Missing: Spleen [Rhett]

[Jesse Fforde]

BACKDATED TO FEB 16TH, 2017

[JESSE] [T] I’m handy with healing wounds. And blood. Where are you? Do you need?


R H E T T . K E Y E S Rhett was busy pulling out what remained from his digestive track and tossing it into the ankle height water, when he heard his phone go off. “Damnit.” He growled, grabbed for it, and ran a bloody thumb over the screen of his phone, leaving a nice, red smear of his thumbprint on the screen. Another damnit came to mind, this one internal. Rhett read the message and then chuckled before he replied. [t]Good on the blood front. Trying to get my guts out so I don’t look like night of the walking dead. Same spot, sewers below the QZ. If you can heal something, I wouldn’t turn the offer down.


[JESSE] Sewers below the QZ. Jesse wasn’t at home. He was at a chemical plant having fun with soldiers -- but a swift reading of his tome and a few steps through a few portals and he was standing in the Quarantine Zone. Travel had never been so easy. The grate to the sewers was hefted and moved aside and Jesse dropped down into the darkness; it took two seconds for his eyes to adjust, nostrils flaring as he sought the scent of his friend and childe. He rounded a couple of corners before finding Rhett, who had not been kidding about his physical state. His tongue unstuck from the roof of his mouth. “Stop touching it,” he said, barely slowing down as he approached -- one hand on Rhett’s shoulder, the other doing its best to cover the bloody mess of the man’s torso, Jesse closed his eyes and focused. Magic, like heat and fire, flushed through his limbs and burst from his fingers. For a path that could be so destructive, Necromancers were also great at putting **** back together. Standing back, Jesse watched with gleaming, grinning satisfaction as the wound started to immediately stitch itself back together.


R H E T T . K E Y E S So, Rhett had no idea what to expect when Jesse said he could ‘heal,’ him. Stitch him up? Rhett could do that, but a wound of this size-would be better if someone else did it. Make sure the skin laid right while it healed over the next course of however many days it took to fuse together once again and make things as they once were. Jesse’s voice had Rhett glancing up after Rhett threw his damaged spleen to the ground; the soft plop echoing around the two of them. Rhett nodded his head, dropped the busy hand to his side and wiped it on the side of his jeans.

“Uhhh,” Rhett began as soon as Jesse placed an arm on his shoulder, and another one on his torso. “Don’t have-” Rhett was about to tell him that he didn’t have any thread and needle on him, when suddenly, Rhett’s torso felt warm. No, it felt ******* hot. Rhett gritted his teeth together, a dull pain erupting from the bottom of his jaw as his top teeth crunched down at his bottom teeth. As Jesse ‘healed’ Rhett, more and more of torso grew warm, until Jesse took a step back, taking the heat source with him. “Thanks.” Rhett said through gritted teeth as he looked down at where three nasty gashes had been, ran both hands over the healed area-almost in disbelief. “Wow. I need to learn that.” And carry a backpack with him too, it seemed. “Thanks, man.” Rhett looked around, wondering how far that thing was in conjunction to them. “Never seen something that...monstrous before. Sewers aren’t safe anymore.” Rhett concluded. Not that he went into them a lot, only once or twice a week-if that.


[JESSE] Jesse knew exactly what he was doing when he approached Rhett, how odd it might seem to get so up close and personal. Especially for two men who, not too long ago, weren’t on the best of terms. But this was how Jesse operated. Grudges were held with voracious tenacity but once they were dropped, they were dropped. The past was the past and though the disenthrallment still made Jesse twitch, it was no longer enough to keep the violent rift between them open.

What Rhett said afterwards only confirmed Jesse’s suspicions -- fadebeasts populated the city on occasion, but they didn’t usually attack and disappear. They hung around long enough to be fought, to either be defeated or run from. Rhett described this thing as ‘monstrous’. Jesse sucked air through his teeth.

“One -- you’ve got the same path as I do, and you’re more of a healer than I am. I have no doubt, in time, you’ll learn how to do what I just did. Heal others, rather than just yourself,” he said. It was a mere progression from the giving of blood, in Jesse’s opinion. But it was a useful power nonetheless. “Second, the sewers haven’t ever really been ‘safe’, man. First the hunters, then the wildlings. We could try hunt the beast down, if you’re interested -- I can do a ritual to find it. It’s been awhile since I’ve faced a thing like that. It’d be interesting to see if I’d be able to hit it this time around…”


R H E T T . K E Y E S The look on Rhett’s face said it all. Jesse was ******* nuts! Well, at least in this sense. Rhett laughed and rubbed at the back of his neck before parting his lips to speak. “Uhm, maybe you didn’t hear me right. By monstrous I mean, as wide as this sewer hole we’re standing in and just as tall almost.” Rhett knew he and Jesse differed on approaches when it came to things of the abnormal kind (i.e. vampires, zombies, mooncalves, and fadebeasts too, now), but maybe Rhett didn’t express himself right. Surely, Jesse didn’t want to die, right? Because Rhett was lucky to escape in one piece. If the thing had gotten a good hold of him, Rhett was positive he would be legless. And torsoless too. Thankfully, Rhett wormed his way out of the claws of the beast before there was only half of him left. “I mean, if you want to, that’s all you man. But count me out.” Rhett wasn’t a chicken by any means, but he didn’t have a death wish and knew his limitations. “I mean, I could tag along and provide some moral support I guess. Can’t do rituals and I sure can’t do anything without a gun or sword.” Yeah, Jesse must be having a field day, right here, right now, in learning that Rhett typically went around town not sporting a weapon and was hanging out in a place that hadn’t been safe for a while, apparently. “I don’t think I’d be very helpful.” Rhett concluded with a soft chuckle as his hand dropped from the back of his neck and swung at Rhett’s side.


[JESSE] On the contrary, Jesse was merely a pyromaniac with an addiction to the adrenaline rush. The gleam in his eye was not mad nor suicidal -- it was excited, and almost playful. Mischievous, like the eyes of a deviant child about to go kick a hornet’s nest for shits and giggles.

“No no, I heard you. I’ve seen one just like it before. A while ago though -- might have been before your time,” he said, considering Rhett out of the side of his eye. The guy was built. He had more muscle mass than Jesse did. He looked like he could take down a bulldozer. Sometimes, Jesse just couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Why bulk up so much if those muscles were going to go to waste? But then, they were probably aesthetically pleasing to women. Women were half the reason men did some things, right?

“I’d have to go home to get ingredients and do the actual ritual. There’s time to get weapons. The way I see it, if I have a chance at harming the thing it might mean one less nearly-dead vampire. You’re probably not the only Fforde who uses the sewers as… why the hell are you down here weaponless anyway, man?”


R H E T T . K E Y E S He’d seen them before. Rhett didn’t look surprised. Jesse and danger went hand in hand. Once upon a time, Rhett would have been of the same train of thought. Now, he took a more passive stance at life, and while he got his *** kicked by whatever that thing was called, had he had a weapon or a sixth sense that he was about to get mauled, Rhett would have done a little more. More than...nothing. Rhett might be passive, but he wasn’t anyone’s ***** either. He believed in self defense if the time called for it, but since he was a role model with kids in the neighborhood, Rhett tried to impress upon them when was the right time to fight and when was the right time to walk away. He had seen too many dead kids-friends first and now kids, in his lifetime. That wasn’t good for anyone. “Short cut. I wasn’t planning on staying down here for very long.” Rhett said, rubbing at the back of his neck. Probably longer than he needed to be down here, but not the whole night. “My apartment is that way.” Rhett pointed to the direction of where the flats would be above ground, and gave a shrug. “Anyways, I mean...I guess if you need a hand, I could come. Maybe serve as a distraction a couple times while you take care of the thing. Would be better off for everyone in the city.” Humans and vampires alike. “If you want the company.” Rhett shrugged his shoulders, not bothered by whatever Jesse felt like doing. Going solo, or letting Rhett tag along. “I can provide some heals if you need some.” Okay, so maybe Rhett wanted to see this thing again, since he didn’t actually see how it looked-just the bulk of the size and width of it.


[JESSE] Jesse stared at Rhett, mostly amused. It almost sounded like Rhett really wanted to come, but he was pretending like he didn’t, like it was no big deal either way. The laugh that Jesse emitted was so soft as to almost not be heard, before he echoed Rhett’s shrug.

“I don’t need a hand, though two against this thing would be better than one. Even if one’s only serving as a distraction,” Jesse said. Maybe Rhett might come to like the adrenaline rush -- though Jesse knew he’d not let the thing get anywhere near the man who had already been injured -- healed or not. But first, he had to figure out where it was. He opened his mouth to suggest Rhett meet him back at Third Circle, before recalling that Rhett no longer had a tome. He had no way to get there. Jesse cleared his throat.

“Company would be grand, but I suppose we have to figure out somewhere to meet. I’m not gonna wander around the sewers trying to find it. I need to do a ritual -- the ingredients are back at the lair. Maybe you should head home and grab some weapons, just in case? And we can meet back here…” he suggested.

R H E T T . K E Y E S Rhett listened to Jesse and then nodded his head. “Sure. Say in an hour?” Rhett suggested not knowing how long thing would take since rituals weren’t his thing and probably never would be. Rhett’s skills of patience were split between working with teens and keeping them out of trouble, and forging blades. It was sort of amusing when someone thought about it. On one side of the coin, Rhett was protecting kids and trying to shelter them from the crap that was out there until they were old enough to face it and not forced to face it; while on the other hand he was crafting things that dealt with facing things--even if someone didn’t want to. “I’ve got a couple swords back at my place.” Rhett said, suggesting that was going to be his weapon of ‘choice,’ for the night. He had a small handgun too, but chances were he’d only remember the sword since it weighed more than the gun and would be more visible. “Back here in an hour.” Rhett reiterated before heading for the workman’s ladder and going topside to the QZ.


[JESSE] An hour was more than enough time to get what he needed, and to perform the ritual, too. But the time between performing the ritual and finding the beast, well, it shouldn’t be wasted. It could move. Someone else could find it. In order to the job correctly, they should go searching as soon as the ritual was done. So Jesse didn’t perform the ritual in Rhett’s absence. There was a ritual table in the sewers that he could use, he mused -- they could find that first before tracking down the beast.

An hour later he returned with his own sword strapped to his back and a handgun -- it packed a punch regardless of its smallish size -- safely nestled in a holster beneath his arm, strapped to his torso. In a khaki messenger bag he carried the ingredients required to perform the ritual -- he brought enough to perform it three times, if necessary. Even if Rhett didn’t want to hang around that long, Jesse had decided what he wanted to do with his night. He was always up for a challenge.

He hung around where the two men had parted, waiting for Rhett’s return.


R H E T T . K E Y E S They were hunting a big monster. Not a big monster, but a gigantic monster. ******* gigantic. Rhett had never seen anything so large looming over him-or anyone before. Even in a street fight; during his younger days, with the guy being bulkier and bigger (until Rhett hit a serious growth spurt at 15), the odds had never seemed so stacked against him-and he was a vampire!

So, what could Rhett bring to a monster hunting party? He looked at the swords he had crafted himself, and some guns he had found doing this and that, before he selected an assault rifle and a blunt weapon that could crush the head of most vampires, all humans and maybe, just maybe a big ******* giant monster. It would have to do, because the sword he made that had been the best had a chip in it and would need to be worked on again. If Rhett could.

When he returned to the sewer spot, Rhett looked at Jesse and then shrugged. “Didn’t know what to bring, really. Brought a little of this and that.” He said, the mace looking weapon dragging along the standing sewer water, while the gun was nestled in one hand-his right.


[JESSE] Jesse hadn’t put as much thought into his weapons. He picked up the old faithfuls; the rapid fire gun that was nestled into its holster under his arm that made him feel like a gangster out of The Godfather, and the huge axe strapped to his back that made him feel like … well, an axe murderer on holiday from the wilderness. It did the trick.

“Good, good. Pretty sure we won’t be killed,” he said with a sly grin, gesturing vaguely in a North Easterly direction. And he wasn’t lying, either. He’d gone toe to toe with an alpha monster before only to have it disappear on him, or to slip away himself. Whatever wounds he’d suffered had been gone in a few hours. It seemed to only really want to hurt someone when that someone didn’t come looking for it first. IF, of course, it was the same kind of thing they were going after now. It certainly sounded like it.

“The ritual table is in this direction. I figured I’d do it down here rather than at the lair -- cut down the searching time, or whatever,” he said. When he first came into these sewers he’d got lost. More than once. Now he knew them like the back of his own hand, covered in ink as it was. The ritual table wasn’t too far away.


R H E T T . K E Y E S Pretty sure they wouldn’t be killed. That was...reassuring? Rhett chuckled, and shrugged his shoulders. If Jesse was confident enough to think they wouldn’t die, chances were they wouldn’t. Two against one seemed like pretty good odds-in their favor.

He started moving in the direction of where Jesse pointed, then looked over at Jesse as they walked. “You sure it’s even down here? What happened if it got out? Running around in the streets?” Rhett couldn’t imagine what it might do, or what people might do if that was the case. “How’s life?” He tried to change the subject, just in case Jesse didn’t want to answer the other question, because he didn’t know, or didn’t want to go to the worst case scenario.

[Rhett Keyes]

[JESSE] Jesse shrugged. There was no reason why the creature shouldn’t be able to get out. If indeed it was the same thing that Jesse had dealt with before, he had seen the way it seemed to just disappear into the walls. If it could go sideways through walls, why should it not be able to go up, through the earth, through the manholes? Actually…

“I’m not sure I’ve heard of it attacking humans. I’m not sure it’s got much interest in anything up there…” he said, cocking his head to gesture to the world upstairs. Truly, he had no idea what made these creatures tick, and nor was he particularly interested. He loved them only for the challenge they provided.

“Life is life, man. It rolls on. What’s going on with you?” he asked, turning the question around as he turned a corner, and then another. Winding his way through this maze like it was home.


R H E T T . K E Y E S While Rhett was oblivious to why Jesse wanted to hunt the creature, he himself was trying to understand it. Not to befriend it, try and tame it, or anything crazy like that. He was trying to sort out any potential patterns the thing might have to not waste their time. When Jesse said he had never thought he heard it attacking humans, or caring what happened above their heads, that had Rhett frowning and going ‘hmm.’

Seemed ‘off’ to Rhett. A monster or wild animal didn’t differentiate between its prey or victims, right? So, if it had a purpose, or a specific type of thing it liked to terrorize or feed on, that meant it had to be trained. So, who was training these things to like slicing and dicing up vampires, instead of anything in its path? Rhett wasn’t sure who he could ask, or should he ask, Jesse didn’t seem interested, so he’d have to try and find a different source that might entertain his trains of thoughts about it. After the thing was dead.

Jesse’s answer was vague and passive at best. Seemed off too, which caused Rhett to frown a little. “Not much. Life, is life, like you said.” Rhett had some things on his mind, but nothing huge or big. Things about Dhara mostly. Rhett knew she was getting antsy with being here. She wasn’t someone he or anyone should try and tie down, yet he had and it ended up...okay. Not great, but at least they were still friends and got along good enough. **** happens, life is life, as Jesse put it. “You ever had a childe who...I don’t know. Was looking for greener pastures? Felt stifled in some aspects?” Vague, maybe too vague, but Rhett didn’t want to air out his thoughts too much in case he was wrong.


[JESSE] Jesse arched a brow. When he replied his voice was husky, low -- it didn’t bounce off the hard walls. A rough whisper meant only for Rhett, though Jesse wasn’t meaning to whisper. It’s just how his voice had ended up, after he’d got it back. Never completely whole -- unless he was in the shadow realm. He liked to think that there was rust around the edges of his voice box, unfixable.

“I suppose so,” he said with a shrug. He was happy to answer Rhett’s questions; happy to focus on whatever was on Rhett’s mind. Jesse wasn’t much for opening up about his own life. Especially if there were feelings involved. When he’d been in his suicidal phase those feelings had come out whether he wanted them to or not, and now was a time to bottle them all back up again. Where they belonged. Not that he had too many feelings lately. None that were negative, anyway. None that he let get to him.

“I’ve got over a dozen childer. Did you know that?” he said, turning a curious eye to Rhett. “How many have you met? How many have you seen, like online, or whatever? I assume they’ve gone and found greener pastures, somewhere. Can’t tell you whether they felt stifled…” he said. Probably, with the way Jesse had always wanted them around. Now, he couldn’t really give a ****.


R H E T T . K E Y E S Rhett stopped abruptly, wondering where this was going with Jesse. He shook his head, indicating he didn’t know. Who did he know that was around? Sol, Dhara, but she wasn’t one of Jesse’s, Clover, kaelyn, which was...someone’s. Whose again? Rhett didn’t know. And that one chick that they could all do without. That was about it. “No. Didn’t know.” Rhett said, not feeling any way about it.

“Not many. But that doesn’t really determine anything. How many times do you see me floating around online?” Rhett asked, as if making a point. Why though? There seemed to be no need to make one. Jesse didn’t seem bothered by it. “Dhara feels, trapped here, I guess.” Rhett said, finally getting more to the point. “She likes to travel, but there are risks with that. As you know.” He shrugged, walking behind Jesse a little. “Think there are other places for us to go? Places we don’t even know about? Why here? Why just here?” Rhett would feel better if he knew Dhara had other places to go to that were just as safe. They may not be married anymore, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care about her wellbeing.


[JESSE] Jesse shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve been trying to find out. It’s brought me more trouble than it’s worth, and I’m getting absolutely nowhere,” he said, rounding the next corner which brought them to the little alcove within which the ritual table was tucked. His fingers found the edge of the table, curling around its recesses as he thought about the last few weeks and the things he’d been trying to achieve -- things that the others seemed disinterested in helping him with. Though he’d never really been clear about his intentions. Or had he? He couldn’t remember.

“I’ve been trying to research Cobb. Cult history of this city will tell you he’s the one who managed to open the rift that brought vampires back from the grave. If anyone knows how to do it, or why here, or whether there’s anywhere else, it’s him. The answers start with him, anyway. But he’s disappeared and seems to have left zero record on how he achieved it,” he said. He’d tracked people down, he’d questioned them both nicely and in unsavoury ways. He’d got nowhere.

“There are risks with travel. But what would you prefer for her? To stay here and be unhappy, or to go elsewhere and live the way she wants? You have to let them go, eventually,” he said, turning to Rhett. “No matter how much you want them to stay.”


R H E T T . K E Y E S Rhett had already come to terms with Dhara leaving. Still, it was a risk and one he wasn’t sure what, if anything he was supposed to do, being her sire. “So, just let her go? Like that?” Rhett shrugged his shoulders. Maybe it really was that simple. Maybe it should be that simple. Why was he even second guessing it? “I guess, with how things went with Dhara. How she came to be sired, I feel a little guilty. You know?” Jesse had to understand where Rhett was coming from, right?

“I mean, I sort of trapped her into this life and now this is the only ‘safe’ place for our kind. If things were different, wouldn’t think twice about it. No matter what I pick-force her to stay, I’m a dick. Tell her to leave, I’m a dick. The first one makes me a bigger dick.” Rhett chuckled. “What if it was me? Or Sol? We wanted to go and see the world? No idea when we would be back? You could just up and say go like that?” Rhett didn’t care about Cobb, Jesse said the guy left and left nothing behind, so for Rhett, anything about Cobb was done and dusted. He was focused on the here and now. First Dhara and the Fadebeast-though the order wasn’t necessarily that way.


[JESSE] It took Jesse a good long while to answer the question. He peered at Rhett curiously, wondering if it was a trick. Was he falling into some kind of trap? How was he supposed to answer that question? This was Rhett, though. This was the guy Jesse used to open up to when he was a teenager. The only one who ever knew how Jesse really felt, beneath all the bravado. Things were different, these days. The years of silence between them had allowed a wall to build, and Jesse had so many issues it was a wall that would have to be pulled down brick by slow brick.

“It wasn’t too long ago that I’d have said no,” he said. “Back when I was having problems, and I needed the company of those I’d sired but managed only to push them away. Back then? I’d have told you not to go, that you couldn’t. That you had to stay. Now? I’m not your father. I can’t tell you what to do or where to go. I could tell you I’d prefer you didn’t. I could tell you to be safe, to check in -- which I have done. But I’d let you do what you wanted because it’s not my decision, right? I mean, how would you react if you said you wanted to go see the world and I said you couldn’t? Would you actually listen to me?” he asked, brow arched, genuinely curious.


R H E T T . K E Y E S As they walked, Rhett glanced Jesse’s way every so often, still observant of their surroundings as he glanced at the walls they had passed and corridors they turned to go down in pursuit of the giant monster that had gutted him and had taken some evidence of its brute strength from Rhett. It seemed Rhett was where Jesse had been and in knowing that, Jesse admitted to pushing people away. It had been true, to an extent, but in Rhett’s case it had been others that had pushed Rhett away from Fforde. Jesse had been difficult, sure, but the others had been more difficult and a lot of other things.

And now, it seems Rhett needed to be like the current Jesse. Rhett chuckled, thinking of what he would say or do, then grew serious. “If there was a serious reason or need for concern, I would take your words under advisement. I guess, she’s not going to some third world that’s raging with war zones, I’m sure.” Actually, Rhett wasn’t sure. He could imagine Dhara traveling anywhere, but knew she was smarter than that. Still, for a good reason or scenario, she very well could find herself in that sort of scenario. “Thank you. For the advice.” It was that simple. Just let her go. She may be back, she may not.


[JESSE] “If you’re worried about what she might think, just explain how you feel. You still care about her wellbeing, and although you’d feel more comfortable if she didn’t go, you won’t chain her down. Would she even be chained? Humans travel all over the world on a daily basis and ninety nine percent of them come home unharmed. They can’t come back from the dead, either,” he said with a shrug. As inadvisable as it might be for a vampire, vampires were more hardy. She could suffer an incident that could be fatal to a human but still survive it.

“As a vampire she might even have a greater chance of survival, under ordinary circumstances,” he said, doing his best to reassure Rhett. There wasn’t really anything more he could do -- the man was going to worry, regardless of the circumstances.

Finally, they had reached the ritual table -- they’d turned the corner and there, hidden, was the ritual table. Jesse dumped the ingredients and pulled out what he needed, placing them where they were needed, and within easy reach. He wasn’t worried about the fae escaping -- he’d done this numerous times, and by now was an expert.

“Seen a ritual done before?”


R H E T T . K E Y E S Rhett nodded his head. Jesse was right and Rhett had more or less thought the same thing, but as Jesse pinpointed out, Rhett still cared what happened to Dhara, even if they weren’t together. “Good idea.” He’d just state his concern for Dhara, remind her that there was always Harper Rock to come back to and wish her well. Along with giving his blessing. If Dhara wanted to go, she should go. It was really that simple, and Rhett wouldn’t stop her. It wouldn’t be right.

Rhett watched Jesse take a turn down a small corridor, glanced at the table and then looked at Jesse. He chuckled a little, then shook his head. “Can’t say that I have. Dhara and I don’t really-it wasn’t either one of ours thing.” Jesse had to know that Rhett spent his time and energy on his sole business, with the occasional sword making as a hobby. Rhett has offered to make or give swords a couple of times and Jesse knew very well what Rhett’s business was and his goal for troubled teens living on the streets. “Everyone has their niche, right?” Rhett followed up, making sure Jesse didn’t think he was downplaying or making fun of what the guy did. Rhett just didn’t have the dedication in him to try and learn something like that.


[JESSE] Jesse was once so sensitive that he might have thought Rhett was downplaying his interest in rituals. Right now, however, he was of sound body and mind; the dark depression had not returned (though that wasn’t to say Jesse still suffered a particular kind of darkness) and he had a reasonable head on his shoulders.

“Right,” he said, nodding with the smallest of smirks. He pushed his sleeves up to his elbows and took a deep breath. As practiced as he was at this, and as little qualms as he had, he still had a habit of centering himself before he began.

The Locate ritual was simpler than most. The simplest, it could be argued. It required only a bunch of zombie ears and some hunter’s charms; the former were left in an easy-to-reach pocket, the latter clattered upon the table, gleaming in the low light. Jesse spoke the words to bring the table to life; the lines etched into glowed bright hot, while the air crackled with magic. Jesse’s fingers were tense, his focus whip-sharp as the screaming, angry fae formed within the circle. It slammed against the invisible walls keeping it caged, and Jesse growled at it in another language -- a language that had come to him naturally. A language he’d once spoken in a trance, when he’d thought he’d had no voice to speak with.

Every now and again it tried to force the walls of its cage, but Jesse threw the mouldy zombie ears at the thing, reinforcing what he’d already formed. Eventually, he got what he needed -- it took about five minutes -- and the fae was banished from whence it came.

“Sewers,” he said. “To the north-west,” he added. The map of the sewer system was burnt into his mind, and when they exited the little alcove he turned right.


R H E T T . K E Y E S Since Rhett had never seen a ritual done before, making him unsure of what he was about to see go down; the guy had nothing to compare what Jesse was doing to anything. No movies, as Rhett seldomly watched any movies, or television, and no books. If he read books, they were nothing to do with the supernatural or occult, and more to do with sports and business. How to succeed in both respects.

So, when Rhett saw a little monster like creature appear from nowhere, “Woah,” passed through once parted lips, along with a quick stumble backwards is the creature snapped its monster jaws in such ferocity and aggression. Jesse, on the other hand seemed unphased by the appearance of the tiny creature or its behavior. Finally, when Jesse gave a location to where the thing that attacked Rhett was at, Rhett just looked at Jesse. How the guy managed to know that was beyond him, and so Rhett held up his left hand.

“What the-What was that thing?” Rhett pointed to where the creature had been before it vanished, as Jesse came around and passed Rhett. The sewers was not an area Rhett was familiar with, so he was fine with letting Jesse lead the way to where it was they needed to go to try and meet up with the large monster that nearly gutted Rhett.


[JESSE] “It was a fae creature,” Jesse said. He knew he’d warned Rhett about the fae in the wilderness, and that he shouldn’t go too deep into the trees. But he hadn’t explained what they looked like -- or that they could all look different, depending on type. He peered sideways at Rhett.

“I don’t know what kind that was. They’re all different, and I’m not an expert. You know Mandy? The Salamander that sometimes sits on my shoulder…?” he said, gesturing to his shoulder, rolling it as if he could feel the heat of the little creature even though he wasn’t there. “He’s a fae creature. I don’t know if he has a face other than the one he shows me… but he likes me, for some reason,” he said. “Anyway, point is -- they’re helpful. We can summon them and ask them things, make them do things. Magical things that vampires, without fae, aren’t capable of. Just imagine if they didn’t hate us…” he said. It was no secret that Jesse enjoyed thinking about a world ruled by vampires. Jesse was an anarchist at heart, even though he knew it wasn’t completely practical to allow vampires to kill the entire human race.

He stopped at a t-intersection, looking left and right, digging into his memory, searching ahead and back in his memory. Which way was the best way? The sewers were a maze. He eventually turned right. It seemed like the wrong way, but it would loop around. Left would only take them South.