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The object of the Baron's ire is none other than Nelen's old teacher, the mysterious demon of the Court of Pride known only as 'Al'... well, Nelen knows him, but he literally can't say his name. Al's magic prevents him from saying it aloud.
It seems there's another ticking clock for the crew to deal with too. Not only do they have to worry about the Manticore back in India, but it seems that Al has plans afoot in New Orleans that will come to a head at the end of the month. If the team doesn't stop him by then, what will happen?! Hell knows, Heaven suspects.
To top things off, Merihim's past has been partially revealed to Arja and Simoni. Its easy to forget that, when you get right down to it, Merihim is a demon. Sure he may have been a god of old England in the distant past, but today he is a demon of the Court of Wrath... yet he seems rather determined to stay out of Hell. One might wonder why...","writing":"Arja huffs just a bit as she looks at herself in the mirror, changed into the uniform of the school they'd be going into. \"I've never been to American school\" she frowns, straightening the blazer out a bit. \"I've never been to school period actually...\" she adds, the girl having been “homeschooled” as it were, educated by private tutors and such to learn the basics, and then the monkeys in the temple took over her “advanced education”. It wasn't too hard to pass off, India had a major issue with schooling, especially for girls, a wealthy man choosing to have his daughter educated at home hardly raised comment.\n\nSimoni grumbled as she pulled on the tights that came with the uniform. It had 'wealthy elite' written all over it. White silk shirt, blazer with the school's coat of arms on the right breast pocket, knee length pleated skirt, tights, and shiny leather shoes. \"Lemme put it this way. Remember how we got a glimpse into Hell over Christmas? Think that, but all the time...\" she frowns, then eeps as a snowball poofs against the back of her head.\n\n\"Y'know Simoni, when one of the fae thinks you're being melodramatic that means something.\" smirks Stephy as he leans against the wall in a loose icy blue silk top and long skirt. \"You might not have been the queen bee of the social clique back in Kentucky, but at least you didn't get your former classmates throwing rocks at you when you went back last week.\" he smirks, flicking another few small puffs of snow at her.\n\nSimoni huffs as she shakes the melting snow out of her hair, then finishes with her tights and puts on the shoes that go with the uniform, \"Yeah yeah... well... it still sucks.\" she grumbles, getting to her feet. In the matching uniforms she and Arja really did look like a pair of sisters, helped even moreso by the fact that they were likely to be the only Hindi students at the school.\n\nAs she adjusts her skirt the door to their room opens and Nelen walks in, the warlock just in a jeans and teeshirt for now. Once the girls are at school he, Nessa, and Aisha are going to go around and investigate the graveyards on Baron Samedi's map. \"Right. Listen up girls. Nessa and I had to really bribe the principal to get you two in there so don't blow this. Keep an eye out for any supernatural activity but, and I'm dead serious here, [i]absolutely no magic unless it's that or die[/i].\" he warns, then turns to Arja, \"That goes double for you. This wraith manifested using fire, so it’s a safe bet that it can use it as a weapon like you do. I don't want anyone else making that connection or we could have a witch hunt on our hands.\" he nods firmly, turning to leave, \"Oh, one more thing...\" he adds, then quickly turns around and gets a picture of both girls on his smartphone before leaving the room with a grin, \"Mom is gonna shit when she sees this...\" he smirks.\n\nSimoni rolls her eyes and looks to Arja, \"Is it just me, or is he enjoying this way too much?\"\n\nArja huffs again at being told not use her magic, but nods, \"He absolutely is, hopefully we can finish this before... is prom a real thing or a TV thing?\" she asks as she slips a gold bracelet on over her right wrist, an enchanted object meant to help suppress her magic. Alice figured 'impulse control' wasn't one of Arja's strong suits, so she dug that up. She could pull it off in an emergency, but with it on she couldn't make more than embers and sparks.\n\nSimoni actually smirks a bit at that, \"Real, but not until we're eighteen.\" she replies, heading downstairs to Nessa's waiting car.\n\nAfter a short drive, a few security checkpoints, and so on they were in the school building and being escorted by a teacher to their new homeroom. Simoni seemed visibly disturbed just by being back in a school, muttering 'it even smells just like the other one' in Hindi under her breath, though both girls feel the familiar tingling on the back of their neck as they pass by a roped off hallway where one of the classrooms is missing a door, with a door-shaped scorch mark on the wall opposite it. Looks like the wraith, whoever he was, didn't mess around when he first appeared.\n\nArja frowns a bit as she looks down the roped off hall, \"What happened there?\" she asks, feigning ignorance to the teacher, curious what the mundane version of the story is.\n\nThe teacher keeps on walking briskly, not even giving the hallway a glance, \"Gas leak. Nothing serious. We'll have it repaired in a few days.\" she replies, though from her short and almost mechanical reply that she's only saying what she's been told to say.\n\nSimoni raises her eyebrow at it, then replies to Arja, using Hindi, \"Burned flesh, and I can almost feel the anger coming out of that room. Dawn was right, this one is definitely a wraith, old one too.\" she nods as they walk along, the teacher muttering something about not speaking English, but not very loud. Arja and Simoni may not look like their usual type of students, but with enough money even rich southerners can ignore small details like that.\n\nFinally they get to their new classroom where, yep, they're the darkest kids in the class. Their teacher, a middle aged man with a star spangled tie and a large bushy mustache, getting up and clearing his throat to get the student's attention, then doing it louder, then picking up an air horn and blowing it sharply which finally quiets them down. \"Everyone, we got us some new students today. Couple'a Indian girls here.\" he nods, his Dixie accent so thick he could strum a banjo with it alone, \"These here are Arja Barjar 'n her sister Simoni. Ya'll be nice to 'em.\" he nods, \"Any questions?\" he adds.\n\nSimoni glances around the room and takes a quick headcount. No hispanic kids, no black kids... yep, every single kid in the room was whiter than white, and they weren't. Oh shit, here it comes...\n\nOne girl raises her hand, then asks, \"So... ya'll live on a reservation?\" she asks, \"How'd ya'll get th' money to come here? Yer daddy's casino?\"\n\nSimoni reflexively glances down to make sure Arja still has her bracelet on.\n\n\"What kinda Injun name is 'Barjar'?\" asks a boy, \"Aren't ya'll supposed ta have names like 'Runs with Wolves' or 'Smoke'um Peace Pipe'?\"\n\nSimoni winces. Oh jeez. She'd heard wealthy Americans live in a sort of social bubble, but what decade did they think it was?\n\n\"Can I borrow ya'll's peace pipe later? Mah friends are havin' a party.\" asks one as the teacher gives a harrumph, but doesn't comment.\n\n\"Ain't ya'll supposed ta wear headdresses? All them feathers 'n such?\" asks another.\n\n\"Didja sneak in a tomahawk? Ah'd love ta see a real one.\"\n\nFor a brief moment Arja is very happy that Alice got her that bracelet after all...\n\n\"We're... not that kind of 'Indian'.\" she explains after a little breath to calm herself. \"We're actual Indians, from India. You're thinking of Native Americans, entirely different.\" she nods with a slightly strained smile, one of the things she practiced before coming here was 'smile, don't punch', she had to look like a normal diplomat's kid after all.\n\n\"Our father is Rajesh Barjar, he's a diplomat from India to America. He wanted us to keep our education up while he was assigned to New Orleans for a bit.\"\n\nThe sea of blank faces shows her that she may as well have told them they're from Neverland, then one of the girls goes, \"Ohhhh wait, ya'll mean th' place my Daddy opened th' tech support thing fer his company.\" she nods, the others turning to look at her then a few bits of recognition setting in as Simoni glances at Arja thinking 'not good! Not good!'.\n\n\"Oh right! Ah remember that place! Like in Indiana Jones!\" says one boy as Simoni winces.\n\n\"Right right! Ya'll worship that 'Kallee' thing 'n pull people's hearts out!\" says another.\n\n\"Eww! Really? Thats Satanic that is!\" says a girl, \"God'll punish ya'll if ya keep that up.\"\n\n\"Yeah, my Daddy said one ah his business friends from th' United Kingdom used ta send people over there a long time ago and half of 'em would come back with cobra bites 'n their throats slit 'n stuff.\" nods another.\n\nArja has a moment of wondering if this qualified as an 'emergency' to take the bracelet off, but decided against it. \"Well, movies aren't always very accurate, right?\" she tries, \"But yes, India has a lot of dangerous things. In fact you should all probably never go there. I mean, there's a reason we were so eager to come over here. My sister even had a traumatic experience with a snake once didn't you Simoni?\" She asks, giving the other girl a soft nudge. Well, at least she could spare the people back home having to talk to these people...\n\nSimoni blinks, half expecting the room to be on fire by now, then nods, \"O-oh right! Yeah it was really bad, burst right out of a pond and almost got me!\" she nods, \"Infact, there's something really dangerous in the jungle near our home in Jaipur right now, you should probably all st-...\" she pauses as her brain goes “(You are talking to a bunch of rich white southern kids you idiot.)”\n\nThey're all grinning a very familiar grin... the kind she's seen on Trixie whenever she's reading the latest issue of Guns 'n Ammo.\n\n\"Some big ol’ animal in th' jungle? Hell yeaaaaah! I bet mah Daddy would be all over that! Maybe we can go on a huntin' trip come spring break.\" one of them nods.\n\n\"Hmph, with all them bugs 'n nasty critters in th' jungle? Well, ah suppose we can hire a few locals to keep 'em off us decent folk.\" says another.\n\n\"I bet ya'll if we stop whatever that is 'n get it's head fer a trophy that it'll get mah Daddy the minority vote next election.\" nods a third.\n\nOh good gods its like watching a Darwin Award in the making...\n\nArja has to admit there's a part of her saying “yes go into the jungle and fight a manticore with your stupid guns, it'll be hilarious” but no, that wouldn't be very good either.\n\nShe laughs suddenly, lightly slapping Simoni's arm, \"That's a good one!\" she nods with a big smile \"Yes, that's a common joke we tell back home, the big scary monster in the jungle.\" she raises her hands up like claws in a 'rawr' motion at that. \"It's just a local story of course, a farmer sees one of his cows all torn up by a tiger and makes it more dramatic and all. No the biggest problem in India is probably snakes and... well... rats. Not very good hunting I'm afraid.\"\n\nThis does seem to disappoint them, though a couple of them are still thoughtful on the idea of bringing home tiger pelts, but the teacher finally decides it’s time to at least make the vague attempt to teach and gets to his feet, letting Arja and Simoni take a couple vacant seats for themselves. The classes are about what any school would expect, mostly boring memorization of facts that Simoni only half listens to anyways as once they unmask and deal with the wraith she'll never come back.\n\nLunchtime is at least enjoyable however, and it really shows just how much money the school has. Rather than a single cafeteria they have an entire food court that'd put most malls to shame. Simoni wants to grumble about the one percent but... well, for one she's part of India's one percent now and for another it's hard to do so when you can get Pizza Hut, Panda Express, or whatever American fast food you want for lunch. She can't deny part of her really missed that about the states as she takes a seat next to Arja with a big helping of sweet & sour chicken and rice.\n\nArja smirks, having gone for the same, orange chicken and shrimp fried rice on her plate. \"I have to admit at least the place has good food.\" she nods, the monkey princess always calmed down by a good meal.\"So, where do you want to start looking, down the hall?\" she asks in a lower tone between mouthfuls of chicken, \"Seems like the best place...\"\n\nSimoni nods, then glances around, \"Yeah, I mean its not like they can really do anything to stop us. From what it looks like these kids pretty much get away with whatever they wa-\" she starts and then suddenly an explosion echos through the building followed by screams coming from the hallway. Simoni blinks, looking to Arja, \"... do you think it says something about us that I'm not shocked or afraid when that happens anymore?\" before stuffing a few more bits of chicken into her mouth and getting up, quickly jogging for the exit as the rest of the students swarm out to see what the noise was.\n\nWhen they get there Simoni skids to a halt as her eyes go wide. One of the lockers has been blown apart, the flames having been so hot that they melted part of the steel door, and across the hall from it unconscious on the ground is a young boy... well, most of one. He's probably not going to be trying out for the soccer team anytime soon, not with his right arm and leg looking like that. All around her students are taking pictures, jabbering into their phones, tweeting, and a few just yelling about 'terrorists'... but what draws Simoni's attention is what's above the boy's head, scorched into the wall.\n\n\"... twelve... three... twenty two?\" she reads aloud, tilting her head, trying to ignore the image of the scorched boy as she wonders what the hell it could mean. The wraith clearly wrote it, but why...\n\nArja blinks, taking a photo of the writing with her phone before snapping a few shots of the locker and boy, looking like every other rubbernecking kid right now. \"Damn... what the hell is this thing trying to say?\" she mumbles in Hindi as she looks around for any other signs.\n\nSimoni shrugs, \"I dunno... those numbers have to be important to the wraith somehow... maybe it's a locker combination or something?\" she tries, calling Nelen on her own phone, \"Hey, Nelen... yeah, it did. How did you know?\" she asks, then winces, \"Really? It almost woke him up all the way over there?\" she frowns, \"Yeah, we need to work this out fast... um, look. It burned some numbers into a wall... um... and one of our classmates.\" she adds as, outside the building, the sounds of ambulance sirens begin to draw close, \"It’s gonna get crowded in here soon but, well, the numbers are twelve, three, and twenty two. Lemme know if you come up with anything okay?\" she nods as she hangs up her phone, then scoots out of the way as the paramedics rush in and start to put what's left of the boy on their gurney.\n\nShe walks over to Arja and shakes her head, \"Any idea on those numbers?\" she asks, trying to work out what they could mean. It'd help if they knew how old the geist was, it could be a really old telephone number or something.\n\n Arja shakes her head, \"Could be anything, maybe the individual numbers mean something, maybe they're a code, maybe they're a combination to a lock... we need to get into that hall.\"\n\nSimoni nods, then looks around before giggling to herself, \"Good thing I had a rummage in Nelen's bags before we came here. Put this on.\" she nods, taking out a pair of necklaces made out of gaudy pink beads. \"He showed me these once, good for sneaking into places. They basically trick people’s brains into ignoring you. It’s not invisibility and if we do anything really outrageous it'll get their attention, but so long as we're careful they'll just think we're 'not their problem'.\" she nods.\n\nNelen had told her they wouldn't work in anywhere with high security, but if you just wanted to eavesdrop or something they were fine. Still, the roped off classroom probably didn't count.\n\nArja grins at her, \"Nice!\" she nods, slipping her necklace on, \"Good thinking, if we make this fast we should get some answers to this little problem.\" she says as she makes her way back to the burnt hallway.\n\nShe nods and follows behind her. In all the confusion and chaos they could probably go unnoticed, but with the magic helping they're practically guaranteed to. Once inside the hallway they can get a good look in the room... or rather what's left of it. The desks are piles of charcoal and half-melted metal, the windows are all blown out and the frames are warped, and the chalkboard looks like a bomb hit it. All along the walls and ceiling though are more fiery writing.\n\n\"Murderers... our homes... revenge... devils...\" reads Simoni aloud as she looks around, coughing a bit as her steps kick up some ash here and there, \"Looks like they didn't even touch this room or try to clean it up, they're just ignoring it, like they're hoping it'll go away.\" she frowns.\n\nArja nods, \"Yea... and I think I can imagine why...\" she pulls her phone out, calling Nelen \"Are you and the girls going to the cemetery soon?\"\n\nNelen's voice comes through, \"Just left, why? Did you find something?\" he asks.\n\nSimoni blinks, glancing back at Arja, \"... you don't think...\" she murmurs, looking from her to the fiery writing.\n\nArja nods to Simoni, \"Tell the numbers to Aisha, I think the spirit just told us where it's buried but I have no idea how the graveyards in this town work. I saw stuff like this in one of Lara's books though, that could be a code for where a grave is located.\"\n\nSimoni nods, then repeats the numbers back out to her... however, they don't match anything when it comes to locations. No addresses or anything, not even close. \"Hm... its not a graveyard...\" she nods, Arja having put her phone on speaker at this point, \"Its probably not a locker code either. I noticed on the way here that they all have digital keypads now, all shiny and new. What could it...\" she pauses as she looks up at the word 'devil', then blinks, then winces, \"Um... Nelen, we'll call you back.\" she nods, clicking off the phone as she sighs. \"I think I know what it is Arja, and you're really not going to like it.\" she nods, dipping a finger in some ash and writing out the numbers on a nearby stretch of blank wall.\n\n\"Twelve, three, twenty two...\" she nods, then she draws two slashes between the groups so that it reads... \"12/3/22. December third of 1922.\" she nods, \"The wraith is trying to tell us when it died, and I think I know why it died.\" she nods, pointing to the word 'devil'. \"You're not from America, I dunno how much you know about American race relations and such... but one thing that black people used to call white people was 'white devils'.\"\n\nArja winces a bit at that, \"So 'murder', 'our homes', and 'revenge'... done in a school full of wealthy white people with deep roots in the south... shit.\" she nods, \"Send the date to Nelen, get them looking at every death with a racial component in this city then, whatever happened happened in this city, this is very personal for our wrath...probably involved lots of fire.\"\n\nSimoni shakes her head, \"NO!\" she pauses, then nods, \"No, trust me Arja. We need to keep him out of this one.\" she nods, taking out her phone and googling the date and 'New Orleans history'. \"Um... I heard from my mom that Nelen got his magic after one of his friends got killed back up in Kentucky... and his friend was killed because he was gay.\" she nods, \"Nelen completely loses his shit when it comes to anything involving racism or stuff like it, I mean, he [i]sold his soul[/i] to get revenge on the kids who did that.\" she adds, \"Let them focus on the graveyards, we'll handle this.\" she nods firmly, bringing up some historical sites for New Orleans.\n\nArja nods \"Alright, we'll keep him in the dark for this then. There can't be that much to sort through when we get that specific, date, location, probably involved lots of fire and racism...\"\n\nSimoni nods, then pauses as she spots something, \"... dead right Arja.\" she nods, then reads aloud from an old news clipping:\n\n\"December third, 1922. Today a local negro ghetto was put to the torch by the New Orleans chapter of the Klu Klux Klan. This is good news for local entrepeneurs who had wanted the land for some time now, but so far the negro community had stubbornly refused to leave. Rumors of black magic and 'voodoo' had been spreading among the good white people of...\" she stops and makes a face, \"... yeah, you get the idea.\" she nods, frowning at the rest of the article, \"About a hundred years ago the KKK burned down a bunch of black people's homes. I'm guessing they didn't let the people leave first...\" she shudders, looking around the room, then reading more of it and pausing as she looks at the picture, \"... hang on...\" she flips through the images, then brings up the school's website.\n\n\"... oh crap. Arja? I know why the wraith is attacking the school.\" she shudders showing Arja her phone. First image is of what's left of the neighborhood the day after the attack. The houses had all been small wooden shacks, may as well have been kindling really. The next image is five years later when a factory was built on the spot, then ten years after that when it was shut down, then an image from 1945 when the factory was torn down and a school was built in its place.\n\nArja shakes her head, \"Fantastic, so this isn't a spirit getting revenge on the decedents of their killers, we're standing right on where this spirit probably died... or spirits...\" she sighs, \"We need Aisha.\"\n\nSimoni nods, \"Probably Nessa too, both of them really.\" she sighs, \"Figures, this thing has probably been down there for decades, and whoever has Baron Samedi so ticked off must have woken it up.\" she frowns... then suddenly freezes as a chill runs down her spine.\n\nThey're not alone.\n\nSimoni turns around and looks down to see a young girl standing nearby in a plain white cotton dress, about half their age. She's a black girl with curly hair tied back into pigtails, standing barefoot and holding a sack cloth doll, looking at the ground with her lip trembling like she's about to start crying.\n\nArja kneels down and holds her hand out to the girl, \"Hey…\" she says in a soft voice, \"We're not here to hurt you, we're here to help.\" she nods, not taking a step closer or making any sudden moves, not sure how easily set off these spirits were.\n\nThe girl doesn't speak, but they can hear her voice echoing in their heads. Full of the terror and despair a child feels when they know something bad is going to happen and they can't stop it.\n\n[i]Why? Why they comin'? We didn't do nuthin' to them... we jes wanna be left alone...[/i]\n\nSimoni shudders, feeling the emotions of the ghost washing over her mind, her own eyes tearing up they see another nearby, a black woman, her hair tied back under a bandanna.\n\n[i]Damn white folks. We got next ta nothin' and they gonna take it away too? Where we supposed ta go? They expect us ta swim out inta the ocean 'n live like fish?[/i]\n\nAnother appears, a black man wearing worn trousers and a too-large shirt.\n\n[i]Naw, they don't expect us ta leave. I hear them that wear hoods is comin'...[/i]\n\nHis voice sounds almost resigned, like he doesn't care what happens. Then another shows up, this one an angrier teenaged one looking a couple years older than the girls.\n\n[i]So we're just gonna lie down 'n take it? Theys comin' ta kill us and ya'll gonna lie down like a beaten dog 'n show 'em ya belly?! I know things! I know people! They can help us! Them DeLanes can get out here 'n help us! They know th' old magic, they can scare the souls right outta those white bastards![/i]\n\nSimoni blinks, looking at Arja. They knew Aisha's ancestors? The man replies to him.\n\n[i]We told 'em, sent someone up ta tell 'em soon as we heard the hooded men were comin'... but they ain't helpin' us. The white devils got their own devils now, real ones, and they's watchin' th' DeLanes. They too busy keepin' themselves safe. Th-[/i]\n\nAnd he gets cut off as a shadow appears in the door, this one flickering like an afterimage rather than the more solid memories of the ghosts. A shadowy figure in a white robe with a pointed hood raises it's hand, and suddenly a huge tendril covered in teeth bursts out of it.\n\nSimoni realizes a few seconds later that she's screaming. She knows that, she's seen it so many times... but then the room is suddenly ablaze, voices all around them yelling in pain and fear as outside angry voices echo in triumph, the ghosts around them standing and staring directly at the girls as their skin begins to flake, then burn, fat running down their cheeks like tears to expose charred bones and muscle, and then as suddenly as it happened the image is gone.\n\nSimoni trembles, her eyes wide and sweat dripping down her face, then she runs over to what's left of the rooms trash can and heaves up her sweet and sour chicken into it.\n\nArja had a different reaction to the memories, the girl taking in slow, shallow, breaths as her eyes flash with rage. The bracelet once again coming in handy keeping her from starting a fire of her own. \"Call Aisha…\" she says in a low, growling voice, \"Tell her to get Nessa and come here, don't tell Nelen. We're going to put these souls to rest and then I'm going to reach down your brother's throat and drag his passenger out and get some answers from him.\"\n\nSimoni nods weakly to her, leaning against one of the walls as she dials Aisha's number, \"H-hello? Aisha? I... w-we found out who the wraith is... I...\" she says into the phone, her voice trembling as she does.\n\nAisha's voice sounds worried as she hears Simoni, \"Alright. I can be over fast.\" she replies, letting the girl explain the situation to her. \"Yea don't worry…\" she nods to not telling Nelen, throwing him a glance before nodding to Nessa, \"Yea, we'll get this handled. Don't worry.\"\n\nNelen raises an eyebrow at them in the car, wincing as his arm shudders suddenly.\n\nBack in the classroom Simoni gets to her feet and shakes herself, smacking her cheeks to shock herself out of her current emotional state. \"Dammit, I can handle this. We've fought naga, we've fought rakshasa, we've fought all sorts of nasty horrible monsterous...\" she gulps down some air, then shakes her head, \"... monsters. These were humans. Normal, ordinary humans. What the hell is wrong with people?\" she grits her teeth, \"Those guys have no idea how many things there are that could tear them apart in so many ways just for the sheer perverse joy of it and yet they'll do this to each other because of something as idiotic as how much melanin is in their skin?!\"\n\nArja sighs softly, rubbing Simoni's back gently, \"That's one of the reasons people like us stay under the radar. People fear others they don't understand. It's not like India has much high ground there, aside from the time when England decided to own us all our entire history, including still now, has been different factions trading off trying to purge the country of the others they deem unworthy of being Indian.\" She shakes her head, sighing, \"The divine order was meant to bring harmony but...\" she frowns, \"The caste system never was a part of it, that was come up with by mortals as a way to oppress others and solidify their powers. Humans don't have the luxury of knowing for a fact what is waiting for them in the other side, so they do what they can to build a legacy in the mortal world. Sometimes those legacies are perverted by hate and anger and fear…\" she huffs as she shakes her head, Aisha and Nessa having snuck around the side of the school (the crowd mostly dispersing by now, students sent home of course), coming around to the window of the class room, or rather the window frame with the clear plastic tarp covering it to keep the wind out.\n\nSimoni nods and gulps down some air as she hears their voices. Aisha and Nessa and... wait, oh crap...\n\n\"I don't care Nessa, I'm coming. If this is a wraith then I might at least be able to keep it busy while you two deal with it.\" came Nelen's voice from the other side of the window. Yeah, great idea trying to keep the warlock out of the loop. \"Thats my kid sister in there and I'll be damned, don't give me that look you know what I mean... anyway, I'll be damned if I'm going to wait in the car. Dawn can keep an eye on the perimeter and teleport in if the cops show up.\n\nArja frowns a bit, shaking her head, \"I'll keep him busy, I want to ask the demon some questions anyway. You get Nessa and Aisha set up and help with what they need, let's see if we can do this fast\" she nods as she walks to the tarp, opening the side and climbing out, moving to block Nelen's path as Aisha and Nessa climb in.\n\nNelen pauses as Arja steps infront of him, then tries to go around her only to have the young hindi girl block his path again, \"... what?\" he asks, \"Whats wrong? Did that thing do something to Simoni?\" he asks, unaware of what they found out.\n\nArja shakes her head, \"No everything's fine, we're going to solve it nice and easy this time. I need to talk to the demon.\" she says, crossing her arms.\n\nHe raises his eyebrows at her, \"What?! Arja don't screw around, we've got work to do.\" he nods, moving to climb into the window.\n\nArja frowns, \"I know what happened in 1922 right here, demon.\" she says, trying to draw him out herself, \"You want me to tell Nelen or you want to talk to me like a man for a change of pace for you?\"\n\nNelen blinks, \"Wait, what are y...\" he starts, then he slumps as his eyes roll back, coming up bloody red as he straightens up and looks at her with a grin, \"... and?\" he asks, shrugging Nelen's shoulders as Merihim comes to the forefront.\n\nArja glares at him, \"Was what happened here your idea?\"\n\nMerihim looks at her, then throws back his head and laughs before leaning in and grinning, \"Wait a damn minute... are you actually trying to make me, ME, feel guilty?\" he asks, \"For FUCK'S sake kid I knew you could be naive as all shit but WOW!\" he cackles, smacking the back of her head, \"Right, fine, you wanna know so bad? Fair enough, here we go, storytime with Uncle Merihim.\" he sneers, \"Right, so back in the bad ol' days the Klan wanted to come into New Orleans right? Bunch of local white pricks wanted to push out the darkies and do whatever they fucking wanted with where they were living... but thing is Aisha's family was keepin' the worst of them out. The businessmen, yeah fair enough so long as they behaved themselves, but the Klan? They even get a whiff of white hood and that guy would be hanging from a streetlamp by whats left of his dick.\" he nods, then grins, \"Kalfu has a fun sense of humor...\" he chuckles.\n\n\"So anyways, back in the twenties these things called 'Hellfire Clubs' get popular in the states, right? Buncha industrialists and rich assholes summoning us and selling their souls for no reason other than they're bored and nobody invented the internet yet... yeah we couldn't fucking believe it either.\" he smirks at the memory, \"Well... one of 'em called up your's truly.\" he grins, tapping his chest with a flourish, \"Said something something preserving our race yadda yadda protecting our womenfolk blah blah I didn't give a fuck so long as he signed on the dotted line... or the palms of his hands anyways.\" he nods, \"So yeah, one of the Klansmen who torched that hovel had me along for the ride while a bunch of his buddies that sold their souls to some guys from the other courts of Hell kept the DeLanes busy.\" he smirks, \"Do you really, honestly think he needed me to suggest it?\" he asks, leaning in.\n\n\"Fun little fact about us kid, we don't make anyone do anything. The devil NEVER makes them do it. We just help them do what they already wanted to do deep down. Sometimes we suggest, but more often than not they just use us as an excuse.\" he grins, \"Nelen didn't need me to suggest to kill those kids, though I did finish one off after I pushed him out of the driver's seat, but that was me.\" he nods, \"They threw their souls away so they could find someone they hated and make them suffer for it. Righteous anger or bitter racism, in the end this is the result. Piles of corpses.\" he grins, his eyes almost glowing red as he says it.\n\n\"Though... if it helps, he's in Hell now, and probably having buyer's remorse like you wouldn't believe.\" he chuckles.\n\nArja keeps right on glaring at him, one fist still balled up, \"I'm not trying to make you feel guilty, I know that's an emotion things like you never had. I was trying to see if the creature inside Nelen was enough of a coward to actually push someone to do something so vile, or if you were just a parasite enjoying a ride as usual. I don't think you're the pushy kind, but believe me, if Nelen hears about this, you're going to have far bigger problems on your hands, because I genuinely did not expect even you to be so stupid as to jump around from someone who wanted to set defenseless children on fire to someone who was willing to damn his soul to avenge a friend attacked by hatred not even in the span of a century. Crazy me, I'd rather enjoy it if my lover's brother didn't try to find some crazy way to kill himself to get you out of him or whatever after that.\"\n\nMerihim sneers at her, then leans in and whispers, \"He knows, he's known for years.\" he grins, \"Oh he was pissed when he first found out... but he got over it. He's not the first one who summoned me for revenge. Got one in France during the Revolution, got one during the Inquisition, got a couple before that too.\" he nods, \"Nelen isn't a special little snowflake kid, he's just another soul in a long line of souls I've been gathering up for Hell since about...\" he thinks, \"... hm, sixteen hundred years give or take. Man, time flies.\" he shrugs.\n\n\"Besides, you think he never took a really nasty job as a mercenary? He and Edwood did some really horrible stuff in the name of 'being able to buy food'.\" he smirks, then sniffs at the air, \"Hm... seems like the girls have gotten things going. One side Chimpy.\" he nods, shoving Arja out of the way and clearing the broken frame in a single leap, heading into the building.\n\nArja huffs angrily, moving to join the rest inside, not wanting to further the argument as she climbs in, looking to see how it's going. Aisha and Nessa practice different forms, but both of them have similar concepts. Nessa is holding what looks like a small mirror made of polished obsidian, smeared with her own blood cut from her thumb, chanting prayers to the Aztec underworld to open itself up and allow the departed souls that it owned to enter. Aisha was in a different part of the room, having drawn with ash on the wall to make the same 'key' symbol her family used to invoke Kalfu, under it was a much more elaborately drawn symbol of what looked like a cross on an altar surrounded by symbols and marks, the symbol used to invoke the baron to her.\n\nAll around them are the charred ghosts from before, except instead of one family its dozens. Adults, teenagers, children, even infants all in different states of death. Some look more or less like normal humans (they died from smoke inhilation), while others were clearly burned to death. One scorched mother is even trying to let something that might have at one point been identifiable as a human infant nurse on her as the two women try to send them on.\n\n[i]I'm so tired...[/i]\n\n[i]I can't breathe... I CAN'T BREATHE![/i]\n\n[i]I want to rest... Make it stop... Let us sleep... send us back to sleep...[/i]\n\nSimoni sees Nelen come in, the demon sinking back into his hindbrain once he's inside. She eeps, then quickly darts over by Arja, not wanting to get too close to him. Nelen glances at her, looking troubled, but tries to ignore it. He stuffs his hands into his pockets as he watches Aisha and Nessa do their thing, the warlock disturbed by the evidence of what one of Merihim's past summoners caused... but his expression shows he did indeed know of this. Perhaps he didn't make the connection, or simply pushed it out of his mind and convinced himself he forgot, or maybe it was the same as the people who built the factory and the school.\n\nThey thought if they just ignored what they'd done, it'd go away. \n\nNo burials, no ceremony, not even a proper grave. The factory was built right ontop of where the shanty town used to be. Concrete was mixed and poured right above their remains, the ruins of their houses were torn down and sold as firewood or salvage, their lives not even a footnote. It was as if they didn't matter to anyone. They never spoke of what was there, never thought about it, and it just became a footnote in the history books. Something awful happened, and then it was over, the end.\n\nSimoni squeezes Arja's hand tightly, the poor girl not sure what to think now. She still trusted her brother, but she couldn't stand the thought of what was inside him and what it had done.\n\nArja squeezes back, whispering to her, \"It's gonna be ok.\" as the others work. Nessa keeps her chanting up, the mirror taking on a smoky quality to it as it catches the light. Aisha, meanwhile, goes to work calling upon the baron's gifts, reaching into her pocket for a flask and taking a rather deep pull of the rum inside, spitting it up into the air in a mist, making the whole room smell strongly of it (a bit of a welcome change really). \"Baron Samedi, your flock's slumber has been disturbed. Grant me your eyes so I can see who wakes them from the grave.\" It became clear what they were doing there, Nessa was opening the gate back to the afterlife for the souls, and Aisha was inviting the Baron to ride her to gain the ability to look into the spirit world and find the spirit responsible.\n\nAisha's vision carries her back in time to just outside of the room where three figures stood two nights ago. One of them is wearing a long black trenchcoat over a hooded jacket, the hood pulled up over his head to obscure his face, while the other two have big question marks over whether or not they're human. The one on the right is definitely not, a huge imposing mountain of muscle with a grin like a sawblade and long curling horns growing back from his forehead, a huge pointed nose and chin making him look like Mr. Punch started the Barry Bonds Workout Plan.\n\nTo his other side however... this one looks human, but something is strange. The creature is dressed like a victorian gentleman wearing an elegant suit in green velvet, his eyes hidden behind smoked glasses. As she watches the gentleman whispers something to the human, then pauses and looks around before smirking and moving as if he's directly looking at Aisha.\n\n\"Boo.\"\n\nThe vision suddenly snaps off as the symbol she drew on the far wall erupts into flames, almost bringing down the entire wall with it! When the flames finally die down there's nothing but a scorched circle of woodwork there. No symbol, no writing... but a very clear message: \"Come and get me, if you dare.\"\n\nAisha frowns, nodding, \"Alright, I got a look at him, how's your end going Nessa?\" She says as Nessa nods, the mirror's 'smoke' inside it getting thicker as the spirits begin to vanish around them, drawn in to be sorted into their respective afterlives (despite Nessa's obvious bias, it takes a GREAT deal of very ancient and forbidden magics for a priest or such to 'steal' souls. They merely open the gates, it's more like getting dropped off in Queens when you want to go to Manhattan than being actually 'abducted'). Aisha makes her way outside the room to where the figures met two nights ago, looking around for any leads now that she has a face.\n\nHer searching doesn't turn up anything however. If there was something it's either so small as to be unnoticeable or was destroyed when the wraith initially manifested. Simoni climbs out too, not because she wants to help Aisha, but because she just wants the hell out of that room. She walks out towards the parking lot, taking deep breaths of the afternoon air as she looks around. It’s sunny out here, no clouds or anything, and she feels a bit betrayed by that. After what just happened it should be dark and stormy with lots of lightning and pouring rain, not this cheerful afternoon where she can hear some kids playing kickball in the nearby park.\n\nBut thats how it is, isn't it? The world doesn't listen to what happens to one small group. It doesn't care. It'll go on spinning no matter how many terrible things happen. She sighs and flops down onto a bench near the parking lot, putting her chin in her hands with her elbows on her knees as she tries to push what she'd seen out of her mind.\n\nArja sighs softly, going out to join Simoni, patting her softly as she sits next to her, \"Kinda miss just stabbing naga huh...\" she says with a weak smile. Simoni gives a small ‘heh’ and nods, not really looking at her.\n\nNext to the window Aisha frowns, looking around. \"Alright, I'm standing where he stood, I saw him, I can tap into him...\" she takes a breath, \"The people who died here wanted to get a DeLane\" she says, eyes scanning around slowly, \"Well one finally showed up a century late. Give me the same respect and at least let me know your name...\"\n\nFor a moment, there's nothing but a faint breeze carrying the smell of the ocean. Then she hears a faint whisper...\n\n[i]Oh you want to tap into me little witch doctor? Well do come right in…[/i]\n\n... then suddenly she's falling, falling through the ground, past the last few remains of the factory foundations that still held the bodies of the ghosts Nessa sent on, past the ground under them, deeper and deeper...\n\nThen it hits her all at once. Pain, agony, suffering, misery. She can't see, but perhaps that's a blessing because she can hear. Screams, tormented drawn out screams of agony and despair echo around her, a searing heat threatens to blister the skin from her bones and leave her as crisped and scorched as the spirits from the school. She can't move, she can't breathe. If she tries to reach for the Loa she feels nothing, cut off. There are no gods here. Their light does not reach this place.\n\n[i]I would say you're out of your depth, but I think you know exactly how deep you are... but its been a long time since I had any real fun. Its almost New Years... you have until the end of January to find me, or else something really exciting will happen...[/i]\n\nShe feels something constricting her, tighter and tighter until she can barely move, the force causing her bones to creak, then crack as they start to splinter, her ribs caving in as her chest is crushed, and then suddenly a pair of large glowing red eyes with goat-like slits appear before her.\n\n[i]You want my name? Find it out yourself, and don't expect respect from the fallen little human.[/i]\n\nAnd she can suddenly see and breathe again, the sun shining down on her as she feels Nelen trying to check for a pulse, Simoni nearby fumbling with her phone as she wonders whether or not they should call an ambulance. Her body is unhurt, no broken bones or crushed ribs, but she had felt each individual bone snapping just seconds before.\n\nAisha takes in a loud gasp as she feels air flood her lungs again, bolting upright and nearly knocking Nelen over, \"Pen! Give me a pen!\" She says before Nessa rather frantically grabs a notepad and pen from her pocket, handing them over. In a flash Aisha draws the eyes she saw, then in another page does a rough drawing of the man in the Victorian clothes and the other two, years of sketching out outfit ideas finally helping her out a bit. \"We have until the start of February to find these three, [i]especially[/i] this one!\" she points to the Victorian man.\n\nSimoni examines the drawing of the man in the trenchcoat and hood. \"Hum... this doesn't help much. Our necromancer could be any goth ever here.\" she nods as Nelen looks over the huge bulky demon, \"Yeah, this too. Demons don't always look the same on Earth as they do in Hell, he might not even look like...\" he pauses, looking at the Victorian man as the blood (or demon I suppose) drains out of his face, looking from it to the eyes and back.\n\nHe turns around and walks off, shaking his head as he goes a few paces and stops. \"No. It’s not him. You and I both know lots of demons from that court like the Victorian asthetic.\" he mutters under his breath, then shakes his head harshly, \"Those ones can all shapeshift, same as Asmodeus's ones, it’s how they draw in mortals. They trade their damn forms like baseball cards.\" he growls more insistently as his arm spasms. \"I don't CARE what you think Merihim. It can't be him! He never gave a flying crap about America before, why would he suddenly show up here?\" he snarls, gripping his upper arm tightly. It seems he doesn't realizes that anyone could be listening right now.\n\nAisha looks over at the man arguing with his ‘inner demon’ as it were. \"Hey, wanna clue us in on 'him'? Guy just made it feel like my body was being crumpled like paper and cut off any connections I had with the loa, so I'd kinda love to know who 'he' is and, more helpfully, how I can kill his ass.\"\n\nHe pauses, then glances back, \"You only got cut off because he yanked your soul to Hell to intimidate you. You should be fine connecting to them now.\" he replies, \"And besides, IF its who I THINK it is... then it doesn't matter. I can't say his name.\" he scowls, gripping his arm tighter before snapping, \"Yes I heard you SHUT UP!\" and taking several deep breaths, his eyes turning red around the edges.\n\nArja blinks, \"Someone who can drag others into Hell and you can't even say his name. Well that narrows it down to like, what, a handful of horrifying options?\"\n\nSimoni stares at him, \"Oh crap... this is that guy you told us about on Sicily isn't it? The one who taught you how to control Merihim.\" she nods, still keeping back from him as his arm suddenly gives a short spasm-fueled dance before he can clamp it back down.\n\nNelen glances away, gritting his teeth, \"... if he still uses that form then yeah, probably.\" he nods before his head snaps around and his eyes flash crimson, \"THEN YOU CAN GET OUR ASS BACK TO INDIA AND WE'LL DEAL WITH THE MANTICORE WITHOUT SAMEDI'S HELP!\" before it snaps back around with normal bloodshot eyes, \"We'll get torn in half and you know it Merihim!\" and then snaps back, \"I don't fucking care! I'm not going back because that bastard found us, or have you forgotten you still owe him for telling you about [i]these fucking bandages[/i]?!\" snarls Merihim in response, flexing his hands as the bandages start to smolder slightly, steam coming up between them.\n\nArja frowns, \"As much as I love seeing Merihim afraid of something for once I think we should get the fuck out of here...\"\n\nAisha shakes her head, though, \"No, he said I have to find him by the first or something is going to happen. I'm sorry man, I'm sympathetic, but this guy isn't here just fucking around, he's killing people, blowing shit up and... I don't know what he's doing getting involved in old racist wounds and all but shockingly enough I REALLY don't think he's here to be the demon Malcolm X. We aren't going anywhere until he's... I don't know, contained, that's the word Lara uses for 'oh shit what is that how do I kill it I'm pretty sure I can't' usually.\"\n\nNelen grips his head, then scowls as Merihim gets firmly in control. \"The fuck we are. We're leaving and New Orleans can fend for itself.\" he says in a cold fury, \"That's Al...g... ugh... guah...\" he spits, \"Al, we call him Al. He's a demon of the court of Pride and I am NOT going up against one of them.\" he nods firmly, \"I don't care what you think, I am not going back to Hell because of some idiotic suicide mission to save [i]one damn city[/i]!\"\n\nArja snarls at Merihim, \"And I don't care what YOU think!\" she snaps harshly, eyes locked on his and glaring daggers. \"You want to talk about souls you've collected for sixteen hundred years? That act impresses others but the blood in my veins has existed since the world was new. My ancestors stood against armies of demons far greater than a SHAMED FORMER GOD and you expect me to turn and run now? I've had enough of a good man being held at the beck and call of a demon. You've made him do some bad things, and he's chosen to do some bad things, but if you think I'll accept you trying to pull him to run away from a city possibly in danger you are [i]very[/i] wrong.\" \n\nHer bracelet seems to shake as she speaks, the gold bending and warping as heat radiates from her body despite it. \"Now, if you're so scared of this thing, stop getting in the way and let us work together to handle it. We've stood against gods and dragons and demons and near everything else in this world, we're going to stand against this even if I have to cover you in binding seals and drag you by the hair!\"\n\nMerihim snarls right back at her, staring her down, \"You fucking inbred chimpanzee, you don't get it do you?!\" he snaps back, \"This isn't about going up against some random bastard from the pit! The demons in the courts of Hell all draw their power from the Duke who leads their court except for Pride! There is only ONE being in all of Hell who could claim that sin as his own.\" he glares, his eyes so red that they're almost smouldering as Simoni shrinks back, torn between wanting to back up Arja and fear at whats happening to her brother.\n\n\"Al draws his power from [i]Lucifer the Morningstar himself[/i]! He is on par with Mammon when he's on Earth, and you are suggesting we go and fight him?!\" he demands, \"What Nelen said about you on Inishmor was right. You are a fucking suicidal lunatic!\"\n\nArja just keeps her glare on him, not flinching as the demon speaks. \"Good, then he better bring his boss if he wants this to be a fight. We have a demon of our own, a proper one and not a fallen god, and she knows an angel. If anyone in this universe knows how to handle creatures like this it'd be one of them, wouldn't it?\"\n\nMerihim snorts, \"Repshephia? Hah, that won't do dick. Even the Seraphim get nervous around Pride demons. She'll say something like 'oh wow, him, good luck with that, I'm going to go seduce a nun'.\" he retorts, \"Heaven won't help either, they've got their hands full just trying to keep Yahweh going anymore.\" he scowls, \"Go ahead if you want, I'm leaving and I'm taking my warlock with me. It took me centuries to find a meat suit that wouldn't die within a few months and I'm going to get my money's worth out of him. I'm not going back to Hell, and especially not because you went and picked a fight with someone as powerful as Al.... g... aa....\" he pauses and spits again, \"... Al.\"\n\nArja frowns and shakes her head, \"No you're not, because you said Nelen owes him something. I know he can hear me just fine in there, I'm sure he didn't ask for something small to learn such powerful magic. So, he's going to take something from you, something valuable, probably something you love, and if you let your demon walk away right now there's nothing to stop him.\"\n\nMerihim twitches, his eyes flickering, \"Gugh... Shut up...\" he snarls, taking a few steps backwards.\n\nSimoni looks around, then nods, \"She's right... it'll be something irreplaceable won't it? Probably someone even. It could be Dawn, or mom and dad... or...\" she hesitates, looking up at him as Merihim's eyes swivel over to her, the demon's knees buckling.\n\n\"DAMMIT SHUT UP! We're leaving right n....\" he hisses through his teeth, gripping at his head as he tries to take another step back, but finds his knees won't bend properly anymore, \"SHUT YOUR DAMN NOISE FULLMOON! I'M NOT GOING BACK TO HELL FOR THIS! I DON'T GIVE A SHIT WHAT YOU WANT! I-\" he hesitates, and then suddenly balls up his fist and smashes it into his stomach as hard as he can. Merihim's eyes bulge out as he coughs, the red receeding from his eyes. \"Nelen you... basta...rd...\" he gasps, then falls over onto the ground unconscious.\n\nSimoni steps a bit closer, then picks up a tree branch that got knocked off a nearby shrub in the explosion and pokes him with it. \"Out cold... I guess Merihim can't make him leave if they're both unconscious.\" she nods, giggling awkardly.\n\nArja sighs softly, shaking her head, \"Well, one way to shut him up. Guess we got our answers.\" she frowns as Nessa and Aisha nod, moving to grab the knocked out Nelen and carry him to the car \"Let's get a move on then…\" Aisha sighs \"We got a bunch of creepy old books to read probably.\"\n\nSimoni blows out her lips and nods, letting Nessa and Aisha get her unconscious brother into the car before piling in next to Arja. \"So... We took down an evil god before... how much worse could this be?\" she tries, \"... oh, right, Inishmor got blown up.\" she winces as the car pulls out of the parking lot, wondering how they're going to keep Merihim from usurping control over Nelen and skipping town until after they've dealt with this mysterious 'Al'. It didn't sound too intimidating, but it made the wrath demon who giggled like a schoolgirl at the idea of screwing over and decapitating an angel's host, ready to run for the border.\n\nMeanwhile...\n\nDawn looks up from the fish she's chewing on with her brother Dusk over at the nearby fishmarket, the cheshires having grabbed it and teleported away before the stall's owner could see them.\n\n\"I keep feeling like I forgot something important...\" mutters Dawn.\n\n\"Don't care. Fish. Eat fish.\" nods Dusk.","writing_bbcode_parsed":"Arja huffs just a bit as she looks at herself in the mirror, changed into the uniform of the school they'd be going into. "I've never been to American school" she frowns, straightening the blazer out a bit. "I've never been to school period actually..." she adds, the girl having been “homeschooled” as it were, educated by private tutors and such to learn the basics, and then the monkeys in the temple took over her “advanced education”. It wasn't too hard to pass off, India had a major issue with schooling, especially for girls, a wealthy man choosing to have his daughter educated at home hardly raised comment.
Simoni grumbled as she pulled on the tights that came with the uniform. It had 'wealthy elite' written all over it. White silk shirt, blazer with the school's coat of arms on the right breast pocket, knee length pleated skirt, tights, and shiny leather shoes. "Lemme put it this way. Remember how we got a glimpse into Hell over Christmas? Think that, but all the time..." she frowns, then eeps as a snowball poofs against the back of her head.
"Y'know Simoni, when one of the fae thinks you're being melodramatic that means something." smirks Stephy as he leans against the wall in a loose icy blue silk top and long skirt. "You might not have been the queen bee of the social clique back in Kentucky, but at least you didn't get your former classmates throwing rocks at you when you went back last week." he smirks, flicking another few small puffs of snow at her.
Simoni huffs as she shakes the melting snow out of her hair, then finishes with her tights and puts on the shoes that go with the uniform, "Yeah yeah... well... it still sucks." she grumbles, getting to her feet. In the matching uniforms she and Arja really did look like a pair of sisters, helped even moreso by the fact that they were likely to be the only Hindi students at the school.
As she adjusts her skirt the door to their room opens and Nelen walks in, the warlock just in a jeans and teeshirt for now. Once the girls are at school he, Nessa, and Aisha are going to go around and investigate the graveyards on Baron Samedi's map. "Right. Listen up girls. Nessa and I had to really bribe the principal to get you two in there so don't blow this. Keep an eye out for any supernatural activity but, and I'm dead serious here, absolutely no magic unless it's that or die." he warns, then turns to Arja, "That goes double for you. This wraith manifested using fire, so it’s a safe bet that it can use it as a weapon like you do. I don't want anyone else making that connection or we could have a witch hunt on our hands." he nods firmly, turning to leave, "Oh, one more thing..." he adds, then quickly turns around and gets a picture of both girls on his smartphone before leaving the room with a grin, "Mom is gonna shit when she sees this..." he smirks.
Simoni rolls her eyes and looks to Arja, "Is it just me, or is he enjoying this way too much?"
Arja huffs again at being told not use her magic, but nods, "He absolutely is, hopefully we can finish this before... is prom a real thing or a TV thing?" she asks as she slips a gold bracelet on over her right wrist, an enchanted object meant to help suppress her magic. Alice figured 'impulse control' wasn't one of Arja's strong suits, so she dug that up. She could pull it off in an emergency, but with it on she couldn't make more than embers and sparks.
Simoni actually smirks a bit at that, "Real, but not until we're eighteen." she replies, heading downstairs to Nessa's waiting car.
After a short drive, a few security checkpoints, and so on they were in the school building and being escorted by a teacher to their new homeroom. Simoni seemed visibly disturbed just by being back in a school, muttering 'it even smells just like the other one' in Hindi under her breath, though both girls feel the familiar tingling on the back of their neck as they pass by a roped off hallway where one of the classrooms is missing a door, with a door-shaped scorch mark on the wall opposite it. Looks like the wraith, whoever he was, didn't mess around when he first appeared.
Arja frowns a bit as she looks down the roped off hall, "What happened there?" she asks, feigning ignorance to the teacher, curious what the mundane version of the story is.
The teacher keeps on walking briskly, not even giving the hallway a glance, "Gas leak. Nothing serious. We'll have it repaired in a few days." she replies, though from her short and almost mechanical reply that she's only saying what she's been told to say.
Simoni raises her eyebrow at it, then replies to Arja, using Hindi, "Burned flesh, and I can almost feel the anger coming out of that room. Dawn was right, this one is definitely a wraith, old one too." she nods as they walk along, the teacher muttering something about not speaking English, but not very loud. Arja and Simoni may not look like their usual type of students, but with enough money even rich southerners can ignore small details like that.
Finally they get to their new classroom where, yep, they're the darkest kids in the class. Their teacher, a middle aged man with a star spangled tie and a large bushy mustache, getting up and clearing his throat to get the student's attention, then doing it louder, then picking up an air horn and blowing it sharply which finally quiets them down. "Everyone, we got us some new students today. Couple'a Indian girls here." he nods, his Dixie accent so thick he could strum a banjo with it alone, "These here are Arja Barjar 'n her sister Simoni. Ya'll be nice to 'em." he nods, "Any questions?" he adds.
Simoni glances around the room and takes a quick headcount. No hispanic kids, no black kids... yep, every single kid in the room was whiter than white, and they weren't. Oh shit, here it comes...
One girl raises her hand, then asks, "So... ya'll live on a reservation?" she asks, "How'd ya'll get th' money to come here? Yer daddy's casino?"
Simoni reflexively glances down to make sure Arja still has her bracelet on.
"What kinda Injun name is 'Barjar'?" asks a boy, "Aren't ya'll supposed ta have names like 'Runs with Wolves' or 'Smoke'um Peace Pipe'?"
Simoni winces. Oh jeez. She'd heard wealthy Americans live in a sort of social bubble, but what decade did they think it was?
"Can I borrow ya'll's peace pipe later? Mah friends are havin' a party." asks one as the teacher gives a harrumph, but doesn't comment.
"Ain't ya'll supposed ta wear headdresses? All them feathers 'n such?" asks another.
"Didja sneak in a tomahawk? Ah'd love ta see a real one."
For a brief moment Arja is very happy that Alice got her that bracelet after all...
"We're... not that kind of 'Indian'." she explains after a little breath to calm herself. "We're actual Indians, from India. You're thinking of Native Americans, entirely different." she nods with a slightly strained smile, one of the things she practiced before coming here was 'smile, don't punch', she had to look like a normal diplomat's kid after all.
"Our father is Rajesh Barjar, he's a diplomat from India to America. He wanted us to keep our education up while he was assigned to New Orleans for a bit."
The sea of blank faces shows her that she may as well have told them they're from Neverland, then one of the girls goes, "Ohhhh wait, ya'll mean th' place my Daddy opened th' tech support thing fer his company." she nods, the others turning to look at her then a few bits of recognition setting in as Simoni glances at Arja thinking 'not good! Not good!'.
"Oh right! Ah remember that place! Like in Indiana Jones!" says one boy as Simoni winces.
"Right right! Ya'll worship that 'Kallee' thing 'n pull people's hearts out!" says another.
"Eww! Really? Thats Satanic that is!" says a girl, "God'll punish ya'll if ya keep that up."
"Yeah, my Daddy said one ah his business friends from th' United Kingdom used ta send people over there a long time ago and half of 'em would come back with cobra bites 'n their throats slit 'n stuff." nods another.
Arja has a moment of wondering if this qualified as an 'emergency' to take the bracelet off, but decided against it. "Well, movies aren't always very accurate, right?" she tries, "But yes, India has a lot of dangerous things. In fact you should all probably never go there. I mean, there's a reason we were so eager to come over here. My sister even had a traumatic experience with a snake once didn't you Simoni?" She asks, giving the other girl a soft nudge. Well, at least she could spare the people back home having to talk to these people...
Simoni blinks, half expecting the room to be on fire by now, then nods, "O-oh right! Yeah it was really bad, burst right out of a pond and almost got me!" she nods, "Infact, there's something really dangerous in the jungle near our home in Jaipur right now, you should probably all st-..." she pauses as her brain goes “(You are talking to a bunch of rich white southern kids you idiot.)”
They're all grinning a very familiar grin... the kind she's seen on Trixie whenever she's reading the latest issue of Guns 'n Ammo.
"Some big ol’ animal in th' jungle? Hell yeaaaaah! I bet mah Daddy would be all over that! Maybe we can go on a huntin' trip come spring break." one of them nods.
"Hmph, with all them bugs 'n nasty critters in th' jungle? Well, ah suppose we can hire a few locals to keep 'em off us decent folk." says another.
"I bet ya'll if we stop whatever that is 'n get it's head fer a trophy that it'll get mah Daddy the minority vote next election." nods a third.
Oh good gods its like watching a Darwin Award in the making...
Arja has to admit there's a part of her saying “yes go into the jungle and fight a manticore with your stupid guns, it'll be hilarious” but no, that wouldn't be very good either.
She laughs suddenly, lightly slapping Simoni's arm, "That's a good one!" she nods with a big smile "Yes, that's a common joke we tell back home, the big scary monster in the jungle." she raises her hands up like claws in a 'rawr' motion at that. "It's just a local story of course, a farmer sees one of his cows all torn up by a tiger and makes it more dramatic and all. No the biggest problem in India is probably snakes and... well... rats. Not very good hunting I'm afraid."
This does seem to disappoint them, though a couple of them are still thoughtful on the idea of bringing home tiger pelts, but the teacher finally decides it’s time to at least make the vague attempt to teach and gets to his feet, letting Arja and Simoni take a couple vacant seats for themselves. The classes are about what any school would expect, mostly boring memorization of facts that Simoni only half listens to anyways as once they unmask and deal with the wraith she'll never come back.
Lunchtime is at least enjoyable however, and it really shows just how much money the school has. Rather than a single cafeteria they have an entire food court that'd put most malls to shame. Simoni wants to grumble about the one percent but... well, for one she's part of India's one percent now and for another it's hard to do so when you can get Pizza Hut, Panda Express, or whatever American fast food you want for lunch. She can't deny part of her really missed that about the states as she takes a seat next to Arja with a big helping of sweet & sour chicken and rice.
Arja smirks, having gone for the same, orange chicken and shrimp fried rice on her plate. "I have to admit at least the place has good food." she nods, the monkey princess always calmed down by a good meal."So, where do you want to start looking, down the hall?" she asks in a lower tone between mouthfuls of chicken, "Seems like the best place..."
Simoni nods, then glances around, "Yeah, I mean its not like they can really do anything to stop us. From what it looks like these kids pretty much get away with whatever they wa-" she starts and then suddenly an explosion echos through the building followed by screams coming from the hallway. Simoni blinks, looking to Arja, "... do you think it says something about us that I'm not shocked or afraid when that happens anymore?" before stuffing a few more bits of chicken into her mouth and getting up, quickly jogging for the exit as the rest of the students swarm out to see what the noise was.
When they get there Simoni skids to a halt as her eyes go wide. One of the lockers has been blown apart, the flames having been so hot that they melted part of the steel door, and across the hall from it unconscious on the ground is a young boy... well, most of one. He's probably not going to be trying out for the soccer team anytime soon, not with his right arm and leg looking like that. All around her students are taking pictures, jabbering into their phones, tweeting, and a few just yelling about 'terrorists'... but what draws Simoni's attention is what's above the boy's head, scorched into the wall.
"... twelve... three... twenty two?" she reads aloud, tilting her head, trying to ignore the image of the scorched boy as she wonders what the hell it could mean. The wraith clearly wrote it, but why...
Arja blinks, taking a photo of the writing with her phone before snapping a few shots of the locker and boy, looking like every other rubbernecking kid right now. "Damn... what the hell is this thing trying to say?" she mumbles in Hindi as she looks around for any other signs.
Simoni shrugs, "I dunno... those numbers have to be important to the wraith somehow... maybe it's a locker combination or something?" she tries, calling Nelen on her own phone, "Hey, Nelen... yeah, it did. How did you know?" she asks, then winces, "Really? It almost woke him up all the way over there?" she frowns, "Yeah, we need to work this out fast... um, look. It burned some numbers into a wall... um... and one of our classmates." she adds as, outside the building, the sounds of ambulance sirens begin to draw close, "It’s gonna get crowded in here soon but, well, the numbers are twelve, three, and twenty two. Lemme know if you come up with anything okay?" she nods as she hangs up her phone, then scoots out of the way as the paramedics rush in and start to put what's left of the boy on their gurney.
She walks over to Arja and shakes her head, "Any idea on those numbers?" she asks, trying to work out what they could mean. It'd help if they knew how old the geist was, it could be a really old telephone number or something.
Arja shakes her head, "Could be anything, maybe the individual numbers mean something, maybe they're a code, maybe they're a combination to a lock... we need to get into that hall."
Simoni nods, then looks around before giggling to herself, "Good thing I had a rummage in Nelen's bags before we came here. Put this on." she nods, taking out a pair of necklaces made out of gaudy pink beads. "He showed me these once, good for sneaking into places. They basically trick people’s brains into ignoring you. It’s not invisibility and if we do anything really outrageous it'll get their attention, but so long as we're careful they'll just think we're 'not their problem'." she nods.
Nelen had told her they wouldn't work in anywhere with high security, but if you just wanted to eavesdrop or something they were fine. Still, the roped off classroom probably didn't count.
Arja grins at her, "Nice!" she nods, slipping her necklace on, "Good thinking, if we make this fast we should get some answers to this little problem." she says as she makes her way back to the burnt hallway.
She nods and follows behind her. In all the confusion and chaos they could probably go unnoticed, but with the magic helping they're practically guaranteed to. Once inside the hallway they can get a good look in the room... or rather what's left of it. The desks are piles of charcoal and half-melted metal, the windows are all blown out and the frames are warped, and the chalkboard looks like a bomb hit it. All along the walls and ceiling though are more fiery writing.
"Murderers... our homes... revenge... devils..." reads Simoni aloud as she looks around, coughing a bit as her steps kick up some ash here and there, "Looks like they didn't even touch this room or try to clean it up, they're just ignoring it, like they're hoping it'll go away." she frowns.
Arja nods, "Yea... and I think I can imagine why..." she pulls her phone out, calling Nelen "Are you and the girls going to the cemetery soon?"
Nelen's voice comes through, "Just left, why? Did you find something?" he asks.
Simoni blinks, glancing back at Arja, "... you don't think..." she murmurs, looking from her to the fiery writing.
Arja nods to Simoni, "Tell the numbers to Aisha, I think the spirit just told us where it's buried but I have no idea how the graveyards in this town work. I saw stuff like this in one of Lara's books though, that could be a code for where a grave is located."
Simoni nods, then repeats the numbers back out to her... however, they don't match anything when it comes to locations. No addresses or anything, not even close. "Hm... its not a graveyard..." she nods, Arja having put her phone on speaker at this point, "Its probably not a locker code either. I noticed on the way here that they all have digital keypads now, all shiny and new. What could it..." she pauses as she looks up at the word 'devil', then blinks, then winces, "Um... Nelen, we'll call you back." she nods, clicking off the phone as she sighs. "I think I know what it is Arja, and you're really not going to like it." she nods, dipping a finger in some ash and writing out the numbers on a nearby stretch of blank wall.
"Twelve, three, twenty two..." she nods, then she draws two slashes between the groups so that it reads... "12/3/22. December third of 1922." she nods, "The wraith is trying to tell us when it died, and I think I know why it died." she nods, pointing to the word 'devil'. "You're not from America, I dunno how much you know about American race relations and such... but one thing that black people used to call white people was 'white devils'."
Arja winces a bit at that, "So 'murder', 'our homes', and 'revenge'... done in a school full of wealthy white people with deep roots in the south... shit." she nods, "Send the date to Nelen, get them looking at every death with a racial component in this city then, whatever happened happened in this city, this is very personal for our wrath...probably involved lots of fire."
Simoni shakes her head, "NO!" she pauses, then nods, "No, trust me Arja. We need to keep him out of this one." she nods, taking out her phone and googling the date and 'New Orleans history'. "Um... I heard from my mom that Nelen got his magic after one of his friends got killed back up in Kentucky... and his friend was killed because he was gay." she nods, "Nelen completely loses his shit when it comes to anything involving racism or stuff like it, I mean, he sold his soul to get revenge on the kids who did that." she adds, "Let them focus on the graveyards, we'll handle this." she nods firmly, bringing up some historical sites for New Orleans.
Arja nods "Alright, we'll keep him in the dark for this then. There can't be that much to sort through when we get that specific, date, location, probably involved lots of fire and racism..."
Simoni nods, then pauses as she spots something, "... dead right Arja." she nods, then reads aloud from an old news clipping:
"December third, 1922. Today a local negro ghetto was put to the torch by the New Orleans chapter of the Klu Klux Klan. This is good news for local entrepeneurs who had wanted the land for some time now, but so far the negro community had stubbornly refused to leave. Rumors of black magic and 'voodoo' had been spreading among the good white people of..." she stops and makes a face, "... yeah, you get the idea." she nods, frowning at the rest of the article, "About a hundred years ago the KKK burned down a bunch of black people's homes. I'm guessing they didn't let the people leave first..." she shudders, looking around the room, then reading more of it and pausing as she looks at the picture, "... hang on..." she flips through the images, then brings up the school's website.
"... oh crap. Arja? I know why the wraith is attacking the school." she shudders showing Arja her phone. First image is of what's left of the neighborhood the day after the attack. The houses had all been small wooden shacks, may as well have been kindling really. The next image is five years later when a factory was built on the spot, then ten years after that when it was shut down, then an image from 1945 when the factory was torn down and a school was built in its place.
Arja shakes her head, "Fantastic, so this isn't a spirit getting revenge on the decedents of their killers, we're standing right on where this spirit probably died... or spirits..." she sighs, "We need Aisha."
Simoni nods, "Probably Nessa too, both of them really." she sighs, "Figures, this thing has probably been down there for decades, and whoever has Baron Samedi so ticked off must have woken it up." she frowns... then suddenly freezes as a chill runs down her spine.
They're not alone.
Simoni turns around and looks down to see a young girl standing nearby in a plain white cotton dress, about half their age. She's a black girl with curly hair tied back into pigtails, standing barefoot and holding a sack cloth doll, looking at the ground with her lip trembling like she's about to start crying.
Arja kneels down and holds her hand out to the girl, "Hey…" she says in a soft voice, "We're not here to hurt you, we're here to help." she nods, not taking a step closer or making any sudden moves, not sure how easily set off these spirits were.
The girl doesn't speak, but they can hear her voice echoing in their heads. Full of the terror and despair a child feels when they know something bad is going to happen and they can't stop it.
Why? Why they comin'? We didn't do nuthin' to them... we jes wanna be left alone...
Simoni shudders, feeling the emotions of the ghost washing over her mind, her own eyes tearing up they see another nearby, a black woman, her hair tied back under a bandanna.
Damn white folks. We got next ta nothin' and they gonna take it away too? Where we supposed ta go? They expect us ta swim out inta the ocean 'n live like fish?
Another appears, a black man wearing worn trousers and a too-large shirt.
Naw, they don't expect us ta leave. I hear them that wear hoods is comin'...
His voice sounds almost resigned, like he doesn't care what happens. Then another shows up, this one an angrier teenaged one looking a couple years older than the girls.
So we're just gonna lie down 'n take it? Theys comin' ta kill us and ya'll gonna lie down like a beaten dog 'n show 'em ya belly?! I know things! I know people! They can help us! Them DeLanes can get out here 'n help us! They know th' old magic, they can scare the souls right outta those white bastards!
Simoni blinks, looking at Arja. They knew Aisha's ancestors? The man replies to him.
We told 'em, sent someone up ta tell 'em soon as we heard the hooded men were comin'... but they ain't helpin' us. The white devils got their own devils now, real ones, and they's watchin' th' DeLanes. They too busy keepin' themselves safe. Th-
And he gets cut off as a shadow appears in the door, this one flickering like an afterimage rather than the more solid memories of the ghosts. A shadowy figure in a white robe with a pointed hood raises it's hand, and suddenly a huge tendril covered in teeth bursts out of it.
Simoni realizes a few seconds later that she's screaming. She knows that, she's seen it so many times... but then the room is suddenly ablaze, voices all around them yelling in pain and fear as outside angry voices echo in triumph, the ghosts around them standing and staring directly at the girls as their skin begins to flake, then burn, fat running down their cheeks like tears to expose charred bones and muscle, and then as suddenly as it happened the image is gone.
Simoni trembles, her eyes wide and sweat dripping down her face, then she runs over to what's left of the rooms trash can and heaves up her sweet and sour chicken into it.
Arja had a different reaction to the memories, the girl taking in slow, shallow, breaths as her eyes flash with rage. The bracelet once again coming in handy keeping her from starting a fire of her own. "Call Aisha…" she says in a low, growling voice, "Tell her to get Nessa and come here, don't tell Nelen. We're going to put these souls to rest and then I'm going to reach down your brother's throat and drag his passenger out and get some answers from him."
Simoni nods weakly to her, leaning against one of the walls as she dials Aisha's number, "H-hello? Aisha? I... w-we found out who the wraith is... I..." she says into the phone, her voice trembling as she does.
Aisha's voice sounds worried as she hears Simoni, "Alright. I can be over fast." she replies, letting the girl explain the situation to her. "Yea don't worry…" she nods to not telling Nelen, throwing him a glance before nodding to Nessa, "Yea, we'll get this handled. Don't worry."
Nelen raises an eyebrow at them in the car, wincing as his arm shudders suddenly.
Back in the classroom Simoni gets to her feet and shakes herself, smacking her cheeks to shock herself out of her current emotional state. "Dammit, I can handle this. We've fought naga, we've fought rakshasa, we've fought all sorts of nasty horrible monsterous..." she gulps down some air, then shakes her head, "... monsters. These were humans. Normal, ordinary humans. What the hell is wrong with people?" she grits her teeth, "Those guys have no idea how many things there are that could tear them apart in so many ways just for the sheer perverse joy of it and yet they'll do this to each other because of something as idiotic as how much melanin is in their skin?!"
Arja sighs softly, rubbing Simoni's back gently, "That's one of the reasons people like us stay under the radar. People fear others they don't understand. It's not like India has much high ground there, aside from the time when England decided to own us all our entire history, including still now, has been different factions trading off trying to purge the country of the others they deem unworthy of being Indian." She shakes her head, sighing, "The divine order was meant to bring harmony but..." she frowns, "The caste system never was a part of it, that was come up with by mortals as a way to oppress others and solidify their powers. Humans don't have the luxury of knowing for a fact what is waiting for them in the other side, so they do what they can to build a legacy in the mortal world. Sometimes those legacies are perverted by hate and anger and fear…" she huffs as she shakes her head, Aisha and Nessa having snuck around the side of the school (the crowd mostly dispersing by now, students sent home of course), coming around to the window of the class room, or rather the window frame with the clear plastic tarp covering it to keep the wind out.
Simoni nods and gulps down some air as she hears their voices. Aisha and Nessa and... wait, oh crap...
"I don't care Nessa, I'm coming. If this is a wraith then I might at least be able to keep it busy while you two deal with it." came Nelen's voice from the other side of the window. Yeah, great idea trying to keep the warlock out of the loop. "Thats my kid sister in there and I'll be damned, don't give me that look you know what I mean... anyway, I'll be damned if I'm going to wait in the car. Dawn can keep an eye on the perimeter and teleport in if the cops show up.
Arja frowns a bit, shaking her head, "I'll keep him busy, I want to ask the demon some questions anyway. You get Nessa and Aisha set up and help with what they need, let's see if we can do this fast" she nods as she walks to the tarp, opening the side and climbing out, moving to block Nelen's path as Aisha and Nessa climb in.
Nelen pauses as Arja steps infront of him, then tries to go around her only to have the young hindi girl block his path again, "... what?" he asks, "Whats wrong? Did that thing do something to Simoni?" he asks, unaware of what they found out.
Arja shakes her head, "No everything's fine, we're going to solve it nice and easy this time. I need to talk to the demon." she says, crossing her arms.
He raises his eyebrows at her, "What?! Arja don't screw around, we've got work to do." he nods, moving to climb into the window.
Arja frowns, "I know what happened in 1922 right here, demon." she says, trying to draw him out herself, "You want me to tell Nelen or you want to talk to me like a man for a change of pace for you?"
Nelen blinks, "Wait, what are y..." he starts, then he slumps as his eyes roll back, coming up bloody red as he straightens up and looks at her with a grin, "... and?" he asks, shrugging Nelen's shoulders as Merihim comes to the forefront.
Arja glares at him, "Was what happened here your idea?"
Merihim looks at her, then throws back his head and laughs before leaning in and grinning, "Wait a damn minute... are you actually trying to make me, ME, feel guilty?" he asks, "For FUCK'S sake kid I knew you could be naive as all shit but WOW!" he cackles, smacking the back of her head, "Right, fine, you wanna know so bad? Fair enough, here we go, storytime with Uncle Merihim." he sneers, "Right, so back in the bad ol' days the Klan wanted to come into New Orleans right? Bunch of local white pricks wanted to push out the darkies and do whatever they fucking wanted with where they were living... but thing is Aisha's family was keepin' the worst of them out. The businessmen, yeah fair enough so long as they behaved themselves, but the Klan? They even get a whiff of white hood and that guy would be hanging from a streetlamp by whats left of his dick." he nods, then grins, "Kalfu has a fun sense of humor..." he chuckles.
"So anyways, back in the twenties these things called 'Hellfire Clubs' get popular in the states, right? Buncha industrialists and rich assholes summoning us and selling their souls for no reason other than they're bored and nobody invented the internet yet... yeah we couldn't fucking believe it either." he smirks at the memory, "Well... one of 'em called up your's truly." he grins, tapping his chest with a flourish, "Said something something preserving our race yadda yadda protecting our womenfolk blah blah I didn't give a fuck so long as he signed on the dotted line... or the palms of his hands anyways." he nods, "So yeah, one of the Klansmen who torched that hovel had me along for the ride while a bunch of his buddies that sold their souls to some guys from the other courts of Hell kept the DeLanes busy." he smirks, "Do you really, honestly think he needed me to suggest it?" he asks, leaning in.
"Fun little fact about us kid, we don't make anyone do anything. The devil NEVER makes them do it. We just help them do what they already wanted to do deep down. Sometimes we suggest, but more often than not they just use us as an excuse." he grins, "Nelen didn't need me to suggest to kill those kids, though I did finish one off after I pushed him out of the driver's seat, but that was me." he nods, "They threw their souls away so they could find someone they hated and make them suffer for it. Righteous anger or bitter racism, in the end this is the result. Piles of corpses." he grins, his eyes almost glowing red as he says it.
"Though... if it helps, he's in Hell now, and probably having buyer's remorse like you wouldn't believe." he chuckles.
Arja keeps right on glaring at him, one fist still balled up, "I'm not trying to make you feel guilty, I know that's an emotion things like you never had. I was trying to see if the creature inside Nelen was enough of a coward to actually push someone to do something so vile, or if you were just a parasite enjoying a ride as usual. I don't think you're the pushy kind, but believe me, if Nelen hears about this, you're going to have far bigger problems on your hands, because I genuinely did not expect even you to be so stupid as to jump around from someone who wanted to set defenseless children on fire to someone who was willing to damn his soul to avenge a friend attacked by hatred not even in the span of a century. Crazy me, I'd rather enjoy it if my lover's brother didn't try to find some crazy way to kill himself to get you out of him or whatever after that."
Merihim sneers at her, then leans in and whispers, "He knows, he's known for years." he grins, "Oh he was pissed when he first found out... but he got over it. He's not the first one who summoned me for revenge. Got one in France during the Revolution, got one during the Inquisition, got a couple before that too." he nods, "Nelen isn't a special little snowflake kid, he's just another soul in a long line of souls I've been gathering up for Hell since about..." he thinks, "... hm, sixteen hundred years give or take. Man, time flies." he shrugs.
"Besides, you think he never took a really nasty job as a mercenary? He and Edwood did some really horrible stuff in the name of 'being able to buy food'." he smirks, then sniffs at the air, "Hm... seems like the girls have gotten things going. One side Chimpy." he nods, shoving Arja out of the way and clearing the broken frame in a single leap, heading into the building.
Arja huffs angrily, moving to join the rest inside, not wanting to further the argument as she climbs in, looking to see how it's going. Aisha and Nessa practice different forms, but both of them have similar concepts. Nessa is holding what looks like a small mirror made of polished obsidian, smeared with her own blood cut from her thumb, chanting prayers to the Aztec underworld to open itself up and allow the departed souls that it owned to enter. Aisha was in a different part of the room, having drawn with ash on the wall to make the same 'key' symbol her family used to invoke Kalfu, under it was a much more elaborately drawn symbol of what looked like a cross on an altar surrounded by symbols and marks, the symbol used to invoke the baron to her.
All around them are the charred ghosts from before, except instead of one family its dozens. Adults, teenagers, children, even infants all in different states of death. Some look more or less like normal humans (they died from smoke inhilation), while others were clearly burned to death. One scorched mother is even trying to let something that might have at one point been identifiable as a human infant nurse on her as the two women try to send them on.
I'm so tired...
I can't breathe... I CAN'T BREATHE!
I want to rest... Make it stop... Let us sleep... send us back to sleep...
Simoni sees Nelen come in, the demon sinking back into his hindbrain once he's inside. She eeps, then quickly darts over by Arja, not wanting to get too close to him. Nelen glances at her, looking troubled, but tries to ignore it. He stuffs his hands into his pockets as he watches Aisha and Nessa do their thing, the warlock disturbed by the evidence of what one of Merihim's past summoners caused... but his expression shows he did indeed know of this. Perhaps he didn't make the connection, or simply pushed it out of his mind and convinced himself he forgot, or maybe it was the same as the people who built the factory and the school.
They thought if they just ignored what they'd done, it'd go away.
No burials, no ceremony, not even a proper grave. The factory was built right ontop of where the shanty town used to be. Concrete was mixed and poured right above their remains, the ruins of their houses were torn down and sold as firewood or salvage, their lives not even a footnote. It was as if they didn't matter to anyone. They never spoke of what was there, never thought about it, and it just became a footnote in the history books. Something awful happened, and then it was over, the end.
Simoni squeezes Arja's hand tightly, the poor girl not sure what to think now. She still trusted her brother, but she couldn't stand the thought of what was inside him and what it had done.
Arja squeezes back, whispering to her, "It's gonna be ok." as the others work. Nessa keeps her chanting up, the mirror taking on a smoky quality to it as it catches the light. Aisha, meanwhile, goes to work calling upon the baron's gifts, reaching into her pocket for a flask and taking a rather deep pull of the rum inside, spitting it up into the air in a mist, making the whole room smell strongly of it (a bit of a welcome change really). "Baron Samedi, your flock's slumber has been disturbed. Grant me your eyes so I can see who wakes them from the grave." It became clear what they were doing there, Nessa was opening the gate back to the afterlife for the souls, and Aisha was inviting the Baron to ride her to gain the ability to look into the spirit world and find the spirit responsible.
Aisha's vision carries her back in time to just outside of the room where three figures stood two nights ago. One of them is wearing a long black trenchcoat over a hooded jacket, the hood pulled up over his head to obscure his face, while the other two have big question marks over whether or not they're human. The one on the right is definitely not, a huge imposing mountain of muscle with a grin like a sawblade and long curling horns growing back from his forehead, a huge pointed nose and chin making him look like Mr. Punch started the Barry Bonds Workout Plan.
To his other side however... this one looks human, but something is strange. The creature is dressed like a victorian gentleman wearing an elegant suit in green velvet, his eyes hidden behind smoked glasses. As she watches the gentleman whispers something to the human, then pauses and looks around before smirking and moving as if he's directly looking at Aisha.
"Boo."
The vision suddenly snaps off as the symbol she drew on the far wall erupts into flames, almost bringing down the entire wall with it! When the flames finally die down there's nothing but a scorched circle of woodwork there. No symbol, no writing... but a very clear message: "Come and get me, if you dare."
Aisha frowns, nodding, "Alright, I got a look at him, how's your end going Nessa?" She says as Nessa nods, the mirror's 'smoke' inside it getting thicker as the spirits begin to vanish around them, drawn in to be sorted into their respective afterlives (despite Nessa's obvious bias, it takes a GREAT deal of very ancient and forbidden magics for a priest or such to 'steal' souls. They merely open the gates, it's more like getting dropped off in Queens when you want to go to Manhattan than being actually 'abducted'). Aisha makes her way outside the room to where the figures met two nights ago, looking around for any leads now that she has a face.
Her searching doesn't turn up anything however. If there was something it's either so small as to be unnoticeable or was destroyed when the wraith initially manifested. Simoni climbs out too, not because she wants to help Aisha, but because she just wants the hell out of that room. She walks out towards the parking lot, taking deep breaths of the afternoon air as she looks around. It’s sunny out here, no clouds or anything, and she feels a bit betrayed by that. After what just happened it should be dark and stormy with lots of lightning and pouring rain, not this cheerful afternoon where she can hear some kids playing kickball in the nearby park.
But thats how it is, isn't it? The world doesn't listen to what happens to one small group. It doesn't care. It'll go on spinning no matter how many terrible things happen. She sighs and flops down onto a bench near the parking lot, putting her chin in her hands with her elbows on her knees as she tries to push what she'd seen out of her mind.
Arja sighs softly, going out to join Simoni, patting her softly as she sits next to her, "Kinda miss just stabbing naga huh..." she says with a weak smile. Simoni gives a small ‘heh’ and nods, not really looking at her.
Next to the window Aisha frowns, looking around. "Alright, I'm standing where he stood, I saw him, I can tap into him..." she takes a breath, "The people who died here wanted to get a DeLane" she says, eyes scanning around slowly, "Well one finally showed up a century late. Give me the same respect and at least let me know your name..."
For a moment, there's nothing but a faint breeze carrying the smell of the ocean. Then she hears a faint whisper...
Oh you want to tap into me little witch doctor? Well do come right in…
... then suddenly she's falling, falling through the ground, past the last few remains of the factory foundations that still held the bodies of the ghosts Nessa sent on, past the ground under them, deeper and deeper...
Then it hits her all at once. Pain, agony, suffering, misery. She can't see, but perhaps that's a blessing because she can hear. Screams, tormented drawn out screams of agony and despair echo around her, a searing heat threatens to blister the skin from her bones and leave her as crisped and scorched as the spirits from the school. She can't move, she can't breathe. If she tries to reach for the Loa she feels nothing, cut off. There are no gods here. Their light does not reach this place.
I would say you're out of your depth, but I think you know exactly how deep you are... but its been a long time since I had any real fun. Its almost New Years... you have until the end of January to find me, or else something really exciting will happen...
She feels something constricting her, tighter and tighter until she can barely move, the force causing her bones to creak, then crack as they start to splinter, her ribs caving in as her chest is crushed, and then suddenly a pair of large glowing red eyes with goat-like slits appear before her.
You want my name? Find it out yourself, and don't expect respect from the fallen little human.
And she can suddenly see and breathe again, the sun shining down on her as she feels Nelen trying to check for a pulse, Simoni nearby fumbling with her phone as she wonders whether or not they should call an ambulance. Her body is unhurt, no broken bones or crushed ribs, but she had felt each individual bone snapping just seconds before.
Aisha takes in a loud gasp as she feels air flood her lungs again, bolting upright and nearly knocking Nelen over, "Pen! Give me a pen!" She says before Nessa rather frantically grabs a notepad and pen from her pocket, handing them over. In a flash Aisha draws the eyes she saw, then in another page does a rough drawing of the man in the Victorian clothes and the other two, years of sketching out outfit ideas finally helping her out a bit. "We have until the start of February to find these three, especially this one!" she points to the Victorian man.
Simoni examines the drawing of the man in the trenchcoat and hood. "Hum... this doesn't help much. Our necromancer could be any goth ever here." she nods as Nelen looks over the huge bulky demon, "Yeah, this too. Demons don't always look the same on Earth as they do in Hell, he might not even look like..." he pauses, looking at the Victorian man as the blood (or demon I suppose) drains out of his face, looking from it to the eyes and back.
He turns around and walks off, shaking his head as he goes a few paces and stops. "No. It’s not him. You and I both know lots of demons from that court like the Victorian asthetic." he mutters under his breath, then shakes his head harshly, "Those ones can all shapeshift, same as Asmodeus's ones, it’s how they draw in mortals. They trade their damn forms like baseball cards." he growls more insistently as his arm spasms. "I don't CARE what you think Merihim. It can't be him! He never gave a flying crap about America before, why would he suddenly show up here?" he snarls, gripping his upper arm tightly. It seems he doesn't realizes that anyone could be listening right now.
Aisha looks over at the man arguing with his ‘inner demon’ as it were. "Hey, wanna clue us in on 'him'? Guy just made it feel like my body was being crumpled like paper and cut off any connections I had with the loa, so I'd kinda love to know who 'he' is and, more helpfully, how I can kill his ass."
He pauses, then glances back, "You only got cut off because he yanked your soul to Hell to intimidate you. You should be fine connecting to them now." he replies, "And besides, IF its who I THINK it is... then it doesn't matter. I can't say his name." he scowls, gripping his arm tighter before snapping, "Yes I heard you SHUT UP!" and taking several deep breaths, his eyes turning red around the edges.
Arja blinks, "Someone who can drag others into Hell and you can't even say his name. Well that narrows it down to like, what, a handful of horrifying options?"
Simoni stares at him, "Oh crap... this is that guy you told us about on Sicily isn't it? The one who taught you how to control Merihim." she nods, still keeping back from him as his arm suddenly gives a short spasm-fueled dance before he can clamp it back down.
Nelen glances away, gritting his teeth, "... if he still uses that form then yeah, probably." he nods before his head snaps around and his eyes flash crimson, "THEN YOU CAN GET OUR ASS BACK TO INDIA AND WE'LL DEAL WITH THE MANTICORE WITHOUT SAMEDI'S HELP!" before it snaps back around with normal bloodshot eyes, "We'll get torn in half and you know it Merihim!" and then snaps back, "I don't fucking care! I'm not going back because that bastard found us, or have you forgotten you still owe him for telling you about these fucking bandages?!" snarls Merihim in response, flexing his hands as the bandages start to smolder slightly, steam coming up between them.
Arja frowns, "As much as I love seeing Merihim afraid of something for once I think we should get the fuck out of here..."
Aisha shakes her head, though, "No, he said I have to find him by the first or something is going to happen. I'm sorry man, I'm sympathetic, but this guy isn't here just fucking around, he's killing people, blowing shit up and... I don't know what he's doing getting involved in old racist wounds and all but shockingly enough I REALLY don't think he's here to be the demon Malcolm X. We aren't going anywhere until he's... I don't know, contained, that's the word Lara uses for 'oh shit what is that how do I kill it I'm pretty sure I can't' usually."
Nelen grips his head, then scowls as Merihim gets firmly in control. "The fuck we are. We're leaving and New Orleans can fend for itself." he says in a cold fury, "That's Al...g... ugh... guah..." he spits, "Al, we call him Al. He's a demon of the court of Pride and I am NOT going up against one of them." he nods firmly, "I don't care what you think, I am not going back to Hell because of some idiotic suicide mission to save one damn city!"
Arja snarls at Merihim, "And I don't care what YOU think!" she snaps harshly, eyes locked on his and glaring daggers. "You want to talk about souls you've collected for sixteen hundred years? That act impresses others but the blood in my veins has existed since the world was new. My ancestors stood against armies of demons far greater than a SHAMED FORMER GOD and you expect me to turn and run now? I've had enough of a good man being held at the beck and call of a demon. You've made him do some bad things, and he's chosen to do some bad things, but if you think I'll accept you trying to pull him to run away from a city possibly in danger you are very wrong."
Her bracelet seems to shake as she speaks, the gold bending and warping as heat radiates from her body despite it. "Now, if you're so scared of this thing, stop getting in the way and let us work together to handle it. We've stood against gods and dragons and demons and near everything else in this world, we're going to stand against this even if I have to cover you in binding seals and drag you by the hair!"
Merihim snarls right back at her, staring her down, "You fucking inbred chimpanzee, you don't get it do you?!" he snaps back, "This isn't about going up against some random bastard from the pit! The demons in the courts of Hell all draw their power from the Duke who leads their court except for Pride! There is only ONE being in all of Hell who could claim that sin as his own." he glares, his eyes so red that they're almost smouldering as Simoni shrinks back, torn between wanting to back up Arja and fear at whats happening to her brother.
"Al draws his power from Lucifer the Morningstar himself! He is on par with Mammon when he's on Earth, and you are suggesting we go and fight him?!" he demands, "What Nelen said about you on Inishmor was right. You are a fucking suicidal lunatic!"
Arja just keeps her glare on him, not flinching as the demon speaks. "Good, then he better bring his boss if he wants this to be a fight. We have a demon of our own, a proper one and not a fallen god, and she knows an angel. If anyone in this universe knows how to handle creatures like this it'd be one of them, wouldn't it?"
Merihim snorts, "Repshephia? Hah, that won't do dick. Even the Seraphim get nervous around Pride demons. She'll say something like 'oh wow, him, good luck with that, I'm going to go seduce a nun'." he retorts, "Heaven won't help either, they've got their hands full just trying to keep Yahweh going anymore." he scowls, "Go ahead if you want, I'm leaving and I'm taking my warlock with me. It took me centuries to find a meat suit that wouldn't die within a few months and I'm going to get my money's worth out of him. I'm not going back to Hell, and especially not because you went and picked a fight with someone as powerful as Al.... g... aa...." he pauses and spits again, "... Al."
Arja frowns and shakes her head, "No you're not, because you said Nelen owes him something. I know he can hear me just fine in there, I'm sure he didn't ask for something small to learn such powerful magic. So, he's going to take something from you, something valuable, probably something you love, and if you let your demon walk away right now there's nothing to stop him."
Merihim twitches, his eyes flickering, "Gugh... Shut up..." he snarls, taking a few steps backwards.
Simoni looks around, then nods, "She's right... it'll be something irreplaceable won't it? Probably someone even. It could be Dawn, or mom and dad... or..." she hesitates, looking up at him as Merihim's eyes swivel over to her, the demon's knees buckling.
"DAMMIT SHUT UP! We're leaving right n...." he hisses through his teeth, gripping at his head as he tries to take another step back, but finds his knees won't bend properly anymore, "SHUT YOUR DAMN NOISE FULLMOON! I'M NOT GOING BACK TO HELL FOR THIS! I DON'T GIVE A SHIT WHAT YOU WANT! I-" he hesitates, and then suddenly balls up his fist and smashes it into his stomach as hard as he can. Merihim's eyes bulge out as he coughs, the red receeding from his eyes. "Nelen you... basta...rd..." he gasps, then falls over onto the ground unconscious.
Simoni steps a bit closer, then picks up a tree branch that got knocked off a nearby shrub in the explosion and pokes him with it. "Out cold... I guess Merihim can't make him leave if they're both unconscious." she nods, giggling awkardly.
Arja sighs softly, shaking her head, "Well, one way to shut him up. Guess we got our answers." she frowns as Nessa and Aisha nod, moving to grab the knocked out Nelen and carry him to the car "Let's get a move on then…" Aisha sighs "We got a bunch of creepy old books to read probably."
Simoni blows out her lips and nods, letting Nessa and Aisha get her unconscious brother into the car before piling in next to Arja. "So... We took down an evil god before... how much worse could this be?" she tries, "... oh, right, Inishmor got blown up." she winces as the car pulls out of the parking lot, wondering how they're going to keep Merihim from usurping control over Nelen and skipping town until after they've dealt with this mysterious 'Al'. It didn't sound too intimidating, but it made the wrath demon who giggled like a schoolgirl at the idea of screwing over and decapitating an angel's host, ready to run for the border.
Meanwhile...
Dawn looks up from the fish she's chewing on with her brother Dusk over at the nearby fishmarket, the cheshires having grabbed it and teleported away before the stall's owner could see them.
"I keep feeling like I forgot something important..." mutters Dawn.
"Don't care. Fish. Eat fish." nods Dusk.","pools_count":0,"title":"Part 2.10: Race Relations","deleted":"f","public":"t","mimetype":"application/msword","pagecount":"1","rating_id":"2","rating_name":"Adult","ratings":[{"content_tag_id":"5","name":"Strong Violence","description":"Strong violence, blood, serious injury or death","rating_id":"2"}],"submission_type_id":"12","type_name":"Writing - Document","guest_block":"t","friends_only":"f","comments_count":"0","views":"52","sales_description":null,"forsale":"f","digitalsales":"f","printsales":"f","digital_price":""}