Shin Ghost Note

Sarge 67 Has Arrived

Herro.

WORM: Parahumans Manchvegas [CANCELLED]

Lemme just say my interest in this has faded, sorry.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

Whoo! Chapter 4. Time for Stacey to make an appearance.

@silvermist1116

gay

Mass Effect: Caelestis

But you will feel my eyes on you, this I swear.

@Spoopy Scary

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

Alright bitches, it's time for chapter four. And this is where shit hits the fan, I mean like totally goes tits up. It's gonna be brutal.

Also, I forgot to have Meifeng give Lyss the gay potion so damn it.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

---

Miami Merchandise Mall Parking Lot.

---

"Omerta, dumbass." Johnny rolled his eyes at Lyss' naivete. "I don't work with the feds, period. Ya'll shouldn't either, but hey, it's your funeral." He shrugged as he scanned the room and realized that the situation was changing.

The Jaws manifested again as one of the Jaw's skulls looked at her and the two nodded at each other. Before they looked at Johnny, "Sorry, hun, but I don't buy a word that's comin' outta' your mouth." Madison said, "Nothing about Dollhouse, nothing about Kimberly, nothing about your little scheme. For all we know, the shit that went down in the club was all your idea."

"You still assisted," The Jaws spoke,

"Babylon the Great," Another head spoke.

"For that,"

"We will kill you,"

"Perhaps your death,"

"Will be less agonizing,"

"If you lead us to Babylon,"

"We will rip her form to shreds,"

"Give her no escape,"

"Then we will consume her soul,"

"Then we will consume yours."

"... I wonder what he thinks about me," Emily crossed her arms as she wondered out loud.

However, Helena wiped out her taser and immediately shot Johnny with it... he violently convulsed as he fell to his knees and then facefirst onto the ground. "Cuff him!" Helena ordered Trevor as she looked up at Sharon...

... Who jumped down and transformed into her insect swarm form. However, she didn't flee, she just transformed back to normal and raised her hands. "Don't shoot! I'll come with you!" She said.

"Honestly," Leon said as he pushed his katana up a bit with his thumb. "You all need to get back to Tampa, ASAP. We'll handle things from here."

"Might as well..." Madison said with a sigh. "Everyone, let's pack up our shit and go... and no fuckin' gas station stops."

Today was... shitty, to say the least. Hopefully, the DENS will make sure that they don't leave empty-handed. As Madison got into her car, one thing was for certain; Kimberly was going to have a lot to answer for when they got back.

If she was still there.

---

The Beach House.

---

To say the least,

Meifeng was not happy.

She was standing on the beach with the phone to her ear, listening to Leon tell her how the whole operation got fucked ten ways to Sunday. Thank God her agents were there, but... Ms. Walton. She apparently crashed the meeting and began blasting away at the Dollhouse. That... Didn't add up to Meifeng. From Leon's accounts, she just showed up, caused the situation to go tits up, and then left. Meifeng thought that sounded a bit strange.

"Okay, I'll sort this out," Meifeng said as she ended the call.

"What happened?" Cindy said as she walked up to Meifeng's side.

"Ms. Walton appeared and pretty much became an active shooter in the Dollhouse club...."

"Something doesn't feel right about that,"

"That's what I was thinking," Meifeng said, "Let's find their sister, and then we'll check what the bugs picked up."

The two Agents began walking back into the house and went into the living room... they saw the TV was on and saw the lights. Meifeng knew that it was likely Vashti, but maybe she'd get lucky and see Kimberly here. All she saw was Ancient Aliens playing and the girl in the hijab was in there watching TV. Meifeng tilted her head as she made sure to open the door loudly enough for Vashti to tell that she was there - the last thing she wanted to do was give this jitterbug a heart attack. She sauntered in with her hands in her pockets and walked up to where Vashti was sitting on the couch. Cindy slowly got up behind her in case this got ugly.

"Ms... why I forgot your name," Meifeng shrugged. "Do you know where Ms. Walton might be?"

Vashti gave Meifeng a wide-eyed and confused look as the agent caught her stress eating out of a buttery bowl of popcorn mixed with M&Ms. Slowly, she shoved the food into her mouth as the undeniably credible man dressed like a professor explained how Alexander the Great used alien technology to conquer the known world. She doubted that Meifeng had actually forgotten her name. The government spook probably had files the size of a dictionary on every member of the Coven, from birth records to text chains. She probably knew that Vashti would be in the living room watching television before Vashti even had decided to do it. However, the DENS had agreed to watch after the Coven, so she'd play along with Meifeng's apparent forgetfulness.

"Ms. Nour. Um, Vashti," she said, her eyes darting over to the TV. Dang it, why'd she have to get interrupted just when it was getting good? "And I don't. Did you try asking her cameraman?"

"We don't know where either of them they are," Meifeng said as she put a hand on her chin and walked around. She looked at Vashti and realized that her attention was more on the TV - maybe it was a diversion? With a wave of her hand, the television turned off. "Focus, Ms. Nour. Something really serious happened and we need to find Ms. Walton. ASAP."

Cindy merely shook her head, "Do you know where she might be in the house? Or anywhere else she might hang out?"

"Maybe she's filming an episode of her show? I mean, they could be anywhere. Look, I'm sorry, but I wasn't her babysitter," said Vashti. If anything, Kimberly had been babysitting Vashti. She sat up, alarmed, and cradled the snack bowl in her lap. "Wait, what happened?"

She jumped at the sound of her phone buzzing from the coffee table. She glanced at it, saw the caller ID was from Herik and moved to pick it up.

The two exchanged looks, Meifeng was more than certain that Vashti had nothing to do with Kimberly's plan - though the question of why she was here. Meifeng nodded her head at Cindy before she slowly began to walk off, looking for Ms. Walton in the house.

That left Meifeng with Vashti, she noticed that her phone was buzzing and let her pick it up, "Ms. Walton... she shot up the Dollhouse club and got one of your sisters killed. That's probably them calling you to tell you what happened."

"What?"

It took a moment for the full implication of what Meifeng had said to truly hit Vashti. For a second, she just stared blankly at the DENS agent while a muted voice chimed through the speaker on her phone. Then everything smacked her like a tidal wave, forcing her under the water where she couldn't breathe and dragging her away from the shore with the undertow. Her worst fears about the Coven seeing the Dollhouse had come true and then some. Kimberly had betrayed them, somebody was dead, and the odds that anybody had gotten their hands on a cure was close to zero.

She choked on her words. Her eyes welled up. The voice on the phone became static as she scooted backward, burying herself in the couch, the bowl clattering to the floor and sending popcorn and candies bouncing every which way. Vashti knew she should reply to Herik, should let him know that she was okay and make sure that the same was true of him, should ask him about who had died, should give him some kind of comforting words to ease the pain he was likely feeling. She didn't, because she didn't care. A cure had been right there and the Coven, DENS, and, most of all, Kimberly Fucking Walton had screwed her out of it. The phone dropped from her hand and bounced harmlessly onto a cushion, the call still going. Vashti's whole body shook as pulled her knees.

"I'm going to..." Vashti stammered and began to cry. She wiped away the tears with the back of her hand and started forward. At that moment, Meifeng might as well not have existed. She felt her stomach turn. Her voice was no more than a faint whisper as she finished her thought, "I'm going to kill her."

"What you're going to do is nothing," Meifeng sharply answered. As she looked down the hallway towards Cindy, who threw her a hand signal and she nodded. "We have this handled, just go back to watching television." She walked down the hallway as she saw Cindy right by the door. Vashti ignored Meifeng's command and slowly followed behind the agent. She stopped behind the corner to the hall and poked her head around to watch, her finger rolling over the grooves in Herik's coin.

Cindy was on one side of the door and had brandished her pistol, and Meifeng did the same. The latter pressed her ear up against the door and heard some music playing on the other side. The two looked each other dead in the eyes as Meifeng raised three fingers...

Two...

... One.

Meifeng jumped in front of the door and then kicked it down and brandished her gun. The first thing that she saw was Kimberly in her underwear lying stomach-down on the bed. She was typing on the laptop... before the glass on it exploded. "Wha-"

"... DON'T MOVE! " Meifeng shouted as the two older women aimed their pistols at her. "DO NOT MOVE A MUSCLE OR I WILL SHOOT!"

"O-okay!" Kimberly stammered as Cindy moved over towards her. She grabbed Kimberly by her arm and then put her down on her knees. "Wh-what's going on?! What did I do?!"

Meifeng narrowed her eyes.

Vashti had crept to the edge of the door now, one hand on the threshold as she peered into the room. She tried being quiet to avoid giving her presence away, but her breathing grew hot and angry as she saw Kimberly on her knees in nothing more than underwear. Good, she deserved to be embarrassed. Vashti could only think about how Kimberly made her feel like a total asshole the other day because Vashti didn't believe in the Coven, only for the bitch to go and ruin things herself. She scrapped the doorframe with her nails.

"Cut the shit, Kimberly," growled Vashti, stepping into the doorframe but not yet entering the room. A hint of yellow flicked across her slitted pupils as she took in the scene, her eyes jumping from the guns to the shattered laptop screen. Kimberly might have been restrained, but she was still a danger for other reasons. Vashti found what she was looking for on the nightstand: Kimberly's instant print camera. She smiled cruelly as she took a step forward into the room.

"I believed in you, and you fucking betrayed us. Did the Dollhouse even have cures in the first place?"

"What the hell are you talking about?! I was here the whole time!" Kimberly said, which only served to help Meifeng believe her stance. However, the girl could be a sociopath, so better safe than sorry... Cindy clicked the handcuffs on. "Can somebody tell me what's going on?! I didn't betray anybody! I was here the whole time!"

"Ms. Nour...." Meifeng looked at Vashti and hoped that she got the hint to get lost.

However, Ms. Nour was no longer in control. The Leviathan seized control of Vashti's body as it slinked around the edge of the room, halting only as Meifeng called out to it's pathetic and weak vessel. Although she had yet to transform, the eyes that met Meifeng were feral and reptilian. The Leviathan straightened itself up and let Herik's coin drop from her hand as it fixed Meifeng with a stare. She had a gun, but it had yet to be trained on the Leviathan—as if the stupid, inferior primates could use their basic, simple tools to harm something as magnificent as herself.

With a huff, the Leviathan turned and snatched Kimberly's camera from the table. The Leviathan continued to turn, using its momentum to smash the camera against the wall as it assumed its true form. Vashti's face widened into a snout, the tail split out from under the jacket wrapped around her waist, and her arms bulked up as the scales spread throughout the rest of her body. She roared and ripped the cast-off of her arm with her razor-sharp claws. However, the Leviathan did not immediately lash out at Meifeng.

"Leave us," hissed the Leviathan, its yellow, bloodshot eyes turning down towards its handcuffed, hopeless prey. Now that her vessel knew how treacherous her weak species truly was nothing was holding the Leviathan back. Kimberly had bested the Leviathan twice, but the Lizard Queen would see to it that there would be no third time. With a snarl, the Leviathan took the first step forward to kill the ghost hunter.

... And that step was interrupted by several green jagged glass spears getting in between Vashti and Kimberly. It formed a wall between the two of them. Cindy's eyes were wide open as she lifted Kimberly to her feet while fixing the gun on Leviathan through the glass. Knowing that it was unlikely to stop the Leviathan.

"Ms. Nour!" Meifeng shouted as she fixed the gun on Vashti and prepared to open fire. "Stop immediately!" Now, she knows what the fuck tore her fucking truck apart, and she was not happy.

"Shit!" Kimberly shouted as her hands were behind her back and Vashti utterly destroyed her camera. Fortunately, she has a backup, her cellphone - unfortunately, that's on the bed and out of reach. And there was a lizard monster about to attack her. "You gotta let me grab my phone!"

Strangely enough, the Leviathan that was trapped behind the cage of glass raised its claws over its head as if it were surrendering—but not before it took a glance over at the bed. Another primate tool was designed to cage the Queen. She would not let Kimberly get her hands on it. The snarling stopped as a familiar, panicked voice spoke, perfect mimicry of Vashti. "P-please don't shoot me! I didn't do anything wrong!"

It likely wouldn't fool Meifeng, but it might make her hesitate. A hesitation was all the Leviathan needed. She whipped her tail around and effortlessly shattered through the glass spears, sending chunks of shrapnel throughout the room. Then, almost immediately it leaped towards the bed, claws out, ready to destroy the phone like it had Kimberly's camera. The Leviathan would not be caged again.

Meifeng unfortunately for Leviathan didn't hesitate at this point - and the second that Vashti or this creature moved the wrong way, she immediately pulled the trigger. All she heard was the ringing from the aftermath of her round. All she smelled was the smoking gun. And all she saw was the creature at the end of her barrel. She was ready to pull the trigger again.

However, as Vashti leaped for the phone, Cindy had her eyes on the bed and several glass pillars came out of the bed launching themselves directly at Vashti. While the glass made tiny lacerations against her scales, the bullets had done little more than a bruise. Still, the Leviathan fell short of their target as the glass and the bullets smashed into her. She smacked against the frame of the bed with a thud and went limp. The bed couldn't support all of this however and fell forward... knocking Kimberly's phone onto the floor in the process as Cindy tried to move Kimberly more towards the door. They had to keep this fight indoors.

The Leviathan saw the phone on the ground a few feet in front of her. Kimberly getting her hands on it was more dangerous than anything these two pieces of shit could do to her. She scrambled across the floor towards the phone, the room echoing with the sound of gunshots as she barreled as quickly as she could towards the phone. Instinctually, her tail whipped out at Meifeng in an attempt to knock her against the wall and stop her pesky gunfire as the Leviathan opened up its jaw to devour the phone. Meifeng was hit by the tail and went flying until she hit the wall, dropping her pistol in the process. She loudly hissed as she hit the wall and she felt the impact through her old bones. She grit her teeth as she slid down... but composed herself and reached out and willed the pistol into her hand.

Cindy seemingly did nothing as she went towards the door, holding her prisoner. However, she was focused on the phone, which was obviously her target (Walton needs a lesson on subtlety), and when the Leviathan opened her mouth: Cindy enacted her plan. She covered the phone in jagged razor-sharp and brutal glass growths.

The Leviathan, either not noticing or not caring, snapped her jaws down on the phone. The crunching of Kimberly's phone was drowned out by the pained howl unleashed by the Leviathan as her mouth was lacerated by the broken glass. She coughed and sputtered as blood begin to fill her mouth and drip down her face, but she did not stop. She began to stumble towards Kimberly, slashing wildly in front of her and roaring in rage, flecks of blood splattering around the room as she continued to rampage.

Cindy noticed that the Leviathan was stumbling, so the plan worked. Kind of. The creature was after Kimberly(?) and Meifeng was out of commission. So there was one thing that came to mind - she let Kimberly go, she gave her a shove right out the door. Kimberly yelped as she fell to the ground and Cindy quickly dodged the claws. Starting from Kimberly, various poles made out of a green glass came out of the ground until it formed a barrier between the two.

Meanwhile, Meifeng grabbed her gun and began blasting away at the Leviathan, hoping that they'd do something. However, they seemed to have almost no effect, doing little more than causing the Leviathan to recoil. The Leviathan stood to her full, unimpressive height of five foot something and whipped her tail around to smash through the glass barrier, sending the shards that didn't embed in her tail flying throughout the room. With a bubbling hiss, the Leviathan continued pressing forward towards Kimberly, her tunneled vision seeing nothing but her quarry. Claws flashed as she reached out towards the handcuffed girl, eager for the easy kill.

"Son of a bitch!" Kimberly shouted as she immediately turned and cut and run. This was not the ideal situation but what were the DENS thinking when they not only cuffed her but let the Leviathan out. When the Leviathan reached for her, Kimberly tried to run but ended up tripping, and then she screamed when she braced for the inevitable...

... And a yellow-aura wrapped around her that constantly pulsed and flowed so fast that it was almost nauseating. She felt a hand - no, his hand on her and his abstraction activated. No harm would come to Kimberly long as he had the barrier active. It didn't stop the Leviathan from trying, though. The Leviathan crashed against the barrier like a rabid dog, claws, and teeth harmlessly deflecting off of the yellow light. She kept attacking. She kept attacking even as the claws on her hands started to crack and chip. She kept attacking even as the barrier around Kimberly was slowly coated with a fresh paint of the Leviathan's dark-red blood that splattered out from its mouth as it bit and roared on repeat.

The barrier around Kimberly wasn't going to last forever, Rowan knew that. Just what the hell happened here?! He lifted Kimberly by the cuffs as he took steps back as the Leviathan was literally hurting herself attacking Kimberly. However, he noticed the two DENS agents coming out of the room aiming their weapons at the two, which wasn't going to help... but then Meifeng raised her hand and the cuffs came off of Kimberly's hand, melting into a liquid as it formed a long and sharp blade. The blade jetted directly at Vashti at high speeds.

The Leviathan didn't even know the blade was coming her way until it pierced her just beneath the shoulder. With an ear-shattering roar, the Leviathan pulled the blade out of her chest and used it to strike at the barrier. She didn't care that the wound was now bleeding out, or that the blade was beginning to cut into her fingers, or that nothing she fucking did kill this goddamn bitch. She just continued her frenzy, even as her strikes grew slower and slower. Deep within the pits of the Leviathan, her vessel tried to wrestle some kind of control. Vashti tried to project the fear she felt knowing that the raging Leviathan was going to get her killed to the Apparition controlling her body, but the Leviathan just kept swinging.

The blade gave Kimberly all the opportunity she needed to reach into Rowan's pocket and pull out his cellphone. Fortunately for her, Rowan used a shitty android phone, and thus she didn't have to unlock it. She quickly pointed the phone at the flailing Leviathan and pressed the big O in the middle. A second later there was a flash, and the Leviathan was gone, replaced by a stunned, bloodied, wide-eyed Vashti.

The injured girl looked down at the stained blade in her lacerated hand and then slowly stared up at Kimberly. The Leviathan was gone, but the hatred in her eyes told the photographer that Vashti's anger had not subsided. Kimberly had dangled the hope of a cure in front of Vashti's face, and then she'd snatched it away from her. Vashti tightened her grip on the blade and jammed it as hard as she could against the barrier. All it did was slide back in her hand, deepening the cuts to the point where she could no longer hold the blade. Vashti's shoulders shook as her face darkened and twisted in pain. The blade couldn't pierce the barrier, but the withering look she cast towards Kimberly was nearly as fatal.

"Fuck you," she said, or rather, she attempted to say. What came out was a gurgle as the pooling blood in her closed mouth was released, cascaded over her lips like a waterfall, and splashed onto the ground that Vashti barely realized she was hitting as the world around her went black.

Meifeng sighed as she tried to fight off the pain... her chest was on fire right now and she could taste a little blood. She should definitely head to the hospital after this... but for now, her hands slid into her pockets as she walked up to Rowan and Kimberly.

"... That was not the way I was hoping that would go." Meifeng sighed with her hands in her pockets. Cindy walked over to Vashti and handcuffed her for when she woke up.

"What the fuck is going on?!" Wendy asked.

Meifeng sighed again. "People think that you have a lot to answer for, Ms. Walton." She ran a bloodied hand through her hair as she looked down at Vashti. Part of her wanted to give this bitch a good kick but she refrained from such childish impulses.

---

---

A few days later; Meifeng had requested a special meeting with Lyss... the same place as before, the CoffeeHouse. This time, it had no ambiguity (but maybe not no surprises) Meifeng and Cindy were sitting on one of the booths. Wearing civilian clothes... Meifeng was wearing a white tank top and jeans that showed off her figure. While Cindy was wearing an Adidas track jacket and shorts and sneakers. Next to Cindy, she had a brown bag with something in it, that was faintly glowing.

Lyss stepped into the building decked in all black. Her boots almost dragged their way over to the table. As she sat down, she removed her sunglasses and nodded to the two women before her. "Agents." She said as a greeting. Something about her seemed disheveled, but she hid it well. Maybe it was in her posture. Maybe it was the dark shade of lipstick she wore too.

"Lyss," Meifeng said, "Should we skip the formalities and get to the point?"

Lyss nodded once and rested her hands together on the table. "So, how did it go?"

"Well... we raided their headquarters a few days ago, however, they were well organized and prepared for such an event..." Meifeng trailed off as she crossed her legs and leaned back in the both. "... The leadership got away, and so did a big chunk of their membership and we don't have any clue where they could be or the resources to find them."

Meifeng sighed yet again. "However, we recovered some of their potions, but there's one problem... we only recovered three cures."

Lyss's hands tightened together, but then she took a deep breath and relaxed them once more. "Are you going to give one of them to Agent Cornell?" Her tone had no emotion to it, but she was assuming that Max's well-being was essential if the DENs were going to take on Annabelle.

However, somebody walked up to the table, and quickly and dramatically slamming a hand down on the table was none other than...

... Maximilian Cornell. All healthy.

"... I think that speaks for itself."

Lyss looked up at Maximillian, stunned. Her hands separated as if she was startled, but in reality, it was a relief.

"Max, I- ... I'm glad you're okay." She almost wanted to say more, but she thought against it.

"Heh, we all are," Maximilian joked, "But, for now, I think we should talk business." He said as he sat down... so he looks less weird. That was when Meifeng continued.

"Now, we have recovered three cures, Director Alcott ordered us to keep all three of them but..." Meifeng trailed off as he bit her lip as she glanced over at Cindy.

"... We decided to give you two," Cindy finished. "It's the least we can do."

Lyss nodded in agreement, although inside she was thinking they could do a lot more than that. Damn right it is.

"So the third goes to Annabelle, then."

Cindy nodded.

"You know this means that there is zero room for error, right?" Meifeng just had to say. "Your girls have to understand that."

Lyss pressed her lips together for a moment before deciding to just let it go. "I expect them to. We'll be training until the day comes."

"That reminds me," Maximilian said, "... Annabelle hasn't been sighted for a few days now, not even a report of a murder. Part of me is hoping this means that she died or stopped but..."

"... This is just the tip of the iceberg," Meifeng said, "... The upcoming conflict is gonna be bloody, I can feel it."

Lyss looked between Max and Meifeng. She had come to that conclusion long before Meifeng even mentioned it. "I'm sure it will. If we work together on this as one team, we have the highest chance of getting her." She glanced between the three agents. "That means my girls will look after your agents, and your agents will return the same care. We'll need a strong force if we're to stand against her."

"She may not be killing, but her hunger grows every day. And so does her power with it."

Meifeng nodded her head.

With that discussion over with, for now, Lyss had one more topic of concern. "Where is Kimberly Walton? How was that handled while we made our way home from Miami?"

"Ms. Walton and Mr. Campbell are currently under our custody..." Meifeng trailed off before she looked around at the TV screen. It had a newscast talking about the shooting at the Dollhouse club. "... But, I don't think she was the one that did that."

Meifeng shrugged as she said, "I... I got a feel for the kid and it just doesn't feel like something she would do."

Lyss sighed softly. "I can agree with that. Despite Kimberly's history with the Dollhouse, I don't think she'd show her face there again. Whoever that was, they wanted our deal to go south. They want us to work against Walton."

"A few of the Coven believe it was an outside force as well."

"That's what they want: they want you all to take things at face value," Maximilian answered.

"I discussed matters with Director Alcott and..." Meifeng looked at Maximilian and Cindy for a second before she said, "... We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

"We might have to let her out to help," Cindy softly said. "We need everyone if we're gonna stop Annabelle."

Lyss clenched her jaw. On one hand, she took every word Maximillian said seriously. On the other, she hated the secrecy that the DENs kept. It was understandable, but in the long run, it did nothing but cause the Coven more trouble and pain.

"There will be some tension if Walton is around, but I think it's best in the end to release her... I want an eye on her at all times, though. If the imposter shows their face again, I want to know that it isn't actually Kimberly."

If the imposter reappeared to cause more trouble, she wanted to know which Kimberly to kill.

"But, you should tell your friend Vashti that she owes me a new truck..." Meifeng trailed off, "And that she needs some anger management classes, heh."

Lyss shook her head. She had to admit it was a little funny, but she wasn't in a humorous mood. "I might just give her a potion to get her to shut up, but I'm going to let the entire Coven vote for their claim to the cures. Vashti's condition is erratic, but I think she just needs to accept it before she can control it."

"Again, I have no idea what your situations are..." Meifeng flatly stated. "But, I know you will make the best choices in the end."

"There isn't much I can do about the truck, though." She shrugged and sat back in her seat. It was her way of indirectly apologizing.

"We'll be standing by. Hopefully with our problems sorted by then. Stay on your toes. Annabelle could reappear at any moment."

"Of course," Meifeng said, "You do the same." She nodded as the three DENS agents got up... but Maximilian hanged back for a minute...

---

---

The very next morning, Saul was in his office enjoying a glass of whiskey. He was sitting on the edge of his desk, and he took a sip of whiskey as his doors opened. Walking into were the two people that he was hoping to see, Dean and Savannah Farrow. He narrowed his eyes as he crossed his arms and looked at the two.

"How did the plan go?"

"It went well, Saul," Savannah said, "However, it didn't go the way we planned."

Saul raised an eyebrow as Savannah continued.

"Opposed to one faction destroying the other," Savanannah started and Dean, strangely, finished.

"The Dollhouse fled Miami, possibly Florida,"

"The Coven however has lost their leader," Savannah added on.

"But, they returned to Tampa," Dean said.

Saul shook his head as he answered, "Nevertheless, we still can make our plan work with just the Coven..." Saul trailed off for a little bit. However, an orange portal opened made out of sparks and embers and the Messiah walked out. Immediately everyone dropped to their knees as the Messiah walked over to Saul, and raised their hand. Saul was slammed onto the ground and was pinned there by an outside influence.

"Mother is displeased," The Messiah said. "She has sent me to punish you."

"Wh-why?! Messiah?!" Saul started as he tried to resist the influence. "We eliminated the leader of the Coven."

"Your actions are brash and overly violent... has it ever occurred to you once that they could have gotten the cure for Annabelle from the Coven? As much as I would love all those fools out of the picture, the time was not right for your plan."

The Messiah placed both of their hands together underneath the robe and released Saul from their grip. "However, you still acted in the best interests of Mother, so I cannot fault you for that."

Saul sighed as he climbed to his feet.

"Mother believes that there is a storm coming," The Messiah spoke.

"What does that mean?"

"Annabelle hasn't been massacring people for several days now," The Messiah spoke, "While this may seem like a godsend, all it means is that abomination will make for lost time."

Saul was silent.

"However, in these trying times, long as you place your faith in Mother, your diligence will be repaid," A portal opened behind the Messiah as they turned around and stepped inside. "Whatever you need..."

The Speaker put one hand on the edge of the portal.

"... Mother provides."

---

The sting of betrayal forced Annabelle into seclusion. The morning light hit her through the boarded-up house in the middle of nowhere... this house hasn't been touched in decades, perhaps. It was her protection from the elements... primarily the outside world. Annabelle sighed as she got up off the ground and walked over to the window... where she saw cars driving by and yet she remained in here like a freak. She knew she was a monster but Saul was a bigger one and she was going to kill him... she just needed to wait until the right time.

Saul will die.

---

---

The Beach House.

---

There was a... a chilling feeling in the air. It followed Madison everywhere it seemed, even as she went back to her apartment. She found herself staring at Claud's things and couldn't help but crack a tear. That her friend was gone. Killed because... why? Madison was from the worst part of Philadelphia and it still hurt knowing that a friend was killed because of something stupid. Madison didn't touch Claudette's things as she found herself staying home and mooching off of Blake's little donations.

She didn't want to go back to the Coven's little hangout - in fact, there wasn't a meeting for weeks. It was probably because nobody wanted to get together unless it was strictly necessary. Madison sighed again as she got the message from Lyss in the Snapchat group.

It's time we meet. We need to discuss the potions the DENs recovered and what we're going to do about the Annabelle Heart situation. Meet me at the beach house at 2:00 pm.

To be honest, Madison didn't want to go meet the Coven. Not today, and not ever. Officially (or as official as the Coven went) she never came back and she didn't really want to come back. The issue was that the matter of the potions (and the Annabelle situation) had nothing to do with her - however, she definitely wanted payback for Izzy. If it wasn't for Lyss, she wouldn't even be considering it but... she was with the Coven from the start, she didn't want to turn her back from the Coven now. She sighed as she grabbed her keys and headed to her car.

---

The Coven assembled in the pool area, as always. Madison kept her distance from Vashti and Herik, only affording them one glance and then pretending as if they didn't exist. She slid her hands into her pockets and waited to see what Lyss had to say.

Emily was front and center wearing black tights and a black shirt with the New Balance logo on the front. Finally! The DENS got the cures for her sisters and she had the dumbest smile on her face as she didn't have a care in the world. The Coven was finally starting to pay off after several months of dicking around! It didn't matter. Bickering with those bitches didn't matter. Getting betrayed by Babylon didn't matter.

Lyss was among the last to arrive. She didn't say a word as she walked over to the group. Her sunglasses hid her eyes. She carried a black satchel with her and as she approached the table on the patio she set it down in the middle. Before she said anything at all, she sat down in the nearest chair and crossed her arms and legs. She cleared her throat before speaking.

"So... I'm sure we're all still grieving for our loss... Claudette was... well, she didn't deserve an end like that." To think that a necromancer would be shit at discussing the death of a friend.

"But... We have to think about what we're going to do next."

She nodded towards the bag. "To put it plainly, there are only two potions to give today. I understand we needed many more, but this is all we've got. So instead of arguing, which I will not stand for today, I want the ones who wanted a potion to make their claim before we all take a vote. I honestly think you all deserve to get what you wanted, but that's just not how it worked out. ... Please think of Claudette as we do this. She would have liked it if we did this nicely."

Madison and Emily looked at the bag... In all honestness, Madison didn't have a dog in this fight. She didn't know any of their situations other than the fact Vashti transformed into a scaly bitch (well, she had to say her regular form was less of a bitch). They probably didn't want her vote anyway. She just sighed.

I-Is this really a vote? Emily just had to hold her tongue as she had to try resisting breaking out into laughter - but she couldn't. She just starting laughing like a madwoman (perhaps like Babylon). Emily wiped the tear from her eye as she finally stopped laughing.

"... Okay, that's rich," Emily said, still smiling like a fool. "I'm gonna be nice here and inform people of a few things; my sister is dying. Herik's mother is also dying. The other person with a curse just throws a magical temper tantrum."

Emily glanced at Vashti, just knowing that she's going to make things about herself. Just a fucking strong feeling. "I'm sorry Vashti, but it's the truth. We can get you another cure."

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