Welcome to Gaia! ::

....All right then.

Ignoring the feeling of being watched - but not - by others, the large male gave up on trying to be social. He'd exerted enough energy trying to do so, so it was time for another nap. Blinking one more time at the green painted female, the black griffin lowered himself to the ground, making a point to turn away from the one who had failed to introduce herself.

It did seem a bit rude to just leave her standing there, though. Meh.

"If you don't mind...I'm rather tir-"

In contrast to the statement he was about to finish, Zephan bolted straight up onto his forelegs again when something...big seemed to pass overhead. It didn't scare him as much as it did surprise him - if felt like a kind of darkness that followed something that was about to die. Strangely disturbing....

...But no use getting worked up over it unless it came back. Still, the black male could help but continue staring into the starry night sky, just in case that something came back around.

------

The creature decided that chasing after one of his own kind on a heavy belly would be fruitless. And it would make him hungrier again. So instead, he had circled the winds, waiting for a taste of the human to come to him. The one-handed man had gone to find his own prey - Abaddon clacked his beak, the same one that had sheered off his companion's hand, in irritation.

He wasn't hunting to kill, only to torment. What was the point if there was no blood spilled?

Humans. Strange and weak creatures. But the black brute followed the red-hair one anyway - or he followed the griffin, either way - because they were almost akin in spirit. Or so the beast felt.

He dipped one wing sharply, veering in a new direction. There would be many people and many griffins at the place Balsem was going, he'd been told. That would be easy enough to find....

------

"Ah, you are correct, sir," Shane answered in bemused agreement to Rem's last statement. "Though one must admit, he may have been aiming to become the 'talk of the town,' so to speak, for the night, but it would have to be interesting, or else no one would talk about it enough for it to become famous."

Hm....Moving away from Deste and back around to the other side of the gentleman who had ordered water, the barkeeper gave him a severe look. Tapping two fingers against her cheek before pointing at him with an expression of accusation, she demanded, "What is your connection with this Lansing character?"

There probably wasn't a great or highly amusing one, but this man seemed to have too much interest in the person the Princeling had been chatting with to just be hanging about for the latest gossip.

------

At the sound of a griffin's cry, Eranthe balked slightly in the air, shifting her wings to take her back the way she had just come. Circling a bit, the snow-white creature considered answering the call, her constrastingly black eyes scanning the ground below her as she winged about and hovered.

She saw wide, open fields of rolling grass, a few scattered groves of trees...nothing really moving, however. And there were too many dark splotches against the ground to discern anything as a living creature. Hm....

The eerie presence had passed along some time ago, so she assumed that it could be whatever had been giving off that evil aura.

Ah, well. The black-striped female had to get home. Though, she wondered what her two humans would do when they found that she had gone missing. Oh, she hadn't really considered that before....Eranthe hadn't meant to fly off on her own, but there had been a strange urge to suddenly turn around and fly back towards home. Hm...well, maybe Norene and Dante would be back to fetch her later. Until then, 'Grandmother' would take care of her, she knew.

Breaking her circling, the griffin spread her wings with a renewed drive to go back to her nest, and darted off.

------

....Shane just didn't know how to not annoy people. No one was safe from her insanity, friends and strangers alike.

Whatever. Deste had seen enough of her antics for one night. Actually, the prince had pretty much been irritated enough of 'socializing' for the time being. And, with Lenore out of the way for a while, perhaps he could go and find a private place to sit and think. The barkeeper's warning was making itself grimly present in the forefront of his mind....What did that b*****d want with him now, anyway?

The man knew the answer - or at least, he believed to know part of it - and foresaw a rather unpleasant future if it was indeed true that he had been found. Considering, though...even if he wasn't here, it was likely that he would at least be in Xuan. Damned....

Turning, the blond-haired prince made to move away from the bar counter, rather surprised - and relieved - when Shane let him go without saying anything further to him. Mmph...he did need to think, and be alone. Although he felt that he should at least find the one person he would enjoy spending time with at this ridiculous event, his brooding would likely raise questions from her.

Best to avoid everyone, then.

With a practiced movement tempered from years of thievery, Deste moved quickly, without much notice, away from the bar area and towards the flight of stairs leading to the upper floors.

------

Auster couldn't help but chirp in amusement at the word this Aeron used to describe his owner. Food-provider, hm? Her mistress was just that - her lady. For as long as the griffin could remember, though, Lenore had also relied on the female to help get around, because her human eyes could see no light.

The bow and compliment caught her off guard, however. Blushing slightly, Auster resettled her wings, flicking them in embarrassment. "Thank you," she said, unsure on what exactly to say in return. Being that Lenore was rarely social in functions such as this, her griffin, likewise, did not associate with very many other griffins. Her closest relations were pretty much Kalei and another female who would not be attending.

What to say..."You're very handsome yourself, Aeron."

Kalei, in the meantime, was oblivious to his party-companion's discomfiture, completely distracted by his long-time friend. Not that he could help it, really. Despite having a rough start of a lot of tumbling and fighting, the male really did like his sand-colored friend.

"Maybe you should come and stay with us?" he proposed, cocking his head at the thought. Yes, there would be plenty of room, indoors and out, considering that Eranthe would be gone for a while. Or, at least, he thought she would be gone....Deste's brother and his lady had left the night before this one, and looking at the amount of things they took with them, the griffin had a feeling that it would be a long trip away.

"Anyway, we've been meeting a lot of new people. I remember smelling them, or things with their scent, before. It might have something to do with what Deste did before I went away for awhile to the mountains."

Hm...it was boring, yes. But sometimes the avian felt as though he help his owner stay a bit calmer. In most cases, that was usually a good thing.

------

...This might be more difficult than he had first thought.

If a room wasn't taken by someone who had passed out already from too much alcohol, there were either pairs of people forgetting to lock doors while they did some drunken business. In some cases, both applied.

Finally giving up, Deste ducked into a room where there was obvious activity going on within the closet, and went immediately to the balcony window. Clicking the glass door shut behind him, the thief glanced to his sides - no foot holds. Bah...irritating. Normally, he would have either made his own or just made do with what he could use....But being in the open air was good enough. Half sitting on the granite railing, the man's dark eyes gazed out over the gardens of the mansion, watching people and griffins move about.

He missed this solitude at times, the feeling that true freedom was yours to have.

Deste's savoring of the silence was interrupted, though, when an all-too familiar, hated chill sent a shock through his entire body.

A few floors below, the same tingle simultaneously hit a certain light-haired individual.

Not good.

...He was here....

Lunelai fluffed up, a deep growl rising within her throat as her feathers struggled to make her appear larger. Standing, she, too, looked t'wards the sky...she saw nothing, but there was an odd feeling and a strange smell in the air. Normally, she strongly disliked both of those on their own, but together? Something was not quite right.

Looking around, she saw several other griffins reacting in the same fashion. Alright, so, it wasn't just her own mild paranoia - something was wrong. Quite wrong.

-_-_-_-_-_-

The creature in human form smiled, tilting his head back ever so slightly to get a better look at the night sky. His companion was near. He could sell by the smell in the air, the reaction of the griffins..and the feeling churning his own insides. Good. All would be ready shortly. It was very much like a play - the griffins were the scenery, these...humans were the actors, and he was the director of it all. Now, if only that devilish brute would get here.

Balsem inhaled...and released a very low frequency hum, one that would be heard by very, very few of the guests - perhaps one of his students, but not both - and all of the griffins. Abaddon would hear this hum, guiding him to the 'feast' that Balsem told of. He hoped the beast knew to be quiet - he wasn't ready to strike, not yet.

-_-_-_-_-_-

He caught two scents - the scent of a certain female that he felt a great bit of attraction for...and another, more sinister aroma. He had smelled the latter before near Iris' home, and he never liked it. Here it was again..aaand still, no source. Shaking his head in frustration, he abandoned whatever social progressions he had been making at the time and lifted his beak - like several others - looking to the sky.

Oh dear...this could be bad. He saw nothing. Lifting himself, he decided that it would be best to find Ma'at.

-_-_-_-_-_-

"Maybe. Either way, I think it would be fun."

She took a moment to give notice to a few feathers that had made themselves quite unruly on the side of his face. Reaching forward, she took a moment to preen them back into place, careful to avoid hurting any of the delicate tissue on his face. They were just friends, right? He wouldn't mind.

Well...he might not have, but finding herself a little embarrassed, she dipped her head, feathers puffing out slightly. "Sorry...I just noticed that those feathers were having a bit of an issue."

Dammit, Elrok was coming t'wards her. What now?!

-_-_-_-_-_-

Sekhmet huffed in irritation. She was moving away! Fine, then - that's what she got for trying to be social. Snapping her beak, the black griffin turned and lifted herself to the sky, seeing a faint but distinct light in the distance. But that presence was still with her...better move fast.

She pumped her wings, hard and fast, lowering her head so it made more of a straight line with her body, making her a bit more aerodynamic. That presence grew stronger, and then faded, over and over...she learned to ignore it. If it was indeed the great danger that it seemed, she would handle it then.

The black bird swooped in over a big group of griffins. Rather surprised by all the sudden kin, she squawked and pulled up, hovering in the air for a moment...before letting herself land. Well, if this wasn't the place, these griffins would know where 'the place' was.

If they weren't too terribly surprised by her rather dramatic entrance.

Shamelessly, the griffin lifted her beak to the air. "Aeron!"

-_-_-_-_-_-

Her eyes bored into the surrounding forest - something was wrong. A good number of the griffins, including several of her own, seemed to be on high alert. Disregarding the rather shocking - haha - fact that Sekhmet had just flown in over the party, the woman stepped back from the railing a little, still looking, still trying to find the source of such a disturbance. There was a tense...almost sickening feeling in the air. For her, it wasn't fear - not yet, but it was certainly uncomfortable.

Deste was near. She couldn't see him, but she knew he was near. And if he felt this, whatever it was, too....if she was in any immediate danger, he would let her know. So, she felt no need to leave the balcony, despite the fact that her 'friends' did. Went to go check on the griffins, they did...as several others seemed to be doing. Either everyone felt something or they were just keen to the fact that the griffins did. Really, it didn't matter. Iris could see nothing, and whatever she felt was nothing difinitive...odd, because something was definitely there.

Better judgment was telling her both to leave the balcony, and to stay and figure out what was going on since Deste was near anyway (and he wouldn't be near anymore if she left). Hmm.

-_-_-_-_-_-

He smiled, tossing his head so that streak of white was moved to the side. What a pretty thing, Deste's woman was. Pretty, and well-off. Very nice. Watching her search in the moonlight was a sensual experience...however, lust of the eyes was not what he was concerned with right now. His boy sensed him, too, as did the other one. But the girl..she had no clue. No no, that was wrong - she had a clue, which is more than he could say for most of those people...but a clue wasn't enough. A clue wouldn't get her off that balcony, nor would it save her in the long run. There was only one person who could do that...and that was the very thing he wanted to fix. No more savior. No more.

Balsem would play savior. He would play many things in the coming moments, as he waited for the prince to spot him.

Nyhali giggled at Leolin's actions only to be nearly knocked over as Kedri sought similar affections and squawked at her indignantly. "Right, right, I know you don't like being the last one to get cuddles, stop trying to make me fall!" She proceeded to give Kedri a hug around the neck and gave her an affectionate scratching along the side of the griffon's neck.

~~~~~

"Silly Leolin." That was all Kedri really said for a moment as she enjoyed the affections of her well-trained human. Her tone was amused though, and not at all condescending. Males were silly about the strangest things sometimes. Why would she care if Laura kissed him on the beak?

But then a dark feeling suddenly passed over her and she backed away hurriedly from Nyhali, ears forward and eyes scanning the night sky. What the hell?

“…What the Hell was that?” Mal asked, referring to the sudden feeling of doom, gloom, and other ‘oom’ words that had just descended over everything. Maybe it’s descent wasn’t that sudden. He had just been a little distracted earlier by the whole ‘ohRem’sGod, someone’s stalking me!’ thing, which had been rapidly replaced by ‘Ohshit, the lieutenant is here!’, but it was still there. It was really starting to grate on Mal’s nerves…

Mal, like most soldiers, had absolutely no faith in 'magic' things. What he did have faith in was his instincts which were currently clamoring at him to shut up, run away, and sit tight in some safe place.

“What’s what?” Rem shot back coldly. Alright, so maybe he was a little nervous. He simply didn’t want to admit that he was feeling the same thing as Mal, for the fear that the sergeant---well, ex-sergeant technically---would twist it around to be an invitation for rowdy buttsex.

Buttsex was the last thing on Mal’s mind for once. Waving one hand at Rem’s words, he more or less ignored them. As if Rem would actually admit to feeling the same thing… “Umm… you know, that feelin’ that you get right as you’re walkin’ along with your friend and then suddenly the shrubbery turns into armed soldiers and they blow his head off? It’s kinda like that…”

“No, I wouldn’t know that that’s like. I was on the right side.” Yes, there was a definite hint of snideness in Rem’s reply, a reminder that Paralene had won the conflict with Cambria.

That earned him a mild glare from Mal once more. “Winnin’ side. I’m not convinced that it was the right one. Look, can we settle this later? I’m gettin’ a mite twitchy over here. Somethin’ is wrong.” Saaaaay… come to think of it, wasn’t someone out on the balcony? Mal very definitely remembered someone walking in while he was in the closet and going out to the balcony. And whoever that was, he or she hadn’t walked back… Oh, s**t… this could mean trouble, now couldn’t it? And it could explain the feeling. No, he doubted that Rem could feel it. This was something far more dangerous than anything the dandified lieutenant would have faced, even during the war. This was something that a survivor could sense, someone who had survived streets for years and years.

Walking over to the balcony door, Mal peeked out and saw, of course, Deste. For a moment, he merely looked surprised, but the look of surprise was quickly replaced with a customary smirk. “Ohh! Another tall hot blonde! Just what’s needed! Although... hmm. Come to think of it, Rem's not that tall anyway. Come on in, Deste!”

“Deste? We’re not talking about the… you know… new Prince Deste, are we?”

“Indeed we are, Quillan!” Hmm… the feeling was still there. And it didn’t seem like Deste was a real source of it either. Not unless he was preparing to stab Mal for almost flirting with him. Normally, Mal would have flirted more, but this was serious. Something just wasn't right.
~.~

Aeron’s feathers ruffled around his neck as a proverbial trickle of cold water made it’s way down his spine. Something was wrong. There was a palpable… thing of badness to the air. It made him want to do several things, one of which was maim the closest danger. Another was to run off to Mal’s side to make sure the human didn’t do anything stupid. The last was to snuggle with Sekhmet, which wasn’t really possible right no… waitaminute…

As soon as Sekhmet’s voice cut through the air, Aeron lifted his head a little and lost all interest in Auster. Even flirting was forgotten as he heard his little black companion. Ignoring the other gryphons between himself and the sleek female, Aeron simply barreled his way towards Sekhmet.

“Sekhmet! I didn’t think you were coming!” Indeed, he hadn’t. Not that this really mattered. She was here. She hadn’t been here a few moments ago, but she was here now and that was good. It soothed some of his ruffled feathers, but not all of them. There was still that feeling. It was starting to get under his skin now. He gently raked his beak through one of her wings, ignoring the fact that someone could be watching Sekhmet being all lovey-dovey.

Deste hated this feeling.

Of the many things he loathed, this intensive awareness of fear was at the top of his list of most-hated things. And yet, even this bone-chilling reaction couldn't be just him. The ex-thief had never felt this way before - feared, yes, but dread without hope? There was something else out there, some being that was obviously affecting everyone who was keen enough to feel it.

Perhaps having been faced with death before made one that much more aware of impending doom. The man couldn't decide what was more irritating; the fact that he had actually phrased it in such a cliche way, or the fact that said cliche might actually apply here.

"Ohh! Another tall hot blonde! Just what's needed!"

He nearly flinched, the reflex almost ingrained into his brain whenever he heard those words. Hmph...he needed to figure out a way to keep Shane away from him. Though, not that this new 'doom' was upon them - good God - she might be relatively and annoyingly useful.

Turning to look, Deste was greeted with a jovial look from none other than Mal, inviting him to enter the room. After a moment, and after hearing the comment about himself from the other blond-haired man, the prince said with a hint of sarcasm, "No, I think I'll stay put. Wouldn't want to ruin your romantic atmosphere."

Still, there was that underlying tone of unease. Hm...did Mal feel it too?

Suddenly, his focus was to the garden again, and any thought after that was replaced with alarm when ear-piercing, terrified shrieks began sounding from below, all followed by a shattering roar of black fury.

------

...Something really wasn't right. There was that weird feeling like everything was about to fall from the sky...Kalei couldn't describe it. It had been there, but was gone for a while, and then was back again. And, obviously, he wasn't the only one that felt it. All around him, his fellow kin were shifting nervously, puffing up, spreading out wings, and generally fussing as this dark air touched all of them. It was suffocating and inescapable.

Turning to look at his most immediate companions, the male stood, still keeping a now-protective wing over Ma'at. A few paces away, it looked as though Auster had forgotten about her chatting and sudden abandonment by Aeron - her feathers standing on end, ears flat against her head, and crest rising in agitation. If the overtly-reserved female even felt the danger....

What was going on?

------

A familiar and very calming scent hit her nose as the female weaved through the crowd. All thoughts of finding others she knew were gone when she remembered who she was sensing. The handsome one with red stripes!

"Elrok!" the white female exclaimed, elatedly trotting over to him. Oh...she was acting too excited...but then again, he looked very funny, too. Fluffy, but adorably so. Stopping before him, she felt a sudden wave of modesty hit her, and bowed her head shyly, murmuring, "Hello."

------

The signal was there. That low thrum from the human that was the only two-legger who had any respect from the very beast of the devil.

Giving a feral hiss, the winged creature dove out of the sky and fell upon the unsuspecting prey like an angel of death.

------

...SHIETS!

As the avian cries of terror began to be answered by yells and screams from human throats, Shane began mentally cursing the acursed mother that had brought Balsem into this world, and, leaping over the counter of the bar, began running frantically away towards the staircase she'd seen Deste go up.

'Friggin' stupid idiot manwhore hate!' was pretty much the woman's train of thought as she began searching the immediate upper-story for signs of the blond-haired prince. Nothing...not that she could really see anything with so many people running around in a frenzy - much like her, actually...except with more panic than pissed-offness as the events of what was apparently going on outside began to sweep mania through the crowd.

Shane wondered if it was really that red-haired b*****d causing all this craziness. Well...judging from the bellows occasionally drowning out the dying keens of whatever had been unfortunate enough to be caught by the bellower, then no. Unless Balsem had learned how to bellow recently. But then, that seemed too uncouth for him. He was like a snake - quiet but deadly. Fall of Eden indeed, that man was. Hell in a nutshell!

Hey! That could be a name for a new driii-FOCUS.

She hoped that Zephan would be alright...

------

The big black male was just fine, actually. Having been on the opposite side of the garden from where that...thing had suddenly attacked, he had made himself immediately more scarce.

Circling around the perimeter of the garden area, the male kept a careful eye on the creature currently in the process of tearing a wing out of some noble's pet. Amidst the sounds of shrieks of pain and fear, Zephan was trying to keep himself calm. It was hard, but he was managing. As others of his kind fled, taking to the sky if they were capable, the painted griffin carefully tried to make his way towards the house, where his human was. After all, if he didn't get Shane first, who would feed him in the unfortunate event of an owner-death?

He refused to acknowledge his fondness for his owner, and suppressed the feeling by studying the brute that had dropped out of the sky on them. He was big...and when Zephan, an oversized - if lazy - creature thought the assailant was large, well. Black in color, the thing seemed rather...dusty. Or perhaps it was the fact that those dark feathers didn't seem to catch any light. He - it seemed like a he-demon - was shadow all over, except for ravenous, piercing-yellow eyes.

That brute was definitely the source of the unease that all the griffins had felt. And, for an unfortunate few, the failure to act on the unease had cost them their lives. And Zephan wasn't even sure how many more would fall before the whole fiasco was over.

Iris' eyes flicked downward as she felt a horrible presence suddenly swoop down over them all. Literally. She had no time to react to the scene before her, before another presence caught her attention. It was in the woods....

..and when she looked, she saw eyes as hellish as an agent of the devil himself.

Her brain told her to leave. Now. Quickly.

She rushed off the balcony just as her companions seemed to get a grasp on what was happening. Where was she going? No idea. She needed to find Deste, though she knew not why.

-_-_-_-_-_-

He smiled. It was time.

He moved like quicksilver, silent and swift through the underbrush, slipping through a door near the enclosure for the griffins without so much as a glance and in less time than seemed humanly possible. Balsem remained ghostly, slowly moving through the crowd of people while catching no surprised looks, no frightened glances..until he moved past them. Then, they looked. They watched him leave, and wonder just who this handsome stranger was, the one with the look of a beast in his eye. They felt his power, the fear he wore as a weapon against all others. He gave them fear. It was gift. A wicked grin crossed face, and he watched one woman turn away.

"Where are you, love?" he whispered cooly, brushing that white streak out of his face with his hand, brilliant-red hair shifting back to where he felt it should be. The color of fresh blood, it was...hopefully, that color would be on his hands tonight. He had played every card pefectly up to this point. Now, the puppets needed to do exactly what was expected of them.

He looked up just to see the woman clad in white and gold exit the balcony in a rush. Perfect. She was not decending the stairs - he watched her eyes scan the crowd before turning and heading into the innards of the hallways. Good girl. She knew it would be unwise to go downstairs. Too many people, too much panic. She knew her lover was upstairs. She knew, or thought, he could protect her. That, and she wanted to make sure he was aware of what was going on, and that he was ok.

He had spent many, many weeks learning this woman. She was intelligent and logical...and passionate. Very passionate. All of which would, tonight, work against her.

And all these people thought they were heading to safety. Hmph. Fools. Several others currently attending had been apples of his eye for a long time as well, each self-indulging worm just as analyzed as Miss Nefretiri. It was just a matter of time. And, until that time...Abaddon would see to them.

He smiled as another frightened griffin's screech hit the air. What a worthy partner.

-_-_-_-_-_-

"Hello, dear Eranthe. How are you?"

He puffed up even more. She had noticed him....what a delight. Truly. Trying his best to regain composure, his feathers slowly went back into place. However, he tried to make himself seem just as manly and proud as any bird....

.....it failed. He was too kind for it. Reaching his beak forward, he gently preened one of her feathers. Just one! He didn't want to overdo it, but he wanted to be polite. And make her like him. He hoped she liked him.

"Are yo-"

He stopped mid-sentence, sent into a defensive posture as something massive came crashing down into the group of griffins outside. In a flurry of feathers and anxiety, every griffin seemed to snap. Some flew away, some frantically tried to find friends or mates. The beast immediately began harming the ones closest to them, and Elrok watched several birds fall before he realized just how close this monster was to Eranthe. And other birds that he knew.

His gentle mind switched into a gear he had to enter very seldomly. Elrok rushed in front of Eranthe, wings out and feathers poised to make him seem larger, more menacing. His red eyes blazed fury as he lifted himself up on his hind legs, screeching a warning at this...menace. Elrok knew that he could not handle this creature alone, he knew that very well...but he wasn't going to stand and watch it threaten his loved ones without retaliating. No way in heaven or hell.

...he was afraid, though. In the back of his mind, he was scared to death. This was something unlike anything he had ever seen.

-_-_-_-_-_-

Ma'at ducked to the ground when the dark aura itself came down into their midst, and nearly balked at the sheer confusion that erupted. When Ma'at looked up again..she froze.

It was a massive...griffin? If it could even be called that. Born out of the seven circles themselves, this thing immersed the entire drove of griffins in a wave of fear that she felt course even through her normally-calm mind. However - she wasn't going to bolt. That wasn't in her blood. The fact that Kalei, Elrok, Sekhmet, Auster...Iris, especially....they were all in danger, made her move.

Or...made her try to move. It was a hard battle. Fear had, literally, rendered her unable to move.

Fighting it free, she nearly threw Kalei off of her - something she would apologize for later, as she really did appreciate his attempts at protecting her - and spread her wings, beating the air and screeching violently, tossing her head to and fro. Her claws came down and tore great clods at the earth before she lifted herself again, almost threatening to take flight in her furiousness. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a griffin who had a coloration similar to Elrok's join in the fray, nearly at the forefront of the beast's attacks.

There was another similarly colored griffin behind Elrok. Hmmm...green and red were fighting, white looked as if she was about to jump forward herself. Impressive.

-_-_-_-_-_-

The jovial pirate suddenly became very solemn.

Something just happened. Big, and bad.

Normally, his best idea in these situations was to flee. Flee, unless there was some pressing reason that he needed to stay. For example, a crew member in danger, or something shiny and expensive to be had. He saw neither in the near future...even so, with all the hubub, he couldn't leave if he wanted to.

Dammit.

With a deep bow, he bid his farewell to this enchanting woman. "It 'eems that fate has 'urned the tides, fair lass. Til 'e meet again."

With that, he moved away from the bar and into the crowd. Time to find out if he needed to leave or not.

-_-_-_-_-_-

He gave her time. He gave that beautiful soul time to decide what she needed to do. Find him, that's what she needed...her griffins could not be helped. No, she knew they would defend themselves, or flee. If she got down into that mess, she would be doing no one any good. 'Anyone' included him, actually...hmm.

When he lost sight of her, he moved. This time, he caught stares. Being the only one moving up the stairs instead of down, he made it a casual affair, smiling at those who had the misfortune of being the object of his gaze. One side of his mind processed each face, while the other placed his plans into view. Deste would have felt him by now, as would Shane. Hah, 'Shane'.

Those two...they would try to find him. He knew that. In so doing, they would unknowingly only help him. He knew them, and he knew this 'Iris'. She was finding him, he was finding Balsem...if Balsem was finding Iris, and knew where Iris was going, they would end up meeting in a glorious show of surprise and fear, catching all three birds with one stone. Catching, not killing. He was not out to kill yet.

He was a demon. A demon with the heart of a beast, eyes of a devil, and the will of both Abaddon and God himself. He wondered which of the two entities was more powerful, an intoxicating smile playing onto his face.

Nyhali tensed when the griffons did and followed their gaze to the sky, eyes questing back and forth as she grabbed Laura by the elbow and backed toward the building. Not to the interior; to the wall. It probably wasn't a good idea to cut off an escape route if this... whatever it was was something like she feared, but it was far worse to be attacked from behind when you didn't have a weapon. The wall and the griffons were their best means of survival at this point. She just hoped they all made it out of this alive.

It was instinct alone that told her the correct course of action. Her brain had almost immediatly gone into a sort of survival mode, just like it had when the Heideshi family had been attacked. Her mother's people were warriors; perhaps not the most skilled of warriors, but warriors through and through, and just like a wild animal born in captivity she still had the instincts. They told her it was quite foolish of her not to bring her spear; but then, she hadn't expected to be needing that here.

She placed Laura partly behind her when she felt the wall with her free hand. She seemed collected, almost cold, staring up at the darkened sky, but it wasn't that she was calm, exactly, just that she really wasn't thinking anything. Just reacting.

And then all hell broke loose.

~~~~~

Kedri felt Nyhali shift behind her and stretched out a wing to touch her human, walking slightly back and sideways to present a wall between them and whatever was out there. She kept her eyes forward and up, always looking, trying to find what was causing this... feeling. She smacked Leolin authoritatively with her tail to make sure he followed suit. He probably was, but she didn't have thought to spare to look aside and actually see for herself.

Then something dark and deadly dropped from the sky and landed on one of the more unwary griffons in the assembly, and Kedri let out an involuntary shriek. She puffed up as large as she was able and mantled her wings, letting out a long, low keen that was the equivalent of a growl, or at least as best as she could do in her suddenly terrified state. She crouched down and bumped at the two women with a wing, hoping they'd take the hint and climb on so the griffons could take to wing. Even laden with a passenger, she and Leolin were both built for speed, even if she was less so. The smartest thing to do would be to flee.

As she heard Nyhali tell Laura to stay with the griffons and run off she realized her human had different intentions and finally turned her eyes away from the gruesome sight in front of them to see the woman running toward a weapons display mounted on the wall. A display with spears. Kedri let out a cry, trying to call Nyhali back before she did something stupid, but she just kept on running, and Kedri couldn't bring herself to abandon Leolin and Laura when Nyhali obviously trusted her to stay with them.

This night had just gotten very, very bad.