Ignoble Ways [Closed]

[Lucyfer]

The werewolf saw that the dhampir did nothing to escape, even when his arm seemed quite well. It unnerved her. She had good instincts, and considered it her animal-half, the way those horses knew there was danger around them.


Nyx, too, understood the danger in the cage.


However, there was no reason to make it a reality.


They made it to the caves while it was still day, and so she wrinkled her nose at the order given to her, and let her form shift. The clothing her transformation had ripped did not return with it, but she cared little for that. She stood bare, black hair cut short in stark contrast to her wolf form. She put a hand on her hip to show how little she cared for the order given by Ligeia, “It’s day,” she emphasized, moving the other hand out from her side. “We shouldn’t take any of them in.”


Not while their master was sleeping. That was just inviting trouble. Best not to show even the woman the route to him until he was awake and prepared.


The dhampir did allow a brief chuckle to part his lips, and he shot his crimson eyes towards the pair, then looked up at the entrance to the mines. Good hiding place. Very close to the ground, too. He’d admire the Noble’s thought process, if he didn’t already hate Lafayette.


~***~


Horses were always tools to her, but she knew it was not so with others. When the shopkeeper posed his question, Oriana understood that to him, they were actually more. She let out a breath, “Yes, I do. I cannot get to my horse right now, and I need a horse to follow the people who have captured Ianthe Reinhart and my partner Silvio,” she imagined the man would not care much about Silvio, but he might be concerned with Ianthe.


That, or he’d show his true colors and try to trap her as well, now that he knew no dhampir was going to come after him. She might have crossed her fingers in hope, but she resisted the action. She almost held her breath as she waited to see if the sense of urgency she felt would pass on to the shopkeeper.

 

[InnocentThorns]

Ligeia smiled in her ragged cloaks, not that anyone could see it. Her other favorite pastime, aside from eating beautiful people, was harassing Nyx in any way possible. And currently, she was planning on telling Lafayette of her doubt in his abilities, even during the daylight hours. That would make for some fun reactions. Especially if she tried to defend herself. Petty, yes, but the siren was well aware that life could become monotonous if the petty were not appreciated with the poignant.


She shrugged a bit, and hovered in the darkness of the cave, watching the wagon. There was still some time to wait for the sun to set. But she smelled something pleasing, smiling as the woman began to rouse. In the wagon, Ianthe made a soft noise and opened her eyes, her head aching. She remembered arguing with Cavendish and nearly being struck, then something being clapped over her nose and mouth.


Her arms felt weak as she pushed herself up into a sitting up position, her legs curled to the side of her body. She glanced up, seeing Silvio sitting there in the wagon with her. The windows had bars on them, and the bars were hung with crosses. She was trembling slightly, the last dregs of the drugs in her system having a negative effect on her.


"Silvio?"


Ianthe's mind was still too groggy to realize she had used his first name, "What happened?"


She leaned back against the wall of the wagon, "I remember being outside, telling Cavendish to get off my property and then he tried to hit me and missed. One of his men drugged me, and that's it..."


~~~~


"Walll, I don't know if I likes the idea of Miz Reinhart being in trouble," he said, frowning a bit.


It was true, he had heard what the mayor said about the hunters, but they were friends of Mrs. Reinhart, and that spoke volumes to him. But he was not a powerful thinker, so he was considering it for a few moments before he nodded slowly.


"If you can pay for it, you can have one."

 

[Lucyfer]

Ligeia let it drop, but the smile that crossed her fake lips let Nyx know this would not be the last she heard of it. She wasn’t sure when it would resurface, but it would. The werewolf strode off, only to sit before the cave, ever the guard-dog of her master’s chambers.


Silvio’s gaze turned to the woman as she woke, hearing it in her breathing before she made a true sound. He let her rouse without disturbance, silently, until she spoke to him. He gave one nod as she let his first name slip her lips, and said, “Mr. Aisling,” as a reminder of their distance, the way she was meant to be Mrs. Reinhart.


He did not much like the cage, but it was clear the drug was bothering her far more than the cage was bothering him. He had the weakness of vampires, but they were weakened. Otherwise, he would have been ashes already beneath the sun. Crosses were not so difficult to endure, so long as he did not touch one. Their shadow wasn’t falling on him through this shade, either.


“Mayor Cavendish has turned you over to Lafayette. I was captured as well,” he answered her question, “It seems the Mayor has come to some arrangement with the Noble.” As he said that, he sounded disgusted with the idea, but it was tamed. “You can rest. They want Lafayette to have us. There is no point to wasting your energy now.”


His advice earned a snort from the werewolf. He paid it no mind. "Are you going to be all right?" He asked, uncertain what drug was in her body or what ails he couldn't see.


~***~


Stealing things would have been so much easier, but Oriana had a reputation to maintain. She took advantage of people, of course, swindled them out of money for her hunts, but she tried not to involve the common folks in that. As such, she waited for him to consider, and then she reached into her coat and drew out her bag of funds, “How much?” Letting it drop on the counter would have been an impressive display, but she was not the sort to just hand over everything she had.


Certainly a horse wasn’t going to cost that. She’d pay what was necessary—she didn’t have time to haggle.

 

[InnocentThorns]

"Cavendish..." she murmured with disgust. "I'm honestly surprised he was not the first to betray us to the Noble. I knew he was jealous and greedy, but I at least thought he was smarter than that. He has to know Lafayette will get rid of him as soon as he isn't useful anymore."


Ianthe leaned her head back, closing her eyes. She could so easily fall back to sleep again. That alone clued her in to what they had dosed her with.


"Blue clover extract," she said softly. "It's made by a local apothecary. It's used to sedate patients with seizures. Even if they wake, they'll be sluggish, slow. Unable to jerk about as they are apt to, which keeps them from hurting themselves. It will wear off, but not for a while. Probably just long enough for him to snap my neck."


She frowned, "I don't understand why Lafayette would be interested in me now. Grey has been gone for over a year."


After a moment of silence, she glanced at him, "Oriana will find you, Mr. Aisling. I'm sure she's already looking."


~~~~


The stable owner looked at the money she produced, but he was a fair man. He knew the best way to have repeat customers was to be fair with them, to earn money, but to not be greedy. When he quoted her a figure, it was not the entire bag of money, or even half. It was even less than a fourth of it, though he was not making as much as he should have. But Mrs. Reinhart had always been kind, to him and his horses.


"Ye want a cyborg, right?" he asked, collecting his fee, then coming out from around the counter.


He took Oriana out into the stables, and walked her down to the end where the cyborg horses were. There were five there waiting, and he nodded to them, "Take yer pick."

 

[Lucyfer]

“Some Nobles are good to their word,” Silvio noted. There had been a time when the Nobility truly looked after humanity. Not anymore. Those who remained on Earth all seemed to be of one mind, and the good were hard to separate from the bad. Living forever corrupted morals.


Silvio did wonder if he would one day end up like them, or if he would be more like the Mayerling’s he’d only heard of, the good ones who did look after their people, and did protect them. ‘Noblesse Oblige.’


“Cavendish is hoping in vain that Lafayette is, or he intends to set the Noble up.”


“No, he’s too stupid for that.” Nyx was clearly listening. Silvio glanced up briefly to the werewolf, but did not comment. He did not care that the wolf was listening. He was saying nothing of importance, nor was Ianthe.


Well, one minor thing. Silvio chuckled and shook his head at Ianthe’s faith in Oriana, “I doubt it,” he said softly, to correct her. “We have a pact.” That would suggest that Oriana would have run off to save her own life, rather than risk it to save his. The reverse was true, of course, and planned. These beasts need not know that, of course.


Even if he did hear the tiny beep, and realized the werewolf, with her senses, likely would as well. And the siren, so known for manipulating sound. Indeed, she rose from where she sat, “What was that?”


Silvio simply removed his earpiece. Lying would get him no where, after all. He showed the tiny orb to the wolf in the palm of his hand. It was flesh-colored, hardly noticeable even where it rested.


~***~


Cyborg Oriana did want, and she looked over the steeds before her with raised eyebrows. She had not expected anything of quality here, so she was rather impressed with the selection. Even she knew quality. One didn’t purchase a bad tool, especially when the tools were expensive.


It was a white steed she was drawn to, with beautiful mechanics and a silver sheen. ‘Real.’ She thought as her hand moved over the metal of it. That would help it survive in this job. She might just keep it beyond the job. “Thank you, I’ll take this one.”


With the fee paid for, and her pouch not as light as she had thought it would be, Oriana saddled the horse quickly and then took the earbud out of her ear. With a press of a button, a hologram rose before her eyes. She manipulated the transparent orb with its options. She set it to tracking its partner, and placed it back in her ear as the holographic screen moved to cover her eyes, a map before her.


‘I’ll be there before dusk.’ She thought with a smirk, and then urged the horse forward. Now she just had to make it by all the guards of the town, and get there without incident…and without getting caught by those with Silvio and Ianthe. She still preferred stealth.


It was for that reason she took another vial of poison from within her pockets, and clenched it in her hand between the reins. It would slow her heart rate and thus, the flow of her blood. It would make it more difficult for her to react to things quickly, but it would also make her more difficult to notice by smell. If she could remain quiet and out of sight, she’d be fine.


‘Juliet.’ So-named after a heroine of ancient times, her story recorded by someone named Shakespeare.

 

[InnocentThorns]

"I can only hope Cavendish gets what he deserves before some angry citizen takes it out on him instead," she said quietly, shaking her head.


Ianthe did not bother to tell him to flee if he could. For one thing, she doubted he would listen to her, and for another, she did not think she needed to say it. Why he had allowed himself to be captured was beyond her, but she had no idea how powerful the werewolf and the siren were. She was also tired of being laughed at or chided for being herself. Her self preservation instincts lacked nothing, but she still worried for others, cared about them, even if they cared nothing for her. As long as they did not try to harm her. She also knew that at least her death would be quick. He would drain her or snap her neck. Lafayette would actually want something from Silvio.


It was painful to admit, but part of Ianthe wanted it to happen. She could be with Grey again, in whatever afterlife truly existed. Her place could be filled by someone else in the city, there were other teachers. Her wealth went to the servants for being so kind to her when she could not even get out of bed with the sadness, Brandt himself inherited Graywood Manor in her current will. Dear Helena received her jewels, and the city was given a stipend to build a brand new school. At times, it felt like the world would be better off if she were no longer in it.


Silently, she watched as Silvio turned over the tiny earpiece, and knew then at least he might have a chance. Ianthe truly doubted that Oriana would ever leave him behind like that. Her limbs still felt like lead, heavy hands resting in her lap, and she struggled to keep her eyes open every time she rested against the side of the wagon. She must have drifted off as the sun was dipping down to the horizon to disappear for night.


Ligeia finally moved from her place watching over the mine, sniffing the air, "He'll be awake soon..."


~~~~


The stable owner nodded when she picked her horse, "If ye need more, c'mon back. Nuffink I's got is second rate. Best in the city."


He let her go then, to find her way out of the city. But there were numerous guards posted on all the roads out, keeping the citizens from fleeing once the announcement had been made that the Noble had come to the city and was going to be in charge of it now through Cavendish. Anyone who tried to leave was at the very least beaten and thrown back into the midst of the onlookers that seemed to be at every exit of the city.


It was starting to get even into the heart of the city that they had been sold out. That there was no escape.

 

[Lucyfer]

“Wouldn’t that be what he deserves?” Silvio had to arch an eyebrow, thinking vigilante justice, and the betrayal of his own city, would be quite fitting. Then again, Silvio was very much the efficient sort rather than revenge driven.


Too often, that had been the reasons Nobles lost their footing. Revenge. It might be the case with Lafayette, if he wanted Ianthe. A final show of his superiority over the Reinhart line. Sickening.


Yet, though his eyebrow was arched in question, his eyes did not leave the wolf as she approached, and then reached through the bars to snatch the earbud. “What is this?” She hadn’t seen anything like it.


“A communications device,” Silvio answered. “Noble invention,” he added, suggested, “Lafayette might like it, if he does not have them.” Her lack of familiarity suggested he might not have something so advanced. There was a hint of mockery there.


He was trying to preserve it. It seemed to work, for the wolf took offense for her master, but did not destroy it. “I doubt he has use for this sort of crap,” she said, indignant, before she stole away back to the cave, watching the shadows as the sun set.


‘Taking on a noble at night is foolish.’ Even for him. Yet, he knew better than to fight for escape just yet. He would wait for Oriana.


~***~


Oriana could not find an exit that was not guarded, so at the third she decided to just risk it. She brought her knives into her hand, placed them between her fingers, and urged her horse forward. She kept her head up, and listened to the rabble as they shouted at the guards. None were trying to go forward. There was a beaten body there to detour them, but her horse stepped lightly over it and trod on.


Oriana would not speak to the guards to ask permission. The first that tried to detour her was going to get a knife through the head. They might have numbers on her, but they did not have her training.


Besides, seeing a beacon of hope might incite the crowd to action again, and then she’d have numbers on her side.

 

[InnocentThorns]

"Let him sacrifice himself to the Noble instead of the people of the city," she replied, considering that more poetic justice than anything else.


Ligeia let them chatter until the sun was nearly gone, and she smiled, beginning to "sing" once again. But it was not for the dhampir this time. Only a fool would try to reach in around him for the human woman. Ianthe could feel the pressure of the siren's song against her will, and she turned to see not the mop of rags and white flesh, but her husband standing there. It was the siren's perfect bait that was what kept her from being completely seduced. She was quite aware her husband was dead, having cut off his head herself.


Yet, she still jerkily got up, moving to the door of the wagon, waiting with half lidded eyes. The siren glanced at Silvio, warning him, "Be still or she will suffer for it."


Opening the wagon door, she reached out for the woman who was hovering there, waiting to step outside the cage.


~~~~


The guards did attempt to stop her, but fell to her blades just as she suspected they might. A few of the townspeople watched, fleeing after her while they had the opening. It was better to run now than to wait for the guards to recover and beat them again. Cavendish's guards then tried to give chase to both her and the people, and were far more successful with some of the people on foot. This left the path free for Oriana to chase the captives finally.

 

[Lucyfer]

Silvio just shook his head at the statement that slipped the lips of the widow. He supposed that would be a form of poetic justice, but it was just not something he concerned himself with.


He waited.


When the sun started to go down, he truly felt uneasy, but it did not mar his expression any. He had a good poker face. His red eyes shifted to the siren as the song began to work its way around them, but it was not meant to lure him this time. A threat was tossed his way as it was meant to lure Ianthe, and he considered it.


His consideration did not last long. ‘Where are you?’ Oriana should have been here by now. Hours ago. He did not know the town had detoured her, nor that she had to acquire a new horse, and instead thought the worst. He would need to get back to find her…or what was left of her.


Rather than let Ianthe go to the Noble, where she would most certainly be killed before he could get to her, he decided he had enough of this game. He rose and he took hold of Ianthe’s wrist. “No.” He told the siren simply. He would pressure Ianthe to stay behind him, as he instead moved to walk out of the wagon.


Nyx rose immediately, shifting partially to give herself the claws she would need to deal with the rebellious dhampir, only to feel a dagger pierce her chest. A gasp parted her lips, surprise and horror, as she looked down and saw the way her veins were blackening from the silver. Immediately, she ripped the dagger out and threw it away from herself, though it burned her hands just to touch it. “What the hell?”


Another was thrown, but this one Nyx saw and evaded, though she hadn’t gotten a good gist of the direction.


She couldn’t smell anything. Anyone.


Oriana was not far. She had not made the time she hoped to make, but it seemed good enough. She took a strong dose of Juliet, and left the horse a good two miles away so that its scent wouldn’t alert anyone, nor would its noise—just in case it decided to be noisy. Then, she got herself a nice perch in a tree once she saw the camp.


It seemed her timing was just right. At dusk they all started to move, and that was when she’d gotten herself situated. When she saw Silvio stand up to the siren, she knew she had to act.


So, she took aim at the wolf. She did not have as many daggers as she’d like, many abandoned in the guards of Celestine, but she had enough.

 

[InnocentThorns]

A hand on her wrist jerked her out of the half stupor the siren had her in, and Ianthe found herself behind Silvio, keeping her distracted enough not to try and fight him. The siren was instantly unhappy, her song getting louder now. But Ianthe was not fooled by the vision of Grey in front of her. The memories of his death were far too fresh, even a year later for her to be fooled. Perhaps in a few years that might have worked.


"Come to me, child," the siren spat, reaching for Ianthe.


While she normally would not have let herself feel the allure that Silvio had, now it was just enough to keep her from doing what the siren wanted. So she clutched his hand in her own, her heart pounding in her chest, though Ianthe could not tell if it was from the siren's song or from being that close to him. The desire to go was still compelling though.


The siren's song was interrupted when Nyx was attacked, and she hissed softly, looking around for whoever had attempted to kill the werewolf. Forgetting about Silvio and Ianthe for the moment, she turned and began a new song, one that would reach the ears of whoever was attacking, trying to draw them out. She could handle a dhampir and a human woman, even if they did manage to escape and run into the forest.

 

[Lucyfer]

Oriana was there, and the realization made Silvio’s heart soar with relief. As he saw the first dagger hit its target, he knew the werewolf was done for. It just didn’t realize it yet. The siren dared to turn its attention away from him, and so he released Ianthe.


Immediately, both of his hands became the metal claw. Silvio lunged out of the cage at the siren to engage and rip her to shreds, not aiming for what he saw—for he knew that was a lie—but for what he felt in the vibrations around her, for what beat with life. If he was successful, he’d put his claws through the creature, and wrap those metallic fingers around the pulse of life.


He was prepared to evade if he failed, or at least he hoped so, intending to dart to the left so he would be around the siren and able to see if the werewolf was going to be a problem.


Which, it was, but not to him. He heard the drop as clear as day, as clear as the werewolf must have, for Nyx perked.


Oriana was drawn out of the tree she was in by the song, even if she was fighting the trance tooth and nail. She was not used to vocal trances, more used to the Noble’s sort of entrancement. That, she could fight off. This, however, was different. This she was not used to, and in spite of all her logic, she let herself slip from the tree she’d been in.


Nyx heard it, and Nyx shifted immediately into the full werewolf. She felt how the silver seemed to flood her veins faster then, but she was too enraged to care. She ran for the sound of the fallen thing, quite certain it was the target she wanted even if there was no scent that reached her above the grass and trees.

 

[InnocentThorns]

Silvio released her hand, and Ianthe moved to lean against the wall, closing her eyes for a moment. The blue clover extract was nothing she had ever felt before. Just when it felt like it was wearing off, it was bothering her again. But she was going to just stay out of the way. Even if they fled without her, she would consider it a good thing. Perhaps they could kill Lafayette and keep him from taking over Celestine.


Ligeia saw Nyx shift and go running, knowing whoever was attacking them had succumbed to her song. It was barely in time to realize that the dhampir had come flying for her, as he managed to get a piece of her arm, leaving her shrieking. She was not the fighter that Nyx was, so she had to sing to him again. This time it was strong, not just telling him to get into a wagon. This time, it was promising him things as long as he put his weapons away.


The sun was drifting lower and lower, until there was nothing but twilight left. Ianthe gasped softly as she felt the wagon move, being pulled back into the mouth of the mine. There was someone guiding the horses, and she had a chilling idea of who, considering it was nightfall. She was not surprised, once the wagon was in the darkness of the cave, to see shapes hovering around the door to the wagon.


"Come out," one of them crooned softly.


Ianthe still felt the weight of the silver cross she had put around her neck before bed in place. Neither the siren nor the werewolf had taken it if they had seen it at all. It was tucked beneath her dressing gown. She pulled it out, letting it rest between her breasts, relieved when the figures cringed away. Vampires were the only things that would do so. She reached up and tugged one of the crosses from the inside of the wagon off the windows. It was fairly easy to do, considering no vampire would touch one. They did not have to be bolted down. Holding it in front of her, she slipped out of the wagon woozily, seeing the four vampires that had pulled the wagon into the mines.


"Put it down," one warned.


"Stay away from me," Ianthe replied, not meeting their eyes.


Instead, she backed away from them slowly, nearly tripping over a skeleton. Eyes still on the vampires, cross keeping them at bay, she crouched down, picking up the femur of the skeleton. It had gnaw marks on it, but she ignored that for the simple reason that Silvio was going to need it. Sirens were not susceptible to the normal weapons of the trade. Grey had helped her study the things he might face, she knew that they were going to need bone to kill the creature. Backing away slowly, she made her way back to the mouth of the mines, vampires following her at a cautious pace.

 

[Lucyfer]

There were some creatures that Silvio did not know the weaknesses for. So, when his attack damaged but did not kill, he understood this might be a question for Oriana. Unfortunately, she was not in sight, and he dared not reveal his ignorance before the siren.


His claws discarded what he’d taken with a shake-off, and he stepped around the siren as he saw the cart go running. ‘Shoot.’ Too much was going on at once, too many things to consider. Ianthe needed help. Oriana might need it; the gods only knew what poison she was intoxicated by. He couldn’t smell her, so that left him with one guess.


The siren’s song was intoxicating to him, but he shook his head slowly. “You can never give me what I want,” he spoke softly, just under his breath, “If you leave, your life will be spared,” he offered instead, finding that although he did not put his weapons away, it was difficult to build up the desire to attack. He would prefer her to flee so he could go help Ianthe. He did not want her getting to Lafayette. He did not want her to die.


Not far, but not close enough, Oriana found the spell of the siren’s song broken. She was on the ground, ‘Shit.’ And her ears picked up the sound of the enraged beast. She could not move fast, slowed by Juliet, but she understood that she was dead if she did nothing.


Dumb fingers fumbled for more daggers. She only had four left, and she put all four of the silver blades between the fingers of her two hands and lifted them in front of herself. The beast burst into the area, fully transformed, and did not hesitate to lunge for her once it saw.


Oriana let herself drop. She could not dodge in a timely fashion, but dropping spared her the claws. Though, it let Nyx come to a stop atop her, fangs dripping with a deep hatred and claws digging into the soul. It was a position no hunter would ever want to be in, but Oriana had thought it through. The werewolf was focused on snapping her head off with its fangs, and in that short time, Oriana pushed her hands up and thrust all four of the daggers into the heart.


The earlier dagger had already done its damage of an initial flood, but four silver daggers ended it, as they covered the four chambers of the werewolf’s heart. The creature collapsed, right on top of Oriana, dead.

 

[InnocentThorns]

"I can give you anything, for a price," Ligeia replied with a smile beneath her robes.


She sang to him, promising him things that he did not even know he wanted, "I will not run. I am loyal to my beloved master. And I will not spare your life."


The siren drifted closer to him, singing for him to fall deeper under her spell. Promising him the secret things in his heart that he could not voice. She even picked up on his desire to keep Ianthe alive, and she flickered to life in front of him, beautiful in her evening gown once again, holding a hand out to him before being swallowed by shadows. Ligeia was now picking apart anything she could find inside him.


Ianthe was still backing her way slowly out of the cave, dressing gown filthy from the dirty mine floors. She did not care, she was trying to escape from the vampires, though they continued to pursue her slowly, to see what she was going to do. Nobody could walk the entire twenty miles back to the safety of the city backward, always looking over their shoulder. Ianthe knew they would catch her if she faltered. But she felt fresh air, she was there, at the mouth of the mines.


A glance over her shoulder showed Oriana nowhere to be seen, or the werewolf, but there was Silvio, and the siren, reaching out for him with those horrible clawed hands. One of the vampires rushed her, and the young woman stood firm, pressing the cross from the wagon into his flesh. He yelped and stumbled backward, flesh smoking, cross marked on his cheek where she had pressed it without hesitation. Then she began backing up slowly, until her back was against Silvio's.


"Vampires," she said softly. "From the mines."


Reaching over, she gave him the femur from inside the cave, "Break it into a sharp point."


"Shut up!" the siren snapped, hissing at Ianthe.


She began to sing then, not for Silvio, but Ianthe, telling her to lower the cross. To take off the one around her throat. Ianthe heard Grey's voice telling her it was safe, he was there, he could protect her. Her arm slowly lowered, the vampires watching to see if she would drop at least one of her weapons, make her easier prey while the dhampir was concentrating on the furious siren whose secret had been revealed.

 

[Lucyfer]

The illusion of Ianthe was not tempting enough. The dhampir had long ago forsaken the idea of relations, with human, mutant, or noble. It was not something he could have, even if it was something he wanted. In his heart of hearts, he wanted to be accepted and in his mind, that meant human. He had always known this, and always knew it was impossible.


If anyone could grant that desire, it was the Sacred Ancestor, but not even he had figured it out. He was not interested in such. His experiments were all about bettering the Noble race, not making them ‘inferior’.


Before his eyes he saw Ianthe devoured, but he smiled for in that instant he felt the true Ianthe press against his back, and he felt the bone slip into his hand. His claws broke it, jagged and sharp, and he listened again for the pulse of life. Werewolf blood reached his nostrils, a sickening scent, and the siren raged. He pushed forward, leaving Ianthe’s side, to push the sharp and jagged femur into the siren.


“You should be realistic in your promises.”


For Silvio was not a creature of passions, or he would have succumbed a long time ago to them. He was logical, to a fault.


No scent of Oriana’s blood reached him, but he smelled death on the air. He assumed she was successful. He could smell the vampires that were mentioned, and he intended to make them his next targets once the siren was dealt with.


One of them slipped out of the mine as night fell, passing by the others without so much as a word. The shadows cloaked him well. He did not make his target the dhampir or the human his target, for in the air was the blood of a beloved servant, and he was going to find the answer for why.


~***~


Oriana had tried to push the werewolf off of herself, but to no avail. Her arms were pinned beneath it, still holding the blades into its heart. ‘Rather uncomfortable.’ She tried to twist her wrists to make the posture better, but could not manage it.


She let out a flustered sigh. It seemed she’d have to wait. What a terrible position to be found in, though. She’d likely not hear the end of it from Silvio.


Then, the wolf was picked up and tossed off. “What took—” Oriana started, but then saw that was not, in fact, Silvio. ‘Shit.’ Oriana tried to scramble to her feet, but even if Juliet had not been flooding her veins, it would not have been possible to escape a Noble at this close range. With Nyx’s body, went all of her daggers, and Oriana was pulled to her feet by one wrist.


He spun her around and she did look to his eyes. In the captured gaze, he said, "You will come along calmly." Oriana felt the familiar pinch as the order tried to enchant her. She opted to go along with it, rather than fuss and let the Noble know those tricks didn't work so well on her.


Lord Lafayette quietly assessed her, and then the vampire pulled her other arm behind her back, deciding she was of more use alive than dead. He assumed this one Ianthe, since the other woman seemed more like a vampire hunter with her cross. He’d have to see how noble the hunters were.

 

[InnocentThorns]

Ianthe was left alone, trying to shake off the fogginess of the siren's song as Silvio went for her. The siren tried to dig her claws into the dhampir, but shrieked in a way that made even the vampires cover their ears when the bone sank into her flesh. Ianthe was freed from her hold, and she lifted the cross again, protecting Silvio's back from the vampires that wanted to come for the two of them.


Behind her, in front of the dhampir, the siren began to sag to the ground. Her hood fell back, revealing her true form, looking as if all the flesh had stuck to her skull and nothing else, her mouth filled with rows of razor sharp teeth. She also had gills on either side of her throat, but could also breathe through the two slits she called a nose. Reaching for him, she tried to crawl across the ground to get near the two of them, but the bone fragment in her chest was the end of her, and she collapsed completely.


"May God have mercy on your soul," Ianthe whispered, seeing the siren for what it really was now. To go through life a monster who could never truly be beautiful, or even looked upon kindly, it touched the pity in her, even if she knew the thing would have eaten her if it had gotten the chance.


The vampires began closing in around the two of them now, and she was back on her guard, wondering where Oriana was. She must have been close. Something had to be keeping her, and she hoped it was not the werewolf.

 

[Lucyfer]

Silvio was too fast for the siren to harm him. All that would remain of her were the dreams she brought to the surface again, dreams he had buried a century ago. He let the jagged bone fall with her body, and then looked to the vampires nearby, afraid of the cross that the woman held. It was amazing what that small object could do.


He had no sympathy for the siren, though he heard Ianthe’s passing words as she looked on the monster. ‘She had a choice.’ This was what she chose. Her death was deserved.


Silvio brandished his claws before the vampires, “I do not need a bone to deal with you.” Though these ones did not seem rabid, they were likely nowhere near as powerful as their master. Were they trueborn sons and daughters, or made? It mattered not, all he had to do was take their hearts from their chest, and they would drop. Vampires were so much easier to deal with than all the other mutants of the world; of course, he was a specialist, so that might truly be why.


“Stay yourselves.” Nicolai Lafayette’s voice broke through the air, and Silvio looked up to see that he had Oriana, her hands held behind her back, her head not quite down. She had a dazed look, but Silvio knew it for the ruse it was. “Dhampir, what are you doing?”


As if the hundreds of vampires he’d dealt with hadn’t asked that. Silvio ignored him. “Oriana.” The voice he put on was a Noble’s commanding one, and she looked up, falling into the game easily.


Lafayette did not seem to suspect that, but his gaze drifted to the choker she wore. That would be the only way she’d respond to a mere dhampir’s voice over his, he reasoned. “Drop.” Oriana did just that, her weight momentarily drawing Lafayette down.


Silvio moved in the blink of an eye, intending to jump over the circle of surrounding vampires and take out their leader. It would not work, even if he evaded the circle, though. Lafayette was still a full-blooded Noble at night, and Silvio had not been nearly close enough. He wrenched Oriana right back to her feet, and moved so Silvio would hit nothing but air.


He would cast a steely look towards the woman who was Ianthe, not Oriana, but not to entrance. The ground beneath her would start to break apart, and if she did not move quick enough, a sinkhole would manifest to suck her down.

 

[InnocentThorns]

Ianthe frozen when she saw the Noble with Oriana in his grasp. She did not lower the cross, keeping the vampires at bay, but she hated to see the young woman in his dangerous hands. Having no idea that Silvio and Oriana had worked out a contingency plan for such circumstances, she was aghast when Silvio attacked the Noble. It seemed like the best way to get his partner killed.


It did not work, and suddenly the Noble's gaze was set her way. Ianthe did not meet his eyes, did not dwell on how handsome he was with that ethereal beauty that Nobles had, but that did not seem to be his intent. The ground beneath her slippered feet began to buckle inward, leaving her with only a gasping moment to react.


Her dressing gown, lovely as it was, hindered her movements. Ianthe moved, but not quickly enough, her feet slipping backward into the sinkhole. She clawed at the ground as she slipped down the incline, until she remembered the cross in her hands. She drove it down into the ground, holding on tight. It stopped her from falling, though now she clung to the cross in a perilous predicament.


The young woman tried to pull herself up, but when she exerted any strength, the cross wobbled frighteningly and dishearteningly. She could feel crumbs of dirt rolling past her arms, waiting for the cross or the ground to give way and dump her into the darkness. But she held on as tightly as she could, hoping that there would be some kind of miracle, that a hand would draw her up from the sinkhole, a hand that did not belong to one of the vampires who wanted to kill her.


Hovering, the vampires watched with impatient anticipation. If their lord gave the signal, they would go kick the troublesome woman into the sinkhole, or claim her for Lafayette to do what he would with her. But none of them would move until they had the order.

 

[Lucyfer]

Nicolai Lafayette knew he was surrounded by idiots, by choice, but it still annoyed him when he saw how all the other vampires just stood around gawking at the fallen woman. “You may get rid of her.” He informed them.


The dhampir was now outside the ring of vampires. As he turned with his claws towards them, Nicolai cut one pointed nail down the choker the woman wore. Blood was drawn from the deep incision, but it also revealed the two points the dhampir had left in her flesh. It was the scent of blood now revealed that caused a moment’s hesitation for Silvio. “One move against them, and I’ll snap her neck.”


The hesitation was broken simply by Oriana stating, “He’ll do it anyway,” a reminder that Noble threats weren’t to be listened to.


‘Don’t die here.’ Silvio rushed to the fray of inferior vampires to deal with them before they could get to Ianthe. He knew he was not supposed to let an outsider distract him from the mission, but then, the mission was already over so far as payment went. The mayor had sold out the town; the hunters would have to take pay through unlawful means, anyway.


Assuming that he was able to cut through the vampires with ease, he would offer a hand to Ianthe, though it would hover high above the cross and remain metal.


Oriana had managed to get one of her hands more or less free to move. It was still held tightly, but not at the wrist. When she spoke, she had already put her boot hard into the ground and had a stake behind her back, in her hand. She had one more in the other boot. She always refilled them before adventures out, after all.


So, of course, when the vampire lifted a hand to make good on his threat, Oriana twisted the stake and plunged it backwards. His yelp of pain was surprising, up until the moment Oriana managed to twist out of his grip and stumble a few steps away, bloody stake in hand.


Apparently, she’d plunged it into his groin, if the blood flow out of him was any indication. She tried not to laugh, and failed miserably in the endeavor.

 

[InnocentThorns]

The vampires began to run to take Ianthe down when Silvio appeared in their midst. They fought with him, but the battle was bloody and left most of them dead or nursing wounds that made them whimper. While they were loyal to their master to the end, there was a furious foe in their way, and the human woman seemed to be ready to fall into the darkness on her own, her hands quaking as she held onto the cross. Ianthe refused to let go though.


She looked up, seeing Silvio over her, and she struggled to reach up, to grab that metal hand. He was avoiding the cross, not that she blamed him, but she had to lift herself a bit to reach him. For a moment, Ianthe thought she was going to fall, but managed to catch his hand, the metal wet with blood beneath her fingers. But she held on tightly, letting him pull her out of the sinkhole.


Ianthe fell forward for a moment, leaning against him, taking a breath or two of relief before she let go, straightening up. Her cross, dug into the ground, fell into the sinkhole and was swallowed. All she had now was the silver cross around her throat, but that would be enough, she hoped. It had been blessed, it would at least keep her safe. Then again, there were not that many vampires left to pick off. Silvio had done a good job.


Frowning, she moved to go to Oriana, but stopped, knowing the Noble, though bleeding, would be terribly dangerous. But Oriana was looking very unhealthy. It worried her.

 

[Lucyfer]

Silvio was quick enough to time things well, and the vampires unskilled enough to allow Silvio to reach Ianthe before she fell through the hole. As he felt the weight of her hand in his, he wrapped his fingers tight around it, and grabbed her arm with his other hand as he pulled her up and out of the hole.


It was a rough landing, of course, and Silvio kept his balance as Ianthe fell into him. The hand on her arm moved to go behind her back, to steady her.


As soon as he was certain of her balance, he stepped away and looked to the few vampires remaining, and Oriana, laughing, making the situation with Lafayette’s temper worse. For him, anyway. Silvio could see the red hot anger in his eyes, the blinding rage that was the end of so many. Oriana still had a stake in her hand, too, but Juliet would make harming the vampire hard.


Silvio knew where to break in. “Stay safe,” he whispered to Ianthe, as the anger in the Noble boiled over.


Oriana did raise her stake, but she would not have been quick enough. She knew that, in the moment the vampire’s hand closed around her throat. The tension released a second later, and she was deposited neatly onto her bottom. Looking up, she saw Silvio’s hand jutting out the front of the vampire, pushed through his back.


The vampire’s heart was in those metal claws, and it was crushed in his grasp before he pulled his fist back and out. He threw the heart to the ground and looked to all the remaining vampires. “Run.”


He was not tasked with hunting them, and he did not care enough to eliminate them. They now saw what happened to Nobles who did not act noble. They could choose another path.

 

[InnocentThorns]

Ianthe nodded at Silvio's quiet words, and she held her cross, ready to keep any of the vampires at bay. She watched with wide eyes as he went to fight the Noble, certain that he was going to kill Oriana and Silvio both, then come for her. She sought out something she could use for a weapon, but nothing came to her hands. Not that it was necessary. He was doing well enough on his own. There was a deep sense of satisfaction as she saw the Noble's heart being crushed, and only wished she could have done so herself.


When Lafayette was gone, she rushed over to Oriana, worried about the other woman. Crouching down, she looked her over for signs of injury, and tore some of her lovely dressing gown to clean the blood from her neck, where his fingernail had gone to cut the choker. She saw the bite marks, and not being a fool, put together where they had come from. But that was none of her business. It just reminded her that she was outside their world in one more way.


"Are you okay?" she asked Oriana, her hands never ceasing to be gentle.


"Mr. Aisling? Are you okay?" Ianthe asked as well, remembering he was supposed to be Mr. Aisling.

 

[Lucyfer]

The vampires fled before him. Silvio doubted this would be the last he'd see of them. Nobles like Lafayette were rarely, truly, alone. He might have family, real family, somewhere. He wondered how many of those made-vampires might head that way.


He shook his head, though. He hoped for the best as an exasperated gaze went down to Oriana and Ianthe, always so quick to help even at the cost of her clothing. And Oriana, of course, laughed. It wasn't so much at Ianthe, as it was at the general activity and fuss. Oriana's hand did lift to cover her neck, covering both the bite marks as well as where Lafayette's nail had cut her throat. "Fine," she answered, "Truly. Just poisoned, again," she chuckled as she realized this had to be such an insane thing for Ianthe to witness. "This one isn't fatal. Juliet."


"It makes her very difficult to hear and to smell. Her heartbeat is slow," so the blood moved slow, which made her cold to the touch. The slow moving blood thus made her scent difficult to detect. "Before we became partners, she used these tricks to get near Nobles and kill them. Not the sanest hunter."


"Well, it works, doesn't it?" Oriana shot back.


He smiled. "Yes," though sometimes not without his help. He did wonder if that was because nowadays she accounted for him. "Come," he offered a hand down for Ianthe, "We need to return to your town, and deal with your mayor."


"You should dress as Lafayette. Trick'em."


Silvio didn't comment to Oriana's atrocious idea.

 

[InnocentThorns]

"That seems like a good way to get yourself killed," Ianthe said softly. "You should stop poisoning yourself, it cannot be good for you."


Her concern seemed moot though. Of course Oriana would do as she wished. But Ianthe could still be concerned for her. She was surprised when Silvio offered her his hand instead of his partner. Surely she could get up on her own when compared to the woman who had poisoned herself. Yet Ianthe found herself taking his hand and getting off the ground, feeling the strength in his hold. She grimaced slightly though at his words.


"Cavendish betrayed Celestine. He is not my mayor."


She straightened her ruined dressing gown, still managing to look dignified despite what she had been through that evening. Ianthe was not, however, looking forward to walking back to the city in her bedroom slippers. She eventually realized there was still a horse in the mines where the cart had been taken.


"I'll return shortly."


Heading into the mines, she found the horse still tethered to the wagon. Unhitching it, she guided it back outside, glad she had thought to do so. The idea that the horse might have died of neglect would have worried her deeply. But this was a better idea, and she walked the horse over to the two of them, just in time to hear Oriana's suggestion.


"...Oh dear, does that particular poison dampen your common sense, too?"

 

[Lucyfer]

Oriana would have asked Ianthe if she knew what poison was, from the way she was speaking to her. Obviously poison wasn’t good, that was why it was called poison. Another quip was on her lips, to mention how every medicine was a poison.


It was all about dose.


None of these things escaped her, though she did give Ianthe a dubious stare when she went away to the mines. She stood on her own, and gave Silvio a wicked look. He, however, said nothing.


Ianthe returned with a horse, and another quip, and Oriana laughed a bit. “Nope!” Was her answer.


Silvio added, “She never had it to begin with,” as should be obvious with a human hunting nobles. He eyed the horse enviously, not thrilled to be walking back.


However, Oriana chimed, “I brought a horse with me. I set it back a bit away.” And Silvio let out a sigh of relief. “I can take you to it, then we can ride back,” she’d just double up with Silvio. “I think it’s stro—!” She was cut off when Silvio reached for her, and then lifted her up onto his shoulders with relative ease. She huffed.


“You’ll be too slow,” he knew how Juliet worked. He started to walk then, as he felt Oriana hunker down and fold her arms atop his head, pouting but not fussing. He realized only belatedly how lucky he was; Oriana wore skirts as often as pants, and she had chosen pants today. Though, he supposed, it wouldn’t have mattered. They weren’t in the town and didn’t have to act decent. “You know it’s almost your time of the month.”


Needless to say, Oriana thwacked him hard upside the head for that, and he laughed. He couldn’t see how flush her face had become with embarrassment, but he could imagine.


He was always much happier after a successful hunt, even though misfortune usually followed. This situation with Cavendish was just par for the course.