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"As the one to bear witness to an agreement between the two of you, I am naturally surprised to then witness the breaking of said agreement..." Asher had not been very far from the porch, easily within earshot (at least when the hybrid yelled), before Aion had decided to pay Mull a visit. He could only assume that Aion had planned it that way...

The vampire had easily slipped through the door and now stood near the other two. "Unless somehow Mull's information was incorrect, you have no reason to be here, Aion."

"Is that so? If that is all you need from him, then you will not mind if I stay." The coon made himself more comfortable leaning against the frame of the double doors. He watched the demon, face almost expressionless.

Asher merely smirked and fixed the demon with his icy stare. He watched as Mull finally began to fight back against Aion, a subtly different person. Interesting; perhaps coming back had not been a complete waste. There...might be a problem if he decided to turn his wrath on the vampire, but the coon could handle himself.

The coon watched Aion's display of power with curiosity, though his countenance suggested otherwise, movements reduced to otherworldly stillness and face a mask of something between cold indifference and calculation. Likely telekinesis, he thought, knowing nothing of a Sinner's horns. But the more he witnessed, the more information he could gather about the other. It was not as if there was much he could do at this point, and the less Aion knew of him the better, for now.

Aion left several hypotheticals in his wake, such as whether Mull would have been better off having joined such a sadist in this cause of his... Before the demon left, he made no comment beyond an ironic twist of the lips that might pass for a smirk, though it did occur to him to ask how well Mull was at healing broken bones, even with his heightened ability to heal. He decided that they would probably heal crookedly if they were left that way, judging by his scars.

Hissing softly at the unconscious form at his feet, he muttered, "This was too much of a good thing, hm?" Picking him up was a simple thing, as were carrying him to the room Mull had identified as his own and laying him out on what must be his bed. More challenging were the tasks of setting bones and listening for internal bleeding, which included the use of some vampirically enhanced senses. Then came the gathering of things he would need later: water, gauze, painkillers (the coon chuckled at the notion; would he even use them?). He was not used to caring for the living; it occurred to him that Mull might need to eat at some point during the day but would he be mobile enough?

He did not pay such careful attention to his surroundings as he had with other parts of the house. A bedroom is such a personal and intimate space. His annoyance at having to stay so long prevented it, though he refused to stay closer to daybreak than would take him to get safely home. He would take in the details later. In the meantime he kept watch, though whether it was out of curiosity, a sense of obligation, or something closer to worry could be anyone's guess, including his own. And, as he had the whole night thus far, left every last drop of Mull's blood alone, except for what he had removed from his wounds. Daybreak would find the hybrid clean and healing in his own bed, unmarred by he vampire.

As dawn approached it became apparent that Mull would be just fine, eventually, unless some freak thing like a blood clot killed him. He certainly had an amazing and fascinating ability to heal. So it would be no surprise that the vampire's concern shifted to that of the lightening of the landscape outside. His ice-blue eyes were drawn inexorably in the direction of the coming sunrise with a vague sense of dread. When it came he would literally die, regardless of the relative darkness of his surroundings.

Asher would have assumed that Aion would not return after what he had done to Mull, had he not been wrong earlier this evening. There was no way he could be certain the demon would not return to finish him off.

What to do? It would seem that he was now irrevocably tied to Mull, whether he and the hybrid wanted it or not. Staying here and leaving both of them vulnerable was out of the question; moving Mull and putting him under the roof with his former slave was also an impossibility. Having someone else keep an eye on him, that might be possible. But who would come... and who could hold his own against Aion?

(( Sounds good. xD ))

Whether he knew it then or not, the answers to Asher's unexpressed questions came with the turn of a key. Keen hearing sensed the faint echoing of first the latch, then the door, and finally footsteps of someone new. Whomever it was, he was certainly not Aion, made evident by the way the visitor moved: the weight of his footsteps (strangely heavy?), and the way he hesitated, probably upon seeing the remnants of Mull's battle with the demon. Asher recalled that Mull lived alone, yet he seemed to have friends that he trusted enough to spare them a key.

When Zelgadis entered the room, Asher had been watching the door for quite some time and had not bothered to move from his seat near the bed. Though the chimera's appearance was shocking - was that stone skin? - the vampire gave no outward indication. Indeed if he had, he doubted Zel would have noticed the way he carried on, almost nervously.

"Friend?" That rushed aura about Zelgadis alone propelled the coon to his feet, though he was determined not to hurry, himself. A half-born smirk died as he gazed down at Mull. "I suppose I might be, at that." As the chimera continued, he turned to regard Zelgadis cooly. "You seem to have all the answers," he commented with a faint curl to his lips, with an even subtler turn of his native accent; he was mildly annoyed. At the same time, with Zel here he had no need to stay any longer, did he?

Without another word, no introduction nor even a good-by, Asher left the room. It was, after all, nearly dawn.

"What are you doing?"

The unicorn glanced up at the other without pause as he swung the trenchcoat over his shoulders. "Well... I'm putting my coat on."

"Why?" Asher was not amused to say the least. He had been awake for perhaps an hour and this daywalker was only now keen to get outside. Perhaps the sun's rays did affect him adversely, but he was known to take walks beneath the fiery blaze of the sunset.

"I'm going for a walk. That much should be obvious, even if you're still a little groggy," Shido replied with a smirk, ignoring the coon's mild annoyance. "I might ask the same of you. Going out to breakfast?"

Asher growled softly and pushed his way past Shido to the door. "I have nothing to say to you." Shido knew where Asher was really going and the unicorn was not fooling anyone with his questions. And it became obvious right away that Shido had every intention of following Asher to his destination. He did not mind that in itself; Shido could be trusted with knowledge of the location of Mull's home.

By now, everyone must know about Mull. How could they not, with Tunda staying under this very roof? If not a gossip, Mel had always been frank with anyone that should question him. That did not bother Asher; he did not want to, nor had he ever been inclined to defend his actions. Let the dragon tell everyone.

What really disturbed him was his own indecision. He was used to deciding on a course of action and executing it, understanding and willing to meet the consequences. Perhaps his inability to decipher his consequences this time was what really worried him. Aion, his plans and beliefs were an enigma, as were the two sides of Mull's personality.

"Why are you following me?"

"You should know that without my telling you," the unicorn countered. His expression began with a grin and ended with a troubled frown. Asher was unusually rattled tonight. What that translated to for most people was a silent brooding. It was Shido's job to hunker down in the lapels of his trenchcoat, hands shoved deeply into his pockets, catlike eyes shifting carefully from shadow to shadow. It was Asher's job to walk with a smooth glide, head held high yet forever conscious of the way the light fell almost artfully across his face.

Shido had taken it upon himself to act as some form of guardian to other anthros. He had been that way as long as Asher had known him. To the coon it seemed like a wasted effort. Mortals were adept at putting themselves in danger, risking their very lives on a whim. It seemed pointless to try to protect them from those who would be their hunters.

"I won't intrude tonight. I just want to see how much of the 'devil' presides over your new friend. How big a threat he poses to everyone else."

"I suppose that all depends on me," the coon retorted. From the beginning it had seemed like if he did not live up to Mel's side of the dragon's little bargain, there would be hell to pay. It would even seem that perhaps the pun was well-intended. It was not as if he was unaccustomed to making sacrifices for those he had chosen to associate with. But he had never been above complaining about it, or glaring a figurative hole through someone's forehead for it.

"It's one thing to be violent and powerful both. There are those under our own roof that I would not want to loose on society. I'm not about to police everyone, nor am I going to pass judgment on those whose lives are different from my own. But there are those who would prey upon the defenseless with no care for another's life. But it was never up to you. It has been and will always be Mull's choice... whichever side of him it is that makes it." Mull's dual personality was as fascinating as it was dangerous. "And... I have to admit I'm curious."

Asher caught a sly grin as they passed under a streetlight. In an instant it was gone. The coon sighed. "I'm only going to see that he's all right. He's probably healed by now." That was all he would say for now, though the unicorn's countenence suggested that he knew otherwise. It was all... so... aggravating! "Just... make yourself inconspicuous. We're almost there." His accent positively dripped from every word and before he was finished speaking the unicorn had disappeared into the night, chuckling with amusement.

(( Let's hope Shido does not run across... say, Aion anytime soon. Or any of the many homicidal psychopaths running around! But there's only so far I can go with his little policing hobby without interfering with other people's anthros, yours or anyone else's... xD <3

Also, I'm not exactly sure when Shido would hear of Mull's split personality. Either he's heard it from Mel (and from him Tunda) or he heard it from Asher on the way to Mull's place. I'm just leaving it open for the sake of flexibility. ))