[IC] The Sisters of the Dying Branch

[Blizz]

Iris Aderast

In a flash of magic, Iris' vision was blurred by one of the biggest fireballs she had ever seen. Crone's beak went straight into the eye of one vampire, but that was while Crone actually existed- was it Alayna? No. It couldn't be. Alayna's fire wasn't that deep, bloody shade of red. Crone was now a pile of ashes on the ground, and thankfully, so were the vampires. Iris had thankfully not been hit by the tar-ridden fireball, she could smell the blood on the flames. Her heartrate had spiked at first, but now she was safe. "Hey, than- Oh fuck..." She turned and saw Dakota - she can do fire magic?! - with her hand bleeding. She quickly rushed over to her and grabbed her hand, which was bleeding like a pig. "Here- Hold still." Iris reached into her pocket and pulled out a very small vial no bigger than one of her fingers. It held a strange, yellow colored liquid sealed with a piece of wax. Iris brought the liquid up to her mouth and bit the wax off to open it before spitting the thing out. She slowly poured the lemon-looking mixture onto the gash in Dakota's hand. It looked like dyed water, yet it had the consistency of room-temperature syrup, oozing out and sticking to her hand like glue. Dakota would be able to see the blood on her hand appear to blur and melt into her hand with the liquid. What Iris had administered was a healing solution that acted like glue. It was something Iris referred to as Lemon Wax. The solution dried to form a stiff layer on her hand, the cut wasn't gone but the active parts of the wax would maybe it close faster than normal. "There, just don't scratch your hand if it starts itching, and try not to get anything on it for a bit. You'll be alright- just wipe the blood off." Holding Dakota's hand in her own was a strange feeling, but she couldn't be thinking about that right now with Hana and the others in trouble. "C'mon, let's go." Iris hadn't ever felt this kind of adrenaline before, but she was running like Fenrir himself was nipping at her heels.

Once she made her way inside she saw everything unfolding like hell had sprung open: Calypso casting all kinds of wild Combat Magic, David having the absolute insanity to punch a vampire and...Hana. Iris' heart stopped for a minute, she watched blood dripping from her arm in streaks from her wrist. Arken was keeping an eye on her, that was good, but there was only one way something like that could happen to you in a fight with a vampire. She was bit. Hana had a coin toss' chance of seeing tomorrow or going home. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck- wait, Alayna? Fuck. Alayna. She was being tackled by a vampire, that really wasn't good, what the fuck was Iris doing now? She ran even more and tackled the vampire before Alayna could be hurt. What sounded like a screech was Iris just trying to work up the nerve to get further and further along with the fight. She was probably on the verge of going into autopilot, but that didn't matter to her. "Get up! Move!" Next thing she knew, Iris was on top of the vampire, she fidgeted for the dagger she had, grabbing it shakily and haphazardly slamming it down on the vampire's throat, she felt it plunge in, but only somewhat, it was stuck. She couldn't get it to come free as the bastard shook and writhed under her.

Fuck.

Isolde Morden

Isolde stepped out the door and waited for the rest of the group to come, to be honest, she was starting to feel restless. "I'm going on ahead, I'll be just down the road. Find me there." She said before walking off into the night. Isolde was used to walking on foot in the dark, the only difference between usually and right now was now she had street lamps overhead. It truly was a nice night for a walk despite being in a small, dead town such as this one. Isolde found herself alone in no time at all, the street lamps were off, but the moonlight kept things visible. Her phone was in her pocket and her gun at her waist in case she needed help. It was dangerous to go alone in an attempt to scout of the scene for vampires, but she wasn't going to chance a fight head on; If anything, she'd simply fan fire some shots to slow them down and run back while they were down. It would be better than not knowing if they were still here or not. The air was cool, and everything was dead silent, there wasn't so much as a light on anywhere except for the stars overhead. The street was dead silent, it was the perfect place for vampires to prowl. This is exactly why they'd come to this place, she figured. Vampires thrive on the dead silence of night, and there was nothing here for them to be witnessed by. That meant they were a lot more free here than a city.

Isolde was surprisingly full of energy at this hour, staying in a car like that would do that to you. She was wide awake without much more than a yawn to shake her, the longer she walked down the street, the more she felt something could be watching her. Anything. Not right behind her, she would hear that, but somewhere, towards the end of the street maybe. This town wasn't safe for anyone, certainly not witches of any kind. She continued until the hotel was nowhere to be found. She wasn't lost, in fact she only went in a straight line further and further. She had crossed a few streets to get here, and she was alone. Finally, however, she found something. A bar with people at it. It came into view as she made her way to a crosswalk at the end of the street. Strange. What time was it? Her phone said 11:08 pm. Who would be awake at this hour? Isolde opened her phone to shoot her witchmates a message- they had a group chat apparently.

Isolde: Everyone, people are around, there's a bar some 10 minutes away by foot. A few but we should be careful so we don't get spo-

She kept looking up and down from her phone to the cars when she saw something strange that kept her from finishing her message.

Someone was hurt over there.

Someone on the ground, blood on him. It was difficult to see, but it was blood no less. She quickly hopped across the street and got a little closer. Isolde couldn't quite tell if the man was dead or not, but he was bleeding. Shit, was that what she thought it was? There were people over him with their faces around his neck. Some women. There they were. "Perfect." Isolde's hands began to tingle with static as she pulled them from her pockets, a spark or two jumping between her fingers. She quickly hopped across the street and slowly made her way behind a car, the man they had by the neck was still squirming, one of the women was holding him in place. Isolde knelt down and took cover for a second as she charged her hand with energy. She had been hoping it would be this easy, and it was almost too good to be true. In her right hand, electricity began to well into being. A fizzing sound could be heard as she slowly stood up and came out of cover. The vampire on top of the man had her back turned to Isolde, but the other one simply had to look up at her to know they were seen. She was standing right in the open with a rather sour look upon her face as she raised her right arm behind her head, a bright, surging glow bloomed from her hand as she thrust it forward. In a brilliant, blinding flash, a bolt of teal lightning arced off from her hands and directly at the two of them. A rather loud crack sound pierced the silence of the night as the two creatures were struck by Isolde's lightning bolt. Electricity created a lot of heat, and vampires handled high temperatures poorly. There was no way they'd be able to survive that, but unfortunately, the man beneath them would be caught in it. Perhaps it was for the best, otherwise he may turn into one of them, and then he'd have to be killed anyway. Isolde's entire arm was riddled by static, but it was nothing she wasn't used to. Her clan of witches all knew the effects of electricity through the body quite well.

Two down.

[Jumbus]

---

David could feel his confidence and ego returning as he barraged the vampire with successful blow after successful blow. He had tried to stay away from fighting while he was in America. But being able to bring it back was refreshing. He felt great.

In a blur that all changed. The vampire had recoiled back then reengaged. David was only just able to block the blow to his face. But the sheer pain running through his arms had been a metaphorical gut punch. Then a literal gut punch had come in to take the air out of his lungs. His vision began to blur and his mind was only just able to catch up. "Oh fuuuu..."

Had it really been that easy? Could he really do nothing to prevent what was going to happen to him? He was helpless and he knew it. All he could do it watch as the vampire went for his neck.

---

---

One, two, three, there was no point in counting anymore. Rowan had mustered herself to give a plan and had little left to argue as she saw people leave. Had it really been so silly to suggest that the group stay tight for the night?

Rowan watch Kate get up to leave, but this time she had been able to respond. Lightly pulling on Kate's arm, Rowan addressed her quietly. "If it is safe for you all to go out there. You shouldn't have any problem bringing this back intact." Rowan slipped Kate one of the vials of Bottled Sunlight, only leaving herself with two. Then she watched the group leave with a heavy heart. Knowing that if they did not come back tonight, she would not be looking for them until morning.

"Well onto work then" Rowan muttered to herself as she brought out the components to the ritual. Picking up the chalk, she begun with the largest circle which was roughly 6 foot in diameter. "While I could use a hand with the ritual, I think we could use another check around the hotel for danger. Maybe ask the man in the lobby about any recent disappearances?"

[KaijuBaragon]

Charlie took one last look at the people who were remaining behind in the hotel before strolling downstairs and joining the rest before they could set off. Isolde was seemingly restless, already having walked along ahead of the group. It was a fairly warm night, and the lack of light pollution in a small isolated town like this left a nice clear night sky, which Charlie took a few moments to admire before the group set off walking away from the hotel to explore the rest of the town. The rest of the town didn't really look much better than the hotel, Charlie thought, as they walked down the street. There were plenty of other houses and buildings that were seemingly boarded up and abandoned, and only a few dingy looking diners and shops open anyway at this hour. This place was probably really pretty once - it was sad, but it made sense vampires would.

It wasn't look before Charlie, in his usual talkative self, was in the midst of a long speech to the group of general. "You know, the economic situation in small towns in America like this one is rather grim... I suppose it's a combination of rapid urbanisation and the decline of industries like farming and mining, but that's a question for sociologists, I suppose." He went on, only vaguely wondering about whether anyone was actually listening into what he was saying. "But that means it's a perfect place for vampires, isn't it, really? Little to no people visit here, it's like a free buffet of corpses for them! It's rather horrible to think about, actually."

But Charlie was finally cut off when he noticed Isolde, who had been walking up ahead in front of the group, suddenly dash across the street up ahead to something that he couldn't quite see properly. He squinted as he walked with the others, wondering what was going on. They were getting pretty close to reaching a bar, which actually seemed to be pretty active, a low level of noise coming off from it. And then, a loud flash and a cracking sound boomed out from where Isolde had ran to. He dashed over himself to see what was going on, coming across a fairly grisly sight. Two charred-looking bodies (presumably vampires) were lying on the ground, next to a man with two gushing holes in his neck. And, next to all of this, another vampire, blood dripping down their chin from their fanged teeth, was standing, looking shocked.

Charlie thought quickly, lifting his hands and remembering a spell he had done a few times, which sent a large beam of UV light towards the vampire. Either it would kill it, make it run away, or just incapacitate it long enough for Isolde or any of the other members of the coven to catch up and finish it off. But Charlie didn't think there would just be three vampires in the whole town. This attack was brazenly in the public. They were probably in for a long few days here.

[Akayaofthemoon]

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The blazing fire that appeared before her, creating a barrier between her and her current attacker was more than a relief but extremely appreciated as Hana made her way from the battle. She made a mental note during her retreat to thank Alayna the first chance she got. She knew she was weakening from blood loss and she didn’t even want to think about the fact that her powers would probably fail at some point due to the bite. If she had had to continue fighting, it would have caused major problems down the line and placed her in a worse position than she already was in. Dizziness was setting in, causing her to stumble in the direction she assumed the car was in but it was becoming increasingly difficult to focus, dark spots sprinkling into her vision. All she wanted to do in that moment was stop to rest, sleep even but she kept pushing forward hoping to bring the others some back up and praying no one else suffered from a bite while she stumbled onward.

It wasn’t long before Hana heard someone approaching her and glanced up for a moment, her muscles tensing a bit as she prayed it wasn’t another vampire as she continued forward with her gaze back to the ground so she wouldn’t fall. If her mind hadn’t been so slow on reaction, she would have known it wasn’t possibly a vampire for the simple fact a vampire would be moving at a much more rapid speed but then again, everything seemed to be moving at a faster pace than she was. The sound of her name from a familiar voice had her gaze moving back in front of her once more, right before a curse reached her ears. Arken was already looking her over, his gaze locking onto her bleeding wrist when another colorful curse rang out before quickly switching to try to comfort her or maybe convince himself that she would be alright. Even in her dazed state, there was a seed of doubt at those words but she didn’t have the strength to argue or deny them. All they could do was try to keep her healthy and wait for whatever happened to happen. She thought she would be more panicked in this kind of situation but Hana found she was calm and accepting of what was.

She opened her mouth to answer, trying to reject his help and express that the others needed him more but Arken didn’t give her a chance. Hana found her good arm wrapped around his shoulder as he helped support her, the two of them making their way back to the car. They moved in silence, the noise of fighting at their back as they continued onward. It hadn’t been very long until they made their way past the iron gate and to the car which still had the other two. Dakota looked to be hurt, Iris working on giving medical attention. Hana felt guilt twist her insides looking at the two, disappointed in herself that she had been caught so easy and making it hard to assist. If she had been in better shape, she could have helped heal her ally and now she seemed useless. The out of hand chaos was not really in their favor either as they might lose their targets and would have to not get caught by the humans who wouldn’t understand magic. The only positive was the lock of hair she had been able to snag and was securely in her pocket. It wasn’t a great start but the others or her should be able to track them. She let Arken open the car door and assist her in having a seat, plopping down weakly but thankful she could relax. ”Thank you, Arken. Please, go help the others…..”, Hana pleaded in a tired and strained voice.

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[Danvers]

Whilst the others had quickly become consumed by fight or flight, vampires scattering the group to the four winds, Caleb had well...taken a nap. It wasn't his fault, not entirely at least, after all keeping look out was boring and having to maintain invisibility for even an hour at a time was tiring as hell. So eventually he'd been unable to resist climbing up the tree they'd parked themselves under and nestling himself atop a surprisingly comfy branch. The ability to sleep anywhere really was a skill that had taken years to acquire. Yet it only felt like minutes before his dreams were interrupted by the smell of...food? Who was cooking? Kind of a weird time to be cooking but he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity for a free meal. Plus 2am snacks were always the best kind of snacks.

"Mm...barbeque. Pass me a burger will yo-..." His sleepy mutterings were promptly interrupted by a loud yelp of surprise as his brown eyes latched onto the licks of flames that were crawling steadily closer to him, heat radiating powerfully off of them. One of his legs had been dangling over the edge of the once sturdy branch he'd precariously laid himself upon and he watched for a split second with a mix of mild amusement and shock as one of the laces of his left sneaker caught fire. "Ah, damn it! Masons gonna kill me..." Scrambling backwards from the now dangerously close flames, Caleb suddenly heard a creaking, a snapping and a crunching beneath him. As the branch gave way, he felt his body plummet towards the ground. Eyes closed, Calebs breath hitched instinctively in his throat for a moment before he took a deep gulp of air. Mere milliseconds before he would've hit the cold grass, he stopped, floated above it for a moment and then landed in a much softer (and significantly less bone breaking) manner. He let out a sigh of relief before remembering that his sneaker was still alight. Scrambling onto two feet and then hopping on one foot, he quickly pulled it off before hitting it against the ground until the flames died out. He hissed in pain as he looked at where he'd torn away the canvas material, revealing the now sore and blistered skin underneath "Well, shit..." The teen muttered as he turned to face the graveyard proper, the noises of the ensuing fight finally registering with his still drowsy mind.

He was faced with what could only be described as chaos. It may be surprising to some that he'd managed to sleep through such pandemonium but Caleb had grown up with six brothers and sisters - this was child's play in comparison. Scrunching up his eyebrows in concentration, he tried to remember all of the advice his old man had ever given him about fighting vampires. Unfortunately Caleb had also spent most of those times daydreaming, usually about when he could next go surfing, and all he could remember was 'don't get bitten'. Great Caleb. Totally useful dude. "Fuck it." He shrugged, running over to the nearest figure he could make out in the darkness. The pockets of fire (why was there so much damn fire?!) made it easier to see but even then, at first he couldn't tell whether he was running towards a friend or an enemy. Pain coursed through the top of his foot and ankle but he gritted his teeth, ignoring it as he approached who he could eventually identify as was Iris.

"Oi! Get away from her you...douche...goblin?" He yelled as he approached, shouting the first thing that popped into his head...anything to distract the creature long enough to stop it from clawing at Iris. It wasn't the best insult ever, but he was still kind of sleepy okay? Plus he didn't generally like to insult people, even blood-sucking vampires. It stilled for a moment but when the vampire quickly begun turning back towards the the witch, Caleb's eyebrows narrowed in thought. Finally, a flicker of a smile pulled at the edges of his lips as he raised his arm in the air, only one idea passing through his mind in that moment.

"What's that!?" He suddenly yelled in mock surprise as the now charred sneaker flew out of his hand. It whizzed past the vampire like some kind of synthetic bird before doing a u-turn and promptly smacking him dead in the face. Caleb was pretty sure from the crunch that followed that the guys nose was broken, his own nose scrunching up in a grimace at the sound. "Aw man, that sounded pai-..." Cut short once more as the only momentarily stunned vampire lunged at him, he protectively held out a hand in front of himself. Aside from setting up traps for Jeremy, he'd really spent little time testing the limits of the new power that the wellspring ensued. But in that moment he could feel it rushing through him, lighting up his cells...his nerves...his skin, with something both equally invigorating and intoxicating. A twinkle of what anyone close to him would describe as mischievousness passed through his eyes, before the vampire was sent flying away from the pair of young witches. It was with a speed and force he'd always struggled before to maintain and he watched as the body smashed into a rather heavy looking tombstone, dirt and stone flying up around it. Satisfied that the vampire was dealt with, at least for the moment, he turned to his fellow witch before holding out a hand to help her up.

"You alright dude? That was a close one." Caleb smiled lightly as he looked down at the burnt skin around his foot and ankle. It wasn't that deep, which was also probably why it hurt so damn much. Healing magic had never been a forte of his and he was always worried that he'd make a mistake and end up with an extra toe or something. Best to just leave it for one of the others. "You don't happen to have a spare shoe do you?" He joked with a small laugh, before turning to see where the others were, hoping that they were all okay.

@Blizz

[Danvers]

“I don’t need a ritual…” Summer rolled her eyes at Rowans suggestion as her hair colour switched from ginger to black to pink, and back again. She didn’t see the point in helping the others disguise themselves…if they couldn’t do it, she wasn’t going to expend her own magic doing so. They quickly moved past that option though and she listened, uncharacteristically quietly, as the others discussed their plans, with only a few more eye rolls thrown in. Although she'd had a few cat naps in the car, she was feeling tired and even more grumpy than usual. If it had been up to her, they would've just flown to this god forsaken town. Or taken a limousine...at least then she would've been able to stretch her now aching legs. And it was best not to even get her started on the motel room. It was by the far the most bland place she had ever stayed in. Regardless of all of this, they were here now, and she supposed she had no choice but to get on with whatever hellish mission the elders had sent them on.

Letting out a small sigh, she brought up the map of the town on her phone as the other witches begun arguing about whether they should begin the search now or later. She honestly didn’t care but going out at night, when the vampires were at the greatest advantage, seemed kind of dumb to her. After seeing nothing of interest, she shoved her phone into the back pocket of her light denim jeans, before watching with mild regard as Isolde...and then most of the other witches, left the room.

...Leaving her with Jeremy.

The fact that she was put out by this revelation was immediately obvious but before he would be able to comment on her displeased demeanour, her appearance had shifted, morphing into one that was eerily similar to the male witch’s, right down to the grey-blue eyes and neatly pressed clothes. A small smile crossed her (or more accurately his) face before she opened her mouth to speak. “…Potential choke points, optimal spots for ambushes, we have no knowledge of any of these places.” She parroted in a creepily accurate voice before letting out a light laugh in her own southern tone. “God how old are you? You sound like one of the elders.” Summer muttered in reference to Jeremys earlier speech, which although totally sensible, had been a total bore-fest.

Plopping herself on the edge of one of the beds, she lent back on her elbows, gaze still fixed unwaveringly on Jeremy. “So, how do we go about ‘fortifying’ our rooms then? My preference would just be to trick them into thinking we aren’t here but I’m up for pushing a chair under the doorknob or whatever…”
 Despite her mockery, she agreed with most of what he’d said, and he kind of seemed to know what he was talking about. She’d also either forgotten, or had purposefully kept up her guise, meaning that Jeremy was for all intents and purposes, speaking to a clone of himself. Although one with a now much higher pitched voice than his own. "Also, why are you such an expert on vampire hunting? As far as I was aware, most of us were in highschool until not that long ago and I really doubt they've added that to the SATs."

@Rabidporcupine

[Blizz]

[sassy1085]

---

As Kate was about to leave with Jean-Luc group, they feel a light pull on their arm, it was Rowan, who Kate can feel nervousness around her. Kate chuckled "Don't worry, Rowan. Once we get back here, there will be no scratches on us and we will be at home in no time" Kate say to Rowan with a courage smile as they take Bottled Sunlight from her, although as the group walk out of the motel, Kate can't help but feel fear inside of them, What if the group do end up with scratches? Not small ones, big ones, What if they take half the group out? What if they take them all out? All these bad thoughts and questions that Kate have, they try not let them effect them and their teammates mission, They need to get this over with.

---

Kate try their hardest to hide their crossbow from onlookers on the streets, they should have taken the car, since it want easy to travel and doesn't people looking at the group as crazy people but at least they are crazy people together, Kate suppose. Kate thoughts were cut short however, when they hear a boomed noise that makes Kate shiver, was that thunder? That's impossible, it's not cloudy and there is no rain drop insight, unless.....Isolde found some vampires.

Running with Charlie in toe, Kate ready their crossbow, putting a Bottled Sunlight in. Seeing Charlie casting a spell to make UV lights beam brighter, maybe with Bottled Sunlight and UV lights, it can make a stronger combination and may take damage to the vampires. Without hesitation, Kate aim one of the vampires and shoot Bottled Sunlight in their face.

@Jumbus

[Rabidporcupine]

@Danvers

Jeremy was having a hard time dealing with the fact that everyone left. Despite what he'd said about not being able to stop them if he was outvoted, he couldn't deny that he'd really hoped he would get through to them. But nope. They'd left anyway. All he could do was hope that they were good enough with their magic to survive anything the vampires might have planned, at least long enough to get back to the motel where they could regroup and come up with a better strategy.

And in the meantime, he was left with Abernathy.

Cool.

Not that he had a problem with her or anything like that, but even just over the couple of days he'd known her, he'd gotten the distinct feeling that being the sole target of her attention would make things... difficult. As if on cue, he watched her face twist into one of disgust as she came to the same realisation, before he noticed with a type of pre-emptive, tired acceptance that the face making said expression had started transforming, quickly turning into a mirror of his own. Then she started talking though, mimicking him in a voice that was eerily close to his own, and found his face shifting involuntarily into an expression of disgust not unlike her own from just moments ago. Still, he managed to hold back any retorts that may or may not have been on the tip of his tongue and turn back to his work. The next line of taunting, however, was finally enough to get a response from him.

"Unfortunately, I'm still the same age as the rest of you." He sighed, trying to keep his frustration at the whole situation out of his voice. "If I was an elder, maybe the others would've actually cared when I told them not to leave..."

Of course, if he was an elder, he would have tried to convince Deborah not to send a group of inexperienced teens to hunt a pack of vampires who had already killed a number of veteran witches, or at least send a couple of adults to keep them from making the kind of stupid decisions teens tended to think were fine, but he wasn't, so no use fixating on it.

Instead, he would get the joy of being forced to fixate on Abernathy's mockery.

Cool.

"Putting a chair up against the door wouldn't help much when they jump through the window, and we'd never be able to trick them into thinking we aren't in here. Vampires have strong senses."

He paused for a moment, before placing a spare bottle of ink and brush on a small bench next to were he was working.

"If you know any runic scripts you can use for enchantment, you could always help me set up some more wards. Otherwise, I'm not really sure at the moment."

And then came a new line of questioning, which surprisingly wasn't just making fun of him, and he finally stopped writing for a moment to turn and face Summer.

"They weren't, unfortunately." Jeremy sighed. "If they were, maybe I would've actually passed."

However, he hesitated at the other question, briefly wondering how much of a good idea it was to give someone like her that kind of information. A moment later though, and he realised how rude that thought was. True, Summer could be... unpleasant... but he doubted she would be cruel enough to use this kind of thing to hurt him. Surely she wasn't that bad...

"Well, about two or so years after my dad died, our house was burnt down by a vampire. My mom and I escaped to stay with a group of witch families who were old friends of my dad. They welcomed us in and trained me, but in return we would have to help them on jobs, most of which were extermination missions like this one. That's why most of my training was centered around hunting various creatures of the night, as well as other enemy witches."

And then he sighed again.

"Of course, I had never led one of those missions before, and I'm worried that maybe the elders had hoped I would do that here, which would be a mistake, becau-"

And then he was instantly on high alert again, as he heard a faint but distinct CRACK, similar to the sound of thunder.

"Because, skipping all the other reasons I wouldn't be able to lead this mission, I get the terrible feeling that we're not a particularly discreet group for the most part, and I don't think I'd be able to keep a few of us from accidentally exposing magic to the entire town."

He turned back to his wards, supressing his nervousness over the situation. Depending on whether or not he heard anything else similar to that thunder again, he might even need to get his bow and see if the others needed help.