Burning Lust

[Rosemary Mori]

"How cuuute, a succubus who can't tell when someone's following her around like a lovesick puppy," Veni teased unable to hold it in anymore after observing Eztli do this for hours at one of his homes and for weeks at the soul fortress.  

[psychotic__Gal]

Nerissa rolled her muddy green eyes. It irritated her to no end when people played stupid. She sighed and took her eyes from the others in the room. Instead, she looked around the room itself. The walls were a pale cream color. The room was impecably kept. It was a fine mixture of modern and rustic, but not in such a way that made it unfashionable or unnatural. Duran seemed to have better taste than that. The counters were made of a neutral colored marble. There was an island in the center of the room. It was composed of dark wood cabinets, lining the areas beneath the marble counter that covered it. Embedded into the center of the island was a stainless steel gas stove. Around the kitchen walls, dark wood cabinets hung, in addition to stainless steel appliances such as a Refrigerator, a microwave, a toaster and an oven. A dark wood, square table sat to the far end of the room--they were not sitting at the table, they were sitting at the island's bar on wooden stools. A sink sat on one wall, a window above it and a coffee maker next to it. Nerissa had always wondered what coffee tasted like.

Finally, Nerissa eyes returned to the others, who were either staring at their food or at her. Nym's spoon was finally set down (it had been frozen up in the air previously). Nerissa shifted uncomfortably as she looked back at her brother, a flutter of compassion for her insane older brother. "Uhm..." She stated at last, "...actually this will be easier with an image." Nerissa rushed to the other room where she had left the picture of the hound...of her dead mother.

Nee returned to the kitchen with the kitchen. She placed it on the counter in front of where they all sat. It faced Salanio.

"This, Salanio, is our mother. She was Duran's companion, apparently. Uhm...I don't know that much about her other than what Duran has told me. This," She held up the piece of paper that Duran had given her, she placed it next to the image,"Says it all."

Nym's ears pressed to his head, as he asked in caution "Are...you sure? It isn't a trick?" He glanced apologetically at the Fallen angel. He didn't mean to offend; he had been raised in a place where you couldn't trust your truest companions. He occasionally mistrusted Nerissa for Hell's sake.
"Positive, Nym." His mate growled back before returning to her normal tone, "I allowed Duran to withdraw blood from my veins to get this information... It feels right Nym. Just look at the damn markings on that hound." Nerissa was growing agitated, unsure how to cope with this startling revelation.

------

Daphne stood up and walked over to Veni after a chuckle escaped her lips from his remark. She stepped over various bed things. When she got to where Veni was, She swatted his arm playfully. "You be nice now." She smirked.

Cian smiled as he took in the others' actions and words, choosing not to partake. His red eyes glanced over to the succubus in question--reading her distress quite easily.

A creeping blush was rising to Adira's cheeks. "That's... That's ridiculous!" She claimed, taking a deep breath she fought her blush back down. She was a succubus. Daughter of a succubus of the highest order. Sure she was tainted with a shape-shifting demon breed...but She would be able to tell if he was lovesick. Most definitely...Right?

"I would be able to tell." Adira finally stated. Or I should be able to tell...

Cian's head tilted as he heard the girl's claim. Although he kept it from his face, Cian was horrified. He had met succubi in the past--both before and after his transformation. Greece had been known to throw its great orgies, after all. Adira was nothing like these succubi, however. She was altered in such a measured way. He wondered briefly how many of the people around the room could see that. He treated this encounter as a small window in realizing just how hard Heegh broke people.  

[GamingLord]

Galantros quirked an eyebrow up at Veni slightly, feeling some sympathy for Adira and Eztli. He wasn't so sure about Adira's side, but he could tell there was some drifting emotion for her from Eztli and it was frustrating him while he was trying to do his job. What Veni just said probably made things more complicated.

Had Eztli a lip, he would have bitten down on it now hard enough to make it bleed. He needed out of this situation, it was getting out of hand. He wanted to help these people, of course, but..

“*Ahem*. Excuse me, I have an important matter I need to speak to Thas with. Thas, if you would be so kind?”

Looking up from the book he was reading, Thas gave the angel a questioning glance, but complied. Finding a quiet room that was out of the way, they began to talk. They talked in hush whispers, but they both possibly forgot that others could still hear them with superior hearing.

“I can't do it anymore, Thas. I've been praying so much, and resisting temptation. I'm concerned I'll become a liability. It's certainly something SHE doesn't need at all either, especially what with she's gone through.”

“Calm down, Eztli. You need to clear your mind.”

“Maybe... maybe you should trade me in for someone more competent. My emotions feel like they're just clouding my judgement.”

“Have you ever tried simply talking with her?”

“No... and I shouldn't. I'm supposed to be professional about this, instead I'm acting like some stupid teenager. I'm coming off as weird and creepy, instead of an individual that's trying to protect her and her friends. The fact that I couldn't compose myself out there doesn't help, even over a simple teasing.”

“Alright. If you really feel if it's all in the best interest... I'll try and find a replacement for you. Give me some time first until then.”

With that, Thas left to go read his book for a short while longer before leaving in a while to get Eztli's replacement. Eztli lingered a bit to get his composure back, sighing.

“Lovesick puppy... What is wrong with me? That's how I was really acting without thinking about it?”

Going back out into the hall, he announced he was going to go use the holo-gamer for a bit. He needed to vent some frustrations in a physical manner, and be away from others for some time. If anyone questioned the wisdom of going off on his own like that, he didn't really hear them.

Galantros frowned. He could taste the frustration in the air easily. This was just the first night, so how was this going to go the next several or so? Sighing quietly, he played his instrument again.

- - - - - -

A surge of extremely powerful electricity surged down Salanio's back, a twitch in his eye. Their mother's image stared back at him, bringing back....

Screaming. Horrible screaming. Their mother screaming in the horrible pain of dying while giving child birth, Salanio barely making it out of the womb. Why he had such a vivid memory of something while so young, he couldn't say, but.... he saw the poisons, the acids, eating her, his other siblings.

Heegh... the powerful aura of Hell, so evil, so strong and potent, overwhelming his young senses, barely able to come to terms with his mother's death, and barely escaping being born alive...

...At this point, Salanio was shaking violently, hands gripping the edge of the table, sparks flying off his body.

“You...” He turned to glare at Duran... “You had her! Where were YOU! WHERE WERE YOU!? What does this mean?! Is this all, just some sort of.... I don't...

THEY had it EASY! THEY HAVE IT EASY NOW! ******** Banquo and Ophelia, didn't suffer like we did, like I did. LIKE I DID!”

He started screaming gibberish at this point, bolts of electricity flying out of his body, throwing his chair across the room and tripping over his feet onto the floor.

“Suffer! They should suffer! He tore me apart and put me back together! No! NO! NONONO! What is that?! Don't come near me with that! It's in my skin! IT'S IN MY SKINNN!”

At this point, he was just screaming as he got up just enough to start slamming his head against the ********! You! Heegh! AAAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!”  

[psychotic__Gal]

Nerissa fought back the images called to mind by her brother’s screams. The mental tie the hounds shared worked against her, however. Salanio was practically pushing vivid memories from his point of view into her mind. The screams… the insects….poison dripping as fruit nectar from their mother’s womb before a sickly, small pup arrived. Tiny even for her newborn status. Forever to have the burden of being small. The sounds were the most vivid, as a pup’s sight was hardly developed and unnatural in the world outside of the womb.

…suddenly the scene shifted.

Heegh’s lair. Older brother was screaming--he was mad enough, as it was, but this was different. He seemed legitimately frightened. Her head tilted. What was that..that thing holding? Her body shook. She tried to take a step back. The sounds of chains. Coming closer….closer….

The Nerissa outside of the memory knew she had to get out of the memories or she would be forced to become as Salanio.

"SALANIO SHUT UP!" Outside Nerissa screamed, with that the mental connection severed for the time being. Silence overtook Nee’s mind, an occasional image popping up, although it was much easier to combat. Soon it was all silent. The female hound carefully reviewed Sal’s accusations.

"He wasn’t there, Sal," Nee finally stated clearly and solidly, "Heegh had her. He had us from the very start." She shuttered involuntarily.


----

Nym was horrified at the scene unfolding in front of him. Stray sparks slammed into his body. He sat petrified, although his eyes remained active. He glanced between sister and brother. He was startled again with Nerissa's scream and her shaking. He wanted to comfort her, but he sat unmoved.  

[psychotic__Gal]

[Candice's post]

Duran quickly covered Marcha with his wings to protect her from Salanio's wild electric show. As Nerissa calmed down more, Duran started cackling. He suddenly stopped, threw something at the ground, and grabbed Sal's invisible chain and tugged him to the ground when he decided his fit lasted long enough. A forcefield appeared around Salanio that didn't allow him to move around much. Gone was his more calm and slightly cheerful face and he now had a slightly disturbing and angry look. "Enough of that before you draw attention. I'll let you out when I decide you are more calm. What you said is not entirely true Nerissa. There is some good news. Heegh never had your mother before she died. She was fortunate to die before he got to her. You did her a favor. If Heegh had Glasyalabolas than she would have died worse. If Heegh had her than why is Ophelia not kept with you? Why has she not ever been raised in your little pen? Where was I? I was not with my dear companion in the end because Heegh had me and all the other fallen angels bound in one of the most fun little s**t holes in existance. Those hungers sure loved munching on our bodies. We so enjoyed having him tell us all of our dogs are dead, our work mostly destroyed, seeing some of it too, of him wasting things we had done. We really enjoyed him breaking our wings, literally tearing our bodies apart because he enjoyed getting a kick out of the carnage he could cause on fleshy beings he could not kill. I so enjoyed being allowed to see him torment his litter on the days he felt less abusive suspecting they were her's but never knowing entirely for sure. I enjoyed being thrown at spiked walls, pinned down, dissected, sewn back together by a lesser angel, taking the stitches out myself one way or another. Oh yes, your mother was fortunate and I am happy she died the way she did and never had to meet him strong woman or not. You all are lucky to be alive, we are lucky to be allowed out of Hell for now." He raised his cup of coffee. What should have sounded sarcastic from his torments especially did not sound sarcastic which made it difficult to tell if he was sarcastic and was thus a master at hiding it or really was that much of a masochist. However he did tell Salanio yesterday that what he thought Duran felt of Heegh was probably right. "Thank Heegh we are here. Enjoy it while we can." And drank from it. His demeanor went back to a mostly mild manner host. "Did any of you want to try some?" Referring to the coffee.  

[GamingLord]

Salanio breathed heavily, his pupils still small pinpoints on his eyes as he muttered things mostly unintelligible, save for "Get it out, get it out, not in my skin..." It would be a little while before Sal would fully regain his composure and what remaining sanity he had. He at least heard what Duran was saying, but couldn't comment on it at the moment, his mind stuck in a horrifying loop still. Gradually, the storm in his mind was calming though after that outburst. More harmless shocks of electricity danced about his body now, instead of the surges of raw lightning that had almost practically thundered throughout the room. Attempting to sit up, he had finally stopped talking, though he wasn't staring at anyone or anything. It was like he existed, but didn't.

Something else was going through his mind now. Heegh. How much hatred and suffering he had caused him.... had caused his sister, had apparently caused lots of people, even though they were following his cause. Seriously considering.... rebelling almost.

A few flashbacks of the images, of Heegh opening his limbs with a blade to watch him suffer, only to heal him improperly, do it again, then heal him the right way so he'd live... Doing similar things to other parts of his body. Did Heegh make Nerissa or her mate suffer in such manners in the past? Sure, he treated them.... 'better'... now, but only because they were a more valuable resource apparently if his guess was correct.

His eyes wandered to his machete... Funny. The very same blade he made many kills with in the past, was the one used on him by Heegh then given to him as a "gift". He was tempted to use it on himself now, as he had been in the past. Hissing in frustration, he clawed his hands through the sides of his head and hair, drawing minor amounts of blood with his nails.  

[Rosemary Mori]

Gag post

Veni looked around and said, "it's not my fault none of GamingLord's characters can take a teasing when it involves someone they may or may not fancy."
 

[Rosemary Mori]

"Between six...seven hundred years... sometime after the handheld version was invented here," Rosemary responded to Sylin's question. She wasn't gambling her share of the candies. XD She had just learned how to zip and wondered why no one's taught her such simple things especially the holy stuff as a vampire like her wouldn't have thought of such things. You've never played that in the half decade I've known you... does Black even know you play an instrument?

Veni rolled his eyes at Eztli's response. Too many of his newer friends were shy jittery virgins or shy in general, and others pretended not to be but really were.  

[GamingLord]

Eyes gone wide, Eztli reacted purely on instinct... Almost forgetting that the whole thing was a simulation that he set up, and that someone else had apparently altered. Just a moment ago, he'd been smashing and burning inanimate objects, or random non-existent in life monsters that were coming after him.

He immediately leaped in front of the powerful, deadly spell of the Stream of the Damned used by the Niearcim, blocking it from hitting Adira. He braced himself for the pain, for the end of his life until God saw fit to rebuild him.... As Malos screamed before the Stream hit him, Eztli realized he'd been tricked, though the sounds still disturbed him.

"Code A4, End Simulation, Exit."

The world around him quickly flickered and vanished, revealing the true room around him, and Sephiroth at the controls.

"...Next time, I'm going to remember to password protect my games. What the Hell was that all about?!"

Malos, in the meantime, had come into the holo-gamer room to check up on Eztli since he seemed somewhat distressed, and had witnessed what happened.

"Hmmm, okay then. There a reason you're messing with Eztli's head there, Sephiroth?"

- - - - - -


Galantros finished the piece of music he'd been playing, and looked over at Rosemary and shrugged.

Haven't played this thing in nearly thirty or forty years I'm thinking. Just felt like picking it up again tonight. No, Black doesn't even know, I sorta forgot about my essence-flute for a while...  

[GamingLord]

Eztli glanced off to the side, sitting down on one of the chairs as he digested this thought.

"Yeah... Hate to admit it, but I suppose you have a point."



Malos sat next to Eztli and patted the elemental on the back.

"I think you're just overthinking this whole thing a bit much, like a number of us in our group tend to do. Galantros did it, I did it some, Hell, I think even Githar's done it. You know the ol' saying, 'No lungs, but breathe deep.' You just need to calm down and relax, dude.

Maybe even work up the nerve to stop being so nervous and ask her out on a date? Think about where we are... This place used to be a haven for dating couples if I've heard right... am I wrong, Sephiroth? You know, the worse she could actually do is say no.

Think of it this way, this is advice coming from someone who isn't exactly a Casanova himself, but I think I'm doing okay with Willow. Just... here, one second..."

Malos left the room, and came back with a small can of energy drink, though it was a little different than others, being a calming blue in color with an image of a tropical island on it. He popped the tab open on it and handed it Eztli.

"There, that should help you calm down a bit."


Eztli nodded his thanks.

"A tranquil revitalizer is something I could use right about now, didn't know you brought some of those."


- - - - - -

Phil the poring happily ate his apple snack, then hopped up onto the surface Cian and Daphne were putting together the puzzle on. Phil then swallowed some of the pieces, and burped them cutely into place.

The little Jr. Pac-Man was a little occupied at the moment, growling at Banquo, trying to get the hound to growl back at him... obviously in a playful manner. Nabbing a cloth in it's little round mouth it slapped Banquo with it on the face. Galantros laughed a little at this.


"Now I wonder if he has the spirit of some canine-like creature... Looks like he wants to play tug of war with you, Banquo."

Meanwhile, Sylin won another game of poker, ending up with a majority of the blood candies finally. But out of a show of graciousness to his hosts and people giving him a chance, he split up the treats with the others... mostly. Crunching around a hard blood candy in his leech mouth with his sharp, needle like and triangular teeth, he nodded at Rosemary's answer.

"That's rather impressive. I've had my weapons for almost a thousand years, though they weren't as potent as they are now. They grow with me since, well, they are a part of me as you've probably seen as I've unholstered and cleaned them...

...I suppose there is one interesting thing about them that other's have mentioned. They adapt to more modern firearms by ingesting them. It's natural to me, but I'm told it's rather unusual by other demons that have handled firearms before. They're rather potent now, but I have my eye on some of the other firearms Limbo has produced. I haven't had a chance to get my hands on any in sometime.

What guns are your favorites to fire? Is it the handguns you showed me that one day?"

Ralis and some of the other angels at this time were crowded around an air hockey table and ski ball machines. The Honored angel had won at least ten matches in a row on air hockey, until a lesser angel beat him rather badly. Ralis looked only slightly disappointed, but grinned anyways. He then watched some of the others play skiball before picking up one of the wooden spheres himself to give it a go. Chuckling to himself, he looked over to the group of others that were playing cards, doing puzzles, reading, and so on.

Ralis: "You want to know something interesting about God that I've heard from the archangels? He's really into SkiBall."*

Random Angel: "Heard He's not too bad at Air Hockey either, though Salen's beaten Him once or twice."

Ralis: "Salen's a worse air-hockey addict than us."

*(Yay random Dogma movie reference)  

[psychotic__Gal]

Nerissa's skin crawled when Duran's cackling took to the air. She winced and if she were in hound form, her ears would be pressed against her head. It frightened her. Something in this laughter was...mad. Not quite Sal's mode of instability, rather it was different. Terrifying. While before Duran had seemed almost...well, run-of-the-mill demonic... he now appeared as the fallen angel that he was. Nee had heard stories of the fallen angels...they were played upon by Heegh (or perhaps he only tried to play them) because of their hatred of Lucifer. Nee now wondered what Duran's role had been in the fall.

"He can't just turn it off like a switch." She replied softly to Duran's comment to Sal. Once she said this she became still, listening to Duran's story.

At Duran's revelation, Nerissa's eyes narrowed only a fraction. Why hadn't he told her that before? Normally, she didn't mind secrets. She saw them as inevitable in society. Nobody could be a totally open book--even with all of the telepathic individuals out there. However, it mattered to her in this case...in the case of her mother.

She glanced to her brother, still under stress. She wondered if he had even heard any of this. A sigh escaped her lips as she realized that in some sane recess of his mind, Sal probably heard it but his immediate self was probably too far gone.

"We are alive but at some expense to our sanity, our mental and physical health. We are allowed out because Heegh seems to think that he has erased the presence of our own will-- our longing for freedom. He doesn't seem to comprehend that you can never take that away from a living creature. That longing is embedded in us all." Yes, Nerissa often listened to Heegh's selfish soliloquies. A sardonic smile lit her features, "We are out here because we are his 'mindless' soldiers." She paused, "Yes, I would like some thank you." with that she took a bite of the now cold oatmeal.

Nym's sat silent, still. He felt like an intruder in a family affair. They weren't discussing his family. His parents weren't killed at child birth...No...His eyes widened. Heegh got to them.

------

Daphne took a seat next to Cian again. She glanced over to her husband, noting something rooted in her eyes. She tilted her head, her eyes narrowing, trying to figure the emotion out. She opened her mouth to speak...

But was interrupted by the Poring landing on the puzzle. She stared at it in shock as it ate the pieces, then as it burped them in to place. She blinked...then clapped. "That was amazing Phil!"

Adira rubbed, absently at her arm. What happened to Eztli? She bit her lip, wondering vaguely if her protest had caused him to wander away. No, her rational mind said, it was Veni's comment. If I knew this place well enough, I would be up and wandering as well. Still...she worried about him. She became so used to his presence that without him there, everything seemed off balanced or unnatural. Adira did not want to stop to ponder these rising emotions.

To get her mind off of these thoughts, Adira decided to do a little exercise. She closed her eyes and cast her senses out from her body, expanding her range. The emotions that came at her were fast at first but Adira worked at them, concentrating on her gift for several uninterrupted seconds and they slowed down. She breathed deeply, taking her time to read them. Happy, playful, curiosity, competitive, generosity, awe, fun, concern, wonder, affection...Disturbed, exhaustion, embarrassment, denial...Disgust and horror.

Her eyes opened in delayed alarm. Horror? Disgust? Adira's eyes scanned the room. They met the red eyes of a vampire. In his eyes she could see concern. She knew he was the one to feel horror and disgust but why was their concern? She blinked and their connection was broken. The male vampire's eyes were back to his game. A startled laugh broke through his lips with the antics of the creature in front of him. Adira would ask him later for clarification...She would make it a point to ask. No more timidity. She nodded in resolution to herself.

Banquo was unsure what to do at first but when GL clarified it, Ban grabbed the end of the cloth and pulled lightly. Growling without threat.