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Now things were getting interesting.

She wasn't sure what Fforde had said but it seemed to stimulate Dragon boy into action. She discreetly watched the pair begin to attempt to shift away the rubble from the doorway to freedom. A tricky job at best. Shifting a mass of rocks was hazardous enough but trying to be 'human' about their efforts for any eyes watching complicated things even more. Truth be told, even if she wished to be in proximity to the pair, the secrecy of her kind dictated she was the last person a mortal needed to see moving rocks far heavier that her form suggested was possible. The men could be forgiven in such eyes. They work out, adrenalin rush, etc. But her? Five foot and barely a hundred pounds to mortal eyes bench pressing multi hundred pound rocks? She might as well post a sign saying CAUTION-VAMPIRES AT WORK

She glanced at the girl now. Zodiac had smiled when she sang. Singing suggested she had not given up hope and that was a good thing. It suggested the girl was a fighter at heart. She smiled and waved at her before turning her attentions back to the wrecking crew at the door. They were working the puzzle quite well now. Patience would win this situation and so far they were doing it. Somehow this surprised the mystic. Considering her person opinions of the two she half expected them to be a pair of bulldozers smashing their way out.

She relaxed and opened her thoughts in the direction of the Teahouse again.

"Anything new?" her thoughts sought out Jennifer.

"Doors froze shut.........was taking in water but stopped...."

"You call emergency services?"

".....cells for ****..."

"Landline! Think!"

"Tried that...........always busy...."

"If you get through, tell them there are people trapped in the Necropolis."

"....kay..."

Why wasn't she picking up Jennifer's thoughts as always? Since enthraling her, she could normally read her mind like a book. Another bit of evidence that this storm was not 100% natural in origin.

Fforde's comments about Nikolae being an actual dragon made her bite her tongue to keep from laughing. She had seen such things before when deep in meditation (usually with a strong addition of chemical euphoria to assist her in seeing the beyond) and they did not look like him at all. Didn't sound like him either and where was the glowing eyes?

If such delusions made the man happy and harmless, so be it. If she had to choose she would consider Fforde the more dangerous of the pair given their current situation. Since each had the other's attention there was no issues to be had. If they made an exit, they would leave and she would hold her place at least till emergency services arrived to help the girl. As for herself, she would head back to the mini bus and retrieve her tome and get back to where she could actually accomplish something.

Her ears caught a sound now. She looked above the pair of moles and saw the cracks radiating out from the damaged doorframe onto the ceiling. Tiny bits of dust was falling from them the more the two males worked. As the pile was slowly shifting away, pressures were changing and what was holding the section of ceiling in place was vanishing quickly. What was falling was getting lost in the dust and debris the two of them were stirring up with their work. She wasn't a physics major but she knew if that part broke loose it would land on one of both of their heads. The impish side of her who would normally get a good laugh from such a thing was quiet now. Any serious injury to either of them would put any mortal still alive in here in danger and possibly reveal they were both more than moral as well.

The chunk shifted a bit and she made her choice. A tight telepathic message directly to Nikolae's thoughts she sent.

"Above you! LOOK OUT!" she called out while returning her attention back to the dead television as if she was watching a show only she could perceive on the broken screen.

Nikolae was methodical and slow in his removal of various objects keeping them locked inside the infernal club, though it was only with strict discipline. What he really wanted was to get the hell out of here as soon as possible and find his childer. Deirdre hadn’t replied, and his Raeth had reported things weren’t so great in his location either. Now that could almost feel freedom – was that a breeze? – he wasn’t about to stop and contemplate who the strangers around him were for another second. It wasn’t likely he was going to see them again, it was a big city after all, so why keep up the ruse? He grunted at the question aimed at him by the male helping him dig their way out, golden slit-pupiled eyes narrowing at a chunk of plaster as he yanked it away.

After a moment he spoke, quietly enough the human across the room wouldn't hear.“Those turned with my blood inexplicably wind up with eyes just like mine.” He paused, turning with deliberate slowness to blink at the male giving him plenty of time to see what those lizard-like orbs looked like. “I was born with it. When I was human.” He added with a shrug and turned back to his work. “The Dragomir haven’t been very social the last year or so, but when we were you could always recognize one of my blood by our eyes.” He added tonelessly. He didn’t take it as an insult that they’d been forgotten – the history books would remember them well enough. Powerful Dragons who’d helped to shape the species of vampires in the early days when so many humans were being turned by immortals starved from centuries in the Realm. Fame hadn’t mattered to Nikolae anymore than power had. Family mattered to him, and those worthy of his love were considered family. None of those were here, so he had no emotion to waste.

He heard a shout in his head, and it rattled him enough that he jerked back in time to see the ceiling fall in front of him. He’d narrowly missed being injured, but now the pile had gotten big again. He cursed under his breath and swung his gaze behind him to eye the injured mortal again. Enough was enough – was enough was enough to the tenth. He stood, dusting his hands off, and tossed a glance to the man at his side. “Make sure she doesn’t come over here. For her own sake.” He stated mildly a moment before calling on his natural powers; Commander of Darkness. The place was blanketed in darkness a moment later, and he shook himself. He had enough magical energy left for a few more things. A mutter under his breath and he brought on a much different skill; Feral Mutation. Goal in mind, he firmly shoved way the instinctive desire to attack whomever was closest – Jesse – and instead aimed his increased strength, speed, and skill at freeing them. There was water around his knees as he plowed through the mess, but finally found the door. He was losing his grasp on the mutated form, and with a last burst of strength kicked the door open. It shrieked on hinges and fell out onto the street.

Coming down from such use of energy was always a little like the hangovers he’d suffered as a mortal. He stumbled and leaned against the empty door frame, tilting his head to the cold icy rain with a grim smile. As expected, the storm was finally passing away, to destroy some other town he thought bitterly. The water was still deep, but not too deep for an immortal that had few things to fear. He turned slightly to look over his shoulder as the darkness ebbed away inside the building. “It’s been fun. Thanks for the help.” He paused. “I hope you find your loved ones well, Jesse Fforde.” He added solemnly, with sincerity. He’d never believed in saying anything he didn’t mean.

With a wave over his shoulder he pushed out into the street, wading his way the few blocks to his home. The Temple looked worse for wear, but money could fix anything. Once inside, with a hard shove on the double-doors to dislodge the pews stacked up to bar entrance, he didn’t bother saying a word to those inside and instead beelined for the secret entrance to the living quarters below. He shut and locked the door behind himself, and then closed his eyes with the last of his energies to Summon his own loved ones. It was safe here, safer than wherever they were no doubt. It was time they came home.

having waited a respectful amount of time for the others to reply. I continue to close my part in this. I am also assuming Jesse left the location as well due to the previous entries made by the writer of the char, so do not confuse this with god modding please. I just hate leaving these things hanging. Thank you.

"Quite clever," she admitted to herself. With the sporadic lighting, Nikolae's shadows were hiding him quite well. Zodiac listened to the rubble being shifted away with ease now. "Probably switched into a war form," was her guess. When he finally managed to force the doors open, the blast of artic air filled the place rapidly. She got up from her stool as the pair of earth movers vanished into the still darkness. Thanks to the angle and the lighting, no one noticed her feet sat on top of the water rather than sinking in like a normal person's would. She made her way to where the girl was setting and jotted a quick note.

Gonna stick my head outside and see if I can find some help

She made her way back to the doors, mis stepping on purpose and peeked out into the storm again. It was finally beginning to loose power now, thankfully. She removed her sun glasses and strained to see till she saw a familiar blinking red light flashing several doors down. She began to move in the direction, using every handhold she could find along the way. In such a windy situation, her ability to levitate was rapidly becoming more problem than blessings. Visions of herself blowing down the street like a leaf suddenly was not so funny to consider.

A police car and an ambulance were sitting as the EMT's were helping someone out of a car that had met the side of a building during the quakes. She managed to catch the attention of one of the officers and waited till he was within range before looking him directly in the eyes.

"Help me," she placed the mental command into his thoughts with her eyes. She repeated it several times to be sure. Normally she would take time to judge how strong someone's will was before trying this trick, but there was no time to play pick and choose.

"Of....course," the officer finally answered. The pair made there way back to the open doorway and Zodiac pointed at the people still in side. Once the officer saw what was inside, his own natural instincts kicked into gear.

"Unit Five, this is Hardin. I got injured people in the Necropolis. Dispatch emergency unit to this location." he spoke into his radio as he began to asses the situation.

"Copy that." the reply sounded. As the officer stepped deeper into the building, Zodiac gave the girl a finger wave before stepping away and making her way back to where she had been forced to leave the mini bus.

"Still stuck," she jested weakly to herself. Now water had flooded into the hole the front end had fallen into and was freezing. Even if she could manage to back the thing out of the hole, the road conditions were insane at best to try and drive. Inside, she quickly went to work. A note on the dashboard where to contact her and that the bus was definitely NOT abandoned by choice, and she retrieved her proper bag and weapons from the lock box in the back. Everything else would have to wait till later. Her fingers brushed over her tome as she willed it to take her home.

The power was out inside her place. That was no surprise all things considered. Through the walls she could dimly hear the wind still blowing outside, but not a trace of an air leak could she feel. "It may be dark, but we'll have heat," she finally laughed as she carefully made her way to the fireplace and began to set up. Soon the darkness yielded to a soft orange glow that gained strength with each moment. A solid nudge at her elbow took her attention from the orange glow to a set of shining green eyes.

"Meow,"

"I was praying you was safe, precious one," she picked up the large black cat and hugged it against her. More meows sounded as she saw her other 2 looking at her from her bed. "I am dealing with flood and storm and idiots and you three having a slumber party on my bed without me? So not fair."

She fed more logs to the fire, dried herself off and dressed, and joined her 'children' under the covers. There was nothing else to do now except wait for the storm to finally pass and see what waited for them all.

Jana watched the two men work to clear the entrance, until it unusually, mysteriously fogged up with black, inky shadow. "Deborah, that is an inhuman thing. Unnatural," her grandmother whispered, a light, ghosting touch brushing against her uninjured arm. "Tread lightly in this haunted city, precious one. I'll be with you every step."

The silent, nameless woman waved to someone beyond the ruined entrance, now clear of smokey shadow and debris alike, and suddenly she was being surrounded. Officer Hardin, whoever he was during times of peace and non-disaster, became someone helping and kind. "What happened?" he asked. So she told him what she recalled of the night, of how she had apparently fallen asleep on the nightclub's couch, only to find herself waking up moments before the quake hit. One-handed, she handed him her California ID card, her passport, and the other documents that stated she planned to stick around a bit longer. She just didn't have a permanent place to stay right now.

So they transported her to the hospital quite quickly, explaining things with quick, easy statements. Her arm was readjusted again, to facilitate healing, but when they found the tender spot near her right temple, oh, they were irritated. She didn't recall it happening, really. She tried a dozen times to explain that. They just din't believe her. So they kept a nurse posted near her bed, monitoring her condition for the entire day, until early evening when they would be letting her free.

The nurse would wake her for meals. Breakfast, her nurse was a kind-looking gentleman with an eyepatch covering an assumed blind eye. Her meal was simple fare - toast, sausage, a single hard-boiled egg, and a banana that the nurse had to peel for her - accompanied by a glass of orange juice. The juice didn't taste normal - a bit salty, perhaps. But but she could drink it. It left her only a little nauseated.

"Nurse," she complained, "what's with the juice?"

"Shouldn't be anything wrong with the juice," he replied, returning to his seat near the door. "Just drink up, and get a bit more rest. You'll need it."

And I think we're done here.