Welcome to Gaia! ::

A lone figure stood on the porch to the white home as metallic eyes searched the reaches of the night for anyone or anything. After her short talk with Alex, Ebony had immediately called Aphismet as well, the only other person she trusted enough with something of this magnitude. She already knew from the incident with Lazarus that her and the Italian woman could easily take care of things if they needed, but since she had no idea where Cordelia could be, the more people looking the better. Besides, she wasn't feeling particularly strong right then and didn't need to let Alex down more than she already had.

Thus she stood and stared blankly into the night, awaiting her rushed search party, yet also praying that the black scaled girl would suddenly appear and make the need for such moot. But that never happened and Ebony only got more and more worried by the minute. She hoped they would arrive soon. Every minute felt like an eternity and who knows how far the Snake could have traveled by then. That was, if Cordelia had indeed gone somewhere and hadn't..."Don't think like that." she barked to herself, but a shiver ran down her spine anyhow at the thought.

Aphismet should not have mentioned that Alex was also going. That had been the deciding factor for Rivener, who'd bullied the chef into letting him come. The chef kept glancing at the Sigel as though he was a timebomb, riding there in the passenger's seat and ready to explode into violence at any moment. Riv, thankfully, was too wrapped up in seeing Zul to pose much of a threat at the moment.

The car pulled into Ebony's driveway, both men holding their breath to note that Alex's truck was already here. Before Aphi had even completely stopped the car, Rivener had shoved open the door and leapt out, zooming over the driveway and seeking- Ah, there! Rivener spotted Zul and instantly hurried over, slipping both arms around the demon from behind and hugging tightly, mindful of Zul's sharp spines. "Mmmmnhh... hey, are you warmer than usual?" the Scorpion asked, ignoring the humans for the moment.

Aphi followed soon after, long legs taking him straight over to the two females. He scooped them both into a hug, eyes closed in worry. "Are you okay, Ebs? I didn't even know your Raevan was born, congratulations... although I'd wished we could have learned of it under better circumstances. Erm..." He released his hug and glanced over at the Scorpion, who was still cuddling up to Zul, kissing at his neck.

"We, ah... Rivener's been acting weird lately, very aggressive, so let's just be careful around him, okay? I'm sure he'll help us look if that's what Zul's doing, but uhm... Watch your backs around him." Even though Riv's stingers were both wrapped up with bandages lately (Aphi had no idea why, having gotten yelled at when he asked), they were both still VERY capable of stinging through that thin cloth... "So where do we start looking?" Aphi asked, eager to change the topic and get to the real reason they were all assembled.

"Thank you for calling us," Alex murmured before the other vehicle pulled up. Aphismet's arms around them was an immediate and welcome warmth, closing her eyes for a moment to hug and be hugged, drawing strength from the brief show of affection. When the man spoke of Rivener 'acting weird,' it occured to the Italian that she never went into details of what had happened that fateful day...and that her lack of professionalism had lead to Rivener's - and, oh god, Eiry? - infection. Alex mentally kicked herself so hard that she nearly wanted to cry herself, but they were there for Ebony and Cordelia, and she would refrain from going into a panic attack until it was resolved. How was she going to tell Aphismet...?

"Okay," she said quietly to her boyfriend, turning her eyes back to Ebony as the woman began to speak. Alex had no claim of knowing Ebony outside of being a strong-willed woman with a hell of a grip, so she did not know the cost of what the violet-haired woman was showing them. All she did know was that she felt the same way, and that the new Guadian's concern for her Raevan was doubled by her own heart. The Italian immediately embraced Ebony again, cursing herself for not carrying any tissues on her like a normal woman should.

Shaking her head, Alex spoke softly. "The infection got her then," she surmised, trying to rely on her training and teachings and not her emotions for the moment. "She's just a newborn, so I imagine that much power, so suddenly, her essence just reacted." At least it wasn't her soul, Alex thought inwardly, recalling Cordelia's information. "She's here," came the firm conviction, determined to chase off any doubt of the newborn's life disappearing, "I promise, I swear we'll find her." How the hell were they going to catch smoke? Keeping an arm around Ebony - just in case - she looked around the area, then back to the house. "Maybe Zul and Rivener will help just by being here. Do you want to start in the house?"

"Yesss," Zul almost genuinely purred in response, although if it was to the question posed or Rivener's attention to his warm skin, it was hard to say. His wings freeded themselves from the Sigel's chest, the claw-like tips drawing the round curve of bone over the Scorpion's shoulders and neck, as if touching him with his hands wasn't enough. The demon draped his arms around the ones holding him so tightly, doing his best to press against Rivener in return. This was his cure-all, no matter how bad he felt.

The demon's head lolled backwards to look at his Scorpion, his smile all languid satisfaction and a deeper, heated pride. Blue eyes caught the strange whiteness against the crimson and onyx of Rivener's wings, giving the stingers a most curious look. "Is my Rivener hurt?" he asked, although there was another faint rumble of threat in his voice. If someone had hurt him, there would be no lengths, no depths of Hell that he wouldn't release onto--!

Zul closed his eyes for a moment, struck by another dizzy spell. The rage seemed to bring on his bouts of awareness of words and actions, but he wouldn't lose himself in front of Rivener. Instead, he tried to float even closer, as if his exposed spine could become a part of the Scorpion's body, the heat of his body flickering momentarily hotter before dimming back to the abnormal warmth.

Feebly, Ebony nodded to the others suggestions of searching the house again. It hadn't occurred to her to tell them it was useless to check in there since she'd check the place a million times already it seemed. A smaller part of her mind worrying about the locked door that lead to the basement of which no one needed to see, least of all them.

Leading the way, she rubbed furiously at the rest of her tears, mumbling weakly about something getting stuck in her eyes. "Cordelia likes to be warm. So maybe if I re-light the fireplace it'll draw her back?" She couldn't be absolutely sure about this, but it was worth a try right? What would it mean if the girl wasn't drawn back by that sort of heat source? No, she had to stop thinking the girl was dead or something like it. They would find her. They had to!

Squaring her shoulders and summoning back up her inner strength, "Aphismet, could you help me with gathering the logs? They're out back by the greenhouse."

While the two Raevans conversed, joying in their reunion, a wispy dark cloud slithered after them. The smaller of the two was giving off such delicious heat and the scent...heavenly. Or perhaps hellish depending on how one saw it. Nevertheless, the black tendrils snaked through the grass after the others.

Aphismet nodded at his teacher's command to fetch firewood. The chef didn't know the first thing about Ebony's Raevan, but by the sound of things she would enjoy a nice cozy fire? If Aphi could help by fetching wood, then by golly that's what he'd do. He recalled easily the greenhouse in the back yard, and grinned before he set off. "I'll bring it to the fireplace right now! Won't be long."

Aphi smiled at both women and took a few skipping side-steps as he finished talking, getting a head start on his chore before he turned and ran full-tilt around the house.

Finding the pile of wood was easy enough, and Aphismet picked an armful of logs. He carried them up to the porch and put them down, returning a short while later with another armful. That should be more than enough... Without knocking, figuring it was assumed that he'd be invited in, Aphismet opened the back door and began ferrying the wood to the fireplace. He was no boyscout so starting a fire was rather alien to him, so he waited until the others were near. "All set!" he called, hoping Ebony or Alex would hear him.

Rivener lifted an eyebrow in confusion. Something about storms? What the hell was Zul talking about? The Scorpion's short temper was flaring already, thinking that his question was being avoided, but the Demon quelled that fire instantly by stroking at Riv's cheek, offering those sweet little words of affection.

When Zul asked what Riv was doing here in turn, the Sigel didn't even think to mention that the Demon hadn't given a reply. He just smirked. "I came because Aphi said he was going to meet Alex about something. I figured you'd be around too, so I wanted to come. To see you. ...Do you smell something?" Riv hugged Zul closer, holding the Demon up and willingly bearing almost all the floating torso's weight. He frowned and looked around. "Smells like something's on fire or something."

A small voice reminded him of something Alex had said, but Rivener hadn't been paying all that much attention to the humans prattling. He shrugged, figuring it wasn't important anyway.

Alex kept herself busy on the porch, breathing in the chilled air with seared lungs. She didn't know if she could smell smoke or if the smell was just lingering in her sinus passage, which made her slightly useless for subtle scents. It had been a rather difficult couple of days - or had it been a week now? - and every whisper of leaves on the ground, every groan of empty branches made her jump or look twice over her shoulder.

Her green eyes rested briefly on the two Raevans canoodling, wondering what they were talking about. She was grateful they didn't really have any sense of urgency or worry yet, even if she was a bit jealous that they could just hang on each other with abandon. Alex gave a small smile at that, shaking her head and peering around the corner of the house - missing the sudden plume of smoke at her charge's base. "Need he--wow, done already? Jeez, Aphi, way to be efficient," she teased the white-haired man, pushing her errant ponytail back over her shoulder, trying to keep the atmosphere light and hopeful.

The demon's face slowly lit at the Sigel's words, expression settling back into the content possession of being the one Rivener desired to be with. There was no greater pleasure to him, to be wanted by his Scorpion. Zul reveled in his ownership, letting himself relax in the strong arms. He felt like a king--

He could feel the strange sensation of something cool on his ribbon about the time Rivener mentioned smoke. He caught the scent again, and he knew it well - the cold, brittle smell of smoke that he associated with Cordelia. "Stormy," came the purr of contentment, looking around, and finally downwards. He was surprised to find himself nearly consumed by a plume of smoke.

"There she is," he murmured plainly, as if to see the smoke of what should have been a Raevan was perfectly acceptable. One of his hands lowered, fingers ghosting over a portion of the smoke as though he were lightly touching his friend. "Stormy. Why are you hiding?" Zul looked into the smoke as if he could see the black-framed orbs of the same color - and maybe, in his sick mind, he could.

The purr of her nickname and the gentle way Zul tried to touch her vaporous form was somewhat comforting, enough to distract the smoke momentarily from her true target. A grayish black tendrils twisted towards his outstretched hand and curling around it as if she was reaching her own hand out to him in answer. He was always so good to her, so warm and caring.

Cordelia would have gone to the demon completely had Rivener not brought her attention back to him. But she couldn't see the scorpion, the virus effectively blinding her eyes to his true form. All she saw was a scarlet white Sigel laughing menacingly like her efforts were pathetic. That flared her anger and the fumes drew away from Zul, pooling together around and before the Raevan. It was beginning to take some sort of logical form, but not that of the normally gentle femme. In a shape resembling more of a giant snake, the cloud gave a loud hiss before launching itself at her presumed danger. She would not allow him to hurt anyone else! Most especially Zul!

If Ebony had been paying more attention to the two male Raevans cuddling in her driveway then she probably would have wondered why the hell they were just standing around wasting space and not helping. And she would have most definitely spied the billowing smoke slowly swirling around them. But no, the violaceous woman was too busy worrying about her poor ward and also wondering where the hell the matches were.

Suddenly the scent of smoke was overwhelming and Ebony couldn't help, but frown at the logs in front of her. She hadn't even lit the match yet, so the smell shouldn't be so strong. It wasn't until a familiar hiss graced her ears did she understand. "Cordelia?!" she shouted before dashing back outside, the logs in the fireplace forgotten.