: The Ghost Of Your Past : [Keara]

[Enver Marshall II]

"Great." Enver groaned when Deanna showed up. Like he needed her to show up and take his wife's side just because she could and would. A hand jetted through his hair as he waited for Dea to make her two cents known, but she was currently busy with Jaime. Good. Just how he liked her. Out of his business. Out of his and his wife's business.

Keara wasn't letting what Enver had said go though. Enver's jaw tightened as he listened to Keara do what Keara did and make what he said about her for whatever reason. He resisted the chide to tell her to banish Dea and have his wraith since she seemed to apt to defending its behavior, but Enver didn't. Even if he wanted to. Badly.

"That's not-would you just." Enver growled, feeling his temper rise with each word his wife spoke in the wraiths defense. His hand clenched at his sides as Keara said the last thoughts on her mind, before Deanna interjected. Enver was ready to blurt out that she should mind her own business as she attacked him over his choice of words that weren't intended for Keara at all, when Deanna turned on Keara. She didn't paint a pretty picture about Enver and the type of person he was, and she would know he didn't appreciate it by the scowl in his eyes as she said her final piece of mind and looked in his direction.

Enver stared at her slack jawed now, not sure what to say. Again, he felt like telling her to shut it and stay out of their business, but she had some quality arguments in his favor. "What she said. Some things can't be fixed." Enver grumbled, moved past his wife and took a seat on the couch next to the one Jaime sat on. "Anyways, I got it for you, Deanna. Make nice with it and do whatever wraiths do." Enver threw his hands up as he kicked his feet up, crossed his arms and scowled at the television Jaime had been watching earlier in the night.

[Keara Aithne]

Keara watched as Enver slunk away and went to sit with their son. Yes, Deanna had in some way diffused the situation but with Enver pulling away from the elder, she couldn't stop herself from pouting just a little. A small nod of the head was all she gave her audience before she moved to sit at her husband's feet. This was a much practiced gesture on her part, and one that had two main motivations behind it. One was to elevate her husband above herself, the other being that sofa's still scared her. It wasn't a fear she could control and sitting upon one left her all too shaken. This was a reason she often settled on the coffee table, or the floor. With Enver on the sofa, she was careful not to get too close to the object and instead leant with her side pressed against his legs. For whatever reason she was unable to look at him. Deanna had been right, Enver didn't always think before he spoke and he likely wasn't aiming the words at her.

As the pair re-connected in their weird little way, life began to return to the room. Jamie looked a lot more relaxed and the puppies began tumbling around the floor, playing and nudging one another. Deanna however decided to investigate her new toy. She suspected Enver liked her more than he ever let on, and if she had features to give away her mood, the male would have seen that she was smiling. She circled the new entity, looking it over.

"Does it speak or what?" she asked Enver. "Hey, you. Do you have a name? Where you from? Why are you being so quiet?"

Not ever wraith was like Deanna, and few retained their minds after being trapped in the shadow realm for any length of time. The same could be said of vampires too, if Keara was anything to go by. The other Elders, however, hadn't seemed to come back nearly as damaged. In fact most fit right in as if they'd never been away. Though many of those that had returned had long fallen silent in the city with but a few being seen on a regular basis. Keara may have taken a while to adjust to her surroundings, but she had grown strong and still continued to train on a daily basis. Whether this wraith would be anything like her sister, was something that only time could tell.

Keara placed a hand on Enver's ankle, her head resting on his knees. She watched her sister with interest, wondering if a friendship could be formed between the two spectral beings. More than that though, she marvelled at just how thoughtful her husband could be. He had not summoned the being to do his bidding. No, he had summoned it to keep her sister busy. To give Deanna a companion of her own. It was a sweet and thoughtful gesture, one she could not fault, even if she suspected that half the reason he wished to keep Dea busy was to keep her from meddling in his affairs. No. She chose to believe that this gesture was a selfless one, after all her husband was capable of great kindness, and it warmed her heart to be reminded of that fact.

[Enver Marshall II]

"It talks alright. And then some." Enver glared at the wraith, recalling what happened when he came across it and attempted to take it peacefully. Sort of. As Deanna looked at the other wraith in the room, the other wraith in kind observed her. The wraith circled Deanna, as much as she circled him, before the wraith floated backwards a little and finally replied.

"Does not everyone have a name?" It whispered, floating around the room, observing things it had never seen before. "Does it matter from where I hail?" The tone was male, undeniably so as the wraith bantered with Deanna. "Silence allows moments of self-reflection and observation. What is this place?" The wraith was asking no one in particular, anyone that would answer him would suffice.

Enver decided to put his two cents in, because that was just Enver. "Our home." It was a vague statement, which didn't fulfill the wraith's inquiry, so it chose to ignore Enver and turn its full attention to Deanna. "In what year are we?" The wraith stopped behind the television, peering over and around it as it waited for a response from Deanna, while Enver's attention drifted from it, to his wife who was now sitting at his feet. Enver was aware of her fear of the couch, even if he had never been sucked into it before, but made no move to collect his wife and set her in his lap. He knew by now, even if there was something between her and it, that it wouldn't matter and would prefer to avoid yet another altercation with his wife for the night. So instead, Enver slunk down off the couch and to the floor where his wife was at, then collected her in his lap. "I'm sorry gorgeous. Let's kiss and make up?" Enver grinned cheekily before he waggled his brows at his wife and went in for the kiss, not giving her a second to think about it.

[Keara Aithne]

The wraith mirrors Deanna's behaviour and she watches it closely. She can't stop it if it tries anything but the instinct is there regardless of that fact. It's answers annoy her, as it's clearly playing games and while she wasn't above playing a few herself, she didn't want a shifty wraith living in her home. She didn't care if it did have to be banished, as far as she was concerned, if the thing couldn't at least try to play nice, it didn't deserve to stay. She may have tried to stir **** between Keara and Enver at the start of their relationship but she was doing it for the right reasons. This creature didn't seem to have anyone to protect and it's loyalty should have been to Enver for pulling it out of that hellhole.

"Listen up buddy. I don't care for games," Deanna began, ignoring the couple, the kid and the puppies. "Everyone has a name. Some people have several. I asked what it was so I can address you properly. But if you want to be a complete wanker, I can just call you that." The feisty little blob of shadow nodded what would have been her head and folded her wispy arms across her chest. Had she eyes, she'd of been giving him a death stare, but as it was her tone was enough to the emotion across. "And yeah it matters where you're from. you could be the enemy for all we know. You speak like you're older than most wraiths and Keara, well, she didn't play so nice with other before she returned. So if you plan to hurt her, Enver needs to banish your sorry arse quick smart. So yeah. It matters who you and where you're from and why you're here. Besides the big guy thinking I need a play mate that is. None of us here hail from this sorry arse city. Well. Besides the puppies. Five of them were born in just upstairs. And you know. We'd be happier answering your questions if you answered ours. But since I'm not a complete prick I'll tell you. It's two thousand and fifteen. And you are standing, correction floating, in Jamie's apartment." She gestured with a spectral arm towards the kid on the sofa. "Jamie's Keara and Enver's son. Adopted. Obviously. Actually, he's one of Kay's distant relatives. And this apartment is in Aithne Asylum, which belongs to my sister Keara and her husband Enver. I'm Deanna and I'm bound to Keara. Obviously. So... are you going to tell us who you are now you know who we all are?" Her spectral arms were back to being folded and her attention was one hundred percent upon the unknown entity in their midst.

While all this was going on, Jamie had gone back to his gaming. He'd considered leaving the room altogether but wasn't sure if he wanted to get any closer to the newest addition to the family and felt he was probably safer staying close to his parents even if they were once more wrapped up in one another. The puppies were once more prowling the room and roughhousing with one another, apparently no longer worried by the tension in the room, as it had eased between their owners at least. Keara curled up in Enver's lap, going all too willingly as he scooped her off the floor. The kiss too was readily accepted and returned with her usual fervour, although she was unable to wrap her arms around his neck for fearing touching the sofa, and so had settled for placing her hands, lovingly on both his cheeks. As the wraith ranted, Keara was lost to that kiss and while they kissed, Jamie muttered something about getting a room that wasn't his, which also went ignored by the elder.

"Sorry too I am," she said as she finally pulled her lips from his, her eyes looked lovingly into his and she smiled. "Meant I did not, for an argument with you for to start. Know you do how I am."

That was all the explanation he got, as Deanna had already accurately explained what the issue between the pair had been and the raven haired female had nothing to add on the matter. In fact, despite the fact that it was Enver's insensitive wording that had set her off, Keara had all but taken responsibility for the almost argument between them, something Enver may have picked up on if he was as wrapped up in her as she was in him, as opposed to the spectral entities that were still facing off in the room.

[Enver Marshall II]

The Allurist knew that the Deanna could take care of herself. She made his life a living hell for damn well a near before she started to give up on Enver and tolerate him. And even now, they weren't close. Maybe, they talked to each other once a week in passing in some raid, or in the family home under the same circumstances.

So, Enver focused on the biggest problem; his wife. Maybe not anymore, but she had been mad at him over nothing. Nothing in his mind anyways. She was apologizing after he apologized, because Enver just learned to say sorry to sort of ease the tension while he thinks about the reasons to why he was sorry. He was sorry, for a couple reasons. Sorry she misconstrued what he was saying. Sorry that it led to a ridiculous argument. Enver didn't like arguing, but with two emotional individuals, that's what it often led to between the two of them.

"Let's just forget about it and start again?" Enver suggested as he got comfortable, sighing a little as he did this."How was your night gorgeous? Minus this as-" Enver caught himself and cleared his throat before restating his question. "Besides this problem. Uh, this difficult solution." He wanted to be sensitive of his wife's feelings in case this started yet another argument.

Meanwhile, the other two adult entities in the room were doing their own conversing. The unidentified wraith chuckled, once again distinguishing itself as a male being before talking. "It's been that long?" There was a tone of surprise and disbelief in the wraith's scratchy voice as it glanced around the room, then landed its eyes back on Deanna. "How long have you been here?" Another inquiry before it remembered that one had been made of it. "My name is Robert." No last name was given by the wraith, but at least some headway was being made. He almost commented about Deanna and her disposition, but decided to wait until he understood more of what was going on and the time he was in. Even if on a small scale. "Two thousand and fifteen, you say?" The wraith once again looked around before his eyes landed on Enver. "Is he as her? What is his story? The one who brought me here." There was no tone that could be detected through the scratchy voice of the wraith, but his gaze didn't let up from the older male in the room while he waited for Deanna's answers.

[Keara Aithne]

Keara didn't recognise the wraith's voice as it finally began to open up to Deanna as she was too busy listening to the voice of the man she loved and was now married to. Enver had her full attention. In fact, she was so focused upon him, that she didn't hear a single word exchanged between the two wraiths. The new addition to the family had all but been forgotten, until Enver brought it up that was and it wasn't exactly something that she wished to go back to discussing at that point. Instead she kissed him again and thought over his question. What had she been doing before Enver came home with his gift for Deanna?

"Playing with the puppies I was, before home you came. So my night quite good has been. Though," she glanced to Jamie. "Our son your sense of humour seems to have does. Asked he did if I a climbing frame for the puppies was, in place of a vampire to be. Amuses him I think it does for me so to see."

Jamie was smiling, so despite the fact that he'd gone back to his game, he was still listening, or at least he'd listened after hearing his name. While he might have been able to go without watching all the displays of affection between the pair, it did make him feel a lot more comfortable in their home knowing that the pair were capable of such tenderness.

Deanna floated a little higher, avoiding the oncoming mass that consisted of two tumbling puppies. The tiny creatures knew better than to get too close to the shadowy mass, but that didn't mean that accidents didn't occasionally happen. Not that Deanna was capable of really harming the critters, but the experience was jarring to them nonetheless.

"Yep. It's two thousand and fifteen and I have no clue how long it's been for you, considering I have no idea when you died. But I guess you were in that realm longer than us, as I think we were some of the last surviving vampires to die. I've been out a while now myself. And have adjusted well as you can see. I think I'm coming up on four years free. Keara's already there. She escaped like eight months before she got the power to summon me. And she got super lucky, don't you know, cos I'm great and she knew me from before. So I kind of know her already. You. You kinda got lucky too actually. Enver's..." she dropped her voice to a whisper, "well, he's kinda great actually, even if he can be a dumbass; just don't tell him I said so." Her voice raised again as she continued. "What do you wanna know about him exactly? Cos there's a lot I can probably tell you about him and I really wouldn't know where to start on that one."

Deanna stopped talking and looked over at the couple that were now canoodling on the floor. She rolled her eyes at the scene but no-one ever saw her facial expressions, which was probably for the best. A moment later she was smiling. She'd managed to stop an argument before it had begun and that didn't happen very often.

[Enver Marshall II]

Enver tentatively listened to his wife and then chuckled before shooting Jaime a cheeky smirk. "I knew he was going to be a good fit around here." Enver fought for Jaime the hardest, then looking for children to adopt and claim as their own son one day. A lot of vampires in the family were like his wife, and while he loved his wife and she had a lot more sense then him most the time, going through eternity so seriously all the time was the pits for the male Allurist. Even though Jaime's life would be short lived-or would it? That was a conversation they would have to have later. But if it were short lived, Enver would remember him the most out of the majority of the vampire's he's ever crossed. A great many of them kept to themselves and never talked to him; anywhere. Even Peter kind of fell off the face of the earth, and Enver had high hopes for him at one time. Jaime entering the lives of Keara and Enver softened the blow to Enver's personal hope and faith for the older guy he and Keara fought over.

"So what do you think?" Enver said after watching Jaime for a few minutes, lost in his own deep thoughts and reflection on how his life was now infinitely better thanks to his wife and their son. "About the wraith. Think we should keep him around? He was kind of a dick to everyone. Even to Deanna. I don't want her being harassed by him or anything for too long if he can't straighten his attitude out." Enver didn't want a negative environment in their home. This is where he spent his free time after a long night's work and to bring something negative to the home was dangerous to Jaime and wouldn't be appreciated by anyone.

Still lost in their own private conversations, Enver didn't notice that any headway had been made between his wraith and Keara's sister. "If the date is accurate, then I have been absent from this world for a very long time." The male wraith spoke, still barely above a whisper, as if trying to keep his and Deanna's own conversation private. "What is he? His path? Where does he hail from? How long have they-" The wraith seemed to struggle to find the right words to describe what he was seeing and feeling while he watched the two of them conversing. "What sort of trickery and magics did he use upon her to retain her?" The wraith realized how this might come across, so decided to add more. "They are different, it is obvious." Not that much better, but he clearly saw the two as very different individuals, given his own personal encounter with Enver and knowing what he knew and had seen of Keara.

[Keara Aithne]

Keara liked the camaraderie between her husband and their son. She didn't mind if they teased her, as she could take that and it was nice to see them both happy. Had she any shame over what her son had said, she wouldn't have dared to repeat it, but there was no shame in playing with her pets and allowing them to climb all over her. The little creatures adored their owners, which was a reason the calmer members of the canine family had begun settling down on the floor around them. Settling down within stroking distance wouldn't guarantee them attention, not from the pair that were often caught up in their own private bubble, but it certainly didn't hurt their chances any.

Some thought had to be given to Enver's question, especially if Keara wished to avoid having yet another argument with him. In all honesty, she wasn't sure what to think about the wraith. So far it had proved itself to wilful and untamed, but she couldn't hold that against it as the shadow realm was not a good place to be for any length of time. Some spiralled quickly into madness, while others took decades. The chances were good that creature had not long been dead and not long been a vampire before that. Their turning could have been dramatic and against their will and so maybe it harboured some resentment against those of their kind.

"Perhaps agree we should, for a trial period to give. If tamed it cannot be, if a danger to us it is, then action take we should. Like I do not for decisions in haste to make."

Enver would know this. Keara was capable of making snap decisions, but she prefer to take her time and make her decisions with a clear head, in her own time. It was only fair to give the wraith a chance and see if it was capable of changing its ways.

"Erm?" Deanna had to think about the wraiths questions for a moment before she could answer. "Well he's an allurist, and I think he's from California. Not that it matters. I mean that doesn't really tell you what he's like as a man. As for how long they've been together. I think it's something like two years. They got married pretty quickly. That was... January two thousand and fourteen. Actually. No. Wait. If you want to get technical, they did their hand fasting then, then they married in the town hall on their one year anniversary. And then they did some other sort of binding ritual six months back. As you can probably tell they're kinda into one another. I could probably scream right now and not one of them would look over at us. Well the kid and the dogs might, but those two... unlikely. But there's no trickery involved. Well not unless you count love as being a spell, which maybe it is. It probably doesn't hurt that fucks her brains out every chance he gets either."

Deanna should have explained that most of the old rules had been thrown out of the window since vampires returned to this realm but she didn't. She wanted to know more about the other wraith and to accomplish that she had to give the thing a chance to reply, which meant shutting up for a few moments here and there.

[Enver Marshall II]

Keara was, and always would be the more patient and rational of the two-in most things. Things that didn't involve Enver and any other woman in the world. It was a wonder that he was able to go into work at all, most nights because he was surrounded by women at all four of his businesses that were owned. She probably knew this too, which was why most nights Enver didn't actually physically go into work. He had phone conferences and skype calls to relay anything and everything important to be done or managed.

"Hrm." Was all the male said as he pondered what his wife was suggesting. A trial period. That seemed fair enough. Any employee in his employ had a ninety day 'trail' period, so why not the same for this wraith too? "Fair enough. Ninety days then." Enver said, having made up his mind that three months was more than enough time to figure out of the Allurist liked the wraith hanging around anymore or not.

Enver glanced over to where the two wraiths were, not really listening, just watching. His ears were trained on Jaime and what the television was saying, more than the conversation. He just wanted to make sure the wraith wasn't going to do anything to Deanna, even though he wasn't sure what one wraith could do to another wraith.

The wraith grew quieter, even more quieter than he was before as he listened to Deanna explain what she had come to know about the male that was in Keara's proximity. "Town halls?" The wraith was trying to process what Deanna was talking about. He understood the hand-fasting ceremony and even the binding ceremony, but the other seemed human in nature. He couldn't process either of those three options that Deanna had mentioned as ever happening, but most of all, getting married in a human place. "They are connected eternally?" The wraith's attention moved off Deanna and to the woman that was on the ground in front of the couch. "They what?" Again, he found it difficult to believe that the couple were doing anything intimate, but he was no idiot. He knew precisely what Deanna meant when she said what she said, but found that course of action between the two of them to be irrational. "That is sacrilegious. A sin of the highest of crimes for our kind. Punishable in the severest of ways." The wraith spat out, as he floated backwards from the other wraith.

"You listen here, buddy." Enver chimed in, hearing half the conversation. "I dare you to try and punish either one of us." Ninety days was starting to look like ninety seconds in Enver's eyes as he got off the couch to rise to his feet.

[Keara Aithne]

When Enver pushed up from the floor, Keara moved off of his lap and stood beside him. He was angry, talking about someone being punished and it didn't take the elder long to realise that something had been said about them. What she couldn't work out was why the wraith would threaten them. It had to be the new wraith that had said something to elicit that reaction, as Deanna would never threaten either of them harm; at least not with witnesses. If she were angry or upset, she'd of likely talked to Keara about when they were alone, and no recent conversation between the pair led Keara to believe that she would be angry enough with either her or her husband to attack them. Jamie shuffled on the sofa, but aside from that he made no move to join the conversation. As for the puppies, the ones that had collected around their masters quickly scattered, if be it a little reluctantly. They had after all been quite comfortable up until Enver decided to move and disturb their peace.

"Threatened us he did?" Keara asked looking to her sister for answers, even though Enver seemed to have heard something.
"He seems to have a bug up his butt about you and Enver. Not really sure why. He's talking though at least. So that's a start right."
"And so told you his name he has?"
"Oh yeah. His name is Robert and he died a while ago. Though I think that's obvious from the way he speaks. Though... I don't speak like that, so..." the spectral form shrugged her shoulders.
"Robert?" Keara repeated the name and stared at the entity in their son's apartment.

Rationally she knew it couldn't be him and yet now that it had been said, she took a closer look at the creature. Her powers appraised him and she gasped. The involuntary sound was met by actions that matched the emotion she was feeling. The rave haired woman took a step back, a hand covering her mouth as she stared at the new man among them.

"It's Ven," she whispered from behind her hand.

Keara's eyes were wide, as questions ran through her mind. Why now? Why here? Where has he been? Why couldn't she find him? Why didn't he just say who he was? What was he thinking? And then her thoughts quickly switched to concern for husband, her current husband. Would Enver banish him now? Would he allow her former husband and sire to stay? Would they be able to continue as they were with Ven watching over their shoulder?

It was now apparent why the wraith wished to attack them. She could only imagine how she'd of felt if the tables were turned and she had been summoned by his lover. It would have been a lot to process. Though she couldn't fully imagine that scenario now, as Enver held her heart and Ven was little more than memory; an important memory, but a memory nonetheless. Ven had sired her, taught her, nurtured her and she had been sure that she was in love with him; the latter being true right up until the moment she fell in love with Enver and realised what true love was.