A Wonderful End to the Day }{ [Ask Krae]

[Silvarn]

"If it's all the same, I'd still prefer to call you," the three voices dwindled to one, Edward's, "'little crow.'" he finished with an insufferable smirk. "Now then," he drew Lucid Edge from its scabbard, holding the point at the woman's breast, "On your feet."

His smile vanished for a moment, but came back as a devilishly wicked grin, "Unless you promise to be a good girl." he returned his weapon to its hold and crouched, tracker-esque, beside her, "I can't keep an eye on you all the time. And my group can't either. Especially when I'm performing. But, you came all this way to see the rehearsal. The least you can do is stay for the performance."

In his mind he reasoned he was not associating, socializing, or whatever the imp had called it, with her. He was merely playing a subtle game of cat-and-mouse with her. A guest is less likely to rebel than a captive.

"Tell you what," he smiled, baring the left half of his upper teeth cheekily, "If you promise to be a good girl, stay with us, and help us with equipment, we'll keep you fed and sheltered; and, more importantly, alive, until this whole ordeal is sorted out. Oh, and we'll make sure you get a front-row seat every time, assuming you survive the first." he winked roguishly at her, extending a chalky hand to her. "Well, what do you say, little crow?"

[Lujayn]

She stared at him incredulously, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. The nerve of this insufferable ass..! As he spoke, she grit her teeth in an effort not to just use what little of her power remained to try punching off his stupid head. Good God, he pissed her off! She was all but vibrating with pent-up rage, and it was only through sheer force of will that she managed to calm herself down.

She took a calming breath, and then smiled beatifically at him. It was a rather creepy sight, since her aura just screamed "doom, death, destruction". But the pleasant, bright smile stayed upon her face. "A front row seat? After what I saw you do? No thank you. I'll stay somewhere where risk of incineration is a little lower."

Then, she grabbed the back of his head, and smacked it into a nearby tree- not too hard, since she didn't want to use any of her barely-existent power, but enough to smart more than a little- and stared at him with her piercing eyes. "And I'll do that again if you continue to call me "little crow", you stupid piece of nuts."I apologize for the autohit... but I've been wanting to do that for a while ^_~; -

[Silvarn]

His first impulse was to kill her. Rip out her throat, lap up her blood, make her watch as he slowly devoured her. But, instead, a sadistic smile spread across his face, then he chuckled, "Good. I like them with a little spice.

"And it probably would be in your health's best interest to not be around us when I'm performing. And that creates a little puzzle." his stare bore down on her, "How to keep you around without killing you?"

He methodically tapped his naked chin, an impish grin plastered on his, a mischievous glint in his feral eyes, "How, indeed? I suppose, I could just tie you up and drag you along wherever I go, but I don't think you'd like that too much. Or your master, for that matter. Although, my men would like it very much if you were..." the hunger in his eyes returned as he swiveled his head to her, looking at as a predator finding its prey, "vulnerable...defenseless...submissive." he smiled angrily, pacing back and forth in front her. One could almost visualize the tail twitching in anticipation.

"Tell you what, little crow -- you promise to be a good girl, and I'll make sure my men don't do anything...unsavory to you. And if you try to run away, when I find you -- and I will -- I won't be nearly as protective. How's that for a deal?"

[Lujayn]

Krae watched him with expressionless eyes as he spoke, trying to think of a way out of her current situation. The only idea she had was to use a large amount of magic, reach her power limit, and turn into a crow to try and fly off, but she doubted that would work very well- she was absolutely defenceless in crow form, and she'd be taken down within seconds. She doubted her master would intervene, as well. He wasn't stupid enough to meddle- directly, anyways- with what was going on within the human plane. Whether or not he was fond of her at all, he'd just let her die. She had been created on a whim, after all.

She muttered a few choice curses in crow, a strange sound coming from a human mouth. She'd just have to play along, for now, until this was resolved, or until she had enough power to have a chance of fighting back- and that would take at least a week, if not more.

"Your men do not frighten me, hell spawn," she said dryly, "Nor your threats of the "unsavory", on the most part. However, pain is annoying, and my instincts drive me to avoid that as often as possible, so I suppose I'll be... cooperative, somewhat. Just stop calling me devil's blasted "little crow", and I'll be more or less happy to go along with what you want- within reason, of course."

She pursed her lips slightly, narrowing her eyes. "Although, pass a little message on to your master, or whatever it is you want to call them. If they plan on trying to use me as a bargaining bit with my master- god knows why, Kæs is a bloody fool- they most likely won't get anywhere."

She probably was sealing her own death warrant with this, but hey, might as well be honest. Maybe she'd get a quick death. "Although they're certainly welcome to try, I suppose. Idiot is prone to sudden whims, so anything's possible."

[Silvarn]

Edward's sleek eyebrow rose menacingly, matched by the wicked, toothy grin that spread across his face. "Such irreverence. I myself, being the loyal disciple I am, find that appalling. You see, I must have a certain degree of faith in my master, because I cannot directly communicate with him. Actually, I have only said one word to him.

"Now, in regards to your master. I have no idea what he is planning with you, if anything. All I know is my master has a bone to pick with yours, and thus, the pawns are not allowed to mingle until the word is given to act peacefully or kill." he bit his lower lip in a vain attempt to stop his excitement from showing.

"I'm very curious. Would your dying words be spoken in the tongue of Man or Crow?" he smiled cruelly.

"Anyway, I have to finish setting up for the Solstice tonight. You're welcome to assist, stand by, or whatever will keep you entertained for the next six hours. You're free to do anything, as long as you're a good girl and stay where I can see you."

He turned to go, but stopped himself at the last moment, "Oh, and don't even think about trying to hold my men ransom and use them to bargain for your freedom. I'd kill them in a heartbeat, and you in the next." Then he left.

[Lujayn]

Krae snorted. "Sounds much like your master has no faith in you," she murmured dryly to his retreating back, "If you can't even speak with him directly."

Not that she ever spoke with hers since being unceremoniously tossed onto the human plane. Then again, she'd never really tried, and she didn't want to start becoming dependent on him.

She sighed. "Devils are so annoying...," she muttered with a stretch, "Always butting into the lives of other creatures..." She thought back to his other question. "I wonder. Man or crow, hmm? Or maybe perhaps the tongue of the devils, since I know that, too. Hmmm."

She pondered this while following Edward back towards where the "Solstice", as he called it, was going to be held. She didn't want to do anything that could possibly be considered helpful for the ass- and she also didn't know how to set up anything, anyways- so she opted to stay in the branches of a tree, watching the procceedings below her.

To the outside observer, it would appear that she wasn't overly concerned over her predicament as more-or-less hostage, and they would be... mostly correct. It may have been overconfindence on her part, but she wasn't feeling very worried as to her fate. If she was going to die, she was going to die, and nothing was really going to change that- not in her current state, at any rate.

[Silvarn]

The rest of the daylight hours passed without event. Edward spent those hours humming to himself, a diabolical smirk on his face, as he methodically traced out occult symbols in the grass of the clearing. As the sun died for the day, Edward sat cross-legged in the dead center, staring intently at wherever Krae had decided to perch.

His men returned some hours later, just as the sun kissed the horizon, leading a group of about two dozen. Edward sighed in disappointment -- he had hoped for nearly four times that number. No matter, more would come once the infection took hold of those who had foolishly shown up. He rose and greeted each one cordially, with all the social grace and awkwardness of greeting invited strangers in an orgy.

The group of thirty mingled for approximately two hours as the sun sank into its grave. When the once-golden embodiment of Sol Invictus was red with His own blood, Edward nodded at his cohorts, who nodded back. They politely broke off their conversations and took their respective places at the apex of one of Edward's symbols.

Edward tapped his foot against a blood-red ruby he had placed on the ground. With every tap, the ruby glowed brighter with some internal light. The crowd, desensitized toward shows of magic, looked at Edward expectantly. When it seemed the ruby should erupt with the light burning inside, Edward stomped his foot upon it, smashing it. As he did so, flames roared from it, racing up his body and down the the edges of the symbol, lighting the clearing with his master's insignia. As the flames licked his body, they blackened, and he roared in much the same way he had earlier, save for it being exponentially more savage.

He sang his song about the witch and her beast again, his seven voices shaking the clearing, making the trees and the listeners quiver with ecstasy. As the song approached its climax, the listeners did not notice the blood trickling from their ears. At the end of the song, the sheer force of the final chord knocked them to the ground. Some got up, others did not -- whether willingly or not.

Without giving them time to pause, the Devil's Eager Nocturne launched into another song, the incantation to instill within them the Sickness, a magical mental disease destroying all their inhibitions, that only sunlight could cure. At the ending of the first chorus, the crowd lost control of themselves, driving themselves into an indulgent frenzy. Nocturne's eyes glittered darkly as he watched the crowd make animals of themselves, removing clothing, removing flesh, removing sanity. Some ran off to save themselves, some departed to spread the Sickness to their friends.

The song continued for an hour, and in that time, the crowd swelled fivefold, one hundred bodies joined together in one pulsating mass.

The night passed and the revelry raged on. When the Sol Invictus returned from his death and spied the sins these beasts had and were committing, the carousers wailed and beat at themselves, realizing what they had done. Nocturne, blazing in demonic glory, hid himself from the lances of the dawn and slipped away into some dark corner.

Yet, he could not help but smile.

[Lujayn]

Krae, off to the side, had watched this bloody orgy with a mixture of curiosity, revulsion, and a bit of disdain. She wasn't sure what the point of this was, and why the master of this man wanted this. Well, why did any devils want to do anything? Some seemed to enjoy dragging humans down to join them in the underworld.

Shaking her head, she left the bloodbath behind her, to roam a bit in the forest around it. She had sensitive hearing, so the screaming and moaning got a tad painful after a while, as well as with the slight sparks from demonic shielding to stop the influence from his wicked song from penetrating into her. She hadn't been aware of the shielding before, so she figured her master might have been stupid enough to cast it sometime recently, which meant he cared a little about her outcome in this. She didn't hold any hopes towards being rescued, however. He had idiotic tendancies, but he wasn't a total fool. Any direct meddling from him would bring any angel in the area rushing over, and that was always a pain to deal with. Not to mention, there was this guy's master to contend with. Her master wasn't all that high on the devil power scaling, after all.

With a short sigh, she pushed these thoughts out of her head. No use dwelling upon them, since it wasn't going to change anything. It was the influence of the human body, she was sure- humans had a tendancy to overthink things that muddled their perceptions. It was so much simpler when she'd been a simple crow.

And, since that's the way fate loved to work, she managed to stumble across Edward again. "Have fun?" she asked, leaning against a tree. "I have to ask- what are you gonna do with the dead? Eat them? Or just let them rot there? Seems like a waste to me."

[Silvarn]

Edward smiled lazily up at her, "Good morning to you, too." he greeted around his elongated canines. He stretched luxuriously, blinking furiously against the harsh light of the afternoon. He rubbed at his temples to alleviate the pulsing pain in his skull, as if he suffered from a hangover.

When he did not answer with sufficient haste, Krae repeated her question. "Oh, there's dead people?" he craned over his shoulder, spying the collection of the dozen or so corpses. "I wouldn't worry too much about them," he explained, "about half of them are merely unconscious, two or three are comatose, and one is just faking it. That leaves about three that are actually dead. And those ones are...taken care of." he raised a suggestive eyebrow, "Of course, not by me. Dead flesh is ash in my mouth. Now, those ones in comas..." he paused to lick his lips, "Need I say more?"

He leapt catlike to his feet, then nearly toppled over from a sudden attack of vertigo. He centered himself and swayed on his feet, smiling like an idiot all the while. "So...one Hell of a party last night, huh?" he put deliberate emphasis on the capitalization before winking ostentatiously at her.

[Lujayn]

Krae stared as he nearly toppled over. She managed to stay silent for about... two seconds. Then she burst out laughing, leaning against a tree to support herself. It was an odd thing to hear her laugh, since it was rather harsh and didn't really fit with how she looked... but hey, it was proof that she could laugh.

"Well I feel better about myself now: I'm not the only one who can look like a drunken fool," she muttered as she regained her composure. "And now Kæs is probably laughing at me. Wonderful." She cleared her throat and then went on as if nothing had happened.

"At any rate... the only reason I asked is because you haven't fed me yet. And I'm ." She gave him a look. "If you're going to be taking on pets, you should pay more attention and feed them, you know. Starving to death takes a while and it's not really very pleasant to watch."

[Silvarn]

"Mmm...I can feed you, and feed you well." he suggested in a husky tone, his seductive eyes glittering with malicious intent. "You're a crow, aren't you? There's plenty of meat in those fleshy sacks yonder. Help yourself. I promise I won't watch, if you're afraid you'll embarrass yourself with your manners. And you'd better hurry before they start to rot."

Edward stretched his arms over his head, accidentally revealing two or so inches of perfect white flesh. "Which reminds me -- you had every opportunity to make a swift escape last night when I was occupied. Why didn't you?

"Furthermore...we should clean up the mess before the authority figures find us. Then again, there's nothing quite like a little bloodshed first thing in the morning." he sat himself on the boulder he had been hiding behind, conforming his back to it and looking at Krae behind lazy eyelids.

[Lujayn]

Krae rolled her eyes. What was with this man and his love for making everything sound sexual? Or maybe it was her, and she was just reading too much into it. She doubted that, however.

"I'm not really a crow anymore- my master saw to that. While I can- and will- consume human flesh if I have to, this body rejects the idea- and the taste. If I were in my crow form ,that would be another story, but I'm not, and I don't want to be, so if you don't mind, I'd rather have what you would call "normal" food." She paused. "Actually, I don't care if you DO mind. Moving along.

"I haven't attempted escape since you warned me if I did, you'd hunt me down and give me what I assume would be a long, painful death. I don't really like pain, or death for that matter, so I'd like to avoid that if I could. I might run away when I'm more confidant that I can get away with it. While my master may possibly intervene, the chances aren't very high, and I'm not a very keen on gambling my life on something slim. I've only been around for a very short time- about two years on this plane, in this form, if you want to know- and I'd rather spend a bit more time on here before I meet my fate, which promises to be grisly anyways."

She stretched. "And I don't plan to actually help you with anything, so you and those poor excuses for men that you have with you can clean up- or not- all on your own. Although I might be persuaded." She wasn't looking at him at this point, but she could practically FEEL the leer she got from that. "And not that way, thank you very much. I mean by giving me something sweet."

[Silvarn]

He knocked a rock from his perch with a swift kick from his boot, answering, "Ah."

With catlike agility, he sprang from the rock, landing nimbly on the ground, all traces of inebriation vanished. "Now then," he mused, his chalky skin becoming a sickly off-white in the direct sunlight, "Where to begin? First of all, I have to find my followers. Then again, I could always find more. Speaking of bodies, I should start cleaning up the mess from last night. Then again, why? I'm not sticking around here, so let Nature take care of the filth."

He continued muttering aloud for about five more minutes, dismissing all onsets of responsibility. Besides, he reasoned, he needed to take a break from all the carousing last night.

He cleared his throat unexpectedly. Even the simple action caught him off-guard. Then the itching continued and escalated in intensity. Finally, Edward heaved and slammed at his gut, trying to spew the demon clawing at his innards. Finally, the demon was released in a spray of black ichor. In its dread bell-voice, the demon reported, "The master and the crow's have come to an accord. There is another servant, who broke away from his master, lurking out who is ruining the plans of both parties. You are to cooperate and take down the rogue by any means necessary. Do you understand?"

Edward nodded and opened his mouth wide to accept the demon back into his body. After much sputtering and bile, he centered himself and smiled at Krae, wiping his mouth, "Finally...a bit of action. What say we grab a bite to eat and embark on our merry quest?"

[Lujayn]

Krae watched him ramble, raising an eyebrow. One would think he was crazy. She hadn't yet ruled that out. She just patiently waited to see if he was going to talk to her, and if he didn't, she'd just mosey off and find something to eat for herself.

And then the little demon came out of his gut and made it's announcement. She stared at it, as it crawled back inside Edward, and then was silent for a moment as Edward spoke. There was a slight feeling of "calm before the storm" coming from Krae, just before she snapped.

"What?!" Came her rather high-pitched exclamation. "I am not going to-" Her rant was cut off when an unseen force snapped her jaw shut and turned off her vocal chords. Just go along with it, Krae, came an all-too-familiar voice in her head, I went through a lot of trouble to negotiate this, so just be a good girl and go along with it. And stop swearing at me, it's not going to change anything. Just eat something before you collapse and retrieve your gear that you forgot at that jail, and get on with it.

Krae coughed violently when she was given her speech back, and she glowered at the ground while she rubbed her throat. She sent the glower to Edward. "If you laugh I will hurt you," she muttered, more than a little petulantly. “Seems like I have no choice but to go along with this. Fine. Food, and then picking up my gear, and then we can go off and kill this creature that seems to have their panties in a twist.” She was so disrespectful. It was a wonder that Kæs hadn’t smote her yet.

[Silvarn]

Edward visibly stiffened as Krae remained eerily silent. He could almost feel the infernal presence speaking to her, but nothing more than a feeling. When her jaw relaxed and the presence faded, he resumed his usual arrogantly aloof stance.

"I promise you, lady, I would never dream of mocking you," he made an elaborate bow, sweeping his imaginary hat to her.

"Since we have to go back to town, why not get something decent while we're at it. Don't get me wrong -- I enjoy cold human flesh as much as the next man, but it does a body good to have something home-cooked every now and again. Maybe we'll run into my men while we're there. Odds are, I'll find Cakoph wasted in some back alley, and the rest at the various brothels in town. Honestly, they're like animals they way they incessantly -- " He stopped himself with a smile.

"Anyway, we're burning daylight. Shall we?" he asked, offering his arm and an uplifted eyebrow to her.