{"submission_id":"1198764","keywords":[{"keyword_id":"743","keyword_name":"adventure","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"2922"},{"keyword_id":"60","keyword_name":"cat","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"110780"},{"keyword_id":"117","keyword_name":"comedy","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"2078"},{"keyword_id":"244347","keyword_name":"contemporary fantasy","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"3"},{"keyword_id":"10159","keyword_name":"cyclops","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"384"},{"keyword_id":"398","keyword_name":"demon","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"18402"},{"keyword_id":"1979","keyword_name":"fae","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"307"},{"keyword_id":"328785","keyword_name":"fair folk","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"2"},{"keyword_id":"2602","keyword_name":"fairy","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"2017"},{"keyword_id":"112296","keyword_name":"garuda","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"51"},{"keyword_id":"1440","keyword_name":"human","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"46960"},{"keyword_id":"191","keyword_name":"magic","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"11609"},{"keyword_id":"3313","keyword_name":"monkey","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"4912"},{"keyword_id":"328786","keyword_name":"pagan god","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"1"},{"keyword_id":"10129","keyword_name":"supernatural","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"375"},{"keyword_id":"1859","keyword_name":"zombie","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"1492"}],"hidden":"t","scraps":"f","favorite":"f","favorites_count":"0","create_datetime":"2016-09-24 12:49:59.948637+02","create_datetime_usertime":"24 Sep 2016 12:49 CEST","last_file_update_datetime":"2016-09-24 12:37:03.240376+02","last_file_update_datetime_usertime":"24 Sep 2016 12:37 CEST","username":"Simoni","user_id":"279733","user_icon_file_name":"75728_Simoni_simoni_barjar.gif","user_icon_url_large":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/large/75/75728_Simoni_simoni_barjar.gif","user_icon_url_medium":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/medium/75/75728_Simoni_simoni_barjar.gif","user_icon_url_small":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/small/75/75728_Simoni_simoni_barjar.gif","file_name":"1671725_Simoni_part_2.13_blood_price.doc","file_url_full":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/full/1671/1671725_Simoni_part_2.13_blood_price.doc","file_url_screen":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/1671/1671725_Simoni_part_2.13_blood_price.doc","file_url_preview":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/1671/1671725_Simoni_part_2.13_blood_price.doc","files":[{"file_id":"1671725","file_name":"1671725_Simoni_part_2.13_blood_price.doc","file_url_full":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/full/1671/1671725_Simoni_part_2.13_blood_price.doc","file_url_screen":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/1671/1671725_Simoni_part_2.13_blood_price.doc","file_url_preview":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/1671/1671725_Simoni_part_2.13_blood_price.doc","mimetype":"application/msword","submission_id":"1198764","user_id":"279733","submission_file_order":"0","full_size_x":null,"full_size_y":null,"screen_size_x":null,"screen_size_y":null,"preview_size_x":null,"preview_size_y":null,"initial_file_md5":"9da696b698c641c94b0f21078f873d7f","full_file_md5":"9da696b698c641c94b0f21078f873d7f","large_file_md5":"","small_file_md5":"","thumbnail_md5":"","deleted":"f","create_datetime":"2016-09-24 12:37:03.240376+02","create_datetime_usertime":"24 Sep 2016 12:37 CEST"}],"pools":[],"description":"[i]WHAT A TWEEEEEST![/i] 8U\n\nSo, Merihim has returned to being the God he used to be... sort of. He's still sharing a body with Nelen, but he's not a demon anymore and has gone back to being Cernunnos, the Horned God. What does this mean for the two of them? Well, here's the short verison.\n\nBeing a hunting god, Cernunnos has the following powers:\n1. He can shape wood into hunting weapons such as wooden spears and bows. These weapons will be supernaturally sharp and durable, but nothing besides that.\n2. He can command predatory animals. Back in India that would be things like tigers, snakes, and so on. In a city it could be, say, stray cats or dogs. The animals recognize him as the hunting god, the king of predators as it were.\n3. He can, once every year and a day, summon the Wild Hunt of Arcadia safely. Before he was Cernunnos he was Herne, the first Huntsmaster of the Wild Hunt. He [i]can[/i] summon them whenever he wants, but they will only be bound to hunt the prey of his choice [i]once in a year and a day[/i]. If he calls them again too soon they can choose their own prey, [i]whoever[/i] they want. Even if its, say, Simoni or one of his other allies.\n4. While Cernunnos is possessing Nelen's body he becomes supernaturally agile, strong, and skilled. However, he can only use this power while Cernunnos is in control.\n\nNow, here's the downsides:\n1. Nelen has lost the ability to use his blood magic. His pact with Merihim was what allowed him to do that, without the demon it's null and void, meaning he got his soul back... but no more blood magic.\n2. This also means that he's lost his immunity to disease and poison that Merihim's powers gave him. Cernunnos is sharing his body, but in a more spiritual sense than a literal one. (And yes, this means he's not immune to the Manticore's sting anymore either. Wuh oh.)\n3. Vampires are no longer killed by trying to feed on him. His blood is, for all intents and purposes, ordinary human blood once again.\n\nAlso, incase anyone who sees this happens to read The Hollows books by Kim Harrison... yes, its [i]that[/i] Alagarept... or at least he's inspired by him. There's a few major differences such as the fact that the Al from this story is a demon from Hell while the one from the Hollows lives in the Ever After. Also the fact that the Al in the Hollows can't be on Earth during the day while Al in our story doesn't give a shit what time it is... but in terms of appearance and some personality traits they're pretty similar.\n\nI have to admit out of all the characters in the Hollows, Al is my favorite. Hell sometimes I'll read his lines in a book out loud just because I want to do my 'Al voice'. :P\n\nI had toyed with a few ideas as to how to do this story. At one point I considered having Nelen's sacrifice cause Cernunnos to come back completely, with his own body, and have him duke it out with Al before using what was left of his powers to bring Nelen back to life before vanishing to Shadow's Fall or wherever pagan gods go when they die... but eh, this is more fun.","description_bbcode_parsed":"WHAT A TWEEEEEST! 8U

So, Merihim has returned to being the God he used to be... sort of. He's still sharing a body with Nelen, but he's not a demon anymore and has gone back to being Cernunnos, the Horned God. What does this mean for the two of them? Well, here's the short verison.

Being a hunting god, Cernunnos has the following powers:
1. He can shape wood into hunting weapons such as wooden spears and bows. These weapons will be supernaturally sharp and durable, but nothing besides that.
2. He can command predatory animals. Back in India that would be things like tigers, snakes, and so on. In a city it could be, say, stray cats or dogs. The animals recognize him as the hunting god, the king of predators as it were.
3. He can, once every year and a day, summon the Wild Hunt of Arcadia safely. Before he was Cernunnos he was Herne, the first Huntsmaster of the Wild Hunt. He can summon them whenever he wants, but they will only be bound to hunt the prey of his choice once in a year and a day. If he calls them again too soon they can choose their own prey, whoever they want. Even if its, say, Simoni or one of his other allies.
4. While Cernunnos is possessing Nelen's body he becomes supernaturally agile, strong, and skilled. However, he can only use this power while Cernunnos is in control.

Now, here's the downsides:
1. Nelen has lost the ability to use his blood magic. His pact with Merihim was what allowed him to do that, without the demon it's null and void, meaning he got his soul back... but no more blood magic.
2. This also means that he's lost his immunity to disease and poison that Merihim's powers gave him. Cernunnos is sharing his body, but in a more spiritual sense than a literal one. (And yes, this means he's not immune to the Manticore's sting anymore either. Wuh oh.)
3. Vampires are no longer killed by trying to feed on him. His blood is, for all intents and purposes, ordinary human blood once again.

Also, incase anyone who sees this happens to read The Hollows books by Kim Harrison... yes, its that Alagarept... or at least he's inspired by him. There's a few major differences such as the fact that the Al from this story is a demon from Hell while the one from the Hollows lives in the Ever After. Also the fact that the Al in the Hollows can't be on Earth during the day while Al in our story doesn't give a shit what time it is... but in terms of appearance and some personality traits they're pretty similar.

I have to admit out of all the characters in the Hollows, Al is my favorite. Hell sometimes I'll read his lines in a book out loud just because I want to do my 'Al voice'. :P

I had toyed with a few ideas as to how to do this story. At one point I considered having Nelen's sacrifice cause Cernunnos to come back completely, with his own body, and have him duke it out with Al before using what was left of his powers to bring Nelen back to life before vanishing to Shadow's Fall or wherever pagan gods go when they die... but eh, this is more fun.","writing":"Nelen sighs as he sits at the bar, nursing a glass of something definitely not healthy for him. Seated next to him is a man made entirely out of living blood, jagged edged fangs jutting out from around his 'head' in a manner akin to a crown. \"I didn't expect it to all go to [i]shit[/i] so fast...\" he sighs, glancing at his crimson companion, \"I mean... Al shows up, then he tells everyone about what we agreed on, and now its down to this.\" he frowns.\n\nThe creature makes a faint hissing noise at him, Nelen looking annoyed at him. \"Well, yeah, I [i]could[/i] have refused Al's offer and just tried to find a way to keep you from murdering half the people we met. I [i]could[/i] have just jumped off London Bridge the second we arrived in England too!\" he snaps.\n\nMore hissing, the creature narrows the two small hollows where it's eyes would be. \"You do realize we're going to die, right?\" asks Nelen, \"As soon as Al gets his hands on Drusilla's baby, he'll kill me out of spite.\" he frowns... then pauses and looks thoughtful, \"... remember what I suggested? That one idea that might get us out of this mess, both of us?\" he asks.\n\nThe creature hisses angrily, standing up from it's stool and looming over Nelen. \"Don't give me the death glare Merihim. For one, it doesn't really work if you don't have eyes. For another, what have we got to lose? Yeah, it might not work, and then we die. But either way we're fucked.\" he nods, \"I'd say we're out of options.\" he winces, \"... especially since I just realized this is a dream, which means I'm regaining consciousnessowowowowOW ahgods everything hurts...\" he gasps as brusies form on his body.\n\nHe coughs, spitting out another globule of Merihim's mass as he raises his head. He's hanging limp now, held up by a pair of unseeing, unfeeling corpses, four more standing to his sides like a rather gruesome honor guard. \"Fugh...\" he tries to say, but his jaw is swollen and several teeth are missing. His glasses are gone, he has no idea where they wound up, and about three of his fingers are at a rather uncomfortable angle.\n\n\"Ah, apprentice. Good, thought we might have lost you for a minute there.\" smiles Al, standing before him in his green Victorian suit and top hat, both hands resting on the goat-head handle of his cane. \"By the prickling of my thumbs your little friends should be here in a few minutes... which means you get the pleasure of watching me kill them before I go to collect your firstborn as per our agreement.\" he nods, checking a gold pocket-watch tucked into his jacket pocket. He leers at Nelen as the warlock glares back at him, \"Now, no falling unconscious again boy. You are GOING to watch this.\"\n\nSammi frowns as he rides in Aisha's car with her. Trixie and Arja were above them with the birds, already a good bit ahead of the fast moving car. \"Does this thing not go faster?\" he asks in a surprisingly emotional voice, the air around him rippling faintly with raw glamour. His face was still bruised, and his chest still hurt like hell, but he had his sword on his hip regardless. \n\n\"Not the car, fairy boy, the roads. Unless you want me to just plow through some back yards we need to follow the roads.\" Aisha responds, doing a better job of hiding her anger. The knight was ready for a fight of her own. She knew her prey was with Al, the necromancer that had been agitating The Baron. \"When we get in there, you guys focus on Al, the magician is mine.\" she nods firmly. This started as just a job, an annoying task set to her as punishment for turning her back on her family arts for so long. Now she was gripping the wheel tight enough to turn her knuckles white. She saw what the necromancer did, who they're working with, what the plans are. She wanted to kill this one for her own reasons, not just because Samedi told her to.\n\nAbove them Trixie sat on Stephy's back, patting her sides yet again. Two guns, deck of cards, a few prepacked reloads that she could just slide into the chambers of her revolvers. It wasn't enough, but it'd do. She had cleaned out her supply of holy bullets. Unsurprisingly they were the hardest to get, so she didn't have many of the golden tipped things to spare on bad shots. \n\nNext to her on Simoni's back, Arja was flexing her hands, slowly focusing on keeping her breathing even in pre-fight meditation. She felt Al's power before, but seeing it earlier up close was unimaginable. She knew killing him would be almost impossible, but she also could see no other way to free Nelen from his debt. \"When we get there get Nelen safe and give Al everything you have. I'm positive this won't be a surprise attack so we're gonna have to hope we can just overwhelm him into stumbling. Bust up anything he has brewing, wreck his shop. We may not be able to beat him but we can destroy his plans.\"\n\nSimoni nods to Arja as the treeline clears to reveal a run down factory, the letters 'Cok', 'C', and 'la' still visible amongst the ivy and moss growing on it. \"Right... I just hope Nelen is okay. Al can't kill him, but he's a Fullmoon so he can take a lot of...\" she shakes her head, falling silent, then banks downwards as Stephy begins his descent next to her, the fae boy having changed into a shorter skirt and tank top. Easier to move in during a fight than the longer one he had on before that had been completely ruined during their battle in the swamp. \n\nAs soon as they land the front doors open up and Al comes striding out, flanked on either side by a good dozen zombies. \"Well well, seems I won't be cancelling my plans after all.\" he nods, looking towards Stephy. \"I thought you children would at least have the sense to not bring your fairy friends, but now I'll have just what I need to get things back in order.\" he smiles, snapping his fingers. There's a loud crunching sound as Aisha drives into the area, just in time to see a black shadowy dome forming around the perimeter of the factory, sealing itself overtop and shrouding the entire area in darkness. The group looks back to see her skidding to a halt, the loud crunch being the back half of her car which hadn’t quite made it over the dome before it began forming. \"No portals will function, no Cheshire teleportation, nobody is leaving alive.\" he nods grimly, then points towards the group. \"Kill them.\" he commands, the heads of the corpses around him jerking up, their mouths opening in a gutteral scream as they all surge towards the kids.\n\nAisha growls as she comes storming out of the car. \"Couldn't let me get the car all the way in, could you, dick?\" she frowns, looking back at it. \"Damn it I JUST paid that thing off too.\" She huffs angrily, grabbing the sword at her hip and raising it out of its scabbard, holding the blade aloft. \"In the name of the lord of death, the baron of graves, return to the earth that birthed you and rest your souls again!\" She focused all her energy on the blade, trying to call out to the baron regardless of the dome or her lack of finalized training. She knew she had to do this test without him, but if there ever were a time to reward newly renewed faith, it would be now...\n\nHer words turn out to just be words however, the Baron blocked out either by the dome or by Al's presence. After all, he couldn't find the necromancer because of him. More zombies surge out of the factory as Al laughs at her, drawing his own sword out of his cane and tossing away the lower half as Simoni and Stephy do their best to drive back the undead horde, Simoni blowing them back towards the building as Stephy tried to freeze what ones he could, though the warm Louisiana air was working against him. It was still daytime, but the dome's shadowy presence blocked out most of the natural light, covering everything in a midnight-gloom. As the group fights there's a gasp of pain from the door. Two zombies march out, holding Nelen by his arms. Simoni lets out a gasp as her wind suddenly falters, the last few zombies hit by it only stumbling, as she sees what they did to her brother.\n\n\"Nelen!\" she cries out, her eyes tearing up as he raises his head to look at her through his non-puffy eye, squinting to see without his glasses.\n\nHe spits on the ground and replies, \"Fugh... shouldn'ta told Dawn where Iwuz goin...\" through his ruined mouth, all the fight beaten out of him by Al and his army.\n\nArja glares as she does what she does best, become a human(monkey) flamethrower, burning her path through the zombies as Sammi's rapier pushes through the creatures' eyes to pierce their brains. Aisha's sword, lacking magic or not, still was a very good sword, able to let her hack her way through as she searches for the necromancer proper.\n\nTrixie, meanwhile, is trying to fight the Huckster way, aka tricky and cheaty. She creeps around the fight, trying to get a clear angle at Al or the zombies holding Nelen while the group fights\n\nAl smirks at this as more and more undead come from the factory entrance, just how many did he make?! He waits for them to force their way up to the entrance, then pushes outwards with his hand like he's opening an invisible door and speaks a word none of them recognize. There's a loud crashing sound as everyone but Aisha and Trixie suddenly cries out in pain. Sammi and Stephy's fae meins vanish, forced back to their normal appearance, as is Arja. Simoni collapses onto her hands and knees, letting out a loud whistle as a zombie lurches closer... but no wind comes. Stephy tries as well, but no frost appears and the temperature remains warm. Trixie finds she can't use her huckster powers either, the girl cut off from her 'hunting ground'. Only Aisha is unaffected because she wasn't using magic to begin with.\n\nBefore the kids can react the zombies are upon them, pinning them down by sheer numbers before Al claps his hands together. The undead stand up as one, lifting them up off their feet and turning to face him as Nelen starts to struggle again, lisping curses at the demon. \"Goddammit Al! Lettem go!\" he shouts as blood (well, Merihim) runs down his chin, trying to use his half-Fullmoon strength to break free from the unnatural strength of the undead holding him.\n\nAisha grunts as she cleaves through the zombies that go for her, keeping herself free as the kids are grabbed. \"Hey, clownsuit, forgetting someone?\" She growls as she kicks the dead...redead...body of a zombie away from her. \"You like the 'old style' for real, or just the ugly ass suits? If you do how about you and I settle this like men instead of using an undead army to grab a bunch of kids?\"\n\nThe kids do their best, but without their magic they're just children, the horde quickly overpowering them as well. Al sneers, then holds his sword ready and nods to her, \"Talk or fight girl.\" he replies simply, waiting for her to come at him, ignoring Aisha's attempt to goad him into attacking her. Another wave of undead come lurching out of the building... but no necromancer yet.\n\nAisha smirks, raising her sword, but not stepping closer. \"Well, if you want to do this right, we should parlay first, shouldn't we? That typically includes all parties involved, including your magician holding the leash to these dogs...\"\n\nAl raises his eyebrow, then in a blink he's right infront of her, \"No, I think not.\" he replies, smacking the sword right out of her hands before spinning around and landing a vicious backhand across her jaw that actually lifts her right off her feet and causes her to spin in midair, landing sprawled and dazed on the grass as several zombies tackle her as well, pulling her to her feet with their cold dead hands firmly locked around her arms. \"I've really rather had enough of you, I think I'll be taking those fae hearts I was after and getting back to work now.\" he nods, turning his back to her and walking towards the kids as Nelen curses louder at him.\n\nHe grins, raising his hell-forged sword as he points it toward's Stephy's chest, the boy struggling and whimpering as the air around it begins to heat, the blade's edge glowing cherry red. \"If you hold still this...\" he starts, then smirks, \"Oh why lie? This will be agonizing no matter what you do.\" he grins pulling the sword back...\n\nSammi grunts as he yanks on the zombies holding him, unable to get himself free regardless. \"You know, you can tear our hearts out, make all the drugs you want, maybe even somehow make this stupid plan work to jumpstart a crusade to fix your busted dad... but that's never going to make you not a literal divine failure. Do you ever feel a little ashamed working right under a guy who's most notable moment was failing in rebellion because daddy's new baby made him jealous?\" He just needed to buy any amount of time, any little crack in the pride demon's armor he could dig into. \"I mean, is there ever a moment where you look at your legacy and realize even if the world all remembers your god perfectly well, you'll at best be remembered as a second fiddle to a second fiddle?\"\n\nAl shrugs, \"Eh, at least I can say I enjoy my job.\" he replies, pulling back as there's suddenly a loud ripping sound, Nelen letting out a roar of fury as he pulls free of the rotten arms holding him... and most of the arms themselves. \n\nHe dives away from the zombies, but not at Al, instead he grabs up Aisha's sword from where it fell. \"AL!\" he snarls, quickly struggling to his feet and holding the weapon in his good hand, glaring at the demon.\n\nAl turns around with an annoyed titching sound, \"Really, you Fullmoons are so damned stubborn. You lost. Now be a good boy and shut up.\" he scolds as Nelen wavers, but manages to stay standing. \"What? You want another try?\" he asks, raising his eyebrow, then frowning. Nelen is grinning at him.\n\n\"... somethin' Nessa said...\" he manages to say with his broken and swollen mouth, \"... 'bout blood... given willingly.\" he smirks, Al's eyes widening as he raises the sword, turns it around, and points it at his chest. Al grimaces and dives, but Nelen pushes downwards, his eyes going wide as the sword slides between his ribs and out his back, penetrating his heart! Simoni tries to scream, but she's too horrified by the sight of her brother impaling himself as Stephy lets out a shriek and starts kicking again, Nelen falling to his knees as he coughs. \"... I... give this... to...\" he mutters as blood (well, it looks like blood) dribbles out of his mouth, his eyes sliding out of focus as he tries to force out the last few words as a breathy whisper, then slumping and falling to his side as he stops breathing.\n\nSimoni finds her voice then, struggling and kicking like a girl gone mad against the zombies holding her, \"NO! NO NO NO NO! NELEN! [i]NELEN[/i]!\" she shrieks in despair as she watches her brother die right infront of her.\n\nArja's eyes go huge as well, kicking and fighting against the undead harder. \"Damn it! Nelen you idiot!\" She yells out even as she fears tears forming in her eyes. Sammi groans, feet thrusting out, trying to kick at Al's hand to knock his sword away as Aisha begins to break free of her own zombies. Her strength wasn't supernatural, that was just a lot of training, and these undead aren't near strong enough to hold her with adrenaline pumping...\n\nAl growls in rage and gestures with his hand, a burst of force smacking the others hard as he lifts Nelen's body up by his shirt, \"DAMN YOU! WHO? YOU GIVE IT TO [i]WHO[/i]?!\" he demands, shaking the corpse... and then Nelen's head snaps up as his eyes flash, not red... but the deep green of a forest in spring. Al blinks in shock as Nelen's head suddenly rushes forward, smashing the demon's nose and forcing him backwards as his hand cups his face, \"How... Merihim?\" he asks. As he does the rest of them feel a sudden surge of magic in the area, especially Sammi and Stephy, the energy positively overflowing with glamour!\n\nNelen stands, pulling the sword out of his chest and tossing it away as the hole seals itself along with the rest of his wounds, save for two on either side of his head. He shakes his head a few times as... liquid seeps out of the wounds, sticking backwards and branching out in a way akin to the antlers of a great stag. \"Me. He gave it to me. Blood freely given, just like in the old days. You said it yourself [i]Alagarept[/i], with Yahweh fading Heaven and Hell are becoming weaker... weak enough for me to undo what the Pit did to me, given enough power!\" he reaches over to a tree that had grown in the dilapidated yard, snapping off a branch. As he holds it the branch extends and sharpens, becoming a sturdy wooden spear as he stomps his feet, staring down the demon infront of him.\n\nArja groans as she looks up, actually laughing softly as she sees Merihim challenge Al. \"I never thought I'd be happy to see him show up...\" \n\nSammi frowns softly, nodding. \"Looks like he's back to his old self, too... interesting bit there, didn't see that coming... I had no idea that stuff even could be 'fixed'...\"\n\nAl growls and raises his sword, but 'Merihim's' spear doesn't catch fire or break when he strikes it, whatever entity he's become able to stand toe-to-toe with the hellspawn as he drives him back. He acts much more primal in this state as well, snarling and snorting like a wild animal as he drives the demon away from the group before smashing the handle of his spear across Al's face and glaring back at the others. \"AISHA!\" he snaps, \"What are you waiting for? The undead are all out here now! That means whoever is in there is [i]alone[/i]! Kill them and these are just dead bodies!\" he jabs his hand at the factory, then steps to the side as Al tries to bring his sword down on him. Al jabs rapidly at 'Merihim', but he nimbly sidesteps every strike before countering with his spear, narrowly missing impaling the demon's shoulder but tearing a good chunk out of his jacket as he does.\n\nAisha nods, scrambling to her feet and grabbing her sword, charging into the factory. \"Necromancer! Show yourself!\" The inside is almost pitch black thanks to Alagarept's dome, nothing but dust and deep shadows... but as she shouts she hears someone gasp above her, then the sound of running feet on one of the walkways. \n\nBack outside the fight continues, the sudden upwelling of magic caused by Merihim's transformation breaking the magic nullification that Al caused. Simoni feels a familiar tingle through her body before she grins and lets out a loud hawk-like cry, a sudden blast of wind erupting out of her and sending several undead flying to be smashed against the walls of the factory as Stephy summons up a swirl of snow and hoarfrost, his victims becoming frozen statues before him.\n\nDuring all of this Al battles with the being Merihim has become, neither one able to gain the upper hand, but neither one backing down either. When Al slashes, Merihim leaps out of the way, when Al attempts to use magic, a surge of glamour infused energy smashes his spell before it's even formed, when Merihim stabs however Al always seems to sidestep at just the right moment, and when Merihim tries to use magic he can't get it all out before having to dodge or block Al's blade.\n\nSammi grins as he feels his magic coming back, a surge of ice spikes ripping up from the ground to impale the zombies around him as Arja charges at Al, trying to help Merihim get the upper hand as she rakes her claws at his back! Trixie, meanwhile, starts dealing herself as much of a hand as she can, trying to counter Al's dome now that he's busy fighting and less able to focus.\n\nAl snarls as Arja's claws dig into his back, spinning around to smash her across the face with his fist, but in that moment of distraction Merihim charges, slamming the haft of his spear into the demon's throat as he drives him back. Clods of dirt fly as his feet dig into the ground like the hooves of some great beast as Alagraept is smashed into the edge of his dome. Merihim pulls back, then smashes his fist into Al's face once, twice, and on the third the air crackles with glamour tasting of hot fresh blood and animal sweat as he brings it down, forcing the demon THROUGH the dome as cracks begin to erupt outwards from the point of impact, the shadowy cover shattering and crumbling into motes of darkness as Al lands sprawled on the grass, Merihim raising his spear up over his head and roaring.\n\nAisha makes her way up the walkway, holding her sword out and trying to focus her energy into it and summon a burst of light. Even a fast one would be enough. \"Show yourself and surrender with dignity, necromancer. I'll give you a fast death!\" she calls out, her blade summoning a small flicker, but the shadowy dome seems to actively force out light-blessed powers like that... until she hears the dome shatter and bright sunlight spills in through the dirty windows illuminating the walkways, the vats of Hyde bubbling under her... and the shadowy figure who had been aiming a gun at her and looks rather surprised that her cover of darkness is suddenly gone. \n\n\"SHIT!\" she yells, firing off three random shots before scrambling away, heading towards what was once the factory office.\n\nAisha charges the girl, grabbing at her as soon as she can. She may be a spoiled model, but she had been in genuine training for a while, she was pretty sure she could catch a terrified and clearly out of her element magician. \"Come here you!\"\n\nThe girl is yanked around, her hood falling off to reveal a pale-skinned teenager with short spiky blonde hair. She had deep bags under her eyes, like she hadn't been getting much sleep, and a sort of sickly look to her that some necromancers got. Dealing with death as frequently as they did tended to be pretty bad for the magician too. \"No... you're not stopping me!\" she kicks out at her, then reaches into her coat and pulls out a syringe full of the same vile liquid in the cooking vats below. Before Aisha can stop her she plunges it into her arm, pressing down on it as her eyes bulge and the veins on her arm all press out at once. \"I won't let you! I'm going to make this entire town pay for what happened to me!\" she snarls, her body swelling as her eyes redden, the air heating around her as Sammi and Stephy pick up on a sudden surge of wrathful energy from inside the building.\n\nSammi blinks, looking to the building as he feels the sudden eruption of emotional energy coming from it, followed by the toxic waste stench of the artificial emotions caused by the drug. \"Shit... not good... We got a Hyde in there!\" He calls to the group as he runs to the factory.\n\nAisha, meanwhile, lifts her sword up, but doesn't attack yet. \"What happened? There are better ways than this, we can help you but you can't give in to this stuff!\"\n\nThe girl snarls as her clothes start to tear from her body swelling up, muscles bursting out as the fae-enhanced drug races through her system. She's not listening to Aisha now, or anything, all she wants to do is smash, and rip, and tear, and kill. She lets out a bellow of rage and brings her fists down on the walkway, sending shards of metal flying everywhere as the old rusty sheets of steel crumble under her strength just as Sammi and Stephy come running in through the entrance.\n\nHowever, this has an unexpected benefit for the others outside. The remaining zombies suddenly begin to act strangely, stumbling around and walking into each other before they begin to fall over, one by one, going inert. Hydes are good at destruction, not so good at magic. Al gets to his feet and glares about him, \"Damn girl, I told her to only use that as a last resort!\" he snaps, raising his sword as Merihim walks slowly around him, grinning as he keeps his spear pointed at the demon.\n\nSammi rushes into the factory to see how bad it is as Aisha grabs onto the railing of the walkway. \"Stephy... you wanna get real sick? She's fresh changed, do you think we can drain that anger?\"\n\nStephy shakes his head frantically, \"Are you out of your mind?! Lavender never said the Hyde [i]changed back[/i] after they got done!\" he replies with a shocked expression, \"Just... I dunno, do [i]something[/i]!\" he looks around, then sees the metal walkway that the Hyde is standing on. \"Sammi! The walkway! Maybe we can knock it out if it falls off or something.\" he nods, whistling sharply as he shoots a blast of supercold air above him. The Hyde roars, then looks startled as it tries to move and finds the metal walkway is suddenly extremely slippery under it's feet. Stephy nods, \"Right, you take care of that, I'll see if I can get Aisha down.\" he says to his brother, shifting forms as he takes to the air.\n\nSammi nods, pointing his rapier at the walkway and boosting Stephy's magic on it. The slush turning to solid ice, forming a sheet of the slippery material right under the hulking Hyde's feet. \"Come on, don't make us kill you, just give up…\" he whispers. \n\nAisha, meanwhile, shoves her sword back in its sheath to reach her free hand out for Stephy to grab. \"Nice timing there.\" she grins at the fae kid.\n\nStephy swoops in and grabs her hands with his talons, flapping frantically as he lifts her up off the pathway and glides back down to the floor, straining to hold her up. He may have similar powers to Simoni, but he wasn't as used to carrying people as she was and Aisha was a fully grown woman. \n\nThe Hyde roars and struggles to stay up on the path, but the ancient chains holding it up begin to snap under it's weight until, finally, they snap loose and the walkway falls. The Hyde tries to hold on, grabbing at the platform, but the slippery ice prevents it from getting a solid grip as it falls, tumbling head over heels, into one of the boiling vats below, its roar cut off as it falls under.\n\nOutside, Merihim stares down Alagarept, the demon frowning. \"... well, there she goes.\" he glares at the being infront of him, \"No necromancer, no hyde, nothing. This has become one gigantic cockup of a situation.\" he frowns raising his sword, \"What now Merihim? Want to finish our little duel? Try to send me running back to Hell?\" he spits.\n\nMerihim smirks, reaching to another small tree and breaking off a thicker branch, \"Thats not my name anymore Al. Do you know who I was before I made my deal with your master?\" he asks, the branch widening and hollowing out until he's holding what appears to be an ancient hunting horn in his hand. \"I was going to do this from the start if this worked, I just had to wait for your barrier to go down before I could.\"\n\nAisha can't help but wince as she sees the monster fall, sighing softly. \"I really didn't want it to go this way.\" she says as Sammi shakes his head as well, moving his hands to start freezing and shattering any remaining drug that the factory had left in it.\n\nArja, outside, just looks on curiously, whispering to Simoni \"Is this one of your old gods?\"\n\nSimoni shakes her head, \"No, not one of our's...\" she mutters.\n\nMerihim glances back, \"Kids, get inside the factory and stay quiet. Now.\" he warns, then takes the horn to his lips and sounds it, a loud deep booming sound that echoes around the clearing. As it happens Sammi and Stephy both sense two things at the same time; a sudden upsurge of glamour, and severe imminent danger.\n\nStephy glances back, \"... oh crap, I think I know who Merihim used to be...\" he winces, quickly shoving Aisha behind the nearest big sturdy thing as the others duck inside.\n\nOutside there's a rippling in the air as Alagarept looks confused, and then brambles shoot up from the ground, forming a large wide arch in the middle of the area as the air shimmers inside. Seconds later the sounds of hoofbeats and the baying of hounds fills the air.\n\nSammi's eyes go huge as he hears the sound, shuddering as he nods, racing into the factory, grabbing Stephy and Trixie to drag them along and find something large as well. \"He can't be... there's no way,\" he whispers, sounding genuinely terrified. \"That's a myth, the hunt has no master it's just... a force of nature...\"\n\nApparently not as the hedge portal opens and out bursts a group of High Fae, each one mounted atop a massive beast of a horse. Their leader, an impossibly tall man with antlers to outdo even the greatest of mundane bucks, armor that seemed crafted from tanned hide (several pieces sporting tattoos), and a face that was little more than a piece of the night sky worn like a mask, glances to Merihim and salutes him with his spear, \"Hail huntsmaster! I am pleased to see you returned to the world. Tell us, where is our prey?\" it asks, it's voice not so much heard as felt. Around the legs of the steeds dog-like creatures made of brambles with human eyes bark and howl, chasing each other in eagerness to hunt.\n\nMerihim grins, then points directly at Alagarept. \"One of the Lightbringer's. This should vex Hell greatly, perhaps make them regret their tithing of your lands.\" he nods as the fae all laugh to themselves, Al backing away worried. Old Maggoty was a higher fae, yes, but a much weakened exiles. These weren't just high fae, they were four members of the Wild Hunt itself!\n\n\"Oh bugger...\" he mutters, then shifts, abandoning his human form for that of a great black hellhound as he quickly took to his heels, tearing off into the treeline as the mounted fae cheer and raise their weapons; two bows, a spear, and a javelin above their heads, before charging off after them, their hedge-hounds barking as they chased after Al. \n\nMerihim watched them go, then nodded to himself and turned, \"They've gone.\" he calls to the others.\n\nSammi remained hiding for a good bit longer just to be sure before slowly coming out, eyes wide as he stares at Merihim. \"You're a true fae... and not just that you're [i]The Huntsmaster[/i]?\" he asks, looking at him a bit dumbly before suddenly dropping into a deep bow, grabbing Stephy's tank top to pull him down as well. \"I-It's an honor to be in your presence, huntsmaster! I hope the domain of the frozen heart has done nothing to offend your hunt in your absence...\"\n\nMerihim gives an annoyed sigh, then pulls them both upright roughly, \"Oh knock it off!\" he snaps, \"Nelen would never shut up if you guys kept doing that. I haven't been the official huntsmaster since I went from true fae to pagan god, but I can still call them once every year and a day if I need to.\" he rolls his emerald eyes. Not just green eyes, but the entire eye looking like one forest green sphere. \"Why so damn surprised? You all knew I used to be a god, didn't any of you ever wonder [i]which god[/i]?\" he asks the dumbfounded fae prince and 'princess'.\n\nSimoni seems rather surprised as well, \"I... was curious yes, but I didn't really know where to start looking...\" she replies.\n\nMerihim smirks, \"Hell, I actually made it into the Bard's work at one point. I was...\" he pauses, \"Well, I suppose I am now...\" he nods, his shining antlers moving with his head, \"... Cernnunos, of the Wild Hunt.\" he grins, folding his arms over his chest.\n\nSammi blushes a bit, nodding, \"I had heard the story of you before but... I never thought it WAS you, I thought it was just a myth people told to explain the hunt and why it went so... wild... and all.\"\n\nArja just smirks a bit, nodding. \"Hunting god, I like the sound of that. So, hate to break up the Game of Thrones spoilers but...you gonna give Nelen back? No offense, we're very grateful, I think this you is way less gross and annoying than demon you, but... I did promise Dru I'd bring him back. This feels like a bad day to start breaking promises to her.\"\n\nCernunnos tilts his head, \"Well, yeah. We're still using the same body you know.\" he replies, \"Besides, I wanna see just what kind of hell blinky gives him when she finds out he was stupid enough to actually make Alagarept that offer.\" he nods, smirking a bit more, \"Didn't expect that geas to break when we did this either. Alagarept. Alagarept! [i]Aaaaaaaalaaaaaaaaagaaaaaaaaaaarept![/i]\" he cackles, then shakes his head, \"Fine fine, right. Here, have your geek back.\" he nods, then shudders as the antlers seem to melt back into his head, leaving only small scars where they were as he stumbles, then blinks and looks around at the group.\n\nHe shakes it off, squinting as he tries to see (no glasses), and asks, \"So... it worked?\"\n\nSammi nods, smirking a bit as Arja runs up to hug Nelen. \"Yea it worked, you idiot.\" she grins, squeezing him a bit too tight. \"You're gonna live long enough for Dru to kill you when we get home...\"\n\nSimoni grabs him around the middle as well, the girl shaking with relief as she finds that her brother didn't kill himself... well, sort of, but not really. \"Yeah, uh, about that...\" he glances back at Aisha's car, sliced cleanly through right between the rear doors and the back tires as if cut by a massive blade. \"How are we getting back?\" he asks as the group suddenly hears a loud high pitched sound. \"Wait, whats that?\" he asks, the sound getting louder, \"Shit, did Al manage to outrun the hunt?!\" he frowns, the sound getting even louder. \"No... wait, that's way too... CRAP!\" he blinks as the grass rustles and Dawn runs into the field at full tilt, jumps into the air, and dives at Nelen.\n\n\"YOU IDIOT WIZARD!\" she yowls, planting both feet into his face and knocking him backwards, \"Do you have ANY idea what's going on back at the hotel?!\" she hisses as he lands on his back, the Cheshire brandishing her claws before doing what animal experts refer to as 'flipping the fuck out' all over his face and torso as he flails and tries to shove her off. Once she's had her fill and Nelen is almost looking as bad as before she climbs off him and kicks him in the ribs for good measure, then nods, \"Right, all of you, Nessa and I came looking for you when you didn't come back. She's heading up the road right now in a rental car. Get your asses in because we're heading back. Drusilla was already crowning when we left!\" she snaps.\n\nAt this Nelen sits up, eyes wide, \"WHAT? Wait, she's already... I just said that to get Al to back off in the swamp!\" he stammers as Dawn smacks him around the ears for good measure, Nessa's car coming into view around the bend.\n\nNessa was driving... pretty much how Sammi wished Aisha would have, spinning to a loud stop in front of the group. \"IN! NOW! That girl is about to tear the hotel apart! Have you ever seen a cyclops blend birthing pains and anger and fear? Because I hadn't until right now and it's not fun! If anything you better get there to be a punching bag for her, wizard!\"\n\nNelen does get in, hell he shoves Nessa right over into the passenger seat and grips the wheel as Dawn dives in the backseat. Simoni and Stephy switch forms to fly back with Trixie and Arja while Sammi gets in as well, the warlock (well, ex-warlock) putting the pedal down as far as it'll go, tires squealing as the car shoots off towards the hotel. It’s not as bad as it could be when they arrive, Loren seems pretty good at keeping a cyclops under control (being a Fullmoon probably helps a lot). There's only a small crowd outside and one bed in the street with a matching bed-shaped hole in the wall of the hotel when they arrive.\n\nNelen triple parks the car, runs to the front of the hotel, finds a cop trying to stop him there talking about investigation, and after earning himself a charge of assaulting an officer when he lays him out he rushes inside ahead of the others, taking the stairs two at a time. He could have just had Dawn teleport him straight there... but he's not thinking too clearly right now. He reaches the suite and kicks the door in, looking inside with panicked eyes, \"Drus?! I'm here!\" he calls out.\n\nA loud roar is what greets Nelen. Drusilla is clearly furious, terrified, and in extreme discomfort as she struggles with Loren... Soon enough though, another roar comes, followed a loud crying sound.\n\nSimoni and Stephy land on the roof, not drawing any attention as most people are still wondering why there's apparently a pissed off grizzly bear in downtown New Orleans. They race downstairs from the roof access after Stephy freezes the lock on the door to make it brittle enough for Arja to kick open, running into the room to find a scene of recent chaos. The bedside table is splinters, Drusilla is on a mattress on the floor as the upper half of her bedframe is laying all around her and the lower half is halfway through a wall, the TV is simply [i]no more[/i], and Dusk is a little terrified ball of fluff hiding in the corner... on the ceiling.\n\nNelen is sitting next to Drusilla crosslegged on the floor, looking at a bundle she's holding in her arms as Loren holds a bag of hotel ice over her blackened left eye, giving the group a thumbs up.\n\nDrusilla was breathing heavily, still redfaced, with her free hand punching Nelen's arm thankfully too exhausted by this point to do much more than bruise. Still, she was smiling, looking down at the bundle in her arms. \"Everyone, say hello to Scylla...\"\n\nSimoni and Stephy walk over, looking at the small bundle in Drusilla's arms. Its a cyclops alright, about the size of a human toddler with one massive green eye and a few wisps of black hair. A girl too, that'll be interesting when she learns how to whistle. Dusk hisses and flattens his ears as both girl and 'girl' do what comes naturally when presented with an infant, seemingly-endless excited squeeing and fussing. At least until an annoyed Dawn appears behind them and smacks Stephy upside the head, saying \"Knock it off.\" before doing the same to Simoni and saying \"Knock it off.\" in Hindi. \"Seriously guys...\" she grumbles, rubbing at her head, \"Do you have any idea what that sound does to cat ears?\" she frowns, then pulls Dusk off the ceiling, all his fur one big floof by this point as she carries him out of the room.\n\nSoon enough everyone is gathered around the group, smiling down at the 'small' cyclops still squirming and fussing curiously as her eye (which currently is about 90% of her face...) looks around at all the people doting on her. \"Scylla, this is your family,\" Drusilla says with a smile. \"They're... weird... and they'll do stupid things, and sometimes you'll want to tear them in half... but they're good people. They'll keep you safe and protected and loved. You're a lucky girl, to have this many people looking out for you.\"\n\nNelen glances away at the 'stupid things tear them in half', rubbing his neck in embarrassment, then blinks and looks at his bandaged hand. \"So... um... Al isn't going to be an issue Drus. Right now he's either back in Hell or close enough to it that he can see Lucifer waving at him... and...\" he looks curiously at his hand, then hooks a finger under the bandages and rips them away. Simoni and the others reflexively step backwards at that, but there's no eruption of tendrils and teeth, no sudden violent doom, instead just an ordinary human hand with what looks like a very old scar in the shape of an odd sigil.\n\nDrusilla raises a brow at that. \"I figured Al was handled. I knew you were too stubborn to come home without fixing that, even if your wife was currently giving birth to your first child....\" she shoots him a little glare at that before looking back to his hand. \"What happened, is your demon gone?\" she asks.\n\nHe peels the bandages off his other hand, \"Not... exactly. See...\" he pauses, then reaches out a hand to Scylla, the small cyclops wrapping her hands around one of his fingers, pulling it into her mouth as Stephy begins to squee again before Simoni bops him lightly on the head. \"Well... I had to take a big risk to get rid of him. Basically, Merihim and I had this idea for a long time about how we could get out of the mess we were both in. He didn't want to go back to Hell, I didn't want to go there when I died. The loophole is that when I made my pact as a teenager, I specifically sold my soul to [i]him[/i]. Merihim. When I'd die, he'd take my soul back down and present it to Sathanus, which is how demons work.\" he explains.\n\n\"Well, during our travels I got to thinking... He used to be a pagan god, but became a demon after Yahweh's angels wiped out his followers. So if there were some way to restore him to the way he was, my contract would be null and void. Merihim can't have a claim on my soul if he doesn't [i]exist[/i] y'see. Problem was, there was no real way to undo his transformation into a demon that didn't have a massive risk to it...\" he hesitates, then sighs and pulls off his shirt, showing her the large puckered sword wound on his chest, still freshly healed over, \"Al was about to kill Stephy, so I had to roll the dice and hope for the best. I, well, sacrificed myself to the god he used to be, and because Hell is getting weaker with Yahweh withering away... it was potent enough for him to undo his demonhood and change back into who and what he was before he signed on with them.\"\n\nDrusilla nods, just listening to his story. When he finishes, though, her fist comes out, punching him right in the chest. \"So you, with a baby on the way, just tried a theory about maybe finding a loophole in a hell contract to resurrect a pagan god instead?\" she sighs, leaning back. \"I'd be angrier if that wasn't the kind of thing that made me love you to begin with.\" she groans, rolling her eye, \"So I assume it worked, then? Is this... new version less of a dick?\"\n\nNelen winces and rubs at his chest, \"Mostly the same. Look, I was out of options, if I didn't come back then at the very least Al's powers would be cut in half because part of his contract with me was 'Don't let him die before he pays up', if nothing else the others would have had a fighting chance after that. He had his sword right at Stephy's chest and was about to cut his heart out, I had to do SOMETHING.\" he frowns, \"But yeah... it worked. I would've tried it before but, well, I basically had to pull a Jesus here. How much would you want to bet that you get it right the first try? Hell, I'm lucky Al knocked Aisha's sword out of her hands. If I didn't have a blessed weapon to use Merihim's own power would have stopped that from working anyways.\" he nods, then blinks and looks around, \"... Wait, where is she?\" he asks.\n\nOutside the hotel Aisha is letting herself have a well-deserved smoke break after that nonsense. As she does a tall black man in a leather jacket, black jeans, and shiny leather shoes walks up and leans on the wall next to her, holding a thick stogie in his hand with a black silk tophat resting on his bald head at a jaunty angle. He grins at her, a wide rictus grin, and asks in a nasily voice, \"Got a light for me bitch?\"\n\nAisha rolls her eyes, pulling her lighter and flicking it on for the man. \"Not even a 'nice job with the necromancer, bitch'?\" she asks with a little smirk.\n\nHe takes a few puffs on the cigar to get it started, then laughs, \"Sheeeeeeeit, ya’ll got lucky Miss New York. If ya'll wanna get [i]technical[/i], your fairy friends are the reason she died.\" he laughs, \"Funny thing too, I gave her a good stern talkin' to when she arrived, seems she and yer warlock had more in common than ya'll thought.\" he smirks, \"Turns out her Daddy is some big up po-lice officer here in Nawleans... and he also likes dat one website, Stormfront, an awful lot... yanno which one that is?\" he grins, \"Yeah, she had a boyfriend 'fore dis all happened... fine young black man, but turns out Daddy didn't like that one fuckin' bit. He and a few of his buddies went ta have a talk with the young man, things got fuckin' ugly.\" he nods gravely, \"They covered it up, their cop buddies covered for 'em. Fraternal Order of GoFuckYourself.\" he snorts, smoke from his cigar blowing out as he does, \"She wanted payback bad, real reaaaaaaaaal bad... dumb bitch shoulda come ta us, we'd have shown her Daddy why ya'll don't do what he do... instead she went further south.\" he shakes his head.\n\nAisha sighs a bit, shaking her head. \"Job's not always fun, but it has to be done. I wish we could have helped her, I tried to, but there weren't any other options.\" She shakes her head again, blowing smoke lazily from her lips. \"Still, deal's a deal, baron, she's dead, I was a part of the fight and certainly had every intent to kill her myself. Gonna hand the keys over?\"\n\nHe smirks, \"Ya'll may be a cowardly little bitch who ran away from her duties... but ya'll came back and did right by us.\" he nods, taking his cigar away from his mouth and holding his other hand to it, biting down hard on his thumb. Blood wells up from the digit as he reaches over, pressing the bleeding thumbtip to her forehead, leaving a red mark just under her bangs. \"There, th' keys ta our kingdom are all your's girlie, don't fuck it up.\" he smirks, \"Now getcha ass back ta India and fetch me a lion skin rug for my den! I got work to be doing!\" he cackles, blowing out a big cloud of cigar smoke into Aisha's face. When it clears she's alone, a single cigar stub resting on the pavement next to her feet.\n\nAisha smirks softly, nodding as she coughs softly from the smoke. \"Mhm. See you around, baron.\" she says casually, dropping her cigarette and stomping it out softly on the floor before coming back in. \"We can go back whenever Dru's good to fly. Samedi gave me the keys, I can finally take that manticore out.\"\n\nNelen nods to her as she enters, \"Yeah, probably be a good idea. Jeannie did send Clan Fullmoon to keep it occupied, but they're only going to be able to do so much against it.\" he comments, Simoni standing next to Drusilla and wiggling her fingertips at Scylla as the infant cyclops coos and tries to grab at them.\n\nLoren nods in agreement, \"Aye, th' lads are strong, but they cannae handle th' manticores sting nae better'n we could.\" she adds, \"... o'course, that be 'cause I ain't there ta back 'em up. Th' lads are too busy mesurin their dicks ta get any proper huntin' done half th' time.\" she laughs as Stephy thinks, then shrugs and nods as if to say 'yeah, pretty much'.\n\n\"Though... before we go...\" says Nelen, scratching at his beard a bit, \"... Aisha, is there an optometrist in town?\" he asks, pointing to where his glasses should be.\n\n","writing_bbcode_parsed":"Nelen sighs as he sits at the bar, nursing a glass of something definitely not healthy for him. Seated next to him is a man made entirely out of living blood, jagged edged fangs jutting out from around his 'head' in a manner akin to a crown. "I didn't expect it to all go to shit so fast..." he sighs, glancing at his crimson companion, "I mean... Al shows up, then he tells everyone about what we agreed on, and now its down to this." he frowns.

The creature makes a faint hissing noise at him, Nelen looking annoyed at him. "Well, yeah, I could have refused Al's offer and just tried to find a way to keep you from murdering half the people we met. I could have just jumped off London Bridge the second we arrived in England too!" he snaps.

More hissing, the creature narrows the two small hollows where it's eyes would be. "You do realize we're going to die, right?" asks Nelen, "As soon as Al gets his hands on Drusilla's baby, he'll kill me out of spite." he frowns... then pauses and looks thoughtful, "... remember what I suggested? That one idea that might get us out of this mess, both of us?" he asks.

The creature hisses angrily, standing up from it's stool and looming over Nelen. "Don't give me the death glare Merihim. For one, it doesn't really work if you don't have eyes. For another, what have we got to lose? Yeah, it might not work, and then we die. But either way we're fucked." he nods, "I'd say we're out of options." he winces, "... especially since I just realized this is a dream, which means I'm regaining consciousnessowowowowOW ahgods everything hurts..." he gasps as brusies form on his body.

He coughs, spitting out another globule of Merihim's mass as he raises his head. He's hanging limp now, held up by a pair of unseeing, unfeeling corpses, four more standing to his sides like a rather gruesome honor guard. "Fugh..." he tries to say, but his jaw is swollen and several teeth are missing. His glasses are gone, he has no idea where they wound up, and about three of his fingers are at a rather uncomfortable angle.

"Ah, apprentice. Good, thought we might have lost you for a minute there." smiles Al, standing before him in his green Victorian suit and top hat, both hands resting on the goat-head handle of his cane. "By the prickling of my thumbs your little friends should be here in a few minutes... which means you get the pleasure of watching me kill them before I go to collect your firstborn as per our agreement." he nods, checking a gold pocket-watch tucked into his jacket pocket. He leers at Nelen as the warlock glares back at him, "Now, no falling unconscious again boy. You are GOING to watch this."

Sammi frowns as he rides in Aisha's car with her. Trixie and Arja were above them with the birds, already a good bit ahead of the fast moving car. "Does this thing not go faster?" he asks in a surprisingly emotional voice, the air around him rippling faintly with raw glamour. His face was still bruised, and his chest still hurt like hell, but he had his sword on his hip regardless.

"Not the car, fairy boy, the roads. Unless you want me to just plow through some back yards we need to follow the roads." Aisha responds, doing a better job of hiding her anger. The knight was ready for a fight of her own. She knew her prey was with Al, the necromancer that had been agitating The Baron. "When we get in there, you guys focus on Al, the magician is mine." she nods firmly. This started as just a job, an annoying task set to her as punishment for turning her back on her family arts for so long. Now she was gripping the wheel tight enough to turn her knuckles white. She saw what the necromancer did, who they're working with, what the plans are. She wanted to kill this one for her own reasons, not just because Samedi told her to.

Above them Trixie sat on Stephy's back, patting her sides yet again. Two guns, deck of cards, a few prepacked reloads that she could just slide into the chambers of her revolvers. It wasn't enough, but it'd do. She had cleaned out her supply of holy bullets. Unsurprisingly they were the hardest to get, so she didn't have many of the golden tipped things to spare on bad shots.

Next to her on Simoni's back, Arja was flexing her hands, slowly focusing on keeping her breathing even in pre-fight meditation. She felt Al's power before, but seeing it earlier up close was unimaginable. She knew killing him would be almost impossible, but she also could see no other way to free Nelen from his debt. "When we get there get Nelen safe and give Al everything you have. I'm positive this won't be a surprise attack so we're gonna have to hope we can just overwhelm him into stumbling. Bust up anything he has brewing, wreck his shop. We may not be able to beat him but we can destroy his plans."

Simoni nods to Arja as the treeline clears to reveal a run down factory, the letters 'Cok', 'C', and 'la' still visible amongst the ivy and moss growing on it. "Right... I just hope Nelen is okay. Al can't kill him, but he's a Fullmoon so he can take a lot of..." she shakes her head, falling silent, then banks downwards as Stephy begins his descent next to her, the fae boy having changed into a shorter skirt and tank top. Easier to move in during a fight than the longer one he had on before that had been completely ruined during their battle in the swamp.

As soon as they land the front doors open up and Al comes striding out, flanked on either side by a good dozen zombies. "Well well, seems I won't be cancelling my plans after all." he nods, looking towards Stephy. "I thought you children would at least have the sense to not bring your fairy friends, but now I'll have just what I need to get things back in order." he smiles, snapping his fingers. There's a loud crunching sound as Aisha drives into the area, just in time to see a black shadowy dome forming around the perimeter of the factory, sealing itself overtop and shrouding the entire area in darkness. The group looks back to see her skidding to a halt, the loud crunch being the back half of her car which hadn’t quite made it over the dome before it began forming. "No portals will function, no Cheshire teleportation, nobody is leaving alive." he nods grimly, then points towards the group. "Kill them." he commands, the heads of the corpses around him jerking up, their mouths opening in a gutteral scream as they all surge towards the kids.

Aisha growls as she comes storming out of the car. "Couldn't let me get the car all the way in, could you, dick?" she frowns, looking back at it. "Damn it I JUST paid that thing off too." She huffs angrily, grabbing the sword at her hip and raising it out of its scabbard, holding the blade aloft. "In the name of the lord of death, the baron of graves, return to the earth that birthed you and rest your souls again!" She focused all her energy on the blade, trying to call out to the baron regardless of the dome or her lack of finalized training. She knew she had to do this test without him, but if there ever were a time to reward newly renewed faith, it would be now...

Her words turn out to just be words however, the Baron blocked out either by the dome or by Al's presence. After all, he couldn't find the necromancer because of him. More zombies surge out of the factory as Al laughs at her, drawing his own sword out of his cane and tossing away the lower half as Simoni and Stephy do their best to drive back the undead horde, Simoni blowing them back towards the building as Stephy tried to freeze what ones he could, though the warm Louisiana air was working against him. It was still daytime, but the dome's shadowy presence blocked out most of the natural light, covering everything in a midnight-gloom. As the group fights there's a gasp of pain from the door. Two zombies march out, holding Nelen by his arms. Simoni lets out a gasp as her wind suddenly falters, the last few zombies hit by it only stumbling, as she sees what they did to her brother.

"Nelen!" she cries out, her eyes tearing up as he raises his head to look at her through his non-puffy eye, squinting to see without his glasses.

He spits on the ground and replies, "Fugh... shouldn'ta told Dawn where Iwuz goin..." through his ruined mouth, all the fight beaten out of him by Al and his army.

Arja glares as she does what she does best, become a human(monkey) flamethrower, burning her path through the zombies as Sammi's rapier pushes through the creatures' eyes to pierce their brains. Aisha's sword, lacking magic or not, still was a very good sword, able to let her hack her way through as she searches for the necromancer proper.

Trixie, meanwhile, is trying to fight the Huckster way, aka tricky and cheaty. She creeps around the fight, trying to get a clear angle at Al or the zombies holding Nelen while the group fights

Al smirks at this as more and more undead come from the factory entrance, just how many did he make?! He waits for them to force their way up to the entrance, then pushes outwards with his hand like he's opening an invisible door and speaks a word none of them recognize. There's a loud crashing sound as everyone but Aisha and Trixie suddenly cries out in pain. Sammi and Stephy's fae meins vanish, forced back to their normal appearance, as is Arja. Simoni collapses onto her hands and knees, letting out a loud whistle as a zombie lurches closer... but no wind comes. Stephy tries as well, but no frost appears and the temperature remains warm. Trixie finds she can't use her huckster powers either, the girl cut off from her 'hunting ground'. Only Aisha is unaffected because she wasn't using magic to begin with.

Before the kids can react the zombies are upon them, pinning them down by sheer numbers before Al claps his hands together. The undead stand up as one, lifting them up off their feet and turning to face him as Nelen starts to struggle again, lisping curses at the demon. "Goddammit Al! Lettem go!" he shouts as blood (well, Merihim) runs down his chin, trying to use his half-Fullmoon strength to break free from the unnatural strength of the undead holding him.

Aisha grunts as she cleaves through the zombies that go for her, keeping herself free as the kids are grabbed. "Hey, clownsuit, forgetting someone?" She growls as she kicks the dead...redead...body of a zombie away from her. "You like the 'old style' for real, or just the ugly ass suits? If you do how about you and I settle this like men instead of using an undead army to grab a bunch of kids?"

The kids do their best, but without their magic they're just children, the horde quickly overpowering them as well. Al sneers, then holds his sword ready and nods to her, "Talk or fight girl." he replies simply, waiting for her to come at him, ignoring Aisha's attempt to goad him into attacking her. Another wave of undead come lurching out of the building... but no necromancer yet.

Aisha smirks, raising her sword, but not stepping closer. "Well, if you want to do this right, we should parlay first, shouldn't we? That typically includes all parties involved, including your magician holding the leash to these dogs..."

Al raises his eyebrow, then in a blink he's right infront of her, "No, I think not." he replies, smacking the sword right out of her hands before spinning around and landing a vicious backhand across her jaw that actually lifts her right off her feet and causes her to spin in midair, landing sprawled and dazed on the grass as several zombies tackle her as well, pulling her to her feet with their cold dead hands firmly locked around her arms. "I've really rather had enough of you, I think I'll be taking those fae hearts I was after and getting back to work now." he nods, turning his back to her and walking towards the kids as Nelen curses louder at him.

He grins, raising his hell-forged sword as he points it toward's Stephy's chest, the boy struggling and whimpering as the air around it begins to heat, the blade's edge glowing cherry red. "If you hold still this..." he starts, then smirks, "Oh why lie? This will be agonizing no matter what you do." he grins pulling the sword back...

Sammi grunts as he yanks on the zombies holding him, unable to get himself free regardless. "You know, you can tear our hearts out, make all the drugs you want, maybe even somehow make this stupid plan work to jumpstart a crusade to fix your busted dad... but that's never going to make you not a literal divine failure. Do you ever feel a little ashamed working right under a guy who's most notable moment was failing in rebellion because daddy's new baby made him jealous?" He just needed to buy any amount of time, any little crack in the pride demon's armor he could dig into. "I mean, is there ever a moment where you look at your legacy and realize even if the world all remembers your god perfectly well, you'll at best be remembered as a second fiddle to a second fiddle?"

Al shrugs, "Eh, at least I can say I enjoy my job." he replies, pulling back as there's suddenly a loud ripping sound, Nelen letting out a roar of fury as he pulls free of the rotten arms holding him... and most of the arms themselves.

He dives away from the zombies, but not at Al, instead he grabs up Aisha's sword from where it fell. "AL!" he snarls, quickly struggling to his feet and holding the weapon in his good hand, glaring at the demon.

Al turns around with an annoyed titching sound, "Really, you Fullmoons are so damned stubborn. You lost. Now be a good boy and shut up." he scolds as Nelen wavers, but manages to stay standing. "What? You want another try?" he asks, raising his eyebrow, then frowning. Nelen is grinning at him.

"... somethin' Nessa said..." he manages to say with his broken and swollen mouth, "... 'bout blood... given willingly." he smirks, Al's eyes widening as he raises the sword, turns it around, and points it at his chest. Al grimaces and dives, but Nelen pushes downwards, his eyes going wide as the sword slides between his ribs and out his back, penetrating his heart! Simoni tries to scream, but she's too horrified by the sight of her brother impaling himself as Stephy lets out a shriek and starts kicking again, Nelen falling to his knees as he coughs. "... I... give this... to..." he mutters as blood (well, it looks like blood) dribbles out of his mouth, his eyes sliding out of focus as he tries to force out the last few words as a breathy whisper, then slumping and falling to his side as he stops breathing.

Simoni finds her voice then, struggling and kicking like a girl gone mad against the zombies holding her, "NO! NO NO NO NO! NELEN! NELEN!" she shrieks in despair as she watches her brother die right infront of her.

Arja's eyes go huge as well, kicking and fighting against the undead harder. "Damn it! Nelen you idiot!" She yells out even as she fears tears forming in her eyes. Sammi groans, feet thrusting out, trying to kick at Al's hand to knock his sword away as Aisha begins to break free of her own zombies. Her strength wasn't supernatural, that was just a lot of training, and these undead aren't near strong enough to hold her with adrenaline pumping...

Al growls in rage and gestures with his hand, a burst of force smacking the others hard as he lifts Nelen's body up by his shirt, "DAMN YOU! WHO? YOU GIVE IT TO WHO?!" he demands, shaking the corpse... and then Nelen's head snaps up as his eyes flash, not red... but the deep green of a forest in spring. Al blinks in shock as Nelen's head suddenly rushes forward, smashing the demon's nose and forcing him backwards as his hand cups his face, "How... Merihim?" he asks. As he does the rest of them feel a sudden surge of magic in the area, especially Sammi and Stephy, the energy positively overflowing with glamour!

Nelen stands, pulling the sword out of his chest and tossing it away as the hole seals itself along with the rest of his wounds, save for two on either side of his head. He shakes his head a few times as... liquid seeps out of the wounds, sticking backwards and branching out in a way akin to the antlers of a great stag. "Me. He gave it to me. Blood freely given, just like in the old days. You said it yourself Alagarept, with Yahweh fading Heaven and Hell are becoming weaker... weak enough for me to undo what the Pit did to me, given enough power!" he reaches over to a tree that had grown in the dilapidated yard, snapping off a branch. As he holds it the branch extends and sharpens, becoming a sturdy wooden spear as he stomps his feet, staring down the demon infront of him.

Arja groans as she looks up, actually laughing softly as she sees Merihim challenge Al. "I never thought I'd be happy to see him show up..."

Sammi frowns softly, nodding. "Looks like he's back to his old self, too... interesting bit there, didn't see that coming... I had no idea that stuff even could be 'fixed'..."

Al growls and raises his sword, but 'Merihim's' spear doesn't catch fire or break when he strikes it, whatever entity he's become able to stand toe-to-toe with the hellspawn as he drives him back. He acts much more primal in this state as well, snarling and snorting like a wild animal as he drives the demon away from the group before smashing the handle of his spear across Al's face and glaring back at the others. "AISHA!" he snaps, "What are you waiting for? The undead are all out here now! That means whoever is in there is alone! Kill them and these are just dead bodies!" he jabs his hand at the factory, then steps to the side as Al tries to bring his sword down on him. Al jabs rapidly at 'Merihim', but he nimbly sidesteps every strike before countering with his spear, narrowly missing impaling the demon's shoulder but tearing a good chunk out of his jacket as he does.

Aisha nods, scrambling to her feet and grabbing her sword, charging into the factory. "Necromancer! Show yourself!" The inside is almost pitch black thanks to Alagarept's dome, nothing but dust and deep shadows... but as she shouts she hears someone gasp above her, then the sound of running feet on one of the walkways.

Back outside the fight continues, the sudden upwelling of magic caused by Merihim's transformation breaking the magic nullification that Al caused. Simoni feels a familiar tingle through her body before she grins and lets out a loud hawk-like cry, a sudden blast of wind erupting out of her and sending several undead flying to be smashed against the walls of the factory as Stephy summons up a swirl of snow and hoarfrost, his victims becoming frozen statues before him.

During all of this Al battles with the being Merihim has become, neither one able to gain the upper hand, but neither one backing down either. When Al slashes, Merihim leaps out of the way, when Al attempts to use magic, a surge of glamour infused energy smashes his spell before it's even formed, when Merihim stabs however Al always seems to sidestep at just the right moment, and when Merihim tries to use magic he can't get it all out before having to dodge or block Al's blade.

Sammi grins as he feels his magic coming back, a surge of ice spikes ripping up from the ground to impale the zombies around him as Arja charges at Al, trying to help Merihim get the upper hand as she rakes her claws at his back! Trixie, meanwhile, starts dealing herself as much of a hand as she can, trying to counter Al's dome now that he's busy fighting and less able to focus.

Al snarls as Arja's claws dig into his back, spinning around to smash her across the face with his fist, but in that moment of distraction Merihim charges, slamming the haft of his spear into the demon's throat as he drives him back. Clods of dirt fly as his feet dig into the ground like the hooves of some great beast as Alagraept is smashed into the edge of his dome. Merihim pulls back, then smashes his fist into Al's face once, twice, and on the third the air crackles with glamour tasting of hot fresh blood and animal sweat as he brings it down, forcing the demon THROUGH the dome as cracks begin to erupt outwards from the point of impact, the shadowy cover shattering and crumbling into motes of darkness as Al lands sprawled on the grass, Merihim raising his spear up over his head and roaring.

Aisha makes her way up the walkway, holding her sword out and trying to focus her energy into it and summon a burst of light. Even a fast one would be enough. "Show yourself and surrender with dignity, necromancer. I'll give you a fast death!" she calls out, her blade summoning a small flicker, but the shadowy dome seems to actively force out light-blessed powers like that... until she hears the dome shatter and bright sunlight spills in through the dirty windows illuminating the walkways, the vats of Hyde bubbling under her... and the shadowy figure who had been aiming a gun at her and looks rather surprised that her cover of darkness is suddenly gone.

"SHIT!" she yells, firing off three random shots before scrambling away, heading towards what was once the factory office.

Aisha charges the girl, grabbing at her as soon as she can. She may be a spoiled model, but she had been in genuine training for a while, she was pretty sure she could catch a terrified and clearly out of her element magician. "Come here you!"

The girl is yanked around, her hood falling off to reveal a pale-skinned teenager with short spiky blonde hair. She had deep bags under her eyes, like she hadn't been getting much sleep, and a sort of sickly look to her that some necromancers got. Dealing with death as frequently as they did tended to be pretty bad for the magician too. "No... you're not stopping me!" she kicks out at her, then reaches into her coat and pulls out a syringe full of the same vile liquid in the cooking vats below. Before Aisha can stop her she plunges it into her arm, pressing down on it as her eyes bulge and the veins on her arm all press out at once. "I won't let you! I'm going to make this entire town pay for what happened to me!" she snarls, her body swelling as her eyes redden, the air heating around her as Sammi and Stephy pick up on a sudden surge of wrathful energy from inside the building.

Sammi blinks, looking to the building as he feels the sudden eruption of emotional energy coming from it, followed by the toxic waste stench of the artificial emotions caused by the drug. "Shit... not good... We got a Hyde in there!" He calls to the group as he runs to the factory.

Aisha, meanwhile, lifts her sword up, but doesn't attack yet. "What happened? There are better ways than this, we can help you but you can't give in to this stuff!"

The girl snarls as her clothes start to tear from her body swelling up, muscles bursting out as the fae-enhanced drug races through her system. She's not listening to Aisha now, or anything, all she wants to do is smash, and rip, and tear, and kill. She lets out a bellow of rage and brings her fists down on the walkway, sending shards of metal flying everywhere as the old rusty sheets of steel crumble under her strength just as Sammi and Stephy come running in through the entrance.

However, this has an unexpected benefit for the others outside. The remaining zombies suddenly begin to act strangely, stumbling around and walking into each other before they begin to fall over, one by one, going inert. Hydes are good at destruction, not so good at magic. Al gets to his feet and glares about him, "Damn girl, I told her to only use that as a last resort!" he snaps, raising his sword as Merihim walks slowly around him, grinning as he keeps his spear pointed at the demon.

Sammi  rushes into the factory to see how bad it is as Aisha grabs onto the railing of the walkway. "Stephy... you wanna get real sick? She's fresh changed, do you think we can drain that anger?"

Stephy shakes his head frantically, "Are you out of your mind?! Lavender never said the Hyde changed back after they got done!" he replies with a shocked expression, "Just... I dunno, do something!" he looks around, then sees the metal walkway that the Hyde is standing on. "Sammi! The walkway! Maybe we can knock it out if it falls off or something." he nods, whistling sharply as he shoots a blast of supercold air above him. The Hyde roars, then looks startled as it tries to move and finds the metal walkway is suddenly extremely slippery under it's feet. Stephy nods, "Right, you take care of that, I'll see if I can get Aisha down." he says to his brother, shifting forms as he takes to the air.

Sammi nods, pointing his rapier at the walkway and boosting Stephy's magic on it. The slush turning to solid ice, forming a sheet of the slippery material right under the hulking Hyde's feet. "Come on, don't make us kill you, just give up…" he whispers.

Aisha, meanwhile, shoves her sword back in its sheath to reach her free hand out for Stephy to grab. "Nice timing there." she grins at the fae kid.

Stephy swoops in and grabs her hands with his talons, flapping frantically as he lifts her up off the pathway and glides back down to the floor, straining to hold her up. He may have similar powers to Simoni, but he wasn't as used to carrying people as she was and Aisha was a fully grown woman.

The Hyde roars and struggles to stay up on the path, but the ancient chains holding it up begin to snap under it's weight until, finally, they snap loose and the walkway falls. The Hyde tries to hold on, grabbing at the platform, but the slippery ice prevents it from getting a solid grip as it falls, tumbling head over heels, into one of the boiling vats below, its roar cut off as it falls under.

Outside, Merihim stares down Alagarept, the demon frowning. "... well, there she goes." he glares at the being infront of him, "No necromancer, no hyde, nothing. This has become one gigantic cockup of a situation." he frowns raising his sword, "What now Merihim? Want to finish our little duel? Try to send me running back to Hell?" he spits.

Merihim smirks, reaching to another small tree and breaking off a thicker branch, "Thats not my name anymore Al. Do you know who I was before I made my deal with your master?" he asks, the branch widening and hollowing out until he's holding what appears to be an ancient hunting horn in his hand. "I was going to do this from the start if this worked, I just had to wait for your barrier to go down before I could."

Aisha can't help but wince as she sees the monster fall, sighing softly. "I really didn't want it to go this way." she says as Sammi shakes his head as well, moving his hands to start freezing and shattering any remaining drug that the factory had left in it.

Arja, outside, just looks on curiously, whispering to Simoni "Is this one of your old gods?"

Simoni shakes her head, "No, not one of our's..." she mutters.

Merihim glances back, "Kids, get inside the factory and stay quiet. Now." he warns, then takes the horn to his lips and sounds it, a loud deep booming sound that echoes around the clearing. As it happens Sammi and Stephy both sense two things at the same time; a sudden upsurge of glamour, and severe imminent danger.

Stephy glances back, "... oh crap, I think I know who Merihim used to be..." he winces, quickly shoving Aisha behind the nearest big sturdy thing as the others duck inside.

Outside there's a rippling in the air as Alagarept looks confused, and then brambles shoot up from the ground, forming a large wide arch in the middle of the area as the air shimmers inside. Seconds later the sounds of hoofbeats and the baying of hounds fills the air.

Sammi's eyes go huge as he hears the sound, shuddering as he nods, racing into the factory, grabbing Stephy and Trixie to drag them along and find something large as well. "He can't be... there's no way," he whispers, sounding genuinely terrified. "That's a myth, the hunt has no master it's just... a force of nature..."

Apparently not as the hedge portal opens and out bursts a group of High Fae, each one mounted atop a massive beast of a horse. Their leader, an impossibly tall man with antlers to outdo even the greatest of mundane bucks, armor that seemed crafted from tanned hide (several pieces sporting tattoos), and a face that was little more than a piece of the night sky worn like a mask, glances to Merihim and salutes him with his spear, "Hail huntsmaster! I am pleased to see you returned to the world. Tell us, where is our prey?" it asks, it's voice not so much heard as felt. Around the legs of the steeds dog-like creatures made of brambles with human eyes bark and howl, chasing each other in eagerness to hunt.

Merihim grins, then points directly at Alagarept. "One of the Lightbringer's. This should vex Hell greatly, perhaps make them regret their tithing of your lands." he nods as the fae all laugh to themselves, Al backing away worried. Old Maggoty was a higher fae, yes, but a much weakened exiles. These weren't just high fae, they were four members of the Wild Hunt itself!

"Oh bugger..." he mutters, then shifts, abandoning his human form for that of a great black hellhound as he quickly took to his heels, tearing off into the treeline as the mounted fae cheer and raise their weapons; two bows, a spear, and a javelin above their heads, before charging off after them, their hedge-hounds barking as they chased after Al.

Merihim watched them go, then nodded to himself and turned, "They've gone." he calls to the others.

Sammi remained hiding for a good bit longer just to be sure before slowly coming out, eyes wide as he stares at Merihim. "You're a true fae... and not just that you're The Huntsmaster?" he asks, looking at him a bit dumbly before suddenly dropping into a deep bow, grabbing Stephy's tank top to pull him down as well. "I-It's an honor to be in your presence, huntsmaster! I hope the domain of the frozen heart has done nothing to offend your hunt in your absence..."

Merihim gives an annoyed sigh, then pulls them both upright roughly, "Oh knock it off!" he snaps, "Nelen would never shut up if you guys kept doing that. I haven't been the official huntsmaster since I went from true fae to pagan god, but I can still call them once every year and a day if I need to." he rolls his emerald eyes. Not just green eyes, but the entire eye looking like one forest green sphere. "Why so damn surprised? You all knew I used to be a god, didn't any of you ever wonder which god?" he asks the dumbfounded fae prince and 'princess'.

Simoni seems rather surprised as well, "I... was curious yes, but I didn't really know where to start looking..." she replies.

Merihim smirks, "Hell, I actually made it into the Bard's work at one point. I was..." he pauses, "Well, I suppose I am now..." he nods, his shining antlers moving with his head, "... Cernnunos, of the Wild Hunt." he grins, folding his arms over his chest.

Sammi blushes a bit, nodding, "I had heard the story of you before but... I never thought it WAS you, I thought it was just a myth people told to explain the hunt and why it went so... wild... and all."

Arja just smirks a bit, nodding. "Hunting god, I like the sound of that. So, hate to break up the Game of Thrones spoilers but...you gonna give Nelen back? No offense, we're very grateful, I think this you is way less gross and annoying than demon you, but... I did promise Dru I'd bring him back. This feels like a bad day to start breaking promises to her."

Cernunnos tilts his head, "Well, yeah. We're still using the same body you know." he replies, "Besides, I wanna see just what kind of hell blinky gives him when she finds out he was stupid enough to actually make Alagarept that offer." he nods, smirking a bit more, "Didn't expect that geas to break when we did this either. Alagarept. Alagarept! Aaaaaaaalaaaaaaaaagaaaaaaaaaaarept!" he cackles, then shakes his head, "Fine fine, right. Here, have your geek back." he nods, then shudders as the antlers seem to melt back into his head, leaving only small scars where they were as he stumbles, then blinks and looks around at the group.

He shakes it off, squinting as he tries to see (no glasses), and asks, "So... it worked?"

Sammi nods, smirking a bit as Arja runs up to hug Nelen. "Yea it worked, you idiot." she grins, squeezing him a bit too tight. "You're gonna live long enough for Dru to kill you when we get home..."

Simoni grabs him around the middle as well, the girl shaking with relief as she finds that her brother didn't kill himself... well, sort of, but not really. "Yeah, uh, about that..." he glances back at Aisha's car, sliced cleanly through right between the rear doors and the back tires as if cut by a massive blade. "How are we getting back?" he asks as the group suddenly hears a loud high pitched sound. "Wait, whats that?" he asks, the sound getting louder, "Shit, did Al manage to outrun the hunt?!" he frowns, the sound getting even louder. "No... wait, that's way too... CRAP!" he blinks as the grass rustles and Dawn runs into the field at full tilt, jumps into the air, and dives at Nelen.

"YOU IDIOT WIZARD!" she yowls, planting both feet into his face and knocking him backwards, "Do you have ANY idea what's going on back at the hotel?!" she hisses as he lands on his back, the Cheshire brandishing her claws before doing what animal experts refer to as 'flipping the fuck out' all over his face and torso as he flails and tries to shove her off. Once she's had her fill and Nelen is almost looking as bad as before she climbs off him and kicks him in the ribs for good measure, then nods, "Right, all of you, Nessa and I came looking for you when you didn't come back. She's heading up the road right now in a rental car. Get your asses in because we're heading back. Drusilla was already crowning when we left!" she snaps.

At this Nelen sits up, eyes wide, "WHAT? Wait, she's already... I just said that to get Al to back off in the swamp!" he stammers as Dawn smacks him around the ears for good measure, Nessa's car coming into view around the bend.

Nessa was driving... pretty much how Sammi wished Aisha would have, spinning to a loud stop in front of the group. "IN! NOW! That girl is about to tear the hotel apart! Have you ever seen a cyclops blend birthing pains and anger and fear? Because I hadn't until right now and it's not fun! If anything you better get there to be a punching bag for her, wizard!"

Nelen does get in, hell he shoves Nessa right over into the passenger seat and grips the wheel as Dawn dives in the backseat. Simoni and Stephy switch forms to fly back with Trixie and Arja while Sammi gets in as well, the warlock (well, ex-warlock) putting the pedal down as far as it'll go, tires squealing as the car shoots off towards the hotel. It’s not as bad as it could be when they arrive, Loren seems pretty good at keeping a cyclops under control (being a Fullmoon probably helps a lot). There's only a small crowd outside and one bed in the street with a matching bed-shaped hole in the wall of the hotel when they arrive.

Nelen triple parks the car, runs to the front of the hotel, finds a cop trying to stop him there talking about investigation, and after earning himself a charge of assaulting an officer when he lays him out he rushes inside ahead of the others, taking the stairs two at a time. He could have just had Dawn teleport him straight there... but he's not thinking too clearly right now. He reaches the suite and kicks the door in, looking inside with panicked eyes, "Drus?! I'm here!" he calls out.

A loud roar is what greets Nelen. Drusilla is clearly furious, terrified, and in extreme discomfort as she struggles with Loren... Soon enough though, another roar comes, followed a loud crying sound.

Simoni and Stephy land on the roof, not drawing any attention as most people are still wondering why there's apparently a pissed off grizzly bear in downtown New Orleans. They race downstairs from the roof access after Stephy freezes the lock on the door to make it brittle enough for Arja to kick open, running into the room to find a scene of recent chaos. The bedside table is splinters, Drusilla is on a mattress on the floor as the upper half of her bedframe is laying all around her and the lower half is halfway through a wall, the TV is simply no more, and Dusk is a little terrified ball of fluff hiding in the corner... on the ceiling.

Nelen is sitting next to Drusilla crosslegged on the floor, looking at a bundle she's holding in her arms as Loren holds a bag of hotel ice over her blackened left eye, giving the group a thumbs up.

Drusilla was breathing heavily, still redfaced, with her free hand punching Nelen's arm thankfully too exhausted by this point to do much more than bruise. Still, she was smiling, looking down at the bundle in her arms. "Everyone, say hello to Scylla..."

Simoni and Stephy walk over, looking at the small bundle in Drusilla's arms. Its a cyclops alright, about the size of a human toddler with one massive green eye and a few wisps of black hair. A girl too, that'll be interesting when she learns how to whistle. Dusk hisses and flattens his ears as both girl and 'girl' do what comes naturally when presented with an infant, seemingly-endless excited squeeing and fussing. At least until an annoyed Dawn appears behind them and smacks Stephy upside the head, saying "Knock it off." before doing the same to Simoni and saying "Knock it off." in Hindi. "Seriously guys..." she grumbles, rubbing at her head, "Do you have any idea what that sound does to cat ears?" she frowns, then pulls Dusk off the ceiling, all his fur one big floof by this point as she carries him out of the room.

Soon enough everyone is gathered around the group, smiling down at the 'small' cyclops still squirming and fussing curiously as her eye (which currently is about 90% of her face...) looks around at all the people doting on her. "Scylla, this is your family," Drusilla says with a smile. "They're... weird... and they'll do stupid things, and sometimes you'll want to tear them in half... but they're good people. They'll keep you safe and protected and loved. You're a lucky girl, to have this many people looking out for you."

Nelen glances away at the 'stupid things tear them in half', rubbing his neck in embarrassment, then blinks and looks at his bandaged hand. "So... um... Al isn't going to be an issue Drus. Right now he's either back in Hell or close enough to it that he can see Lucifer waving at him... and..." he looks curiously at his hand, then hooks a finger under the bandages and rips them away. Simoni and the others reflexively step backwards at that, but there's no eruption of tendrils and teeth, no sudden violent doom, instead just an ordinary human hand with what looks like a very old scar in the shape of an odd sigil.

Drusilla raises a brow at that. "I figured Al was handled. I knew you were too stubborn to come home without fixing that, even if your wife was currently giving birth to your first child...." she shoots him a little glare at that before looking back to his hand. "What happened, is your demon gone?" she asks.

He peels the bandages off his other hand, "Not... exactly. See..." he pauses, then reaches out a hand to Scylla, the small cyclops wrapping her hands around one of his fingers, pulling it into her mouth as Stephy begins to squee again before Simoni bops him lightly on the head. "Well... I had to take a big risk to get rid of him. Basically, Merihim and I had this idea for a long time about how we could get out of the mess we were both in. He didn't want to go back to Hell, I didn't want to go there when I died. The loophole is that when I made my pact as a teenager, I specifically sold my soul to him. Merihim. When I'd die, he'd take my soul back down and present it to Sathanus, which is how demons work." he explains.

"Well, during our travels I got to thinking... He used to be a pagan god, but became a demon after Yahweh's angels wiped out his followers. So if there were some way to restore him to the way he was, my contract would be null and void. Merihim can't have a claim on my soul if he doesn't exist y'see. Problem was, there was no real way to undo his transformation into a demon that didn't have a massive risk to it..." he hesitates, then sighs and pulls off his shirt, showing her the large puckered sword wound on his chest, still freshly healed over, "Al was about to kill Stephy, so I had to roll the dice and hope for the best. I, well, sacrificed myself to the god he used to be, and because Hell is getting weaker with Yahweh withering away... it was potent enough for him to undo his demonhood and change back into who and what he was before he signed on with them."

Drusilla nods, just listening to his story. When he finishes, though, her fist comes out, punching him right in the chest. "So you, with a baby on the way, just tried a theory about maybe finding a loophole in a hell contract to resurrect a pagan god instead?" she sighs, leaning back. "I'd be angrier if that wasn't the kind of thing that made me love you to begin with." she groans, rolling her eye, "So I assume it worked, then? Is this... new version less of a dick?"

Nelen winces and rubs at his chest, "Mostly the same. Look, I was out of options, if I didn't come back then at the very least Al's powers would be cut in half because part of his contract with me was 'Don't let him die before he pays up', if nothing else the others would have had a fighting chance after that. He had his sword right at Stephy's chest and was about to cut his heart out, I had to do SOMETHING." he frowns, "But yeah... it worked. I would've tried it before but, well, I basically had to pull a Jesus here. How much would you want to bet that you get it right the first try? Hell, I'm lucky Al knocked Aisha's sword out of her hands. If I didn't have a blessed weapon to use Merihim's own power would have stopped that from working anyways." he nods, then blinks and looks around, "... Wait, where is she?" he asks.

Outside the hotel Aisha is letting herself have a well-deserved smoke break after that nonsense. As she does a tall black man in a leather jacket, black jeans, and shiny leather shoes walks up and leans on the wall next to her, holding a thick stogie in his hand with a black silk tophat resting on his bald head at a jaunty angle. He grins at her, a wide rictus grin, and asks in a nasily voice, "Got a light for me bitch?"

Aisha rolls her eyes, pulling her lighter and flicking it on for the man. "Not even a 'nice job with the necromancer, bitch'?" she asks with a little smirk.

He takes a few puffs on the cigar to get it started, then laughs, "Sheeeeeeeit, ya’ll got lucky Miss New York. If ya'll wanna get technical, your fairy friends are the reason she died." he laughs, "Funny thing too, I gave her a good stern talkin' to when she arrived, seems she and yer warlock had more in common than ya'll thought." he smirks, "Turns out her Daddy is some big up po-lice officer here in Nawleans... and he also likes dat one website, Stormfront, an awful lot... yanno which one that is?" he grins, "Yeah, she had a boyfriend 'fore dis all happened... fine young black man, but turns out Daddy didn't like that one fuckin' bit. He and a few of his buddies went ta have a talk with the young man, things got fuckin' ugly." he nods gravely, "They covered it up, their cop buddies covered for 'em. Fraternal Order of GoFuckYourself." he snorts, smoke from his cigar blowing out as he does, "She wanted payback bad, real reaaaaaaaaal bad... dumb bitch shoulda come ta us, we'd have shown her Daddy why ya'll don't do what he do... instead she went further south." he shakes his head.

Aisha sighs a bit, shaking her head. "Job's not always fun, but it has to be done. I wish we could have helped her, I tried to, but there weren't any other options." She shakes her head again, blowing smoke lazily from her lips. "Still, deal's a deal, baron, she's dead, I was a part of the fight and certainly had every intent to kill her myself. Gonna hand the keys over?"

He smirks, "Ya'll may be a cowardly little bitch who ran away from her duties... but ya'll came back and did right by us." he nods, taking his cigar away from his mouth and holding his other hand to it, biting down hard on his thumb. Blood wells up from the digit as he reaches over, pressing the bleeding thumbtip to her forehead, leaving a red mark just under her bangs. "There, th' keys ta our kingdom are all your's girlie, don't fuck it up." he smirks, "Now getcha ass back ta India and fetch me a lion skin rug for my den! I got work to be doing!" he cackles, blowing out a big cloud of cigar smoke into Aisha's face. When it clears she's alone, a single cigar stub resting on the pavement next to her feet.

Aisha smirks softly, nodding as she coughs softly from the smoke. "Mhm. See you around, baron." she says casually, dropping her cigarette and stomping it out softly on the floor before coming back in. "We can go back whenever Dru's good to fly. Samedi gave me the keys, I can finally take that manticore out."

Nelen nods to her as she enters, "Yeah, probably be a good idea. Jeannie did send Clan Fullmoon to keep it occupied, but they're only going to be able to do so much against it." he comments, Simoni standing next to Drusilla and wiggling her fingertips at Scylla as the infant cyclops coos and tries to grab at them.

Loren nods in agreement, "Aye, th' lads are strong, but they cannae handle th' manticores sting nae better'n we could." she adds, "... o'course, that be 'cause I ain't there ta back 'em up. Th' lads are too busy mesurin their dicks ta get any proper huntin' done half th' time." she laughs as Stephy thinks, then shrugs and nods as if to say 'yeah, pretty much'.

"Though... before we go..." says Nelen, scratching at his beard a bit, "... Aisha, is there an optometrist in town?" he asks, pointing to where his glasses should be.

","pools_count":0,"title":"Part 2.13 Blood Price","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":"42","sales_description":null,"forsale":"f","digitalsales":"f","printsales":"f","digital_price":""}