Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jaden sighed. Oh how he hated this job. Hate hate hated it. Why did Dusk have to leave? If he was still here then Jaden could have just stayed as the enforcer of the pack and be done with it... but that was just a fantasy. Best to stay in the realm of the real.
"Okay." he said calming himself down slowly. "Is everyone here alive here that needs to be?" It was a very general question directed to the entire room instead of the multiple remaining individuals.

[exits to graveyard]

Richard Brighton entered his apartment after a long days work. He was exhausted. For any stock broker the job was stressful, but on top of that his daughter had been missing for almost a month now. Any time he wasn't involved with meetings or clients he was checking every possible lead he could think of and still nothing. The police weren't any help at all.
It was when he was hanging up his coat when he first noticed it. The lights were all off. The dim glow that gave him visibility came from dozens of lit candles in every size. What was this about? Maybe Victoria had planned this to take his mind off things. He didn't really mind, taking a break would be nice.
Loosening the strangling noose that was his tie Richard walked further into the apartment. "This seems really romantic Vicky..." he sang out playfully. "It's been awhile since we've had a night like this..."
With each step the 40 year old stock broker took into the apartment a deep, forgotten part of his mind was awakening. Under the scent of the burning wicks and the melted wax there was something else, an underlying current that was known to all creatures whether they had encountered it before or not. That primal and antiquated instinct screamed not to go farther, to just run and not look back, but its cries fell on deaf ears.
Smiling at the prospect of an enjoyable night he rounded the corner of the apartment into what passed for the living room, with the massive bay window overlooking the city.
What he saw made his blood run cold.

There were still candles strewn about the place but the light they cast was ghostly and ancient. The walls were covered in dark markings of some timeless form, some looked like symbols and some looked like sentences in an incomprehensible language. They all appeared damp however and the red glimmer they shown with gave this instinct knowledge of what it was. Blood. Even knowing this he couldn't move. He was frozen at the sight before him.
In the center of the room were two figures, both cast in pale blue from the soft flames of five massive red candles spaced evenly apart. Even with the dim light it was clearly evident that they were both female and both nude. The smaller one was crouched low to the ground and cradling the other womans head gently and stroking her hair like a mother does with a child. When the smaller woman looked up slowly and revealed her face Richard finally found his voice.
"... A... Amanda?...." His voice shook with terror and his body followed suit. We wanted to run, shake away from the spot and just bolt, but he couldn't. Despite the tremors running through his being his feet remained iced to the spot.

"You shouldn't have brought her into our lives." Amanda cooed gently, as she kissed her stepmother's corpse. "It was supposed to be just us after mom died... And you brought this b***h to tear us apart..." She looked up with blood glistening on her lips.

That was not his daughter. Richards mind refused to accept it and knew it was true. Those eyes... those horrible glistening eyes couldn't ever belong to the little girl he had watched grow up. Oh God what was happening? That was Vicky on the floor then wasn't it? No. No he wouldn't accept that.
The rambling of his mind was interrupted by another voice in the room. The sound was horrifying. Something from the throat of an ancient that drank nothing but malice. For a single moment time seemed to freeze for him. His blood became ice and his heart stopped beating...

"He should have listened to you my love..." Nebiros rumbled. He had appeared behind Amanda this time and she could feel it. He seemed little more than shifting vapor... but black... so black...
He was shadow turned to smoke. The lightless underground brought up to the surface. The night when the moon is dead and all the stars have been snuffed out.
He was evil.
"You are my daughter... not his... Those that wrong you shall suffer... That is the promise of your father... Take him..."

Amanda was up faster than humanly possible and across the room. Before the head of her mutilated stepmother touched the carpet soaked with blood and wax the fallen girl had given a scream and swung her butcher knife down.

Richard Brighton, a 40 year old stock broker, born and bred in New York city, only had time to register one thought before the end.
'I still love you Amanda... my little girl...'

The knife crunched through the shield of bone that was the mans skull with impossible force. The tempered steel kitchenware split into the cavity that was housed the brain and tore into the fragile bundle of nerves with no further effort. Richard Brightons body ceased to function immediately. He fell to the floor with no more strength than that of a rag doll.

"Good my child..." Nebiros spoke. If he had a mouth anymore he would be smiling. So delightful.

Jaden sighed and turned to James. "None of your business how I got in here." he snapped. "But, so long as everybody here is alive then I guess I'm not really needed." he said picking up his coat next to Julian and slinging it over his shoulder.

Jaden donned his coat and turned to look at the one called James. "Under normal circumstances I'd be nice and tell you to drop it but I think this time I'll have a little fun." he said with a smile of his sharp teeth. "So, since it is your apartment you can take the first shot." He spread his arms out. "I'm waiting."

Sibyl sighed as tempers flared and yet again a fight threatened to engulf the apartment and likely end up damaging it worse than it'd already been damaged. "Aren't," Sibyl asked Jaden somewhat confused as to his intentions, "you here to be policing us in a way? If you're starting another fight then there's just going to be more noise again and the cops probably will come this time and we'll all get screwed over. If you're needing to fight someone so badly you should fight that psycho guy that was on top of the cathedral. He was absolutely crazy and bent on fighting."

James growled and pressed a button on his communicator. "You're lucky wolf. I have to go no. Damn hunters cult thing always calling us in just as I get to have some fun!." He talked mostly to himself. He turned before he left and tossed a key to Sybil. "Do me a favor and lock up when you guys leave please. I am sure I'll be gone for a while if all of us are being called back."

(exit to haven)