Path of the Vampire forum

<Cedric Costello> As soon as Cedric woke up, he knew that his habits had to change. Recalling the night before and the one woman he had seen ripped apart, and the second who was heavily pregnant after only a month’s gestation – something was wrong. Something was very wrong. How many other women did he have on his list, and how many of them would be able to point to him as the father of the thing inside of them? Had he been careful enough? His efforts had been to avoid any fallout should any of them realise he’d been feeding on them. Would his efforts be good enough for this kind of violence?

He cringed as he checked his phone. Messages from Terri – he had told her that he would try to figure it out, but he knew she was going to die. Probably in the same gruesome way that Laurie had. He’d told her to stay inside; he’d told her he’d be back. It wasn’t Terri he called, however. He swiped the screen and instead opted to call his sire. Sitting up in bed, his head in his hand, he waited for Castalia to pick up.


<Castalia> Castalia hadn't been awake long as she padded around her apartment. The smell of coffee filtered through the living area, perking up her senses as she swallowed the bloody contents of a bag. The taste no longer bothered her, although she still preferred her coffee beans over it. It was when she threw the bag away, grimacing at the sight of blood on her clean counter when she heard her phone beginning to ring.

She had a moment of debate - phone or her sanity - and went for the former as she collected the device before hastily returning to clean up her mess. "Bonjour Cedric." She greeted, spraying the spot with vinegar before whipping it up. "I rarely hear from you this early." She teased and then went to clean out her hand towel. Afterwards, the allurist collected her favorite mug and poured in coffee, followed by French Vanilla creamer as she shifted her weight. Then, she leaned into the counter as she cradled her phone between her shoulder and ear.


<Cedric Costello> Cedric pinched at the bridge of his nose. His sire sounded so upbeat – completely contradicting Cedric’s own dilemma. The room was dark – there was no light. Not one drop of it. As Castalia greeted Cedric, he leaned over to turn on the lamp. It still took some getting used to, waking up at night time, feeling like it should be morning. Like if he got up right now and pulled the curtains aside, there’d be bright sunlight outside. Instead, he’d see only the glimmering lights of the city.

“I have a problem,” he said, cutting to the chase. He swung his legs out from underneath him, standing so that he could wander over to the dresser to find some clothes for the night. He’d already organised for another pianist at the Cocoa Bean; they’d be fine without him. He wasn’t sure what he could do about this problem of his, but at least needed time to talk to Castalia about it. “Can I meet you somewhere?” he asked. It wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have over the phone.


<Castalia> When she heard he had a problem, Castalia stopped what she was doing and set the mug down. "What happened?" She questioned, cautious. There weren't many people she spent her time with and that she cared for, but he was one. There were things that went through her mind - killing someone, trouble with law enforcement... There was a brief moment of possessiveness that was smothered at the idea of girl trouble. The man was older than she was, after all. With another drink from her coffee, she rubbed at her neck before looking around the apartment. It was clean, obsessively so. The furniture arranged precisely. "You've got your key, I'm in my apartment." She stated simply.

It would be too much of a hassle getting ready to leave. And, she hadn't had her usual amount of coffee to be able to tolerate the stupidity in the outside world. Once she said this, however, Castalia padded over to the door and removed the chain, heading towards her bedroom to put a bra on.


<Cedric Costello> Cedric sighed, and nodded. “Thank you. I will see you in ten,” he said, before he hung up and dropped the phone on the top of the dresser, face down. It was tempting to leave the thing behind; he didn’t want to think about Terri. The monster might already have clambered from her gut. What would it do with her afterwards? Would it eat her? Would there be any evidence of her remains? Would he even be implicated at all? As he stared at his phone, though, he realised he’d better get another number. He was the last person Laurie had called. The last person Terri had called. Before he did anything else, he switched off the phone and took out the sim card, and flushed it down the toilet.

He dressed in a casual suit; it was a dark grey colour, with a plain white t-shirt underneath. A black trench coat was pulled over the ensemble, the insides of it thickly lined for the Canadian winter. He didn’t need the layers, but it was habit. With the help of the tome given to him by Ambrose, it didn’t take long for Cedric to arrive at his destination. He went straight in without knocking, without calling out. He went straight to the couch and sat down, waiting for Castalia to join him.


<Castalia> It didn't take Castalia long to change out of her pajamas into a simple pair of yoga pants and green racerback tanktop. With ten minutes, she put in her amber colored contacts rather than pick something else out, and ran a brush through her long hair before leaving it down. Once she was done, she returned to the bedroom and made it while listening for the sound of approaching footsteps. Rhys was out and about, he usually was in the morning after Castalia had punched him the last time he'd woken her up, so it would be a change of sounds. By now, her neighbors were already doing their own business - such was the life of vampires. Castalia fluffed the right pillow, and then the left before she heard the door open and close. Taking it to be a sign, she collected her coffee and brought it with her as she eyed her childe and friend. "What is it, Cedric?" She questioned, eying the man before she went to pour herself more and grabbed a blood bag for him. Once she was done, she sat down beside him.


<Cedric Costello> Cedric watched Castalia’s every movement. He hadn’t told her about his escapades. He hadn’t told her about his list of numbers; the women he visited after work for the carnal pleasures they could satiate. She didn’t know about his double life. For all she was aware, he worked and he trained. Not once had he ever mentioned any women to her. For a moment, he wondered why. Was he ashamed? It didn’t bear thinking about, now. He sighed, and ran his tongue over his teeth.

“I don’t know where to start,” he said. From the very beginning, or just with last night? He chose the latter. “I slept with a woman. On and off for a couple of weeks – it started about a month ago. Last night, she called me. She said she was pregnant, but she was in pain. I went to her house, and when I got there I… I watched her die. A… monster had torn out of her. It was… shadows and… it looked like some kind of demon,” he explained. He brought a hand to his mouth, rubbing at his jaw. It sounded so ludicrous, saying it out loud.

“That was Laurie. There’s… another one. Terri. She’s pregnant too. Far too pregnant, too soon…” he said, watching Castalia’s reaction.


<Castalia> Had Cedric not looked so serious, so miserable, she may have laughed at the idea. Still, the question of, "Are you high?" slipped past her lips as she set her coffee down and her hand went to his knee. The man she had sired had been drunk before she pulled him away, making it seem as if she planned to sleep with him. He had told her... She blinked at him, silent for a few minutes. She tried to think, where had she heard of vampires and pregnancy sans Twilight. "I'm sorry for your fling." She said neutrally. There was an edge of jealousy that she knew was from the desire to feel something with another person, that level of intimacy again, but she was truly apologetic. At the mention of another, Castalia couldn't help but give him a flat look before it fell away to concern and consideration.

A moment later, she leaned over him to grab her laptop before going to CrowNet. "Did ya tell her she was gonna die from this demon?" She questioned, ignoring the southern lilt that slipped.



<Cedric Costello> It dawned on Cedric, as Castalia offered her sympathy, that he did not care about the women. Not really. He was more concerned about his list; the fact that it might obliterated, one woman at a time because, for some reason, his sperm could only produce hellspawn. Cedric was upset, but it was a selfish kind. He could only blink. He shook his head. “I don’t think I can get high,” he said. Someone in a back alley a couple of weeks back had offered him some weed. Cedric had tried. It had not worked. It hadn’t ever been a habit – it wasn’t something he would miss.

“I didn’t tell her anything. I told her I would get back to her, but she could already be dead. Just…” he stopped. It wasn’t really these women that he was concerned for. He wasn’t asking Castalia’s advice for their wellbeing. He just wondered if she knew why this was happening to him. “… there’s more than just the two of them. Is this kind of thing common…?”


<Castalia> "You can't. Same reason I wasn’t nearly sloshed as you were." She stated as if it were obvious, scrolling with her mouse. Her brown eyes were focused on the computer screen as she searched for something. It was bothering her - she remembered reading... Ah, there it was. After she clicked once more, Castalia started reading until his words brought her pause. "What, did I puncture your neck and give you an insatiable hard on?" She lowered her gaze and began to read once more. Afterwards, she slammed the lid down - none too gently and heard a steady crack of the screen. "Well, according to the Aztec Vampire Gods," While she had no problem with the history and people, Ambrose had irritated her a time or two and the idea of Cedric dying upset her, "You're an impure vampire creating fadebeasts."


<Cedric Costello> Cedric waited, patiently, for whatever conclusion Castalia was looking for. She didn’t outright tell him that she didn’t know what he was talking about, which gave him reason to hope that she might have an answer for him. His stare steadily shifted between Castalia and the screen. He had not thought that his insatiable need for the opposite sex was anything to do with Castalia. It might have crossed his mind that he had been sired at the exact moment he thought he was getting sex; that the urge was then somehow perpetually frozen within him. But to blame Castalia for it? It didn’t seem like something to curse her for.

When she slammed the computer, he winced. Those things weren’t easy to fix, as far as he knew. And he could only assume her anger was directed at him. He glanced back at the computer, now closed. The answer she gave wasn’t at all helpful. “An… impure? How would I be impure…? What are fadebeasts?” he asked, turning back to Castalia. “I…” he glanced over at the window, before turning his attention back to his sire. “Insatiable. Yes. More than before. I mean… it’s not always a hard-on but…” he shrugged. He didn’t know how to explain it.


<Castalia> There was a lot of incoherent muttering that came along with her anger, the emotion igniting through her body. "A fadebeast, from what I can gather due to what Ambrose requested be signed," She motioned at her computer before she rubbed at her face, "Just read. Family board, old code. Mating subsection." Castalia didn't like the idea of the others bleeding him. She didn't like it at all and she liked it even less she didn't know how to answer anything. Standing up, she brought her coffee with her into the kitchen before dumping it out and pouring a new cup. Rather than add French Vanilla, she added Bailey's. She would need the combination of caffeine and alcohol. With her cup in hand, she took a seat again. "I don't honestly know. I'm learning as I go." She collected her work tablet, ignoring the wallpaper of her daughter and son and logged in under her name, handing it over after she pulled up the piece.


<Cedric Costello> Cedric had seen the wallpaper. He wondered why Castalia would torture herself like that. All pictures of Alaya were hidden away – Cedric wouldn’t pull them out, lest he lose all his nerve, pack all of his things and go back to Brussels. Surely such an action would cause more displeasure than it already had. Or would it? He read the page that Castalia gave to him and shook his head. It gave him no more information on what was happening.

“This isn’t helpful,” he said, brows furrowed. “It’s… archaic nonsense,” he said. Just like the Christians – or was it the Catholics? Both? – and their laws about marriage. How no sex should be had before a marriage takes place. Surely, only a very small population of the world still followed those rules? He pointed to the screen and glanced up at his sire. “Do you believe this? Do you think that I’m being punished by some Ancient god?” he laughed, then. Not because anything was funny, but because he realised how utterly fucked his situation was.

“… the one person I could go to for answers, and he’ll call a bloodhunt if I do. Why are these headings crossed out?” he asked, showing Castalia the screen.


<Castalia> While Cedric read, Castalia made herself comfortable on the couch. She folded her legs under herself and tried to contemplate how far up the creek he was without a paddle. The creaminess of her coffee did nothing to improve her mood as she sipped at it quietly. When he mentioned it was nonsense, she was inclined to agree to a point. "We all have our beliefs. I was raised Catholic as was Nolan." She reached over and scrolled down, pointing out her electronic signature, "but as I did while human, I believed in some and not all. As well as do I not always agree." Castalia frowned as she considered it before lifting her hand to adjust one of her contacts. It was bugging her. Afterwards, she scrolled back to the section and rubbed at her eye again. "I don't believe you're being punished for not being able to keep your dick in your pants, if that were the case it would likely be rotting off." There was a reason she drank a lot of coffee before work, it built her filter. "Because Ambrose adjusted them to suit us, I believe."



<Cedric Costello> Cedric did wonder why Castalia kept rubbing at her eye. He brushed it off – she’d probably just got something in it. “So it isn’t a rule, then? If he has crossed it out, it doesn’t mean that he will hunt me down,” Cedric said, obviously still weighing up the pros and cons of going to see the head of the bloodline about his peculiar problem. Castalia would have had more interaction with the man, however – she might have a better idea about what his reaction might be.

And while they spoke, he made sure to keep his eyes on his sire’s face. It was something he’d picked up – a habit, over the past couple of months. Every single woman he met was a prospect. Every movement they made painted a better picture of what they might look like without their clothes. Every smile hinted at what a blush might look like upon their cheeks. Castalia was no exception, though Cedric would not show it. He had his personal relationships. He had his businesses. He kept sex in the background, with strangers. With women he did not know. It was easier, that way. Less drama.


<Castalia> "I may go and ask without giving detail... I know how I will act, I don't know how he would." She took another drink before setting her cup down. Fadebeast. Monsters. It was a whole lot of confusion and another thing to the table that Castalia was not ready for. "Did you wrap it? Or...?"

She wondered about birth control or other type of contraceptives. She wasn't calling Cedric irresponsible, but she knew how some men were. In fact, it dawned on her after she'd asked that she never thought she'd ever been asking him that. "I can't believe I'm having the sex talk."


<Cedric Costello> Cedric laughed. “Of course I did!” he said. He didn’t think that vampires would be able to procreate, but he didn’t know for sure. And in any case, it was the women who’d requested it. It was the gentlemanly thing to do, to just assume a woman would not want to get pregnant. The chances of the contraception not working once were higher than it happening twice. He leaned sideways so that he could pull his wallet from his pocket. Inside, he had a couple of the condoms that he’d been using, the brand stamped clearly across the wrapper.

Cedric, it would seem, had no shame. They were two consenting adults in a century where sex wasn’t as taboo as it once might have been. He hadn’t pulled the packet out to prove to Castalia that he was a responsible consenting adult, but because he wondered whether there was some fault with the condoms themselves. “Perhaps… can you search the brand? See if there have been other complaints…?” he asked. There could have been a product recall, and he might have been none the wiser.


<Castalia> "What, it isn't a bad question to ask regardless." She huffed at him, smacking at his arm before she took another drink from her coffee. Afterwards, she rubbed at her eye again - stupid lens must've been in wrong - and she blinked a few times before she watched his action. She was giving him a lot of looks today. "At least you use your brain." She muttered, snatching one of the wrappers out of his hand before she reached over to google the brand as he mentioned it.

"How many times do you think they'd be able to conceal a demon spawn murdering innocent women?" She asked sarcastically, but started to read some of the reviews. A few times, she rolled her eyes - pausing to rub at the one that was bothering her - and then shook her head as she muttered in French to herself. "Doesn't look like it's the wrapper. Seems to be your dick."


<Cedric Costello> Althought the situation wasn't exactly a good one, Cedric couldn't help but be amused. Castalia's movements were jagged, the way she snatched at the wrapper, rolled her eyes, and muttered to herself. He wondered if she knew that he could understand every word, though he was hard-pressed to catch them when they all blended in with each other. "I was careful. They... were my meals, too. Always a hotel if not at their houses, always under an alias. I think they won't be able to track it back to me..." he explained.

He wanted to ask if she was upset with him, but that seemed quite obvious. He assumed it had to do with the fact that he was her responsibility, and he'd failed her, somehow. But they were two adults, and she was the one person in this city he felt he could share everything with. So far, anyway. Instead of asking about her feelings, he gestured toward her eye. "Have you got something in your eye...?"


<Castalia> She looked over the reviews a few more times, even googling demonic pregnancy monster to humor herself. Castalia was an efficient person and she didn't like that something had come up that she didn't have an answer to. She didn’t like asking for help, either, as she was perfectly capable of figuring things out - at least, so she thought. "Careful always doesn't mean getting away with this stuff, Cedric. If I was always as careful as I am when feeding, you wouldn't be here right now."

<Castalia> She said the words pointedly without looking at him. When she found something, she pushed the tablet back onto his lap and paused at his question. She had gone to rub at her eye another time, the wrapper still resting between two of her fingers. Hesitation crossed her features and she frowned. "A contact lens." There weren’t many she let see. She had always thought her eyes were an ugly flaw after dealing with unruly, rude teens as a child.


<Cedric Costello> Cedric didn't quite know how to decipher the statement. He nodded slowly and leaned back on the couch, rubbing at his jaw idly. There had only been two women - the others he hadn't heard from, but he needed to get a new phone. "Okay, okay," he said. He couldn't brush this one under the rug. "This is... a large problem. I'm sorry if it makes you think you should have been more careful," he said, slowly, face impassive. He wasn't offended. He wasn't upset. He was amused - and he shouldn't be. He tried his hardest to keep the smile from his eyes, as well as from his lips.

Although he knew he ought to focus on the problem at hand, although he thought she must have given him the tablet on purpose, he instead found himself leaning forward. The contact lens was clearly irritating her. His fingers hovered near her cheek, his head canted slightly to the side. "May I?" he asked. Surely, she could pull her own contact lens from her eye, but Cedric was curious.


<Castalia> "I don't regret turning you. Even if you are a major pain in the *** and enjoy messing up my clothes with zombie goo." Castalia picked up her coffee and finished off the glass, "Maybe I should have been more careful, but you were a good meal. And to be fair, I did want to and likely would have slept with you." She had no reason to lie to the man anyway as she stood to get more to drink. What were they going to do? She supposed she could go asking Kika as a curiosity. Maybe she'd know something, or, if she sucked it up, she could speak to Ambrose for her childe’s sake.

When Castalia sat back down, the coffee was black. She'd wanted something stronger for the time being and with a soft sigh, she wondered what was going to happen. However, she was confused when he leaned closer and her face turned into his touch lightly. Her eyes narrowed briefly before she sighed. "I think I put it in backwards. Go ahead. Might as well get the other out." Castalia could see fine, although she did have a pair of reading glasses, Nolan had teased her in the past because she wore them when reading chicken scratch handwriting.


<Cedric Costello> Cedric coughed and shook his head, though he focused long enough to be able to slide and pinch the bit of plastic from Castalia's eye. He pinched the piece of plastic in his opposite hand as he went for the other lens. Precise, and gentle. As the colours beneath were revealed, he realised they were different colours. He leaned back, and laughed. "Well, why do you keep those hidden?" he asked, catching a view of her from afar.

He didn't think about the fact she'd said did want to, and would have. Now, it was completely out of the question, wasn't it? No sane woman who knew that Cedric's penis spawned monsters, regardless of contraception, would want to sleep with him. C'est la vie, like a lot of other things in his life. Wouldn't stop him from thinking about it, though. Oh, how much did he think about it? He cleared his throat. "You know I still think about it," he said, still amazed by Castalia's eyes. "Sleeping with you. I can't help myself," he said with a shrug and a sheepish grin.


<Castalia> "Because I don't like them due to children being assholes when I was a child." It was a stupid reason, but Castalia had never been fond of them. One eye teal, one eye hazel. It was obvious, the difference in color and she blinked. It was a lot better. "Thank you, though for removing the lens, that helps it be less of an issue." Always the neat freak, she looked at the plastic pieces with a frown. With a small frown on her lips, she pulled her hair over her shoulder and looked at the tablet.

His admittance surprised her and she lifted her mismatched gaze to him. A small smirk played across her lips and she gave a shrug of her shoulder, "It's not my fault your blood was delicious." Still, leaning over, she brushed her lips against his cheek. Even if she did find the idea of his demon spawn revolting, he had a special place in her heart - even more so now that he didn’t harass her about her eyes. "I hope it never fades."


<Cedric Costello> "Children are assholes. Far too brutally honest. You... well, you have children," he said. If he'd taken everything his daughter said about him seriously, he'd have a complex. "It's unique. They were just jealous," he said. The smile remained. It was the kind of advice a parent would give to a child, though Castalia was not that much younger than he was. Was she? But, he was being somewhat serious. He sighed, and settled back, the smile vanishing as he started to look a little troubled. He pushed his fingers through his hair, mussing it up at the back. He'd evaded the topic long enough.

"It's not just you though, Cast. It's... every woman I see," he admitted, flinching. "I gave one a ride back to the city from the airport the other night. I had to take a customer. It was about midnight. I wanted to take her home with me. There was another on the roof in the Quarantine Zone. Stabbed herself in the leg. I still..." he shook his head. "I can't help myself. I can't stop. I tried to keep it private - I tried to... but now this. And it's all going to blow up in my face," he said.


<Castalia> "Reid was more like his father. Judith has my morning personality." She grimaced, thinking about how blunt she could be, "I didn’t really go around not wearing my contacts around them when I was home. I worked a lot." They both did, really. With a sigh, she crossed her legs underneath herself again and then eyed Cedric quietly as she thought about everything that had been revealed throughout the evening. She smothered any feelings of possessiveness or jealousy, opting for trying to be helpful instead. "Then come here instead in the evenings. You won't get your dick wet," She realized the crudeness slipped and she took a large drink of coffee, "they would be safer because I'll throw them into the elevator." She frowned.

"I don't like Ambrose, but maybe we need to speak to him - i don't want to, believe me. Or someone. I don’t know what to do other than suggest we find you a male chasity belt or neuter you." And, she thought, considering they heal, they probably wouldn't work.


<Cedric Costello> Cedric breathed out. He didn't need to breathe, but there it was. A weight had shifted; it was still there, but it was lighter, settled differently. Easier to manage. He nodded, lifting one ankle to cross over his knee, his foot bouncing. Delayed gratification, he told himself, was the best kind. If he could ever get any gratification without spawning a monster. Maybe he'd get used to it. He hadn't cared about Laurie, had he? He just had to be more careful...

He snapped out of his thoughts, turned back to Castalia. He nodded. "If you think that's best. I've only met the guy once. I'm not sure he'd bend to protect me. He doesn't know me," he said, but if Castalia thought that more help was required, than so be it. "I'm not sure I should come here, though. I mean..." he sighed a laugh, and shook his head. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked. She had assured he wouldn't get his dick wet. But if the mood really struck. "What would you do if I got really persuasive?"


<Castalia> "It doesn't hurt to ask questions about something we need to understand more of. Just don't tell him its you, inquire about it hypothetically or claim you witnessed it." There was a shrug of her shoulder. She frowned, watching him in concern. She didn’t like the idea at all, really, but short of a test and failure rate, Castalia really didn’t know what else to do. She got up and collected a notepad and pen, returning and setting it down. "Their name and numbers."

It didn’t hurt to contact them, to figure things out. If it could be fixed in time, it would be something she'd do. "You might be persuasive, Cedric, but I'm perfectly capable of ruining a mood if I feel the need." Her eyebrow lifted, "Depending on how insistent you were, I'd either punch you or pacify you, then shove you into a cold shower and lock the door with how my mood stands." It was answered casually.


<Cedric Costello> Cedric nodded. The hypothetical 'friend' conversation. He could go in and say he has a friend - but that would be stupid. No, he'd be more subtle about it. He knew that he could be subtle. He knew that he could have a way with words, when he wanted to. He laughed, and nodded. He'd been able to control himself around Castalia - and many others - until now. Surely he could keep controlling himself, even if he wasn't getting any satisfaction on the side. This was a disease, wasn't it? People went to therapy for this kind of thing. It was... crude. It was disgusting.

Cedric looked at the notebook and pen and shook his head. She wouldn't need that. Reaching into his jacket pocket, Cedric retrieved a little black book. It was actually little, and actually black. A moleskine, leather. Good quality. He'd bought it, new. Especially for his habits. He plucked the pen from Castalia's hand and found Laurie and Terri, crossing them both out - they were in the 'S' section and the 'M' section. After which, he handed over the book. There were, so far, about eleven other names.


<Castalia> When he laughed, she looked at him with concern before reaching over and squeezing his thigh. "We'll figure it out, Cedric, but don't worry about what ifs. I can handle myself." She spoke softly, her mismatched gaze looking him over. "Your burden is my burden. We're family. I'll be here for you until the end." When he gave her the book, she looked at it and the names after she flipped through.

She then hit him with the little black book, muttering 'womanizer' under her breath before she stood up once more. "And you did sleep with all of them?" She toyed with the band worn around her wrist, and then set it down on her dining room table. "All the way. No quick and easy way?"


<Cedric Costello> He'd wondered what her reaction would be to the number. It should have bothered him more that every name on the list might end up being crossed off, sooner rather than later. At first, he lamented because he'd have to cultivate a whole new list. But he shouldn't, right? Not if he didn't want the populace of Harper Rock to lose half its women. And... well, everyone else, if he had an army of fadebeasts spawned from him, running around the city. He cleared his throat as Castalia stood and he remained seated, as sheepish as before.

"I... yes. All of them. All the way. It's..." he stopped. She was like a best friend, right? They had shared their lows - he recalled one of his last memories of Alaya, the girl outlined by the setting sun, sitting at the piano in their home. One of the only times he'd let her on the piano; realising she could have talent. If he'd only just focused on her. These were the things that he had, and would share with Castalia, too. This? This was just a blip. "It's like a rotating roster..."


<Castalia> Castalia smacked him upside the head with the book once more, sighing afterwards. "I'm going to have Rhys stay with you when I cannot. He's a bartender, could help at the Bean. He helped me at the Vanilla Bean for a while when it first opened." Using the binder of the book, Castalia scratched at her forehead absently as she tried to think of what to do or say next. She didn't know whether or not it was the fact that Cedric had been sleeping around or the fact that women would be dying soon if the monsters were in fact what he said they were. Shadow creatures. Her dad would be having a field day with his love of legends, mythology and the supernatural. It dawned on her, lately, that there might be something locked away in his house but would it be worth it, breaking in?

Their neighbors knew Castalia, she'd lived in the house with them until she'd gotten married, after she'd relocated with her parents after the hurricane. Her parents. The thought made her frown. "I'm getting you a male chasity belt or looking into something that'll shock you. Maybe keep a remote on hand." By the tone of her voice, Castalia wasn't even sure if she was kidding as she sighed and opened the book with her thumb, reading over the names. "Your rotating roster has become a deathwish."


<Cedric Costello> Cedric laughed. How could he not laugh? He shook his head. “No. I mean, some help at the bar might be nice,” he said with a slow shrug. If Rhys could help while Cedric left to go and deal with some of the names on the list, it would be appreciated. “But I am not an unruly teenager. This is a problem, and I will control myself,” he said, suddenly serious. He didn’t need any kind of belt. He didn’t need a babysitter.

“I wanted to come to you to see if you’d heard of it happening before – to get some insight. This is primarily my mess, and I will clean it up,” he said with a sage nod. Even if Castalia hadn’t been able to give him many answers, he knew at least that he had not imagined the monster. For whatever reason, his sperm had a tendency to bypass precautions and spawn demons. It was something that had happened before. With that in mind, he could move forward. He held out his hand for the black book – Castalia’s weapon of choice – and stood. “I will call them. I will take care of it.”


<Castalia> Her temper flared as she turned around and her hands were set on hips, looking at him directly as he laughed. "You are my responsibility, Cedric, whether or not you are an adult. I'm helping you and my thrall will keep an eye on you without your permission regardless." Even if she did trust him, it would keep Castalia calmer knowing Rhys was around. Her jaw was set and she tried to count down to five. "He will help there, anyway, he is a college student. Probably would enjoy helping you out. Hommes frustrante." She waved her hand.

She continued to look through the book, ignoring him. Eleven. She kept the number in mind before she turned her back to Cedric and walked towards where she'd left her phone. Turning on the camera, she took a picture of the contact info - it was faster and she didn't expect him to let her do it. When the picture was done, she held the book out, "We will take care of it." She corrected.


<Cedric Costello> Cedric could tell she was doing something with the book. She didn’t give it back straight away. She went to her phone. Some of the women wouldn’t have addresses – they’d have only phone numbers. He didn’t always go to their houses. Motels and hotels were a better way to keep up anonymity; mainly motels that didn’t have as many security cameras. He always walked and never drove. In this weather, too, it was easy to keep his gloves on until they got inside. Not that he murdered any of them on the scene, and he doubted that anyone would trace back a murderous shadow monster to a hotel room. Unless there was a Canadian X-files team.

He sighed and squared his shoulders as Castalia let her temper fly. He took the book from he and tucked it back into his pocket. “Whatever you say,” he said, before glancing toward the window. “I had to get rid of my phone. I have to go get a new one – and then I’ll go see about Terri,” he said. And he’d have to remember the order, from the beginning. Who was next on the list? “I might as well find the others. See if they are pregnant, too. See if they can be aborted…”


<Castalia> There was a glare shot in his direction, a look that Nolan had always called the just shut up and listen to me look. She frowned, and huffed, lifting her hand to push her long hair from her face, "I just don't want to see you hurt, Cedric. It isn't the women I care about." At the end of it, that was the truth. She didn't know what could happen, if the one that knew that she was pregnant would open her mouth. "The things to learn about being supernatural." Castalia sighed heavily. She thought about her father again and sighed. "I might be able to see if someone else I know may know something... someone I haven't seen in a while." Her hand was caught in some of her hair from a knot at the end that she hadn't brushed out. She pulled once, twice.

When her hand was free, her arms were crossed in front of her chest. "My dad has books on supernatural lore... vampires, due to being from Louisiana, were his favorite topic." It was ironic, really, the amount of times she'd hear that it didn't exist. As she thought of it, she lifted her hands and adjusted the cross pendant she wore even though it meant nothing to her any longer. "There may be something in there. Even if he isn't there, he may be with Judith and Reid..." There'd been a while since she'd mentioned there names, "and I still have my keys." She shrugged.


<Cedric Costello> Cedric didn’t know how he would feel, if his family was still so close. Would he always be on the street, staring through their window? Would he be able to keep himself from trying to see his little girl, to teach her how to play the piano? Castalia’s constant mention of her children had Cedric thinking of his own, and it wasn’t something that he wanted to do. He cringed, unable to summon the comfort required.

“If you think it will help,” he said with a bow of his head. This delving into her past, if she didn’t want to - it was his fault. Maybe he shouldn’t have come. This pain that he didn’t have to feel regularly because his child was in another country - what would Castalia do if she ran into hers on the street? What if they ran into her in ten years, and she hadn’t changed a bit? It must be torture.

“You… can go and find the books. I need to go and see what I’m dealing with,” he said, glancing toward the door. These women were all ticking time bombs, and he needed to go and see them all, to ascertain what he was up against. “I will call you, if I need help,” he said, turning back to Castalia, to level her with a stare that told her he meant it.


<Castalia> Her father had always understood her need to distance herself after her separation. If anything, he would be the person she would want to run into. He had been the one to tell her that it would be okay if she divorced Nolan, that although the church wouldn't be supportive, he would. Although Castalia was always embarrassed to admit it, she had always been close to him. Her mother had been one to make it be a disappointment, and because of it, she had allowed herself to be legally separated.

"It might. There has to be something in there." She let out a puff of air and then scratched absently at her cheek. "It'll be all right in the end." She wasn't sure who she was trying to be reassuring to as she looked at her phone. Setting it down, Castalia walked over to Cedric and looked up at him with a frown. "You better. Or I'll make you regret it." Somehow. She couldn't really think of a way worse than what he was facing at that moment as she pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Be safe, Cedric."

She gave a small smile and then went to put in another set of contacts.