Isabeau & Lucie:

Isabeau ran through the darkness, using the moonlight occasionally flickering through the branches to light her way. She was grateful she knew the path well, even with the moon's help it was still very dark and she dared not use a lantern, nor did she have one having lost hers somewhere on her lost horses. In fact the only thing she had managed to hang onto was her sword, even her cloak was gone.

Things had unraveled so quickly she still felt slightly off balance, and she hated that. She was a woman who liked control. She knew her creation would defend her, to the death if needed. Since he was already dead that would take some doing. So she was pretty certain she was safe from Adam for a time. In fact there was a good chance the creature would kill Adam and the little bitch that had accompanied him.

She couldn't rely on that outcome however and as she ran she tried to think of what her next move should be. She would have to leave before Adam caught her, if he lived, and if her creature survived she would need to rescue it. It was her child after all.

There was little at her house she cared about: her work was the only important thing and maybe a few baubles that could easily be exchanged for money. She would gather what was important and leave. She knew she could easily loose herself in the forest for a few days and remain undetected before heading back to the mill to see what the outcome of this skirmish was.

She felt better with a plan in her mind, and she stopped panicking and started to calm down. That's when she felt a frisson of awareness tingle through her and the panic was back. She wasn't certain why, or what caused it, but she tried to suppress it. She was not a woman who relied on her instincts but rather empirical evidence, study, logic...

Still she shifted out of the moonlight and into the shadows of the trees. She knew this path well, she used it often. Or so she thought. It seemed that in the dark tree roots suddenly leapt up from the ground to attack her and branches sprouted in the middle of clear paths to whip at her face. Frustrated for being so jumpy, angry for being frustrated, she stopped to focus herself, though she knew she dare not daily. In the darkness of the trees she turned and looked back up the trail, straining to see, or hear, anything that might give her a clue as to what was going on.

Everyone Else

The Creature was frantic, but not from pain. The panic stemmed from the light, the noise, the rapidly shifting people, and the loss of It's Mother left It confused and uncertain. It knew It had to protect her, but It was having a hard time processing all the chaos going on/ It was, after all, unfinished. Isabeau had planned to used Adam's brain; gifting it with an amazing capacity for strategy and intelligence. That plan failed leaving the Creature lacking speed of thought.

Fortunately for It, unfortunately for Adam and the others, It felt no pain. It barely even noticed as bullets thudded into It's torso with a wet squelch. Like shooting a dead cow. It smelled like a dead cow too. A burning dead cow.

One of the shots came very close to an eye, another close to breaking the network of bones and metal that held It's leg together, but both were just short. It was starting to get frantic now, unable to see well through the flames that occasionally flickered high in front of It's face. It didn't realize how close it had come to loosing at least half of It's vision but It still recognized the danger.

It's eyes locked on Aleksandra and anyone watching It could almost see the thoughts click into place. She was closest now, and clearly trying to hurt It. Which meant the woman would try to hurt Mother as well. The creature grabbed a large iron bar, probably part of an old door, from where it was lying in the grass and charged Aleksandra. It swung the rail effortlessly, and wildly, It's odd rolling gait carrying it forward with all the grace of a lumbering steamship. Little gobbets of fire trailed behind it as they caught in the grasses and weeds of the clearing. The green growth at least meant that they didn't burn long, but smoke rapidly filled the air.

Adam had swooped low to catch Lily as she stumbled, he had been a shade too far away though and managed only to slow her fall not stop it. She hit the ground and crumpled and Adam swore under his breath. He had stopped her from breaking her neck but not from getting a solid thunk on the noggin. He kept his eyes locked on the Creature, studying it as he felt for a pulse on Lily's neck. Everything moved in slow motion in Adam's eyes, though in reality he was just following the natural patters as fast, even faster, than they arose.

He took note of the shadows in the clearing, made all the darker by the moonlight. He saw the smoke filling the air, turning a gray silver in the moonlight and creating a haze over the whole area. He saw Johanna on the ground, in pain but also clearly alive. He saw each hesitant step of the creature as It clearly struggled to find a focus. He saw how it moved, the details of each motion. In those seconds of time he had a plan, or at least the beginning steps of one.

Assured Lily was ok, just unconscious, he barked an order at Ren. He had to use an order; he knew that was the only thing that would penetrate the manservant's fear addled mind.

“Look out for her!” he commanded, the tone of his voice making it clear this was a non-negotiable request.

When Ren pulled the unconscious Lily into a half-sitting position Adam nodded. He spared a glance at the man's shaking hand and the gun in it, hoped that Ren would have enough sense not to fire unless it was truly necessary, and turned his attentions to the others and the Creature.

He had seen It's hesitation earlier and noticed that It seemed to have trouble making quick decisions. With Aleksandra, Wes, and himself they might be able to create enough confusion to keep It from actually successfully attacking any of them.

He moved quickly, bare feet carrying him softly and swiftly over the ground. He paid no attention to the rough ground under him, or the rocks that cut his feet. That would be dealt with later. He quickly compartmentalized his pain, shoving it into a walled off section of his mind, and focused on the Creature and how it moved. It had strength and raw speed but no maneuverability and it didn't seem to be able to think fast enough to correct an imbalance or make a quick decision. Adam would use that.

Sword comfortably in hand Adam jumped on the rubble of an old stone wall that seemed to run through the clearing, from there an acrobatic leap carried him to the creature. Adam timed it perfectly, that was his Talent after all. He crashed feet first into the Creature's shoulder, just as it was starting to swing it's hunk of metal at Aleksandra.

Adam didn't weigh all that much but his weight, the momentum from Adam's running jump, and the Creature's own movement all combined to slam into the Creature with considerable force knocking it very off balance. It's swing went very wild and it spun lacking the dexterity to change it's momentum.

Adam tumbled to the ground, rolling clear before he got to his feet. He quickly took stock of his injuries, bumps, bruises; he was slightly singed but not burnt and that was about it. Considering he had nothing to protect his skin he got off remarkably unscathed. That was good. The creature had stumbled well clear of Aleksandra and seemed confused again. That was also good.

“Take turns” he called to the others, trying to keep his voice even but loud enough to be heard over the crunching, lumbering, and crackling chaos that was going on. “Distract. Confuse. Keep moving!”

That would do till they figured out how to take the creature apart. That clearly seemed to be the only way to stop it. They had to remove whatever heart or brain powered the beast. He took stock of what he knew, being this close to it and able to see it clearly.

It didn't bleed...Adam could see that. Instead of blood dripping from the wounds there was a jelly like clear substance. And the liquid stunk, like rancid meat and chemicals. It must have some sort of oil or fat in the liquid as Adam came to realize that was what was burning, not the creature's flesh. The creature must be held together at least somewhat similar to a human, it was shaped and moved roughly like a human. And clearly it had eyes, it could see. Those points, along with it's lack of dexterity, were It's weak points.

If they could open up more wounds they could spread the fire which clearly confused the Creature. He could dart in and work to sever vital tendons, like Aleksandra suggested, and possibly attack the Creature's eyes if he could get in close enough. Between the three of them they could take it down, he was sure of that. It would just take some time and teamwork. They would also need to be fast, faster than the Creature at least. He had confidence in his own skills; he hoped the others were up to the fight as well. He needed their help.

Adam scooped up a fist sized rock and hurled it with remarkable accuracy, pegging the Creature on the ear. Adam knew the thing felt no pain, but he hoped that would at least distract it. The rock served it's intended purpose, the creature growled and turned to face Adam.

Adam laughed loudly, dancing about in a rather foolish manner flourishing his sword wildly.

“That's right!” he shouted hoping to draw all of the things attention to himself. “Come and get me.” He remembered how quickly the Creature had gone to Isabeau's aid. “Come and get me or I'll take my shiny sword and rip out your” here Adam was stumped, he was pretty sure the Creature didn't know Isabeau by name so he took an educated guess “your Mother's lungs!”

That did the trick and the great thing charged Adam, forgetting everyone else. Now Adam just had to stay alive.

Lucie was a shadow, darting between trees and leaping over fallen trunks. It was a long time since she had stretched her abilities to their limits, and now when she finally had the chance to utilise every skill at moving unheard and unseen that she had ever learnt. She felt the blood pumping in her veins and the exhiliration rising up within her, bringing an ecstatic grin to her lips.

She knew where this Lady Isabeau was, having continuously used her psychometry to keep track of her. It had proven useful as, even with years of training, it was still a challenge to track anything in the dark of night, with the colours muddled grey by moonlight, and details washed of colour for the lack of sun. That said, she was still gaining on her quarry - feeling the distance between them lessen with each stride, every branch she pushed aside and every twig she carefully stepped over.

She jumped over a particularly large log, continuing on the deer track she had been following for a while; the hard-packed earth making it easy to stay silent when compared to the soft, leaf covered ground all around. Just ahead of her she knew was the path leading directly to Prague, which was also where she sensed the presence of the only other human in the vicinity. That could only mean one thing, that Lady Isabeau was at the end of the line. Lucie have never willingly let anyone get away from her when she had designated them as her target. It was one reason why she had managed to keep her identity safe for so many years, and also partly why she could walk around in the open without risking discovery.

She slowed down to the point of walking, then creeping carefully through the bushes to catch a glimpse of the woman she was to capture. She was surprised at how easy it was to not only hear her, but also to see her. This was someone who was not used to having to stay out of sight, and so to Lucie's trained eyes and ears she looked like someone bumbling about, making enough noise to awaken the dead. Such a thing was of course not possible. Or that is what she would have said, had she not witnessed the monstrous amalgamation of different men that was the Creature. While she may not be as skilled as Adam when it came to making deductions, even she could figure out that this Lady had quite a lot to do with the disappearances, as well as the creation of the abomination. She could only assume that Isabeau had access to something that allowed her to go beyond what current science was capable of, because otherwise the creation of that Thing would have been an unachievable endeavour.

Whether this meant that she was simply a genius without compare, or similar to Lucie herself, Aleksandra, and the rest of the House in that she had some psychic ability, she could not be certain. That in and of itself merited some level of caution, and yet she would have to act before they reached the city proper. Perhaps frightening her, or revealing her presence nearby, would compel the lady into action and give away whether she was a psychic of some description.

So Lucie set to work, deliberately letting leaves rustle as she passed them, stepping on a twig some distance later, and even darting out behind her and running to the other side of the road like a shade. This went on for several minutes, with Lucie making small amounts of noise at random intervals, and at random places, all to see how the Lady Isabeau would react. She couldn't quite keep a smile off of her face, finding some enjoyment in deliberately frightening yet another target.

Finally she decided to speak, retreating into the trees to keep her location as hidden as possible, her voice as directionless as could be. "Frightened, are we?" She asked lightly from somewhere behind Isabeau, before darting in front of her as quietly as she could. "Did you expect to get away?" She laughed, giggled even, before returning to a place behind Isabeau only to step out onto the middle of the road, face covered in shadow yet amber eyes burning bright with reflected moonlight.

"You're never getting away from me," said Lucie Ruzicka, the Baroness of Thieves, with dreadful finality.

Lily's head throbbed painfully as she slowly regained consciousness. She was aware she was sitting up and could tell someone was near her. More apparent was the heat from the fire she started that continued to spread. Lily opened her eyes ever so slightly but all she could see was a wash of colours and brightness. Her head throbbed horribly when she opened her eyes so she immediately closed them which soothed the pain somewhat. She could hear yelling and screaming near-bye; some of the sounds she recognized as belonging to Adam and her fellow society members, the others to the beast which she had set alight.

Worse than the pain in her head was the embarrassment over what she had just done. In her fear of the creature she had acted on a foolish idea and hurt herself, while also putting everyone else in danger. Her only reprieve from her embarrassment was the smell of burning flesh and animalistic screams which suggested that her fire was at least damaging the beast in some way. But it was not the time for self pity, a beast needed slaying and Lily was not about to sit uselessly on the ground while everyone else did all the work. She took several deep slow breaths until the pain in her head dulled enough for her to try and open her eyes again. Once again her vision was blurry but there was far less pain and after a few seconds her vision coalesced into identifiable shapes. Her vision corrected itself in time for her to see Adam kick the beast in the shoulder causing it to miss with its attempted attack on a member whose name escaped her.

Lily turned her head slightly to see who it was that was near her and was surprised to find Ren. She was even more surprised to see his hand shaking somewhat, suggesting he was just as afraid as she had initially been. Lily wanted to tell him to forget about her and join the others but decided against it for the moment

Taking a deep breath Lily calmed herself and pushed the pain she felt to the back of her mind. She observed the creature, how it moved, how its body reacted to being struck, how it's muscles flexed as it moved. It was a patchwork doll, a mass of scraps Iseabau liked, thrown together into an inhuman construct of flesh and sinew. The blood that ran through its veins was a cocktail of chemicals and bodily fluids, some of which Lily could identify by the smell they made when they burned and the colour of the fire. Nothing stood out as a potential weakness, beyond the basics of what would disable a human. Remove the limbs, damage the senses, destroy the brain or the heart. These were tactics that would no doubt work, but the beast was proving formidable to the group, it would not allow itself to be destroyed so easily. Which meant they needed to find a way that didn't leave the creature with any other choice but to die.

Once again, Lily cleared her mind and began massing every relevant detail she could think of.

-- Possible chemical component of blood: Cytoplasm -- Creature's screams do not seem to be from pain, but rage. Conclusion. Doesn't feel pain -- Isabeau did not kill Adam immediately to harvest his parts. Freshness must be a factor -- Beast is uncoordinated and easily distracted. Brain function operating on basic level -- Bullets seem to do little damage. Muscle mass providing protection to inner organs -- Familiar sound. Hiss of fluids on heated metal. Conclusion. Metal framework used to bolster bone strength --

Lily picked out the parts that seemed most relevant and willed her mind from her body. In an instant her semi-ethereal body was standing over her physical one. She retrieved some items from the few pouches that remained on her person and charged after the others and the creature. Being invisible allowed her to circle around quickly without getting in the way or risking being hit. Unseen or not getting into position was a difficult task as the creature charged after Adam, who continued to do his best to avoid the brutes attacks at all costs. Waiting for the right moment Lily charged forward and fire one of her pistols at the creatures face, relying on law of averages and the abundance of projectiles coming out of the barrel to hit her target rather than proper aim. Not wasting time to see if she managed to blind the creature Lily tossed the pistol aside and moved in close to the beast. Her form could feel the heat of the fire though she only recognized it as stimulus and not something that could hurt her. Once she was close enough she set to work using the other item she brought with her, a razor sharp scalpel; a small blade but one built for cutting flesh. With it distracted by Adam and the others Lily was able to start attacking vital areas. Tendons, arteries, and joints. Many of her slashes simply left deep, but not deep enough, cuts. But she could tell a few were able to sink deep enough to hit main arteries as the creature began to bleed more and more of the strange liquid. While it didn't work exactly like a human the fluid was undoubtedly important to the creature; Muscles still needed oxygen and other vital chemicals. The less inner fluid the creature had the less able its body would be able to sustain it's functionality, making it easier to fight.

Lily, unnoticed by the creature as it lacked the cognitive ability to imagine an invisible enemy, continued her assault on the vital parts of the monster. Just as she managed to slice through the Achilles tendon on the left leg she felt a bullet slam into her shoulder, followed quickly by a slash across her back; the downside to being invisible was that while enemies could not see you, neither could allies. Neither attack caused her pain or dealt damage, however it shocked her long enough that she was unable to avoid the beast as it swung one of its arms back in rage. Lily's semi-ethereal body was thrown backwards over a dozen meters. Her lack of body mass allowing the hit to send her father than was feasibly possible under normal circumstances; mid flight she lost her scalpel. As her body hit the ground she willed herself back to her body and looked to the creature to see the results of her handy work. Though it was gushing the strange jelly like liquid profusely, leaving pools of fluid all over the field, the loss of vital plasma hadn't seemed to effect it yet. The damage to the tendon on the other hand, while it hadn't brought the monster down, seemed to have slowed the creature as it began to favor its right leg more.

Lily wasn't sure what more she could do as fighting was not her forte, and the majority of the items and equipment she could have used to help had been destroyed in the blast. Looking again to Ren she realized that the best thing she could do at that moment was let Ren know she would be alright.

"Ren... I'll be fine. The fighting is no where near me and I have strength enough to crawl away. Go. Help the others. Help Adam."

Isabeau & Lucie

Isabeau had been fighting off the fear as moved. She knew something was out there, something following her, and it was not her creation. Stories were told among pesants, stories of things that came lurking in the night, and Isabeau was almost to the point of believing them.

She had stopped running, she was getting nowhere fast, and instead moving as quickly as she could without tripping, smacking into bushes, and still keeping mostly to the shadows.

She used her own talent to suppress the speed of her heart, control her breathing, but despite her psychic command over her own body battling her mind was a different story. She kept thinking of her private terror, the Penanggalan. She had never even seen one but in her research into the keys to immortality she studied alot of undead folklore and there were some island natives who had this truely terrifying myth of a woman that could detach her head and fly off at night to feed on the living.

From the bushes beside the road a deer bolted, straight at her. Isabeau barely stiefled a shriek as she dodged the terrified animal. That start did not help her mood at all. Still her pursuer gained on her and she had no idea what was stalking her.

No idea that is until the human voice carried through the dark. Isabeau worked with life and death, understood it as few others in this world. She knew what could be done and what couldn't and she knew this was a living voice. If it was living it could be killed, barring that delayed until she could escape.

Isabeau stopped at the voice and stood still, drawing herself up and burring her fear deep inside. She was a powerful woman, a master of her art, brilliant, cunning, and dangerous. She held onto that as she strained her eyes in the dark, not seeing anything.

The sound behind her caused her to turn and she thought she caught a glimpse of movement but it was gone rather quickly. The voice spoke again from behind her and this time when Isabeau turned the woman remained visible. The shadows hid most of her body and for a brief second all Isabeau saw was her head; the flash of fear returned before logic, and the sight of the woman's body just hidden in the shadow, drove it out.

Isabeau's assessment was quick and efficient, her fear banished in the wake of cold confidence. The woman was fairly tall, and 'felt' healthy and strong and Isabeau didn't want it to come to a hand to hand fight for survival. She doubted she would win. She had to have been sent by Adam; random coincidence just made no sense. That also meant she was clever and likely Talented in someway.

Even as she evaluated the girl with her eyes, she reached out with her Talent probing her. Just a tiny bit to see if she spotted any obvious weaknesses; injuries or the like; but there seemed to be nothing so simple.

Meeting Lucie's eyes, a challenge in the wonky darkness, Isabeau smiled a cold smile. It was nearly as chilling as Lucie's own.

“Guess what? I can see you now” she said in a slightly sing-song voice.

Those were the only words Isabeau said before leveling the force of her psychic Talent against Lucie's own psychic nature. Isabeau had no idea precisely how her abilities would affect the other woman, knew only that she had to try and cripple her in mind and body, enough so that Isabeau could escape un-hindered. It hit Lucie like a drug, worming its way into her body, trying to alter her mental capacity.

******
Lily & Ren

Ren had been holding Lily quite gingerly, he had this crazy fear that he might break her. She had seemed somehow diminished when she left her body. He didn't even really know what happened, only that something was drastically different. In much the same way he didn't actually see what happened to the monstrous creature to cause the myriad of tiny wounds to blossom all over it. He put the two things together however and knew that Lily had done something and now she was back to her usual self again.

“Master Adam ordered me to keep you safe” said Ren with a dull finality allowing no argument. “Take my revolver” he said pressing the metal hard into her hand. He was shaking too much to use it accurately anyway and he had other ways of fighting. He was not weak, and he had Adam's training. “If we can get away from the fighting here maybe you can do...whatever it was you just did again. This time shooting the kokot thing in the face.”

He helped her to her feat, not so much helped as picked her up and placed her carefully down on her feet, before looking around to find a place they could get out of the fight. A wall, piece of old machinery, or tree to shelter them, something so they could go unnoticed. He knew instinctively if Lily was going to do her here-but-also-there trick they would need a safer place.

"There" he said pointing to an old rusted piece of equipment. It was so badly rusted out he couldn't tell what it was, but it was overgrown with weeds and made a nice mix of metal and vegetation they could hide behind.

Aleksandra crashed to a halt as a stray root caught her by the boot, sending her sprawling into the ground, adding yet more dirt, grime, and nastiness to her already absolutely ruined coat. She seethed internally for a moment, before the reality of the situation returned and she looked behind herself fearfully, expecting to see the beast bearing down on her with murder in its eyes and death for herself. Instead, it seemed to have taken off after Adam instead. She had not properly heard what he had said, her ears still rang slightly with the crack of gunfire, but she could see him flourishing his sword and gesturing, and she whispered a silent prayer of thanks to whatever higher beings were listening as she jumped to her feet.

Adam had given her a moment’s reprieve, and she hastily pulled both of her revolvers from their holsters, hurriedly fumbling for more ammunition to slot into the chambers, including a full cylinder of the smokeless loads she had developed, coupled with ‘dumdum’ bullets to expand within the creature - in theory. She looked up, half expecting to see the thing’s fist raised above her, but mercifully it was still chasing Adam. Something she intended to rectify forthwith.

“Hey!” She called, firing off a shot of black powder and hurriedly slotting another cartridge into the revolver’s cylinder. “Why are you chasing him? I’m off to go flay your mother alive and make pies out of her!” She took aim at the beast, firing a shot aimed at its head - the round missed its mark, but only just, grazing by and slamming into the thing’s jaw instead. Aleksandra frowned, firing off another two shots in the same direction - but both missed, zipping off into the trees behind the thing.

She had its attention however, and she took aim and fired again, aiming for its legs - another two rounds found their mark, on burying itself in the fleshy section of its thigh where she would be amazed if it did any appreciable damage at all. The latter homed in on its shin, the lead slug digging into the bones and flesh. The creature seemed ill fazed, and only angrier.

Aleksandra gulped, backpedaling slightly, before mustering her courage. She drew her sword, saving the other revolver and its more powerful ammunition for when she had a better chance of hitting the beast. “Actually, scratch that! I’ll just flay her and…” she trailed off for a moment, “Stab her a lot with my even shinier sword! And then set her on fire!”

The beast was, once again, charging towards her, but she didn’t flee, instead carefully backing away and towards a tree. Once it was close, she would dive aside and hopefully the monster’s own momentum would carry it into the tree and buy them some time. However, as it began to close the distance, she took aim, praying under her breath that this would have some effect on its mad charge towards her.

Six shots rang out, the supersonic crack of the projectiles far louder than other rounds from before. Two shots were aimed at its head, one missed, grazing the shoulder. The other homed in on its neck, burying into and punching out the other side of the beast’s neck. Maybe, if she were lucky, it had dealt some injury to its spine. The other four shots took aim at the legs, two missing their mark entirely and one merely grazing its groin. In her eerie calm as she took aim with the final shot, Aleksandra remarked to herself that it certainly looked exceedingly painful nonetheless.

The final concussive blast rang out from the barrel of her gun, the bullet speeding along its path and embedding itself within the thing’s knee. Her prayer quickened as she hastily threw her guns back in their holsters, not bothering to draw her blade as the monster neared. When it was scarcely a meter or two away, the earth itself shuddering with its charge, she dove, putting every iota of strength she possessed into her legs to carry her as far from the thing as possible. She landed awkwardly, and a searing pain lanced through her as her ankle twisted. At the very least, it was sprained.

Silently, she made peace with the fact that she would likely die any second now, and dragged herself around to look at the tree and monster she had only moments before stood in front of.

Lilian clenched her jaw and tried not to scream out. Her legs were badly burnt, and Ren dragging her through the rough grass and dirt was quite painful to say the least. Her knuckles turned white as her grip on the newly acquired pistol tightened. Once behind the rusted out bit of farm equipment, that Ren had decided was a suitable hiding place, he stopped dragging Lilian; to her great relief. Based on his comments and gift of a firearm it was clear Ren wanted Lilian to return to her not-so-astral astral form and fight the beast once again. The pain in her legs was at the forefront of her mind however, searing away any other thoughts. When she had awoken before, her slightly delirious state kept her shielded from the pain and allowed her to will herself from her body. But now that she had some time to regain her sensibilities her guard from pain was gone. She knew once she was free of her body she would no longer feel anything, but that was a moot point as she couldn't concentrate long enough to do so.

Lilian glance backward at Ren who was looking over their shelter at the desperate battle beyond. The light of the fire bathed his face in harsh reds and oranges, highlighting the deep worry he was clearly feeling. There was fear, only a fool would not feel fear in the face of such a monstrosity, but it was clear Ren's foremost emotion was worry about the master of the house.

Lilian continued to try and leave her body but the pain remained constantly in her way of doing so. She was about to inform Ren of her inability to help when the sound of a splintering explosion tore through the noise of the fray. Lilian looked to the source of the sound and could see that the creature had just smashed through a tree, leaving most of it in a pile of large broken chunks, some of which stuck out of the monster like steaks. Had it not been for the fire that still engulfed the creatures body Lily would most likely not have noticed that laying within reach of the beast was one of her fellow members. The women was conscious but she wasn't moving away, instead she laid where she was, facing the beast. In that moment Lilian felt a great deal of concern for her fallen comrade, knowing full well what would happen should the creature turns its attentions to the women. This moment of concern distracted Lily from her pain long enough for her to will herself out of her body. Grabbing the gun still held tightly in her hand she took off as fast as her non-existent legs could carry her towards the beast who had recovered from its' collision with the tree and had turned its' sights toward the downed opponent nearby.

The creature turned, slowly, as if it was about to fall down at any moment. It raised two powerful arms into the air and one hand tightly gripped a fist made with the other, forming a massive fleshy hammer. For a moment it hesitated, as if the beast had finally had enough, as if the weight of it's own arms raised above its' head was about to make to fall over. The creature was bleeding it's strange white plasma from all over its' body. The damage to its' legs alone was so severe Lily couldn't believe it still stood. In additional to all it's bodily wounds, the monster's head now sported a sizable divot from when it's forehead connected with the tree. Wounded as it was the creature must of found some manor of reserved strength deep within itself for it opened its' mouth wide to let out a bone chilling scream of pure rage and pain. At any moment it would crush the women at it's feet, who now was quickly reloading one of her guns in an attempt to stave off the monster's attack. With the beast damaged as it was Lillian knew that it only needed it bit more to push it over the edge and finally die. Confident the beast wouldn't be able to react after all the damage it had received Lilian stood right in front of the beast, so close the flame of it's body licked her semi-astral form. She raised the gun Ren had given her, holding with both of her non-existent hands and took aim at the damaged part of the beast's head.

Six shots cracked through the air one after another, most -but not all- connecting with the dented part of of the monster's skull, leaving a sizable hole in it's head. The creature swayed but still seemed, impossibly so, to be alive. Tossing the gun aside Lillian desperately looked around for something to fight the monster with. Her eyes quickly landed on the other woman's sword but there was no way she would be able to pick it up, and even if she could in her current form she lacked the strength to do much with it. Her eyes continued to scan around for something to help.The area was littered with rocks and branches but nothing that seemed of much use. Lillian's sight eventually came to rest on a strange shimmering coming from the grass beneath the monster. Hoping it was something sharp, Lillian dove forward and grabbed for the shimmering item. Her hand closed around the handle of the scalpel she had lost from before when the beast threw her. Not wanting to give the monster anymore time to recover, Lillian got to her non-existent feet and leaped into the air as high as she could. In realty she wasn't able to jump all that high, but it was just enough so that the zenith of her jump she was within reach to stab the scalpel into the brain of the monster through the sizable hole in its' head she had made with the gun. She let go of the scalpel and fell to the ground, landing on her non-existent feat and leaving the small blade deeply implanted in the creature. Not waiting to see if the scalpel was what finally brought the beast down, Lillian began to look for a rock she could throw. Just as she was about to grab one that looked serviceable she heard a loud bang as something powerful smacked into her form. In an attempt to shoot the monster the woman on the ground had shoot Lilian who was standing between the beast and the end of the gun. She felt no pain from the shot but it shocked her. Suddenly found herself back in her real body. Before she could question how this had happened as she had not willed it to happen, a pain like nothing she had ever felt before enveloped every part of her mind. It drove out all logical thought, bathing her mind in pain until all she could do, was scream.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Lucie had expected fear.

She had expected terror in the eyes. When those who thought themselves untouchable suddenly came face to face, with their own mortality, it always brought forth a little kid trying to get away. But Isabeau... Isabeau was different. She didn't start blabbering, she didn't stumble or try to run, nor did she make any attempts at bargaining. And though there was fear - a widening of the eyes, a moment of immobilizing indecision - it was momentary, replaced by a smile within far too short a time.

Lucie remained motionless, her smile fell and her eyes narrowed. This woman shouldn't be confident. She had no right to be. She had been running for her life before, something people only ever did if they knew their time was short, so why was she smiling now that she had been caught? The answer was simple, she had some kind of trump card.

"Guess What? I can see you now."

The answer to why presented itself with those words, a wave of drowsiness washed over her, forcing her eyes to droop and her posture to slacken. Thinking became difficult, as though wading through the sludge of a swamp.

Her entire posture slumped, muscles that had been tensed to act at a moment's notice slackening and leaving her open, flat footed. Lucie blinked, lifting her head to look around. What had happened? Why... why was she here again? She wanted to rest. It would be so easy, to just lie down and let time pass. But didn't she have something she wanted to do?

That wasn't important. If it was there would be no reason to lie down.

But she was... where was she? Out in the forest, yes. She wouldn't be here for no reason.

That was true, but even then there were a lot of trees to lean up against as she rested.

"That was true." Those words meant something. It was true that she was here for a reason, a reason that her own mind was trying to convince her was no longer important. Her fingers twitched, eyes blinked, and a little bit of clarity returned.

What had she been doing up until now? She had felt drowsy, wanting to rest... but why? She was here for a reason,
why was she like this? It wasn't like her, had never been. She was - another blink, another twitch - not someone who would act like this. Why? Why! Why why why?!

From the back of her mind, slowly and muddy as if seen through a dirty window, came a name. A name that answered her question; a name that told her the reason she was here, what she was doing and - finally - an answer for Why.

Isabeau.

I am not like this, Lucie told herself, a kernel of anger flaring in her mind, pushing back the fog. I am not some weakling that can be beaten by drugs. She parted her lips, fingers clenching. I am not so easily defeated. I- she bit down on her tongue, the pain flaring in her mind and shattered the bonds on her mind, vaporizing the fog and bringing clarity back to her "-Am Lucie Ružička, Baroness of Thieves and Princess of the Underground. You have no power over me, Witch!"

Like the pain, her anger flared, and with with a flash of movement and steel, she had drawn a dagger from her belt and flung it at Isabeau, still within range. Still, the effects of Isabeau's talent lingered, throwing off her aim. It only grazed her, leaving a shallow cut in her arm. Annoyance replaced her anger, followed by another flash of steel as her second dagger as thrown, this one aimed at Isabeau's calves. Adeleia had given her no orders as to whether or not to take Isabeau alive, but she wasn't one to kill. Didn't like it. If Adeleia wanted her dead, she would have to deal the killing blow herself. Lucie was content to inflict pain and render her unable to fight back.

"Your cheap tricks won't work again, Isabeau," Lucie said - promised - and threw a third dagger.

Adam & Aleksandra & Creature:

Adam finally had a chance to draw a careful breath as the Creature's attention was suddenly drawn from him to the invisible assault from Lily. Adam watched in fascination as tiny wounds spread over the creature. It was like watching a fire spread across a grassland, each cut burst into flames like a blade of grass catching fire, spreading over the creature and turning it into a walking torch. With the creature distracted Adam took his chance and moved to the side, circling the beast. In a half-crouch he moved across clearing as quickly as he could. The creature was confused, fire obscuring it's vision and the brightness around it making the shadows ever so much darker. Adam used that to hide, catching his breath, and testing the injuries on his body so he would know just how far he could push himself.

The sound of a gunshot blasted through the stench and smoke of the night, followed by Aleksandra's hurled insults. Despite the gravity of the situation Adam chuckled as he listened to her taunts. He had to remember to compliment her on them; shinier sword indeed. It definitely got the creatures attention and Adam calculated his next move as the Aleksandra took a turn at dodging the beasts attacks.

The Creature was lost, confused, and growing more wild by the second. It's head snapped back as the bullet slammed into it's jaw, ripping it half off. Soon flames were dripping from where it's mouth should be. Any sane person would have run in terror by now from the horrifying spectre of this thing; fortunately for Adam those he had chosen for this mission did not conform to the normal definitions of sane.

Wreathed in flames, unable to see clearly, the Creature desperately searched for the source of this new attack. It heard the taunts, registering what it would mean to his mother, it knew it had to kill these people. Locked onto Aleksandra it charged, heedless and uncaring, even as flames began to melt it's flesh and burn deeper into it's body.

It felt no pain but that didn't mean it wasn't beginning to suffer. As Aleksandra's shots began to pick it apart, ripping apart it's legs and neck, it stumbled and slowed. Unable to move properly, it faltered and in a final attempt to catch the woman who had been shooting it, It threw all it's weight forward in a leap that carried it into the tree Aleksandra had just been standing in front of.

A snapping sound, abrupt and harsh, reverberated through the clearing. The tree splintered as the Creature crashed into it, but that wasn't the only noise. Some harsh, metallic shriek blended into the sound of splintering wood and gunfire.

Adam had no idea what it was but he knew it was something inside the Creature; something that had gone wrong with it's body. It was moving with labored staccato movements. Adam watched it try to fight off another invisible attack, body shuddering under the impact of the bullets Lily fired. It failed much more miserably this time and the metallic shriek grew more pronounced.

Adam's smile was grim and determined as he raced forward, a split second after Lily made her leap to stab the creature through the skull Adam hit it from behind with every bit of force he could drive through his blade. He didn't even register further gunshots as anything further than the chaos and cacophony of the fight and while he noticed Lily's nearly invisible assault halt he didn't think it had import.

The Creature stumbled first backward then forwards and finally just stopped and stood still, Adam's sword still embedded in it. Adam blinked rapidly, completely caught off guard by the sudden stillness. Foul smelling goop still dripped from it's wounds and fire burned across skin and muscle but the Creature didn't move so much as a centimeter. Even when Adam reached up and rather viciously yanked his sword free of the beast it didn't move.

He stalked carefully around the thing but it was plain to see there was nothing left but a husk, metal, flesh, and oil, but nothing to power it. Whatever had given it life was gone. Hopefully it would burn out soon as well, before it caught the whole glade on fire. He figured they would need to take it apart, perhaps even take parts back for study, but he wasn't about to tackle that when it was still a mess of dripping flames. Plus the stench was nearly unbearable, he was actually struggling not to gag.

Adam looked around looking for signs of further trouble, fire, or anything else. It was bad enough to be fighting a hellacious battle for one's life while stark naked; he really didn't want any further surprises. He spotted Aleksandra and reached out a hand to help her up, even as he looked around for the others and any horses that might not have bolted, a vain hope but still a hope. He saw no one, human or horses.

“Ren?” he called, voice even but loud enough to carry across the clearing.

“Here Master Adam” came the call, from somewhere among the darkness. “If you could join me? I am fine. Miss Lily is not.”

*****************


Isabeau

Isabeau & Lucie:

Isabeau stood arrogantly, staring down the other woman in the darkness. Her power flared around her, and around Lucie, a storm of dark energy visible only to those who had a Talent to see such things. Lucie might not have seen the effects of Isabeau's power but she felt them keenly.

Isabeau was confident that the other woman would succumb, confident enough to take a step towards her. The lance of pain in her arm startled her and loosened her psychic grip, she hadn't even seen the other woman draw a dagger.

This was the danger in using her power without appropriate study. Drugs affected different people in different strengths and ways. The same was true of psychic powers, particularly those that attacked the mind. The second dagger buried itself in Isabeau's leg even as she pulled her thoughts together to strengthen her Talent. Isabeau used the pain this time, focusing on it, using it to block her fear. Pain was no mystery to her, it simply was, and she could use it. She pictured in her mind the blood welling from her wound, pictured each droplet, focused her mind on each drop getting smaller and smaller, pictured the cells that made up the blood, imagined them flowing through her body. It was a powerful meditative technique, to picture something one is familiar with growing smaller and smaller, as one did that ones Talent grew more and more focused, more and more powerful.

Unfortunately for Isabeau, though she was able to block off distractions and focus solely on her Talent it wasn't enough. Lucie seemed particularly resistant, or perhaps trained to resit such mind altering tactics. A third dagger buried itself in her shoulder, piercing muscle and weakening her arm. Isabeau knew now she couldn't fight, even if she wanted to. She was not ambidextrous and her sword arm was now shot. She had only one recourse now. She yanked her Talent back from Lucie, freeing her from any lingering effects, and poured it into her own body. She strengthened her lungs and blocked the pain, and turned and ran as fast as she could. Caution and bravado both gone now, she simply ran.

The taste of blood filled Lucie’s mouth, spurring her on. This Isabeau had been dangerous, and would likely have succeeded at her ploy against anyone other than herself or Aleksandra. But what she had said just before the wave of lethargy washed over her, that she could see her, gave away one core part of her ability: She needed to see her. That, however, wasn’t important right now. She had beaten it, and done so soundly. She grit her teeth and stepped forward, eyes blazing as she fixed them on Isabeau. It wasn’t anger, so much as determination: A Promise. You cannot escape me.

Isabeau stood visibly shocked. To a normal person she might’ve looked no different than normal, but Lucie had been taught many things. And this was one of them. Isabeau was surprised, and the slight widening of her eyes spoke of her realisation. And so, she ran. The sudden lack of a blanket dullness covering Lucie’s mind made her stumble, but only for a moment. She shook her head and spat out a glob of spittle and blood and gave chase.

Isabeau was fast - faster than she had expected from a noblewoman - and initially increased the distance between them. Lucie, still in pursuit, however, didn’t give up. It had been a long time since she had really pushed her body to its limits, but now was a time where she had the chance. She ignored her peripheral, focusing all of her attention on her quarry before her. She couldn’t - wouldn’t - let this woman escape her. If it was as she suspected, and this was the woman who had kidnapped men from the underground, then she had gone where she was not welcome. She still saw it as a part of her: A world where ruthlessness and crime was prevalent, where you had to hone your body and mind to the utmost or risk having everything taken from you. She had left it behind, but it was still hers. And Isabeau had trespassed.

Lucie pushed herself further, running as fast as her body would allow, and she slowly started to gain ground.

Isabeau felt the other woman closing in on her, or maybe it was her own fate closing in on her. The trickle of fear was spreading but it spurred her on as much as her own Talent. She knew about adrenaline and what it could do to the body; she needed it’s boost of strength and speed. She could crash later, if she survived. That was what the logical part of her mind told her anyway. Knowing this she funneled her Talent into her adrenal system, increasing its strength as well.

This was a mistake, one that she wouldn’t have made if she had proper time to think things through. But fear and circumstance led to irrational action and as the adrenaline flooded her body only increased the irrationality. As she ran she suddenly saw a creepy twisted shape looming ahead of her. She didn’t even stop to figure out what it was, tree or beast, she didn’t know. She only knew to run.

Propelled by fear she dashed off the path into the pressing darkness without looking back. Her pace slowed as branches ripped her flesh and clothing, but she did not stop.

Lucie, on the other hand, felt no such fear, nor was it adrenaline as much as a childhood of rigorous training keeping her running. When Isabeau darted into the forest, she followed without hesitation. She was more at home in streets and alleys, but for the sake of catching this monster in human guise, she would gladly go out of her comfort zone. She ducked and weaved, pushing aside whipping branches and jumping over fallen logs and odd depressions wherever she came across them.

She briefly considered taking out one of her remaining throwing knives, but decided against it. With this many trees she was unlikely to hit much of anything, let alone while running at a sprint and on uneven ground to boot. She instead grit her teeth, and pushed herself to go faster. Isabeau was yet ahead of her, but still not out of sight, and she was still gaining on her, faster now that they were in a terrain where an untrained woman like Isabeau was at a disadvantage, even if the terrain also forced Lucie to slow down, albeit not as much.

Isabeau was running blind. She had known the path having traveled it many times before but here in the bush with the moon only out at intermittent intervals she was blind. A branch here knocked her off balance, a rock there tripped her, and still she kept running. Fear was not something she normally accepted but with everything that had happened plus her own Talent augmenting her adrenal response, there was no way she could fight it. She didn’t even have the presence of mind to stop her psychic enhancement.

She heard the sound of footsteps behind her and pushed onward. It was the chill of the water that brought her out of her fear-induced flight. She had run straight into a small stream, tripped, and fallen face first in the icy water. Exhausted and confused she pulled herself to her hands and knees, frantically looking around. The moon was out for the moment, reflecting on the water, and Isabeau began a limping run up the stream bed. She spied a pocket of deep shadow and with her ‘sanity’ returning and knowing she was done in, she headed for it.

It turned out to be a jumble of rocks which created pockets of darkness and she tucked her sore, bleeding, wet body in between two of them. It was her only chance now. She couldn’t fight and she couldn’t run any longer. Hiding was her only option left.

The ploy had worked, as Lucie jumped over the stream, having only just noticed the glint of moonlight reflected in the water. She continued on her way for a while more, getting at least half a dozen running strides in before she realised something was wrong. There were no longer whipping branches ahead of her, nor the sound of frantic steps from Isabeau running. She stopped, and turned around, peering into the darkness behind her. The stream was a good six metres behind her, the gurgle of water and the rustling tree branches providing the only sound for the moment.

Where did she go? Lucie wondered, turning her head around as far as she could. She didn’t move her feet, knowing that the extra sound her footsteps would cause, could be matched and used to mask the movement of Isabeau, were she clever enough to use that tactic. But even with senses as honed as hers, she could see nothing now. Isabeau had well and truly disappeared. She grit her teeth, feeling the kernel of anger flare in her breast. No, she wouldn’t let her go. If she could not trust her eyes and ears, there was only one option left: To trust her mind.

She cast her mind out as far as she could, providing the forest with a single word: Isabeau.

In front of her, to the left. Three metres from where she had jumped over the stream. It was as if the forest itself helped her turn her head, and move her eyes to a small formation of rocks. She tilted her head, eyebrows rising. Had she really missed that? It was obvious in hindsight, but when she’d come running she had fallen into the trap of tunnel visioning. She had focused too much on catching up to Isabeau, and not enough on keeping track of the woman herself. No matter, she said to herself, and took the first, careful step towards where Isabeau was hiding, doing her best to step carefully and with as little sound as possible. It was slow going, matching her steps with the rustling of the branches - moving only whenever a particularly strong gust came by.

Within a minute or two, however, she took the final step, standing over the rock formation with a clear view of the pocket of the darkness, and the frightened woman within. She made sure to meet her eyes, and gave her a slow, cold, smile. “Found you,” she said, making a show of drawing her sword slowly, the blade glinting in the moonlight. “You have two options, lady. Come with me peacefully, or by force.” She levelled the sword at her in a fluid, practiced motion. “Your choice.”

Isabeau had nothing left. She was exhausted, mentally and physically, from everything that had happened. She could feel the adrenaline rush drain out of her body leaving her weak as a newborn kitten. Still, when Lucie showed up, she had enough presence of mind to know the end had come. Despite everything she had done, everything she had planned to do, there was still a thread of sanity in amongst the insane dedication. She knew the horror of what she had done, the truth of what she had created, and was still massively proud of it. She had given life to death; that was something no one else had ever done, and she suspected no one else would ever do.

She had to assume Adam would survive her creature’s attack; one of the reasons she had wanted his mind to complete her project was his ability to surprise and survive. Indeed he had surprised her even after he was unconscious; who would have guessed the master of the society was a woman, ruining all her plans in that one moment. Everything that had happened, everything that had gone wrong, could all be traced to Adam. It was his fault and he wouldn’t stop until everything she had worked for was gone.

Adam would have destroyed her work by now, the last bit of her husband and the only child she would ever have, would be gone. He would not leave her research untouched, he would destroy that too. She wondered briefly if he would even destroy the records of herself and her husband in the society...would anyone remember all they had accomplished in the end?

All these thoughts passed through her mind in seconds as she watched the other woman. She was silent for what seemed a very long moment and when she stood it was with difficulty and determination. Her voice, like the rest of her, was weak. The only good thing was that she was simply too tired to be afraid anymore.

“Are you Adam’s Lady?” she said almost conversationally, choosing her words slowly to buy her a bit of time to muster what Talent she had left. The question received a raised eyebrow from Lucie.

Isabeau knew she would probably need to touch the other woman to do much of anything, she was that weak, but she wouldn’t just give up. “You certainly have the tenacity he would find attractive. Let’s get this over with shall we? I have no intention of coming with you peacefully, or at all.”

Lucie clicked her tongue almost as if disappointed. “I am no one’s woman,” she said slowly, eyes trained on Isabeau’s. “I lived my life as a tool to another man, but now I’m free, and I do as I wish.” She clicked her tongue one last time, closing her mouth with a clack of teeth. “But be that as it may. I gave you a choice.” And then she swung, moving as quickly and as suddenly as she could, aiming for Isabeau’s temple with the flat of her blade. She had left the underground partially because she no longer wanted to kill, and she was not about to go back on her decision.

Isabeau let the blow come, there was no way she could stop it anyway. Instead she threw what little Talent she hadn’t used up into her neurological systems; trying to protect them as best she could. It was a gamble in many ways, if she would survive to fight another day, but she would certainly lose if she fought now; so there really wasn’t any other option.

The blade connected with her skull with a dull thud and Isabeau passed out unconscious without any hinderance.

Standing beside the unconscious Isabeau, Lucie exhaled and sheathed her sword. “Idiot woman,” she muttered and bent down to pick her up, and throw her over her shoulder. Adeleia, Alexandra, and the others should have been able to take care of that… thing. Suppose I’ll find out, she thought and went about finding her way back.

Lilian laid on the ground, her upper body leaned against Ren while she squeezed one of his hands with her own. Her other hand gripped the tattered remains of her clothes. Ever so gently she pulled on the hem of her dress to inspect her legs. She squeezed Ren's hand tighter as the fabric running across what were more than likely some serious burns caused a fresh wave of intense pain. She managed not to scream out this time though her vision blurred partially from fresh tears. She pulled until she could see form her knee's down. She couldn't see all that well where she was, but the ambient light from the fires that still burned all around the clearing were enough for her to see that her legs were burned worse than she had hopped, but not as bad as she had feared. She pulled on here dress a little more and found that the burns traveled well past her knees. While Lily was not one to care about what many would consider common decency, she was unwilling to continue to inspect how much farther the burns went in the company she currently held. With some help from Ren she managed to cover her legs without causing too much more discomfort.

Lily closed her eyes and rested her head against Ren's chest. She did her best to block out the pain but her efforts were not yielding the best results.

Aleksandra stood to the best of her abilities, nursing her ankle as she limped forward, glancing around the clearing as though some other monstrosity might burst forth from the undergrowth and begin a second battle to the death. Mercifully, the woods were silent, and she ambled off to join Adam and the others.

The creature lay near, and she left Adam and Ren to attend to Lily - in truth, she needed to know what had powered this... thing and she feared that every second to pass let slip something else from its hulking, abominable form. Gingerly, she knelt down, doing her best to keep weight off her ankle, and poked at the thing - she knew it was dead, and yet some childlike hesitance within her still made her reluctant to accept that fact. Regardless, she pressed on, feeling around its eyes, mouth, nose, and then lower - the chest, examining the stitching. Carefully, she slotted her knife in between some of it, severing the threads binding the flesh. She wanted to delve deeper, to do a full autopsy on the creature - but as it was, adrenaline still surging through her veins, the wan light of the moon that managed to filter through the trees - it was a fruitless endeavor.

Pushing herself up, she limped over to Adam, Ren, and the unconscious form of Lily. Turning to Adam, she raised an eyebrow. "You need to be more selective in your choices of friends." She murmured.

As the adrenaline started to bleed off Adam felt a bone crushing weariness seep into his body. It was not just his exertion from the fight but also lingering effects from Isabeau's power on him. His Talent was not like others, in fact it was so vastly different even he didn't fully understand it. Unlike others his Talent was always in effect, the trouble came when he used his power too much or too little. It was a strange delicate balancing act. If he restrained his Talent fully, as Isabeau had done to him, the chaos of his mind threatened to pull him in and leave him in a catatonic state trapped in his own mind. Too much use and he started to see patterns in literally everything, from the way leaves grew on the trees to the throbbing of blood in his veins. It could quickly overwhelm his sanity.

Even as he gingerly made his way across the ground towards where he had heard Ren he could feel the precarious balance of his sanity slipping. He focused on the pain in his feet to keep in control. It was really quite excruciating. He could tell without looking they were badly cut and probably filled with grass and dirt. It would take quite some time to minster to them properly, time they probably didn't have.

He cast a glance over his shoulder at Aleksandra as she examined the creature. Good enough for now; though he hoped to figure out a way to take it with them. It was clearly devoid of whatever life powered it but it was still dangerous in the wrong hands. If they couldn't take it they would need to dismantle it at least .

Limping slowly he rounded the pile of random metallic junk that Ren and Lily were behind.

“She's bad Master Adam” said Ren softly as he saw Adam approach. His quick eyes took int the state of his Master and recognized the telltale signs of extreme fatigue; Adam wasn't in a good way either he could tell. Ren gave a quick nod to his jacket which was lying nearby, he had the foresight to set it aside for Adam before he gathered up Lily. The woman felt easily breakable in his arms, he was almost afraid to move, she seemed that weak. Ren was more worried than he let on but he trusted Adam to know what to do.

Adam grabbed the coat and shrugged it on, buttoning it as tight as it would go, thankful for at least the illusion of protection. Ren was a larger man than Adam, the jacket fell almost to his knees, a small fact but one he was grateful for. Still clutching his sword he moved over to kneel by Ren and Lily, startled when he felt a small weight against his leg. He reached into the pocket of Ren's coat and pulled out a small flask, arching an eyebrow at his servant as he did. Ren only shrugged back.

“Lily you should drink this” Adam said softly as he he pressed the flask into her hands. It will dull the pain and relax your body so Ren can carry you easier. He cast about for something, anything, that he could wrap his feet in. He needed something to tie them up, take some of the roughness from the ground, and keep them from bleeding further.

Ren guessed what he was looking for, he had a gift for knowing what Adam needed, and told him to use the sleeves of his coat. Adam nodded and quickly cut the lower parts of the sleeves off, tearing a few strips to use as bindings, folding the rest up to form the “sole” of these makeshift shoes. It took a few minutes, but it gave him time to collect his thoughts and breathe. He really wanted to go through the old buildings nearby, as well as take the creature back to House Ianus, but as badly hurt as everyone was there was no way they could do this alone. He needed to get back and have some others come do the cleanup work.

As Aleksandra joined them he stood, a bit unsteadily, but the pain was at least diminished. He wished he could have some of Ren's liquor but he didn't dare cloud his mind, not yet. Aleksandra's comment on his “friends” he gave her a strangely dark smile. “In this particular instance that will be rectified as soon as I get a chance. We are all entitled to a little madness, but she was abusing the privilege.”

Even as he finished speaking he heard the sound of footsteps coming through the forest and he could tell it was not Isabeau, but it was considerably heavier than Lucie. Grabbing his sword he stepped carefully around the pile of metal and looked down the path, mentally bracing himself for another fight.

The relief when he saw it was Lucie almost made him go limp again. Almost. It was the bundle over Lucie's shoulder that kept the steel in his body. He hoped she was dead, but he could tell it was a vain hope. He could see her moving slightly, must just be coming too after being knocked unconscious.

As Lucie dropped the woman near him he thought over everything that Isabeau had been through. Then he thought about everything she had done: there was good...she was a fantastic doctor, one of the best healers in the society. But her recent actions had destroyed anything good she had ever done, there was no telling how many people she had killed to create her Creature, and there was no telling what it had done since it clearly had been visiting the city regularly it could have destroyed any number of lives. Every one of the problems they had been investigating had led back to her, and he suspected there was more to her madness they hadn't even uncovered.

As Isabeau go to her knees Adam made his decision and didn't hesitate. With the speed of a striking snake he drove his sword through the woman's eye, making sure to pierce the brain. A second stroke slit her throat and he made sure to verify she was truly dead before turning his odd colored eyes to Lucie.

“Our work is not yet done tonight. Come.”

He turned and and headed back to the others, leaving Isabeau's body where it fell.

“Ren, take Lily back to the House. Ensure she gets medical attention from House Doctors immediately and have the cook make up some bone broth for her to eat after she gets some rest. She will need to rebuild her strength. Look after her till I get back. Also send some members here to clean up this mess, I'm thinking Deveric can pick three or four trustworthy members who will know what to look for, and what to bring back versus what to be destroyed.”

“Aleksandra, Lucie, I hate to ask this after all you've done this day, but I need to get back to Isabeau's manor and deal with what I find there. If one or both of you would accompany me I would appreciate the assistance. Sadly we don't have horses so we must get there on foot.”

Adam wasn't sure he was up to the challenge of the walk to Isabeau's house but what other choice was there. Her notebooks and research couldn't be left unattended. She had horses at least, and a carriage, they could use to remove whatever they could back to House Ianus.

“Master you can't walk there, not like that” said Ren in protest.

“Ren. Drop it. I will do what must be done. That is the way of things.” Adam's voice was cold and stern, but he couldn't keep all the exhaustion and pain out. “I will see you later, be safe old friend.” And with that he turned and started his slow way back down the path that led to Isabeau's manor.

Lucie dared not let her exhaustion show on her face. She hadn't had to exert herself like this for a while. Not that the chase itself had tired her out, as opposed to carrying an adult woman for something like half an hour. Contrary to popular belief, being a slender woman did not mean that you were automatically light to carry.

She stood silent and watched as Adam unceremoniously executed Isabeau, and found herself impressed. Her amber eyes rested on the still-warm corpse for a moment before she looked at Adam once more, silently appraising him. "It seems I will have the alter my assessment of you. I did not expect you to carry out your own judgement, and certainly not with such extreme prejudice, or lack of hesitation." She offered the head of the House an acknowledging nod. "You have my respects."

She then turned to look at the rest of them, noting the various states they were in. Aleksandra looked no worse for wear. She had some bruises, it looked like, but she was in a far better condition than Lily, who was all but knocked out from the looks of it. She pursed her lips, listening to Adam and Ren bicker. They did need to gather what notes and the like Isabeau had collected, didn't they? If not there was the risk of not only the common populace learning of their psychic abilities, but also the—she glanced at the unmoving body of the monstrosity from before—possibility of bringing something dead back to life. As if the story of Carmilla was not dreadful enough. At least people knew that was only make-believe, and the fanciful imagination of an individual.

She sighed and turned back to Adam, only to find him already walking away, down a nearby path. She glanced briefly back and forth between the receding form of Adam, and her companions. Of all of them, she was probably the one least shaken by the events, on account of not having faced that thing, instead tasked with catching their fugitive. She made her decision.

"Aleksandra, help Ren and Lily, and return to the House, and rest. I will help Adam with the rest." She then turned and jogged after him, catching up soon enough and settled alongside her fellow Psychic. "I find that jacket is a little too big for you," She said, attempting to lighten the mood, however little she could. "I take it, it's not a fashion statement?"

Adam glanced at Lucie briefly and almost chuckled. Almost. He was still a walking pile of pain and had so much more to do. He couldn't afford to relax yet.

He did smile briefly as he answered. About as lighthearted as he could be under the circumstances.

“Not exactly. No. Though maybe it should be. I can certainly see the appeal of a pretty woman dressed in just a short coat. All legs and leaving one wanting to unwrap her. Maybe I'll see if I can figure out how to start a fashion trend. You know...in all that free time I have.” The sarcasm dropping off his last comment could drown a horse.

“Really I just didn't want to have to fight again whilst naked. It's like peeing in the woods...you do it when necessary but it's still a vaguely uncomfortable feeling.”

Lucie blinked, then chuckled, clasping her hands behind her back as she walked. “That sounds almost as an admission. But that’s not important right now. What do you think will be at manor?”

“I don't know what we will find when we get to Isabeau’s house. I hope you are prepared for...well...anything.”

Lucie nodded slowly, any mirth vanishing at Adam’s words. She placed one hand on the hilt of her sword. “I’ve seen my fair share of things, even young as I am, so I am well prepared. But,” she said, now looking pointed at Adam. “I’m not a dagger to be pointed at a target. I will defend us if anything happens, but if you have any intentions of silencing whatever staff is in her manor. That blood will be on your hands. I just want to remind you of that.”

Adam fought back a snarl. His pain made him short tempered and Lucie’s defensiveness and her assumptions about him didn't help. He clenched his teeth and kept walking in silence for rather longer than he needed.

“I asked you to accompany me. I did not mean that you were required to. If you are uncomfortable with what might or might not be there you need not accompany me. I could use the help but my job is to defend the Society as needed; I neither expect nor ask anyone else to do my job. I protect what I care about.”

“My concern was of a more psychical nature. Isabeau was a brilliant scientist that apparently learned to animate dead flesh. I don't know what other alchemical secrets she may have learned or how she chose to protect them.”

The tone with which Adam spoke was not lost to her, and she did not pretend to not have heard it. Nevertheless, it was far from the worst she had ever experienced. It was nothing compared to the flat side of a sword for backtalk. “I came because you looked like you needed the help. But the situation just so happens to be, that I don’t know exactly what you intend, even if I can make educated guesses.” She let both her hands drop to simply hang along her sides, staring straight ahead as she spoke. “My impression of you is that you are not cold hearted, nor cruel. But you are deeply analytical and pragmatic... I once met a man like you who ordered the death of his late brother’s son, because he legitimately, honestly, believed that he could do better than the kid, and help more people in the long run with their business.” She fell into a thoughtful silence then, lips pressed thin. “‘His last words were, ‘it was for the greater good’.”

Adam shrugged and wished absently that he dared take milk of poppy. But that was far too risky. Instead he focused his mind on every possible option they might encounter as the brought this nights work to a close. He was getting tired already and this conversation was not helping.

“It's true I find logic is eminently more useful than passion and it's true people consider me to be a cold heartless cad, or worse, because of it. I’m used to it, it does get somewhat wearing though. And I am so very tired.”

“There are, I believe, precisely two people left alive in this world who know me well enough to what to expect from me. I don't even know most days; I solve problems. The “how” often has a few twists that I don't see until I connect the pattern. So believe what you wish about me; but perhaps you would consider reserving final judgement until the facts have been acquired, that is all I would ask.”

Contrary to the accusations thrown her way, Lucie actually smiled. “For one who advises having all the facts before making a judgement, you sure do have a tendency to make baseless assumptions. Even going so far as to contradict the evidence, to support your own narrative.” She chuckled, and randomly stuck her hand out to break off two branches, fiddling with them as she continued.

“I believe that I said that I do not consider your cold hearted or cruel. I have not seen you act that way.” She broke both branches, stuck one half of each in her belt, and then pressed the broken-off ends of the other two together. “Yet you claim that I made those accusations, and for that reason—” she took out the other two branch-halves, pressing their ends together, as if trying to make them fit “—you accuse me of doing what you have just done.” She then threw the branches over towards Adam, though being careful not to hit him. “Why is that hypocrisy, I wonder?” She mused with a hint of a smile.

Adam was silent for a long time running over thoughts in his mind. He hated to admit it but Lucie had a point. He hated assumptions. Absolutely hated them. But he had allowed himself to fall into that trap. He wished he could blame his pain and exhaustion but he knew the truth. He was just being waspish for no reason.

“You are correct” he said finally into the quiet “I apologize.”

For awhile it seemed that was all he was going to say but he continued several minutes later.

“I am extraordinarily tired. It is not an excuse. Merely a reason. I dislike assumptions and still allowed myself to be seduced by them. Again I apologize.”

Lucie offered him a charming smile, the young girl that she was breaking through the tough exterior. “Apology accepted.” She said nothing further for a while after that, content to walk in silence. She kept looking about however, seemingly staying aware of their surroundings and any potential threats.

It was several minutes later before she spoke up again, pointing with a gloved hand over the treetops, to where the tiled roof of a mansion had just come into clarity. “I assume that is our destination?” She asked. “Miss. Isabeau’s residence and house of horrors.”

“It's actually rather nice, if a bit outdated” said Adam absently.

Adam led them to the servants entrance and they walked in without knocking.

No one was about, not surprising since the better part of the night was gone. It made Adam breathe a little easier. If they were quiet they may not run into anyone. He hadn't brought any money with him for bribes so being unnoticed would be easier.

He adjusted his steps so he could move quietly and gestured for Lucie to do the same, though he found that she was already mirroring him. He called the layout of the house, from what he remembered, into his mind. They could automatically rule out any public areas and the servant quarters...she wouldn't keep anything important there.

“Let's try the bedrooms first. She has locked up one of the rooms; the bedchamber she and her husband used to share. I remember that from when I visited her right after the explosion. The servants were all atwitter about it. Locked up and boarded up the room. Doesn't mean there isn't a way in...if she had secrets that would be a good place for them.”

Lucie nodded and opened the door to the bedroom. It was an ordinary affair, as mansions went, and as such did very little to astonish her. She had, after all, lived nearly as ostentatiously when she were younger. She took off one hand and let her naked palm run along the rough wood, slowly following it around. She stepped aside the large cupboard, stopping only briefly to open the drawers to look inside. She found only underwear. Expensive, well made underwear, but nothing of interesting… Although maybe she should commission something with laces like those.

She clicked her tongue and closed the drawer again, continuing on her way. She pressed her hand against the wall once more, this time deciding that ordinary methods were too slow. She wanted to get back to the House, get a bath, and see what gossip she could get out of the servants. So she sent a pulse through the wall, and from it into the adjacent walls, requesting information of only a single thing: Doors.

Two things stood out to her. One she didn’t need to turn around to see, because she knew that was the door they had entered from. The other was different. It was in the opposite end of the room, near the single bookshelf. In fact, right beside it. “Over here,” she said and stepped over to it. Keen eyes roved across the wood that comprised the wall, squinting to discern whatever tiny difference there may be, to give it away. She found no keyhole or handle, which left her with only one option.

Adam watched her work while at the same time scanning the room with his own Talent. This room was far too perfect. Even skilled servants couldn't keep a used room this perfect. By the time Lucie had found the door Adam had knew Isabeau didn't live here and there would be a door to another room, but having Lucie along was faster and gave him other eyes. He was busy stealing a pair of Isabeau’s boots to replace the rags on his bare feet when Lucie spoke up.

“How cliché,” she muttered, and started randomly pulling out books from the shelves. She was careful not to simply throw them, but either handed them to Adam or let them drop cover- or back first. “I expected more of Isabeau. She appeared an intelligent individual, however depraved and insane, but I truly, honestly, believed her more inventive than to hide proverbial door knob, as a book on her shelf. Ah, here.” She pulled further on a small tome, the name Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu written in golden filigree, across the black leather spine. Something clicked, and the wall beside the shelf opened into a not-so-secret room.

The inside was… disturbing, in a way. It held a single, worn bed, the covers haphazardly made by the hand of someone obviously unused to doing so herself. A single window would light up the room during the day, and aside from half a dozen candles—some in candleholders, some not—there seemed to be no other possible sources of light. She grabbed a small whetstone from one of her many pockets, went to a candleholder with two, nearly intact, candlesticks. With a deft motion, she drew a dagger from her belt, struck the whetstone across the edge, and lighting the wicks with a few attempts. Now with light in hand, she could see the thing that worried her the most.

Something that looked more like a shrine to the occult than anything else. More half-melted wax candles along the edges of a chest-height dresser, accompanied by dozens upon dozens of pictures of Lady Isabeau and an unknown man—presumably her husband, the late Mr. Isabeau—plastered to the wall, many overlapping and a few burnt at the corners from the multitude of candles. Atop it the dresser lay bundles of paper and notes, an empty ink well and a dried pen.

“Is this what you were looking for?” Lucie asked, holding aloft the candle holder, shedding light on the shrine itself. She didn’t hide the disgust at what she saw.

Adam entered the room after Lucie, already guessing what they would find. The scope of Isabeau’s obsession caught him unawares though. Clearly she had been living in a hellish world, trapped in time. He could almost feel sorry for her. Almost.

“Not exactly what I was looking for” said Adam absently. “But important nonetheless.”

A glance outside told Adam they dared not linger long. The sun, and the servants, would be up soon. He wanted to be away by then.

“I wonder what kind of a force the two would have become had he lived” Adam muttered absently. He was trying not to focus too much on the obvious signs of Isabeau’s madness. He would think on it later, in private, because madness was of special interest to him.

He quickly glanced through the notes and writings on the table, his Talent enabling him to quickly separate the important from the fluff. The pile of fluff was quite small. He bundled the important papers in a pillowslip he quickly stripped from the bed and turned to Lucie.

“Her lab” he said, “quickly. We haven't much time left to remain unnoticed.” He didn't mention his suspicion that at least one of the servants already knew they were there; servants were rarely as clueless as their employers wished. They were, however, remaining hidden which suited Adam well.

Lucie nodded and knelt down, pressing her bare hand to the floor. Beakers, Chemicals, Bunsen Burner, she demanded, her own Talent giving her the impression of several such items in proximity of each other. There was just one problem. “Far side of the mansion, top floor,” she said, rising. “It’s tucked in a corner of the building.” She then grabbed the cloth covering the blades of her daggers, handing it to Adam. “Tie this around your face, in case servants do find us. Cover one eye with your hair if possible. They won’t know who I am, but they’ll know you.”

She didn’t wait to see if Adam did as ordered, instead stepping quietly over to the door leading to the hallway. She crouched low and peeked out, but she saw nothing. Neither could she hear anything.

Adam nodded and did as Lucie suggested. On their way out of the room he grabbed one of Isabeau’s summer cloaks as well, it had a hood he used to cover his pale hair and muffle his form. He followed Lucie down the hall, as quiet as she was.

The lab was everything a well stocked lab should be; and very neat and clean. Adam and Lucie were able to make short work of their search. Much of what he found disturbed Adam, more so because he had almost been part of her experiment.

Adam destroyed what they couldn't carry; it was convenient that Isabeau stocked a variety of acids. The rest they bundled up to take back to the House. His keen ears caught the sounds of servants moving hastily about the house as he worked; but the sounds were far enough away that he guessed they were safe for now. It seemed the servants didn't care much about more beyond their own welfare. A pragmatic approach he approved of. Getting out of the house unnoticed was now his only real concern.

“I'm guessing most of the servants are gone now?” He asked Lucie softly.

“Last one left a few minutes ago,” she confirmed, hefting her own small bag of notes and equipment. “We’re all alone now. I take it we go back to the House? The others should have arrived by now.” She walked out the door, then, heading for the back entrance they had used to get in. “I do hope Aleksandra remembered to retrieve my pistol.”

“Good” said Adam “their flight will be obvious; with any luck if Isabeau’s disappearance is investigated at all everyone will be consumed with finding the servants. I’m going to lock up. Make it look less tempting. I'll meet you in the stables; I think we should help ourselves to one of Isabeau’s horses, hope you won't mind sharing.”

It didn't take Adam long to lock up and join Lucie at the stables, she had saddled one of the horses and was holding it by the reins when he arrived. “Let's go home,” Adam said, relief evident in his voice. He was more than done with this adventure.

“Let us,” she said, swinging herself up in the saddle, and reached a hand down to help Adam up so he could sit in front of her. “I think I want a bath when we get back. The sewers have left a less than pleasant smell.”

Ren, Aleksandra, and Lily made their way back to the House without further incident, alerting Deveric of the situation as Adam had requested and leaving the cleanup in his capable hands. Doctors whisked Lily away to the privacy of her chambers and Aleksandra vanished to her own leaving Ren to wait and worry. After making sure Lily and Aleksandra had everything they needed, and Lucie and Adam's rooms were ready for their return, he decided to look through some of the missives that had piled up on Adam's desk. He was only away one day and already there were 5 different messages that had piled up for Adam to handle.

****

Deveric and the few members of House Ianus that he had handpicked surveyed the clearing in the light of their lanterns. It was a disaster, and would take some serious work to straighten out. His talent was as an empath; he could sense strong emotions in people if he tried. It meant he studied psychology because though he could often sense emotions the why of these emotions often puzzled him. Adam had asked him to lead the clean up crew because he had an instinctual grasp for what people were likely to think when confronted with certain sights. It wasn't completely accurate but it was a heap sight better than just guessing at random.

He picked out the things they should remove, what they should cover up, what should be burnt, and what could be scattered under the debris and forgotten. Once he had compiled the list in his head he and the others set to work with a vengeance. The hardest part was getting the monster “corpse” back to the lab but Deveric couldn't think of anything else safe to do with it. Eventually he and the others disassembled it into quarters, wrapped them in burlap so it wasn't such a gory sight, and loaded them onto horses for the return to the House Ianus labs.

****

Adam was shivering despite warmth of the cloak he acquired from Isabeau's manor. He was badly hurt, more so than he let on, and badly stressed. On top of that recovering from whatever Isabeau had done to his Talent had taken a psychical toll on him. Things felt sort of itchy in his brain, something he knew would go away with rest but the trick was lasting until then. The site of House Ianus was a welcome relief and as they rode up to the main entrance House servants were waiting as was Ren.

Servants quickly helped Adam and Lucie down and a hostler whisked the horse off to the stables. Adam pondered asking someone to return it but really what good would that do. There was no one there to tend it. He wondered if the ones still remaining in Isabeau's stables would survive till someone found them. Belatedly he wished he had take the time to fill water and hay troughs.

Ren waited until the other servants had disappeared about their duties and then drew close to Adam and Lucie.

“The site has been cleaned up. Nothing remains except an old mostly rotten mill. Miss Lily has been tended and left to sleep until she is done sleeping; I've made sure no one will bother her unless she requests it. Aleksandra has also been provided with everything she felt she needed to help her recover and the servants have orders to leave her alone unless she requests assistance. All that we acquired from the woods has been carefully stored in some of the older tunnels until further determinations can be made. Miss Lucie, breakfast and a hot bath stand waiting in your quarters, should you require anything else at this moment please let me know.”

“Master Adam I have your quarters ready; coffee and croissants await you there. Along with several new issues requiring your immediate attention.”

Adam was walking into the House only half listening. He came to a slow halt at his words. He was exhausted, he didn't want to deal with anything petty or the slightest bit unimportant right now.

“How immediate?”

Ren looked apologetic, even winced when he answered. “Two of them are very immediate.”

Adam grimly nodded. “Send a doctor, a large basin of the hottest water you can, whiskey, and bandages up to my office. I'll try and tackle those issues immediately then. Please make sure all that we brought with us from Isabeau's is stored with the rest of the remains of our adventure. It can be dealt with later.”

He handed his bundle of notes and records to Ren, excused himself to Lucie, and headed to his office. Ren had a knack for knowing what was truly an emergency, if he said some things needed to be dealt with then some things needed to be dealt with. But he was coming to realize he couldn't tackle all this alone. Perhaps it was time to find a new manservant and put Ren to work handling some of the lesser problems. It was something to think on anyway.

Adam had soaked his feet for over an hour to get them cleaned out so they could be bandaged. Ren had been right. The issues had needed immediate attention. One was simple enough, one of the societies members was going about murdering members of the local clergy. That couldn't be tolerated; it violated everything the society stood for and put it in danger to boot. He could find someone to handle that issue easily enough. But the other was another damn mystery and one that threatened the safety of the House itself. He would have to look into that more directly. He didn't believe in coincidences and this had three doozies of a coincidence. First though he had to get some rest.

****

Adam awoke pre-dawn two days later feeling reinvigorated and refreshed. His body still hurt and his wounds were still healing but his mind had cleared and he had energy flowing once more. He summoned Ren immediately.

The manservant answered quickly and Adam told him his plan, both for Ren to find him a suitable valet so Ren could handle lesser issues within the society and his plan to, hopefully, establish an exclusive group of the society members as discrete, paid, private inquiry agents to handle issues of psychical trouble in the future.

He would call Lily, Aleksandra, and Lucie to a breakfast meeting this morning and see if they would be interested; he would prefer to begin this endeavor with people trusted and he knew could face down even ungodly horrors and still manage to accomplish the goal.

Later that morning as he waited for them in his private study, he wanted no interruptions, he wondered if they would accept. This business of running and protecting the Society was only growing more difficult with time. He needed reliable help.

Lillian stood before a full length mirror she had requested be brought to her quarters looking upon her naked form. Vain is not a word she would ever use to have describe herself, nor was she someone who cared very deeply about her appearance. But as she starred at the serious burns that started a few centimeters above her ankles and stretched all the way up the front of both legs to just below her genitals she couldn't help but feel depressed at how ugly she now found herself. The fact that the wounds would eventually heal did little to brighten her spirits as she had studied burns in the past and knew that with burns as serious as hers the best she could hope for was the scar tissue might one day fade enough that her legs would look somewhat normal. Starring at her marred form in the mirror made Lily think of the future; she never had much interest in finding love, and she never imagined herself marrying. However she had planned that someday before she was too old that she would like to have a child or two. She would need a man of some order to achieve that but she couldn't help but fear that there was no man that would willingly lay with her as she now was. Lillian did her best to hold back tears at that thought, feeling that she had cried enough in the past two days she had been staying at the house. She had cried both from the physical pain of her wounds, but also the emotional pain at having lost several months worth of research notes when the pouches that held her notes combusted. She had done her best to remake the notes from memory, but what once had filled four sizable notebooks, now barely filled one and a half. Lily decided that under the circumstances crying was probably quite reasonable and let herself cry for a few minutes.

When she felt she had cried enough Lily sat on the edge of her bed and began to dress her wounds; gently rubbing an experimental medical salve she received from another member of the house over the burned areas, and then wrapping both legs in fresh bandages. The salve worked wonders to dull the pain and assist in healing, but it smelled something terrible, so Lily followed up her wrapping by spraying both her legs with her favorite pear scented perfume, one of the few combustible items that survived the fire. She then stood and walked around the room a few times to ensure she had done an adequate enough wrap job that the bandages were not going to slip off. Satisfied that everything was in place Lillian fetched the clothes she had sent over from her own home and started to dress herself. To her surprise her mother had sent over a plum coloured dress that was on the lighter side of plum. Her mother would never give such a brightly coloured dress to her "prone-to-get-filthy" daughter. The dress also had a great deal of elegantly crafted and positioned white lace that suited Lily's tastes perfectly. With a bit of difficulty, and after tearing off a few decorative and obstructive parts of the dress, Lillian had it on and inspected herself in the mirror. The plum suited her surprisingly nicely and made her feel somewhat beautiful which was exactly the sort of feeling she was in need of. "How is it mother always knows what I need?" she questioned aloud. Lily finished getting herself ready, doing her hair, giving her neck a small spray of perfume, and clipping on her gold frame glasses to her nose. The last of her personal effects to take care of was the remains of the pouches she always carried. The destroyed pouches had been replaced with spares and the equipment and chemicals inside had also been replaced with extras Lillian had sent over from her home. With exception to the notes she lost her pouches and their contents were as they once were, with one minor and important change. All flammable materials were placed in the same pouch which was made of thicker leather, and each individual bottle had its own leather case. Lilian's father always said that some lessons must be learned the hard way and Lily had most certainly learned from hers.

After winding all four of her watches to make sure they would be ticking for the day Lily left her room and ventured upstairs, keen to get some fresh air after having been stuck inside in bed for two days straight. As Lily was about to exit the grounds she was intercepted by one of the houses servants.

"Good morning Miss Lillian...p-pardon my intrusion." The young serving maid seemed oddly meek for one of Adam's staff. Lillian quickly realized it was because she was wearing her "Thinking Face" as her father liked to call it, and apparently her thinking face makes her appear quite cross. Lily did her best to take on a more neutral appearance but without a mirror it was impossible to say if her new look was any better.

"Professor Lillian, actually. What can I do for you, miss?" Lily asked, hoping to move the conversation along.

"Master Adam wishes to know if you would like to join him for breakfast." This made Lily smile, she was quite pleased to know her friend was not only well, but well enough to entertain.

"I should be delighted to do so. You can tell him I will join him for breakfast shortly, after I have taken a walk around the grounds." the maid bowed her head and quickly scurried off to relay the message. Lily quickly made her way outside so as to not be bothered by anyone else and went for a leisurely walk around the house's grounds.

Lucie cast a sidelong glance Adam's way, her lips pressed into a thin line. He had sustained quite the amount of injuries, and not all of them appeared to be physical. Despite all of the visible signs of physical pain, the hunched shoulders and hanging head, told her all she needed to about his mental well-being. It made her realise that she had gotten out of the entire ordeal easy. She and Aleksandra had had to only look into the matter of disappearances, whereas it turned out Adam and Lilliana had faced off against something horrible. Isabeau and her, frankly, terrifying power that bordered on mind control, as well as the abomination that they had somehow managed to kill for good.

To be more precise, I was the only one who had it easy. She bit her lower lip, chewing on it in thought. In a way it made her feel guilty, almost. She had done little but chase down someone who wasn't a threat to her, and prior to that she'd spent the night skulking about with Aleksandra. And even when she had exerted herself, chasing Isabeau, she had managed to make it into a game for herself; one of cat and mouse. Ianus Congregatio had done much for her, not the least of which was give her a home after her supposed death, and she paid back with efforts and aid that amounted to little more than proverbial change. She felt like she owed it to Adam, to the House, to do more.

She let one of the young hostlers take her horse, giving him a brief nod of thanks before she turned her attention to Ren. In the months she had been here, he was one of the few people who had legitimately impressed her. Not that the rest of the staff or members were disappointing, but few had exceeded her expectations as he had. Her initial impression had been that of a stuck-up butler, the kind who thought himself important simply by association with whatever noble they served. Ren, however, had proven himself to be a very compassionate individual, who genuinely cared about his master and their well-being, and was perfectly content with their lot in life. He took pride in his work and his job, not in himself. The difference might be small to some, but not many people had seen as many butlers or man servants as Lucie had, and especially not with outside eyes. It made her appreciate him all the more when he explained that they had gathered what items of value that were near the old mill, had been collected and brought back.

"Did you, by chance, find a revolver, too, Ren?" She asked while taking off her gloves. She stuffed them in her belt and started undoing her braid. "It was my Peacemaker. Colt, Single Action?"

He paused for a moment before a look of slight disappointment washed over him. "I am afraid not, Miss Lucie. Though some of the others who were with me, did manage to find an item matching your description. If you would, I could show you to the storage rooms, where we keeps such items?"

Lucie smiled, but shook her head. "No thank you, I will find it myself tomorrow." She walked up to him, placed a hand on the side of his face and leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek. "But thank you," she added, "for arranging the baths."

She then headed for her rooms, pausing only briefly to look back, grinning at the flushed cheeks and wide eyes of Ren. And was that a pleased smile she was? Yes, yes it was. She chuckled to herself and hurried towards the promised baths, hardly able to wait to be relieved of the smell of sewage.

---

Lucie slowly twirled in front of the mirror, eyeing her own reflection with a critical eye. She wondered if the frills on her dress were too abundant, or perhaps if the design was too elaborate? Sometimes less was more, after all, and this piece certainly had strained the talent of her tailor, and taken up three months' worth of her share from that particular business. And that wasn't even mentioning the other things she had requested, which had been even more expensive since it had been a rush order. She just hoped Adam appreciated the suit she had procured for him. Hopefully it would have arrived this very morning.

"Anna, be a dear and fetch my necklace, the one with the emerald," Lucie said aloud, addressing the serving girl she had requested assigned to her. She had asked Adam if she could have this particular servant attend her in particular, partially because she was very near Lucie's own age — just two years her senior — and also because she had, as Lucie had discovered quickly, a very convenient psychic talent of her own. Some might have called it mind reading, or a variance of future sight, but it was more accurate to simply call it a very powerful intuition. It was because of said power, that she could barely finish the sentence before Anna pressed the necklace into her hand.

"Here you go, Miss Lucie," she said demurely, taking a step back and allowed herself a moment to look over Lucie and the dress she wore. "It's marvellous," she breathed.

Lucie let out a chuckle, fastening the chain around her neck and let the drop-shaped emerald rest against her breast. "It is, isn't it?" She asked, turning on the spot just fast enough for the skirt to flare and rise. She completed a few turns before she settled, eyeing herself once more in the mirror. It had taken weeks of trial and error to get this particular dress finished, and the result was better than she had imagined. It was a mix of a ballroom gown and dress, with some of the grandeur and stateliness of a gown, and the freedom, elegance and intricate designs of the dresses. It was made up of varying shades of blue for the different layers, though dominated most places by sky-blue. The teardrop shaped emerald that rested against her breast proved to be just the addition necessary to complete the look.

She grinned at her own reflection and turned to address Anna, only to see her already offering satin gloves she had been about to request. Royal blue and elbow length, of course. The sly smile she received was all the confirmation she needed, that her surprise showed on her face. So many months later, and she still managed to get the better of Lucie.

"Someone should give you a raise," Lucie said and pulled on the gloves, not even needing say anything before Anna also placed a pair of heeled shoes near her.

"I would certainly appreciate if they did, Miss," Anna replied, "but I do not think it necessary. I already earn enough to support myself as it is."

"Nevertheless," Lucie continued while putting on the shoes, "I do believe your talents aren't quite appreciated enough." She straightened up and looked down at her reflection again. "Do you think this adequate?"

Despite herself, Anna couldn't help but giggle. "Miss, you're dressed to the nines, and it is yet only morning. Any more, cosmetics or otherwise, and you will appear as if on your way to a royal ball."

Lucie hummed, stepping a little closer. "I do believe you're right. The bare necessities, don't you agree?"

Anna was just about to answer when she paused, turned, and went for the door. A single knock hit the door before she had opened it, revealing another of the servants, this one a shorter man. "Yes?" Anna asked.

"I-Ah... Oh." His eyes were, for a few moments, locked on Lucie who walked over to them, nearly towering over him. He managed to tear his eyes away just long enough to compose himself, when he looked back up at her there was nearly none of the awe that had been there before. "Miss Ruzicka, Master Adam invites you to breakfast with him in an hour."

Adeleia very rarely invited for breakfast or dinner, usually letting the occupants of the House dine whenever they desired, so when an invitation came there usually was a reason, she thought. Lucie nodded and give him a kind smile. "Thank you, I think I will." The servant bowed and left, closing the door after himself leaving Lucie and Anna alone again.

"Well, that certainly is a rare occurance. Maybe something a little more extravagant is warranted?" Lucie and Anna's eyes met, a spark of understanding passing between them. "How about a side-braid?" They asked simultaneously.

Ren was just putting the finishing touches on Adam's sitting room; making sure that there were seats and food aplenty; when Adam walked into the room. Adam was far more alert and relaxed than he appeared when he first woke and Ren guessed his master had paid a visit to a certain very special friend in town.

Ren smiled to himself, pleased to see Adam looking so much better. He was pleased, not only at Adam's relatively quick recovery but also that Adam had decided to put so much faith in him. Ren had been tasked to oversee the issue of the rogue society member murdering the local clergy, though Adam had given him some suggestions, it was a big first step and he knew if he handled this smoothly more would come.

Adam, meanwhile, went into his sleeping quarters to give himself a once over in the mirror. His white linen shirt and dark gray breeches appeared neat and unwrinkled, his pale white hair needed only a quick comb through to look respectable. That was good. He believed in keeping his private life private; none of those who might be joining him needed to know just what he had been up to in his free time this morning.

Returning to the study Adam looked around. Ren was hovering, the large man looking a bit concerned that there wasn't anything further to do and Adam smiled to himself.

“Sit down Ren” he said softly “you are as much involved in this morning's discussion as anyone else. I need people I can trust and there's no one I trust more than you.”

Ren had transformed Adam's desk into a nice table full of breakfast goodies and Adam smiled to see croissants. Ren knew his favorite food. Hardboiled eggs, sausages, smoked kippers, fluffy butter, toast, jam, wine poached pears, and some assorted fresh fruits rounded out the table. He grabbed a couple of the buttery croissants and a cup of strong coffee and settled into a comfortable wingback chair to wait for the others. He wasn't sure who all would be coming but he was not about to stand completely on ceremony and wait for the others; he was famished.

The atmosphere in the garden was like something described at the beginning of a book prone to flowery prose. The sun had only just begun to peak over the tops of the trees, bathing the garden in a gentle warm light. A light breeze carrying the scents of the trees into the garden where they turned and mixed with the scents of the flowers creating a heavenly bouquet that lifted the spirit. It was truly a perfect moment, that Lillian was in no way taking part in despite being in the garden herself. After having spotted an interesting beetle perched on the stem of a voracious hydrangea bush Lily sat herself comfortably on a nearby bench and exited her physical form so as to study the insect closer without startling it, something a physical body was prone to do. The creature had the most brilliant iridescent shell that shifted between red and gold, and rather large oddly shaped antenna that acted independently of each other and would twitch into various positions. After watching it for a while Lily fetched one of her notebooks and a pen to write down her observations and drew a quick sketch. It was difficult to tell for sure as there were countless beetle species in the world, but Lillian was fairly confident she had stumbled across a totally new one. When she had a moment she would need to spend several days researching beetles to ensure she did in fact discover a new one, but once that business was out of the way she could get to task with the truly exciting parts of discovery. Cataloging, study, and experimentation. Several days would need to be devoted to the creatures mating habits, life cycle, food preferences, and countless other details. She would then need to spend several weeks, possibly several months, observing the creature to see how it interacted with the ecosystem and what, if any, part it played in it. The thought of all the science potentially to come in the future was thrilling, and did much to lift Lillian’s spirits in a way that the scent of flowers and trees never could.

Satisfied she had enough detail to do proper research Lily returned her notebook and pen to their respective pouches and willed herself back to her body. As expected after having spent over half an hour in her semi-ethereal form, Lily was absolutely famished. Taking no notice of the current otherworldly state of the garden, Lily stood and marched back into the house to satisfy her hunger at the breakfast she had been invited to. In the short time she had been outside, the house had come alive with the activity of its various members getting ready for the day, or getting ready to go to sleep after a long night of research. Lily couldn’t help but notice however that there was a great deal more activity then she had come to expect from the house and its’ members. This was very likely to have been caused by the events herself and her companions had gotten up to two nights previous, though whether the increase in activity was because the other members were helping, or simply trying to gather gossip was unclear to Lily. What she was rather acutely aware of however was the looks she was receiving from all the members she passed. Under normal circumstances the abundance of looks would have gone unnoticed by Lily, but with her shaken self esteem she was not just aware of the looks but they were beginning to upset her. So much so that she changed the path she was taking to one with less people along it. Her new path was a much longer and rather obtuse way to get to where she needed to be but it was worth it to be alone. It was along this new path that she encountered one of her companions from two nights previous, Lucie was her name; or so Lily thought, she was terrible at remembering names. She was not in the mood to speak with any member other than Adam, but it seemed rude to not at least acknowledge the other woman, so she gave a small smile and a “Good morning.”

Lucie, dressed more for a ballroom than breakfast, looked down at her with an amused smile on her lips and returned Lilian’s greeting with a nod of her head, “Good morning, Lilian.” She took a few moments to look her up and down, sniffing at the air experimentally before one eyebrow quirked in a silent query, the corner of her lips tugging up a tiny fraction more.

“A beautiful dress, I must say. I like the colour.” She met Lilian’s eyes, and for a moment they seemed to twinkle. “Were you invited to mis—” A servant rounded the corner ahead of them, and Lucie stopped herself, frowning silently for all of a second before resuming “—Master Ware’s breakfast?” She asked, apparently not at all concerned with Lily’s mood being one not suited for casual conversation. Her conversive companion was the least of her concerns at that moment though, Lucie’s question regarding the invitation and her location in the house would suggest that she too was headed to breakfast with Adam. Lillian had hopped it would be a private gathering of just her and Adam, with Ren at most. What was worse was that if Lucie was invited it stood to reason that others were invited too. Lily was tempted to make up an excuse and return to her room, but she was very hungry and wanted to see Adam, so some unwelcome company seemed of minor inconvenience.

“Yes, I was. It is Professor Lillian by the by.” Lily was set to end the conversation and continue towards breakfast but suddenly realized she had been paid a compliment. “I beg your pardon? You...like my dress?” Her face began to warm unexpectedly which Lily recognised as a sign she was blushing. Compliments Lily was used to, compliments from someone who wasn’t trying to weasel their way into her families wealth, or who wasn’t a member of her family, were a rather rare occurrence. So rare in fact that Lucie’s comment was most likely the first since before Lillian dove head first into science some years ago.

A look of confusion settled over Lucie’s features, and she folded her arms underneath her chest. “I do,” she said slowly, “I trust there is no issue with that?” Her lips widened in a smile and dispelled the look of confusion. She brought a gloved hand up and pushed a small lock of loose, orange hair back behind Lilian’s ear. Lillian froze at the touch and her face grew much hotter, she made to say something but had difficulty forming words. “Besides,” Lucie continued, her eyes flitting from the dress, to her hair, and to her eyes, the twinkle on Lucie’s own back, “how could I not? You are plenty attractive yourself, and the dress does wonders for your figure, if I might say so.” She chuckled, straightening up again. “Though it makes me wonder, if maybe my own corset was overdoing it?” Lily’s eyes widened at Lucie’s comment, so much so her face stretch slightly causing her glasses to slip off her nose and clatter to the ground. She desperately wanted to say something but no words were coming out, most likely because she was unable to even form any in her head. After a long pause that felt longer to Lily than it actually was, she managed to blurt something out.

“Ó, go maith, tá an gúna ag breathnú go hiontach! Agus ... agus tá an cóirséad álainn freisin! Lig dúinn dul go dtí an bricfeasta!"She had meant to speak in Czech but it had come out in Gaelic instead.

“I beg your pardon?” Lucie asked sounding somehow both amused and puzzled. “I did not quite catch that.“

Somewhat flustered Lily tried once more to get her message across, however her brain did not seem to want to work properly and she was having troubles finding the right words to say, at least in a language Lucie could understand. With some difficulty Lily managed to say something understandable to the lovely woman before her. “Ah. Yes. You are in a lovely dress as well. And the corset is fitting for an early morning dining event.” Lillian began contemplating using her ability to leave her body behind.

“I appreciate the compliment,” Lucie replied, even doing a curtsy right in the middle of the hallway. The movement only just brought her eye level with Lilian herself, and she had to wonder at the difference in their heights. Lucie was usually very tall already, but the addition of a pair of heels brought her height to a level where she would dwarf even most men. Their eyes met as Lucie rose to her full height again, her tongue clicking in her mouth almost as if judging, or considering something of great importance. There was a brief moment where Lillian wondered what the other woman was thinking about, but it lasted only a moment as the analytical part of her brain resumed control and she found herself instantly interested in the tall woman’s eyes. So much so that she forgot about how flustered Lucie was making her and she stepped closer, raising up on her toes to get closer to the brilliant amber eyes the other woman possessed. Their faces mere centimeters apart, Lily frowned, bent down, retrieved her glasses from the floor, returned them to their place on her nose, and resumed her close proximity to Lucie, much to her visible amusement.

“Well now. That is something very fascinating.” Lily mused aloud, not really expecting anyone to comment.

“I could recommend you something that would work wonders on those bags under your eyes,” Lucie said suddenly and off-handedly, her gaze unflinching as grey and amber met. “But cosmetics aside,” she continued, her voice almost a purr, “what is it you find interesting?”

Barely blinking Lily responded, “You. You are a rarity aren’t you? You simply must tell me all about your genealogy.” Lillian moved slightly closer, close enough she could see the intricate pattern of Lucie’s irises, and her own reflection reflected back in the pupils. The reflected image was so clear she could see her own sunken in eyes that Lucie had commented on. Lillian returned to a normal standing position and took a step back, bringing a hand up to one of her eyes to feel the puffy bags that rested there. “I had never realized they were so noticable. My apologies.”

Lucie blinked and Lilian would have sworn she saw a glimpse of something akin to shame, but it vanished as quickly as it had come. She clicked her tongue once more and gave a shallow nod to no one in particular. “There is nothing to apologise for, Lilian,” she said. “It was not my intention to point out something negative.” She smiled, and turned forward, holding out a gloved arm for Lilian, inviting her along. Familiar with the gesture Lilian hooked her own arm around Lucie’s and pulled herself close to the other woman as she had seen her mother and father do at countless parties.

“Is apologizing not the proper protocol? My mother was always very keen to apologize to her guests first thing if she felt she had not met their expectations physically.”

“Protocol?” Lucie laughed, not quite uproariously, but loud enough that it would have attracted some attention. “‘Protocol’ is merely pretending to be civil, while really not giving a damn. But while it may be ‘proper protocol’, rest assured that it doesn’t matter to me.” She shook her head and directed Lilian down one hallway, then the next. “So no, apologising isn’t necessary when around me. I suggested it as a friendly piece of advice. Not to mention it is, I suspect, something that could be improved upon with a little rest and some days without stress.” She hummed, her eyes growing dull as she lost herself in thought for a few moments. “What do you say to a trip to town sometime in the near future? I have a suspicion a day with me might, at the very least, be a bit of fun.”

A day on the town seemed like a decent opportunity to study the towering lady so Lillian gladly accepted. “How could I turn down such a grand suggestion. I should like that very much.” Lillian thought a moment and realized she would need to see Lucie without clothing on if she intended to properly research her so quickly added “Perhaps we could go clothes shopping together.” Clothes shopping was also an effective way to get ahold of someone’s measurements without being too intrusive. Not that Lily personally minded being intrusive, but it had gotten her into trouble on enough occasions.

Lucie glanced down with a nigh unreadable expression on her face. One eyebrow rose slowly, and for a moment Lilian thought her intentions had been seen through, only for relief to flood through her as Lucie simply grinned. “I think I agree. This piece—” she gestured at herself, and the dress she wore “—is a rather new one, but I’m often on the hunt for new and interesting designs. My tailor has a habit of coming up with new ideas rather often. She is quite a rarity in the regard.” Lillian instantly perked up.

“Is that so? A rarity you say? We shall have to pay them a visit then.” Lily had to admit to herself that her initial intention to avoid Lucie was a poor decision as in the brief time they had been together the tall woman was proving increasingly interesting.

---

Arm in arm the two ladies made their way to breakfast and found Adam sitting at a large table, alone, and already indulging in the cornucopia of delicious foods laid out before him. Lillian grew a wide smile and bowed slightly out of respect, Lucie curtsying beside her. “It is very pleasing to see you in good health Adam.” Lily then made to pull a chair out and offer it to Lucie, only to find that Lucie had already pulled her own out and was offering it to Lily.

“I offered you my arm,” Lucie said, giving Lilian a knowing look and a smile, “I do believe that makes me the masculine one here, in spite of my attire.” She gestured to the chair with a gloved hand, never taking her eyes off of Lily or letting the small, teasing smile drop. “So if you would, please?” Lily hesitated, looking to Adam then back to Lucie. She was unsure what Lucie meant by “the masculine one” but it seemed rude to ignore the gesture so she sat in the offered chair and allowed herself to be moved into position at the table.

But just because Lilian was seated, did not mean that the tall woman was done. She reached over the table, having yet to acknowledge Adam, and took a pear from one of the trays with fresh fruit and handed it to Lily. She gave her a knowing wink before she sat herself beside Lily, folding her hands neatly in her lap and finally looked at their host, giving him a most charming smile. “Good morning, Master Adam. Or—” she tilted her head to the side ever so slightly, and an almost wicked glint entered her eyes “—now that the cat is out of the bag as it were, should it be…?” She let the words hang in the air. Lily did not notice the exchange as she was already enjoying the pear that had been given to her and was quite distracted by it

Adam sat in silence as the others entered and made their selections. He didn't even notice Ren place another croissant on his plate, this one stuffed with some sort of melted cheese and bacon mixture. It was really quite good, he would have to remember to compliment the cook on it.

“Adam” will do just fine he said with a nod at Lucie's query. “I do not feel anymore a female than you might feel a feline.” He paused and looked Lucie up and down and considered her background and her skill set. “Well maybe that wasn't the best comparison. I do hope I haven't kept you from something important” he said with a grand gesture at Lucie's clothing “it appears you were on your way out. I would endeavor to be brief but I'm not sure what I wish to discuss actually qualifies as brief.”

He looked over at Ren who was still standing and obviously uncomfortable. It would take time for him to get used to his new role but Adam didn't want him to start out by feeling out of place. He wanted to make it clear to Ren, as well as the others, that Ren was a valid and welcome part of this.

“Please take some food and join us Ren” he said genially “this involves you as well. And since we have all gathered I might as well just start at the beginning.” He paused for a moment trying to figure out where exactly the beginning was but also to give everyone time to eat a few bites and get comfortable.

“Ever since my parents disappeared I have taken on the task of running the society. My father excelled at this. He also had my mother to help him. I, on the other hand, find the unending minute that never seems to really matter to be somewhat restricting. While I may not want to always be in the trenches, so to speak, I like having the complex puzzles to work with, it's where my skills lie after all. To this end Ren will be taking up much of the day to day tasks of keeping up the society; he was already doing much of it anyway and he has an excellent rapport with our staff who are far more important to the running of the society than most think. It also means he is the first to hear any gossip, problems, issues, or concerns that may arise. He has an natural gift for knowing what is important and what isn't.”

Adam wasn't looking at Ren as he spoke but the larger manservant was blushing and doing his best to melt into the chair in which he was sitting. Adam continued without pausing.

“While I was recovering with our encounter with the Lady Isabeau several issues piled up that needed more in-depth attention. Two were very simple matters that I could send other members out to handle. But two others remain that are not simple, or normal. It is these, plus our recent experience with Lady Isabeau, that lead me to believe maybe we need a few members dedicated to handling...well...I'm not sure what to call them...paranormal mysteries. The police certainly can't address these issues. For those of you gathered here, Ren included, it is clear you can face down such oddities, investigate without being distracted by what is impossible, and in short solve what others are ill equipped to deal with. I'm hoping all of you will be willing to join me in the formation of a select group of members who act as, well, detectives, for lack of a better word. Handling cases and issues that step outside of the realm of the norm. In time other qualified individuals may join us and we may request assistance from other society members for certain things but I'd like to establish a core group of trusted and reliable members.”

“Before I go any further or elaborate on the two cases that caught my attention I would await your thoughts. It would not require anyone to accept this job withing the society. I suspect danger will be prevalent and often encountered. I will also financially compensate you for your work. Risking your life and sanity is not something to be taken lightly and while I hope you will agree I would also hope you take a moment to consider what it will mean.”