The Souls of Salem [WoD]

[ValkyrieRose]

"Working in my Infirmary?" Mariah asked, looking at him, blinking. "Do you mean Flora?" She asked. "Hmmm nice girl. Smart, kind, one hell of a nurse." She asked, considering this new piece of information. If this man was what she suspected and Flora was a friend... there would have to be some investigating into this. "I was unaware that many people in my...organization knew of each other." She said


" She would have a panic attack if you got shot?" She asked, considering it carefully. "Is this woman a ghoul or something else of yours? Of course... that would have to end... like, now." She says. "I was thinking she would be of use to me in that regard, so i might take her for my own....how did you meet anyway?" She says with a smirk, gauging his reaction. She looks to the ghost woman now, blinking. "And this ghost that's following you?" She asked. "She's not bound to you is she? I'll have to test this when Eric comes in... you will remain here until then." She orders.


Zarred's phone would give a silent message, 'Understood. be there...eventually. dont ie..'


@NovaPheonix

 

[Morgy]

As the door opens flora pokes her head out slowly looking around, nothing looked out of the ordinary or out of place yet she had heard such a racket while she was trying to nap a bit. She sighed still gripping her Kukri in her right hand. "What the hell could that have been?" She asked out loud, in all her time as nurse there nothing really eventful happened, maybe the occasional someone tripping or getting a paper cut but that was it. It sounded like a gun shot..... sadly she knew the sound a but too well from her time in the orphanage and working in hospitals showed her the damage a weapon such as a gun could cause...... the memories sent shivers down her spine. She looked down at the Kukri in her hand, ironic that she still kept her fathers knife despite being a nurse... and the life she had taken with it. Flora shook her head shoving the memories of the past out of her head, maybe the cult leader would know what was going on. Flora turned and began walking down the hall toward the cult leaders quarters, still keeping her knife out just in case. Mariah did say she could talk to her whenever, besides she was genuinely curious to what may have happened or if anyone had gotten hurt, she hoped nothing had happened in the infirmary to Zarred or Aurora after Trent and Danielle had arrived.

 

[NovaPheonix]

"She's my friend." Zarred put his phone away, finishing his plea for help. His message sounded desperate, and his surge of panic made it seem like he was begging the Free Council for help. This was fitting in his situation, given everything that was going on. "She's not a ghoul...or anything like that. I jumped off a freeway when I was drunk one night, and someone at that party decided to bring me back to life." He half-lied again. He did attempt suicide, but he actually Awakened rather than what he just said. "She was there, in the hospital, and I don't know how much she knew about my situation, but without her I probably wouldn't be here...at least. On that note..." He seemed to get angry, and part of this was true, and part of it was to cover for the fact that he just gave her an alibi. "Don't even think about doing anything to her." He gritted his teeth with genuine anger. He really couldn't help but get angry, he didn't want the cult to do anything to her...and it caused him to lose his composure a bit. Ever since he lost his girlfriend, he was very protective of the women in his life. Her next statement made him even more angry. "This is my girlfriend...of course she's bound to me!" he tapped his chest.

 

[ValkyrieRose]

Mariah looks at him as he talks, taking in every detail of him. It was clear that he was lying... in fact it was so obvious he was lying Mariah wondered briefly if he was, perhaps, telling the truth. Still... there was no reason why someone would sound like... THAT when telling the truth, it was simply way to obvious. She looks at him with a slightly sadistic smile... her lush red lips curling up. "You're girlfriend, is she?... My my, there is a lot surrounding you, isn't there? I have a lot more questions than i have answers.... and I personally don't like that." She says.


Looking at him again... no, she couldn't risk it anymore. Her eyes turn a shade of gold, looking at him. "You're going to anwser all of my questions." She says. "Truthfully, for once. If i don't like your anwsers... you'll die." She warns


Ceceila looks to Zarred, than to mariah. This woman was incredibly powerful, but she got the feeling that Ceceila wanted her to go. But even so... she felt as if doing that might endager him, so she looks at him apologetically but steps back

 

[Mistress Iris]

Aurora turned quickly on her heel giving a loud humorless laugh. "Allowed some freedom'? You have GOT to be kidding me? Not even two hours ago I was free! I shouldn't need premission to go home. I should be able to just sit and watch tv with my cat, but NO, you and your group have taken that away from me. I don't even know why ya'll did it! What did I do huh?" She yelled, glaring. "Why would I be loyal to a group of psycho-kidnappers? What do you have to offer that is any better to life I already had? Nothing, thats what!" She wasn't sure why she was so confident all of a sudden, but she couldn't back down now. She assumed she was screwed either way, but at least this way she would still have her dignity.


With that she stomped away, once she turned the corner she sped up her stride trying to lose her tail and find an exit. She started following the path when she realized she could go through walls. She then tried moving towards the ceiling, finding that she could easily pass. 'If I can get to the roof of the building, maybe I can find out where in town I am.' She thought as she headed to her goal area.

 

[NovaPheonix]

"How about this...you answer my question first, and then I'll answer one of yours. No need to try to entrance me or anything like that." Zarred scowled, trying to show her that he was aware of what she was doing and that he was highly displeased. "What did you do to Cecilia?!" The anger showed on his face, as he remembered that his ex-girlfriend mentioned that she had been bound here. He clenched his hands into fists, wishing he could punch into the vampire's soul. He wanted to lash out at her, but he was much too weak. Part of this was personal revenge, and part of it was gathering information. They were binding ghosts after all, and his true mission was to discover as much as he could about the operations of the cult. His determination to find both kinds of answers drove him on, and it allowed him to muster the last of his willpower to fight her off. He couldn't show his weakness, especially not now.


He also nudged his head over to the disembodied girl, expecting her to clue him into anything that might aid him within her office.


@ValkyrieRose

 

[ValkyrieRose]

Mariah blinked, and in that instant her eyes reverted from the gold of Majesty to her normal red. "Impressive." She says after a second, staring him down. "I'd like to think i have high skill in that particular art, but you shrugged it off so easily." She says. "I'll admit... most mages would have run fo cover or submitted themselves onto me... it speaks volumes about your level of strength.... that or you're jsut incredibly lucky." She says, standing up, pretending to strech herself out as she walked around the room.


"Cecila was her name, was it?" She asked, looking at the ghost. "I deal in ghosts, so Ghosts must be bound." She explains. "I plan on doing the same thing to all nearby spirits for a little... experiment of mine." She giggles.


"Now, about you... you did well playing one of us, and I'll give you credit. But you see, i MUST have the information in your head. That means I can't let you die juuuuust yet." She says. She bit into her arm, drawing blood, and advanced onto him, and would attempt to shove the bleeding arm into his mouth. "Drink.... just... give in." She whispers in a soft, sultry voice


Cecila takes the chance to circle around Mariah, making it look like she was keeping clear of her, and hovered above a shelf, where a blad statue was on the bottommost shelf. She pointed at it wordlessly, nodding

 

[Morgy]

Flora finally reached the cult leaders she carefully approached and gently pushed open the door. "Hello? I want to ask if anything happened? i head gun shots.." Flora was surprised to see Mariah and Zarred, they both looked like there were in a heated discussion and Zarred even looked a bit harmed. She smiled and tilted her head in confusion at the current positions. "Um may i ask whats going on?" Flora said dressing them both smiling but she had a look of concern and confusion. "Um Mariah why are you trying to shove your bleeding arm in my friends mouth? Now i don't know a lot about your customs... but i've never seen this before...." Flora said a bit perplexed at the moment.

 

[ValkyrieRose]

• Mariah's Office
• A random village house in Salem

• 
  
  
  Mariah looked up at the woman, clearly annoyed. "If i were you I would walk away... right now." She orders... she didn't need any pests in the way right now.... especially the one person Mariah didn't really want to see right now. "Close the door and get back to work." She insists
  
  
  A comm on Mariah's desk rings. "Eric is here, Miss. Shall I send him up?"
  
  
  "Yes, do that." She says... finally, some good news "Now then...where were we?" She asked, looking to him
  
  
  The room looked as if it was bloodthirsty. The cult leader had several antique lamps in the corners, as well as a light in the ceiling, all switched on. Behind Mariah was a sturdy desk, looking to be of oak or maple. there were also a few bookshelves as well, one of which eholding the statue that Cecila had wordlesslly pointed at. almost touching the floor.
  
  
  Besides the chair Zarred was in, there was one other. The walls were made of stone.
  
  
  
• 
  
  
  A man looms before Bance. He looks like an old war vetern of sorts, but there was something about his appearence that strkes you as odd... you just can't figure out what however. "We heard you were in town, Mr. Kallen." He says. "We also know what you are... we have a task for you. one involving someone you might know... what say you? Care to open up your career with a bang?" He asked, setting down a briefcase with money inside of it
  
  
  @Xistund
  
  
  

 

[Xistund]

Vance looked at the man with an air of suspicion, just how had the man found out about him and why try to give him a job instead of reporting him to the police. Well that second one was obvious that the job was illegal. He perked an eyebrow at the mention of someone he knew, the suitcase of money was also a nice bit of frosting on this cake. He was not a greedy man but the funds could further his plans faster then he had originally thought.


The young punk put his feet on the table, looking like he was the one controlling the conversation. "First of all I'm insulted that you think that I'm some mercenarie who would be at your beck and call like a damn dog for a suitcase filled with wads of cash. That being said, I'm willing to let the insult slide this once." He leaned back in the chair and rocked back and fourth. "So you're going to tell me about this job and why I should care to do it."


@ValkyrieRose

Spoiler

 

[Zayuz]

Danielle made an exaggerated sigh before pursuing the girl through the wall. "Psycho kidnappers.." She muttered to herself. "That's a new one." Seeing Aurora ascend through the roof, the followed suit; appearing on a few meters behind her. "That's the thing. We can offer you something better than your life before now. If you want to walk away from that, then go ahead. It will be fun never knowing what the hell you missed out on." Her voice paused, and quickly she looked up to meet her eyes. "..And just so you know; armor doesn't weigh me down while we're ghosts." The girl flashed her a smile. A somewhat cruel smile. She knew that there was no way out of this for Aurora, even if she did manage to return home. Her hand once again rested on her sword, the armored lady approaching her slowly. "..You do want to know what's going on before you run off, right? Why that man attacked you.. Why you're important." Getting just close enough, she extended her hand to Aurora's; just brushing alongside it and showing her that they could still touch each other. Even if they could touch nothing else. Her left hand was in a position to perform a handshake, though her right seemed ready to cut her at a moment's notice. "What do you say, Mage?"

 

[Mistress Iris]

Aurora felt a shiver go down her spine when Danielle touched her. She took a small step back, the look on the knights face mixed with the pose she held was quite intimidating to the medium. This woman freaked her out quite a bit that much was clear, yet what she had echoed in her head. 'Mage....? Is that what I am....? Do these people know more about me than myself? No...it's just an excuse....right?' Her expession went from hard to confused to scared the back to hard. The turmoil that plagued her mind was very evident on her face. On one hand these people had kidnapped her, yet on the other they may have had answer she had been looking for for years.


Aurora stared a hole into the ground contimplating her choices, before she looked up at Danielle. Her expression was that of false determination. On the surface she was brave, but just under that she was scared. "T-te-" Her voice cracked a bit which she covered with a cough. "Tell me why I should trust you. What do you know? What can you offer me?" She said more assertively.

 

[Zayuz]

Perfect. She had her attention. Now all she had to do was keep it. "Well.. I know you can use minor forms of magic. But magic never stops at 'minor..' Oh no. It goes far beyond that. Like the.. Man who sent us here, there are others that can teach you more advanced magics if that is what you seek. All more sane than he was. That was his first mission.. Ever. You've known him longer than I have. ..But if you ask me, all that magic's a bit overblown.." The 'knight' maintains eye contact, grabbing her wrist gently as so not to scare her. "What I'm really here for, and what I can personally assure you is eternal life. Surely you recognized that things weren't.. Normal, to say the least. Much like you, a few years ago I was selected to become a vampire. It's quite nice, I assure you.. And only certain people ever get the opportunity.. Along with a society who won't call you crazy for being able to have some unuxplainable abilites, it's really not such a bad place to be.." She matches her determined look, the corners of her mouth raising slightly. "What's occasionally sucking a bit of blood in exchange for living forever and having powers?" She waits a moment, allowing silence to fill the gap. "That's right. Nothing." She tightens her grip pf Aurora, still ready to cut her if she tries to run. "As for trusting me.. That's a choice you'll have to make on your own." The knight smiles, seemingly confident in her proposal. She had come quite close to Aurora by the end, standing within half of arm's reach..

 

[ValkyrieRose]

@Xistund


The man grins. "Now now, we wouldn't have approached unless you might be interested in it." He says. "You see, a member of our...organization was kidnapped, a man i'm sure you know." He says, pulling out a picture of someone, showing it to him. "You used to be members of the same band... Zarred Revil." He says. "Earlier toay he sent us a message saying he was in danger.. .we'd like for you to rack him down and return him safely to us... that money should more than cover your expenses." He says with a grin.

 

[Mistress Iris]

Auroras' eyes widen at the information. It was definitely alot to take in. 'Vampires and mages are real.....? I'd say that's crazy, but then I'd be the pot calling the kettle black....There are people out there like me, people who can help me. Do I really want to be around a coven of vampires?'


The medium slowly moved her hand out of Danielles grasp, not wanting to anger her. "This is rather....sudden. I could really use some space to think.....May I have some time alone?" She took a step back looking at the ground holding her arm close to her body.

 

[Zayuz]

Danielle nods, allowing her hand to slide from her grip. "Of course, though we'll have to get back to the martial realm first. Even if you got home now, you wouldnt be able to do much like this." The knight takes a step back, giving her some room. "Ill be waiting just inside the door. Come see me when you're ready to go home.. Or stick with us if you make your decision that quickly. Either way, I'll bring you to someone who can put us back into reality." The girl was quite pleased with her progress, confident that she had asserted herself as this girl's superior. Aurora was scared, as she should be. Danielle made a small nod, barely concealing a smal as she entered the door and left Aurora to her own. ..She would give her.. A minute before she checked in her.

 

[Xistund]

Vance was rather shocked at the news that the emo gitt had made somethings of himself. And here he thought he was going to mope away in a dark corner while real men changed the world. "And exactly what organization is this? The Zarred I know would be too chicken shit to run with someone like you."


He stopped rocking in the chair and smiled a bit. "So who captured him, the lollipop guild? Must have done some serious shit for someone like you to find someone like me."

 

[Mistress Iris]

Aurora sat on the floor once Danielle left. She pulled her knees to her chest and leaned against them staring at the wall. So maybe they weren't as bad as she had assumed. 'Although Danielle is quite intimitating, she doesnt seem TOO horrible, just....loyal? Zarred on the other hand,' her face scrunched up at the though of the goth 'he screwed me over in all of this.....he seemed so worried that she would kill me if I didn't come along....maybe he was kidnapped too? I mean she did flat out say she would have shish kabobbed me if I hadn't had been knocked out....What if the same thing had happened him? What if this whole conversation is just to get close to me and I really wont be able to go home? UHG this is just too much!'

 

[Zayuz]

Danielle waited indoors. Ten seconds passed. Twenty. Fourty. A minute. No sign of Aurora. Thinking she may have ran, Danielle peeks outside of the door, seeing her still on the ground. Sitting. In a ball. Concern shot through her mind, though she decided to stay true to her word. "A minute." She announces, walking out of the door. "..Did you need some more time?" She asks, hesitation in her voice. She'd never had a subject.. 'React' quite like this.

 

[NovaPheonix]

"Flora, cover your ears please..." Klab took a breath in, using the few moments he had while she opened a wound and approached him to his advantage. He tapped his foot a bit, syncing his voice with the very forces of death. He sung a song that would drive her back. A shallow, breathy, and heartbroken death-metal chanting echoed through the room as Zarred remembered his days with Vance and the gang. He sung with all his heart, what remained of his soft, non-beating heart. He pointed towards her with his ringed hand and gloved hand. One of his rings held unto his love, literally in this case, and the other focused his magic. He tapped his foot louder, letting it focus him and creating a loud thumping like the beating of his heart's drum.


Any thinking person would be driven backward and struggle to do anything as long as he sung this deathly black song:


"I curse you...from the depths of my rotting heart!


You're the MONSTER! Calling me a MONSTER?!


Crawl back in the ground, and die forEVER!!


BREAKING my heart INTO PIECES again, like I'll break you!


Look, you're already broken, dripping BLOOD.


Fall into the dark FLOOD of your own hopelessness...


Swaaaaallllllooooow OBLIVION!


You selfish ghost-stealing bitch!


I will see you ripped apart...


In the shallow depths...


like my rotting heart!"


He screamed at her as loud and heartlessly as he could, hoping to push her away long enough to work with Flora to escape.


@DARK7 @ValkyrieRose

 

[Mistress Iris]

Time passed quickly while Aurora was lost in thought. When Danielle came out again she hadn't really moved. This situtaion was not something she was prepared for at all, so rather than potentially getting killed she decided to take Danielles offer. It scared her that there were no garentees for her safety, but this way she would at least not be stuck as a psudo-ghost. She would play along for now, then hopefully be able to leave one way or another. "No I'm fine." She said as she stood up, still nervous about trusting the woman. She looked at the knight and gave a weak smile. "I'm not so sure about all this mage and vampire stuff, but I would at least like to not be a ghost anymore."

 

[Morgy]

Flora could do nothing but look at the events before in in horror, what was going on? Mariah was trying to do something to Zarred, Zarred looked like he was about to die and suffering. What ever was going it bothered her, she tried to follow Mariahs orders but heard Zarred call out to her, she had worked long enough as a nurse to have a sense for when someone looked like they were going to die. Her eyes widened in horror as he began to sing it sounded sad and lonely. She clutched her head watching them, her knife still out. "Stop it Zarred, stop it, stop it, stop it,STOP IT, STOP!" Soon it was too much for Flora it sounded like her friend was saying a damn eulogy for himself. She soon rushed her eyes looked dead, the knife in she made a stab for his throat. "Agony, ecstasy,peace. Every passing has a beauty of its own. Sleep, your time done and your suffering is over..."

 

[NovaPheonix]

"What the-?" Zarred turned, looking over at Flora in an instant as she rushed toward him. Reflexively he resumed his blood flow and the knife struck him in the side of the neck. "Gah-" He let out a final, choking sound and fell over unto the floor in a pool of blood that leaked from his neck. His nerves were still dulled, so it didn't feel as painful as it should have, but it still stung. He closed his eyes and laid on the floor, feeling the life leak out from his body as he slipped closer to death. "Cece...I'm sorry...I couldn't..." he whimpered out, feeling himself start to fade from consciousness.


@DARK7

 

[Morgy]

Flora walks over to Zarreds body, a dead pan expression on her face. "I don't like killing, hated the thought ever since i watched my parents murdered in cold blood before me, but i wasn't going to let someone threaten and possibly harm my care taker and cult leader... wouldn't you agree?" Floras statement directed to Mariah but she wasn't able to tear her eyes from Zarreds corpse, kneeling down before him she looked at the stab wound at his neck before glancing at the knife. "You had to do it huh? You had to force my hand didn't you?!?" Flora said now tearing up as she looked down at what she thought was her dead friend Zarred. Sh asked Mariah openly. "What happened? Why was he trying to attacked you?" Flora said sobbing at this point, from her perspective, it looked like the two were in an argument then Zarred had tried to attack her for some reason. She turned back to Mariah, her face was red and tears were streaming down her face, a look of pure agony and pain painted her features. Despite her devastation she looked the other woman in the eyes. "Did he defect?"

 

[Zayuz]

"Of course.. I'm glad to hear you'll be rational about this. Come with me, I'll return you to our mistress." Danielle looked away for just a moment, returning her gaze with the addition of an extended hand. ..It was to help her up; a sign of.. Friendship perhaps. Her sideways glance had been her making a decision - And to offer her guidance was the result. "..May I make a request?" She asks in a friendlier tone, waiting to see if she would accept the help. The city around them was decorated by the cloudy evening sky; only the brightest of start making an appearance above their heads. The faint sounds of traffic echoed in the distance, and from the roof they could see over the fence and the rest of the world continuing as it always had. ..But the purple ethereal glow of all solid objects served as a reminder of how isolated they were from it. Able to view it, but never fully be part of it. It was all separate from them. Segregated through invisible lines. ..It was almost symbolic; but she never desired to return to her ignorance. Being part of the hidden world was a blessing.. Especially under the rule of Mariah. Even the thought of her name provoked a mental sigh form her. Mariah.. Hopefully her.. 'Recruit' would appreciate it as much as she did. Though the knight knew not her purpose, she seemed confident that her mistress had good intentions.