Progenies Immortalis (Closed)

[Lavinian Pride]

"Look, you can't just go in there! That place was the site of a ritual, and if your forensics team goes in before we get a chance to do our thing, we'll be lucky if we can even tell how much faith it generated, let alone which god..." Sarah began. Aislinn placed a restraining hand on her shoulder as the Sergeant grinned maliciously.

"Oh, little crime lord out of her depth? I suggest you go back to your strip club, leave the detective work to the big boys," The man said, getting in Sarah's face. It darkened quite a bit as Aislinn had to pull Sarah away before she bit the man's face off. The Succubus was losing patience fast, and after calling for the equipment only ten minutes ago, she expected some sign that it was on the way, a phone call or something.

The forensics team was pulling out the last of their supplies before they'd ruin any hopes of tracing Aerith down and figuring out who she worshiped. While it was possible to be touched by a god, it was also possible to be touched by a god they didn't worship and they knew precious little about Aerith, besides the fact she knew all about them. Sarah had the feeling she had let a lion in her chicken coop, and the danger to her girls put her on edge.

She didn't like it when her girls got hurt, or when they were endangered. Hiring Aerith was both, and while Jared wasn't around to share the blame on, she couldn't help but figure had he been there, Aerith would have been exposed. Perhaps it was the stress of taking everything on her shoulders, especially after her heavy handed tactics had gotten more than a few girls to quit from under her.

Her phone began to vibrate, even as she heard the cop laugh.

Frowning she hit the receive button before she snapped, "Is it coming? That was slower than when Jared was around..."

"I'm so sorry Lady Mizami! I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen to me. He just harassed me and called me Rebecca!" Rose calling meant something had happened at the club. The fact that she mentioned a distinct he, meant a man had done something.

And Sarah was across town.

"Well where is the bastard?"

"He's coming to you with the supplies! But, he, he took your bike!" Rose wailed. Sarah now understood the hysterics she was employing. The girl had tried to stop whoever was bringing the supplies from taking her bike. The fact this man who was doing it was brash enough to risk the castration she promised any man who touched the thing meant he had to be cocky, or blissfully ignorant.

"Who is this 'he'?" Sarah finally asked, knowing the answer before she had even finished the question.

"J-j-jared!" The girl managed. At that point Sarah heard the revving of her motorcycle and cringed. Shaking her head she said a quick goodbye hanging up even as the fire red helmet came over the hill, the bike racing between the police barriers. She recognized the backpack as being one of the ones used for the field reconnaissance at ritual sites. The clothing while dark did fit his loose fitting style. For a moment she could have sworn she heard her heart beat.

She should have been angry, but after seeing him for the first time in years, she almost wanted to pull him into a side room and give him a real welcome back.

The police immediately moved up to the man waving frantically, even as the forensics team began to move towards the dorms. The helmet was removed before she heard his voice speak, the tone not inviting much room for argument, "You move those boxes another foot and I'll have your jobs with breakfast."

The smug officer from before waltzed up to Jared and pulled out his handcuffs. He then let out a shit eating grin as he said, "Well boys, we got breaking and entering, interfering with an investigation, and defiance of an officer. Let’s see what he does next. With luck he might get up to another felony!"

"That you Jacobs?" Jared asked as he powered down the motorcycle. Sarah wanted to move, really she did, but watching Jared in action was a rarity.

"Yes, Sergeant Jacobs to you, citizen. Give me a good reason not to take you down town for questioning," The man said as he crossed his arms.

"Commissioner Dobbs would fire you for police brutality, again," Jared replied bluntly before he pointed at the man's radio, "Check the database, we have a permit..."

"No, you don't, paperwork hasn't been filed in five years. You're too little too late big boy. Now turn around so I can cuff you. I'll be sure to read your rights nice and slowly, use small words so you understand it..."

"Check the temporary files. You'd be surprised what you can find," Jared replied, grinning with a bit of the Lavinian pride that Sarah missed around the workplace.

The sergeant radioed in the request, only to be given back immediately a file number. He glared at Jared before he said, "Fair enough, but I go with you. Make sure you don't tamper with or destroy evidence."

"I hope you brought a barf bucket," Jared replied getting off the bike. He moved down the street and into the dorms without losing pace. Sarah moved hurriedly to catch up even as the girls began to set up the traditional perimeter. Aislinn was handed the backpack before Jared asked, "Still remember the steps?"

"I think so; you might have to hold my hand through it..." Aislinn said even as they hit the elevator. Sarah remained resolutely silent, watching Jared to see what was up.

"I would but I think my wife might take offense to that..." Jared finally retorted as the doors slammed shut. The officer snorted in derision before Jared gave him a stern look, shutting him up.

Sarah wasn't sure what to make of that choice of words. Did Jared not know? Was he merely playing dumb hoping she'd go out and drop the divorce? He was as unreadable as ever, a true chaotic agent in her perfectly defined life. Perhaps that's what frustrated her, he turned her world upside down, merely by walking through the door.

It's also what lead to their eventual marriage.

When the Elevator came to a halt, she felt the goose bumps once more, before Jared shook his head sighing, "I smell it everyday for five fucking years, and it still makes me cringe every-time..."

The officer frowned at Jared before he said, "Smell what?" At that point the doors opened and the stench reached them fully. Aislinn was used to the scent having only just left it, but the officer felt his stomach lurch at the offending odor. Moving down the carpeted hallway he moved stiffly, in the signs of a rebelling stomach. Sarah felt a bit vindicated by the fact he was already squeamish. Having seen the massacre sight she knew he couldn't take much more.

The dorm room was covered in blood, decorating the walls and the ceiling as well as the floor, painting the room in a crimson red. The officer seemed dazed as he looked at the scene, the body laid bare upon a bed, barely recognizable as a woman. Seeing the man so put off she pointed at a nearby door, "Bathrooms there..."

While he was rushing into it Jared ignored his retching to reach into the backpack. Pulling out some small poles he began, "Aislinn boot up the computer, and hand me the microphone. I'll need to record notes this time, Sarah could you help me set up the spark detectors?"

The "spark detectors" were the best kept secret of Sarah and Jared. Having close ties to the local university and a deity, they were able to quantify the faith a god uses to fuel his divine powers. Once that was accomplished, it was a simple task to measure the imprint of faith in an area. When a ritual was done, it would leave a ghost image of the faith reaped from such an event. The Spark Detectors told how much spark was generated, so a god could function.

Sarah moved to a corner and placed the first one, even as Jared moved opposite. AIslinn had set the laptop on her lap, and was sitting on a chair she had pulled in from outside the room. Immediately she began typing away as a concert pianist, moving through programs and files with a practiced ease. She tossed Jared the microphone, which he clipped to his ear and placed the mouthpiece close to his mouth.

"July 27th 1947 PD, Victim looks to be human female roughly 5 feet six inches tall. Cause of death is bleeding out, with indications of torture evident. Skin has been flayed in some areas, and any attractive feature has been gouged out of the woman. Scraps of cloth on the floor suggest victim was tied down then stripped. Time of death is unknown as the air conditioning of the room is blasting cooling the body prematurely, and the clean atmosphere has not allowed insects to arrive at the death scene yet," Jared said firmly before he clenched his hand into a fist. Aislinn quickly shut off the recording as he looked over at Sarah.

"This isn't some wannabe honey, she's the real deal. What info do you have on her?"

"She worked at the Temptress," Sarah replied softly before she shook her head. Despite having fed only hours ago she could feel a yearning to lick the room clean. Moving out into the hallway she said firmly, "I have to go. I can't keep my composure in here; I'm liable to do something stupid. Let me know if you need extra hands..."

She also didn't want to deal with the emotions of deciding how to treat Jared. As a friend? A lover? Husband? She didn't know, and she hoped some fresh air could shed some light on the situation, even as she let Jared go to work. She looked at Jared only briefly before she spoke up, "Jared, welcome home..."

Jared looked at Sarah with a softer look than his usual gruff appearance before he said, "Thank you Sarah. I'll catch you at the club tonight..."

Sarah sighed before she nodded and headed downstairs.

[KOA]

The streets of Knife’s Edge was a hustle of activity, the people moving like ants in the crowded winding roads while cars blared their horns to move onwards towards their meaningless destinations. People walked with heads down, the better to avoid confrontations to deter them further. Beggars lined the roads, some with signs asking for help to feed their families, others praying to gods that would never listen.

Steena looked at the dossier in her SUV as it traveled rather slowly through the intersections of the road. With her in the car was four other military brother and sisters, Knight’s hand trained by Vladimir and herself. They were the few called inner circle, the few who could be trusted with taking down those deeply touched. She passed out copies of the target’s face as she instinctively looked to her left to see Vladimir’s bored expression. Instead she saw only one of the knights looking intently at the mission before them.

“Why isn’t lord Vladimir with us on this?” One of the women asked. She had auburn colored hair and red eyes, a unique trait of one of the Blood Magi families. It was critical she was on board for this mission, as Blood Magi were the natural anathema to Hex Magic with their rituals in blood instead of souls. She was a newcomer, and thus her insolence of asking such a stupid question would pass just this once.

“Lord Sigma has other, more important issues to handle. If he feels that we can do this without him, then by the horseman we shall.” Steena said ending the manner. The driver turned his head a fraction of an inch.

“Contact with target in five minutes,” he said coolly. Steena nodded as she checked her gear. Her rapier was ready to go, along with her pistol and two extra clips. The rest of her team loaded up rifles and shotguns, clasping helmets and making sure their vests were on tightly.

Steena looked out the front window, observing the street and her target was easily spotted in the crowd. He was shaven now, his head more like a military crew cut. He seemed to lose a lot of the bulk his profile described him as having, but that same magical energy seemed to be emanating from him. The vehicle rolled to a stop along the sidewalk.

Her team nodded to her signaling they were ready.

“He’s spooked!” The driver shouted as the clutch changed back into drive with a crunching sound. The car screeched as the rubber tires burned along the ground, scaring off people nearby as the SUV was off in chase.

Amadeus was running for dear life as he pushed people out of his way, darting down an alley and out of sight. Steena slapped her head as she gritted her teeth. You owe me big time for this, Vladimir. She thought miserably as the car screeched to a halt, the door being kicked open as her team ran after the prey.

~*~*~*~

“How you been?” Rebecca asked lightly. Vladimir shrugged his shoulders indifferently.

“Life hunting gods can be a tiring task. My horizons have grown a little since Karel and I went after Lazarus. I’m currently after his brother, Mordechi as well.” he watched as a group of children ran across the street, chasing after a ball. He smiled lightly at the scene. “How’s your son?”

“He’s a handful as always, but doing very well.” She said smiling. “Getting great marks in his studies, but his martial trainings are left to be desired. Go figure, the son of the Saint of Swords hates them. Thinks they aren’t cool.” she mocked as she smiled. Vladimir grinned at that.

They turned down the road, following the path as Vladimir took in all the simplicity of the town. Tree’s lined the road leaving behind brownish leaves as fall took it’s toll on the ancient oaks leaving a pile at the base of each tree. As the kids ran down the street two men walked before them, stopping the kids long enough to play for a moment before they kicked the ball for the kids to enjoy running after it. As they turned to face Vladimir and Rebecca they froze.

“Is that…” one began. He wore a gray jacket and had dusty white hair, a sheathed katana strapped to his black denim pants. He ran a hand through his hair, his eyes wild and carefree. Though Vladimir knew this man from long ago, much of the animalistic spark this man once possessed was gone.

“No, he’s smiling, can’t be him.” the other continued. He had brown hair and deep piercing blue eyes, eyes that once long ago held nothing but sadness in them. Now, though they still harbored regrets, they were filled with determination to live each day to the fullest. He wore a brown travelers outfit, a cape that fluttered in the breeze, and a badge of office signaling to all that he was the Capitan of the Town Guard while a sabre dangled off his belt.

“Regal,” he said to the gray swordsman. “Troy,” he said to the captain with a respectful nod. “It’s great to see you both well.”

“Yep, we are as well as can be, which only means one thing.” Regal said happily. His face dropped a bit of the excitement. “I’m bored as shit.” Vladimir snorted his amusement at Regal’s simple mind.

“Will you be staying for dinner?” Troy asked as the two men wandered closer to the Rebecca and Vladimir. “If you are I’ll have to let my wife, Noel, know.”

At first glance the wife of Troy Priam was a greene yed blond haired, scrawny, boobless, tomboyish lookalike. She had a perky, boring personality and whined constantly. When she whined, it wasn’t a bawling cry, but a pitiful sagging feeling that could only bring a sigh to a person’s lips when they heard it. She did have one redeeming quality, one quality that more than made up for all her failures. She was a goddess of food, and could cook the most delicious meals in all of Althanas. Period.

“That…really makes me sad I have to turn it down.” Vladimir admitted. “I’m in the middle of hunting down someone however, I stopped only for the anniversary.” Troy and Regal both nodded.

“Well that’s a shame, roasted duck!” Regal boasted. “I’m so gonna devour it!” Troy gave Regal a dark look.

“You do mean share it, right?” Troy gave him a warning eye, which put the gray swordsman into his place. “Rebecca, don’t take to long, we will be waiting for you and Seed.” Troy said to his sister. She nodded to him, giving him a tight hug as they all met. Troy began to whisper into her ear, and she only sniffled in response, nodding to him.

“I got lunch with Nami,” Regal said loudly to Troy as he walked forward. In one practiced motion he took his sheath out of his belt and placed it on Troy’s as he walked towards Sheex’s bar. “See ya later Vlad! Next time visit for more than five minutes!” Regal shouted, despite the fact Vladimir was only an arm’s length away from the knight.

“Goodbye, Regal. Tell your Nami she’s got insane bravery for marrying an idiot like you.” Vladimir mumbled. He watched the gray swordsman leave before turning to see Troy standing before him with his arm held out.

Troy and Vladimir were at best, respectful to each other. They didn’t really care for each other more than they had to, but when Karel was placed into the picture they both started to form a close brotherhood like one would find in a military barracks between soldiers. This friendship only grew the more they found ways to make Karel’s life miserable, reminding the Saint of Swords how human he really was.

Vladimir gripped his hand tightly, nodding to the man before he walked off, attending to his duties as town guard. Rebecca turned to Vladimir wiping a tear from her eye.

“Shall we?” She said hiding her pain as she held her hand out for him. He took the hand, gripping it tightly as they continued to walk. “Troy’s always worried I’m just going to cause myself more pain by going.” she said haphazardly.

“Is this that woman’s trick to getting men to talk to her about her problems?” Vladimir said coldly.

“Why do you have to always be such a jerk?” She snapped wrenching her hand from his and slapping him across the chest playfully. Vladimir gave her a coy smile before she laughed lightly walking forward with him again.

“You know he is right. Every year you make the same stupid promise, I won’t cry.” He pitched his voice to mock her. “And every year you come home with more tears than the last.” Rebecca shrugged to him, flicking hair out of her eye.

“It’s perfectly natural for me to miss my husband.” Vladimir nodded in agreement to that. “Have you…have you moved on?” She asked carefully. Vladimir shook his head. “Why not?” she inquired.

“Because I don’t need to. I am happy with my memories of Serra.” Rebecca sighed as she sagged on his arm. “Look, I’m not you, Rebecca Raven, I am able to be happy without the need of another. I’m not trying to be a jerk, knowing you found Seed to fill a void, but for me, I don’t feel that void.”

They walked in silence. Vladimir let his memories wander as he thought about Karel and Rebecca, before suddenly he felt two slender arms hug him tightly. He looked down to see Rebecca smiling up at him, brightly.

“You looked like you needed that.” She said casually walking onwards from him.

He watched her walking away, feeling the warmth from that hug linger inside him even though she let it go. So like Serra’s… Vladimir thought.

~*~*~*~

“Shit, Red Knight reporting that I lost him.” a voice cackled over the radio. Steena ran as fast as her lithe legs could, keeping her breath even as her natural agility of being an elf kicked in. She easily darted over fallen trash, drunken hobos, and the occasional fire escape ladder. Her eyes kept scanning the area for the next obstacle as she jumped up, grabbed a sign post and split her legs to jump over an elderly couple without missing her stride when she landed.

“Who’s still got visual?” Steena said effortlessly.

“Blue Knight and Black Knight.” a voice responded in her ear. She lifted her hand up and turned a corner with the aid of a lamppost. She was back on the busy street chasing through the crowd as her eyes searched for signs of Amadeus.

“CRAP! Black Knight reporting tango lost!” The muffled sound of people being trampled filled her ear and she reached to her waist cutting off his communications to her headset. “Blue Knight status update!”

“Tango in sight.” the voice said calmly as his breath was audible in her ear. She turned down another alley and she sprinted, using all her agility to leap, jump, cartwheel, and flip over obstacles. She felt a small bead of sweat start to fall down her face. I’m out of shape. she thought as she pushed herself forward.

“Crossing J Street alleyway now, Blue Knight.” she said in one breath.

“Tango crossing your path. Hustle White Knight if you want to grab him!” he said as his breaths started to sound pained. Amadeus was apparently a very good at running if he could lose four knights and tire out the other remaining two.

Steena bolted forward, pushing herself past her limits as she slid her body out of the alley and turning on the spot lifting up her pistol to eye level. Amadeus saw the weapon and screamed like a girl as he covered his face and barreled forward.

“NO I DON’T WANNA GO BACK!” Amadeus shouted as he flailed his body about. Steena cursed as she lowered the weapon and braced for his bulk. The tow forces collided and Steena felt her body lift up into the air as her eyes winced in pain. She bounced upon the wet stone and rolled into the trash boxes left outside the back of a shop and she woozily looked up to see Amadeus tripping on his feet using his hands to keep him standing upright.

Before he could get away Blue Knight ran forward and tackled him to the ground. He used his training to subdue the target, placing a gun against his head. All resistance by Amadeus was quickly ended as he lifted his hands up into the air.

Steena groggily got up as she radioed in her coordinates to the rest of the team, her backside aching as she rubbed herself tenderly. As she approached Amadeus he lifted up his hands and gave her a dark look. Before he could even mutter a word she had her Rapier drawn on his nose.

“I wouldn’t bother trying any of that Hex magic.” She warned. Amadeus’ eyes went wide, a look of confusion on his face. She knew from her training and years of experience that this look was not a fake one, and something suddenly began to nag in her mind.

“Hex Magic? I haven’t used that shit in years! I swear I’m clean!” he motioned to his pocket. “I’m within my parole rights. I have followed the law to the letter. No more cult stuff! I worship Selios now!” he was starting to get into hysterics and Steena rolled her eyes as she bent over and lifted her hand into his pants.

She found a piece of paper and pulled it out, unfolding it and reading it carefully. “This…this is five years old…”

“Ya, I know.” Amadeus said. “I don’t do any cult stuff anymore! I swear to god, that isn’t me anymore!”

“But…” she instinctively reached for the dossier in her backpack. She took it out and read over the information, slower and carefully. Something wasn’t adding up. She took out her cell phone and dialed up her companion, Hardun. It rang for a few moments before his gruff voice answered.

“Time zones, lass. Go learn them and call me back when it’s morning my time.” he was about to hang up, but Steena’s voice cut deeply through the phone.

“Listen idiot, get Omega turned on and check the records on Amadeus and reference them with the scandisk we were given by Lady Mizami. Now.” The dwarf protested the entire time, but he slowly got up, and got to work.

Amadeus looked to her with fear as the Knight upon him kept him down, he gave his leader a confused look, and she signaled for him to keep Amadeus treated as hostile. He returned his hold on him. At last Hardun came back on the phone, his voice a little more accepting to the situation at hand.

“Uh…lass…these files have been tampered with…”

[Lavinian Ambition]

Jared sighed, looking upon the scene a bit more as he finished setting up the final two poles of the spark detector. His face held a look of intense concentration before Aislinn spoke up, knocking him out of his focus, "You know, you try to act suave, but you're running from something, aren't you?"

"That's our Aislinn, the Temptress' resident Psychologist..." Jared returned sarcastically. The officer had finally managed to climb out of the bathroom, where he saw the scene once more with a look of utter revulsion.

"What kind of sick fuck would do this sort of shit?" The officer asked. Jared only gave him a look of feigned surprise before he went back to Aislinn, and reached down to her lap to tap the key that would start the process.

"Do try to keep up darling, I'd like to get some sleep before finishing the permit work tomorrow..."

Aislinn shook her head before she sighed, "Right Mr. Cesarino. My apologies..."

"No, don't ignore me, you know something about this! I need to know, for the investigation!" The Officer said he reached a hand out to grab Jared by the collar, only to watch it get swatted away with an ease that was unnatural. Immediately he found himself regretting it as he saw the hand come up, in a fist and stop just shy of his nose.

"If you are going to assault me, make your first shot count. I will not be held responsible for my reactions to your childish antics Sergeant," Jared looked at the police officer through his dead eye, sending shivers down the man's spine. He turned away to not look into it before he muttered something about the crazy people running about tonight. He then looked down at Aislinn, "Now, what is the reading?"

"Off the charts, but you knew that didn't you?" Aislinn said once more.

"I had hoped I was wrong, but from the way the bloods over the walls..." He left it hanging, letting the officer know he was about to say something important with a sideways glance, "I'm willing to bet whoever did this tortured the girl by using her blood as paint. It's, effective, when you see yourself slowly dying, and watch the inventive ways they get more paint out of you, so to speak..." Jared replied.

"You don't think it was Aerith?" Aislinn asked. The guard seemed to perk up as he pulled out his notepad. Jared spoke frankly, letting the man jot down the name and the ideas;

"No, this is far too formal. Look at the amount of faith reaped. Aerith is too young to have that kind of information from the cults. They don't trust younger killers like that. You're talking someone who's been in the cult perhaps twenty, thirty years to get that kind of knowledge. We're looking at someone so deeply indoctrinated; they've subverted their will with their god's. You're looking at a fanatic that would be Cassandra's peer at that point."

Aislinn nodded as she hit the transfer button, sending the information to the Knights of Apocalypse enterprises. She then shut down the computer and placed it in the backpack. Getting up she helped Jared move the poles back into it. The officer looked puzzled before he spoke up, "That's it? That's all you needed?"

"Amazing the amount of red tape we have to waltz through to get it when you think about it. Perhaps you should talk to your commissioner about it, especially since the 'sick fuck' as you so eloquently put it is running around Radasanth. You want to make some good notes? Write this down, the Cassandran high priest, code worded the Saint of Killers is running around here, and that 'sick fuck' isn't going to stop till they get what they want," Jared said, pointing at his pad.

"What do we do about that? It's not like we have anything to go on! Give us a lead!" The officer was off his game, and in being so was actually doing his job Jared noticed. It was amusing to see that he was only a bully till things got freaky. Perhaps that one quality made him a better officer than most.

"You have all the info on the incident we have. So get your forensic info and be done with it..." Jared replied. He moved out into the hallway before he pulled out another cigarette and lit up. Even the acrid scent of burnt tobacco was preferable to the scent of congealed blood on the walls. He moved his jacket off his shoulders and hung it from a finger while he smoked, waiting for the cigarette to be done before he went downstairs.

"You know, there is one thing I've been meaning to talk to you about Jared. For when you got back of course..." Aislinn finally said as she took the cigarette from his lips and took a drag, before handing it back. Cesarino smirked at the audacious act, but he knew better than to chastise him for it. Aislinn was their adopted daughter of sorts, having been taken care of since the incident in the club. She knew of daddy's vices, and in exchange for not telling mommy about them, she got to partake occasionally.

Jared took the cigarette before he took another drag his eyes looking at her curiously, "And that is?"

She seemed to wait till Jared seemed to be inhaling before she finally asked, "Who are Krystal and Serenity?"

Jared felt a hiccup in his lungs as his chest seized instinctively at the mention of those names. A fit of coughs left his lips as smoke escaped anyway it could. His eyes held a hint of sadness at their mention before they hardened again, hiding the briefest hint of humanity he had left. Finally under control he glared down at Aislinn, who remained impassive as she looked upon him.

"Who told you about them?"

"No one, I just finally got around to learning Trade Speak, at least how to read it. Wilfred seemed keen on teaching me. When I got a good enough grasp, I just took an old photo of your guns and showed it to Wilfred. He asked me why I was showing it to him, and I said it was because you said the guns had Guilt and Grief inscribed on them," Aislinn began. Jared was still coughing intermittently before he gestured for her to go on. She had gone that far, might as well finish the damned story.

"Well, Wilfred said that the guns did say that, in a more symbolic way. When I pressed him he refused to budge, said it wasn't his story. What he did do, was taught me how to correctly translate them, since you were using the Lavinian dialect. Apparently that dialect was a bit more flowery and made the words harder to read. That's how I came up with the words Serenity and Krystal. When I showed them to Sarah, she said their story was yours and not hers to tell," Aislinn concluded.

"Amiya's tits... Well, it’s nice to see my privacy was kept intact while I was gone," Jared finally said, his voice hoarse from the coughing fit. Taking a smaller drag on the cigarette he dropped it to the carpet before he rubbed it out and exhaled slowly. "Too bad you aren't going to learn that one..."

"So they are names, can you at least tell me who is who?" Aislinn asked. Jared knew she was on thin ice with pushing the issue. Further because it was one of the few topics Jared stonewalled the girl on. He would talk about any of his other exploits all day, even when he tried to destroy the world in a fit of childish rage. He explained his eye and the cursed magic that coursed through his veins. He explained why Seth was a god, and what it meant to Jared in the long run. He even talked about Sarah's first adopted daughter Kid. What he refused to do, was talk of those two.

However he decided to relent this much, and no farther, "Serenity is my grief, and Krystal was my guilt. That's the last I'll say on this matter, especially in front of interlopers." It was at this time the elevator came up bearing the forensics team. Jared moved into the elevator stiffly, with Aislinn in tow, who was studying Jared for quite a few moments.

Finally a hand rested on his shoulder as she said, "Look, I'm sorry for prying. I just, want to know about you two. You have perhaps the wildest of the immortal's histories next to Vladimir. I mean you were the Eighth, and you nearly made up a new Council of Seven. I'm surprised Vladimir even lets you live with accomplishments like that..."

"He doesn't get a choice, remember, Selios cursed me to see the world end. I die and come back within a day's time, if they make it hard for me to, like dumping me into the ocean, I'll come back in Lavinya. Still frustrates me that he won't change it to the temptress when Lavinya isn't my home anymore..."

"But Lavinya is back-"

"Aislinn, your only warning, don't speak about that town as if you knew it. There was so many factors that made Lavinya what it is, that you cannot fathom the cultural differences between the Lavinians, and the people who claim to be today..."

The hand left his shoulder, even as she felt a cold shudder of fear race up her spine. For a moment she could have sworn she saw the Jared Sarah warned her of. This was the Jared that would destroy the world one day; the Catalyst for which he took one of his many nicknames. She only looked away even as the elevator dumped them on the first floor. He pushed off the wall in a practiced maneuver, flinging his jacket about such that he slid into it without any preamble. Finally he tilted his head this way and that, freeing some tension in his neck before he spoke, "And with that, smile for the audience, we got fans..."

[The Black Waltz Project]

Wilfred watched the elevator turn open as Jared and Aislinne walked out of the trolley with a small grin on their face like a joke exchanged between them. Sarah looked up from her seat, releasing Wilfred’s arm that she was leaning on as she pampered up and stood looking to him with a soft smile. He returned it and Wilfred felt something inside his heart soften. A curious emotion he would look into later.

The two starred at each other in an awkward stance, before they swooned into each other’s arms, holding each other tightly. Jared whispered into her ear as she closed her eyes tightly running her hand through his red hair.

He hadn’t even noticed that Aislinne was standing next to him, clutching the bag tightly with a warm smile on her face. He turned to her, and with little thought lifted a hand up to her shoulder and rubbed her gently. She looked to him, a little confused, before she laughed softly and leaned into him for support.

“They look so happy…she’s been so lonely without him around.” Aislinne whispered.

“I couldn’t tell from the number of advances she placed on me.” Wilfred felt his free arm lift and something lean against him.

“’It’s just…so cute!” Jensen cooed. “Like if you took a puppy and a kitten, and they both cuddled up against each other near a fireplace!” Wilfred didn’t know why, but he felt annoyed at Jensen for interrupting his alone time with Aislinne.

“Do you have to make everything so damned awkward you fool?” Aislinne said angrily as she glared at the immortal. Jensen gave her a wink before he twirled Wilfred away from her, dipping him low causing the golem to feel more agitated.

“Ah, but I am Jensen, and you know that no matter how foolish I act, your heart calls out for me!”

“One time, you mother fucker, one time and I REGRET IT!” Aislinne shouted. Wilfred felt another stab near his heart. He made a mental note to check a doctor to see if this was normal. Sarah and Jared turned to face the trio with dirty looks before Jared’s eyes narrowed a bit more on Jensen.

“THE PRODGIAL SON RETURNS!” Jensen shouted, dropping the golem on his back running over with arms held wide open to embrace Jared.

“Get away from me you clown!” Jared warned pulling out his pistol. Aislinne cursed foully to Jensen as she ran over to Wilfred, who felt very silly at the moment.

“Onto discussions that really matter!” Wilfred said in his most demanding teaching tone. The group all remained quiet, Jensen not moving a muscle as he balanced himself on one foot. “Jared, I’m happy to see you returned, and I do wish it was under more pleasant circumstances, but I must ask that you hold off your happy reunion. As from what I can hypothesize from the smell of the scene a great deal of faith was amassed for the goddess of blessed torture.”

“Correct,” Jared said getting to business. “From what we were able to obtain it was enough faith to awaken a god’s conscious through the void. I can only imagine it’s a Saint of Killers.” The golem pushed himself up with Aislinne’s help, and after thanking her he looked to Jared before he began to pace softly across the floor.

“Are you suggesting the Saint of Killers is Aerith?” Wilfred asked. Jared shook his head holstering his gun.

“No, this isn’t kiddy shit, but full blown copycat. Cassandran Serial Killers who emulate her don’t even reap that much faith, mostly because she doesn’t seem to touch them at all. But a Saint of Killers has to be someone special, someone who shares her taste for violence before they can be touched.” he moved his chin to his chest in thought. “I think this Aerith girl was just a pair of eyes, someone to find a suitable offering to the goddess. Father Bernard mentioned that he spoke with the Saint of Killers, but he seemed to come back from such an encounter paler than a ghost.”

“Doubtful a tiny child like her could be touched then.” Sarah said adding her two cents. “Yet the child did know a lot about all the gods and immortals. So she must be at least a part of the cult that the Saint of Killers belongs to.”

“Agreed.” Wilfred said as he took out a small dry erase pen and walked towards the windows. He noticed Melinda was sitting on one of the couches, deep in thought . “Child, it will do you no good to think about Vladimir at this point. Please put all those thoughts aside, as we could use an inner circle Knight’s expertise on the subject at hand.”

And just like that the head of Knight’s of Apocalypse enterprises blinked a few times before awakening and nodding her head for Wilfred to go on. He made a mental note to comfort her later. He approached the glass and began to write down dates and times, along with some information regarding them. The group of immortals and girls all sat along the dorm room couches and chairs, Jared and Sarah sharing one seat as she sat in his lap.

“Aerith was first seen in my class this fall semester, but I tracked her records. She took an insane amount of history classes as well as magical art classes and science classes. Her counselor told me she was trying to go into police forensics in magic and minor in history.”

“Boring.” Jensen said flatly. “Tell us something important.”

“Ya know what, Jensen? Shut the hell up.” Melinda said darkly as she glared to the man.

“Uh oh, honeymoons over.” Jensen chided. “Guess you and Aislinne can make the I slept with Jensen and regret it club.” both girls glared darkly at him, only making him laugh with glee. Wilfred softly walked forward looking Jensen in the eyes.

“Jeeze Willy, Jeeze! Not the eyes! They creep me out!” He feigned being frightened as Wilfred rolled his eyes turning back to the window where he wrote a few more notes.

“I asked Aislinne to bring me the files on her, and she did along with other useful information. All the classic serial killer signs are in her background. Abused as a child, bullied in school. Her taste for history was seen as her escape.” Wilfred rolled the marker over the window, making a squeak noise as he circled the word Temptress. “At about the age of sixteen she lied about her age to get a job, which you, Sarah, gave her…this would be…”

“Three years ago…a month after Sarah had placed the divorce in the paper.” Aislinne whispered. Despite how lightly she breathed it, the entire room heard it. The mood in the room suddenly shifted. Sarah felt her butt hit the carpet hard as Jared’s face looked to her with shock, a look of pain in his features like she stabbed him deeply.

“You…you really did it?” He muttered to her. Sarah looked up to him with tear filled eyes.

“I…I had to get your attention. Something, someway to let you know I needed you!” Sarah said exasperated as she crawled to him, grabbing his hand.

“I told you to wait!” he said angrily. Sarah’s tears began to run down her face.

“You can’t expect me to wait forever for NOTHING!” She shouted. “Not a sign, not a letter, not even a damned crumbled receipt from a burger joint to let me know you breathed and still cared for me!”

“I was undercover! I can’t exactly stop my investigation to write my wife a letter in a den of SERIAL KILLERS!” he shouted back. Sarah got back to her feet as she glared to him.

“No matter what you told me you would be there when I needed you the most!” She said darkly. “So I told you I needed you, and you abandoned me!” She seethed. Jared stood up with her, matching her gaze as the two glared at each other.

Wilfred stepped forward, standing between them as he softly pushed Sarah aside. “This is all trivial nonsense.” the golem said. “Jared still loves you Sarah,” he said looking to the vampiress. His eyes returned to the Lavinian. “And Sarah still loves you Jared.” he said like a parent scolding two children. “Does anything else matter?”

“No…” Jared said looking down to his feet. “It doesn’t. Maybe I was too consumed in my work to realize how much you missed me. I‘m sorry to make you wait.” He looked back to Sarah and smiled.

“Disaster averted.” Wilfred said triumphantly as he returned to the window. “So the point is, while Sarah was preoccupied with other things, Aerith flew in under the radar to be the eyes and ears of the Saint of Killers, so what we need to do is look for her. While we search, maybe we can get the Knight’s to look into her past and see if we can find any spots that may lead to us to the Saint.”

“This has been a long day.” Sarah said tugging on Jared’s hand to bring him over to her. “It’s just been one long, stupid day. I don’t think I can handle anymore at this time. Please, Melinda, let us know if you and Vladimir find anything on her.”

“Will do, Lady Mizami.” Melinda said getting up and walking next to Aislinne. “God, that was awkward.” she muttered.

“Tell me about it.” Aislinne joked.

“You haven’t seen awkward yet!” Jensen said slyly as he ran forward. Wilfred gave him a dark look as the immortal stepped on the couch, hopped over it, and turned to look at Sarah.

“So does this mean our whirlwind romance is over?” Jensen said sadly. “No more fuck buddy sessions when you feed on blood and need a good dicking?” Sarah’s eyes opened wide in hatred as her fists curled into talons ready to swipe his face off. “I’m not just some useless toy you can cast aside, Sarah, I have feelings to you know!”

“Shut. Up.” Sarah seethed.

“No, Sarah, I refuse to think our romance was just a one night stand…or two nights…possibly three…” Jensen thought about it. “No four times. Four times. For sure. Defiantly five time we bumped pelvises.”

“What is this clown babbling about?” Jared said in a forced calm.

“Well Jared, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much the mommy does things like sleep with other guys to make the daddy jealous when he doesn’t pay enough attention to her! This is called regret.”

Jared turned to look Sarah deeply in the eyes, and she looked back with a longing look of regret. He lifted his hand to Jensen in spite. “You slept with…THAT?” He shouted losing his cool.

“She didn’t just sleep, she let me fuck her brains out.” Jensen began to thrust his hips against the side of a couch. He even slapped it in mockery of what he had done. “Doggy, Anal, tit jobs, blowjobs, oh man we had a RIOT!” Jensen sang as he had his way with the couch. “She screamed and hollered, and I was all like ’YEEEAAAHHH BITCH’!” Jensen stopped his thrusts as he looked to Sarah, who was bawling in front of Jared who had pulled out his guns on the immortal. “Overall I’d rate her six outta ten. Aislinne’s tits bounced way better and Melinda gets better thrust.” Jensen waved his hand winking to Jared.

Two gunshots went off and Jensen’s body exploded backwards, his face a bloody mess as Jared stood over him, looking down upon his broken form. He lowered the weapon to his face again, but he seethed his frustrations as he lowered the weapons and ran a hand through his hair, gripping it tightly before turning to Sarah.

“Give me my keys.”

“Jared, please…” Sarah begged. Jared moved over to her, pushing her hand aside as he ripped the carabineer off her waist and stormed away. The group of immortals and girls all looked to Sarah as she sobbed into her own hand, Aislinne moving forward timidly as she gently placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“It’s all my fault, it’s all my fault…” she repeated over and over. Aislinne only rubbed her back gently as she sobbed into her sleeve whispering into her ear. Wilfred looked to Melinda who looked back with a confused look.

“I, should probably go…” Melinda said walking towards the exit.

“Wilfred…” Sarah muttered in her sobs. “Can…can you do me a favor? Take one of my girls and go find Jared?” She looked right at him and her eyes were begging the golem. “He’ll…He’ll talk to you. I just know he will…Please. I just want to make sure he’s okay…” Wilfred looked to her, very confused, unsure what to say. His eyes wandered to Aislinne’s, who had tears forming in her orbs. She gave him the silent message, adding her own pleading to Sarah’s.

“Uh…okay.” Wilfred said walking out the door pointing to one of Sarah’s workers. “I’ll go.”

He stepped over Jensen’s corpse on the way to the car, his mind deep in thought the entire time. Human’s are so strange…

[Dissinger]

The Temptress had long since shut down shop, to the point that the janitor was going through cleaning up the spilled drinks and occasional bodily fluid. At roughly three in the morning it seemed the shop was in its normal routine, or at least it would be, if it wasn't for Seth and Liliana sitting at a table, waiting patiently for the others to arrive. Seth had a glass of real Lavinian Ale, from Sarah's private bottle. This much he was allowed with great reluctance by Sarah.

Liliana made do with a small fruity juice cocktail that served to take her mind off the depressing news they had to bear. Seth could see her gears turning within her head, always heralding a tactful statement, made with the proper reverence of a herald. He almost envied her ability to speak eloquently, especially when he himself was rather crass. Especially since Jared was likely among those returning, and he had a fist to shove down the Lavinian's throat.

He had barely restrained himself when he had yelled at Jared about what had occurred between the Dahlios siblings. While Jared was one of the few qualified to talk about it, it didn't make the jabs less painful when he did so. It was a game, and the fact Jared had an instant win button in 'Piss off the deity' was a bad thing. It meant Seth wasn't as over his past as he liked to pretend. Looking across at his wife he finally spoke, "I was hard on him, wasn't I?"

Liliana looked up at him with a mild curiosity before she spoke, "Of all the times to ask, you choose now?"

"I mean, he's trying, I know that. I mean I knew what he would do before he did it, and I knew that blowing up at him would only drive him further from her. Hell what’s going on right now is going to drive the wedge between them far more than anything I did, but I can't help but feel I should have just stayed quiet and banished him here without a word..." Seth said as he sipped his drink. A sigh left his lips before he hunched over the glass, relishing the bitter taste of the powerful alcohol.

"So you're admitting you still have a temper, when a god shouldn't. At least, your viewpoint of a god..." Liliana replied.

He looked into those eyes and sighed, "Yeah, I guess that's it, isn't it? Not really sorry I did it, just sorry I got caught acting human...Which I used to pride myself on..."

"Well when Sarah comes in, I'll comfort him while you give Wilfred the news. I'm sure we'll be able to go back to our demi plane and wait for the next big disaster to strike the Pantheon. Then again since N'jal its been too quiet anyways..." Seth let the words linger in the air a bit more. Only a handful of gods were truly active in the world anymore, and Seth knew it was mostly his fault. As mankind began to shift away from the dark ages, Seth had systematically destroyed any god who sought to reestablish the status quo.

The fact the Pantheon was beginning to stir again, meant that someone had just reaped faith, and the others were getting worried. The Pantheon was a huge game of tug of war, with everyone pulling on each other. When one god got stronger, the others were forced to pull them back in line. This was usually done by their established minions eradicating cults of their foes. The system worked when faith was only gained on a smaller scale, because such events could be compensated for by the other gods.

When it was a huge reaping, that's when the true problems began.

Two or three gods should have been enough to pull any other one back in line. A huge reaping of faith could cause it to be one against all. Such alliances were always a pain in the ass to coordinate, and seldom held together as it were. Other gods would undoubtedly try to ally with the big god in the house, hoping to get some of that faith for themselves.

And then Seth would be forced to reestablish balance, by draining faith from everyone to near loss of divinity. Every time taxed the god, and he still hadn't recovered enough to hit the reset button of equality. If this god made a power play now, by the time Seth reaped enough faith, they could have defended against his deicidal work. Further, they could target his worshipers, getting them killed in accidents and preventing the necessary faith all together.

Then the war of the gods would begin anew, and the age of Man would come to a decisive end, as gods would manifest on the plane once more. No immortal other than those who were tied to a god knew of what was occurring, but Seth knew the Pantheon was about to send its troubleshooter into the heart of the matter. The fact they had to call upon the death god Enma-o was insulting enough. To know his minion would be free of judging the dead for mortals knew how long, was something Seth didn't want to think about.

The doors opened and without much fanfare the girls moved through the club. Some girls were gathering gear to go home for the night, others preparing to continue their shift on site. Wilfred was conspicuously absent from the groups entering, as was Jared. Liliana looked at Seth with worried eyes, but Seth only shook his head firmly. Liliana would be needed soon enough. Sarah's appearance in the doorway was rather unstable, as she moved through the room almost mechanically.

Her orders seemed half hearted and barked, the girls only followed out of pure pity and sympathy than any real respect. Seth could tell that what had occurred at the college had destroyed the foundation Sarah had built up about her, in a decisive blow by the Champion of Famine. Jensen had truly outdone himself on that one, as the girl seemed hardly capable of thought let alone movement. Seth kicked his foot against the seat of a chair shoving it back a couple of feet, before Sarah sat heavily in the chair.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you to not come back unless it's important," Sarah said, still in her stupor. Even her rage at Seth's presence seemed forced. She looked at Seth with haunted eyes that tore at his heart. He had never been much of a big brother to Sarah, not like Jared had been for Serenity, but occasionally the brotherly instincts kicked in.

"You want me to kick in Jensen's head for you? Would that make you happy?" Seth asked.

"You knew?!" Sarah said as Seth saw the tears begin to well up in her eyes. Liliana carefully moved her chair beside Sarah's before she wrapped her arms warmly about the Vampiress. Sarah nearly crumbled but held on before she said softly, "Why are you here Seth? It can't be because of what just happened. Even, I'm not that stupid..."

"You aren't stupid Sarah," Liliana soothed as she sighed before she said; "Steena Windsong from the Knights contacted us a few hours ago. She wanted confirmation on some information we could provide, and sure enough what they had didn't match our, well lets just say it didn't match."

Sarah looked at the two of them before she said softly, "What information?"

"Amadeus Gartham ring a bell?" Seth asked. Sarah immediately buried her face in Liliana's chest as she bawled understanding what had occurred. She clung to the woman and continued to cry while Liliana stroked her hair reassuringly.

"I-I-I should have checked up on it! I thought it was suspect. Aislinn had no clue where the file came from either, just that it had shown up on her desk. She's not qualified to go over that stuff that was J-J-"

"It's okay sweetie, I know you tried, we're here to help shore up your intelligence so it doesn't happen again," Liliana whispered. She cut Sarah off before she could name the true source of her despair. Meanwhile Seth could feel the rage rolling off the woman, who seemed to be ready to tear the head off the Champion of Famine for his latest indiscretion. Seth only shook his head firmly before he got up with his drink moving towards Aislinn who seemed similarly shaken.

"I take it he got in everyone's heads?" Seth asked.

"I don't know why that man lives! He just makes me so...." She let out a growl of frustration before she slapped her hand on the bar. Seth remained unmoved by the act as she steadied her breath and looked at the deity. Finally she confessed, "It was just, he didn't have to ruin Jared and Sarah's big reunion. They could have swept it under the rug and that was that. Instead he went out of his way to torment Sarah and Jared, like he had some kind of vendetta-"

"He does," Seth replied bluntly.

"What?"

"He does have a vendetta, you have to understand, Jensen doesn't foster the same ideals you do. The other Immortals, they abandoned parts of their humanity as time went on, because it only served to drive them crazy. Jensen gave up on others, and essentially sees us all as toys to play with. When he doesn't get to play with us as he pleases, he makes little games out of frustrating our carefully planned happiness. Be you mortal or immortal, meeting Jensen is enough to make him have a vendetta against you," Seth explained.

Aislinn sighed before she looked at Seth, "So what brings the god to our humble home?"

"I need to ask you about the file on Amadeus Gartham, how did it get to you?" Seth asked.

"Anonymous tip, I didn't think much of it and sent the file to Sarah for review. Why? Something happen?" Aislinn asked, curious at the God's demeanor. It was so down to earth that she couldn't see him as a deity, let along the one of blessed balance.

"It was basically a packet of carefully contrived lies. Just credible enough to pass muster, but fake when looked at in depth. It turns out that the Knights just spent a lot of money on a fool's errand to chase down one of my faithful. This isn't the only prayer I got from my faithful about being hunted either," Seth said conspiratorially. He looked around before he said, "Any information about how you got that information would be great. We need to track down the person setting up my people before they start getting killed..."

"I wish I could, it was just left on my desk. non of the girls said they put it there either. I found it a bit odd, but its not my call to make. That's Sarah's call," Aislinn said before she looked at her Mistress, who was hugging Liliana still. "I take it she didn't look too deeply, after her outburst..."

"Batting a thousand kiddo. Thanks for the information, I'll let you know if we get anything on our end..." Seth said as he moved back to the table and took another sip of his ale. Looking at the glass he shook his head before he pushed it over to Sarah, "Here, you need it more than I do..."

[KOA]

Rebecca and Vladimir were nearing the edge of town by the towered steeple that watched over the area like a dutiful Shepard. Vladimir had no clue who was worshipped inside of that building, and made it a point to never bother. His nagging curiosity always begged him to just stop and ask, but he did everything within his power to make these trips based solely for himself and Rebecca rather than for work.

“Almost there…” Rebecca whispered, her hand squeezing Vladimir’s tightly in anticipation. “I wish Seed was here.”

“You can’t expect him to be,” Vladimir said calmly. “I did rape his homeland and he watched Karel do nothing about it.” He gave himself a smug smile despite the pain in his heart. “On his list of people Seed would rather forget, Karel and I rank the highest. Since Karel is dead and I’m immortal, he can’t go looking for revenge either. Not that he would pose much a threat to either of us.”

“Well, at least he forgave Karel.” she added. “Took damn near a whole year, but he realized after Guy and him sparred that sometimes in life things are different than the foggy glasses we wear seem to be. He still hates you, and I can’t really do anything about that.”

“I have that effect on people,” Vladimir moved forward, looking up to the iron gates. “Here we are.” he looked to the runic script on the gates, reading the graveyard’s name. Not to many people were buried in this part of town, mostly because Irrenes tried to remain a relatively spook free place. Yet there were people who were important enough to be placed within the town limits instead of the barrows down the way not too far off the road.

Karel’s death fighting a deity was just barely enough to enter the town graveyard.

Rebecca took a deep breath before she nodded and Vladimir opened the gates with a loud creaking noise. As they moved forward they noticed two people walking towards them, one standing tall and proud, the other hunched over who’s face was hidden behind a hood. Vladimir looked up to them and smiled softly.

“Well met, Guy.” Vladimir said respectfully as he offered his hand out.

Guy Deltin, the current Saint of Swords, was dressed in simple clothing with an old sword tucked away at his side. He had a very easy going air around him, and his eyes hid much intelligence. He was a good kid by Vladimir’s standards and the weapon he wielded belonged to Karel once; The Serra Karla Raven. Guy became famous throughout the land, doing deeds to bring back honor and prestige to the title Saint of Swords, but what always got Vladimir was what the kid learned in those travels. Something Karel could never learn until about a year before he died. He was also the only person in this town Vladimir truly feared with a blade.

His friend next to him lifted up one hand, his coat stretched over his hand hiding it. Vladimir new this was Guy’s friend, Thor, who was a Neko. The cat person was welcomed in Irrenes when Guy introduced him, and he stayed whenever Guy did. The story of Thor goes that he was a princess’ royal bodyguard, and that Guy and Thor sparred, at long last Guy finding a challenger that could keep up. This brotherhood made them fast friends, both sharing a lot of the same view on life.

Vladimir shook the Neko’s hand as the two moved to Rebecca, Guy giving her a big hug as Thor shook her hand. After they said their hello’s the two men looked back to Vladimir.

“How goes your fight with the gods?” Guy asked. Vladimir sighed heavily. “That good huh?” they all laughed.

“On of them seems to be getting uppity, but don’t you worry. I’m the last Knight of Apocalypse, I can take him down.”

“Like how dad told me he took you down with his drink?” Guy’s lips pursed into a grin, making Vladimir roll his eyes as he felt the vile taste return to his lips. “So I heard the anniversary was coming up, and Thor and I paid our respects. Make sure you don’t spend too much time, Rebecca.”

“Why is everyone so worried about me being late?” Rebecca lowered her gaze to the Saint of Swords. He lifted up his hands in defense as he smiled to her.

“We know you, and we all know you’ll cry. So we just want you to be in and out. Staying for dinner, Vladimir?”

“Sadly no.” he really hated turning down Noel’s food.

“Suit yourselves, goodbye then.” He shook Vladimir’s hand one last time before moving, Thor doing the same as his tail came undone in the back hitting Vladimir in the face. He swatted it away as the Neko apologized, making Rebecca laugh softly.

“You got lucky today. It’s rare you get to see so many before you have to leave.”

“Yet I still didn’t see them all. Some are better off for it I guess.” He moved forwards with her.

They walked up the paths of the cemetery for minutes, looking at the trees and a few unique gravestones. When they reached the top corner of a hill they both stopped. Rebecca clenched Vladimir’s hand very tightly, and he remained resolute in his stance to move forward.

“I won’t cry.” Rebecca said forcefully.

“Yes you will.” Vladimir said to her as they moved forward.

The grave marker of Karel Raven, blessed Saint of Swords, was a simple one. On the left side was Karel Hector Raven, his name made of flowery script hand done by one of the townspeople who knew Rebecca well. The right side was a plaque with a note that was written by Troy in a dialect nobody save him would know. Rebecca inquired about it, and when she read it she never spoke about it.

“Hello, Karel.” Vladimir said starting things off as he knelt on one knee before the stone. “You best be doing your end of the bargain.”

Rebecca placed her hand on Vladimir’s shoulders as she stood over him, instinctively rubbing his soreness away as she looked to the gravestone. “You know, you have it so easy. You get to sleep and be comfortable, while I have to chase down Mordechi now. Ya, we expanded our horizons since the last time I came. Not just Lazarus. Oh, Wilfred says hello. You remember him, right? He’s the golem that saved your ass in Salvar when the Sword Demon damn near killed you.”

Something wet hit his hand and he glanced to see the salty tear that fell from the heavens. “There’s going to be a big feast tonight, and since your lounging about with your sister in the afterlife you have to skip out on Noel’s cooking. I know the afterlife won’t having as good as that woman’s cooking so you miss out on that at least.”

Rebecca laughed softly before she lowered herself, her arms wrapping around his shoulders as she began to softly sob. “You’re an ass for making her cry, Karel.” Vladimir whispered.

“I miss you, my love.” Rebecca said choking back her tears. “Your son is doing great. He hates swords, though. Must be strange to hear that, but well…he follows his own path. Seed is taking very good care of me.” She smiled sweetly. “Oh, I forgot to tell you, he forgave you. I told you I would change his mind on you. Well…Guy did it more than me…” she forced herself to laugh.

Vladimir stood up with her, and he turned looking her in the eyes. Her ocean blue eyes were fogged over and he lifted one hand up to her and gently ran it through her hair.

“I promise I won’t tell…” he said softly. Rebecca slammed her face into his chest, crying deeply as she held him tightly. He remained there, running a hand through her hair as he whispered to her about how Karel would be proud of her moving forward, how proud he would be for her living and raising their son alone. How proud the former Saint of Swords would be just to know she still smiled.

“Just, hold me for a bit…” she whispered up to him. “I still have things I want to say.” she asked of him. Vladimir nodded once as she returned to his chest, whispering into his body as she trembled. They remained like that for an hour before she at last ran one hand down to Vladimir’s and started to pull him away.

“Goodbye, my love.” she whispered.

“Goodbye, Karel.” Vladimir said just as soft. The two walked down the path again as she sniffled, fixing her face as she walked solemnly forwards. She gripped his hand tightly until they hit the gate where she let go and looked up to Vladimir.

“I told you that you would cry.” He sassed smiling brightly down to her. She returned the gesture, playfully slapping him across the chest as she turned walking towards Sheex’s bar.

“Goodbye, Vladimir. Same time next year?” she asked lazily looking over her shoulder.

“It’s a deal.” he said walking towards the mountains and out of town. “Send my goodbyes to the townsfolk.” she nodded as they parted ways. He walked in silence the entire time, thinking back to his journeys with Karel and he smiled at a few parts, chuckling to himself at the one time he and Karel had to survive a rather awkward situation, and he became dour again when he remembered the swordsman’s sacrifice to save his life.

He hadn’t realized he moved through the portal and was back in the real world until he took in a deep breath, smelling the ozone of pollution and industry. He shook his head as he walked forward, saying a word of power shutting the portal down.

Before he had a chance to think he noticed his phone was ringing on the rock he left it at. He picked up his gear and looked to notice he had fourteen new messages and thirty missed calls. Only one text message was left for him, and he glanced at it before he slammed the phone shut.

He walked out of the cave and down the narrow pathway he memorized as he returned to the road, seeing the awaiting Jet parked on the ground. The amount of money he probably had to pay for the right to do that was extraordinary. He noticed Steena looking down upon him from the ladder with concern as she waved the pilot to start the engines. He ran forward and up the ladder as they pulled it shut, the SUV’s speeding off back towards the Knight’s base in this region as the jet screamed off into the air.

Vladimir rolled his belongings towards the back as he lazily sat down, kicking one leg over the table as Steena sat across from him.

“That stupid look on your face means you haven’t checked a single message, have you?” Steena sighed as Vladimir gave her one of his trademark grins. “Idiot, we leave you messages for a reason. Amadeus’ information was wrong. He’s been on parole for a few years now, worshipping Selios.”

“So we got bad intel. It happens Steena.” Vladimir said lazily as he poured himself a scotch on the rocks. He sipped at it, feeling the bitterness sooth him for a fraction before he spit it out back into the cup. It wasn’t like what Sheex carried.

“Well then maybe this will return you back to the land of the living you moron!” She tossed a few papers at the last Knight of Apocalypse, her hand reaching out and grabbing his scotch and downing it one gulp before she reached to pour more. “Sarah and Wilfred and Jared all royally screwed up! The Saint of Killers reaped a killing in faith and now the pantheon of gods is unbalanced according to Seth and Lilliana. Not to mention the entire work Jared put into being undercover was blown out the window.”

“How so?” Vladimir inquired as he spread the papers over the table reading them all carefully as his golden eyes scanned each page.

“Seth killed the only eye witness to the Saint of Killers.”

“Aerith is suspected of having contact, use Omega to track her down.”

“Do you think I’m in an idiot?” Steena said harshly. “I already did that. Now get your head in the game and start thinking two steps ahead like I know you can.”

“What the hell stick crawled up your ass?” Vlad said glaring to her intently. She sighed as she ran a hand down her hair. She took a moment before she gave him a look that made his own glare cool off. She was worried, and the elf seldom worried.

“The gods and immortals were all tricked. A thousand goose chases just went off so that the Saint of Killers would get the faith needed to reap faith like wheat to a scythe.”

“Sources?” Vladimir continued as he turned a page getting back to work.

“Logically? Nothing. My gut feeling?” Steena peered over the lid of her cup pointing to him. “Sarah’s daggers were a trick to lure the god’s out of hiding to go retrieve them while they planted false evidence in the Temptress, using that to get us to go barking up the wrong tree while they all stand dumbly around a corpse.”

“So you’re theorizing that the Saint of Killers is actually going to make one more kill?”

“No, I am positive they already have. The college campus was just a polite cough to let him know he’s aware of the immortals.” Steena downed her drink. “That scares the shit out of me that someone, even someone deeply touched by a god, can trick all of us.” Vladimir nodded as he rotated in his chair away from her.

“Thank you, Steena. Go tell the captain to make post haste to the airport, and have a chopper waiting. I want Melinda in my office waiting for me when I get there with all the phone lines ready for a mass conference. I need to talk to the other generals about this to mobilize all the knights.”

“What are you thinking?” Steena inquired standing up to carry out her orders.

“A god is about to be reborn.”

~*~*~

The helicopter waiting took off and took Vladimir back to the triple towers of the Knight’s of Apocalypse, seventy storey tall buildings, all linked together through a network of bridges with large letters K. O. A. written on the top. They landed the chopper down upon the middle building.

Vladimir hadn’t talked the rest of the trip, just looking down upon the paperwork he had and making several notes as he circled times, dates, and made long detailed instructions as he thought out the battle plan he was going to invoke. He walked down the lonely hallway leading to his office, Steena in tow with him keeping silent to her own thoughts as they opened the door.

He looked forward and noticed a man in a fighter’s coat standing before his wall of swords, a mask covering his features save his eyes that were keenly entranced upon Tenacity. He looked upon him and within two seconds he realized what it meant for this man to be inside his office. He noticed Melinda looking to the new comer with a curious eye, unsure what to do as the dwarf remained by her side as a bodyguard.

Unable to contain his emotions Vladimir tossed all his papers towards the trash, his fist flying out and slamming into the door cracking the wood. One word summed up his feelings on the matter.

“SHIT!”

[Tainted Bushido]

"Is that all you can say after seeing me for the first time in centuries?" The figure said. His hand reached up to the mask over his face before it carefully took it off setting it on the desk. His white hair flowed freely over his shoulders, and while he much preferred the clothing of his homeland, he was dressed in a business suit underneath the jacket. The shoes on his feet pinched slightly, adding to his irritability, if only slightly.

Not that anyone would know the difference.

The last true Knight of the Apocalypse looked upon the warrior once more before he shouted again, "SON OF A BITCH!"

"A bit more flavorful, but I think we have room yet to grow," The warrior replied. The hilts of twin blades peeked out of his coat, revealing part of the reason Vladimir was so irate. The coat was blessed in the fact the built in parts of the leather in the coat would always be at the hips, to allow for the scabbards, or as the warrior heavily insisted sayas, to protrude, while not creating an uncomfortable fit for the coat. He continued to look back at the blades on the wall, as the other knights got a good view of his face.

His face was half covered in an inky blackness, to the point that it fully surrounded an eye. That particular eye was a milky white, but seemed fully functional otherwise. The tendrils of darkness continued underneath his suit, potentially going as far as along his body, though no one could ever know. Gloves were on his hands, leather as well, but well built to the point they clung to the hands much as a second skin. The other warriors in the room could guess that the warrior didn't feel hampered by them at all with his movements being so casual.

"FUCK!"

"Ah, finally we reach the crux of the matter, eloquently put Vladimir," The warrior said before he finally turned to face the knight. Valdimir seemed to seethe at seeing the man, to the point Steena shifted her stance ever so slightly. The newcomer didn't even bother to look at her, but she saw a subtle shift in his muscles, to the point she was more than certain he was combat ready already. "I wouldn't try it; your friend here realized the futility of it only moments ago. You wouldn't get your pistol from its holster."

"Stand down Steena, there are few people that match his speed, and of them, only one or two are still alive," Vlad said harshly. He glared daggers at the warrior before he spoke once more, his tone a bit more neutral, "Who fucked up?"

"Business as always, I like that," The warrior replied, before he looked at the others in the room finally he took a graceful bow, "I apologize for not introducing myself earlier. I merely wished to do introductions all at once; I am Atari Taka, Herald of Enma-o God of Death."

"Taka, stop dawdling, I know you're getting your kicks out of seeing me squirm, so who fucked up!?" Vlad spat.

"No one person, but three as were the case. Cassandra made a power play in the Pantheon. It seems that you chose who to send after her, poorly," Taka replied a hint of amusement in his voice.

"That was never my department, that was Wilfred, Sarah, and Jared's job," Vlad retorted, "I only had Lazarus and Mordechai."

Taka smirked at the mention of the latter two before he spoke frankly, "So you took the easier ones, and tossed the more active ones aside? I should think in that case you would support Sarah and Jared, who don't have the discipline you have, nor the resources."

The room held its breath at the stark accusation. Vladimir himself seemed to grin at it before he replied, "I kept my promises, Mordechai and Lazarus are no where near strong enough to assault the Pantheon."

"Once again, this was everyone's job. Cassandra managed to hide from the world for years before she ascended to godhood. No single group of mortals and immortals should have been in charge of her. In fact I'd go so far as to say she abused you all, sending you every which way in case you were going to support each other," Taka said bluntly.

"How so?" Vladimir said his ire rising with the accusations.

"Well, there was the fact she had one of her priests infiltrate the Temptress. Right there she had advantage, as she knew Jared was gone, Sarah was under the pressure of fully controlling her criminal empire, and that Wilfred simply didn't have the clout Jared had in taking over the club. With Jared out of the puzzle, Cassandra was allowed to move freely, or do you remember what happened when you removed her mortal aspect from this world?"

"How can I? We could have used that asshole, but instead he was off being hurt over Sarah and him having a fight," Vlad hissed.

"That was no coincidence, Jared is an important part of their operation, and yet he continues to disappear from it. At least when you take a task I can be sure it gets done, Cesarino on the other hand..."

"Point taken, fine, what do we do?"

"Well first of all, we need to call the Progenies Immortalis," Taka replied firmly, "Then we need to redraw the map so to speak. We were working with faulty information from the start. I'll be showing you what exactly happened. With the deaths that happened recently Cassandra reaped so much faith that she is close to regaining her mortal aspect. Once she does we have no clue what would happen next. Cassandra, while brutally efficient, is a wild card in the Pantheon. She supports things one moment, to withdraw that support later. She has been playing the pantheon for fools for years, and slowly been building up her cults."

Vlad cursed before he looked at Melinda, "Call the other immortals, every last one of them, have them escorted to this room, and don't let anything get in the way. We need the meeting to go off tonight, no exceptions."

[Lavinian Ambition]

"You going to take that swing, or can I get back to my drink?"

"Fuck you!"

The sound of a fist upon flesh resounded through the bar as a young man, in his early twenties threw a punch at Jared. The fist hit him square in the cheek, turning the Lavinian's head before he grinned, something feral hidden there. He brought a hand up and backhanded the boy, who quickly pirouetted and fell to the floor, unconscious. A sigh left his lips before he muttered, "Horrible fighter, wouldn't last a day in the real world..."

"That's it, that's the second fight you've caused in here. Once I can write off as ruffled feathers, but now I know you're looking for it, out!" The bartender pointed for the door, and Jared sighed, grabbing his drink and finishing it quickly, before dropping a few bills on the counter, "Beers too sweet anyways..."

As he walked outside he saw Wilfred standing there, looking at him. While the golden eyes were not at their full power Jared didn't even venture to meet their gaze. He merely walked pass the Golem, who began to follow behind him. They remained like that for a few minutes before Jared finally snapped, "Hoping I'll snap out of it and come to my senses? Good luck with that one."

"At least don't start a fight at this bar, alright Jared? You don't need the high profile anymore..."Wilfred began.

"Yes, gods forbid should I affect things anymore. I'm just to be a good little boy who sits in mother's lap while the rest of the world continues to skull fuck me with a rusty knife. Thanks Will I'll keep that under advisement."

"You know that's not what I said," Wilfred said firmly.

"But isn't that the name of the game nowadays?" Jared hissed. He gestured to the world around him before he said, "We're supposed to be some of the strongest people on this planet, but we aren't allowed to show the people that strength. We aren't even allowed to fart without permission, lest Seth come down on us and make us suffer for daring to actually live! I'm sick of all the rules, all the expectations. I'm sick of it Wilfred!"

"So this isn't about Sarah's indiscretions?"

Jared slumped against the wall as he groaned thinking about it again. He sighed before he pushed off the wall and continued walking down the street. The alcohol was flooded in his system, and now he was just trying to find another bottle to drain. His eye lost a bit of their fire at the mention of Sarah before he shook his head, trying to avoid that particular subject.

However the alcohol wasn't letting him leave it alone.

Entering the next bar the hustle and bustle was evident as TV's blared out the latest sports game. Jared was never one for professional sports, and so he moved to a section of the bar quieter, probably reserved for those who didn't have a vested interest in the game. The tender looked up at the two of them before he asked, "What you want? I'll try to make it quick..."

"Give me three Endtimes," Jared said firmly.

The tender raised an eyebrow before he said, "Three? That's a lot of alcohol..."

"I don't want to feel it till morning..." Jared replied.

"That'll do it. What about you golden eyes?" The tender replied looking up at Wilfred.

"Black Magos Lord," The Golem replied.

The tender frowned, "That got any other name?"

"Nope."

"Look, I've heard of a White Mage, which is light rum and coke, a Black Mage which is dark rum and coke, but what in the hell is a Black Magus Lord?"

"Coke," Wilfred replied bluntly.

The tender just stared at him before he shook his head muttering about weirdos before he said, "Alright, three Endtimes and a Black Magus Lord coming up..." Jared dropped a card on the counter, which the tender greedily put into the carousel for check out later. He then set about making the drinks before he slid a shot down to Jared.

"You should forgive her you know," Wilfred finally said.

"I could forgive her fucking anyone else but Jensen. I mean its Jensen, what in the bluest fuck was she thinking?" Jared said running a hand through his hair. The feeling was heightened by his intoxicated state to the point he almost did so again, for the sheer fun of it.

"So you aren't angry at Sarah?"

"Oh, I am. I mean..." Jared sighed as he watched the second shot slide in front of him. He shook his head before he said, "I just don't know anymore Wilfred. What good am I for her? I don't think she needs me, and I sure as hell don't need her..."

"For the love of the gods Jared, would you listen to yourself? I've listened to you do this song and dance for a thousand years Jared, a thousand. I think I know enough about Sarah, that I could have had sex with her. That's right, I could have had sex with your wife. I'm sick of you complaining about the relationship, when you have one of the best out of all of us. You bitch and moan and complain, but what good does it do other than underline you weren't happy to begin with Jared?" Wilfred said finally as he sipped his soda. Shaking his head he growled lowly before he said, "I mean, come on man, you have Sarah Dahlios as a dedicated Lover, who could top that?"

"Jensen apparently," Jared retorted.

"It's about that, isn't it? I get it, you don't think Jensen should have been anywhere around Sarah. She was desperate Jared. She didn't know who to turn to, and so she decided to do something she knew would upset you. It just, didn't have the effect she wanted, and so she got more drastic when she realized it wasn't working," Wilfred tried to explain.

"Are you trying to justify Sarah cheating on me Wilfred?" Jared replied. He then gripped one of the three shots and downed it quickly. He let out a wet cough but nodded feeling the alcohol grip him tightly and smack him around a bit. This is what he wanted, nothing like the beers he had tried earlier. He should have known better than drinking contemporary beer. Even the stouts of some brands were nothing compared to the olden days. Now there were rules, regulations that said how much alcohol could be in them.

Gods, how he hated modern society.

"Look Jared, I'm not trying to say what she did was right or wrong, merely explain it to you. You have to decide whether she's worth chasing after again or not. But let me ask you this, were you happy with her?"

Jared’s expression softened, before he downed the second shot. He shook his head to clear a bit of the fog that had enveloped it. He had enjoyed it, and as time went on he was certain he had made the right choice, he just...

"I just, never felt like we were a true family. Then there's this whole Cassandra problem, with her getting faith out from under our very noses. And look, nobody cares, no body is going to give a rat's ass if they die tomorrow. They live for the here and now!"

"You can't blame yourself for the world's problems Jared. The world created them without your royal permission, and even though you can clearly see the cause, you aren't allowed to fix them. That's everyone else's job," Wilfred said sternly.

"Heh, funny that, the world has a job, and its fucking that up too..." Jared replied before the third shot hit. He grinned sloppily as he felt the alcohol rush through his system, and he was more than certain he was heavily drunk. To put a fine point on it, he was hammered, possibly at the edge of poisoning himself. While he would have loved to go over the edge, he remained there even as the tender came back. Jared shook his head when asked for more drinks, and the tender quickly rang him up. The card was slipped back into a wallet as he clumped against the bar, feeling incredibly tired suddenly.

It was around that time that Wilfred saw his cellphone ringing, and cautiously answered. His eyes widened when he heard the words on the other end, before he reported their position. Soon he finished his drink and said to Jared, "Come on, we need to get onto the sidewalk."

"Fuck it," Jared replied firmly.

"No, we need to go, now!" Wilfred insisted. Jared looked up at him groggily before the black mage carefully slung one of Jared's arms over his shoulder and walked him out. They stood on the widewalk, before a limousine pulled up outside. Wilfred pushed Jared inside, who flopped onto the seat.

"What the fucks going on? Sarah need me?" Jared slurred. His eyes held a hint of confusion.

"No, a Progenies Immortalis was called..." Wilfred said.

~*~

Progenies Immortalis was one of the few events that all the immortals, regardless of status or task, were required to attend. When one was called it was usually to fix a royal screw up, or respond to an overwhelming threat. When the order was given, people responded immediately, and made way to the location. Sometimes it was the Temptress, others it was the Dahlios family farm, but today, was Vladimir's private sanctum.

A circular table had been set up, such that everyone could be easily seated about it. The circle was for the obvious reason that these people were contemporaries, peers to each other. While that was done in theory, the reality seldom proved this to be the case. Made clearly evident when Sarah, who had finally managed to pull herself together, saw the drunken Jared dropped into the seat next to her. She could smell the stench of Alcohol pervading him, and let a soft sigh escape her lips.

Taka was seated over by Seth and Liliana, who weren't dressed at all for the occasion, still in normal clothing. Not that attire mattered much in these meetings. Vlad was at another section of the table, with Jensen next to him who seemed to have a malicious gleam in his eyes as he spied the drunken Jared sitting at the table. Wilfred sat between the two, to prevent Jared being abused by the Champion of Famine during the meeting. Aislinn and Melinda sat on the sidelines, down by Vladimir's desk, watching the gathering with apprehension.

With the eight of them sitting down, Vladimir looked at Taka who stood up casually, "I'm glad we could be assembled this quickly. It gives me hope we can fix the situation before it gets out of hand. Even though I do question the state of some of us at this table-"

"Fuck off Taka," Jared snapped; leaning forward on the table, "I can hold my alcohol. Don't worry about that, just worry about your own ass."

"That's precisely the problem, everyone was so wrapped up in their own petty problems, that instead of focusing on their tasks, they weren't getting done. That's exactly why Cassandra is on the verge of resurrection; we need to figure out what we can do to stop it, and how we can prevent her from taking advantage of us, again. Though I should hope you could be professional enough to accept that you failed-"

"Taka, please, we've had enough browbeating about how we messed up, can we move on?" Sarah said, before Jared could reply. She could see the anger between the two brewing. Back when Cassandra had her mortal aspect removed from Althanas, she had caused a fight between Sarah and Jared. Taking advantage of it, she had orchestrated one of her high priests to take advantage of Jared after the argument, isolating him from the others. When the time came to fight Cassandra, she had one less immortal to deal with, which caused many problems when she nearly overwhelmed the group that mustered against her.

After the fight Taka had made his anger at Jared known, one of the few displays of emotion the samurai had ever shown someone.

And Jared made his known when he punch Taka out, the samurai never expecting the Lavinian to hit him when roused to anger. That one sucker punch had caused the Herald of Enma-o to take every chance to point out that Jared wasn't trustworthy. Combined with Jared's guilt on being the eighth true Traitor General, the hostility made tensions between the two palpable. Added with the arrogance Taka got away with for stopping Marduk single handedly, and it led to two egos going at it. The eternal dick measuring causing even the Lavinian Succubus to get annoyed at it, and she was sure more than a couple of other seats at the table were relieved to see her cut it off at the pass.

[The Black Waltz Project]

The immortals had bickered for hours it seemed. The night time had drolled on stubbornly as Steena Windsong entered with a cart of food before retiring for the night. She had happened upon Vladimir and Sarah nearly ripping each other’s face off as the Succubus and him nearly went to blows over her stealing his bullet shipments. Jared the entire time remained heatedly arguing with Taka about who was in charge of what and who did this or that while Seth drained bottle after bottle of Lavinain ale.

Aislinen and Melinda watched the evnts with wide eyes and confused expressions. This was nothing like they expected of the immortals. They were expecting a military like baord meeting, with both of them being called upon to do some menial tasks to aid them. It was downright awkward for them to sit upon the couch, listening as Jared was going into gross details about what exactly Taka good do with his mask and his anus.

This continued into the night as Lilinna and Wilfred tried to establish a peace of sorts. This of course, was just a waste of time.

The golem had rolled his eyes for what had to been the thirteenth time in the past hour and a half. The only thing the so called council of immortality had managed to accomplish was agree that Taka and Jared were not allowed to speak to each other, Jensen wasn’t allowed to speak at all, and Lavinian Ale was needed in excess quantities.

He rubbed his eyes a bit before he stood up walking over to the little cart of drinks and food left for the immortals, Vladimir arguing with Seth about who’s fault it was for Cassandra even becoming a god in the first place. This blame eventually shifted to Taka, for he claimed to know what was going on but did nothing about it, which then spurred Jared to speak in slurred statements of hate and spite. Sarah sighed forty times, Liliana rubbed her temples and Jensen was asleep in the crook of his arms.

“I was told that this would be something special,” Aislinne whispered to Melinda.

“Normally, that’s never the case.” Wilfred whispered back as he sat down next to her. It was early in the morning, around three thirty or so the golem guessed as he looked to the position of the moon. Melinda sat on the other side of him, and both girls at once leaned into him as they nuzzled around his chest to get comfortable. The golem felt his blood tingle and figured the drinks must have been the cause.

“This is really, really pathetic.” Melinda muttered. “I mean, they have a god about to be reborn, and nobodies doing anything about it.” Wilfred sighed deeply.

“Well, this is just me, but I think everyone’s pride is currently been hung out to dry. Cassandra Remi has done an excellent job within the Pantheon to weave a web the Spider Queen N’Jal would drop her jaw at. So naturally everyone is protecting their pride from her power play. Taka showing up and making matters worse by insulting Jared and implying that the blame lies within the other immortals has only upset a drunken Jared who was upset to begin with.”

Wilfred sipped his drink. “Seth never had patience at these things. He usually grew very bored, sighing loudly to draw attention to himself and muttering the words idiot over and over and over.” He pointed to Vladimir. “For the most part, he’s been good, but Lord Sigma’s had his share of annoying qualities. When Mordechi was about to be resurrected he called the Progenies Immortalis and then blamed everyone else for not coming to help him, when he refused the help to begin with.”

“Lady Mizami mentioned she and Jared were for the most part cooperative.”

“You do know how much a crock of lies that statement was, correct?” Wilfred teased looking to the girl. She smiled.

“The second she said it I could imagine her grabbing one of the immortals by the hair and slamming his head into the desk.”

“It was a bottle of ale, and it was over Vladimir’s head.” Wilfred corrected.

“This is a joke.” Melinda said sighing deeply. Wilfred shook his head.

“Not at all. This is needed. Yes, I agree, this is all really childish, but in the end we all need this moment to argue, yell, scream, vent, curse, blaspheme and more or less get everything out of our system that’s been clouding our minds to stop us from doing our jobs.” Wilfred took another sip.

“So when does this stupid council get back on track?” Melinda said heatedly. Wilfred tapped both girls on the shoulder and they rose.

“When I feel that everyone has vented. Jared seems to be at least a little bit sober, Sarah has lost her attitude, Seth is starting to sigh again and Vladimir’s been silent for twenty minutes. Time for the council to begin…” He stepped up and walked forwards as he rose his hands up like a teacher. Liliana looked over to him and smiled sweetly, shaking her head like hew as a foolish child trying to do a silly stunt for attention. “Your attentions, please.” Wilfed said calmly. The bickering continued between Seth, Taka, and Jared. “Your attentions, please.” Wilfred said more forcefully. Seth gave him a dirty look before going back to insulting the samurai and the Lavinain. Wilfred smiled to himself before he zipped his jacket all the way up.

The clouds outside the window’s began to swirl in motion, the first to notice this Vladimir who started to call for everyone to shut up. Angered by the Last Knight of Apocalypse’s interruptions Jared threw a bottle at him. Sarah gave Jared a dirty look as her eyes glanced out the window. She too began to notice the change in weather.

“Please, your attention.” Wilfred said one final time. Taka and Jared stood up, arguing about something trivial as Seth pointed to Jared accusingly. At long last Wilfred unleashed his frustrations as the storm rolled high over the building, lightening striking the complex in the side as the rain howled with hail slamming into the windows. A small pillar of fire snaked it’s way up from Wilfred’s feet, looking upon the room with hungry eyes as he glared to the other seven immortals. Jared and Sarah both moved away from him as Taka gave him a look of apology, Seth’s eyes just alight with fire as he grinned to the golem.

When he had the rooms attention he smiled and the theatrics ceased immediately as the snake vanished from the air, the storm ended, and the hail was gone.

“Glad that I got your attentions.” He said moving along the table to his seat, his fist slamming down upon Jensen’s head as he gripped the immortals head within his fingers. He pulled back and tossed Jensen awake, who slurped his drool back into his mouth as he muttered his surprise.

“It go time?” He smacked his lips. Vladimir gave him a disgusted look before he turned back to Wilfred.

“That it is.” Wilfred said as he talked in his commanding teaching tone. “We have all vented enough, now let’s get to work. Aerith is number one suspect to identifying the Saint of Killers. She is our top priority.”

“Her last known location was in the Corone slums, running away from the college. This came from a student eye witness one of my girls happened to know.” Sarah said looking at her notes before she tapped a fingernail on her chin. “So she’s left the coop at this point. Ideally there is one place she would go.”

“Otaria.” They all said in unison.

“Lucky for us she has to spend a night in town as there is ever one flight out to Otaria from this part of Corone. Word is sent to detain her at the airport.” Vladimir said as he stood up and pulled out a clicker. He hit the tiny button and a projector fell from the roof before it displayed all of Aerith’s background information. “I had Omega do some research on her. There was one set of files she tried to have purged from all records. Luckily for all of us Omega immediately makes copies of files being destroyed via remote terminals or virus’ and stores the data for sixty years before recycling it out.”

He approached the wall and touched a folder, which the computer technology immediately opened. He pointed to a file and the paperwork filed the screen. “I had Steena go over her childhood. Little red head was more than just the victim of child abuse and all the usual sob stories. She had therapy on her dreams of killing people. Anyone think this rings a bell?”

“Cassandran filth.” Seth spat. “Usual signs of someone who has been touched by Cassandra. The question is why so young?”

“Because a Saint of Killers must operate outside mortal conventions.” Taka said taking control of the conversation. “I will say this but once, so please keep your ears open Cesarino.” The lavinian gave him a warning glance. “His knowledge on Saint of Killers has allowed me to do my own investigation and bring some useful, but highly disturbing news to everyone.” He flexed his fingers a bit before he took a sip of his water.

“The Saint of Killers is a person who is personally deeply touched by Cassandra Remi. They share her passion for deaths, for killing. They act like she would act, and thus they are incredibly hard to track down. They seem easier to find in fairy tales than in real life. Yet with Jared’s underground investigations as well as his crime scene tapes I was able to start piecing together a form of…habit so to speak that the killer is following.”

“This leaves me to believe that Aerith was planted into the game long before we were aware. Cassandra is like a cat in a window, purring intently as she watches the mortal world from the Pantheon. Many gods have vied for her aid and support, only to have her agents pull out at critical moments. As much as we have had success, about a quarter of them were thanks to her manipulations in the Pantheon.” Taka shook his head at the thought of gods combining forces.

“Yet each interruption wasn’t unfounded. She’s been studying from the heavens, watching down upon you all through mortal eyes, using her killers to learn about you, as well as those of the other cults. She takes great interest to learn all about you, and at last she found the time to strike. This girl, Aerith, represents Cassandra’s past motives of using pawns to get what she wanted. Aerith may either be unaware of what is happening, or has fallen under her spell, convinced she loves her. However, all this is irrelevant if we didn‘t have information on how Cassandra operates.”

Taka nodded to Jared, and the Lavinian seemed to sober up as he felt the conversation pass to him. “Serial Killers don’t generate the faith that will help a god‘s divine spark. Most of the kills they do are more for themselves than for a god, so the faith generated is minimal if any is generated at all. This asks the obvious question: How the hell does Cassandra Remi generate faith?” Jared looked around the table as he felt all the eyes upon him.

“The answer is a kill that matches her song; The Requiem of Insanity. A killer who sheds blood for sport, for the pleasure of it is not enough. But someone who feels the need for the kill, the thrill of the kill in torturing their foe, breaking them mind, body, spirit and soul, eventually go to a zen like state. As they kill, they begin looking and finding more and more ways to make the kills that much sweeter to them. At long last they begin to find those who scream at a certain pitch, those with terrible regrets in life that can only be brought to life by their blades.”

He rolled his hands as the information began to leak out his mouth. “The faith that is generated is not from the act, but the screams emitted. Those who scream for hours begin to call out for death, which perks Cassandra’s curiosity. They soon begin to beg for her kiss, her sweet release, which she feeds off of. So in someway, Cassandran priests do nothing more than tickle her fancy, but the Saint of Killers, someone who has been blessed with her methods, can really reap faith.”

“This is all really interesting news, fascinating…” Jensen said smugly. “It still doesn’t solve a damn problem.”

“But it does, young idiot.” Taka said matter of factly. “By figuring out how they generate faith, we can use the motives to easier track them down. If they target people with true regrets, regrets that can only be brought near the call of death, than we can start to locate people who would fit those descriptions.”

Vladimir rose from his deep thought. “Omega, cross reference the last twelve most wanted Criminals.” he said to the air, but Taka only lifted a staying hand.

“Already done. I did the check myself. And yes, it is as we all feared.” Taka dropped the dossier on the table, which may as well have been a ticking time bomb with the numbers 00:01 remaining on it.

“All these can be confirmed?” Sarah asked as her eyes went wide.

“Deities like Selios and myself can see faith even when the crime scene is gone. I have verified all twelve myself, which is why I have been so silent as of late.” he looked over to Vladimir.

“The new question is, where the hell is she going to resurrect?” Seth said as he eyed the bottom of the bottle in his hand with a sad pout.

The room remained silent as they all thought about it. Before long all eyes softly turned, slowly and causally as they looked towards the deity at the end of the table with the empty bottle. Seth looked to each of them back before he turned his face into a scowl.

“No, out of the question, not going!” He said angrily.

“What’s everyone talking about?” Aislinne whispered to Wilfred as the immortals all began to taunt him and plead with him. The golem turned back to her with a kind smile.

“He’s going to the deific library whether he likes it or not.” Wilfred grinned under his jacket.

“What the hell is a deific library?” Melinda asked.

“It’s just that.” Wilfred said academically. “A library for Deities. All the knowledge of the world, every scrap, significant or not, is stored there. Family trees can easily be seen no matter how much people tried to burn their links away. History of events big and small are recorded down and filed away. You think the gods know all and see all? Try again. They go to a library, like we humans do, and look up the person’s history and then leave divine ‘miracles’ to show they follow this person. This makes the human feel extra special and they worship the god forever.”

“So being a god is essentially…” Melinda said quietly.

“Being a human, but with more rules.” Wilfred said smartly.

[Dissinger]

"How do I get roped into these things?" Seth muttered under his breath. The pantheon of the gods was a difficult place; perhaps even trying was a better term. Going there required a large amount of faith, and once inside, it could be difficult to escape until a sufficient amount of faith was used to leave the demi-plane. For this reason alone, Seth preferred the mortal realms to the Pantheon, and for that reason, the other gods ridiculed him.

Being one of the youngest gods alive didn’t help things either.

In the grand scheme of things, Seth was considered small potatoes to the other gods. He was too small to matter, but too important to just leave alone. It created its share of tense situations, when Seth, who at times was the villain and others the hero, was forced to act in accordance with his deific portfolio, that of balance. With the added problem, that he didn’t proliferate his cults like the other gods did, and really he was by far one of the weaker gods, with perhaps Tiamet’s Jailer, Marduk, being the only one weaker.

And, with the constant jumping about the plane with Liliana, his flame had diminished not unlike a flickering candle in the wind. For this reason alone, he had Liliana go forth to strengthen the cults. A few divine acts done fairly quickly could increase a fellowship, if only bit by bit. The creation of a few more cults would increase his name, and therefore grant him some much needed faith, especially if he was to leave the Pantheon anytime soon.

“Well, look who the cat dragged in,” The voice held a hint of amusement in it, if only a tinge of ire. Seth turned to look upon the figure, seeing a man dressed very uncharacteristically of the rest of the pantheon. His clothing was primal, armor adorned his chest, and his hands were wrapped in clawed gauntlets. His face was covered in a visor shaped like a dragons face, and his eyes held an amused light within them. His hair was braided into locks that held a small bone or skull at the end of each one, marking his profession before he became a god.

He was also locked in a cage, punished for his hubris, and left to rot.

“I thought I smelled something. Should have known it was just your brand of failure Marduk,” Seth retorted, taking a few steps past.

A low chuckle echoed across the entry halls of the Pantheon before the Shaman spoke his voice mocking, “Says the man who could almost be my peer. So, what brings Selios, God of Balance finally back home to the Pantheon, rather than playing around on his precious farm…”

“None of your business Jailer, why don’t you worry about getting free first, before you go about harassing your betters…”

“You aren’t better, merely superiorly placed, for now…” Marduk said, a malicious grin showing behind the mask, even before he pulled it back to reveal his face. Seth looking into the face of the madman, even as he continued, “Enjoy your position Selios, relish in it. One day, this all ends, and that bitch boy Taka will be the first to feel my might. Then, I’ll start with the man who ripped my faith store out from under me, you.”

“So, you figured that out did you?”

“Hard not to, when a bitch strike from a mere Herald can fell the mortal aspect of a God in one fell swoop,” Marduk hissed.

“So glad to see my more subtle moves are appreciated, by the one they’re put upon,” Seth replied a smirk on his face. He moved beyond the cage, ignoring any further words the Shaman could say about the matter, even as he heard the cursing and railing.

~*~

Finally reaching the Library Seth was a bit wary, the political atmosphere of the Pantheon charging the air deliberately. The world seemed different when one god began to rise to prominence. In the old days it was just an everyday occurrence, but now that a god taking power could upset the decisions of mortals, it was a whole new ball game. Now, it was filled with those Gods who would appease the rising star and those that would plot its downfall.

Seth had to snort some days at the hypocrisy. Those who would normally never align with gods, suddenly found time to talk to them, in the hopes of gleaning even a modest amount of faith, before it was snatched away by another. Nowadays, Seth avoided the Pantheon to save himself from having to bear witness to these backroom deals. He had long since vowed never to do that, and because of it, he had not enjoyed the inflated amount of faith the others had, coming by his the old fashioned way.

This of course caused the other gods to ridicule him for his convictions.

Seth was musing about how the gods had destroyed their own faith, in order to become addicted to the faith of others. Perhaps mankind had seen the corruption of the Pantheon, and made their choice to malign the gods for their lack of conviction. Either way, the time had come and gone, and the Gods were found lacking, so humanity had left them behind. The Gods, desperate for the attention of the mortals of their kingdom, had done everything in their power to make them worship the foolish deities.

So Seth had stepped in.

Moving into the library he saw a few of the other gods wandering about, pulling books from the shelves to study. Seth was polite, only responding to those who threw him a greeting, being silent for those who would ignore him. He knew these gods were the ones who at least tried to reap more faith in the world. However, he also knew the two in the center, were the ones he least wanted to see, if only for what they represented.

Sitting across from each other, were two old men. Between them was what could be called a chessboard, if only done in a more three dimensional way. There were three boards between the men, and the pieces were scattered amongst them. The one side had a multitude of pieces, forming an army any general could be proud to own. The other side held fewer units, and from Seth’s experience knew this was because they were supposedly superior, only able to be captured when taken from certain angles. The game was balanced, this much Seth knew, but the rules were so convoluted that he refused to take part in it.

That was mainly because the two gods who played it with any regularity were Mordechai and Lazarus, two of the three mythic brothers.

Moving past the table he heard what little conversation stop. The two players looked upon the newcomer with a grim visage. Seth gave them a small wry grin before he spoke, “Evening gentlemen.”

“I see they let anyone in here nowadays. Shame to see the Pantheon reduced to such gutter trash,” One man said as he moved a piece on the board.

“I think we should have made a rule against those who ascend to godhood by stealing another god’s essence. Poor Sintyre, forgotten in name, and now forced to fuel those he hated with divinity…”

Seth, long since tired of such antics, moved and nudged the table, knocking over several pieces before he feigned a look of concern, “Oh, I’m so sorry gentlemen. Did I ruin your game? Here let me clean that up…”

“No, no. That is quite alright…” One of them said, shooing the lesser deity away. Seth merely laughed as he moved through the library not caring who he disturbed at that point. He moved until finally he saw the section he needed, and sighed, seeing the last man he wanted to before the doors. Bromer Seraph god of Wisdom stood before the doorway to the Deific Library, his arms crossed and a look of subtle consternation on his face.

“So, were you planning on just waltzing in here without the requisite endorsements?”