Burning Lust

[psychotic__Gal]

Adira smiled more this night than she had in a long time. It was nice to be with someone who demanded so little. Eztli was a restful person to be around, in spite of his nerves. He put her at ease. She wanted to be a...well, pure person around him. He seemed innocent but at the same time...something dark about him. It was just the right about of mystery. If he had been all innocence and naivety, Adira wasn't sure if she would have liked him or found him restful. She was pretty sure she would have avoided him. Innocence always made her sad to some extent. Adira tasted the emotions around her and paused as she took Eztli's preoffered arm. Something was different about him. Some emotion that wasn't there before. It didn't quite have Eztli's "flavor". Adira was nervous for him for a moment before she caught the emotions of another being near the room where they stood. Galantros. She compared these emotions to the ones she had felt from Eztli. They matched. Adira shrugged. Then it was fine.

Adira and Eztli walked down the hall towards the movie room. Every once and awhile, Adira would pause to look at some picture on the wall, or some famous painting hanging there. She commented on a few, not expecting to get answers. She didn't expect Eztli to know this place better than she did.

The two got to the movie viewing room in no time. The room had a large screen and a few comfortable looking couches set up, with a couple of solitary over-stuffed chairs. Adira left Eztli's side to go look at the titles of movies on the shelves lining the walls. There were so many! For every ten to fifteen that she'd never heard of, she knew only 4. Then there was the colors! There were so many colors on the movies.

"Wow." Adira breathed, "Look at how many there are! And the colors are...terrific!" She paused, slowly becoming overwhelmed, "I...I don't know how we're going to choose what to watch. There's...just so many."



 

[GamingLord]

"Hmmm... You're right. There are quite a few. I know, I'll pick out some good ones that I know, and then we can decide amongst those. How does that sound?"

Eztli picked out some movies, trying not to feel embarrassed a little as he picked out some that were specifically romantic comedies amongst others he thought that Adira would enjoy. All in all, he managed to choose about eight movies to pick from, which made the selection a little easier to manage.

"If none of these get your interest, I can try again..."  

[GamingLord]

"Lazer tag? So it's like fighting with weaponry, but not? Play-fighting?"

Marcha had just gone over the basic rules and guidelines of how to play the game with Salanio, and he thought he understood. The concept of play-fighting was almost foreign to him though, since almost everytime he ever had to fight, it was to survive in some manner.

"And no gravity... hmm. So we'll be floating around in an uncontrolled sense. This should be... different."

Later...

"Woah... this is... different!"

Sal struggled to maintain some sense of control as he suddenly lifted off into the air in the lazer arena, lit only by strange neon lits and other flashy effects in the dark. He idly noted that bits of white around them glowed strangely (the result of black lighting.)


*ZAP*

"Player 1 has scored 1 point!"

"H-hey! I wasn't ready!"  

[psychotic__Gal]

"I'm sure there's one in here that will be okay." Adira reassured him, smiling. She took the movies in her hands to study the images on the front before turning it over to read about the story. Call it a character flaw but she often judged media by its cover. She was extremely grateful to Eztli because he picked out these eight movies; it helped her a lot.

A few of the movies were black and white but the rest were colored. Adira was leaning toward the older movies as they seemed a bit more familiar. She felt as though she could relax with those first. "All of these sound intriguing... we should watch all of them at some point." She smiled shyly, "But for tonight...perhaps The Philadelphia Story?" The movie was directed by George Cukor and it starred Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant--at least she recognized a few of those names.

Adira set the movies down on one of the ledges and handed Eztli the DVD. As he put it in the player, she found a large blanket and settled on to one of the couches.

------------------------

Nerissa sighed. Her brother had gone out on a "date"--she shuddered to think how normal that sounded. She was growing restless. She wondered how long it would take for Heegh to notice their absence. For him to actually care. Probably not long. He already lost one servant, he wouldn't be so inclined to lose any more.

Nym turned his steel eyes to his mate's face. He could see the diminutive differences upon her face like a professional. He was used to trying to detect how she was feeling. He wasn't exactly at the expert level of naming her emotions but he could at least get some idea...he did know by now not to ask her about those emotions though.  

[GamingLord]

The couple ended up watching the movie, Eztli apparently never having seen it before either, but both enjoying it. At one point Adira had started to lean into Eztli a little, when suddenly Inky appeared out of nowhere from the blanket, having been asleep on one of the quilted blanket's patches, startling the crud out of both people. It only took him a funny little party hard and a cookie to get him to go away while they finished the movie.

All in all, they got to bed lateish, Eztli waking up fairly early still seeming to be in a decent mood as he sipped at an energy drink in the kitchen.  

[psychotic__Gal]

The ghost scared Adira at first, as she was unsure what it was. She tilted her head as the little thing became more defined in her mind--Eztli explained what it was not a moment after the ghost left with its cookie. Adira was thankful.

As she walked away from Eztli as the night came to a close, she ran over the details of the night once more in her mind. She smiled. It had been fun. The movie was interesting--a good director, a good cast--and she had even snuggled into Eztli. Thank....well, God, that nothing further happened. She was relieved that he hadn't expected a kiss or something from her. Hanging out was okay in Adira's book but anything more seemed to be pushing it. She nodded. It had been a nice evening. Adira brushed her teeth (a habit she picked up here in the Natural World) and got ready for bed. She let out a deep sigh of content as she slid her body under the covers. Banquo and Ophelia curled up by her, still almost guarding her. Adira scratched her hand against each of them before her eyes closed and she fell asleep.

...The dream was a weird one. Strange and frightening. Always running. Get away. Don't let it catch you. But what was it? Adira didn't know. It seemed a mystery. Half of the demoness wanted to turn around and find out what was chasing her but the other half, the stronger half, didn't allow her to. It told her to keep running. Don't stop. Don't pause.

She passed broken bodies only noticing who they were after she ran by. The first body was that of Ophelia. The hound was in her true form but the fires that usually ran across her body were dead and the skin of the hound was pale. Her amber eyes were closed and her body was slack. The body was in a strange position. But Adira couldn't stop to turn around to mourn properly. This happened again with Banquo's body this time. The next after Banquo came upon her suddenly. It was Eztli...But he wasn't quite dead. There was something...not normal about his appearance. the dream Eztli stood and looked at Adira with a sort of mad-ownership like gaze. She had only seen that gaze in Heegh. "Ooh Adira..." came the Eztli's voice, "come back..." But Adira ran. She somehow knew that this wasn't Eztli. This was a possessed version of the reaper.

Tears fell from Adira's eyes as she ran, passing more bodies of her friends. There was Cian only several feet away from Daphne...Galantros' reaper form looked odd in death. There were no words to describe it...There was Veni, his flamboyant features were calmed in death, not peaceful but not exactly aware. Jacob was there...Finally Rosemary. This body scared Adira the most. If someone so...strong could die, what chance did that leave one half succubus?

The dream ended abruptly only to transform into a nightmare that was perhaps even more frightening....

------------------------
((Now to make things more interesting...))

Nearing dawn, Cian's eyes popped open very suddenly. The dark red irises glimmered even in the dim lighting. Almost everyone was asleep in the room. He had been woken up. Something...some power jarred him out of his dead-like state. It felt like something he had felt only a few times once while he had been searching for Daphne--whom he had only known as "Evelyn" and the other time when his shaman Maker had sought him out. Someone was scrying.

Cian automatically turned to the object he felt that it was in pursuit of. His eyes took in the sleeping form of the demoness as she made a soft sound and turned over, her hands clutching her blanket in a death grip. He frowned, feeling a sort of old, sad emotion for the woman. He sighed. They should have known to expect something of this nature. From what the vampire knew of Hell's ruler, Heegh, he guessed that no one escaped easily. Heegh would not only send one form of attack...he would use multiple mediums. Cian mentally kicked himself. They should have known this.

There was one hope. Cian sat up, careful not to move the surface where Daphne still lay asleep. He stood, his movements light and cautious. He reached Jacob in a matter of seconds and leaned down.

"Did you feel that energy, Jacob?" His voice was very soft, just under a whisper.

------------------------

Nym wandered Duran's house, finished reading for the moment. He was bored and, honestly, he couldn't take any more of his mate's restlessness.

Nym lifted his tan, well-defined arm in order to run a hand over his head, scratching across the dark brown hair. He could have been purring as he did it (except for the fact that Hell hounds do not purr, as a rule.). His over six foot frame easily navigated the house, his steps were long although somewhat heavy upon the ground. His sharp gray eyes--similar to those of the rocks in a river bed--took in his surroundings with a cool appreciation. He sighed. It had been too long since one of the hounds had talked to Duran. The hounds needed to know what progress had been made and the likelihood of Heegh ever finding them. Nym decided he should do it.

Nym carefully knocked on Duran's door and opened it slightly. He stuck his head in. "Would it be okay if I asked you about a few things? Or...would you rather I come back at another point in time?" He asked.  

[GamingLord]

Salanio struggled for a moment, getting pegged a couple more times, before he was finally able to get used to moving in zero gravity, quickly taking cover and returning fire. He discovered that while with his own electrical attacks and such that he had great accuracy, he was piss poor with something like a gun.

"C'mon..... c'moooon! Oh he's standing right out in the open!"

*Zap! Miss! Zap! Miss! Zap! Miss! Zap *DING!*

"Gotcha!"



*ZAP, DING!"

"Player 4 has scored 1 point!"

"Oh, you're going to pay for that..."

- - - - - - -

Jacob was already sitting up, a little ways off from where he had been sleeping. His eyes were closed, as he traced faint, glowing runes in the air in concentration. Oddly enough, the pac-ghosts were revolving around him lazily, looking like they were staring off into another world unseen. Even Inky seemed rather serious.

"Unfortunately, yes. Something felt so wrong that it roused me from my sleep. I have some of my spirit friends to thank me for that, and now I'm working with a few. These four are helping me try to block the 'signal'..."

Jacob reached into a pocket and pulled out a very small bag of sky-blue powder.

"Wake Adira from her sleep, tell her to mix that in a drink, and consume it. It should help with nightmares in general, and any caused by this sort of dark influence. It's a refined, slightly holy ingredient I use to gather in my home realm from a semi-rare plant, back when common nightmares were a part of my curse.

...it's optional, but it becomes more potent when you add in the life fluid of one or more people she really cares about. I would let her and her hounds know about that in case they decide to do that. Too bad at the time I didn't have anyone I could go to for that while I was more deeply cursed."  

[psychotic__Gal]

Cian stared blankly at the oddity of the ghosts revolving around the necromancer, then he shrugged. Jacob would have a reason for it...and Jacob did. So the ghosts were blocking the signal's power. Cian breathed a sigh of relief and nodded almost in thanks. He didn't know why he seemed to care about this demoness. Was there something about her that everyone just seemed to react to? Something like an orphaned, homeless kitten? Cian withdrew from his thoughts in order to listen to what Jacob was saying.
"Holy? Is something holy okay for a demoness to ingest?" Cian asked as he took the packet of powder, "I've met my share of demons but I'm not nearly as knowledgeable of their kind as you seem to be. I'm unsure if their bodies would reject the holy influence as, say, my own would." He listened to the rest of Jacob's directions without further interruption. At the end of it he had another question.
"By....life fluid you mean blood?" He then nodded as Jacob revealed something about himself, "I know what you mean. Daphne was...lucky she met this household. She never seemed to be one for long periods of travel and being with one's own self as I have had to do. It's...odd for me to be here. This is perhaps the biggest...well, coven I've ever stayed with."

------------------------

Adira's body tossed and turned as the nightmares continued to flash....until suddenly they were gone. The dreams settled down. It felt almost as it had back at the Soul Fortress.

Adira was left with a Hell-Lake scene. She sat on a metal lawn chair and she wore a small two piece bathing suit. A sweating glass of Mimosa. She took a sip from a straw and glanced to her right. Her father sat on a chair next to her.
"I miss you, Daddy." She said softly.
"I know, Chickpea. Don't you fret. You've got friends all over the place," he put a hand on her hand.
"But they're not the same as you, Daddy."
"I know, Baby."

It continued with this lazy speech for awhile.

------------------------

Nym nodded in silent gratitude and entered the room. He looked about himself for a moment, studying contraptions and devices he recognized from his studies with the books. It excited him to test his knowledge. "First of all, I would like to apologize for our...ah, antisocial behavior." Ever the "diplomatic leader" Nym thought it best to start with the obvious, "I was...enraptured with the knowledge from the books. It was all very fascinating. I've decided that I very much like research. I guess I'm not used to an atmosphere such as this--" He gestured around himself, "Well...being treated like this, I mean. So thank you." Nym coughed, feeling awkward. He looked down on the table and saw Duran holding something down. His head tilted, "I...had a question but now I've forgotten it in favor for another. What is that that you are holding down?" He blinked, remembering what his question was, "Ah, right. I've remembered. What do you think we should do when we meet up with Heegh? Do we tell him about you? Do we go on as usual? I believe we could use your guidance in this matter...it would ease my mind and I know it will ease Nerissa's--although she wouldn't admit it of course."  

[GamingLord]

"For Adira, this kind of holy will not harm her. It's a refined sort. It'd take a while to explain, but pure holiness will not harm someone that's... well, thats not truly meant for Hell to put it one way I suppose. We've even tested it with Veni at one point, though he's had some bad experiences with holy energies in general."

Jacob took a moment to reply as he frowned at something, etched a few more faintly glowing symbols in the air, then seemed to relax.

"Got you."

He then crushed something in his grip, something small, and red suddenly becoming tangible and shattering, before fading away into the air.

"Should be at least a little more difficult for whoever it was to scry again. Okay, take a break you four. Thanks. Anyway...

Yes life fluid, just a drop of blood will do."

Jacob seemed to give a slight grin at Cian revealing how odd it was for him to be at THoR.

"You get used to it after a while. You really start to grow a mutual attachment to the people here. I do believe you'd always be welcome, though that isn't up to me to say. I'm not even sure you've met the other reapers, have you? They're an interesting bunch at times, Galantros' friends."  

[psychotic__Gal]

Cian nodded to Jacob's instructions. "Well, okay. I see." He responded to the parts about the holy powder. He would get the blood--letting the girl sleep of a bit longer. I really do have an almost fatherly approach to the girl It stunned the vampire. The demoness was probably older than he was, after all.o
"Thank you for your encouragement." Cian smiled, "I appreciate it. I don't believe that I have met many of the other reapers.I should like to meet them at some point." His ears perked up at Sephiroth's statement and he turned to the angelic man, "Ah...I only meant..well, group. I've been around vampires for much to long." He looked apologetic, "I'm sorry if it seemed like I was implying that you were a witch or vampire.

Cian gave a sheepish smile, then took a deep breath, feeling that dawn was almost on its way, "I think...I should get this to Adira. It's almost dawn. Thank you." He nodded and made his way to the kitchen to get a glass and water.

Cian got the glass and filled it with water before he noticed Eztli in the room. He mixed the powder in with the water and approached Eztli.
"Would you mind donating some of your, ah, life fluid? Jacob gave me this powder to give to Adira...it will be made stronger if it is mixed with the life fluid from people she cares about. I believe she cares about you." He shifted his weight from one foot to the other out of habit.

------------------------

Nym nodded again, in agreement and gave a small sigh of relief. Thank the stars he wouldn't have to lie to Heegh. Somehow Nym guessed that Heegh would know if they dared to lie. "That sounds like a very intelligent approach to me. Some part of me believes Heegh would know if we were keeping something this important from him. It's a relief to know that he knows of you." Nym replied with a smile, "Is there anything Nerissa, Salanio, and I should be doing? Anything we need to study or become acquainted with or perhaps help you with?"