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 Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:46 pm
Liam grinned, flashing a fang.
"Ah...see. I was kinda...low on juice an--"
"He ate some of Crow's soul."
"...aheh."
"Well. Julian has her in 'im, and you have her in you, so...ah...should make findin' him a lot easier."
Hellis blinked. This didn't sound good.
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:51 pm
Ethan scowled, then shook his head and coughed again.
"Fantastic," he muttered, rubbing the spot that was no longer ripped open. "Put it to use, then...if something like that has him, there's no telling what condition we'll find him in."
Ignoring the residual trembling from the shock, he got up and swayed for a moment. The cold faded slowly, and then was gone. He stood straighter, though he couldn't restrain a startled cry as the lights flickered once, then hummed back to life.
"Usurper, huh?" Len said, giving Liam a glance. "I think you did something a little more serious than just filch some of Mum's soul."
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:53 pm
Liam thought hard.
"Uh. Lessee. After that whole incident with the faceless thing Rab tol' me 'bout, I brought Julian back. N' I stole some soul n'...thassit." He shrugged. If there was something else, he'd been either drunk or high.
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:56 pm
"It said 'you stole him'," Len pointed out, frowning. "Looks like they're pissed at you for that."
She looked to Crow again, and her voice caught.
"They must've made her do that," she mumbled. "To get back at you for it. She wouldn't...she'd never do that to herself..."
Ethan looked around warily.
"Not to break the mood or anything," he said, voice a little uptight. "But maybe it would be good to get out of the house before something else shows up? Finding Julian might be a good idea. Field trip."
He kicked away a shard of skull, watching it spin and collide with the wall. It collapsed into dust and faded as though it had never been.
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 1:17 pm
__Part 34
"D'you think he'll be okay?"
Ethan looked up and grimaced.
"I don't know," he said honestly. "I really don't."
Len sighed. Not exactly the most encouraging words.
"At least Liam can find 'im," she said, trying to find a bright spot in the whole mess.
"There's that."
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 1:24 pm
"What?"
"He only said your name."
"Oh."
"C'mon, midget. Concentrate."
"I'm TRYING! I don't have Crazy-Psycho-b***h in my head any more. It's hard."
"Shh. Calm down. Just close your eyes, and find Julian."
Oddly enough, this was the method that seemed to work. In blocking out everything and everyone around him, Liam was able to concentrate on the vague images in his head that he, as always, doubted. There was always the chance he was making himself see these things. Regardless, he sighed and spoke.
"I see a desert," he explained, "and a long, low building. Pretty crap construction. And...uh...an old car. Like a...I'unno. Like a Thunderbird or a Jaguar something."
"...how helpful."
"Hey, shut up."
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 1:31 pm
Listening in interest, Ethan frowned when Liam mentioned the desert, remembering the frightening burned down apartment building Crow had taken them to once. The way there and back had been one dull stretch of grayed, parched earth and cracked highway. The only thing of interest to see on the way had been the-
"The motel," he said, suddenly sitting up. "Alongside the highway. There's nothing else even out there, besides that burned building."
"Huh," Len said, mouth twisting. "How convenient."
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 1:33 pm
"It sounds rather Julian-like. Brooding and run-down. Let's go."
"The body shouldn't stay in the trunk, then," Björn said suddenly, randomly. He had a orrible mental image that he couldn't shake.
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 1:47 pm
"That's not nice," Len muttered under her breath, frowning, even though the crack at Julian was pretty much true. Shifting her attention, she shrugged.
"She's still cold," she noted. "And...dead. She isn't going to rot any faster no matter where we put her."
She was just glad the body was still shrouded. She wasn't sure she could bear to look at it again.
"C'mon," Ethan said, nudging her. "Let's get this over with. We'll sort it out once we get him home."
"Hnn."
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 1:54 pm
Björn shuddered. He'd easily take the word of someone who'd been through this all over his own. But still. It was a corpse. In the trunk.
...and then he realized a small complication.
Oh well. That's what truck beds were for.
"I can't sit in the back with her," Liam said suddenly, as if reading Björn's mind.
"Don't tell me. Tell who ever's driving," Björn snorted and climbed up into the truck bed, holding his hand out to Rabid who gladly shambled in and sat in his lap.
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 1:59 pm
Ethan and Len exchanged looks.
"I can't drive," she said plainly. "And I've never been to this desert you all keep talkin' about."
"You're in for a treat then," Ethan sighed. "It's a gigantic expanse of nothing that still manages to feel completely life-threatening."
"Joy."
Silently volunteering himself to drive, he climbed into the driver's seat and tried to remember the last time he'd driven a car. Worse came to worst, he'd just do as Crow had done and learn as he careened out of control.
"All aboard," he muttered, gunning the engine.
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 2:00 pm
Liam simply swung into the cab, squeezing his tiny frame in as best he could. He trembled. Crow was dead. Behind ********>
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 2:05 pm
Later
The desert was a giant expanse of nothing. And maybe it was just the fact that there was a dead body directly behind him, but Ethan was beginning to feel as though his life was at risk.
Then again, it just wasn't normal if he didn't feel like that.
Trying to swerve to avoid a gaping crack in the road and hitting a pothole that made the truck jounce horribly, Ethan cursed and tried to rein in his temper as well as the wheel. The sun was just beginning to set, sending bloody oranges and reds into the sky and over the lifeless earth. It was hard to believe they'd left the city behind only twenty minutes ago.
"There it is," he said, pointing. A broken-down Thunderbird sat on cinderblocks just outside a crumbling brick fence. A squat two-floored structured loomed balefully behind it. He pulled into the parking lot, giving the building a wary look.
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 2:08 pm
"Well, this is certainly happy."
"Ugh. I'm all sticky."
"You're such a girl," Liam mumbled as he climbed from the vehicle.
"Well, yeah. No kidding," Rabid snorted and then, looking at the building, "Julian's in there?"
"I think so."
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 2:14 pm
Looking decidedly windswept, Lenore hopped out of the bed and looked around.
"Is it just me or is it a bit chilly," she said, crossing her arms around herself for warmth. The hot wind off the desert blew across the highway but here it was still and noticeably cooler. "Yeah...not liking that."
"It might be a good idea to keep the engine running," Ethan said, leaning against the truck. "And we shouldn't leave the body alone. Liam, if you go and grab Julian and just come back, we'll take off and find a safe spot. The house isn't a good idea..."
Listening to himself, Ethan wondered when he'd been given charge of this insane misadventure. Yet here he was, giving out details of the plan he hadn't known he'd made.
"We'll go to the machinist city towards the east," he said, pointing. "It's far enough from home and this place that it might throw them off the trail for a little while."
Taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes, he stood straighter.
"Liam shouldn't go alone, either..."
"I'll go," Len said instantly.
"No."
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