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Rep had only just managed to get over the embarrassment at ******** cracking like that over something apparently trivial, clenching his hands in frustration and irritation. What the ******** was wrong with him? He was normally fine with this s**t. He'd made it out of worse alive.

he mentally snarled at the angel not to call him ******** DEAR.

The distraction served the intended purpose. As he spotted the policeman he was no longer as on edge, derailed from his nightmare chain of thoughts. He could only wonder what the guy would think of their crazy variety of weapons and was trying to come up with some excuse they could use, or how they could even explain when.

A body rent asunder, ripped to pieces no longer even recognisable as ******** hell he didn't have a HEAD.

Slowly spreading blood on the floor. The doubt whether she was dead at all.

This guy was dead. He was dead forever. Decapitation was a fairly permanent ailment.

"Oh for ******** sake." He snarled.

Not a ******** coward.

"Do we /leave/?"

It was strange, to see shadow against shadow, blackness pouring from the sky and onto the ground. There was a figure there, who looked like a filthy, maniacal little thing. Her outfit was dreadful, a mockery of clothing, and...there were bones around her neck.

Bones.

Terror welled up in the back of Clerise's throat, heavy like gauze wrapped around her-- Balthazar was, too.


{[ You know better than to be a fool, I hope. ]} He sounded desperate as the woman demanded a challenger, a worthy opponent.

Someone to fight. s**t.

She took a single step forward, hesitant. Running didn't even cross her mind: she'd seen how fast the minions of a horseman could act. It would be futile. She gave a good, long stare to each of her teammates, appraising.

Rep, an otherwise fantastic candidate, looked like he was falling apart at the seams. No dice.
Marcus, seemed groggy but not too bad-- but protection was his focus. Maybe?
Sasha was...

Well.

Like ******** hell was she letting anything from the darkness that was halloween touch the girl, especially a ******** horseman.

"Marcus," she said, stern, voice trembling with fear and rage intertwined. She hoped that he'd understand her decision.

In her mind, she replayed Evie being stabbed, over and over. The nightmares came back, threatening to claw their way out of her mind and into reality-- she couldn't see that happen again. She couldn't. Not in good conscious.

So she pleaded to the intermediate hunter, taking another step to be in front of Sasha, an arm thrown out to keep the other Life trainee behind her. Where it was safe.

In her eyes, Sasha and Rep were simply not viable options for an opponent. Clerise had led them down this ******** rabbit hole to begin with. "Let me."

He could only look on in a sort of numb dread as the creature manifested herself. She was something out of a nightmare. If only he still lived in a world where nightmares were simply dreams.

She wanted a fight, he realised in a sort of distant, detached way. He was the sun in the group, it was his job to fight, it was his job to stand up and say he would stand up to her, to not give a damn about the body from moments earlier. But deep down, he wasn't a brave person. He'd sooner let someone else take the fall, sooner let someone else die than him if he had the choice.

Let me

But not Clerise. He held up a hand and shook his head. "Don't. Don't do it man. Its..it's.. I'm.."



He tried to ignore the angel. He was so tired of being a ******** disappointment. Always having to be saved, always having to run.

"..I'm the sun here." but even then, his heart wasn't in the protest, he wasn't sure if he could keep it together in a fight against one of those things, not so tired, not so rattled.

The gravity of the situation had failed to set in. Adrenaline and dread ran through her veins in equal measures, even as Balthazar hissed and called her a fool.

She had long since stopped giving his advice any mind. He was ignorant and blind in so many ways, refusing to adapt to anything new.

"I don't think we can, sweetheart," Clerise murmured to Sasha, her voice low and soft. "Running will get all of us killed."

"Don't even start with me," she hissed at Rep, eyes narrowed. It was so much easier to let her frustration at their quandary wash over her. So much easier to let her anger simmer, just under the surface, than to realize you've lead your allies into danger.

This was a horseman. It hit her, that this was really and truly a horseman. Different than the last, but just as terrifying. Instead of bugs, it spawned shadows, and had very clearly taken trophies from other humans.

Clerise couldn't help but wonder how many of them were from hunters.

"Divisions don't mean s**t when you're dead on your feet." Red eyes slid to Marcus, and she was glad he seemed to understand. None of them were in any condition for this; Clerise included. It haunted her that she couldn't prevent Evie from being harmed, but at least she could protect Sasha.

God. It was so hard to breathe, and not just because of the smell of the corpse in front of them. "Stand down. They just want a fight-- just one." Clerise stepped forward, Balthazar fighting her at every step, weighing her down.

He did not approve. "It's me you want," she breathed, peering upwards, defiant. These things were made of fear. The woman...if you could call her that....could probably smell it all over her.

That didn't mean she had to show it.

She cackled, a quiet rasp, at their hesitation, and their uncertainty, drinking up the euphoria of the moment. Her wings unfurled just a little more, a little more, the tips curling into thick black smoke.

"Come then little one, accept your fate." She waited, unmoving, eyes watching carefully as she beckoned Clerise closer, one step at a time. Finally, it was only the two facing each other.

And then she was gone, form entirely dissolving into bursts of black shadow. There was a muffled sound, barely concealed laughter as suddenly, a large shadowy claw burst from the ground right under the Life trainee, too fast for her to react, scraping against her Fear shield to tear at her side, right through her coat, yielding shallow cuts. More laughter, and then silence again.

The second attack was just as relentless, this time a dagger sprouting from the ground, moving as if on invisible strings sideways, viciously fast. There was a loud splatter of blood as it tore into Clerise's left leg, the back ligament, forcefully bringing her down on one knee.

The cackling was getting louder now, more vicious, thirsty. She wanted more, it was just the beginning, she wanted so much more. Her third movement was just as controlled, orchestrated, a burst of black mottled feathers distracting the Life trainee momentarily before they turned razor-sharp, several pieces still buried into her skin, tearing down the last bits of her Fear shield.

The trainee had never even stood even a single chance before she finally fell, a mess of sweat, blood, torn jacket, and feathers.

Laughter, even louder still, as she finally reappeared solidified, the victor, the Four Clans warrior, the more powerful. Oh, she wanted to see in their faces, in all their faces as their worthless hope was shredded apart. But it was too early, still to early in this game to make them lose hope, just quite yet. "Who is next, she was weak too weak, so scrawny, worthless and pathetic. All she needed was to strike me once." That's right, give them that hope. "Just one hit, anywhere, one strike against me, if anyone else dares to try."

******** this was why they said you could die. Because this was not training. This was real. This was active, live duty with a real threat and real risk. This risk was that of a horseman who was batshit. Who moved faster than they could react. "Sasha, call back let them know we've encountered a horseman. Red, cover Sasha. Both of you head back to the portal. Don't stop for whatever reason understand? Don't look back and don't hesitate."

Marcus swallowed that rock back down his gut. Rep was sun, but he was still about the same level as Clerise had been, and Marcus wasn't even much above her. At most he could afford them some time, at worst they were doomed. He was hoping for the better of those options. Clerise had chosen to fight and they had chosen stupidly to linger. He failed in his ability to defend Clerise twice over now. And this time there was no medical team just a jog away. There was no calm and collected Clarice to hold the fallen trainee while he got help. They were well and truly alone this time. And now Clerise, Rep, Sasha- they were all facing a very real chance at death.

Holding up Dis, Marcus doubted he'd last longer then Clerise but- "I'll be your opponent." And then Marcus prayed to God that they would get to live a while longer.


HP: 50 (not for long)
Damage: 7????
Status: LOL ********

Sasha would never be able to forget the sounds. The cries of agony exquisitely plucked from Clerise's body as if she were an instrument wielded by this horrible, horrible creature; the heartbreaking scream wrenched from the redhead's throat. The slick, wet sound of the razor-edged feathers slicing through flesh with an effortlessness that should have been impossible. The sick, acrid laughter of the winged monster crafted from feathers, shadow and death.

These were the sounds that nightmares were made of, and these were the sounds that Sasha would never forget.

With a loud cry of her own, Sasha ran to Clerise. She made no move to attack the horseman, no move to strike out with the glinting silver hooks of her partner. It would be futile, foolish.. and right now, Sasha had only one priority - to get Clerise out of there in one piece - and so far the outlook wasn't promising. As she knelt next to the redhead, Sasha brushed bloodied strands of hair back from the other woman's crimson eyes.

There was so much blood.

Fighting a wave of nausea, Sasha turned an icy blue gaze to the men. "We have to get out of here," she hissed harshly in the direction of Rep and Marcus. "Now."

But suddenly she was alone. Of course they weren't listening to her. Did they ever? No way could she carry Clerise back to the portal herself.

"Maybe we can save the damn -- gosh damn it."

Now what?