Welcome to Gaia! ::

She was just as beautiful as he remembered her. Ariadne. His Spider Queen slept peacefully in her bed, Vincent standing silently over her. It would be that he'd take her home right now if he could, but another stood in his way. A male who had the audacity to claim Vincent's Queen as his own. A male who wouldn't be in this world much longer. It was a shame he must put an end to life of one who shared their beautiful gift, but he had sealed his fate by sleeping with Ariadne. Such a sweet girl, she would almost certainly try to save her false lover's life. He couldn't risk her getting hurt and so decided to separate the pair in order to deal with the male. Thus a trap was made a lure was set. Though it pained him, he left just as silently as he had entered, leaving his Queen where she lay. When she woke she would smell the pheromones, know he was here and be compelled to find him. All she had to do was ask the spiders.

Just as he predicted his queen set out on her own. Vincent smiled from the roof top above and across the street from her apartment window waiting just long enough for Ariadne to catch his silhouette against the night sky before vanishing. By the time she got up there he would be no where to be seen though he didn't leave her without clues. Again the air smelled of pheromones designed to pull her to him and a web was strung up between two pieces of equipment. with a piece of paper at it's center.

Déjà vu, but not quite—not really. Michael found himself upside down, hanging from a string of webbing, and gazing at his reflection from the glass of an empty building’s window. He couldn’t sleep, something he wasn’t unfamiliar with, and he was there at that same building he was at a year prior, peering into an expressionless mask, red lenses meeting red lenses. He knew why he couldn’t sleep, and he also knew how to resolve that problem, but he didn’t want to, not yet.

Instead, he reached above him, right beneath his neck, and lifted the mask under him, holding it firmly in his right hand but peering into the glass. He glared at his reflection, disgusted by what he saw. His lenses (those of his mask) weren’t just red, his eyes were, too, all twelve of them. His skin had grown frighteningly pale, and white hairs were emerging all throughout his body. He was turning—again. He knew his serum was running out, so he found himself relaxing on its usage, otherwise he would run out too soon, but his memories of the past haunted him, like a ghost tugging on his shoulder each time he took a step forward in his life, reminding him yet again. It was an odd dance between humanity and an abomination; he was something less than human, but also more.

He raised—or in the case of being upside down, lowered—his clenched fist, endeavoring to angrily strike his reflection, but found restraint and stopped. It was that self-loathing that he couldn’t quite overcome. He did, however, come to his senses when he received a text, letting go and turning his body upright as he grasped the building with his free hand and forefeet. He would go ahead and seek her out, seeing as he would just use the serum when he got home; she already knew the reason if he ever told her he would rather keep the mask on, anyway. If she was up at this hour, it was important, that much was a given, since she slept more than he did. He needed a moment to recompose himself, to forget what was under the mask, but he would move on for the time being. Using the coordinates given, he began to head that direction, but would understandably arrive a couple minutes later than her. His own search from before led him farther than he initially anticipated, certainly farther than where she was. It was raining outside, and the sky would soon roar out with thunder; the night wasn’t young, but it wasn’t over, not yet.

What would she find at the end of this trail? Ariadne hoped it would be peace at killing her enemy... but she doubted it. This string of pheromone laced stops was getting annoying. Did he think this would work? He murdered and ate her father... there was no chance for anything remotely 'them'. Michael was far better anyway. He loved her, cared for her, and they even protected each other. What did Recluse do for her? Nothing. He took her humanity away and her father. He was nothing but a bag of lies wrapped in a monsterous shell of deceit. Ariadne continued to ramble on in a monologue in her mind as she followed the trail to ... the hospital. Not just the hospital but the very wing, the very room she had stayed in....

The knot in her stomach tightened, the taste of fear and bile rising in the back of her throat as she peered into the open window at the scene before her. not even michael could make this place anything good for her. This was all one horrible memory after another and now there was this new one to add to it. The scent inside was familiar but covered in... something.. this ... it was distracting in such a way that she didn't really know what was happening. She slid into the room, landing on her feet in a crouch before straightening. To say Ariadne was wary was a drastic understatement.

The whole room was plastered in stuff about her: flowers, pictures, and complete with a door heavily webbed. Yeah, that's not ominous at all. Nope. She snorted, exhaling heavily since the scent in the room was thick. Aria looked around for any trace that would lead her away from this hell hole, but was soon convinced... this was the goal set for her. This was where he was leading her and that was not good. Though it was prophetic and ironic, it shall end where it began, etc, etc. Ugh, Aria never felt so strongly the urge to throw up before. Though it did bring back memories from when she had started this crazy hell ride, back when she was just a dying girl and he just a doctor... and her father was right there next to that bed, holding her frail little pale hand. Why had it all gone down like this?

Upon entering Ariadne would find several pictures of herself held up by a web of spider silk created by Recluse’s eight legged friends. It would seem Dr. Harkness had been aware of her movements for some time despite not acting until now. So what had caused the doctor to act now? Something in his life, or something in Ariadne’s? The room was heavy with pheromones designed to sedate, confuse and cloud thought and senses. The arachnids in the room were listless. Most of them were unmoving and even if disturbed moved with sluggish apathy.  Vincent entered silently through the open window while Ariadne gazed upon the photos. It was an easy thing to do. His spider like abilities allowed him to scale the wall soundlessly and contort his form through the opening without disturbing anything in the room. Ever so slowly and carefully the Recluse pulled out a needle. Even if she detected him now the pheromones in the room made it so it was already too late. One step, two steps, three steps four….

He drove the needle into her neck and pressed the plunger down with his thumb. It seemed such a shame to mar such prefect flesh but it was necessary. Vincent easily dodged her as Ariadne whirled around in an attempt to hit him, pulling the needle free at the same time. The pheromones had done their job. “I knew you would come. We will be together soon my love. I just have one thing to take care of first.” He smiled as he gazed upon her. It’d been so dreadfully long since he had been in Ariadne’s presence, but he would remedy that now. He watched with joy as she stumbled about and uttered a few incoherent words before succumbing to the sedative he had given her. He gently caught her, for it wouldn't do to let his love fall to the floor, then carefully picked her up. Oh how good it was to have her in his arms, but there was no time to saviour their reunion now. They would have the rest of their lives together once the other male was dealt with. With his most precious cargo Recluse made his way back to his lair.

Once he was certain Ariadne was safe, Dr. Harkness set his trap. With blood carefully drawn from his love, oh how it had pained him to do it, he smeared it in front of an abandoned prison, on the door, down the corridor. He found the prefect place for an ambush and texted Michael the address.

It had been Vincent's intention to ambush the inferior male. Let justice be done swiftly, so he could return to his bride. She would need the utmost care to recover from what he had taken from her in order to draw the other male inside. Then he rounded the corner, and Vincent saw him up close for the first time. Micheal seemed hardly concerned at all that Ariadne had been taken from him, or that her precious blood painted the ground. It made Vincent's blood boil. The inferior male didn't smell of anger or fear, merely unease. If she had gone missing on his watch, and he had come across a train of her blood, Vincent would have lost his mind in anger and fear. Clearly this inferior male didn't even understand how precious Ariadne was, much less be deserving of her affection, he planned to make sure Micheal knew it before his demise.His hiding place had been deep in the shadows, and he had been planing on using his control of pheromones and abilities and stealth to avoid detection. Instead of the ambush he planned, Vincent merely dropped from the ceiling. “You don't deserve her.” He accused. “Bad enough you are inferior to me in every way, but you clearly don't even care for her the way she deserves. Don't deny it, I can smell it on you. Little more than unease when she is missing and injured. You are unworthy of Araidne.”