Welcome to Gaia! ::

(( I guess I should go next. I was considering whether or not to, but yeh, seems best I should. gimme till Thursday and I'll have a great one. I already have a basic idea of what I wanna post, just no time right now or tommorrow.))

Val got about the same information from the prisoner he took. he let the man go, and told them "get lost before my mercy runs out."

the three of them fled quickly, and knowing that if even one of them were to come back alive they'd all be disposed of, they all agreed to get th ******** out of dodge.

figures, he thought. they are nothing but goons. smarter than they look, though.

he ran into th ecave and flitted from shadow to shadow, hiding expertly and following the trail of the others. when he saw -- and smelled -- the carnage, he realized that his friends had baited these pirates.

"damn, Scarlet. did you get anything out of them besides guts?"

Daija retrieved his captive. "If you value your life, you'll talk. Who sent you?"
"I know nothing," the pilot spat.
"Wrong answer, mudak!" Dmitri yelled as he pistol whipped the man with his CZ-75. The prisoner yelped. "Who sent you?!" The man simply glared at Dmitri. Alfons then spoke up.
"I will pay you five-thousand dollars for everything you know."
The captive's ears perked up at this.
"And if I refuse?" he asked. Alfons whipped out his pistol and pressed it to the man's forehead.
"You die." The man mulled it over for a second.
"Mercedes. Guy Mercedes is the man who sent us."
"Why?"
"To kill the witch and you," the pilot continued, "and I know that someone hired him to do it."
"Who, damnit?!" Alfons screamed at the man.
"I swear I don't know! I don't know..." the man yelled.
"Then you are no longer needed." *BANG* .... Alfons couldn't help but think his brother was involved somehow.
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"Well, I suppose one cannot gain an empire without stepping on a few people's toes." Ciro placed his hand on a wall, feeling a slight flow of water on the other side. He punched it, allowing a small flow escape from a crack. "Here you go Scarlet. You can wash off the blood."

Alfons' gunshot echoed in the caverns, and Valthier flicnhed, looking around warilly. his ears might have been like sattelite dishes for how he listened.

"let's hope that was the last bullet fired for the night. we need to find Goldschmitt, fast."

he quickly began scanning the area, going deeper into the tunnel. searching the walls, he quickly enough find mouse and tried to pull her out of the cubbyhole she was hiding in, only to be hit over the head with a large rock.

"augh!" he growled in pain, clutching his aching head. mouse seemed now to realize who she had hit, and put her hands to her mouth, blushing madly.

"eep! I'm so sorry!" she squeeked timidly.

after her owner assured her it was fine, grunting irritably at his headache, they returned to Scarlet and her bodyguard.

"We'll wait for them at the mouth of the cave--it's still daylight for a few more hours," Scarlet said ruefully. "But as soon as the sun disappears, we will be quickly on our way. Then I'll send word to Devonte to smoke out the traitor in my castle, and we will regain our strength in the hot springs of the volcanic mountains of Japan."

She went back to the front chamber of the cave. She tried hard not to fidget, but waiting around like this was the antithesis of the spirit of the vampire--so powerless, confined, restricted. She hated it.

Valthier stepped quietly out of the darkness, lowering his veil of Shadow.

"that would be me, though I assure you it was with good reason. I require a favour that I may be able to pay my debt to the Powers I invoked."

holding out his arm, Val lifted his coat sleeve, revealing green tribal tattoos on his ashen skin. already he was beginning to dry and rot again, as the lack of blood was having it's effects. what's worse, his skin was singed.

"I need to have the blood I intend to sacrifice be purified. will you help?"

he was stern, yet humble. his voice carried no pride or arrogance, only urgency. he knew he was in no position to command this stranger.

as Daija recited his mantra, Valthier could feel simultaneously a feelingof unbecoming and destruction and yet one of peace and pleasure. it was almost as though he were simply being harmlessly obliviated.

luckily, it was not a full mantra, merely a purification. it was, however powerful. using one of his kunai, Val punctured a vein and poured his blood on the floor of the cavern. there was no smoke, there was no pain, there was no repulsive side effect as he feared and worried there would be; there was only a transformation of the cursed to the blessed.

he traced the symbol of offering by intuition in the pool of blood. in a deep low voice he intoned "Spirits of the Earth and Sky and Seas and Depths... I humbly offer this, the blood of my body, in payment for that which I took... I offer it also in payment of the favours you have granted me... I beg you accept this token of appreciation, and thank you for your favour."

rising from his seated position, he put his bloody hand over the wound in his arm. somehow he felt more alive. he worried momentarilly that he'd been reverted to his living Elf form, but running his tongue over his fangs assured him that the prayer had not gone so far. it definitely had it's repressive effects of his Vampiric nature, however.

"thankyou, sir." Val nodded to Daija, grunting.