NationStates Jolt Archive

Sir William Talbot was never knighted. He had appointed himself a knight because he felt he was on a mission from whatever God he believed in, to purge the world of a certain evil. A type of evil that he felt had, for too long, hunted his people and killed them. He was Haraki-born, but owed his allegiance to no country. In his mind, his quest for vengeance transcended national boundaries.

The sole inheritor of a more than substantial personal fortune following the unfortunate and entirely 'accidental' death of his father, a very wealthy industrialist and friend of the Queen, from the days of the monarchy before the last ever king, who had died over twenty years prior. Talbot had inherited his father's industrial fortune, but had quickly taken all the money for himself and handed the corporations off to a board of trustees. He was aged twenty-two.

At a young age he had become interested in the occult, and had studied wizardry of old, and even managed to bring out what little magical talent he had in him. He had been about to begin his true quest, when his two main targets had disappeared. He had praised God, and created a sinister, infernal underground empire to safeguard himself, and all of his beloved humanity from their eventual return.

Two hundred years had passed, while the Talbots' underground empire had grown and grown, and the time had come. Their sophisticated technology, designed to counteract the efforts of magic in every way, had detected the visible return of their primary nemesis, and her accursed and hell-spawned lover. He had gone to her immediately, and they had known the time was ripe to strike. By now, two hundred years later, Sir Amadeo Talbot was the new leader, and he knew this window of opportunity would never come again. They were weak, for whatever reason. He knew it was them; for the fifty-some years of his life that he had had it drilled into him that they were evil, that Satan would bring them back, and that he as God's emissary was devoted to destroying them once and for all, he had been drilled to know what they looked like, and be ready for the day to destroy them.

His son, knighted by his father at the time of his baptism, was one Sir Kilborn Talbot, and he had the most magical talent of any of the Talbots, ever. His talent had manifested itself in childhood, when he had blasted the roof off the building upon being spanked and sent to his room without supper after questioning God's right to determine who was good and who was evil. By now he was as rabidly devoted to the family cause as his father, and his magical talents, suppressed since age six until he could use them for the perversion of the word good that the Talbots referred to. His mother, Lady Senna, had helped teach him to use them. She herself lacked the talent her son possessed, but as his mentor and magical instructor she vastly surpassed him in skill.

The Talbot empire was far from one as we think of the word. It was underground; in contacts in cities, in corrupt politicians, in sympathetic arms manufacturers. Very few knew of their true cause, and those who did lived in Talbot Manor, a castle built on a cliff overlooking, clichéd though it was, rocks which the whitecaps crashed against, and which saw frequent thunderstorms. The castle was on an island technically claimed by a nation, but no-one had been there in so long that it went very overlooked. The few square kilometres of broken land there served as their base. Most contacts thought them a private military company, and so it was that they had the contacts they did. The several hundred people who lived in the castle itself, though, were as devoted as the Talbots themselves. They had the technology, and the training, to fulfill the mission they sought. They were bulky and intimidating, big, all men, and all very violent. Senna was the only woman in the castle, and she herself was so zealous she outdid even her own husband.

The crowning joy of their technological achievements was a suppression field. Although large, room-sized, it covered the entire castle and small areas of the surrounding grounds, preventing the use of magic and other such abilities except by anyone of Talbot blood. Ironically enough, the machine itself was infused with magic from a then-thirteen year old Kilborn to make such an impossibly complex machine fulfill its designated purpose.

Their time had come. Their age-old enemies were weak and did not know of their existence, could not sense their burning hatred. They would go after the head of the serpent first, then use the head to consume the tail. And they believed they would do it so easily.

It began, as many things do, with a simple message. Knowing their enemy had not been awake in over two hundred years, they knew the state of internal politics of other nations would be the least thing on their minds. And so, a pleasant message was sent to Ravelyn Shentavo, the newly-resurrected leader of the United Empires.


Dear Ms. Shentavo,

it is my pleasure to invite you to come and visit us in the islands nation of Heradria. We have heard of your recent return to world affairs, and although we were not a nation previously, we would like to acquaint ourselves with you. We offer our hand in friendship, and would like to issue an invitation to come and visit us at Talbot Manor, the effective seat of our government, for a diplomatic meeting. I feel both of us could use friends in these times of turmoil, and I feel that we could be good friends. I hope to soon hear an affirmative reply.

Your servant,
Sir Amadeo Talbot

She woke up groggily, the world was spinning. How much blood had she lost? She figured things got carried away, but she would handle anything. It was a pleasant high like one would get from various drugs, though those kinds of drugs did not affect her body the way other things did; like blood, death, and love. Ah, the story of her life. All of them intertwined together, not necessarily in favorable ways sometimes. She slipped the covers off of her form, and walked into the bathroom to turn on the shower. The hot water steamed and nearly burnt her skin, but for skin as cold as hers it was always hard to warm. She let the water roll down her back and trickle down her spine to curve over her hips and down her slender legs. She turned the water off and wrapped a towel around herself. It was white and plush, and blended into her skin. Her long hair was damp and it immediately began to form waves. She ran a comb through it, slicking off some of the wetness before hand drying it with a towel; or at least as try as it could get.

She walked back out into her room and dropped the towel; her skin was dry for the most part. She rummaged through her clothes, her wet hair matted to her body, and trailing down her back. On her upper back was a rose tattoo done in black ink in tribal style. There were four leaves underneath with a long winding stem. It was beautiful on her pale skin. She slipped on a simple red dress which cut off at her mid thigh with black lace. A black lace choker with a ruby dangling from the center completed the look. It was modern vampirism. You couldn’t let the old days rule you all the time. She received a knock at the door, and opened the door a half an inch to take the letter from Navi, whose wondering eyes did not pry into her room. Ravelyn walked back to her bed and sat down on the edge next to Corothisia while opening the letter. He was surprised he was still asleep, but she doubted he was doing anything but pretending. He was always clever, and always just a bit deceptions at times, but she had her secrets as well. She read the letter out loud.

Dear Ms. Shentavo,

It is my pleasure to invite you to come and visit us in the islands nation of Heradria. We have heard of your recent return to world affairs, and although we were not a nation previously, we would like to acquaint ourselves with you. We offer our hand in friendship, and would like to issue an invitation to come and visit us at Talbot Manor, the effective seat of our government, for a diplomatic meeting. I feel both of us could use friends in these times of turmoil, and I feel that we could be good friends. I hope to soon hear an affirmative reply.

Your servant,
Sir Amadeo Talbot

She bent down to kiss Tempest’s neck, and wake him up gently. When she saw his eyes opened, and him already awake, she smiled and trailed her fangs across his lower lip. “I suppose I should go. Delta did say that politics were important since my old alliances do not hold. Back then all my alliances were dropped at my feet because of our army, or because a member of my family was related. Either way, it couldn’t hurt.” She paused. “I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if I brought a guest.”

Tempest couldn't help but smile. "I should probably stay here. I'm not exactly what they would call diplomatic." Showing off the trait he was about to verbalize, he continued "I tend to be too blunt, and I bet that would piss off no end of diplomats, especially ones who use phrases like 'times of turmoil' and 'affirmative response'."

He sat up slowly, helping push himself upright with his hands before reaching out and running a finger down the side of her arm before leaning in towards her to kiss the side of her neck. "Of course, if you really want me to go, I suppose I probably should. Wouldn't want you to miss me or anything."

Still, there was a bit of a pleading tone in his voice. Please don't make me talk to diplomats. Anything but that. They're so ... boring. And stuffy. And they say things like 'It is such an honour to make your acquaintance' when they don't really mean it. To put it mildly, they're assholes.

“I promise to do all the talking,” she smiled. “Just stand there and look brooding. Like…mmmn…a body guard.” She couldn’t help but to laugh slightly at that. While he could definitely intimidate, Ravelyn having a bodyguard just didn’t fit; there was a time when her family was her entourage, but it would slowly rebuild itself. She kissed him, running her fangs over his lower lip with a deep growl from the back of her throat. I promise, I can even claim you as mute if you wish. Believe me, I am very good at politics. Having been the head of a vampire family, you think human politics are bad? My dear, have you ever been invited to a vampire’s house besides mine? Now those politics make me sick. With that she bit him gently, and withdrew, standing up and smoothing out her dress. She picked up her scythe. She really didn’t go anywhere without it now. It shone for a minute and condensed into a small orb which she clipped around the ruby on her choker for discretion.

"Well, while you won't have to talk to them, you may have to put some form of clothes on," she smirked and went to her beureau, searching for something.

He laughed as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and reached around on the floor, eventually finding his pants and pulling them on. "I suppose you're right, though the world would be a much simpler place if I didn't. If nobody had to, I mean." Buckling his belt up, he next grabbed his ubiquitous loose black shirt and pulled it on over his head, the high folded over neck part of it hiding the bite marks still prevalent on his neck from the night before.

As he stood up, letting the clothes he had pulled on fall loosely about him, he stretched his arms out above his head. "Ah, vampire politics," he said as he recoiled his arms again. "Now that, that's like a plague. The Black Death."

Walking over to the window and looking out, he set his right hand on the window as he watched the ocean, always his favourite sight out Rave's windows. "I was involved in vampire politics once. A long, long time ago. And now ... well, let's just say I choose to live in a shack on a cliff over the ocean. I wasn't forced there." His 'house', as it were, was far from the vast expanse that Rave called her own. Little more than a single bed and a kitchen, it was a tiny wooden hut on the edge of a cliff in far northeastern Haraki, but something which he was proud to call his own.

“You like the ocean?” She questioned, noting his gaze. “I used to walk out on the balcony, watching the waves every day.” Like a widow’s peak, when the wife would wait for her husband to come home. I didn’t want to think about walking out there anymore, I changed the subject prudently. “I suppose we could live in a crypt. We don’t eat much…and have no need for air…” She smiled. “I’ve always loved the ocean.” She took his hand and lead him away from the window. She lead him down the stairs to a cupboard, and opened it, revealing a mass of weapons. “Take your pick if by somehow throughout the night you have lost your own. You’re supposed to be a bodyguard; you might as well be armed. Heaven forbid I should risk getting shot.” She was enjoying this way too much. She could be no other way at this point. It was the only way of ignoring the dark void in her heart that he was slowly beginning to fill. Tempest was very much her elder as a vampire, but she in spirit. Still, it seemed like he was her protector just from the aura. She didn’t mind.

She grabbed her keys from the side table and opened the door. “Shall we?”

Laughing at the cabinet full of weapons, he picked standard equipment for a bodyguard: a large handgun which he slung under his left shoulder, and slightly less regular, a large combat knife which he stuffed into his belt. "If I'm going to be a bodyguard I might as well look the part," he muttered. Turning to Rave, he grabbed a suit jacket from a coat rack conveniently placed there. Thing like that tended to happen around him. Whether it was his doing consciously or not could be source for much debate, but things he needed tended to be there. Throwing the jacket on, he looked the part, although his almost-laughing smirk betrayed his true identity. Biting his lower lip to keep from laughing, he walked over to her side. "Miss Shentavo," he said in a very formal voice, though still tinged with almost laughter, "it is my great pleasure to guard your body on this trip. Let's go."

She couldn’t suppress the laugh, nor one more taste of his lips before both were out the door. To say Ravelyn’s car was extravagant was to say that the ocean was ‘damp’. It was black and shiny as if it was brand new. The doors opened upward, and she observed his face. “Oh not a word from you, just get in.” She closed the door and waited for Tempest to get in. She started the car, and a voice welcomed her. She pushed a few buttons until there was music. It was rock, who knew the angel listened to rock music? Soon the car was filled with the delicate scent of her damp dark hair. It was reminiscent of roses. They looked as if they were to be going on the main rode, but went under a passage, and turned left into another underground root. It ran through the entire city. “It might be a while until we get there,” she said plainly, and sped up. They were now doing over one hundred and seventy five miles an hour and accelerating. Her reflexes were as fast as the car. Her crimson eyes shown. She loved the speed and the adrenaline rush. It was like an amusement ride to her, but she controlled it exceptionally well.

“It is my pleasure to guard your body…” She imitated him with a playful smile. “I hope it would be good for you.”

"Oh hell yes it would be," he muttered softly, looking out the windows at the electric lights zipping past. "So tell me," he said after a short while of silence but for the car's engine, "are we going to drive to what they called an island nation? Much as I like your car - despite the fact the doors open upwards - I can't help but wonder if it can fly, or swim. In which case I might have to start calling you Raves Bond.

"Not that that would be a bad thing, of course. Who wouldn't want a flying, swimming car? I'm just curious." He fell silent again, idly tapping the knuckles of his right hand against the window in time to the music and adding to the rhythms of the drumbeat.

Or, he thought, does the tunnel maybe just lead wherever? You get in at the Shentavo Estate, you get out wherever you want to go? That would be pretty good. If we could patent that? Imagine the possibilities. A new grin slid over his face at the playful thought, and he leaned back in the seat, letting his head rest back against the headrest as the car continued to zip along.

“A flying swimming car are you MAD?” she laughed like a fury. “And ruin the paint? No way in hell. And I’ve been there…all their cars are nice and shiny.” She smiled again. It was a good thing when she could joke about times like that. The tunnel changed into an open parking lot and she slid. It was empty. It was hers. She stopped, surprisingly fast, tossing Tempest a bit, and it was intentional. When the car came to a stop, she opened the door, and got out, smoothing out the hem of her dress and walking toward a elevator. She held the door for him and he entered. There were mirrors on the walls, and even the ceilings as she pressed one of the buttons and the elevator moved upwards a good amount of flights.

“And Ravelyn Shentavo is just fine; I think I might get sued, Coro, if people start calling me Raves Bond.” She smiled. She was really the only one that called him Coro. A lot of others called him Tempest, and she assumed that was his formal name now, but that was her name for him, and he would have to fight her to make her give it up. She fixed the strap of her dress. Rule number one in politics: If they are more distracted by your cleavage then your words, they will sign anything, agree to anything, and with vampire mind tricks, may end up selling you their nation. Strangely, this dress was not that low cut. It was well, modern vampiric. It suited her.

"So is this an airport, I'm guessing?" he said, staring off into the mirrors on the wall. The fact that they covered all four walls and the ceiling was slightly disconcerting. He looked off, and it seemed as if he could look forever while still being in the elevator. Looking off into the infinite, with Tempest and Rave dropped into the image every now and again. If infinity was an elevator room, it seemed a strange place.

That got him off on a different train of thought. What if limbo was an elevator room always moving, but you had nowhere to go? No, limbo worked as he thought of it, a big dark empty space with lots of fog. Purgatory, though ... Purgatory could be an elevator room, where whether it was going up or down could give you a clue as to your eventual destination. He almost laughed out loud thinking these silly thoughts, but it was enough. He was cheerful and happy for the first time in a long time, and it showed.

The door opened into the roof top of a building over looking the city. It was sunset, and it was beautiful. There was a helicopter in the center of the roof, and she walked to it. It was unlocked, and the keys inside. She took the pilots seat and watched as Tempest got in. “No biting anyone but me when we are there, got it?” She said, as if he knew nothing of politics. Of course this was said jokingly. The blade started rotating faster and faster. A helicopter was more difficult to fly than a plane. There were more gages and more levers, more buttons to press and such. She liked the complexity though. It gave her control over the machine. Soon, they lifted off into the air, setting off towards the sunset. “A group of islands, what could possibly be better than being near the beach all day?” Of course, she was always near the beach.

The helicopter was moving to slow for her, and she placed her hand on the dashboard, electricity traveling from her hand into the machine. It jerked for a moment, then sped forward. “Once you ride in that car you can’t get used to anything below two hundred.” And once again, she turned on her music.

He laughed. "Don't worry, all I'm going to be worrying about once we get there is guarding your body. Supposedly."

The trip lasted a little under two hours at the vastly accelerated speed Rave made the helicopter travel. As they approached the island, what occurred to both of them as a surprising thing was that the island was solitary. Sitting in the middle of the ocean, several kilometres across and roughly oval in shape, with some small buildings scattered here and there. What looked to be a town with several docks sticking out into the water sat on the coast, far to the left half of the island as they approached it. On the opposite side, situated on a corner of the cliffs, over two hundred feet above the sea, was a large stone castle, dominating the skyline of that half of the island.

It stretched up into the sky and had obviously been built with more modern principles of engineering than those used hundreds of years before, when castles were much more common sights across the world. It was surrounded by a large and thick stone wall, with the keep towering up above anything else on the islands. Down a hill from the castle itself was a small wood with what looked like an unpaved road winding through it and across the island to the town, with occasional sidetracks and subsidiary roads to get to individual houses, nearly all on the coast. A fishing boat could be seen docked in the harbour of the town.

Situated just outside the castle was a large helipad, clearly marked with a white H painted across the entire landing surface, a crisscrossing metal structure raising it about ten feet off the ground and making the landing surface level even on the hillside that the castle was situated on. A small welcoming group of people, tiny dots in the distance, could be seen standing outside the open and inviting castle gate.

Rave blinked several times. “Why do I have a feeling that this is the last ounce of privacy we are going to get? Damn politics…” she cursed under her breath, and kissed him, managing to fly the helicopter at the same time. Of course, she nearly was on the course for collision, but managed to straighten out in time to land. Well, we can’t go back now… she thought, remembering how good that bed felt. She looked at Tempest as if to say ‘I’m sorry I brought you into this but I will make it up to you later, promise.’ She then laughed a bit. “It would seem awkward for me to open the door myself before my body guard.” But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t at least try to enjoy some of this.

At least the welcoming party isn't waving pitchforks.

OOC Note: At this point, everything is normal and the suppression device is turned off.










As the helicopter touched down, before the blades even stopped spinning Tempest put on a serious face, opened his door, and stepped out. His short hair whipped around in the wind from the rotor spinning above his head, but he managed to calmly walk around the helicopter and place his hand on the handle of Rave's door. For the first time he noticed how cold it was on the island. The sun was hidden behind a small fluffy cloud, but it was the wind that got him. Sweeping in off the ocean from the south was a bitter wind, ruffling the clothes of everyone in sight, and if he concentrated Tempest realized he could see his own breath.

Waiting for the rotor to subside some and for the welcome committee to walk towards the helipad, waiting dutifully at the bottom of the stairs, Tempest opened Rave's door and waited for her to step out. Walking ahead of her to the top of the stairs, he announced in a very formal voice "The Empress of the United Empires, Ravelyn Shentavo," to no one in particular but everyone in general.

Damn… she thought to herself. He’s good. She suppressed her smile, keeping a neutral face for the first time in days. Normally he would be able to read her by her expressions, but there was nothing but a beautiful mask upon her face now. Her hair had dried to voluminous waves which were set in place rolling down her back and the crimson fabric of her dress. She wore the ring of her nation on her right hand, and her left was now bare. It was best to forget, and move on, and she had moved on but not forgotten. Her scarlet eyes scanned about the crowd. It was not what she had been expecting, and the nation in general was colder. Even with her icy skin it chilled her, but she did not let it show. Her poise was confident as always. Even if she wasn’t introduced, you could tell she was a leader from the flush in her cheeks and the posture of her body.

It would be informal if she were to speak and not Tempest, and she would wait for her host to greet her. If the host did not, then it was considered rude and severely looked down upon. She would not come to him, he would come to her.

A man no older than his early twenties with short and spiky blond hair stepped forward. He was attractive, dressed in a white button-up shirt and dark pants, and he bowed down low as Rave stepped into view. "Milady," he said as he stood up again, looking straight into her eyes with no fear or hesitation. Some of the other ten or so people standing behind him seemed to want to avoid eye contact with either of the visitors. Tempest was used to people being scared of him. This man, however, seemed oddly entrancing. His aura almost pulsed, something Tempest had very rarely seen, and he had never seen it with such strength and ferocity. It was almost as if the energy, the light that he could see constituting the man's aura, was trying to escape.

He stepped to the side so as not to block the path down the stairs, and gestured graciously with his arm for her to descend. "My name is Kilborn Talbot. I'd like to welcome you here, to Heradria. Please, come with me to meet my father, who awaits within the castle." As he spoke, his flawless dental work was revealed. Everything about him betrayed high class, and he had the look of one who could have anything he desired, in appearance, in mannerisms, and in the way he held himself. Not quite arrogance, more confidence.

Tempest turned to Rave. You first. I'll follow. It'll look better.

Ravelyn showed no recognition of Tempests words but followed their host before him. She viewed his aura clearly, but did not pry. She smiled back at him in response, showing her flawless teeth as well. They were almost a blinding white, untarnished without flaw, and her fangs were as sharp as a needle. Perhaps she smiled simply to say, anything you can do I can do better. She was the empress of her nation, and carried herself well. With her long hair, flawless form, and entrancing eyes, she could look like royalty with mere denim on. These seemed more and more like vampire politics to her every passing minute, though it wasn’t as bad as the entrances normally were. No fights had broken out, and no ones pride hurt. There was something she didn’t like about the host. It wasn’t the way he carried him self, but rather that energy. It was different from what she liked. She was attracted to darkness, at least, in men. Something about his aura off set her, but she made only a mental note of it and continued on.

She let her own aura fan out to him, dance along his skin like prickling heat. She made no note of it upon her facial expression that would seem like she realized what she was doing. Yes, vampire politics. I withdrew my slight touch as Tempest’s presence eased me. If he wasn’t here, I would have perhaps tested the man. “Your other guests do not make eye contact with me,” she said, ignoring Tempest as she would had he been any other normal person accompanying her. “And I sense it not out of reverence.” Her voice slipped like honey to his ears. It was charming; delightful.

As she walked behind him, Kilborn smiled inwardly. As her aura danced across his, he physically made no note of it. His aura, however, reacted almost violently, lashing out by expanding itself until it had nearly tripled in size, and then withdrew slowly, back to its innate and unsettling pulsing. He looked as if he had not even noticed, and as he led the two vampires towards the castle gate he answered Rave's query. "They have never met a vampire before," he said, "and they are frightened." It was a simple enough answer.

The assembled group stepped through the beginning of the gate, and into a tunnel nearly twenty feet long as they passed through the gate of the castle. Thick, heavy wooden doors were opened at each end, several metal portcullises were retracted into the ceiling, and holes in the ceiling betrayed rooms from which the defenders of a castle during sieges used to pour boiling oil on their attackers. As they walked through the stone tunnel, a chill wind blew through the tunnel, making the other, silent members of the welcoming party shiver. Kilborn, again, appeared not to notice, though his aura retracted and almost wrapped itself around him. He was dressed much lighter than the others, most of whom were in suits or windproof jackets, and he seemed much more tolerant to the cold than they were.

This man is very strange, Tempest said silently to Rave, looking around at the very thick walls they were walking through. I assume you can see the way his aura acts up. It makes me uneasy.

He doesn’t know my true form Tempest… she called back to him silently. Don’t worry. Together we are unstoppable. He shows off when I withdrew my aura out of curtsey. It means he has fear in him somewhere of me, if he has need to show off. She then spoke up again to her host. “If a vampire be all that I was, sir, I would not be empress of my nation,” there was a light flicker in her eyes. How she wanted to show off, but refrained form doing so. She needed to keep her mask on. Ravelyn shivered. Her element was fire, and she did not like being cold. Her body was very much opposed to it, but it was natural to shiver in the cold. She was dressed to impress, not to withstand the elements. Somewhere deep inside of her, the angel of death was calling to her, to set Azrael free and take her back to her original form. She quieted down the urge, but death loomed in her eyes. Unlike his aura, hers did not recoil form them, but reach out to them, like the brief flame of fire to keep them warm.

She wanted to feel Tempests hand in hers, but the charade must be kept up. No comforting touches; only a strong will, as the angel of death and her king followed their host to where he might lead.

"That may be true," Kilborn stated matter-of-factly, "but to them you are a vampire first." He left it at that and led them in silence into the keep itself, through a large set of two double wooden doors. Taking a quick right turn, he led them up several sets of spiral stairs within one of the towers before they emerged into a thickly-carpeted long hallway several hallways up. The interior of the entire castle was clearly modern-built. Radiators were tucked into corners and hidden behind minarets. Tapestries adorned the walls for show rather than heat. The structural design of the building was definitely modern, with functionality rather than medieval design prioritized. Whoever had built it had had a lot of money to work with. Portraits of men looking fairly similar to the young man leading them looked out at them periodically, Talbots all, between other portraits - mostly of famous people through history. Tempest recognized, on their short trip through the front hall and the upper hallway, William Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci, Kublai Khan, and William the Conqueror. Rich, thick red carpeting adorned the floor over wooden floorboards.

Kilborn took them down the upper hallway to a door on the right, which he knocked on twice and then opened, standing to hold the door open and beckoning for them to follow him into the room. As they entered he shut the door behind them. The room's walls were lined with bookshelves, all full of books. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling. One door sat in each side of the room, while the side opposite the hallway had no door but rather several barred windows looking out into the sky over the cliffs. On the walls were several portraits, all of The single most dominant feature of the room was a large rectangular wooden table with great quantities of food on it, and four places set, one in the middle of each side and end. An older man, in his fifties, his hair greying, sat at the head of the table, halfway across the room from them, a plate with small quantities of food on it sitting in front of him. Several Talbots looked down on them from the walls, with several ornamental weapons between them. The man looked much like Kilborn, his hair brown and greying and his eyes much darker, but otherwise with very similar facial structure. Had he bothered, he evidently could have had the muscular figure Kilborn did.

Kilborn walked to his side and stood behind his left shoulder. "My father, Sir Amadeo Talbot," he announced. "Father, Ravelyn Shentavo."

At this Amadeo looked up, and upon seeing the two vampires before him his passive face broke into a broad grin. he gestured to the other chairs around the table, one on each side. "Please, come, sit," he said. "You are my honoured guests. Please, eat. We can discuss matters of politics and diplomacy at a later time. You too, Kilborn."

Kilborn, upon receiving this instruction, made his way towards the chair on the side of the table to his father's right. The rest of the welcoming party surreptitiously left the room, shutting the door behind them.

Ravelyn took a seat, smoothing out the lines of her dress once more as the silken fabric was hard to keep in place, but well worth it for the vision it provided. Now that we had been invited, I was allowed to speak of what I will, and inquire about the origins of my host’s hospitality. I did not, however begin right away. My aura was calm, collected, yet full of eat like the raging fire that I controlled. I did not take any food nor make a motion toward it. “I thank you for the offer, but I have eaten prior to my arrival here and require no more the sustenance then from what I came with.” I fought the urge to look at Corothisia. I remembered how he tasted. The blood of an ancient was like no other. It tasted even better, when you were close to the person. After several minutes of silent, I figured it was best to start. Like Tempest, I was blunt, but an eloquent sort of blunt, so that, the point was made, but it sounded lovely. “I’d like to inquire what sparked your sudden interest in my nation, and what my purpose for being present here is. Judging by your son, I would hope this would not be a hostile visit…” I looked over to him with crimson eyes, then looked at his father as I sat running my fingertips over the edge of the empty crystal glass before me.

“What do you know of the woman, sir, that you have invited into your house?”

Even as Rave waited several minutes and began to speak, the Talbots seemed at ease more and more. Tempest seated himself at Rave's right side, to the left of Amadeo Talbot, and did not touch the food, instead waiting as Rave did. Amadeo and Kilborn both continued eating, Amadeo as if he had never stopped and Kilborn as if it was his first meal of the day.

In the castle basement, however, several stories beneath the earth, something much more sinister was taking place. The entire underground Talbot Empire, two hundred years of research and development, and Kilborn's incredibly powerful magic had all combined into one thing, the Talbots' ace in the hole. In one of the castle's subbasements, an entire room was taken up with metal, plastic, rubber and wiring, complete with a core made of glass and hardened clear plastic, within which magical lightning danced back and forth. It was all brought to one control panel in front of the room, up a metal flight of stairs and a catwalk, behind a wooden door marked to be a room full of cleaning supplies - a glorified broom closet.

A man, a technician, had received the word from one of Kilborn's entourage, and had rapidly typed in the short commands needed. Only seconds later, he was left with his finger hovering over the enter button, and quickly hit it. The suppression device kicked in, blanketing a field of magical deadness over the entire castle and surrounding grounds.


In the room where Tempest, Rave, Amadeo and Kilborn were sitting, it was felt after only fifteen seconds, just after Rave finished her question to Amadeo. To Tempest, it was like a sudden punch in the gut and a very potent sleeping pill. His eyes darted to the Talbots, who apart from the hair on their arms standing on end and goose pimples taking shape along their exposed skin appeared unaffected. He instantly found he could no longer see Kilborn's aura, and his attempts to conjure it back were met with failure. He quickly tried to communicate with Rave in his head, but found himself unable to. His thoughts only echoed in his own head, and he could no longer hear hers. An attempt to use magic for something, anything, was met with failure, and for the first time in a long time he panicked. "What the fuck did you do?" he screamed, speaking for the first time since outside the castle. The Talbots smiled and ignored him, Kilborn addressing him for but a moment.

"Shut your mouth, servant," he said violently, "lest I shut it for you." With that he turned his head back to Rave.

Amadeo slowly stood up, placing his hands, in fists, on the table. "To answer your question, vampire whore, I know that you are the penultimate spawn of Satan and you deserve to be destroyed in every way." His eyes blazed with fury. The friendliness he had shown a moment ago was gone in an instant. "I have waited my entire life for this glorious moment. Now, please, do not further insult my hospitality. Eat the food and be happy that I am giving it to you so freely."

He sat down again and returned to eating. Kilborn, not taking his eyes off the two vampires in front of him, leaned back in his chair and quietly smirked.

“He’s my servant,” she said in an effervescent voice. “I’ll tell him what he can and cannot do.” If that had been in a different context, it would have been exciting, but right now, she reaffirmed his role as a servant. Ravelyn’s eyes narrowed, and glanced at Corothisia. Her aura condensed within herself. She tried to turn, but she could not. “Rethink those words,” she said with her eyes closed. “I don’t know what you did, but I promise you that when this is over, your son’s head will be severed upon the floor, and I will rip your heart from your body and feed it to the dogs.” She was calm, and looked at her plate, pushing it to the floor and watching the pieces shattering. She bowed to no one, even when her magic was stripped from her. Her vampirism wasn’t. She could not eat that food. She called again, and tried to shed her outer shell, but it seems that her seraphic form simply would not come. “You are trying to tell me that you wasted your entire life waiting for me to come to your pathetic excuse for an island?” She laughed, and it was the laugh of a fury. If she was scared there was no trace of it. None at all. That’s what made her frightening.

The knife which had fallen she had caught, and had stored it on a small bind tied around her thigh. They couldn’t see it even with the soft fabric of the dress. “Your legend is inaccurate and incomplete. My soul is from the heavens, and my body is not from hell, nor heaven, nor earth.” She silently wondered if Corothisia knew this. “I was constructed to be the ultimate weapon. Who knew that I would get a soul?” She laughed. “I’ve been through both heaven and hell, old man…though I am probably your elder by far. I’ve faced death, I’ve lost a person I’ve loved deeply, I’ve been tortured, battered, drugged, nearly forced into marriage…my dear…no matter what you do to me, there is nothing that you can do to break me. Try as you may, my compassion only extends so far until the angel of death takes over.” She stood up and picked up Tempest’s knife, and observed the metal. She whipped it towards the old man, and it was hinged just from his face in the back of his chair. Magic wasn’t the only thing she possessed. She could fight, with skill, as she had trained. She silently wondered, if they had any magic left in them, or was all magic void and null.

She smiled, showing her fangs. The rose tattoo on her back burned. Could the Dark Path be used her? Could she slip into that dimension? She tried. Surprisingly, shadows gathered around her, but she did not disappear. It was an attempt, but she was still strong enough to override some of the system. It was not enough though, still she showed no fear what so ever. “Where would you like to begin?” She asked, throwing up her arms with a keen expression. She would not break, would not bend, and she would give them hell, with or without magic.

Amadeo, as Rave began to speak, steepled his fingers in front of him and glared at her over them. When she tried to throw the knife, it was only to find Kilborn suddenly on his feet with both hands outstretched, the knife hanging in mid air for a split second, its momentum gone, and then whipped back over Rave's shoulder, embedding itself in the wall. Kilborn then turned to the two vampires, as Tempest did his best to do something, in one smooth and incredibly fast motion drawing the pistol from his shoulder holster and trying to aim and fire at Kilborn, only to find the pistol torn out of his hands and suddenly stuck to the ceiling. Kilborn gestured with his hands at the two vampires, and they suddenly found themselves hurled out of their chairs towards the back wall, where they slammed against the wall and stayed there by the force of Kilborn's magic, more powerful than either of them had imagined, and incredibly refined.

Amadeo stood up to match his son, and slowly walked over towards the vampires, stopping and leaning on the table heavily as he reached the end of it. He spoke almost wearily, as if the previous exchange had taken much out of him. "I do not mean to break you, Ms Shentavo, and I do not mean to outdo any of the disreputable characters you have associated yourself with in the past. I intend to destroy you. Fully, completely, and without mercy. Before I do that, however, I am going to destroy everyone you love. Not in front of you, because that would be too much effort, though I may start with this one," he gestured at Tempest as he said this. "I am sure that even with your latent paranormality stripped away you will still find yourself able to feel their pain."

With that he breathed out a deep sigh, and turned away from the two frozen vampires. Kilborn took the opportunity to walk over, to Tempest first. He greeted him with a punch to the gut, and the words "That's for disrespecting my father." This was followed with a knee to the groin, and the words "And that's for trying to kill me."

As he left Tempest still stuck to the wall, he turned to Rave, and met her simply with a left-handed punch to the right cheek. "Vampire bitch," he said, and spat at her, turning away and walking to his father, supporting him with an arm around his chest under his shoulders.

Tempest tried his hardest to conjure anything to free himself. His magic was gone, but like Rave he could still manage to fight the suppression if not defeat it. He managed to move one of his arms a small amount, and was pleased to see Kilborn wince slightly, a bead of sweat slowly forming behind his ear and trickling down his neck. Despite all the power he exhibited, the man was not perfect, that much could be seen.

Ohhh…once I get into my seraphic form…you are going to feel pain. A lost limb for that first shot to him, and a lost heart for that last one… she thought silently. Blood trailed from her lips at the punch, and she licked it. “You punch like a school girl who failed out of gym,” she commented, managing to turn her head. Her eyes reflected the light, and she could feel the anger welling up inside of her. It was not enough to bring about her seraphic form. She was not afraid; but what got to her was seeing Corothisia take those blows. She didn’t show it. God, did she try so hard not to show it, but she couldn’t stand it. “Just put me in cold weather to torture me. Works like a charm.” Oh yes, revealing a weakness. She really didn’t care, she was already numbing herself, and could once again feel the looming traces of heartbreak. More shadows gathered around her as she remembered those hits Corothisia took. If she wasn’t trying not to, she would have cried out in frustration.

Could I loose him?

No. I would die.

OOC: Rave: TG









Kilborn ignored Rave's taunts, helping his father out of the room before returning with the entourage that had accompanied him upon their arrival. Gesturing vibrantly, he released Tempest and Rave from the wall, although kept them immobile in the air. The ten bulky men approached, and Tempest almost instinctively turned his head and hissed at them, baring his fangs. They ignored him, although Kilborn, looking aggravated, shouted something at them. They took two black bags they had been carrying and tied one around each of the vampires' faces, so they could see nothing and bite no one, and then they could feel rough treatment as the entourage securely fastened their hands behind them with handcuffs and their feet together with shackles. It was at that point that Kilborn released them. They could not see, but dropped the few feet to the floor suddenly, their bodies going limp after several minutes of hanging in the air. Tempest nearly stumbled and fell, but barely managed to right himself.

"You're going to regret this, motherfucker," he said loudly as his violent temper returned, the pain subsiding. "Why don't you take all these restraints off, give me my magic back, and we see just who's the better?"

He was greeted with another knee to the groin, and this time he did collapse to the ground. His limp form, and Rave, were both roughly grabbed by several of the men, who carried them without care for their comfort, to different places, though all they could feel was the bumping of the people carrying them walking. Rave suddenly felt the cold of outside, after going down several flights of stairs, and was greeted by being roughly dropped onto the ground. She was surprised to find there were about four inches of snow on it, and the temperature had dropped to at least negative twenty degrees Celsius.

"I figured since you don't like cold weather, but you love being reminded of your angelic side, we should combine the two," Kilborn said from somewhere in the darkness. Suddenly and quickly, her four limbs were grabbed, and large ice cold spikes were driven through her palms and the bases of her feet, and left in as she could hear the footsteps of the men who had carried her and driven the spikes into her walking away. This was followed by the slow footsteps of who she assumed to be Kilborn, approaching, and roughly tearing her dress off her, throwing it away. "Enjoy the cold, bitch," he said, turning and walking away.

In her mind, and through the barriers of the suppression device, she suddenly and vibrantly heard Tempest scream. Whether he had screamed aloud as well as mentally she could not tell.

ooc: yes sir =)

My sweet revenge will be yours for the taking. It’s in the making…She winced at the first spike, and at the second, at the third, she let out a painful cry as tears welled in her eyes. That dress cost over six thousand crystals…I’ll be taking that from you too… She thought inwardly. Black lace provided little immunity to the cold; support for one thing, but nothing against the cold. Once they were gone, she let out a soft sound, half a sob half a sigh, as if she was retaining the want to cry inside of her. The pain was bearable, the cold was not. Most vampires, hopefully Tempest as well, though she hadn’t checked, the cold didn’t affect. The cold affected her though. If her elemental abilities were working, she would have melted these spikes by now. Her only real hope of getting out of this restraint was with Tempest’s help. What had happened to him?

“Coro…” she said weakly, a few tears streaming down her face. But unseen. She was shivering, her skin growing quite paler. “Coro…” she whispered again, her name for him, and no one else’s. Her veins could be seen in her body. Her temperature was normally 50 degrees, and had dropped to thirty. As much pain as she was in, she wanted to take his as well. She couldn’t bare to see him in pain. It was her fault that he was here. It could have been just her here. It burned her inside, and her eyes turned again, her seraphic wanting to break free. She could hear her own voice screaming wildly inside her head. Azrael wanted blood. She wanted death. She wanted out. She still had the knife tied to the leather band around her thigh, she could feel it, why hadn’t they taken it? She had no way of getting to it.

Back in the mansion, Navi sat typing at her desk, figuring Ravelyn had slept in. She had seen her around with a new man, which intrigued her, but she didn’t pry. It wasn’t her style. She wore standard work uniform, at least for her, which was a long white lab coat, black pants, and a black shirt underneath. She had computer wires running throughout her body, and was nearly a living breathing computer, if it were not for the soul. Her long brown hair fell over one shoulder, and her bright blue eyes observed Nura walking by. Nura was the youngest Shentavo, eighteen and an exotic look about her. She waved to Navi and the woman at the desk gave a fanged smile back. She figured Nura was going out to the library, again. As if they didn’t have enough books here.

Jin-Shina practiced her katas in the training room, dressed in genderless black garb as normal. She never wanted to be thought of as a girl to newcomers. Normally, people underestimated women she felt, so she concealed her identity in her clothes.

Hevn sat upon her bed, reading with her tarot cards while listening to music simultaneously. Then, her eyes widened.

The intruders were more sophisticated than any humans that had ever tried to gain entry to the Shentavo mansion. It was getting on towards the afternoon, and although the vampires were attuned to their own land, and could feel the surroundings, the night had been deadly for them. While Rave and Tempest had slept, the magic of Kilborn had masked Tempest's presence and projected it into the library. Knowing no one else would be in there over the night, the hunters had crept in and stayed there, waiting. There was no bait, there was simply the fact that they were hoping, against the odds, that heavily armed and armoured commandos could overcome the lesser vampires.

Their weapons were blessed by a priest, sprinkled with holy water, and prayed over every day to try and gain the favour of their God. The bullets their guns fired were molten silver, blessed by an archbishop, with hollowpoint tips filled with holy water. They carried crossbows, firing blessed stakes, firearms, and grenades: the grenades did not use fire and explosions, but rather fired extremely high-density ball bearings and tiny droplets of holy water outwards. They could tear through flesh, vampire or human, and although they may not permanently kill whatever supernatural force they were facing, they could sure as hell hurt it a lot and leave it open to further attack.

The door to the library was itself wired with massive amounts of explosives. The entire inner doorframe was packed with shaped charges and packets of ball bearings aimed outwards towards the door. As soon as the door began to open, it would explode outwards towards whoever was trying to open it, peppering them with forty pounds of tiny pieces of metal and large amounts of plastic explosives. This would be immediately followed by half a dozen commandos rushing through the door, putting a stake through whoever it was's heart, and beheading the door opener, just to be sure. From there, the thirty men would wait. The others were sure to come running, and they would fight them as best they could with what they had. Hopefully the pain of the death of the first would lead to weakening the others. They hoped to kill them all. Every last one. And to make Rave feel it all.


*


As Rave lay on the ground, she could suddenly feel Tempest, even through the suppression field. It was as if the field itself bent and flexed, before returning to normal, and it coincided with another scream from Tempest himself. This one, however, she could hear not only within her head, but also out loud, ringing through the open air. She could suddenly feel snow start to fall, and she heard Kilborn laugh.

"We know who he is, you know," he said matter-of-factly to Rave. "Your servant-man. He's Tempest. Corothisia. An ancient vampire, and without him you wouldn't be who you are today. It's his fault your evil, perverse kind is so prevalent. So, since we decided to kill you to begin our holy and epic quest, we decided to kill him too. Divine retribution, if you will."

She could hear a cigarette lighter suddenly flick on, its small flame making a tiny whooshing noise as the gas lit, and then it was silent again. Kilborn laughed. "You want this, don't you?" he said, an oerbearing tone of malice shining through his words. As snowflakes continued to land on Rave's bare skin, he continued to flick the lighter on and off, laughing sadistically.

"You'll start feeling them soon," he said once again, unable to stop gloating. "Your children. As they feel pain, divine justice, and eventually death. Say goodbye, bitch."

Nura opened the door to the library, and didn’t have time to scream. The others felt it. Navi’s eyes widened as her internal computer began to shut down the mansion. She hid under the desk and took the syringe out from underneath the desk, and injected it solidly into her arm without hesitation, then rushed toward were Nura had fallen, covered in blood. Jin-Shina had run from the lower levels, black garb masking all of her feminine figure so that nothing but her amber eyes could be seen. She placed her arms around Navi as tears spread over her face, in shock, holding her to keep her from collapsing. A Shentavo dead. Both of them heard the movements, they heard the heartbeats. Navi removed two guns from her waist, and Jin-Shina readied her sword. Both were back to back. They were not alone, and they knew it. Hevn was the last to arrive, tears already down her face. “Ravelyn…” was the first word out of her mouth, and then she saw Nura. “Oh…oh god….” Her tarot cards circled around them all frantically, and the lights went on and off. It then stopped, and her cards fell as she cradled Nura in her arms. Her anguish was the deepest. She was the most compassionate, next to Nura. The other two Shentavos were the only others that fought without magic, and they stepped in front of Hevn, defending the next youngest. They were all new. Where was Ravelyn? Where was Charmaine?

As he mentioned Tempest, her emotions started rising, and when he mentioned her children, that lighter flared up, the heat washing over her, then dying again. She gripped the tears in her throat, holding them back as best she could. How she loved him. How she loved him. Then, she felt it. She cried out in exasperated pain. He had never heard her like this. Tears came, and the pain washed over her; the pain of loss. “SHE WAS EIGHTEEN…” she cried out in anger and hearbreak. “SHE WAS ONLY EIGHTEEN…Nura…” Tears fell freely down her face and she shook her head. The lighter flared up again, without him flicking it, growing too hot to hold, then dying again with the next sob.

The Shentavo children were there faster than any of the commandos had expected, and their sudden retreat back into the library showed it. They had hoped to engage the oncoming Shentavos one at a time, but instead would be forced to fight them all at once. Thumbing on night vision goggles as the mansion went black, they waited as their vision adjusted and the Shentavos collectively mourned and wondered where Rave was. A massive hole where the wall of the library and the next room used to be was suddenly met with a hail of three of the thrown grenades. Stepping out from behind the cover, Kilborn's magic, even from the island, keeping them hidden from the vampires' supernatural senses, the commandos opened fire. Without time to properly aim, what met the the three Shentavos was, essentially, a hail of the vampire-killer bullets and deftly-aimed crossbow bolts, trying for the heart, coming from thirty different sources. Ten-to-one odds, with superior technology and the overwhelming element of surprise. They thought it would be enough.


*


The lighter dropped to the ground, and she could hear Kilborn utter a small noise of discomfort, and even mild pain, before he picked the lighter up again. "I'm guessing it's started from your reaction," he said grimly. The superior lilt was leaving his voice. He suddenly seemed worried. He could not feel the suppression field himself, it did not affect him, but the lighter in his hand, flaming of its own accord - that worried him. He stood, and she could hear the sound of his heavy footsteps as he walked over to her. Grabbing her around the throat, he lifted her upper body off the ground with his right hand, squeezing her neck as tightly as he could. "We are going to win," he seethed. "All you obscenities are going to die. You are going to fucking die."

As he finished the sentence he dropped her back down to the earth, kicked at her face once, hard, through the bag, and walked away, leaving her alone, as far as she could tell. There were certainly no further noises of the presence of anyone else, and she could hear his footsteps growing quieter, apparently as he moved farther away.

She felt the blood in her mouth, and continued to sob as he walked away, not from the physical pain, but from Nura’s death. “She was only eighteen…” she kept repeating. “How could you…she was a child…” Her temper flared again. Azrael wanted vengeance with a passion. She would not let another one of her own die, but how could she when she was so far away? What had happened to Corothisia.


Hevn laid out her tarot cards, and her eyes turned white. She’s in pain…so much pain… “Navi…save us…” Navi looked at her. Could she be serious? Why was she not asking Jin-Shina, the one with the sword and most protective aura? Navi smiled lightly. “Don’t worry kid,” she whispered to the young red-head with her orange eyes looking up at Navi. “I’m working on it.” Just as she said that, bullets and projectiles were launched at them. Jin dived over Hevn, protecting her. She felt a rush of energy inside of her, and sensed Ravelyn, but she couldn’t tell where she was. She spun her large broadsword quickly, swinging and deflecting everything she could from the girl, and took a arrow to the shoulder, but the holy elements had no effect. She was of Ravelyn’s line, and no one else’s. Jin-Shina was an ordained priestess of the temple of Elua, and could fight better than any monk. Her mask came off as it was ripped by a bullet, and her long golden hair fell down to her feet like a glorious cape as her golden eyes narrowed, and she took another arrow, but kept going.

Navi held her arms in front of her, protecting her heart, and took many pulled in both her arms. When the projectiles slowed, she held her hand up, and while her flesh was torn, underneath it there was metal. She looked at Nura…her little sister. She was only eighteen. “My turn…” she whispered, as Jin-Shina took a bulled to the shoulder, and went down in front of Hevn, who Jin was shielding. Navi was the only Shentavo who ever had an aptness for technology; more so than any other. Automated machine guns dropped from the ceiling on either side, shooting at any human target. “You might be able to fool us, but you can’t fool a machine…” Her eyes switched to an electronic green, like an old computer screen, but her computer was anything but old. Then, the gun fight started as she aimed and fired. Who needs night vision when you have it built in?


Ravelyn let out another cry as she felt the arrows and bullets that Jin-Shina was taking, there were several now. She was covering Hevn…she could see it, and she screamed. “You will not take anymore from me you bastards!” she roared, and her fangs extended, her hair lengthening slightly. “She was only eighteen!” she chocked back the tears, and the ice pins which held her down, began to melt.

The commandos, cursing at the sentry guns, dropped back behind their cover to avoid fire from the automated turrets. They proceeded with further tactics now: With around half a dozen down from preliminary turret fire, they began throwing grenades around the corners, trying to kill the Shentavos, their only goal. Not expecting a fight against technology, they had brought no EMPs, and had very limited explosives besides those designed for killing vampires.

So they did their best to outflank the Shentavos. Splitting into two, they branched off to the left and right, trying to get closer to the massive hole in the wall in order to be able to get grenades closer and more accurately at the vampires, and in order to take out the sentry turrets somehow, possibly by killing Navi. As they moved, a smaller group stayed in the centre, firing suppressing fire against the vampires and rolling or throwing grenades at them, trying to destroy Navi's computer, and kill primarily Jin-Shina, who they saw as the one closest to death.


*


As Rave lay there, her body temperature rising, the spikes driven through her hands and feet beginning to melt, she could hear the inevitable return of Kilborn. He whispered intently to someone else, their backs to Rave so she could not hear what they were saying, then Kilborn made his way back to Rave, his pride once again returning. Seeing the deteriorating spikes, he cursed under his breath and knelt down beside Rave. She could hear his heart beating, feel his breath in the cold air. He seemed not to know what to say or do.

Eventually he stood up again and took several steps away slowly, his footsteps crunching in the snow. Turning back after a minute of simply standing there, he bent down again, whispering a prayer. As he continued, praying mainly to God and Jesus, he suddenly reached out and stabbed into her right side with some sort of knife, ice cold, and finished his prayer saying "Like Christ our saviour, you now have your own Spear of Destiny. Be happy, Seraphim."

As he stood up again, she suddenly heard Tempest scream again. It was partly a scream of pain, and partly a a shout of anger and hatred, rage for the world. As it roared through the courtyard and echoed through the walls, Rave could feel the suppression field bend and nearly buckle in on itself. The cigarette lighter in Kilborn's hand exploded, him uttering a scream of pain and instantly submerging his hand in the snow. As he stood up following this, he roared in pain and anger, and Rave could feel his aura, his magic crackling through the air. The snow redoubled its downfall, turning the sky into a veritable blizzard, massive quantities of snow falling from the heavens. She could not see the clouds, but they swirled around rapidly, congealing and disbanding again faster than she had ever seen. In the distance she could hear thunder, and then she heard Kilborn swearing rapidly under his breath and all-but running back towards the door inside.









OOC: That's probably it for me tonight. More tomorrow, eh?

Me = Canuck. No, really.

If Navi hadn’t been there, technology would have never been part of it. They could both see each other, and she could see the grenades behind thrown. How could she stop a grenade? Hevn clutched her side as if something had been stabbed into it, though there was no blood. She knelt, her eyes still white, as if she were making a connection. Her tarot cards moved on the floor, jittering slightly, then rose and began to circulate around them. She pulled a card, and Navi watched. It would seem that whatever was hindering their magic was wearing away; that or Hevn was breaking it. The girl was weak physically, but she had a very large mental capacity. Navi shot with one hand, dropped the gun, and froze one of the grenades in mid-air, the explosion only producing shattered ice. She was the only Shentavo that could endure the cold save for Genesis. Jin-Shina fell to the ground. She wasn’t dead, but she was in pain, and like a samurai, she kept her blade spinning as much in front of Hevn as she could. There were too many grenades being thrown for Navi to get to, she couldn’t keep it up forever. She sent a message, a command, and waited. There were just too many projectiles for her.

Hevn threw the tarot card up in the air; The Tower card. Light whirred around them as Hevn cradled Nura, Navi felt the command go through, and Jin-Shina collapse. Hevn watched and concentrated as the dome encompassed them; and the grenades were deflected. Navi crouched by Jin-Shina, wondering how long this shield Hevn created would hold. She pulled the arrows out and started getting the bullets out. She was not as skill full as Ravelyn, but it needed to be done if her body was going to heal.

The snow fell faster, and she shivered, her body temperature dropping faster, and she was ready to slip into unconsciousness. She heard Tempest scream, felt the arrows and bullets in Jin-Shina’s shoulder, and felt Hevn’s desperate cry. Her body shook half in cold half in anger. She could feel the suppression device wavering. She could feel Corothisia’s touch wash over her, his aura. The hell-angel within her responded. Her eyes flickered as she attempted again with her new found rage. They glowed with dull embers of fire and her long dark hair was auburn and trailed in now straight tendrils down her back. The ice which held her melted and the snow which touched her skin sizzled and evaporated, as if her skin were too hot for it to touch. No; her skin was still ice-cold, but her aura was a slashing wave of heat. She pulled the knife out of her side, and walked toward the door.

She could feel Nura’s spirit departing her body so far away. She was not going to loose another. Not another daughter…not another one she love. She couldn’t let that happen. Leather shifted around her body with metal adornments as her seraphic form began to take shape as her black wings shot out from her shoulders and the feathers ruffled. She took the bead from her necklace and manipulated it to her scythe in a quick movement. Anematha, oh how she had missed the feel of the blade as it swept through the wind and the cold metal handle. Her aura surged, hot and searing, out through the door of the building, and she walked through. There was no more compassion in her eyes, only death. Azrael was out, and wanted blood; her cold blooded killer.

As the seraphim took form and Rave broke free of her entrapments, Tempest was doing the same. Even as the strength of desperation coming from her dying children gave Rave the strength to break free, Tempest, was letting loose everything he had.

He had felt the suppression field wavering, almost buckling, and gave it one last pulse, throwing all his energy into one final assault on it, as he had been doing for some time now. He felt it shatter around him, dissipating, and suddenly he was free. The chair he had been strapped to smashed into pieces, and his hands clawed at the black bag tied over his face, suddenly finding it hard to breath. As his hands tore at the knot around his neck, he suddenly felt a knee in his solar plexus, and he doubled over. The guards who had tormented him were now doing their utmost to incapacitate him before he could escape, his supernatural abilities restored.

He instinctively lashed out with his newfound magic, and heard a man scream like a baby as Tempest ripped his mind out, toyed with it for a split second, and tore it in half. He could feel the others backing off for fear of what could happen to them, and as he ripped the bag off his head and breathed in deeply he suddenly felt bullets in his back. They hurt, but nothing like so much as they would have if the device had still been active. He spun around, his face forming a perfect image of anger personified, and he lashed out with his arms. A wall of fire washed over the three men, guns drawn, that were trying to kill him.

He turned and saw the fourth, a quivering mess in the corner of the room, curled up in the fetal position and clawing at his face, nearly ripping pieces of his skin off with his fingernails. The victim of what Tempest referred to calmly as a mindfuck. He walked over purposefully, crouching down and feeding thoroughly from the crazed man. He did not need the sustenance, but this had been the most vicious of his tormentors, and he deserved what he got. Standing, Tempest left him with no mind to speak of, most of his blood drained, and in a final vicious act of retribution he stabbed the man in the stomach with his own knife, which had already left enough marks on Tempest's body. He was still hours from death, but would spend those in agonizing physical and mental pain.

He left the room, through the open door, and found himself in the castle's basement. He could feel Rave close by, and called to her mentally, looking around the castle for the two men he viewed as behind this: Amadeo and Kilborn Talbot. He knew Kilborn's talent, and moreso he could feel what the man had done to Rave. Tempest would make him pay.

The injuries, now that he could feel everything again, both hurt and did not. They seemed much less painful now, complete with superficial rips and tears all over his clothes, now reduced to simply his regular loose black clothes. He walked through the hallways quickly, towards where he could feel Rave. At the same time, he could feel other Shentavos, somewhere, fighting for their lives. He hoped they were up to it.


*


The commandos, their flanking maneuvre completed, peered out. The vampires seemed to be encased in a brilliant white shield, but the turrets had stopped firing as the damned technological one tended to her fallen sister. The commandos slowly stood, walking gingerly towards the shield, still using cover where they could find it. One threw a grenade gently at it to see if it would respond to physical pressure, others fired bullets in short bursts. Essentially, they were stalled. They would wait until the shield failed - if it responded to physical attacks, or if they saw Hevn faltering due to it, they would continue - and attack from all sides against the Shentavos contained within.

The first guard did not see the scythe coming. Blood splattered upon the ground like sanguine rain as Azrael decapitated two men before jumping on the third and plunging her fangs into his neck to drain him of his blood and warm her body temperature. A low growl emitted from her throat as she continuously fed as one of the guards altered his position and stepped closer. She threw her scythe, and it ripped through him in two, separating one half from the other as she dropped the man that she fed from, and picked up her scythe. This blood; this blood lust, this anger. She reveled in it, and hated it at the same time. She was angry and that was quite apparent. She licked the blood from the blade of her scythe, and as Tempest entered the room she was igniting it in flames. With the flames rising behind her, and her glowing crimson eyes, she looked like an angel from hell. She rushed to him, taking his hand, for that’s all she could manage at the moment. “Where are they?” she asked in nearly a hiss. She meant their hosts, of course.

There were still wounds on her hands, bleeding still, but the pain had not registered. One of her daughters was dead.

---

Hevn let out a cry. “This shield won’t hold us for long…” she said, and clung to Naru’s dead body, as if she were still alive.

“Just a few more seconds Hevn…keep it up,” Navi whispered as Jin-Shina passed out. As the shield was failing, the floor panels shifted, and they dropped into a room below before the latched closed again, locking. This house was full of passage ways and corridors, most controlled by a computer system thanks to Navi. She was half-android, you might say, and because of her vampirism, it made setting up the memory metal within her much easier than a normal person. She spun a dial on her arm, and above them, the reception room exploded.

"Upstairs," he replied simply. He could almost feel them. He was finding it hard to talk as all the feeling rushed back into his limbs and his head. Grabbing her hand tightly, as if he never wanted to let it go again, he turned towards the main staircase and led Rave towards it. He could feel the Talbots upstairs, something frail but steadfast between them and their targets, and he could feel quaking guards, doing their best not to fear their posts. Devoted they were. Stupid they were not. They knew their death would come if they confronted the vampires, and instead they clustered around their leaders, trying to protect them and themselves at the same time.

Outside the windows, the blizzard raged, and more and more frequent bolts of lightning began to strike the ground, the water, and the castle itself, blinding flashes of light sometimes illuminating the rooms through the windows, creating deep shadows as they did so. It was night outside by now, and the castle's electric lights did not provide much light.

Standing at the top of the stairs was a woman, with short hair and a weak body. Senna Talbot. They could tell by her energy, her aura that she considered herself the mistress of the castle, and that they were trespassing. She held no illusions about beating them, choosing instead to try and distract them away from her family. "You will come no further!" she screamed, her voice cracking as she did so.

She raised her hands even as they approached, and conjured illusions, draining all her energy. The room filled with shadows, walls, and random objects, blocking the two vampires' path. It was superficial, to be sure, and would not slow them down much, but it was all she could manage. Her energy gone, she collapsed to the floor unconscious and barely breathing. Tempest managed a sigh of contempt and exasperation rather than anything else, simply at the thought she could defeat them so simply. It was simple, and nothing more. Sending a swipe through a phantom bucket, he dispelled it easily. It was a stupid plan of hers.


*


The commandos that remained, all ten of them, were all that had not been injured in the blast. Those injured or killed were left lying on the ground, and the ten turned to their commander, miraculously still alive. "If we go down there they get us in close quarters and eliminate us," he said. "Plan B."

They withdrew, ceding that round to the Shentavos. The next round, however, would be very different. Outside the mansion they had left a significant stash of explosives, and now left to retrieve them. A structural analysis of the Shentavo mansion had revealed weak points in the structural design. Not weak points, rather not-strong points. The explosives, copious amounts of them, would be planted, all from outside the house, and the commandos would withdraw and detonate. The goal was to destroy everything they could and possibly collapse the house, or at least parts of it. The ten remaining commandos would then move through what remained, trying to find the Shentavo children and kill them. They would move as a team, with motion sensors to prevent stealthy attacks by the vampires, and to detect them if they tried to run. They were there to kill all the Shentavos, and they would do so even if it killed them all.

Ravelyn’s eyes narrowed. “They kill my children, they torture both of us, and they destroy my house…” she growled. She watched the woman that once stood in front of them pass out unconscious and fall to the ground. As they ran by, she stopped and dug the stiletto of her heel down through the woman’s chest, rested her scythe against her neck, and pushed down, watching the blood seep down the stairs she had blocked. It was all she was able to do to take out her aggression before she got to the one she wanted to kill the most. She owed him a severed appendage, for what he did to Tempest. She burst through the door at the top of the stairs, wings larger than herself expanding like dark clouds to either side of her as Tempest followed. She swung her scythe around, madness in her eyes like hell itself.

---

“She will be okay,” Navi whispered to Hevn. “We have to kill them off. My monitors catch them outside. They are going to detonate the mansion. We need to get outside before they do…” She paused, then picked up Jin-Shina over her shoulder. The gears within her arms squeaking. Some were damaged, others just were like that. She picked up a tool kit in the other and Hevn grabbed her cards and placed them in her pocket, and picked up Nura’s body, following them down the many intricate paths that Ravelyn used for her play ground, and for racing her damn car against the speed of sound. These things went everywhere.

As the two vampires, majestic in their power and fury, stepped through the door beside each other, the scene that greeted them was one of confusion. A dozen guards were crouched behind several overturned tables, large firearms, several crossbows, and a grenade launcher all aimed at the doors. Behind them, Kilborn and several guards were helping Amadeo, who was clutching his chest and seemed frail, through a door at the back of the room. Kilborn cast a worried look at the door as the vampires walked in, and giving his father one last helping shove, turned to face the doors as the guards opened fire.

Tempest growled deep in his throat as the guards opened fire with their futile weaponry, and in a blink of an eye he was behind the one with the grenades, and had snapped his neck. Making quickly for Amadeo, he was met by a sudden blast of force originating from Kilborn, that smashed out through a window and out into the air over the courtyard where Rave had been held captive. "Get away from my father!" Kilborn screamed as his father disappeared through the door at the back of the room and down stairs, still, helped by the guards. With Tempest gone for a split second, Kilborn turned his attention to Rave, energy crackling around his clenched fists.


*


Realizing that, in the dark and with the vampires having the definite advantage in layout knowledge, the commandos withdrew in a somewhat novel way. From the library, they headed to the back, finding an outside wall, and planted all remaining conventional (i.e. not anti-vampire) explosives on the wall, retreating and detonating it, blasting out the wall. They headed out quickly, down the heap of rubble created, weapons up and ready, all ten remaining commandos heading directly for their hidden weapons stash and the remaining explosives to be used for overall destruction of the entire house and the hopeful resulting death of the remaining three vampires.

The guards opened fire, and Ravelyn rushed into it with full anticipation, taking some of the bullets before wielding her scythe so cleanly that the blade made no sound; only the rolling heads and body parts falling to the floor. The bullets went right through her, and those that were lodged were thrown outward as her body rejected the metal and her hot aura filled the entire room. Small lights appeared above those dead, and she held out her hand. They flew to her, and she imbedded them in her heart. Kilborn was the only one left in the room. Rave looked at him, and twirled the scythe in her hand with cold eyes. “You owe you an appendage and a heart from what you did to my Tempest…you owe me your soul for killing Nura. Azrael, angel of death, bringing of souls, and yours will be mine to join the others.” Her eyes were cold; a lustful glint for death searing beneath the deep sanguine color. Azrael stood in her full glory, wings spread out and scythe dripping with blood. She noticed the electricity around his wrists.

“My turn…” she whispered, and spun her scythe around and casted. Hell fire ignited upon the carpets and took the form of Azrael, and as she commanded it, she sent it straight toward Kilborn, growing in size and spreading out to a wall like structure preparing to engulf him like a tidal wave. The temperature in the room began to rise, and some of the unfired grenades went off in between them, but the heat and fire only fueled her.

Once outside, they were about two hundred yards from the mansion. They set Jin-Shina down and placed Nura’s corpse next to her. Hevn and Navi were the only two left. Hevn took the set of knives into her hands from the tool box and slipped into the shadows. It wasn’t as efficient as going into the Dark Path. Only Charmaine had harnessed that ability form her father; Vaughn. Still; she was as quiet as a cat. Navi felt the injected liquid run through her veins. It was a warming liquid which caused the martensite metal that was coiled and bent in her body to become into its trained heat shape in its austenite form. It was quite a good application of memory metals, just, in the cold she was venerable. Luckily enough it was not cool enough to change the metal back into its martensite phase and cause the atoms to shift planes. She was grateful for that, and thought the skin had begun to heal it hadn’t healed fully. She would need Rave for that.

With both her guns, she went the opposite way as Hevn, and opened up her precision shots on the first guards she saw. Hevn took her knives, and she placed both her hands to one of the guard’s temples. Sleep… and he did. She then slit his throat and watched as Navi acted as a distraction and…well…a gun turret.

Kilborn gritted his teeth as he reached up with his arms and deflected the hellfire around him, splitting it into two down the middle and sending it crashing against the walls at the back of the room. In response, the electricity crackling around his wrists lashed out across the room in an arc, directly towards Rave's head.

Realizing such a close quarters fight would be useless, e reached out with his right hand even as the left blasted lightning towards her, and with some effort threw the entire wall of the room outwards, where it fell towards the ground in a hail of stone blocks. Tempest hurriedly got out of the way and began to rise up to the level of the room again, anxious to get back to the fight.


*


Four of the commandos went down in the first volley, leaving six left plus two they had left guarding the explosives. Getting on their headset radios, they communicated with each other. The leader was now dead, and the one taking charge ordered the two with explosives to hurry to the house and do their best to destroy it, while the other half dozen engaged the remaining vampires. Taking up positions behind thick trees for cover and leaving their night vision on, they opened fire on the vampires. This time, though, they were aiming mainly to fire suppressing shots on the group, to keep them from going after the two men with the vital explosives. If they could get a clear shot against one they would take it, but otherwise would fire anyway.

They also tried to keep both vampires in their vision, to make sure they knew that none were going after the others. As long as they knew both vampires were facing them, the others could be successful.









OOC: Apologies for lack of time. I just got Rome: Total War and, as you can imagine, it's quite absorbing.

Ravelyn let out a cry, slamming back into the back wall with the surge of electricity running through her. Her shoulder was badly torn open, and she fell on the ground motionless. Seconds passed, and the blood which had left her seeped up towards her, curling around her shoulder and sealing the wound. She stood up. “Stop it…your exciting me…” she whispered coldly, and picked up her scythe. She knew that he was not going to be an easy opponent to beat. Where the hell was he getting all of his power from? Was he human? He was certainly strong, no doubt, and this would be a tough fight, as many of her powers were still locked from her resurrection. A black mist seemed to emanate from her; no it was her aura. It was Azrael’s aura. She contracted her ebony wings and lifted into the air. She reached her hands up towards the sky, and the dark clouds parted in a small area. Fire surged through the sky like meteorites crashing down toward Kilborn. Whatever the damage, she was excited. She had not had a fight like this in some time, and the image of Nura kept replaying in her mind. Ravelyn’s compassion for Nura, however failed, and she had an overwhelming desire for him to live and continue fighting.

ooc: You left me for Rome: Total War? /sob. *takes out a gun* this i simply cannot let go! =P TG.
IC:

A car sped to the front of the mansion, sliding and nearly crashing. The man that stepped out had silver hair and piercing blue eyes. The tattoo on his face was the symbol of the nation. He was a beautiful man, but also a fledgling. Despite being young in vampiric terms, he was a Shentavo; Shen-Jin. It was dark, starting to rain, and he was on his way home when he sensed Jin-Shina’s distress. He knew he would probably be seen, but with the storm and the electricity surging between his fingertips, he was ready to fight. “What the hell are you bastards doing near my house? If you wanted to play…you could have just asked…”

Navi continued to fire, the bullets that she took were kept out of her internal organs by the metal running through her body. Hevn could no longer get close to the men, as her magic was dampened by the storm just as Shen-Jin’s was strengthened. She dodged many bullets, but was not a physical fighter. She took three in her shoulder, and went down. Navi quickly stood in front of her body, now lying on the ground, and continued to fire. She cursed at them, her eyes raging. There were only two of Ravelyn's children left standing.

OOC: Whoops. TG.









Kilborn watched the meteorites coming straight at him, and a look of fear entered his eyes. Instinctively, his hands reached up as if to cover his face, and seemingly without his trying to the lead meteorite exploded, raining red-hot slivers of rock down on the scene. Somehow none of them reached Kilborn, deflecting themselves away from him, although they rained into Tempest's back as he rose up beside the broken wall of the house and he grunted in pain, his shirt now ruined as the back was torn apart.

The other meteorites seemed unwilling to batter their way into Kilborn. Their trajectory would ever-so-slightly change until they were no longer moving towards him, and would instead bury themselves in the ground or smash into the castle roof. Their impact also seemed deadened somehow, as if they had merely been dropped there without any of the force they had generated.

He turned to Rave, his eyes narrowing, and he waved his arm nervously through the air. He seemed not to truly know what he expected to happen. A host of gleaming daggers appeared in the air between him and Rave, moving straight for her, and Kilborn himself was taken aback by the result of his magic.


*


The two men with the explosives were suddenly stopped, one whispering into his headset "There's another one, there's another one."

Seeing Shen-Jin's sudden arrival, and his standing between them and the mansion, they took desperate measures into their own hands. Taking some of the plastic explosives they were carrying, they set it on the forest floor and on the banks of two close-together trees above it, between them and Shen-Jin. One of them, who lost a game of rock, paper, scissors, then stood up between the two trees to a place where he knew Shen-Jin could see them. As soon as he knew the vampire was taking a look at him, he screamed "Shit!" much louder than was probably necessary and crouched down again, withdrawing quickly and quietly to where the other one was waiting with the detonator. From there they kept an eye on Shen-Jin, seeing whether he made a beeline for the man he had spotted or not.

Knowing that with only one Shentavo left, two of the remaining six commandos fighting Navi maintained suppressing fire, one going down with a bullet in his forehead as he stood up to shoot. The other four pulled out the last of their grenades and, standing, threw them all at once. With one vampire on the ground but not dead and one standing up, they predicted she could not stop all four of the grenades and could also not get Hevn out of the way fast enough. In their dreams, at least one of the Shentavos would die in this volley of explosives.

One of them was brought down by three bullets to the chest immediately after throwing his grenade. Four remained, facing one vampire.

ooc: more tgs

She smiled, revealing her double set of fangs as the daggers sliced through her. All of them connected, sending her down and fallen upon the ground. Blood seeped from her. One of the blades had come awfully close to her heart. Had it hit her heart? Seconds passed, but slowly, the woman stood up, pulling the daggers from her body. “More…” she growled, wanting to get as much satisfaction as she could out of killing the man before her. “Come on is that all you have?” Her eyes flashed. She was insane. She picked up one of the guards who was unconscious, still alive, with a severed hand. She plunged her fangs into his neck and sucked down the sanguine liquid, then dropped him. “Come on…more….” She ran towards him, her own engery building up and fire igniting to either side of her. She brought her scythe around, aiming to sever one of his arms.

OOC: And more




His eyes filled with fear as Rave fed from one of the men he had known, had played tennis against, and then widened even more when she came for him. Leaping to the side and raising his hands to protect himself, he lashed out with a kick to her face as he ducked down and then scuttled around her to the other half of the room.

It was at this point that Tempest appeared behind him, grabbing him around the neck, but before he could do anything Kilborn lashed out subconsciously, his mind slamming Tempest up against the ceiling and dropping him face-first onto the ground, a panicked Kilborn retreating to put his back against a wall, his eyes shifting between the two vampires. Tempest got to his feet, reaching up and straightening out a broken nose with some sickening cracks and pops, letting the blood simply flow out of it. He reached up to his mouth, feeling inside it and pulling out a finger with blood on its tip. Grinning, he licked the blood off and turned to Kilborn. "That the best you got?" he whispered ominously. "We've been killing shitheads like you since long before anyone you can remember hearing about in history class was ever born. You're no exception."

Whether the 'we' he referred to was him and Rave, him in particular, or vampires in general was unknown.

Ravelyn took the blow with a grin in her face. Her blood lust had gone far out of control, and her eyes glowed a deep crimson red as she came to stand beside Tempest. “More…” she whispered, and he could tell she was half-crazed; partially because of Nura’s death, destroying her home, and of what he did to Tempest. Of what he did to her. She picked up Tempest’s hand and licked the stray blood from his finger tips. It would have been quite sensual if it had not been the current circumstances; now it was just frightening. She turned her eyes towards Kilborn, and raised her scythe in her free hand. She took a step towards him, licking the blood from the corner of her mouth. Above something bright hid behind the clouds, and the vampire moved closer, and closer to her target.

“Which limb do you want to loose first?”

Shen-Jin made no motion toward any of the guards, but instead ran towards Hevn and Navi, standing on the other side of Hevn’s unconscious body, and looked at the four men as Navi shot. He raised his arms, and surging electricity poured forth into their bodies, electrocuting them in the rain. Navi was near ready to collapse. There were too more, and he already knew. Navi crumpled to the ground next to Hevn. He left them, knowing they would be all right. Navi was tired, but the woman possessed a deep strength. He didn’t know where Jin-Shina or Nura had gone, but there were too men left, and they were his. A deep growl emanated from his throat. He supposed to protect the women; at least he felt. Then again, his views weren’t always correct. Normally, it was Jin-Shina protecting him. With the storm overhead, the tables had turned.

He was catching up with them.

Kilborn was visibly terrified. One half-crazed and one crazed vampire were standing in front of him. Two vampires he could have easily killed but half an hour earlier. Suddenly his vision turned to something else, behind the vampires, for a split second. Tempest's head turned to see what it was, and saw Kilborn's father, Amadeo, hurrying in a lopsided fashion across the courtyard down below, helped by his two guards. Turning to Kilborn with a growl, he turned his back and quickly walked across the destroyed room to leap from the edge of the room and land in the courtyard down below like a cat. Amadeo turned, and saw the angry vampire standing up to his full height, towering over everyone present, and walking towards him quickly.

The first sound for the new situation was Kilborn screaming "No!" at seeing the vampire going after his father, and he lashed out, an invisible force smashing against Rave, simply to get her out of the way, as he sprinted for the edge of the courtyard and dove off it towards Tempest, who, turning his head to see the source of the noise, saw the younger man in midair for but a split second before he had been knocked into and was on his back on the ground. A split second later he found himself on his feet, facing Kilborn, who had a look of incredible anger and hatred in his eyes, replacing the fear that had ruled them a moment earlier. "You'll not touch him, vampire scum," he said, seething between his teeth. Tempest just grinned violently.

The two remaining commandos' only sign that their comrades were dead were the four men's screams on the headsets, and then an ominous silence. Knowing they were all alone, the two men moved quickly towards the house, keeping an eye behind them to see if Shen-Jin was coming for them, and if he was, if he would move past the trap they had created, in which case they would detonate it no matter what. Both to distract his attention and maybe hurt him.

Aside from that, they ran to the house, planting as many explosives as they could in the nearest places without the structural integrity most of the house enjoyed, trying to get to as many places as they could before the sole remaining angry vampire reached them. As soon as he was actually attacking them, they would detonate all the firebombs they had planted and try to escape in the ensuing chaos, rubble and smoke. They knew they would probably not escape, and resigned themselves to at least causing as much damage as they could before they had to die.

Azrael was once again knocked back, but she caught her footing. She grinned as Tempest had picked up on it. The man’s weakness of his father. She jumped in the air, and landed behind his father and the two guards, so that Kilborn was behind Tempest, Tempest was in front of Amadeo, and Ravelyn was behind them. Slowly, the guards loosened the grip on the old man, and turned to look at Ravelyn. They let go of him, and walked to her, both eyes locked upon hers. They were easy to entrance in a glare. They kept walking towards her, not even noticing the scythe which was raised and elegantly swiped horizontally, lopping off their heads and felling the bodies. She brought the blade down to her, and ran her tongue over the fresh blood while never removing her eyes from Amadeo. She walked towards him, and lifted him up, wrapping her arms around him. She looked at Tempest with a devilish smile.

“There isn’t much to do with him; old mortal blood doesn’t age like ours does. It’s disgusting…” She brought the scythe to his neck, but also braced herself for Kilborn to attack. It wasn’t like the old man could do anything in her grip. “We could just break his fingers, one by one, then cut each one off. Burn the ends to seal the wound, and then cut more. I could keep him conscious the entire time…” She glared at Kilborn, observing his reaction. “You killed one of my children…I have to take something just as precious in payment you uncivilized fuck. Vampire politics, don’t you hate them?”

He then caught sent of it; Jin-Shina and Nura’s blood entwined. He roared. “I’ll be damned if you are going to take one of my females away from me…” He caught up with them, and the electricity surged in his hands, except they were carrying explosives. He dropped to his knees and closed his eyes. Sleep… he whispered, but nothing happened. Sleep… he commanded again, and one of them slowed, then the other one. You will sleep….SLEEP NOW! He watched as they fell against the side of the building, and panted as rain pattered down upon his coat. He walked over and picked up the first one, bringing his pale lips down and piercing his neck to drink the warm liquid as the rain washed away the traces. His bloodlust picked up, and knew that somewhere, Ravelyn was angry. He was connected with all of them in some way; perhaps because he was Ravelyn’s first child of the night after being resurrected. He looked at the second man, and disarmed him, then dragged his body as he slept blissfully unaware of what was going on around him. He was about twenty feet from the mansion when, he woke up.


Navi spit up blood. Her body was healing slowly, but she needed to feed; as did Hevn, as did Jin-Shina. She crawled over to Hevn’s body, and lifted the girl in her arms. She began to remove the bullets.

Jin-Shina, half conscious had thrown herself over Nura’s corpse, in tears, in blood, still trying to protect her even though she was already gone. She picked up the girl in her arms and held her, then managed the strength to stand; to try and find out what happened to Nura and Hevn.

"You fucking bitch!" Kilborn screamed, his eyes blazing with fury and anger, and he lashed out, his hatred of her intensified so much that the magic that emerged from his fingertips was that of such malevolence and such power that it took on the form of that which Rave hated most. A thick blanket of ice appeared and very rapidly descended on Rave, and by association on Amadeo Talbot. Kilborn, his mouth hanging open when he saw what he had done. The falling sheet of ice had fallen not only on Rave, but also on his father, whose last-second scream as it descended haunted Kilborn's mind. He could feel his father was not dead, though. Physically frail, he was kept alive by something, by Kilborn's emotions.

Tempest, seeing what Kilborn had done, turned instantly, feeling out for Rave, making sure she was okay. "Rave!" he shouted almost instinctively. Kilborn, fighting for his very survival, reacted immediately. His enemy's attention was focused elsewhere, and he ran forward, in the split second Tempest's attention was directed at Rave, and he raised his fist, crackling with the same lightning that he had hit Rave with before. he smashed it into the back of Tempest's head, and the vampire collapsed for a split second, his hands reaching up for the back of his head, where blood trickled out and lightning danced over his skin. His teeth were gritted from the pain, but it had only made him more angry, more determined. Kilborn stood over him, shaking his hand out, his knuckles bruised and flattened from the impact.

She heard Tempests cry, but could do nothing. Before it had just been cold air; this was ice. It engulfed her, and with it his father and the scythe pressed against his neck. She felt my body temperature dropping lower than it had before, and felt dizzy, suddenly terribly dizzy. Her wing contracted, but could not break the ice. In her normal form it had been worse; but his magic was concentrated, and she could not move. She felt a wave of dizziness rush through her, and her form was blocking any of his father’s vital points. Shoot through me…kill his father… she managed to communicate before she felt the stinging in her limbs, she wanted to scream, and she did internally. If she sparked my hellfire it would burn her without concentration. I’ll be all right…hurry…before…the opportunity is lost… She knew that Tempest carried a gun with him from his façade as a body guard, but wasn’t sure if he still had it. She was sure, however, he could conjure a projectile.

Coro… she couldn’t hear him anymore. She felt herself loosing consciousness.

Kilborn, seeing the magic had worked against Rave, turned his attention to Tempest, but the elder vampire could tell the man was distracted. Much of his attention was devoted to keeping his father alive, and Tempest did his best to take advantage of that. Kicking out with his leg even from his prone position, he smashed his foot into the side of Kilborn's knee, and the man fell rather than have his leg broken and buckled under him. Rising unsteadily to his feet, still shaken from the blow to the head, his left hand staying on the wound to steady himself and begin the healing process. Reaching out almost absentmindedly with his foot to kick Kilborn in the face, oblivious to the young man's cry of pain, he reached out with his right hand and concentrated. I'm sorry, flashed through his mind and into Rave's, as a bolt of metal appeared in front of his hand and lashed out, straight through this ice, through Rave, and into Amadeo Talbot's head. Striking the middle of his forehead, it went far enoguh through that it protruded through both ends of his head, and his eyes went blank, rolling back into his head.

He could hear Kilborn's shouts and screams, his wordless cries at his father's sudden death, but he took no notice of them as he ran towards Rave and her icy prison. Reaching out with his right hand once again, he placed it on the ice, the cold feeling like fire against his bare skin, shouting out loud "Rave!! once again. He concentrated hard once again, finding it hard to think, and slowly the ice began to melt around his hand.

Kilborn's anger hit him harder than anything the younger man had pulled out in the entire fight. It smashed him against the wall of the courtyard, through the thick stone blocks that constituted the wall, and into what appeared to be a study. He ended up in a heap of wood that used to be a table and chairs, nearly unconscious from the brute force of it. Kilborn's loud howl outside filled the air, and Tempest was forced to clear his head to stop seeing double of the man approaching him through the vampire-sized hole in the wall. Getting unsteadily to his feet, Tempest reached out with his right hand, the left still trying to work on his head wound, trying to fend off his opponent.

He knew, however, that the man's emotions were too much for him to handle in his weakened state. Still not fully recovered from the effects of the suppression device, his magic was weakened even more by all the pain he had been caused, by his tormentors and by Kilborn's magic. The young man seemed more magically potent, more talented than any human Tempest had ever seen. It was raw, primal. he did not seem to have control over it, it just acted on his emotions, which were more powerful now than ever before. His lifelong dreams and both his beloved parents had been robbed from him in the space of fifteen minutes. He wanted them both dead.

Even as Tempest, weakened and now fighting a mental battle against the dizzying forces in his head and Kilborn's newest assault, which came in the form of a mental attack on his head, the man's fury and internal pain at the death of his father assaulting Tempest, fell to his knees inside the room, still trying to ward off the approaching man, he sent one last mental message to Rave. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

He raised his right hand to the heavens, and called on everything he had left. Eve as he collapsed to the ground on his chest, a blast of fire fell from the sky as if one of the lightning bolts lashing down from the sky so frequently, which smashed into the layer of ice that held Rave captive, flash-melting nearly all of it. He didn't know what it would do to Rave, but he knew that if he didn't do something to free her they would both die. There would be no taunting this time. If they both passed out, they would never wake up. Kilborn would make sure of that.

The bullet went clean through me, and I could feel the man go dead in my arms. I could hear him, but I could not respond. The ice was tainted red with blood, and had it not been holding me up I would have passed out; but the cold kept me awake and in pain. In a sudden flash the ice vanished, head flooding my body, throwing me to the ground. Blood poured from my chest. The bullet had pierced clean through my lung, but I did not need to breath. “With this soul I take into myself, with his memories I seal his end. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, I carry thee to no end; you will suffer in my purgatory. With your suffering, I gain from it strength.” I took my scythe from the ground, and severed the man’s head, and with it, I took his soul. She watched as the Kilborn approached Tempest, and she stood, holding one hand over the rather large bullet wound which hadn’t healed yet. She stumbled forward, and pressed herself into walking; continuing.

“A soul for a soul,” she gritted through her teeth. Nura for his father. “Now where we left…off…” she coughed up blood. “Which appendage, do you want to loose first…for what you have done to…Corothisia…” she managed, spitting the blood onto the ground, and she straightened up more with every step. She closed her eyes, and it was if she appeared in front of Tempest, blocking Kilborn’s path towards him. Her blood red eyes engulfed him entirely, and she removed her hand from her chest, the wound only partially closed and blood trailing from her lips. It was her own blood. She gripped the scythe tightly in her hand, and spread out her wings.

““With this soul I take into myself, with his memories I seal his end. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust…” she readied the scythe in her hand, and released her limitations giving full reign to the seraphim which raged inside of her, drawing power from his father to use against him. “I carry thee to no end; you will suffer in my purgatory…” She glared at Kilborn with a deadly grin as she blocked Tempest from him. As she met his eyes, she locked him into the memory.

Suddenly, his father stood before him, between Ravelyn and Kilborn. “What are you doing?” his father said. “Your insolence cost me my life. You are not fit to live. You should rot in this purgatory you have placed me in. You worthless bastard of a child. Get out of my sight. You are not fit for it.” Ravelyn smiled at the illusion; well, she was putting words into the mouth of his father's soul, and every word he lied, and ever word she fed off of.

His mouth dropped open as his father appeared, and denounced his actions with every word. Shaking his head, Kilborn tried to clear his thoughts and see what was real and what was not. "You're dead," he whispered over and over again, growing louder until he was shouting. "YOU'RE DEAD!"

Turning to face Rave, his mouth set in a grimace, he said in a quavering voice "You're putting words in his mouth. You stole his soul. You bitch, you're going to ... I'm ... You ..." He finished the short speech with a wordless scream, and shook his head once more to try and get his thoughts straight. "These are all lies," he said calmly, trying his hardest to remain in control. "You're making him lie to me. He loved me. He would never ... say that ... to me." His voice trailed off.

A bolt of lightning struck the castle behind him, making a rain of stones and fragments of the larger blocks fall to earth, clattering down between Rave and Kilborn, still seething and trying to figure out what was real and what was not. He seemed to have hit an impassé. His drive for death had stalled.

“I took his soul only because he begged me to be rid of your presence, his words do not lie. I can capture, but not warp a soul,” she had the most innocent look upon her face with one hand behind her back. She dug her nails into her palm, then opened her hand, letting the blood trail down her fingers near Tempest, hoping he would drink from her; hoping he was still conscious.

His father continued. “This woman is a sanctuary compared to the hell of living with you, and I would rather be in purgatory than in hell.” The clutter which fell did not affect him, as he was not of the physical realm anymore.

“If you two are finished,” she said, talking over the father. “With your suffering…” She started the last line of the chant with an effortless grin upon her face, and readied her scythe.

"No ... Father ... This can't be true," he said quietly. His voice fell, and he stopped talking, but his father continued. The telltale electricity began to gather around his clenched fists again as anger, now directed at the vampires and at his father, began to work its way up through him.

"Shut up!" he screamed, as his emotions forced a bolt of energy out of his body and directly at his father, only to have his mind try and recall it. The combination of his emotions and his conscious thoughts combined into a strange result, as the bolt of energy hit his father's image and reflected itself straight back at him, taking him in the chest and knocking him back, across the courtyard, until he landed at the bottom of the ruined wall and slowly and shakily got to his feet, dazed and confused and bleeding from the corner of his mouth.

“You kill me and then try to destroy my soul! What an outrage!” his father bellowed as Azrael; keeper of souls, angel of death, slipped those words so easily into his mouth. “You are not fit to be part of this household. GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!” he growled, and Ravelyn bent down near Corothisia, lifting him slightly, and placing his lips to her neck so he could feel the pulsating blood flow right underneath his tongue.

I want you to… she whispered softly, stroking his short dark hair with her fingertips. She was weak, but she needed him to regain strength. She didn’t want to carry him back to the helicopter, and with her strength mostly exerted with placing words in Kilborn’s father’s mouth, all she could give him was her blood and her touch. For what I took from you last night… she smiled, still controlling the image of his father, who was walking towards his son slowly.

"GET OUT!"

Kilborn, seeing his father descending on him, tried once more to destroy him, a blast of energy coming from his hands and out into the figure, deflecting out in all directions from where it struck his father's chest. As his father approached closer and closer, Kilborn began to scream "Get away from me!" over and over again, and as his father reached the place where Kilborn stood, still trying in vain to destroy his father's image, Kilborn reached up and tried once again. A bolt of lightning struck from the sky, smashed into the wall above his head, and the entire wall collapsed, raining a massive heap of stone and rubble down onto Kilborn's head, burying him in a mound of stones, an enormous cairn.

Tempest weakly opened his eyes, his energy returning to him as Kilborn's magic stopped fighting his and the mental assault stopped against his head. Still bleeding from the back of his skull, he managed to weakly pull himself up to his feet and raised a hand to Rave in thanks. "I think you need it more than I do," he said hoarsely, reaching down and taking her hand in his. "Let's get out of here before something else happens."




OOC: Got to go. Probably won't be on anytime soon, until tomorrow probably.

Ooc: See you tomorrow then =)

Ravelyn managed a smile, and then a gasp escaped her lips. Her scythe disappeared and her hair became shorter; mid back length and dark waves near the ends. Her eyes dimmed, and her wings vanished in a pile of black feathers. Her body fell weak within his arms. The soul of Kilborn’s father screamed in agony, and was pulled by an unseen force into Ravelyn’s chest, locked away in her internal prison. Perhaps Tempest was right; she needed the blood more than he did. She was always pushing herself. She stood up as best she could, with his support. They were supporting each other rather. As the last traces of Azrael faded, so did her armor. Then she remembered; she didn’t get him back for ruining her dress. Black lace is not conducive to staying warm in cold weather. It looked strikingly dark against her white skin. Goosebumps ran over her skin. She tugged at Tempest’s coat lightly.

Standing in lingerie in freezing weather is never a good thing. The wound where he had shot her was exposed, a little to the right just above the mound of flesh the black fabric cupped. It was a gruesome wound, but it was healing. She took his jacket, and wrapped it around herself. It was rather big for her, but it really didn’t matter. Anything from the cold. If only this had been under different circumstances. She walked with Corothisia toward the helicopter. “Are you all right?” she asked quietly, spitting some blood on the ground. “what did they do to you?”

"I'd rather not tell you," he said quietly into her ear, "but I know you'll find out anyway. Besides the obvious and tolerable physical stuff, they had their demonspawn over there plant images into my head, mainly of you dying in various graphic ways. Without magic and mental strength, I was mostly helpless to resist." Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he did his best to use what limited magic he had left to shield her from the cold, to warm her up, knowing how much she hated it.

They were quite a sight to behold as they stumbled out the open castle gate, a man in destroyed black pants and shirt, bleeding from the back of his head as well as several other places on his body, with his arm around a woman in lingerie and a suit jacket, bleeding from a bullet hole in her chest, both leaning on each other walking through a half foot of snow towards the helicopter still waiting out front of the castle.

“The Great Ravelyn Shentavo?” she laughed, “I can never die!” She coughed up a bit of blood, but it was worth the joke. When they got to the helicopter, she nearly fell into her seat, and as Tempest got in, she looked at the controls and felt dizzy. “I don’t think I can fly this…right now…” she commented, and started the helicopter. She typed something using the small keypad on what could be considered a dashboard, and it moved into the air. She was grateful to Navi for installing hardware in nearly everything she owned. One must keep up with the times. She turned the heat on full blast until the windows nearly all fogged up. It was well worth it, and the helicopter already knew where it was going. She slipped off Tempest’s jacket and looked at the wound, still open. One could see the tissue underneath; it had gone nearly straight through and lodged itself within. She went to work removing what was remaining of the bullet, and the wound began to close, but not as fast as it normally would have. Those were pretty good bullets; those were her bullets. They weren’t meant to be something easy to heal.

She sat up as the helicopter began to move, and bent over Tempest, still weak, but still managing to play doctor. Having no material to rip from her clothes, as there was little already, she opened the side compartment to reveal a sewing kit. One would often rip their dress in the damn door so one would keep it there just incase such a thing happened. She took out a needle and rummaged through the threads. “What color do you want?” she asked, like a nurse would ask what color sticker a child would want after having a shot or a finger prick. She believed to have caught a smile, and chose a black thread. The black would blend in with his hair. She threaded the needle, and slid over to his seat, huddling over him and lifting his head slightly. It was an awkward position, but she couldn’t do it from anywhere else. She stitched the skin closed. Even if you have vampiric blood in you; sometimes the wounds are too much to close with such little energy.

After tending to several other wounds she put the thread back into the side compartment, and slid back into her seat, the angle revealing a large bruise running down her left side form being knocked against the wall. It was almost purple in color. She turned her head to look at Tempest. “They killed one of mine…”

He did not have an answer for her, did not know how to respond to such a statement. He simply leaned his head forward, letting himself relax as she sewed his head shut and he tried to ignore the pain. Leaning back as she returned to her seat, she said it, and he found it hard to think of what to say. e ended up half-grunting, half saying something like "I'm sorry." His wordless thoughts, wide open to her, said it more for him, though he could not describe them. A feeling of immense sorrow and shared pain.

Then he leaned his head back against the seat, and found himself falling asleep from exhaustion.

She watched him fall asleep, but could not help but to smile despite having lost one of her fledglings. They were put through quite an ordeal, but she would not always be there to protect them. They needed to learn to survive without her. This was a valuable experience for all of them. As for Nura; she would guide her soul. She placed her hand to her heart. It wasn’t something she normally did; she had done it twice before. She normally kept the souls within her, drawing from there power. There was one time she kept them within her and took nothing from them after the Great Wars until she was strong enough to restore the nation, but that wasn’t what she normally did. She reached within herself, and targeted Kilborn’s father’s essence. She held her hand out, and slowly closed it, and with that, his essence shattered into small pieces, becoming fuel for her body and her magic. Her wounds started to heal, and she took control over the helicopter, and headed back to the Three United Empires. She could still hear the echo of the scream inside her head; the echo of the scream just before he became nothing.

---

When they arrived, the helicopter had a smooth landing. It had been quite a few hours, and she looked over toward Corothisia sleeping, then took out a phone from one of the side compartments. Since they were now in her empire, she could reach the mansion. She dialed the number, and the ring went through. Navi answered.

“Ravelyn its---“

“I know. I’m on my way back. I know what happened. Bring Nura’s body to the main hall…if one of the men are there, drink from them. The only children I know who got hurt was the four of you girls, and I did not know where the other two were.”

Navi was near tears. Ravelyn hung up the phone. She had to be strong this time; for them.

Tempest found himself standing in what appeared to be an urban setting. A back alleyway, graffiti on the walls, a dumpster and chain link fence nearby. Bits of grass grew through cracks in the pavement, as nature reclaimed its own from the disused and ill-maintained parts of the faceless city.

He was dressed in his customary clothes, together with something he had not worn in a long time. A long, red trenchcoat, like those he often saw people wear in television shows. Needless to say, he had been wearing it since long before any of the characters on the small screen. Looking around, he found himself surrounded by faceless people, walking through their lives. They seemed only half there, all in greyscale, and never appearing to take note of anything. One walked right through him, and he found it felt no different from a gust of wind.

Looking around, he began to walk, down the alley away from the main street where the greyscale people walked around, and found himself walking into a section of the alley where the shadows consumed everything, and it was pitch black. A light at the end showed another bright street with more greyscale people. He stopped walking and reached out a hand to the wall there, feeling the rough edges. Sandblasted. He smiled a small smile, at how nature could destroy everything created by anything on earth, if given enough time, and he began walking again, slowly.

The trenchcoat fell away, as did everything else, and he found himself in a field of grass, at the top of a hill. It stretched away in a gentle slope forever, a clear blue sky shining overhead. He saw a man there, short white hair and a moustache, a kind smile on his face. Tempest walked towards him. He could not see, could not focus on how the man was dressed, but he recognized him. He could not place it. As he got closer, though the kind smile stayed on his face, the man changed. The moustache disappeared, the eyebrows stopd being bushy, the hair elongated. He recognized him once again but could not place it. The man opened his mouth to speak.

"Tempest, Corothisia, David Caine," the man said, but his voice was strange. It was as if a million voices, all varied, were whispering, all slightly out of sync. He could hear men, women, children, and everything in between. he could hear people he knew, people he had known, and voices he would never know. They repeated the three names over and over again, and suddenly, without a transition, as is the way with dreams, the man was suddenly clad in a hood, casting shadows down on the rest of his face, only his mouth visible, moving in time to the words.

Tempest blinked, and he was back in the dark alley, surrounded by an enclosing circle of the greyscale people, still with no mouths, but he could hear the voices still, and the trenchcoat was back. He, unphased, continued his walk through the alleyway, towards the bright street at the end, and he could see, at the end, Rave waiting for him, her arms outstretched to him, a waiting smile on her face. To her left was the man with the long white hair once again, smiling, inviting Tempest to join them there. To Rave's right was the other woman, the one who was dead because of him. Her hand, outstretched to him, her smile warm and inviting. he knew they were calling him, but as he walked to them the bright street stayed as far away as it had ever been, and the street behind him slowly faded into the distance. The voices remained.

He seemed unbothered by the strange phenomena, though. He was feeling his usual cocky self, stronger than he had felt in the last two hundred years. Stronger than ever before. Once he had been the most powerful vampire on the planet. Rave had once called him the strongest vampire ever. He felt stronger. He felt ready to take on the entire world by himself. He smiled, his teeth showing, as the feeling of power, power he had lost, repressed, kept tucked away for a rainy day, came out. His fingers tingled, and he stopped walking and stretched his hands out at his sides, curling them up one by one.

He tilted his head back, and laughed a brilliant, disturbing laugh. Deep-throated and guttural, it echoed through the alleyway and silenced the whispering voices. When he looked back down, everything around him was black, but as if only one eye was seeing the black, and the other seeing something very different. He felt home.

The focus shifted to the blackness, and he saw three figures approaching him. The first was Kilborn Talbot, dressed all in white, his brilliant yellow hair illuminating him in the darkness. The second, to Kilborn's left, was a man he had already killed. He looked like a greyscale person, his short brown crew cut not showing through, his absence of a neck still somewhat disturbing, his goatee still just as disgusting to Tempest's eyes. The tattoo on the back of his skull was there still, Tempest knew that without seeing it. He was as Tempest had last seen him. The third man, facing away from Tempest, was Daja Shentavo, and he slowly turned his head to give Tempest a very strange look from the corner of his right eye.

One by one they walked towards Tempest. The greyscale man was first, and Tempest simply waved a hand, the man dissipating into sand and being swept away by an invisible wind. Tempest did not even say a word to him.

Kilborn was next, and he stopped ten paces from Tempest. "Boy," Tempest said, the grin on his face slowly turning into one of mania, "did you ever fuck up. You should have taken me up on my offer." Kilborn did not respond. Tempest waved his hand again, and Kilborn dissipated to sand, swept away like the first man. A feeling of omnipotence swept over Tempest momentarily, and was gone.

Daja Shentavo was last, and did not say a word to Tempest, simply stopping twenty paces from him, as if appraising him. "Daja," Tempest said quietly. "You and me. You and me. It had to come to this, didn't it?" He received no response. The grin remained on his face. "I'll see you again. I know that," Tempest said. Daja just returned his grin, and was gone. He did not transform and sweep away like the others, he was simply gone.

And it was over.



Tempest woke up in the helicopter, looking down to find that all his wounds were closed and he no longer felt exhausted. He smiled wanly. It felt good to be the best. He did not feel as powerful as he had in the dream, he did not feel as powerful as he had at his pinnacle in the past. He did feel better than he had in the past two hundred years. The sly grin from the dream crept over his face, and he laughed quietly. He had no idea what had just happened. Truth be told, he no longer cared.

ooc: taking final till 10 reply in 3 hours I promise.

OOC: It's okay, I'll probably be gone fairly soon until sometime around 10 anyway. Good luck! Is this the Russian one?

ooc: Da. =)

ooc: TG =)

Ravelyn looked over at his languorous smile and shook her head, “Come on Coro…I need to lay one of my children to rest.” Her smile faded and she ran her fingertips along his cheek, a bit disappointed they were coming out of such an experience with more sadness to face than relief and that when they walked in, they would not be crawling into bed. Literally; crawling. She got out of the helicopter, and both got into the car. She drove once again but there was no music this time. There was only the hum of the engine and sound of the wind rushing by as they swept through the underground tunnels. She wasn’t sure what to expect when she got back. She didn’t know how much of the house had been ruined. She didn’t know how badly they were hurt. They hadn’t even seen Corothisia; she wondered what their reaction would be. She silently hoped Shen-Jin wasn’t there. He would be one to bring it up.

When they got to the mansion, Ravelyn was the first out of the car, then Tempest. It was nearing sunrise, and the sky was a beautiful red, stained in the blood from the night. She could sense blood; and a good amount of it all over the building. She opened the door, and the room stopped. Navi’s skin was torn but repairing. While she was beat up, she could take a lot due to the memory metal running through her body. She was taking apart explosives on the counter, as if it were nothing. Shen-Jin stood in the corner with the neck of one of the guards, still half alive. His face was blocked by Jin-Shina who was kissing him. No, not kissing him; feeding off of him. Shen-Jin wouldn’t have let her without a kiss, so she fed off of his lips. Typical. She was mostly healed, and she retracted from him to turn and look at me; her long golden blonde hair reminding me so much of Genesis, but she was nothing like Genesis. Shen-Jin’s expression was solemn for once, but he continued with his actions, and lifted up the guard again, and plunged his fangs for the last time into the already torn neck.

Hevn stood with her orange eyes on the table in the center of the room. Her short red hair seemed to loose its luster in her sadness. Nura lay on the table; a perfect image save for the multiple burns and metal straight through her heart. White roses from my garden lay around her she knew that Hevn had gathered. Normally she would have yelled at her for taking them without her permission, for roses were one of her favorite things, especially mine, but now she didn’t care. She was glad. Hevn was the first over to Ravelyn, wrapping her arms around her sire’s waist, nearly knocking her over. Ravelyn let out a painful sigh and Hevn loosened her grip, noticing the large bruise on her sire’s side and the wound on her sire’s chest. Shen-Jin’s eyes trailed over her lingerie which had been exposed from the hug underneath the suit jacket. He looked at Tempest, then back to her, and was about to say something when her gaze cut him off. Not for a time like this.

Ravelyn moved forward towards Nura, and placed her hands over the woman’s heart. She sang softly in an enochial voice that would have charmed the furies. She called up Nura’s soul not through the former incantation she used on Kilborn’s father and was about to use on Kilborn. The words flowed more, and the melody was sad yet beautiful. “Win dain a lotica en val tu ri si lo ta. Fin dein a loluca en dragu a sei lain. Vi fa-ru les shutai am riga-lint. Fontina Bly Cent de cravi esca letisimo.
De quantain la finde reve.” The roses changed into full bloom as she sang, and a white light emitted from Nura’s body. Ravelyn’s voice was beautiful, but she rarely sang like this. “Win dain a lotica en val tu ri si lo ta. Fin dein a loluca en dragu a sei lain.” A small dragon emerged from the body in the form of white light, then entered Ravelyn’s body near her heart and glowed until the song had ended. The body which was on the table vanished in a plethora of white feathers that softly exploded outwards as if a breeze had come by and swept them up. The sunlight flooding through the broken windows illuminated them, making them seem even more white.

Hevn had tears in her eyes and had taken to Navi’s side. They all looked to Ravelyn now, even Shen-Jin. “You will have to learn how to fight for yourselves. I know you have been training, but you must train harder. You must learn to accept the fact that we aren’t invincible. I love you all, my children, I loved Nura. This was something we could have never seen, but you have experienced loss. Whether or not you realize it, it is a valuable experience to have. You can not live just with the good, you also have to accept the bad. I might not always be here to protect you, you each need to become leaders of your own and your own masters one day. I chose you all for a reason. Learn, grow, develop…but I am only a guide, and there will be times were my strength is not enough to shield you from the world.”

She took a feather into her hand, plucking it from the air. “Find peace, Nura…my child. Amen.” The feather in her hands turned into light and was gone. Surprisingly, the room lightened. Hevn was no longer crying, but rather leaning up against the wall. “Navi, call for a clean up crew…Shen-Jin take care of Jin-Shina and DON’T try anything while she’s in this state. Hevn see which of the texts you can salvage, then get some rest.”

Ravelyn sighed softly, and then took Tempest’s hand, leading him up the grand staircase which was nearly falling apart from the bullets and into her room. She closed the door behind them, then curled up in bed, too tired to change, to sore to really move. Tempest had slept on the way back while she was left awake to drive. She didn’t mind it; for she didn’t think that Tempest would be able to fly the helicopter. Who knows? She slowly closed her eyes and slipped quickly into a deep sleep.

ooc: short post i know. sry

Tempest watched Rave lie down as he walked to the window, as usual looking outside to the ocean, and letting out a deep sigh. He looked down at his hands, still smeared with blood but completely healed, and he inspected the rest of his body, much the same. It was strange. He felt so different that it was amazing. Only twenty-four hours earlier, he had felt like a regular vampire, no more or less powerful than the ones he had looked down on with disdain for so long, for their petty bickering and squabbling, never leading anywhere. He noted that it was the weakest vampires who vied the most for power. Now, though ... the fighting, the trickery, the feeling of weakness, and the ensuing dream ... it had all come together and he felt himself again.

It had manifested itself quickly, just as it had always come to him so quickly in the past. It had always been right at his fingertips, summoned at a moment's notice. So many years ago he had withdrawn from vampire politics. All it had been was people trying their best to either impress him or sway him to their side in conflicts. Once, he had been a major player, one of the largest, and he had had it all: a large house, an entourage, even several people he had made vampires of his own, very special ones, the most talented, the brightest. Eventually, the endless bickering between vampires, the fights to show who was the best, had boiled over, and he had picked sides in a family feud. As the others broke themselves trying to beat him, he had easily asserted his superiority and destroyed them all. It was at that point he realized the politics, the endless in-fighting, would be their eventual downfall.

If we hate each other, he mused, and everyone else hates us as much as they do, we're done for. He had withdrawn from his large house, destroying it on his way out, and had left the world of vampires entirely. As he predicted, it had created a power vacuum, and the infighting got worse for some time before improving. The loss of a powerful ancient had made the sides more equal in the feuds they tried to influence him in, and eventually it had made it more stable. He had lived for hundreds and hundreds of years atop the cliffs, all alone. He ventured out at night to watch the ocean, and in the days he slept. Eventually he had gotten bored, and left, finding one he considered to have potential. Rave. He had fallen in love and, well, the rest was well-known to himself.

But something about her disappearance, his search, and everything since then had dulled him. He had never felt quite himself since leaving vampire politics, period, had never quite been up to such peak form as he was in then. Now he felt better. He knew the feeling would fade, come and go, but he hoped it would never leave him completely. He felt good, for the first time in hundreds of years. He felt himself again, more cheerful. Strange since he had just barely escaped death.

He walked over to the bed, and sat down beside Rave, watching her stomach rise and fall as she slept peacefully. He reached out and gently ran his hand through her hair, wondered whether either of them would have survived the night without the other one, and decided it was impossible. He bent over and kissed the top of her head gently, then stood up, stripped down, and entered the bathroom. He found himself not tired, and decided to wash the blood off himself the old-fashioned way.

When he stepped out, he felt as if nothing had happened. It was strange. He walked back into the room and back to the bed, where he bent over and gently kissed the side of Rave's neck before climbing into bed beside her and staring up at the roof over his head. In the darkened room, he could almost hear and see the past. He shook it off, reaching across to feel Rave's presence, and closed his eyes. Despite his reclaimed glory, he still had to sleep. It had been a long day.

And the days to come would bring more trouble, he could tell that much. He knew that, in the future, he would certainly be more prepared.



OOC: TGs.

ooc: tg for you =)

IC: She felt Tempest crawl into bed with her and felt his lips trail along her neck with the most delicate touch. A day’s time had come and gone. Both of us were half-dead, Nura was gone, and my fledglings were startled. They were not ready to be on their own, they were newly made. It was hard for a sire to help so many because they are all made close to each other. Normally they would be spread out over years, but I did not have the time, and all of them came to me at once, and I knew which ones I had to chose, and I chose them. She exhaled slowly, and slipped into a deep sleep. She was too tired to even think any longer, or show sorrow for Nura’s death.

Darkness, standing. There was dark water all around. How she could see it, she knew not. It went up to her waist, drenching the hem of her black dress which clung to her pale skin. There was an unbreakable silence. She felt her wrists bound in chains and let out a light sigh, tugging at them. She knew this place; she knew this place very well. “You’re not real…I killed you,” she whispered into the darkness. She raised her voice, “You’re not here!” She turned around gradually, as much as she was able to, but could not see a horizon, or sky, or limit to this endless shade of darkness. The water reminded her very much of the lab. She hated the feeling against her skin. It was cold, but she could hear a heart beating, and it was not her own. She remembered this place… she remembered very well.

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” she growled, and felt the presence come closer. “I destroyed your soul…Vaughn destroyed you. You aren’t real. YOU AREN”T REAL” she screamed, and it echoed off unseen walls.

She felt a kiss upon her hear and a whisper which chilled her mind. “Not yet…” Then, it was gone.

She woke up suddenly, felt dizzy, but climbed out of bed trying to get a hold of her senses. She looked at the blood on her hands and on her skin and entered the bathroom. She turned on the shower, and scalding water poured out, but she didn’t mind it, she needed it to wake her up, to help her breathe even if she didn’t need too. She let the water pour over her pale flesh, wiping away the rust-colored blood from her skin and from her hair. The wound on her chest was gone, but it still hurt, and she didn’t know why. She inhaled deeply and let the hot water sooth her. “Not real…” she repeated to herself. “Since when have I ever had such nightmares? I used to but…why now?” she combed her hair by running her nails through it as the hot liquid wove in between the strands.

After a good half hour, she stopped the water and reached for a towel, wrapping it around herself. She stepped out of the shower. In the mirror she saw those glowing crimson eyes, the long black hair, the pale skin, and the familiar form, and she screamed in suprise, and it vanished with a grin. She set her back against the clear shower door and felt the tattoo burning upon her back. She slowly slipped down to the floor with her hands around her knees, staring at the floor, her mind busily trying to process what had just happened.