Reunion of Blood

[Requiem of Insanity]

The darkness in the night let the chill wind creep out over the frozen tundra. Winter had at last hit, something the season was foretelling long ago. The snow was deep enough to leave impressions of the feet that traveled the road, and to assume one could survive without proper gear was tantamount to suicide. Despite the change of the season, the passing of time, one thing remained constant; the moon shone brightly in the air like it always did. The prideful sentinel guardian of the sky. Upon his watch of the land walked a solitary slender figure, and she grinned looking up to the moon.

"At long last!" She cried out to the sky. "Emprea, the legendary land of heros! I have waited to arrive at your lands for years it seemed." She chuckled to herself as her dark ambitions stirred awake inside her. With a bit of a stretch he moved out into the world and played with the dark, chuckling her ear and holding her gently. Her dark companion had bonded well with her in the past four months, and she was grateful for it. He was her one true lover, a darker being of herself, a separate but one singular facet of her own ideals and morals taking the shape of a shadow companion. Only she could see the darkness of his soul, the beauty he held and hear the whispers of his sweet nothings.

Her mind was filled with ideas of how she would spend her time, and the wind howled as she stepped forward. An omen of warning for her to leave that she merely laughed off as she stepped closer to the surrounding villages of the land of heros. But a gentle touch of her dark lovers hand against her mind made her wise up. She made a mistake long ago to not heed his wisdom, and mistake she never made again.

Her eyes scanned the horizon and nothing out of the ordinary could be seen. Only the howls of wolves in the distance seemed to penetrate the thick fog of silence. Her head cocked to the side as she began to walk forward again, and her foot stepped on something that snapped. Her mind immediately thought it was a twig, but she looked down anyway. To her amusement it was a stake with a newsletter attached. She picked up the article and read it.


DARK DAUGHTER OF DEATH CLAIMS ANOTHER SOUL!


Today Emprea officials declared another brutality and crime against nature as another dead body turned up in the church of our patron saint. The body belonged to the head priest, and he was found upon the center altar table chained up and cut into with his tongue and eyes missing. To the officials at the scene a shocking break through was discovered that may tip the balance in the search. A long strand of black hair was found at the scene that continues the eye witness account that it was a woman doing these heinous crimes. Viola Conda, General of the Emprean army has vowed to take a personal interest in knowing who is committing these crimes and bring them to justice.

Cassandra crumbled up the paper in anger and rage as she tossed it over her left shoulder. She seethed in frustration and when her dark companion lent her a gentle touch she even flinched at it. After a moment she calmed her nerves breathing in and out as she spoke her thoughts. "Somebody is already in our playground." Her darker ambitions touched her spine before pointing to the surrounding area. Her mind took a moment to process what he was trying to say, and when he chuckled into her ear she suddenly realized what he was saying.

"You're right. Somebody wants to play with me in my playground. So be it. I'll find who this copy cat is and teach them what pain is all about." The moon shined down upon her as she walked and felt its call to her. Cassandra's urges began to rise and she felt a darker pit open up inside her. Suddenly she felt a weight of power before her, something she felt only when she was a child a power so strong it began to recall memories of her small child like mentality.

Two options were before her just like back then. She could move forward and fight something she could feel was far stronger than she, or she could turn and leave. Her Dark companion placed his firm hand on her shoulder, holding it their for support. He made no hints of going forward, and no hints of going backwards. The decision was harder than first impressions would dictate, but just like when she was a little girl she knew this couldn't be taken lightly. She moved forward with a single step and felt a wave of energy pour down upon her body. The energy was of a dark nature and she nearly crumbled from the pressure she felt.

After a moment it passed and she looked forward. With another step she went into the mouth of the lions den.

[Requiem of Insanity]

Cassandra walked into the nearby town with careful strides, her body still adjusting to all that had just happened. Whatever power had cried out and slammed into her was none to settling, and she was not happy with it. Yet she couldn't just cower away in fear, that would have admitted she had human emotions, and she made a point to prove that emotions were devoid of her soul. However that lingering hint of cowardice hid behind her mind, and she grew upset she had such silly notions, yet at the same time she could find no way to get rid of them.

This particular village was large, for it was the last stop before hitting the Castle of Emprea. Flags hung at every corner to proclaim the nation and people moved around in a hustle and bustle like ants fleeing from water. With all this activity it made Cassandra wander what the commotion could be, but their looks were not startled or horrified, but instead impatient and frowned as if upset they were not instantly where they wanted to be. Each building was made out of a pearl sheen marble of brilliant peach and browns. The sun made each building wall sparkle like it was just built as the low winds made each banner flutter carelessly in the wind.

To even wonder if a crime took place here was all the more confusing, the people moved forward as if unafraid that one of their number was a mass murderer who delighted in torment. Two such beings were now in the town, and they didn't seem to give two hoots about it. It made Cassandra a little worried, but she could tell these people had a lot of hope. An emotion she tried very hard never to rely on.

The church bell rung seven times, letting her know that the morning was still young, and she decided to visit the place where the latest atrocity was committed. The church was the second largest building in the entire town, the tallest belonging to the grand clock tower that was erected to form a sword. The church itself was beautiful to the eye. Stainless glass pictures were the windows and a row of raked pews twenty stacks in a row with four rows allowed for amazing seating capacity. In the center of the pews, lowered like an outdoor theater was the altar, and just as Cassandra suspected blood was left all over the white cloth. At the lowest level was all the officials assigned to the case running about collecting examples on all different sorts of useless information that would undoubtedly leave them nowhere. The priest himself was no longer on the altar table, but on a gurney ready to be wheeled out.

"Excuse me, mam?" A voice called from the lower left. Cassandra looked to the owner and saw a tall slender boy wave one hand to catch her attention. When he was sure Cassandra was looking he moved forward towards her to prevent himself from yelling across the cathedral. She allowed her mind to create a fake personality and back ground as his steps grew closer, her acting back ground really helping her out with crafting the mask she was about to wear. "Mam, I am going to have to ask you to leave please, this is a crime scene now and the masses will need to be placed on hold."

"Oh, my my, the poor man." She turned away from the body on the gurney towards the approaching officer. "I am a worshiper of the gods and came to a place to pray, and this is what happens?" She pretended to hold back tears as she chewed her lower lip.

"I understand that uncomfortable feelings mam, and I can only ask you to please leave the scene so we can work in peace." Cassandra decided to push a little luck as she nodded to the boy and then moved a bit closer to the stairs.

"Who could do such a thing?" She asked in curiosity. "What terrible monster is loose now in Emprea? How many more of these murders have their been?" The boy looked around nervously before he took a single hand and rubbed his neck. He sighed before he took one last glance at his co-workers before leaning towards Cassandra.

"There have been five in the past four months. Four men, and a woman. The priest was the latest to the group." Cassandra felt her dark companion stir inside her mind, something about what she just heard making him awake prematurely.

"Do you have descriptions of the other four?" Cassandra asked again, pushing for information. The boy looked at her with a quizzical look and cocked his head to the side.

"You ask a lot of weird questions," he looked her up and down. "Which gods do you worship?" He asked folding his arms across his chest. Cassandra's heart pounded once, but she already had the counter ready.

"I worship Loec, god of mischief and curiosity. Sorry, just a bad habit I picked up." The boy looked her over again and then nodded.

"Oh, makes sense." He walked over to her grabbing her arm gently. "Sorry to be forceful, but my commander is looking at me and I need you to leave now, however if your curiosity is going to get the better of you at least let me take you to dinner so it won't get you into trouble." Cassandra looked back over the scene and then nodded to him, lowering her tone as she said,

"Thank you, that would be great. My name is Jezebel, and you're name was?" He negotiated his hand over to hers in shaking fashion as he gently pushed her out the door.

"Kane." He replied waving her off. "Seven at the restaurant south from here. Teriyaki joint." Cassandra had already turned around as she replied to him, giving off a flashy smile.

"You got it, see ya then!"

[Requiem of Insanity]

The villagers themselves were rather dull people Cassandra learned. They never wanted to stop or chat, and the local bartenders don't talk about anything of use to her investigation of her secret admirer. Whoever she was, she was good at hiding her trail and nothing upset Cassandra more than somebody being one step ahead. In the field where Cassandra played one step was the difference between sharpening her knives for the next victim, or being cut by those knives.

The local papers offered her more help, being able to look in a back log of the last four months. Her dark companion had pointed out a few things to her, whispering sweet nothings in her ear and chuckling as her fingers reached key points he found interesting. Apparently each death the copy cat did was done within a week or two of a death caused by the hands of Cassandra. Kane was correct about the bodies being four men and a woman. The stunning similarities however startled her. The first man killed in Emprea was a tall, slender man. He was average build and nothing about him was unique, just like Peter, her first victim in the time line she was looking at.

The next man killed was a bit older in his late thirties. He was a ruthless leader of a group of crime lords called the Storm Hawks that ran on the outskirts of Emprea, a striking resemblance to the late Huang Lo, hired goon by some official in Corone. His death wasn't found for weeks after the fact, but the mortician timed the death two weeks after Cassandra finished off Huang.

The third death was quite the challenge for Cassandra. The third target of her dark desire was Alaster Caine, the people's champion of Lavinya. The work she had to do was immense for the kill yet very satisfying, but she was in awe at the audacity of the copycat who mimicked her own choice targets. This kill was a state official who ran the surrounding borders of Emprea, a person loved by all just like Alaster. Whether he was dark and twisted like the Lavinyan sheep was unclear, but the target was never-the-less as potent a target.

The fourth target was a young woman, a doctor who was an assistant to the chief apothecary of the city. Cassandra's fourth kill was Catrina Ferman, head apothecary of some town in Radansath who delighted in torturing her victims with poisons and experimentation. This kill happened nearly two days after Cassandra finished the deed, and this was when her dark companion started to run.

The fifth and final kill was the priest of the local cathedral and Cassandra didn't see at first the similarities of her fifth kill, but in a twisted way it was linked. The kill of her mimic took place three weeks after hers, the longest of all the kills. The Shaman of Shambala was a unique individual of strong spirit and mystical power, but his physical body was useless as a play toy. It took her a while to realize that their were no shamanistic religions in Emprea itself. So a priest would have to do.

It wasn't easy to dig up the information, but other than learning that whoever was playing games with her made sure that she kept excellent tabs on Cassandra, she was still no steps closer to learning who it was, or anything about them. Frustrated she stood up and did a few stretches as she left the library. Looking to the town clock she found the time close to her meeting with Kane and made way to see what he may have known about the mystery stalker.

[Requiem of Insanity]

The Teriyaki restaurant was a an odd building with a pit in the middle of the room where two warriors fought in a martial contest of unarmed supremacy. Currently, a tall thick muscle necked individual was destroying a smaller, less built man who had the heart of a lion but the abilities of a lamb.

It was disturbing that Kane would pick such a place to eat, and Cassandra felt very uncomfortable with the atmosphere of drunken men and woman, cheering and booing filled her ears and she felt like taking a dose of Catrina Ferman's Blood Sire just to end the pain of hearing such nonsense.

Like an angel of mercy Kane had walked into the room from the front, and after a moment of looking found Cassandra flagging him down and he quickly moved over to her. Before he had a proper chance to rest she berated him with all the irritation she had in one sentence. "If this is what you call a meeting place then I fear for the good people of Emprea." Kane looked at her and then gave off a quirky smile.

"Where better to have the eyes of those who may listen blocked? Where better to masque our voices under the facade of cheering and booing?" He countered in a polite tone, unaffected by Cassandra's irritable tone. "And where else," he said casually picking up the menu. "Can you get the best Teriyaki this side of the mountain?" Cassandra was impressed with his casual demeanor, and decided to give him a second shot at being a useful tool for her investigation.

"I see the town is in better hands than I thought." She replied with a hint of apology in her words. Kane just grinned as he dropped the menu. An eruption of screams went off and both turned to see the younger, scrappier of the two warriors use the pit walls as leverage to jump onto the beast and get him in a head lock.

"Savages." Cassandra muttered. Kane just left his face neutral as he watched for a bit longer then returned to the land of the living as he looked back at Cassandra. "So, I did some research on this serial killer." Cassandra started pulling out her note pad that was scribbled with her notes upon it. She dropped it before Kane and adjusted herself to get more comfortable. Kane glanced down at it with little care and then looked her dead in the eyes.

"In summary?" He asked.

"In summary?" Cassandra repeated. "It's a message. To the people, this is a message that whoever you are, you can't hide from her. There is nothing you can do to protect yourself. From a lowly civilian, to a high ranking official you are of no difference to her. If you are worth her time, you are as good as dead."

"A very astute observation." Kane replied cracking his fingers and taking a swig of water. "But I have a theory my boss doesn't agree with. Mind if I bounce it off you?" Kane looked at her with respect as he waited for an answer. They were interrupted as the waiter asked for what they would eat, and Cassandra ordered a steak rare and Kane ordered the chicken teriyaki. After the waiter left Cassandra looked back into his eyes. They were a marvelous shade of gray with a hint of shadow blue in the corners.

"I can see no harm in that. Maybe I can help you with the investigation?" She offered. Kane laughed politely, a pitch that was full of sarcasm and enough courtesy to let her know he highly doubted that she would be able to do anything more than this talk.

"Okay, well," He hesitated a moment, and Cassandra slid her hand over to his.

"Just say it." Kane looked into her hazel eyes and nodded once, gulping.

"It's like this I figure. It's dual meanings. The killings that is," he said quickly. "Sure, the townspeople need to fear this killer, and everyone should know that they can be targeted. But I saw a pattern. A unique pattern. Two of them that I had to dig deep to discover. First, I noticed that each person killed had for more or less done no wrong. Innocents." Cassandra mentally sighed. Wuss, only those of the dark can scream correctly. If you are going to copy me, do it right! She looked at Kane who took a breath.

"So she kills innocents. It's common for a serial killer to not change motive or reasons for the murders. Some murderer only those who wronged society, a twisted form of vigilante justice I guess you could say." Cassandra offered.

"That's just it though. There was one murder of a crime lord, who wasn't the worst Emprea had ever seen, but defiantly not a push over. He was just neutral. So I wondered out of the thousands of vigilante crime syndicates to choose from, he chooses none of them but goes for someone disinterested in being a lord of crime or a savior of the people." Cassandra could feel her Dark Companion waking again, chuckling into her ear. She casually grabbed her notebook and listened to Kane carefully.

"So what do you think it means?" She asked.

"I think these targets were meant to catch a single, specific person's interest." Cassandra's heart froze. Her dark companion brushed the back of her mind with a gentle hand, and she suddenly realized the significance of the crime lord. He was like Huang Lo, a person who was disinterested in what they did. It was just something they did, and didn't know why. And Cassandra could feel the connection the two murders had in common. Just as Cassandra showed Huang his darker ambitions, so did her secret admirer did to her target.

"Fascinating find, but how do you know that?" Cassandra asked as she scribbled her recent discovery onto the pad of paper.

"Well, this is what took me a while to learn and I'm awaiting the confirmation of a fifth murder, but so far the previous four murders were very similar to somebody outside Emprea. A nobody found up dead in a Corone harbor, brutally tortured. A Crime Lord found dead in his own personal play room further into the forest. In Lavinya a political people's champion was found tortured and dead with notes of his own treachery to the guilds and people nailed into his breasts. Then, in Radansath a woman was found in the forest, dead and tortured with some chemical in her blood that tortured a victim with hallucinations." He took a breath as he watched the waiter approach with their food. Two new fresh warriors were battling in the pit now, and they tore into each other liked caged animals.

Cassandra thanked the waiter for her food and casually picked up her fork and knife and began to eat. Kane did the same before he wiped his face with a napkin and began talking again.

"This is great to talk about with someone." He said happily. "My boss thinks I'm crazy and a bit off. He calls me spooks around the office."

"What a jerk!" Cassandra said as she carefully cut the top layer of the middle portion of the steak off and placed it into her mouth. The juices flowed out of the slab of meat and into her mouth and she rolled her eyes in pleasure. "Wonderful food!" She gasped in ecstasy.

"Anyway, back to what I was saying." He took a drink of his water. "I noticed this killer picked their targets who were dark, destructive, otherwise people who could feel something akin to regret or sorrow." Cassandra nearly dropped her fork as she was being told her motives. People were starting to get to easy at discovering her out and that was a problem that needed to be rectified soon.

"Maybe this killer just kills bastards for revenge. A super hero or something like that." She said through a mouth full of food.

"No, these kills are mimicking the kills done by the other." Kane sighed. "My dinner hour is almost up, so to conclude I can only say that with this theory I haven't really gotten closer to who it may be. Not unless I can find another killer. This is where my boss gets upset, pissed that I would want to go around and try and find a second killer when the primary killer is still loose." Kane stood up and patted his belly. "Fine food, and thanks for the company." He dropped some golden coins on the table. "I really do appreciate you listening."

"My pleasure," Cassandra said back wiping her mouth clean of food. "Please, let's meet again tomorrow night at the same time to discuss anything I can think of to add to it." Kane smiled for a moment and then nodded in consent.

"Okay, it's a date." He said turning around and leaving. Cassandra glared at him after he used the word date and wanted to set his blood a lit with flames and watch him squirm. After she was alone she went back to her steak, new information being digested by her and the dark companion as her body digested her food.

[Requiem of Insanity]

The darkness surrounded Cassandra as she stepped across the creaky wooden steps. Her senses were closed out as she let everything dark in the room consume her. Her darker thoughts lingered as she sat in the quiet of the black pitched void surrounding her, and she felt a serenity she hadn't felt for months wash over her. In the depths of the darkness she felt the the life of world move within her and from her like the wind through the trees. She smiled as she felt the gentle embrace of her dark ambitions brush against her mind.

As the clouds overhead moved forward, the moon shone out over the land and obliterated the darkness around Cassandra. She smiled softly as she greeted the moon and stood up to walk over to a table situated near her. There she struck a match and began to light up the lanterns in the room. One by one they illuminated the hostel bedroom and she sighed, watching the shadows dance and lick her face like a hungry puppy craving attention.

The bedroom was not very special despite the cost she paid. A bed, a table, a dresser, a wash room. That was like any other hostel she stayed at, but the specialty of this room was the balcony to the outside moon. She stepped out their lazily dragging each foot like a love struck teenager as she looked out longingly.

"How long do we must tease each other?" Cassandra whispered out to the darkness as she waited to feel the gentle hand and dark chuckle of her companion. Her eyes shut as she felt her body grow cold and numb. Something wasn't right and she turned to find nothing out of the ordinary. "My love?" She called out softly. Nothing responded to her hails and she grew concerned. "My darling?" She cried out again.

Her body suddenly tensed up as she felt her chest spasm uncontrollably. She dropped to her knees as she suddenly had a flash of a giant dog attack something, something in the darkness. She felt the cries of pain from the stranger in the darkness and she clawed her nails into her skin to make the vision go away. Her mouth seethed with agony as she realized something was hurting her dark companion.

Then as swiftly as the pain came, it subsided. She felt alone for a moment before suddenly a gentle hand touched her back. "What happened? Who attacked you?" But her dark companion just shook his shadowy head, holding her tightly with his firm hands. "What is doing this to us? Who is trying to tear us apart?" She asked. "Is it that damned copy cat?"

Her Dark Companion gently stroked her mind as she took deep breaths to calm herself. Panicking, worrying, being afraid; Three useless emotions she just experienced all at once. Her mind began to chastise her for such idiot reactions, but her heart still trembled in fear of whatever power could harm her dark tendencies. To be able to attack her dark desires like that and cause harm to boot was something that only a powerful person could achieve.

But before she could think about it any longer her dark lover whisked her into the bed. As she tucked herself in she looked to the moon again.

"I swear on that moon, my love," Cassandra whispered. "Whoever is doing this to us will pay." Her dark companion chuckled into her ear and after a moment she went to sleep.

[Requiem of Insanity]

The sun rose up in the morning and Cassandra tiredly rolled her body up and out of the bed. Her eyes were still closed as she walked into the bathroom and began to wash up, her dark companion stirring itself to sleep like a giant cat inside her. Today was just a day of boredom and useless waiting. Her dark desire had no wish to be apart of that. How she envied him for escaping the drudgery of life.

She went back to her back pack and rifled through it until she hit upon a few pieces of clothes. She pulled out her sneaking outfit and grabbed a thimble and some thread. She realized that the needle was broken when her finger got pricked, and a tiny fountain of blood came forth. She placed the bloody finger in her mouth sucking on it as she walked to the door to leave. As soon as she opened the door she felt a harsh set of knuckles hit her in the face.

Startled by the sudden impact Cassandra recoiled and fell back into her room getting ready to grab a knife from her sack. "OH MY," A voice cried out. "I am soooooo sorry!" a woman called back. Cassandra felt her hand grip one of her throwing knives and she kept it ready just in case. "Are you alright?"

Cassandra kept her cool, but let her anger seethe out through her words as she replied. "I will be fine. What the hell was that for?" The woman stepped into the room and Cassandra nearly ripped the knife out and into the open, but felt her dark lover's grip on her shoulder.

"I was just about to knock on your door when it opened suddenly. I am so sorry!" That word began to irritate Cassandra as she began to take deep breaths.

"What," She said forcefully to move the woman along in her words. "do you want?" The woman took a moment to gather herself before she stood up and fixed her skirt. It was a short, very revealing skirt with a button up short sleeved sweater covering her chest or at least attempting to anyway. She bit her pen as she took a deep breath and then extended her hand out. Her curly blond hair fell before her left eye and a wave of flowery perfume escaped into the air.

"Olivia Harma, pleased to meet you," She inclined her head forward trying to see if Cassandra would reveal her name. Cassandra took her hand and ignored the headache she was starting to get.

"As am I." Cassandra said flatly shaking her hand. Olivia backed away for a moment flustered and fixed her hair with her right hand reaching into her purse and pulling out a pad nad pencil with her left.

"I'm with the Emprean Reporter and I was told you were an actress of some great renown. Particularly in Lavinya when you played the role of Cassandra in that one play." Now it was Cassandra who backed away as her mind began to process things. Her Dark Companion simply brushed her mind and she felt his grip on her shoulders to calm her.

"How did you learn of this?" Cassandra asked.

"Oh a birdy told me," She lied with an obviously fake grin. "With all the death that's been going on I figured a fun post would lighten up the atmosphere. So what do you say? Will you let me interview you?" She spoke quickly and put on a face that looked like she was begging and it sickened Cassandra greatly to see any human act this way. Cassandra leaned her head back in contemplation, and her dark desire chuckled into her ear.

"Sure, why not. When you want to do this?"

"How about two in the afternoon at this teriyaki joint?" She offered. Cassandra grinned.

"Sure. I know where that is."

[Requiem of Insanity]

Cassandra went into the teriyaki joint with little expectations of what to see, and to her amusement the pit was full of three fighters this time, two of them beating the tar out of the smallest in the arena. The crowd rejoiced as the tiny guy would fight back, but Cassandra could tell when a fight was over. She ordered a simple meal this time, a salad with chicken and a glass of water to wash down the greens with and dipped her blade gently into the butter.

As she stroked the butter on her bread with the knife she found herself thinking of cutting deeply into the flesh of her next victim. Her urges began to rise, but they never grew higher than inklings or desires. It was awkward that at this time, her urges were not going haywire. She cut deep into the bread, which was hot enough to need a napkin to hold. The butter melted away almost instantly and began to run out the edges like blood dripping from an open wound. She let the butter drip onto her plate of salad. With morbid curiosity she watched as every last drop fell to the plate.

"Wow, that's a little strange cutie." Came the overly cheerful voice of Olivia. Cassandra put the piece of bread down gently as she took a deep breath. It was stupid for her to act like that in plain public view, and worst of all it was the bimbo reporter who told her so.

"Just trying to get into the mind of my new character." Cassandra lied. "I'll be playing the part of the dark companion in my new show." Cassandra felt the dark desire in her chuckle as she grinned from ear to ear.

"Wow, you take acting seriously then?" Olivia asked taking out the pad and pencil.

"I act almost every single day!" Cassandra said honestly. "I can't imagine what the world would think if I stopped acting." She said distantly thinking of her boring human like life.

"So do you ever stop acting?" Olivia asked next. Cassandra took a sip of water and looked deep in concentration.

"I do, once in a while. Usually at special times when the mood is right. I let down the mask and be me. I move around freely, shake out the cobwebs and what not. Enjoy my hobby." Olivia wrote every word down and Cassandra let her as her dark lover stroked the back of her mind.

"So why do you enjoy acting?" Olivia asked next.

"I wouldn't call it enjoyment." Cassandra said flatly looking into Olivia's eyes. "I call it a necessity to be able to live. To breath each day must be another performance or I am done. My life is over and the gigs stop coming."

"You are very passionate about what you do, aren't you?" Cassandra nodded before answering.

"It's something my father taught me how to do." At the mention of the word father Olivia perked up and looked at Cassandra for the first time since the interview started.

"A father figure? Is he handsome?" Olivia asked biting the end of her pencil and sucking on it. Cassandra glared at her as she replied.

"Are you a slut? No, he's my father! I have no sexual desires towards him and it's creepy that's the first thing you think." Olivia shurgged her shoulders and went back into her seat.

"I can see an icy nature around you. Is one of your hobbies sleeping with the fans? Is that how you break character?" Cassandra felt her choler rise in anger, and her dark companion began to sooth her and calm her as he gently rubbed her shoulders.

"What the hell kind of question is that?"

"Well I'm not saying, I'm just saying...You got to have some outlet. You are a woman aren't you? Come on...girls have got to have fun once in a while. You pick up some boy from the crowd, take him home, get drunk and forget his name in the morning. You're a little sore but happily fulfilled." Cassandra got up and shoved her seat back.

"I am sorry but these questions have nothing to do with art or the theater and so I think we are done here."

"Why do you cut into a perfect piece of bread and watch the juices come out? You're frustrated hun, that's all. It's my job to take notice of the details so don't be offended that I can read you like a book."

"I'm offended by how abrasive you can be with your line of questions. They do not pertain to anything of value other than you just trying to make me uncomfortable. Congratulations, you have succeeded." Cassandra began to turn when she felt a dark primeval force weigh her down. It was like a thousand hands began to push her down so she couldn't move and the only thing she could do was turn and look at Olivia who just smiled.

"You are right," She said giggling. "I think I got all I needed to write a get me by story. Thank you very much for the interview." She dropped a few coins on the table. "I'll cover your meal sweetheart. I got all I needed from you." Olivia got up casually and walked out of the restaurant with a saunter that made Cassandra's nerves boil to a breaking point. The second she was out of sight Cassandra could feel herself moving again.

"It was a sign," Cassandra whispered to herself. Her dark companion merely rested his hand on her shoulder, but the firm grip was not present. It was as if he was leaning on her. "My love?" She spoke with urgency. He just squeezed her arm and she nodded moving forward.

[Requiem of Insanity]

Cassandra's mind was in a daze. Without any doubt in her mind Olivia was the one that was stalking her. The one who was protecting her and tormenting her. She was the dark presence that could cause her darker ambitions to run, and she was mortified that she was so strong. Yet she had no choice now. Her urges were starting to edge on her mind, and she couldn't just ignore the hunt. Despite all this overwhelming feeling of certainty, she was positive that despite her gut, she needed more proof.

There was only one source she needed to check, and that was in the library in the town hall. She needed to find more information and so far the only information she had was in the newspaper articles. She walked back to the stacks of papers and her eyes skimmed the pages quickly for some connection. She picked up the five articles and placed them next to each other. As her fingers ran down each page she could hear a dark chuckle in her mind.

With a grin to herself she closed her eyes, and remained motionless touching the paper. She could feel her dark lover's hands guide hers as she felt her skin crawl in pleasurable sensations. Her left arm was released and her right arm began to gently glide over the other paper next to hers and she breathed a shuddering breath of ecstasy as he guided her hands to what he wanted her to see. With a satisfied chuckle Cassandra opened her eyes and she let her lips split into the devil's grin.

Reporter on Duty for each article was none other than Olivia Harma. It was all the proof she needed to send her urges rising. With a deep breath she looked up into the sky out the window to her left side. Shadows from the tree's covered her face, but the moon shone in the orange tinted sky. Her dark desire gripped her tightly and she nodded. Tonight would be the night.

"Still hard at work eh?" Came the cocky voice of Kane. Cassandra whipped around on her heel and looked Kane dead in the eyes, her heart racing in anticipation.

"Always," she said in a half flustered whisper. Kane just smiled as he walked forward looking at the pages with an earnest interest. "I couldn't find anything," Cassandra lied. "Just information we both already know."

"You blind," Kane asked smartly smiling to her in a joking fashion. "I didn't see it myself. But you found the missing puzzle piece." He walked up to Cassandra and picked up the paper pointing to the name Olivia Harma. "All we need to do is find her and capture her for questioning."

"Oh...really?" Cassandra did her best not to sound disappointingly. Kane gave her a wry look before he smiled as if something just fit perfectly into his little scheme.

"Well after we take time to get a warrant for her arrest. It may take me until tomorrow morning," Kane winked to her and turned placing his hands in his pockets and walking towards the exit. "Be a shame if Olivia wound up missing..." He taunted before he turned a corner.

Cassandra waited a moment before she felt her dark desire hold her firmly. "I know my love, but we don't have a choice." She said gathering up the news articles and walking out of the building into the night air. "Kane may be wanting me to make a move, but if we don't we're going to lose the element of surprise. I don't think Olivia knows we'll come tonight." She felt a slap on the back of her mind and she cursed to herself louder than she intended causing a few faces to turn and stare.

Slightly embarrassed Cassandra walked onwards towards her room at the hostel, the orange sky tinting purple over the horizon as a few stars began to appear. The weather began to get a bit colder as she walked. "We don't have a choice my love," Cassandra argued. "We either take the offensive or continue to be tortured slowly at each turn as we let her beat us down. I will not fall to my knees like a dog my love." His hand gently ran across her back and she felt a tingle of excitement crawl down her spine.

As she reached the hostel her dark companion gripped her shoulder tightly causing her to nearly yelp in pain. She went up the stairs and when she reached her door she felt a coldness inside her as her hand grazed the door knob. Her dark desires drifted behind her and with a deep breath she opened her door.

The inside of her room was freezing cold, much colder than she expected it to be. On the table was her sneaking suit proudly left out and ready to get into. Her Knives were all recently polished and neatly placed in a new leather roll up pouch from varying sizes and shapes. Next to her knives was her satchel, her clothes all neatly folded inside and placed with care like a loving parent. The next item on the table was the most disturbing thing that made her heart nearly stop beating, and even the ice cold firm grip of her dark lover felt numb as she looked upon it.

Sitting upon the table was a little girl's rag doll. It looked dusted and dirty, but lovingly taken care of. It appeared that the head was sewn back on and in her hand was a little fake cloth knife. Her other hand held a paper rolled up and tied with a pink bow. Cassandra reached out slowly to grab the paper and she felt a loss of connection with all her darker instincts.

As she picked up the paper and unfurled it she looked at the doll and saw a familiar hole in the dress in the back that reminded her of her childhood that was so long ago. As she looked upon the paper her heart beat faster and faster but her body felt colder and colder as she began to shiver in place.


My darling Cassandra,
I'll always love you.

Cassandra picked up the doll and felt her childhood bond to it and with sudden fury she ripped the doll's head off tossing the body at the wall with furious rage. She crunched the note in her hand and grabbed her sneaking suit getting dressed quickly. All the while her dark companion continued to try and reach her, but his calls were falling upon deaf ears. Cassandra felt furious at the insult done to her, and the more she thought about her past the more she became enraged.

She shoved her knives into her satchel and pulled the cloth mask over her mouth and nose as she knelt down and picked up the doll's body. She stuffed it in her bag and walked out of the building in the rear exit next to the kitchen and moved into the woods.

Night began to arrive faster than ever in Emprea, and the moon shone a blood red. Cassandra ignored the moon's cries for the first time in her life.

[Requiem of Insanity]

The night was a brilliant shade of muted tinted red. The people of Emprea all went inside their homes or business leaving the streets empty except for the stray wanderer. Despite the lamp posts to brighten the walkways the darkness smothered them making each an oasis of light in the darkness. And moving with a determined grace like a professional acrobat stalked Cassandra silently. Her mind was filled with a murderous rage and she couldn't feel her urges or her dark desires. But she was oblivious to it now.

The doll wasn't just a set up. It was something personally that belonged to her when she was a kid, and a sick perverted soul lovingly cared for the inanimate waste of space and used it to get Cassandra's attention. Now that whoever had set up this display to catch Cassandra's attention succeeded was moments away from her wrath.

Cassandra didn't now really where she was going. A deep instinct was leading her and she trusted it blindly. She was positive it would lead her to the correct destination. After a few minutes of shadow walking she arrived at a small housing district. Only four houses seemed to be located in this area dangerously close to the forest. Cassandra looked and saw that three of the buildings were empty and the fourth vacant. Lights surrounded the inside of the house and Cassandra walked up to the back door of the house. Sure enough her instincts were correct and Olivia Harma was in an apron cooking, singing a song to herself as she prepared her food.

Cassandra felt inside her bag for the leather wrap of knives and found it pulling the utensils of death out. She grabbed the cats claws and placed it over her right hand before she put the rest lovingly back in the bag. With quiet motions she placed her left hand on the doorknob and slowly opened it before it was barely cracked open. She peeked at Olivia who seemed too preoccupied to notice and Cassandra took three deep breaths before she moved quickly into the kitchen.

Olivia turned to face Cassandra at the last minute and was about to scream for help. It was a moment to late as Cassandra jumped upon her placed the claws against her chest as she used her other hand to choke Olivia.

"WHO ARE YOU!?" Cassandra seethed. "WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING ME AND MY LOVER?!" Olivia just laughed despite the intense pressure that was placed on her throat and Cassandra dug the claws into her chest lightly. Olivia gave out a horse cry of pain and then dug her left knee into Cassandra's gut.

Cassandra rolled off of Olivia losing her wind as she took deep breaths to regain her composure. Olivia got up to her knees and waddled towards the kitchen counter running her hands around the top before it settled upon a steak knife that she turned on Cassandra. "You're just a spoiled brat! That's what you are!" She taunted wiping blood from her cheek as she dove forwards trying to stab Cassandra.

Cassandra rolled away and let the knife sink deep next to her into the ground and she quickly got back to her feet turning on Olivia, who was a bit slower getting up leaving herself open. Cassandra dove forward with her knee hitting Olivia in the chest and knocking her on her back caving her chest in with a loud pop as if something broke in her ribs. Olivia still had enough fight in her to grab Cassandra;s arms and place her leg under Cassandra's belly and lifting with amazing power.

Cassandra's world flipped upside down as her back landed on a wooden chair breaking a few legs and sending shooting pains up her spine. Both woman groggily got back to their feet and Cassandra wheezed as she watched Olivia charge at her with deadly intent. At the last moment Cassandra's arm shot out and she rotated behind Olivia placing her in the sleeper hold. Olivia thrashed around violently as she reached for anything that would break the hold, but her fight began to die out as Cassandra gripped her tightly around her neck. Soon the thrashing tunred to random spurts of aggression before Olivia was out like a light.

Cassandra seethed with rage as she continued to apply the hold for an unnecessary amount of time, and she felt tears of anger stream down her face. A gentle yet firm hand gripped her shoulder tightly, and slowly she released the hold. She looked around the room and when her eyes passed a door near the kitchen cabinets she heard the dark chuckle of her lover. Cassandra went over and opened the door and found it leading down a flight stairs. She followed it for a bit and ran her fingers along the wall until she found a switch.

When she flipped the switch her heart jumped in excitement as she found a table with chains attached to them, and off in the corner was enough shadow to set up a small table and hide. Her heart felt over joyed as she found this rare piece of luck, and the dark whispers of her desires gave her permission to play as she leaped up the stairs two at a time despite the pain.

She grabbed Olivia by her shoulders and dragged her down the stairs until she reached the bottom and then set her up on the table. She let the chains hold her down as she cut off her clothes so she was naked. With careful care discarded the clothes and began to set up her workshop of pain. As she waited a moment when she finished she could sense her prey Olivia begin to stir. Cassandra smiled as she waited in the shadows, her dark companion hovering in anticipation next to her.

She watched Olivia search the room and suddenly become aware of her surroundings. Her body squirmed with excitement when she watched Olivia realize she was chained to the table. After a few moments of watching Olivia she was about to begin her speech when suddenly she felt a dark power from behind her keep her from moving. Her Dark Companion began to tremble next to her before she felt his grip slip away. She couldn't even move her lips from the paralysis that was placed on her as some pressure kept her in place. Her body trembled as she could feel her dark companion being attacked again, her mind filled with visions of a giant shadowy dog biting at her lover.

Out of the darkness in the far corner stalked a large brute of a body, silently stalking as it moved causally closer to her avoiding the light the entire time.

"My lover, my dark companion!" Olivia screamed in joy. Cassandra blinked once and the next thing she could see was Olivia bleeding from her mouth and neck, a throwing dagger deeply implanted in her neck. Olivia's eyes were full of shock and betrayal before she just flopped dead. The darkness chuckled all around Cassandra and she tried to shiver, but even her nerves wouldn't budge under the power of this dark creature.

The presence in the darkness walked forward a bit, a Cassandra felt a bead of sweat hover at the top of her forehead. She felt cold and over heated all at once, and she felt completely powerless. The dark stranger in the shadows walked behind her and stood there for a moment before moving next to her and then stopping before her.

Cassandra's eyes widened and she felt her breath get heavier as her heart raced as she stared into the face of the creature she now knew had been following her all this time. Her throat felt dry as she tried to speak, and despite the overwhelming terror she felt Cassandra still couldn't find a way to move.

"F-F-Father..." She barely whispered.

"I will always love you, Cassandra." He whispered back before taking his mighty hand and back handing her with it. Cassandra's world went black swiftly as her body crumbled to the ground like a doll.

[Requiem of Insanity]

"You're probably wondering why you are here." Came a dark voice from the shadows. Cassandra's eyes fluttered open slightly as she looked around her surroundings. She was chained to the table and looking at the light in the room.

"That's my line," Cassandra said back. "I believe yours was simply accept you fate. Then you went to work." Cassandra's father stepped out of the shadows into the light with a smug look on his face.

"Rule four was never play with your prey." He chuckled. "But you were always a chatterbox weren't you?" He ran a gentle hand down the side of her face in a loving parental way. "Oh my dearest Cassandra," he said full of pride. "My darkest sin." he moved behind her to the shadows and began to shuffle around. The sound of metal clinging together filled the air.

"Why did you search me out? I thought we agreed that we couldn't coexist together." Cassandra said into the air. "And why did you go to all this length to replicate my patterns but not dress me naked?" A low growl filled Cassandra's ears and she narrowed her eyes into two small slits of hate.

"Down Mastiff." Cassandra's father said sternly. The shadowy dog obeyed and hid in the shadows. "Stupid dog never listens these days."

"I thought your dark companion always listened?" Cassandra teased. "Or is the great Jebb Remi losing to his darker ambitions?" A hard left backhand slapped her face and she spit blood onto her shoulder.

"Don't even get me started on giving into the darkness you sick twisted daughter of mine. I'm not the one who shaped my life around my darker desires like you! I warned you to only kill when necessary, and you do it like it's a god damn method of living!" he yelled back.

"Shut up!" Cassandra shouted back. "I can't resist my urges like you father! I have the desires not just from my companion, but from my soul as well! It's in my fiber and this is why we couldn't live together anymore!"

"I never should have let you go," Jebb said running a hand through his hair. "I thought experience outside the world would brighten you to the idiocy of your lifestyle choice. But all it seems to have done is make you more and more the monster I devoted to stop you from becoming!" Cassandra felt around her shackles before she glared at her father.

"Are you pissed because the legacy of your darker ambitions passed onto me. I did a bit of digging myself, father! You call me bad? You were worse than I was!" Another hand back handed her and more blood flew from her lips. "DO NOT BE UPSET WITH ME BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T CONTAIN ME! DO NOT BE UPSET WITH ME BECAUSE WHEN I WAS BORN YOU FINALLY GOT TO LOOK INSIDE YOUR OWN SOUL AND REALIZE THE BASTARD SPAWN OF THE DEVIL YOU REALLY ARE!" Jebb seethed at her as his eyes grew wide with rage.

"You stupid bitch of mine! You are the biggest sin in my life, I shouldn't ever of had you! I killed your mother, and I should have killed you as well!"

"Oh fuck off it father!" Cassandra shouted back. "You didn't kill me because I wasn't going to scream the way you want me to! You thought you would change, but let me tell you nothing changed! You began to mimic my kills to catch my attention, knowing it would drive me insane to think I have a copy cat killer taking credit for my work! And then you lure me into your little web of insecurity, causing me to tense up and panic, harming my own dark ambitions! You followed me and made sure each time I felt strong you would prod me and make me feel weak!" Jebb glared at his daughter as he walked back into the shadows. "You were torturing me the entire time because now I'm old enough to scream for you the way you want me to scream!"

Jebb came back around the corner with a giant butcher's knife and with a frantic crazed swing he cut deep into the stomach area of Cassandra causing her to yelp out in pain.

"I hate you! I hate you and everything you stand for!" Jebb said in a crazed frenzy. "I taught you the skills, I taught you everything I wanted you to know, but you couldn't do a simple thing for me, the one lesson I was really trying to teach you all along." He cut her again with another frantic swing, this time taking a decent portion of her left hip. Her cries echoed in the room and Jebb held his ears in frustration.

"I...couldn't...learn that...for you..." Cassandra said with heavy hateful breath as blood poured out her mouth.

"All I wanted," Jebb said tossing the meat cleaver to the side. It clanged across the ground as he buried his face into his hands. "All I wanted was for you to learn to regret...so i could hear your beautiful voice cry like an angel for me...That's all I wanted, but instead you became a demon of a child. You were more like a dead puppet with broken strings where they were needed most. I realized it when it was to late that you couldn't regret, and you died as a child to me." He looked up at her with tears flooding his face. "Instead your song is just the Requiem of Insanity." He breathed in a defeated tone.

Cassandra's arms felt around the shackles and she suddenly felt a few familiar notches in them. A sudden realization came across her face that her own father was an idiot. "So what now Father?" Cassandra said in a dry, hoarse voice. "Twenty Seven Years you bred me to be a certain way." Jebb just sighed as he went back to grab another knife.

"It just means you'll die like the rest. Emotionless, useless, and devoid of any entertainment. But you have to die, my devil child. Your not of my seed you know. You were my adopted project. I killed your mother and hoped to raise you like me, but with the ability to regret so that your screams would be like a fine aged wine..." He came back around the corner into sight.

"Father," Cassandra whispered. Jebb lowered the fillet knife just a bit to look at her. "What was rule seven?" Jebb gave her an awkward look before he realized what she was saying. As he lifted his arm to stab her Cassandra's body moved as one fluid motion. She cupped her hands in themselves and slid both arms out of the chain and ducked down. Her shoulder dug deep into her father's stomach and he dropped the knife. Despite the wounds he inflicted on her she let her anger control her as she released her feet from the chains. She jumped upon his back and wrapped her arms around his head. "Oh that's right," Cassandra hissed into his ear. "Always know how to escape your own methods of imprisonment!"

"NO!" He shouted as he flailed his arms back and forth knocking over a small table as he scrambled to get Cassandra off him. After a moment Jebb hunched over and grabbed Cassandra by the head flipping her entire being end over end. She landed hard on the ground and rolled around in pain as her father took a few steps back to regain his composure.

Cassandra felt her world growing dark as her hand lifted before her face. Her wounds inflicted by her father were worse than she thought and she didn't have much energy to move on after that escape trick. Her body felt cold and numb as she watched her father go into the corner and grab his butcher knife licking the blood on it and giving her a nasty look of dark intent.

A firm hand touched her shoulder, a firm prideful hand that had always held her tigthly. A touch she had fallen in love with when she was eight. A voice talked to her, a few soothing words of confidence, words she drank in and let wash over her. Her body was slowly feeling a bit better until she opened her eyes. Before her was her dark companion, a clear, bolder form she never had seen before.

"I love you," she whispered to her dark companion. He nodded, and she could see the faintest trace of a dark outline of a devil's grin. Her head tilted to look back at Jebb, Mastiff, his shadow companion and dark desires made manifest stood next to him growling like a caged animal. "I will always love you." Cassandra whispered again. Jebb's eyes flared with rage as he pointed to Cassandra's dark desires, and Mastiff charged forward. With a sudden surge of energy Cassandra's hand fell across her leather satchel of knives. She reached inside and pulled out the fillet knife and gripped it tightly rotating to her stomach. She let her body sit in her own blood before she got up to a vertical base, her hazel eyes never leaving Jebb's.

"Come on," Jebb said with sarcasm. "Show you're daddy what you got!" He challenged charging forward at Cassandra. Her body heaved up and down but she didn't move until the last second. His arm swung wide and she ducked under it coming upwards with the hilt of her knife firmly in her hand which hit Jebb square in the jaw causing him to drop his blade. She pulled her knife hand back and did a few jabs with the hilt of the blade causing his body to retreat. After a viscous hay maker Jebb's body turned and he moved with the momentum swinging his arm in wide circle clocking Cassandra in the jaw. Blood flew out as she stumbled around rotating the blade in her hand. Jebb charged forward and she stuck her hand out lazily, his own momentum driving him onto the blade.

Jebb's eyes shot wide open as he felt the knife in his gut and Cassandra' moved behind him using all her weight to elbow him in the back of the head. Jebb fell down upon the ground and his body shivered before he was out like a light.

Cassandra breathed heavily as blood dripped down her mouth. She took mouthfuls of air as she tried to calm herself, but it was only when her dark lover placed a weakened, but firm hand on her shoulder. She leaned on the hand for a moment, before she nodded grabbing her Father's body and dragging it towards the table.

[Requiem of Insanity]

"You are probably wondering why you are here..." Came a soft voice from the shadows. Jebb Remi, darkened serial killer opened his eyes to the irony of the world as his adjusted to the low level lighting. He could tell he was naked as the wind blew around his bare body, his arms and legs tied tightly so he could barely move his toes and fingers. To make matters worse for him, standing in the only source of light right before him was his own daughter he adopted twenty seven years ago.

"I do not wonder," Jebb replied confidently. "I only inquire why you are going to give me your death kiss. Did I not deserve something greater? You know I am like you, you know I won't regret what I do." He eyed her carefully. "You know I will not scream the way you want me to." Cassandra only smiled in response. Her hips were heavily bandaged and he could see the table he knocked over set up with her utensils of death, and next to them his own set of cutlery.

"Father," Cassandra whispered to him. "My dark companion and I have realized you can regret, you have a choice in life you want to change." A dark shadow appeared behind Cassandra in the shape of a tall man, his eyes bore right into Jebb's soul and he could hear his mind filled with laughter. The unmistakable feeling of Mastiff, his own Dark Passenger, was gone. Not the fleeting gone, but dead gone.

"And what would that be?" He said inquisitively. Cassandra made a motion to go for a knife, but turned and glared at him.

"Me." She said defiantly. "You failed in creating me to be your chosen wine. I am your biggest failure." Jebb nodded as Cassandra went into the shadows returning with a sharp six inch dagger with a Dehlar handle. One of his own knives he used to start the festivities of carving into human flesh.

"Can you do it?" Jebb said, but he could feel the dark companion of Cassandra whisk in the shadows and return behind him, chuckling in his ear as he whispered to Jebb sweet dark incantations of death. Jebb's body began to tremble in fear and he cried out as Cassandra cut his upper arm. "O-O-okay," Jebb said losing all his confidence. "Cassandra, please do not harm daddy. I love you and imagine us being together honey!" his voice cracked as the stress kicked in. Cassandra's dark companion laughed like a hyena and it echoed deep inside his brain.

"You are begging me for mercy, a monster like you?" Cassandra felt her ire rise. "For once I wasn't looking for regret, for once I wanted to just hear...agony. Simple, agony, but you beg, you regret you are poisoning this moment!" Cassandra bellowed at him tossing the dagger to the side. "God I can't do it, for all I wish to inside me I just can't do it!" She seethed. Jebb smiled as he watched her.

"It's okay, darling." He whispered. "Together we can just start over, now we both have nothing to hide. Let's just leave this place behind us, this ugly mess. Imagine what else I can teach you!" Jebb cried to her.

Cassandra went back to the table, and returned with her fillet knife in hand. She juggled it in her hand, as if weighing the options before her as she looked deep into her father's eyes. Then with a deep breath she took her knife and held it tightly before she ran it through the heart of her father. She leaned into him, a tear falling onto his chest. "I hate you so much, you fucking bastard." She cried as her eyes couldn't stop the flow of salty tears. "I have aspired all my life to not be a human. To devoid myself of all human emotions. And you, you sick fucking monster. You come back in for one god damned night and ruin it. You make me feel fear, love, loathing, hatred, anger, and worst of all you maggot. You made me regret killing you, but I don't have a choice. Anyone with the power to make me feel like a human is too dangerous. That leads to mistakes." She pulled away from him as she looked into his eyes. And she could see deep inside them the regret he had. "Rot in Haidia, Father." Cassandra whispered.

Jebb Remi looked at her for as long as he could before his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and then with a last gasp for air, he died.

[Requiem of Insanity]

Deep down a darkened cellar in the silent corners of the room away from the light of the moon and central table with the dead body on it laid a ruin wreck on the floor curled tightly into a ball of anger, sorrow, and frustration. This wreck was once a proud woman, a human devoid of humane thoughts. A soulless automaton that followed the whims of her dark companion, her desires, her ambitions, her love. Cassandra Remi was once a woman who killed for fun, for a hobby that listened to the whims of her darkest secrets.

A shell was now in her place, a fragile, broken egg that leaked out with emotions unfamiliar and cold. She moved back in forth in place, rocking herself to keep all her self from completely falling apart. On the outskirts of her mind was her dark companion. He was calling to her, hiding in the light of the moon and promising sweet nothings if she would return to him. But she was conflicted. Her father, her mentor was dead on that table near her, and she was terrified.

Blood pooled around her bandages, and she knew she needed medical attention or she would bleed out in time. Her fingers were already starting to become numb. Her dark lover knew this, and called to her, but she wouldn't go to him. For the first time she was fully aware of her own self, and in this moment she realized the monster she really was.

All her life, Cassandra figured she was devoid of human emotions, and that the only joy she could feel was in the embrace of her dark companion. But she was far from the truth of it. She never knew she was just a shell that blindly followed the whims of her darkest desires. It all impacted her once and the deaths of everyone she had killed weighed down her mind like a giant hundred ton weight. Her shoulders buckled at the weight of it all and her mind was a few moments away from giving into complete insanity. She quivered her lower lip as the tears continued to fall from her eyes. Her hands shook violently as if she was freezing cold, and her teeth began to chatter uncontrollably.

Her mind was rationalizing the events as rapidly as she could, but the deaths, all the deaths were so meaningless. Each minute spent rationalizing the dead was another step closer to the brink of a complete breakdown. Her Dark Companion knew deep down that if Cassandra couldn't get to grips with herself, she would be lost to him forever.

It was in the darkest hour of the night that a door creaked open up the stairs. Cassandra's Dark Lover moved silently up the stairs to see who was invading, prepared to protect Cassandra from any harm. To his own amusement however it was Kane, the police officer from the investigation. His outfit was in a sneaking suit similar to Cassandra's, and his mannerisms of movement were not very police like at all. He sneaked around the house, opening drawers and pocketing coins and jewels and necklaces and rings. As he moved silently around he made his way down the cellar stairs before he stopped instantly. His eyes began to grow wide in fear, but morbid curiosity took over his better judgment and Kane went down the stairs. He went over to the table with the cutlery and nearly vomited when he saw the gaping wound of the dead man on the table. The blood poured still and he moved away into the table until he tripped over something upon the floor deep in the shadows. His voice gave off a high pitched squeal of terror as he turned around and tripped upon his own feet. His face hit hard onto the lap of something soft and he startled. To his alarm so did what he fell upon.

Cassandra shook her head from her daze and saw Kane looking up into her hazel eyes. his sneak suit was covered in blood and her hand instinctively reached out to him. "Are you okay?" She whispered. Kane responded by shaking his head no and began to move away from Cassandra. "Kane, look at me." Cassandra said sternly. "I need you to calm down and look at me." Kane didn't bother to listen as he got up preparing to run away. Cassandra got up, and she felt a twinge of life spark down her spine. A curious feeling of power and excitement washed over her and she looked to her dark companion who was looking more clear to her by the moment. He grinned and nodded to her, and she smiled softly, hearing his sweet nothings all the way across the room. As she closed her eyes she could feel her dark ambitions begin to grow, and she flexed her new power out, opening her eyes and producing a grin that not even a devil could match.

Kane was on the stairs, unable to move and paralyzed as if in fear. A firm, gentle touch from her dark lover allowed her to move swiftly over to Kane, but as she took her first step Kane suddenly stumbled forward scampering to get up. These powers were still new to her, and she was willing to take the time to test them, but for now she had one thing to take care of.

Her feet moved swiftly and she fell upon Kane within moments locking him in the headlock. Without much effort Kane began to softly pass out before his squeamish antics were deadened to a halt. With a sick look on her face she looked back to her lover. With a smile that only a lover could produce she spoke to him in a very authoritative tone, her mind clear and devoid of any other thoughts.

"I was lost for a bit my love, but now I remember who I am."

[Requiem of Insanity]

"You are probably wondering why you are here." Came the sweet seductive honey tone from the shadows behind Kane as he slowly blinked into focus. His head swam with pain and confusion as he started to move his arms, but realized he was chained up. Quickly he began to scream to help but his voice was silenced when a dark presence chuckled behind his left ear. "You are very nosy you know." the voice teased as the sound of metal scraping against metal filled the room. Kane began to pray for some help as he whimpered in fear.

"Wh-wh-wh-why are you doing this to me?" Kane cried out as tears fell from his face. His mouth opened wide in torment, his tone unable to produce the pitch he was trying to scream as his left side felt on fire, a deadly blade cutting into his flesh like a piece of warm butter. He looked over and saw a slender hand dabble in the blood and retreat into the shadows. As he tried to find whoever was torturing him he felt the blade graze his neck like a succulent kiss from a tender lover, but instead of lips it was a kiss from the blade of a different blade, sawing into his skin and making tiny holes where blood pooled out in little circles. He cried out in pain and confusion as he turned his head over to the right and met eyes with the woman he simply knew as Jezebel.

"What are you doing? Why are you cutting me up?" Jezebel laughed sweetly as she ran a finger down the side of his face and leaned in to whisper.

"I'm the dark mistress of torment, the terror of Emprea who's been on a killing spree. I killed all those people you have been studying about from outside this area, and the one who killed the people inside this area. I'm also known as the Fallien desert viper, The Black Archipelago Assassin, and I've also been called a bitch once or twice." She smirked as she pulled out from the proximity taking a blade and mounting on top of him. He didn't realize his body was naked until just now and his body trembled at her body touching his.

"Are you going to kill me, Jezebel?" He asked full of trembling fear. His tone was squeaky and his body ached but he felt oddly aroused by her seductive movements as Jezebel mounted him in a very sexual way. She leaned into him again, pressing her entire body on him as she smiled to him, even kissing him on the lips before pulling back.

"My poor deluded idiot." She said sweetly. "Kane my name is Cassandra Remi. I'm a serial killer and I love to torture my victims. I enjoy the thrill of killing people with my utensils of death, and I crave for the loving embrace of a dark companion deep inside me." Kane trembled as she ran the hilt of the blade down his chest before she curved the blade and cut him in the chest sweetly, a shallow cut in the form of a child's heart sketch right in the center of his body.

Kane's body twinged in pain, but his heart raced as he looked into her eyes. He trembled as her hand gripped the back of his hair pulling it back tightly as she licked his chest moaning sexually. "Oh Kane, my poor idiot," She said looking deep into his eyes. "I am not going to kill you, I'm going to let you live, but I need to get something out of my system. I need to cut and carve and maim but I won't kill you. I need you to help me escape this place. Will you do that for me?" She asked tilting her head to the side like a lover.

Kane's mind snapped like a twig as she asked, seeing his blood dribble from her lower lip excited him in a way he didn't know existed. Something carnal deep inside him began to stir as a dark presence placed a firm, reassuring hand on his shoulder. He knew at that one moment in life he had two options. He could die now, a life unfulfilled and be done with ambitions un-quenched.

His mind raced with thoughts at the other prospect. He could give into this sick perverted form on excitement, realizing he would damn himself forever. He would never be the same again and his soul would be broken to the will of this psychotic woman who looked at him. Every inch of his fiber told him to run from that woman, die and be free, but he couldn't resist the siren call she was emitting. His mouth quivered for a long while, and she waited patiently for his answer, not pressuring him or taunting him with more sexual teases.

"I," He said softly. "I want you to promise me something," Kane said weakly. "One promise and I'll break every last rational thought and bend to your whim forever." Cassandra looked at him with a careful nod allowing him to continue. "I want you to cut me for a bit more before you release me." Cassandra gave off a smile as if she was just proposed to, tears streaming her face.

"Oh Kane! Of course I will, we have hours before you need to clean up!" Cassandra said with wild abandonment. She jumped off him running over to her table grabbing all her knives and bringing them forward. She ripped out the potato peeler and moved over to the side where she cut him and began to shave off his skin in long, painful streams. He bellowed in agony but he couldn't help but feel excitement. A dark chuckle brooded deep inside him and joined with that of the dark shadow behind Cassandra.

As Cassandra finished her first long drag down his side with the potato peeler he felt a snap inside his mind, and the entire world became fuzzy. Inside his own mind he could see himself screaming, before a dark preadator jumped him, swalloing him whole.

[Requiem of Insanity]

The morning sun rose as the towns people of the Emprean town gathered in the streets to conduct business as usual. Merchants talked about the strange occurrence of the red moon as they sold their wears. It took a long time, nearly half way through the day, before a scream that pierced the normal droll of the city was penetrated the sky and the local militia ran to find a small child pointing into a house. The door was hung open and inside was blood trailing all over the ground. The police followed the trail down a cellar, and upon the crooked operating table was two bodies, tied together naked and mutilated. The woman was later to be discovered as Olivia Harma, the other body nobody could identify.

By that time however Cassandra and her Dark desires had left the town, a spring in her step as she watched the red moon lower behind the mountains. She bid her secret love away as her attentions were being distracted by her own Dark Companion, whispering dark sweet nothings to her. As she walked she could feel the wind howl as the winter sun brought no warmth. She bundled up extra tight in her clothes as she walked making sure to fix her head wrap so that her head and ears wouldn't frost over. As her feet led her ever closer towards the forest her smile faded a bit to annoyance as she found two guardsmen approaching her from the bridge across the way. Instinctively she reached out for her throwing knives, but her dark lover placed a firm hand on her shoulder and she released the handles.

"Where be you going, traveler?" the taller of the two said sternly. He wore light armor and carried a short sword at his side. His partner was wearing heavier armor and carried a spear with him. Both their eyes scanned the horizon before the two groups met.

"I'm off to the port to head out for adventure." Cassandra said passionately. She smiled to both of them as she rubbed her shoulders for warmth. Her arms felt the gentle embrace of her dark lover as she felt his warmth add to hers.

"There have been a series of murders in the surrounding area, we are investigating everyone who comes through by orders of Viola Conda." Cassandra shrugged and looked each in the eye.

"And who does she think she is, the queen of the universe?" Cassandra replied sighing deeply. "I do have a boat to catch today and I need to get a move on it." The guards both squared their shoulders as they deepened their tones.

"Viola Conda is acting Chief Counselor of the Emprean Army, and her words are as good as law. By those orders you will show us your bag and its contents." Cassandra looked at both before shrugging as she took her sack and dumped it before her.

"Go ahead boys, waste my time." She sassed as she began to flick imaginary dirt under her nails. The guard with the spear lowered the weapon pointing it at Cassandra, who looked at him with wide eyes of terror. "What the hell are you pointing that at me for?" The guard merely gruffed his response.

"In Emprea we are trained to be prepared for anything. So just be silent and let us work. You'll leave faster that way. Besides," the guard trailed off. The taller soldier began to open the sack.

"If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear." Cassandra just humphed in anger as she pouted bringing her arms to cross each other against her chest. The soldier began to shuffle things around before he stopped upon something. "Why hello there." He said smartly lifting a hair comb up and out of the sack. "Long black hair, non curled. Yep, matches the description of the hair."

"You have got to be shitting me." Cassandra said full of annoyance. "I bought that from a merchant for two gold coins! He said some lady sold it to him." Cassandra explained in a frustrated tone. The soldiers looked to each other and nodded before the short one spoke with sarcastic excitement.

"Well, than why don't you show us what your hair color is." Cassandra's blood froze as her dark companion gripped her shoulders tightly, rubbing them softly. Cassandra looked at each with a death glare before she slowly moved her hands up to her shawl. With careful motions she found the pin that held it in place and pulled it out.

"Is that a potato peeler?" the taller asked in confusion.

"Ya, it works, is that a problem?" Cassandra said heatedly. They both just shrugged as she went back to removing her hair shawl. With careful motions she unraveled it before she let the shawl drop to the ground.

Both soldiers looked at Cassandra with wide open eyes. They turned to each other, grinned deeply, and then turned back to her.

"I think you'll need to come with us." the taller said. "for uh...uh..."

"Drop it man, it's not her." The shorter said laughing a bit. "Forgive us mam, just doing our duty. You can go along your way." Cassandra let the blond hair fall to her shoulders as she used her fingers to drag them out. Her fingers danced along the hair color for a brief moment as she scooped it all up in one hand and tying it off into a ponytail.

"Please forgive me mam, just haven't seen anything so beautiful in such a long time." The taller said handing her the sack. She reached down and grabbed the shawl stuffing it into her bag before she walked away from them both in a hurry. As she was across the bridge she turned a corner down the road and went a few feet into the woods where the tree's were bigger and more in surplus.

"I'm right here, my mistress." Came a dark obedient voice from behind Cassandra. She turned on her heel and gave off a cocky smile as she looked at Kane with her hazel eyes. Kane kept his head low as he walked forward, holding a small rolled up satchel in his hand.

"You brought all of them?" Cassandra said reaching out for the satchel. Kane nodded as he handed them over to her. "Good work, Kane." She said to him as if he were a pet.

"Did they suspect you?" Kane asked as he stood stoically next to her.

"Of course Kane, they always will. I exude a natural air of morbid curiosity. Just being in my presence is a bit unsettling. But a smile here," she said seductively smiling at Kane. "A little twist of my body there..." She curved her body like an erotic dancer would closer to Kane and twisted her neck so she was hovering by his ear. She breathed there for a moment before she whispered in a low tone to Kane, "And I can snap their suspicions like a twig..." She blew gently into his ear and Kane made a nervous jolt as he backed away from her. Cassandra laughed as he began to regain his composure.

"Stop that," He said defeated. "I...I..." Cassandra moved closer to him.

"Does my touch scare you, Kane?" she asked lifting her hand and rubbing it up the side she mutilated with her utensils. Kane quivered for a moment before he looked to his feet in shame. A solitary tear dropped from his face, a tear of his sanity dripping out from his body as Cassandra saw his own darkness begin to grow.

Cassandra's Dark Companion gripped her tightly around her shoulder and she moved away from Kane, letting his weakness pour from him.

"Come Kane, we have work to do. I heard of this wonderful place where I may find a new plaything. I'll need you to help me get in." Kane nodded his reply as he trotted to catch up to Cassandra.

"Yes Mistress, whatever you want." Cassandra smiled as she walked forward.

[Christoph]

General notes: I apologize for the delay. All that irritating real-life nonsense came up. As far as the thread goes, it was pretty good. I made it through reading it in just one sitting, which is a plus. You’ve got some potential here. The judgment itself is pretty criticism-intensive, but don’t let that convince you that I thought your thread sucked. I just prefer to focus on what could be more easily improved. Naturally, any and all questions can be taken to me over AIM or PM.

Continuity: 6

There were a lot of troubles with the beginning. Now, I’m not rigid in my thinking to state that everything must be explained at the beginning, but I didn’t even get enough to be interested in finding out what was really going on or why it was significant. Who were Cassandra and who/what is her companion? Where were they and what were they doing there? There are all fundamentals that should have been given more attention in the beginning of the story. The entire first post only gave me faint impressions of what was happening. On a positive note, the ending was done far better than the beginning.

Pacing: 7

This was actually pretty decent. While things were a bit confusing and unclear, the plot got moving pretty quickly and, when I ignored the fact that I didn’t know what was going on, the pacing kept me reasonably interested for the most part.

Setting: 6

This was decent. Very little of the confusion I experienced came from a lack of knowledge of the environment. You painted a pretty good picture and helped make me feel as though I was actually there. It wasn’t great, but you’re definitely headed in the right direction. I liked the common theme with going back to that restaurant.

Persona: 6

You made an effort to show me Cassandra’s inner workings, but it felt like you were beating the reader with a metaphorical personality brick instead of efficiently and subtly portraying her personality. You did at times, but too often to felt forced, and that you merely told me instead of showed me what she was feeling. Furthermore, Kane didn’t seem like a real character to me. Why would he help out a perfect stranger so willingly? You didn’t adequately explain it. As the story progressed, the characters got a little more fleshed out, but I almost had to ignore the earlier parts to appreciate it. On the whole, I did like the characters, but I think I would have liked them much more if they were developed in a more engaging manner.

Dialogue: 5

The conversation between Cassandra and the boy working at the crime scene seemed very artificial. That’s understandable to an extent, given that Cassandra was putting on an act, but the boy’s responses also seemed very artificial and it didn’t make him seem like an authentically real person. On the whole, the dialogue didn’t seem very fresh or engaging, unfortunately.

Action: 6

Some of the action was described pretty well, some of it wasn’t. Sometimes you would describe minor actions extraneously, which hurt the pacing. As I pointed out in Persona, you also had a tendency to tell and not show the emotions of your character.

Technique: 5

Your style was pretty decent for the most part. I can tell that you were trying to use advance techniques, though I got the impression that you were trying to hard from time to time, such as in the very first paragraph. In line with the “trying to hard” point, your writing suffered from adjective overload at times. Also, some of your metaphors were, for lack of a better word, inefficient. If a metaphor, simile, or any other usage of figurative language requires substantial additional explanation, then it probably wasn’t the right one to use for the situation. If you would like some examples, feel free to PM me or hit me up over AIM.

Also, I felt that your style got a little… clunky at times and didn’t describe things in as an efficient, clear, or fluid manner as you’re probably capable of. It got to be a bit of a chore to read at times. Try reading aloud, not only the way you imagine it, but how you think a reader might speak it in his head. Also, try to make sure that the sentences follow each other logically in an inferentially linked pattern, unless you have a stylistic reason to do otherwise. Another piece of advice I’ll give is to avoid overusing “was” as the primary working verb in your sentences. Sometimes, ‘was’ serves as the most effective verb, but more often than not, a stronger and more specific verb could be used. When ‘was’ gets overused, it comes off to the reader that the author couldn’t think of the write words to use. Again, feel free to contact me if you’d like me to give a couple specific examples.

Mechanics: 7

Seemed pretty sound for the most part, save for some run-ons and other minor issues, such as using “to” instead of “too.” Keep up the good work, and just run a finer comb through in the future and you’ll be doing great with this category. I touched on the ‘was’ issue a little bit in a different context with Technique. In this case, you tended to use ‘was’ when ‘had been’ would have been grammatically correct given the tense.

Clarity: 6

Many of the issues with clarity spawned from issues with other categories. I got the basic gist of what was going on, but things were very murky plot-wise. Your descriptions were decent in terms of clarity for the most part, but from time to time, I still needed to go back and reread parts.

Wildcard: 6

It was a decent quest. If the entire thing were written as well as the last couple of posts, this would have scored considerably higher. It was a good effort, though.


Total: 60


Requiem of Insanity receives 1,540 EXP, her new BDSM slave toy, and a very classy black dominatrix outfit that she found in that Teriyaki place. =p

[Taskmienster]

Exp and GP added