((sometimes, the voices in your head won't let you sleep. Hopefully sleeplessness equals good writing.))
Chapter Nine: A' Rhyu
"So.. ye're wantin' ta giv' us a three album contract with yer company, wit' full creative control?" Jhelian repeated, and Alexander nodded solemnly.
"I feel that your band has great potential," he replied, his voice calm as always when conducting negotiations, meeting her dark eyes squarely. Beside her, Elizabeth fidgeted slightly, and Jhelian looked her way as if listening.
"I'm sorry... we'll be needin' some time ta think this over, discuss it with the rest of the cousins," Jhelian told him bluntly. "Righ' now, t'is time we were on stage. If ye'll excuse us, then?"
Though phrased as a question, both she and Elizabeth got up and started towards the door. Alexander rose, one hand going out to take Jhelian's arm momentarily. "Perhaps afterwards, we can discuss this more ... say over dinner?" A flicker in the corner of his eye caught his attention, as if something in the room had moved and he was reminded that he never did see the one called Shadrick leave.
Jhelian politely took his hand, as if she'd meant to shake it all along. "P'haps after th' show, we'll discuss it." she stated flatly, then exited the room with her cousin. Alexander turned away, his grey eyes once again searching the seemingly empty room. Another flicker, and he half-turned towards the door, barely spotting something like a shadow of a person leaving. He forced down the urge to follow, instead walking over to look into the mirror. "Am I alone now?"
The answer knocked him to the floor as Otamio surged out of the back of his mind with unusual strength. Alexander's body dropped to his knees, his fists to his temples as the battle for control began.
***
Shadrick ghosted up on to the stage behind Jhelian and Elizabeth, briefly more shadow than man. "There's something about him I just don't trust..." he stated as he picked up his bass.
"Even in the deepest night, there are bright stars shining," Elizabeth said, as if that answered the question. "SeanEric is going to be late... we need to start without him."
Shadrick didn't ask how Elizabeth knew. "Fine... Rock'n'roll all night, then what?"
"Then Jhelian sings "A' Rhyu"... the last part in English." Elizabeth answered, and then the lights came up.
***
Ryu moved through the crowded second floor of the club, his eyes searching the red-lit room for a glimpse of Zand's silver hair. Silently Ryou followed behind, himself looking towards the stage for signs of Jhelian or one of her cousins. There was movement up there in the darkness, and the crowd noise grew with anticipation.
"It can't be..." Ryu muttered, spotting a very familiar form near the back, a man with dark hair and sharp features talking softly to a young Asian woman. Even in the club lights, Ryu knew that face, although twenty years had passed. He strode through the last of the crowd, walking up behind the man. "Tsck... what would Tev say seeing you flirting like that."
"She'd say yer lookin' fer the wrong lecherous old man," the young man replied, turning around to face Ryu. "I'm SeanEric, so who th' bloody hell are you." Ryu was momentarily stunned by the resemblance, only the bright green eyes proved that this was truly not Blackthorne.
Ryou took the opportunity to speak first. "SeanEric Tahalshia? .. Hi... I'm Ryou Hotoro, and this is my father Ryu." he said over the background noise. "Umm... I don't guess you remember me, do you."
"Ryou...?" SeanEric's eyes widened, looking from one to the other. "Uncle Ryu? Damn... I thou' we'd ne'er see ye 'gain! Does Mum know you're here?" Both Hotoros winced, remembering Teamhair's reaction. "Oh... I guess tha's why Mum's been tryin' ta ring me, now inna it." SeanEric answered his own question. "I'm goin' ta get an earful, aren't I then."
Ryu rolled his eyes as SeanEric and Ryou introduced themselves, and chanced to glance at the young girl standing silently with them. Young, asian features, looking a little pale ... And Ryu's eyes grew wide as he saw the silver kanji necklace. "Zand!" he snarled, grapping the girl by her arms. "Who are you. Where is your boss. What does he want with Jhelian." he demanded of her, even as the lights on the stage came up and the music started.
You show 'em every thing you got
Baby baby that's quite a lot!
You drive us wild, we'll drive you crazzzy...
***
Leena had just been getting over the shock of seeing Alexander, when the Hotoros walked over. As they introduced themselves, Leena felt herself paling. Ryu. Ryou. But.. Hotoro wasn't the name that her mother Jasmina had gave them. Then again, a part of Leena's mind pointed out, her mother had said she didn't know where Alexander could be found. Jasmina said she held all of Zand's interests in trust for Leena herself, but Alexander said different. Why would her mother lie to her?
She stared at the two men, almost copies of each other but for their ages. Could this be her father, her brother? What should she do? Did they really think her dead, like her mother claimed? Where did the lies end, and the truth begin?
She gasped when Ryu grabbed her roughly, snarling questions in her face. She heard SeanEric say something in a language she didn't understand, and the music seemed to fade, as if coming from a long way off. The younger man... Ryou. Her brother Ryou ... was trying to get his father... their father... to let her go. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't speak, it was terrifying....
And the birthmark on Ryou's arm shone beneath the wrappings, drawing all eyes to it. The four of them watched as a dragon of pale golden light snaked its way out from under the white cloth, crawling onto Ryu's arm. Leena moaned, for the golden dragon nudged the black dragon tattoo upon Ryu's arm. It too rose up, bloodlessly ripping free from the skin and scuttered down Ryu's hand onto Leena's arm.
Leena had no breath to scream. She could feel the black dragon as it looped around her arm, followed by the golden dragon as it rose up to her shoulder. Like pins and needles they crept under her shirt, tracing their way down her back, across her stomach, over her breast, then out and down her right arm, leaving a pale track of silver behind them. She was shaking as the black dragon crawled onto Ryu's left arm, snaking its way under his clothing, rippling the fabric as it made its way back to whence it had came, the head once again slipping under the skin of his arm. The gold dragon followed, sliding across from Ryu to Ryou before again vanishing under the wrappings covering Ryou's right arm.
That left only the silver tracings on Leena, seeming to float over her arms for a long moment before rippling like a snake, settling down onto her skin. A brief flash outlined a dragon, coiling around her right arm, then it faded away into nothingness. Leena opened her mouth to scream ...
... and found herself being kissed. Easy, darlin'... easy. T'is ok... relax. I'm here... I'll protect you... SeanEric's voice whispered in her mind even as she realized that was who was kissing her. Relax... t'is over... trust me, m'luv... I'll keep ye safe. the voice promised, even as his arms gently rubbed her back, easing her tensed muscles. When he broke the kiss, she no longer felt like screaming, nor like fainting. She simply leaned into his strength and let him hold her, not even questioning how he could have spoken aloud.
"What was that...." Ryou asked, awe and fear in his voice. He was still holding Ryu's arm and shoulder where he'd tried to pull his father away.
Ryu wrenched himself free, turning away, fists clenched, snarling nearly untranslatable Japanese, when the music on stage changed. From hard-driving, heart-pumping music, it was now soft, slow, and plantive. In that minor key that Irish ballads were known for, a woman's voice rose in pure alto, the words liquid and rich.
Nì iarrfainn aon sprè lèi, earradh nò èadach
Capaill nò caeirigh, cè gur doiligh dom a rà
Ryu froze, his eyes slowly rising to look at the singer. "... I know this song..." he whispered, staring at the red-haired beauty on the stage, transported back twenty-five years to another stage, another town. "... Teavar...." One step, two steps, moving slowly towards the stage, seeing the woman of his past standing before him in the lights as the mournful song played out.
SeanEric held Leena close, stroking her hair. "M' mum wrote it fer him," he said softly for Leena and Ryou's sake as the voice switched to English. "Let 'em hear it..."
Oh Rhyu, my love, my friend,
How I wish we'd more time to spend
Ere the morning birds will call
An' bring th' night unto an end.
But with Dawn, I'll tell ye go
Tho' me heart be full o' woe
As you leave, the tears will fall
An' I bid m' love farewell.....
As the song ended, a mocking voice came from the hallway behind them. "Very touching. The image of her mother, in body and voice. Wouldn't you agree, Ryu?"
The others whirled to see who spoke, but Ryu alone spoke, his eyes still on Jhelian. "I kept Teavar safe from you, Otamio. What makes you think I'd not protect my daughter as well." Slowly he turned, facing the silver-haired demon in the hallway. "I beat you before, demon... you should have stayed dead."
Revelations: Cycle's End
Moderator: LadyTevar
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
Chapter Ten: Broken
~I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away
I keep your photograph and I know it serves me well
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain~
On the stage, Shadrick stepped up to the microphone stand as Elizabeth once again led them into a song they normally sang later in the set. Even as his hands played the bass line, before he sang the first word, his mind was reaching out to the rest of the Tahalshia cousins to ask the important question. "Where is SeanEric?"
"Keep singing ...," Jhelian silently told him. "T'isna th' first time he's been playin' th' lover an' showin' up late."
Elizabeth spoke silently into the group's mind. "There is ... something here. Something dark. Something dangerous. I ... I don't like it." The other Tahalshians went quiet, continuing to play as they digested that news. Elizabeth had the ability to pick up anything that wasn't quite human, a useful ability in the supernatural-rich Louisana bayous. Very few things scared her. When they did, it was time to make a tactical retreat and notify the adults.
~'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away ...
You've gone away, you don't feel me, anymore... ~
Jhelian joined in on the chorus, making the song a mournful duet between the two of them before they got an answer from SeanEric. "Umm... the short version. Rem'ber Mum talkin' 'bout Uncle Ryu fightin' a demon back b'fore Jhelian was born? I dinna think he finished the job." SeanEric was almost overwhelmed by all five relatives invading his mind with simultanious questions. "EASY! EASY! Jus' find a way ta clear th' club fast. There's goin' ta be a fight."
***
Unaware of the mental conversations hovering in the air, Otamio stalked forward, perfectly comfortable inside Alexander's body. "You knew I would return, Ryu." he said conversationally. "Why else did you go into hiding with your son?" His grey eyes looked to Ryou, reflecting the club's reddish lights, making them seem to shine in the dim lighting. "You've grown quite a bit since I've seen you last, Ryou," Otamio said mockingly, before his gaze slid to Leena and SeanEric, standing behind Ryu. "Found your twin yet?"
"Bastard!" Ryu snarled, surging forward with a flurry of strikes, nearly faster than the eye could see.
"Is that the best you can do, my old friend?" Otamio smirked, dancing backwards as he dodged or blocked each blow with contemptious ease. "Pitiful." He kicked low, aiming for Ryu's bad leg, forcing Ryu backwards and putting distance between them again. "If this is how you've taught your son. my battle is already won"
"Are you so sure of that?" Ryou stated, stepping forward to stand beside his father. "The way I see it, it's two against on... hey!" his boast was interrupted by Ryu shoving him backwards, protectively stepping in front of him.
"This is my fight," Ryu snarled, not sparing Ryou a glance as he focused on Otamio, holding his son back with one hand. "You were supposed to kill me as well, Otamio, or did you forget? Until I'm dead, the cycle's not over for us."
SeanEric pulled Leena behind him, not noticing her sudden paleness as Otamio's dig struck home, concerned only with making sure she wasn't injured. "Empty the Club! EMPTY IT" he mind-shouted to the cousins... and was shocked as every fire alarm in the club went off in unison and the sprinklers started spraying water from the ceiling over the crowd. By some quirk, it was not hitting the stage area, where an ominious shadowy black smoke seemed to be creeping from the side closest to him, blocking the hallway and forcing the crowd to stampede towards the stairway down.
Otamio recovered the quickest, taking advantage of the sudden chaos to retreat further down the hallway towards the club's other exit. "Perhaps you're right, Ryu... but not here. Not now." he answered, reaching the fire door. "Perhaps a visit to old haunts instead...."
Ryou stared at his father as the elder Hotoro watched Otamio retreat. "What are you doing? Why are you letting him get away?"
"Too many people." SeanEric answered the question for him, all but forgotten by the Hotoros in the midst of the fight. "We hit the alarm, tryin' ta empty the club, but there's still too many people for someone like him"
"He's right." Ryu answered, turning to look at them both. "Stay here. I'm going after him."
Ryou shook his head, stepping forward to follow. "Not alone you're not. I'm going with y-Huuuuh!" Once again, the protest was cut off, this time by Ryu's precision blow to the solar plexius, sending his son to the floor.
"I'm going. Alone." Ryu repeated, his dark eyes going from Ryou's prone form to SeanEric and Leena. "Warn Jhelian and Tevar that Otamio's back. Make sure they're protected." Then he turned and went for the stairs, limping slightly as he ran.
"He won't win," came a sad voice from behind them, as Elizabeth walked out of the rapidly fading black shadow-smoke. She walked past SeanEric and Leena to kneel beside Ryou. "He wants to protect his children... but it's no longer his fight." Leena broke free of SeanEric and ran for the firedoor, ignoring SeanEric's protest. "Let her go. She has to witness this." Elizabeth said as she helped Ryou to sit up. "Hello, Ryou. I'm Elizabeth. Do you remember playing with me?"
***
Leena hit the alleyway, looking around wildly for sign of either Alexander or Ryu. Her mind was racing in circles, trying to understand what she had witnessed. Alexander Zand. Ryu Hotoro. Otamio, the demon. Something made her turn away from the front of the club, running instead to the other end. She paused, frantically searching for where the two might have gone from here. Raised voices across the street made her head that way, passing by a man who was cursing as he rose to his feet. She ducked down than alleyway, ignoring the cursing that rose behind her, still trying to connect the threads inside her head.
Who was speaking inside the greenroom... Otamio or Alexander? Were they the same? Were they different? I have to find out. I have to find them! She ran out the other side of the alley, once again pausing to look frantically around for where the two could have ran so quickly. This time, a car alarm led her the right direction.
In the near-empty parking lot, she could see them. Ryu was attacking ferociously, seemingly forcing Otamio on the defensive, making him dodge and retreat, preventing him from escaping. Leena closed in, her dark eyes wide as she tried to follow their movements, so much like a ballet as the older and younger man danced around each other. She stopped at the edge of the parking lot, unable to get closer, unable to interfere.
Otamio dodged a kick, backing further away from his opponent. He was barely winded, yet Ryu was slowing down as his age and wounds took their toll. "Pathetic, Hotoro. Arranging your parents' death was harder than this." the demon taunted, "You're slowing down ... is your leg hurting, Ryu?" Otamio feigned a kick towards it, changing direction for a headstrike that Ryu easily blocked before retalitating silently, not wasting his breath with taunts of his own. One blow got through, knocking Otamio backwards into a car with enough force to dent the side deeply.
As Ryu closed the distance, Otamio rolled over the car, snarling. Alexander was stirring. He had to end this quickly, before Alexander was awake enough to force another battle for control. As Ryu leapt to the top of the car, again favoring his right leg, Otamio saw his chance. He rushed forward as Ryu dismounted, sweeping low to connect a hard kick to Ryu's good leg, blowing out the kneecap. Off-balance, Ryu tried to compensate, but the weaker bad leg also failed him. Otamio let him fall to the ground and walked around him smugly. "Time to end this, Hotoro." he said, his hand grabbing the metal sign pole marking handicapped parking. With a kick to the base, he twisted the pole free, twirling it in his hands.
Leena watched a Ryu struggled to his feet, trying to balance on his bad leg. "No... oh no..." she whispered, unable to look away as Otamio stabbed Ryu with the broken end of the sign, hoisting him up into the air with inhuman strength. "NOOOOOOOOO!"
Otamio's head jerked in her direction, and his luminous grey eyes met hers for a long moment. Something flickered inside them, and he contemptiously dropped the pole with Ryu still impaled upon it, walking in the opposite direction to fade into the night as Leena ran forward. She dropped to her knees beside Ryu, pulling him onto her lap to support him, unsure what to do, how to help. "Oh god.. oh god... hold still, I'll call for help," she stammered out, pawing frantically for the purse that she'd left behind and the cellphone within it.
"No ... Leena." Ryu whispered, his hand reaching out to take hers. "No ... use ...." She looked down into his dark eyes, feeling tears forming. ".... eyes ... like mine ...." he whispered, blinking his eyes to try to see her more clearly as blood foamed at the corners of his mouth. ".... but ... Callie's face .... Leena ...." he coughed, more blood trickling from his mouth as she tried to sooth him. "He tricked us ... didn't he ...." All Leena could do was nod, sobbing. "Tsck ... my ... fault. Should've ... known ...."
"Father ...." she wept, her head lowering, cradling him close, trying to ignore the blood seeping out of his chest, pooling around them both. "I'm sorry ... I'm sorry ...."
His bloody hand reached up, touching her face. ".... you're ... beautiful. Like ... your mother ...." His voice was getting weaker, losing the battle of shock and bloodloss. "... tell Ryou. Tell ... Jhel ... ee ... an ...." He spasmed, his body dying in her arms.
"FATHER!
~I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away
I keep your photograph and I know it serves me well
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain~
On the stage, Shadrick stepped up to the microphone stand as Elizabeth once again led them into a song they normally sang later in the set. Even as his hands played the bass line, before he sang the first word, his mind was reaching out to the rest of the Tahalshia cousins to ask the important question. "Where is SeanEric?"
"Keep singing ...," Jhelian silently told him. "T'isna th' first time he's been playin' th' lover an' showin' up late."
Elizabeth spoke silently into the group's mind. "There is ... something here. Something dark. Something dangerous. I ... I don't like it." The other Tahalshians went quiet, continuing to play as they digested that news. Elizabeth had the ability to pick up anything that wasn't quite human, a useful ability in the supernatural-rich Louisana bayous. Very few things scared her. When they did, it was time to make a tactical retreat and notify the adults.
~'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away ...
You've gone away, you don't feel me, anymore... ~
Jhelian joined in on the chorus, making the song a mournful duet between the two of them before they got an answer from SeanEric. "Umm... the short version. Rem'ber Mum talkin' 'bout Uncle Ryu fightin' a demon back b'fore Jhelian was born? I dinna think he finished the job." SeanEric was almost overwhelmed by all five relatives invading his mind with simultanious questions. "EASY! EASY! Jus' find a way ta clear th' club fast. There's goin' ta be a fight."
***
Unaware of the mental conversations hovering in the air, Otamio stalked forward, perfectly comfortable inside Alexander's body. "You knew I would return, Ryu." he said conversationally. "Why else did you go into hiding with your son?" His grey eyes looked to Ryou, reflecting the club's reddish lights, making them seem to shine in the dim lighting. "You've grown quite a bit since I've seen you last, Ryou," Otamio said mockingly, before his gaze slid to Leena and SeanEric, standing behind Ryu. "Found your twin yet?"
"Bastard!" Ryu snarled, surging forward with a flurry of strikes, nearly faster than the eye could see.
"Is that the best you can do, my old friend?" Otamio smirked, dancing backwards as he dodged or blocked each blow with contemptious ease. "Pitiful." He kicked low, aiming for Ryu's bad leg, forcing Ryu backwards and putting distance between them again. "If this is how you've taught your son. my battle is already won"
"Are you so sure of that?" Ryou stated, stepping forward to stand beside his father. "The way I see it, it's two against on... hey!" his boast was interrupted by Ryu shoving him backwards, protectively stepping in front of him.
"This is my fight," Ryu snarled, not sparing Ryou a glance as he focused on Otamio, holding his son back with one hand. "You were supposed to kill me as well, Otamio, or did you forget? Until I'm dead, the cycle's not over for us."
SeanEric pulled Leena behind him, not noticing her sudden paleness as Otamio's dig struck home, concerned only with making sure she wasn't injured. "Empty the Club! EMPTY IT" he mind-shouted to the cousins... and was shocked as every fire alarm in the club went off in unison and the sprinklers started spraying water from the ceiling over the crowd. By some quirk, it was not hitting the stage area, where an ominious shadowy black smoke seemed to be creeping from the side closest to him, blocking the hallway and forcing the crowd to stampede towards the stairway down.
Otamio recovered the quickest, taking advantage of the sudden chaos to retreat further down the hallway towards the club's other exit. "Perhaps you're right, Ryu... but not here. Not now." he answered, reaching the fire door. "Perhaps a visit to old haunts instead...."
Ryou stared at his father as the elder Hotoro watched Otamio retreat. "What are you doing? Why are you letting him get away?"
"Too many people." SeanEric answered the question for him, all but forgotten by the Hotoros in the midst of the fight. "We hit the alarm, tryin' ta empty the club, but there's still too many people for someone like him"
"He's right." Ryu answered, turning to look at them both. "Stay here. I'm going after him."
Ryou shook his head, stepping forward to follow. "Not alone you're not. I'm going with y-Huuuuh!" Once again, the protest was cut off, this time by Ryu's precision blow to the solar plexius, sending his son to the floor.
"I'm going. Alone." Ryu repeated, his dark eyes going from Ryou's prone form to SeanEric and Leena. "Warn Jhelian and Tevar that Otamio's back. Make sure they're protected." Then he turned and went for the stairs, limping slightly as he ran.
"He won't win," came a sad voice from behind them, as Elizabeth walked out of the rapidly fading black shadow-smoke. She walked past SeanEric and Leena to kneel beside Ryou. "He wants to protect his children... but it's no longer his fight." Leena broke free of SeanEric and ran for the firedoor, ignoring SeanEric's protest. "Let her go. She has to witness this." Elizabeth said as she helped Ryou to sit up. "Hello, Ryou. I'm Elizabeth. Do you remember playing with me?"
***
Leena hit the alleyway, looking around wildly for sign of either Alexander or Ryu. Her mind was racing in circles, trying to understand what she had witnessed. Alexander Zand. Ryu Hotoro. Otamio, the demon. Something made her turn away from the front of the club, running instead to the other end. She paused, frantically searching for where the two might have gone from here. Raised voices across the street made her head that way, passing by a man who was cursing as he rose to his feet. She ducked down than alleyway, ignoring the cursing that rose behind her, still trying to connect the threads inside her head.
Who was speaking inside the greenroom... Otamio or Alexander? Were they the same? Were they different? I have to find out. I have to find them! She ran out the other side of the alley, once again pausing to look frantically around for where the two could have ran so quickly. This time, a car alarm led her the right direction.
In the near-empty parking lot, she could see them. Ryu was attacking ferociously, seemingly forcing Otamio on the defensive, making him dodge and retreat, preventing him from escaping. Leena closed in, her dark eyes wide as she tried to follow their movements, so much like a ballet as the older and younger man danced around each other. She stopped at the edge of the parking lot, unable to get closer, unable to interfere.
Otamio dodged a kick, backing further away from his opponent. He was barely winded, yet Ryu was slowing down as his age and wounds took their toll. "Pathetic, Hotoro. Arranging your parents' death was harder than this." the demon taunted, "You're slowing down ... is your leg hurting, Ryu?" Otamio feigned a kick towards it, changing direction for a headstrike that Ryu easily blocked before retalitating silently, not wasting his breath with taunts of his own. One blow got through, knocking Otamio backwards into a car with enough force to dent the side deeply.
As Ryu closed the distance, Otamio rolled over the car, snarling. Alexander was stirring. He had to end this quickly, before Alexander was awake enough to force another battle for control. As Ryu leapt to the top of the car, again favoring his right leg, Otamio saw his chance. He rushed forward as Ryu dismounted, sweeping low to connect a hard kick to Ryu's good leg, blowing out the kneecap. Off-balance, Ryu tried to compensate, but the weaker bad leg also failed him. Otamio let him fall to the ground and walked around him smugly. "Time to end this, Hotoro." he said, his hand grabbing the metal sign pole marking handicapped parking. With a kick to the base, he twisted the pole free, twirling it in his hands.
Leena watched a Ryu struggled to his feet, trying to balance on his bad leg. "No... oh no..." she whispered, unable to look away as Otamio stabbed Ryu with the broken end of the sign, hoisting him up into the air with inhuman strength. "NOOOOOOOOO!"
Otamio's head jerked in her direction, and his luminous grey eyes met hers for a long moment. Something flickered inside them, and he contemptiously dropped the pole with Ryu still impaled upon it, walking in the opposite direction to fade into the night as Leena ran forward. She dropped to her knees beside Ryu, pulling him onto her lap to support him, unsure what to do, how to help. "Oh god.. oh god... hold still, I'll call for help," she stammered out, pawing frantically for the purse that she'd left behind and the cellphone within it.
"No ... Leena." Ryu whispered, his hand reaching out to take hers. "No ... use ...." She looked down into his dark eyes, feeling tears forming. ".... eyes ... like mine ...." he whispered, blinking his eyes to try to see her more clearly as blood foamed at the corners of his mouth. ".... but ... Callie's face .... Leena ...." he coughed, more blood trickling from his mouth as she tried to sooth him. "He tricked us ... didn't he ...." All Leena could do was nod, sobbing. "Tsck ... my ... fault. Should've ... known ...."
"Father ...." she wept, her head lowering, cradling him close, trying to ignore the blood seeping out of his chest, pooling around them both. "I'm sorry ... I'm sorry ...."
His bloody hand reached up, touching her face. ".... you're ... beautiful. Like ... your mother ...." His voice was getting weaker, losing the battle of shock and bloodloss. "... tell Ryou. Tell ... Jhel ... ee ... an ...." He spasmed, his body dying in her arms.
"FATHER!
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
Looks like first blood goes to the demon. Can't wait for more. 
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
Chapter Eleven: Pieces
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! Alexander screamed, still trapped inside his own mind, an unwilling witness to the bloody murder Otamio had just committed. What did you do while I was helpless, Otamio! What did you make ME do?!
"Silence!" Otamio snapped, retaining control of the body only because Alexander was too shocked to fight for it at this time. "I did what needed to be done, what you would not and could not do." It galled Otamio again that he did not have full control except for these brief moments. What he could accomplish if they worked in unison! But his son....
You killed a man, in cold blood! You left him there, with a witness who saw everything! Alexander continued to berate the demon. Do you not undestand what you've done? My fingerprints on the weapon, a witness who can describe me! There may have been cameras in the lot that recorded the entire scene! You have ruined us, you fool! The company, everything that the Zand name means, broken!"
"You forget. I Am Zand." Otamio snarled before finally making his way out of the maze of streets to the street in front of Yo Mama's, striding through the chaos of the crowd watching the fire trucks surrounding the building. He ignored everyone in his path, making his way to where the limo had parked so he could finish the discussion with Alexander in private. He even did not notice the young woman with the neon red and purple striped hair who watched with particular interest as the limo pulled away and vanished into the evening.
Aeron Tahalshia turned and walked over to Jayden and Shadrick, who were giving their versions of what happened to the firemen. "Zand just left in his limo...," she told them. "Where's Liz, Jhelly, and BlackJr?"
"Gone to find Ryu and Leena," Jayden answered, signing his name to the clipboard stating he did not want or need transport to the ER. There had been some injuries in the crowd's stampede for the exits, but none of the Tahalshias had been among them. "Shadrick's nearly finished as well... we should go look for them."
Aeron looked around at the various emergency vehicles, the firemen, the police, the paramedics. "What a way to end a set..." she quipped.
***
"Father..."
Leena's tear-streaked face jerked up at the sound, a low tortured moan coming from the edge of the parking lot. Ryou was leaning on SeanEric, with Elizabeth and Jhelian following behind, all but Elizabeth looking shocked and horrified by the scene. Leena swiped a hand over her face, trying to wipe away her tears so she could see more clearly, unaware of the blood on her own hands. "Otamio... he... he..." she stuttered, fresh tears forming as Ryou collapsed to the pavement beside her, his hands shakingly reaching out to touch Ryu's face.
Jhelian also sank to her knees down by Ryu's feet, her brown eyes angonized as she stared at his bloody corpse, the father she had never known. SeanEric knelt behind Leena, his hands dropping comfortingly onto her shoulders, gently pulling her back against him for strength. Elizabeth was the only one to remain standing, looking down upon Ryu with sad pity. "There was no way he could have won..." she said softly. "The demon was too strong for him, and will only get stronger now that he has nothing left to lose."
***
Once in the limo, with the privacy window up between himself and the driver, Otamio could finally continue the argument with Alexander. "This company you are so fond of has always been a means to an end, Alexander. It had kept me amused while waiting for the Cycle to turn, for Ryu to mature and fight me as Lazlo Zand."
Like siring a son, so you can live on? Alexander snidely interrupted. I will *not* let you destroy this company, Otamio. I will not let you destroy me!
"Then stop fighting me so we can finish this Cycle together, you young fool!" Otamio snapped back. "Even crippled, Ryu nearly killed this body because I could not access the full potential. Why? because you hold us back!" Exaggeration, of course, but Alexander had not woken until the moment Otamio had impaled Ryu upon the pole. "He is dead only because we were lucky. Do you think we will be that lucky when his son comes for us? A boy five years your junior, trained all his life for the one task of killing the Demon Zand? He will not stop nor hold back just because your soul also dwells in this body. He will try to destroy me utterly ... and to do that he will have to kill us both."
Alexander was silent for a long moment. How did the fight start, Otamio. he finally asked. What did you say, what did you do, to cause him to attack us.
The boy was too sharp, Otamio thought. Once again, he wished he could read the boy's thoughts, hidden even as his own were despite sharing the body this many years. "I confronted Leena." It was not a lie, as he did speak to the girl. From her reaction she already knew Ryu and Ryou's identities. "I wished to know why Jasmina had sent her here. Leena was with the Tahalshias still, of course. Ryu entered the club, recognized me, and attacked me immediately thinking to protect Jhelian." As always, the best lies were the closest to the truth "I was forced to flee, yet he still tracked me down. If he hates me this much, to attack me upon sight, what do you think he has taught his son?"
***
"I ... I will kill him." Ryou whispered to his father. "I'm sorry Father... I didn't believe you before...." his voice grew stronger with each word, his guilt feeding his anger. "... The demon won't escape this time. I'll kill him, I'll destroy him totally.. and I'll end this damned Cycle once and for all!" The last was shouted to the heavens, as Jhelian, SeanEric, Leena and Elizabeth watched and witnessed the vow.
"... That's kinda hard, when he just got in his limo and left," Shadrick drawled from behind them, shattering the tension. "Sorry to interrupt such a dramatic moment, by the way. Wonderfully done. Great emotional impact. Should have caught it on camera, it was an Oscar winner if you ask me." With his father's casual aplomp he ignored the glares from those gathered around the body as he walked forward to join them. "Aeron and Jayden are bringing the truck and car around. I've convinced the owner to let us get our equipment tomorrow, so we can head to Voletta now." He finally met Ryou's eyes with honest sorrow and pity. "I'm sorry we didn't get here in time. Will you let us take you both back home?"
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! Alexander screamed, still trapped inside his own mind, an unwilling witness to the bloody murder Otamio had just committed. What did you do while I was helpless, Otamio! What did you make ME do?!
"Silence!" Otamio snapped, retaining control of the body only because Alexander was too shocked to fight for it at this time. "I did what needed to be done, what you would not and could not do." It galled Otamio again that he did not have full control except for these brief moments. What he could accomplish if they worked in unison! But his son....
You killed a man, in cold blood! You left him there, with a witness who saw everything! Alexander continued to berate the demon. Do you not undestand what you've done? My fingerprints on the weapon, a witness who can describe me! There may have been cameras in the lot that recorded the entire scene! You have ruined us, you fool! The company, everything that the Zand name means, broken!"
"You forget. I Am Zand." Otamio snarled before finally making his way out of the maze of streets to the street in front of Yo Mama's, striding through the chaos of the crowd watching the fire trucks surrounding the building. He ignored everyone in his path, making his way to where the limo had parked so he could finish the discussion with Alexander in private. He even did not notice the young woman with the neon red and purple striped hair who watched with particular interest as the limo pulled away and vanished into the evening.
Aeron Tahalshia turned and walked over to Jayden and Shadrick, who were giving their versions of what happened to the firemen. "Zand just left in his limo...," she told them. "Where's Liz, Jhelly, and BlackJr?"
"Gone to find Ryu and Leena," Jayden answered, signing his name to the clipboard stating he did not want or need transport to the ER. There had been some injuries in the crowd's stampede for the exits, but none of the Tahalshias had been among them. "Shadrick's nearly finished as well... we should go look for them."
Aeron looked around at the various emergency vehicles, the firemen, the police, the paramedics. "What a way to end a set..." she quipped.
***
"Father..."
Leena's tear-streaked face jerked up at the sound, a low tortured moan coming from the edge of the parking lot. Ryou was leaning on SeanEric, with Elizabeth and Jhelian following behind, all but Elizabeth looking shocked and horrified by the scene. Leena swiped a hand over her face, trying to wipe away her tears so she could see more clearly, unaware of the blood on her own hands. "Otamio... he... he..." she stuttered, fresh tears forming as Ryou collapsed to the pavement beside her, his hands shakingly reaching out to touch Ryu's face.
Jhelian also sank to her knees down by Ryu's feet, her brown eyes angonized as she stared at his bloody corpse, the father she had never known. SeanEric knelt behind Leena, his hands dropping comfortingly onto her shoulders, gently pulling her back against him for strength. Elizabeth was the only one to remain standing, looking down upon Ryu with sad pity. "There was no way he could have won..." she said softly. "The demon was too strong for him, and will only get stronger now that he has nothing left to lose."
***
Once in the limo, with the privacy window up between himself and the driver, Otamio could finally continue the argument with Alexander. "This company you are so fond of has always been a means to an end, Alexander. It had kept me amused while waiting for the Cycle to turn, for Ryu to mature and fight me as Lazlo Zand."
Like siring a son, so you can live on? Alexander snidely interrupted. I will *not* let you destroy this company, Otamio. I will not let you destroy me!
"Then stop fighting me so we can finish this Cycle together, you young fool!" Otamio snapped back. "Even crippled, Ryu nearly killed this body because I could not access the full potential. Why? because you hold us back!" Exaggeration, of course, but Alexander had not woken until the moment Otamio had impaled Ryu upon the pole. "He is dead only because we were lucky. Do you think we will be that lucky when his son comes for us? A boy five years your junior, trained all his life for the one task of killing the Demon Zand? He will not stop nor hold back just because your soul also dwells in this body. He will try to destroy me utterly ... and to do that he will have to kill us both."
Alexander was silent for a long moment. How did the fight start, Otamio. he finally asked. What did you say, what did you do, to cause him to attack us.
The boy was too sharp, Otamio thought. Once again, he wished he could read the boy's thoughts, hidden even as his own were despite sharing the body this many years. "I confronted Leena." It was not a lie, as he did speak to the girl. From her reaction she already knew Ryu and Ryou's identities. "I wished to know why Jasmina had sent her here. Leena was with the Tahalshias still, of course. Ryu entered the club, recognized me, and attacked me immediately thinking to protect Jhelian." As always, the best lies were the closest to the truth "I was forced to flee, yet he still tracked me down. If he hates me this much, to attack me upon sight, what do you think he has taught his son?"
***
"I ... I will kill him." Ryou whispered to his father. "I'm sorry Father... I didn't believe you before...." his voice grew stronger with each word, his guilt feeding his anger. "... The demon won't escape this time. I'll kill him, I'll destroy him totally.. and I'll end this damned Cycle once and for all!" The last was shouted to the heavens, as Jhelian, SeanEric, Leena and Elizabeth watched and witnessed the vow.
"... That's kinda hard, when he just got in his limo and left," Shadrick drawled from behind them, shattering the tension. "Sorry to interrupt such a dramatic moment, by the way. Wonderfully done. Great emotional impact. Should have caught it on camera, it was an Oscar winner if you ask me." With his father's casual aplomp he ignored the glares from those gathered around the body as he walked forward to join them. "Aeron and Jayden are bringing the truck and car around. I've convinced the owner to let us get our equipment tomorrow, so we can head to Voletta now." He finally met Ryou's eyes with honest sorrow and pity. "I'm sorry we didn't get here in time. Will you let us take you both back home?"
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
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Ford Prefect
- Emperor's Hand
- Posts: 8254
- Joined: 2005-05-16 04:08am
- Location: The real number domain
Oh my God! I had fallen behind, but now ... Jesus Christ on a motorcycle!
I think this picture gives a more or less accurate representation of my reaction to Chapter Ten.
I think this picture gives a more or less accurate representation of my reaction to Chapter Ten.
What is Project Zohar?
Here's to a certain mostly harmless nutcase.
Here's to a certain mostly harmless nutcase.
Need some good rock music for the ass-kicking to come. 
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Redleader34
- Jedi Knight
- Posts: 998
- Joined: 2005-10-03 03:30pm
- Location: Flowing through the Animated Ether, finding unsusual creations
- Contact:
Just started to read this story. It rocks! How long untill more?
Dan's Art
Bounty on SDN's most annoying
"A spambot, a spambot who can't spell, a spambot who can't spell or spam properly and a spambot with tenure. Tough"choice."
Bounty on SDN's most annoying
"A spambot, a spambot who can't spell, a spambot who can't spell or spam properly and a spambot with tenure. Tough"choice."
Hopefully next week. I've given up for now, the characters aren't talking to me 
I know where I'm taking the story, but getting there is the hard part.
I know where I'm taking the story, but getting there is the hard part.Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
Chapter Twelve: The Parting Glass
~Of all the comrades that e'er I had
They're sorry for my goin' away
An' o' all the sweethearts that e'er I've had
They wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise and ye shall not
Then I'll gently rise...
And I'll softly call...
Good night an' joy be with ye all.~
Ryou heard Teamhair singing, and knew he should feel something. He'd been taken to Isle Voletta, inside Tahalshia Manor and wrapped in the embrace of the entire clan, but he still felt numb. Even when Blackthorne had respectfully carried Ryu's body into the house, Ryou couldn't do more than follow in his father's wake, as he'd always done up to this point.
Teamhair, despite her tears, had arranged for a priest to be there; a quiet older man she'd called Father Angus had spoken a few words as he helped Blackthorne clean and arrange the body. Now his father lay in the parlor, the middle of what Teamhair had called a wake. Any other time, Ryou would be eager to hear the stories she and Blackthorne were telling of his father's adventures (and misadventures) in Voletta. Leena seemed to be soaking it all in.
Leena. His sister. His twin... when all his life he'd been told she was dead. But his birthmark... the way it had climbed off his skin when he and his father had been touching her. The dragon had known her, but before they had a chance to understand what had happened, Zand had appeared.
His fist clenched around the glass in his hand ... and he felt someone grab his hand and rescue the glass. "You don't want to break that, " Blackthorne's crisp British voice said. "The glass would be back enough, but it would be a waste of good alcohol." He frowned as he looked Ryou in the eyes. "You'e wanting to go kill Zand, right now, this very minute." The older Tahalshia reached into a pocket and started rolling a cigarette as he spoke. "Bad idea. Right now you're too angry, you're too upset. You'd make mistakes, and then we'd be having a second wake. The rider in his head may not be the leader of the pits, but he's enough that you'll want your head on straight."
"Bastard...," Ryou muttered, staring at his father's body. Blackthorne had a feeling the boy did not mean Zand.
"Now, he could be a bit of a pain...," Blackthorne replied, taking a drag off the cigarette. "But he and you are burdened with a difficult bloodline, something I sympathize with every. single. day." he added, looking around at those gathered to mourn.
Nitram and Father Angus were talking in a corner, looking in deep discussion over the future of Ryu's soul. Shadrick was lurking in a corner, eavesdropping on his father's conversation. Jhelian and Leena were asking Teamhair for more their biological father, and Teamhair was sad-eyed but recalling those happy younger days gladly. After all, it was a Wake, when you told the best stories and remembered the man for whom he was. Blackthorne took another drag off his cigerette before speaking again. "He was far from perfect. .. but he thought of others. He bore his burden without complaint, and did the best he could." He looked squarely at Ryou. "Believe me, that's more than most humans ever manage."
"Tsck... Whatever..." Ryou snorted, rising to storm out.
Blackthorne rose and followed. "You, my boy, take it as a personal insult." Ryou stopped, turning to glare at him. "The forces of Heaven and Hell take a personal interest in you." Nitram and Father Angus stopped talking to pay attention to the conversation.
"Are you done?" Ryou snapped. "Or are you just going to lecture me? Because that's what HE would do," Ryou's hand shot out to point at the body, "and I'm sorry.. I'm not your son, so CAN IT."
"A reminder... nothing more.." Blackthorne replied calmly, blowing out a smoke ring. "And pointing out you're among those who share these traits."
"Share? SHARE? I didn't even know you EXISTED until two days ago!" Ryou exploded angrily. "He took me away, and let me forget everything... everyone! You, Auntie Tev, Jhelian, Liz'beth ... He never told me ANYTHING, just made me practice over and over and over again! And for what?! So he could go after Zand, and get himself KILLED?!"
"No, Ryou..." Teamhair spoke from behind him. "He wen' after Zand... b'cause he dinnae wan' ta see ye get kil't."
Ryou whirled on her, but she had closed the distance so that he turned into her embrace. Despite his height, she hugged him close, like she would any of the Tahalshia children. Ryou found himself unable to pull away, suddenly needing this closeness, this mothering feeling. Then he started weeping and couldn't seem to stop.
***
The night was nearly over when Leena finally had a chance to be alone. In a large bedroom that she would have sworn couldn't exist on this side of the sprawling plantation house the Tahalshias called "the Manor", Leena finally had the chance to pull out her cellphone and dial a phone number she'd long known by heart. "Hello Sarah. May I speak to my mother, please?"
There was a pause as her mother's efficient ghoul secretary handed the phone over, announcing the caller precisely. Then Jasmina's voice came over the line, smooth, elegant, still retaining a touch of the exotic accent that was a mix of her Turkish parentage and the speech patterns learnt when the 20th century was brand new. "Leena, my dear. Are you well?"
"... No, mother. I'm not." Leena answered, continuing before Jasmina had a chance to say more. "I met several people tonight, mother... and two of them knew you quite well. In fact, better than you led me to believe." There was a stillness on the other end, a pause that told Leena she had forced her mother off-guard for a moment. It gave her courage to continue, although her voice unconciously took on her mother's precise cadence of speech. "Alexander sends his greetings, mother... although it may be more of a curse. I thought you said you did not know what had become of him, and yet he mentioned that you were a pain in his side."
"I see," Jasmina answered simply. "And whom else did you meet, my dear?"
The innocent question nearly made Leena's blood boil. "I met my father." she stated flatly. "To be truthful... I met both of them, before the DemonZand killed Ryu Hotoru by stabbing him thru the chest with a parking sign."
"You saw Otamio?" Jasmina asked sharply, and it was one of the few times Leena had ever heard her mother sound concerned. "Did he take over Alexander's body completely? Do you know if Alexander was able to regain control?"
"I don't know." Leena answered, her voice cracking. "I don't know, because I was holding my father -- my *real* father -- and watching him die because there was nothing I could do to stop it!" Tears rolled down Leena's face again, and she couldn't muffle the sob that caught in her throat.
Jasmina's voice softened, became the soothing voice that had carried Leena to sleep as a child, eased her nightmares, calmed her fears. "Shhh... shhh my darling. I'm sorry... I'm sorry I led you to this... come home, my daughter... come home and... "
"NO!" Leena shouted through her tears. "No, I will not come home, will not let you make it all better. You caused this! You stole me as a child, and just when I finally meet my father, your lover *kills him* in front of me! How can you make that better, Mother?!"
"By protecting you," Jasmina answered, a touch of sadness in her tone. "The Cycle has started, the father is dead and the son will seek vengence. You should not be caught up in this, Leena. Please... come home."
"Its too late for that, mother," Leena stuttered through her tears. "Do you know where I am now? Of course you don't... I'm at my father's wake, here in Isle Voletta... inside Tahalshia Manor itself. And I'm not leaving, not coming home. Not until the Cycle's over, ended .. finished for good!" Leena's voice got stronger as she spoke, feeling bolder, as if something inside her was granting her the bravery to talk to her mother this way. "I'm staying with my family, mother, and you cannot, will not steal me away from them this time!"
***
Jasmina closed the phone sadly as Leena hung up on her, handing it calmly over to Sarah. "That is all for the evening, Sarah... I will finish the rest tomorrow night." The woman did not say a word, merely nodded and gathered up the paperwork they'd been going over. Jasmina rose from the leather chair behind the oaken desk, leaving her ghoul to finish clearing up. Outside the grand window with its heavy metalic shutters the Pacific Ocean rolled peacefully onto the sand; a private beachhouse on a shore not reachable by anyway but down the cliff. Soon the tide would come in, tossing flotsam and jetsam onto the beach for the shorebirds to fight over once day broke, a fight where there was no true winner, for the waves would rise again and again to throw more onto the shore in a neverending cycle.
Jasmina walked outside onto the patio, looking out over the ocean as it carressed the beach with white foamy waves. Sunrise was still several hours away here on the West Coast... much closer for Leena. Everything in Jasmina's unbeating heart screamed that she should run to save her daughter, pull her back home to safety, away from the waves that would drown her. "... When do the apron-strings part...." she whispered to the sea, once again amazed that she could feel this strongly, cling this tightly to her daughter. She could charter a flight, be in NewOrleans by the following evening, in Voletta before moonrise...
.. And then what? Face the danger for Leena? Surely that was what Ryu had meant to do, to protect his son from Otamio. He had died... and while Otamio may not know the secret to killing her permenantly, Jasmina knew that the demon would win if the fight turned physical. She had the knowledge of decades, but the Demon had fought for centuries, killing one Hotoru after another, and being killed in return only to possess another Zand.
Leena was Hotoru and Zand. It seemed she had already chosen to side with the family of her birth. Innis'Allah.
~Of all the comrades that e'er I had
They're sorry for my goin' away
An' o' all the sweethearts that e'er I've had
They wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise and ye shall not
Then I'll gently rise...
And I'll softly call...
Good night an' joy be with ye all.~
Ryou heard Teamhair singing, and knew he should feel something. He'd been taken to Isle Voletta, inside Tahalshia Manor and wrapped in the embrace of the entire clan, but he still felt numb. Even when Blackthorne had respectfully carried Ryu's body into the house, Ryou couldn't do more than follow in his father's wake, as he'd always done up to this point.
Teamhair, despite her tears, had arranged for a priest to be there; a quiet older man she'd called Father Angus had spoken a few words as he helped Blackthorne clean and arrange the body. Now his father lay in the parlor, the middle of what Teamhair had called a wake. Any other time, Ryou would be eager to hear the stories she and Blackthorne were telling of his father's adventures (and misadventures) in Voletta. Leena seemed to be soaking it all in.
Leena. His sister. His twin... when all his life he'd been told she was dead. But his birthmark... the way it had climbed off his skin when he and his father had been touching her. The dragon had known her, but before they had a chance to understand what had happened, Zand had appeared.
His fist clenched around the glass in his hand ... and he felt someone grab his hand and rescue the glass. "You don't want to break that, " Blackthorne's crisp British voice said. "The glass would be back enough, but it would be a waste of good alcohol." He frowned as he looked Ryou in the eyes. "You'e wanting to go kill Zand, right now, this very minute." The older Tahalshia reached into a pocket and started rolling a cigarette as he spoke. "Bad idea. Right now you're too angry, you're too upset. You'd make mistakes, and then we'd be having a second wake. The rider in his head may not be the leader of the pits, but he's enough that you'll want your head on straight."
"Bastard...," Ryou muttered, staring at his father's body. Blackthorne had a feeling the boy did not mean Zand.
"Now, he could be a bit of a pain...," Blackthorne replied, taking a drag off the cigarette. "But he and you are burdened with a difficult bloodline, something I sympathize with every. single. day." he added, looking around at those gathered to mourn.
Nitram and Father Angus were talking in a corner, looking in deep discussion over the future of Ryu's soul. Shadrick was lurking in a corner, eavesdropping on his father's conversation. Jhelian and Leena were asking Teamhair for more their biological father, and Teamhair was sad-eyed but recalling those happy younger days gladly. After all, it was a Wake, when you told the best stories and remembered the man for whom he was. Blackthorne took another drag off his cigerette before speaking again. "He was far from perfect. .. but he thought of others. He bore his burden without complaint, and did the best he could." He looked squarely at Ryou. "Believe me, that's more than most humans ever manage."
"Tsck... Whatever..." Ryou snorted, rising to storm out.
Blackthorne rose and followed. "You, my boy, take it as a personal insult." Ryou stopped, turning to glare at him. "The forces of Heaven and Hell take a personal interest in you." Nitram and Father Angus stopped talking to pay attention to the conversation.
"Are you done?" Ryou snapped. "Or are you just going to lecture me? Because that's what HE would do," Ryou's hand shot out to point at the body, "and I'm sorry.. I'm not your son, so CAN IT."
"A reminder... nothing more.." Blackthorne replied calmly, blowing out a smoke ring. "And pointing out you're among those who share these traits."
"Share? SHARE? I didn't even know you EXISTED until two days ago!" Ryou exploded angrily. "He took me away, and let me forget everything... everyone! You, Auntie Tev, Jhelian, Liz'beth ... He never told me ANYTHING, just made me practice over and over and over again! And for what?! So he could go after Zand, and get himself KILLED?!"
"No, Ryou..." Teamhair spoke from behind him. "He wen' after Zand... b'cause he dinnae wan' ta see ye get kil't."
Ryou whirled on her, but she had closed the distance so that he turned into her embrace. Despite his height, she hugged him close, like she would any of the Tahalshia children. Ryou found himself unable to pull away, suddenly needing this closeness, this mothering feeling. Then he started weeping and couldn't seem to stop.
***
The night was nearly over when Leena finally had a chance to be alone. In a large bedroom that she would have sworn couldn't exist on this side of the sprawling plantation house the Tahalshias called "the Manor", Leena finally had the chance to pull out her cellphone and dial a phone number she'd long known by heart. "Hello Sarah. May I speak to my mother, please?"
There was a pause as her mother's efficient ghoul secretary handed the phone over, announcing the caller precisely. Then Jasmina's voice came over the line, smooth, elegant, still retaining a touch of the exotic accent that was a mix of her Turkish parentage and the speech patterns learnt when the 20th century was brand new. "Leena, my dear. Are you well?"
"... No, mother. I'm not." Leena answered, continuing before Jasmina had a chance to say more. "I met several people tonight, mother... and two of them knew you quite well. In fact, better than you led me to believe." There was a stillness on the other end, a pause that told Leena she had forced her mother off-guard for a moment. It gave her courage to continue, although her voice unconciously took on her mother's precise cadence of speech. "Alexander sends his greetings, mother... although it may be more of a curse. I thought you said you did not know what had become of him, and yet he mentioned that you were a pain in his side."
"I see," Jasmina answered simply. "And whom else did you meet, my dear?"
The innocent question nearly made Leena's blood boil. "I met my father." she stated flatly. "To be truthful... I met both of them, before the DemonZand killed Ryu Hotoru by stabbing him thru the chest with a parking sign."
"You saw Otamio?" Jasmina asked sharply, and it was one of the few times Leena had ever heard her mother sound concerned. "Did he take over Alexander's body completely? Do you know if Alexander was able to regain control?"
"I don't know." Leena answered, her voice cracking. "I don't know, because I was holding my father -- my *real* father -- and watching him die because there was nothing I could do to stop it!" Tears rolled down Leena's face again, and she couldn't muffle the sob that caught in her throat.
Jasmina's voice softened, became the soothing voice that had carried Leena to sleep as a child, eased her nightmares, calmed her fears. "Shhh... shhh my darling. I'm sorry... I'm sorry I led you to this... come home, my daughter... come home and... "
"NO!" Leena shouted through her tears. "No, I will not come home, will not let you make it all better. You caused this! You stole me as a child, and just when I finally meet my father, your lover *kills him* in front of me! How can you make that better, Mother?!"
"By protecting you," Jasmina answered, a touch of sadness in her tone. "The Cycle has started, the father is dead and the son will seek vengence. You should not be caught up in this, Leena. Please... come home."
"Its too late for that, mother," Leena stuttered through her tears. "Do you know where I am now? Of course you don't... I'm at my father's wake, here in Isle Voletta... inside Tahalshia Manor itself. And I'm not leaving, not coming home. Not until the Cycle's over, ended .. finished for good!" Leena's voice got stronger as she spoke, feeling bolder, as if something inside her was granting her the bravery to talk to her mother this way. "I'm staying with my family, mother, and you cannot, will not steal me away from them this time!"
***
Jasmina closed the phone sadly as Leena hung up on her, handing it calmly over to Sarah. "That is all for the evening, Sarah... I will finish the rest tomorrow night." The woman did not say a word, merely nodded and gathered up the paperwork they'd been going over. Jasmina rose from the leather chair behind the oaken desk, leaving her ghoul to finish clearing up. Outside the grand window with its heavy metalic shutters the Pacific Ocean rolled peacefully onto the sand; a private beachhouse on a shore not reachable by anyway but down the cliff. Soon the tide would come in, tossing flotsam and jetsam onto the beach for the shorebirds to fight over once day broke, a fight where there was no true winner, for the waves would rise again and again to throw more onto the shore in a neverending cycle.
Jasmina walked outside onto the patio, looking out over the ocean as it carressed the beach with white foamy waves. Sunrise was still several hours away here on the West Coast... much closer for Leena. Everything in Jasmina's unbeating heart screamed that she should run to save her daughter, pull her back home to safety, away from the waves that would drown her. "... When do the apron-strings part...." she whispered to the sea, once again amazed that she could feel this strongly, cling this tightly to her daughter. She could charter a flight, be in NewOrleans by the following evening, in Voletta before moonrise...
.. And then what? Face the danger for Leena? Surely that was what Ryu had meant to do, to protect his son from Otamio. He had died... and while Otamio may not know the secret to killing her permenantly, Jasmina knew that the demon would win if the fight turned physical. She had the knowledge of decades, but the Demon had fought for centuries, killing one Hotoru after another, and being killed in return only to possess another Zand.
Leena was Hotoru and Zand. It seemed she had already chosen to side with the family of her birth. Innis'Allah.
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
-
Ford Prefect
- Emperor's Hand
- Posts: 8254
- Joined: 2005-05-16 04:08am
- Location: The real number domain
What about it made you go 'whoa'? Just outta curiousity and hopes of improving my storytellingFord Prefect wrote:That first little ditty was pretty touching, and I do believe that last couple of paragraphs made me go "Whoa".
Oh, and the little ditty is "The Parting Glass", a traditional Irish song, as sang by the Chieftains.
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
You continue to tell an enthralling tale, Tev.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
-
Ford Prefect
- Emperor's Hand
- Posts: 8254
- Joined: 2005-05-16 04:08am
- Location: The real number domain
I think it was just how 'final' it seemed. I read that, and I think "wow, that's kind of bleak". Then we get hit by:LadyTevar wrote: What about it made you go 'whoa'? Just outta curiousity and hopes of improving my storytelling
That's powerful that is.Leena was Hotoru and Zand. It seemed she had already chosen to side with the family of her birth.
What is Project Zohar?
Here's to a certain mostly harmless nutcase.
Here's to a certain mostly harmless nutcase.
Thank you.Ford Prefect wrote:I think it was just how 'final' it seemed. I read that, and I think "wow, that's kind of bleak". Then we get hit by:LadyTevar wrote: What about it made you go 'whoa'? Just outta curiousity and hopes of improving my storytelling
That's powerful that is.Leena was Hotoru and Zand. It seemed she had already chosen to side with the family of her birth.
And the last "God wills" is because Jasmina follows Islam. Odd, considering at this point she's been a vampire for over a century and is a little fatalistic. (and it really makes fasting during Ramadan interesting)
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
Chapter Thirteen: Sunrise, Sunset
Dawn broke, and the sun started his daily walk across the world.
In Voletta, Teamhair NicIomhair-Tahalshia paid her last respects to her first love before calling down fire to take him to his final rest. The ashes were reverently gathered into a small urn prepared to receive them, and handed ceremonially over to Ryou. Ryu's ashes would join those of his family in Japan, ironically carried on a plane belonging to Zand America. It was Leena's gift to the man who had sired her and lost her.
***
The sun rose to prominance in the sky, shining his rays down upon the lands below.
Yes.. that is the way. Otamio whispered inside Alexander's mind as the bokken slipped under his trainer's guard, landing solidly against the man's ribs. Now follow up as I've shown you. The trainer when to the ground, felled by the flurry of fast strikes Alexander unleashed under Otamio's guidance. See what I could have taught you before, had you let me?
"I grow tired of this." Alexander snarled, stalking off the mat. He paused only long enough to lay down the bokken before going to shower off. What are you doing? You are still weaker than Ryou, he will destroy us if you do not learn what I teach you!
"Why not simply take over my body again, as you did before," Alexander retorted under his breath, stopping in front of a mirror to stare within himself, the only way he could see the demon that haunted him. "Or were you planning to do that either way?"
I did what I needed to do
"You did not have to kill him."
Yes. I did. And you will have to kill Ryou.
"What if I do not want to fight? What if I let him kill me, Demon.. then what will you do!" Alexander shouted at the foggy shape in the mirror. "How will that fit in your Great Cycle -- in your grand plans?!"
Otamio sank down into the back of Alexander's mind, letting the boy rage. What jest, after so many centuries, so many bodies, he was forced to pander to this ... this ... child. "Answer me, Otamio!"
The ancient demon did not answer. There were plans that needed to be made, in case the boy did as he threatened....
***
The sun finished his trip across the world, sinking slowly to his rest, leaving the sky behind wrapped in vivid color as he sank into the sea.
Jasmina rose as the last touches of color faded from the sky, accepting a cup of animal blood and the daily business and news reports from Sarah. The top one made all the others far less important for the moment. "Sarah... please bring me the phone. I will need to make a few private calls." She once again strolled out onto the porch overlooking the ocean, her eyes long-accustomed to the night able to pick out the faintest of the stars as they began to appear in the darkening sky. The phone rang for several minutes before it was answered. "Hello Alexander... or is it Otamio?"
In New Orleans, Alexander stiffened as he recognized the voice. "Jasmina. How did you get this phone number.." he snarled. Just what he needed, the bitch calling him after everything else that had happened the past two days. He felt Otamio stir from wherever the demon had been sulking since that afternoon. What does that blood-sucking wench want now?
"I have my ways, Alexander, as you should know by now." Jasmina replied conversationally. "I am glad to see you are still in control, for the moment. So... which one of you killed him?"
Alexander froze in horror. She knew. She'd found out, somehow... maybe from Leena? Dammit, she'd wreck everything, she'd use it to steal all of Zand Industries out from under his control! Fool! You have just told her more by your silence than she'd learned from whatever sources she had. Otamio sneered as he emerged from his hiding place.
In California, the tiniest of smiles touched Jasmina's pale lips as the silence stretched out. "I see. Otamio did the killing, then..." she continued, as if they were discussing the weather. "You need to be careful, Alex. Now that he has killed, the Demon will be even harder to control."
"What do you know, Jasmina," Alexander demanded, pacing the hotel room like a nervous tiger. Nothing. Otamio snarled inside his head. She is guessing, trying to shake you, make you weak.
"I know that Ryou is on his way to Japan, in a Zand Industries jet that Leena chartered by using my name. She has gone with him as well, it seems," Jasmina answered, knowing that was not the question he asked. The gentle sea breezes played with her hair as she relaxed under the moonless sky, imagining to herself the fight erupting inside Alexander's mind.
She is taunting you, boy... do not let her bait you.
"Shut up, old man!" Alexander snapped, and in California Jasmina's lips lifted in another slight smile. "I see you did not try to stop her, Jasmina. Why is that, hmm? Is Leena no longer behind your skirts?"
"Leena is her own woman now," Jasmina replied softly. "She is seeking her past ... and her future, just like you are, Alexander. If Otamio leaves you a future after he is finished with you."
"What do you mean, bloodsucker. Enough of your games, dammit, tell me what you mean to say plainly, or leave me alone." Alexander snapped, beset by voices on both sides as he tried to ignore Otamio's insistance that he hang the phone up on the arrogant witch. The only reason now why he did not was because Otamio wanted it.
"He has taken control of you fully and killed his rival." Jasmina stated calmly. "Can you not sense how that has empowered him? Is he not even now pressing you to give him more control of the body, to teach you how to protect yourself from Ryou when he comes for you?"
Bitch. Otamio snarled, what was she trying to do, turn Alexander against him? ... Yes. Yes, she was. And Alexander was listening, the Fool! Why are you listening to her?! How often has she lied to you, acted against you on the board? She doesn't want to help you, she wants Zand Industries for herself and that annoying little girl-child she adopted!
"Shut. Up." Alexander growled to Otamio. "She is right, you have been pressing me, wanting me to give over to you. Why is that, Otamio?"
"Because you have prevented him from siring heirs, Alexander," Jasmina answered the question from across the country. "Because this time he has no where to escape to if you fall, no child of Zand bloodline, just you and Lazlo Zand's adopted daughter. If you die, where will he go?"
Otamio shot forward, causing the hand holding the phone to spasm and drop it to the floor. ENOUGH! Otamio roared. She is toying with you! Why are you letting that manipulative witch control you like that!
"Why are you not wishing me to hear her out?!" Alexander retorted, grabbing his renegade hand, trying to regain control over it. "Is it because she's too close to the truth, Demon? Are you that crippled, that afraid?"
Jasmina had winced as the phone hit the floor, her sharpened senses blinded by the noise momentarily. When she was able to hear again, it was the unmistakeable sounds of a struggle. "ALEX!" she shouted vainly into the receiver. "Do not let him gain control! The more he takes over, the stonger he will be! Alex, listen to me! Listen to me!" Though her voice sounded frantic, her face was calm as it gazed out over the beach to the waves sweeping the sand clear.
She heard the struggle cease... footsteps pacing to the phone. She heard as it was removed from the floor, heard the sound of breathing long before it was placed to lips. Which one was it? Who had won the battle for control? "Alexander?"
The line went dead.
Jasmina's hand fell, automatically closing the device as she looked out over the wave-capped ocean. Otamio was in control again, for a little while. She may have to travel to New Orleans herself, to once again enter Isle Voletta and witness the cycle as it came to pass. Perhaps her words had fallen in the right ears. Perhaps she had been able to plant a seed. There was only one way to know for sure. She flipped open the phone again, activiating its paging feature. "Sarah... we will need to pack for New Orleans."
Dawn broke, and the sun started his daily walk across the world.
In Voletta, Teamhair NicIomhair-Tahalshia paid her last respects to her first love before calling down fire to take him to his final rest. The ashes were reverently gathered into a small urn prepared to receive them, and handed ceremonially over to Ryou. Ryu's ashes would join those of his family in Japan, ironically carried on a plane belonging to Zand America. It was Leena's gift to the man who had sired her and lost her.
***
The sun rose to prominance in the sky, shining his rays down upon the lands below.
Yes.. that is the way. Otamio whispered inside Alexander's mind as the bokken slipped under his trainer's guard, landing solidly against the man's ribs. Now follow up as I've shown you. The trainer when to the ground, felled by the flurry of fast strikes Alexander unleashed under Otamio's guidance. See what I could have taught you before, had you let me?
"I grow tired of this." Alexander snarled, stalking off the mat. He paused only long enough to lay down the bokken before going to shower off. What are you doing? You are still weaker than Ryou, he will destroy us if you do not learn what I teach you!
"Why not simply take over my body again, as you did before," Alexander retorted under his breath, stopping in front of a mirror to stare within himself, the only way he could see the demon that haunted him. "Or were you planning to do that either way?"
I did what I needed to do
"You did not have to kill him."
Yes. I did. And you will have to kill Ryou.
"What if I do not want to fight? What if I let him kill me, Demon.. then what will you do!" Alexander shouted at the foggy shape in the mirror. "How will that fit in your Great Cycle -- in your grand plans?!"
Otamio sank down into the back of Alexander's mind, letting the boy rage. What jest, after so many centuries, so many bodies, he was forced to pander to this ... this ... child. "Answer me, Otamio!"
The ancient demon did not answer. There were plans that needed to be made, in case the boy did as he threatened....
***
The sun finished his trip across the world, sinking slowly to his rest, leaving the sky behind wrapped in vivid color as he sank into the sea.
Jasmina rose as the last touches of color faded from the sky, accepting a cup of animal blood and the daily business and news reports from Sarah. The top one made all the others far less important for the moment. "Sarah... please bring me the phone. I will need to make a few private calls." She once again strolled out onto the porch overlooking the ocean, her eyes long-accustomed to the night able to pick out the faintest of the stars as they began to appear in the darkening sky. The phone rang for several minutes before it was answered. "Hello Alexander... or is it Otamio?"
In New Orleans, Alexander stiffened as he recognized the voice. "Jasmina. How did you get this phone number.." he snarled. Just what he needed, the bitch calling him after everything else that had happened the past two days. He felt Otamio stir from wherever the demon had been sulking since that afternoon. What does that blood-sucking wench want now?
"I have my ways, Alexander, as you should know by now." Jasmina replied conversationally. "I am glad to see you are still in control, for the moment. So... which one of you killed him?"
Alexander froze in horror. She knew. She'd found out, somehow... maybe from Leena? Dammit, she'd wreck everything, she'd use it to steal all of Zand Industries out from under his control! Fool! You have just told her more by your silence than she'd learned from whatever sources she had. Otamio sneered as he emerged from his hiding place.
In California, the tiniest of smiles touched Jasmina's pale lips as the silence stretched out. "I see. Otamio did the killing, then..." she continued, as if they were discussing the weather. "You need to be careful, Alex. Now that he has killed, the Demon will be even harder to control."
"What do you know, Jasmina," Alexander demanded, pacing the hotel room like a nervous tiger. Nothing. Otamio snarled inside his head. She is guessing, trying to shake you, make you weak.
"I know that Ryou is on his way to Japan, in a Zand Industries jet that Leena chartered by using my name. She has gone with him as well, it seems," Jasmina answered, knowing that was not the question he asked. The gentle sea breezes played with her hair as she relaxed under the moonless sky, imagining to herself the fight erupting inside Alexander's mind.
She is taunting you, boy... do not let her bait you.
"Shut up, old man!" Alexander snapped, and in California Jasmina's lips lifted in another slight smile. "I see you did not try to stop her, Jasmina. Why is that, hmm? Is Leena no longer behind your skirts?"
"Leena is her own woman now," Jasmina replied softly. "She is seeking her past ... and her future, just like you are, Alexander. If Otamio leaves you a future after he is finished with you."
"What do you mean, bloodsucker. Enough of your games, dammit, tell me what you mean to say plainly, or leave me alone." Alexander snapped, beset by voices on both sides as he tried to ignore Otamio's insistance that he hang the phone up on the arrogant witch. The only reason now why he did not was because Otamio wanted it.
"He has taken control of you fully and killed his rival." Jasmina stated calmly. "Can you not sense how that has empowered him? Is he not even now pressing you to give him more control of the body, to teach you how to protect yourself from Ryou when he comes for you?"
Bitch. Otamio snarled, what was she trying to do, turn Alexander against him? ... Yes. Yes, she was. And Alexander was listening, the Fool! Why are you listening to her?! How often has she lied to you, acted against you on the board? She doesn't want to help you, she wants Zand Industries for herself and that annoying little girl-child she adopted!
"Shut. Up." Alexander growled to Otamio. "She is right, you have been pressing me, wanting me to give over to you. Why is that, Otamio?"
"Because you have prevented him from siring heirs, Alexander," Jasmina answered the question from across the country. "Because this time he has no where to escape to if you fall, no child of Zand bloodline, just you and Lazlo Zand's adopted daughter. If you die, where will he go?"
Otamio shot forward, causing the hand holding the phone to spasm and drop it to the floor. ENOUGH! Otamio roared. She is toying with you! Why are you letting that manipulative witch control you like that!
"Why are you not wishing me to hear her out?!" Alexander retorted, grabbing his renegade hand, trying to regain control over it. "Is it because she's too close to the truth, Demon? Are you that crippled, that afraid?"
Jasmina had winced as the phone hit the floor, her sharpened senses blinded by the noise momentarily. When she was able to hear again, it was the unmistakeable sounds of a struggle. "ALEX!" she shouted vainly into the receiver. "Do not let him gain control! The more he takes over, the stonger he will be! Alex, listen to me! Listen to me!" Though her voice sounded frantic, her face was calm as it gazed out over the beach to the waves sweeping the sand clear.
She heard the struggle cease... footsteps pacing to the phone. She heard as it was removed from the floor, heard the sound of breathing long before it was placed to lips. Which one was it? Who had won the battle for control? "Alexander?"
The line went dead.
Jasmina's hand fell, automatically closing the device as she looked out over the wave-capped ocean. Otamio was in control again, for a little while. She may have to travel to New Orleans herself, to once again enter Isle Voletta and witness the cycle as it came to pass. Perhaps her words had fallen in the right ears. Perhaps she had been able to plant a seed. There was only one way to know for sure. She flipped open the phone again, activiating its paging feature. "Sarah... we will need to pack for New Orleans."
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
Chapter Fourteen : Complications
"What was that bitch trying to accomplish?" Otamio snarled, throwing the phone across the room to shatter against the wall. He was sure that Jasmina had an ulterior motive, if not two, for that call. She was taunting him, trying to break whatever control he had over Alexander ... but why. What did she hope to gain from it? The vampiress never did anything without thinking it through thoroughly.
The demon thought back on the conversation, examining every word, every nuance of Jasmina's voice. Leena had gone to Japan, took one of the company jets. Jasmina had allowed this to happen, maybe even expected it? Yes ... the vampiress had said that Leena was seeking her past, so Jasmina had been expecting her to connect with Ryou... or had the old busybody arranged Leena's curiousity? Otamio would not put that past her. "Clever little minx...."
Far too clever. It had drawn him to her when he was Lazlo Zand ... and made her so dangerous during those years before Alexander was old enough to step into Lazlo's place as head of Zand Industries International. Her place as head of Zand America had been a hard-fought compromise, although even now Otamio wondered if that had not been her desire all along. Like a veteran chessplayer, she thought moves ahead in the game, planned attacks and defenses for the future, saw the long-term in ways no mortal businessman could because she would be there to see it.
What battle was the bitch fighting now? "Leena...." Yes, she was the key to Jasmina. Old as she was when they'd met, Jasmina was still a woman, and from the moment she had held baby Leena she had desired the child as her own. The vampiress would do anything to protect her daughter ... so why would she send her to Japan, where Otamio could easily send agents after the girl?
Or did Jasmina expect him to do so? Yes, in the past he had sent agents against Ryu when he'd visited Japan. The one Tahalshia ... Blackthorne ... he had followed Ryu and the two of them had caused quite a bit of damage to Zand's Tokyo office before retreating to Isle Voletta. Sending agents would have been his first reaction upon discovering Ryou's presence in Japan. Now he would have to reconsider, knowing Jasmina had foreseen this. Protecting her daughter by forcing him to rethink his actions. Ahh... the woman was devious indeed.
Her daughter. No... wait. What was it she'd said? "Lazlo's adopted daughter...." Why would she refer to Leena that way? Before it was always 'my daughter', 'my Leena'. Jasmina would not have said it that way without reason. What did she say exactly?
"No child of the bloodline ... but Alexander and Lazlo's adopted daughter."
The demon sounded it out, considered it. No, Jasmina would not be that obvious, would she? Adoption was not uncommon in Japan, even in the days of the Shogunate. Adding a child to the family, giving the child the family name, the family's rank, marking the child before the ancestors as one of their own. Otamio recalled the adoption proceedings quite clearly, he had overseen and signed Leena's paperwork himself, not a month before the battle with Ryu where he was forced into Alexander's body.
"I adopted Leena!" The revelation hit like lighting. He, Otamio, head of the Zand bloodline, ancestor of the bloodline, had been the one to adopt Leena. He had been in the mortal form of Lazlo Zand, but unlike his current state, he had been in full control of the body. Laughter erupted, as he saw the trick Jasmina had played on the both of them. Leena was going to honor her father, her natural bloodline; yet his own oaths had made her his own flesh and blood. "You lovely, devious witch..." Otamio said fondly, imagining Jasmina's pale features before him, smiling in that knowing way that had always inflamed him. "She is mine!"
****
"T'isna like SeanEric n' Shadrick ta miss dinner," Teamhair fretted. "Well... p'haps SeanEric. When's he's out wit' the lassies." she added dryly, noting her husband's raised eyebrow as Blackthorne helped himself to thirds of his wife's excellent shepherds pie. "Bu' even then, he'd call, even if t'was wit' a lie 'bout where he was."
Blackthorne frowned a bit around a mouthful of delectable food. "He'd said something this morning about going to the firing range," he said after swallowing. "Should have been back by now."
Nitram was in one of his more lucid periods, possibly due to the second glass of red wine he was washing dinner down with. It was an odd fact that alcohol made him more sane than drunk. "Yes. Shadrick said the same to me. Odd, though... he doesn't seem to be anywhere on the island."
Teamhair and Blackthorne exchanged glances, knowing better than to ask how Nitram knew that. As head of the family and CovenMaster, Nitram just knew such things. "D'ye thin' they went off ta N'Orlands wit'out tellin' us?" Teamhair asked, not adding the 'again' that should rightfully be there. With the city only an hour away, the boys had gotten into a lot of trouble by taking off without telling anyone during their teen years.
Nitram shrugged, looking forlornly into his empty goblet. "I'm not sure... but it might explain why Smiter is missing. And why the Shrine Of The Rising Sun is resonating in my head."
"Th' what?" Teamhair asked.
"Smiter's gone too?" Blackthorne asked at the same time.
"The Shrine of the Rising Sun..." Nitram repeated. "Two hours outside of Nagasaki, on the mountainside. There they once worshipped a god/demon of shadows."
"The little blighters," Blackthorne muttered, shaking his head in amaze. "No wonder SeanEric wanted to borrow my pistols. I'll bet Shadrick took that sword of yours as well, Nitwit. They've somehow sneaked aboard with Ryou and Leena and have gone to Japan."
"They What?!" Teamhair shouted, making the Manor shiver with the might of Upset Mother. "Th' damn fools, wha're they thinkin'? Why th' hell'd they go an do som' fool thin' as that an'way?! Oooo... jus' wait til they're home, they'll no sit down fer a month o' Sundays!"
"My lovely wife, they're in thier twenties..." Blackthorne pointed out. "You can't spank them anymore."
"Watch Me."
"Well, the sword will keep them safe from all dangers there." Nitram reflected as a bottle floated over to refill his glass. "But I pity them when they get back. Not even Smiter can save someone from an angry mother."
***
In Japan, SeanEric slipped out of the shadow he'd hidden in as the Japanese Customsmen left the plane. "Ok, Shadrick... coast is clear, let's catch up to them."
"Uh... you go ahead. I'll catch up." Shadrick's voice answered from inside the same shadow.
SeanEric gave the shadow a glare. "We gotta stick together, Shad. Now come'on, or we'll lose them in the crowd." The shadow peeled away from the wall, slowly taking humanoid shape... but never quite getting there. It was as if Shadrick was stuck as a shadow. "Shadrick? What's wrong?"
"I'm stuck in this shape, that's what's wrong, you twit." Shadrick's voice hissed from the shape, as if unable to talk above a whisper. "Something about this country is fuckin' with my powers! Trust me -- the other option's even worse! What is it with these people and amorphious tentacled beings, anyway?"
"What was that bitch trying to accomplish?" Otamio snarled, throwing the phone across the room to shatter against the wall. He was sure that Jasmina had an ulterior motive, if not two, for that call. She was taunting him, trying to break whatever control he had over Alexander ... but why. What did she hope to gain from it? The vampiress never did anything without thinking it through thoroughly.
The demon thought back on the conversation, examining every word, every nuance of Jasmina's voice. Leena had gone to Japan, took one of the company jets. Jasmina had allowed this to happen, maybe even expected it? Yes ... the vampiress had said that Leena was seeking her past, so Jasmina had been expecting her to connect with Ryou... or had the old busybody arranged Leena's curiousity? Otamio would not put that past her. "Clever little minx...."
Far too clever. It had drawn him to her when he was Lazlo Zand ... and made her so dangerous during those years before Alexander was old enough to step into Lazlo's place as head of Zand Industries International. Her place as head of Zand America had been a hard-fought compromise, although even now Otamio wondered if that had not been her desire all along. Like a veteran chessplayer, she thought moves ahead in the game, planned attacks and defenses for the future, saw the long-term in ways no mortal businessman could because she would be there to see it.
What battle was the bitch fighting now? "Leena...." Yes, she was the key to Jasmina. Old as she was when they'd met, Jasmina was still a woman, and from the moment she had held baby Leena she had desired the child as her own. The vampiress would do anything to protect her daughter ... so why would she send her to Japan, where Otamio could easily send agents after the girl?
Or did Jasmina expect him to do so? Yes, in the past he had sent agents against Ryu when he'd visited Japan. The one Tahalshia ... Blackthorne ... he had followed Ryu and the two of them had caused quite a bit of damage to Zand's Tokyo office before retreating to Isle Voletta. Sending agents would have been his first reaction upon discovering Ryou's presence in Japan. Now he would have to reconsider, knowing Jasmina had foreseen this. Protecting her daughter by forcing him to rethink his actions. Ahh... the woman was devious indeed.
Her daughter. No... wait. What was it she'd said? "Lazlo's adopted daughter...." Why would she refer to Leena that way? Before it was always 'my daughter', 'my Leena'. Jasmina would not have said it that way without reason. What did she say exactly?
"No child of the bloodline ... but Alexander and Lazlo's adopted daughter."
The demon sounded it out, considered it. No, Jasmina would not be that obvious, would she? Adoption was not uncommon in Japan, even in the days of the Shogunate. Adding a child to the family, giving the child the family name, the family's rank, marking the child before the ancestors as one of their own. Otamio recalled the adoption proceedings quite clearly, he had overseen and signed Leena's paperwork himself, not a month before the battle with Ryu where he was forced into Alexander's body.
"I adopted Leena!" The revelation hit like lighting. He, Otamio, head of the Zand bloodline, ancestor of the bloodline, had been the one to adopt Leena. He had been in the mortal form of Lazlo Zand, but unlike his current state, he had been in full control of the body. Laughter erupted, as he saw the trick Jasmina had played on the both of them. Leena was going to honor her father, her natural bloodline; yet his own oaths had made her his own flesh and blood. "You lovely, devious witch..." Otamio said fondly, imagining Jasmina's pale features before him, smiling in that knowing way that had always inflamed him. "She is mine!"
****
"T'isna like SeanEric n' Shadrick ta miss dinner," Teamhair fretted. "Well... p'haps SeanEric. When's he's out wit' the lassies." she added dryly, noting her husband's raised eyebrow as Blackthorne helped himself to thirds of his wife's excellent shepherds pie. "Bu' even then, he'd call, even if t'was wit' a lie 'bout where he was."
Blackthorne frowned a bit around a mouthful of delectable food. "He'd said something this morning about going to the firing range," he said after swallowing. "Should have been back by now."
Nitram was in one of his more lucid periods, possibly due to the second glass of red wine he was washing dinner down with. It was an odd fact that alcohol made him more sane than drunk. "Yes. Shadrick said the same to me. Odd, though... he doesn't seem to be anywhere on the island."
Teamhair and Blackthorne exchanged glances, knowing better than to ask how Nitram knew that. As head of the family and CovenMaster, Nitram just knew such things. "D'ye thin' they went off ta N'Orlands wit'out tellin' us?" Teamhair asked, not adding the 'again' that should rightfully be there. With the city only an hour away, the boys had gotten into a lot of trouble by taking off without telling anyone during their teen years.
Nitram shrugged, looking forlornly into his empty goblet. "I'm not sure... but it might explain why Smiter is missing. And why the Shrine Of The Rising Sun is resonating in my head."
"Th' what?" Teamhair asked.
"Smiter's gone too?" Blackthorne asked at the same time.
"The Shrine of the Rising Sun..." Nitram repeated. "Two hours outside of Nagasaki, on the mountainside. There they once worshipped a god/demon of shadows."
"The little blighters," Blackthorne muttered, shaking his head in amaze. "No wonder SeanEric wanted to borrow my pistols. I'll bet Shadrick took that sword of yours as well, Nitwit. They've somehow sneaked aboard with Ryou and Leena and have gone to Japan."
"They What?!" Teamhair shouted, making the Manor shiver with the might of Upset Mother. "Th' damn fools, wha're they thinkin'? Why th' hell'd they go an do som' fool thin' as that an'way?! Oooo... jus' wait til they're home, they'll no sit down fer a month o' Sundays!"
"My lovely wife, they're in thier twenties..." Blackthorne pointed out. "You can't spank them anymore."
"Watch Me."
"Well, the sword will keep them safe from all dangers there." Nitram reflected as a bottle floated over to refill his glass. "But I pity them when they get back. Not even Smiter can save someone from an angry mother."
***
In Japan, SeanEric slipped out of the shadow he'd hidden in as the Japanese Customsmen left the plane. "Ok, Shadrick... coast is clear, let's catch up to them."
"Uh... you go ahead. I'll catch up." Shadrick's voice answered from inside the same shadow.
SeanEric gave the shadow a glare. "We gotta stick together, Shad. Now come'on, or we'll lose them in the crowd." The shadow peeled away from the wall, slowly taking humanoid shape... but never quite getting there. It was as if Shadrick was stuck as a shadow. "Shadrick? What's wrong?"
"I'm stuck in this shape, that's what's wrong, you twit." Shadrick's voice hissed from the shape, as if unable to talk above a whisper. "Something about this country is fuckin' with my powers! Trust me -- the other option's even worse! What is it with these people and amorphious tentacled beings, anyway?"
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
-
Darth Yoshi
- Metroid
- Posts: 7342
- Joined: 2002-07-04 10:00pm
- Location: Seattle
- Contact:
Tentacles! 
Seems a little shorter than previous chaps, but coolness all the same.
Seems a little shorter than previous chaps, but coolness all the same.
Lore Monkey | the Pichu-master™
Secularism—since AD 80
Av: Elika; Prince of Persia
Chapter 15: Riddles from the Shadows
*RingRing*
*RingRing*
"Tahalshia Manor, this is Nitram. If you're wanting to speak to my daughter Elizabeth, press 1. If you're wanting to speak to Blackthorne's daughter Jhelian, press 2... and god help you. If you're wanting to speak to ..."
Jasmina smiled, listening to the voice recite how to contact which Tahalshia. Absently she wondered if the warning was due to Jhelian's own temper, or to her adopted father's proficiency with both guns and knives. As her plane flew nearly on the tail of another private flight, Jasmina pressed correct button and waited patiently for the line to be answered.
In Tahalshia Manor, the remaining members of Tahalshian Magick gathered up in the old nursery, long since reconfigured into a dorm-style common room between their bedrooms. How this was managed with six full-size bedrooms with baths in an area that from the outside should have had merely two rooms was one of the Manor's little quirks.
Jhelian rolled her eyes as the phone rang her tones. "If that's Martel...." she muttered as she rose to answer it.
"It's not." Elizabeth answered, frowning slightly. "I... dont' know who it is."
Jhelian frowned, already picking up the phone. "Hallo?"
A soft voice spoke on the line, low and rich with an exotic accent underneath. "Child of Hotoro, why did you not go to Japan with your brother and sister?"
Jhelian gave Elizabeth, Jayden and Aeron a worried glance, wishing she had thought to activate the spell of Mind Speaking. "Who is this? How d'ye know who I am?"
Elizabeth shook her head silently, spreading her hands to show she couldn't help here. Jayden and Aeron exchanged glances, before rolling out tiny laptop computers and starting up programs that certain operatives in the US governments would give their left nut for.
"Tracing call, Jhelly..."
"...Keep her talking..." they said, finishing each others sentence unconsciously as they worked.
Jasmina noticed a light flash. Yes, they were tracing her, the little geniuses. Well... she had tricks of her own. "I know the who and I know the how, Jhelian Ryanna Mauri Tahalshia. I know many things about Hotoro, his wife, and his Irish Bard. Did you get her temper or his?"
"What does it matter ta ye? Ye dinna say who you are, so I dinna hav' ta talk ta ye." Even as Jhelian said that, she saw Jayden and Aeron both look up and frantically shake their heads. Obviously, tracing the number would take longer than she thought.
"Ahh... so you have his, then." Jasmina replied, smiling slightly at a memory of Ryu saying those exact same words. "Have you met Alexander? He has his father's temper, although he never asked for anything from him, poor boy."
"... Wha' d'ye know of th' Demon, since yer playing these games..." Jhelian answered cautiously. Jayden and Aeron were in deep conversation, lights flickering on the holographic computer screens as cell tower after cell tower seemed to light up over the West Coast. Even the communication grid in space would occassionally flicker as if something was skipping along the ground in a general easterly direction.
"I was not speaking of the Demon, Child. I was speaking of Alexander Zand." Jasmina corrected the girl, watching her own equipment to monitor her progress in evading the trace. "Or did you not notice the difference?"
That took Jhelian back a moment. "Are ye saying there is one?" she asked cautiously. It had worried them when SeanEric told them of the change in Zand's behavior from the time they'd left the greenroom until he appeared to taunt Ryu.
Was the child that dense, or playing for time? Jasmina did not have the luxury now to find out. Whomever was conducting the trace was very good. "As much as between Light and Dark, or the sides of a coin, Child of Ryu. Their battle twenty years ago had weakened the demon to where a mere child could defeat him."
Jhelian frowned, realizing the woman was riddling her. Unfortunately, thanks to her Uncle Nitram's madness, she could figure this one out. "Two souls in the body?" she asked, and Elizabeth's sudden reaction, nodding her head confirmed it.
"Ahh... your mother's wits, I see. I shall have to be more careful with my riddles, then..." Jasmina smiled slightly with pride in the child. The lights flashed warningly, telling her they were getting too close. "The question is, Child of Hotoro... now that you know... what shall you do?"
*Click*
"FUCK!" roared the twins in mutual frustration.
"We were so close!"
"We nearly had it!"
Jhelian put the phone down on the hook, moving to sit down near so she could see the monitors and hopefully understand what Jayden and Aeron were about to say.
"Whomever it was, they're clever..." Aeron started.
"... We could tell they're on a plane heading east..." Jayden continued.
"... using the cell towers on the ground.."
"... and hopping the satellites."
"But there's no corresponding flights..."
"... of commercial jets at least..."
"... following that flight path, so.."
"... it's gotta be a private jet."
"Can you find which one?" Jhelian asked, getting a slightly sore neck as she always did when the twins were finishing each other's sentences.
Jayden and Aeron looked at each other, then down at their respective laptops. "Ummmmmmmmmmm..."
"Great." Jhelian sighed, running her hand through her red-gold hair. "Weel... fer those that dinna hear it... A woman jus' told me that the Demon an' Alexander's two souls in one body... like Unca Nit an' Rage." That made Elizabeth and the twins all wince. Nitram's magic and madness had given all his darkest desires a literal life of its own, a true 'inner demon' that got out to bedevil the family rarely, but with nasty concesquences each time. Only Elizabeth could contain him, as he refused to harm her.
"So... if the Demon is sharing with Alexander..." Jayden muttered
"... does Alexander want him there?" Aeron answered.
Elizabeth looked solemnly to Jhelian. "A house divided will fall. If Otamio is fighting Alexander, he can do less to harm us."
Jhelian looked down, her brown eyes hooded as she thought. Finally, she looked up at Jayden and Aeron. "Find me where he's stayin'... an' I wish Shadrick an' SeanEric were here...."
***
Shadrick slipped from shadow to shadow, muttering darkly to himself all the time. Stupid bloody Japanese and their weird god/demons. He glared over at SeanEric, currently wearing his favorite animal shape: a very dapper black cat with a touch of white under the chin and brilliant green eyes. That cat had been allowed into every girls lockerroom and bathroom in three schools, including the Catholic girl's school. Of course, so had Shadrick... but cats get petted and hugged by half-naked girls, while shadows just lie in the corner. "It's not bloody fair."
**Hey, stop whining** SeanEric's mind voice once again reminded him. **Shadows shou'na have voices mutterin' in 'em. Now... where'd they go? I'm a little short here...**
"Turn right at the beer machine," Shadrick whispered. Beer, fer Light's sake. Sold on the street, inside coin-dispenser machines that took whatever credit card you had handy. Japan was just fucked up. "They're headin' for the train station."
**Not another one! That last one barely had room for people to breathe! I swear I saw conductors pushing people just to get the doors to shut!** SeanEric complained, still angry over the guy who'd stepped on his tail. That was a salaryman who needed a new pair of pants....
"You were the one who decided not to be yourself... I'm just stuck this way."
*RingRing*
*RingRing*
"Tahalshia Manor, this is Nitram. If you're wanting to speak to my daughter Elizabeth, press 1. If you're wanting to speak to Blackthorne's daughter Jhelian, press 2... and god help you. If you're wanting to speak to ..."
Jasmina smiled, listening to the voice recite how to contact which Tahalshia. Absently she wondered if the warning was due to Jhelian's own temper, or to her adopted father's proficiency with both guns and knives. As her plane flew nearly on the tail of another private flight, Jasmina pressed correct button and waited patiently for the line to be answered.
In Tahalshia Manor, the remaining members of Tahalshian Magick gathered up in the old nursery, long since reconfigured into a dorm-style common room between their bedrooms. How this was managed with six full-size bedrooms with baths in an area that from the outside should have had merely two rooms was one of the Manor's little quirks.
Jhelian rolled her eyes as the phone rang her tones. "If that's Martel...." she muttered as she rose to answer it.
"It's not." Elizabeth answered, frowning slightly. "I... dont' know who it is."
Jhelian frowned, already picking up the phone. "Hallo?"
A soft voice spoke on the line, low and rich with an exotic accent underneath. "Child of Hotoro, why did you not go to Japan with your brother and sister?"
Jhelian gave Elizabeth, Jayden and Aeron a worried glance, wishing she had thought to activate the spell of Mind Speaking. "Who is this? How d'ye know who I am?"
Elizabeth shook her head silently, spreading her hands to show she couldn't help here. Jayden and Aeron exchanged glances, before rolling out tiny laptop computers and starting up programs that certain operatives in the US governments would give their left nut for.
"Tracing call, Jhelly..."
"...Keep her talking..." they said, finishing each others sentence unconsciously as they worked.
Jasmina noticed a light flash. Yes, they were tracing her, the little geniuses. Well... she had tricks of her own. "I know the who and I know the how, Jhelian Ryanna Mauri Tahalshia. I know many things about Hotoro, his wife, and his Irish Bard. Did you get her temper or his?"
"What does it matter ta ye? Ye dinna say who you are, so I dinna hav' ta talk ta ye." Even as Jhelian said that, she saw Jayden and Aeron both look up and frantically shake their heads. Obviously, tracing the number would take longer than she thought.
"Ahh... so you have his, then." Jasmina replied, smiling slightly at a memory of Ryu saying those exact same words. "Have you met Alexander? He has his father's temper, although he never asked for anything from him, poor boy."
"... Wha' d'ye know of th' Demon, since yer playing these games..." Jhelian answered cautiously. Jayden and Aeron were in deep conversation, lights flickering on the holographic computer screens as cell tower after cell tower seemed to light up over the West Coast. Even the communication grid in space would occassionally flicker as if something was skipping along the ground in a general easterly direction.
"I was not speaking of the Demon, Child. I was speaking of Alexander Zand." Jasmina corrected the girl, watching her own equipment to monitor her progress in evading the trace. "Or did you not notice the difference?"
That took Jhelian back a moment. "Are ye saying there is one?" she asked cautiously. It had worried them when SeanEric told them of the change in Zand's behavior from the time they'd left the greenroom until he appeared to taunt Ryu.
Was the child that dense, or playing for time? Jasmina did not have the luxury now to find out. Whomever was conducting the trace was very good. "As much as between Light and Dark, or the sides of a coin, Child of Ryu. Their battle twenty years ago had weakened the demon to where a mere child could defeat him."
Jhelian frowned, realizing the woman was riddling her. Unfortunately, thanks to her Uncle Nitram's madness, she could figure this one out. "Two souls in the body?" she asked, and Elizabeth's sudden reaction, nodding her head confirmed it.
"Ahh... your mother's wits, I see. I shall have to be more careful with my riddles, then..." Jasmina smiled slightly with pride in the child. The lights flashed warningly, telling her they were getting too close. "The question is, Child of Hotoro... now that you know... what shall you do?"
*Click*
"FUCK!" roared the twins in mutual frustration.
"We were so close!"
"We nearly had it!"
Jhelian put the phone down on the hook, moving to sit down near so she could see the monitors and hopefully understand what Jayden and Aeron were about to say.
"Whomever it was, they're clever..." Aeron started.
"... We could tell they're on a plane heading east..." Jayden continued.
"... using the cell towers on the ground.."
"... and hopping the satellites."
"But there's no corresponding flights..."
"... of commercial jets at least..."
"... following that flight path, so.."
"... it's gotta be a private jet."
"Can you find which one?" Jhelian asked, getting a slightly sore neck as she always did when the twins were finishing each other's sentences.
Jayden and Aeron looked at each other, then down at their respective laptops. "Ummmmmmmmmmm..."
"Great." Jhelian sighed, running her hand through her red-gold hair. "Weel... fer those that dinna hear it... A woman jus' told me that the Demon an' Alexander's two souls in one body... like Unca Nit an' Rage." That made Elizabeth and the twins all wince. Nitram's magic and madness had given all his darkest desires a literal life of its own, a true 'inner demon' that got out to bedevil the family rarely, but with nasty concesquences each time. Only Elizabeth could contain him, as he refused to harm her.
"So... if the Demon is sharing with Alexander..." Jayden muttered
"... does Alexander want him there?" Aeron answered.
Elizabeth looked solemnly to Jhelian. "A house divided will fall. If Otamio is fighting Alexander, he can do less to harm us."
Jhelian looked down, her brown eyes hooded as she thought. Finally, she looked up at Jayden and Aeron. "Find me where he's stayin'... an' I wish Shadrick an' SeanEric were here...."
***
Shadrick slipped from shadow to shadow, muttering darkly to himself all the time. Stupid bloody Japanese and their weird god/demons. He glared over at SeanEric, currently wearing his favorite animal shape: a very dapper black cat with a touch of white under the chin and brilliant green eyes. That cat had been allowed into every girls lockerroom and bathroom in three schools, including the Catholic girl's school. Of course, so had Shadrick... but cats get petted and hugged by half-naked girls, while shadows just lie in the corner. "It's not bloody fair."
**Hey, stop whining** SeanEric's mind voice once again reminded him. **Shadows shou'na have voices mutterin' in 'em. Now... where'd they go? I'm a little short here...**
"Turn right at the beer machine," Shadrick whispered. Beer, fer Light's sake. Sold on the street, inside coin-dispenser machines that took whatever credit card you had handy. Japan was just fucked up. "They're headin' for the train station."
**Not another one! That last one barely had room for people to breathe! I swear I saw conductors pushing people just to get the doors to shut!** SeanEric complained, still angry over the guy who'd stepped on his tail. That was a salaryman who needed a new pair of pants....
"You were the one who decided not to be yourself... I'm just stuck this way."
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
*smirk* Keep it up, Tev, you're making this story even more interesting.
I wonder what that mischievous vamp is up to....
I wonder what that mischievous vamp is up to....
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
-
Redleader34
- Jedi Knight
- Posts: 998
- Joined: 2005-10-03 03:30pm
- Location: Flowing through the Animated Ether, finding unsusual creations
- Contact:
Your story makes me feel good inside. Nice fusion of SCi-fi with fantasy. KEep it up
Dan's Art
Bounty on SDN's most annoying
"A spambot, a spambot who can't spell, a spambot who can't spell or spam properly and a spambot with tenure. Tough"choice."
Bounty on SDN's most annoying
"A spambot, a spambot who can't spell, a spambot who can't spell or spam properly and a spambot with tenure. Tough"choice."
-
Ford Prefect
- Emperor's Hand
- Posts: 8254
- Joined: 2005-05-16 04:08am
- Location: The real number domain
Umm... since I dont' even know what that means, a little translation might be needed?Ford Prefect wrote:I laugh heartily at the boys in Japan. Poor bastards won't really know what they're in for until they see a lobster fight a beetle. Or Hard Gay, for that matter.
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet