One who made me (dooone)

[GamingLord]

Demon: "Lord Heegh wanted us to watch over you, and so we shall..."

Galantros actually shifted a little, and the smallest amount of his weight returned, though it hardly affected Black's ability to carry him... it just made her more aware that he was there.

GL: "What?! What happened? Where am I? What's... what's going on? Feel so weak."

The demons for their part were observing and inspecting everything with great interest. Sometimes, they almost seemed to leer at people in the group in such a manner that it almost made them feel dirty.

Demon 1: "The vampiress is beautifully wounded, isn't she? Her skull and mind are still exposed a little. Looks like the delicate work of one of our Mind Gatherers."

Demon 2: "The other looks like he's been in the sun too long. Look at how his flesh is burnt and blistered. So these are the ones that our Lord Heegh says have stood up against many demons? The mighty, how they have fallen..."

GL: "What are... Make them stop talking, please."

Even in his weakened state, Galantros was being made angered and upset by what the demons were saying about his friends. One of the demons grinned and seemed to sniff at Galantros.

Demon 3: "Oh lovely, you're still cursed from the little girl's bite from when I possessed her. I wonder if Lord Heegh will see fit to remove the curse of the weak from you. There's nothing we can do to remove it."

GL: "You? ...You're the one that possessed Black!? I'll..."

Demon 3: "Please, your threats are empty, half-breed sex demon. We won't hurt you now anyway, Lord Heegh commands it. Interesting though, you're half a sex demon, an incubus. Tell me half-breed, have you had your way with these ladies yet?"

Galantros, even in his weakened state, had enough strength to blush completely red.

GL: "Shut up. I'm not like that!"  

[psychotic__Gal]

Daphne frowned and her eyes narrowed. She called in the tongue she knew her familiars would answer. Damn. A moment too late. The ravens circled but found nothing. "Follow them." She replied, lowly, her voice leaving no room for her usual niceties. The birds took off, no doubt gathering more of their kind. They formed into a large, almost bird shape.

Daphne turned to where Cian was lying Veni in a coffin, her mouth dropped. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" She shrieked. Then, she realized she was still holding Rosemary. "Oh, I am sorry." She said quietly, "I didn't mean to shriek in your ear." She paled and hurried to set the hurt vampiress on the couch. "Can I heal you in any way?"


Cian turned to Daphne, "I am following my Hostess' orders, m'dear." He said calmly, "This will help him." He set the vampire in the coffin, feeling daphne's glare on the back of his head.  

[GamingLord]

There was a fourth demon, a sort of golem like creature made of stone that had remained silent for the most part. He watched as his brothers were sent tumbling a long way down

Demon 4: "Hmmph... Idiots."

GL: "Daphne... Might want to heal... Rosemary's brain. Still looks damaged. Probably good for now... that Veni is in a coffin. Nobody here can feed him well enough... Afraid he'd... he'd drain Black. Maybe once I'm better, or we find some blood, we can let him out."

Galantros gave a heavy sigh... he was so tired, even though he was slowly gaining back some strength he'd lost from being in that grenade blast, and then hooked up to that soul draining tower.

GL: "Black, you can set me down now if you want... Don't have to carry me, if you need your hands free. I just need some time to absorb... sunlight, ambient energy, and I'll be a little better after a while. Unless we can find some food or something around here maybe?"

At that moment, there was a sudden twinge of evil in the air, thick and heavy... it seemed to last a long moment, passing by like a dark breeze. It made GL shiver, his wings struggling to wrap around himself.

Demon 4: "That would be Lord Heegh unleashing his full fury. It is good that you are all an acceptable distance away from where He is."

Sephiroth, being closer, felt the presence much stronger, almost like a violation of self that made him feel cold and dirty.

- - - - -

Meanwhile, somewhere on the other end of Barton town, Jacob was stumbling about, feeling weakened and drained. He'd found the slug on the back of his neck, and pried it off... the process had been painful, and he had to be quick to kill the creature before it tried to reattach itself to him. This, coupled with what the vampires had been through had left him extremely exhausted. Not knowing where the soldiers he had been with had ended up, he decided to head out on his own. For some reason, he had a strong feeling they were somewhere in Barton town.

Jacob: Please, please let them be okay. Don't tell me I've failed another person to the Niearcim... Rosemary, are you out there somewhere? I never should have left for that meeting...  

[psychotic__Gal]

As Daphne's hands produced warmth on Rosemary's head, as she concentrated, she answered Black's question, "I am not one to stay in a coffin." Her voice was quiet, almost lonely due to the fact that she was not like others of her kind, embarrasement covering her features, "Pretty sad excuse for a creature of the night, huh?" She gave a dark, sad smile but continued healing Rosemary. It was taking a while but the skin and tissues were reforming.

Cian sighed. He knew from the start that Daphne wasn't going to be like the other vampires he created. He could see the change in her eyes right after he created her. He could see that she was not like the others. This is the attraction she held to him.  

[GamingLord]

Having convinced Black to finally put him down, Galantros managed to find that the displays were still full of fresh muffins and other goodies. There were even a few deli sandwiches and salads in that were being kept fresh, seeing as how the building still had power. For the most part, the structure was mostly untouched. Stumbling behind the counter, GL helped himself to a few sandwiches and soon felt a bit better... able to walk without falling over himself and talk without having to pause to gather his strength.

After a bit more digging around, he found some juice and bottled water, figuring he could mostly share that with Black since they were in the company of vampires for the most part.

GL: "I don't feel so weak anymore. Still not up to running any marathons, but better."

A while passed, and the demons had come back, obviously disgruntled and annoyed, but not about to do anything to the people that had attacked them. They mostly muttered amongst themselves about how lucky the people were that Lord Heegh had demanded their protection. After a time, a thought came to Galantros, and once Rosemary had been healed enough that she could talk once again without a major migraine, he asked her a question.

GL: "Rosemary? ...How much blood would Veni need to recover without losing it? I'm still cursed, but maybe... I can 'plug' myself into one of those electrical sockets, and drip some of my blood into a glass for him or something."

Before she or anyone else could answer that question, Jacob stumbled in through the front door, looking worse for wear. There was some relief at seeing Rosemary relatively alright, but upon not seeing Veni, concerns still ran through his mind.

Jacob: "Where's Veni?"

GL: "He's in the coffin, he was badly wounded and burnt. They put him in there cause he's going to want blood badly when he wakes up. Problem is, none of us can really give him any... How did you get back here?"

Jacob: "Once somebody told me that something was wrong and that my help was needed, I used my magic to force open a small temporary hole for some elite soldiers and I. I can feed Veni so he won't go berserk upon waking... You're cursed, Galantros, I can see it plain as day around you. So is she (he gestured towards Daphne). I can take care of them once the more immediate things are handled."

"But first.... why are there hell demons here that aren't attacking you? I can sense they're not converted..."

GL: "Maybe you should have a sandwich or something, Jacob. You look like crap. I'm not sure why they're here either... Black, you were carrying me when I woke up. Can you explain?"  

[psychotic__Gal]

Daphne's breath became labored as the skin sealed on Rosemary's head. This was tougher to heal than the other wounds from before. The head was always a trouble spot. It took a lot of her energy to accomplish this. She sat--though she more of slumped-- in an armchair. At Rosemary's question, Daph's head tilted. Rosemary was...befriending her. She opened her eyes, "But...I want to help." She responded, "What if someone gets hurt again?" She turned her head to the mysterious jacob, she blinked and realized he was talking of her "Thank you," She whispered.

Cian took the position to explain what happened. His deep voice explained the captures, the curses, and how Heegh saved them all.  

[GamingLord]

GL: "I'll see you later Black... take care of yourself!"

Jacob: "Food sounds like a good idea. I'm famished now. I was ambushed once I arrived here, didn't even see what did it. And while I eat, I'll take a look at what's affecting Galantros..."

GL: "It's some sort of weakness curse. It's like I can't recover all my strength, only to a certain point."

While the necromancer drank juice and munched on a rather large sandwich (almost as if he were eating for two... or more), he traced symbols in the air in front of the reaper-demon. Soft, faint trails of blue energy followed his finger. He 'hmmed' a moment, then nodded.

Jacob: "Get ready, Galantros. You're going to feel a strange tugging sensation, and you'll be disoriented for a short while... but you should be back to normal afterwards."

Jacob traced a circle within a circle on GL's chest, then grasped at something in the air at it's center. He muttered as he pulled something, and a glowing black sphere oozed out of the reaper's chest, and into Jacob's hand. The necromancer spoke a few quiet arcane words, running his other hand over it as the black sphere shifted color to a transparent frosted glass sort of material, then shattered, becoming bits of glimmering dust that faded into the air. GL almost fell backwards from where he was sitting, holding his head, his wings fluttering a little. Soon though, he found that he was gaining back his strength at last, and it wouldn't be long before he was as fit as he usually was.

Demon 3: "So much for my fun little curse..."

As Cian explained everything, Jacob seemed to stare at him intently, in a manner that made it feel like he was searching Cian's very soul. Whether the vampire knew it or not, he was studying the normally invisible energies of the curse that Cian had placed on both himself and Daphne that connected them. He could tell that Cian was the caster, and he wondered what sort of person would cast such a spell... a possessive one, most likely. He didn't know Daphne very well, but of the few times he'd seen her around THoR she seemed like a nice person, ever since Galantros helped her that one fateful day when she stumbled into the building starving to death and the reaper offered his blood to her to feed her.

Jacob: "The Niearcim... Again trying to conquer this realm. And you having to make a deal with the Devil himself... So he removed the possessed spirits, and placed them in some of these demons? I didn't sense that he had done anything else, but I want to check Black later just to be safe."

He gave a nasty glare in particular to the third demon that had been responsible for cursing GL and possessing Black. The demon sneered back, until Jacob spoke strange words, and a bright green flame appeared in his hand. The creature actually stumbled back, along with the others.

Jacob: "Yes, you know what this flame represents. You've seen the Niearcim use it on your kind before, haven't you? You know, that you would be under my total control if I finished this spell, my absolute slaves, your minds trapped and forced to watch while your bodies obey. And what you've done to my friends... I would not have servitude in mind, but only your most painful torment. Do not DARE to threaten them again!"

Jacob extinguished the flame, and the demons only seemed to relax slightly. He then turned his attention to Rosemary and the coffin.

Jacob: "I feel much stronger now, Rosemary. I'm going to feed Veni now, so he'll have some blood in his system. Daphne, after this I'll take a look at you."

With his always fresh wounds and constantly smelling like blood, it was practically a guarantee that Veni would go for Jacob the instant he opened the coffin. Still, he made sure Galantros was far away before he lifted up the lid. He took a brief second to glance at Veni... the vampire was so severely burnt, he almost didn't recognize him. Guilt flooded him again, as he bent over him.

Jacob: "Veni, feed off me.... AHH!"

The very split second he finished his sentence, the vampire awoke and latched onto the nearest open wound on Jacob's body, in this case the front of his throat where his flesh and muscle was exposed. Jacob grunted and grimaced at the sudden pain as Veni was rewarded with a gush of hot blood to feed off of.

Galantros just shuddered a little at the pain the necromancer seemed to suddenly be in, and the vicious way Veni had suddenly just striked, moving so fast he didn't even see a blur. The demons just snickered.  

[psychotic__Gal]

It was as if Rosemary read her mind...wait...did she? Daph shook her head. She'd been staring transfixed at the violent scene in front of her eyes. Daphne let out a small giggle before she could help herself. She wanted to pet Veni. As if moving on its own accord, her hand went to stroke Veni's head, as if he was as his familiar, the cat. Before her hand reached the tip of his head, much less a strand of hair, the vampire turned around and let out a hiss. Surprised, Daphne's hand retreated in a blur back to her side. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cian roll his eyes and shook his head. Daph pouted like a child that was denied a treat.  

[GamingLord]

Jacob gasped and choked for a moment... with Veni at his throat the way he was, the necromancer couldn't speak, only gag and make gurgling sounds as his blood spilled.

Jacob: Grrkk.... Veni... calm down! I'm not going anywhere, take what you need. Just take it easy, we're mostly friends here.

While Veni fed, GL tried to find interest in other things besides the display of blood before him... in the chairs, the food display, his shoes. He then thought of how banged up Rosemary had been. Sure, she had been healed, but doesn't that still take energy?

GL: "Uh, Rosemary? Do you need any blood?"

Jacob: I was going to feed her next after eating to recover... Though maybe it's better he offers, since he's recovered all his strength back.