Midnight Parisitosis [TAG: Az, Niko. Invite Possible?]

[Azraeth]

She responded in Russian, which was something of an answer in and of itself, given that it wasn’t particularly common – at least not in Canada. Himself, Azraeth could speak English and French most fluently, because he had been raised with those. He had learned Russian as a small child, and picked up bits and pieces of written Latin and Sanskrit in his adult-life after having become a vampire. Mainly just because he had wanted to expand on his horizons, and his understanding of the spiritual forces that shifted just beneath the physical surface of the world. Not that any of those truths were all that surprising. Azraeth and Azariel had developed their own language before either had learned the finer points of speaking.

There was a certain irony to that though, because Raeth had been slow to develop a voice of his own. His parents had thought him mute for a while.

The fae language was another matter – more of a code than anything else for how it was used, and Az had worked for years on deciphering exactly how the phonetics could be used to command a leashed demi-fae. Dangerous territory there. “She says she’s from Anadyr.” He murmured to his sire. He wasn’t entirely certain if the man could follow the conversation, and generally found it best not to make assumptions. But then, Az knew very little in general about Nikolae’s past. The moment the two of them had met, their relationship had been immediately cemented as one of worship and devotion. Raeth didn’t view Niko as a person. Not really. More like some sort of dark god.

And one did not question the origins of a god. Cognitively, he knew that wasn’t true. He wasn’t mad, but Nikolae had always been more powerful than him. And where Raeth had never been afraid of anyone, where he had been more than happy to stare down any person that thought they had a right to subject him to their avarice or whims – he had never felt the need to question the man who had turned him. Maybe that was part of why Azariel seemed disgusted at them half the time. Azraeth had considered the possibility that he felt replaced. It was a subject they could discuss another time.

“You’ll have to forgive me, I’m not sure I know where that is. I come from Vancouver though. You will have to tell me a bit about your hometown.” Apparently on the way to the forest. Azraeth hadn’t anticipated that development. There were dangerous things there, like wolves, and bears, and mountain lions – things that he could dispense easily enough. And then there were the creatures of the earth itself, the wild forces of nature called Fae. Az only ever went into that realm of lush green when he needed to gather up flowers or herbs. It wasn’t really safe for any of them for one reason or another, but Azraeth had the advantage of being able to leave at a second’s notice should things decide to get hairy.

At the very least, animals – no matter how predatory, were not so dangerous as blood drinkers.

“Just promise me you’ll be careful and stick close.” The moon was about half full, and growing bigger by the day. They were less than a week away from the full moon, which would take place in December. As Soul slid closer, he felt fingers on his arm, though didn’t comment to the touch, rather he encouraged it by letting his own arm slip about the woman’s slight middle. The group surely looked odd. Three souls as pale as starlight, two men with hair inky and dark. It hadn’t occurred to Azraeth when he’d chosen his latest body, but he and Nikolae looked like they could have been related. Maybe that had been a subconscious part of his decision.

“That’s true, appearances are deceptive.” The phrase repeated more for his sire’s benefit than anything else. “But then, my favorite flower has always been belladonna. I love the parts of the world that are filled with beauty and poison.” Like Magog, the albino serpent wrapped around the arm opposite the one Soul was touching. Had the woman grasped the other bicep, she likely would have been surprised to feel irritated movement there. The death adder liked to remain close to Raeth.

He let Nikolae lead the way.

[Nikolae]

Nikolae glanced at the hand gripping his arm curiously, but he didn't say anything to discourage the woman's confidence or courage. He noticed Azraeth didn't either, and was somewhat proud of his first bornes charisma. He listened to the conversation, not understanding a word of it until Azraeth translated for him. His lips still twitched in wry amusement at the tart tone the woman gave as she boldly spoke with no concern whether he could understand her or not. He was only mildly surprised at Raeth naturally understanding the girl - he had vague memories of the little Russian boy that had once clung to his first borne in a worshipful way. He sometimes wondered where that one went, but like so many others he'd probably left the town altogether. Nikolae couldn't rightly blame him.

"I hope it's all you wish it to be," He added to Raeth's warning as he stepped down the road at an easy pace. The girl was smaller and human after all, and he wouldn't risk letting her fumble and fall. After her earlier display he also wasn't keen on seeing her have a panic attack if they should accidentally find one of the other immortals lost in a feeding frenzy. With that thought in mind he was scanning the road and alley ahead of them weary of the smell of blood. In this town though, there was always at least a hint of blood in the air. Nothing fresh tonight though, at least not where they were walking.

Soon enough the streets gave way to open fields and he made quick work of navigating the area he hadn't been to in some time. They stepped foot into the Grounds just as the sound of a lone wolf filled the air. He stilled, head tilting. It was definitely a natural wolf - not one of the vampires in a shifted form. Of that he was more or less certain.

"I'm sure Soul is as protective of animals as we are of her," He murmured with a light chuckle. He didn't know why, but the ethereal woman struck him as the sort that wouldn't idly stand by and watch an animal slain. All the more reason to keep his eyes looking for one of the immortals who took their sport here.

[Soul (DELETED 5864)]

Soul gave a soft nod, an unspoken declaration that she would heed his words and not wander too far off from the men during their journey to the wilderness. Though it would be difficult, were she to be honest about it, for her to not veer of course now and then at the sight of something appealing: some strange new flora, perhaps a hoard of mushrooms or a spider's web woven delicately against the open mouth of some rotting tree trunk covered in moss. These were the sorts of things that made her tick, the proof she needed to know that life was in fact ripe and brilliant and never to be taken for granted for a single second.

Belladonna. Deadly nightshade. Images of dark berries flooded her mind and she recalled a story of women who went blind from overusing the plant. How true it was that more often than not, the most beautiful things were among the most deadly. It must have been some sort of cosmic joke, a devilish little thing that their creator had done in order to relieve boredom now and then.

As they began to walk she realized that the quiet was much too loud. The poor girl was hardly used to having a peaceful head space in the dead of the night, not with those pesky little imps always taunting and teasing. These two men had come in so unexpectedly and silenced their torturous antics, giving her a moment of peace. Even so, she was ready to break the still.

"You asked about Anadyr. It's a port town settled at the tip of a great cape in between the Bering Sea and the Chukchi Sea. It lies between mountains and the cold of the gulf. Beyond that there is nothing really. Just empty land. Tundra." She shrugged. "No humans live out there." No humans.

It was the manner in which she so casually threw it out there, the idea that something else, something any other person would not dare to consider, did in fact reside in the wilderness of her home country. There didn't seem to be any fear, no hint of hesitation or reserve. One might have thought that the idea of something supernatural and otherworldly coinciding in this plane with mere mortals was just another aspect of everyday life for this tiny girl. For her, it was. But that was a topic of discussion that wouldn't suit for just anybody. Pretending to be normal in front of others was the only reason she had ever made it this far in life.

In the distance, far outside the reach of her vision, a wolf called out. It rendered the young woman stiff for a moment. There was no fear, no hesitation. Only wonder and awe. The howl of a wolf was one of the most beautiful sounds she could ever imagine to exist. The thought that one was so near to them made him shiver in delighted anticipation. It was obvious that she need not say a thing in order to validate the truth of the man's words. It was written all over her face, the way her eyes grew stern and gentle at the same time, thinking of an animal in danger.

Her head tilted up to Nikolae then. "Are there lots of wolves here?" Surely there must have been, she thought. This was Canada after all. They were far enough away from the bigger cities. She wondered then, what it was that the man was calculating in his head. Perhaps he was trying to figure out just how far the creature was? Or maybe the number of wolves in whatever pack it might belong to? It could have been that, like her, he admired the canine, and thus was trying to sort out what was being said. No matter the reason, she found his actions curious. This led her to slide her gaze to Az, now watching to see what he would do.

[Azraeth]

Azraeth suspected it would be exactly what Soul wanted. Though they had quite literally just met moments before, his intuition told him that the pair of them were more alike than not. Maybe it was because she seemed to be barely there, like she was dancing on that fine line between one world and the other. Az understood that better than most. Where many feared the grey darkness of the dusk lands, he relished the experience of being outside of his body, and diving into the shadows. The world, in all of its awe and mundanity was this fascinating kaleidoscope of sensations and feelings, thoughts and details. But oh, the devil was in the details wasn’t he?

A person could get lost in the simple miracles and the tiny magics of either the natural or unnatural world. Az had spent most of his teenage years with smoke in his lungs, with a bottle of water in one hand, staring off into space with some person or another wrapped around him. Usually Andrei, occasionally his twin. He knew what it was to be labyrinth lost in the maze of the mind.

She had that look about her, the girl. Like she was this beautiful creature that could have left someone elfstruck with ease. Like she knew what it meant to feel like the soul was in everything, in the self, and all around. Maybe it was because she looked so spectral herself, but Az felt that about her. Maybe the omens would give him validation. Either way, when Nikolae spoke, Raeth felt like Soul might see it in the same way he did. With those same eyes that could pass over everything and miss the most obvious parts of a scene in favor of focusing on the minute aspects.

The trip to the wilderness was not a long one, but Soul seemed to want to fill the time regardless, not that Az was the type to judge. He enjoyed talking with people, learning more about them and there was something interesting to the way she spoke. He noted the way she said that. Humans. That was an eerily specific way of putting it? He wasn’t the sort to read into words, but he did take it for a sign of sorts. Maybe there was more to her than met the eye. Had that not just been what they were talking about? “If it’s on the tip of a cape, I can imagine that it’s a harbor city? Those are usually very busy during times of war or booming economy – I can imagine when Napoleon and Hitler tried to make their way through Russia, even if they never got close to it, it would have been at least somewhat important.” He reasoned.

“I am curious, Soul. Do you believe in ghosts?” It was a tame enough question as far as the supernatural went. Everyone had feelings on spirits in one form or another because of how painfully common the subject was. Even if, with every other preternatural topic, there was something of a demon’s gambit.

Then, when they stepped off of the paved world and under the canopy of trees, whose leaves wove close together like a basket, but still let the twinkling shine of stars carry through in gaps and holes of manifold shapes and sizes, the conversation took another turn. “There are a lot of wolves, yes. And bears, and really just about any wildlife you can think of. This part of the world has been largely untouched in that regard. Do you have a lot of experience with wild things?” He decided not to talk about how he treated them. He would have been lying if he’d said he hadn’t used a few wolf paws when he was performing ritual magic. He’d even cut a few of them off himself. Perhaps it was better not to discuss that though.

[Nikolae]

"Yes. There are plenty of wolves out here. Some more friendly than others," He glanced sideways at his childe with a rueful smile. He was pretty sure the particular immortal he was thinking of didn't come to these parts. Seemingly only the younger generations of vampires still did, as well as the ritualists seeking out items for their concoctions. He'd started calling them potions just to see if he could rile his childe up. Secretly, he'd also purchased a wizards hat and a wand at a gag shop and had proudly nestled both onto Raeth's favorite chair within the family quarters of the Dragomir Temple. He wasn't sure if his childe had found the items yet, but he guessed when the man did he'd hear all about it. He was grinning at the thought, and so shook himself when he realized he was lost in thought. A new odd trait for the dragon who'd spent so much time alone the last year.

"As Raeth said, there's lots of things in this part of town." He hesitated, catching himself before he could reveal a warning about the fae. "You could even say it's magical." He added instead, his tone neither playful or very serious. Just a statement, made honestly, and perhaps with a hint of question. If she laughed, that would be better than if she started looking for a pitchfork and a match to light a torch. He winced at the thought, inwardly wondering just how long it would take before that was exactly what the local human population would be reduced to. Maybe the military would keep that at bay - though if he were honest with himself, he would admit that the military groups frightened him nearly as much as the fae did. He didn't quite understand why, but it would be something he'd figure out soon enough. He didn't like having holes in his own psyche.

Nikolae stepped into the open only to bend down and swipe up a pretty blue flower growing in the grass. He had no idea what the thing was, but it was the sort of thing he usually sold if he did bother to pick it up. The shops seemed to like them well enough, and if Raeth's arched look were anything to go by then it was those potions that gave the thing value. To him, in that moment, it was simply that it was a pretty blue flower. He turned, and on impulse tucked the thing behind Soul's right ear, ensuring her hair kept it in place. He hoped it wasn't poisonous, but then if it was he was sure a bit of blood might help fix that. Maybe.

[Soul (DELETED 5864)]

Did she believe in ghosts, Az had asked her. It was a silly question if one thought about it long enough. She suspected the only people in the whole wide world who didn't believe in ghosts in some form or another were bound to be the atheists. Even that, though, was a faulty and undoubtedly uneducated stereotypical assumption to make. Being an atheist didn't quite mean that any person who failed to acknowledge the existence of a god would do the same for a spirit, but in a way it seemed to make sense in her head. Religion and the lack thereof was never something she had bothered to take any great interest in and so it would have been too easy to sound like a fool if she tried to explain the train of thoughts that filled her head then.

"I do," the girl replied in a soft, pensive voice. Little wheels were continuing to turn about and generate ideas and proposals, ways to string together the things she felt on the topic. "I think there are all kinds of different ghosts. Sometimes people don't really know the difference between ghosts and other things they might see." Soul's left shoulder hunched up for a second or two before rolling back and dropping lax once more. Ghosts, spirits, demons, fairies. These were a few of the things that people often mistook, interchanging them where there should have always been an absolute line of identification. Knowing what you were dealing with was important, after all. It could mean the difference between life and death.

"Its probably because things like that are scary to most people, and when someone is frightened by something it's easier for them to just cover their head and pretend it doesn't exist." But she wasn't that kind of spineless individual, convincing herself the things she knew were really there were nothing more than figments of her imagination, that the voices in her head were simply her brain messing up here and there. "But you don't seem like the kind of person who would be afraid of ghosts." Her head turned and it took a full minute for her eyes to finish summing up the third member of their party. "I don't think Mr. Nikolae is that sort of man either."

It was just then that the man in question bent down to pluck a flower up for her hair. As it settled in among the strands of platinum, a gentle finger rose to caress the stem. A mirror was the first thing that settled into her mind. Of course she wanted to know what it looked like nestled against her ear. Was she pretty that way, she wondered. Had he done it because he thought she was already pretty, like boys in movies did to women they wanted to court? More than likely the answer was going to be a resounding a 'no' and so she settled for a small smile, a duck of the head, and a whispered thanks. "It's a very pretty flower. I hope I wear it well."

Another cry cut through the night air, long and whining as if the canine were in search of something. It had sounded much closer than the last one, which got Soul to thinking. "We're going into the woods in the middle of the night," she reasoned. "where there are wolves and bears and all kinds of other things. I'm being told it's magical, and that some of these wolves might be nicer than others. That part really doesn't make much sense to me, but.." A happy little thought must have taken hold of her for a second because a light flickered in her eyes under the moon. "I wonder if there will be ghosts out here, too, since Az asked."

She laughed then. It was sudden and sweet, akin to the sound a child might make right after admitting to their own happiness in spite of a parent's anger or disappointment. In that bout of joy the girl had forsaken, though it was greatly due to excitement and the way such could blur one's memory, her earlier promise to keep close. The wind smelled like freedom and the moonlight seemed to open up a path through the grass toward the trees who closed in together to whisper their secrets in the dark. It took a good ten yards in approximated distance for her to turn and wave them hurry to join her. Still laughing, the sound was cut short by yet another wolf call. It set her into a mischievous mood as she yelled back over her shoulder. "Maybe we'll find a werewolf!"

[Azraeth]

Nikolae was forever leaving things for Azraeth. He seemed, to the progeny, almost like one of those magpies, the birds that would decorate their nests with shiny things they had stolen. It was truer to say that the dragon king was forever looking for gifts to bestow on those he cared about. Az knew that it was one of the ways in which his sire felt comfortable showing affection, so he always enjoyed getting them. The whole thing had started years before when Az had been presented with a living human baby, a tiny creature which Raeth had been forced to return home if only because the life of a vampire was not suitable for a small child. Az’s time spent in the Shadow Realm proved that, if nothing. If he’d been the sole one to take responsibility for the kid; it would have ended up dead from neglect ages before.

Then there had been the thorny dragon left in his closet. Magog wasn’t at all fond of the little thing, but Az suspected that was more on the off chance that he might take a liking to the other reptile. She was a territorial beast if nothing. The dragon itself had been placed in a ventilated desert environment in Raeth’s apartment so that the vampire could keep up with him (it was one of the few place he went daily, because he had a tome bound to the location). He’d named it Smaug, because that only seemed right with the new Hobbit movie franchise.

The woman’s words rang true for him. There were all manner of things that crept in the night that most people had absolutely no knowledge of, and even things that were not totally corporeal did not fit into the same categories. Fae, for example, were largely spiritual creatures. Some of them were more flesh than others, but there were entities in that mix which were almost entirely elemental. They were forces of nature, and dangerous even at the best of times. As if to emphasize the point, a shadow crossed their path right as they were entering the forest, and Az knew immediately by its shape that it was Hollister, also called Avignon. His wraith was there, likely stalking after Nikolae again. He paid the thing no mind, though most people would not have been able to see it. Only those with an attachment to death or the spirit world, mediums, would have been able to make out its shape.

Most humans did not fall into that category, and he didn’t want to start talking to something that Soul could not see.

“Or they react with violence.” He tacked on to the end of the woman’s words. But that wasn’t true of him either. He didn’t get scared of anything easily, which was not to say that he wasn’t fearless. Far from it, but he saw it as something of a useless emotion when it came to vampires. They could not permanently die unless they left Harper Rock, and he had seen the dark place they went to after their bodies gave out.

He shrugged, which forced his shoulder to touch against Soul’s before he disengaged and moved to rest his back against the trunk of a tree. It seemed as if he was just relaxing, but he wanted to keep his back to something solid on the off chance something unruly showed up that needed to be taken care of. Just a natural response really, to having spent time in a city that prized violence over diplomacy. There were some who had grown discouraged at that and fled, but Raeth was a creature of adaptation. “It is a very pretty flower; if there are any others, I might use them.” A reference to rituals, which seemed innocuous enough a topic given that they were not inherently a vampiric subject.

He listened closely. He wasn’t too worried about wolves venturing close, because those could be dispatched fairly easily.

“I’d wager more on ghosts than werewolves.” He said with something of a chuckle, his gaze darting between the pair of them, the vampire and the human. “Though you know, since we are here, there is a little river not too far out. Near the caverns? It might be worthwhile to see what aesthetic it adds to the scene.”

[Nikolae]

Nikolae trailed after the joyous human, a smile tugging at his lips at her glee. He remembered being so excited himself, once upon a time. As a mortal he'd perfected the art of laughing at himself first, an ability that had led him from bullying as a small child to being one of the most popular players on the team. As a vampire, his first night had been shocking and disorienting. He'd been filled with power he'd never felt before, and had damned near gone crazy with it. Chasing down Azraeth, only to later murder the mans twin with the intent to take their lives for himself forever. Nikolae was never very good at being alone - at least he hadn't used to be. Taking control of a massive bloodline of vampires that slit eachothers throats and stabbed eachothers back on the regular, and dealing with a sire more immature than any of his creations had significantly depleted his previous fun-loving nature. Ultimately, the Dragomir had retreated from the city entirely. When he'd returned, not so very long ago, it was with some silent bit of relief to find the Worthington lineage nearly extinct. The Dragomir were in the same boat, however, and Nikolae hadn't liked that realization at all. Even now he was half certain his demand to have Azraeth back had been the reason the man had appeared - his first-borne had never been able to deny Nikolae anything.

"Ghosts, and werewolves, and vampires. Oh my." Nikolae drawled in answer to the womans comments, arching both brows with a charming grin. Though she hadn't mentioned the latter, it could be his and Azraeth's not-so-private joke for now. She seemed a bit more intuitive than most mortals that stumbled around this city of death. He only hoped that intuitiveness didn't get her killed or worse. He grimaced at the possibilities - chiefly being forcibly turned by one of the many imbeciles that had somehow become immortal. Probably from imbecile sires. He bit back a laugh at the thought; entire lineages of imbeciles stumbling around the city not knowing the difference between their head and their ***. It would be less funny if he hadn't met more than a few of those guilty of such. He grimaced then.

"I wouldn't be worried, though. Raeth knows what to do with ghosts. He's into all that... stuff." He added nonchalantly. He'd nearly flat out called his childe a Mystic, and in retrospect he supposed it wouldn't have been all that out of the ordinary. Weren't their humans who claimed to be Jedis for crying out loud?

"That sounds fun, Raeth. We should go." He stated, glancing at the girl for affirmation. Somehow, he just knew that she'd be interested. Nothing seemed to frighten her - a trait that could be great for her or just get her killed. Lucky for her, she had two vicious vampires ready to kill if necessary. Hell, Nikolae was more than ready - he'd love the chance to slaughter someone.

[Soul (DELETED 5864)]

Soul might have been doing cartwheels if she were any other girl, as happy and carefree as she seemed to be at the moment. Her frail little body, though, wouldn't likely know how to move itself with the right timing and placement of hands in order to complete something most children found so simple. That was fine with her. After all, skipping was much less complex an activity, and obviously safer than accidentally falling on one's neck. The risk of neck braces, or even death in a highly unlikely and unfortunate case, were too much for her to ever be bothered in learning.

She gave Nikolae a huge smile, teeth almost too bright in the darkness that swelled around them. The wind bit at her lips, but nothing could contain her joy. "Why do you call him Raeth?" It was a pretty name, there was no denying that at all. The way it settled over one's lips so easily, it was almost like water, the flow of it. Speaking of which, the thought of visiting a river under the moonlight had her nerves trembling with excitement, as if she weren't already giddy enough just being out in the wilderness like this. The thought of a cavern being close enough by to explore was even better, the icing on the cake. Her mind was playing through the twists and turns of the caves already. It would be a delight to get there and find out the river flowed to some mysterious drainage deep within the Earth that they could follow to a point.

Soul continued to prance about in the grass, letting the cool leaves flick about her ankles in rest-disturbed irritation. Wolves and ghosts and creatures of the night were momentarily forgotten and there was nothing but her, just her alone. Even the company she kept had temporarily vanished from thought and mind. She was in the head space of a soul meeting its body, returning home to where it always was meant to be. As she bathed in the light of the moon, her hair seemed to glow in the most unnatural manner, her skin was like velvet for one's eyes. Delicate as the wings of any butterfly. But when she reconnected with the world and found Az and Nikolae with her gaze once more, there was nothing but strength to be seen in those eyes. Strength and a fierce appetite for adventure.

"How far away is it? I can't wait to see the way the maria reflect on the water! And maybe we'll find some little night owls awake and hunting."

[Azraeth]

Az did indeed know all about the world of spirit and magic; and the acquisition of that knowledge had been one of the most important driving factors that had developed him as a person over the years. When he’d started out, he had been little more than a young man with a degree in anthropology (useless as that was in the real world, it seemed), and a desire to learn about the unknown. He had always found the mystical arts fascinating, but as a human, it was difficult for one to wrap one’s head around breaking what equated to several laws of physics, to bend and shape reality. He had grown in knowledge in his time as a vampire but there was a basis for the supernatural in the human world. Blurry line there, and a dangerous one to cross at times.

“Indeed. If a spirit does manage to stumble upon us with ill intent, I will dispel it easily enough.” He had some ingredients on him that were traditionally used to cleanse small spaces of spiritual presence, and in front of a human, he could use them to seemingly achieve the desired effect. In truth, his ability to get rid of ghosts and other entities was far more sinister and selfish, the absorption of their energy for his own use and desires.

He set off in the direction of the river. He knew the way by heart because the caverns were a good place for him to hunt. He, Prudence, and her crew occasionally camped out there. Not as much since CC had attacked Pru and Levi, but that was the danger of living as a vampire it seemed. Either way, he still went there daily when possible to pocket some gems for sale. He wasn’t exactly broke, but he had a few projects in the works that required a decent amount of cash. He moved silently through the trees, his flesh pale and hair startlingly black so that he seemed almost like a spectre making its way through the night.

The last time he had been in the forest, he’d worn a stag mask. He just didn’t like sitting in one place for too long.

“He always has.” He added, in regards to his nickname, though that wasn’t really an answer. It was worlds better than ‘Casper’, Azariel’s favored moniker for his twin – likely a tribute to both the pronunciation and his past as a pasty pale boy. Despite the formality with which he dealt with other people, Az actually encouraged others to use nicknames with him, which was, in part, because it was such an outlandish thing. Moreso even than most people realized.

“It should not be too far. And I might not, if I were you, make that particular wish.” He said as he glanced over his shoulder, his hand lifting to beckon, a finger drawing through the air as if he were slowly scraping something invisible out of it and then when he returned his gaze to the forest ahead, he caught sight of the shimmer of the water under the moonlight. It was like the many facetted gemface, beautiful. But they were not alone. Not a wolf. Not a bear. Not a lion. And certainly not one of the fae; it was a creature of the night, a being born of darkness. And how had it gotten so far into the wilderness without the natural guardians of the woods intervening and sending the unnatural being into the realm? Whatever the case, there was a fadebeast, whether natural or summoned and it was furious. Rampaging.

Az himself could only fell them occasionally. Niko could, but not without revealing some of his vampirism. And then there was Soul. A human. A human who never should have seen a construct of the shadows and night to begin with.

What was to be done about it?