Path of the Vampire forum

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

Marjani: “What are you doing in my baby’s room?” Mari froze at the sound of the female voice that came from behind her. Mari didn’t uncross her legs, move off the floor or even put down the two items in each of her hands; one being the first award she won in a dance competition-placing third, and the other was a slingshot her cousin Dube made before he was killed along with his father. The only piece of history that remains from that family could be held in the palm of someone’s hand.

Slowly, Mari turned her head and looked at her mother as if seeing her for the first time. Colleen was a gorgeous woman, no one could deny that. Her skin tone a shade lighter than Mari’s due to her mother’s; Mari’s grandmother’s, Irish and Norwegian heritage. What a scandal that must have been; Mari always thought when she saw pictures of her grandmother and grandfather together-even if those pictures were far and few between. Mari hadn’t seen her in months, yet here she was. Why? How did she get in here? Mari cleared Theodore’s voice and said the first thing that came to her mind. “Hello. I’m Marjani’s boyfriend.” What else could she say? Here she was, in a very different body, in her old room.

“You are lying.” Not even a second passed when Mari said that lie and her mother was already calling her out on it. Her mother was one of those people that had seen a lot of horror, and experienced a lot more tragedy, so she could smell ******** from miles away. It was a sixth sense of hers. She was a protective and guarded woman and somehow that made her clever and eerily aware of people that were ‘shady,’ as Mari called them.

Mari opened Theodore’s mouth to speak, but closed it. “You’re lying because she’s dating that white girl with the pretty black hair.” Was that a tone in her voice? Or was Mari imagining it? “Right. Her name is Nishaa.” Mari said as Theodore’s lips turned up into a smile. “I’m Marjani’s friend, who is a boy.” Lame. Very lame. “Yeah. That’s her. Neeeeshua.” Yes. There was a tone alright. There was no mistaking that as her mother elongated Nishaa’s name and made it sound nasly and unattractive.

“You didn’t answer my question. What are you doing in my daughter’s room?” Colleen now took to claiming the entire doorway, making it clear Mari wasn’t leaving the room without asking her to move, or barrelling past her. “I’m getting some of her things.” Mari held up the two items in each of her hands to show them to Colleen. “You’re telling me she would rather have those than her clothes?” Sarcasm. Colleen moved from the doorway, reached an arm out and snatched the trophy out of Mari’s hand without a second of hesitation. “If she wants her things, she can come get them when she decides to grace us with her presence and you can tell her that.” Mari’s mom yanked the slingshot from Mari’s hands too and then moved to put them on a dresser.

“Started dating that white girl and decided she was too damn good for this family. Should have left her ungrateful *** in the deserts.” Her eyes narrowed as Mari listened to her mom continue on. And then she smelled it. The cheap liquor her mother drank every night to put herself to sleep. She wasn’t an out of control drunk, but she always had a couple drinks every night and became an emotional train wreck. Crying about her husband and brothers, the terrors in Africa; all of which Mari understood and never held against the woman. They all had to fight their demons somehow-Colleen took to booze and Mari took to silence.

“Do you want me to call someone for you?” Mari asked as she reached out for the woman’s shoulder. “Don’t touch me!” Colleen screamed at him, taking a sidestep back from him as a defensive arm came up and shoved him away. Mari forgot that Mari didn’t look like Mari anymore. She was now a male and Mari could understand better than anyone what that defensiveness meant. “I was only trying-” Mari had become the enemy now, which was her own fault.

“Why are you here and not that girl? You got a crush on my daughter?” Colleen started lashing out at Mari because she didn’t know she was Mari and because of the gender change. “I’m her frie-” Colleen crossed her arms at her chest and laughed maniacally. “Because I can tell you what. She likes what’s between my legs more than what’s between your legs.” Mari had never been able to have a conversation with her mother about Nishaa, not after they had met, but Mari could tell now that she didn’t approve of her relationship with Nishaa. Was it because she was white, or because she was a woman?

Colleen started grabbing other things off shelves and putting them with the others she took from Mari’s hands, as if preventing Mari from taking any of her things. As she did this, Colleen decided to take a few more jabs about Mari to the man whose name she didn’t even know. She was hurt and confused because Mari cut her out of her life without any explanation. “Let me tell you about my baby.” Colleen started moving around the room, while still keeping distance from Mari and her as she started cleaning Mari’s room. Pulling the sheets off the bed, grabbing cheap, empty cups from surfaces and wrappers of protein bars. Things Mari would have cleaned up at the end of the week like she normally did, had she not ran into Nishaa. “She ain’t strong. I had to carry her like a damn baby across all of Somalia. She was ten or eleven then. And she cried and cried. Almost gave us away once. Had to put my hand over her mouth to keep us safe. To keep her brother and I alive. I love my daughter, but she pushed my patience and-” Colleen stopped what she was saying and swallowed, catching a big gulp of air before she sighed outwards.

“And what?” Mari asked, trying to pry the rest of the story out of her mother. “And nothing!” Colleen snapped her head up as she barked those two words in Mari’s direction. “She won’t want you. You’re a pervert. A big, old, nasty pervert. Get out of here before I call the cops for trespassing. Go on, get.” Colleen moved to a wall so that Mari could pass and leave a lot of extra room between them on their way out. But Mari didn’t budge. She wasn’t leaving without her things. Because they were her things. Not her mom’s things. Her things.

“No. She wants her things and I’m not leaving without them.” Mari said as she stood there next to the bed, her eyes, her unfamiliar eyes on Colleen. “They aren’t her things. Those awards? She got them because I paid for her classes and I took her to them. Everything in here she took from home-the things I bought her. They aren’t hers. They’re mine and they’re staying here with me.” Her mom grabbed more things-hair accessories, and kept them to her chest. Mari could understand the need to fight and the need to control. Colleen had no idea what was going on in her daughter’s life. Had no idea when she would see her again.

But that didn’t mean Mari didn’t want them any less. “Give them to me!” Mari approached Colleen with arms stretched out in determination. She was getting what she wanted. Her mother might have done all those things, but she worked hard on winning the awards. She earned them. Colleen’s hands shot out as she smacked Mari away, Mari not phased by the woman’s smacks as she grabbed the award that was taken from her and a couple more that Colleen had taken. “Get away!” She shrieked at Mari. “Pervert. Help, someone! Pervert!” Colleen was flailing around, smacking anything and everything she could and then she went for the one spot that Mari forgot to protect.

Mari hunched over in pain as her mother’s knee connected to her down below bits. Colleen didn’t stop there though. She slapped and punched at Mari, still screaming pervert on the top of her lungs and Mari just reacted. Two strong hands shot out and pushed Colleen away from her, the woman losing her balance and toppling to the ground. “Stop hitting me!” Mari shouted as she grabbed the first thing she could find-her second place trophy award for freestyle and smacked it down on Colleen’s head. Repeatedly. Until she stopped slapping and kicking at Mari. “Thank you.” Mari said after taking a few breaths in and out, the trophy dropping to the floor. “I’m not a pervert, you crazy *****.” Mari turned away from Colleen and started grabbing the things she wanted again and tossing them to her bed. When there was no retort from Colleen, Mari turned.

“Colleen?” Mari asked quietly. “Hey.” She moved towards the woman and gave her a shake. “Mom? MOM!” Mari started shaking Colleen, her eyes moving from her feet to her head where she noticed for the first time a big gash on her head and a lot of blood coming from it. “Mom. Wake up. Wake the **** up!” Mari kept shaking Colleen, but getting no replies. “No, no, no, no, no.” Mari bolted up from the floor and grabbed her phone from the black slacks she was wearing and scrolled through the phone. She had to save her mother, but calling 911 wasn’t going to be an option. Not when she assaulted the woman, even if she instigated it.

Nishaa would know what to do, but Mari didn’t go to her wife’s name. Mari was supposed to be better than this. She was supposed to be the good one. The kind one. This hadn’t been an act of kindness. Micah. Micah would know what to do. So Mari texted the address of her apartment to the guy and sent 911! attached with it before hitting send and waited. He would come, right? He would come. He had to come.


<Micah> The file was laying there on the counter. There wasn’t anything special about it. When Vel dropped it in front of him he knew exactly what it was and he’d not asked her any questions. She had probably gotten her hands on it through less than legal means and that was ok. His wife was thorough. Micah was positive that she had gotten him everything that he had asked her for even if she didn’t like it or approve of what he was doing. Satine had pressed one too many buttons. She’d gone and made too many mistakes. It was the perfect opportunity for him to show her that she wasn’t in the driver’s seat, and he was pulling out all the stops to win this battle of wits he’d found himself engaged in.

The hotel was quiet. There weren’t many people about and he was glad for that. Less chance for someone to creep up and see what he was doing. The Eyrie probably would have been ideal but Micah found that going through this file in the place where Satine had discovered what she had unleashed was fitting. His fingers tapped the folder briefly before pulling it closer to flip it open. A cold, sadistic grin lit his face. These were perfect. The pictures he had requested were everything that he had expected and more. Who knew that his wife’s twin was such a bloodthirsty killer? The only problem he faced now was trying to pick which one to send. Should he send them all for shock factor? Or should he allow the dread and anticipation to build by sending them one by one for several weeks until she’d gotten them all? Decisions sucked.

A creaking sound drew his attention. It sounded again and his phone danced over the countertop. He’d need to change that soon. He’d settled on the sound of a door creaking open as his text tone for Halloween but now he could go back to something a little more subtle. Mari flashed across the screen. He could have changed the name to Theo, since that was the name of the male body she was currently residing in but she was still a woman. Her spirit was female; she was still Mari. To refer to her as anything else would be disrespectful, and perhaps a bit hurtful. He didn’t hear from Nishaa’s wife very often but when he did it was usually because she needed help. He didn’t mind that at all. It had taken awhile for Mari to warm up to him so her turning to him at times was a nice change from the girl that used to avoid him like the plague.

The text contained an address with the numbers 911. His brow furrowed. Something was seriously wrong. Quickly he stashed the folder under the counter, checked to be sure he had plenty of ammo and slipped through the portal to the transit. The killer forced himself to walk at a human pace but it was difficult. He wanted to use celerity to get him there faster but even in this situation he was ever cautious of the Masquerade.

It was a quick trip and he found himself outside a nondescript apartment building that he’d never been in before. After making sure that he had the right place he moved with purpose through the corridors until he found the number of the apartment in the text. Micah hesitated at the door, raising his fist to knock but let his hand fall as he changed his mind. The knob turned under his hand and he cautiously pushed the door open. “Mari?” He stepped inside, hoping that whatever had happened hadn’t resulted in Mari being hurt. Nishaa would flip her **** and that was the last thing he wanted.

Marjani: When Micah had arrived, Mari had the phone on top of her mother’s body, and the woman’s head in her lap. Her eyes hadn’t left the woman’s body, or her face really, so Mari hadn’t really noticed the light spray of blood that was on the bottom half of the walls, on her dresser and on the floor that she was kneeling on. Or the blood that was on her hands and arms. Was it too late? It had only been a couple minutes, right? It just couldn’t be too late. “In here! I’m in here, G-Unit!” Mari called from the bedroom as she grabbed a purple star shaped decorative pillow and put it under her mother’s head. “He’ll fix everything. I promise.”

When her mother’s head was safe, Mari stood up and moved to the door with a quick bolt, seeing Micah approaching from the front door. “In here, in here.” She hated to rush the guy, but she knew things like this had a time deadline. “We don’t have a lot of time.” She said before turning her back on Micah and going back to her mother’s side on the floor. There was not a sign of life in the woman-no movement, no eye blinking, and not a single breath being drawn into her lungs. The window had passed, but Mari either didn’t believe it, or hadn’t seen it.

“I can’t do it. But you can, right? You can fix her. Make her right. Make her like us.” Not many people knew this, but after Izzy vanished well over a year ago, Mari decided then to never sire someone again. To never put someone else’s life in her hands again. She wasn’t strong enough, but Micah was. He could be strong enough again with her mother. Couldn’t he?

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

<Micah> He followed the sound of Mari’s voice detecting a bit of panic in her tone. He had no idea what he was walking into and caution had him drawing his gun from the waistband of his jeans. Micah knew Mari wasn’t a fighter, and he wasn’t afraid to blow any ******’s head off in an attempt to protect her. And when he caught his first glimpse of her he honestly thought that she needed him to do just that.

The girl was making no sense. There was blood on her hands and covering her arms but as he looked her over he couldn’t see any injuries. Regardless the gun remained in his hands as he was taking no chances. Time? His mouth opened but before he could question her Mari disappeared into the room she had come from. Micah had no choice but to follow her and when he did he was surprised at what he found.

Blood was sprayed on the walls, on the dresser and in the middle of it all was an attractive woman lying on the floor, her head resting on a purple pillow. Obviously he’d found the source of the blood. What had happened here? Had Mari been attacked and had to resort to defending herself? And who was this woman, and why was Mari here? The questions were on the tip of his tongue waiting to be asked but the mystic was speaking and he realized what she was asking him.

The gun was returned to his waistband. After seeing what he had walked into the killer had determined that it wasn’t necessary. The woman was obviously dead and way beyond saving but he went through the motions. Micah knelt on the floor and pressed his fingers to the side of her neck. Nothing. No pulse and he’d seen that look in many pairs of eyes before. “I’m sorry Mari,” he began as gently as he could. “It’s too late. She’s already dead.” The one thing he wanted to know refused to be held back. “Who was she?”

Marjani: Mari watched Micah carefully, and scooted closer to the body, as if becoming protective of it. “I know, but everyone dies before they’re a vampire. We could do it. We could make her a vampire.” Deep down, Mari knew that made no sense, as she’s made someone into a vampire, but this was her mother. That she killed. “You could do it.” Mari coaxed Micah as a hand came to the woman’s hair and brushed it down both gently and softly. She was so beautiful. Was. “No, no, no.” Mari shook the woman, her hair splaying all over as her head bounced back and forth and left to right with each shake Mari gave to the body.

“Tell me who can save her. Who can save my mother?” Mari put the woman back down on the pillow, her eyes on Micah as she started to ramble incoherently. Well, to anyone who was listening it would be incoherent, but Mari knew just what needed to be done. What could be done. “We could take her to that place. The QZ. What if we took her there?” The woman stood with determination in her stance. “We will take her there. She could live there, right? Other people live there. People that have died. We have to take her there.” Mari rubbed at her arms, eyes returning to her mother. “I’ll get her new clothes.” Her eyes lit up with an excited, but frenzied glaze as she left the room in search of getting her mother clothes that weren’t bloody and weren’t a reminder of what Marjani had done to her.


<Micah> Maybe he was approaching this the wrong way. Trying to let her down easily clearly wasn’t going to work so he would need to be a little...harsh. “No. She’s dead Mari. She was dead before I got here. I can’t do it and neither can anyone else.” His words were sharper than he had intended them to be but he hoped that it would be enough to get through to her. “Your mother is beyond saving and you really need to accept it.” The killer didn’t miss the way she moved closer to the body and filed that small nugget of information away. He wasn’t afraid to threaten her with it if he had to.

She was starting to talk madness. Take her to the QZ? Was she nuts? “People don’t live there Mari, except for in the apartments and **** in the Flats. Those things wandering around there aren’t people, and your mother ain’t gonna come back as one either.” It was like she didn’t even hear him. She was moving around the room, searching for something but he didn’t know what. Whatever it was, he wasn’t going to allow it to continue. She needed to snap out of this, and fast. He stood and grabbed her by the wrist to halt her progress. “Mari. Stop this. Forget about everything for one second and tell me what happened here?”

Marjani: Micah grabbed her wrist and Mari froze. Everything in her body became defensive, just like Colleen’s had when Mari approached the woman’s space too closely for comfort. A shoulder that was closest to Micah raised up, the leg furthest from him scooted a little further away and dug deep into the carpet and her other arm raised and came to a protective crutch at Mari’s mid-section. “You don’t know that.” Mari said as she blinked, the posture becoming less structured than it was a few seconds ago after speaking. It was Micah. G-Unit. She knew he wouldn’t hurt her. She remembered. “I wanted my things. To come here one last time. And get some things. My things.” Mari’s eyes drifted towards the corpse of her mother as her voice went from telling a story, to a raised, anxious and even aggressive tone. “But SHE, wouldn’t let me have them. She said things-not nice things. About me. About Nishaa.” Mari’s eyes turned into a glare after mentioning Nishaa’s name. “I didn’t tell her who I was, G-Unit. I swear it.” Mari inched away from Micah, both hands rubbing her arms while her eyes moved across her room and the objects in them.

“She said not nice things. And called me things. She didn’t know it was me though!” Both her hands left her arms and covered her head, the blood on her hands, streaking across the arms she had rubbed at, over the shirt she was wearing, up over her neck, face and then in Theodore’s hair. “She hit me, wouldn’t let me have them and I just wanted her to stop hitting me and listen.” Eyes moved to Micah again. “It was an accident. I have to fix it. We have to do something. We have to make it right.” Hands still on her head, Mari crouched down on the floor, collecting her nerves and thoughts on how to make this right.


<Micah> He dropped her wrist as if he’d been doused with a bucket of ice water, holding his hands up in a sort of I’m harmless gesture. While his relationship with mari had improved drastically over the past few months there was still underlying issues apparently and he didn’t fault her for those. He remained kneeling on the floor even as Mari scooted away figuring that it was the best thing for him to do. “I do know that Mari. There is no pulse...it’s too late for me to try and I’m not going to anyways.” His words were falling on deaf ears but the subject was changed and finally she was starting to make sense to him. “Relax. There is no point in working yourself up now. Ain’t like she knows any different, bein dead and all.” It was a low blow but he had to get her to snap out of it.

“Do you think that she would have had anything nice to say even if she knew who you were?” They were going to be there for awhile so he moved out of his cramped, kneeling position and settled his tall frame on the floor, back against the wall. “I understand it was an accident but it's too late. Look.” His foot shot out and stuck the body on the shoulder. It jumped violently but no sound came from the dead woman. Eyes remained open, that glassy dead look never changing as they stared at nothing. “If she was able to be saved she would have moved, made a sound - something. But she didn’t. Know why? Cause the ***** is dead. Pushin daisies, takin a dirt nap-” He paused for a second at that last one. “Well a carpet nap since we ain’t buried her yet. Point of the matter is, she’s dead. Can’t turn her, can’t take her to a hospital an have her fixed. She’s gone.”

Marjani: Being asked question made Mari stop and think about something other than bringing her mom to the QZ to become a zombie version of herself, or from being made into a vampire. Would she have said nice things about her? Mari believed so. Mari hoped so. The last year had been hard on the both of them-Mari unable to see her mother because she was a vampire and Colleen wanted nothing more than to see her daughter and be a part of her life. Maybe even try to understand Mari and what she was going through. The changes since meeting Nishaa, Collen would have said. “I don’t know. Maybe.” Mari said quietly after thinking about the question Micah threw her way. “I believe so.” Mari confirmed with a nod. Mari saw the good in people generally, unless they were a plain dick, then there wasn’t anything good to say about them. Mari believed all mothers would say something nice about their children-even if they cried a lot. Something her mother shared, that Mari wasn’t going to tell G-Unit.

“Wait. What?” Mari’s head snapped up to look at Micah. “B-bury?” Mari looked mortified at the suggestion and didn’t try to hide it either. “WE? As in you and me?” Mari laughed nervously and then looked at where her mom was. “No, I can’t. Can’t we just leave her?” Mari’s deep sounding voice that belonged to Theodore, squeaked a little when she asked that final question, as eyes swiveled back to Micah.


<Micah> He didn’t share her belief. He just didn’t have it in him. Unless someone was part of his very small circle he didn’t have any sympathy, or fucks to give. To him Mari’s mother was just another statistic, a victim of a tragic accident. His concern was for Mari and Mari alone even if she was acting like a loon. It was her mother after all. She was entitled to lose her **** even if she had been a raging ***** seconds before she met her demise.

The dead woman’s eyes were creeping him out a bit. Reminded him of the stiffs in Vel’s morgue and with that reminder came the paralyzing fear that gripped him every time the scent of formaldehyde assaulted his senses. Pushing himself up to his knees he reached over and roughly forced the dead woman’s eyes closed and shoved her head to the side so she wasn’t looking in his direction. “Oops. I just contaminated the crime scene.” The killer didn’t sound all that sorry though.

“We can’t just leave her. Your prints are gonna be all over this fuckin room. It’s obvious that something out of the norm happened here. The best thing for us to do now is to get her out of here, bury her *** then come back and wipe away any traces we’ve left here. I don’t know bout you but the last time I was arrested I had to pretend to die and let me tell you somethin. Bein transported to that creepy fuckin morgue in a body bag really isn’t my idea of a good time.”

Marjani: When Micah touched Colleen Mari instinctively hunched over the woman just a little bit, like a dog protecting its meal or a helpless pack member even. Mari wasn’t an expert at any sort of law, but she wasn’t an idiot either. Micah touched Colleen and that meant Micah could be in trouble with her. Mari didn’t want to be in trouble, but most of all she didn’t want Micah in trouble either.

Once upon a time Mari might not have felt that way. She might have felt bad for the guy she called G-Unit now to be in trouble, but she wouldn’t have felt guilty or gone out of her way to get him out of trouble. Their relationship might not be as Nishaa’s and his was, but Mari did like and care for the guy, and respected him even. Not many men could say that the woman liked them. Cared for them and even respected them.

All Micah had to do was mention the word dying and it was like someone lit a fire right under the woman’s ***. As much as she abhorred being in Theodore’s body, the idea of going back to that place...that was not an option for her. No sir-ee. Mari stood, looked around the room and started to see things in a slightly different perspective. Every drop of blood on the wall seemed to blink, as if saying, ‘add another year to her sentence!’ The sound of the trophy striking her mother, comparable to the sound of a gavel, condemning her to her sentence. And from what she could make out, Mari was going to be sitting in jail for a very long time, not aging. With Micah.

“Okay. But whatever we need to do, we should do it carefully. Please.” Mari’s mom was dead, but that didn’t mean Mari was going to treat her like a piece of Canadian road kill she saw every few nights in the city streets. Mari’s hands went through her hair, through Theodore’s hair as she spun around the room slowly, looking at the mess she made. Mostly, it was in one confined area; two walls adjacent to the other, the carpet below them, the shelf with her trophies, medals and other personal things and the comforter on her bed. “I can do this.” She said to no one in particular, only for her own benefit as Mari stopped circling the room and looked at Micah for guidance.


<Micah> The more he thought about it, the more he realized that getting that body out of the apartment was going to be tricky. So, a change of plans was in order. Something that would make sense, wouldn’t require them to move the body and would only need a bit of cleaning to make sure their prints weren’t left behind. Besides, making Mari help him dispose of her mother’s body might **** up her head and if she returned to Nishaa a babbling psycho then Nish wouldn’t be all that happy.

He got to his feet and slipped out of the room to get a good look at the rest of the apartment. Taking the bigger things wasn’t going to be an option but he noticed several smaller things that looked as if they would fetch a nice price if sold to the right sort of person. In one of the bedroom he found a jewelry box filled with expensive looking jewelry, and several wads of cash tucked away in various hidey holes. Perfect. An idea start to form in his head and he was quick to return to Mari.

She was still in the same spot, hunched over her mother protectively. “Right then. Change of plans. Getting her out of here is going to be difficult, so we’re going to do this. Take what you absolutely cannot live without from here, and only that. We need to make it look like this was a robbery gone wrong. Then, we’re going to do the same in the other rooms, tamper with the locks on the doors and wipe everything that we touched down. Once thats done we’ll get the **** out of here and make an anonymous tip to the police. Got it?”

Marjani: Micah left her with her mother without a word. What did it mean? Did he expect her to start cleaning by herself? Mari wouldn't know where to even begin. Then some common sense kicked in while alone in the silence of her mother's company. He was getting things. Things to help clean up the mess. Would dish soap, laundry soap and other, typical cleaning supplies found in every regular joe schmoe’s home clean up all this blood on carpets, bed linens and walls? Mari didn't have the faintest idea on how to clean up anything other than a stain on a shirt, let alone massive amounts of blood and brain matter.

Micah returned just as Mari started internally debating the type of person she actually was deep down. How could she have done something like this? And to of all people, her own mother? She was better than this, wasn't she? Mari thought so. Tried to be. Mari believed in karma and the idea of being good brought people good things in their lives, but this? This was not an act of goodness. This was a monstrous act.

He had a different plan. Before Marjani even heard it, she felt a sense of relief. They weren't going to bury her mother. She wouldn't have to do that. See her mother in the ground, staring up at Mari with accusatory eyes. Blaming the woman for her death as they shoveled dirt and snow over her corpse.

When Micah revealed his plan, Mari could have kissed the man. It was a great plan. One that would work. It had to work. “What do I need to do?” Mari got on her feet, and looked around her room, snatching a duffle bag-the one she brought with her when she worked at the studio, and started shoving things that were personal-trophies and statues, some things from Africa that Mari, her brother or mother brought with them, carried through dirt filled city streets as they went city to city to the final destination before coming to Canada as refugees.

“I think that's it.” Mari looked around the bedroom before grabbing a couple colorful bills from off her dresser and stuffed it in her pockets. Her eyes landed on Micah awaiting her assigned task from the guy who had the plan.

<Micah> She didn’t argue his plan and that was a good thing. It really was the only way he could see for them to get out of this whole thing unscathed. He waited patiently for her to gather the things she absolutely had to have. Once they left and placed the call to the police she’d never be able to come back to retrieve anything she’d left behind. She looked nothing like Mari, and for her to appear in this apartment as she looked now would raise a few eyebrows and just as many questions.

“Go into your mother’s room and start snatching ****. Expensive ****. Wreck the place, make it obvious that it was searched but make sure your hands are covered so you don’t leave any prints. Once you’re done in there pick another room. I’ll take the living room and come back in here to set the scene the best that I can. When I’m done there will be no reason for them to suspect this was anything other than a robbery gone wrong.”

He started to leave the room, but turned back to look at her for a brief minute. “It’s gonna be ok Mari. I’m not gonna let anything happen to you.” It was as close to sympathy as he could get. He couldn’t bring himself to care about the death of her mother but he did care that she was hurting. In time, the hurt would fade and she would heal. She’d be fine. He had faith in her.

Marjani: If her face held any color, it probably would have been void of any when Micah suggested she go into her mother’s room and start messing with things in there. Taking things. She didn’t want any of her things, Mari didn’t want a reminder of the woman that had been alive, that Mari had killed. The only easy way and quick solution? Sell it all. Every bit of it. Get rid of the guilt, and then burn it. Burn every single bill she got from the person behind the counter and never think of it again.

“Buuuu, but-” Mari stammered as she stood there, eyes moving to her mother’s room. “Okay. I think I can do that.” Mari said with a slow nod after swallowing. She grabbed a clean pair of socks that laid on a pile of other clothes Mari never got around to putting away pre-Nishaa days and unraveled them. Each hand found a home inside of the socks and the woman quietly proceeded on to her mother’s room after Micah ensured her that she would be alright. Everything would be alright.

Mari stood in the room, not far from the queen sized bed in the middle of it and looked around the room. Her mother didn’t have a lot of expensive things, but she did have some cash laying around. Mari pocketed that and then opened up some drawers, disheveled them and left them half open, as if someone had been looking for something hiding in those drawers. That’s what people did, right? They hid things in drawers thinking no one would ever find those things. Journals and diaries were often stored there, so why not something expensive?

Mari moved to the master bedroom’s bathroom and knocked things off the shelf and jumped when they crashed and broke open. The smell of her mother’s perfume wafted in the air and made the woman bolt from the bathroom in an attempt to escape the sweet smelling fragrance that threatened to invade her nostrils and rekindle those guilty feelings.

Marjani: Mari moved to the mattress and attempted to flip it. It looked so much easier in movies, so settled for pushing it off the side and letting it lay half on the bed and half off it. With a few more smaller drawers pulled out and dumped across the floor of the bedroom, she moved to her brother’s room where she knew what to find where. More cash was pocketed, some dvd’s and video games tossed in a pile for taking, along with his game system and finally, an odd collection of coins from different parts of the world that he had collected. Mari recalled teasing him about being too nerdy and never being able to find a girl to settle down with due to his love of holing up in his room to play games or searching online for more coins to buy off ebay or **** like that.

With those things in her arms and the room left in a little nicer state than her mom’s Mari returned to her old bedroom and waited for Micah to finish whatever chaos he was creating in another room as she stuffed things into the bag she started of her own belongings.

<Micah> His glare probably would have been enough to silence her protests but it wasnt needed as she eventually nodded her head and went off to do as he suggested. He probably could have done it for her but it was her mother’s room. She would know better than he did which items were valuable. Besides, she wouldn’t even let him touch her mother’s body. Micah doubted that she would really want him to have his hands all over her mother’s possessions. He waited until he heard her in there rummaging around before he headed off for the living area.

There really wasn’t all that much that he would classify as expensive. The television looked like it could bring in some cash but getting it out the door would be more of a struggle than it was worth. The bigger the items the bigger the chance of getting caught and Micah didn’t think Vel would appreciate him being arrested, especially with a dead body in the bedroom. He’d have to pretend to die again and the thought of waking up in her creepy as **** morgue just didn’t sit well with him.

Bypassing the television he went for the blu ray player, knocking **** off the entertainment center to make it look like it had been a rushed process. There was a set of heavy silver candlesticks sitting on a table that looked semi expensive so he grabbed those too. A few pieces of art were tossed into his pile and a small safe was extracted from inside of a storage bin. He purposely broke the lock and took out the contents - cash, old looking coins, a few pieces of jewelry. All things that would fetch a price. Micah didn’t intend to sell those though. He was going to tuck them away until Mari got over what she’d done. He’d hand it off to her then. Once he gathered what he needed he ripped the cushions off the couch and knocked a few tables and chairs over then stood back to survey his work. It would do.

“Mari. We gotta go.” He didn’t bother to yell knowing that she would heard him just fine. There was just one last thing he needed to do. He located a screwdriver in the kitchen and returned to the living room where he opened the door and messed with the locks until it looked obvious they had been tampered with. The items he’d found were gathered up, the jewelry was shoved into his pockets and he stood by the door, waiting for her to join him.

Marjani: It was so casual of a sentence. ‘We gotta go,’ that wasn’t really casual. Mari had heard so many of her brother’s friends say that to her brother, or even some of her own friends say that in this very apartment while growing up. But the sooner they left, meant the sooner she would be coming back after school, dance class, the library, and a gazillon other places they went to with friends while growing up. This time though, Mari wouldn’t be coming back. Once she left, she could never come back.

The woman swallowed and took another look around her room. What was here would never be seen again and would no longer be hers. “Oh-okay.” Mari replied as she zipped up the bag and put it over her left shoulder. She had almost made it out of the room before a wave of remorse hit her and she stopped to bend over the dead body. “I’m really sorry momma.” She said quietly before standing up and left the bedroom.

Her eyes expected to see a little chaos, but the apartment was a disaster zone. The woman looked away from everything that was ripped apart and spilled on the floor to look at Micah. “What now?” She obviously knew that they were meant to leave, but it seemed so...final for Mari. A chapter that probably should have been closed well over a year ago, but hadn’t been. For the better part of a year she had lived with angry, veiled threat text messages from an overly concerned parent, but she had no idea how to get the woman away from her in a healthy, safe way. Safe for her, safe for Nishaa and for those in Andras. “Is it really finished?” Mari spun around the room, knowing what the answer was, even as she asked it, before taking a step backwards towards the door.

<Micah> He’d heard her quiet apology to her mother but as it wasn’t meant for him, he didn’t comment on it. He was antsy though, and wanted to tell her they had to go like now but rushing her could possibly only upset her further. Had he ever been that innocent? Maybe, back when he was human but remorse and guilt were two things that Micah just couldn’t empathize with. Did he wish that he was able to? No. Emotions complicated everything and there were enough complications in his life that adding the weight of emotions wasn’t something he was ever going to allow himself to do.

“We leave,” he replied simply as he shifted his pile of items in his arms. “Once we’re far enough away, we place that phone call.” Covering his hand with the sleeve of his jacket he turned the knob and used his foot to pull the door open. “It’s as finished as it's going to be. They might try to contact you but don’t answer it. Or have someone else take the call. You don’t look like Mari, so it's not like you can go and identify the body.” His words were callous but they were honest. Lying to her wouldn’t accomplish anything anyways. “Come on Mari. It’s time to go.”

Marjani: Mari moved to the mattress and attempted to flip it. It looked so much easier in movies, so settled for pushing it off the side and letting it lay half on the bed and half off it. With a few more smaller drawers pulled out and dumped across the floor of the bedroom, she moved to her brother’s room where she knew what to find where. More cash was pocketed, some dvd’s and video games tossed in a pile for taking, along with his game system and finally, an odd collection of coins from different parts of the world that he had collected. Mari recalled teasing him about being too nerdy and never being able to find a girl to settle down with due to his love of holing up in his room to play games or searching online for more coins to buy off ebay or **** like that.

With those things in her arms and the room left in a little nicer state than her mom’s Mari returned to her old bedroom and waited for Micah to finish whatever chaos he was creating in another room as she stuffed things into the bag she started of her own belongings.

<Micah> His glare probably would have been enough to silence her protests but it wasnt needed as she eventually nodded her head and went off to do as he suggested. He probably could have done it for her but it was her mother’s room. She would know better than he did which items were valuable. Besides, she wouldn’t even let him touch her mother’s body. Micah doubted that she would really want him to have his hands all over her mother’s possessions. He waited until he heard her in there rummaging around before he headed off for the living area.

There really wasn’t all that much that he would classify as expensive. The television looked like it could bring in some cash but getting it out the door would be more of a struggle than it was worth. The bigger the items the bigger the chance of getting caught and Micah didn’t think Vel would appreciate him being arrested, especially with a dead body in the bedroom. He’d have to pretend to die again and the thought of waking up in her creepy as **** morgue just didn’t sit well with him.

Bypassing the television he went for the blu ray player, knocking **** off the entertainment center to make it look like it had been a rushed process. There was a set of heavy silver candlesticks sitting on a table that looked semi expensive so he grabbed those too. A few pieces of art were tossed into his pile and a small safe was extracted from inside of a storage bin. He purposely broke the lock and took out the contents - cash, old looking coins, a few pieces of jewelry. All things that would fetch a price. Micah didn’t intend to sell those though. He was going to tuck them away until Mari got over what she’d done. He’d hand it off to her then. Once he gathered what he needed he ripped the cushions off the couch and knocked a few tables and chairs over then stood back to survey his work. It would do.

“Mari. We gotta go.” He didn’t bother to yell knowing that she would heard him just fine. There was just one last thing he needed to do. He located a screwdriver in the kitchen and returned to the living room where he opened the door and messed with the locks until it looked obvious they had been tampered with. The items he’d found were gathered up, the jewelry was shoved into his pockets and he stood by the door, waiting for her to join him.

Marjani: It was so casual of a sentence. ‘We gotta go,’ that wasn’t really casual. Mari had heard so many of her brother’s friends say that to her brother, or even some of her own friends say that in this very apartment while growing up. But the sooner they left, meant the sooner she would be coming back after school, dance class, the library, and a gazillon other places they went to with friends while growing up. This time though, Mari wouldn’t be coming back. Once she left, she could never come back.

The woman swallowed and took another look around her room. What was here would never be seen again and would no longer be hers. “Oh-okay.” Mari replied as she zipped up the bag and put it over her left shoulder. She had almost made it out of the room before a wave of remorse hit her and she stopped to bend over the dead body. “I’m really sorry momma.” She said quietly before standing up and left the bedroom.

Her eyes expected to see a little chaos, but the apartment was a disaster zone. The woman looked away from everything that was ripped apart and spilled on the floor to look at Micah. “What now?” She obviously knew that they were meant to leave, but it seemed so...final for Mari. A chapter that probably should have been closed well over a year ago, but hadn’t been. For the better part of a year she had lived with angry, veiled threat text messages from an overly concerned parent, but she had no idea how to get the woman away from her in a healthy, safe way. Safe for her, safe for Nishaa and for those in Andras. “Is it really finished?” Mari spun around the room, knowing what the answer was, even as she asked it, before taking a step backwards towards the door.

<Micah> He’d heard her quiet apology to her mother but as it wasn’t meant for him, he didn’t comment on it. He was antsy though, and wanted to tell her they had to go like now but rushing her could possibly only upset her further. Had he ever been that innocent? Maybe, back when he was human but remorse and guilt were two things that Micah just couldn’t empathize with. Did he wish that he was able to? No. Emotions complicated everything and there were enough complications in his life that adding the weight of emotions wasn’t something he was ever going to allow himself to do.

“We leave,” he replied simply as he shifted his pile of items in his arms. “Once we’re far enough away, we place that phone call.” Covering his hand with the sleeve of his jacket he turned the knob and used his foot to pull the door open. “It’s as finished as it's going to be. They might try to contact you but don’t answer it. Or have someone else take the call. You don’t look like Mari, so it's not like you can go and identify the body.” His words were callous but they were honest. Lying to her wouldn’t accomplish anything anyways. “Come on Mari. It’s time to go.”

Marjani: It was really done. He said as much. “Maybe I should get rid of my phone. Get a new number. My brother-” Mari stopped in the doorway and turned to look back at Micah. “What about him? Never mind.” He was living at the college and chances were, since it was the middle of the week, he wouldn’t be home until the weekend. He wouldn’t see what she had done-even if he didn’t know it was her that had done it. “Let’s hurry.” A statement that seemed out of place, because seconds ago, Mari seemed as if she wanted to linger; as if she were having a difficult time vacating the home. “So everything can get taken care of.” So her brother wouldn’t be the one to come home and see this-just in case.

With the bag on her shoulder, Mari ducked out of the apartment and headed down the flight of stairs that would lead them to the outside world from the side of the stone brick building. She waited until Micah was downstairs with her before talking again. Asking him any questions in the building might get heard by the neighbors on the bottom floor. Hearing a door open and closed was no big deal, or the sound of feet either, but two unrecognizable male voices was something they might remember. When they were away from the building and down an alleyway, it was then Mari started talking about. “What should we say? To the cops?” Mari looked over at Her G-Unit as she shifted the bag on her shoulder, to the other one. “Won’t it all be a little suspicious?” Mari could feel anxiousness crawling through her as she thought about the phone call. “Could they trace the call? I saw that in a movie once.” Mari stopped walking and turned to look at him. “What if they trace it back to you or me? And they find where everyone lives? And they find Nishaa or Every or anyone else? We’re all going to go to jail.” Mari started doing circles around Micah as the thought of everyone in jail suddenly consumed her mind.

<Micah> He followed her silently down the stairs and out the door leaving her questions unanswered for the time being. Replacing her number though, was a high priority. There was no going back to her former life now. The sooner she cut that remaining tie the better it was going to be. Suspicion may fall on her, especially if the brother she mentioned brought Mari’s name into it. But Mari didn’t look like Mari, so that was a positive thing and perhaps the one thing that would save her. If they looked for her and couldn’t find her they might assume she had run off, or she was dead. Either way Mari was in the clear for the time being.

<Micah>“Don’t you worry bout that. I got a plan.” He pulled Mari into a shadowed alleyway and placed his pile of items on top of a garbage can. He could hear humans moving and listening to the tone of their voices at least one of them was drunk. Perfect. Turning to Mari he placed a finger to his lips. “Stay right here, draw no attention to yourself and don't say a word. I’ll be right back.” Sticking to the shadows that provided the perfect cover the killer crept along the alley and waited. A few minutes passed before a group of three drunk females started to stumble in front of his hiding spot. They were giggling. He made a face and suppressed the urge to trip then all. It might make things easier for him but then they’d see his face and he didn’t want to be seen. Slipping out behind them he got close enough to pick their pockets, striking gold on the second one when he managed to lift a cell phone. He was back in the alley with Mari before they’d even turned the corner.

“It doesn’t matter if they trace the call. We’ll be long gone, and the phone will be destroyed.” He swiped a thumb over the screen, thanking his lucky stars that there wasn’t a passcode on it. Kittens stared back at him. Kittens. Fuzzy, cute, kittens. “******* females,” he grumbled under his breath and hit the number for emergency calls. When the operator picked up he spoke rapidly. “I’d like to report a robbery.” He rattled off the address and the second the dispatcher confirmed it, Micah ended the call. The phone fell from his fingers and hit the pavement. He brought his foot down on the device with as much force as he could muster, shattering it into a thousand unfixable pieces. The killer retrieved the items from the trash can and started walking. “Let’s go. Now.” Already he could hear the wail of approaching sirens. They needed to get the **** out of there, fast.

Marjani: Mari looked at the items on the trash can, left by Micah and resisted the urge to take as much of them as she could from the top of it and stuff it in her pockets. These all belonged to someone-mostly her mother, but there were a couple things of hers mixed in the loot Micah had taken. Should she take them? She wanted to. But Mari knew Micah would know something, or a couple somethings were gone. The woman decided against it, which was obviously the right decision as he appeared with a phone in his hand and muttered something about females.

Mari knew he didn’t mean all females, just those not part of the family. She listened to him speak to an operator and then hang up, break the phone and started walking. Mari headed after him, “Wait!” She whispered, her pace quickening before she reached out and barely touched his shoulder blade, sending him to the front door of Pandy.

It was the least Mari could do for G-Unit since urgency was on the menu. With the potential threat of being exposed from anyone near or around the alley that had heard them, and the approaching sirens, leaving the area completely seemed like the smartest idea to Mari. She gave one last look around the neighborhood Mari knew she could never return to and then vanished herself and ended up next to Micah and at the front door of Pandy. “I probably should have given you a heads up first. Sorry, G-Unit.” Mari put a hand over her bag of belongings, then used the other one to push the hotel’s main entrance open.

<Micah> He didn’t think he’d ever been teleported before. Summoned? Yes. The experience was similar either way. One minute he was heading for the exit and the next? He’d felt Mari’s hand against his back and his entire world shifted as he was pulled through time and space, landing at the door to the hotel out in the wilderness. He stumbled a little when his feet hit the ground but the killer was able to right himself without any issue.

Mari appeared seconds after and he moved out of the way to give her a bit of space. “No need to apologize. Your quick thinking saved us from being caught.” The sirens had been a little too close for his comfort and it was entirely possible that without Mari thinking to use teleport they could have been caught. “Besides, it ain’t like you’re all up in my head whispering dirty thoughts or some **** to me. Had you done that then it would be a very different situation on our hands.” He grinned to show he was teasing and heading towards the elevator, punching the button for the underground. “You gonna be ok?”

Marjani: the grin didn’t go amiss, but Mari was suddenly fixed on what he had said, and not so much the joke behind it. “Is that a thing? Vampires can do that?” Mari asked, wondering why her wife doesn’t do that to her. But then at the same time, it was unlikely Mari would ever leave Nishaa’s proximity if she started teasing her with ‘dirty thoughts,’ as Micah put it.

And then, just like that, the lighter tones between them grew heavy again with Micah’s question. Mari didn’t know how to answer it. Was she going to be okay? Everyone was at some point, she just didn’t know when she would be able to be okay. Next week? Next month? Or next year? No one could ever pinpoint the exact day they felt better about someone dying-especially when that someone was their mom and they killed her. “Maybe not today, or tomorrow. But I know I will be. I have Nishaa. When I tell her.” Nishaa was her rock in everything and had never abandoned Mari-not for a second. Not when she left for Africa for her own soul searching mission, not when Mari stopped hearing from Isaako and worried over the guy and not when she became a guy after Mari had died. She knew Nishaa would stand by her side again and help her in the nights that followed. “And you.” She ended, as the elevator opened so that they could enter it. “You guys are the support beams to the family or something.” Nish and Micah were a lot alike, minus Nish didn’t have a peen, but trait wise they had a lot of things in common. Maybe that’s why Micah was easy to get along with, even if he was a guy. “If she’s not around, I’ll come find you to cry on your shoulder.” She said with a dry laugh as Mari moved to the left corner of the elevator because knowing Micah, he would probably rather dance in the fiery flames of hell than let her, or anyone cry on his shoulder.

<Micah> A single eyebrow was raised at her question, and to prove to her that it was indeed possible he pushed his thoughts directly into her mind. ”What do you think? Unfortunately my dirty thoughts are reserved for Vel and the things I think might make your hair curl or some ****.” Not that talking dirty to Mari, even in thought, was something that he would ever do and Micah was sure that Mari knew that. He was trying to keep it light and teasing but all too soon the tension returned.

He stepped out into the main room of the hotel after the doors opened and turned to face her. The load of items in his arms felt heavy though it had nothing to do with the actual weight. She wasn’t ready to have the things he’d saved for her but in time the killer hoped that she would be. He nodded at her words. Yes. Nishaa would be a huge help to Mari in the coming weeks so long as Mari opened up and confided in her. The young mystic wasn’t like him, he knew that much. Where as he kept his **** bottled up until it exploded Mari didn’t seem to be the type to do that. It never helped him, so he doubted keeping it to herself wouldn’t help her either.

This was where they parted ways. “If you need me, just call. I’ll be around.” Another nod in her direction and he turned to head for the room he shared with Vel. He’d stash the items in the safe, toss the rest and head home to his wife. “Have a good evenin Mari.” With those words he turned the corner and vanished from her sight.

Marjani:”Ewww, G-Unit.” Mari made a small face at him before shaking her head clear of all the things she had just heard, even if it was about Velveteen. TMI. But then again, this was probably how he felt with all the things Nishaa said to him about their relationship. Not that Mari was ever embarrassed or cared, but now that she was on the other side of things, Mari felt nauseous.

The door opened and the two walked out to the main floor where hotel rooms were at. Micah was ready to leave, judging by his words and so she nodded her head. “Okay, G-Unit.” She sighed and then gave him a wry smile. “Thanks for coming again. Maybe next time it won’t be such a cluster of crap.” She watched him head off and Mari turned to look at the door of her shared hotel room with the woman of her dreams. With a heavy sigh, Mari finished heading to their room, took a deep breath in, turned the knob and headed into the apartment. “Baby-I got something to tell you.” Mari said as she pushed the door open and her eyes landed on Nishaa. Once she stepped in, the door was closed and Mari sat at the edge of the bed, she began to relive the events of what happened with her wife.