getting you hurt. Hope this makes up for it.”

Lazarus sat stunned at what had just happened, the magic was incredible but the kiss...It lingered. And she didn’t seem to have even noticed what she’d done. The hardness of his heart began to crack. What was going on? With that he heaved himself to his feet seizing Dracul and removing the layer of dried blood on his skin with an exertion of will.



Having been on her way back to their current place, Mattea witnessed her comrade fall with enemy in tow. She was airborne after all, affording her a bird’s eye view. A certain hatred was in her heart as she landed a block or so away from where her friend’s killed had stumbled. She even saw Hazumi enter the alley, informing her that she was outnumbered, but she didn’t care. Having thought it out a little more, she sprinted and then leapt up and into the air once more. She cast her essence about, and surrounded herself with illusions before swooping down, folding her wings against her back and flinging essence towards the duo.

Looking through the screen would cause hallucinations in addition to distortions in whatever was on the other side. This would make it difficult to immediately pinpoint her location in the alley. She had drawn her gun even before hitting the ground, where she rolled back to her feet and fired at the downed man, and curled her wings about herself somewhat. She was a miracle angel, rather ironic considering her criminal nature, but there was something else to her essence as well.

Hazumi felt the angel approaching. In fact, there was hardly a way for her not to feel it, given how much her essence expanded all of a sudden. Instinctively, Hazumi looked in her direction and the sight blinded her momentarily. That was a clever approach, she thought as she brought her arm up at the angel, slowly sapping the essence away from her. She still couldn’t look at her but she could resolve that problem quite effortlessly. Problem was when she realised the angel had a gun, which made Hazumi drop her hand and dive for cover in one of the narrow alleys nearby.

Lazarus watched as Hazumi dived out of the way. “Oh crap” His spectres slapped away several of the bullets as he opened a hole in the wall of the building next to him and wrenched his body into it as the fusillade of bullets bit into the sides of the walls and the street. “I absolutely hate guns” Lazarus swore as he began to wrap an Entropy Shield around him. A ripple like heat began to appear around Dracul.

Lazarus was officially. Done. With. This. Shit. He made sure he was preparing Low wave radiation so that the buildings should shield civilians from the directed blast. Unfortunately for the angel it should cook her quite nicely. “Last chance to surrender before I turn you into goo like your partner in crime!”Lazarus yelled from his position behind cover.

Having no way of knowing what was coming for her the angel first noted that she was fighting what appeared to be at least one experienced mage. Following this she shrouded her wings in a light coating of essence and then leapt into the air, landing on the building opposite of Lazarus’ location. Her feet silent, something she’d learned to do with much practice, Mattea sprinted away, across the roof, and then turned towards the side-alley that Hazumi had dodged into. Her wings swept down, pushing her into the air with a small flap, allowing her to suddenly appear several feet above Hazumi and fire down at her, before disappearing onto another roof. This put her further from the mage, which she thought was good.

There was no way of telling what he might be preparing after all.

Since retreating, Hazumi had tried to recreate the scales she had used as armour once but whatever demon was providing her with that opportunity seemed to be gone. At least the alley was a good protection from bullets. Unfortunately, it also made moving that much harder. Luckily, she could still sense the angel approaching and prepare for it. She slammed her hand against the wall and the bricks erupted forwards just as the gun was shot. Some of the bricks broke upon contact with the bullets and shrapnel scattered over Hazumi.. and the child sat on the other side.

The angel disappeared as the bricks crumbled and Hazumi let out a breath, looking over to the shocked child. A piece of tortilla was dripping guacamole down its trousers.

“Sorry babe.” Hazumi apologized, turning back and returning to Lazarus' side briefly. “Should I go after it or have you got this?” She asked, making sure whatever those vibrations were that were coming off him were not going to harm her.

Lazarus frowned as his eyes clouded with quicksilver. “Um…” He was clearly not focused on her as he scanned for the Angel’s essence. Taking care not to look straight at her. “I think…” Lazarus ran essence down Dracul and pointed it up through the building at the angel.

Skeletal hands erupted from the roof where the angel had landed clawing at her legs and feet trying to grab her and hold her in place.

“Assuming that worked she should be stuck to the roof long enough for us to get up there” With that Lazarus shifted the Golem bracers to his arms and increased the muscle mass of his legs and the grasping strength of his hands. With a tremendous leap Lazarus jumped five stories and grabbed a window sill and began to use his spectres to vault from one building across the alley to the other and back across. Rising swiftly with each leap.

Hazumi looked around hesitant between pursuing the angel or dealing with the demolished wall and the traumatized child. She decided that Lazarus seemed to have the situation under control and so she returned to the alley. The child was long gone, probably trying to get a hold of his parents and so she started knitting the rubble of bricks back together and seal them in a reasonable improvised wall.

Lazarus sprung onto the roof and rolled popping up onto his feet prepared for a fight as he was sure the Angel would be extricating herself from the grasping hands, if she hadn’t already.

Her ankles suddenly apprehended by a set of skeletal hands, Mattea glared down at them, and with great swiftness, channeled trace amounts of essence between the joints. The essence quickly disrupted the mage’s control and she managed to jump away from the hands. Her wings slapped the air as she heard movement. A burst of wind would hit Lazarus just as he came over the roof, and if that didn’t knock him off there were several bullets already flying in his direction.

With his sight he’d note that the bullets were coated in a thin layer of essence.

Her wings had served a dual purpose in this case, first to attack, and second to blast her off the other edge of the roof and out of sight where she began quickly sprinting down the alleyway.

The gust caught him and forced him back but one of his spectre’s braced him from behind while the other two slapped the bullets out of the air with their copies of Dracul. While Lazarus drew on the well in Dracul to project an Entropy shield to render the others to dust.

“I don’t think so” Lazarus opened his essence sight and seized the well in Dracul fully. His eyes lit with silver light that illuminated the roof top. Flicking his hand out he snatched the angel in mid run with his will given form by essence. “You coward. Snatching children and endangering innocents. You have been found guilty and you will not escape justice for your crimes.” Lazarus voice boomed as he walked to the edge of the roof to get a clearer visual on the angel. “I will tear the secrets from your mind if I have to but you will be brought to heel.”

As the specters made contact with the bullets the projectiles sheared right through them, repelling the essence that made the creatures up in a circle around them and continuing at the same speed to Lazarus, moving fast enough that he had not yet created his entropy shield. If he had still managed to snatch her from the air as she hurtled backwards, then her wings would quickly streamline, essence naturally flowing through them, as she hardened them and slashed with them, using them like blades to shear the specters apart.

However, an illusion would project over her the entire time, one of several layers, each depicting her caught by his servants and each more realistic than the last. It would take several precious seconds for him to break through, and in that time she would escape off the roof and run further away, attempting to take wing once she’d exited the alley, though she remained low as she flew, staying only a couple feet from the ground.

Lazarus sighed as the bullets contacted him. On the way up the building he’d increased the muscle mass of his upper body and laced it with the depleted uranium. The bullets struck him but didn’t go any further than a quarter of an inch into his body. It was a hell of a trick using that much essence but it had turned out to be quite a good call. His Specters returned to him and he ignored the illusions. The second she’d damaged the specters he’d known they weren’t real.

With his left hand he wove essence to track her path, the gold strands showed him where she’d gone, but in the throes of Dracul he ran an insane amount of essence through the spell combining it with his precognition and it offered about a dozen probable trajectories. With another heavy sigh Lazarus opted for something incredible subtle but truly fantastic. At the termination of each of the possible trajectories he simply forced the air out of each area. Rendering flight and breathing impossible in the areas. The angel would simply drop like a rock when her wings no longer contacted air to keep her aloft.

“You can not escape your fate why do you flee? You endanger more and more innocents. Why can you not see.” Lazarus pumped more energy into Dracul’s blade, it shimmered and rippled with the radiation contained around it. It was enough to totally deteriorate the cell integrity of any living being. Effectively turning their insides to liquid. Their outside would be turned to a fine crisp. It wasn’t quite the same as being hit by a nuclear bomb since it was a different form of radiation, but it was nasty. All he needed was a general idea of where she was. It would pass right through the surrounding buildings. Hopefully it wouldn’t harm any innocents but this was getting out of hand.

Her wings hit...nothing, and she thus hit the ground, realizing in the same instant that there was no air to breath. She cast about, suffocating a bit, and got to her feet--barely--so as to run towards a source of ai,- though she had no idea where the lack of such began and ended respectively.

Lazarus impacted the ground behind the floundering angel and walked forward. Weaving essence he thrust his hands forward weaving a Void Sphere into existence. Suspending Gravity and forcing all matter save the Angel floating in the center of it. He fed a thin amount of oxygen into the sphere so she could breath. “This is going to go two ways. Option one. You tell me what I want to know and I turn you over to the authorities alive. Option two. I tear the information out of your mind. Then I liquify your insides with high wave radiation and leave you a baked corpse in the street. Your choice.”

She gasped, pulling the air into her lungs. She did not respond immediately, though she managed to register what the mage had said. It was basically give in or die, and she didn’t like that, but sadly she didn’t have much of a choice. She gritted her teeth for a long moment, and then turned her head towards the man. If she mustered enough essence she might be able to conjure something to get her out of this, but he was giving her air, and without that she couldn’t do anything.

So she gave up. “Fine,” she snapped, her eyes still defiant despite her situation, “...ask away mage”.

“Where are the other students.” Lazarus eyes were cold as he said it maintaining the Void sphere. It was dangerous to be feeding oxygen into it since it certainly was a structural flaw in the magic but he needed to at least give the angel a chance.

She sneered, “In several locations around the city, rotting, or starving, most of ‘em.” She sounded bored as she said it, no empathy in her actions whatsoever. She couldn’t forgive them after all….

“Locations. Now.” Lazarus was tempted to simply cut off the air and tear the information out of the angel’s mind but that was something he simply couldn’t do now. At least so long as the angel was cooperating he couldn’t. “I am willing to show mercy and turn you over to the peace keepers if you tell me the locations. Otherwise I will be forced to take other measures.” Lazarus’s eyes blazed like cold dying stars from the essence he was holding within him.

“Like that’s much solace,” she mumbled, after which point she glanced down at a pocket in her pants. “I wrote down the locations. Couldn’t be bothered to remember,” her eyes turned back to the mage’s, there was a deep contempt in them as she stared at him. She could tell that he hated her right now, but he had no idea how much more she hated him, even if this was the first time they’d met.

The Academy, the Peacekeepers, and the Musicians were entities in her mind, things to hate. She knew the Peacekeepers’ judgement would be little better. She would likely be killed for her transgressions, perhaps three times over due to the death of her comrades. Still, the more time she had to live, the more likely she was to escape.

She’d done it before, not that anyone remembered. She’d changed her face...her identity. She wasn’t who she had been.

Lazarus looked at the pocket she had indicated but he’d caught the wave of pure hatred that had rolled off of her. His eyes searched her face as he continued to sift through the emotions rolling off of her.

“Your hatred for me is tangible. Yet I do not know you.” Lazarus walked forward until he was right outside of the sphere. “Why do you hate me so much? What drives you to kidnap students and harm others?” Lazarus gestured “Can you not see the damage it does? And don’t give me some crap about me not being able to understand. I’ve wiped whole towns from the face of the planet for my hate so yours is nothing. But I wish to understand. Why?”

Her eyes turned away, something her head would’ve done could she have moved. For a long moment she was silent before she finally chimed up, her tone a venomous one, “It’s more what you represent, than who you are, but really the question is this...” she smiled, a look of sickly sweetness, “...why would I tell someone I hate, why I hate them?” She wished she could spit in front of his feet, or even better, in his despicable face. “I gain nothing from your knowing, ‘cept perhaps pity, which I don’t want and don’t need.” She glanced at the pocket she had nodded towards earlier, “You going to get the list or not. While I might as well be on death row, I would prefer to spend the rest of my life alone and away from you and yours. Even if it means sitting in a prison cell, bound and gagged.” The hatred and disdain in her tone was palpable, especially to one such as he, who could literally feel and take in emotions. It would be like an acidic smog: weighing down, polluting, and stinging the both body and mind.

Lazarus stared at the Angel for a long moment before using enforce will to remove the list from her pocket and pinching off a piece of the void sphere and dispersing it so the list landed in his hand. “I already pity those who see death as a means of forwarding an agenda. It is why I do what I do. I was in your place once, only I had to make the choice to see that my actions were destructive and dangerous myself.” He sighed at the Angel “This is not a perfect world, killing and harming others doesn’t make it better. It makes it worse. People like you and I don’t belong in it. The only difference between you and I is that I know we don’t belong here and I’m willing to remove others who are like me.”

She’d met at least two people like him before, or at least it felt that way. Maybe they were nothing alike, this mage and that seraph she’d met so many years ago. It didn’t really matter. “If there’s no place in this world for all manner of people, then I don’t much care for it anyways,” she had a different smile on her face now, one that was always knowing. “Oh, and you’ve got your facts all tied up, like you know what you’re talking about. Don’t act like you know me, mage,” she said, her eyes glaring even as her smile remained, though it was less apparent now.

She exhaled sharply, if there was anything she hated more than traitors and the Academy, it was people who acted like they knew shit, when they didn’t know anything at all. Maybe she’d be better off getting herself killed now, rather than face the Peacekeepers….

Then again, maybe suicide was below her. Yeah, it was. She didn’t want that, even if it would be a final act of defiance. The longer she stayed alive, the more likely she was to live even longer--if just another day. “Funny…” she mumbled to herself, “...don’t realize how much life matters till it’s about to be snatched from you.” She shook her head and sighed, a smile on her lips. It was ironic.

“Try remembering every single one of your deaths. That will rain on your parade.” Lazarus tilted his head as he stared at the Angel. Was it really as simple as ending another meaningless life? Because that was what the peacekeepers would do to her. Am I really considering letting her go? “What would you do if I let you go?” the question was genuine and his curiosity was real.

She sneered as he mentioned her other lives. It’s not like he could understand what it was like. Even if he were a mage, he was human and as long as he was human he would never understand both what it felt like to die so many times and what it meant to lose everything you were each time. However, when he asked her a question, her eyes snapped to him, and her mind snapped to attention.

He could read her, this she knew. She was a miracle angel and thus could detect interaction with her own essence, even if only vaguely. So if she lied, he’d know. Even if he didn’t know, he could find out because clearly he was capable of ‘ravaging her mind,’ as he had put it. Should she say nothing? Should she just reply with the truth...or just part of it?

After at least ten seconds of silence where she stared at the man, trying to measure him up...trying to figure out why he had asked her, and what she ought to say, she finally spoke. “I don’t see why it matters…but maybe I’d start a new life. I know I’ll never forgive the Academy,” she said the name with noticeable vitriol, then continued, having to exhale and take in another breath as if getting rid of the filth that the word represented to her. “Maybe I’d leave this city...maybe not. Maybe I’d try and disappear only to come back and take that horrid place down in some way.” She looked at the man.

He was odd. He was dirt, no, less than dirt. He was shit in a gutter just like all the Academy’s puppets, just like any traitor. It was only worse that he had, as he put it, ’been like her’. Still, he was odd, worth at least the smallest amount of observation. “Hard to say what I might do…” she said, sounding unsure as she looked away from him and at the ground. That was hardly what he wanted to hear. She was going to die, but at least when she came back this time...she wouldn’t remember what had happened, wouldn’t have to deal with having lost things dear to her.

No, there’d be a new set of troubles instead. It never ended.

Never.

Lazarus looked at her with dead eyes. “I shall grant you a final chance. You deserve that much. I know your anger.” Lazarus let the radiation fade from Dracul as he leveled it. “When you wake, you will be made new. Are you ready?”

At first her eyes lit up, but then he continued and they filled with fear. What did he mean by that? “Wha…” she started, then stopped, swallowing hard. It was either whatever this mage planned...or incarceration and death. “Yeah,” she steeled herself, but in her eyes the fear remained.

“You shall not taste the void, but you will be given another chance. I’m sorry.” A tear dripped from Lazarus’s eye “You will get another chance.” Dracul glowed with a fel green light. And then he plunged it into the Angel’s chest. Dracul erupted from between her shoulder blades and part of Lazarus died as the light in her eyes went out. Pulling the soul cleanly from her body and storing it carefully and undamaged in the core of pure diamond that ran through Dracul for such things. As he released the void sphere he caught the Angel as she fell. Flopping into his arms he stemmed the blood and began wrapping essence around the body to repair damage and completely halt decay. “I’m so sorry.”

Lazarus turned and began to walk, the Angel’s body in his arms and the soul stored in Dracul. His eyes were cold and lifeless.

Hazumi soon rejoined him and gave him a long serious look. Her face was much calmer than before. “You can leave the body to the police. Would you like me to make you a lift?”

Lazarus looked up sharply. “Step away from her.” His eyes blazed with the fire of dying stars. Still cradling the angel in his left arm with his right arm he shoved a crumpled paper into Hazumi’s hand. It was the note with the locations of the students. “I think there has been enough anger death and hatred for today don’t you?” He gave the police officer a look “Thank you for your help.” He shouldered past them carrying the angel.

Hazumi frowned at his remark, the suspicion that he could have a way of knowing what she'd done in the apartment creeping in. It wasn't something she was proud of and not something she'd appreciate anyone knowing. Clicking her tongue in annoyance she gave the note to the man beside her and asked him to organize the retrieval of the children. With that the case was mostly closed and with a sigh, Hazumi weaved a simple horse out of the essence around and headed back to the Academy.

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