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 Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 7:58 pm
"We must be getting cl--yessir," Rabid sighed and began following Julian, grabbing the knfie from her boot and cluthcing it to her chest. It killed her to see him in pain, but he seemed to be getting worse. She broke into a sprint behind Julian and listened closely to the echoing droning. It did sound a bit like chanting.
Ike's ears were folded back against his head. The sound was absolutely maddening. His animalistic instincts told him that things were going to get either very bad or very good very soon.
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Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 8:15 pm
Crow was completely unimpressed.
"Dude, if you're gonna kill me, just do it already. This is turning out just like a movie- the bad guy keeping yammering until all opportune time for slashy-stabby fun is long gone. Shut up and get it over with."
The Dead Queen looked offended at first, then completely confused.
"You are by far the oddest sacrifice I've ever encountered."
Crow shrugged, smirking slightly.
"I go against the grain."
---
Staggering like a sleepwalker, Julian panted for breath and looked at Rabid with a tense expression.
"It's....it's somewhere 'round here. She's here...Crow's here. I dunno how, I just know she's here - hkkk!"
He coughed again, resisting the urge to scream out in the unfamiliar, agonizing language.
I'm dying, he thought in despair. Clearing his throat loudly and hoping he wasn't scaring Malachi, he felt another twinge of grief.
Lenore...I'll never get to meet her.
Straightening with difficulty, he leaned against the smooth wall and forced himself forward.
"C'mon. Just a little further."
---
"Ooooooohnnn ya galsht ya markt ya alstik yaaaaaa."
Crow quirked an eyebrow and peered at the blood pool in mild interest.
"Huh. It talks. Neat."
The throng of worshipers fell into reverent silence, masked faces bowed down. The Dead Queen inclined her head to the pool and donned the hideous mask, motioning for Jeddeth to stand by her side. As the creature glided past Crow, the Queen forced her down onto her knees. She reached down silently and ripped the fine-spun fabric of Crow's gown away from her chest, and Crow gave a shriek of protest as the cloth over her heart was torn away.
"Cripes, I thought you were gonna kill me, not be all perverted- "
"Silence, cow."
Crow felt her jaw jam together again, and blew air out through her nose in a huff.
Great. Violation, THEN death. Juuuuust peachy.
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Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 8:21 pm
Rabid's face contorted with a mixture of heart-wrenching sadness and anger. The little bugger was not going to die on her now. It would make much more sense to have him sit and rest, but she knew that would be no option to him.
"It's so loud," Malachi whined, his head still buried, "Make it stop?"
"Yeah..." Rabid inhaled deeply and offered Julian her arm and echoed him, "Just a little further."
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Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 8:40 pm
The door into the chamber that still echoed with the chanting wasn't as impressive as Julian had expected it to be. The battered wood was dark with age, looking too frail to still be standing. Choking back another cough and leaning against the weathered wood unsteadily, Julian grabbed hold of the iron ring that served as the knob and swallowed painfully.
"In here...they're in here."
Gathering every bit of strength that he had left, Julian held onto the ring with white-knuckled hands and pulled it forward.
It did not budge.
---
In the deadly silence of the chamber, interrupted only by the continued splashing and roiling of the pool, Crow was getting pretty nervous. Her bravado was fading quickly, now that she couldn't make any more sarcastic comments.
Well, I lived a pretty full life. Good friends, good times...Ah, who am I kidding? What's Len gonna do when I'm gone? Who'll take care of her?
Tears welled, unexpected and stinging, and trickled down her face.
My poor little girl.
The Dead Queen had her back turned to Crow fiddling with something in the pool. She seemed to be splashing around in it, snow-white arms submerged up to her elbows. Crow heard her breathe a soft laugh of satisfaction as she dragged something up from the depths of the basin, and when she turned back to Crow, the girl knew why.
A dagger, its blade black and shining with eons of dried, staining blood, shone in the merrily flickering firelight. Looming over Crow, the Queen raised her bloody arms upward.
"Rise."
The onlookers rose as one, masked faces raised up almost in rapture. Jeddeth alone continued to look at Crow, its empty eyes staring in pity, perhaps. The Queen placed the point of the blade on the exposed flesh, letting the tip of it dig into Crow's skin.
"We gather this eve to initiate a new soul, fresh blood to serve the will of our masters, the omniscient, all-powerful We-Who-Watch, the Beasts of the Shadow, lords of the hidden places of the world. Does the Amalgamation accept her?"
"We do accept," the crowd said, answering in one toneless voice.
Oh crap. Crow thought.
---
Julian pulled and struggled, until he gave up in frustration and started to kick and pound at the door. He gave a sudden groan and fell backward, unable to catch his breath.
"Rabid," he murmured, trying and failing to stand again. "Rabid, open the door. They're going to kill her."
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Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 8:47 pm
Rabid inhaled deeply. There was so much blood on the air...and the voices. She could hear Crow.
"Hold Malachi," she growled and handed her child down. Her pupils constricted, her nails lengthened, her fangs extended and sharpened. Sinew twitched and flexed as she took quite a few steps back. She bent forward, and began running full-speed at the door. Screw knobs.
*WHAM!*
Rabid hit the door as hard and fast as she possibly could and felt something snap. At least the door fell in...
"Oh Gods," she murmured under her breath, her Vampiric rage getting worse, if anything at all.
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Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 9:09 pm
The Dead Queen began cutting Crow, the honed edge tracing scarlet patterns into her pale skin easily. So keen and sharp was the point, it didn't even hurt as she was cut.
Not at first, anyway.
"Be sworn unto your new masters, Crow Ezili Adyamaur. Your eyes are their eyes, your hands are their hands, your voice is their voice-"
WHAM.
"What the hell?"
The knife slipped and drew a hot thin line across Crow's chest, and she winced at the fresh wave of pain. The door had been knocked clean off its hinges, landing and splintering into thousands of pieces on the rough-cut floor. Crow felt her jaw unclench as the Dead Queen was distracted, and took the opportunity to bite the Queen as hard as she could before scuttling under the sloping side of the basin for cover. The Queen screamed in pain as Crow's sharp teeth sank into the soft flesh of her wrist.
The Amalgamated had not budged from their places, seeming frozen in place. Only Jeddeth and the Queen moved freely, and with one blood-soaked hand, she pointed at the trio of shadowed figures out in the hall.
"Kill the blasphemers!"
Jeddeth roared, its mask contorting like flesh into an expression of rage, and it dropped onto its lanky arms to scurry forth like a spider towards the portal.
---
Get up get up get up!
Julian groaned at the effort, dragging himself up and standing, leaning on the far-shorter Malachi for support.
"Crow? Crow, are you alright?"
---
Crow's heart skipped a beat.
"Julian? Julian, get me the hell outta here!"
The Queen turned on Crow and dragged her out from under the basin, her black blood dripping in rivulets to join the dark red stains on her skin. The knife was still clutched in her hand as the Queen held her by the throat, her evil black eyes shining through the holes of the mask.
"Be welcome to the fold, child," she breathed, and brought the knife back to her heart to finish carving a ring of symbols, connected by a hideous, half-finished lidless eye.
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 7:59 am
Rabid roared in anger and lunged at the queen like an animal, regardless of what was around her. They were after souls, eh? No friend of hers was going to lose their soul. Damnation sucked, really.
Ike peered into the room ever so carefully. Len wasn't there. Was she dead or safe? Without thinking, he scuttled into the room and looked around, everything going sharp. His clawed hands raised off the ground as said claws lengthened to a frightening size.
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 11:41 am
The knife hovered over the half finished eye symbol, trembling in the Dead Queen's hand.
"At last, at last, after so long...." she whispered, black eyes shining through the roughly cut eye holes of the mask. "I'll be free..."
Crow gasped for air and winced as the blade began to cut again, carving the elaborate markings into her skin. She heard an animal roar, an unearthly sound, and tried to look to see what else could possibly be trying to kill her.
"Rabid? Gkk-!" she screeched, forcing what little air she could get in out again. The Dead Queen paused again in her work, ripping off the mask and snarling at the vampire. Shifting her hold so that Crow was in a headlock, the Queen stuck Crow with the knife. The tip began to sink into the flesh above her pounding heart as the Queen back away towards the pool.
"Stay away, creature. I will not hesitate to gut her if need be," the Queen shrieked at Rabid. "I will not let you take her from me!"
"Hey, Kaego."
The Queen started at being addressed so, and turned to look over her shoulder. Julian was leaning against the pool beside her, blood dribbling thick from his lips and from his eyes like tears. He held the discarded mask in his hand, its iron-tipped horns raked forwards like claws.
Shunk.
The Queen gave a shriek as the mask's horns were driven into her stomach. Black blood leaked out sluggishly as she fell on her knees, trying to rip the mask out. Crow hesitated for a second, and then kicked the mask upwards as hard as she could. The Queen screamed again and fell onto her back, twitching and cursing in an evil-sounding language.
"Mistress!"
Crow shrank back in horror as she remembered Jeddeth was still prowling around. Julian grabbed Crow by the wrist and pulled her close, unshrinking as he watched the towering masked creature shed its robe, revealing its bony, spiky body. Ripping off its mask, Crow couldn't help but scream - Jeddeth had no face, none at all, only a wide, lipless mouth lined with row after row of teeth and a hideous black tongue.
"Thou shalt pay for thy blasphemy, One-Called-Crow," it croaked, scuttling towards her on its fleshless arms and backwards-bent legs.
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 11:49 am
"Holy crap," Rabid gaped for a moment and turned toward the disgusting bony creature. Everything was so damned confusing!
"YOU!" Ike shrieked and leaped at the weird mouth-man as only a squirrel could, "LEAVE MISS CROW ALONE!"
He latched onto the thing and began tearing at it, trying to scratch it apart. All fear was gone and replaced by what very well could have been sheer idiocy, or psychosis. At least he could serve as a diversion for a bit, right?
"No!" Rabid called to her son, but then turned back to the Queen and stomped on her head for good measure...
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 12:03 pm
Jeddeth gave a shrieking roar of pain and tried to reach back to claw at Malachi, turning its eyeless face to him and tasting the air with its rotted tongue.
"Get off me, wretch!"
The Amalgamated fidgeted slightly as the pool began to roil and froth again, sending splatters of old sludgy blood flying through the air. Crow scooted away from the pool, gaping at Rabid.
"Cripes! The whole bloody world's gone completely insane - how the hell did you guys get here?"
Holding onto Julian like a child, oblivious to his labored breathing and the blood that still streaked down his face from his eyes, she nudged at the Dead Queen with the toe of her shoe. Julian removed himself from her grasp, kneeling down on the floor and gasping for breath as he clutched at his heart. Crow turned to look at him anxiously, hugging his shoulders and hyperventilating in an attempt to stave off an oncoming complete breakdown.
"Julian, what'd they do to you?"
Julian turned to look at his sister silently, then pushed her away violently as he picked up the discarded black knife. Crow fell on the Dead Queen, and screamed as she felt the woman's ice-cold hands grab her arms and pin her down.
"Finish what has been started, Nahalthes," the Queen said thickly, black bloody froth bubbling from between her lips, joining the blood that streamed from her nose where Rabid's stomp to her head had broken her nose. Julian stared at Crow with empty eyes, working at the buttons on his shirt to bare his own wound again.
"Yes, my lady."
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 12:12 pm
Ike continued tearing at the creature, trying to take off as much flesh and bone as possible. This thing had to die eventually, didn't it? He was oblivious to everything but tearing Weird Mouth-Man to bits.
Rabid's heart quite literally stopped for a moment when she heard Julian speak. He couldn't be serious. He was kidding, right? He was...it was...a diversion! But what if it wasn't?! What if Crow was doomed?! She ran to Julian and placed him in a hard head lock. She pressed her cheeks against the side of his head.
"I'm so sorry, Julian. I promised," she whispered and plunged the knife he'd given her deep into his chest.
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 12:31 pm
Crow's scream of anguish made even Jeddeth jump in fright.
"NO! What have you done?!" she shrieked at Rabid as Julian fell to the floor, touching the knife's hilt in confusion where it protruded out of his chest.
The Dead Queen gave a rattling croak of a laugh as Crow wrenched out of her grasp, weakly clawing at the trailing hem of the girl's gown. The Amalgamated watched in silence, their heads moving as one as the followed Crow's movements. The pool roiled even more violently, drenching the fallen Queen and splattering Crow with its contents.
"Yulleh, isya kiyeh ai," Crow whispered to Julian in Rijani, gathering him up in her arms. "Brother, please get up,"
Julian's face was fixed in an expression of contentment as Crow wiped the streaming blood from his eyes. He grabbed the hilt of the red bladed knife and ripped it out unflinching, coughing and gasping as it came loose. Crow gave a small shriek and pressed her hands down on the wound to staunch the bleeding, but Julian batted her away.
"Lemme finish it, Crow. They're coming." he said, the hand that still clutched the black knife shaking in his weakening grasp.
"You don't have to finish anything - the Queen b***h is dead, and I don't think these guys are gonna stops us leaving," she replied in a cracking voice, looking around at the observing Amalgamated.
Julian shook his head, one hand touching Crow's face while he looked up at Rabid.
"Thank you..."
And without another word, he raised the black knife and slashed at the broken eye symbol carved into his flesh, finishing it anew. The ring of symbols hissed and turned black, cauterized instantly. The pool ceased its bubbling in the same instant, and a hollow voice rang out from the Amalgamated.
"The soul is given and the new avatar is initiated into the noble service of We-Who-Watch. Rise and be reborn, One-Called-Nahalthes."
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 12:38 pm
"NO!" Rabid shrieked. There was no way she was going to let him do that...no way. She couldn't think straight, and she started sobbing convulsively. What happened now? What the flying...
"Crow...he made me promise t--Crow, what do we do?" she whispered and wiped away tears with a bloody hand, "Crow, can I give him what's left of mine? Is it too late? God, no..."
Ike, upon hearing Mummy crying, turned around to see. Julian didn't look so good...
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 1:08 pm
The Amalgamated stood and turned their masked faces to Rabid, whom Crow was staring at with a profound look of betrayal.
"The soul can be only of the chosen bloodline. Their line has served us for generations - we will accept no other."
Crow stared at her disturbingly motionless brother in horror, and then turned on the nearest Amalgamated, grabbing it by its mask.
"Then take mine, dammit! I'm the one you wanted in the first place!"
The Amalgamated merely look at her, silent. Crow screamed and ripped its mask away, and backed away in confusion. She'd expected another mouth-face like Jeddeth, not a little flickering plume of white fire floating under the ragged cowl. As one, the rest of the Amalgamated removed their masks. Jeddeth bowed before the unmasked fires, reaching for its own and fixing it over its own mockery of a face. The ancient blood in the pool rippled slightly, and Crow and the Amalgamated turned to face it. A gaunt, fleshless creature rose silently out of the pool, the sludgy blood making up its skeletal body.
"We accept the offering made, and the avatar is renewed for another fifty years. Kaego Haderka, be free of it and go to thy rest." the creature said, its voice sounding like a thousand screams run together.
The Dead Queen, still spread eagled beside the basin, gave an enraptured sigh as she began to wither away. She said nothing as she split apart and disintigrated into dust. Within moments, nothing remained of her but an age-worn old skull, which collapsed into dust and faded away.
The Amalgamated Crow had harrassed grabbed hold of her suddenly, gloved hands tightly restraining her. An Amalgamated beside Rabid did the same, watching silently as the blood-creature looked down at Julian.
"One-Called-Nahalthes, accept thy servitude and rise."
Julian stirred and sat up with difficulty, trying to avoid catchin Crow's eye. Taking a deep breath and discarding the black knife, he looked up at the creature. It regarded him for a moment with its empty eye sockets before speaking again.
"You take on your sister's burden. You knowingly exchange yourself for fifty years of servitude to us before the cycle begins again?"
Julian coughed and cleared his throat, spitting out a bit of blood before answering.
"I do." He replied, his voice clear and strong as thou Rabid hadn't just stabbed him through the heart. Crow gasped and struggled against her captor as the embodiment of We-Who-Watch touched the blackened eye symbol Julian had remade. He grit his teeth and hissed as the mark burned him again, and when he opened his eyes they were as black as the Dead Queen's had been.
"NO!" Crow screamed. She wouldn't let him to this, she couldn't-
"Send thy sister, the vampire and her spawn away, my avatar. We have business to attend to."
Julian nodded and reached into his coat pocket. Drawing forth the iron pendant, he wiped a bit of Crow's blood onto it where the black knife was stained with it. He spoke something in the slithery language to Jeddeth, and the creature brought forth Malachi. Taking a bit of blood from him to where Jeddeth had knicked him with a claw, Julian turned finally to Rabid. His newly-black eyes would not look up to meet hers.
"If I'd known you better, I might have loved you." he said with regret, taking a bit of her blood and painting it across the pendants face. Jeddeth set Malachi down as the two Amalgamated released Rabid and Crow and pushed them towards Julian. We-Who-Watch sank back into the pool, only its skull-like head remaining to observe.
Crow shook her head urgently and grabbed at her brother's arm, looking up at him pleadingly.
"I don't want to be alone again," she choked. Julian tried to smile and kissed her forehead.
"Goodbye," he whispered to her. Pulling himself away, he threw the pendant down, and suddenly Crow, Rabid and Malachi were engulfed in icy white fire.
An instant later, they were on soft soil, thrown out into the middle of a quiet, warm Rijiani evening.
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 1:23 pm
Rabid sat up, sniffling and staring at nothing. What a b*****d...GAH! She stared and cried and breathed...sob, inhale, sob, exhale...there was nothing else she knew to do. Not immediately, anyway. She buried her buried her head in her hands and screamed, a long, shrill sound that easily could have shattered glass.
Ike clung to Mummy, crying hysterically. He'd become quite attached to Miss Crow's brother over the last few days, and he didn't much like the idea of losing him.
"Yanno," Rabid coughed blood, "I could have saved him. Really, I could have. The b*****d...no!" Her mind ran again and again over what he'd told her. God damn him...
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