I seem to have forgotten your name! [Cai]

[Mora]

"Zara."
"Mistress Daradasi?"

The chocolate hues that belonged to her thrall looked at her with such intense curiosity that it unnerved Mora for a moment. "How do you feel about running a few errands with me?" Zara nodded her head in reply to Mora's question. Zara was her runner, she picked up the slack that Sabra used to do for her. Though, Sabra never asked what to do. She usually just did things without asking. She fetched ritual ingredients for her. Zara on the other hand liked to steal. She was craftier than Sabra ever used to be -- although her thrall stayed around Mora 99% of the time she did run off every now and again and steal things -- may it be silver rings or even just some nuts and bolts. Mora wanted her to collect things for Olive -- she knew her childe liked to meddle and build things. A thank you, really.

"What are we collecting today?" Zara asked as she plucked Mora's black jacket from its hook near the door. Mora placed the black jacket around her shoulders -- slipping her arms into their rightful places. She pulled her hood up. Leaving nothing to be seen about the vampires features but her mane of golden hair. Her moss green orbs were rimmed with black from the pencil eye liner, she never bothered with make up but tonight she felt like a change. She needed to go to the wilderness and pluck some rare flowers for her rituals. She was running lower -- and her surplus was just not growing quick enough for her.

"The wilderness Zara. We must collect some rare plants, for my rituals." Zara firmly nodded her head as she slipped on her own jacket in turn. The woman had red hair -- much like Olive's, it was comforting to the Telepath. She was never worried about the Fae that lurked there. Simply because she was never there long enough for them to notice her. They both left the building quickly. Zara had a woven basket latched to her arm to bring back their goodies in. Sabra usually went on her own to the wilderness to collect her plants, but because Zara was so new in Mora's company she didn't know what she needed, or what they looked like perhaps in time she wouldn't need to escort her thrall here and there. Zara was much like a child to Mora.

She slipped past the boundaries of Honeymead and headed north -- entering the dark depths of the wilderness that seemed to surround Harper Rock, she took each step slowly her moss orbs scanning the area for the flowers she needed. Bluehearts, Scarlets, Millfoil, Muskroot. These were the things she was most anxious to get her hands on.

"Over there?" She said -- as she rubbed her temple lightly. She had a headache, she never got these headaches but it was numbing. She grumbled as she walked. Zara was quick on the vampires heels pushing past twigs and various things. Her head stung again -- it seemed like something was stealing something out of her head. She grumbled again and continued to rub at her temple. Soothing the pain.

[Judas]

The crypt was silent. It was just Cai and his altar, and Poe of course but the thrall wasn’t saying much of anything. He was hovering, wringing his hands together as he watched the necromancer work the fae language with a practiced ease. Cai would have laughed if he hadn’t been concentrating. Not that he really needed to, the Unknowing ritual was one that he could do with his eyes closed. He was tired of the paladins attacking him when he rested, and he was almost positive that it had been one of them to kill his beloved Nancy. Just thinking her name still hurt, and he paused in his task as he remembered.

Nancy had been his friend. Granted she was nothing more than a zombie, a rotting, decaying being of nothing but she had been summoned by his Kit. And she had resided in the corner of his crypt for well over a year. Nancy had never harmed anyone, unless he included the times she’d scratched and tried to bite when he went to visit with her. But it never bothered Cai because to him Nancy didn’t know any better and she was a constant companion. The night they had woken and found her gone...something snapped inside of him. Always a rather peaceful vampire Cai had raged in a way that was so unlike him. Kit had tried to soothe him but he had been inconsolable. Summoning more zombies had done no good, they weren’t Nancy and Cai refused to let himself become attached. They were just...there.

“Mr. Cai?” Poe’s voice pulled him out of his musings. Looking back at the distinguished gentleman hovering behind him, arms full of ritual ingredients Cai smiled and took the items reliving the man of his burden. “Thank you Poe,” he murmured and pulled the hood tighter around his head as he turned back to the altar. The distraction had broken his concentration and he watched dismayed as the red demi fae ran off, wounding him in the process. With a sigh the quiet necromancer prepared the circle once more and summoned the fae. He had a mission and nothing would deter him.

With his mind back to where it belonged Cai completed ritual after ritual, forcing humans and vampires alike to forget his face. A couple of paladins, Mora’s childe Olive, and several other nameless vampires forget him time and again until the last ritual of the night. This time when the fae ran off, it went for a very dear friend of his. Mora. “Oh no,” he whispered, flowers falling from his hands as the fae fled to do the job it was meant to do.

[Mora]

Mora rubbed at her head again - it stung. It was as if someone ripped memories from her again. Mora grumbled and stood still under the long drapes of a near by willow tree. Zara had stopped what she was doing, and spun her head around to look at Mora. "Mora?" Zara was worried for the blonde Telepath, and I return the woman smiled at Zara. "Don't worry about it. I know this feeling. Someone has done a ritual.." Zara just blinked in response to Mora, not knowing what she meant by that. "A ritual?" She asked. "Unknowing." She said. Shrugging her shoulders. Her mind didn't know who she had forgotten and until she met the person she had forgotten she wouldn't let it bother her.

When she found out the face, and name she had forgotten was Cai -- then and only then would she worry, and panic.

"It's just a little further North. There's a lovely patch of Bluehearts." She said as she pushed her tendrils of golden hair behind her ears and began to move again ignoring Zara's worried glances. She took the woven basket from Zara and began to bend to the ground picking up various roots, and twigs. Inspecting them before chucking some into the basket linked in her arm and some to the ground.

"Why do you need flowers?" Zara asked as she caught up with Mora offering her some Muskroot she had picked from the ground. Her pink hands covered in dirt. Her nails were exceptionally dirty. Mora on the other hand took them from her outstretched palms and dropped them into the basket, answering her thralls question.

"They are needed to start certain rituals. It's just one of those things." Zara still looked confused and Mora just smiled, she didn't want to get into rituals with Zara. She'd prefer her thrall to hunt for her -- collect things rather than sit there and study rituals. The woman was good at thieving not at summoning the Demi-fae.

[Judas]

Mora. One of the best friends he had in the city. She wouldn’t be able to recognize him anymore and it felt like he’d been stabbed. She had always been so kind to him. Cai had taught the woman how to do rituals and she had returned the favor with kindness, sharing her ritual supplies and going out of her way to speak to him and make him feel welcome. Of all of the vampires and humans he had made to forget him this one was one of the ones that bothered him the most.

Poe was still hovering, wringing his hand in worry as he watched the young necromancer pace the length of the crypt. Cai paid the thrall no mind and he knew that Poe would take no offense to it. He backed away from the altar as if it were poisonous and without being asked, Poe hurried over and packed away the leftover ingredients. It wasn’t necessary but Poe liked to feel useful and clearing the altar was one of those mindless tasks he did to make himself feel that way. The thrall was very worried now. The altar was attached to Cai and for him to step back after doing only a handful of rituals well it was worrisome.

Cai left Poe to his task and disappeared into the lower room where the bulk of the hydros were kept. Maybe taking stock of what he had growing and collected would ease his mind though he knew it was going to be pointless. Making Mora forget would eat at him and after a few minutes of tending to his plants he discovered he was right at the same time he saw that he had no bluehearts planted. He knew who did though...maybe he should just get it over with.

He returned to the altar noticing that all traces of any rituals were gone as was Poe. His phone was where he’d left it on the shelf that was mounted to the wall above the altar. It was with great reluctance that he retrieved it to scroll down through his small list of contacts to find Mora’s name. His thumb hovered over her name for just a minute. Clicking he opened a new message and typed out a text to his friend. “Miss Mora I seem to be low on bluehearts. Have you any that you can spare so I might be able to start to grow some for myself?”

[Mora]

Mora’s phone buzzed. The vibrations distracted the telepath from her foraging. She was on a mission to collect the plants needed to carry on with her rituals; she wanted to make tomes mostly. She was still mastering the arts of getting her homebound done correctly within a couple of seconds. The Demi-Fae were pesky things. She were troublesome and tricky. She handed the basket of bluehearts she had collected over to Zara who took it graciously as Mora fished in her pocket for her phone. She pulled it out and read the text.

Cai.

Cai Dupree.

She nodded her head, he needed Bluehearts. Mora looked over to her basket, and began to count. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, … 9, 10. She could spare a few. Every time she tried to picture his face. She could never think of it, or remember the colour of his hair. Had it been that long? Then it twigged. Had that headache been an unknowing ritual? She pursed her lips together and mumbled. Clicking reply, she replied to her text.

-1 NEW TEXT -
Hey Cai! Yes. I have a few Bluehearts to spare. I need a few to grow myself. I’m in the wildneress if you want to meet me?

She clicked send on the text, and off her message went.

Zara offered the basket back to Mora who took it, grabbing a few more odds and ends as she walked by another tree. Zara on the other hand looked nervous as the wildneress and bushes around them got thicker.

”We might have some company soon.”
”Who!”
”Cai, he’s another ritualist. He’s not met you yet.”
”Is he your boyfriend?”
”No….”

Mora found herself laughing, as Zara looked embarrassed for asking.

[Judas]

All that was left for him to do was wait. Cai half hoped that Mora hadn’t gotten his text but that was just putting it off and well he wanted to get it over with didn’t he? He did but he didn’t. He wasn’t looking forward to seeing that blank look when she didn’t recognize him.

She would be better off never remembering who you are you horrid boy! You deserve this misery and I hope that more is heaped upon you for your sins.

Cai winced. Just when he thought he would get some peace that wretched woman who bore him made her presence known. She was dead. He had made sure of that so he didn’t quite understand how he was hearing her voice. His mother popped up at the worst times and never hesitated to start hitting him where it really hurt. Why wouldn’t she? She had hated him, cursed his very existence from the minute he was able to understand what she was saying to him. Addison had forced her beliefs on him and Cai had rebelled, never hesitating to sneak out and go against most of her teachings but she had eventually discovered what he had been doing and he had paid dearly for it. “Shut up Mother,” the necromancer muttered under his breath drawing a concerned look from Poe which he ignored.

Shut up mother? After everything I did for you this is how you repay me? You foul, loathsome creature I hope your soul never finds a shred of peace. Betrayer. I will make you as miserable as you made me!

The phone in his hand buzzed then giving him something to focus on other than that hateful voice. Mora had replied sooner than he had expected. She had what he needed all he needed to do was find her. He toyed with the idea of returning her text but decided against it as he pulled his hood low over his eyes and headed out of the crypt after informing Poe that he wouldn’t be long.

Mora didn’t give him an exact location but Cai had a decent idea of where he could find her. There was a good area not too far from where his crypt was that bluehearts were always easy to come by and he figured he could start there to see if his suspicions were correct, and as he neared the area he saw that his hunch had been correct. He kept to the shadows, warring with himself before he drew in a deep, unneeded breath, gathered his courage and approached her. “Hello Miss Mora.”

[Mora]

Zara found herself picking up random leaves which happened to be leaves, and shoving them in her basket, Mora shook her head and emptied them dropping them to the ground as they walked a little deeper into the wilderness, she still waited for a reply from Cai but all was quiet.

"These are bluehearts, Zara." she said as she knelt on the ground unafraid of getting her knees and legs dirty from the dirt. She plucked a small blue flower from the weeds and stroked its blue petals with interest, she raised it a little higher and she stood up to show Zara the plant, bluehearts were the hardest to come by and most needed when it comes to rituals, she had a large amount of everything else. She sighed and placed it into the basket as Zara nodded her head, and mentally jotted it down.

She heard her name then being called from the shadows, his voice was polite as he always used that lovely 'Miss'. Mora loved it when he used that simply because it showed respect for the other -- which Cai was full of. Mora scooted closer dropping her hood that hid her face, revealing her golden mane of hair and those forest green eyes were the exact shade of nearby moss that was growing on the ground -- Mora usually felt at ease in the wildernesses the fae never frightened her -- they had never hurt her either.

"Cai?" Her voice carried over into the darkness in which he resided but she didn't not know his face -- she canted her head to the side and squinted. No, this person wasn't the Cai she assumed she knew. "Oh I am sorry, I thought you were a friend! But you know my name, who are you?" she questioned taking a step back and looking nervously over to Zara to make sure she was safe.

[Judas]

It was just as he had feared. While his friend recognized his voice she didn’t know who he was just by looking at him. She’d forgotten his face, and it stung him just as he thought that it would. Countless vampires had been made to forget, humans too but this one was too close to him and he didn’t know how to fix it. Evil laughter filled his mind and he winced, hands coming up to press against his temples as if he thought that might help to banish that terrible voice.

Oh you pathetic boy. She really is better off not recognizing you. If I could do such a thing I would but even in death I am saddled with you. Judas. Betrayer. This is what you get. Murder is a sin Mordecai and this is your punishment. Your friends are forgetting you and your dear, departed mother is stuck in your head for an eternity.

Normally Cai was able to ignore the voice inside his head as it hurled abuse at him. He had been hearing it for a few months now and had gotten used to it but for some reason, tonight it grated on his nerves in a way that didn’t make much sense to him. Everything he had been trying to forget about suddenly came to the front and he was overwhelmed with so many different emotions that it made his head spin. His fingers pressed harder against his temples and suddenly everything went black. The shy aura that the necromancer usually displayed twisted and changed. It was replaced with a confidence that he had never displayed before as he straightened his spine. Green eyes took in the blonde in front of him as he pushed his hood back.

“I apologize...Miss uh Mora.” It was most definitely Cai’s voice but there was something different about that too. Try as he might he couldn’t quite pull off the timidness that the young necromancer normally had and he found himself stumbling over the usual titles and formal speech that Cai used. Anyone who know him and knew him well would definitely be able to tell that something had happened, and that this man was not the Cai everyone knew. “I am afraid that this evening I was practicing my rituals and unfortunately you were victim to one of my unknowings. I do not know how to fix it but perhaps you can ask me something that I would know about you and if my answer is satisfactory, that might convince you of my identity?”

[Mora]

Mora watched the male in front of her push back his hood, revealing green eyes just like hers, she watched him. Soaking in his features the woman in that moment, relaxed a little the only noise in her ear drums was Zara's heart beating within her rib cage. Mora tore her eyes from Cai and then looked to her thrall, her friend.

"You are fine Zara. This man won't hurt you." Mora smiled, as Zara's heart slowed just a little at her masters voice. Zara nodded her head and turned to look at the male in front of them, whilst Mora did the exact same thing. This man in front of her was cute -- yes that was the word to use, and even now as she moved a little closer to the male. He began to explain why she didn't know his face.

The inkling to the unknowing was correct, the headaches were just that. She folded her arms across her chest and 'hmmphed' she knew the outcome of the rituals were random, the Demi-fae chose its victims. She never understood it, if she could choose who forgot her face she'd mostly chose those she did not like and the paladins.

"I knew it." she muttered as she thought about a question to ask Cai, he seemed so polite right now. There was a thing she knew about Cai, that only Cai would know. Cai has taught her rituals, had been her friend - they shared ingredients. "Who taught me rituals?" she asked.

[Judas]

Excellent. He had pulled it off and he almost smiled but at the last second he caught himself. That was something he would need to practice until he got it right. And being called Cai was another thing that would take some getting used to. Eventually though, people would know he wasn’t Cai. No, he was Judas. Born from the hate that Addison Reid loved to spew at Cai in his mind. Her hate was so potent that he could almost touch it, taste it. And because of her and her spiteful, vindictive words Cai’s mind shattered and when it did Judas was born. Judas the Betrayer, just as Addison had always accused the young necromancer of being.

He could hear the heartbeat of the girl with Mora and his gazed flicked over to her, taking in her appearance but there was no recognition. Who was that? Zara, he’d heard Mora refer to her as but the name didn’t ring any bells. Perhaps Cai didn’t know who she was either. And if he didn’t, then neither would Judas. He could tell though, that Mora was protective of the human as since she was no harm would come to her when she was in his vicinity. Judas brushed her off for the time being, he was here for Mora.

“Who was it that taught you rituals?” That was an easy one. Some of Cai’s fondest memories were of those lessons and because of that they were ridiculously easy to access. Judas thumbed through each one and got intimately familiar with everything down to the smallest, most insignificant detail. It was too soon for Mora to know that anything was different but in time, it would be revealed. “Why Miss Mora that was me. I am the one that taught you the ways of the ritualist.” He smiled then, in a way that he hoped was convincing.